Character Analysis: King Charioce XVII/Chris (Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul)

Sep 3, 2017 3:30 PM

Offline

Jul 2017

Name: King Charioce XVII/ Chris (formerly)

Age: 22-24

Race: Human

Parents: King Charioce XIII “deceased” and unknown mother “deceased”

His backstory (so far..):

Chris’s mother was the King’s concubine who was kicked out of the castle after she got pregnant with Chris “Future King Charioce XVII”. She lived in poverty and gave birth to a baby boy named Chris. Through Chris since he has royal blood flowing in him “though considered to be bastard son of the King”, his mother had hope that she would be invited back to the castle. However, she died from Bahamut’s fireballs (During final events of SnB Genesis, 10 years ago in Virgin Soul). Chris lost his mother at the age of 12-14. 3 years later, he took the throne and became the new King of Anatae Charioce XVII. His father was Charioce XIII so that means during those 3 years before Charioce took the throne there were 3 different kings, Charioce XIV, Charioce XV, and Charioce XVI. We don’t know if he got rid of all 3 of them since he mentioned that he eliminate those who stood in his way to the throne but it is likely that he did.

The question is, how did a young boy like him and bastard son of the previous king whom lived in poverty acquire power to win the throne? who helped him? is he entirely human? we have to wait to know that but so far I will talk about what we know so far and speculate a little bit.

The very first promise Charioce makes is “I pledge to make a new world for mankind”. He assured his subjects that now that he is king they will no longer fear the demons and bow down to the gods. He was very clear in the beginning what his goal as king but he did not reveal his entire goal. He immediately started attacking the sacred temple of the gods, even Jeanne questions this in which he answers “It will lead to the betterment of mankind” and “there is something I must obtain, but the gods refused me so I have no choice but to take it”. The thing he wanted to obtain was the ancient green energy that “Sofiel recently mentions” the gods sealed away because it was a weapon of great destruction. And Kaisar asks an important question “How is his Majesty able to use such a technology, then?”. Some speculate that someone else helped Charioce or that Charioce might be related to the Ancients that existed before gods and demons. I will talk about Dromos a little bit later on.

King Charioce XVII is the perfect king for mankind. Mankind feels safe and strong for the first time under his rule. They no longer fear the demons and bow to the gods meaning that he was true to his word when he took the throne. But I will in this section focus on the demons a little bit since we know why he stands against the gods “unless the show reveals something else”.

Charioce is not a mass murderer, Charioce is a conqueror. He conquered the gods and demons to make mankind at top. He is a realistic monarch. Why did I say realistic? because if you look at history, European monarchies enslaved other nations to increase their wealth. Part of conquering is enslaving the other nation, make them work for you. Enslaving the demons was an economic move to rebuild Anatae. If Charioce was this evil blood thirsty king he would have the demons in his throne room and watch them getting tortured. Example of a blood thirsty royal figure? Vlad the implaer. Enslavement is wrong and awful, but when you think about the circumstances and the time period, it was a benefit for mankind.

The demons were cause of unrest and fear for decades and maybe centuries for Mankind. Charioce’s priority is to make mankind powerful and fearless. 2 years after he took the throne he attacked the demon capital Cocytus. Keep in mind he was rebuilding Anatae “after half of it was destroyed by Bahamut” instead of making mankind do all the work and to make use of demons instead of killing them he enslaved them. I am not trying to justify his enslavement of demons as horrible as it is but I am trying to look at it from his position as King. A race that terrorized mankind for a very long time has become weakened and under mankind is a reassurance to mankind that they will no longer fear them. Many might disagree with me but enslavement is the only thing Charioce sought from demons. Torturing and mutilating demons are the nobles and slave owners doing. Charioce does not kill for fun, he does it if it serves his purpose “Him targeting Mugaro who poses a threat”. We could argue that he indirectly caused those horrible things, but the main cause are the nobles and slave owners. “Why did he not stop them?” hmm considering that he is King he needs the support of important figures in the system. If you read about monarchies throughout history you can see horrible things such as torture for fun was done by nobles that the King could not stop because he needs their support. “Charioce is a powerful king he would have stopped them!” yes he is quite powerful and people fear him but where do you think the money he needs for his army and war comes from? the money from fund-raising events where does it come from? most likely the nobles. Even if Charioce knows something worse than enslavement is going on he has to turn a blind eye because he needs the nobles support and he can’t show any kind of sympathy to demons whatsoever. The Colosseum fights are held for public’s entertainment but also demons who win get appointed in positions, it is kind of similar to the purpose of the Roman Colosseum. I don’t think Charioce goes there because he enjoys seeing demons killing each other it’s more about keeping up with his King image in public “but no one forces him to go!” it’s not about forcing him it’s about his duties as King and this and attending fund-raising balls are his duties in episode 19 we saw that he did not want to attend the ball but his butler reminded him that he is the King and it’s part of his duties. This is may be seen as a justification for his actions but I am more focused on understanding his character and I can see that all of this is done so he can deemed as a strong-willed King.

