Lacus Clyne

Lacus Clyne (transliterated as Rakusu Kurain [ラクス・クライン] in the original Japanese version) is a character from the anime series Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny. Another character, Meer Campbell, is used by ZAFT as an imposter of her during much of Gundam SEED Destiny. Both characters are voiced by Rie Tanaka in the original Japanese version and by Chantal Strand in the English dub (Jillian Michaels provides her English singing voice). Template:Spoiler

Gundam SEED

Lacus Clyne is the daughter of PLANT Supreme Council chairman Siegel Clyne. She is a Coordinator whose career as an idol singer has brought her enormous popularity in the PLANTs. She is engaged to Athrun Zala mainly out of political expediency (although they do get along well and are good friends, according to a drama CD, they once were in love but the feeling diminished for them both as time went on), but as the Bloody Valentine War goes on, Lacus meets and slowly falls in love with Kira Yamato, pilot of the Earth Alliance's GAT-X105 Strike Gundam.

When she is dispatched on the civilian space vessel Silverwind to the ruins of Junius Seven, her vessel is attacked by an Earth Alliance Nelson-class battleship led by information by Kenav Luchini to believe that the vessel is actually a military ship. A fight breaks out, but Lacus' lifepod makes it out thanks to the efforts of Junk Guild tech Lowe Guele and his MBF-P02 Astray Red Frame. Her lifepod is subsequently rescued by the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam and brought to the Archangel. Lacus treats friend and foe alike with kindness and respect as evidenced while onboard the Archangel, and even her fiancé Athrun is sometimes perplexed by her apparent naïveté.

Even though they are technically enemies, Lacus is kind and respectful towards everybody on board the Archangel, and most of them treat her the same way. (However, Sai Argyle does question whether the reason she has such a lovely singing voice is due to her genetic alterations.). However, Flay Allster refuses to shake hands and scorns her kindness because she is a Coordinator.

Later, when Flay's father's escort is attacked by ZAFT forces, Flay drags Lacus to the bridge at gunpoint and tells the crew to inform them that they have her on board and that she will kill Lacus if they do not cease their attack at once. Unfortunately for Flay, the crew does not act in time to save her father, who dies when his ship, the Montgomery, explodes. Lacus' facial expression shows compassion toward Flay, despite the fact that her life was threatened by her, and notices her distress at losing her father; this may be due to the fact that she is very close to her own father and would hate losing him. As the ZAFT forces continue their assault, Natarle Badgiruel ultimately informs them that they do indeed have Lacus onboard, thus prompting them to withdraw. When Kira nearly has an emotional breakdown on one of the observation decks due to Flay's abusive words, Lacus does her best to comfort him and learns they both share a friendship with Athrun Zala.

Kira later smuggles Lacus off the Archangel and returns her to Athrun, who once again beseeches him to join ZAFT. As before, Kira turns him down because he wants to protect his friends onboard the Archangel, which saddens Lacus because she has already begun to harbor feelings for Kira; she knows that Kira and Athrun are both good people and are forced to fight one another because of this war. As Athrun returns to the Vesalius with Lacus, Rau Le Creuset launches in his ZGMF-515 CGUE to begin an assault on the Archangel. Lacus quickly picks up the intercom and orders him to stop his aggression at once, due to her being a memorial representative of Junius Seven.

Late in the war, a badly-wounded Kira is brought to Lacus' home by Clyne family friend Reverend Malchio (who in turn received the boy from Lowe Guele, a Junk Guild member who discovered him). Lacus nurses Kira back to health with the help of her father and Malchio, she assures him that he's welcome to stay as long as he wants and that he's safe in the Clyne home. However, when Siegel Clyne receives word that the Earth Alliance base JOSH-A is about to be attacked by the bulk of ZAFT's forces, Kira, who was enjoying the company of the Clyne family at the time, is overcome with the desire to go to Earth and save his friends aboard the Archangel; in response, Lacus provides Kira with a ZAFT Redcoat uniform and helps him steal the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam as a counter to the genocidal ambitions of Patrick Zala. Lacus also grants Kira "her strength" by means of a kiss to his cheek, showing him that he has her support and affections. Because of this, she and her father Siegel were declared as traitors, and Siegel was gunned down by ZAFT soldiers under Patrick Zala's command. Before her escape from the PLANTs, she has a surprise meeting with Athrun, and her words on her views of the war is what leads to his final decision concerning his choice on who he wants to fight for.

