Last Exile (ラストエグザイル, Last Exile?) is a steampunk anime series produced in 2003 and created by Gonzo Digimation, the same studio responsible for works such as Blue Submarine No. 6, Full Metal Panic! and Hellsing.
The story revolves around Claus Valca and Lavie Head, a young courier pilot and his navigator, and their adventures in the floating world of Prester. In this romantic sky world based on stylized Victorian fashion and society, two countries, Anatole and Dysis (sometimes phonetically rendered as Anatoray and Disith), are engaged in a long and bloody war under the supervision of the mysterious Guild. Claus and Lavie, piloting their vanship (a small wingless airplane-like machine) find themselves involved in a plot surrounding a mysterious little girl named Alvis Hamilton, whom they must deliver as "cargo" to the much-feared neutral battleship Silvana.
The animation features a combination of 2-D and 3-D CGI sequences; several key staff members such as the character designer Range Murata and Gonzo veteran Mahiro Maeda had previously worked on the production of Blue Submarine No. 6 which was done in a similar style.
The series is also notable for having all text in English but written with Greek letters, with all numbers given in Roman numerals.
The Beginning
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The story begins with a minor skirmish between the Silvana and the fleet of Dysis in the Grand Stream, the result of which has the Silvana destroying several assailants and exiting the Grand Stream.
Claus and Lavie are introduced as they wake up in their joint home in the peaceful city of Norkia and prepare to start their day as freelance vanship pilots. After taking off, they fly to the cliff near their town where jobs are allocated to vanship pilots and take Job 11, which carries a 3 star danger rating.
Meanwhile, the Guild sanctions Duke David Madossein to battle between the Anatole and Dysis fleets over Minagis. (This would become the Third Minagis Battle.)
Per their contract, Claus and Lavie fly to the home of Duke Madossein and collect 2 letters (one official and one from a child) to fly and deliver directly to the Duke. While they are en route, the fleets of Anatole and Dysis deploy their riflemen and engage each other at point-blank range.
The Anatole fleet's riflemen beat the Dysis fleet's riflemen. It is at this time that Claus and Lavie arrive near the battlefield. The Anatole fleet offer a cease-fire, which the Dysis fleet refuses. Thus, the fleets engage each other using inter-ship artillery fire. The Anatole fleet wins again and the remnants of the Dysis fleet retreat. Claus and Lavie then land on the Duke's flagship, the Claihm Solais. They are preparing to deliver his message when suddenly a new Dysis fleet attacks from above.
The Guild does not intervene and rescind the Dysis fleet's drive-units even though it is a flagrant breach of their rules of warfare. Claus and Lavie are removed from the bridge and are ordered off the ship. However, they had left the official letter they were supposed to deliver on the bridge. The Duke decides to fight against the Dysis despite the Guild's betrayal and the unfavorable odds.
As Claus and Lavie prepare to leave the ship, they remember the child's letter and decide to read it over the ship's loudspeaker. A bridge officer orders riflemen to remove them and to stop them from reading more of the letter.
Partway through the reading, Claus and Lavie are captured. They are only allowed to continue reading when one rifleman (Mullin Shetland) mutinies and threatens the captors' leader. Claus and Lavie finish reading the letter and the Duke decides to retreat. Claus and Lavie leave the ship and are about to exit the battlefield, when Claus notices that the Dysis fleet will overtake the Anatole fleet. He first flies to the Guild ship to ask them stop the battle; when that fails, and then he decides to use the vanship's smoke to mask Anatole’s retreat.
As he starts to buzz Dysis warships, a red vanship appears and orders Claus and Lavie to follow them. The red vanship is from the Silvana, which has arrived at the battlefield. The Silvana then fires on the Dysis fleet against Anatole’s wishes. Surprised by the Silvana, the Dysis fleet retires from the field and the Anatole fleet escapes. Because of their actions, they missed the qualification round for the famous vanship race the Norkia Cup, which means that they will start at the end of the lineup and at a considerable disadvantage.
[edit]
Alvis
As Claus and Lavie sleep, a Guild star-shaped ship chases an unknown vanship. This unknown vanship is driven by Ralph Wednesday and its passengers are a mysterious girl named Alvis Hamilton (known as "the cargo") and her caretaker, Geta. This life-and-death pursuit has no bearing on Claus and Lavie while they wake up and start their day.
Arriving at the starting point for the race of the 75th Norkia Cup, they are derided for being young and are widely expected to lose. As the race begins, Claus and Lavie fly through the town and the surrounding countryside while steadily moving towards the lead. After a daring move in the corkscrew, Claus and Lavie pass Hurricane Hawk, the then leader and winner of the last Norkia Cup. They then collide midair with Ralph Wednesday's Vanship and send it crashing to the ground. They land to assist the badly wounded Ralph Wednesday.
He then transfers to them his incredibly dangerous 7 star mission: to deliver Alvis (Geta having died) to the Silvana. He tells them the star-shaped ship can detect vanship engines and he will become bait with the ship so they can get away through the canal. Claus and Lavie escape with Alvis while Ralph blows up his vanship near the star-shaped ship.
Back at their house, Claus and Lavie debate whether or not to take Ralph's mission. Claus is for taking the mission and eventually prevails on Lavie; he plans a trip through the canals. Lavie then begins running the vanship's engine to clear out the water - against Claus's wishes who believes the star-shaped ship is still around.
The three then go to bed and prepare to leave in the morning for the temple ruins. During the night, the star-shaped ship finds them and destroys their house while trying to get at Alvis. All three manage to escape into the canal and give their purser the slip. After traveling through the canal for a while, the star-shaped ship re-acquires them and chases them all the way to the temple ruins, where it damages part of the vanship, forcing them to crash-land. The star-shaped ship takes Alvis and prepares to leave, but Claus fights it. The star-shaped ship knocks Claus down and prepares to kill him when Alex Row and his men appear and shoot the pilot of the star-shaped ship.