Chris.

Chris I believe is King Charioce XVII true self. How come we got to see this side of Anatae’s strong-willed King?

We got to see the soft side of Charioce that is Chris because of this sweet 17 year old girl called Nina Drango. The most genuine and complicated relationship in this show that developed very nicely throughout the episodes. The romance helped to show Charioce/Chris as a multidimensional character. Chris was instantly attracted to Nina and this attraction grew to love. Many people in this fandom dislike it but I believe maybe its because they fail to understand both characters. The appearance of Chris in the show gave us a hint that Charioce might not be as horrible or evil as we think. Well, he was never evil, he was fearful. At this point of the show, we cannot doubt that Charioce loves Nina. He lived most of his life for the sake of his goal and he knew his death was inevitable so he saw himself as nothing more than a tool. Nina slowly started to bring out the Chris in Charioce, the person he thought he left behind a long time ago. Nina made him feel alive again. Maybe he started to want to be alive for her sake, and I guess when these thoughts crossed his mind he had to make a painful decision to make these go away. He remembered his goal as King and he has those who were ready to die for him.

Episode 17 was basically about Charioce letting go of his Chris side, meaning he has to let go of Nina not only for his goal but also her safety. I loved the symbolism in this episode of Charioce slowly giving away his Chris possessions. Their love started out as two regular individuals who enjoyed a festival together to revealing that one was the King and the other was the Red Dragon that the onyx force is targeting. “He doesn’t love her he ordered the onyx captain to kill her on sight” Well, his eye flinched when the onyx captain mentioned slaying the Red Dragon he didn’t want anyone suspecting him of his relationship with Nina so he did what he had to do to show that his convictions unwavered. If Charioce shows any signs of vulnerability no one would follow him. Also, he knows how strong Nina is they tried to capture her many times but failed. I will not go into detail about their relationship but I simply wanted to mention Charioce’s Chris side and Charioce/Chris 100% truly loves Nina.

Dromos. (Some speculation)

We do not know about Dromos much yet except it is a weapon of great destruction. Sofiel mentions that it is a magical artifact from an ancient era. It predates gods and demons. By the time Charioce used it for the first time it wasn’t exactly complete but it caused him to lose his left eyesight and we can see what the bracelet is doing to his arm. He will use the Dromos again at maximum power so it might cause serious injuries and possibly his death. Why is Charioce willing to sacrifice himself for his goal? is his goal related to Bahamut? Is he possibly related to that ancient race that existed before? we might know soon. But what I think is Charioce will break Eibos seal to release Bahamut and finish him by himself so he no longer becomes a threat to the world. There might be more to it but that’s what I believe so far. Also, he did say he is ready to perish if it meant it will save the world. It might be to avenge his mother’s death too when Kaisar brings up Bahamut and the cooperation of mankind, demons, and gods 10 years ago, Charioce says “are you content with merely surviving extinction? or are you not concerned about the victims as long as we are able to avoid extinction?”. The means to his goal are not entirely good but I believe his goal is for the good of the world.

One last point I would love to address. Charioce’s emotions.

Mentioned by some before but I love how mysterious he is when it comes to his emotions. Because, we have to pay attention to his body language. He is a very deep character there are little details you have to pay attention to whenever he is on screen. I love how Studio Mappa focused on his body language, to show the audience how he feels or might feel instead of flat out say it. He is very reserved and cold. We do not get to see his face in certain scenes because the storytellers want to keep his emotions a mystery. He is a character capable of love obviously he is cold but does not have a cold heart. I love the emphasis on body language in this show you barely see that in other anime.

I hope you like this analysis of this amazing character and I would love to read about what you guys think whether you agree or disagree but most importantly be respectful please. I might edit it a little bit. This is my first character analysis post on tumblr.

Can’t wait to see more of Charioce XVII/Chris in the last four episodes.

Original post from tumblr: https://cutie-bowiex.tumblr.com/post/164899010439/character-analysis-king-charioce-xviichris

Another analysis on Charioce and Nina (Charinina) relationship: https://cutie-bowiex.tumblr.com/post/164937399219/character-analysis-nina-drango-and-king-charioce

yaya-bxSep 3, 2017 3:50 PM

Sep 3, 2017 3:33 PM

commander31able

Offline

May 2017

237

a high-quality and in-depth analysis that this series doesn't deserve. one could, with confidence, answer any question asked here in the vein of "why" is "because the writers needed it to be so"

Sep 3, 2017 3:37 PM

yaya-bx

Offline

Jul 2017

commander31able said:
a high-quality and in-depth analysis that this series doesn't deserve. one could, with confidence, answer any question asked here in the vein of "why" is "because the writers needed it to be so"

Whether it deserves or not that is your opinion, I enjoy the show and love its characters which encouraged me to write this ^-^ and thank you for your reply! :D

Sep 4, 2017 1:07 PM

Shocked

Offline

Jan 2010

7259

Moved from Anime Discussion

Blog | Profile | GraphAnimePlus

Sep 4, 2017 3:59 PM

commander31able

Offline

May 2017

237

Allow me to elaborate a little:
I'd like to believe that someone did indeed help Chris get to the throne, probably by teaching him about how to survive in the snakepit that is the royal court of any powerful country. I would even go as far as saying that Chris then used this person's teachings against them to solidify his hegemony - the same way many kings throughout history would get rid of intelligent advisers that new too much about them. of course, my other self is telling me to follow what the show is actually trying to tell me and not try to poke holes in the plot, as thin as it is.
I think him being something other than human would be a waste of a potentially great character without superpowers when all the new important characters are in some way superpowered. if he is indeed only human, that would put him on the same level as Favarro - my favourite character in the series - and thereby make him a certified badass, much in the same way that Batman is able to hold his own against literal gods while being just a human.
I think that he genuinely seeks the betterment of mankind, either to spare them the suffering that he went through as a child in poverty (this is supported by his façade of emotionlessness) or because he feels a sacred duty as king to lead humanity to greatness, to triumph over the gods that failed them. if only they had shown us how this ideology, if true, is reflected in the people - scientists increasingly forcing out priests and rationality overtaking religion. if only.
I think the claim that "Charioce is not a mass-murderer" is just plain wrong when there is evidence to the contrary - he ordered the butchering of demons during the battle of Cocytus and reduced them to a few slaves and a weak rebel group led by fools and the lucky ones that survived the genocide. being a conqueror and a mass-murderer are not mutually exclusive, and in fact are more often complementary of each other. I do, however, agree with his actions and think that he was in the right.
now, "Dromos" in ancient Greek means "pathway", especially in reference to a temple. could this mean that it's a way to reach the gods? if so, is that good or bad?

Jun 7, 2019 8:31 AM

ValSLG

Offline

May 2019

I have just watched the 2 seasons. And I did love the 2d season because of the unusial charachters. Unusiual in their greyness for nearly all of them. I was estonished by violence of fan reactions. Here is not a war between good and evil but about 3 factions that fight for being at the top.

Is it because the public do prefer to identify who's fully good and to hate a very bad villain (without heart or noble cause). Here all the characters remains in their greyness except Kaisar, Favaro and Hamsa...

I think you did a good analyse of Charioce's charachter torned between his role as ruler and the lover. To rule a country in time of middle age is not that easy. At my point of view, he's not a mass murderer. Many demons died because of the battle but he was more practical : to enslave demons to force them to rebuild the city. Even a powerful ruler can not do everything if he to be respected and can't change everything too quickly under the threat to make everybody unhappy.

Lots of people didn't see and appraciate the work on Charioce 's subtil body language. Showing with barely visible signs what he can't show in public.

Nearly all characters are grey. Angels sees only humans as specy good to worship them and obvisouly underestimate their ability (only Michael sees something greater in humans). They are distant and disdaining to them. Gabriel tends to manipulate El, using very accusative words by talking about Charioce (sinful, tyrant and espacially disdaining the gods). Jeanne wants all humans revering gods again.

The demons are demons. They used to frightened humans and to kill them. Azazel killed Favaro and Kaisar's fathers for amusement.... And fans will reproch Charioce to try to change that situation ?? What do they propose ?

Nor demons, neither angels/gods question themselve to know if they have a part of responsability in revolt of humanity refusing demons and gods conditions. El, however is a nice kid, was a great danger for Charioce's plan cause of his power. Manipulated by angels, he wouldn't bring peace on the world but jus achieve angels/gods goals : to submit humans again. Poor gods not immortal and not as wise they think about themselve.

They are finally all good and villain. Charioce is not Prince Vaillant at all but he has some greatness and fortitude.

This anime has a mature scenario and interesting charachters.They are like people in the real life: never totally black or white. Some fans are not ready to hear that.

