There are only two entries in my dictionary for inimitable: Your mother's apple pie, and my skill.
― Leo Whitefang[src]
Leo Whitefang is a major character in the Guilty Gear series. Leo is one of the Three Kings of the United Kingdoms of Illyria, governing over twenty nations in the European and Asian regions of Illyria. Also an accomplished warrior in his own right, he shares a friendly rivalry with Ky Kiske.
Design[]
Leo is a very tall and somewhat rugged-looking man with shoulder-length, unkempt blond hair, a beard, and blue eyes. The jacket he wears is much more sophisticated than his fellow Kings' outfits as an orange, fur-laced coat bearing several belts and crosses. Each leg of his pants also has a cross to match the jacket. He also wears black fingerless gloves. "Noblesse oblige" and "Ignorance may kill a lion" are written throughout his outfit and weapons.
His Strive design gives him a far more down-to-earth look by changing his color scheme from orange and black to brown. He now wears a simple white open-collared shirt below a black double-breasted waistcoat with rectangular lapels, as well as light-brown flannel trousers. His brown trenchcoat still keeps the light orange fur collar—yet no longer cape-like as before—and fur cuffs.
Personality[]
Leo has a rather boisterous attitude, and is constantly and overwhelmingly intimidating.[5] He can be extremely loud whenever caught off-guard,[1][8] but in reality, he is an exceptionally cautious person[5] who spares no effort when solving problems,[9] and is serious and level-headed whenever a situation demands it.[10][11][12]
At the same time, Leo has far more pride than the average man, and hates losing above all.[5] Leo's pride appears to be a result of his great fighting aptitude, but in his youth it also made him "self-centered" and ready to disregard anybody—which was everyone—he thought was inferior. Meeting Ky humbled Leo, and led him to try and improve himself.[6] While Leo still holds himself in high esteem,[9] and is not shy to praise his own skill when victorious, he is not necessarily arrogant: he is a much harsher critic of himself than he is of anyone else,[4] and if he had to grade himself, he would probably say "C-".[6] In turn, he seems to have developed something of an inferiority complex towards Ky, even if he completely trusts him.[10][13]
Leo is in the process of building his own personal dictionary, a copy of The Royal Illyrian Dictionary, and tends to redefine words as he sees fit,[4] with actual people and events.[9] For example, he has written his sister's name in the section for "devil."[5]
Story[]
Background[]
Born sometime during the Crusades, Leo was a gifted combatant since he was a kid, and joined the Sacred Order of Holy Knights in the fight against the Gear menace that threatened to drive mankind to extinction. At some point he met the young prodigy Ky Kiske.[6] Fighting together during the war, they would become friends,[5] though Leo would rather call him an "inspiration" instead. Angry at Ky's friendly attitude and superiority in every regard, Leo cheered himself up by writing down Ky's name next to the entry for "bambino" in his dictionary, but changed his arrogant behavior.[6]
At some point, Leo was assigned command of his own unit.[4] Near the end of the war, humanity's strategic point in the Tasmanian Islands was attacked, endangering the perimeter they maintained. On the Order's behalf, Leo led the charge to secure the border.[14] He and his unit faced what appeared to be certain death, but his leadership allowed them to escape[4] and succeed in their endeavor.[14] The war finally came to an end with Justice's sealing in 2175.
