Gourry Gabriev (Slayers)
I humbly apologise for this being a day late - a bad cold has been scrambling my brain, just when I had intended to finish this essay. Anyway, on with the show...
Title: In Defence of the Jellyfish Swordsman
Author: peeperoonie
E-mail: talythia_starseeker@hotmail.com
Spoilers: All three anime series, plus various mentions of events in the manga and novels.
First up, a brief description of Slayers for those who do not know of the series.
Slayers started off as several series of novels written by Hajime Kanaka from 1990 to the present. One line features the adventures of Lina and Gourry, while the other, set before the first, features Lina and Naga. In 1995 the novels were reinvented in both manga and anime format. Though the storylines differ to varying degrees, the basics are always the same.
The Slayers world is a typical Dungeons & Dragons type one, where magic and monsters are common-place, bandits roam the countryside and mercenaries can find regular employment. Lina is a young but powerful sorceress, travelling the world in search of treasure, adventure, treasure, food…and did I mention treasure? At first she travelled with the incredibly over-endowed (in both the bust and ego department!) sorceress, Naga the Serpent. After parting ways with Naga she encounters Gourry, a travelling ex-mercenary, Zelgadis Greywords, a part human, rock golem and demon chimera searching for a way to return to his original human form, Amelia wil Tesla Sailoon, the princess of the great city of white magic, Sailoon and Sylphiel nels Lahda, a cleric from Sairaag who specialises in white magic. Together they battle many bandits, sorcerers and mazoku…and still find time to become the despair of many an inn-keeper by decimating their larder.
The Beginning
My first introduction to Gourry came, not through watching an episode of the series, but through watching an AMV. Sometime early last year I spent a while downloading any AMV with Escaflowne in it and this AMV called Dude Looks Like a Lady turned up. I was disappointed to find only one clip from Escaflowne there, featuring Allen, not Dilandau as I’d expected… but many clips, plus the intro and exit sections came from this old-looking anime. I only had a vague idea what the series was at the time and had only heard of the main character, Lina Inverse, in passing, but I felt very sorry for the poor guy these two girls were dressing up and inflicting a Sailor Moon hair-do on.
It wasn’t until March this year when I finally actually watched Slayers, after a friend on LiveJournal recommended it to me - though I think she hoped I would become a Zelgadis or Xellos fan, judging by the pictures she sent me. I’m a fanfiction addict, so after watching the first season and reading summaries of the other seasons I was drawn towards Fanfiction.Net...and was shocked to find the casual belittlement Gourry suffered from. Amelia-hatred I had expected, as she was close to the series’ main bishounen angst-machine, Zelgadis, but to find a male character so mocked rather surprised me. I loathe character-bashing, so I felt drawn to defend what I saw as a sweet, cheerful character that was being mocked for not being the brightest bulb in the box and not having angst or evilness up the wazoo. The other male principal characters of Slayers have many fans, but I feel that Gourry is woefully underappreciated. So here I am to try and convince you that he’s more than worth a first and second look.
The Basics
Gourry is in his early 20’s when he first appears in the series - Hajime Kanzaka seems a little unsure how old to make him, in one interview saying he considers Gourry to be ‘forever 22’. He’s over 6’ at least (I believe some have worked out his height to be around 6’ 2” - 6’ 4”), the tallest of the major characters. He has straight blond hair that is usually shown as between bum to mid-thigh in length, with a long fringe that often covers his right eye. His eyes are blue, ranging from greenish sky-blue to royal blue, depending on the picture. And in the anime he is very fond of blue - his tunic, trousers, boots, gloves and even armour are blue in the first season, though by NEXT his armour and boots are closer to black. In the manga and novel colour illustrations he is slightly less fond of all-blue attire though. He keeps the Sword of Light in a scabbard at his waist, and he generally wields the sword with a normal steel blade connected to the hilt with a removable pin - he only uses the Sword of Light in its true form when it’s absolutely necessary, usually when fighting a mazoku. Gourry has an appetite for food to match Lina’s and they regularly conduct table ‘duels’, the fastest fork winning the food.
The Past
Gourry’s history is a tricky one to put together. The series exists in many forms, and Gourry is portrayed differently in each version. The novels came first and contain the most information, and so would be considered the primary source but for the fact that, at the time of writing, only one is available in English so far. Some chapters and snippets of the other volumes were once available fan-translated, but they were taken down when TokyoPop announced they had licensed the novels for translation. I’m using information from the novels only where it concerns character history and does not conflict the anime, which is how most people will have experienced Slayers.
The anime tells us relatively little about Gourry’s past, considering he is the male lead character. We know he is a descendant of the Swordsman of Light, who defeated the demon beast Zanaffar using the Sword of Light and sealed it by planting the sacred tree Flagoon where it fell, which would absorb Zanaffar’s evil power and use it to grow stronger. By doing this he saved the city of Sairaag and became a famous hero. How exactly the Gabrievs come by the powerful Sword of Light we never find out. The only other Gabriev we see appears in the first movie: Rowdy Gabriev, who took Lina Inverse back in time to get her to help save the elves of Mipross Island. We see the Sword of Light in his possession, so we can only assume that he is Gourry’s direct ancestor. By how many generations is not clear, though he’s often thought to be Gourry’s great-grandfather. Because of Rowdy’s friendship with the elf girl Meliroon, it’s a popular fan-theory that Gourry is part elf, but this has been refuted by the series’ creator.
