Slayers/Characters

The cast of characters from Hajime Kanzaka's long-running Slayers fantasy anime and light novel series.

Any help in sorting these out would be greatly appreciated.

Lina Inverse
"Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (Japanese), Lisa Ortiz (English; series), Cynthia Martinez (English; movies)."

Our beloved Anti-Hero, Lina is a young Black Magician Girl from the land of Zephilia. She is known throughout the world as the "Queen of Destruction" and "Enemy of All Living Things" due to her short temper and skill with Dragon Slaves. Lina usually pursues power and riches for herself, but gets dragged into saving the world along the way.

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 * Action Girl
 * A-Cup Angst: Does NOT like to be reminded of her small bust.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: Compared to many flat chested characters, she is rather ample. Strangely enough, though, her bust seems to shrink every season.
 * It's understandable though when you consider the amount of time she spent hanging around Naga prior to the series proper. Amelia certainly didn't help matters any.
 * Annoying Younger Sibling: Lina was one of these to her older sister Luna... at least, until she used her magic to sell pictures of Luna in the bath, after which she learned a healthy respect for Luna (more like terror of her) and never crossed her again.
 * Anti-Hero: Walks between Type IV and V on a regular basis.
 * Used to be firmly a Type IV but this has shifted due to Flanderization.
 * Balloon Belly: Happens on occasion in the anime, but never to particularly noticable levels... despite the sheer quantity of food she can put away.
 * Berserk Button: Has a ton.
 * The worst one of all to press, which basically guarantees she'll want to kill you, is to threaten or kill children around her.
 * Big Eater: To the core. She often tries to steal food from her friends' plates.
 * Black Mage: Lina's self-proclaimed specialty is in the usage of Black Magic. She still fits under this trope because the Slayers take on such magic is somewhere between Black Mage magic and Black Magic proper -- that is, though the magic is fuelled by negative emotions and is drawn from the most powerful Demon Lords, it's treated by humans as simply "magic that is only usable for offense", much like how White Magic is "magic only usable for healing, defense, and purification".
 * Chekhov's Skill: Lina's exasperated comment in the first book that using a Mazoku's own power against it is like saying "Hey, help me kill you" turns out to be important in the last book,
 * Cute Little Fangs: More prominent in the later seasons. Just look at her picture.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: She practices Black Magic and is highly destructive, but is still the heroine.
 * Some may argue on how well she fits this. While most unquestionably the protagonist, "heroic" isn't really an accurate description of her. She saves the world out of self-interest, will usually try and stay away from problems unless they're either massively important or she's bribed/forced to do so, admits to considering her own appetites more important than anything else in the world, and has truly earned her bad reputation thanks to her bad temper and willingness to throw excessive amounts of force around.
 * She is of normal human morality but with a bad temper and a lot of fire power. This still fits under Dark but not Evil.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Is a big believer in returning threats, insults, and general annoyances with far more serious "punishments", such as blowing up a whole restaurant because somebody spilt her food.
 * Embarrassing Middle Name: An Embarrassing Title, actually. Lina was honored by the Zephilia Sorcerers' Guild with the official title of... Lina the Pink.
 * Expy: Interestingly, the novel illustrator Rui Araizumi has said that Lina's appearance was modeled on young Audrey Hepburn.
 * Fiery Redhead
 * First-Person Smartass: Her narration in the novels.
 * Generation Xerox: Her mother was also a sorceress with a small bust, who got together with her swordsman partner.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Oh yes.
 * Good Parents: As shown, Lina isn't the most morally upstanding member of society, and it is implied that the avatar of goodness, Luna, is even worse. However, her general store-running parents are implied to be kind and upstanding,
 * It's also worth noting that Lina herself is the only one among her allies to have both parents alive and well, a given considering that she is the protagonist!
 * Guile Heroine
 * Hair-Trigger Temper: The only sure-fire ways for her to not be pissed off at you are to A) have some uber-rare item that's worth loads or B) offer her lots of food.
 * The Heroine: But definitely not the traditional type.
 * Heroic BSOD: Has a short one in NEXT after Gourry, and then another when
 * Heroic Comedic Sociopath: This is a girl who, in the very first anime episode, blithely starts haggling with the mayor of a village to kill a dragon (which she set loose in the first place), while that dragon is tearing the village apart around them. She then vaporizes the village because the dragon deliberately stepped over her, thus proving that her newly discovered nickname was warranted.
 * Hero with Bad Publicity: Lina's been arrested and tried for "being Lina Inverse". Justified due to her habit of picking fights with people over petty reasons, willingness to steal, and her habit of slinging around really destructive spells in populated areas with no thought for collateral damage.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As much of a Jerkass as she can be, she does have a softer side.
 * Large Ham: Often invokes it. Lampshaded in Episode 16 of the original series.
 * Little Miss Badass and Little Miss Snarker
 * Lovable Rogue
 * Magic Knight: How she uses her powers.
 * Munchkin: An example of this as an actual character.
 * Person of Mass Destruction: With a corresponding reputation.
 * Precision F-Strike: From Next: "That bitch! She has the nerve to defy me and even brought up my weakest point!"
 * Playing with Fire: Aside from pure Black Magic spells, Lina's favorite go-to spells are Fire Shamanism, with Fireball and, to a lesser extent, Flare Arrow being her usual choices. Non-anime material even says she has a sorcerer's affinity for spells oriented around heat and light.
 * Red Baron: Has quite a few, including "The Bandit Killer" and "The Natural Enemy of All That Live". There's also "The Dragon Spooker", and even Lina doesn't understand what that means (it means dragons step past out of clear revulsion). Later in the episode, a dragon does exactly this. A prequel movie includes 'Dragon Nester', which is a crack at her small breasts.
 * Red Headed Heroine
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Zelgadis' blue.
 * Seven Deadly Sins: Lina has Gluttony and Wrath pretty well wrapped up. She's also heavily into Greed, as her entire reason for becoming a traveling sorceress was to find money -- one thing that she can't stand is the idea of doing a job for free, and both the first and second seasons have scenes where her response to a person saving her is... to accost them for the magical items they used to save her. In season one, it's Gourry's Sword of Light, trying to offer him a mere 500 silver pieces for it (which Gourry disdainfully points out is only enough for a regular sword), leading to several scenes of her claiming it belongs to her or trying to trick Gourry into believing he promised to give it to her -- ultimately, she declares she's never going to let him leave her side until she gets the Sword of Light from him; Season two has her successfully claim the Magic Amplifier Talismans from Xellos, by offering him a bundle of magical reagents with a salesprice of over 5.5 million gold pieces for them. She also has strong hints of Envy, with comments about how she can't stand the idea of somebody else having this or that strong magical item or powerful spellbook instead of her.
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: Lina looks quite attractive in a nice dress.
 * Skinship Grope: Does this to Amelia in the Hourglass of Falacies Fan Service manga when both are asleep.
 * Third Person Person: Occasionally addresses herself by her full name ("the beautiful/smart/talented Lina Inverse").
 * Tsundere: Partially averted by going mostly tsun-tsun, but she has dere-dere moments.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Gourry, which eventually evolved into Belligerent Sexual Tension despite the author's initial intent.
 * Wave Motion Gun: The Dragon Slave is a mage's alternative.
 * Why Did It Have To Be Slugs?
 * Wouldn't Hurt a Child: The mere thought can send her into BSOD's,
 * Wouldn't Hurt a Child: The mere thought can send her into BSOD's,

Gourry Gabriev
"Voiced by: Yasunori Matsumoto (Japanese), Eric Stuart (English; series), Chris Patton (English; movies)"

An archetypal example of the Idiot Hero, Gourry is Lina's jellyfish-brained travelling companion. A descendant of the legendary Swordsman of Light, he wields the ancestral weapon. Gourry may have poor memory, but he is an excellent swordsman, and a match against even the powerful demons of the Slayers world.

