Last Exile/Characters
This is a list of some of the characters from the 2003 GONZO series Last Exile, as well as its 2011 bridge manga Travelers from the Hourglass/Sunadokei no Tabibito.
With the arrival of its sequel Last Exile Fam the Silver Wing, many of the previously-spoilered entries have been made visible, so for those still going through the series, proceed with caution.
Main Characters
Claus Valca
Voiced by: Mayumi Asano (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English)
A simple (if skilled) vanship pilot and message courier, Claus has a big dream for someone his age: to be able to cross the Grand Stream using just his vanship. However after accepting a delivery from another dying courier, he and his close friend Lavie are soon drawn into the middle of a conflict that might determine the fate of his homeworld.
- Ace Pilot: Is likely the only pilot in Prester who has a chance of outflying Dio. Showcased in the Travelers manga, where Uroctea mentions that he only won against Claus in their second encounter only because he had the element of surprise.
- Blue Blood: While he might not look like much, Claus is actually the son of a minor noble. With the death of his parents though, he literally has nothing left to him but his family name, and even then many people have forgotten that it was even associated to nobility by the time the series begins.
- Courier: At first.
- Even the Guys Want Him
- I Will Protect Her: Partly to Lavie, and especially Alvis once she shows up.
- Magnetic Hero
- Memetic Badass: As the Travelers manga reveals, in-universe, some of the soldiers and nobility of Anatoray and Disith sees him as this.
- The Hero
- Oblivious to Love: Let's just say that romance is the furthest from Claus' mind at the time of the series. Or in the Travelers from the Hourglass manga for that matter.
- Parental Abandonment: Both of his parents are long dead.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gets chewed out by Holly, of all people, for not being on hand when the Earth Guild kidnaps Alvis and Lavie.
Lavie Head
Voiced by: Chiwa Saito (Japanese), Kari Wahlgren (English)
Claus' friend since childhood, Lavie is both the navigator of their vanship as well as its mechanic. Very brusque and blunt, Lavie is a tomboy through and through, but she's more sensitive than she first seems. She shares in Claus' dream to cross the Grand Stream just using their vanship.
- Bob Haircut
- Clingy Jealous Girl: While she's subtle about it and it doesn't last very long, she's not too happy to see Tatiana wearing the overalls that she repaired for Claus after they return to the Silvana, and refuses to talk to him for a while as well.
- Demoted to Extra: While a significant character at the beginning, she spends the middle of the series not doing anything important.
- Damsel in Distress: Becomes this when she and Al are captured by the Earth Guild.
- Parental Abandonment: Like Claus, both of Lavie's parents are dead -- her mother during childbirth, and her father during the ill-fated expedition across the Grand Stream that claimed the life of Claus' father as well.
- Team Mom: Becomes this to both Alvis and Holly, judging from the Travelers from the Hourglass manga.
- Tomboy
- Wrench Wench
Alvis Hamilton
Voiced by: Anna Shiraki (Japanese), Kana Hanazawa (Japanese, Fam the Silver Wing), Michelle Ruff (English)
A quiet little girl with pale blue eyes, Alvis is Claus and Lavie's first major 'delivery', and the main reason why the two friends are drawn into the conflict between Anatoray and the Guild. As a scion of House Hamilton, she is the key to activating the Exile, which both Anatoray and the Guild seek to control.
- Damsel in Distress: A natural end result of Guild chapters coming after her, especially in Travelers from the Hourglass.
- Hair Decorations: Word of God is that they were modeled after jet turbines.
- Last of Their Kind: She is the last living member of House Hamilton.
- Mysterious Waif
- The Other Darrin: Kana Hanazawa voices her in the sequel Fam, The Silver Wing
- Parental Abandonment
- The President's Daughter: Due to her ability to activate Exile.
- Token Mini-Moe
Supporting Characters
Alex Rowe
Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese), Crispin Freeman (English)
The dark and brooding captain of the Silvana, Alex Rowe is focused on the utter destruction of the Guild's current Maestro, Delphine Eralcea, for reasons only known to himself. Although he ostensibly serves Anatoray, he is given much more leeway and is considered a dangerous rogue by the rest of the Anatoray military.