Gourry must have been trained, possibly from an early age, in the art of sword-fighting, as his skills are above those of someone who had picked up sword-fighting on their own. He is an ex-mercenary and he also once saved the city of Sairaag somehow, though how and from what is never explained. After being injured in the process, he was cared for by the daughter of the main city official, a shrine maiden called Sylphiel nels Lahda, who fell in love with the heroic saviour of the city. Once back to full health, Gourry continued travelling as a mercenary until he came across a young girl on a wooded road who appeared to be in mortal peril from a gang of bandits…
The novels tell us a little more. Gourry was born in the Elmekia Empire to a large-ish family and had one older brother. His family must have been fairly well-off if they could afford to have their sons train in swordsmanship rather than learning a trade, plus they are the descendants of the Swordsman of Light. While the family name of the original Swordsman of Light is apparently not known by the general population, it can be assumed that a good many Gabrievs are also accomplished swordsmen, which would bring prestige and money to the family. The Gabrievs were feuding over who should inherit the Sword of Light - whether this was between just Gourry and his brother we don’t know, neither do we know exactly why. In any case, Gourry, annoyed and sick of the arguments, made the decision to end the in-fighting by taking the sword and leaving both his family and country with it, becoming a mercenary. After wandering aimlessly for a while, tired of working as a mercenary, he was starting to wonder if the Sword of Light could do anything but cause trouble for people, as it had for his family. As he was about to hurl it into the ocean, a man fishing near-by stopped him, saying only a third-rate swordsman throws his weapon away…and asks Gourry to give him the sword if he cares so little about it, possibly recognising the sword for what it really is. After Gourry and the nameless man (various comments make it clear that the man is Luna and Lina Inverse’s father, who was once a mercenary himself) saved a village from a mazoku using the sword and a fishing pole, Gourry is convinced that the sword can be used for good. Four days later he encounters a girl dressed as a sorceress surrounded by bandits on a forest road, whose confident manner suggests she is in no danger…but he decides to help anyway, using the Sword of Light (the dummy blade, at least) to help and do some good.
The manga only gives us a little more information - in it we get to see how Gourry is regarded by his fellow mercenaries when he and Lina encounter a couple of them in the course of their adventures. It seems that, on the whole, they greatly respect him and his skill with a blade, despite his tendency to forget things. We also get the impression that Gourry has been involved in fighting in a pretty major war in the past, which could explain his present reluctance to kill unnecessarily, having seen so many people die messily and pointlessly.
The Present
When Gourry met Lina, his life changed significantly. He went from having no goal or driving force in his life, besides avoiding his family and earning enough gold to get along, to being the self-proclaimed guardian to the pint-sized sorceress Lina Inverse. In the anime he did this because, at first, she appeared to be a young girl in distress and in need of an escort to her destination, Atlas City. His first impression may have been incorrect (and Lina’s appearance and behaviour did little to correct it) but he soon learned that this tiny terror could more than take care of herself - with one spell she could ‘take care’ of a dragon, plus an entire village along with it! But Gourry was a man of his word - he had promised to accompany Lina to Atlas city, and that’s exactly what he was going to do. Of course, any companion of Lina Inverse tends to get dragged into the trouble she frequently gets embroiled in. By the time the big bad Demon Lord Shabranigdo had been defeated and Atlas City finally reached, it was Lina who now had a reason to stick with Gourry - or so she claimed. She swore to follow Gourry until he gave her the Sword of Light, since it was a very powerful magical item, and just the kind of thing to draw Lina like a moth to a flame. But really, did she honestly expect Gourry to just hand her his family’s heirloom? I think this was just as excuse, as both times Gourry lost the sword she showed no signs of ditching him. For all her bluff and bluster, even by the time they reached Atlas City, Lina had come to appreciate having Gourry as a travelling companion.
After this, the two stick together through battles with insane clones, mazoku, abductions, possessions and being dragged half-way across the world in order to help save it in the third season, Slayers TRY. By the end, Gourry gave up the Sword of Light to its original owners…and tellingly, once everyone else had gone their separate ways, we see Gourry and Lina walking off together into the sunset, arm in arm.
The Heart of the Matter
For many, Gourry’s defining trait is his intelligence…or lack thereof. You see it everywhere, particularly in the fanfiction, where Gourry is often characterised such that it’s a wonder he can carry a conversation, let alone his sword. The official English merchandise is not innocent of this either: “Dumber than dirt”, “dumb as a stump”, “a big, blond, dumb knight” and “As loyal as man’s best friend but not quite as smart” can be found on the back of DVDs and manga volumes. Even the most devout of Gourry’s fans must admit that he is not the quickest off the mark in the smarts department - the anime, the 3rd season in particular, often does little to prove otherwise unless you pay attention, playing up Gourry’s denseness in the name of comedy. However, I think it is a grave injustice to say that Gourry is stupid - for a start, a truly stupid person couldn’t have survived as a mercenary and fighter as long as Gourry had.
Gourry’s problem is not that he is stupid, but more that he doesn’t pay attention and he tends to focus very specifically. Gourry is one of the best swordsmen in the Slayers world and has become so through hard work and a hefty amount of talent…and because he’s interested in it. Gourry doesn’t tend to pay attention or focus on things he’s not interested in. Like most people who don’t care a jot about history or maths do when a teacher starts droning, his brain simply turns off from the subject. As a swordsman, he doesn’t really need to know how magic works or about the history of powerful magic-users and legends of gods, dragons and mazoku. Knowing these things wouldn’t make him a better swordsman, nor would he need to know this information while working as a normal mercenary - they don’t tend to get dragged into big adventures like any companion of Lina Inverse does. He also doesn’t bother to remember many things once they are in the past - like the names of enemies he has fought - preferring to live in the present. This, along with his habit of not paying attention, often drives Lina to distraction and has earned Gourry more than one lump on the head or fireball sent in his direction.