In the following years, Leo and Ky's paths seldom crossed,[6] but then the United Kingdoms of Illyria was formally recognized in 2183.[15] Leo was elected as its Second King to oversee the local government of more than twenty nations,[4] his purview being Old Russia and the Middle Eastern states.[16] Months later, Ky was elected as the First King.[17] At some point, Leo was responsible for brokering an alliance with the Federation of China.[4]
Guilty Gear Xrd[]
In October 21, 2187, Ky departs to confront Ramlethal Valentine on Japan, and Leo assumes command of Illyria Castle's War Room. On October 28, during the tragedy of Babylon as the Cradle dematerializes, Leo gives orders to control the situation, then Ky calls Leo to request his approval in releasing Elphelt Valentine. Leo refuses, but Ky releases her anyway; with her help, they capture Ramlethal.[7] Leo later exchanges information with Colin Vernon.[18]
On October 29, Major Lyle's unit encounters the Cradle and contacts the War Room. Leo orders him to keep a safe distance away until they can analyze it, but Lyle attacks anyway, ending in disaster. Leo, noting a spell involved, sends a recording of the incident to Ky and tells him to contact Zepp.[10] On November 1, Leo receives confirmation from Ky that the Conclave is involved, and agrees to release Dr. Paradigm on Ky's behalf.[11] Following the doctor's explanation about the Cradle, Leo oversees the preparations for their ambush.[1]
Encounter with Bedman.
On November 2, Leo oversees the operation at the projected target area,[19] and manages to delay Bedman from destroying the last beacon with the help of Johnny. Ultimately, That Man and Sol Badguy destroy the Cradle's barrier, but the attack fails due to the Conclave getting away with Justice's body.[20] Ramlethal then finally reveals their plan of using St. Elmo's Fire to awaken Justice.[21] On November 4, upon evacuating the capital,[22] Leo stays behind and helps guard Paradigm and Dizzy's location with Ky and Sin, while Sol removes Chronus from Justice.[6] Leo, separated from the others during the Opus attack, is assisted by Elphelt, but her programming activates and attacks Leo.[23] In the aftermath, Leo tries to warn the others; although Sol makes Elphelt return to her senses, she and Justice are teleported away by the Universal Will.[24]
After the incident, Leo finds himself buried in paperwork, and reads a strange report from an outpost in Finland. On November 9, after receiving information from Vernon, Leo travels to Miyabi to investigate the Conclave. On November 16, he comes across Faust and Chronus by chance, and tries to capture them but they get away. Two days later, Johnny and May agree to let themselves be "captured" to share intel, but Haehyun Kum intervenes and requests that he let the duo go. Because of her status, Leo concedes. He then learns of a disturbance in the colony; Haehyun vows to investigate and keep him informed.[25]
Back at the capitol, Leo informs Vernon via comm about what happened; in turn, Vernon asks if Sol can be trusted. Leo says that if Ky trusts him, so does he for the time being.[13] After Sol is attacked by a massive Gear, Leo and Paradigm discuss about the correlationship between these events and the Universal Will, when they notice Zappa and Faust at the castle's entrance, and Leo lets them in.[26] With their help, the team ascertains the nature of Information Flares.[27] Sometime later, Leo calls Sol (having learned from Ramlethal's reports about his past) and orders him to save the world, treating him as a human, and not a god, out of concern; while Sol says he will seal Justice only to save Elphelt, Leo is satisfied.[28]
Summoned by Ariels.