- Badass
- Badass Cape that frequently performs a dramatic Cape Swish.
- Berserk Button: When the Guild ship appears over Sophia's coronation ceremony, and Delphine's mocking laughter is heard, Alex orders all the Silvana's weapons fired, despite the mass of humanity gathered below. Fortunately, My Master, Right or Wrong gets averted:
First Officer: Belay that order! The captain is not in his right frame of mind.
- Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold: Alex's motivation for stealing the Silvana, gathering the components necessary to activate Last Exile and conquering the Grand Stream, essentially revenge on The Guild, and Maestro Delphine in particular.
- Byronic Hero: Broods on personal failings, dark, attractive, mysterious, flawed, broken, classy, isolated, intense drive for revenge, no romance, rebelling against authority...need we go on?
- Captain Ersatz: Word of God states he was based on Captain Harlock.
- Dead Little Sister: though in this case it's his wife.
- Killed Off for Real: Once he fulfills his objective.
- Tall, Dark and Handsome
- The Captain: Of the Kill-Em-All Silvana
- The Quiet One: There are probably background characters who have more lines than him. Sophia comments that he seems strangely talkative after he utters a single sentence that is not an order.
- The Stoic: He has one expression, maybe two.
- Supporting Leader
- Sword Cane: Gun-cane, actually.
- Widower Hero: His wife is dead.
Sophia Forrester
Voiced by: Wakana Yamazaki (Japanese), Julie Ann Taylor (English)
Alex's loyal second-in-command, she has known him since apparently military academy. She is also the heir to the throne of Anatoray.
- All Love Is Unrequited: It's obvious that Sophia is infatuated with Alex, but the latter is either too caught up with his mission of revenge to notice, or doesn't care.
- Expository Hairstyle Change
- Meganekko
- Number Two
- Royals Who Actually Do Something
- Subordinate Excuse
Vincent Alzey
Voiced by: Hozumi Gôda (Japanese), Steve Blum (English)
An old friend of both Alex and Sophia, Vincent is the captain of the Anatoray battleship Urbanus. More straight-laced than Alex, Vincent is nevertheless a very competent (and dangerous) skyship captain.
- Badass: It takes balls of steel to lead one's ship in a charge against the berserk defenses of an Exile.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Is attracted to Sophia, but Sophia herself is hung up on Alex instead.
- The Captain: Much like his friend Alex.
- Drink Order: Vincent is never seen without a cup of 'battleship coffee' either in hand or within easy reach.
- Officer and a Gentleman
- The Rival: Arguably.
Tatiana Wisla
Voiced by: Eri Kitamura (Japanese), Michelle Ruff (English)
Leader of the Silvana's vanship corps, and nicknamed 'Princess' by its gaggle of hangar mechanics, Tatiana is humorless and all-business, which tends to rub people the wrong way. She starts to lighten up later in the series however, after crashing with Claus and spending a few days thinking the Sylvana has been sunk. She pilots a modified red vanship with her friend and navigator Alister.
- The Ace: Mentioned to have been an over-achieving straight-A honor student when she was studying at Anatoray's Military Academy, can outfly anyone in Prester who isn't Claus or Dio and, as the Hourglass manga reveals, can cook a mean full-course feast.
- Ace Pilot: Is probably the best vanship pilot on the Alliance's roster after Claus.
- Always Someone Better: Certainly feels this way when compared to Lavie, especially after Claus calls her using Lavie's name in chapter 7 of the Travelers manga.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Has an interest in Claus, but sadly the feeling isn't mutual. Made even clearer in the Sunadokei no Tabibito manga.
- Defrosting Ice Queen
- Heterosexual Life Partners: With Alister.
- Important Haircut: The Travelers manga shows that she had one of this as a child (she used to have long braided hair).
- Impoverished Patrician: Not really mentioned much in-series (at least, not until her Uncle Hendrick was introduced in Hourglass), but Tatiana comes from a noble family that's fallen on hard times. In fact almost all of her pay goes back to her parents, but it's barely enough to maintain their family estate.