Near the end of the Bloody Valentine War, she leaves the PLANTs with her stolen support ship Eternal and joins the Orb Union-owned Kusanagi and the recently defected Archangel to form the Three Ship Alliance, a group dedicated to stopping the war. Upon seeing Kira again, she tells him about the death of her father and weeps bitterly. When the Junk Guild vessel ReHOME joins the Three Ship Alliance as a tender ship, Lacus finally meets the man who saved Kira's life (as well as her own), none other than Junk Guild tech Lowe Guele himself. When Kira discovers his true origins as the product of the Ultimate Coordinator project, he begins to have depressive and possibly suicidal thoughts; Lacus comforts him by telling him that her meeting him has made her so happy despite all the sadness she has endured up to this point. Lacus finally admits her love for Kira to him when she gives him the ring that belonged to her mother before the final battle at Jachin Due and tells him to come back to her safely. Kira thanks her for this and seals his promise with a kiss to her cheek.

Gundam SEED Destiny

At the start of Gundam SEED Destiny, Lacus is living with Kira at Reverend Malchio's orphanage in the Marshall Islands until a disaster forces her, Kira, the Reverend, and their charges to move in with Andrew Waltfeld and Murrue Ramius at their shared mansion in Orb. In addition, PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Gilbert Durandal, in need of clout in order to prevent the ZAFT citizenry from panicking and attacking the Earth Alliance, has begun to showcase Meer Campbell as Lacus herself, using her to influence the populace. The real Lacus is almost killed in a would-be assassination attempt, but Kira fights off the assassins with the Freedom (which Lacus was reluctant to give back to Kira, possibly fearing he would get hurt like in the last war). She, along with Murrue Ramius, Kira, Andrew Waltfeld, Cagalli Yula Athha, and most of the Archangel crew reunite to stop the new war. Lacus not only takes up her old position as a strategist, but also pinch-hits as the CIC officer for the Archangel until Cagalli takes over (ultimately, Kira's old friend Miriallia Haw would return to the ship to fill her former position).

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Lacus, relieved after managing to sneak onto Meer Campbell's shuttle

Lacus later hijacks a shuttle to go into space, to see what the situation is up at the PLANTs. Along with Andrew Waltfeld they rejoin the crew of the repaired Eternal and the Terminal factory satellite. She is discovered and nearly killed by ZAFT but is saved by Kira in the Freedom, who begs her to let him come along. Despite her personal feelings for Kira, she tells him he must remain on Earth to help Cagalli and the Archangel. When Lacus and the crew of the Eternal are discovered and attacked by ZAFT once more (due to an intelligence-gathering error made by Martin DaCosta), she and the ship try to deliver the newly-built Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice mobile suits to Kira and Athrun on Earth, knowing they will probably die in the process but will at least be able to get the mobile suits to the Archangel. When a worried Kira arrives in space via Cagalli's Strike Rouge (the Freedom had been destroyed at this point), Kira puts up a brave (yet ultimately futile) fight and is nearly killed when his mobile suit is severely damaged. Luckily for him, Andy in his new Gaia Gundam provides Kira enough cover to retreat to the Eternal, where his new unit is awaiting. Aboard, Kira and Lacus are reunited and share an emotional embrace and words of happiness at seeing each other again. Lacus then takes Kira to his new unit, the Strike Freedom; once again, she wears a worried expression, much like she did when Kira wanted to pilot the Freedom to save her in Orb. After Kira saves her and the Eternal, she helps Kira by taking the Infinite Justice down herself, giving Kira the freedom to participate in the already-heated battle in Orb. When she lands on the Archangel, Lacus' words yet again help Athrun decide on what he wants to do concerning the second war.

Lacus is then forced to reveal her presence (and the fact that Meer Campbell is an impostor) when Meer interrupts Cagalli's broadcast following the Second Battle of Onogoro. Almost everyone alive is shocked, including the Joule team and the Minerva crew, and even Gilbert Durandal himself is perplexed that Lacus is in Orb.

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Lacus Clyne in the Supreme Council Chamber

Following her worldwide broadcast denouncing Chairman Durandal's agenda and exposing her impostor Meer Campbell and the sudden attack on PLANT by Lord Djibril's Requiem beam, Lacus goes back to space aboard the Archangel. Terminal vows to stop Chairman Durandal from implementing his radical "Destiny Plan" which, according to Lacus, will involve using genetics to assign behavioral genes to every human being in order to render war and conflict obsolete. She later tries to convince Meer to stop working for Durandal; however, Meer ends up dying in Lacus' arms after taking the shot that was originally meant to kill Lacus.

During the final stages of Gundam SEED Destiny, she becomes a key player as she leads Terminal and the bulk of the forces that stand in the way between Durandal and the implementing of the Destiny Plan.

After the death of Chairman Durandal, Lacus Clyne is invited back to the PLANTs to serve as a mediator between ZAFT and the other nations. At the end of Gundam SEED Destiny FINAL PLUS, she is seen walking towards the PLANT Supreme Council. It is still unclear whether she is a still just a mediator, a member of the Council, or the leader of the PLANTs (Chairwoman).

Relationship with Kira Yamato

Despite artistic scenes in the SEED OPs, EDs, and commercial screens depicting Lacus Clyne and Kira Yamato as lovers, the relationship was often questioned by fans. While it did seem that they cared for one another, it could have been interpreted as fraternal love as the two had never been seen in what is typically called a "Hollywood Embrace" (which is an embrace followed by a deep kiss). Some saw the relationship as more "real" because, while they never express their feelings toward each other with something as typical as a deep kiss, they were often shown as being the most happy and confident when they were together. Moreover, in SEED, Lacus entrusted Kira with her ring during later episodes, followed by a kiss from Kira on Lacus' cheek. What certain audiences failed to understand is the fact that, at least in old Japanese (or East Asian in general) tradition, by entrusting an ornament from a woman to a man, it usually implies romantic love and later, marriage. However, there were still doubts to the relationship as at the end of SEED, as it was obvious that Kira seemed distant due to his traumatized mind and heart. Nonetheless, in the short "aftermath" OVA following the end of SEED, Lacus and Kira were clearly seen living together.

However, by the start of Destiny, Kira and Lacus' relationship as a couple was magnified by the fact the two are often touching one another through embraces and hand holding. Destiny put to rest any doubts of the relationship, especially as Lacus is shown as constantly uneasy whenever Kira goes off to battle. Her feelings are reciprocated when she hijacks a shuttle (with the help of Andrew Waltfeld) to go into space; Kira is also seen as uneasy, and his concerns are justified when he defends Lacus with the Freedom from oncoming missiles trying to stop her from hijacking the shuttle. As she goes into space, their communication is about to break up and Kira tries to convey his feelings for her, but alas, the communication is cut off. Later, viewers see the depth of their relationship as the couple often embrace while staring lovingly into each other's eyes; for example, in the instance when they are reunited in the episode Lacus hands the Strike Freedom over to Kira, she is seen flying into Kira's arms as he eagerly embraces her. Throughout the show, the pair are shown side-by-side, in support of each other. In Destiny, their relationship is also depicted in the OPs and EDs, usually as lovers, fully naked in embrace.

Haro

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Pink-chan

Lacus is usually accompanied by a pink Haro (Pink-chan/ Mr. Pink in the dub) given to her by Athrun Zala, who has a penchant for making small robotic contraptions (such as Kira’s Tori). Lacus loved her present so much that over time Athrun made her more Haros in many different colors. Pink-chan is usually there to keep her company when everyone else is away, and she often talks to it despite the fact that Pink-chan has a very limited vocabulary. Haros are known to be the mascot of Gundam, appearing in several other series in the Universal Century timeline, but Athrun's Haros are visibly smaller than the UC originals.

