The Familiar of Zero/Characters
Multiple-Character Tropes
- Badass Cape: Pretty much the entire cast wears capes, which seem to conveniently flare out in a very badass manner despite there not being any wind.
- When Saito is knighted in the third season, he's given a cape, indicating that the capes are a sign of nobility.
- Battle Couple: Saito and Louise.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension:
- Big Damn Heroes: Kirche and Tabitha quite a bit. Mr. Colbert and Kirche do this in Season 3. Heck, Kirche just gets to save everybody at some point in each season.
- Genre Blindness: The Knights of the Water Spirit, for peeking on the girl's baths. Well, Saito DID try to stop them, but... well...
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Kirche and Tabitha, even reflected in their hair colors.
- Took a Level in Badass: Saito, Guiche, and Malicorne are all good examples, especially Malicorne.
Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière
Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (JP) and Cristina Valenzuela (EN)
The main female character and a second-year student at the Tristain Academy of Magic... with a terrible track record in practical magic, thus earning her the runic name "Louise the Zero" for her lack of success rate and elemental attributes. Her presence is only mostly based on being the third (and youngest) daughter of the aristocratic La Vallière family, who runs north-eastern Tristain. On a summoning ritual, she accidentally calls upon ordinary Japanese boy Saito Hiraga, and her life will never be the same again. Louise's hobbies are weaving and horseback riding, but she is terrible at the former but is exceptionally good at the latter.
- A-Cup Angst: Quite a large part of her character, actually.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: After Tabitha's rescue, Louise, who has been stripped of rank by her own family, is adopted as a sister by Henrietta, making her second in line for the throne.
- Butt Monkey: Notably in the later chapters of the novels by getting slapstick.
- Character Exaggeration: In the anime Louise has a much shortter fuse when dealing with Saito and his Accidental Pervert moments.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: She hates it if Saito's looking or even thinking about another girl. Gets worse as more girls get added to Saito's harem, such as Henrietta, Tabitha, and especially Tiffania.
- She can't stand Saito being separated from her for too long, even if he's hanging out with his guy friends.
- Cry Cute: She is absolutely adorable whenever she allows herself to be emotionally honest to her feelings towards Saito. In fact, she's the very poster girl of the trope.
- Covert Pervert: Especially in the novels.
- Curtains Match the Window
- Cute Little Fang
- Domestic Abuser: The less said, the better.
- Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male)
- Even the Girls Want Her: Has found herself in yuri-tastic situations more than once and has been subjected to lots of Marshmallow Hell from other girls, and was even kissed by a lot of girls as much as she was kissed by Saito.
- First Girl Wins
- First Kiss: With Saito as part of their contract establishment.
- Glass Cannon: She becomes such after she acquires Void magic, since while void spells are extremely powerful, they also take a long time to cast.
- Godiva Hair
- Groin Attack: Likes to do this to discipline Saito.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: God help you if you were the one who caused her temper to blow. That means you, Saito. Ironically, no matter who causes her temper to snap, Saito or any Villain of the Day would be on the receiving end. Saito receives it 99.99% of the time.
- Happily Married - to Saito. In the Grand Finale (Season 4's final episode) Louise casts the World Door and comes with Saito to see Japan and meet Saito's parents. The ending doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
- In-Series Nickname: "Louise the Zero"
- Inept Mage: Subverted -- the reason she can't do normal magic is because of her affinity with the Void, the arcane fifth element.
- Jerkass: To an extreme level, especially in the anime.
- Kick the Son of a Bitch: On the other hand, some of her abuse towards Saito is justifiable, such as during the second light novel, when she whipped him half to death for trying to molest her in her sleep.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: On the other hand, she has those moments where she shows some kindness to Saito and is more open to her feelings for him (in a painfully adorable way). Season 4 ditches the 'hidden' part because she makes it clear to him and everyone else around that she loves him. And guess who gets married to who in the Grand Finale...
- Lady and Knight: She's the Lady, Saito is the Knight.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Yup, she is.
- Older Than They Look: Looks about ten (not helped by her chest) is actually around 18 by our world's years by the start of the series.
- Overly Long Name: See her full title above.
- Power of Love: The most effective way to recharge Louise is to incite emotion, with her feelings for Saito being most effective. Tabitha deduced this...
- Green-Eyed Monster: ...and decided that jealousy was both the most effective and the easiest to provoke. It worked surprisingly well, although poor Saito would beg to differ.
- To be exact, what recharges her willpower are negative emotions. That's why she was unable to cast her magic when she was really happy that everything was going well.
- Power of the Void: Her true magical affinity is the Void... which renders her unable to cast Fire, Water, Air and Earth Magic, the four common types of magic.
- Anti-Magic: Dispel.
- Teleporters and Transporters
- Portal Door: The World Door, first shown in Season 4, Episode 8 in the anime version.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Explosion.
- Rose-Haired Girl
- Royal Blood: Louise is told by Henrietta that her ancestor was an illegitimate child of the King.
- Shana Clone: Small? Check. Flat chested? Check. Hair-trigger temper? Check again. In love with an ordinary high-school dude who got dragged into her world? Check yet again. Voiced by Rie Kugimiya? Oh so check! Bonus points for Shana's love interest and Louise's love interest for sharing the same seiyuu.