- Rousing Speech: Gives a very good one as she leads the remaining (and damaged) Anatoray battleship against the Earth Guild's base.
- Sugar and Ice Personality
Alister Agrew
Voiced by: Natsuko Kuwatani (Japanese), Sue Beth Arden (English)
Tatiana's classmate from military academy, as well as her current navigator. She is more understanding of Tatiana's cold attitude, but there are limits to even what she can take.
- Cat Smile: Not so much in the series, but does this a lot in the Travelers from the Hourglass manga. Mostly whenever the topic of Tatiana's love life comes up.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: With Tatiana.
- Hidden Depths: Would you believe that Alister is secretly hiding a fun-loving devious side underneath her stoic exterior? Observe [dead link] !
- Number Two: Seems to take on this role for Tatiana in the Hourglass manga.
- Shipper on Deck: In the Travelers from the Hourglass manga, it becomes quickly apparent that Alister likes the idea of Claus and Tatiana together to a frankly ridiculous degree.
Mullin Shetland
Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki (Japanese), Dave Wittenberg (English)
A soldier serving in Duke Mad-Thane's fleet, Mullin helps Claus and Lavie in their initial delivery to the Duke. A survivor of twenty fleet battles, this simple fact gives him the right to choose which ship he wants to be reassigned next. Another chance encounter with Lavie robs him of the chance to even do so, though it does land him a spot on the Silvana, where he eventually becomes part of its corps of mechanics. Mullin still experiences some nostalgia for his time as a line musketman.
- Bling of War: His survivor medals.
- Butt Monkey: You'd think that he lucked out after surviving all those battles as a musketman, and finally getting a spot on the Silvana's maintenance crew? You thought wrong.
- Henpecked Boyfriend: The Travelers from the Hourglass manga implies that he's not the one wearing the pants in his relationship with Dunya.
- Survival Mantra: Disith bullets will avoid Mullin Shetland's body Disith bullets will avoid Mullin Shetland's body Disith bullets will avoid Mullin Shetland's body Disith bullets will avoid Mullin Shetland's body Disith bullets will avoid Mullin Shetland's body
- Mook: What he initially started as.
Duke David Mad-Thane
Voiced by: Yousuke Akimoto (Japanese), Bob Papenbrook (English)
Commander of one of Anatoray's fleets, Duke Mad-Thane is the recipient of the message Claus and Lavie delivers at the start of the series. He initially embodies the Chivalric traditions of Anatoray, which includes among other things giving quarter to defeated enemies and not retreating even when tactically expedient. He eventually gets over the latter though, and goes on to lead the Anatoray segment of the Alliance fleet against the Guild.
- The Captain: Of the Anatoray battleship Claim-Solais.
- Honor Before Reason: At first.
- Reasonable Authority Figure
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Is not seen in the epilogue to the series, nor is even mentioned in the Travelers manga, despite the fact that his daughter Holly is living at the Valca homestead in New Anatoray.
The Guild
Dio Eraclea
Voiced by: Junko Noda (Japanese), Joshua Seth (English)
Whimsical and unpredictable, Dio is a Guild pilot who takes an interest on Claus during the initial chase for Alvis. He later reappears as one of Claus' competitors during the Horizon Cave endurance race, eventually following him back to the Silvana, where he sticks around from that point on. He is really the younger brother of the Guild's leader Delphine, and as such a possible successor to its rule.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Dio has a... very unique view of the world, to say the least.
- Facial Markings
- Genius Ditz: Despite his usual attitude, he's a very competent pilot.
- Nightmare Fetishist
- No Sense of Personal Space
- Meaningful Name: His name is Dracula in Japanized English.
- Pointy Ears: A common trait of a Guildsman.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy
Lucciola
Voiced by: Tomoe Hanba (Japanese), Mona Marshall (English)
Dio's companion and bodyguard, Lucciola accompanies Dio wherever he goes, even aboard the Silvana.
- Battle Butler
- Dance Battler
- Extreme Doormat: At the beginning, anyway.