This lack of general knowledge beyond sword-fighting means that, as Gourry travels with Lina and the others who are all accomplished magic-users and have a habit of getting into magic/myth-related trouble, he needs the subjects of magic and history explained to him. This is essential for the viewer, as we are as much in the dark on these subjects in the Slayers world as Gourry is. He stands in for us, the audience, as Lina berates him for being a ‘jellyfish brain’ and explains things like the ins and outs of who the big bad demon guy currently threatening the world is and why her usual kill-all spell won’t cut it this time round. This is more important in the anime than the novels, as the novels are told from Lina’s point of view and we can pick up some information from her running thought-commentary. Plus it is the general consensus among fans that novel!Gourry comes across as being less dense than anime!Gourry, and tends to make more astute observations than anime!Gourry generally gets the chance to. This could be because in the novels Lina and Gourry spent more time adventuring without Zelgadis and Amelia around, so Gourry gets more ‘screen time’ as it were, and therefore opportunity to say these things before the faster-thinking Zelgadis or Amelia would.
Gourry also has a problem with being extremely truthful, to the point of bluntness. This most frequently backfires on him when he mentions Lina’s lack of development in the chest area, or when he warns attackers to avoid drawing Lina’s wrath…which inevitably draws it in his own direction!
Of course, Gourry’s ‘stupidity’ often gets exaggerated for the sake of comedic effect, just as Lina’s temper or Amelia’s love of justice do - Slayers is, after all, partly a comedy anime, a send-up of Dungeons & Dragons.
However, Gourry isn’t just blunt and forgetful. Unusually for a swordsman/warrior character, Gourry is not aggressive, brash, cocky or hot-tempered. While he enjoys a good swordfight, Gourry doesn’t fight for the sake of it, but for the challenge and skill involved, and he doesn’t like to fight and kill when it’s not necessary. He usually disarms (or de-clothes!) those he fights and defeats, as he does with Zangulus in NEXT. He is an extremely skilled swordsman, agile, can also turn his hand to blunt weapons, and has an excellent aim with projectiles. We see more of his skill in the novels than the anime, as the anime cuts out many of the weapons-dominated battles and storylines in favour of the flash and bang imagery of magical combat, as it’s easier to animate than an intricate sword-fight.
Gourry could be described as so laid back he’s almost horizontal - outside of battle it takes a lot to rile him up, and the best way to do that is to threaten Lina. He does occasionally get annoyed, like when Lina and Amelia dress him up as a woman in every episode 17, when Lina steals his food, or in the manga when he and Lina were offered a bribe, but for the most part he takes everything in his stride. In battle he can think very fast on his feet, as any good swordsman should, and is adept at reading his enemies and surroundings. He can also be very perceptive outside of battle occasionally, making some rather astute observations which always manage to make the others gawp for a moment - such as when he claims to have known of Xellos’ true nature since the beginning. As Gourry doesn’t tend to exaggerate, brag or lie to make himself look good - in fact, he seems to dislike lying at all, and certainly hasn’t quite learned of the benefits of a well-placed white lie - this is probably the truth. He even occasionally plays the peacemaker, often trying to calm Lina down and stopping her from casting her more destructive spells when someone annoys her.
I believe Gourry’s most fundamental trait to be loyalty - once he promised to protect Lina, then that’s what he did, though all three anime series, one OAV, 15 novels and the same number of manga volumes and counting. Whichever incarnation of Slayers you look at, once Gourry teams up with Lina, he sticks with her no matter what. However (and as a dedicated Lina/Gourry supporter, my opinion maybe biased) by the time the end of the first season swings round, I am sure it is more than just a promise and loyalty that keeps Gourry with Lina, though run-ins with insane magic users, mazoku and worse - Lina’s temper! As Gourry had no apparent plans before meeting Lina, she practically became his reason for living. In any case it’s clear that he views her differently from most women - he barely remembered Sylphiel nels Lahda, who had helped heal him after he somehow saved Sairaag, and that was only through her cooking! He certainly did not feel it necessary to stay with her, though she doubtless tried to drop hints that she would very much like him to stay, and openly adores him.
Gourry’s reaction to Lina’s apparent death at the hands of Copy Rezo is particularly telling and he was most upset with Lina for pretending to have fallen to her death in order to trick and blast the mazoku Kanzel with a Dragon-Slave spell in NEXT. During a quiet moment alone, when Lina asked him how long he intended to keep protecting her, Gourry replied “I dunno, for the rest of my life I guess”.
His determination to protect Lina even managed to prevent him from delivering the killing stroke at the crucial moment when, under the Hellmaster Phibrizzo’s control, he attacked Lina and the others. And later his desperate resolve to bring Lina back after she was possessed by the Lord of Nightmares at the end of NEXT - leaping and running along flying boulders and rocks, forcing his way into the black sphere of chaos the Lord-of-Nightmares-in-Lina’s-body had disappeared into and eventually grabbing onto the Lord of Nightmares herself - proves his utter devotion. While he may not have been aware of exactly who the Lord of Nightmares was, he surely had some inkling or how powerful she was, after seeing her destroy the Hellmaster Phibrizzo right before his eyes. The kiss he and Lina shared when the Lord of Nightmares returned her at his pleading proves that their relationship was more than just that between a protector and charge. It's only a shame that when the Lord of Nightmares returned them to the real world, they remembered nothing of what transpired in the Sea of Chaos but a vague notion that it was something important and precious. But they still would have remembered what drove them to go to such lengths for each other.