- Squishy Wizard: Saito's primary function in battle is to defend Louise while she completes the long Void chants.
- Stylistic Suck: Her attempt at weaving. Hey, at least she sucked at weaving and not cooking... right?
- Tsundere: Extremely Type A, to Heroic Comedic Sociopath levels.
- Unexpected Successor: Louise is basically a princess, and second in line for the throne.
- When She Smiles
- Whip It Good: When punishing Saito. It's funny at first, but gets more and more disturbing as the series goes on, especially when she switches out her riding crop for a huge-ass spiked whip.
- She would eventually give up the whip, as a sign of her overcoming her insecurity with regards to her love relationship, but that would not happen until very late in the novels. She regains it whenever she tries to 'train' Saito to act and look presentable.
- Zettai Ryouiki: Somewhere between Grade A and Grade B. Hers
isused to be the trope page picture.
Saito Hiraga
Voiced by: Satoshi Hino (JP) and Jonathan Meza (EN)
Saito is a Japanese boy who, while picking up his laptop after attempting to get it repaired in Akihabara, gets sucked into a portal and into Tristain. As a Familiar he was treated as more of a servant-dog by Louise, although as time passed he came to love her and decided to protect her at all costs.
- Attempted Rape: Saito had a bad habit of expressing his love for Louise physically, and at the worst possible times, when she doesn't want it.
- The worst instance is in the second novel where he tries to rape Louise because he assumes that she wants to have sex no matter how many times she says no. He begins to make moves on a sleeping Louise, hugging her and kissing her cheek, before moving to lift her dress, which is when Louise wakes up. He confronts her with the idea that she loves him when she demands an explanation, and she vigorously denies it, no matter how much he insists. Finally he moves to kiss her, and she responds violently. At worst its an attempted rape, at best it's Saito massively overestimating the level of their relationship, and subsequently making a move. While she had been giving him somewhat mixed signals prior to this and continues to do so for much of the series, he still comes out looking pretty bad, though it's eventually shown that it wasn't entirely by free will.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: His knighthood, and in the novels, he's also consecrated as an Imperial Guard Sub-Commander.
- Back from the Dead: At the end of season 2.
- Badass Abnormal
- Blue Eyes
- Butt Monkey: Oh so much around Louise.
- Chick Magnet
- Chivalrous Pervert: More chivalrous in the light novels, more perverted in the anime. This is pretty justified; he's a nice guy, but he's also a 17-year-old human male.
- It doesn't even help that in the anime (and, to a lesser extent, even the light novels) Siesta developed a somewhat sadistic streak, sexually harassing him knowing full well she's going to get him tortured.
- Comedic Sociopathy: A lot of Saito's perverted actions, which on occasion borderlines as Black Comedy Rape, tends to be shrugged off by some fans unlike Louise's abuse.
- And sometimes, he's definitely asking to get beaten half to death, like that one time when he tried to rape her while she was asleep. This ends up being explained as a side effect of the process of becoming a familiar; Saito is unknowingly being urged to do something to form a more concrete connection with his master.
- Cool Loser: Initially shunned as a peasant, he gained a slight grudging respect through various achievements, but really took the cake after holding back an army of 70,000, and subsequently becoming a Chevalier Knight.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: While he's not as violent about it as Louise, he has shown to be very jealous whenever other guys flirted with her.
- Flanderization: Saito becomes increasingly perverted as the series goes on.
- Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: He got amused at the sight of Louise and Tiffania groping each other in the women's bath. Also, he got turned on when he saw Montmorency and Beatrice kiss while under the influence of the Love Potion.
- Happiness in Slavery
- Happily Married - to Louise in the grand Finale. It is hinted that their wedding took place in the same chapel where they got wed in Season 2's finale. The epilogue shows Louise using the World Door spell and the two go to Japan so Louise can see our world and meet Saito's parents. Counts a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
- The Hero: Ironically he's made a Vice-Captain in Season 3, making him Guiche's Lancer.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He takes on an army of 70,000 to facilitate the escape of Louise, Henrietta, and the rest. He got better though, thanks to Tiffania.
- Idiot Ball: There are so many freaking times where Saito could've easily avoided Louise's wrath by simply explaining the situation in clear terms.
- Values Dissonance could also apply in that as a Japanese, Saito was not supposed to explain his side and instead apologize. Then again, knowing Louise, even if he does explain his side...
- Instant Expert: Justified; being the reincarnation of Gandlafr, he is gifted with the skill to use any weapon he touches
- But only as long as it's meant to be a weapon. Case in point is the bling-tastic golden sword he tries to use on the earth golem, which doesn't activate his power and shatters on impact. Derflinger later explains that it was due to the sword's ornamental nature that Saito's power didn't activate.
- Anime only on that last bit. It was never stated to be ornamental in the novels.
- But only as long as it's meant to be a weapon. Case in point is the bling-tastic golden sword he tries to use on the earth golem, which doesn't activate his power and shatters on impact. Derflinger later explains that it was due to the sword's ornamental nature that Saito's power didn't activate.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a pervert, but it's obvious that he cares a lot for Louise, who in turn does care for him in her own violent way.
- Lady and Knight: He's the Knight, and Louise is the Lady.
- Lightning Bruiser: Espically notable in a world of Mages.
