“ | A momentous, once-in-a-lifetime event is unfolding before our very eyes, you know? This is the world's destruction! Why can't you simply enjoy this marvelous event? | „ |
~ Gilles de Rais to Kaisar while gleefully watching the destruction caused by Bahamut |
Here it is, my second Pure Evil Proposal, this time for a villain which is among my favorites from an anime. This should be a pretty straight forward case given his scale and overall cruelty, being able to collect a lot of heinous crimes and pass the Moral Event Horizon several times despite being from a relatively short anime (only 12 episodes). This show might also have another candidate, but he is definitely not as solid as him, so I think it's fair to start with the one that qualify far easier. Might make the other one next or in the next few proposals.
A couple of notes before we begin. In this proposal, I will use the japanese version for the names, quotes and such, mainly because it is the version that is the most widespread internationally. Also, as always this proposal will contain obvious spoilers for the work in question, so if you don't want to be spoiled I highly suggest to watch the show. It has two seasons, but the candidate only appears in the first season (the best one among the two), which have a closed ending and it's only 12 episode long. It's a good watch and I personally suggest to go in without knowing anything apart from a general summary which I will give below, it might surprise you! But if you don't mind spoilers or have already watched the show, than you can scroll down without problems and read of what is, at least to me, a really good, purely evil villain whose main weapons are his intelligence and his deceptions.
So, let's get started!
What's the work?[]
Shingeki no Bahamut, also known as Rage of Bahamut, is a Japanese anime series produced by MAPPA, based on the digital collectible card battle game of the same name developed by Cygames, who also helped in the production of the anime. The series is made of two seasons.
The first season, called Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis is made up of 12 episodes and was released between October 2014 and December 2014. The second season is Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul, it has 24 episodes and aired between April 2017 and September 2017. While this second season is directly connected to the first one, taking place 10 years after it, the first season works as a closed story on its own, and is the one where the candidate appears, as such I will be mainly focus on that.
Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis takes place in the fantasy world of Mistarcia, where humans, Gods and Demons all exists within the same reality. 2.000 years priors to the beginning of the series, an ancient dragon known as Bahamut attacked the world, attempting to destroy it completely and forcing the three races to collaborate. Thanks to the sacrifice of the Demon King Satan and the Ruler of Gods Odin, the creature was sealed, with the two becoming the Demon Key and the God Key respectively, two halves that, if united, would create the Trascendent Key, the only thing able to reawaken the monster. Thousands of years later, the God Key is stolen by a girl known as Amira, who stumbles upon a bounty hunter named Favaro Leone, with the latter being unwillingly forced to help the girl in escaping those that hunts her down while escorting her to meet her mother who is waiting for her. The two are also helped by the fallen knight Kaisar Lidfald and the necromancer girl Rita, and the four will discover that behind everything there is a conspiracy of a certain individual who seeks to reawaken the Bahamut once again, in order to make it lay waste upon the world.
Who is Gilles de Rais? What did he do?[]
“ | Rita: It's possible to obtain magic powers by making a pact with a demon. But ... I have never heard of anyone transforming into a full-fledged demon before. Bacchus: I've heard rumors of a man with a bounty on his head who possess such ability. |
„ |
~ Bacchus explaining to Rita about Gilles. Even prior to his plot to end the world he was already a prolific serial killer |
Gilles de Rais is a sorcerer known across the kingdom as a gruesome and cruel serial killer with a bounty on his head, who took the life of countless people. He is a nihilistic individual with an obsession with death, something that lead him to develop a desire to see the world end and enjoy the spectacle that such event would be. In order to do so, he starts to study the ancient creature known as Bahamut, collecting all of his documents and findings in a secret room inside the royal castle. Discovering that to reawaken the beast he needs a hybrid half angel and half demon as a host to contain the Trascendent Key, the fusion of both the God Key and Demon Key, he starts to plan his manipulations.
