Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


For the Characters pages for the other seasons of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, see the main Characters page for this series.

Hayate Yagami

Hayate at age 8 (A's) and 18 (StrikerS)

Voiced by: Kana Ueda (Japanese)

Hayate starts out as a wheelchair-using Ill Girl with an apparent cosplay fetish. The Book of Darkness grants her four servants, the Wolkenritter, whom she adopts as a family. Her kindness towards them turns the once-coldhearted group into nice, caring people. Unfortunately, a Treacherous Advisor has it in for her, and when the Wolkenritter are killed in front of her, she snaps. The Book of Darkness takes control of her and attempts to destroy everything in sight. Luckily, she is able to regain control of herself and revive the Wolkenritter in time to help Team Nanoha neutralize the Book.

Subsequently, she recovers from her paralysis and moves to Mid-Childa and joins the TSAB along with Nanoha and Fate, attaining a higher rank than either of them.

Tropes exhibited by Hayate include:
  • Adaptational Badass: In The Battle Of Aces. Compare the TV version, who claims she can't even beat Caro in single combat to the Battle of Aces version who goes toe-to-toe with copies of her friends and kicks ten types of ass in her own story mode. Her final stage is a practice fight with the real Nanoha, which she wins, despite Nanoha's attempt to Starlight Breaker her. Justified since in that continuity Reinforce is teaching her to use the Tome more effectively. Hayate also mentions in the introduction to her story mode that Shamal, Reinforce, Nanoha and Fate have been training her.
  • The Atoner: Is driven by a desire to make up for the Book of Darkness incident.
  • Beam Spam: Her basic ranged attack in The Battle of Aces.
  • Big Good: In StrikerS and Force, she commands the heroes' unit. Especially interesting, given her status as Morality Pet in A's.
  • Break the Cutie: Happens near the climax of second season. She gets better - mentally and physically.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: In addition to the perverted side, she also answers a videophone while wearing a tanuki mask in ViVid. Einhart, who had pictured her as a powerful and imposing individual, is speechless.
  • The Chosen One
  • Lieutenant Colonel Badass: Her mage rank, SS, is the highest of any character in the series thus far. This is a composite rank though, so it's only an indication of mana capacity and raw destructive power.
  • Cosplay Otaku Girl: She designs the mage armor outfits for her Knights. In fan works, this is subject to extreme Character Exaggeration, to the point that it is the most prominent aspect of her character.
  • Creepy Cool Crosses: Hayate's Device is the most obvious, but also present on her UNISON'd Barrier Jacket.
  • Da Chief: The role she takes in Striker S - giving the orders and dealing with the higher-ups.
  • Demoted to Extra: While still having a very important role to the plot, in StrikerS due to her commander status she gets less action than her two new friends, or even her bodyguards. The few times she takes to the field, she only gets to fight Mecha-Mooks. Force somehow makes it worse by having her get taken out before she managed to complete her first spell. Of course if she does use her powers properly, the incidents would be resolved pretty quickly, but still...
  • Does Not Know Her Own Strength: In the side-manga, Hayate informs us that mages who have enormous magical power, such as herself, find it very difficult to execute smaller, faster, more manageable attacks. Hayate's mainstay is wide-area bombardment, to the point that the military issues evacuation notices when she takes the field. Her partner, Reinforce Zwei, helps her with fire-control. Which is odd given that Rein Eins' usage of spells like Bloody Dagger shows a capacity for fighting at the anti-personnel level. When she is without Rein she needs the ENTIRE BRIDGE CREW for helping her aim at TARGET SITES MEASURED IN ACRE-AGE!
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: She has longer hair in Force.
  • Full Potential Upgrade: After A's, the TSAB technicians were having enormous trouble creating a Device to handle Hayate's insane power output. She kept breaking all of them, so in the end she had to create one on her own.
  • Glass Cannon: Hayate is useless in mage-to-mage close combat and she knows it well, but she's perfectly capable of wiping out entire armies of Mecha-Mooks with her nuclear magic.
  • Healing Factor: In Force, she mentions that she has "self-recovery", enabling her to withstand being stabbed in the stomach.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Often engages in this with regards to her career, and despite her unit stopping the cradle and arresting Scaglietti in Striker S, believes she was a failure as a commander.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: In A's, when she is possessed by the Book Of Darkness. Also combined with Fighting From the Inside.