- Limited Wardrobe: Saito is rarely seen without the original clothes he wore when he was pulled to Halkeginia from Earth, even after he was knighted, where he just simply wear a cape over his clothes.
- Love Martyr: Sometimes verges on this.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: At the end of volume 8 he and Louise are reunited, Seista says she'll step aside, and he and Louise retire to their bed for the night. Then he proceeds to start wondering if he's dreaming and starts to insult Louise's chest so she'll hit him and he will see if it's a dream making her freak out and hit him, thus about tripling her insecurity complex, and ruining their relationship's chance at becoming official.
- Older Than They Look
- One Head Taller: Than Louise.
- One-Man Army: It's pretty damn literal, considering the fact that he faced an army of 70,000 men.
- Ordinary High School Student
- Supporting Protagonist
- Talking Weapon: The Derflingher.
- Too Dumb to Live: His master/girlfriend has a Hair-Trigger Temper, but that doesn't stop him from doing insanely stupid and perverted things, even towards her.
Derflinger
(Derf)
Derflingher is an ancient talking sword which Saito and Louise bought in a local blacksmith in order to make Saito look more intimidating. He and Saito struck up an immediate friendship and have been partners in battle ever since.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: Episode 10 of Zero no Tsukaima F. He gets better, though. Turns out he resided in Saito's Gandalfr runes all along.
- Eccentric Mentor: Derf is almost always there to provide advice to Saito and to help him grow as a person. He also has a bit of a laughing streak and enjoys teasing people.
- Energy Absorption: One of Derf's powers is absorbing spells. Higher level spells take longer to absorb.
- Easy Amnesia: Derf remembers little of his own life, due in large part to his age.
- People Puppets: Another one of his powers is to take control of his partners bodies, but this costs him mana and so he can't do it for long.
- Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Derf is about six thousand years old.
- Talking Weapon
Siesta
Voiced by: Yui Horie (JP) and Xanthe Huynh (EN)
A maid at the academy. She has a crush on Saito, and unlike Louise she treats him very kindly. She fell in love with Saito because he stood up for the rights of the people who can't use magic. Recently, she seems to not mind Saito getting punished because she ends up taking care of him anyways. In Season 3, she is appointed by Henrietta to be Saito's personal maid. (It's a long story.)
- Adaptation Expansion: Of the rather unsavory kind. In the anime, Siesta appears in many situations and events that originally, in the novels, she was no part of; this comes off with Siesta scheming and getting on Louise and Saito's way much more than usual.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Has shades of this later on in the story. She often joins Louise in beating Saito if he does something to anger her, and on more than one occasion has attempted to seduce him knowing full well that Louise would beat the living hell out of him for it.
- Bob Haircut
- But Not Too Foreign: She was the descendant of a World War II Japanese pilot who strayed into Tristain.
- Character Exaggeration: Though appearing in events she was no part of originally, in the anime Siesta comes off as very clingy and ready to get on Louise and Saito's way at every given opportunity.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Starts to display this trope once Tiffania shows up, and shares Louise's utter contempt for the poor half-elf girl.
- Covert Pervert: As the anime progressed, she has shown signs of enjoying Louise torturing Saito, going as far as to sexually seduce him, inciting Louise's wrath in return. Seasons 3 & 4 make no attempt to hide this; she's enjoying Saito getting beaten just so she'd be the one to take care of him.
- Gainaxing
- Graceful Loser - In the Grand Finale. We're not entirely sure, but she attends the official couple's wedding and looks genuinely happy for them, but it isn't entirely clear if she will still work for them.
- Hadaka Apron: Only once, to great effect
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: She's perfectly willing to take a bath with Saito, but she doesn't flirt with him while they're both sharing the same bathtub.
- Meido: No shit, Sherlock.
- Nice Girl: But not for long...
- Ms. Fanservice
- Romantic Runner-Up
- Shallow Love Interest: Started in season 2.
- Yamato Nadeshiko
Henrietta de Tristain
Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (JP)
The well-loved Crown Princess of Tristain and Louise's old friend. She eventually ascends to Queen of Tristain. She has a strong sense of justice and strictly obeys her morals, but based on her interactions with Louise and her budding attraction for Saito, this wasn't always the case in the past. She is a Water mage.
- Adaptation Dye Job: Her hair is described as being a chestnut brown in the novels. In the anime her hair is a light purple and in the manga her hair is a much darker shade of purple.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: To Prince Wales... or better said, the copy of his body, animated with a little of his soul.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Season 4, Episode 6 shows that she has this kind of personality, telling Louise that she's in love with Saito and then taunting her and her poor, flat chest. Turns out she's been quite one since childhood. Not that it sticks for long.
- Break the Cutie: Poor Henrietta and Wales...
- The Chains of Commanding
- Everything's Better with Princesses: She ultimately ascends to Queen.
- Foe Yay: Season 4, Episode 6 reveals that she is this with Louise. This episode has Henrietta groped Louise's tiny chest while having a bath fight. Henrietta even mention that she has never had a fight with her since they were young. They also mention their numbers of wins, loses, and draws.
- Graceful Loser - In the Grand Finale. We're not entirely sure, but she is the witness to the official couple's wedding alongside Tabitha/Charlotte and looks genuinely happy for them.
- The High Queen
- Kissing Cousins: She's in a secret relationship with Prince Wales of Albion, who happens to be her cousin. It ends in tears...