[edit]
On board the Silvana
Alex Row then takes Alvis, and pays Claus and Lavie. He then boards the Silvana and leaves. Claus, wishing to protect Alvis, repairs the vanship and siphons fuel out of the downed star-shaped ship. He and Lavie then pursue the Silvana. Meanwhile on the Silvana, Alvis wakes up and meets Sophia. When Claus and Lavie catch up and try to land on the Silvana, the ship fires at them and they are forced to crash land on the lower deck.
While trying to find the bridge, Claus is beaten up by the engineering crew (led by Ethan) until Tatiana Wisla and Alister Agrew, whom they had already met as the crew of the red vanship, show up. Claus and Lavie are then taken to bridge, where they meet Alex again. At this point, Claus succumbs to his injuries and blacks out.
In the Temple ruins, the Guild members Dio Eraclea and his bodyguard Lucciola are investigating the defeat of the star-shaped ship and discover, through the surveillance recordings on the ship, the image of Claus protecting Alvis.
Meanwhile, Tatiana and Alister arrive at the emperor's palace and inform him that "the cargo" had been safely delivered. Back on the Silvana, Alvis explores the ship until Sophia takes her back to Claus. Claus is then brought to the bridge to talk with Alex.
Their conversation is interrupted when a klaxon announces that the Silvana is about to be attacked by the Guild. Claus and Lavie head to the hangar where a Guild star ship comes aboard. The ship is destroyed by the mechanics, but it crushes Claus and Lavie's vanship. Claus and Lavie decide to pilot one of the combat vanship and they attack another Guild star ship when it enters the hangar. They expend all their chambered ammunition on it and then ram it out of the hangar. The mechanic crew relocates to the top deck to support the vanships.
Claus breaks the Guild ship up and they fall into a steep decent. He regains control and begins to actively engage Guild ships. Meanwhile, Guild ships infiltrate the Silvana's residential zone from its vulnerable rear. On the Guild command ship, which orchestrated the attack, Dio and Lucciola decide to launch their ships to "have fun". They begin to engage Claus's and Lavie's vanship while the Silvana provides cover-fire for them. Dio refuses to shoot down Claus's and Lavie's vanship twice so that they can continue to duel. Claus shake Dio's tail and he maneuvers behind him. However, while maneuvering, Lavie reds out, and is unable to chamber more rounds in Claus's guns.
At this time, Tatiana's and Alister's red vanship arrives near the battlefield. They drop their empty supplementary fuel tanks and begin to engage Dio's and Lucciola's ship. Dio and Lucciola then split their ship in two, with Dio attacking Claus’s and Lavie's vanship and Lucciola attacking Tatiana's and Alister's red vanship. This dogfight continues until Dio almost shoots down Claus's vanship, but he and all other Guild ships are recalled due to fuel restrictions. Claus and Lavie land and Tatiana derides Lavie for her failure. Later that night, while they are celebrating, Lavie apologizes for her red out.
The Silvana then heads for Walker's Dock - is a casino and repair shop that floats in the sky, for repairs, refueling, and R&R in general. On their arrival, some of the crew goes to the casino, including Lavie. While she is there, Lavie meets Mullin Shetland, the rifleman who let them continue reading the letter to the Duke. It turns out that Mullin left the Claihm Solais and wants to join the Goliath; the Goliath's captain laughs at him when he asks to join.
The mechanics too have come to the casino, but are put off by the Goliath's officers and their dishonest tactics. They almost start a fight, but are restrained by other mechanics. This relative calm does not last long though. During a bird race, one officer uses a flash camera to stun the leading bird, thus allowing the bird which the Goliath's captain betted on to win. Enraged, Lavie then throws a chair at the captains' winnings, and one of his officers grabs her. The mechanics takes this excuse to start a fight. On the Silvana, Claus wakes up and discovers Lavie is gone. He goes to find her and ends up with Alister in an elevator. When they arrive at the casino, they find the place in a near-riot condition. Mullin, having been insulted by the Goliath's captain, takes the opportunity to attack him, but is stopped by his officers. He is about to be run through by the captain's sword, but Walker, the proprietor of the casino, shoots the blade in half. At this moment, Alex arrives and tells his crew that they are leaving. The captain of the Goliath is enraged at Alex's demeanor and challenges him to a ship-on-ship duel. When the captain of the Goliath realizes it is the dreaded Silvana, he panics and attacks the Silvana before he is supposed to. The Silvana shrugs off the damage and destroys the Goliath.
After welcoming Mullin to the crew as a new mechanic, the Silvana then heads to Horizon Cave, for an 8-hour endurance race, which Claus and Lavie will be flying in. Tatiana and Alister will be flying in it as well, but for a secret operation related to EXILE. When they arrive there, Claus and Lavie must pick a vanship, which they will repair and then fly in the race. Alvis is with them and she picks their vanship by random. While they are preparing it, Dio and Lucciola show up. It turns out that they will be involved in the race, which begins shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, Alex shows up at a masked black market auction to buy EXILE-related material. He sits next to Duke Nouls, who later turns out to be the father of Captain Nouls, the late captain of the Goliath. When the piece of EXILE appears for bid, Alex bids 10,000,000 Claudia, which shocks the Duke.
[edit]
The race with Dio
Claus and Lavie are continuing to race and are near the front, with Dio and Lucciola following them close behind. At the bidding room, the bidding keeps getting higher as Queen Delphine (leader of the Guild) starts bidding anonymously. When it reaches 50 billion Claudia, Duke Nouls' associates show up and prevent Alex from bidding anymore, allowing Queen Delphine to win. Meanwhile, Tatiana and Alister prepare for their operation by dropping navigational bits on the sides of the cave. At approximately 12 o’clock midnight, Tatiana and Alister drop a bomb that takes out the area's power. Using the opportunity, Alex shoot Duke Noul's associates and escapes. He meets the real seller of EXILE and pays him 500,000,000 Claudia for one part of the mysterion (House Hamilton's Mysterion: "What lies beyond the furthest reaches of memory?"). Even though the power is off, the race continues and Claus and Lavie barely win it with Dio and Lucciola a close second. When Claus and Lavie go back to their pit though, they find the mechanic team gone. With no fuel, they are forced to sit and wait. While they watch the fireworks, Lavie tells Claus that she will no longer be his navigator during war. After the war is over, she promises to fly with him in the Grand Stream like their fathers had tried. At this point, Dio and Lucciola find them and offer to fly them back to the Silvana. When they arrived, Dio and Lucciola board the Silvana as well.