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 * Alliterative Name
 * Badass Normal: He doesn't know a single magical spell at all and is too absent-minded to ever learn one, but he is the most powerful swordsman in the known world. Even with a regular sword, he can perform insane feats of skill -- in fact, come the loss of his Sword of Light, he has to keep stopping in the middle of a fight because his mundane swords break under his strength.
 * The Big Guy
 * Big Eater *and* Extreme Omnivore: Regularly goes toe to toe with Lina when it comes to eating and is just as likely to steal food from her plate as she is to steal food from his. Ironically, while he can't stand the thought of eating fish whole the way Lina does (pointing out in disgust that eating the "guts" the way she does means also eating the grubs she used for bait), he has no problems with eating orc-meat dishes.
 * Blue Eyes
 * Bodyguard Crush: When they first met he thought Lina was a lost schoolgirl, so he proclaimed himself her bodyguard. The crush came later.
 * Brainwashed and Crazy: Happens to him at the end of season 2, but doesn't last long.
 * Chick Magnet
 * Conveniently an Orphan: Debatable, but if his side story in one of the Slayers Special novels and Kanzaka's interviews are anything to go by, his whole family might be dead.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Normally, Gourry seems just a bungling moron. If he needs to reveal his skills, though...
 * Dumb Blonde: Subverted; he lacks common sense, but has sharp insight and high morals. As far as knowing about topics like magic and history, a mercenary raised in a family that specializes in swordplay probably never had the oppritunity to learn the things that Lina, Zelgadis, and Amelia had learned, and their own learning environments (Lina's sorceress mother, Amelia the princess of a kingdom specializing in White Magic, and Zelgadis being raised by a priest) attribute to that.
 * Genius Ditz: Despite how oblivious he seems, there's nothing he doesn't know about swordswinging, and he occasionally pulls moments of considerable insight -- such as revealing he knew Xellos was a Mazoku all along.
 * Hair of Gold
 * Idiot Hero: Moreso in the anime, though.
 * Jossed: Gourry does not have elf ancestry, despite what the first movie may imply. Word of God: "The story of the first Slayers movie might suggest that Gourry's ancestor would have married the elf girl, but, when we think about it more calmly, it couldn't happen. Humans get older much faster than the elf race, so, when Rowdy in the movie became as old as Gourry is now, that elf girl was still a child. To marry a little girl is a crime, isn't it? [...] So, I guess that Rowdy married a human girl after the end of that story."
 * Though the Fridge Logic is that, if they wanted to marry, surely Mellyroon could have used the Spring of Aging to catch up to her human beau in age?
 * Laser Blade: The Sword of Light.
 * Long-Haired Pretty Boy
 * Nice Guy: You can't get much nicer than Gourry. This guy has a big heart. He's very willing to help people if they seem to be in need. In fact he started traveling with Lina in the first place because he mistook her for (much to her chagrin) a helpless girl who needed an escort.
 * Noodle Incident: Whatever happened between him and Sylphiel in Sairaag.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Only in the original novel series.
 * Out of Focus: Of the four main protagonists, his backstory is the least fleshed out, despite being the second one introduced and the second most prominent in the franchise next to Lina; what was thought to have been a hint at part of his ancestry was ret-conned (see Jossed above).
 * Rapunzel Hair: One of the longest-haired characters in the series.na.
 * Say My Name: Name any media. He'll shout for Lina at least once.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Lina. See her entry for more details.
 * Word of God: Many things about him have been spoken by Hajime Kanzaka in interviews, namely about his never-mentioned background. Noteworthy life events include
 * Kanzaka also noted that Gourry is capable of casting magic with power rivaling that of Lina's, but his extremely poor memory would prevent him from doing incantations.

Zelgadis Graywords
"Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese), Daniel Cronin (English; up to episode 10), Crispin Freeman (English; episode 18 onwards and in the Slayers Premium movie)"

From a young age, Zelgadis was apprenticed to his great-grandfather Rezo. Zel asked Rezo for power, in order to seek out the Philosopher's Stone, and Rezo transformed him into a 1/3-golem, 1/3-brau demon chimera. Zel performed a Heel Face Turn and has been trying to restore his human body ever since.

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 * Adaptation Dye Job: In the novels and the Slayers Premium movie (which takes after the novels' character designs), Zelgadis' skin is a bluish-green color; in the anime, it is periwinkle blue.
 * Anti-Hero: Type IV.
 * Berserk Mode: Only in the novels; he wasn't just serving Rezo there, but he was also his berserker. Rezo would make him do gruesome tasks by his own hand, and in the novels, Zelgadis clearly regrets doing them. He is this briefly in the anime, but not to the same extent that he was in the novels.
 * Byronic Hero
 * Conveniently an Orphan: Word of God put out that both of his parents are dead.
 * Cool Sword: Astralvine
 * Cursed with Awesome: The curse placed on Zel has given him Super Strength, Super Speed (seen in the first series), Nigh Invulnerability and enhanced magical ability, but it's also made him a hideous freak. He wants desperately To Become Human.
 * In Evolution-R, it's revealed that he could have lived with it, if he hadn't discovered that he was being used as a guinea pig in Rezo's quest to cure his sight.
 * Cute Monster Guy
 * Celibate Hero: Discussed briefly a few times in the novels and in some interviews. In the novels, he mentions once the painful things that would happen to a woman if he got intimate with her, and Kanzaka himself mentions this in interviews, thusly justifying it on a physical level.
 * Deadpan Snarker: He's the most sarcastic, flat-toned character in the series.
 * Estrogen Brigade Bait: Despite having green-grey skin studded with stones, he's rather handsome.
 * First-Name Basis: Word of God has stated Zelgadis' last name (Graywords) in interviews, and the only time it's ever mentioned in canon is by Filia in episode 1 of Slayers TRY.
 * Flying Brick: He's supernaturally strong, Nigh Invulnerable (it takes a headshot from a cannon to merely knock him out), and he flies.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Equally as nasty as Lina, but in different ways.
 * Grumpy Bear
 * Icy Blue Eyes
 * Purple Eyes: In the novels
 * I Just Want to Be Normal: Does NOT like having a rock hard body (pun intended) and constantly searches for a cure.
 * Incest Is Relative: For a while, it was thought Rezo might be both Zelgadis's grandfather and great-grandfather. Fortunately, this turned out to be a translation error.
 * Insult Backfire: He's been called a "Heartless Sorcerer/Mystic Swordsman" on at least a couple of occasions. He seems to like the sound of it.
 * Jerkass/Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Knight in Sour Armor: Flirts with this. He's far more cynical than the setting warrants, but is at heart a pretty decent guy.
 * The Lancer: Occasionally overlapping with The Smart Guy.
 * Made of Iron: Well, stone. It is occasionally noted by Lina that the stone skin he hates so much has saved his life many times. And if he bleeds, it's a sign that things will TRULY go downhill
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot
 * Put on a Bus: Along with Amelia after the first arc of novels. Notable because he and she are major characters in all other media, whereas their replacements were mostly novel-exclusive. He also doesn't appear in the Knight of the Aqualord manga.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Lina's red.
 * Ship Tease: With Amelia.
 * The Spock
 * Straight Man and The Comically Serious: So, naturally, he gets the most humiliation heaped on him. (Zelga-bunny!)
 * Teen Genius
 * Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Moreso in the anime than the novels; his appearance doesn't warrant as many reactions as the viewer would expect, given what he's established about it. The one notable time it actually is is during a flashback. It also makes less sense because he gets negative reactions in the novels, and there are far more chimeras that appear there.
 * Word of God: Like Gourry, many things about him are stated in Kanzaka's interviews.
 * The Worf Effect: Being the naturally strongest and most well-protected member of the main cast, a typical seasonal Big Bad's favorite method of showing everyone they're serious is making Zel bleed.
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair: Has light purple hair, and a flashback in the fifth season notes that he had it as a human; however, some sources say that his human hair is actually brown.

Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune
"Voiced by: Masami Suzuki (Japanese), Joani Baker (English; episodes 11-13), Veronica Taylor (English; the rest of the series), Luci Christian (English; Slayers Premium movie)."

A young princess (younger by a few years in the anime than the novels, actually) who initially mistakes Lina as a champion of justice! and begins travelling with her out of a desire to do good. Lina finds her annoying, but puts up with her because having a member of the Saillune (Seyruun in the English version) royal family around is handy when the restaurant bill comes due.

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 * Action Girl
 * Anti-Hero: A definite Type I at first, but she gets better.
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: She's the only one in the main four to not wield a bladed weapon, and refuses to do so.
 * She only wields a weapon twice, both times in in rather dire situations: in the final episode of the first season, she uses Gourry's Sword of Light to channel the Ra-Tilt, and in the final episode of TRY, she reluctantly uses one of the five Dark Star weapons (which the Sword of Light is one of) to fight off Valgaav.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: She's normally a sweet girl, but if you endanger someone she cares about, watch out!
 * The Chick: Sort of. While she's not the only girl in the group she fulfills its function as The Heart and The Face of the group. Being a princess it comes with the territory.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Displayed in varying degrees from media to media. She is one to an extreme when she appears in the anime (Where she thinks wearing black makes one evil and judges honesty by firing spells at them) but it visibly subsides overtime.
 * Cute Clumsy Girl
 * Daddy's Girl: Adores her father.
 * Double Take: When a woman resembling Naga walks by during a crowd scene in the first season.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses: Second Princess of Saillune/Seyruun/however you want to spell it
 * Genki Girl: "Life is Wonderful!" She has far more energy than the rest.
 * Good Hurts Evil: Amelia once debilitated Xellos with sheer unbridled perkiness.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Amelia doesn't share the same self-centered selfishness that most of her companions have, but her being sheltered and her black-and-white moralities make up for it, as she is prone to acts of bad judgment and self-righteousness. Several times, she judges people by first impression, but this varies from each medium (she gets off to a better start when meeting Zelgadis in the novels than in the anime). The biggest lampshade of this trait is in the her second episode, where the idea of Amelia learning the Dragon Slave spell is something both Gourry and Lina refuse to countenace, because they can see her going trigger-happy with it and blasting even the most innocuous of "villains" with it.
 * Still, she's much better at being good than Lina or Zelgadis are. As the seasons go by, she becomes more likely to be "not nice" in that she's willing to go along with Lina's self-centered and/or crazy schemes without protest, such as using Zelgadis as a human anchor.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: With her dad. And even with Zel, since she's that short.
 * I Have the High Ground: But she has trouble with the landings...
 * Innocent Blue Eyes
 * In the Name of the Moon
 * Justice Will Prevail: It's practically her catchphrase, as she says it at least three times in the first episode of Next alone.
 * The Lady's Favour: At the end of the third anime season, she gives one of her amulet bracelets to Zelgadis, and he's seen with it during the ending sequence.
 * Large Ham: She is very into her 'justice speeches' to the embarrasement of her companions.
 * Love Freak: Part of her rhetoric, besides 'justice' is love.
 * Manic Pixie Dream Girl (for Zel, somewhat)
 * Missing Mom: Assassinated when she was little.
 * Modest Royalty: Outside of her palace affairs, obviously.
 * Morality Pet: At the least, Zel definitely shows his softer side better around her.
 * Nice Girl
 * Politically-Active Princess: When not out adventuring with the rest of the gang, she often acts as Seyruun's envoy to other kingdoms.
 * Princesses Prefer Pink: Her tunic has pink touches on it, and both her collar and bracelets are pink. The dress she usually wears for royal duties is a frilly pink one.
 * Put on a Bus: See Zelgadis' entry above.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: As naive and Wrong Genre Savvy she can get, she loves fighting alongside her companions, and it is shown several times that she actually tries to be a competent leader and diplomat.
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: Amelia always looks beautiful in a nice dress.
 * Shipper on Deck: In Slayers NEXT, we find out she's an in universe Lina/Gourry fangirl.
 * Ship Tease: With Zelgadis.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Amelia/Ameria (the latter is canonical in Japan, but there are both Japanese fanworks and official art books that use the former)
 * Spoiled Sweet: She has the funds to pay for Lina's appetite and kind enough to do so.
 * Stepford Smiler, coupled with Angst? What Angst?: Even through the death of her mother, the absence of her sister, and the betrayals of her uncle and cousin, Amelia holds her head high. However, the former two are still great sources of grief for her, serving as a reminder of the betrayal that shakes the Saillune royal family.
 * Ugly Guys Hot Daughter: The cute, well-endowed daughter of an ogrish hulk of a man who looks like a bandit.
 * White Magic: Her specialty, though she also learned a little Black Magic from her sister (and wanted to learn the Dragon Slave from Lina)
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: Its hard to find an idealist of any measure outside her family. However, given the setting, she can subvert the 'inevitably broken' part of the trope by weaponizing her idealism. See Good Hurts Evil.
 * Woman in White
 * Word of God: Stated that
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: She is heavily convinced, initially, that Lina Inverse is a shining bastion of purity and goodness (Whenever she's not being directly presented with evidence to the contrary, at least). This is mostly averted in the novels.
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair/ShinyMidnightBlack: Her hair is described as being "raven-colored" in the novels, but it is always colored as a stylized purple. All animated adaptations followed suit with this; however, it is straight-up black in the Super Explosive Demon Story manga.
 * You Shall Not Pass:
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair/ShinyMidnightBlack: Her hair is described as being "raven-colored" in the novels, but it is always colored as a stylized purple. All animated adaptations followed suit with this; however, it is straight-up black in the Super Explosive Demon Story manga.
 * You Shall Not Pass:

Xellos the Priest
"Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Japanese), David Moo (English; in NEXT and TRY), Michael Sinterniklaas (English; in Revolution and Evolution-R), Kurt Stoll (English; in Slayers Premium)."

Created over a thousand years ago during the Dark Lord's Resurrection War (or "War of the Monsters' Fall" if you go with the anime translation), Xellos is the loyal servant of the Greater Beast Zelas Metallium. He is twice as powerful as any of the other Priests or Generals due to the fact that he was created without a General counterpart, and one of the most powerful demons in the world overall. He loves deception, and his true motivation is often impossible to determine. Note that he gave himself the title of The Trickster Priest.

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 * Affably Evil: To the point where its sometimes hard to believe what he really is.
 * Anti-Hero (Type V): In the anime. He is not a hero by any strech of the imagination but his goals (or rather Zelas' goals) often coincidence with Lina's.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Filia.
 * Catch Phrase: "Now that is a secret!" or "Sore wa Himitsu desu~!" Also later used by the same voice actor in Houshin Engi.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: It's very hard (if it's even remotely possible) to tell exactly whose side he's on at any given moment. He's very much like a prototype for Jack Sparrow, right down to the fact that he can trick you even if you know he's lying.
 * Curtains Match the Window: At least in the anime.
 * Devil in Plain Sight: He introduces himself as The Trickster Priest. Even when they know he's manipulating them or setting them up for a trap, he STILL succeeds in doing so.
 * Dub Induced Plot Hole: One of the Golden Dragons in Slayers NEXT refers to him as "Beastmaster Xellos" in the dub. The title "Beastmaster" actually belongs to his mistress, Zelas Metallium.
 * Enigmatic Minion: To the Dark Lord Zelas Metallium, one of the five lesser Dark Lords under Ruby-Eyed Shabranigdo, who is more enigmatic then her minion is in the anime -- aside from the occasional mention of her title (variously given as "Lord Beastmaster" and "Greater Beast"), her sole appearance is a brief cameo shot from behind in the epilogue of Slayers Try!
 * Eyes Always Shut
 * Foe Yay: With Filia
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In the anime, though it's a Hidden Heart of Gold.
 * Kick the Dog: His torture of Valgaav reminds us he's a villain.
 * Killer Rabbit: Xellos's human form is hardly imposing, and his true form (which is only stated to be such in the novels) is basically a man-sized long, thin black cone standing on its pointy end.
 * False Reassurance: Xellos is an absolute master of deceiving people without technically lying. Notable examples include "I absolutely will not use the Claire Bible manuscript for evil purposes" and "Lord Hellmaster did not tell me his plan".
 * Lovable Traitor: And not just against the good guys, either.
 * Good Hurts Evil: He is literally hurt whenever he's around people with overly positive emotions, such as Amelia.
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Noble Demon: Never lets anyone forget that he's an evil mazoku but doesn't engage in wanton cruelty.
 * It Amused Me: Sure, he has a hidden agenda, but he also spends a lot of his time just screwing around with Lina and co. for the lulz.
 * He doesn't have a hidden agenda at all. He's a Mazoku; everything he does is for a) his own amusement, b) the destruction of the universe, or c) both.
 * Purple Eyes: He is the "Mysterious Priest" after all. Also he's special in being the only General/Priest in one.
 * Reliable Traitor: The heroes know they can trust him to help, so long as doing so aligns with his own interests. No one knows what those interests are, exactly, but he hasn't killed them yet, so...
 * Ship Tease: With Filia, somewhat.
 * Stealth Hi Bye
 * Token Evil Teammate
 * Xanatos Gambit / Gambit Roulette / Indy Ploy: Impossible to tell. What he says is at odds with what he does, and what he seems to do is at odds with the final result, but he never seems upset upon "losing". Is it all part of The Plan, or is he just making up as he goes along?
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Filia Ul Copt
"Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima (Japanese), Tara Jayne (English)"

A high-strung member of the Golden Dragon race, she replaces Sylphiel in Slayers TRY, acting as a guide for the party in the Golden Dragons' quest to stop Dark Star Dugradigdu. As a member of a race siding with Ciefeed, the god of the Slayers World, she comes to blows with Xellos frequently, often for comedic relief.

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 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Xellos, and how! More or less why XelFi is one of the more loved pairings in the series.
 * Blondes Are Evil: Well, not evil per se, but her attitude and naivite creates a lot of friction for everyone around her, even putting them in danger several times . This also contrasts with her innocent, Hair of Gold portrayals in the opening and closing songs.
 * Blue Eyes: Less innocent than 'naive' about how the world works.
 * Break the Cutie: Firstly done humorously, by forcing her to travel with the rather self-centered, impulsive and irresponsible Slayers crew. Then done seriously when she is forced to confront the fact that  When the poor girl learns that, she's so horrified that she almost crosses the Despair Event Horizon.
 * Canon Foreigner: She was created exclusively for the anime's third season, TRY, which was completely original material.
 * The Comically Serious: In the beginning, she was the only one who took the mission seriously
 * Foe Yay: With Xellos
 * Guest Star Party Member
 * Holier Than Thou: Being a priestess from what she thinks is a Saintly Church, she takes a dim view of the Anti-Hero vagabonds she has to travel with. After learning the Awful Truth she becomes more humble.
 * Lawful Stupid: Reaches this at times, mostly due to her Holier Than Thou attitude. Otherwise, her alignment waivers between Lawful and Neutral Good.
 * Naive Newcomer: Is very obvious that she hasn't had much contact with any humans in almost all of her life.
 * Put on a Bus: Once TRY is over, she is never mentioned again in any other media; this also applies to the other characters originating from that season.
 * Secret Test of Character: Does this to Lina and her party in the first episode in order to prove themselves worthy of saving the world. Although she was testing their fighting skill more then their character.
 * Ship Tease: (YMMV): With Xellos.
 * Spot of Tea: Serves as a Running Gag.
 * Straight Man
 * Tsundere: Type B. She usually is "dere-dere", only going into a crazed "tsun-tsun" fueled by her Holier Than Thou mentality when Xellos is around.
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: Due to her cloistured temple life. She gets broken a little bit but comes out mostly intact.
 * Woman in White

Pokota (Prince Posel Korba Taforashia)
"Voiced by: Yumiko Kobayashi (Japanese), Colleen O'Shaughnessey (English)"

Prince of Taforashia, currently searching for a cure to the Durum sickness that basically wiped out his father's kingdom.

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 * Badass Adorable
 * Big Bad Friend: Duclis betrays him by joining up with the Big Bad of Revolution
 * Big Eater: He eats as much as Lina and Gourry, despite his small size, because he has a large bucket load magical capacity.
 * Canon Foreigner: Created exclusively for Slayers Revolution and Evolution-R.
 * Destructive Savior: Like Lina, he can cast the Dragon Slave and startled Lina the first time he did it.
 * Fun with Acronyms: Posel Korba Taforashia. Get it?
 * I Shall Taunt You: Constantly calls Lina "Flatty". The first time he taunted her, he dared to call her "Flatty King that came from Flat Kingdom to spread flatness!" Needless to say, that set her off enough to throw an Amplified Dragon Slave at him.
 * Laser Blade: Carries a replica of the Sword of Light in his body, which has a tendency to fizz out if overheated.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something
 * Skinship Grope: Grabs Lina's chest when the two of them are asleep.
 * What an Idiot!: Presses ALL of Lina's Berserk Buttons in the course of 26 episodes. Never seen anyone discover them all so fast in-universe.
 * You Gotta Have Light Purple Hair

Luke
A world-trekking bounty and treasure hunter with a harsh demeanor and a soft heart. He antagonizes Lina to a degree, but ultimately becomes an integral ally for her during the second arc of the light novels. He originally was an assassin, but changed his ways when Milina came into his life.


