#leonof the puppet master

[evershifting]

rubbing my hands together like a fly it was bitch to fit all the gung hos

[wipbigbang]

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FAQ

[myscalesofjustice]

Stampede has addressed how Vash's immortality allows him to indulge in passiveness, but there hasn't been time to address how it impacts his relationships. He's only recently made close friends and his adoptive family has weathered 150 years, so maybe he hasn't suffered the brunt of being the one who always gets left behind yet.

I think a good catalyst for this discussion is a redone Leonoff. One who was part of Vash's Ship Three family. This creeper's whole personality is obsession with unchanging beauty, seen in his puppets and preserving his lover's corpse. Watching Vash skip right over awkward years to the prime of life and stay there...Even if that's not what broke Leonoff in the first place, he's certainly going to be resentful. So he lectures Vash for being outside of time, separate from humans, and barred from any real relationships. To hear you're destined to end up alone, and from the mouth of someone you loved like an uncle. Ouch.

With that in mind, Leonoff can take Hoppered's role as the Gung-ho Gun who dies realizing the greatest hell for Vash is to live. Live and outlive everyone he loves.

[nepentheisms]

TriMax Volume 3 is a real doozy, and at the center of the chaos is this horrible little old man. I must say I enjoy Leonof's design; it's giving The Penguin meets The Babadook, and we get this striking demonic silhouette when he opens his cloak.

LONG POST AHEAD

A realization I had while reading this time around was that Vash's battle with Leonof is a reflection of his conflict with Knives. To begin with some visual parallels, Leonof's puppet chimera has these scythe-shaped blades that look like praying mantis claws. Later in this volume, Knives sprouts curved blades out of his arm.

Also, there's this panel that's reminiscent of an iconic shot from the '98 anime.

The more we learn more about Leonof's MO the clearer the parallels get. Leonof is the monstrous puppeteer who desecrates people's bodies to create weapons over which he has complete control. After getting a glimpse of all the pain and grief Vash carries inside him, Leonof declares that he wants to make Vash one of these puppets. And hasn't Knives shown that he wants the exact same thing? To destroy every bit of resistance in Vash and erase his autonomy until he's nothing more than a weapon he can use as he pleases?

Out of all the Gung Ho Gun encounters we've had so far, this one most directly gives the impression of Vash battling Knives by proxy. He's up against someone who views his compassion for humans with contempt and who seeks to turn him into their own personal tool of destruction.

But here's the clincher for his fight with Leonof: Vash shares a personal history with him. He'll always remember him as the boy Emilio, and all the way to the end, Vash never stops trying to appeal to Emilio's humanity. With Knives, Vash likewise has a personal history, but at this point in the story, Vash still seems intent on killing his brother. With the way this volume in particular reinforces just how strongly Vash holds onto the interpersonal bonds he creates with people, I think it adds a layer of doubt over whether or not Vash will ultimately be able to go through with ending his brother's life. Vash's anger toward Knives and desire for retribution against him are certainly strong, but are they strong enough to override whatever sense of connection he has with Knives as his brother?

[feverdreamsandlucidnightmares]

I keep thinking about moral vs ethical authorities and actions in the Trigun animes. I hope this ramble about it makes sense.

I think most of us will agree that morality is perfectly capable of secular development and is unbeholden to religion in general, though religions can certainly serve as a moral authority and inform specifics. But they are not, or at least not the only, source of morals.

And while ethics and morals are often used as synonyms, they do actually have different meanings. The short version is that ethics are the rules and standards of a social system/culture/etc and morals determine what a person individually thinks is wrong or right. Often, people’s morals and ethics follow the same principles and authorities. They don’t have to, though.

Functionally, let’s say that ethical choices are social goods, and thus social authorities are the ethical authorities within a given society or culture. Much like laws and power structures are meant to protect and benefit the people they govern, a social or common good is something that benefits the largest number of people within a society. In Trigun, these authorities include the Bernardelli Insurance Society (in a limited capacity), the JuLai/July military police, the Eye of Michael, and (notably, but discretely) Millions Knives.

There’s plenty of speculation on and textual implication within Trigun Stampede that Knives and Conrad having their hands in a lot of JuLai’s governance and polices. This is where the moral value of the ethical systems in place becomes questionable.

There are a lot of implications to unpack within an ethical system potentially developed and controlled by a genocidal semi-immortal being using it as a shadow government. The abridged, most important point is that there is no reason for Knives to be a part of a system that allows humans to flourish, build community, and grow. There is every reason for him to convince/allow everyone to think that he is.