[edit]
The Guild onboard
Dio and Lucciola are promptly taken prisoner and taken to the captain. They are then assigned to be watched over by Claus, who Dio has begun calling Immelmann for his maneuver during the previous battle. Delphine has been made aware of Dio's and Lucciola's "capture", but she allows it to continue. Meanwhile, the Silvana is sent a message, which Tatiana and Alister collected. It is from Vincent Alzey, captain of the Urbanus. It requests a meeting with Alex to discuss "the cargo". Alex prepares to go and request Claus to fly as his escort. This angers Tatiana and Sophia reminds her to follow orders. Since Claus has no navigator, Alister volunteers to be his. At the meeting, Vincent informs Alex that he has an imperial decree from the Emperor for him to return "the cargo". Alex refuses and it becomes apparent that the Urbanus and the Silvana will fight each other at some point. Back on the Silvana, Sophia receives a letter from the Emperor's aide. She tried to tell Alex about it when he returned, but it was swept aside as the coming battle with the Urbanus took precedent. While this is occurring, Dio and Lucciola go to the engine room and discover that the engine was taken off a sunken ship. They also meet an old member of the Guild who runs the engine. Dio then goes to Alvis and reads her one mysterion (House Eraclea's Mysterion: What lies beyond the furthest reaches of the sky?) This causes Alvis to go into a coma- like state and to say "That which will lead the lost child back to its mother's arms: Exile" . This also causes the pressure to drop abnormally outside and for it to rise exponentially inside the Silvana.
After the abnormal situation resolves its self and Alvis returns to normal, though unaware of what had just transpired, the Silvana sets course for the Dragons' Fang to battle the Urbanus. The Silvana is put into battle alert status and all crew go to battle stations. While Tatiana briefs the vanship pilots on the coming engagements, she unexpectedly orders Claus to be her navigator. In the Dragons Fang the Silvana engages four other Urbanus class ships and though Vincent anticipates some of Alex's moves the Silvana manages to sink to ships. Meanwhile Tatiana's and Claus's red vanship has been hit and as they begin to go down, they saw the Silvana sinking as well.
As the red vanship begins to go down, Tatiana and Claus are able to straighten it out and make a crash-landing in the desert. They discover that a pipe that the Claudia flows through is damaged and need to be repaired if they want to take off. Claus begins to repair the vanship, but Tatiana takes on an apathetic view and insists the Silvana is sunk. Claus manages to convince her that all is not lost and they talk awhile. Claus discovers Tatiana is a noble and Tatiana learns about Claus’s and Lavie's famous dad. Meanwhile the Dysis people are being launched from rockets to escape their cold country in rockets. Some of the rockets that are launched fail and fall back to the ground. Back in the desert they manage to fix the vanship, but cannot talk off very high off the ground. With Claus piloting the vanship and Tatiana navigating they head towards the Silvana's emergency repair site so they can further repair the red vanship. At the site they are captured by Dysis soldiers and are to be executed. The soldier sent to kill them can't though so after firing off one round the soldier runs away. Claus and Tatiana pursue the soldier and when the soldier falls it is discovered that she is a girl. She had run to the landing site of the Dysis rockets, but there is no one on them.
Meanwhile, on the Silvana, Alvis watches over a hurt Lavie who dreams about her past. It is discovered that Claus and Lavie were brought up together and their fathers worked together while Claus's mother took care of the house as Lavie's mother died giving birth to Lavie. At a very young age they were taught all about flying and each father instructed their child (Claus's father being the pilot and Lavie's father being the navigator) about their respected jobs. While they were growing up a new vanship crew arrived, it was a young man and a girl. It was then when Claus's and Lavie's father had to go on a dangerous mission through the grand stream and the other vanship crew would help them. It is later found out that everyone on the mission died except for the young man who returned to tell Claus's mother. Claus's mother died 6 months after that. Claus and Lavie eventually learn how to fly well, but are forced to sell the house and live downtown. Back in the desert Dio and Alister search for Claus and Tatiana and eventually find them. They are welcomed back heartily; Claus however has to inform Lavie that their home city (Norkia) has fallen to Dysis forces.
The Silvana, now having been sufficiently repaired, takes off and heads away from the dragons fang. Their target is Maestro Delphine. At the emperor's castle, Vincent is demoted and given another mission. Meanwhile, Dio shows Claus a picture he found in Alex's room showing their fathers in it. Claus asks if they have been to Norkia, but Dio says it came from the captain’s room. Claus confronts the captain about this and is discovered he was the young man in the photo and that he informed Claus's mother that they had failed. Also he informs Claus that their vanship is actually his not their fathers. He then goes on to tell Claus that he will try to destroy EXILE. During this Sophia gets a letter from the emperors aid telling her to return and be crowned queen. She informs Alex and he does nothing to stop her.
Sophia departs to Imperial city to reclaim her spot as queen. Back on the Silvana, Mullin grows tired of his mechanic duties and wishes to once again become a rifleman. He wants to leave the ship and asks Tatiana to go with him, as he has long held feelings for her. She respectfully declines. At Imperial city, a general pushes for the Dysis fleet to be wiped out. Marius, the emperor’s aide, however pleads for mercy. He is put under house arrest and confined to quarters. When Sophia arrive, she takes her place as queen and tries to prevent the emperor from destroying Dysis, but she fails and is locked up in the tower. The Dysis people, realizing they are running out of land, attack Imperial city in a sneak attack. They landed troops and begin to rapidly take over and destroy Imperial city. Dunya is involved in this operation. The forces outside the city attack the Dysis fleet with the Scolopendra cannon, but it is not enough to stem the tide. Marius having escaped from his arrest attacks the emperor and they both killed them selves. In the tower a guard tries to kill Sophia, but he is stopped by Vincent.