Jun 7, 2019 8:51 AM

deg

lagom

Offline

Jan 2009

107242

the end justify the means is his motto so he will do whatever it takes even being a greater evil for the sake of his greater good that is killing Bahamut

Kaiser ask him to consider co-existence with the demons and gods (strength in numbers to defeat Bahamut) but he did not do that and become so racist that it almost cost even humanitys downfall

thats all i can remember for now

Jun 7, 2019 3:05 PM

ValSLG

Offline

May 2019

The king is effectively ruthless because is very determined and it’s expected from people who support him. He is forced to hold that line or he will be ovethroned or disavowed by his main supports.He can’t Show any weakness.He follows rules of his time to maintain his power (cfr Nicolas Machiavel « The Prince » or analyse of how to remain a monarch at the Time where democracy and Rights of citizens barely exist).
Negotiations when demons and gods dumped humanity for centuries ? It’s Not that easy. As the reality : ukraina/Finland and Russia, Tibet and China etc. Angels/Gods are quite manipulative and demons Forget a bit quickly what they have done too.
Kaiser said wise things but he has a lack of practical method to do it. How do you negotiate with other evil people ???

Charioce had 2 goals : to empowered mankind from demons and gods ne extensively rid of Bahamut. He is not fully right but he tried something, challenged demons and gods. He’s ready to sacrifice his Life. He wants to kill Bahamut alone to show that men can do it alone. But there he did realize he needed héla of gods and demons. And Nina «’s help to kill Bahamut and survive. That’s why he freed the demons at the end. Charioce and Jeanne are idealistic and practical (with all the good and bad). Charioce and Gabrielle are control freaks (Gabrielle didn’t like Jeanne out of hier control). Kaiser is idealistic but have no practical sense

Conclusion :most of the characters have their good sides and part of darkness even the angels and gods. Charioce is not n’est, not worst.

Jul 11, 2019 12:18 AM

Tationax

Offline

Mar 2017

One thing is that the demons weren't showed to have ever done enough bad things to humans to warrant Charioce treating them horribly. We kept being fed the impression that they were 'bad' but did we really see any of it? This is a super important detail which we didn't get.

TationaxJul 11, 2019 12:25 AM

Jul 11, 2019 4:51 AM

#10

commander31able

Offline

May 2017

237

Tationax said:
One thing is that the demons weren't showed to have ever done enough bad things to humans to warrant Charioce treating them horribly. We kept being fed the impression that they were 'bad' but did we really see any of it? This is a super important detail which we didn't get.

the demons were responsible for Bahamut's revival and Charioce's mother's death.

Jul 17, 2019 9:41 PM

#11

Yemi_Hikari

Offline

Jun 2008

771

commander31able said:

the demons were responsible for Bahamut's revival and Charioce's mother's death.

No it wasn't, but that's part of the problem. Demons get blamed for things they didn't do. In this particular case the entire Bahamut's revival in the first series was orchestrated by Giles de Rais/Martinet a human who became demon to achieve his vile goals. A human is to blame for the problems in both series, but demons become the convenient scape goats because they've got a negative representation we've never learned whether it is warranted or not. Even Favaro and Kaiser note Azazel's not actually at fault for their father's deaths but instead the folly of man.

Aug 2, 2019 1:36 AM

#12

ValSLG

Offline

May 2019

In the second season, it's not shown how bad were the demons with humans.

The authors of the story wants to introduce them as the victims. They even strengthen this impression by showing lots of very young demon kids (not seen in the first season) as you don't barely see humans ones and none among the gods (except El).

In the first season, the demons are depicted as the villains who loves to spend their time to frighten humans or even to kill them for centuries. Azazel confessed he is the responsible for Favaro and Kaisar's death and that he did for fun.. because he got bored. They also are responsible of Bahamut's revival.

The gods, in the first season, look humandkind with disdain and don't really care to protect them (except Michael). All they want it's to be worshipped without any serious counterpart.

And then come Charioce in that context who said now it's enough. His methods are ruthless but they are a height to the accumulated resentment.
Demons and gods have a part of responsability with their behavior, leading to the conflict in 2d season. Neither of them put themself in question and think they are victims of the bad humans who refuse suddenly to be toys of the demons and god' servants.

See All Discussions

Poll: » Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul Episode 24 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Sep 29, 2017	323	by yveltalkyogre »» Sep 8, 6:44 AM
Poll: » Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - May 5, 2017	102	by W3TFT »» Apr 27, 8:13 PM
Poll: » Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul Episode 22 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Sep 15, 2017	126	by THE_BigDingus »» Feb 1, 9:37 PM
Poll: » Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul Episode 19 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Aug 25, 2017	103	by THE_BigDingus »» Feb 1, 2:11 PM
Poll: » Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul Episode 23 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Sep 22, 2017	130	by Gator »» Feb 1, 3:42 AM

Character Analysis: King Charioce XVII/Chris (Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul)

More topics from this board

Poll: » Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul Episode 24 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )

Poll: » Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 3 )

Poll: » Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul Episode 22 Discussion ( 1 2 3 )

Poll: » Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul Episode 19 Discussion ( 1 2 3 )

Poll: » Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul Episode 23 Discussion ( 1 2 3 )

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters