Lordgenome

"I see. Your power has grown sufficient to outstrip my own. Hear this now, you will soon come to regret it. I will leave you with this warning: When the land overflows with a million apes, the moon will become Hell's messenger, and completely destroy the world of the Spiral."

- Lordgenome following his initial defeat

Lordgenome, also referred to as the Spiral King, is the main villain of the first half of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and later a supporting member of Team Dai-Gurren. His primary goal was to confine humanity to underground villages in order to prevent the cataclysmic Spiral Nemesis from occurring, and he dispatched his army of beastmen to eradicate any humans who came to the surface.

Appearance
Lordgenome is a strong, amazingly muscular man. His skin tone is slightly darker than that of most other characters in the series. His chest hair has the shape of a galaxy. He sports a goatee and impressive sideburns curled upwards. His head is bald, though when he channels Spiral Energy he gains a mane of raging flames. His eyes are white and the shape of a spiral can be seen within.

As the Spiral King, Lordgenome is usually wreathed in a white cape, though when he engages in battle he discards it and goes bare-chested.

History
As a boy, Lordgenome witnessed the Anti-Spiral's assault on his planet. Amid the mass confusion of the Spiral race, Lordgenome discovered that a small machine, a Lagann-type mecha, had fallen from the sky. Lordgenome claimed the machine as his own and eventually grew to become a Spiral Warrior, leading the human resistance against the Anti-Spiral. He also became a great scientist, who made innovations in the field of genetic engineering that were nothing short of miracles. And thanks to the discovery of the Lagann, the human race was able to build similar, and even more advanced machines - driving back the Anti-Spiral.

Unfortunately, although they were able to resist the Anti-Spiral's assaults, they could not deliver a final blow to the entity, hidden as it was in its parallel dimension. Still, the Anti-Spiral grew tired of their efforts and decided to use an alternate tactic to overcome the humans. It manifested before Lordgenome and revealed to him the Spiral Nemesis, an event that would surely destroy the universe if the creation of spiral energy overcame its limits.

Weary of the endless battle, terrified by what he had just learned and desperate to save the Spiral race of Earth, Lordgenome struck a deal with the collective entity. As long as he kept the population of humans living on the surface under one million, then the Anti-Spiral would cease the assault. In the following events, Lordgenome ended up attacking and destroying his own comrades. Returning to Earth, he forced the remaining humans underground. The Anti-Spiral took possession of his giant warship, the Cathedral Terra, leaving it in orbit as a secret weapon and disguising it as the moon. Lordgenome kept his giant mecha, the Dekabutsu, around which he would build the capital city of Teppelin.

Once this was accomplished, Lordgenome began experimenting and created the Beastmen, artificial human/animal hybrids that could not reproduce naturally and therefore held no spiral energy. He used these Beastmen to pilot Gunmen, robots similar to the kind that had been used in the war against the Anti-Spiral. The Beastmen would be responsible for ensuring that no human who reached the surface survived. Lordgenome destroyed most of the original weapons he had used during the Anti-Spiral war, but one Lagann was instead buried deep underground, which would eventually be found by Simon.

To keep himself entertained over the years, he had numerous daughters with concubines, but sealed them away once they showed self-awareness. His secret purpose for this was that he had determined those concubines had a high chance of holding the Anti-Spiral gene within them that would eventually transform them into a formidable enemy.

The Spiral King arc
Simon ended up discovering the Lagann, and encouraged by his friend Kamina, used to to fight a Gunman that had fallen into their village. From there they flew to the surface, where more Beastmen awaited them. Despite sending troop after troop, and all of his Generals, Lordgenome could not prevent Simon from reaching Teppelin. Even its reveal as the giant Dekabutsu did not hold Simon back for long. He made it all the way to his throne room, and after defeating the beastman Viral rather quickly, Simon turned to Lordgenome. Lordgenome utilized his Gunman, Lazengann, whose powers were very similar to Lagann's. Simon managed to overpower it, but Lordgenome broke out of its remains and started beating Simon's Lagann with his bare hands. As Lordgenome gloated in victory after ripping Lagann to shreds, Simon used Lagann's Core Drill to pierce Lordgenome and make a gaping hole in the King's chest. Before falling to his death, Lordgenome warned Simon not to let the population go over 1,000,000.

The Anti-Spiral arc: redemption and final death
After seven years, it was revealed that Rossiu had used genetic material from Lordgenome to create a "Biocomputer" in the image of Lordgenome's head to answer all of his questions concerning the Anti-Spiral. The computer developed a personality and memories similar to Lordgenome himself, effectively "resurrecting" the man. Rossiu used the Biocomputer to gain information regarding the Anti-Spiral and took him along during humanity's escape into space in the Arc Gurren. His knowledge was also instrumental in recovering his old flagship, the Cathedral Terra, from the Anti-Spiral.

When the gargantuan Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann was created to fight the Anti-Spiral, Lordgenome was able to regain his full personality, temporarily regenerate his body and recreate his Lazengann as a part of the mech, thanks to some side effect of the Anti-Spiral dimension. As the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann was about to be destroyed by the Anti-Spiral's Infinity Big Bang Storm, Lordgenome interfered and used his Lazengann Overload to absorb the attack. This resulted in Lazengann suffering a quantum breakdown, which allowed him to convert both himself and the attack into spiral energy, which he then gave to Simon. His sacrifice allowed Simon to overwhelm and finish off the Anti-Spiral for good.





Powers and skills

 * Spiral Power: Despite being allied with the Anti-Spiral, Lordgenome was still able to use Spiral Power. In addition to powering his Gunmen, it also grants him immense strength and durability, enough to beat a Lagann unit with his bare hands. Lordgenome's head emitsan aura of red flames when he channels his Spiral Power into his body.
 * Longevity: Lordgenome lived for at least 1000 years. He was probably able to increase his lifespan through his scientific prowess, although Spiral Power may also be involved. He can also grant immortality unto others, such as Viral.
 * Scientific genius: Lordgenome is a brilliant mind, particularly in the domain of genetic science. Notably he was able to create the Beastman race.
 * Skilled Gunmen pilot: Lordgenome pilots a personal Gurren-Lagann unit named Lazengann. More advanced than Gurren-Lagann, this machine can generate seemingly limitless amounts of thin, drill-like tendrils. It can even wreathe itself fully in those tendrils to transform itself into a giant drill. The Lazengann lacks a second pilot, instead, it utilizes Lordgenome's concubines as an additional power source. Lordgenome also can control the Dekabutsu, an immense city-sized Gunman armed with a giant hammer.
 * Hacking: Though this only appears in the compilation movie, as Biocomputer Lordgenome is able to humorously hack into the systems of the Cathedral Terra.

Trivia

 * As a young boy, his appearance resembled his daughter, Nia Teppelin.
 * Interestingly, he is somehow able to pilot Lazengann with his hands folded on his chest.
 * While Spiral Energy is normally green, his is for some mysterious reason red. It is conjectured that this may be some subset of Spiral Energy related to his fall to the Anti-Spiral's ways. This may also be linked to why his drills are thin and tentacle-like - in the battle against the Anti-Spiral, the Granzeboma generates similar drills.