Later on, Leo allows Ramlethal and Sin to check Scandiva where Elphelt's ID has been detected,[29] but it is a trap and Ramlethal goes MIA.[30] Leo, Ky, Sol and Paradigm then meet with That Man and Jack-O' Valentine, who tell them of the Absolute World and that Ariels is the Universal Will. Though he is initially outraged at the idea,[8] Leo agrees to go with Ky and confront her at the celebration of victory, durinig which she shows her true self, in order to obtain a blood sample and track her signal.[12] After Zappa and Randy locate her, Leo takes command of the War Room while Ky, Sol, Sin and Jack-O' are to ambush Ariels at the Celestial Altar.[31] Daryl then calls Leo to relay his contingency plan in case Jack-O's fusion with Justice doesn't work out: destroying them with Collider Cannons.[32] Determined to not let Sol die, Leo tries to have Daryl removed from his post as Third King, but Ky refuses. Ultimately, Sol and Jack-O' survive, with her completing the merge thanks to Axl Low and a weakened Ariels.[33]
Days later, Leo is at the War Room to help deal with the aftermath, reluctant to return to his own jurisdiction due to the vast amount of paperwork amassed in his absence. He then receives a call detailing That Man turning himself in to the U.S. government and tells Ellsworth to turn on the radio to confirm That Man's public surrender.[34]
Guilty Gear -Strive-[]
Three weeks later, a time-travelling witch criminal known as I-No invaded the Illyrian Castle prison and taking out Leo's security cameras to avoid Leo and his allies from finding out what she is after, or rather, whom she unseal from Ariels' body. When Daryl takes interest in researching I-No, Leo give his fellow king about her past criminal information.[35]
As I-No is planning something worst soon, at time when G4 occurs in U.S.A. where the Gear Maker, Asuka volunteers as well, and the government wants to invite Sol as a guest knight, Leo becomes worry about the summit's world peace might end up failure, due to I-No is still on the run.[36]
When I-No suddenly turn herself in, after she and her associate, Happy Chaos destroyed the center building of Illyria to unseal Nagoriyuki and force him to work for them, while Chaos and Nagoriyuki escapes, Leo is enlisted by Daryl to work with former assassins Millia Rage (now the new leader of Post-War Administration Bureau) and Zato-ONE (whose Assassin's Guild is now a reformed espionage group), much to Leo's displease, due to their past records. While investigating and tighten the White House's security system before G4 occurs, Leo, Millia, Daryl and Zato discover a mystery "black box" within the building, and Illyria was one of the military industries involved on the building's construction, not even the current president Vernon aware of this.[37] As Daryl and Sol arrive at the White House, U.S.A. and join G4, while Ky and Jack-O are on the way to catch up with them soon, Leo is listening to Zato and Millia's redemption. However they are too late to realize to stop Chaos from hacking the Illyrian's computer network, and the White House is now completely compromise, just as the Illyrian computer immediately shows the hologram of White House. When Chaos immediately activate nuclear missile to destroy across the countries, Leo orders many officers in security room to find a way to prevent, but the world's leaders (including Daryl) who are currently held hostages by Chaos immediately being forced into self-destruct the missiles, while Zato manage to prevent the missile from being destroyed.[38]
When Chaos activated the White House area's true form as an airship called Tir na nOg, preventing Sol and Vernon from escaping, Leo have no choice to immediately calls Goldlewis Dickinson at Pentagon about what Millia and Zato found on the airship White House. Leo's warning from Millia and Zato’s intel about the White House airship being not an aircraft becomes an example of the American Firefly 3 Air Force jet being destroyed by its security weapons. When an airplane TH10-8 just passed by the White House airship, the PWAB co-operate with Zepp to keep an eye on the airship, until a rescue plane arrive. Thanks to Chief of Staff Erica Bartholomew, Leo and his allies can now uncover "black box"'s mystery.[39] While the White House is now above Neo Phoenix, Leo and his allies are relieve that Daryl manage to make amends with Chaos to let him and the world's leaders free and secure to a rescue plane, barring Sol, Vernon and Asuka, including Giovanna. Before Daryl escape with the leaders safely, he manage to implement secret transmission beneath a cup of cold coffee, allowing Leo and his allies to further uncover White House's PEOC. When Chipp arrive at Pentagon, just as the White House went to Old Mexico instead, Leo and his allies learns Chaos' true plan after stealing Asuka's Tome of Origin for I-No. Just as Chipp transmitting communications on each three bases through Anji, who is at a ruin site where Chaos forcefully freed Nagoriyuki, Leo and his allies are shocked to learn that Chaos is in fact the real That Man, the true mastermind behind the ongoing tragic events Justice’s Crusades, with Asuka being used as a scapegoat for the cause, and only Nagoriyuki who knows Chaos' weakness.[40]