The Relationships
Gourry’s main relationship in the series is with Lina. Where she goes, he goes, honour-bound to protect her at all costs. They work well together in battle, often able to read each other’s moves and strategise without speaking. By the end of NEXT, they had been travelling together for 1 ½ years, so they must be able to carry some kind of conversation together and would know each other pretty well by then. Lina certainly knows when to cut Gourry off before he starts asking oblivious questions, and Gourry seems to have worked out when to change the subject to spare Lina’s embarrassment by the start of TRY. He also makes it quite clear that he wants to stay with Lina, shouting “you belong here, with me!” as the Lord of Nightmares left for the Sea of Chaos in Lina’s body and “don’t leave me!” as he desperately tries to reach her.
While Gourry displays unending loyalty and devotion to Lina, his relationships with all the other characters remain vaguer, of a more ‘friend of a friend’ status. Usually, when the group splits up, either in or out of battle, it’s Lina & Gourry and Amelia & Zelgadis you see together.
Gourry rarely converses or interacts much with Amelia, though she does tend to boss him around in the episodes of TRY when they are separated from the others. He seems to care for her and treat her as he might a younger sister, getting annoyed with Zel and giving him a clout on the head when he makes a tactless remark about Amelia’s family. He seems to view her justice-preaching antics with a bit of bemusement, especially when she ropes him into helping out the Peacemen in TRY.
Gourry and Zelgadis respect each other as fighters and often share exasperated moments as the girls start acting strangely…or use them as an anchor and bait!
Gourry and Sylphiel are a different story, much to Lina’s confused annoyance. While Sylphiel openly adores Gourry, calling him ‘Gourry dear’ (or ‘Gourry-sama’ in the original), Gourry shows little reaction to her obvious interest, and treats her much as a chivalrous knight would, since Gourry says his grandmother told him to always be nice to girls. Whether his obliviousness to her affections is through a rare show of tact or because he just doesn’t notice is anyone’s guess. It could be either, though I suspect even Gourry would be hard-pressed not to notice how Sylphiel feels about him, and it would be just like Gourry to pretend not to notice so as to not hurt Sylphiel by rejecting her out-right.
Again, Gourry doesn’t really talk or react to Xellos much - Xellos has no interest in him as he can’t easily be riled up for a quick snack of negative thoughts, he can’t destroy the world with one spell, and he doesn’t try to convert Xellos to the side of good like Amelia does. However, it was Gourry who first realised that Xellos was a mazoku, so he must have paid some attention to Xellos, even if Xellos paid little attention to him.
Why Am I Doing This?
I think what really draws me to Gourry is…he’s such a sweetheart! While occasionally tactless, he’s so genuine and sincere, totally without guile. And he doesn’t angst! I’m often as all for angst as the next fangirl, but for some reason, when it comes to Slayers that kind of thing just doesn’t appeal to me. Gourry is such a cheerful, carefree and sunny character - never gloomy or depressed - that it’s a refreshing change from the principle male character of many other anime series I’ve watched, who often have some kind of traumatic past or other reason for angst. They are either openly angsty, or they often have a cheerful mask covering their inner darkness…at least if you listen to the fanon. While Gourry could angst, with his family problems, involvement with in a war and his actions while under the control of Phibrizzo… but he doesn’t, either choosing not to or simply not remembering these bad events. While he is a scatter brain, I don’t think he would forget such important things - his way is more that of putting these things in the past where they belong and not dwelling on them. Gourry is pretty much a perfect, if oblivious, knight in shining armour. He also has a different brand of fangirls than other Slayers males - I haven’t encountered a Gourry-fan yet who hated Lina for being near Gourry, as Zelgadis’ fans hate Amelia, though some have an unfortunate tendency to dislike Sylphiel. That said, I haven’t encountered many Gourry fangirls full-stop.
Most of all, I don’t think Gourry deserves the flack he gets from much of the fandom, especially in fanfiction. I’m tired of seeing such a wonderful character dismissed as a dense comic relief, character-assassinated into oblivion and ignored in favour of angst and evil, since it seems that nice characters just aren’t cool enough, even though they can kick just as much arse as evil and angsty any day.
And heck, if this essay hasn’t convinced you, perhaps this picture will - happy drooling now ladies!
Websites
Gourry-centric websites are generally few and far between, but I have included a few sites here which I think have the best information and media available:
GOURRY GABRIEV The Knight with the Big Sword! - The first of just two Gourry shrines I know of. While a little skimpy on the actual information, it has a lot of good media, including sound files and pictures. It also has an excellent list of links.
Noble Pudding -+- Slayers Gourry Gabriev - The second of the Gourry shrines, and in my opinion the better of the two due to the content and layout
QP's Slayers Page - This is the site to go to for detailed Slayers information and information of those parts of the Slayers universe that haven’t yet been translated into English. It also has some scans and summaries of the newest Slayers manga, Knight of the Aqualord.