 * All Love Is Unrequited: Poor guy...
 * BFS
 * The Cameo: At the very end of the manga adaptation of Slayers: Evolution-R.
 * Dogged Nice Guy: To Milina, and how.
 * First-Name Basis: No last name of his has been revealed. This is even lampshaded by Lina in the final novel.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * The Lancer: Replaces Zelgadis as this role in the novels. In the Hourglass of Falces manga, he's more The Big Guy.
 * Magic Knight: Wields an enchanted blade like Gourry, and is capable of casting black magic, although not to the same degree as Lina. He even has his own original spell to accomodate his sword: Ruby-Eye Blade.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Not quite, they certainly aren't the nice variety, but he isn't truly nasty either.
 * The Rival
 * Shiny Midnight Black: Or stylized green, rather.
 * Walking the Earth
 * The Rival
 * Shiny Midnight Black: Or stylized green, rather.
 * Walking the Earth
 * Walking the Earth

Milina
Luke's partner and fellow mercenary, she was the one who convinced him to quit his assassination job. She is well aware of the fact that he is smitten with her, and brushes off his affections constantly.


 * Action Girl
 * Bare Your Midriff
 * The Cameo: With Luke at the end of the Evolution-R manga.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Eyes of Gold
 * First-Name Basis: Also lampshaded by Lina in the final novel.
 * Hotter and Sexier: Her midriff-bearing ensemble is skimpified in the Hourglass of Falces manga.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Kuudere
 * Magic Knight
 * Morality Chain: It's because of her that Luke isn't a cold-blooded killer.
 * Sixth Ranger: In Hourglass of Falces.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension
 * Walking the Earth
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension
 * Walking the Earth
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl

Naga the White Serpent
"Voiced by: Maria Kawamura (Japanese), Kelly Manison (English), Eva Kaminsky (English; As Nama in Evolution-R.)"

A flaky, obnoxious, drunkard, scantily clad sorceress, Naga was Lina Inverse's first travelling partner, with whom Lina gladly parted ways before she eventually met up with Gourry Gabriev. Unbeknownst to Lina, After her Missing Mom was murdered by an assassin, Naga became a   vagabound wandering the world and learning Black Magic. She soon declared herself Lina's rival and began following her around.

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 * An Ice Person: Naga's primary attack spells of choice are Freeze Arrow and Freeze Bullet (the Water Shamanism counterparts to Flare Arrow and Fireball). Her greatest non-Golem-related spell is a Water Shamanist spell of her own creation which causes a continual cascade of Freeze Arrows to rain down over a target area. Unfortunately, she can't shut it off once it starts.
 * Awesome but Impractical: The Spikes of Villainy on Naga's costume. They look really cool, but a Running Gag is that she stabs herself in the face when she casts Freeze Arrow.
 * Bottle Fairy: she's the only main Slayers character who is not only a Big Eater, but also a hard drinker.
 * Canon Immigrant: Inverted, if she and Nama are indeed the same person.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Despite her apperance she's not a villain.
 * Easter Egg: The royal crest of Saillune, seen briefly in one or two episodes, incorporates a white serpent. Also several references in the TV series to Naga, such as a woman resembling her passing by during a crowd scene in the first season, and Lina casting one of Naga's signature spells (Zelas Gort) in the second.
 * Fainting: Naga faints at the sight of blood, a result of walking in on her mother's assassination... as well as the resultant bloodbath when the assassin tried to complete his mission and take out his real target, Naga herself, only for Naga to kill him with a spell of her mother's creation. That spell? "Chaos String"
 * Foil: She's a rather skilled practicioner of White Magic, even mastering the powerful spell "Flow Break" (which dispels everything except white magic), and in contrast to Lina she relies primarily on Water and Earth shamanism spells to attack.
 * Gag Boobs: Naga is typically regarded as the bustiest woman in the Slayersverse, and numerous sight-gags are based on how stacked she is -- including one scenario where her breasts almost pushed her off of the narrow ledge she was trying to cross.
 * Goldfish Poop Gang: Lina actually nicknames Naga "goldfish poop" for following her around like... yeah.
 * Memento MacGuffin: The reason Naga goes around in that Stripperiffic costume all the time is that it used to belong to her mother and is her last keepsake.
 * Ms. Fanservice
 * Noblewoman's Laugh: By and away her most defining feature. Literally taken Up to Eleven when she gets 10 clones and all them start laughing.
 * Noodle Incident: Why Naga stopped traveling with Lina shortly before she met Gourry is never explained.
 * Statuesque Stunner
 * Stripperiffic: Oh yes.
 * Third Person Person: As Nama in Evolution-R.
 * Unknown Rival: Naga truly believes herself to be Lina's "strongest and greatest rival", and is quick to refer to Lina as being Naga's rival or even her sidekick. Unfortunately for her, though a legitimately talented and powerful sorceress, she's still not quite at Lina's level of power and, more importantly, is much, much flakier. While Lina can't forget about Naga, as hard as she tries, nobody else seems to have ever heard of her.
 * Word of God: Originally, it was only fan-speculation as to Naga's relationship to Amelia. It was confirmed as being the truth by an interview with the author, but other than the first season walk through the two have never been shown together on screen. A disguised Naga did speak briefly with Amelia on one drama CD, but she identified herself only as a friend of Lina.
 * They also interact quite a lot in Evolution-R, although no one knows that "Nama" is really Naga, and Naga has lost her memories. Gets lampshaded quite amusingly in one episode when its commented that Amelia and "Nama" "act like sisters".
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Sylphiel Nels Lahda
"Voiced by: Yumi Touma (Japanese), Stacia Crawford (English, Slayers and Slayers NEXT); Stephanie Sheh (English, Slayers Revolution)"

A well-mannered, gentle-natured shrine maiden from the city of Sairagg and the first of the party's many additional members; she is extremely skilled in White Magic, which, unfortunately, hampers her ability in combat. She is in love with Gourry, but he doesn't really notice at all.

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 * All Love Is Unrequited: Poor girl...
 * Her pain ends in the eigth novel though, where she realizes that Gourry loves Lina (even though Lina herself doesn't) and, while dissapointed, accepts it and willingly gives up Gourry to her friend.
 * Barrier Warrior: In addition to being an exceptional healer, she can also create strong defensive barriers.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: In Slayers NEXT, she reveals that
 * Guest Star Party Member: In seasons 1, 2, and 4; however, she is only this during the fight with Copy Rezo in the novels.
 * Blue Eyes
 * Cooldown Hug: Gives one to Lina in NEXT, when
 * Hime Cut
 * The Medic: Her healing powers are almost unmatched in the series.
 * Nice Girl
 * The Ojou: Her father was a high-ranked priest from Sairaag.
 * Proper Lady: Kind and polite and well mannered; compared to the group she's a saint.
 * Shrinking Violet: Kinda shy. In the truly unihibited group she traveled with she looks VERY shy.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: The "girly" half, with Lina being the tomboy.
 * White Mage: Even better at the art than Amelia, who usually serves as this for the party.
 * White Magician Girl
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Martina Zoana Mel Navratilova
"Voiced by: Tomoko Ishimura (Japanese), Rachael Lillis (English)"

The spoiled, overly-dramatic princess (later queen) of the kingdom of Zoana who exclusively appears in the second season of the anime (''Slayers NEXT). She antagonizes Lina and follows her around during the course of the season because she destroyed her castle, and often falls into trouble for comedy relief.


 * Blue Eyes
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: See Determinator below. Shows extreme competence in a lot of areas. As a villain, she's almost completely inept.
 * Canon Foreigner: Created exclusively for Slayers NEXT.
 * Cute and Psycho: Well, more garden-variety odd than Axe Crazy, but still... what kind of person invents their own religion?
 * Curse: Her specialty; she actually manages to cast one on Lina in an early episode (in which any pain Lina inflicts on someone is cast back at her.
 * Determinator: Her most defining attribute, after her insanity and solitary worship of Zoemel Gustar. To get back on her feet after her kingdom is destroyed, she sells random trinkets. She takes advantage of the destruction of a kingdom to sell her religious pendants. And she never stops trying to earn money or get revenge on Lina, taking even waitressing jobs while the rest of the party is relaxing, and going all the way into another dimension with Lina to try to research how to restore her kingdom.
 * Beyond the Impossible: The Crowning Moment of Awesome of this is when she casts a curse on Lina using what is effectively raw willpower, since most spells draw from gods or demons and hers is pretty much made up, as she herself not only admits but brags about.
 * This may also be why she hooked up with Zangulus, both of them were extremely dogged pursuers.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses: Or not.
 * Expy: She is named after a famous lesbian tennis player from the Czech Republic. Episode 16 pays a homage to this by invovling her and Lina participating in a game similar to tennis, with lots of Foe Yay.
 * Fairytale Wedding Dress: Wears one in the final episode.
 * Goldfish Poop Gang
 * Heel Face Turn: Takes a while to get there, but happens officially when
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain
 * The Load: Up until the very end, where she
 * Love At First Sight: Crushes on (chronologically) Zelgadis, Gourry, Xellos, and Zangulus at the drop of a hat,
 * Mad Dreamer
 * Mad Love: With Xellos; subverted in regards to the fact that, while visibly annoyed by her affections, he doesn't act violently on them.
 * Noblewoman's Laugh
 * Plucky Comic Relief
 * Princess Curls
 * Princess in Rags
 * Rich Bitch
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: Averted until the very end, where she toughens up and tries to motivate Lina when
 * Running Gag: She is always being left behind by the core party, and complains about it. Takes on a darker aspect in the final episode
 * Spoiled Brat
 * Talking to Herself: An in-universe example: she worships a diety she more or less made up herself, and praises herself using "his" voice.
 * Underwear of Power: Wears what appears to be a pair of yellow panties over her leggings.
 * You Gotta Have Sea Green Hair
 * Underwear of Power: Wears what appears to be a pair of yellow panties over her leggings.
 * You Gotta Have Sea Green Hair

Prince Philionel El Di Saillune
"Voiced by: Masahiro Anzai (JP, Slayers and Slayers NEXT), Minoru Inaba (JP, TRY and Revolution), Matt Black (ENG, Slayers ep. 11-13), Jimmy Zoppi (ENG, NEXT and TRY), David Brimmer (Revolution)"

The acting ruler of the Kingdom of Saillune (elaborated in the light novels: because the current king is stricken with illness, Phil more or less runs the country), heir to the throne, and father of Amelia. Despite the turmoil that follows being heir, Phil is resilient and incredibly just, both towards his subjects and towards Lina and her allies. Along with those, his two other notable traits are his boorish, dwarf-like appearance and his physical prowess.


 * Badass Moustache
 * Badass Normal: Is able to stand against lesser demons with his own raw strength.
 * Badass Pacifist: He actually gets rampaging ghosts to listen to him
 * Bare-Fisted Monk
 * Big Damn Heroes: Subverted in his attempt to save the group near the end of the first season.
 * Love Freak
 * Papa Wolf: To Amelia and his kingdom.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: And how!
 * Technical Pacifist
 * The Wise Prince
 * The Wise Prince

Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo
"Voiced by: Daisuke Gori (Japanese), Roger Kay (English, Slayers), Marc Thompson (English, Slayers Evolution-R)"

The source of evil in the Slayers world, and one of the four dark lords of the four worlds created by The Lord of Nightmares. Many millenia prior to the series proper, he was defeated and split into seven pieces by Flare Dragon Ciefeed, and those pieces were subsquently sealed away into the bodies of seven humans, with Ciefeed's intent being that they would be purged quickly due to their short lifespans. Unfortunately, this was not the case, as extreme amounts of hatred can force these pieces to reawaken.

So far, three carriers of Shabranigdo have been revealed; two have been destroyed for good (Rezo and, with the latter only having been done in the novels) and one was sealed away a thousand years before the series begins (Lei Magnus). The other four carriers are unknown. Shabranigdo is also a potent source of the world's Black Magic.


 * Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance
 * Bigger Bad: The boss of the Mazoku lords and ultimate evil but his parts are either sealed away or missing or dead, so he doesn't actually do much himself.
 * Big Red Devil: In the anime and games. His two appearances in the novels are bizarrely different in appearance.
 * Black Magic: Two incredibly powerful spells (the Dragon Slave and Ruby-Eye Blade) draw power from him.
 * Dark Is Evil: His skin is a very dark shade of red, and all of his appearances across the franchise take place in very grim settings, such as a tall tower in the first novel, or in the ruins of Taforashia in the fifth season of the anime.
 * Evil Makes You Ugly: In the first novel, and how!
 * Evil Plan: All the mazoku lords are (in theory) working on his plan: Destroy the world.
 * Evil Overlord
 * Final Boss: In the fifth season of the anime.
 * God of Evil: He is literally the source of all supernatural evil in the Slayers Universe, and possibly all mundane evil as well, given he predates the human race by a wide margin. All monsters in the Slayers Universe were created roughly one thousand years before the series begins during the War of Dark Lord's Resurrection by his Lei Magnus-Shabranigdo incarnation.
 * Hijacked by Ganon: Takes over Rezo's position as the Disc One Final Boss in the first novel/first anime season after Rezo awakens him.
 * Orcus on His Throne: Justified in regards to the fact that he's a being that was sealed away in pieces, but he dawdles quite a bit when he awakens out of Rezo's body.
 * Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Death
 * Pieces Of Satan
 * The Power of Hate: Is powered by this.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning
 * Sealed Evil in a Can:
 * Sealed Inside a Person Shaped Can: Seven "cans", even.
 * Shapeshifter Identity Crisis:
 * Tailor-Made Prison: The sorcerer Lei Magnus's incarnation of Shabranigdo was sealed away (along with Lei Magnus himself) in a block of ice in the Kaltaart Mountains. A game on the Super Famicom actually had both sorcerer and demon as the True Final Boss.

Hellmaster Fibrizo
"Voiced by: Kazue Ikura (Japanese), Wayne Grayson (English)"

Considered to be the strongest of Shabranigdo's five generals, Fibrizo is the manipulator of human souls and can control life and death at the drop of a hat. He is the main antagonist of the eigth novel and of the second season of the anime. His beast form is an amorphous black sphere.

A sadistic and manipulative being who thrives on murder, he is able to defeat fellow general Chaos Dragon Gaav with a snap of his fingers, and this sets off his sadistic plan that culminates into the climax of season two.


 * A Form You Are Comfortable With.
 * Big Bad
 * The Chessmaster
 * Complete Monster
 * Creepy Child: His human form is in the likeness of an androgynous young boy, which easily fools Lina and the others.
 * Crystal Prison: He seems fond of imprisoning others with these.
 * Death Seeker: His ultimate goal is to more or less blow up the world-and himself-in a spectacular fashion.
 * Didn't See That Coming:
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Fibrizo, did you just nuke Gaav by snapping your fingers?
 * Dude Looks Like A Little Girl
 * Green Eyes
 * The Grim Reaper
 * Hoist by His Own Petard:
 * Nietzsche Wannabe
 * Spell My Name with an "S": His name was romanized as "Phibrizzo" in the Central Park Media subtitles.
 * Sphere of Destruction: His true form is what appears to be an amorphous black sphere.
 * Thanatos Gambit: Subverted, instead of having something come later, he wanted to die spectacularly along with the rest of the world.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Your Soul Is Mine: He can destroy souls and subsquently kill others by crushing what appear to be little glass spheres-the physical representation of them. He kills Amelia, Sylphiel, Zelgadis, Zangulus, and Martina in this fashion.

Greater Beast Zelas Metallium
One of the two female Mazoku lords, and Xellos' mysterious master. Unlike the other lords, she prefers world domination to destruction, a sentiment shared by her servant. Also, Xellos himself is her only underling. Her beast form is an enormous anthropomorphic wolf with wings.

Zelas appears in the final novel alongside Deep Sea Dolphin in a forest near Sairagg; together, the two of them trap Lina and Gourry into an enormous sealed-off space where lied in wait. Milgasia the Golden Dragon reveals hers and Dolphin's identiy when is defeated. She makes several cameo appearances in the anime, and is the Final Boss of a video game for the Super Famicom.


 * A Form You Are Comfortable With
 * Ambiguously Brown: Her human form in the anime
 * Animal Motifs: Wolves.
 * Big Badass Wolf: Her true form.
 * The Cameo: In the final episode of Slayers TRY, we can see her from behind as she is talking to Xellos.
 * The Dragon
 * Enigmatic Minion: Even more so than Xellos!
 * Fiery Redhead: Her human form in the novels
 * Final Boss: In the Super Famicom game.
 * It Amused Me
 * Lady of War
 * Smoking Is Cool: Her human form in the anime
 * Take Over the World: She shares the same desire for negative emotions and pain like the other Mazoku, but finds their main objective (world destruction) pointless, opting for this trope instead.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy half, with Dolphin being the "girly" half.

Dynast Grausherra
The tactical, scheming, and ever elusive master of disguise among the five generals. He uses all of these trades in order to cause destruction, and he hopes to start a second war between the Shinzoku and the Mazoku, along with the intention to. He is the main antagonist of the thirteenth novel. His true form is what appears to be a golem-like beast wearing spiky armor.

Dynast sends his general Sherra to hinder Lina and Gourry, and when she is defeated, he sets off the conflict in the thirteenth novel by impersonating the king of the kingdom of Gairia. Lina is able to defeat him by encasing him in Zanaffar Armor and striking him down with the Ragna Blade. The main part of his body on the astral plane remains intact, thus ensuring his survival, but he is otherwise severely wounded to the point that he can no longer manifest on the physical plane. He has not appeared in the anime or any other media.


 * A Form You Are Comfortable With
 * Death Trap: Lina is able to render his powers useless by trapping him into a set of magic-nullifying Zanaffar Armor, and cuts him down from there.
 * The Evil Genius: Since both Hellmaster and Chaos Dragon are dead, he is forced to fit into this role despite being closer to The Brute.
 * He Who Must Not Be Seen: Has no definitive human form.
 * Master of Disguise
 * Word of God: Dynast has had at least four different priests and generals made in his lifetime; Zelas only has Xellos, and the other three lords each have one preist and one general.

Chaos Dragon Gaav
"Voiced by: Joji Nakata (Japanese), Dan Green (English)"

The most aggressive of the five generals. He was sealed into his human form by Aqualord Ragradia, who hoped that his power would diminish overtime, similar to Shabranigdo's dilemma. However, Gaav's soul fused with the soul of his human host, and because of it, he [[Cool People Rebel Against Authority has rebelled against his fellow lords out of the desire to survive]. ]He is the main antagonist of the seventh novel and the Disc One Final Boss of Slayers NEXT. His true form is a three-headed red dragon.

Gaav spends most of the early novels/second season spreading his influence towards the humans with the help of his underlings, hoping to secure power and raise a powerful human army. It is revealed in the novels that he is doing this in order to. Because of his rebellious nature, Hellmaster Fibrizo murders him during a fight with Lina's party.


 * A Form You Are Comfortable With: Averted. Since he's sealed into a human form that really is what he looks like.
 * Ambiguously Brown: His human form.
 * Badass Longcoat: Wears one in human form.
 * BFS: Wields a massive sword that is powerful enough to severely injure the normally Nigh Invulnerable Zelgadis.
 * Blue Eyes
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Easily pummles the two boys in the party; it isn't until Lina strikes him with the Ragna Blade that he gets hurt. He survives anyway.
 * Cool People Rebel Against Authority: Strangely Justified: Because he gained something of a human conciousness when he was sealed into the body of one, a survival instinct not normally associated with the Monster race took over, thus making him no longer able to fight for the goal of eliminating all existance.
 * Enemy Civil War: Had a brief scuffle with the other lords due to the trope above.
 * Evil Redhead
 * Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
 * Large Ham
 * My Greatest Second Chance: He is the one who gave Val, the final ancient dragon, a portion of his powers and gave him a reason to live again.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: His true form.
 * Rapunzel Hair
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives a short but harrowing one to Amelia about her black-and-white obcession with justice, then proceeds to try to kill her until Zelgadis saves her with a Diving Save.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Normally he would Kill'Em All, but his time as a human made him gain human survival instincts. Most of this trope is disregarded, though, because he still desires to overrun the world chaotically.

Deep Sea Dolphin
The most reserved of the five lords (as much as an Exclusively Evil demonic lord can get) and the only other female. Dolphin resides in the sea that lies to the southeast of the mainland the story takes place in most of the time. In terms of goals and backstory, there is little known about her; however, it's hinted that Dolphin herself was the one to have planned her priest Huraker's scheme to in the Knight of the Aqualord manga. Her true form is unknown.

Dolpin appears alongside Zelas in the final novel and traps Lina and Gourry into the sub-space where awaited them.


 * A Form You Are Comfortable With
 * Evil Plan: Believed to have started it in the Knight of the Aqualord manga, where
 * The Dark Chick
 * She Who Must Not Be Seen: Only appeared in the novels, and has no definitive beast form.
 * Pimped-Out Dress: Wears a poofy dress covered in pearls in her human form.
 * Shiny Midnight Black: Her hair in her human form
 * Shrinking Violet: As much as a demon lord can be, anyway...
 * Technicolor Eyes: Her eyes in her human form are abnormally shiny...
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: The "girly" half, with Zelas as the tomboy.

Rezo the Red Priest
"Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Charles Rolfe (English, Slayers), Liam O'Brien (English, Slayers Revolution and Evolution-R)"

A highly well-known and respected priest and sorcerer, and Zelgadis' great-grandfather. He is known across the kingdoms of the Old World for performing miraculous feats with magic, namely healing. However, this is mostly a cover-up for his more shadowy intentions, which is finding a method of opening his blind eyes in any way possible. His eyes are permanently blind because a shard of Shabranigdo is sealed within him, and his eyes act as something of a seal.

Rezo served as the catalyst for many events in the series. He is the first major antagonist that Lina fights, and he returns later in the anime where the group learns that he was involved in the sealing of a kingdom, and more of his less pleasant side is revealed.


 * Affably Morally Ambiguous
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Blind Seer
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: His red robes. The novels elaborate on the fact that many high-ranking sorcerers that graduate from magical guilds are assigned a color as a part of their title (an example would be Tarim and Daymia, who, in the novels, are Tarim the Violet and Daymia the Blue respectively. There is also Lina's infamous color, pink.).
 * Crazy Prepared: (anime only) He invented his own magical jar for his soul to hide in if he ever dies, all for the sake of continuing to find a way to open his eyes...
 * Evil Sorcerer
 * Hell Is That Noise: His walking stick, which gives off a certain jangly noise no fan can easily forget.
 * Incest Is Relative: Averted. He was thought to be both two and three generations removed from Zelgadis, courtesy of a blurb in the English dub. He's old to the point that Zelgadis can no longer pinpoint the generation gap. Word of God put out that they're three generations (great-grandfather) removed.
 * Literal Genie
 * Older Than They Look: He's stated to be about a hundred years old, but looks at least half that - the only true indicator of his older age are two bony lines under his eyes. When Lina meets him in the novels, she describes him as looking "young and old at the same time."
 * Sealed Inside a Person Shaped Can
 * Squishy Wizard
 * Too Many Mouths: On his palms.
 * Villain with Good Publicity: And how! He's known to virtually everyone on the continent, and both Lina and Amelia revere him as such (until The Reveal, obviously).
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Copy Rezo
"Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Peter Davis (English)"

A copy created by the Red Priest for use in his experiments to cure his blindness. Copy Rezo's only desire is to surpass the original, even if the world might be destroyed in the process. He is the Big Bad of the second arc of the first season/the third novel.


 * Beta Test Baddie
 * Cloning Blues
 * Complete Monster: In the novel, he was definitely one. Averted in the anime and manga adaptations, which give him more sympathetic qualities and regrets for his actions.
 * Eyes Always Shut: Either when pretending to be the real Rezo (anime) or  (novel).
 * Mismatched Eyes: In the anime.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: To Eris.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: To Eris.

Zanaffar
"Voiced by: Kouji Ishii (Japanese), Dan Green (English)"

An immensely powerful beast with near-complete immunity to magic. It was originally armour created using the Claire Bible to fight the Mazoku, but due to flaw in the process, it became sentient, consuming it's wearer and going out of control. One of these creatures laid waste to Sairagg before it was slain by a previous wielder of the Sword of Light and sealed under the Holy Tree Flagoon. In the anime, it was unsealed by Copy Rezo who merged with it to increase his power to fight Lina. Another Zanaffar was born during the events of REVOLUTION after  and goes on a rampage.


 * A God Am I: The Zanaffar from REVOLUTION.
 * Achilles' Heel: The Sword of Light.
 * Breath Weapon
 * Cannibalism Superpower: It acquires the knowledge of those it consumes.
 * The Corruption: It's armour form does this to it's wearer, eventually consuming them.
 * No Sell: Due to being sealed off from the astral side, most spells are useless against it (except magic using the power of the Lord of Nightmares).
 * Sealed Evil in a Can

Others

 * Dark Star Dugradigdu is the Dark Lord of another world, who tries to invade Lina's. He was driven insane when he absorbed his godly counterpart, Volfeed.
 * Duclis is the villain of REVOLUTION. He used to be Pokota's bodyguard. Appearing in the for of a half-man half-gray tiger he sets out on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against everyone who he believes turned a blind eye to the suffering of his homeland. And he means everyone.
 * Eris is a sorceress who served as Rezo's right hand woman. Sought to avenge her master in the second arc of the series' first season.
 * Vurumugun is a sorcerer who serves as a recurring villain with Zangulus throughout the first season and has a curious habit of always coming back after very clearly dying. Later revealed to be copies who serve Eris and Copy Rezo.
 * Gioconda is the Not-Big Bad of REVOLUTION. She serves as Duclis' Unwitting Pawn.
 * Halcyform the White is a villain (despite being "the White", much to Amelia's confusion) who seeks immortality.
 * Mazenda and Kanzeil are two mid-ranking servants of Gaav. Mazenda even manages to temporarily strip Lina of her powers.
 * Seigram the Formless is a Mazoku, low-ranking but very hard to kill due to his skill at dodging every attack via teleportation. In the TV series, he is a generic minion of Gaav. In the novels, he initially serves Greater Beast but defects to Gaav to get revenge on Lina after she cuts him in half.
 * Sherra, Dynast's general, is an Expy of girl form Ranma ½ in looks, and a main antagonist in the novels before Dynast shows up.
 * Valgaav is a servant of Chaos Dragon Gaav who attempts to Avenge The Villain by causing The End of the World as We Know It. He's one of TRY's main antagonists.

Other Characters
"Voiced by: Dan Green (English)"
 * Dilgear is a half-werewolf, half-troll who leads the Quirky Miniboss Squad in season 1... or so he thinks.
 * Jilas and Gravos are Valgaav's servants and the Terrible Trio in TRY.
 * L-sama is the Lord of Nightmares, "She who shines like gold upon the Sea of Chaos", supreme creator goddess of the Slayers universe. Despite the name, and the homage the Mazoku pay to her, she mostly doesn't get involved in things. She shows up in the afterwords of the novels/manga as "Author's Official Spokeswoman L", much to the annoyance of the author himself, who finds himself on the receiving end of her abuse.
 * Lantz is a mercenary who twice teams up with Lina in the novels.
 * Luna Inverse is Lina's "ever-persevering, never-appearing" older sister. She is The Chosen One, a Knight of Ceipheed who wields the Dragon God's power, but prefers staying in her hometown as a waitress. Lina fears her greatly.
 * Milgazia is a Golden Dragon who aids Lina against Gaav (and Dynast, in the novels).
 * Wizer Freion is the inspector of Ruvinagald in REVOLUTION. He repeatedly tries to arrest Lina for the crime "of being Lina Inverse", although he later explains to Xelloss why he was doing this.

"Voiced by: Bin Shimada (Japanese), Ted Lewis (English)"
 * Zangulus is a Worthy Opponent to Gourry in the first series. Returns in the last part of NEXT and ends up falling for and marrying Martina.