| "It is impossible to change the judgement that has been made. Your people's fate... is inevitable."
Maria Lancelot to Gengo Aoi in "Inevitable". |
| Maria Lancelot | ||
|---|---|---|
 Maria Lancelot, as she appears in the manga. | ||
| Kana | マリア＝ランスロット | |
| Romaji | Maria Ransurotto | |
| Profile | ||
| Sobriquet | "Holy Corpse" "Mother of all Pandoras" | |
| Nationality | English (Presumed) | |
| Personal Status | ||
| Relatives | Cassandra (daughter) Teslad (daughter) Windy May (daughter) Lucy Renault (daughter) Chiffon Fairchild (daughter, †) Ryuuichi Aoi (son, †) Kazuha Aoi (granddaughter, †) Kazuya Aoi (grandson) | |
| Affiliations | West Genetics (Ravensbourne Nucleotide) | |
| Status | Alive (Preserved at Ravensbourne Nucleotide) | |
| Voice Actor | ||
| Image Gallery | ||
Maria crystallized body.
Maria Lancelot is considered the world's first Pandora. All of the Pandora's Stigmata are actually fragments of her crystallized body. As a result of this Maria is hailed as the "Mother of All Pandora" and the "Holy Corpse". She is the biological mother of Ryuuichi Aoi and grandmother of Kazuya Aoi and Kazuha Aoi.
Maria's body is stored in the Ravensbourne Nucleotide, West Genetics' secret underground chamber, and was the Nova's target during the 10th Nova Clash.
Background
Prior to the arrival of the Nova on Earth, Maria first appeared to Gengo Aoi over a lake outside his villa, in a flash of light.
When the Nova invaded Earth, Maria fought single-handedly against them in the early Clashes before her presumed death. Her body became crystallized, and was sealed away. In 2050, her body was transferred to the Ravensbourne Nucleotide under West Genetics. From it, Gengo Aoi developed and perfected the Stigmata system, which gave birth to the Pandora. Her body still remains under the academy to this day. Her DNA was used by Gengo to create five special Pandora (Chiffon, Cassandra, Windy, Teslad and Lucy Renault), and at a later stage, mindless clones by Scarlett Ohara. Maria is revealed to be the biological mother of Gengo's son, Ryuuichi Aoi. It is shown that though her body is crystallized and parts of her body are missing, she is in fact still alive and conscious; shown when she looked at Scarlett Ohara and showed her the "truth of everything."
Appearance
Maria's appearance, with eyes open, as Aoi Gengo recalls.
Maria has long blonde hair that runs all the way down to her thighs. Her regular attire was composed of a simple sleeveless dark blue top, and a long light purple skirt that reached her ankles. It seems her attire is similar to that of Kazuha Aoi, possibly Gengo based her dress on Maria's old raiment. But her most notable feature was her eyes, which had vertical slits over each pupil, a sign that she wasn't entirely human. Indeed, for Scarlett Ohara revealed in her flashback that Maria's genetic structure is similar to that of the Novas.
When she fought, large protrusions grew out of her back, and she wielded a large metallic claw, with two floating shields by her sides. After her passing, her weapon was aptly named Anti-Nova. Currently, there are only two Pandora equipped with a duplicate of this rudimentary Volt Weapon: Roxanne Elipton and Chiffon Fairchild, the latter's version being named 'Anti-Nova Trial Version', seeing as it is a mere copy of the original.
Personality
In the brief flashback Gengo had while sitting in his chair on the balcony. Maria appeared as a gentle woman whom remained silent, even though Gengo asked her if they were to survive "that", instead of answering she chose to catch a tear-drop from Gengo onto her finger, and sip it up. Through that procedure she conveyed enough information to Gengo, almost like, as if their hearts were to be resonating (according to Gengo).
Story
10th Nova Clash
- Main article: 10th Nova Clash
Maria's Volt Weapon, Anti-Nova.
Maria Lancelot is renowned as "The Mother of all Pandora", and her corpse resides in the Ravensbourne Nucleotide. It was the primary target of the four S-Class Nova who engaged Earth. The Nova efficiently made use of their assimilated Nova Form Pandora to effectively locate Maria and transport them to her whereabouts. The remaining S-Class Nova were, however, defeated in the nick of time, just as they were about to destroy Maria.
E-Pandora Rebellion Arc
- Main article: E-Pandora Rebellion Arc
Maria Lancelot clones are revealed to be the true research goal of Dr. Scarlett Ohara, as the E-Pandora are only a cover story until the clones are perfected, to replace E-Pandora and Pandora in the fight against the Nova.
11th Nova Clash
- Main article: 11th Nova Clash
The Maria Lancelot clones resonate with the unknown type Nova that Amelia Evans devolved into, and became Nova themselves.
Chiffon Fairchild is initially believed to be a reincarnation of Maria Lancelot by Satellizer L. Bridget, as Chiffon's fully deployed Volt Weapon is the same as Maria's.
Valkyrie Introduction Arc
- Main article: Valkyrie Introduction Arc
In a flashback, she first appears on Earth in the early twenty-first century, materializing before a young Japanese man who was rowing on the lake outside his villa. She's given the name Maria, allowed to live in his house, and comforts him when he comes to her room, tears in his eyes.
She's later shown when Lucy shares her memories with Kazuya Aoi.
12th Nova Clash
- Main article: 12th Nova Clash
As the joint training exercise descended into pandemonium, Gengo made his way into the Ravensbourne Nucleotide, and asked Maria to give their daughters her power. Some time later, Sister Margaret enters the inner sanctum to confront Gengo on what was transpiring above. After some heated conversation, the newcomer left Gengo and Maria to their own devices.
Busters Arc
- Main article: Busters Arc
Maria reveals that she is alive to Scarlett Ohara.
Days after the 12th Nova Clash ended, Gengo returned with Scarlett Ohara. After some heated conversation, Gengo revealed Maria's greatest secret: the "Mother of All Pandora" had not perished in the 4th Nova Clash, she was still alive. Maria herself demonstrated that fact as she gazed at the invalid woman, an unimpressed look in her alienated eyes. When asked to have everything explained, Maria complied and connected her mind to the suddenly frightened woman before her, and showed her exactly who she really is.
Maria's influence and Gengo's fight for humanity's survival inspired Scarlett to help Gengo with her Legendary Stigmata Plan, which emerged successful during Gengo's dinner party. During the part, four intruders each wielding seven powerful Plasma Stigmata storm the base with battling capabilities equal to Legendary Pandora Chiffon Fairchild, but they may detonate at any moment. One of the intruders triggers the N3 Nova abilities of two of Maria's daughters, Windy May and Teslad while another immobilizes Cassandra, and Lucy Renault is forced to stop her sisters alone and at full strength. With Windy May and Teslad treated as dangerous Nova enemies, Cassandra pinned to the ground, Lucy Renault assuming her true form, four Pandora about to explode, and scores of Chevalier Pandora killed, Gengo realizes he must revive the Mother of All Pandora to cease the chaos and restore order before all of humanity is obliterated. Gengo and Su-Na are en route to the Ravensbourne Nucleotide where Maria is held, but they are intercepted by Sawatari Isuzu, who plans to kill Maria's lover and his strongest warrior.
13th Nova Clash
- Main article: 13th Nova Clash After escaping his assasin, Maria's lover continues his mission to the Ravensbourne Nucleotide, where he plans to use the mass-produced Legendary Stigmata to wake Maria from her slumber. Upon awaking, Gengo claims that Maria will be able to leech enough soul energy from her daughters to continue moving for several hours.
Relationships
Gengo Aoi
Maria is the only love in Gengo's life.
They first met on the lake outside Gengo's house. He regarded her as a goddess, and treated her as such as they lived together. His reverence of her never changed, even after the long years that followed in her death. Such reverence eventually led to his point of view falling out with Scarlett Ohara, who'd done a map of Maria's genetic structure without his permission. In his mind, Ohara was playing God, regardless of her intentions. When Ohara essentially proclaimed Maria was nothing more than a resource to be exploited, Gengo promptly terminated her contract.
Later, when Chiffon Fairchild revealed her true form during the 11th Nova Clash, Gengo recognized it as the same form that Maria Lancelot once assumed.
Scarlett Ohara
Shortly after the 7th Nova Clash of 2053, Nova researcher Scarlett Ohara began to create a map of Maria Lancelot's genetic structure. In her mind, completely understanding Maria's powers would've helped immensely in their war against the Nova, and saved countless young people from dying on the battlefield. However, when she reported her results to her superior, Gengo Aoi, she was viciously slapped and then berated for her actions. Even though she hadn't asked for permission, she felt she'd done nothing wrong. Gengo disagreed, and soon fired her after a heated verbal exchange.
Years passed after that incident, and Ohara vowed to prove herself right and Gengo wrong. To that end she began the secret Type-Maria project, which would've created an army of Maria Lancelot clones to fight against the Nova, and thus validate her stance. To hide the project from the world, she created the E-Pandora project as a means to hide her ongoing project. She quietly continued her project while the world was focused on the E-Pandora's, courtesy of the Chevalier. But when the E-Pandora revolted, one of them, Amelia Evans, broke into Ohara's inner lab and discovered the ghastly truth. Unable to bear the immense grief, Amelia began to transform into a Nova. This prematurely awakened the Maria clones, who broke out of their cylinders and targeted her. The clones were then absorbed into Amelia's body, and thus helped complete her transformation into an Unknown Type Nova, which brought down parts of the ceiling onto the prone Ohara, who was too thunderstruck to move. With the clones gone, the Type Maria project came to an end.
Some time later, Ohara was brought before Maria by Gengo Aoi. Maria thought little of her at first, but agreed to Gengo's request to show the crippled woman who she really is.
Sister Margaret
As headmaster of Genetics West, Sister Margaret essentially serves as the guardian of Maria's body, sealed below the academy in the Ravensbourne Nucleotide.
Erika Kudo
Erika Kudo served as the surrogate mother for Maria and Gengo's child, Ryuuichi Aoi. She also replaced Maria as the public wife of Gengo, while Maria was his private love. Kazuya Aoi believed for most of his life that Erika was his true grandmother.
Gallery
Trivia
- According to Gengo, Maria is capable of using Illusion Turn.
- Though often attributed as a mutation of the Aoi Family, Stigmatic bodies are in fact all descended from Maria's genes.