A social good is one with the support of those in authority. It has no innate moral value. Laws and orders from unjust governments do not absolve anyone of the weight of their actions. But they determine who is punished.

So, the Eye. The church of No Man’s Land. A social authority for people in Hopeland, at least to some extent. Enough so that the orphanage cannot stop the Eye from taking its children. And Windmill Village to a much larger extent. So much so that its people volunteer their children as sacrifices. And it’s implied to have a much wider reach than just that. The Eye of Michael is a cult that preys upon the planet’s most desperate. Rollo - sick and poor and unlucky. Blessed. Made new, made whole (everything down to his emotions tampered with). Monev the Gale. Wolfwood and Livio - orphans and poor. Wolfwood, the handpicked Child of Blessing. The perfect candidate to be a child soldier. Nicholas the Punisher. Livio, the volunteer. The good and faithful brother follower. Livio the Double Fang. The other Gung-Ho-Guns. Dominique the Cyclops, Midvalley the Hornfreak, Rai-Dei the Blade, E. G. Mine, Leonof the Puppet-Master, Hoppered the Gauntlet, Caine the Longshot — volunteers? Desperate people doing desperate things? Or violent people playing at divine intervention? Social authorities in their own right, in the sense that they can do what they want without repercussions from the masses. They answer to Legato, to Knives, not to the traditional governments of No Man’s Land.

And Legato has been desperate. He would kill almost anyone before suffering that again. He would die to escape it, too. Life holds so little meaning to him. The end is near and he is both hierophant and harbinger. He lays no claim to justice, only ruin, but it’s all in Knives’ name.

Knives, who plays god. Who puts a bounty on his brother’s head to drive him back to him. All that power, he gets to determine what is wrong or right and people can either agree or die. It’s easy to see where his morals fail, but there isn’t a higher power to enact justice. So, he has the authority, what goods does he perform with it?

It’s also important to note that Zazie does not perform moral or social goods. Zazie serves themself, for their own betterment. And this is not a moral failing because applying human morals to a multi-consciousness conglomerated hivemind controlled collective of bugs can’t make sense. Zazie is all of the wams on No Man’s Land. All of their collective experiences in the species’ existence. All of their lives, all of their loss. It’s all Zazie. And Zazie believes that the needs of the many (themself in all their facets) outweigh the needs of the interlocutor few (humanity, Plants). Tentatively willing to coexist and adapt, unwilling to accept their own destruction. Allies or enemies. They work with Knives until it no longer benefits them. Very utilitarian.

Nonetheless, the Eye of Michael and its chosen crusaders, its sychophants, its priests are a definitive social and tentative moral authority within No Man’s Land. So, who can tell Conrad that he is performing anything other than a social good by doing his experiments? He claims he’s trying to save humanity and the only authority over him wants humanity dead. A flawed system. The Gung-Ho-Guns perform social goods by killing whoever they are sent to exterminate. This, of course, includes Vash without regard to whoever might be caught in the crossfire. Vash, who unwittingly takes the blame for his brother over and over. Vash, who has a bounty placed on his head by his brother and his misguided puppet government. Vash, who is being mocked and chided, his bounty the same as the cost of a new Plant. Vash, the Humanoid Typhoon, legally an act of God, the first “human” natural disaster. Destruction in his wake.

Wolfwood performs a social good by betraying Vash. He has the authority to justify his actions through his ordainment.

And Wolfwood performs a moral good by saving Meryl. It’s the first unilaterally moral good he performs in Trigun Stampede. That’s important. The thing about Wolfwood is that he knows the difference between moral and social goods. He knows whatever values he’d like to act on don’t align with his orders, but there’s always other lives at stake. Wolfwood doesn’t kill because he’s particularly bloodthirsty. He’s pragmatic. Other people have to die to keep the orphanage safe. An unfortunate, but necessary cost that he’s willing to pay. Until he isn’t anymore. Monsters don’t need morals, but if Vash can afford them maybe he can, too.

And normal, everyday people perform social goods, too, by trying to stop bank robbers and bandits and the Nebraska Family. And Vash. Those are ethical decisions, stopping criminals threatening your home is ethical. You just have to remember who determines who the criminals are and why.

Your moral and ethical authorities, ideally, should be in alignment. This is not a utopia, so they aren’t. And these random people living on the planet he forced them onto are continuously subjected to the so-called social good of Knives enacting his divine plan in order to force Vash’s hand. They are a necessary sacrifice for his greater good. The greater good that is Knives’ Eden, that is a world remade in his image. Vash remade in his image.

[circusfable]

Without further ado here is a quick run down of my trigun tma au.

First thing’s first the entities with which each character is aligned with, serves, is an avatar for, or otherwise affected by.

- Meryl Stryfe: the eye, current archivist at the institute

- Milly Thompson: the lonely (subject to change)

- Roberto de Niro: the stranger

- Brad: the eye (?)

- William Conrad: the eye, current head of the institute

- Rem Saverem: the eye, previous archivist of the institute

- Vash Saverem: the desolation

- Knives Saverem: the corruption

- Tesla Saverem: the flesh

- Nicholas D. Wolfwood: under the thrall of the hunt in life, the buried in death

- Livio Wolfwood: the hunt

- Razlo: the slaughter

- Luida Leitner: the eye

- Legato Bluesummers: the web

- Zazie the Beast: the corruption

- Monev the gale: the vast

- Leonof the puppet master: the stranger

- EG the mine, Ethan Gilbert Hamilton: the desolation

- Elendira Crimsonail: the slaughter

Meryl, Milly, Roberto, and Brad are our starting archival team with Vash, Wolfwood, and Livio joining/assisting them later on in the story.

As for the story itself, the plot will be significantly different but the set up is very similar. The gist of it is Meryl is the head archivist of the SEEDS institute, which is a research institute dedicated to researching the paranormal (such as hauntings or other creepy/strange experiences). Most of these accounts are given to the institute in the form of statements, previously all in written form. When Meryl begins her tenure as the head archivist she switches to an interview style statement in which she records audio of these accounts & starts doing the same for past accounts as well by reading them aloud. Over the course of her reading these statements she begins to develop these powers that allow her to compel people into telling her their stories and forces her to rely on these statements in order to maintain her strength.

The statements contain information about various encounters with entities of fear that use different methods to frighten others. There are also people who end up serving these fear gods. Either out of finding love within this fear, some other type of fulfillment, being born or forced into it, etc etc. they’re each essentially their own cult.

For example, Nai serves the Corruption the fear entity focused on the fear of corruption, disease, and filth. It manifests in the form of bugs, mold, rot, etc but also in that of toxic/unhealthy love and community. A toxic/unhealthy view of love is a major part of Nai’s character in canon as well as in this au. In this au, like in canon, it’s his obsession and fixation on Vash that ultimately leads to the corruption taking hold. It physically manifests for him in the form of mold and rot rather than bugs.

Vash on the other hand unwillingly serves the Desolation, which is the fear of loss, pain, burning, & destruction. It manifests in the form of fire, burns, and general destruction. Since Vash is an agent of destruction often against his will in canon the desolation felt fitting for him. In this au it’s similar with him being forced to destroy and ruin lives when all he truly wants is to live in peace and allow others to do the same, he does not derive any sort of pleasure from his actions of destruction.

A few of the others as well:

Meryl as the head archivist serves the Eye which is the fear of being watched, exposed, and followed as well as being driven by needing to understand and know things. It manifests as eyes, cameras, and watching figures. As a reporter in tristamp and in all versions someone who sticks by Vash despite the dangers because she’s curious to know more is a big reason why I picked the eye for her.

Wolfwood serves the Hunt which is the fear of being hunted or chased, the fear of being prey. It manifests as predators, animalistic/predatory instincts, and animalistic traits. But he later serves the Buried which is the fear of small spaces, being buried alive, being trapped in a literal or figurative sense, etc. it manifests as caves, dirt, underground tunnels, and tight spaces like coffins :) Wolfwood is both the hunter and the hunted in canon with how he’s essentially hunting Vash the entire time by leading him to Knives plus his role as an assassin for the EOM as well as being hunted by the same people hunting Vash and later those specifically after him. The buried is simply to inflict psychic damage on y’all.

Legato serves the Web which is the fear of being controlled or trapped, manipulated, and also of spiders. It manifests as spiders, spider webs, and puppets. His whole life prior to meeting Knives in canon was controlled by other people through the slavery he was sold into. In his confinement he develops his powers in such a way to control others so he can never be controlled against his will again and after his freedom he continues to do whatever he pleases even if he’s said to serve Knives, and he does this through being able to manipulate and physically control others.

I can explain my thoughts on the others as well if anyone is interested! Feel free to send me any questions you have about this au bc it’s literally everything to me.

[summerendroll]

now that ive watched stampede i can be a hater with Knowledge which is so much more fun. the only good ep was child of blessing (monev the gale ep) because they were like mixing several different characters ideas into one (ex: vash having known him when he was a kid, like leonof the puppet master, or the wolfwood shooting a child [to vash] right in front of vash like anime zazie. etc.) there and it was a wildly different thing than anime and manga monev. i think it worked. it had me reacting in ways that werent just laughing at knives or complaining it had me wincing when shit went bad. etc. i was going to say only episodes but i couldnt think of any others i liked as a whole.

it doesnt help that theyre like speeding thru like they have a checklist of certain events even with the timeline fuckery and thus sometimes having like 4 different previously separate events all overlapping. or that they did the sandsteamer with the bad lads but no kaito or BDN like what is the point of the lit up neon lights bad lads then

[seoafin]

No I need every trigun thought you have bc wolfwood’s character is tragic like vash. This whole crew is just messed up and I need to see thoughts and feelings!!!

before anyone says anything you asked so i am answering. i talked about how insane it makes me that wolfwood is literally doomed by the narrative. both in the manga and stampede (sorry to those who think he'll make it out alive in stampede. he's dying.) our first look at him in both the manga AND stampede is seeing him carrying his own grave marker (which i could write a whole paper about just in the fact that it's literally a cross and a fucking machine gun!!!!!). it's representative of the lives he's taken and a tangible manifestation of his sins and guilt that is pointed out as extremely heavy by others. i think in the manga the only other person capable of picking the punisher up is vash??? (which makes me even more crazier bc what do you think that represents huh). the thing about wolfwood is that not only is he a character foil to vash, he completes vash in a way that only he can. only wolfwood can take the lives vash cannot in order to save people, which is something vash finally acknowledges during their fight with leonof the puppet master. i think the absolute saddest thing about wolfwood's character is that he is absolutely a caretaker at heart and violence is not at all inherent to his nature. in the orphanage he grew up in he cooked he took care of the younger children he helped the women out!!! thematically the orphanage he grew up in being the place of his last stand makes so much sense. he fights and dies to protect the orphanage and all the children (yes this includes livio). not to quote myself here but:

ww’s death doubles as salvation and tragedy. somewhere along the way of meeting vash and being witness to his unconditional love and forgiveness for humanity he found it easier to hope!!!! to begin to think that he could be saved. and that’s how he dies.

[chibivesicle]

I'm so excited for Knives. Him appearing so early on means he's finally gonna get back the screentime he was so fervently denied in the 98 anime. God knows what he could be planning with Vash's "gate" and what his actual goals are in the grand scheme of things, could align with the manga, could be it's own thing. I love the old anime and manga, truly, but wasn't impressed by a main villain who sat on his ass for the whole story and just sent in a bunch of goons nonstop to deter Vash. Give me an active threat! Who isn't afraid to get his own hands dirty (or feet bloody, in this case :P). Their relationship, the twin's interpersonal conflict started this whole story, it's about time it takes center stage!

Hello hello, I'm glad to hear you are stoked for whatever Knives has in store in Stampede. Since it is clear this is a complete re-imagining of things, it is really difficult to guess at this point where he's going with his goals. Well, other than that he wants to activate Vash's gate and make things go boom.

I find myself missing Legato, I always had a soft spot in my heart for him, since he was the villain who was the obviously twisted one. Meanwhile, Knives was just chillin' in a light bulb for most of the anime. He clearly is more active in this version but hopefully we get a solid motivation for him. I know the anime was weak, people took it at face value and were like 'a drunk guy insulted you so you commit murder' when really the flashback really implied they heard a lot more questionable comments from the crew members. But I agree with you - they want to highlight the sibling conflict as a major point of this series. Which in the anime was low key and came to fruition quite late in the manga. Maybe Vash will get kidnapped by Knives like in the manga and have to be rescued?

Then again, Knives was a typical hands off kind of bad guy so he did check the trope that was quite popular in the 90s. I'm the big bad guy, underlings go forth and do my dirty work. I guess it made a lot of sense since the manga only made it up to the point where it was revealed he needed to be resurrected by consuming(?)/birthing himself from(?) a plant to regain his energy when they all met at the church. They didn't have enough to go on, so have him be hands off?

I'm glad you are excited by his more engaging role in the plot; I'm just always grossed out when anime/manga characters touch blood with bare skin. It isn't just a thing with Trigun Stampede, just all weird blood scenes aren't my vibe.

We'll see what happens next and if this turns out to be a 12-13 episode run or not. They need to have Legato, Livio and Elendira show up based on VA casting and the previews - which I'm guessing also means Chapel and the puppet master Leonof based on some of the vulture like birds in episode 1. I'm also holding out hope that Midvalley comes but we'll see.

I'm just really surprised that Legato wasn't a part of Knives advance guard. We'll have to watch and see how things unfurl.

[beremy-from-trigun]

i think i may be the only person who will make an edit of leonof the puppet master if this edit goes the way i want it to,,

his storys kinda fucked up and sad tbh

[gunghogoons]

Motivations

1. Monev the Gale: Monev joined because he was trained from childhood to serve Knives. He knows nothing but how to use his body as a weapon. Without that, he is worthless.

2. E.G. Mine: This is the only Gung Ho Gun whose only motivation is legitimately to kill. Sure, money. But other than that? He craves death. As much as I make fun of him on this blog, if he had as much power as the rest of this, he could genuinely have been a problem. 3. Dominique the Cyclops: General distrust towards the human race, especially men. She also wanted a challenge considering her power. This made her want to be the strongest assassin. 4. Leonof the Puppet-Master: Lost his sanity when his lover died. Somehow thought it made sense to kill Vash for that and follow Knives.

5. Nicholas the Punisher: No choice in the matter. Sold/Adopted into Eye of Michael and raised/chemically altered into a human weapon. This is not my muse. For more information on this one you can reach out to @nicholas-wolfwood or another wolfwood mun

6. Hoppered the Gauntlet: His lover died in July. He was egged on by Knives that this was Vash’s fault (and by the rest of the planet of course.) So of course hunting Vash down was the natural decision. 7. Midvalley the Hornfreak: Already was an assassin with his band. Knives thought they were cool, but they declined his offer. He killed all of them but Midvalley and basically said “Join me or them” So he kept his life.

8. Gray the Ninelives: Honestly we know absolutely nothing about them.

9. Rai-Dei the Blade: Looking for the best fight and best challenge. Spouts about honor...also cheats.

10: Livio the Double Fang/11. Razlo the Tri-Punisher of Death: Just like Wolfwood, not really given a choice. However they were also teased with the idea that they wouldn’t hurt anyone innocent anymore because of their past. Even though that’s exactly what they were then trained to do. This, again, is not my muse. For more information please reach out to @duofang or another Livio/Razlo mun

12. Zazie the Beast: Zazie is a group hivemind of insects that inhabit Gunsmoke/NoMan’s Land. They want to destroy life because Humans are destroying their ecosystem. 13. Elendira the Crimsonnail: In the manga her motivation isn’t stated other than a devotion to Knives. I have my own headcanons to her which you are free to ask about but in short, she has an abusive childhood and feels as though she has been rescued. Now she is devoted to Knives. It’s a much longer story and this is a long enough post.

[ragtimeghoul]

Gung-Ho Gun #4: Leonof the Puppet-Master

[tuxedo-floracat]

once again my fandragons are being spoiled by this year’s notn, I just realised the Miasma Crystal was absolutely perfect for my Leonof the Puppet Master dragon!! it’s his creepy puppet controlling orb!!!! even has creepy hands!!!!

(anime screenshot for reference since he’s not a major/well-known character lol)

I even ended up giving him a Dusty Attic scene because of all the puppets in it, it’s just so perfect. thankfully did not have to drop gems for this since I already owned 2 from last year and had one dragon equipped with it that I was okay changing scenes for.

i don’t even particularly like this character lmao but I love Trigun and making Trigun fandragons is so much fun!!! currently have 13 and plenty more ideas in the works lol

[myscalesofjustice]

I've said before how I think Leonoff should be a SEEDS survivor instead of a kid Vash met once like Rollo. After some thought, I think he might be this guy:

Despite only appearing in the time compression montage, he's seen three times during it and attention is brought to him twice. With all the attention to detail in this anime, I would be more surprised if he weren't a Chekhov's gun.

[nebulations]

[ID: A Trigun panel of Leonof the Puppet Master controlling many strings. It’s captioned: “Overhaul Friday: Trimax Vol 02, Chap 01. 02/12/21.” End ID]

TRIGUN ULTIMATE OVERHAUL: Finished Chapters Friday

Trigun Maximum Volume 2, Chapter 01, Return of the Blue Wind of Death

View Here. / Download Here.

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First / Previous / Next

Chapters: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07.

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>>Next Volume<<

[rego-mem]

There was a reason why the Gung-ho-guns didn't hold general meetings.

I've spent too much time on this joke. Help.