List of The Vision of Escaflowne characters

This is a list of the major characters from The Vision of Escaflowne, a 26-episode anime series produced by Sunrise Studios and directed by Kazuki Akane. The series premiered in Japan on April 2, 1996 and ended September 24, 1996.

Hitomi Kanzaki
Hitomi Kanzaki (神崎ひとみ) is the main character of the series, a 15-year old high school student who belongs to the track team at her school. She also has a strong fascination with tarot cards and fortune-telling, and her hunches and tarot readings are unusually accurate. She received a set of tarot cards and a mysterious pink pendant from her grandmother when she was just a small child. When Hitomi learns that her crush, Amano Susumu, will be leaving to study abroad, she asks him to kiss her if she can sprint 100 meters in 13 seconds. Before she can make it to the finish line, a bright pillar of light appears before her. The pillar of light transported Van Fanel and the dragon he was fighting from Gaea to Earth. After Van successfully slays the dragon with the help of Hitomi, she ends up getting transported to Gaea with Van.

During Hitomi's time in Gaea, her psychic powers become more powerful than they were on Earth, and play a large role in the story. Her powers allow her to find people or destinations through dowsing with her pendant and accurately read the future through tarot card reading. Using her location ability, she can determine where an invisible or hidden person or object is; this is especially important as the guymelefs she and Van fight are frequently equipped with cloaking devices. Hitomi also discovers that she can change or stop Emperor Dornkirk of Zaibach's visions of the future. On occasion, Hitomi can unwittingly summon pillars of light capable of transporting herself and others to other locations, even between Earth and Gaea, and possibly backwards in time as well. Her pendant, in fact an Atlantean artifact tied to the lost city's fate-altering technology, seems to be a focus or amplifier for her powers; it glows when she summons a pillar of light, and she and Van can use it (or a mental image of it) for dowsing and detecting Zaibach's invisible mecha.

When she first arrives in Gaea she immediately notices the similarities in looks between Allen Schezar and her crush Amano Susumu. Because of their similarities Hitomi quickly falls for Allen. This new crush creates romantic tension when she realizes that she is actually in love with the King of Fanelia, Van Fanel.

Van Fanel
Van Fanel (バァン・ファーネル) is the second protagonist of the series, the young king of Fanelia, the second son of King Goau and Queen Varie. Varie was a Draconian, winged people descended from the people of Atlantis. The Draconians were stigmatized and believed to be bearers of bad luck. At a young age Van was cautioned against carelessly showing his wings, a mark of his Draconian heritage. When Van was 5 years old, his father died of unknown causes. His older brother, Folken, was given the test of kingship but never returned and Van believed he was killed, though others accused Folken of fleeing. Balgus, a trusted knight of his father's, returned after a long absence and became Van's surrogate father. Van's mother went in search of Folken in the area where dragons roamed. Balgus went after Queen Varie, but no trace of her was ever found.

When Van was fifteen, he performed the rite of dragonslaying to assume his throne. During the battle with the dragon, both he and the dragon were mysteriously transported to Earth, where he encounters a young high school girl named Hitomi and her friends. He works to protect them from the dragon, only to have Hitomi save his life when she foresees one of the dragon's moves. After the dragon is killed, Van is transported back to Gaea, along with Hitomi. During his coronation as King, the Zaibach Empire attacked Fanelia. Van activates the kingdom's greatest treasure, a Guymelef named Escaflowne. To activate the system, Van forms a blood pact with it, tying his own life to Escaflowne when he is piloting it. Though Van wants to protect his kingdom with the powerful machine, he is forced to flee his kingdom with Hitomi, only to learn later that Fanelia was burned to the ground by Zaibach.

During the beginning of the series Van was frequently told that his attacks weren't "aggressive" enough, Van's reasoning being that he didn't like bloodshed or the thought of killing someone. After he stated this, he was told that as a king of Fanelia this was not an appropriate point of view and that he would have to fight regardless of his feelings. However, as the series progresses and Van's misfortune only increases, he becomes bent on revenge and begins to enjoy battle to the point of engaging in a seemingly "fight to the death" match with his comrade Allen. Yet, his love for Hitomi proves stronger than his love for battle and he eventually removes Escaflowne's energist core, stating that he would like to see a future where Escaflowne isn't needed.

Allen Schezar
Allen Schezar (アレン・クルゼード・シェザール) is a member of the Knight Caeli, Asturia's elite knights who bears an uncanny resemblance to Hitomi's high school crush, Susumu Amano. When he was younger, his little sister Celena was kidnapped by Zaibach, his father disappeared mysteriously, and his mother died shortly afterwards. He has captured the heart of Princess Millerna of Asturia, but also demonstrates strong feelings for Hitomi as the series progresses. Allen deeply resents his father, Leon, for abandoning his family to search for the secrets of Atlantis.

He was a gifted swordsman at a young age, becoming one of the most skilled fighters of Gaea under the expert tutelage of Balgus of Fanelia. During his early knight career he and Princess Marlene fell in love and she bore his child, Chid. Later within the series, Allen briefly becomes romantically involved with Hitomi through Dornkirk's influence and proposes to her. Allen pilots the Guymelef Scherezade.

Folken Fanel
Folken Fanel (フォルケン・ラクール・デ・ファーネル) the Strategos or tactician of Zaibach, Folken is revealed to be Van's older brother and the original heir to Fanelia. After he failed to kill a dragon, he lost an arm to the beast. However once he accepted the fact that he was going to die and that there was no malice or fear in his heart, the dragon left him alone. He was later saved by the Zaibach Empire, who nursed him back to health under Dornkirk's instructions and fitted him with a mechanical arm. Folken was persuaded to join the Empire to realize his and Dornkirk's shared ideal of a world without war, but following the deaths of Naria and Eriya he grows disillusioned with Dornkirk's methods and defects, joining an alliance of Asturia and other kingdoms against Zaibach.

Folken cares deeply for his younger brother Van and wants nothing more than to see a world free from war for Van's sake; his joining Zaibach was a direct result of this desire. As a child, Van's gentle nature made an impression on Folken, leading him to seek a world without violence so that Van need never fight or take life again.

He, like Van, is half Draconian and also has angelic wings. Later in his series, his wings have turned black, indicating that he will die in the near future. Folken dies when his sword breaks as he kills Dornkirk, and the broken tip rebounds and strikes him in the heart.

Dilandau Albatou
Dilandau Albatou (ディランドゥ・アルバタウ) is the leader of an elite group of Guymelef pilots called the Dragon Slayers in Dornkirk's army. He almost completely lacks self-control, compassion, and a conscience. His greatest pleasures come from fighting and destruction, and the joy he takes in burning things suggests pyromania. In battle, Dilandau pilots a red Guymelef with flight mode, stealth cloak, flame-thrower and liquid-metal Crima Claw capabilities. As the series progresses, Dilandau grows gradually less stable. While clearly disturbed in his early appearance, his insanity grows after he receives a cut on the face during a fight with Van Fanel.

Though he treats them very harshly, often slapping or hitting them for little or no reason, Dilandau is also emotionally dependent on the Dragon Slayers. After all of his men are killed, he becomes completely unstable and spends much of his time in an apathetic daze, only coming to life on the battlefield as he gleefully maims and kills. For their part, despite his harsh treatment, the Dragon Slayers are fanatically loyal to him, up to and beyond death.

Towards the end of the series it is revealed he is actually Allen's lost sister, Celena (セレナ・シェザール), who was kidnapped, brainwashed and mutated into a male through a series of fate-altering experiments. In flashbacks of his childhood, it is revealed that Jajuka was Celena's caretaker when she first arrived in Zaibach and became Dilandau's emotional anchor. As his mental state deteriorates, Dilandau's memories try to return and he briefly returns to being Celena, though she is stuck in a naive, childlike state. During this time, Celena is briefly reunited with Allen, but the Dilandau personality reemerges, and he is reclaimed by Jajuka. During a climatic battle with Van, Jajuka is killed protecting Dilandau. Before he dies, he urges Dilandau to become Celena again, triggering Dilandau's apparently permanent return to Celena's personality and form.

Emperor Dornkirk
Emperor Dornkirk (ドルンカーク) is the leader of Zaibach believed to be two hundred Earth years old and a former Earth scientist named Isaac. Isaac learned that physical attraction between matter is caused by the force of gravity. He thus believed that everything in the universe, including fate and destiny, is caused by a force and everything is governed by a universal law. His theories and discoveries led him into the invention of machines that can predict and change the future. Isaac was transported into Gaea and later became Emperor Dornkirk after "saving" the rural people of Zaibach with his knowledge.

Dornkirk continually looks into the future with his Destiny Prognostication Engine in order to create an ideal future for Gaea by unlocking the secrets of Atlantis. Hitomi's visions of the future and Van's connection to Escaflowne continually interfere with his efforts, however. The future he seeks to create is the "zone of absolute fortune", in which everyone's wishes would come true. However, it is that very power that destroyed Atlantis.

Nearing the end of the series, Dornkirk had successfully constructed his device to generate the "zone of absolute fortune". It was activated upon his death at the hands of Folken, which was immediately followed by Folken's own demise, a consequence of the workings of the machine. Dornkirk, kept alive by various machinery in the first place, sticks around as an incorporeal ghost to see how his experiment would turn out. Upon the deactivation of his machine, he finally vanishes.

Frequently hinted though never confirmed in the series, the character of Dornkirk was based on the historical figure Sir Isaac Newton. Series writer and director Shoji Kawamori noted that Newton studied alchemy, even writing a book on it, so he theorized Newton discovering the power of Atlantis.