After creating a concoction able to turn him into a demon, he makes up two fake identities: Lavalley, a Orleans Knight that serve under the Saint Warrior Jeanne d'Arc, and Martinet, a crazy demon that serves under the power-hungry demon Belzebuth (so when I say this two names, I am referring to Gilles under his fake personas). It's with the latter that he starts his deceptions, telling him that if the host of the Trascendent Key was made up with his own power and essence, than Bahamut would obey him. The demon, wanting to exterminate all Gods and rule over all the Demons, believe his lies and kidnap an innocent angel, Nicole, painfully extracting her essence and making her fall in a comatose stated while using his own essence and the one of the angel to create the perfect container of the Trascendent Key, a girl known as Amira.
After Belzebuth creates her, Martinet gives her a red pendant to generate in her mind fake memories of a life she never even had in the first place, instructing her to steal the God Key from the realm of the Gods and to than go find her mother. Having nothing to rely on other than fabricated memories, Amira obeys him and steals the Key, stumbling upon Favaro Leone soon after which unwillingly starts to follow her since she turned him into an half demon and he wants to go back to his normal self. Meanwhile, Gilles continues his deceptions under the identity of the royal knight Lavalley, and is first seen fighting against an army of demons alongside Jeanne, before they are given the task to retrive the God Key that was stolen.
He, alongside another Orleans Knight named Gaurin and other knights, goes to the city of Livian, where the thief is supposedly hiding. Here, he has a discussion with the fallen knight Kaisar Lidfald, and thanks to the tip of Favaro Leone they manage to find and chase Amira, who however is saved by Favaro himself which had a change of heart. Lavalley report back to Jeanne, and the two notice a storm caused by Bahamut, whose seal is starting to weaken. Gilles starts his psychological manipulation against Jeanne, suggesting that the Gods might have abandoned them, even though she seems to not believe it.
Later on, the powerful demon Azazel manages to kidnaps Amira and Kaisar, forcing Favaro and the necromancer girl Rita, who joined Kaisar and started to bond with him, to join forces and try to save them. Not wanting his plans to be hindered by Azazel's intervention, Lavalley tells the Orleans Knight where Azazel is heading, stopping him before he can cross the gate that would have led him to Cocytus, the Capital of the Demon realm. However, Gilles knows that Azazel must have seen the red pendant and felt Belzebuth's presence within Amira, and as such he takes the concoction to become Martinet and intercept Azazel before he can report back to the current Demon Lord, Lucifer. Managing to do so, he uses his skills in psychological manipulation to convince him that Lucifer would punish him if he reported back without having captured the thief of the God Key, pushing him to wait before reporting back and to go retrive the girl first.
Going back to his Lavalley persona, he escorts the arrested Favaro, Amira, Kaisar and Rita to the city of Anatae in front of King Charioce XIII, where some angels arrives and ask for them to be locked up rather than killed since doing so could have unforseen consequences given that Amira have the God Key inside her, which means that changes in her emotional state might have severe consequences upon the seal. Later that night, Lavalley helps Amira escape from prison, acting nicely to trick her and showing his red pendant to make her think he is an ally, but since the Capital is under attack by Azazel and his forces they need to discuss it later.
Thanks to Jeanne, Azazel is defeated and retreats, with the angels gifting her with a sacred sword as a reward, which fuels Charioce's envy against her, something Gilles takes full advantage of. Turning into Martinet, he drugs the king to make him see visions of Jeanne stabbing him in the back, making him paranoid and causing his descent into madness, turning him into another pawn. Later that night, he goes back to his Lavalley persona and meets with Amira, continuing his lies by telling her that he is a friend of her mother Nicole and that she was banished from Heaven after giving birth to her. He than falsely tells her that a demon kidnapped Amira when she was a children and Nicole went to save her, giving him the pendant so that they would recognize each other in case they met again. Continuing with his manipulation, he tells her that only Nicole can remove the God Key from her, and combining the two pendants he gives them a map to find her in Prudisia.
When the group go away, he goes back to his Martinet form and brutally murders Gaurin, dismembering him and making King Charioce XIII see the corpse. Going back to being Lavalley, he goes to the crime scene and make Charioce notice Jeanne hair in the hand of Gaurin, something that was actually placed by him to frame her. The plan works and Jeanne is arrested and put into prison, where he takes the form of Martinet and attempts to manipulate her into believing that the Gods abandoned them, trying to make her drink his concoction to free herself and see the "truth". She refuses, and Martinet leaves, knowing full well that she will eventually break, taunting her that the Gods wont come and save her.
That night, Rita, who stayed in the castle, discover Gilles' secret room, finding in it some strange ingredients for potions and ritualistic circles. She is found by Martinet, who attempts to cut her into pieces, but she manages to escape by using her powers, taking some samples on her way out. The next day, Jeanne is put on the stake to be burned alive as a punishment for Gaurin's murder, but the population is against it and tries to free her, which brings Charioce XIII, still under the effects of Martinet's drugs, to slaughter anyone that sides with Jeanne, all while she is tied to the stake with the flames advancing towards her. Seeing her faith faltering, Gilles deliver the final blow by making her see visions of the angels she trusts, who tells her that humans are worthless and they don't care about them, throwing her into total despair. At this point, Martinet appears and offer his concoction to her once again, and a broken Jeanne accepts, driking the potion as the flames advances, turning her into a demon and brainwashing her to be her pawn.
After a arduous journy, Favaro, Kaisar and Amira arrives in what they believe is Prudisia, where the girl's mother should be, but instead they are welcomed by Martinet. He reveal that the map actually lead them to Helheim, where the Demon Key is located, and than presents Belzebuth, his supposed "master", to all of them. Martinet than shows them Nicole, trapped within a ice grave in a comatose state after Belzebuth extracted her essence to create Amira, and than reveals to her the truth, which is that Belzebuth is basically her actual father and Nicole doesn't even know who she is. After freeing her from the ice tomb, Nicole react aggressively against Amira, before eventually dying because of what Belzebuth did to her previously, something that throws Amira in the depths of despair. With a scream of anger, the Demon Key is summoned by the God Key within the girl and fuse with her just like Gilles wanted, creating the Trascendent Key. Belzebuth than proceeds to trap her within a sphere and prepares to go towards Abos, where Bahamut is currently sealed.
Favaro attempts to trick Martinet and Belzebuth by trying to make them believe that he is willing to join them, but as he tries to shoot them he is quickly subdued by Martinet who than forces him to drink his concoction, which turns him into a demon under his control. While the two demons starts to go toward Abos, the brainwashed Jeanne follows the orders of his master Gilles and starts to slaughter the angels that are trying to contain Bahamut, killing against her own will all those that protected her for all this time. Thanks to the arrival of the God Bacchus, Rita and the sacrifice of the angel Michael, Jeanne goes back to normal thanks to an antidote that Rita herself created by using the samples she took from Gilles' secret room, but the damage is already done.
Kaisar, Rita, Bacchus and Azazel, the latter of which decided to help them in order to take revenge on Belzebuth for tricking him, attempts to slow down the two demons, and during the battle Martinet quickly defeats Bacchus and Kaisar shoots at Favaro with an arrow covered with the antidote for the concoction. Kaisar arrives where Amira is, but before he can help her, Lavalley arrives, who lies to him by telling that the Orleans Knights have arrived and are about to conquer the flying fortress. However, as the fortress arrives in front of Bahamut and the Trascendent Key (aka Amira) is fusing with it, Lavalley reveals his true colors and push Kaisar off the fortress, all while the seal that contains the beast breaks, freeing it under Gilles' satisfied gaze.
Noticing that the creature is awake once again, Gods and Demons arrive at Abos to stop it and Belzebuth attempts to control it to exterminate all Gods and rule over all the Demons. However, he understands too late that he has been tricked by Martinet, since Bahamut doesn't obey to his orders and instead blasts him away, mortally wounding him before Azazel finishes him off. While Gilles watches with extreme pleasure as Bahamut begins his extermanation of all live, attacking both the armies that are trying to fight him and also shooting long ranged blasts that annihilate entire cities and villages in an instant, Rita manages to save Kaisar from the fall. While they try to reach the one who Lidfald still calls Lavalley, Rita reveals to him the real identity of the man, explaining that Lavalley and Marinet were all fake identities of a man called Gilles, whose wish is to see the entire world destroyed by the hands of Bahamut and to see this happen he manipulated all factions like they were pawns in his hands.
Kaisar attempts to attack him, but he soon realize that Gilles almost seems immortals and tells them that they should just stay quiet and enjoy the spectacle like he is doing. While they are in the falling fortress, the man who was once known as Lavalley calls upon Favaro, who he and everyone else thinks is still brainwashed, sending him to kill the one who is his best friend. The two fights, with Leone telling something to Kaisar, until the bounty hunter manages to cut off the knight's hand under the satisfied eyes of Gilles and the worried gaze of Rita. Favaro approaches Gilles, who still thinks he has control over him, but he realizes too late that on the wrist of the Lidfald's cut hand there is the Bounty Hunter's Bracer, an item that bounty hunters use to turn people with a bounty into stone. Gilles can only watch in horror as he, the one that tricked everyone, is tricked himself and is turned into a card of stone, finally killing him.
Favaro manages to defeat Bahamut by stabbing him in the head with its own talon, but this would not be the end of Gilles' legacy upon the world. His actions, including the reawakening of Bahamut, lead to millions of deaths between Gods, Demons and Humans, destroying the balance between the forces. The Gods were almost entirely exterminated, with mostly Angels surviving, and the Demons suffered so many losses that their power was greatly descreased. Jeanne would also be traumatized by the actions she committed while brainwashed, never forgiving herself for what she did despite the fact that she didn't have control over herself. And while the beast was temporarely defeated, it's return in ten years was inevitable, and the new royal staff discovered this through the notes they found in Gilles secret room, leading them to put Charioce XVII on the throne, directly causing all of the events that would follow ten years after his death. In the end, Charioce would use Gilles' notes to find a way to defeat Bahamut once again, finally putting an end to Gilles' legacy once and for all.
Mitigating Factors[]
“ | Could you two please keep it down for a bit? I want to fully savor the moment the world ends. | „ |
~ Gilles de Rais to Kaisar and Rita, revealing that all he wants is to enjoy the world's destruction in peace |
He doesn't really have any notable mitigating factor. All of his crimes are shown directly in the story and have a huge impact in it, plus he have a lot of personality, both with his dialogues, his very theatrical movements and the great voice acting performances. Despite my joking comment under the image on the side (which is actually him in the middle of shapeshifting), moral agency isn't a issue either considering that, while he is undoubtely crazy, he is very aware of what he does, being able to mask himself as a righteous Orleans Knight and at the same time as a sadistic demon. In fact, he knows so well what he is doing that he is able to psychologically manipulate others without them even noticing at first.
For the rest, his only possible redeeming qualities would be the ones he had while he was under the fake identity of Lavalley, but the moment he is revealed to be the real manipulator behind the scenes he quickly throws all of this factors out of the window. Any care he told he had for Nicole was a lie (literally, the two barely even met in the first place), and the same applies to Amira, who he only protected and helped because he needed her to reach Helheim. Once she does he happily and sadistically breaks her down psychologically by letting her see her "mother" die in front of her, all in order to turn her into the Trascendent Key and use her as the main ingredient to reawaken Bahamut, basically killing her.
His loyalty to Jeanne while he was under the identity of Lavalley was also completely false, since as Martinet he frames her for the murder of Gaurin and sadistically breaks her down psychologically in order to turn her into a brainwashed minion of his, forcing her to kill the angels that she would have never hurt otherwise. The same goes for his supposed loyalty towards Belzebuth while he was Martinet, given that he actively tricked him into thinking he could control Bahamut, only to leave him to die by the hands of the beast itself, something that happened exactly because the demon believed Gilles' lies and even Belzebuth acknowledges it.
And also, as a quick mention, the fact that Charioce managed to defeat the Bahamut the third time thanks to Gilles' notes that he and the Onyx Task Force Captain found in his secret room is not a mitigating factor for Gilles, given that those notes were for his own researches on Bahamut and he didn't plan for those notes to be later used to defeat the beast. It is highly ironic that his own researches were in the end used to put an end to his legacy, but it is not what he intended given that he wanted Bahamut to destroy the world.
Overall, he is a sadistic and nihilistic monster who is not loyal to anyone aside from himself, with any semblance of such qualities being nothing more than façades. He is a skilled manipulator who uses human emotions and connections to exploit and break down others for his own purpouses, doing so with sadistic gleefulness.
Heinous Standards[]
“ | He was the one behind everything. You guys ending up in Helheim ... Jeanne turning into a demon ... It was all part of his deception! That's not all. This man manipulated everyone, Gods, Demons and Humans, into reviving Bahamut! | „ |
~ Rita explaining the extent of Gilles' manipulations. This quote alone easily puts him far above any other villain in the series |
The heinous standards of Shingeki no Bahamut are surprisingly high, but Gilles easily surpass everyone else by being the cause of everything that happens in it, both directly and indirectly. But let's still give a look to the other major antagonists and see how they fare against him. I will only look at the major ones, so I wont look at other minor ones like Pazuzu (who is certainly heinous, but is mainly Azazel's enforcer) or Rita (who was a one episode antagonist before joining the group and becoming the main character who investigates Gilles' plans). I will also specify which villains comes from Season 2 just to clarify why I didn't mention them before. So, we have:
- Amon: an ex bounty hunter that worked under Barossa Leone (Favaro's father) but, tired of his noble nature, he convinced him to steal a tribute (action that leads to Kaisar's father execution since he was blamed for it) and than summoned Azazel to kill Barossa alongside the rest of the group. And he did all of that so that Azazel could turn him into a demon for more power. Considering the low resources he have, he is definitely a nasty individual (much nastier than I remembered, might be a interesting one to look at in a far later date, but we will see for that since he most likely lose the heinous standards to others).
- Azazel: a demon who killed all of Barossa's group and Barossa himself, giving him quite a bit of personal villainy toward both Favaro and Kaisar. He also attacked Anatae to retrive Amira, which lead to several victims. However, he later on redeem himself, fighting alongside everyone else to stop Martinet and Belzebuth's plans, killing the latter and being more of an anti-hero. He than becomes much more of a full on hero in the second season, where he fight for the freedom of his own kind and form a genuine bond with Mugaro.
- Charioce XIII: he normally isn't very villainous, but after he is drugged by Martinet his paranoia becomes so intense that he falls into madness and starts to commit much more heinous actions, leading to him ordering the knights to slaughter everyone that sided with Jeanne during her execution, killing dozens of people in the process.
- Charioce XVII and the Onyx Task Force Captain: the main antagonist of the second season and his right-hand man, they declared war against the Gods and enslaved many Demons, leading to several atrocities. While this is heinous, this was done in an attempt to stop Bahamut, since the Gods refused to give Charioce the weapon known as Dromos, the only thing able to put down the beast, and they needed the Demons' labor for the preparations for the day the creature would have returned. Once Bahamut is defeated once again, Charioce becomes a good king and manages to reconnect with both races, albeit with some obvious stuggles, severely decreasing the heinousness of both.
- Alessand Visponti: the seconday antagonist of the second season and, not gonna lie, he is the biggest "hate sink" of the series, at least to me. He is a coward individual who kills Mugaro, a child who did literally nothing wrong, just to become a royal knight, leading to the attack of Angels and Demons on Anatae. He orders his men to kill any demon they see, even innocent childrens who were trying to escape the city (althought they are fortunately stopped before they do), and than leaves his own men to die during the battle in order to save his own skin. On top of this, when Dias, a friend of him, decides to spare him after seeing him beg for his life, Alessand stabs him for no reason other than cowardice. Might not be the most heinous guy, but he is the scummiest to me. At least Gilles is openly evil, knows he is and enjoys it, while Alessand can't even admit that he is a horrible individual.
- Belzebuth: a demon under which Gilles pretends to serve under the false identity of Martinet. He is definitely the second most heinous character (and the second candidate I plan to propose in the future), with him painfully extracting Nicole's essence, throwing her in a catatonic state and keeping her alive only to let her die in front of Amira to break he psychologically. He also created Amira as a daughter, only to use her as a vessel for the Trascendent Key in order to reawake Bahamut, something that basically killed her. He is also shown killing several angels (8 to 10) while attacking Azazel, and his plan is to control Bahamut in order to completely exterminate all Gods and Angels (an action that would lead to millions of deaths) and to crown himself as the new Demon Lord.