  • Ill Girl: Due to the Great Big Book of Everything draining her life force. Once this stops, she gradually gets better.
  • Instant Expert / Possession Implies Mastery: Played with. Since she cheated by having her head plugged into an ancient magical tome designed specifically to record spells and magical knowledge, she has an amazing amount of power and knew how to cast right after she first transformed. While she does have the highest Power Level in the series, most of her magic is too impractical in a straight up fight because she doesn't know how to tone down her power for small scale work or even aim properly without help from Mission Control or Rein.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In chapter 13 of Force.
  • Kansai Regional Accent
  • Mission Control: Is often seen alongside the bridge bunnies in Striker S.
  • Morality Pet: For the Wolkenritter, with a strong dose of Kid With the Remote Control. Hayate does have ultimate power over the Wolkenritter, she simply doesn't exercise it.
  • Never Accepted In Her Hometown: Like Nanoha, is quite famous in the Bureau, apart from those who denounce her as a criminal, but on Earth, is less well-known, and had no friends prior to meeting Suzuka.
  • Nice Hat: Has a beret when her barrier jacket is active. She seems to ditch it in the Force manga though.
  • Overranked Soldier: Made Lieutenant-Colonel after at most ten years in service, and let's not even talk about the Improbable Age. This is just not done in Real Life barring very unusual circumstances. Contrast with Nanoha's more reasonable non-Navy Captaincy. Several of the more experienced officers, however, still treat her like a young girl despite her position, and she suggests that rank is merely a "decoration" for mages in the bureau.
    • On the other hand, Hayate herself easily represents a concentration of raw power equivalent to (or more likely better than) the faux-battalion command she was given.
  • Parental Abandonment: She is an orphan, economically sustained by a friend of her dead parents. It is revealed Gil thought she would be ideal to awaken the Book of Darkness and be sealed away with it, so that few people would have to mourn her.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: At least on the same level as Fate and Nanoha at the end of A's. By the time of StrikerS Hayate's lowest setting is about the same as a bombing run by a squadron of B-52s. Some of her more powerful attacks are easily in the tactical nuke range. She's even referred to as a "walking Lost Logia" in Force.
  • Power Dyes Your Hair: Gets platinum-blond hair when unisoned with Reinforce/Reinforce Zwei.
  • Power Gives You Black Seraph Wings
  • Proper Tights with a Skirt: With her uniform, as shown in the picture.
  • Reformed but Rejected: To a degree. Since she took responsibility for the Wolkenritter's crimes, she's treated as a former criminal, being allowed to serve in the Bureau but facing some suspicion and distrust from people. It's implied that she was made commander of Mobile Division 6 because she would be expendable if it failed.
  • Skinship Grope: In the Sound Stages, she seems rather fond of feeling up the other female characters. She only gropes the girls she knows would consent, of course... but she's not above feeling Signum up when she's asleep so she doesn't have to ask.
  • Sobriquet: In Force, the nickname "Living Lost Logia" is mentioned (appropriate enough, considering where she had gained her power from).
  • Social Services Does Not Exist: While she did have financial support, Hayate apparently lived by herself before the Wolkenritter arrived. Really, nobody had a problem with the paraplegic nine-year-old living alone?
  • Squishy Wizard: Claims that even Caro might be able to defeat her in single combat without her dragons. However, it's pointed out soon afterward that despite having difficulty in single combat, she's able to use her power to her fullest potential when surrounded by her allies.
  • Stay with the Aliens: After graduating from middle school, she moves to live on Mid-Childa. Taking her entire family with her, there's even less that ties her to Earth than Nanoha, and after a visit to Earth for a mission, says that Riot Force 6 is her home.
  • Stepford Smiler: Acts this way at times, as Shamal notes that she hides her pain from her family.
  • Unskilled but Strong: Has incredibly powerful bombardment magic, but that takes a long time to cast and has little use in close-quarters combat.
    • To the point that she says in the supplementary manga that she might be able to beat Caro in a fight. If Caro didn't have access to either of her dragons. ...then she realises Caro's been training under Nanoha, and says she wouldn't win anyway.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: So far the champion of this trope in all of Nanoha, considering she was the mother figure of her adoptive family at the age of nine.