Balgus
Balgus (バルガス) is one of the "three master swordsmen of Gaea" and a general of Fanelia's army. An enormous man of great strength, he is capable of fighting and dismembering guymelefs (mecha) without piloting a guymelef himself. Balgus served under Van's father in his younger days and later left to travel around Gaea, searching to improve his skills. He met Allen and trained him for a time, but when Van's father died he returned to Fanelia to look after Van and his mother. When Zaibach destroyed Fanelia, he died while saving Van.

Though he perished early in the series he continues to affect the lives of the main characters through his lasting influence as both a mentor to Van and teacher to Allen.

Merle
Merle (メルル) a thirteen year-old cat-girl and childhood friend of Van. She is jealous of Van's increasingly close relationship with Hitomi, but eventually comes to accept Hitomi; and becomes a loyal friend to her. As Van becomes conflicted in his relationship with Hitomi, Merle reveals to him that he loves Hitomi and that Merle had recognized it long before he did. She encourages Van to go find Hitomi after Hitomi unexpectedly returns to the Mystic Moon, and assures Van that his feelings will reach Hitomi.

An orphan, she has since devotedly followed Van since she was picked up by the Fanelian courts. She never hesitates to protect Van at all costs (the twins Eriya and Nariya spared Van's life once when Merle hauled herself in front of him, seeing their past selves reflected on her).

Millerna Aston
Millerna Aston, the third princess of the kingdom of Asturia who is in love with Allen Schezar, though she is betrothed to the merchant prince Dryden Fassa. Millerna's ambition was once to become a doctor, but was forced to give up her medical studies by her second sister, Eries.

Her eldest sister, Marlene, is deceased, and was the wife of Duke Freid and the mother of Allen's son, Chid. Millerna later runs away from Asturia to join Van's troupe and fulfill her dreams. She is upset by her engagement to Dryden, but gradually comes to appreciate her fiancé's good qualities. At the end of the series, however, they separate on good terms, with Dryden saying "I will come back when I'm more deserving of you." Millerna then realizes that she can't depend on others to make her happy.

Naria and Eriya
Two eighteen year-old leopard-girl sisters who serve Folken. Naria has light skin and silver hair, and Eriya has dark skin and gold hair. When still children, their parents were killed by humans due to prejudice against their race, and thus the two were bullied for meaningless reasons until they tried to commit suicide. The sisters were saved by Folken, and throughout their time spent with him, the two fell deeply in love with the young prince. Just like Jajuka to Dilandau, the two serve Zaibach only out of their loyalty to Folken, and not through truly believing in the motives of the Kingdom. They would do anything to protect Folken and are extremely overprotective of him. The both of them pilot different Guymelefs as well: Naria pilots a silver Guymelef, and Eriya pilots a gold Guymelef. Both of them die after an experiment with their blood goes wrong, causing them both to age at a rapid rate before dying in Folken's arms.

Jajuka
ジャジュカ (Jajuka) is a dog-like beast-man. He becomes the only soldier under Dilandau's command after the dragon slayers are killed in battle by Van. A former-servant of the Sorcerers who kidnapped Celena, he was responsible for her well-being as a child and genuinely cared for her; the two were almost inseparable. When Dilandau was returned to the Sorcerers years later, Jajuka volunteered to fight beside him.

Eries Aston
Eries Aston is the second princess of Asturia and Millerna's older sister. Because she refuses to marry, she is ineligible for the throne; as such, the husband of her younger sister will inherit the throne of Asturia. She disapproves of Millerna's decision to be a doctor and attempts to discourage her younger sister from pursuing both the study of medicine and Allen Schezar. She also agrees to look after Allen's sister, Celena, when she mysteriously appears again, though it is soon discovered that Celena is actually Dilandau.

Dryden Fassa
Dryden Fassa is a knowledgeable, successful, and generous merchant who is also a part-time scholar. He is engaged to Millerna through his father Meiden, a friend of Asturia's king, though he is well aware that Millerna is in love with Allen Schezar. He genuinely cares for Millerna, and claims that his altruistic actions (such as paying an immense repair fee for Escaflowne) are to get her attention. Though the two are married later in the series, Dryden separates from Millerna and returns the ring, claiming that he isn't worthy of her yet. When she warns that she might not wait for him, he expresses confidence that his great love for her will eventually be returned.

Prince Chid
Prince Chid is the heir to duchy of Freid and is supposedly the Duke of Freid and Princess Marlene's son, but his real father is Allen Schezar. After Duke of Freid died, Chid eventually became the Duke.

When Princess Marlene had married Duke Freid, she never openly revealed the truth behind her pregnancy, but she wrote about it in a hidden diary that was later found by Millerna. Chid displays a strong connection and trust for Allen, though unaware of their true connection as father and son, and admires and hopes to live up to Duke Freid, the only father Chid has ever known. Though the Duke is apparently strict towards Chid, he recognizes Chid as his own son and cares for him deeply.