Lordgenome

Infobox animanga character
color = #CC3300
name = Lordgenome
series = Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann


caption = The Spiral King
creator = Kazuki Nakashima
voiced by = Narushi Ikeda (Japanese)
Jamieson Price (English)
gender = Male
species = Human
occupation = Ruler
aux1 = Nia Teppelin (daughter) Simon (son-in-law)
Guame (friend)
Anti-Spiral (nemesis)
aux1 name = Relationships
aux2 = Lazengann Dekabutsu Space Dai-Gun Cathedral Terra
aux2 name = Gunmen

Nihongo|Lordgenome|ロージェノム|Rōjenomu is a character from the anime and manga series Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann. He is a seemingly cruel and ruthless tyrant who employs legions of creatures known as Beastmen to systemically eradicate all human-kind on the planet surface, commanding his armies from a gigantic funnel-shaped castle called Teppelin. Lordgenome is the main antagonist for Parts I and II of the anime, but becomes an important and driving supporting character in Parts III and IV. Throughout the series, he is referred to by Beastmen as his self-proclaimed title, "The Spiral King" [Gainax (2007). "Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann" anime, Episode 7. "We serve the Spiral King!" ] . He is first identified as the leader of the Beastmen in Episode 6, and makes a formal introduction by Episode 9.

Etymology

Spelled "Lordgenome" in Japan [cite web | url = http://gurren-lagann.net/chara/lordgenome.html | publisher=Gainax|title = Character Page: Lordgenome|accessdate = 2008-02-08] , Lordgenome's name comes from the English term for a male noble and from genome, the blueprint for an organism found in its DNA. The name is meant to tie in with the theme of biology for Lord Genome's inner circle with each of his generals getting his/her name from one of the nitrogen bases that make up DNA, as well as reflecting upon his position as a king on Planet Earth. Lordgenome's name was combined by Gainax to reduce confusion among Japanese readers about "lord" being a title, rather than a part of the character's first name. He has no last name until Part III, where he is given the surname "Head" by Rossiu [cite web | url = http://gurren-lagann.net/chara/lordgenome1.html | publisher=Gainax|title = Character Page: Lordgenome Head|accessdate = 2008-02-08] .

Description

In contrast to most of the antagonists in "Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann", Lordgenome is a full-blooded human being, though his spiral energy signature is red rather than the usual green. His precise age is not stated, though Guame estimates him to be over 1,000 years old. He is typically a very somber character, but can throw himself into a frenzy during a battle, displaying superhuman feats of strength, agility, and endurance. In Parts III and IV, he acquires a cynical wit, which he believes comes from his change of environment. Lordgenome is a large, bearded and muscle-bound man towering at over seven feet tall. His bearish figure is further emphasized by robust patches of hair, which take the shape of a spiral galaxy on his chest. He is usually bald, though in the heat of battle a red fire (presumably a visible form of his spiral energy) can erupt from his scalp. He has red irises that resemble a concentric set of spirals. Lordgenome's normal garb appears to be arabian in origin.

Lordgenome originally owned all of the Gunmen in the series, save Simon's Lagann, but over the course of the story many are stolen from his subordinates or destroyed. On hand, he possesses a Personal-class, Gurren-Lagann-type Gunmen known as Lazengann, which controls a grounded Space Gunmen known as Dekabutsu, ostensibly referred to as "Teppelin". He also controls a Space Dai-Gun (later renamed to "Arc Gurren") that sleeps below Teppelin's site, and is the owner of the moon-sized galactic battleship Cathedral Terra. (later renamed to "Chouginga Dai-Gurren")

History

In the distant past, Lordgenome was part of a previous human civilization that lived on the surface of Planet Earth, and it is implied that he was mostly a loner, his only company being a small group of animals that he took care of, one of which was Guame in his original form. After the discovery of Spiral energy, he eventually became one of four distinguished Spiral Generals who commanded legions of Spiral Warriors charged with maintaining peace and order throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. Because each of the generals was themed after one of the classical elements, it is a safe estimate to say that Lordgenome is closely related to Aether, represented in the TTGL universe as Spiral Energy. In his time, Lordgenome was known as a renaissance man, famous not only as a powerful warrior but a brilliant scientist who made many breakthroughs in the field of genetic engineering through his experiments with cloning technology. Fact|date=February 2008 His perfection of this process would allow for many miracles, such as a human body in biological stasis which he applied to both himself and Guame, a self-replicating asexual food supply through the various animals that populated Earth, and humanoid warriors (the Beastmen) who would not emit spiral energy.

Lordgenome and the other Spiral Generals battled countless times against the Anti-Spirals, a race of powerful aliens dedicated to the genocide of spiral life throughout the universe. The Spiral Warriors valiantly resisted the powerful Anti-Spirals, but they were ultimately unable to discern the location of their enemy’s home world and were thus unable to make any permanent progress in the war. In time, nearly all of the Spiral Warriors were slain, worn down by centuries of attrition against endless waves of opponents. It was at this time that the Anti-Spiral himself appeared directly to Lordgenome in an attempt to fully thrust him into despair, beating down his valiant urges to continue resistence by revealing to him the Spiral Nemesis. Defeated and spiritually broken, Lordgenome attempted to stop his comrades from continuing their futile conflict, however, even though proceeding would either lead to their complete annihilation at the hands of the Anti-Spirals or the realization of the Spiral Nemesis, Lordgenome's allies refused to listen, and, in fury, Lordgenome eliminated any Spiral Warrior who disagreed with him. Utterly immersed in the despair the Anti-Spiral had instilled within him, Lordgenome fled back to Planet Earth, determined to preserve the remaining spiral population by conceding to any demands the Anti-Spiral had. He constructed an imposing castle fortress called Teppelin, and created the Beastmen as enforcers to slaughter human beings living on the planet surface, driving them underground in hope their fear would keep them therealong with burying the Legann in the depths of the Earth's crust. He compromised with the victorious Anti-Spirals who allowed the Spirals to continue their existence as long as only a small population of humans were allowed to survive within subterranean communities. He then further organized the Beastmen into a military body known as the "Human Eradication Army," arming them with Gunmen and ordering them to patrol the world's surface and slay any human who emerged from the ground. Assuming the identity of the Spiral King, humanity's one guardian, he divided the Human Eradication Army into four branches, each headed by a Supreme General modeled after the Spiral General system of antiquity. A somewhat detailed view of his past is shown in the 8th parallel works music video, which details Lordgenome's past from when he first discovers his Mini-Gunman as a child to when he takes over earth, revealing a few details involving why the war was lost.

Guame came to be the leader of the Supreme Generals, Fact|date=February 2008 having attained a vaguely human form after centuries of absorbing Lordgenome's weakening spiral energy. Later, Lordgenome ordered Guame to monitor the "Beauty Village," a village made up of young, beautiful girls abducted from other villages that Lordgenome deduced as having the highest chance of producing humans with an artificial dummy gene, which, upon detection of high amounts of spiral energy, would trigger a transformation into an Anti-Spiral scout. Over the years, he would select girls from this village to sexually satisfy him, producing thousands of children who he summarily executed before they could mature into a powerful enemy. This purpose was kept a personal secret so that even Guame misunderstood the meaning; he had thought Lordgenome killed his children out of a disgust for self-awareness. Meanwhile, the Anti-Spirals configured Lordgenome’s old flagship, the Cathedral Terra, to assume the shape of the moon so that they could use it as an ultimate destructive tool against humanity should their numbers become too large, hiding the actual moon in a pocket dimension, thus preventing adverse effects from the two large celestial bodies acting on the magnetic fields of Earth. As the centuries passed, Lordgenome grew mentally and physically weary, a side effect of the very Spiral Power within him acting against him as more humans are starting to surface and challenging his armies.

Role

Team Dai-Gurren first encounters Lordgenome directly at the Battle of Teppelin, when Lord Genome activates Dekabutsu's battle mode. Dekabutsu's large iron hammer is destroyed at the expense of Dai-Gurren, but Simon, Nia and Rossiu are able to infiltrate Lordgenome's throne room and confront the Spiral King directly. Lordgenome first attempts to stab Nia by remotely manipulating one of Lazengann's extendable drills, then powering up Lazengann and engaging Gurren-Lagann in battle. Though Gurren-Lagann puts up an admirable fight, it is overwhelmed by Lazengann's maneuverability and speed, forcing Simon to detach Lagann and face Lord Genome without Rossiu's help. Lagann is able to destroy Lazengann, but before the Gunmen falls apart Lordgenome tears off Lazengann's hatch and walks over to the implanted Lagann, punching it into the head of Dekabutsu. Lordgenome then engages Lagann in physical combat, overpowering it and ultimately shattering its arms. As the excited Spiral King gloats in victory, Simon plunges his Core Drill into Lordgenome's chest, twisting it and sending a surge of spiral energy into Lordgenome's body that explodes his torso. With his dying breath, Lordgenome warns Simon that the moon will become the "Messenger of Hell" if the human population on the surface ever exceeds one million. He then smiles, allowing his lifeless body to fall off of Dekabutsu into the ground below.

Seven years later, Rossiu has recovered Lordgenome's brain and regrows the likeness of Lordgenome's head from a tissue sample collected from the Spiral King's corpse. This is done because Lordgenome's memories could not be accessed directly from a normal computer, so a special "Bio-Computer" had to be built to allow Lordgenome to relay his memories personally to the curious. Once activated, the bemused Bio-Computer explains the existence of the Anti-Spirals to Rossiu, and later serves as a power source for Arc Gurren when the Mugan have overrun Kamina City. The Bio-Computer's information later proves invaluable, helping to prevent the moon drop and provide the means to reach the Anti-Spiral's pocket dimension. Lord Genome also acts as navigator of the newly recommissioned Chō Ginga Dai Gurren, operating most of its weapons and shielding systems and performing complex mathematical calculations. In Anti-Spiral's parallel world illusion, the Bio Computer's desired job appears to be an elementary school principal, together with Leite as teacher.

The Bio-Computer was not programmed with the same ego of the original, but over time fragments of Lordgenome's personality emerge as he indulges in old memories. In the final episode, the Bio-Computer has gained enough self-awareness to assume Lordgenome's full semblance (an actual body) in the Super Spiral Space. He then assists Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann as one of the thirteen key pilots, detaching "Lazengann Overload" from Tengen Toppa's mouth to block Anti-Spiral's Infinity Big Bang Storm. As Lazengann Overload disintegrates, Lordgenome uses his willpower to convert the massive energy into a galaxy-sized drill. He dies again when the drill is reabsorbed by Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann, but does so with great enthusiasm and without regret, content that he has paved a path for the spiral beings of future generations.

References