- Making a Splash
- Ms. Fanservice: Very much in season 2.
- She becomes this again in Season 4.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Henrietta Anne, youngest daughter of King Charles I of England and sister of King Charles II.
- Politically-Active Princess: She's very active politically. At one point she hires Saito and Loise to spy on a village to confirm her suspicions about corruption within the nobility, because she doesn't trust the usual sources. She was crowned and became Queen after taking command of the royal guard and leading them into battle to defend Tristain.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She doesn't throw her weight around just because she can, tries to take care of her troops in war, and will even abide by rules set by the school at a party.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: She takes command of the army when needed, and even tries to stop Louise and Saito's group from rescuing Tabitha partly out of her concern for their safety, and partly because she doesn't want to provoke another war by making it seem like she approved of their invasion into another country to rescue her.
- Ship Tease: Constantly with Saito. It ultimately goes no where.
- It returns again in Season 4, and she isn't afraid of telling to Louise's face that she loves him.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With Prince Wales, her first cousin.
- Third Option Love Interest: While technically, Saito gets ship teased with a lot of characters, Henrietta gets the most focus behind Louise and Siesta.
- The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask
Agnes Chevalier de Milan
Voiced by: Michiko Neya
Captain of Tristain's Royal Musketeers in service of Henrietta. She is introduced in the second season. She holds a strong animosity towards Fire mages because of her past. Since she appears stern and uninterested in men, many people think or assume that she is a lesbian.
- Badass Normal: In a world filled with mages, she holds her own with a pistol and a saber.
- Celibate Hero
- Demoted to Extra: Doesn't have much role in Season 3 other than being Henrietta's bodyguard. She does have her moment when she finds out that Colbert is still alive. She spares him in the end, out of the fear that his students will hate her.
- Has even smaller role in Season 4. To the point that all of her screen times last for about 5-30 seconds and she doesn't even speak in some of them.
- Does Not Like Mages: Especially Fire Mages, due to a group of such Mages burning her native D'Angleterre.
- Fake-Out Make-Out: With Louise.
- Military Lesbian: Implied -- she has no qualms silencing Louise by kissing her when the latter gasps while eavesdropping on a pair of conspirators (though she did look pretty mortified afterwards).
- She's only visibly mortified in the anime. In the novel she shrugged it off as no big deal and later had a big laugh about it at Louse's expense.
- Revenge: Her motivation -- her native D'Angleterre was set ablaze by a group of Fire Mages, supposedly to contain an epidemic. One such Mage was Colbert, who, unknown to her, backed out at the last minute due to his doubts concerning the epidemic, and eventually rescued her from the blaze.
- Out of the Inferno: Done awesomely, but not in the usual way; as Lishman is savoring his victory, Agnes leaps out of the flames and skewers him.
- Sergeant Rock
- Somebody Else's Problem: Even if Saito approaches her to save him from another misunderstanding-fueled temper tantrum by Louise, she does nothing to help him.
- Sword and Gun: She prefers a pair of pistols and a longsword.
- Token Wholesome: She's the complete contrast of any fanservice-laden girls in the series, despite having a big bust, a different variation of Zettai Ryouiki, and probably her Fake-Out Make-Out moment with Louise. A perfect contrast to her Tomboy and Girly Girl partner, Princess Henrietta, who is a good Ms. Fanservice.
- Possibly one of the reasons why she isn't as popular as the other girls and of her being Demoted to Extra. She doesn't even own an image song.
- There is one time when she subverts this trope in the beach episode of Season 3. She looks so goshdarn sexy in her two-piece swimsuit. Especially since she's smiling cheerfully, evidently enjoying playing around in the surf by this time.
- Tomboyish Sidetails
- Zettai Ryouiki: On the musketeer uniform, the hotpants/long boots variant. Somewhere between Grades A and B.
Julio Cesare
Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa
A priest-knight from the Holy Empire of Romaglia sent as transferee to Tristain Magic Academy. He also has Mismatched Eyes -- one red, the other blue -- called the "Moon Eyes" after the twin moons of Halkeginia. Julio is sent by the Pope as a support for Henrietta's expedition to Albion, now in political strife after the fall of the royal family and then followed by the death of Reconquista's leader, Cromwell.
- The Ace: Julio is infuriatingly good at absolutely everything.
- Justified to a degree, as he's also a Void familiar with more control over his magic than Louise; his primary ability is to control magical creatures.
- Ambiguously Bi: Julio is canonically in love with Louise but may or may not also have an interest in her boyfriend Saito as shown when he tells Saito whether jokingly or not that he loves him and wants to kiss him as well as Louise.
- The Beast Master: Has his dragon tamed despite the fact that he isn't a mage.
- Bishonen
- Chick Magnet
- Demoted to Extra: In the anime at least. While he does play an important role in Season 2, in Season 3 he's largely a character in a crowd setting, and only gets a few lines at most.
- Subverted as of F. Saying more would spoil.
- Genre Savvy: Julio seems quite aware of the convoluted romantic situation, and occasionally turns it to his benefit.
- Mismatched Eyes
- Named After Somebody Famous: A minor subversion -- he's named after a Romaglian emperor who does share the same name as a certain famous Roman emperor.