Sophia is taken to the Urbanus, which Vincent now commands again. He orders the Scolopendra cannon to surrender and when it does not he destroys it. At this time Duke Madossein and his fleet arrive and they offer a truce to the Dysis fleet. They accept it and withdraw from the field. Meanwhile on the Silvana a courier message has arrived from two old vanship pilots. After reading the message Alex orders the Silvana to head to Horizon Cave. Alex then talks to the Guild rebel who runs the engine and he receives another mysterion (House Dagobert's Mysterion: The waves that stain the land in gold.) He now has in his possession all four Mysterion, but only knows three of them. When the Silvana arrives at Horizon Cave, Walker greats, says he will repair the Silvana and them and informs them that the "thing" is ready. While Claus and Alvis are wondering around the hangar at Horizon Cave the find Ralph Wednesday’s brother, Michael. He also realizes that his racing friends (Hurricane Hawk, Fat Chicken, and Sunny Boy) from Norkia are there as well training to destroy Guild Ships. Duke Madossein got the idea from Claus's and Lavie's actions at the Third Minagis Battle.
Princess Sophia flies to Nestor, the leader of the Dysis forces and hands him a copy of the letter that Claus’s and Lavie’s father along with Alex and Euris tried to deliver to them for peace. She then proposes and alliance which he agrees with. He also agrees that Sophia should lead both Anatole and Dysis. As a good gesture he give them a map of the Grand Stream and a sound recording of EXILE itself. Winna the Silvana sound officer listens to the sound of EXILE, so they can find EXILE in the Grand Stream. The Silvana heads towards the coronation of queen Sophia, but without Mullin who decides to stay behind and be a rifleman and help take back the ships Claudia units, and because he met Dunya and he has feelings for her. When the vanship pilots arrive at the coronation they fly in formation and spray colorful smoke over the sky. As Sophia is crowned queen Maestro Delphine and her battleship arrive at the site and drop rose petals everywhere. Dio loses complete control over his vanship and flies erratically throughout the sky because he fears his sister Delphine. Alex spotting Delphine’s ship comes alive and wants to destroy it because he wishes to exact revenge against the Maestro. This is because as he was trying to deliver the letter to Dysis the Maestro was young and laughed at them from inside her ship. He is calmed down however by his crew and they do not attack the Maestro.
After the coronation, Sophia and Vincent arrive at the Silvana and plan their operation to capture EXILE. (They were able to detect the noise of EXILE using Winna's skill and sonic torpedoes.) In the hangar, the mechanics provide Claus and Lavie a sturdier chassis to better cope with the Grand Stream, which they planned to fly through. Claus then discusses Alvis's role with EXILE. She states that Alvis is the key to unlocking EXILE. Back at Horizon Cave, Mullin continues to fall more deeply in love with Dunya as they continue their training. Meanwhile, the Silvana and the Urbanus as her shield, depart into the Grand Stream, roped together, to find EXILE.
As the Silvana and the Urbanus enter the Grand Stream they begin to conduct their search for Exile using the Urbanus to launch sonic torpedoes. even though the ship is in silent running though Alvis decides to give Dio a cake to cheer him up. All the crew pitches in gifts for him they sing an unique birthday song for him. Meanwhile the Urbanus uses her last sonic torpedo and Winna is able to locate EXILE. The Silvana scrambles all her vanships and prepare to attach ropes to EXILE so they can drag it towards them. As the vanships near close to EXILE however a defensive system is activated and large tentacles flow out from EXILE and try to destroy the vanships near it. All seems lost until Claus with Dio being his Navigator reckless dive into the tentacles and manage to securely attack a line. Now that EXILE is under control of the Silvana Alex give Sophia the control of all the Mysterions. However Maestro Delphine has other plans and manages to land many Guild Ships on the Silvana.
[edit]
The capture of Alex Rowe
Claus and Dio arrive back onto the Silvana and find it to be empty and lifeless. They explore the ship and find hot drinks indicating whatever happened, happened very quickly. they make their way to the bridge and discover the Maestro there in control of the Silvana and Alvis. Dio is stunned and is to afraid to do anything, the Maestro proceeds to take Claus and Alvis to Guild headquarters. While en route to their ships they are attacked by Alex who had been hiding, He manages to kill a few bodyguards but not the maestro herself. Now she has Alex in her control as well and takes him with her. The Guilds capture of the Silvana was not total as some crew members had hidden successfully. Tatiana and Alister in particular mange to escape from the Silvana with Sophia. They fly over to the Urbanus and the Urbanus detaches from the Silvana. At Guild headquarters the maestro makes them change into Guild clothes and have dinner with her. Meanwhile Dio is taken to a special chamber which appears to alter your mind. When Dio joins them for dinner he has change drastically. At dinner Delphine explains to them the Guild allegiance ceremony that Dio will undergo, if he wants to become maestro.
Back on the Urbanus, Sophia request to go back to the now relatively safe Silvana and continue their plan. At the Guild headquarters Delphine is elated with Dio's new personality, but Claus and Alvis are frightened and outraged by it. From their they go to an expansive hall where the Guilds ceremony to find the next maestro is to be held. Dio and many other boys of his age walk in with him, they are to fight to the death to claim the odd shaped sword in the middle of the hall. Delphine then brings Alvis to what appears to be the bridge with EXILE outside the window. She then brings Alex into the room, he is bound by roses that secrete a truth serum and she makes him repeat the 3 mysterion he knows, with Alvis repeating the answer and EXILE visually responding to it. He does not know the fourth one though. This enrages Delphine and she physically tortures him until she learns that Sophia knows it. At this point the battle in the hall is over and Dio is victorious taking the sword from the pediment.
Delphine proceeds to the hall and greets the bloodied Dio who is to become the next maestro. Meanwhile on the Urbanus, Vincent is saddened by Sophia's decision to go back to the Silvana, but respects it. He radios the Silvana informing them he will be their shield for the coming battle. Near Horizon cave the battle to take back the ships Claudia units is about to begin. Mullin and Dunya nervously await the order to attack. It is at this point that Mullin asks if Dunya would like to serve on the same ship after the battle. Dunya agrees and they happily embrace. The attack begins shortly thereafter, All the riflemen storm the Claudia unit and attempt to take it from the Guild operators inside. Dunya is knocked down and Mullin and her become separated. The battle is very intense and and is almost lost, but Mullin bravely charges into the unit, kills the last Guild operator, and prevents the Claudia unit from leaving the ship. He is however gravely wounded in the process. At Guild headquarters Delphine is informed of the operation and orders all Claudia units rescinded immediately. While Delphine is gonna Claus and Alvis manage to have Lucciola help them escape. He brings them and Dio to a vanship and presents Alvis with a pilot's hat and a Guild communicator. Lucciola then blows part of the headquarters off and Claus, Alvis, and Dio escape. Lucciola stays however and fights his way to Delphine's room. There he meets Cicada, Delphine's aid, and kills him. Delphine give him a ring and he is disintegrated.
Claus, Alvis, and Dio manage to escape from the Guild headquarters, but crash land. They wake up in a hospital on Duke Maddossein's property. Claus looks for Dio and discovers he is in protected care as he is a member of the Guild. Meanwhile Alvis wonders around the property and finds Holly, the Duke's daughter, she is assumed to be roughly the same age as Alvis though it is not known. Now with the operation to take back the Claudio units complete the Duke orders all the ships that survived to follow him and they ready themselves to attack the Guild. Claus and Alvis leave Dio at the hospital (he later escapes in a hospital vanship) and go back to their home in Norkia. There home had been mostly destroyed by the rampaging Guild ship early on so it is very messy. Claus manages to round up some food and Alvis finds Lavie's old technical flight journal and keeps it for later study. It is now dusk and in the sky Anatole and Dysis ships engage Guild ships, the Anatole and Dysis ships have inferior firepower to destroy the Guild ships, the vanships however manage to blow holes in the Guild ships and explode them from the inside out. The Anatole and Dysis fleets do end up taking many casualties. Back in Norkia after dinner, Claus and Alvis discover the communicator given to them by Lucciola is working and they talk to Lavie and then Sophia aboard the Silvana. Sophia instructs them to heads toward the Dragons Fang, but she is suddenly cut off. This is because an energy device hit Silvana and her communications were knocked out. Out in the grand stream the Silvana, Urbanus, and the combined Anatole and Dysis fleet are pursing EXILE. EXILE is indiscriminately attacking Guild, Anatole, and Dysis ships with its long tentacles, except for the Maestro's ship. Meanwhile Claus and Alvis fly towards the Dragon's Fang. They stop off at an in-flight fueling area, where they switch vanships and Alister becomes Claus's navigator. Delphine back on her ship manages to intercept Sophia's transmission to Claus and dispatches to Guild fighter pilots to destroy them since she likes EXILE just the way it is. Meanwhile, there's a signal activated in Dysis and a massive hole opens up in the ground. The signal then fires what appears to be a laser beam towards EXILE. Exile receives the beam and begins to follow it. As the battle rages in the Grand Stream Claus, Alvis, and Alister arrive at another fueling station and Claus and Alvis transfer to the red vanship navigated by Tatiana. While en-route to the Dragons Fang they are intercepted by the two Guild fighters Delphine dispatched. Claus manages to destroy one by blowing up the reserve fuel tanks, and Walkers floating Casino destroys the other. They arrive at the casino and Claus meets up with Lavie; they board their vanship and all three of them (Claus, Lavie, and Alvis) heads toward the Grand Stream to meet up with the Silvana on the other side. As they go into the Grand Stream an unknown vanship closely purses them.
The ship is piloted by Dio who seems to be out of touch with reality as he relives his race with Claus and Lavie at Horizon Cave. As he attempts to beat Claus and Lavie he ask Lucciola to get off the vanship (even though Lucciola isn't there, Dio suggested he'd do this during the race.) Dio "wins" the race and then looks back where Lucciola is supposed to be. He is of course not there. Dio despairingly climbs out of his seat towards the back of the vanship and is swept off by the Grand Stream.
[edit]
Finale
Meanwhile the ships of Anatole and Dysis continue to fight the Guild. As the Silvana prepares to attack Delphine every other allied ship there shields the Silvana from EXILE's. Tentacles. As the Silvana moves to attack Delphine's ship the Urbanus is severely damaged, and blocks the Silvana's path. The Urbanus is evacuated quickly and the Silvana blows it to pieces. On Delphine's ship, Delphine gloats in front of Alex, Alex however manages to free his hand and grabs the maestro's neck and snaps it, killing her. On board the Silvana, Sophia gives the command to fire at Delphine's ship and they manage to destroy it, killing Alex in the process. Claus, Alvis, and Lavie then arrive on the field. Claus manages to land on Exile’s hull and speaks all four Mysterions to Alvis. Alvis in turn repeats the corresponding phrase for each Mysterion. This activates EXILE, pieces fall off it as Claus, Alvis, and Lavie leave. It then destroys the Grand Stream, releases seeds, and assumes its original form. Shortly thereafter, Claus and Lavie find their true fathers' vanship inside EXILE. After what appears to be a long period of time we find many of the main characters (Tatiana, Alister, Claus, Lavie, Alvis, Dunya, Mullin) on what appears to be a farm; apparently Mullin married Dunya and they had a baby boy.
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Characters
Lavie Head and Claus Valca (respectively).Claus Valca:(Κλαυς Βαλκα) a fifteen-year-old vanship pilot working for the Norkia Vanship Organization. His navigator is Lavie Head, with whom he shares a deep friendship since early childhood. Claus is no stranger to the vanship courier lifestyle, having been born into and raised for the lifestyle by his late father Hamilcar Valca (much like navigator George Head raised daughter Lavie). Their fathers died while attempting to cross the "Grand Stream" on a mission that would have brought peace to Prester. After this and his mother's death, Claus follows in his father's footsteps throughout his childhood and early adolescence to becomes a top-notch pilot. He is very focused on his job and makes sure the mission is completed each time. Claus is protective of both Lavie and their "cargo", Alvis Hamilton. With their vanship damaged, he is, in a sense, forced to stay on the Silvana.
Lavie Head:(Λαβη Εαδ) also fifteen-years-old, she is Claus' navigator and vanship mechanic. The moody, outspoken redhead is proud of her lineage as seen in her protectiveness of her vanship (thought to have belonged to their fathers). Unlike Claus, she is relatively reluctant to stay on the Silvana and favors the freedom of the vanship lifestyle. She abhors the use of vanships for military purposes, and deplores Claus' interest in becoming a combat pilot. Along with her friendly nature, she can hold grudges with others. Her feelings for Claus are obviously conflicted. She treats Claus mostly like a dear friend and sibling, sometimes acts the part of nagging but caring wife, insofar as she cooks for him and rustles him out of bed. She seems to have repressed romantic feelings for Claus, judging by the somewhat simmering jealously she feels when Tatiana Wisla starts showing an interest in Claus. This most prominently appears when Tatiana is seen wearing Claus' pilot suit. Lavie had made the suit with her own hands. Vanship fluid had spilled onto Tatiana's suit but Lavie was too afraid to ask what had really happened.
Alvis Hamilton:(Αλβις 'Αμιλτον) is a peculiar eleven-year-old child and "the cargo." Alvis (or "Al") is targeted by the Guild and it becomes apparent that she is the "key to Exile." Her nurse, Guita, and the pilot who was commissioned to transport her, Ralph Wednesday, were killed as a result of the Guild's pursuit. Claus tended to Ralph when he crash landed and that's how they met Al. Ralph knew he was doing to die and asked Claus to take his dangerous mission in delivering Al to Silvana. While Ralph distracted the Guild pilot with his engine, Claus and Lavie drifted downstream with their Vanship and Ralph self detonates his ship to save the three of them. When Al woke up, she was scared and confused of Claus and Lavie because she was rescued while unconscious during the whole ordeal. She wanted to know whatever happened to her previous guardians, but Claus and Lavie made up an excuse that they were simply away. Al's intuition was enough for her to figure out they are dead. During the night while the Claus planned their route, the Guild already caught up to their house and had to make an early run before morning. They didn't run far before the Guild fighter caught up to them and in the last moment Alex used a large rifle to kill the pilot and recovered their "cargo." Al was knocked out during the Guild fighter assault. After she came to, she woke up again to new strangers (Silvana crew). Claus during that time didn't like Alex's facial expression and worries the safety of Al. He steals highly purified fuel from what's left of the Guild fighter and flew with his Vanship to find Al on Silvana. After everyone was reunited, Claus remained with the Silvana crew to look after Lavie and protect Al. Al does not know of her importance, but learns of it while under the care of the Silvana. She's the only person who holds the key to unlocking Exile by knowing the answers to the questions that form the Mysterion (see below). The Guild's Maestro kidnapped Al and Claus to help discover the secrets of Exile. She needed to recite the four passages, but Alex was smart enough to not know of the fourth and final one should he ever get captured and interrogated. After Lucciola helped Al and Claus escape from the Guild, Al ended up back in Norkia with Claus. They ventured back into the Grand Stream to use the Vanship Lavie worked so hard to adapt to Grand Stream conditions. After they entered the domain, Al and Claus got to the other side of the Grand Stream, she finished reciting the poem that would unlock Exile's true form. Towards the end she would live normally and coexist with other children near her age in an orphanage with Mullin, Dunya, Tatiana, and Alister as they all saw Claus and Lavie fly over them. The story never revealed is she an artificial construction or some sort of special human being with genetic memory since her past is unknown to everyone it's totally spectical.
Alex Rowe.Alex Row:(Αλεξ Ρω) at twenty-eight-years-old, he is the enigmatic captain of the infamous battleship Silvana of Genocide. He is given the responsibility of protecting Alvis from the Guild. He has an outwardly cold façade that seems unemotional, but some of his past is revealed by the middle of the series. In general, his past is marked by tragedy and is also one that intersects with both Claus and Lavie. He was the only one of four people to return from the failed peace mission delivery through the Grand Stream; two of the dead Vanship pilots were Lavie's and Claus' fathers (he was also the one who delivered the news of their deaths to Claus' mother). He is a graduate of the Anatole Officer's Academy like several characters in the series, but he is loosely affiliated of Anatole. Because he has his own agenda, he carries out the orders of the Anatole Emperor, but eventually breaks all ties with Anatole and Dysis because of events not directly approached in the series. Due to this and the Silvana not being in the service of either nation, his ship's actions are directly his orders. Alex displays his astounding marksmanship several times during the series, most iconic is his first appearance before Claus and Lavie, where he flawlessly shot a Guild Starfish pilot directly in the head, killing him instantly. He is also a master strategist in many contexts outside of warfare. Alex never forgot the day when three people he cared about died and constantly lingers in those moments. Though he has feelings for Sophia, it's unclear why he never acted upon them. One clue is that Sophia as a strong resemblance of his fallen ex-fiance. The fact that Sophia has a uncanny resemblance of her makes it hard for him. He's usually calm under the most dire situations, however his anger easily comes forth when Maestro Delphine is near. He nearly risked killing people to openly fire at Delphine's ship while While entering the Grand Stream to find Exile and attempting to defeat Delphine, the Guild took him away along with Al and Claus. There Delphine uses her favorite flowers as a means to inject truth serum into his body to reveal his secrets. He unfortunately revealed three out of four verses of the poem, but couldn't reveal the forth because he intentionally didn't read it and have Sophia kept the fourth verse safe in her hands. He meets his end after strangling Maestro Delphine to death, when Sophia ordered Silvana to fire. At the same moment the cannons fired, the audio sensor officer revealed Alex's voice. Unfortunately the shells already been fired and Sophia realizes what she had done. Silvana destroys Delphine's battleship, killing Alex as well. His final words were "Euris..."
