Margery Daw

Margery Daw (マージョリー・ドー|Mājorī Dō}} is one of the protagonists and anti-heroine of Shakugan no Shana. A tall, "well-endowed" and mature Flame Haze with a drinking habit, her title is "Chanter of Elegies" (弔詞の詠み手, Chōshi no Yomite). She uses the book Grimoire, which is the Vessel through which Marchosias, to whom she is bound, expresses his will. Eita Tanaka and Keisaku Satō look up to her because she saved their lives once. Her reason for becoming a Flame Haze is to get revenge on The Silver (who is somehow linked to the Reiji Maigo within Yūji Sakai). Even before her installation as a Flame Haze, she lived only for vengeance. Later on, she no longer lived for vengeance after she discovered the truth from Yūji after he contracted with the Snake of the Festival.

Appearance
Margery has very long blonde hair, which is usually tied up in a neat, high ponytail. She has blue eyes and wears spectacles. In the anime, she is 173 cm tall.

Personality
Margery is shown to be extremely skilled in combat and creating unrestricted spells. However she has a drinking problem and tends to consume as much alcohol as she could until she passes out (according to Marco, her tolerance for alcohol is the same as any person's.) Her personality is somewhat similar to her contracted Crimson Lord, Marchosias; both of them are brash and loud-spoken. She also has the belief that all Denizens are supposed to be killed, and at the beginning of the series, acts coldly towards Shana and the others. She often hit Marchosias and called him "stupid Marco" (baka-Marco) when he made fun of her, something that's never done by any other Flame Haze.

Margery prefers to be alone in her missions, until such time that she met Eita and Keisaku. At first, she thought to dispose of them just as easily but their persistence and admiration (probably affection in Keisaku's case) for her led her to have a soft spot for both of them. She eventually warms up to more characters in the series (particularly Shana, Keisaku, Eita, Wilhelmina Carmel and Yuji). She is also a wise and mature woman in love, as shown when she gave advice to both Kazumi Yoshida and Matake Ogata about their feelings of jealousy. Amusingly, she is also a ready listener to the woes of others, which leads to her drinking pal friendship with Wilhelmina, who would share her concerns and frustrations over Shana's development in the company of Margery, Marchosias and much alcohol.

In the third season of the anime, Marchosias notes that Margery is now somewhat used to the idea of having teammates and is even training Shana in battles.

Background
She was once a daughter of a landlord in medieval times, but after countless betrayals, her father was killed and she had ended up in a brothel. She gained a chance to avenge for her misery and humiliation on her enemies, only to see them be destroyed by the Silver. Her fury from being stolen of the last reason to live had attracted the attention of Marchosias.

Plot
Margery's focus shifts from fighting simply to eradicate Crimson Denizens to fighting to protect the balance between the two worlds. She notes her fighting skills are no less for the shift in focus. In the light novels, Margery would not only face the Silver in an unsuccessful battle, but would later realize that the Silver had been acting on her wish for revenge in her life of misery prior to becoming a Flame Haze before she nearly got killed by "Snake of Festival" Yūji Sakai.

After the revelation, she was in a comatose-like state for a while, until Keisaku's love confession gave her a new reason for life. She returned to assist Shana and the others Flame Haze during the Second Great War, even finally killing her archrival Sydonay. She is one of the few Flame Haze to not go to Xanadu after it was created, electing to remain in Misaki City with Keisaku.

Keisaku Satō
Margery is shown to end up with Keisaku (who is over several hundred years younger than her), who had woken her from her mental breakdown after kissing her. It was hinted that Keisaku had feelings for her from the beginning, as he never did call her Ane-san/big sister (compared to Eita), and calls her Margery(san) instead.

Shana
She once was very cold towards Shana but she started to become Shana's trainer, her friend and her partner as time passes. When Shana confessed that she had liked her, she blushed and Marchosias help her to respond by that they accept that confession as a confession of a friend.

EastEdge
She is a friend of EastEdge, one of the Four Gods of Earth. She fought on Outlaw's side against The Four Gods of Earth's army comprising of Native Americans and some Flame Haze during the Flame Haze's Civil War and befriended him after the war ended.

Wilhelmina Carmel
She has a close friendship with Wilhelmina Carmel, her drinking buddy during their time in Misaki City. When Wilhelmina felt depressed after Pheles refused her help, Margery tried to reignite her spark by using Shana's name, and it worked.

Powers and Abilities
Bookmarks: Margery can store all kinds of things in the form of a bookmark, be it a treasure tool or an unrestricted spell, which is then kept in Marchosias. She also uses the bookmarks for communication purposes. Humans with a bookmark can also move within a Fūzetsu.

Flight: With the help of her Grimoire, she can fly and uses this as a medium for traveling large distances.

Unrestricted Spells
Improvisational Poem of Slaughter (屠殺の即興詩, Tosatsu no Sokkyōshi): An incantation method in which Margery and Marchosias use impromptu rhymed poems to unleash their spells. In the anime, the title was censored to Improvisational Poem of Enclosed Killing (堵殺の即興詩, Tosatsu no Sokkyōshi).

Tōga (トーガ, Tōga): The Tōga is a flame robe that Margery Daw puts on during battles. It enables her to transform into a werewolf. The flame robe can be broken with the anti-flame ring, Azure, as shown by Friagne during his first encounter with Margery in the anime. When in werewolf form, Margery's overall power and strength increases, on par with "Thousand Changes" Sydonay. Final form (multi-headed werewolf): As the name suggest, she becomes a multi-headed werewolf like creature and this increases the number of her attacks and has an advantage at close range rather than long range.
 * Flight: She is capable of flying with ease when she is in her werewolf form.
 * Immense Strength: With the huge size of her final form, which is of a gigantic size, she is capable of fighting on par with Sydonay's own Powered Exoskeleton Form in terms of strength.
 * Strongest Improvisational Poem of Slaughter: At Margery's final form, she can use her strongest Improvisational Poem which surrounds the enemy as all heads fire and restrict the enemy's body. The total amount of power in this Unrestricted Spell is equivalent to the flames of ten thousand Flame Haze (ten million in the anime), which killed Sydonay.

Fūzetsu (封絶 Seal, lit. "Seal of Suppression"): Like most Flame Haze, Margery is capable creating a Fūzetsu.

Margery is capable of using several high level spells, which includes sealing methods as seen when she restricted Yuji's movements. She is also regarded as one of the best high level spell users.

Quotes

 * (To Matake Ogata and Kazumi Yoshida): "Love is like a mirror that reflects your bad side. Especially when it's unrequited, you get envious, jealous, prejudiced, and resentful. You have to face all sorts of emotions. But there's no reason to find that shameful. It shows how serious you are. Oh yeah, do you want me to tell you how to break that mirror? It's not anything hard, Understand the other person. That's all. Don't make any quick judgment. And let them do the same."
 * (Margery about the Silver in New York): "I was supposed to be the one. I was supposed to kill them all. And yet... He's laughing. That guy's laughing. He's laughing after taking everything from me. I can't die until I kill him! This isn't the moment I risk my life!"
 * "I will kill him. I will kill him no matter what. If it's for that cause, I will sacrifice anything. No matter how important it is."

Trivia

 * Her name is derived from the English nursery rhyme "See Saw Margery Daw". She can be heard singing a verse from this song in Shakugan no Shana Episode 08.
 * It should be noted that "Interpreter of Condolence" is an incorrect translation of her title "弔詞の詠み手". The accurate translation would be that which is used in the English dub, "Chanter of Elegies".