- Princely Young Man: A Prince Charming Type.
- Trickster Archetype
- Warrior Monk: With a sword in hand.
Tiffania Westwood
Voiced by: Mamiko Noto
A well-endowed half-elf who Saito remembered as "the big-breasted fairy who saved his life" once. She appears in the third season as a regular character, and also has feelings for Saito.
- Even the Girls Want Her: By the power of both her huge tits and her genuinely kind and sweet personality.
- Fan Nickname: Titania
- Fantastic Racism: She has to hide her Unusual Ears to avoid the prejudices that elves face in that world.
- Foreshadowing: She was capable of reviving Saito without any magical artefacts (Ring of Andvari being one), by filling him with magical energy (and thus sacrificing her memento). Later, the powers Saito gained upon becoming Lifdrasil made him into a container for magical power, with added ability to unleash it as destructive spells (on command of his master), or revive himself by using some of it.
- Gag Boobs
- Gainaxing: Allow me to reiterate: HO. LEE. SHIT.
- Graceful Loser - In the Grand Finale. She attends the official couple's wedding and looks genuinely happy for them.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl
- Love Epiphany: Although she always seemed to admire Saito, she seems to start developing feelings for him after he defends her during her inquisition trial, and in the beginning of Season 4 outright wonders about those feelings she has when Saito is around.
- Naive Everygirl
- Nice Girl
- No Social Skills
- Power of the Void
- More Than Mind Control: Her Mind Wipe spell erases memories of events and dispels any mind-control magic used on a target.
- Rescue Romance: Sort of -- she resurrected Saito after he was mortally wounded while fending off a massive Albionian army.
- Third Option Love Interest: The "fight" for Saitou's heart was narrowed to Siesta and Louise, until Tiffania came in.
- Unusual Ears
- Zettai Ryouiki: Grade B
Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst
Voiced by: Nanako Inoue (JP) and Lauren Landa (EN)
Louise's classmate and a Fire Mage, whose power is drawn from her strong passion for money. Her family has an intense dislike for the La Vallieres, and thus treats Louise with disdain. She flirts and has dated (and heavily implied in the anime to have slept with) many of the Academy's male students, but falls in love with Saito. Her familiar is a giant flame-tailed salamander she creatively calls "Flame".
- Bi the Way: While she is very much fond of Saito and Colbert, she starts to have a thing for Louise in the third season. Taken to extreme in the light novels.
- Cool Loser: Initially shunned by socialites at the academy and subjected to slut-shaming and public humiliation, because of her "popularity". It stopped once she returned the favor and revealed herself to be a triangle-class Fire Mage.
- Dark-Skinned Redhead
- Elemental Hair: She's a fire mage. Is that even a coincidence?
- Giver of Lame Names
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Starts off the series as a bully towards Louise, but becomes nicer as the series continue. By this time, she doesn't act rude anymore and often ends up being the gang's big damn hero along with either Tabitha or Mr. Colbert.
- Meaningful Name/Gratuitous German: Her name means "church".
- Ms. Fanservice: Pretty obvious.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Sofie Frederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, maiden name of Catherine the Great, one of the most powerful monarchs of Russia.
- Peek-a-Bangs
- Playing with Fire
- Pet the Dog: After learning of Tabitha's Dark and Troubled Past and seeing her haunted by nightmares in her sleep, she decides to lie beside Tabitha and embrace her, telling her everything will be alright.
- Porn Stash: Her family heirloom is one. Which is one of the clues that there are things summoned from the Earth, specifically Japan.
- Really Gets Around: One scene in season 1 shows her half-naked, telling a boy outside to "wait an hour later", implying that she has slept with a sizable number of the boys on campus.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Tabitha's blue
- Teacher-Student Romance: In Season Three, Kirche falls in love with Mr. Colbert, and she tries to instigate this.
- Tranquil Fury: In the light novel, she describes herself as being calmer the angrier she gets.
- Zettai Ryouiki: Long boots to Grade A.
Guiche de Gramont
Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (JP) and Nicholas Manelick (EN)
Louise's classmate and a consummate playboy despite being in love with Montmorency. He always carries an artificial rose with him, the stem of which is his wand. He also likes to dote upon his familiar, a giant mole named Verdandi. As his familiar indicates, his specialty is earth magic and he prefers to fight using bronze statues called Valkyries. He is named after Antoine V de Gramont, Duke of Guiche, a French military figure.
- Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Guiche may be a consummate womanizer, and Montmorency a Clingy Jealous Girl, but they do love each other.
- Bishie Sparkle
- Casanova
- Chick Magnet: He is and should be one, but the moment other girls (usually Montmorency) end up seeing or knowing about him two-timing or committing perverse acts (which is... a lot of times) he'd better say goodbye to his pride... and three years of his life.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Arguably one the best examples since he ends up being Saito's go-to-guy for help.
- Dishing Out Dirt
- Handsome Lech
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Once one gets past his overwhelming narcissism, Guiche is actually a nicer guy. By season three, he and Saito are actually good friends. In the light novels, too, when Saito was presumed dead, Guiche erected a statue of him in honor of his friend. Unfortunately, Louise and Siesta accidentally destroyed it...