- Facial Markings
- Heroic Sacrifice
- Theme Naming: Both he and his brother are named after insects.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy
Delphine Eraclea
Voiced by: Michiko Neya (Japanese), Karen Strassman (English)
Current leader of the Guild, and main antagonist of the series, Delphine is as ruthless as she is coldly beautiful. She doesn't particularly care about the troubles of the people of Prester, and looks upon their struggles with grim amusement. She seeks control of the Exile, and will do anything to acquire the means to do so.
- Big Bad
- Brother-Sister Incest
- The Caligula
- Evil Genius
- Facial Markings
- God Save Us From the Queen
- Lack of Empathy: She actively enjoys the idea that many people starve to death while she decadently enjoys the most exquisite meals. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
- Manipulative Bitch
- The Hedonist
- The Sociopath
- Squishy Wizard
- White-Haired Pretty Girl
Cicada
Voiced by: Naoki Makishima (Japanese), Dave Mallow (English)
Delphine's loyal servant, Cicada serves in virtually the same capacity as Lucciola to Dio. Fitting, as he is Lucciola's older brother.
- Dance Battler
- Facial Markings
- Theme Naming: Both he and his brother are named after insects.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy: Or rather, a rugged white-haired man.
Others
Holly Mad-Thane
Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese), Therese Nguyen (English)
Duke Mad-Thane's only daughter. At the beginning of the series she asks Claus and Lavie to deliver a personal message to her father, which influences his decision during that particular encounter. She and her mother later convert their mansion in Norkia into a field hospital once Anatoray and Disith join forces against the Guild.
- Happily Adopted: Despite her parents being likely still alive on Prester, she has pretty much settled into the role of Alvis' "sister" for the duration of her stay at the Valca homestead.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Although a part of Norkia's nobility, she and her mother willingly have their sprawling home converted into a field hospital, and Holly herself helps nurse the injured soldiers brought there.
Dunya Scheer
Voiced by: Yumi Sudou (Japanese), Kate Davis (English)
A young female musket soldier from Disith, she becomes part of one of the many Anatoray and Disith squads tasked in retaking the Alliance fleet's Claudia units from their Guild Handlers.
- Ambiguously Brown: Seemingly a common trait among people from Disith.
- Last Girl Wins
- The Smurfette Principle: She's the only female musket soldier seen on-screen for any length of time.
Characters introduced in Traveler's from the Hourglass
Hendrick Wisla
Tatiana's overbearing uncle, who sneaked in secretly on the Exile instead of overseeing an administrative post in old Anatoray. Bombastic and prone to grand overreactions, Hendrick is mostly concerned with rebuilding the family fortune, and seems to see his over-achieving niece as a way to do this... by marrying her off to a family of high standing. Which obviously Tatiana doesn't care much for, but that doesn't stop him from trying.
- Arranged Marriage: Trying to set up Tatiana in one.
- Badass Moustache: Probably the only thing badass about him, sadly.
- As of chapter 9 of the manga, it turns out that he is a capable artillery marksman. To the extent that he can shoot a Guild base from beyond a ship's normal cannon range.
- Foregone Conclusion: Judging from Last Exile Fam the Silver Wing, Hendrick will never succeed in getting his niece hitched.
- Oh Crap: Does this a lot, with accompanying epic reaction faces.
Uroctea
A member of the Guild, Uroctea is the first member of the native Chapter that the characters encounter upon their return to Earth. The supervisor of the Guild stronghold, he is willing to use force when necessary to fulfill his organization's objectives.
- Cloning Blues: Uroctea admits up-front that he is a clone, as well as everyone else in his Guild chapter.
- Facial Markings
- Pointy Ears
- The Red Baron: One of the Twins of the facility, a bodyguard pair, likely similar to the case in Last Exile Fam the Silver Wing
- Super Strength
- Theme Naming: Uroctea is named after a genus of spiders found in Africa and Eurasia.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy
Aranea
Aranea is a Guildsman, and is Uroctea's older brother. His position in the local Guild chapter is as-yet unknown, but given Uroctea's position it is likely an important one as well.
- Cloning Blues
- Facial Markings
- Pointy Ears
- The Red Baron: The other half of the Twins.
- Theme Naming: Aranea is named after a genus of spiders which includes garden spiders and barn spiders.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy