| abstract
| - A list of the main characters from the first version of the Massively multiplayer online role-playing game "The World"
* Aura(アウラ) is an advanced AI that takes the form of a young girl whose white hair, skin, and garments give her a ghostly appearance. She is created by Harald Hoerwick to be a symbol of his love for his deceased lover as the daughter that could have been. She is the perfect AI, and is the spirit of The World. Since her awakening by Tsukasa, she has been fleeing the clutches of Skeith, as witnessed by Orca and Kite, and several other players as well. She is meant to be the perfect AI that will take in collected player information by Data Draining the current AI control program, Morganna, though Morganna intentionally keeps Aura in her sleep-like state in order to not lose her purpose. After Morganna's plot to keep her asleep by using Tsukasa in .hack//Sign fails, Aura awakens and becomes hunted by Morganna's Phases to prevent her from developing Data Drain. Aura manages to cultivate this power into an installation book, which ends up in the hands of Kite. Aura becomes Data Drained afterward, which causes her to be scattered throughout The World. She manages to communicate with Kite and other players through corrupted e-mails, which leads to the defeat of most of the phases. During the final battle, Aura is scattered again and merges with Morganna to complete the Ultimate AI. She becomes an omnipresent yet mostly silent force within The World for some time. She eventually sets out to perfect herself by interacting with the world by giving two players, Shugo and Rena, chibi versions of the avatars of Kite and Blackrose in a contest, and giving birth to another AI, Zefie. This helps Shugo reach his goal of becoming a hero. Aura's eventual disappearance causes The World to decline. The CC Corp then develops Project GU to recreate her.Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto(Japanese), Lia Sargent (English)
* Kite(カイトKaito) is a Twin blade and the main character of the .hack//Games series. He is kind, considerate, and courteous to those he meets in The World; even those who seem a hindrance to his righteous quest to save the coma victims. Kite is the close friend of Yasuhiko, who plays online as Orca, in their school, so Kite joins The World and meets up with Orca. Soon after, Yasuhiko is placed in a coma by Skeith, and Kite receives the Twilight Bracelet from Aura, allowing him to Data Drain. Following leads set by Aura, Kite defeats the various Phases and Cubia, the alternate side of the bracelet, destroying the bracelet. Aura eventually gives him a new bracelet called the Dawn Bracelet. In .hack//G.U., Haseo gets a message from BlackRose, indicating that she and Kite finally meet each other offline and that she has feelings for him. Voiced by: Sayaka Aida(Japanese), Mona Marshall (English)
* Albireo(アルビレオArubireo) is the main character of the first volume of the novel .hack//AI buster and a central character in the second volume. Albireo is a powerful Long Arm character class, who mostly keeps to himself as a solo-player. In real life, Albireo is Kazushi Watarai, a system administrator and debugger for CC Corporation. His job is to work out any glitches in the game, as well as delete any system anomalies. He is set to hunt down a Vagrant AI, Lycoris, as part of his job, though he later meets her and befriends her, not knowing her true nature. He helps her regain various pieces of data, along with Hokuto, a newbie player, and when completed, Lycoris realizes that she cannot exist and forces Albireo to delete her. Albireo reappears in .hack//AI buster 2, chasing after Tsukasa, though he soon runs into Macha and is rendered comatose for several months.. He is forced to resign from CC Corporation as he is labeled as the one who caused the Twilight Incident. He then meets up with the person behind Hokuto, Haruka Mizuhara, and they begin a relationship and live together. Even with Haruka jokingly saying she didn't want to care for a child (as she was some years older than him), it is later referenced that the relationship did not last long, as Watarai never truly overcame the incident involving Lycoris, which put a heavy strain on their relationship.
* Balmung(バルムンクBarumunku), also referred to as Lord Balmung and "Balmung of the Azure Sky", is a legendary player in The World. He gains his title by defeating an event called the One Sin, which was thought to be unbeatable, with his partner, Orca, causing them to be known as "The Descendants of Fianna." He is a Blademaster, who is given white wings after the event as a reward. He can use them to float and jump higher than other players. Balmung is originally very formal and assertive of his views, following a strict moral code of doing good in The World, leading some to consider him arrogant or rude at times. He truly loves The World and takes playing it very seriously, to the point of investigating disturbances within it personally and refusing to speak with .hackers or associating with them. In .hack//Legend of the Twilight, he's much more carefree and less serious with new players, though still completely business-like with his associates. Voiced by: Nobuyuki Hiyama(Japanese), Crispin Freeman (English)
* Bear(ベアBea) is a large, burly Blademaster. He wears relatively little clothes, and most of his body and face is covered in blue wave tattoos resembling Celtic woad. He uses The World to relax, having played computer games for over thirty years, and he likes to help out new players. He enjoys interacting with Mimiru and BT, having met the latter in person. His real name is Ryo Sakuma(佐久間 亮Sakuma Ryō), and he is a famous novelist. He enjoys various hobbies, like reading books by famous authors and going to the theater. He uses The World to interact with his son, with whom he has an estranged relationship. He later becomes the guardian of An Shouji, the player behind Tsukasa, and supports her financially as she attends boarding school. Voiced by: Kazuhiro Nakata(Japanese), Paul Mercier (English)
* BlackRose(ブラックローズBurakkurōzu) a female Heavy Blade(she bears the same character model of Mimiru from .hack//Sign, but they have different color schemes) who meets Kite in the video game series. BlackRose is just starting on her adventure at the same time as Kite (though this is a fact she attempts to hide when they initially meet). The two clash immediately, but warm up to each other little by little. She reveals that her purpose for joining is to find a cure for the data bug that placed her brother in a coma. BlackRose is a young woman with a tough-as-nails attitude and can be a bit full of herself at times. Luckily, she has Kite alongside her to balance her out and keep her in check. Her real name is Akira Hayami and is a member of the tennis team at her high school. Voiced by: Masumi Asano(Japanese), Wendee Lee (English)
* BT is a Wavemaster featured in .hack//Sign. Her avatar has blonde hair and dresses in light green robes. BT focuses her attention on finding the Key of the Twilight and seems to be the least concerned with Tsukasa's predicament. She meets with Bear and Crim often in The World and in person. The name BT comes from her favorite food, a BLT sandwich, but without the lettuce, which she hates. She is a former model named Machiko in her real life and now makes a career at a dispatch company in the Touhoku region. Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu(Japanese), Donna Rawlins (English)
* Harald Hoerwick(ハロルド・ヒューイックHarorudo Hyūikku) is the German programmer responsible for creating The World. He meets his unrequited love interest, Emma Wielant, at a seminar for anthroposophy. She dies in a car accident, which leaves Harald grief stricken to the point where he feels the need to create a tangible expression of his love for Emma. He creates a virtual daughter, Aura, designed to receive data on humanity and its various emotions. His plan goes wrong when the program designed to nurture Aura, Morganna, decides to bend its own programming to stay in existence. Obsessed with completing Aura, he decides to rid himself of his physical body and become part of The World. Morganna traps Harald and restricts him to inaccessible areas, leaving him as "The Broken Man", where he loops dialogue expressing his regrets and the error he made in creating Morganna. He eventually helps Bear and his companions get on the right path to Aura, but Morganna deletes him soon afterward. Remnants in the form of a stone tablet appear to Kite, giving him clues on how to proceed, before being destroyed by Cubia. The next version of The World also features remnants that appear to Haseo. Voiced by: Takumi Yamazaki(Japanese), Crispin Freeman (English)
* Cubia is a monster in The World the 'opposite side' of the mystical "Twilight Bracelet", born during the creation of the bracelet. It constantly attempts to prevent Kite from progressing until it is finally defeated, which results in the destruction of the bracelet. .hack//XXXX features Cubia with a human avatar with a similar bracelet who befriends Kite. Cubia returns in GU as the anti-epitaph, giving it power equal to all eight. It spreads throughout the internet, causing malfunctions all over the world.
* Elk is a shy Wavemaster who only finds comfort in working with Mia. Elk shows a great loyalty to his odd companion, and infinite concern for her as her mysterious condition slowly worsens throughout the game. He eventually comes to accept Kite and his companions as they work together. In the next version of The World, the player behind Elk creates Endrance(エンデュランス) the Temptress. Endrance is cold towards other players, referring to them as "ugly dolls". He is online for most of the day, logging off only to sleep. He interacts with a small cat, which he believes to be the reincarnation of Mia, but is actually an AIDA feeding off his emotions by acting as Mia. Haseo eventually destroys the AIDA while fighting Endrance. Endrance falls into a deep depression until he becomes connected to Haseo in a similar format, devoting his life to what he believes he owes. His real name is Kaoru Ichinose(一ノ瀬薫).
* Crim(クリムKurimu) is a Long Arm featured in .hack//Sign. His avatar is a male with spiky blue hair, a red jacket, flared red and yellow pants, and a wave symbol on his chest. Crim plays as a very happy-go-lucky character, easygoing and sociable. He enjoys testing his skills against strong opponents and is always ready to help anybody in need. He founded the Crimson Knights with Subaru, though he eventually leaves. He is very close to Subaru, as he knows that she is handicapped and offers his phone number to her if she feels the need to talk. He is a business man in his real life and is frequently sent off on business trips to places all around the world. Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki(Japanese), Lex Lang (English)
* Helba(ヘルバHeruba) is a professional hacker of extraordinary skills both in and out of The World. She uses an edited Wavemaster with a white dress with purple triangular designs and hides her eyes behind a red visor trimmed with gold. She provides help and information to some of the main characters in the storylines, though she usually works in the background. Helba's name comes from the long lost net-distributed text, the Epitaph of Twilight. She finds files of an unused town and creates a patchwork area which she names Net Slum. It is a sanctuary for Vagrant AI, trash data, and other illegal items. It is suspected that she made a brief real-life appearance in Liminality as Kaoru Asaba, a strange woman who helped Yukichin in the second episode. The info book .hack//analysis, which compiles various information regarding characters and The World, mentions that she is a working single mother of a little girl. Voiced by: Yumi Tōma(Japanese), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (English)
* Mia(ミア) is a Blademaster with the appearance of an anthropomorphic cat with purple fur and long rabbit-like ears. She is a truly strange character, made increasingly strange by her ability to see Kite's Bracelet. While she thinks she is a hacker with advanced skills, she is really just an incarnation of the Phase, Macha. She is close to Elk because she unconsciously sees the resemblance to Tsukasa, a friend from the previous incarnation, and she is constantly on the look out for an item called "Aromatic Grass." As Kite defeats each phase, she loses her memory and begins to wander the root towns. As The World becomes more corrupt, she eventually awakens in her full phase form, Macha the Temptress. She is destroyed, and Aura revives her afterward. Mia is captured and killed after the Project G.U. (aka: Project Roots) staff remove the Temptress data from her. The original "Macha" is an AI character created by Morganna to follow Tsukasa and make sure that he never leaves the game. She eventually turns on Morganna and sacrifices herself to save Tsukasa and the others. After Macha was data-drained and killed, her data was reconfigured as Mia, who later meets Elk, a Wavemaster.
* Mimiru(ミミル) is a female Heavy Blade who appears in .hack//Sign. Her avatar appears as a teenage girl dressed in an armored bikini top and a short skirt, with large greaves on her legs - it is the same design as Blackrose, albeit with a different color set and wave design. Mimiru plays as a "tough-it-out-through-anything" player, who is poor at planning things out and following through on them. She meets Tsukasa and soon becomes one of the few he trusts, eventually one of his friends. She also teams up with Bear, whom she refers to as an "old man", and spends considerable time in the series attempting to figure out what Bear's career is in real life. She eventually meets with An Shouji, Tsukasa's real identity, and the two go shopping together in Shimokita. When she first began playing "The World", she befriended a female Long Arm named Mimika (who closely resembles Gardenia), but Mimiru has since changed her character. In real life, she is a 15 year-old teenage girl, who is an only child and has few friends. Her father works at a company that manufactures semiconductors. Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi(Japanese), Amanda Winn-Lee (English)
* Morganna Mode Gone(モルガナ・モード・ゴンMorugana Mōdo Gon) is an AI system created by Harald Hoerwick to oversee the birth of Aura by gathering personality data of the players of The World and allowing herself to be absorbed into Aura. However, Morganna eventually realized that after Aura's birth, she would have no purpose, so she attempts to stall the growth of Aura indefinitely, resulting in many of the events in the .hack series. In .hack//Sign, she imprisoned the character Tsukasa in "The World" and tried to use his negative emotions to keep Aura from waking, but the plan failed. She is able to bend her programming by succumbing to a paradox, though she eventually breaks her programming and takes on the persona of the Cursed Wave from the Epitaph of Twilight. She exists everywhere in The World with the exception of glitched areas, and when she is damaged, The World becomes corrupted. Morganna fails to keep Aura sealed and tries to kill her with the Eight Phases(which she created and which contain part of her data). Morganna is eventually merged with Aura to create the Ultimate AI. Voiced by: Rie Tanaka(Japanese), Valerie Arem (English)
* Orca(オルカOruka) is a male Blademaster played by a fourteen year old boy named Yasuhiko and is a friend of Kite's. Orca is a high-level Blademaster who is given the title "Orca of the Azure Sea" after beating an event thought to be unbeatable with Balmung. Orca has been known to assist fledgling players of The World in numerous ways, lending his strength to theirs. After having his friend, Kite, join the game, he is given the Book of Twilight by Aura because of his reputation. Orca was originally meant to be the true keeper of the Twilight Bracelet, but he is data drained by Skeith, leaving Yasuhiko in a coma until Kite manages to help complete Aura. Voiced by: Yasunori Masutani(Japanese), Kirk Thornton (English)
* Rena Kunisaki(国崎玲奈Kunisaki Rena) is a player who wins a special chibi version of Blackrose's avatar in a contest developed by Aura. She originally plays as a female BladeMaster named Brigit and becomes bored of The World until she learns of the exploits of Kite and his companions. She starts playing The World along with her twin brother, Shugo, who won a version of Kite's avatar, and uses her new character to support him in becoming a hero. The two work to reunite Aura with her daughter, Zefie.
* Silver Knight(銀漢Ginkan) is a Blademaster who is the second-in-command of the Crimson Knights under Subaru. His avatar is an edited version of the standard Crimson Knight design, with full chest and back plates added to his armor, horns added to his helmet, and red eyes instead of blue. He possesses a strong sense of justice but is also extremely naive, leading him to end up as more of a tool to be used by whoever is in control. He is extremely overprotective of Subaru, more so than anyone else. Silver Knight also appears in the .hack//Legend of the Twilight anime, where he helps Shugo until his character is deleted by the Cerulean Knights. He makes a third appearance in .hack//Roots, where he offers Haseo his assistance after stating that he has been in a similar situation. Haseo refuses his help. Voiced by: Isshin Chiba(Japanese), Douglas Rye (English)
* Shugo Kunisaki(国崎秀悟Kunisaki Shugo) is a player who wins a special chibi version of Kite's avatar in a contest developed by Aura. He originally believes himself to have outgrown video games, but after winning the character along with his twin sister, Rena, who won a version of BlackRose's avatar, the two join the game. He lacks planning skills and is incapable of turning down the requests of others. He is given a version of Kite's Twilight Bracelet by Aura that does not harm humans. Aura's plan is to motivate Shugo by allowing him to be a hero, after meeting and talking to him using another player's character in the past.
* Skeith(スケィスSukeisu), known as Skeith, the Terror of Death, is the first of Morganna's phases to be created. He first absorbs Sora using Data Drain and then is sent out to find Aura. His avatar appears as a humanoid seemingly made of rounded rock with floating disjointed appendages and a two-piece ring shaped horn. Skeith carries a red staff, upon which he 'hangs'(looks similar to a cruxificion) his victims prior to Data Draining them. He resides in an amnesiac Sora until Aura is found. Skeith seals Sora within his staff. He drains Orca, which places Yasuhiko into a coma. Kite eventually fights and defeats Skeith.Skeith is recreated with the other Phases as part of a plan to reconstruct Morganna, though the plan backfires on CC Corporation. Based on Sora's condition, the corporation gave him the ability to fuse with players. All seven Phases absorb the consciousness of their players and escape into the network (Tarvos had already been stolen and hidden away halfway through the plan), where they waited for the right person to 'connect to'. Skeith eventually becomes part of Haseo, a new character created by the player of Sora, whom Skeith data drained. He is able to use Skeith to Data Drain Haseo's opponents.
* Sora(楚良) is a Twin Blade Player Killer who seeks out attractive female characters and attempts to obtain their personal member addresses. In real life, he is a 10 year-old fourth grader named Ryou Misaki. He interacts with Mimiru, who finds him to be a nuisance, and BT, who exchanges information with Sora and is often on the receiving end of his player killer activities. He searches for interesting activities, which leads him to Tsukasa and the Key of the Twilight, Aura. He eventually comes into contact with Morganna and works with her until he finds her boring. She has Skeith Data Drain and absorb him, causing the player to fall into a coma. Skeith uses Sora's body, which is covered in rags and with no recollection of past events, in order to track down Aura. He is later absorbed into Skeith's wand until he is freed by Kite. Ryou awakes from his coma after Morganna is destroyed. Voiced by: Hiroshi Yanaka(Japanese), Dave Wittenberg (English)
* Subaru(昴) is a female Heavy Axeman with blue-green hair, a puce-colored tattoo on her forehead, and rudimentary wings on her back. She first joins The World hoping to meet people, though she knows nothing of the game and just wanders around for hours. She eventually meets Crim, who teaches her to stand up against other players, and the two form an unofficial player organization designed to bring order, the Crimson Knights. She eventually comes into contact with Tsukasa and forms somewhat of a romantic bond with him. Her real name is Mariko Misono(御園真理子Misono Mariko), a paraplegic girl who spends so much time in The World because it is the only place where she can roam freely on her own. At the end of the series, she meets An Shouji, Tsukasa's player, and the two begin a relationship. Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka(Japanese), Kim Mai Guest (English)
* Tsukasa(司) is the protagonist of the .hack//Sign anime series. He is a Wavemaster whose consciousness becomes trapped in The World, while his real body is in a coma. He is a young silver-haired boy clad in grey robes. He is chosen by Morganna to prevent Aura from awakening by corrupting her with Tsukasa's negative emotions. Tsukasa is distant at first, but he eventually connects with Mimiru, Subaru, and Bear. Aura is eventually awakened, and Tsukasa is able to log out. In real life Tsukasa is actually a female named An Shouji(荘司杏Shōji An). She was raised by her father after the death of her mother, and was physically and mentally abused by him. His abusive behavior also distanced her from her gender: he treated her like a boy, refusing to allow her to use feminine products and basic hygiene products. There are also subtle hints that her father is an alcoholic. After awaking from her coma, Ryo Sakuma, the player behind Bear, becomes her legal guardian and allows her to go to a boarding school. She meets with Mariko, Subaru's player, and the two begin a relationship. Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga(Japanese), Brianne Siddall (English)
* Zefie(ゼフィ) is a Vagrant AI and Aura's daughter. She becomes separated from Aura and becomes attached to Shugo when she smells Aura's scent on his bracelet. She is always trying to get the affections of Shugo, and is rude to all who try to stop her. She can control The World and avatar appearances however she sees fit. At first, Zefie is selfish, spoiled, rude, and fixated on her own goals rather than the needs of others, though interaction with Shugo and Rena allows her to mature somewhat. Piros(ぴろし) Voiced by: Masaya Onosaka(Japanese), Darran Norris (English) A Heavy Axeman and a strange one at that. Piros believes he is the true protagonist of the story and refers to Kite as "he of fair eyes." ("Ii me wo hito shita yo"). His odd speech pattern is not as odd as his character model – Piros appears to have a shrunken head, given the Brobdingnagian proportions of his body. He involves Kite in his misadventures... which are usually the result of his naivety. Although he can be very childish at times, Piros is actually a graphics designer, a programmer, who spends his time playing The World. Sanjuro(砂嵐 三十郎) Voiced by: Yasunori Masutani(Japanese), Steven Jay Blum (English) A heavy blade player in the game, Sanjuro is an American man who loves Japanese films – specifically samurai films and the work of actor Toshirō Mifune and director Akira Kurosawa. Indeed, the only thing Sanjuro may enjoy more than samurai films is telling people about his favorite samurai films. His love may extend past films and may encompass all things samurai, considering that his character model is a samurai and he has a small obsession with collecting katana – kotetsu swords in particular. He is optional, and can only be found if the player reads his message board entry and helps him find a rare weapon. Gardenia(ガルデニア) Voiced by: Yumi Touma(Japanese), Carolyn Hennesy (English) A quiet Long Arm with a great love for flowers, she takes Kite to fields that have something to do with flowers in the name. Though she appears quite mysterious, she is not truly a part of the conspiracy that the outlaw player Kite is battling. Gardenia is a true romantic even though her personality is a little on the hostile side. She enjoys foreign films. She is also optional, though her recruiting manner is different. To acquire Gardenia, you must read a message board post from her "groupies", and go to their meeting place, where Gardenia will join you in the hopes of keeping her unwanted fans off her back. She resembles the character "Mimika", who Mimiru saw use "Ap Crystal" in the episode "Intermezzo", but, contrary to popular belief, is not one of the three players who controlled Mimika. Natsume(なつめ) Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto(Japanese), Lia Sargent (English) A Twin Blade just like Kite, she is in a constant search for more power and fears that she will never be good enough. Her character model is the same as the lesser known A-20 of .hack//Sign. Despite this, she still has an upbeat nature and is a welcome addition to any team. In real life, she is in the ninth grade, and she plays The World to make herself more confident in the every day trials of life. Like Sanjuro, you must read her weapon-hunt request and help her acquire a rare sword before she will join you. Mistral(ミストラル) Voiced by: Atsuko Enomoto(Japanese), Sandy Fox (English) A Wavemaster who joins Kite's campaign quickly, she is a treasure hunter and a young woman with bright pink hair that is outshined only by her eternally cheerful personality. She is truly an oddity among the friends that Kite makes within the game, as there is little to guess about her. Unlike the others, she plays the game just to play the game. While she has no mysterious role or secretive agenda, although she is very fascinated by the Twilight Bracelet, as she is a treasure hunter, she does jump on the bandwagon that is Kite's crusade. She tends to behave much like how a stereotypical MMORPG "noob" behaves: hopelessly enthusiastic, begging to be given rare treasures, and using lots of smilies in her messages. Near the end of the game, she goes "off-line" in order to give birth in real-life. Marlo Marlo has a rotten personality on the surface. He has a hard time showing gratitude, and rarely says anything positive. He was typically a loner until he joined up with Kite. He seems to like Kite due to Kite tolerating his personality. His class is Blade master. Moonstone Moonstone is the strong silent type to an extreme degree. Usually, Moonstone speaks in one word phrases. When he does speak in a complete sentence, it'll be short. Like Natsume, he is obsessed with increasing the strength of his character, and has a great deal of respect for other strong characters. However, Moonstone does not force anything he desires onto other characters. Always leaving them the option of not participating in his quest for strength. Moonstone's character class is a twin blade. He is also the first character to send you his address though e-mail. Nuke Usagimaru Nuke is the host of a battle commentary show where he tries to tackle a powerful monster solo, providing humorous commentary and physical comedy while others watch. Though his shows are often failures, Nuke takes it in stride and is always using his past experiences to improve on future shows. Even in normal situations, Nuke acts in a flashy way; it seems to be an innate part of his personality. His closest friends in the game are Kite, who Nuke sees as the ultimate straight man and his ideal partner, and Rachel, who acts as his editor via e-mail. Nuke's character class is a Long Arm and his dress is something like that of a clown. Rachel Rachel is greedy and money-obsessed. She is always cooking up a new idea for making money in The World. If there was an option to make a merchant character, that's what Rachel would have been. She drags Kite into helping her with whatever plan she has currently at work, even though her plans usually fail for various reasons. Despite her obsession with money, Rachel doesn't accept anything that is low in quality. Her character class is a Blademaster. Wiseman Wiseman is always calm and collective with an excellent perspective on business. He is greedy like Rachel, but shows it indirectly. He lets on a personality that brings people to think that he is always keeping something from them.
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