- Bahamut: a uncontrollable beast who only seeks to destroy the world. It attempted to destroy everything in the past before being sealed, attempts it again once he is freed by Gilles, leading to millions of deaths, and attempts it a third time after he comes back before eventually being stopped by Charioce and Nina.
As you can see, the heinous standards are pretty high, but Gilles handily surpass them all. Prior to starting his plot he was already known as a serial killer who left "mountains of corpses in his wake" and "killed countless people with his gruesome sorcery", with several victims shown in his lair. He tricked Belzebuth into freeing Bahamut, only to then leave him to die at the hand of the beast. He broke down and brainwashed Jeanne, forcing her to kill several angels, an action that severely traumatized her. He sadistically forced Amira to watch as what she thought was her mother, Nicole, painfully dies, all in order to break her psychologically and turn her into the Trascendent Key. Lastly, his most heinous action by far is that he is the one that masterminded the reawakening of Bahamut by manipulating every single character in the series, so that the beast would destroy everything and lead to the complete destruction of not one, but THREE races and worlds: the Humans, the Gods/Angels and the Demons. He is a literal genocidial maniac who attempted a complete extermination that would have lead to an incalculable amount of victims.
And all of this are just his main crimes that he did directly, without going too much in depth into other crimes he committed that are just as awful. In particular, he have far more crimes throught his manipulations, since he is directly responsable for: Azazel's attack on Anatae, which caused many victims (he was manipulated into attacking the Capital by Martinet in order to retrive Amira); Charioce XIII's descent into madness, which brought him to slaughter all of Jeanne's supporters (he was still under the effects of Martinet's drug, which caused his paranoia to go sky high); and he is indirectly responsable for basically everything that happens in the second season, Virgin Soul (him reawakening Bahamut and his notes left in the secret room are the catalyst for everything that happens). And there is more, but if I count everything he did, both directly and indirectly, I would stay here for weeks, so to put it simply he is basically responsable for almost everything in the series, and did it all just to, as someone would say, watch the world burn.
Given this, I would say that the first five villains listed above aren't even a problem in regards of heinousness compated to him. However, the last two might be, so I will discuss them a bit to show that he easily surpass them too. Let's start with Bahamut, who is the one that would actually bring the complete destruction of the world planned by Gilles. The beast is, however, a Generic Doomsday Villain, with no real personality aside from wanting to destory everything, which storywise make it more than anything an instrument in the hands of Gilles and an extension of his will to see the world being completely destroyed. The creature is also able to go on a rampage thanks to Gilles' actions in the first place, and without him it would have remained sealed forever, not to mention that Gilles have a ton more heinous crimes under his belt. To top it all of, Bahamut itself have far more resources than Gilles given it can wipe out entire cities with a single blast, while he is just a human that simply rely on manipulation and deception. So, in my opinion Bahamut loses against Gilles on all fronts when we talk about heinousness, despite the former having far more resources.
A more interesting discussion is the one regarding Belzebuth, especially considering that he was a essential part in the reawakening of Bahamut thanks to him extracting Nicole's essence and creating Amira. His objective of exterminating all Gods and wanting to rule over all Demons is also very heinous in itself. However, in the final episode it's discovered that, while he is a power-hungry demon with no redeeming quality, he was a victim of Gilles manipulations too, with him attempting to contol Bahamut to do his bidding, only to be blasted by the creature because of Martinet's lies. He himself notes this, with his last words being curses at Martinet for tricking him into believing that Bahamut would obey him if the host of the Trascendent Key was made out of his essence. This factor, and the fact that he have much more crimes under his name and is much more cruel overall, makes Gilles surpass Belzebuth in scale and sheer evilness, putting him easily at the top of the heinous standards of the verse.
Verdict[]
“ | Truly magnificent. | „ |
~ Gilles while watching Bahamut annihilating everything in its path |
Gilles is probably the easiest yes I will propose for years, or at the very least the easiest among the candidates I have in mind right now. He is a genocidal maniac who manipulated everyone in order to reawaken Bahamut and let it destroy the entire world of Mistarcia for no other reason than enjoying the spectacle that would occur. He doesn't have any mitigating factor and is by far the most evil character in the franchise. An absolute monster who, despite being a human, is worse than any actual demon and monster in the setting.