Trivia

• In the English dub, both Haro and Flay Allster are voiced by Tabitha St. Germain, which is somewhat ironic seeing as how the latter threatens to kill Lacus while the former is Lacus' companion.
• Lacus means lake in Latin, whereas Meer means lake in Dutch; also, Meer also mean oceanic in German.
• In the first series, Lacus Clyne is nicknamed "Pink Princess" and "the Songstress." In the second series, the appellation "White Queen" is often used to describe her, as she appears to be represented as such on Gilbert Durandal's chess board. She is referred to in the title of ep.8 of the first series as the "Songstress of the Enemy" (敵軍の歌姫 in Japanese).
• Lacus is referred to by name twice in the titles of episodes in both SEED and Destiny.

1. "Lacus Strikes" (SEED ep. 42)
2. "The Two Lacuses" (Destiny ep. 44)

• Three of her songs Shizukana Yoruni, Mizu no Akashi and Fields of Hope can be found in the various Gundam SEED soundtracks and music albums.
• During both wars, she was the target of several assassination attempts. Ironically, most (if not all) attempts were administered by ZAFT. In Seed, even Athrun, her former fiance, was ordered to kill her.
• It is unconfirmed whether Lacus has the ability to go into SEED mode or not. In episode 49 of Gundam SEED, her pupils become dilated, like other characters who go into SEED mode, after she gives a discourse about war and death, but no accompanying seed explosion is seen; the same dilation is seen in Episode 50 of Gundam SEED Destiny, when Lacus becomes aware of Kira's battle with Rey Za Burrel, again with no seed explosion. In the game SD Gundam G Generation DS, Lacus has the ability to go into SEED mode after the player's forces take a considerable amount of damage, though that instance might have been fan service. Lacus also is shown to have SEED capabilities in the PS2 game Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: Generation of CE. It should be noted that Lacus is reportedly only usable as a MS pilot after completing the game, so the canonicity of her powers is questionable. She is also seen going into SEED mode in the game Super Robot Taisen J and Super Robot Taisen Alpha 3, complete with seed explosion, even if she isn't the main pilot of her unit, the Eternal in J (Whereas in Alpha 3, she is the main captain of the ship).
• Mitsuo Fukuda, the director of Gundam SEED, has stated that he drew inspiration from actress Audrey Hepburn for the creation of Lacus' character.
• Lacus is playable as a mobile suit pilot in both Gundam SEED Destiny: Generation of C.E. for the PS2 and the upcoming game Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: Renpou vs. Z.A.F.T. 2 coming to arcades in Japan, and most likely a PS2 release afterwards.
• In Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny, she handed over a total of 3 mobile suits to both Kira and Athrun, including the 2 final suits both men piloted. They are:

1. ZGMF-X10A Freedom and ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom (for Kira)
2. ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice (for Athrun)

• The "sword" mentioned in the title of ep. 35 of the Gundam SEED anime and volume 4 of the novels ("The Descending Sword") refers to the Freedom, which Lacus gave to Kira.
• All the songs sung by the real Lacus Clyne had a slower and sadder tone, while the ones sung by Meer Campbell were light-hearted; the irony is that Lacus was the light-hearted one, while Meer was constantly troubled [only in the original anime. In The Edge (a manga series telling Athrun's side of the story), Meer had apparently come to terms with her identity (even revealing it to Athrun herself) and was always cheerful in front of Athrun, chatting happily with him and even asking if the real Lacus would kiss him goodbye when she tried to. Athrun's reply was "Don't push it."]
• An astute viewer can note the similarity in physical appearance between Lacus Clyne and Kanami Yuta, a major character in the anime s-CRY-ed. Coincidentally, both s-CRY-ed and Gundam SEED share the same studio (Sunrise), licenser (Bandai), and character designer (Hisashi Hirai).
• In the manga series Gundam Seed Destiny: The Edge, the art under the author's afterthoughts in volume 1 featured her and Meer side by side, together with their Haros.

External links

• Three Princesses
• Athrun & Lacus Fanlisting
• Clyne Faction