- The Lancer: Is typically Saito's go-to-guy whenever he's in need of assistance. Ironically, Saito is the Vice Captain of Guiche's knight unit, the Ondine Knights, while Guiche is leader. No one really cares and they seem to treat Saito as the leader more than Guiche. Guiche doesn't mind much, though.
- Large Ham: Does this occasionally.
- Marionette Master
- Named After Somebody Famous: Antoine V de Gramont, Duke of Guiche, a French nobleman and Lieutenant General.
- Princely Young Man: a Prince Charming type.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Verdandi
- Spell My Name with an "S": His familiar Verdandi is named after the Norn of the Present from Norse Mythology. Some fansubs made incorrect variations, either out of ignorance of the source material or immediate associations with Belldandy of Ah! My Goddess, whose original name is the same as that of the source material but was fallen victim to Dub Name Change when the said series was exported to America.
- Suck My Rose
Tabitha
Voiced by: Yuka Inokuchi (JP) and Jeniffer Alyx (EN)
The soft-spoken, book-reading best friend of Kirche and classmate of Louise with a mysterious past. She specializes in Wind Magic and has a dragon familiar named Sylphid. Apparently has a younger sister named Irukuku but as it turns out, Irukuku is Sylphid, a Rhyme Dragon capable of using nature magic and transforming into a human.
- A Day in the Limelight: Her spinoff manga "Tabasa no Bouken" ("Tabitha's Adventures") that show some of her missions.
- An Ice Person: Being a Triangle Mage with a Wind specialty, she's adept at creating blizzards and icicle javelins.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: She becomes Queen of Gallia after Joseph's ultimate defeat.
- Badass Adorable: It comes with being a Zero no Tsukaima character.
- Badass Bookworm: And you know it!
- Big Eater: Just see the manga, anime and light novels for yourself.
- Blow You Away
- Bob Haircut
- Broken Bird: She was the Crown Princess of Gallia, whose father, the Duke of Orléans, was killed in a succession dispute with his older brother Joseph, who then became King. Her mother was driven insane after taking a drugged drink meant for Charlotte, and she was sent to dangerous missions as a means to distance her from the Gallian throne and hopefully have her killed in the line of duty. Her mother gets better in Season 4.
- Cool Loser: Never even tried to be socially accepted, yet still manages to be cool in her own way.
- Dope Slap: Sometimes does this with Sylphid when she becomes too annoying.
- Elemental Hair
- Emotionally Repressed Girl: Before her mother went mad, Tabitha was a Cheerful Child.
- Expy: Aside from their backgrounds and hair color [blue vs. light purple], there is no difference between Tabitha and Yuki Nagato
- Rei Ayanami Expy: Also extends to Neon Genesis Evangelion: She shares Rei Ayanami's appearance and traits (light blue hair, quiet and stoic) plus Asuka's backstory -- her mother became insane, believing her doll was her daughter, completely ignoring her actual daughter and even throwing insults at her.
- More precisely, she has the back story of Princess Kushana from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which Asuka's story is based on(the poison causing madness is exactly the same as Nasicaa's manga).
- Rei Ayanami Expy: Also extends to Neon Genesis Evangelion: She shares Rei Ayanami's appearance and traits (light blue hair, quiet and stoic) plus Asuka's backstory -- her mother became insane, believing her doll was her daughter, completely ignoring her actual daughter and even throwing insults at her.
- Graceful Loser - In the Grand Finale. We're not entirely sure, but she attends the official couple's wedding and looks genuinely happy for them.
- Meganekko
- Our Dragons Are Different: Sylphid is also a Rhyme dragon who has a human form.
- Pettanko: She has even less of a bust then Louise (who even says so in one episode) but doesn't seem to be bothered by it. Not that it makes her any less charming.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Kirche's red.
- Rei Ayanami Expy
- Rescue Romance: Begins to like Saito a lot after he goes out of his way to rescue her despite her attempts at attacking him earlier. She even goes so far as to defend him against some of Louise's jealousy fueled spells/explosions.
- Simple Staff
- Stocking Filler: Rarely goes without her white stockings.
- Terse Talker: "Me."
- The Stoic: Far more stoic than even Yuki.
- Not So Stoic: Her feelings do peek through once in a while, especially whenever she remembers her family, or when she fell in love with Saito late in season 3. Hoo boy, she takes this trope to higher levels in Season 4, though..
- Trademark Favorite Food: More present in the manga.
Montmorency Margarita la Fere de Montmorency
Voiced by: Mikako Takahashi (JP)
A girl in Louise's class and Guiche's on-and-off girlfriend. She is a Water Mage with a frog familiar known as Robin. Her family makes oaths to the water spirits of Lake Lagdorian. She is one of the few girls in the series who never actually falls in love with Saito, instead becoming friends and teammates with him.
- Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Montmorency may be a Clingy Jealous Girl, and Guiche a consummate womanizer, but they do love each other.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Not to such violent extents as Louise, but she doesn't like it whenever Guiche is in another of his exploits.
- In-Series Nickname: "Monmon", courtesy of Saito.
- Making a Splash
- Princess Curls
- Tsundere: Not as much as Louise, but she is this to Guiche.
Malicorne de Grandple
Voiced by: Hikaru Tokita
A chubby student in Louise's class, is a wind mage with an owl familiar. Becomes much more important and useful in Seasons 3 & 4.
- Ascended Extra: Doesn't get to do much until Season 3, when he became a member of the Knights of the Undine.