True Slayers - Another excellent general information site, which specifically sets out to correct the rumours that have come about through rampant fanon. It also has a large number of high-quality scans of official art and screen shots.
Title: In Defence of the Jellyfish Swordsman
Author: peeperoonie
E-mail: talythia_starseeker@hotmail.com
Spoilers: All three anime series, plus various mentions of events in the manga and novels.
First up, a brief description of Slayers for those who do not know of the series.
Slayers started off as several series of novels written by Hajime Kanaka from 1990 to the present. One line features the adventures of Lina and Gourry, while the other, set before the first, features Lina and Naga. In 1995 the novels were reinvented in both manga and anime format. Though the storylines differ to varying degrees, the basics are always the same.
The Slayers world is a typical Dungeons & Dragons type one, where magic and monsters are common-place, bandits roam the countryside and mercenaries can find regular employment. Lina is a young but powerful sorceress, travelling the world in search of treasure, adventure, treasure, food…and did I mention treasure? At first she travelled with the incredibly over-endowed (in both the bust and ego department!) sorceress, Naga the Serpent. After parting ways with Naga she encounters Gourry, a travelling ex-mercenary, Zelgadis Greywords, a part human, rock golem and demon chimera searching for a way to return to his original human form, Amelia wil Tesla Sailoon, the princess of the great city of white magic, Sailoon and Sylphiel nels Lahda, a cleric from Sairaag who specialises in white magic. Together they battle many bandits, sorcerers and mazoku…and still find time to become the despair of many an inn-keeper by decimating their larder.
The Beginning
My first introduction to Gourry came, not through watching an episode of the series, but through watching an AMV. Sometime early last year I spent a while downloading any AMV with Escaflowne in it and this AMV called Dude Looks Like a Lady turned up. I was disappointed to find only one clip from Escaflowne there, featuring Allen, not Dilandau as I’d expected… but many clips, plus the intro and exit sections came from this old-looking anime. I only had a vague idea what the series was at the time and had only heard of the main character, Lina Inverse, in passing, but I felt very sorry for the poor guy these two girls were dressing up and inflicting a Sailor Moon hair-do on.
It wasn’t until March this year when I finally actually watched Slayers, after a friend on LiveJournal recommended it to me - though I think she hoped I would become a Zelgadis or Xellos fan, judging by the pictures she sent me. I’m a fanfiction addict, so after watching the first season and reading summaries of the other seasons I was drawn towards Fanfiction.Net...and was shocked to find the casual belittlement Gourry suffered from. Amelia-hatred I had expected, as she was close to the series’ main bishounen angst-machine, Zelgadis, but to find a male character so mocked rather surprised me. I loathe character-bashing, so I felt drawn to defend what I saw as a sweet, cheerful character that was being mocked for not being the brightest bulb in the box and not having angst or evilness up the wazoo. The other male principal characters of Slayers have many fans, but I feel that Gourry is woefully underappreciated. So here I am to try and convince you that he’s more than worth a first and second look.
The Basics
Gourry is in his early 20’s when he first appears in the series - Hajime Kanzaka seems a little unsure how old to make him, in one interview saying he considers Gourry to be ‘forever 22’. He’s over 6’ at least (I believe some have worked out his height to be around 6’ 2” - 6’ 4”), the tallest of the major characters. He has straight blond hair that is usually shown as between bum to mid-thigh in length, with a long fringe that often covers his right eye. His eyes are blue, ranging from greenish sky-blue to royal blue, depending on the picture. And in the anime he is very fond of blue - his tunic, trousers, boots, gloves and even armour are blue in the first season, though by NEXT his armour and boots are closer to black. In the manga and novel colour illustrations he is slightly less fond of all-blue attire though. He keeps the Sword of Light in a scabbard at his waist, and he generally wields the sword with a normal steel blade connected to the hilt with a removable pin - he only uses the Sword of Light in its true form when it’s absolutely necessary, usually when fighting a mazoku. Gourry has an appetite for food to match Lina’s and they regularly conduct table ‘duels’, the fastest fork winning the food.
The Past
Gourry’s history is a tricky one to put together. The series exists in many forms, and Gourry is portrayed differently in each version. The novels came first and contain the most information, and so would be considered the primary source but for the fact that, at the time of writing, only one is available in English so far. Some chapters and snippets of the other volumes were once available fan-translated, but they were taken down when TokyoPop announced they had licensed the novels for translation. I’m using information from the novels only where it concerns character history and does not conflict the anime, which is how most people will have experienced Slayers.
The anime tells us relatively little about Gourry’s past, considering he is the male lead character. We know he is a descendant of the Swordsman of Light, who defeated the demon beast Zanaffar using the Sword of Light and sealed it by planting the sacred tree Flagoon where it fell, which would absorb Zanaffar’s evil power and use it to grow stronger. By doing this he saved the city of Sairaag and became a famous hero. How exactly the Gabrievs come by the powerful Sword of Light we never find out. The only other Gabriev we see appears in the first movie: Rowdy Gabriev, who took Lina Inverse back in time to get her to help save the elves of Mipross Island. We see the Sword of Light in his possession, so we can only assume that he is Gourry’s direct ancestor. By how many generations is not clear, though he’s often thought to be Gourry’s great-grandfather. Because of Rowdy’s friendship with the elf girl Meliroon, it’s a popular fan-theory that Gourry is part elf, but this has been refuted by the series’ creator.
