So, it's my Legato essay. . .
The fic recs will be posted as a separate comment to this post tomorrow, as I don't have much time and as I also need to save space for the actual essay.
This is your final warning for massive spoilers from episode 12 to episode 24 of Trigun. If you don't want to know who Legato is or what happens to him, do not click the lj-cut.
Author: millyfan
Spoilers: Oh yes. One cannot discuss Legato without discussing MASSIVE SPOILAGE. The guy *is* a spoiler in a sense, so, pretty much spoilers from episode 12 up to episode 24 of the anime and for some of the major events in the manga.
This will be mostly focused on animeverse Legato since I like the anime better for now, and I am most familiar with the animeverse. ^_\\ If someone wants to write a full mangaverse Legato essay *cough cough munashii_bennu cough* that would be great.
Personal Website(s): http://www.livejournal.com/users/millyfan Another two recommends, if you're not averse to yaoi, are Seishoku Skuld's and my Knives x Legato roleplay journal at http://www.livejournal.com/community/aozora_no_knife or the Trigun Yaoi community at http://www.livejournal.com/community/trigunyaoi.
This essay actually doesn't have many images attached: if you want pics, ask me for them and I'll dig them up for you. I'm lazy.
Again, this essay is full of spoilers. If you don't want to be spoiled on Trigun, watch the series and then come back and read this. Also, I will occasionally refer to fanon in the essay, but any such parts will be clearly marked as fanon.
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"And to think I could kill every man, woman and child here if I wanted to. The power of death is intoxicating."
-Legato Bluesummers, episode 12 "Diablo," (dub only for the last line)
When I saw Trigun for the first time, my reaction to Legato Bluesummers as a character was mixed: the slightly creeped-out feeling of watching one of the most psychopathic antagonist characters in anime, and the drool hanging off of my face because he was *TEHHAWTBISHEISQUEEEE*.
Up until that point, I didn't really see what anyone saw in the male characters. Up until episode 12 and Legato's introduction, (I don't anymore, because I've seen more and know more) I saw Vash as a brainless goof (although, not after this episode ~_^) and kind of liked Wolfwood, but in the "he's a cool character" way.
The entry of Legato into the series marked the beginning of the 180 turn from sometimes silly steampunk space Western to the main serious plot lurking beneath for so long. It introduced the Gung Ho Guns as such, provided a different side of Vash's character, and introduced an antagonist that is cold, psychotic, filled with hate for himself and other humans, and in many ways a paradox and mystery: all the while, being, no pun intended, dead sexy.
So, want to know more about the blue-haired psychotic and why he actually has fans? Or, are you feeling as masochistic as he appears to be and wanting to punish yourself with the babblings of a Legato fangirl? You're at the right place.
Oh, and off topic: I was originally going to title the next section "A crazy man on a crazy planet," but I had a Freudian slip and typed in "A crazy man on a crazy plant." *SMACKS my K x L and L x V muses and my id*
It's a mad, mad world. . .
*SPOILERS*
As you have probably noticed, Trigun is set in a dystopic vision of the future.
An expedition, called "Project SEEDS," sent into deep space to look for another planet, is the last hope of mankind after the destruction of Earth, presumably through pollution, war, natural catastrophe, or all of the above.
Due to internal turmoil among the waking crew of the ships (the details of which vary between anime and manga), Knives develops an intense hatred for humans and an obsessive protective love for his brother, the other Plant twin, Vash. In an attempt to kill all of the humans in suspended animation (called Coldsleep) on the ships, Knives attempts to explode the ships except for an escape pod containing himself, Vash, and Rem.
Rem, however, runs back onto the ships, engaging reverse thrusters on a portion of the ships so they descend into the atmosphere intact. The ship containing her, however, explodes, killing her, and creating the most pointed rift between Vash and Knives.
This event is called "The Fall," and is detailed better in the Vash essay by tiggymalvern. I've just given a short overview because, aside from the fact that Legato was a descendant of a Fall survivor or one himself, it really has no relevance to this essay.
The ships that make it onto the sandy planet safely contain what will become its human population and Plants, as well as soon to be lost technology and a variety of other things. Two of the humans here may become the ancestors of Legato Bluesummers, if he was not among the settlers himself.