- Blow You Away
- Blush Sticker
- Brain Bleach: Causes this to his friends, and viewers, on three separate occasions.
- Fat Best Friend
- Fat Idiot: Not exactly dumb, but he does act pretty silly.
- Sad Clown: Temporarily in Season 3.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: He starts to get girls later in the series. And gets dumped in the third season due to the peeping incident. And regains them in Season 4 for being the Queen's guards.
Miss Longueville
Miss Longueville/Fouquet
Voiced by: Akiko Kimura
Full Title: Matilda of Saschen-Gotha
Magical Affinity: Earth
The daughter of a viceroy who served under Tiffania's father the archduke, Matilda was forced to flee her home with Tiffania after King Wales murdered the rest of their families and had her home burnt to the ground. These events caused her to develop a burning hatred of nobility, and forced her into a life of crime to pay the bills. At the start of the series she is posing as a secretary at the Tristain Academy of Magic with the intent to eventually steal the Staff of Destruction (an M72 LAW) stored there.
- Beleaguered Assistant: When she is Osmand's secretary, due to his status as a Dirty Old Man.
- Christmas Cake: Being called this by Kirche is her Berserk Button.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Her nickname is Foquet the Crumbling Dirt/Earth.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Foquet is sickened in the light novel when the mercenaries loot the dead after New Castle.
- Extra Ore Dinary: Using Alchemy, her golem can turn its fist to steel.
- Freudian Excuse: Hates nobles because her father was betrayed and killed by Albion nobles.
- It Amused Me/For the Evulz: In the light novel she admits to stealing from nobles because she liked seeing them squirm.
- Just Like Robin Hood: A large part of her appeal.
- Oh Crap: When the Staff of Destruction is out of ammo and she gets a hilt to the stomach from Saito.
- Pet the Dog: Sent money to Tiffania and the orphans in the light novel.
- Reluctant Fanservice Girl: A little in the anime, considering that Osmand and the Duke can't keep their eyes off of her.
- Sexy Secretary
- The Glasses Come Off: When she reveals herself as Foquet.
- You Gotta Have Green Hair
Jean Colbert
Voiced by: Takuma Suzuki
Magical Affinity: Fire
Mr. Colbert is a teacher at the Academy and one of the first mages to respect Saito. He dislikes war and instead tries to find ways to adapt fire magic for technology. Is quite absent-minded but dedicated to his job and deeply interested in our world's culture, especially our machinery which are much more modern than Halkegenia's.
- Absent-Minded Professor
- The Atoner: Deeply regrets the burning of Agnes' home village, and due to this has developed a desire to help the nation with his fire magic.
- Bald of Awesome
- Cool Teacher
- Dark and Troubled Past
- The Engineer: Builds an engine in the manga and other inventions throughout the series.
- Faking the Dead
- For Science!: A positive example of this trope.
- Gadgeteer Genius
- I Was Quite a Looker
- Playing with Fire
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: His reason for hating war.
Osmand
Voiced by: Takeshi Aono
An ancient Square-class wizard and Headmaster of the Academy. Has a mouse familiar. He is perverted and often uses his familiar's size for lecherous purposes, but he is said to be a powerful mage.
- Dirty Old Man: Quite a bit, especially in the OVA.
- Informed Ability: The old man is said to be a square mage, but never actually fights. We don't even know what his specialty is.
- Wizard Classic
Viscount Jean-Jacques Francis de Wardes
Voiced by: Tomoyuki Shimura
Wardes is the captain of Tristain's Griffin Knights and Louise's fiancé. His runic name is 'Lightning'. When Louise is sent on mission for Princess Henrietta, Henrietta sents him with Louise to help and guard her. He is polite and a gentleman, but tends to get carried away whenever her wants something done. He is the assassin of Albion's prince, Prince Wales.
- Bastard Boyfriend: Played with, he was Louise's fiance, but once she dumps him, he quickly reveals the bastard part.
- Blow You Away: His sword also functions as a wand.
- Death by Adaptation: He dies in the anime.
- Me's a Crowd: Can create copies of himself with wind.
- Nice Hat: Wears one that matches his clothes.
- Scars Are Forever: He ain't getting that arm back. It's his shoulder that gets wounded in the anime and his arm is bandaged so it wouldn't look too violent.
- Shock and Awe: He uses his wand/sword for electric spells.
- The Mole: Secretly a member of Reconquista, but smart viewers should have predicted that already.
- The Stoic: Or so we think...
- Wicked Cultured: Does dress quite nicely and he is a noble.
King Joseph Gaul
Voiced by: Jurota Kosugi
Joseph is the King of Gallia, a Void Mage and has the "Mind of God" Sheffield as his familiar. Outwardly he plays the facade of being just a pretty boy that cannot rule his country if his life depended on it, while in reality he is a ruthless politician and schemer. There was no act he would hesitate to do, or anything he was not willing to sacrifice due to the 'Void' in his heart. He is the uncle of Tabitha.
- Cain and Abel: Evil older brother, check. Murdered younger brother, check again.
- The Chessmaster: Has a literal magical chessboard.
- Evil Uncle: While he isn't the main character's uncle he is an uncle to Tabitha. He is pretty evil too.
- Green-Eyed Monster: The reason he hated his little brother.