When Goldlewis hesitant to sacrifice the White House with missiles, at time after Chaos defeats Asuka from controlling the White House airship, just as Nagoriyuki defeats Giovanna, Leo threaten the secretary not to do so, or Illyria will use their own missiles to counterattack US', in which Goldlewis eventually agrees. When both Asuka, Vernon and Sol manage to get rid of Chaos through trapping him inside PEOC escape pod, instead of escaping from him, Leo and his allies celebrates. Just as Ky and Jack-O arrive at White House, and Asuka revert Sol back to a human known as Frederick Bulsara, Leo informs Ky that the U.S. soldier apprehended Chaos, on behalf of Daryl and Leo's believes on Sol. However, an injured Giovanna happen to talk about not keeping Vernon's cartoony high-ranked badge, making Leo realize something is not right and checking on White House and soldiers' security cameras. Upon re-learning Chaos' shapeshifting and brainwashing abilities, and Giovanna confirms that Chaos stole a jacket of Udos, a new agent, instead of Chief Stryper's, Leo realize that the real Chaos disguising as a brainwashed Udos and still inside the White House, meaning Sol's detransformation back to human is on a bad timing.[41] When Chaos reveals the real Tome had been fusing with Asuka and use its power to fuse himself with I-No into a singular god-like being. Due to I-No's magic affects many bases' war table computers, showing her god-like silhouette form, Leo and many people who sees her in that form are unable to stop their tears from keep dropping out unexpectedly, until Sol destroys I-No, thanks to Vernon, Jack-O, Asuka, Axl Low, Giovanna, Potempkin, Dragon Installed Ky, and a redeemed Nagoriyuki. Sometimes after the incident ends, and G4 becomes success and enacting peaceful era, Leo, Ky, Millia and Zato are discussing about I-No's true desire, and express that present requires past, future, hope and foundation, as well as people's inner-selves like theirs, something which I-No lacked of. After the discussion, Leo is last seen with Dr. Paradigm, with the former is struggling doing paperworks he received from other world's leaders across the country.[42]
Abilities[]
In terms of combat prowess, Leo has always been proficient in both magic and swordmanship. As a kid and up until he joined the Holy Order, he was "always the best" until he met Ky Kiske; the gap between them made Leo reflect on his skills and incited him to train and work on bettering himself since then.[6] Leo's combat skill and tactical acumen are remarkable, as in one pivotal moment during the Crusades, his unit faced what appeared to be certain death, but Leo's skills allowed them to survive.[4] Regarding magic, Leo isn't particularly versed in the basics of magical theory—at least, in comparison with the likes of Dr. Paradigm, Zappa, Ky and Sol[27]—, but excels in metal shaping spells.[43]
His weapons, twin blades held from the underside, are capable of harnessing powerful energy that can be launched in waves. He is able to shrink them down to a more portable size to be placed on his waist, or they can even take alternate shapes, such as a lion's face in his Windrad des Weltraum technique. His fighting style is unique: He prefers a stance where his back faces the opponent, and holds his twin blades ready to strike at any moment.[4]
Gameplay-wise, Leo is an extremely aggressive rushdown character whose primary goal is to score a knockdown and change into Brynhildr Stance to apply mix ups. He is also slow, fairly large, and has a short jump, as well as step dash instead of the standard run, limiting his movement somewhat. In exchange, he has many pressure options and high damage output, especially on counter hits.
Music[]
- Stolz - Guilty Gear Xrd
- Hellfire - Guilty Gear -Strive-
Quotes[]
Allusions[]
- Leo's name and surname might be a reference to Danish-American band White Lion.
- When hit by Faust's Bone-Crushing Excitement, he can exclaim "Obscura!" and "Edguy!", both of which are German metal bands.
- In one of his respect poses, Leo puts his hand over his heart in a similar manner to the Survey Corps salute in Attack on Titan.
- "Whitefang" is a reference to the U.S. Thrash Metal band by the same name, they are also known as "WarAnimal".