Gourry must have been trained, possibly from an early age, in the art of sword-fighting, as his skills are above those of someone who had picked up sword-fighting on their own. He is an ex-mercenary and he also once saved the city of Sairaag somehow, though how and from what is never explained. After being injured in the process, he was cared for by the daughter of the main city official, a shrine maiden called Sylphiel nels Lahda, who fell in love with the heroic saviour of the city. Once back to full health, Gourry continued travelling as a mercenary until he came across a young girl on a wooded road who appeared to be in mortal peril from a gang of bandits…
The novels tell us a little more. Gourry was born in the Elmekia Empire to a large-ish family and had one older brother. His family must have been fairly well-off if they could afford to have their sons train in swordsmanship rather than learning a trade, plus they are the descendants of the Swordsman of Light. While the family name of the original Swordsman of Light is apparently not known by the general population, it can be assumed that a good many Gabrievs are also accomplished swordsmen, which would bring prestige and money to the family. The Gabrievs were feuding over who should inherit the Sword of Light - whether this was between just Gourry and his brother we don’t know, neither do we know exactly why. In any case, Gourry, annoyed and sick of the arguments, made the decision to end the in-fighting by taking the sword and leaving both his family and country with it, becoming a mercenary. After wandering aimlessly for a while, tired of working as a mercenary, he was starting to wonder if the Sword of Light could do anything but cause trouble for people, as it had for his family. As he was about to hurl it into the ocean, a man fishing near-by stopped him, saying only a third-rate swordsman throws his weapon away…and asks Gourry to give him the sword if he cares so little about it, possibly recognising the sword for what it really is. After Gourry and the nameless man (various comments make it clear that the man is Luna and Lina Inverse’s father, who was once a mercenary himself) saved a village from a mazoku using the sword and a fishing pole, Gourry is convinced that the sword can be used for good. Four days later he encounters a girl dressed as a sorceress surrounded by bandits on a forest road, whose confident manner suggests she is in no danger…but he decides to help anyway, using the Sword of Light (the dummy blade, at least) to help and do some good.
The manga only gives us a little more information - in it we get to see how Gourry is regarded by his fellow mercenaries when he and Lina encounter a couple of them in the course of their adventures. It seems that, on the whole, they greatly respect him and his skill with a blade, despite his tendency to forget things. We also get the impression that Gourry has been involved in fighting in a pretty major war in the past, which could explain his present reluctance to kill unnecessarily, having seen so many people die messily and pointlessly.
The Present
When Gourry met Lina, his life changed significantly. He went from having no goal or driving force in his life, besides avoiding his family and earning enough gold to get along, to being the self-proclaimed guardian to the pint-sized sorceress Lina Inverse. In the anime he did this because, at first, she appeared to be a young girl in distress and in need of an escort to her destination, Atlas City. His first impression may have been incorrect (and Lina’s appearance and behaviour did little to correct it) but he soon learned that this tiny terror could more than take care of herself - with one spell she could ‘take care’ of a dragon, plus an entire village along with it! But Gourry was a man of his word - he had promised to accompany Lina to Atlas city, and that’s exactly what he was going to do. Of course, any companion of Lina Inverse tends to get dragged into the trouble she frequently gets embroiled in. By the time the big bad Demon Lord Shabranigdo had been defeated and Atlas City finally reached, it was Lina who now had a reason to stick with Gourry - or so she claimed. She swore to follow Gourry until he gave her the Sword of Light, since it was a very powerful magical item, and just the kind of thing to draw Lina like a moth to a flame. But really, did she honestly expect Gourry to just hand her his family’s heirloom? I think this was just as excuse, as both times Gourry lost the sword she showed no signs of ditching him. For all her bluff and bluster, even by the time they reached Atlas City, Lina had come to appreciate having Gourry as a travelling companion.
After this, the two stick together through battles with insane clones, mazoku, abductions, possessions and being dragged half-way across the world in order to help save it in the third season, Slayers TRY. By the end, Gourry gave up the Sword of Light to its original owners…and tellingly, once everyone else had gone their separate ways, we see Gourry and Lina walking off together into the sunset, arm in arm.
The Heart of the Matter
For many, Gourry’s defining trait is his intelligence…or lack thereof. You see it everywhere, particularly in the fanfiction, where Gourry is often characterised such that it’s a wonder he can carry a conversation, let alone his sword. The official English merchandise is not innocent of this either: “Dumber than dirt”, “dumb as a stump”, “a big, blond, dumb knight” and “As loyal as man’s best friend but not quite as smart” can be found on the back of DVDs and manga volumes. Even the most devout of Gourry’s fans must admit that he is not the quickest off the mark in the smarts department - the anime, the 3rd season in particular, often does little to prove otherwise unless you pay attention, playing up Gourry’s denseness in the name of comedy. However, I think it is a grave injustice to say that Gourry is stupid - for a start, a truly stupid person couldn’t have survived as a mercenary and fighter as long as Gourry had.
Gourry’s problem is not that he is stupid, but more that he doesn’t pay attention and he tends to focus very specifically. Gourry is one of the best swordsmen in the Slayers world and has become so through hard work and a hefty amount of talent…and because he’s interested in it. Gourry doesn’t tend to pay attention or focus on things he’s not interested in. Like most people who don’t care a jot about history or maths do when a teacher starts droning, his brain simply turns off from the subject. As a swordsman, he doesn’t really need to know how magic works or about the history of powerful magic-users and legends of gods, dragons and mazoku. Knowing these things wouldn’t make him a better swordsman, nor would he need to know this information while working as a normal mercenary - they don’t tend to get dragged into big adventures like any companion of Lina Inverse does. He also doesn’t bother to remember many things once they are in the past - like the names of enemies he has fought - preferring to live in the present. This, along with his habit of not paying attention, often drives Lina to distraction and has earned Gourry more than one lump on the head or fireball sent in his direction.
This lack of general knowledge beyond sword-fighting means that, as Gourry travels with Lina and the others who are all accomplished magic-users and have a habit of getting into magic/myth-related trouble, he needs the subjects of magic and history explained to him. This is essential for the viewer, as we are as much in the dark on these subjects in the Slayers world as Gourry is. He stands in for us, the audience, as Lina berates him for being a ‘jellyfish brain’ and explains things like the ins and outs of who the big bad demon guy currently threatening the world is and why her usual kill-all spell won’t cut it this time round. This is more important in the anime than the novels, as the novels are told from Lina’s point of view and we can pick up some information from her running thought-commentary. Plus it is the general consensus among fans that novel!Gourry comes across as being less dense than anime!Gourry, and tends to make more astute observations than anime!Gourry generally gets the chance to. This could be because in the novels Lina and Gourry spent more time adventuring without Zelgadis and Amelia around, so Gourry gets more ‘screen time’ as it were, and therefore opportunity to say these things before the faster-thinking Zelgadis or Amelia would.
Gourry also has a problem with being extremely truthful, to the point of bluntness. This most frequently backfires on him when he mentions Lina’s lack of development in the chest area, or when he warns attackers to avoid drawing Lina’s wrath…which inevitably draws it in his own direction!
Of course, Gourry’s ‘stupidity’ often gets exaggerated for the sake of comedic effect, just as Lina’s temper or Amelia’s love of justice do - Slayers is, after all, partly a comedy anime, a send-up of Dungeons & Dragons.
However, Gourry isn’t just blunt and forgetful. Unusually for a swordsman/warrior character, Gourry is not aggressive, brash, cocky or hot-tempered. While he enjoys a good swordfight, Gourry doesn’t fight for the sake of it, but for the challenge and skill involved, and he doesn’t like to fight and kill when it’s not necessary. He usually disarms (or de-clothes!) those he fights and defeats, as he does with Zangulus in NEXT. He is an extremely skilled swordsman, agile, can also turn his hand to blunt weapons, and has an excellent aim with projectiles. We see more of his skill in the novels than the anime, as the anime cuts out many of the weapons-dominated battles and storylines in favour of the flash and bang imagery of magical combat, as it’s easier to animate than an intricate sword-fight.
Gourry could be described as so laid back he’s almost horizontal - outside of battle it takes a lot to rile him up, and the best way to do that is to threaten Lina. He does occasionally get annoyed, like when Lina and Amelia dress him up as a woman in every episode 17, when Lina steals his food, or in the manga when he and Lina were offered a bribe, but for the most part he takes everything in his stride. In battle he can think very fast on his feet, as any good swordsman should, and is adept at reading his enemies and surroundings. He can also be very perceptive outside of battle occasionally, making some rather astute observations which always manage to make the others gawp for a moment - such as when he claims to have known of Xellos’ true nature since the beginning. As Gourry doesn’t tend to exaggerate, brag or lie to make himself look good - in fact, he seems to dislike lying at all, and certainly hasn’t quite learned of the benefits of a well-placed white lie - this is probably the truth. He even occasionally plays the peacemaker, often trying to calm Lina down and stopping her from casting her more destructive spells when someone annoys her.
I believe Gourry’s most fundamental trait to be loyalty - once he promised to protect Lina, then that’s what he did, though all three anime series, one OAV, 15 novels and the same number of manga volumes and counting. Whichever incarnation of Slayers you look at, once Gourry teams up with Lina, he sticks with her no matter what. However (and as a dedicated Lina/Gourry supporter, my opinion maybe biased) by the time the end of the first season swings round, I am sure it is more than just a promise and loyalty that keeps Gourry with Lina, though run-ins with insane magic users, mazoku and worse - Lina’s temper! As Gourry had no apparent plans before meeting Lina, she practically became his reason for living. In any case it’s clear that he views her differently from most women - he barely remembered Sylphiel nels Lahda, who had helped heal him after he somehow saved Sairaag, and that was only through her cooking! He certainly did not feel it necessary to stay with her, though she doubtless tried to drop hints that she would very much like him to stay, and openly adores him.
Gourry’s reaction to Lina’s apparent death at the hands of Copy Rezo is particularly telling and he was most upset with Lina for pretending to have fallen to her death in order to trick and blast the mazoku Kanzel with a Dragon-Slave spell in NEXT. During a quiet moment alone, when Lina asked him how long he intended to keep protecting her, Gourry replied “I dunno, for the rest of my life I guess”.
His determination to protect Lina even managed to prevent him from delivering the killing stroke at the crucial moment when, under the Hellmaster Phibrizzo’s control, he attacked Lina and the others. And later his desperate resolve to bring Lina back after she was possessed by the Lord of Nightmares at the end of NEXT - leaping and running along flying boulders and rocks, forcing his way into the black sphere of chaos the Lord-of-Nightmares-in-Lina’s-body had disappeared into and eventually grabbing onto the Lord of Nightmares herself - proves his utter devotion. While he may not have been aware of exactly who the Lord of Nightmares was, he surely had some inkling or how powerful she was, after seeing her destroy the Hellmaster Phibrizzo right before his eyes. The kiss he and Lina shared when the Lord of Nightmares returned her at his pleading proves that their relationship was more than just that between a protector and charge. It's only a shame that when the Lord of Nightmares returned them to the real world, they remembered nothing of what transpired in the Sea of Chaos but a vague notion that it was something important and precious. But they still would have remembered what drove them to go to such lengths for each other.