Over time, despite the odds, human civilization begins to grow and stabilize on the planet, despite the harsh conditions. Nevertheless, this civilization breeds a lawless world of violence and cruelty, where in many if not almost all cases, the person with the most weapons and the coldest heart wins.
Gangs of bandits, such as the Bad Lads and Roderick Slave Traders, form, engaging in activities ranging from robbery and murders to the providing of weapons and prostitutes. In short, we have the worst of the Old West except with better technology, bigger guns, and a setting in the steampunk meets cyberpunk distant future.
What better place is there to be haunted by a blue-haired, golden-eyed, hand-licking psychopath with a skull on his shoulder, a massive inferiority and superiority complex (yes, they can coexist), and a fixation on death?
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EEEEEEEK! What's with the creepy guy?
Legato Bluesummers is introduced in episode 12, "Diablo," first as a shadow in a darkened room. This is an apt introduction, because most of his life to this point is shrouded in total mystery.
There is absolutely nothing in Trigun canon that tells us where Legato came from (except for one screenshot of a blue-haired Fall survivor fighting for water in episode 26), who his parents were, from what location on the planet he came, what his true age is, how he came to serve Knives as if he were a pet dog, why he is apparently insane, or many other things. Hence, Legato's backstory, for the purposes of the anime canon as such, is absolutely nonexistent and therefore a fanfic writer's paradise.
All we know from canon is that Legato appears to be in his twenties, at the oldest, but may be much, much older (and is much older in mangaverse); that he is the personal slave, caretaker, and only trusted human of Millions Knives; that he was gifted by Knives with Vash's arm for some reason (whether or not his powers solely stem from there is a matter of debate); that he is a very powerful psychic and telepathic individual; that he has two obsessions of equal value to him, love-worshiping Knives and killing other humans; that he likes to lick the Plant hand and arm; that he is a glutton beyond compare; that he absolutely hates Vash, wanting to make him face "eternal suffering;" and that he is the unquestioned leader of the Gung Ho Guns.
Oh, and he's also a sociopathic homicidal psycho with a soft spot for kids or victims of gangsters on occasion.
Legato Bluesummers is an enigma in many ways: he is refined, cool, calm, polished, but yet a raving psychopath obsessed with killing as many others as he can possibly kill. He is a merciless killer who sees himself and other humans as garbage and not worth life, yet he will share (non-poisoned) food with and give attention to a lonely child. He loathes one Plant twin, but loves the other.
We begin to see this at the beginning of Legato's tenure in the anime, as almost all of it is shown in episode 12. In this episode, he first communicates with Vash via his telepathy, shares his food and attention with a child, kills a local businessperson in the town where Vash is, then frames the gunman for the killing, sends the first Gung Ho Gun, Monev the Gale, after him while he's jailed for the crime, instructing Monev, apparently, to take out as much of the town as he can in the process, and the whole time, serenely watches the catastrophe that ensues from a cliff above town alongside his almost constant companion twelfth GHG, Midvalley the Hornfreak.
Now, we will enter the world of fanon in hopes of fleshing out what little we have in canon about Trigun's man of mystery.
How old is he anyway?
Nobody knows. He could have been immortal, the actual man depicted in the scramble for water immediately post-Fall rather than a descendant of him, as is most often assumed. He could be anywhere from twenty to seventy.
Most fans doing any amount of mangaverse usually go with an age somewhere above sixty, assuming from the manga that Legato was an adult at the time of July, and posit that he was either naturally immortal or slow to age OR, more commonly, that Vash's arm somehow arrested the aging process.
Animeverse fans portray Legato as being the age he appears to be or slightly older, or ignore his age entirely.
Both of these opinions are valid, and neither, if written well, make a fic bad, unless the writer later gives Legato's exact age in the mangaverse.
How did he find Knives or Knives find him?
Psychopaths attract? No, although it is not known exactly how Legato fell into Knives's orbit. Some fan writers theorize that he is, himself, a halfbreed Plant seeking answers. Others argue that it was Knives that found Legato, took him in, and trained him how to use his powers. Yet another valid theory, mentioned to me by rosehiptea , is that Legato previously had some connection to Vash before a falling-out with him and deciding to find the other brother.
Yes, Master. I will do whatever you desire.