Sophia Forrester:(Σοφια Φορεστρ) at nineteen-years-old, she is the Silvana's first officer, holding the title Vice-Captain. Another graduate of the Anatole Officer's Academy along with Vince, she is one of the few people Alex trusts and is often seen left in command of the ship when the Captain is out in pursuit of his own agenda. Interestingly Sophia was assigned to be an onboard spy to reveal data anything to the emperor, but Sophia fell in love with Alex and never revealed anything compromising about Alex. Somehow the whole crew either figured it out or they found out Sophia was a spy, but also truely loves Alex and won't betray the Silvana crew. Her feelings for Alex and sometimes reveals too much, much to Row's chagrin in his sometimes snarky comments to her. Sophia is of royal heritage and the daughter of the Anatole emperor. At times in the series, she feels that she is unloved, both by Row's visible actions to her and her father's response to her when she returns to the capital city. On her final night on Silvana, she put her hair down and used some perfume, hoping it was a good chance for Alex to give each other a chance. After seeing the picture of the dead ex-fiance on his desk, she may have realized why he's been always emotionally distant towards her. Alex wasn't pleased at all with her appearance and told her off. Feeling down she went outside to look at the skies when Claus happened to be there and they had a heartful conversation. Sophia felt better after talking to Claus and even gave him his first kiss in the lips. With the death of her father, she became empress of Anatole and sought the alliance of Dysis against the Guild, having realized that the Guild was playing both countries against each other. She became the captain of the Silvana after Alex's demise, having ordered the ship to attack the Guild's flagship, with Alex and Delphine on board.
Tatiana Wisla:(Τατιανα Φισλα?) Tatiana is the only child of "the proud and noble" Wisla house of Anatole. At the age of seventeen, Tatiana left home permanently to become a member of the newly-formed Anatole Military Vanship Corps, a new military division dedicated to using vanships as weapons as opposed to just couriers and transports. She excelled in both piloting and dogfighting, quickly becoming one of the best vanship pilots in the sky, possibly second only to Alex Row. She sent all the extra money she made as an ace pilot back to her family so that her mother could care for her ailing father. Before too long, she found herself on the Silvana as Row's handpicked wing commander for his small vanship fighter fleet. She pilots a twin-engine vanship fighter which she painted red to distinguish herself from the other pilots as well as all other vanships in the sky. With her trusted friend, confidant, and navigator, Alister, she quickly becomes one of the most dreaded forces in the sky next to the Silvana herself, for which the technicians on-board the Silvana start calling her the "princess". Her cold demeanor manages to alienate even her close friend Alister, who elects to fly with Claus Valca as his "navi" (short for "navigator") for a time, as a rebuke to Tatiana (and because Lavie does not want to fly any more combat missions). She is second-best to no one in her own mind, but this stone-cold lifestyle quickly comes crashing down around her when she meets Claus, who turns out to possibly be a better pilot than she. From then on, her feelings toward Claus go on a roller coaster, making her feel anger, disgust, awe, respect, fear, and even attraction to the young vanship pilot. Her frosty aloofness is clearly a self-defensive façade; she suffers a mental breakdown of sorts after getting shot down over the desert, but recovers, and from that time she begins to show a greater depth of feeling, especially towards Claus, whom she develops a misguided crush on.
Alister Agrew:(Αλιστρ Αγγρω) "Alis" is Tatiana's trusted confidant, best friend, and expert navigator. By nature, she is a very quiet, reserved, and otherwise unflappable, reacting very little to even the strangest of circumstances. Her only reactions are shown in the way she carries herself, and the quickest way to earn her loyalty is to not dismiss her and act like she is not around. By her behavior, it is clear that she is a consummate professional, just like Tatiana, which professes to why they work so well together. However, she is far more than that, but will do nothing to prove it outright. She has displayed unfathomable respect for Tatiana, a strange attraction to Claus, and even motherly behavior towards Al.
Dio Eraclea.Dio Eraclea:(Διο Ελακλαρ?) is the sixteen-year-old younger brother of the most powerful Guild member, Maestro Delphine. People see him as a rare find that will someday take over the Guild. He is very playful and fearless, and treats many things like they were games. His odd nature can be seen in his awe of Claus' skills and giving him the nickname "Immelmann" (referring to the World War I German ace, Max Immelmann and the maneuver Claus frequently used while flying, the Immelmann turn). This strange nature is mostly due to the Guild lifestyle and fear of his sister Delphine. His first appearance in the series is marked by a chess-match with close-friend Lucciola and with the Guild's power and surveillance, watches the skies of a skirmish between Guild ships searching for Alvis and the Silvana. He finds extraordinary talent in Claus' vanship piloting, and from the point when he wished to go against Claus in the Horizon Cave Eight vanship race, he starts to have strong interactions with the main characters. He later joins them on the Silvana in order to escape his sister, but is forced back to the Guild before long, and is brainwashed by a Guild device in preparation for the "Rite of the Covenant". Driven to insanity, he participates in the Rite of the Covenant, where the next Maestro is chosen, and emerges victorious. He escapes with Claus and Alvis soon after and is nursed back to health in the Mad-Thane residence. He flees from there in a vanship and travels to the Grand Stream. Being delirious, his memory resets to the moment of the race in Horizon Cave, and he attempts to pass Claus. At that moment he tells his navi, Lucciola (who isn't there), to jump out so they can get more speed. He crosses a flock of rainbirds believing them to be the finish line and congratulates Lucciola on their victory and invites him to celebrate, but he then turns around to find he is not there. He attempts to cross to his seat while crying, but his vanship is then hit by a gust of wind and he is swallowed by the Grand Stream[1]. Despite this, his voice is heard during a later scene in the Silvana's engine room cheering "Ascending!"
Mullin Shetland.Mullin Shetland:(Μαλην Σετλανδ) A nineteen-year-old rifleman on the battleship Claihm Solais, which is the flagship of the Anatole fleet. He has fought in nineteen battles and needs only one more survivor medal (received from surviving a battle) to become promoted out of the rifleman line. A third of the way through the series he joins the Silvana and becomes a mechanic servicing the vanships. He has a brief crush on the vanship captain Tatiana Wisla but soon forgets about it realizing the futility of it as he moves on to other things. Around the end he leaves the Silvana to train again as a rifleman in a secret joint operation to take back the battleship's Claudia engines and free the world of the Guild. At this time he meets Dunya from the Dysis fleet, also involved in the operation. He and Dunya fall in love with each other, climaxing in Mullin asking Dunya to go on the same ship together. Dunya accepts his request, as the operation to take back the ship's Claudia unit begins. The operation ends with Mullin taking the unit back, but being gravely wounded in the process, believed dead. The epilogue shows that he survived to be with Dunya and live on a farm alongside Dunya's siblings[2] and some friends from the Silvana.