The Relationships
Gourry’s main relationship in the series is with Lina. Where she goes, he goes, honour-bound to protect her at all costs. They work well together in battle, often able to read each other’s moves and strategise without speaking. By the end of NEXT, they had been travelling together for 1 ½ years, so they must be able to carry some kind of conversation together and would know each other pretty well by then. Lina certainly knows when to cut Gourry off before he starts asking oblivious questions, and Gourry seems to have worked out when to change the subject to spare Lina’s embarrassment by the start of TRY. He also makes it quite clear that he wants to stay with Lina, shouting “you belong here, with me!” as the Lord of Nightmares left for the Sea of Chaos in Lina’s body and “don’t leave me!” as he desperately tries to reach her.
While Gourry displays unending loyalty and devotion to Lina, his relationships with all the other characters remain vaguer, of a more ‘friend of a friend’ status. Usually, when the group splits up, either in or out of battle, it’s Lina & Gourry and Amelia & Zelgadis you see together.
Gourry rarely converses or interacts much with Amelia, though she does tend to boss him around in the episodes of TRY when they are separated from the others. He seems to care for her and treat her as he might a younger sister, getting annoyed with Zel and giving him a clout on the head when he makes a tactless remark about Amelia’s family. He seems to view her justice-preaching antics with a bit of bemusement, especially when she ropes him into helping out the Peacemen in TRY.
Gourry and Zelgadis respect each other as fighters and often share exasperated moments as the girls start acting strangely…or use them as an anchor and bait!
Gourry and Sylphiel are a different story, much to Lina’s confused annoyance. While Sylphiel openly adores Gourry, calling him ‘Gourry dear’ (or ‘Gourry-sama’ in the original), Gourry shows little reaction to her obvious interest, and treats her much as a chivalrous knight would, since Gourry says his grandmother told him to always be nice to girls. Whether his obliviousness to her affections is through a rare show of tact or because he just doesn’t notice is anyone’s guess. It could be either, though I suspect even Gourry would be hard-pressed not to notice how Sylphiel feels about him, and it would be just like Gourry to pretend not to notice so as to not hurt Sylphiel by rejecting her out-right.
Again, Gourry doesn’t really talk or react to Xellos much - Xellos has no interest in him as he can’t easily be riled up for a quick snack of negative thoughts, he can’t destroy the world with one spell, and he doesn’t try to convert Xellos to the side of good like Amelia does. However, it was Gourry who first realised that Xellos was a mazoku, so he must have paid some attention to Xellos, even if Xellos paid little attention to him.
Why Am I Doing This?
I think what really draws me to Gourry is…he’s such a sweetheart! While occasionally tactless, he’s so genuine and sincere, totally without guile. And he doesn’t angst! I’m often as all for angst as the next fangirl, but for some reason, when it comes to Slayers that kind of thing just doesn’t appeal to me. Gourry is such a cheerful, carefree and sunny character - never gloomy or depressed - that it’s a refreshing change from the principle male character of many other anime series I’ve watched, who often have some kind of traumatic past or other reason for angst. They are either openly angsty, or they often have a cheerful mask covering their inner darkness…at least if you listen to the fanon. While Gourry could angst, with his family problems, involvement with in a war and his actions while under the control of Phibrizzo… but he doesn’t, either choosing not to or simply not remembering these bad events. While he is a scatter brain, I don’t think he would forget such important things - his way is more that of putting these things in the past where they belong and not dwelling on them. Gourry is pretty much a perfect, if oblivious, knight in shining armour. He also has a different brand of fangirls than other Slayers males - I haven’t encountered a Gourry-fan yet who hated Lina for being near Gourry, as Zelgadis’ fans hate Amelia, though some have an unfortunate tendency to dislike Sylphiel. That said, I haven’t encountered many Gourry fangirls full-stop.
Most of all, I don’t think Gourry deserves the flack he gets from much of the fandom, especially in fanfiction. I’m tired of seeing such a wonderful character dismissed as a dense comic relief, character-assassinated into oblivion and ignored in favour of angst and evil, since it seems that nice characters just aren’t cool enough, even though they can kick just as much arse as evil and angsty any day.
And heck, if this essay hasn’t convinced you, perhaps this picture will - happy drooling now ladies!
Websites
Gourry-centric websites are generally few and far between, but I have included a few sites here which I think have the best information and media available:
GOURRY GABRIEV The Knight with the Big Sword! - The first of just two Gourry shrines I know of. While a little skimpy on the actual information, it has a lot of good media, including sound files and pictures. It also has an excellent list of links.
Noble Pudding -+- Slayers Gourry Gabriev - The second of the Gourry shrines, and in my opinion the better of the two due to the content and layout
QP's Slayers Page - This is the site to go to for detailed Slayers information and information of those parts of the Slayers universe that haven’t yet been translated into English. It also has some scans and summaries of the newest Slayers manga, Knight of the Aqualord.
True Slayers - Another excellent general information site, which specifically sets out to correct the rumours that have come about through rampant fanon. It also has a large number of high-quality scans of official art and screen shots.