Heero Yuy

Infobox animanga character
name = Heero Yuy
series = Mobile Suit Gundam Wing


caption = Heero Yuy, Gundam Wing character
first =
last =
creator =
voiced by = Hikaru Midorikawa (JPN)
Mark Hildreth (ENG)
alias = Red One
Black Alpha
Zero-One
Duo Maxwell [Heero briefly took on the identity of fellow Gundam Pilot Duo Maxwell while attending school after returning to space during OZ's offensive to gain the support of the space colonies which was shown in Episode 18 of the anime series.]
Lancaster [In the video game Another Century's Episode 2, Heero's Preventer codename is "Lancaster", presumably a reference to the Avro Lancaster bomber plane from World War II.]
Odin Lowe, Jr. [From the manga.]
age = 15 (series), 16 (Endless Waltz)
born = Unknown, AC 180
death =
nationality = L-1 Colony cluster
relatives =
divider = yes
aux1 name = Allegiance
aux1 = Gundam Pilots [GW, EW]
Sanc Kingdom [GW]
aux2 name = Rank
aux2 =
aux3 name = Mobile weapons
aux3 = Wing Gundam [GW]
Gundam Heavyarms [GW]
OZ-13MSX2 Mercurius [GW]
OZ-06MS Leo [GW/EW]
Gundam Epyon [GW]
Wing Gundam Zero [GW/EW]

nihongo|Heero Yuy|ヒイロ・ユイ|Hiiro Yui is the name of two fictional characters from the anime series "Mobile Suit Gundam Wing" and its sequels. One is a martyred pacifist leader, while the other is a young soldier named in his honor. The latter Heero is the main character of "Gundam Wing" and its OVA sequel "Endless Waltz".

Heero Yuy, the Politician

One of the most important figures in the After Colony world, Heero Yuy was a charismatic politician from the colonies. In AC 165, the colonists elected him as their chief representative and used his incredible personal magnetism to help unite the colonies. Yuy began preaching a policy of pacifism and non-violence, urging the world's nations to disarm. This won him many supporters, including the prestigious Peacecraft family, monarchs of the Sanc Kingdom. In AC 174, he began making a goodwill tour of the colonies and began preparations for a colonial independence movement. One year later, on April 7, AC 175, Yuy was killed by an assassin's bullet; present at the time were his aides Dekim Barton and Quinze. Following Yuy's death, the United Earth Sphere Alliance began tightening its control over the colonies even further, cutting off communications between the colonies, lest rebellion ferment—however, the act of killing Heero Yuy provoked just that.

Heero Yuy, Gundam Pilot

Personality

The nameless boy who is given the codename Heero Yuy is of Japanese descent, a complicated character. His cold, stoic demeanor seems more fitting for a battle hardened veteran than a fifteen-year-old boy. When Relena Peacecraft meets Doctor J, the engineer comments that Heero is actually a very kind-hearted young man who keeps his emotions reined in while fighting. On many occasions, Heero espouses the philosophy that being emotional on the battlefield will only result in heartbreak, so soldiers need to be able to fight without caring about their opponents. However, he believes that there's nothing wrong with showing emotion in normal situations. The most important philosophy to Heero's life, however, is the one his mentor Odin Lowe espouses: That the best way to live life is by one's emotions. Heero is the most skilled and focused in combat out of the five pilots, both in mobile suits and out, which makes him a great asset and a deadly force to be reckoned with.

Early life

Little is known about the early life of the young man who would become a Gundam pilot. His first documented appearance is at age seven, where he was the ward of his mentor Odin, a former member of the Alliance's secret weapons society OZ (Organization of the Zodiac) and then the professional hitman who killed the original Heero Yuy. In addition to protecting the boy (and giving himself an alibi), Lowe taught the child how to survive on his own and how to handle a gun. In AC 188, the pair went to colony L3-X18999 on a mission to assassinate the Alliance's General Septum. While Lowe handled the assassination, the child was sent to aid the colonial rebels who had clashed with the Specials. Taking an RPG, the boy attempted to destroy the communications tower (operated by a then twelve year-old Lucrezia Noin), but Instructor Treize Khushrenada moved his Leo in the way, protecting Noin, but badly injuring himself. Escaping, the boy found Lowe fatally wounded. As he died, he told the boy to live by his emotions, reminding him that it only takes one foolish person to change the world. Left alone, the boy began wandering the colonies until he was discovered by Doctor J. Admiring the child's bearing, J offered him the chance to pilot a Gundam and free the colonies. His mentor's words ringing in his ears, the boy accepted.

In AC 191, a young boy (under the code name Black Alpha) greatly resembling Lowe's ward appeared at the Saint Gabriel Academy on Earth, where he encountered the young Relena Darlian and assisted in an anti-Alliance attack. Though there is some doubt cast on whether this is the same boy or not, it seems highly likely.

In AC 194, the boy was assigned to destroy an Alliance base on a colony. After planting the explosives in the daytime, he took the time to relax, planning on destroying the base that night. While in a park, he met a young girl who was out walking her dog and befriended her. That night, when he triggered the explosives, a nearby Leo was knocked onto an apartment building, crushing it before it exploded. Investigating the ruins, he found the girl's dog, dead. The direction leaves no doubt that the girl died as well. When he buried it, and possibly the girl, out of remorse, Dekim Barton ordered Doctor J to retrain the boy, saying that emotions, and especially "the humane feeling of kindness", would be a detriment and unnecessary to a "weapon". Whether this training was carried out or not remains unknown, but this incident left the boy with a great sense of self-loathing and remorse. It also would explain how Heero, in the series, displays little to no emotion.

In AC 195, shortly before "Operation: Meteor", word leaked that Vice Foreign Minister Darlian had learned about the plan. The Barton Foundation sent a hit team to assassinate him. Doctor J offered the boy three options: Aid the assassination, stop it, or ignore the whole thing. He decided to stop the attempt, saving Darlian's life. Later, as he visited the makeshift grave he had made for the girl, Doctor J informed the boy that they would indeed be carrying out "Operation: Meteor" as Dekim decreed it. Once more, he had three options: Pilot the Wing Gundam and go along with the genocidal plan, kill J and run away, or change the plan.

On April 7, AC 195, the young man climbed into the cockpit of Wing Gundam, intent on carrying out his own version of "Operation: Meteor" by attacking OZ facilities directly and thus cripple the Alliance of its weapons and mobile suits. As he prepared to depart, Doctor J decided to give him a codename. Picking one appropriate for the mission, he dubbed the young pilot "Heero Yuy", and sent him to Earth to free the colonies as his namesake had once intended.

Operation Meteor

As Wing Gundam entered the Earth's atmosphere, Heero found a civilian shuttle in his path containing Vice Foreign Minister Darlian and his foster daughter Relena. Contemplating the destruction of the shuttle, he was interrupted by an Alliance patrol squadron, led by OZ's ace pilot, Zechs Merquise. Even with Wing Gundam's incredible capabilities, Zechs managed to get close enough to grapple the Gundam with his Leo freefalling towards the Pacific Ocean below and then escape, sending the two machines to the bottom of the ocean. Washing up on the beach, Heero's unconscious body was found by Relena and attempted to kill himself with a suicide bomb built into his flight suit. The saltwater having damaged the explosive only the detnator fired knocking him over. But it gave him a distraction, he soon escaped her and the medics that were arriving shortly. He then enrolled in the Saint Gabriel Academy as a cover for his activities. Coincidentally, Relena was attending the same school as he was, and when she attempted to invite Heero to her birthday party, he shredded the invitation and threatened to kill her. ["Gundam Wing" anime, episode 1]

Heero later planned to destroy the sunken Wing Gundam, in order to prevent OZ from getting their hands on it. He broke into an Alliance naval base and prepared several torpedoes to destroy the Gundam. However, he was interrupted first by Relena, who had sought him out instead of attending her own party, then by another Gundam pilot. Duo Maxwell had found Wing Gundam and planned on keeping it for spare parts. After an altercation where Heero ended up taking multiple gunshot wounds and both Gundams were damaged from Heero's attempt to destroy his, Heero was then taken to an Alliance hospital under guard. Duo managed to break him out, but as they jumped from the tall building, Heero didn't open his parachute, with the intent of committing suicide. Relena, who was present, called out to him; this caused him to finally open the chute, saving his life, but breaking his leg in the process. However, he later managed to set the bone manually, much to Duo's disgust, and was given back Wing Gundam. Needing to repair his Gundam, Heero secretly stole parts form Duo's Gundam Deathscythe and he quickly used the repaired suit for a mission to destroy an enemy carrier transporting Gundanium alloy. ["Gundam Wing" anime, episodes 4]

Later, Vice Foreign Minister Darlian was assassinated by OZ for supporting colonial independence. Relena, who was present, was labelled a potential risk and marked for death as well. She was rescued by Doctor J, who told her about Heero and his mission. Returning to Earth in time for a party at the school, Relena confronted Heero and told him that she learned the truth about him from J and that he had no reason to consider her an enemy. Unfortunately, OZ sent a mobile suit team to attack the school with the intent of killing Relena. Heero drove them off with Wing Gundam before running away as well, still stunned by the fact that he not only couldn't bring himself to kill the girl, but that he actually saved her from certain death. ["Gundam Wing" anime, episode 6]

Later, Heero was informed of an OZ meeting at the New Edwards Base in California, although in truth, it was actually an Alliance peace conference aimed at better relations with the Colonies. Proceeding there with Duo as his back-up, the pair ran afoul of two more Gundams and their pilots, Trowa Barton and Quatre Raberba Winner. During the fight, a shuttle bearing OZ markings attempted to flee. Seeing this, Heero flew up to the shuttle in Wing Gundam and destroyed it. Unfortunately, the whole thing had been a set-up. OZ's leader Treize Khushrenada had lent his shuttle to the Alliance's pacifists for their evacuation, including Field Marshall Noventa, who had been urging for peace with the colonies. In reaction, General Septum, a hotheaded and radical Alliance general, declared war on the colonies. After hearing the news from the final Gundam pilot Chang Wufei about what really happened, Heero was in shock. Heero became consumed by feelings of guilt and was unable to fight back against OZ's Leos, forcing Duo and Quatre to protect him. Heero's mental state returned to normal when he learned from former Alliance Major Sally Po that OZ was planning to detonate all the missiles at the New Edwards Base to all and destroy everything in one stroke. Heero then used Wing Gundam to enter the missile silo complex and disarmed the missile that was set to trigger all the other missiles to explode. ["Gundam Wing" anime, episode 8]

Some time later, Doctor J informed Heero that OZ was transporting its new Taurus model to its base in Siberia and he chose to attack the air route, as did Trowa, while Duo and Quatre attacked the land route, which was a decoy. During the battle, Heero encountered Zechs, who wanted to test his new Tallgeese against Wing Gundam. In the middle of their duel, however, Lady Une of OZ threatened to use the Alliance's missile satellites to attack the colonies unless the Gundams surrendered. Doctor J broke into the transmission, offering his surrender but not that of the Gundams. That was Heero's cue; under orders, he activated his suit's self-detonation device while standing outside the cockpit, destroying Wing Gundam and nearly killing himself. ["Gundam Wing" anime, episode 10]

Trowa recovered him and spent a month nursing him back to health. After recovering, Heero sought penance for killing the Alliance's pacifists by tracking down their families and offering to let them kill him as payback. During this course, Heero and Trowa were met by Lucrezia Noin, who had an offer from Zechs. The pair travelled to OZ's base in Antarctica, where Zechs had been rebuilding Wing Gundam in secret. His reason: to get the duel he had been denied by Lady Une's intervention. Heero agreed, but said that he would use Trowa's Gundam Heavyarms instead; he felt that using the rebuilt Wing Gundam would make him feel beholden to Zechs and affect his fighting. The two dueled, only to be interrupted once again, this time by Relena, who had a letter from Field Marshall Noventa's wife urging the boy not to be so careless with his life. In this confrontation, it was revealed that Zechs was actually Relena's older brother, Milliardo Peacecraft. Trowa then arrived in Wing Gundam, saying that OZ's pursuit team was on the way. Zechs offered to cover everyone's escape, shouldering the blame. ["Gundam Wing" anime, episode 16]

The Eve Wars

At this point, OZ began making a play for the colonies. By acting friendlier than the harsh Alliance, the organization won many supporters and succeeded in turning colonial sentiment against the Gundams. Abandoning Wing Gundam on Earth due to its inability for use in space, Heero proceeded to space to fight OZ there and had attended school under Duo's name for his cover, as his code name would had only attracted more attention to himself. Learning that Duo had been captured, he broke into an OZ base to kill the youth, but instead decided to rescue him. Shortly thereafter, Heero learned that the Gundam engineers had been captured and were on the Lunar Base, building new machines for OZ. He went there to deal with them, but was captured by Trowa, who had entered OZ as a cadet to spy on them. ["Gundam Wing" anime, episode 20]

Recognizing Heero's skill, OZ set him to work piloting the new mobile suit Mercurius, with Trowa in the Vayeate to make sure he didn't try anything. A short while later, a new Gundam began destroying colonies seemingly at random. OZ dispatched Heero and Trowa to deal with it. They learned that the new suit was the Wing Gundam Zero, and it was piloted by Quatre. Distraught over his father's death and his mental stability affected by the ZERO System, Quatre had decided to destroy the colonies for their betrayal. During the battle, Trowa took an attack that would have killed Heero, destroying the Vayeate. Taking advantage of the distraction, Heero managed to capture Quatre, only for OZ to grab them both as well as Wing Zero. OZ had the boys test the ZERO System, but the effects made Heero rampage through their base until Quatre commandeered Mercurius and managed to stop him. Escaping from OZ, the pair went back to Earth. ["Gundam Wing" anime, episode 26]

When the two pilots arrived on Earth, they learned that OZ had put a bounty on their heads. Remaining with former Alliance members, Heero initially resisted Quatre's suggestions to go to the pacifist Sanc Kingdom. Instead, he left Quatre and signed up with a group of mercenaries fighting OZ, using his position as a Gundam pilot to gain their trust. However, OZ had just deployed the new Virgo mobile doll, and Heero, who was piloting an outclassed Leo, found himself facing death once more. He was saved by the intervention of both Quatre and Noin, the latter who delivered Wing Gundam's buster rifle and asked them to come to the Sanc Kingdom. Finally relenting, Heero agreed, and headed to a reunion with Relena, the nation's sovereign, where his Gundam was being kept. Though he remained in the Sanc Kingdom, Heero was averse to the nation's ideals, as he made plain to Relena on at least one occasion. Behind the young princess' back, Lucrezia Noin convinced Heero to protect the nation as part of an underground defense force, consisting of Wing Gundam and several Taurus. After saving Relena's life from an OZ ambush, she agreed to allow the defense force, but tried to keep Heero from leaving by making him promise not to go searching for battles. Heero agreed and remained in the Sanc Kingdom for while, using Wing Gundam to defend the nation. ["Gundam Wing" anime, episode 31]

Some time later however, he broke his word when he learned that Treize was under house arrest at his mansion in Luxembourg. Upon arriving, Heero destroyed several Virgos with Wing Gundam, but eventually found himself outnumbered and his Gundam was soon after disabled. Receiving a message from Treize, Heero abandoned Wing Gundam for the last time and entered the mansion. After their first face-to-face meeting, Treize gave Heero a new mobile suit, the Gundam Epyon, with which to determine his own path in life. Unfortunately, Epyon's ZERO System proved too much for Heero to handle, often driving him to berserker frenzies. When OZ launched its final attack on the Sanc Kingdom, Heero continued fighting even after Relena surrendered and formally dissolved the nation. After that point, Heero encountered Zechs, who was piloting Wing Zero. The two Gundams' ZERO Systems drove their pilots to battle until they collapsed from the mental overload caused by their ZERO Systems. Having a brief conversation, the pair agreed to exchange Gundams, putting Wing Zero back in Heero's hands. ["Gundam Wing" anime, episode 37]

As the space-borne rebels called White Fang rose to power, Heero attempted to assassinate Relena, who had become Romefeller's chief representative. However, after Relena's speech about her plans to change Romefeller into a peaceful World Nation, Heero chose to spare Relena and give her the chance to do so. Heero then headed back to space with Sally Po and met up with Peacemillion, the spaceship designed by the Gundam engineers. Having achieved mastery of the ZERO System, Heero loaned Wing Zero out to Wufei and Trowa, giving the former the conviction to join the other Gundam pilots and restoring the latter's memories when the two of them utilized the ZERO System. When White Fang began using the ZERO System to coordinate its mobile doll forces, Heero had a portion of the ZERO system copied and installed into Quatre's Gundam Sandrock, enhancing his leadership skills with the system's abilities. ["Gundam Wing" anime, episode 44]

After Duo learned that Relena was being held prisoner on White Fang's space station Libra, Heero infiltrated the ship to rescue her. The two encountered Zechs, but were unable to convince him to stop his plans. As he prepared to head into the final battle, Heero promised Relena that he would live through the war, and return to her. Heero immediately went after Zechs, and the two engaged in a duel that spanned Libra's airspace and the station's interior. Though both Gundams received heavy damage, Heero came out on top as word of the peace agreement came to them, Heero was given the opportunity to finish off Zechs once and for all but didn't out of respect for Relena. With that he left Zechs to destroy Libra's main power system. Unfortunately, Libra had been set on a collision course with Earth. Flying into the upper atmosphere, Heero used Wing Zero's twin buster rifle, at only 30% capacity, to destroy a massive falling section of the Libra, which would have plunged the Earth into a never ending winter, and bring the war to an end. This was a significant event for another reason besides the fate of the Earth. During the entire series, Heero did not care whether he lived or died; he only cared about the mission at hand. However, while he is descending into the atmosphere with Wing Zero's twin buster rifle pointed at the Libra, he proclaims that he will survive. This shows that his time with Relena has given him a will to live and something to protect. ["Gundam Wing" anime, episode 49] In the manga's end of the series, Heero goes with the other four Gundam pilots to Mars with the intention of helping Relena's terraforming project.

=Blind Target= In the spring of AC 196, Heero Yuy had apparently taken on a normal civilian life and enrolled in school on the colonies. However, he was approached by two men in suits who wanted to buy both Wing Zero and his services as a pilot for "the coming conflict". Realizing that this was not an isolated incident, Heero began an investigation. He learned that the people who approached him were former White Fang soldiers who wanted to start another war with the Earth. After bombing a conference full of representatives, White Fang attempted to assassinate Relena, the leading figure in the peace process. However, Heero rushed to her aid and thwarted the assassins. Taking Relena and her aide Chris Marley along, Heero met up with the other Gundam pilots and hid out at an abandoned colony. After driving off White Fang's attempted invasion and securing Relena, Heero confronted Chris with the fact that she was a White Fang spy. Heero then revealed that the new White Fang's leader, Commander Sogran, had ulterior motives. He, Trowa, and White Fang member Ralph Kurt confronted Sogran, who revealed that he simply wanted to sell the Gundams to a mobile suit manufacturer, and didn't care about the "brainless masses" of White Fang. At this point, it was revealed that Sogran's message was sent throughout the base, telling the White Fang members of his deceit. Leaving Sogran to their mercies, Heero and the other Gundam pilots went their separate ways but not before he and Relena shared a kiss goodbye, but the kiss wasn't intentional. Afterwards everyone returned to their lives until they would meet up again in "Endless Waltz".

=Battlefield of Pacifists= That summer, Heero and Duo decided to help Relena's movement towards total disarmament. While she investigated former weapons manufacturers, the two pilots sneaked into their bases, searching for hidden mobile suit construction lines. However, with the notion that OZ's lost mobile doll plant might not be a rumor, Heero decided to investigate it further. His first act was to speak to Dorothy Catalonia who, as the granddaughter of Romefeller's chief representative, would be privy to any such knowledge. Initially, Dorothy coyly pretended not to know anything and offered to let Heero spend the night at her mansion. The next morning, she revealed that she had invited Relena along, hoping to spark a romantic meeting. However, both Heero and Relena were more concerned with Vulkanus, so Dorothy gave them the only information she had on it and allowed them the use of her database. While they worked, Relena offered Heero a position with Preventer, but he declined, citing his desire to work alone. Eventually, they managed to discover Vulkanus' orbit, and with Relena's help, Heero returned to space. Using Wing Zero's high speed booster to catch up with the other pilots, Heero arrived just in time to help them fight off the Perfect Peace People and the Scorpio. Wing Zero dealt the finishing blow to the Scorpio, and when Quatre proposed his idea of destroying the Gundams by sending them to the sun, Heero agreed.

Endless Waltz

On December 24, AC 196, Quatre carried out the plan to destroy the Gundams by sending them, with Vulkanus, into the sun. All except for Wufei's Gundam Altron was sent. In the meantime, Heero continued to look out for Relena from the shadows. His investigation into the colony L3-X18999 quickly let him learn that she had been captured, and he enlisted Duo's aid in a rescue attempt.

Infiltrating the colony in a stolen Leo, Heero came across Wufei and Altron. Unfortunately for Heero, Wufei was working for the people who kidnapped Relena. Meanwhile, Trowa attacked Duo with a new Serpent mobile suit, being previously captured by Wufei. Heero fought his best against Wufei, but the decades-old Leo was unable to hold up to a modern Gundam, and the Leo was defeated. Heero demanded that Wufei self destruct his Gundam, and at that time Trowa had launched two missiles in Duo's direction, which created a haze that covered the corridor Wufei and Heero were in, giving Heero the opportune moment to escape.

Heero and Duo found that they were too late to save Relena, but learned that the coup was being carried out by their former boss Dekim Barton, who wanted to drop the colony on Earth as part of a renewed "Operation: Meteor". Rushing to prevent its fall, Trowa reveals that he was only pretending to support the plan, and the trio were able to stabilize the colony. After getting word from Quatre that the Gundams were safe, Heero devised an escape plan by pretending to be unconscious. Taking a shuttle, he met with Wing Zero in space and hurried to Earth to save Relena. However, his path was blocked by Wufei and Altron, and a battle from space to Earth ensued. Feeling that the battle was pointless, Heero barely fought back and eventually allowed Wing Zero to plunge into the ocean, asking Wufei to reconsider his actions. Knocked unconscious in the fall, Heero was woken up by Wing Zero, which told him that he still had a mission to accomplish.

Flying to Brussels, Heero used Wing Zero's signature twin buster rifle to heavily damage Dekim's shelter with precise accuracy. Yet, Wing Zero's own weapon was too powerful and the already damaged Gundam could not sustain the recoil of the third shot, therefore resulting in its destruction. Battered and exhausted, Heero entered the shattered base, only to collapse into Relena's arms shortly after vowing never to kill again. As the world moved towards peace and mobile suits were eliminated for good, Heero continued to watch over Relena as a bodyguard as he began living his life free from war and violence.

There is an important change in the ending of OVA versus the movie and manga. The OVA shows Heero walking off into the distance in a starry background, while in the movie he is shown walking into a crowded street. In the end of the manga Heero is shows to be working as a bodyguard for Relena.

=Notes=

External links

* [http://www.gundamofficial.com/www_ac/gw/characters/char_heero.html Gundam Official's Character Profile]