- Lack of Empathy: Seems to have no issues killing his brother, then attempting to poison his niece, and later killing not only Romalia's men, but his own as well in an attempt to feel some kind of emotion. Season 4 implies that Joseph's actions were attempts to make him feel regret for killing his younger brother, but in a twisted way.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Keeps up a public persona of a weak useless man.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Oh dear Lord, YES.
- Power of the Void: Is one of the select few who inherited this power.
- Flash Step / Teleport Spam: Acceleration/Haste enables him to keep up with the Gandalfr's speed.
- Mega Manning: He can absorb the abilities of other Void Mages through his familiar, "the Mind of God".
- Stuff Blowing Up: Explosion, though his Void specialty is actually Acceleration/Haste and not Explosion.
- Inverse Law of Sharpness and Accuracy: His Explosion spell is less powerful than Louise's but is more accurate so he can aim it at a designated target, unlike hers which is more of an Area of Effect spell.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
Duke la Valliere
Voiced by: Jiro Saito
The father of Louise, as well as Eleanor and Cattleya, he is extremely protective of her and would do whatever it takes to ensure her safety. He is married to Duchess Karin Desiree of Tristain. The Grand Finale shows him bringing his youngest daughter to meet his future son-in-law at the altar. He looks genuinely happy for them.
- Knight Templar Parent: Was willing to kill Saito for almost having sex with Louise. In the light novel, after Saito's promotion, he still kicks his ass for trying to make moves on Louise. The Grand Finale shows him bringing his youngest daughter to meet Saito at the altar. He looks genuinely happy for them.
- Off with His Head: Wanted to behead Saito after the incident with Louise and the boat.
- Papa Wolf: While he does have his knight templar tendencies, he does genuinely care for Louise and even willing to oppose the state if it tries to exploit her talents like a tool.
- The Patriarch
Duchess Karin Desiree la Valliere
Voiced by: Yoshiko Takemura
The mother of Louise, Eleanor and Cattleya, she is also known by her nickname "Heavy Wind" and was the former Commander of Manticore Corps, though during her time as Commander she hid her gender. She was the strongest Wind magic-user ever to serve in the Tristain military according to records. The Grand Finale shows her attend Louise and Saito's wedding. She looks genuinely happy for them.
- Blow You Away: A square-class wind mage.
- Cool Mask: Wore an iron mask during her time as Heavy Wind.
- The Dreaded: Partial example, but Louise was much more frightened of her mother than than Queen's punishment.
- Family Honor: Was willing to kill Louise over disobeying the princess, and is only stopped by dispel magic.
- Lady of War
- Red Baron: Heavy Wind.
- Retired Badass: Was the Commander of the Manticore Corps.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Not so much now, but during her younger days... (That's from the Karin Side Stories.)
Cattleya la Valliere
Voiced by: Kotomi Yamakawa
Cattleya Yvette La Baume Le Blanc de La Fontaine is Louise’s second sister. She believes Louise has potential, and that she is a wonderful girl. More than anything, she longs for Louise’s happiness, and is fine with the fact that Louise has feelings for a peasant. She is a kindhearted person, and even helped Louise escape from her house to go back to the Academy. She knows Louise well, and could easily tell that Louise was in love with Saito, even when Louise denied it. Although Cattleya is older than Louise, she isn't married due to the fact she is ill. The Grand Finale shows her attend Louise and Saito's wedding. She is with her parents and Eleanore and is genuinely happy for the couple. Cattleya is an Earth mage.
- Dishing Out Dirt
- Friend to All Living Things: She has a lot of pets. The light novels and the anime imply that her bedroom looks like a zoo.
- Incurable Cough of Death: She has some disease that makes her cough, that is about it.
- Knight Templar Big Sister: Though lesser than Eleanor's, she is definitely this. Her character song with Cattleya and Louise (Nemurenai Fantasy) shows this, along with hints of her approval of Louise and Saito's relationship.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Looks like an older, gentler version of Louise, but with an ample chest that Louise envies.
Eleanore la Valliere
Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue
Eleanore Albertine Le Blanc De La Blois De La Vallière is Louise’s eldest sister and is currently working as head researcher in the Tristainian magic research organisation simply known as the "Academy". She resembles her father more than her mother. Eleanor brought Louise out of the magic academy, intending to find her a noble husband. It should be her turn to get married instead of Louise, and she had gotten engaged to the Earl of Burgundy, though he called off the marriage. Like most the rest of Louise’s family, except for Cattleya, she believes that Louise is incapable of performing magic, and that she is a zero. The Grand Finale shows her attend Louise and Saito's wedding. She looks annoyed at first, possibly for the fact that the youngest Vallière daughter got married first, but she immediately loses the frown and is genuinely happy for them.
- Berserk Button: Being reminded about her failed engagement.
- Knight Templar Big Sister: She's willing to lock Louise up so she wouldn't go to war. Her character song with Cattleya and Louise (Nemurenai Fantasy) shows this, along with hints of her secret approval of Louise and Saito's relationship.
- Meganekko: When we get to see here dere side, she becomes this.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: When she gets mad.
- Tsundere: Even worse than Louise. Doesn't help that she's flat like Louise, too.
- Whip It Good: In the anime, she uses two whips.
- Back to The Familiar of Zero