Dunya Scheer: First introduced in episode 13 (Isolated Pawn), a woman solider most likely never expected to be in combat, but put in service due to Dysis' low manpower. She is equipped with prototype multi-fire shotgun with a Winchester like cocking device, due to it low range and low firepower it is not officially authorized and is expectedly not widely used. She was probably tasked to kill Tatiana and Claus execution style, but she chickened out, fired a warning round, and ran off. Puzzled, Tatiana and Claus follow her and watch her fall expressing their surprise as they find out it is a woman soldier. She is later involved as part of the ground force in the Dysis operation to raze the Anatoray capital which is successfully completed. She was most likely evacuated when the Anatoray fleet offered its cease-fire and the Dysis fleet withdrew. We next see her involved in the same operation Mullin is involved in; they first meet when she falls over Mullin trying to catch a pigeon to eat. Over the course of there training they meet several times and eventually develop a long lasting relationship. The relationship culminates in Mullin asking Dunya if she would join him on a ship together. Dunya accepts and Mullin is overjoyed. The operation commences shortly thereafter and it is a success but Mullin is gravely wounded and presumed dead. Dunya cries for him as she sees him and finds his Survivor Medals lying on the ground. No more reference is made to Dunya until the last episode where she is seen getting the message Lavie and Claus' fathers were supposed to have delivered over their new grave. She is then seen in the closing scene in a motherly fashion and appears to have married Mullin though this is unconfirmed.
Lucciola:(Λυξιολα?) is a member of the Guild and personal bodyguard to Dio Eraclea. He is an exceptional martial artist and a very capable bodyguard to Dio. He was assigned the role of protecting him from a very early age, and Dio considers Lucciola not just a servant, but also a friend. Tragically, Lucciola was to betray that trust when he was ordered by the Maestro to bring Dio back before her. Lucciola then redeems himself by helping Claus, and Alvis and Dio escape from the grasp of Maestro Delphine. In a confrontation against the Maestro, Lucciola kills his brother, Cicada, and is then disintegrated by a device (a ring) that is given to him by Maestro Delphine as a "gift." It is unclear whether he believed that she would help Dio, or whether he knew that he couldn't win against her and accepted his final fate. His name is a reference to the Italian word for firefly.
Maestro Delphine Eraclea:(Δελβινε Ελακλαρ?) Dio's older sister and head of the Guild. A run-in between her and Alex Rowe in the past has left her the sole target of his vengeance, and one of his only goals, it seems, is to personally kill Delphine. The Maestro is portrayed as a decadent aristocrat, callous and ruthless in her ways. When Lucciola decided to let Dio escape, the Maestro, feigning interest in his plea to let Dio go free, killed him with a device (in the shape of a ring) that essentially disintegrated him. However, she did not go unpunished, for Alex managed to strangle her even though he had been tied in place by rose tendrils. Like her favorite flower, the rose, the Maestro is beautiful but dangerous. With her death and the release of Exile by Alvis, the might of the Guild was broken, never to be restored again.
Vincent Alzey:(Βινξεντ Αρδαι?) An officer of Anatole, Vincent was a friend of Alex and Sophia. Initially appointed Admiral of Anatole's fleet, he was relieved of his command after Alex sank many of his ships. Despite this, he respects Alex, knowing his strengths in combat and strategy (they were in the Officers' Academy together; indeed, before the battle, Vincent met Alex to try to persuade him to keep the Silvana out of battles). A great lover of coffee, Vincent likes to enjoy life. But when duty calls, he's not about to sit back either. When Sophia was imprisoned by her father and about to be killed by a guard, he barges into her room and saves her. Some of his dialogue also hints at a romantic interest in Sophia, despite her obvious affections for Alex. With her command as Queen, Vincent resumed his command as Admiral, this time leading his ships into a grand battle together with Dysis against the Guild.
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Episode list
There are twenty-six (26) episodes of Last Exile in all. There is a common pattern behind most of the titles. Most of the titles in the series refer to certain chess moves, which often represent the actions taken by the characters in the episodes.
First Move
Luft Vanship
Transpose
Zugzwang
Positional Play
Arbiter Attack
Interesting Claus
Take Back
Calculate Alex
Swindle
Develop
Discovered Attack
Isolated Pawn
Etude Lavie
Fairy Chess
Breakthrough
Making Material
Promotion Sophia
Sicilian Defense
Grand Stream
Rook Dio
Queen Delphine
Castling Lucciola
Sealed Move
Quiet Move
Resign
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The Mysterion
The Mysterion (This is called the Mysteria in some translations.) is the key to opening Exile. It is a set of four questions and responses, which, when spoken aloud near Exile, will cause it to transform into its true form. Each one of these questions was entrusted to one of four noble Guild houses, three of which who have been either eradicated or ejected from the Guild over the years. Only special individuals of these houses - such as Alvis Hamilton - can speak the answers to the Mysterion. The power generated by these individuals while they are in their Mysterion trance can disrupt energy reactions, including causing flames to suddenly explode, complex machinery to act strangely, and Claudia-engines to overload. Here are the Mysterion, in the order spoken by Claus Valca and Alvis Hamilton:
House Eraclea's Mysterion
Poem: What lies beyond the furthest reaches of the sky?
Alvis: That which will lead the lost child back to its mother's arms: Exile.
House Dagobert's Mysterion
Poem: The waves that stain the land in gold.
Alvis: The breath of blessing that nurtures life: A Land of Wheat.
House Bassianus' Mysterion
Poem: The path upon which the angels walk.
Alvis: You are the path of great winds: The Grand Stream.
House Hamilton's Mysterion
Poem: What lies beyond the furthest reaches of memory?
Alvis: The place where all were born and to where all will return: A Blue World