I will mention more about this in the relationships section below, but suffice it to say that Legato is incredibly devoted to Knives. He refers to Knives as if he were his husband or god or both, will do anything to serve Knives, is entirely obsessed with the idea that Knives is better than him, and whenever Knives is around, plays the part of masochistic, submissive slave with zero self-confidence. Legato also cares for Knives after the July incident and possibly more. In return, he is the only human Knives trusts somewhat to do his bidding, the intermediary between Knives and the Gung Ho Guns, and seems to have unlimited access to Knives.
Whether this is religious devotion or some of the most utterly obvious yaoi subtext since Trowa and Quatre "made music together" is up for speculation. Again, neither interpretation is "better" or "worse" than the other.
What's with the arm and the hand licking?
At some point in time after July, Knives grafted the arm he shot off of Vash onto Legato. Reasons for why Knives made such a move are many among fans: to give Legato his powers or enhance the power that Legato already had, to make Legato even more a substitute for Vash, to give Legato a connection to Vash, to make Legato immortal, to use as a sex toy. . . many theories exist, often intertwined with each other.
OoooWeeeOoooo I see your mind ooooWEEEEooooo. . .
Legato Bluesummers has incredible psychic and mental powers. The guy can communicate telepathically and read minds (episode 12); can make people shoot each other, choke themselves, and even rip out their own limbs and hearts (episode 15); can hypnotize people into abandoning their towns and families to walk out into the desert to their deaths (episode 22); can move items with his mind (the mangaverse, where he feeds himself this way); and can force someone to kill someone else against their will (episode 23, where he forced Chapel's hand in firing at Wolfwood).
It is not known in canon whether his power is totally obtained from or merely strengthened by the Plant arm graft. It has *something* to do with Legato's powers, but this something may only be his connection with Vash and his ability to trigger Vash's use of the Angel Arm.
Again, "Legato was born with these powers" doesn't make a badfic, and neither does "he obtained them from Vash's arm." It's all opinion.
A man obsessed with death and with love.
Legato is a killing machine of a "human being." Some have theorized that he has already died inside and that he kills to "feel alive," others theorize that he only kills because he wants the love of Knives, and to torment Vash. There's many other theories, but what is clear in canon is that Legato wants everyone to die and then to die himself.
This leads to a very haughty and superior air about him when he's publicly dealing with other humans and especially in his confrontations with Vash. Out of Knives's orbit, Legato is actually more of an aloof narcissist than a masochist, except for the final moments of the final confrontation with Vash.
I won't mention more on the whole Knives x Legato dynamic here because it gets a lot of time later here and got a bit of time earlier. Just suffice it for now to say that everything Legato does, it's somehow because of or focused on Knives and because he wants love from Knives, even if just a snarled word or a bruise.
I'm hungry. Feed me.
Much of the time that Legato appears, he has something in his mouth. Whether it was the infamous hot dog scene of episode 12, the cheesecake in episode 15, the ice cream or pudding dish of episode 16, or the gigantic feasts in the manga, he's eating, and eating a lot.
Some writers have theorized that Legato has an eating disorder. In the most famous of these fics, "Hunger," by Luc Court on ff.net, the disorder was bulimia, where Legato threw up whatever he ate. Other fics mention the disorder as "emotional eating," i.e. overeating to fill a relational, recreational, or sexual void in one's life.
Yet other writers theorize that Legato's apparently fast metabolism is nothing to do with an eating disorder and everything to do with his genetics, his powers, or the Plant arm graft.
It's again all a matter of interpretation.
I love your brother, but I hate you.
"Eternal suffering to Vash the Stampede." This is the stated goal of Legato's life, and he certainly achieves it. Whether by sending Gung Ho Guns to kill people in front of Vash, injure him, and then to die themselves, whether by placing Wolfwood as Vash's best friend for so long, asking him to kill Vash, and then killing the priest due to his acceptance of Vash's beliefs, or whether through his final act of forcing Vash to take his life in the animeverse, Legato wants to make Vash suffer immeasurable pain and probably commit suicide.
The reasons for this are again up to fanon. Some, mostly K x L and K x V yaoi partisans, say that it is nothing more than sheer jealousy and enviousness: Legato wants what Knives will only give Vash, in other words, every part of him emotionally, relationally, sexually, etc. Others believe that Legato has some sort of personal backstory with Vash, such as being a relative of his or being a survivor of July or even being Vash's resentful ex-lover.
Again, no one knows, and any explanation well done is as good as another.
Every group of merciless, psychotic assassins needs a leader.
Legato is the unquestioned leader of the Gung Ho Guns. All twelve look to him for final orders on when to deploy against Vash or against whatever innocent targets are on the menu, and all twelve will face him or another Gun he has deployed against them should they fail at their task.
Definitely not a "servant leader," Legato sees the GHG as pawns in his cat-and-mouse game with Vash, and uses them accordingly. In fact, until the end in animeverse in episode 24, the only one he doesn't deploy against Vash is his companion, the twelfth Gung Ho Gun, Midvalley. If that says anything about their relationship, it will be mentioned below. ^_^
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In relationships with other characters, where is Legato?
For this section, I will refer to yaoi pairings slightly preferentially, as I am personally biased toward seeing Legato as, well, not quite straight. However, I will mention alternate ideas if any exist.
Rem: Legato never met Rem, but, as you can see in the final confrontation with Vash, has nothing but contempt for her and her ideals. Most likely, Knives poisoned his mind on that.
Vash: Maybe it's the jealousy and envy. Maybe it's Rem's ideals that so disgust him. Maybe it's Vash not immediately returning to Knives's side. Maybe it's being an abused replacement. Maybe it's all of those and more, or maybe there's some backstory, like Legato was a lover or a son or something.
Either way, Legato has nothing but bitter hate for Vash and a strong desire to punish him and make him suffer, and will go to any length to do so, even allowing Vash to kill him in episode 24.
Knives: Legato is absolutely, entirely devoted to Knives, to the point of giving his life, his time, his attention, and anything and everything else.
While around others, Legato is aloof and superior, yet, when with Knives, he is subservient, masochistic, and worshipfully admiring.
Legato believes that the Plants are "angels" or even "gods," yet, for reasons not really understood (aside from Vash refusing to use his powers such as the Angel Arm), he does not see Vash in that way until the very end, but only Knives.
Legato is in love with Knives. Whether that love is the pure love of a religious devotee to his god, an admiration of something stronger than himself, a definite yaoi pairing, or a mixed-up combination of all of the above and more, whether it was ever consummated or is only Legato's unrequited angst if it is yaoi, it's up to the viewer to decide.
A note must be added here in the discussion of possible Knives x Legato yaoi. While the master-slave dynamic would most likely cross over into any yaoi for this couple, there are two pitfalls the yaoi writer who wants to remain in character needs to avoid.
The first pitfall is getting stuck in a rut of making the relationship ONLY BDSM and violence, or going to the opposite extreme and ignoring these elements. While BDSM would most likely be major elements of the Knives x Legato pairing and should not be ignored, they are also only one dimension of the relationship.
To assume that K x L is solely either "Knives beats Legato to a pulp and he begs for more" or alternately, that it is "starry eyed cute manlove," is missing the entire picture. Most likely, there's a lot of elements there that need to be addressed.
The second is characterizing Legato as a consistent "weepy uke." While he is angsty and *might* cry once in a while, in very extreme circumstances, he is also incredibly cold and in control of himself emotionally, I dare say, very retentive and repressed. Legato is NOT Shuichi Shindou.
Midvalley: Here, at least in animeverse, we have yet another very "odd" relationship that could just be employer-subordinate or bodyguard-protected, or that could be yaoi.
Midvalley "The Hornfreak," twelfth Gung Ho Gun, is introduced for the first time in the opening of episode 15. Midvalley occasionally appears to be flirting with Legato in a couple of scenes, as well as amicably chatting with him and fighting alongside him in others. Since this isn't an essay about him, I'll spare most of the spoilers and info on him for now, but what to keep in mind is that from this episode on, he is Legato's personal bodyguard and travel companion at the very least.
Legato seems to have some sort of rapport with and respect for Midvalley, as they are together more often in the anime than some of the most celebrated couples (i.e. they spend more time together than Vash and Meryl or Wolfwood and Milly do) and yet, Midvalley doesn't die until the end, right before Legato is himself killed. Also, both Midvalley and Legato die of suicide in the same episode.
While it could be argued that their relationship is strictly business, there is a LOT of potential for yaoi here, and this pairing is sometimes used as a balance to an entirely BDSM Knives x Legato pairing with Midvalley being Legato's source of comfort, love, and the like.
Of course, you can throw this all out the window for mangaverse, as there, Midvalley and Legato are sworn enemies.
Dominique: The second Gung Ho Gun, she also was flirting with Legato in episode 15, and has somewhat of a crush on him or admiration of him. Whether this means anything is up to the viewer, but in the animeverse, they don't exchange many words and don't spend much time together. . .
Wolfwood: While Legato *may* have some connection to Wolfwood other than being merely his boss, there is no other connection between these two even implied in canon, aside from Legato giving Wolfwood the order to kill Vash rather than protect him through Chapel in episode 23, and using Chapel to kill Wolfwood when he refuses the order and refuses to kill Chapel.
Milly and Meryl: The only connection Legato has to these characters is by threatening to kill them with a mob of mind-controlled zombie villagers in order to get Vash to kill him to save them in his suicide/provoked homicide in episode 24. In canon, neither of them even know who Legato is until that episode.
That kid in episode 12 and those women in episode 15: It is often inferred by fans that Legato was abused as a child due to the pity he shows to the sad, lonely child in episode 12. While this may be the case, he just may have had a flash of guilt for all the children he's killed and orphans he's made. Either would work there.
As for the women, oh, no. That leads into the next two relationships, but suffice it to say that Legato wasn't falling for a Mary Sue in the bunch, and that it was most likely his sister issues or something else from his past that made him feel pity.
The little sister: Never named in the anime or manga yet, this idea comes from a comment that Nightow made in an interview for a Japanese magazine, saying something to the effect of "he seems like the kind of guy to have a little sister." Whether the sister will ever get into canon, what she is, whether living or dead, no one knows.
The Mary Sues: Thankfully, none of these exist in canon. Nevertheless, pairing Legato off with a Mary Sue has almost become a cottage industry in the het Trigun fandom. Het writers sadly too often ignore Dominique and instead choose to pair Legato off with a Sue of their own creation.
Some very popular categories are:
The Angsty!Rebel!Goth Sue who falls in love with Legato because he's so evil and dark and dangerous.
The SuperPerfect!Sweetie Sue who finds him, miraculously heals him, and reforms him to be her little lovebunny.
The Crazy! Sue (usually a bounty hunter or stray psychopath) who finds someone who "truly understands her" and wants to go on killing sprees together.
The Plant!Sue or HalfBreed! Sue who promises him the twu wub that Knives won't give him.
The Rescued! Sue, usually a prostitute or a beggar or something that Legato saves from someone else and keeps safe and loved forever and ever.
Needless to say, these Sues almost always (99.9 percent of the time) make Legato VERY OOC, and usually provide nothing interesting to read besides a usually badly-written fangirl's fantasy of having a relationship/having sex with a hot bishounen.
A good way to avoid Mary Sue fics is to look at the summary. Legato x OC or Legato x any name that isn't canon, an incoherent summary, or a summary including the words "high school," usually means that the fic is a Sue.
Where's Legato going from here?
*MEGA SPOILER*
In the animeverse, nowhere, as he dies in episode 24 when Vash shoots him in the head during their final confrontation.
The manga, however, is an open story, as Legato is still alive.
Oh, yes, the manga.
I personally am only familiar with the Sumirechan site and not even the whole thing there. Hence, I don't know as much about manga Legato as some other writers would, and I hope munashii_bennu can post a full mangaverse Legato essay.
However, some major differences are as follows:
We have a somewhat definite age on Legato: he is at least sixty years old.
Up until this point in the Japanese manga, Legato is still alive and more than alive, but physically healed.
Legato's plan to kill Vash was carried out by himself at Augusta, and was unsuccessful. As punishment, Legato was crushed by Knives, and became a quadriplegic sealed inside a coffin for a large portion of the series. However, in the latest released in Japan, he has somehow recovered from those injuries.
Legato is less "refined" and more "crazed psycho lunatic," and he is more obsessed with Knives.
Legato and Midvalley are sworn enemies who hate each other.
In summary:
Legato Bluesummers is quite the paradox, and there is a lot more to him than first meets the eye.
Definitely a very well-developed character despite the holes and gaps in his backstory, he's easily both one of the creepiest antagonists in anime and one of Trigun's most notable characters.