- His surname, Whitefang, is also the nickname given to Conrad Carpenter, bass player of the Black Metal band "Zud"
- German-based Death Metal band Debauchery did a song called "Storm of Iron" in their album Back in Blood.
- Another German-based Melodic Death Metal band Nachtschatten produced the song "Blitzschlag" from their album Prolog.
- "Kahn" is a Grindcore/Death Metal Band based in Sweden.
- His Brynhildr Stance, was named after a rather famous Shieldmaiden Valkyrie in Germanic Mythology named Brynhildr, particularly in the Völsunga saga and Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Trivia[]
- According to Answer's System Voice, Leo is known to leave his jurisdiction numerous times.
- References in his dictionary include:
- The section for "devil" has his sister's name on it.[5]
- Ky Kiske's name is written next to "bambino"[6] (which is Italian for "infant"), though Leo claims he only uses it to mean 'inexperienced'.[44]
- "Problem child" has a picture of Ky.[18]
- As per victory quotes, "inimitable" has two entries, his opponent's mother's apple pie, and his skill; "Victorious cry" is "Serves you right!" (Ky); "irritating" has been added to "quick" (Chipp); "gambler" may have been rewritten as "utter fool" (Johnny); the definition of "dandyism" has been replaced with Leo's own name (Slayer), and "hospitality" doesn't exist (Haehyun).
- "Unflappable" is represented by an (admittedly crude) drawing of Slayer.[45]
- Leo's win pose where a knight presents him with his throne to sit on has a secret variant when the Dust button is held upon winning a round. In Xrd, he will fall down on the spot from attempting to sit on it without looking back at it, while in Strive he stumbles backwards before falling offscreen.
- His English voice actor, Jamieson Price, also voiced Raven in Guilty Gear 2 -Overture-.
- Leo has made guest appearances in the following games: Brave Frontier and Code Shifter.
Gallery[]
External links[]
- レオ＝ホワイトファング | キャラクター | GUILTY GEAR Xrd REV 2 AC版公式サイト
- LEO | CHARACTER | Guilty Gear -Strive- | ARC SYSTEM WORKS
- GGXRD-R2/ - GGST/Leo Whitefang at Dustloop Wiki
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- script § "Philosopher A"
- ↑ Template:Quotes
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 レオ＝ホワイトファング | キャラクター | GUILTY GEAR Xrd REV 2 AC版公式サイト
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 [GGWorld - "Leo Whitefang"]
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Guilty Gear Xrd Visual Book, pg.46-47
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- script § "Maelstorm A"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- script § "Devastation A"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- script § "Cause A"
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 LEO | CHARACTER | Guilty Gear -Strive- | ARC SYSTEM WORKS
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- script § "Struggle A"
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- script § "Sign B"
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- script § "Thesis A"
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- script § "Revelator A"
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 [GGWorld - "Australia"]
- ↑ [GGWorld - "Illyria"]
- ↑ [GGWorld - "Second King"]
- ↑ Guilty Gear 2 -Overture- Material Collection, pg.?? - "For Whom There Would be Justice"
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- script § "Devastation B"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- script § "Showdown A"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- script § "Showdown B"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- script § "Hope A"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- script § "Hope B"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- script § "Maelstorm B"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- script § "Resolution B"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- script § "Leo"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- script § "Sense A"
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- script § "Sense B"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- script § "Identify A"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- script § "Face A"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- script § "Face B"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- script § "Wall A"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- script § "Wall B"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- script § "Fireworks"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 script § "After Story A"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Strive script § "Prologue"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Strive script § "Chaos"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Strive script § "Omen"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Strive script § "Intruder"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Strive script § "Myth"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Strive script § "Confrontation"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Strive script § "Conclusion"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Strive script § "Ending"
- ↑ [GGWorld - "Metalworks"]
- ↑ [GGWorld - "Bambino"]
- ↑ [GGWorld - "Slayer"]