The Wolkenritter

They are the four guardians born out of the Book of Darkness. The ladies are Signum, Vita and Shamal, while Zafira is a wolf who can change into a wolfman. Their quest is to gather Linker Cores to complete the Book Of Darkness. Like most of the other antagonists in the show, they are very much Antivillains - they want to complete the Book of Darkness only to prevent it from killing Hayate.

At the end of the second season, they become good guys and later move to Mid-Childa with Hayate. Joining them is the actual Artifact of Doom, the Book Of Darkness, now known by its real name, the Book of Night Sky, and Reinforce Zwei, a unison device similar to the Book of Darkness' original AI program.

Tropes common to the Wolkenritter include:
  • Artificial Human: The Wolkenritter are autonomous programs apparently run by the Book of Darkness. Fate even compares them to herself.
  • The Atoner: Strongly motivated by a desire to make up for what they did in A's, and before.
  • Badass Family: Oh hell yes.
  • Battle Butler: Inverted. The Wolkenritter's first and most important duty is to defend the Book's master or mistress. They just happen to have minor domestic skills as well.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Vita is choleric, Signum is melancholic, Shamal is sanguine and Zafira is phlegmatic.
  • Good Costume Switch: Back when they were serving masters in ancient Belka who wanted the book's power, their armor looked "rough," according to Hayate, and Vi Vid shows them wearing barrier jackets that look like typical plate mail. Justfied because each master designs the armors they wear.
  • Gratuitous German: Their armed devices, except for Zafira, since he doesn't use one.
  • Hero Antagonist: In A's, they seek to save Hayate's life while minimizing harm, and according to Signum in Sound Stage 3 of A's, planned on turning themselves in after saving her.
  • Only One Name
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Hit with this trope during most of the recent events in FORCE, including Hayate, Agito and probably Rein.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: The Wolkenritter date to some period in Ancient Belka. Actual age is vague but is at least centuries and probably more like millenia. Vita, of course, doesn't look the part at all, but none of the others look over the metaphorical hill either.
  • Theme Naming: Signum, Vita, and Zafira are model names from the German car manufacturer Opel. Shamal is a model from Italian car manufacturer Maserati.
  • The Same but Less: Ancient Belkan Knights used to wear full-plated protective gear called "Knight Armor" while the Wolkenritter use a less-armored version called "Knight Clothing" which is weaker in terms of defensive power.
  • Villains Out Shopping: Have various hobbies that serve as excuses to get out of the house and hunt Linker Cores; Signum teaches at a dojo, Vita plays croquet with senior citizens, Shamal gossips with neighborhood wives and Zafira follows the others around.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The Wolkenritter's previous masters apparently didn't consider them to be people. Hayate does think they're people though, and that makes all the difference, turning them from coldhearted killers into a happy family.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: In Striker S, Shamal notes that she and the other Wolkenritter have lost their immortality, and are content with this. Not surprising, seeing as after the corruption of the Tome, their immortal lives were more like a series of reincarnations each one only lasting as long as their master, which typically wasn't very long. They also lost most of their memories between each cycle.

Signum

Voiced by: Kaori Shimizu (Japanese)

"I'm an old knight. [...] All I can teach them is to get up close and slice the enemy to pieces."

The Stoic leader of the group, armed with the flaming sword Laevatein. She lives for battles and as a result is the best fighter among Wolkenritter. Fate's Worthy Opponent. Later the two become close friends.

By StrikerS, she's moved to Mid-Childa with Hayate and the other Wolkenritter, and become one of the vice captains alongside Vita of Mobile Section Six. Her callsign is Lightning 2.

Tropes exhibited by Signum include:
  • The Archer: Signum's Phantom Phoenix Sturm Falken attack transforms Laevatein into a bow.
  • Badass: Probably the most badass character in the entire series.
  • Badass Longcoat: In Force.
  • BFS: Her AEC-Equipement in FORCE ended up being a giant wide blade.
  • Big Breasts, Big Deal: She is somewhat embarrassed about her large breasts. Of course, the fact that they're Hayate's favorite pillow probably has something to do with that.
  • Blood Knight: More so than Nanoha, despite the latter's reputation among the fandom. She never passes up a chance to brawl with a Worthy Opponent.
    • Somehow defied in Force, where Signum didn't show any visible motivation in pursuing a rematch with Cypha even after the Huckebein swordswoman utterly trounced and near-killed her in battle.
  • Bullying a Dragon: In FORCE Ch. 20, Signum finally raised from her hospital bed and put on her knight clothes. And what's the first thing the Blazing General does? Engages in a sparring match against Tohma "Divide Zero" Avenir. Only Eins knows what's going on inside her pink head.
  • Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: In the space of a single episode, says she won't thank Fate for saving her from a monster (because she destroyed it and the Linker Core she wanted to collect), and is outraged when the Mysterious Protector intervenes by ripping out Fate's Linker Core (presumably because of Fate being a Worthy Opponent)
  • Cool Big Sis: Becomes sort of this during Striker S but specially to Fate, Vice and Alto. In Force she seems to be heading to be this for Tohma as she feels responsible for not being able to save him(see Failure Knight below). More or less confirmed in The Gears of Destiny PSP game where Tohma calls her Signum-neesan.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: Though her fights tend to end in a draw, she's never lost a battle as far as we know, until chapter 7 of Force, where Cypha of Huckebein nearly kills her.
  • Does Not Know Her Own Strength: The can't do smaller tasks variation. Once she refused to heat up water for bathing because of that. Also breaking your own freakin sword with the sheer force of your attack is a truly impressive proof of your strength.
  • Evasive Fight Thread Episode:
    • See the entry for Nanoha.
    • She also had one with Fate during A's, until a later Sound Stage revealed that she kicked Fate's ass during most of their Lighthearted Rematches a few months after A's. In The Battle of Aces, Fate suggests that she lost eight out of ten of their sparring matches.
  • Expy: She is also noted by fans to be a magnificent one of Lamia Loveless from Super Robot Wars. They don't look much alike, but share many traits, including having the same voice actress.
  • Failure Knight: During FORCE chapter 20 Signum talks about the irrepressable remorse that comes whit defeat when there are important things at stake. All while she apologizes to Tohma and Lily, twice, for being unable to save them from Cypha, showing that she indeed feel guilt about her failure.
  • Germanic Depressives: One of the most serious characters among the cast, even compared to the other Wolkenritter. Hayate and Fate attempt at various points to get her to relax.
  • Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Signum delivers a Signum Punch to Teana in order to straighten her up at one point, saying that she will get spoiled if Nanoha listens to her complaints.
    • Notably Teana was launched meters back and Signum assures the rest of the shocked crew that it's okay because she "held back".
  • Hot Chick with a Flaming Sword
  • How the Mighty Have Fallen: Widely regarded as the strongest combat mage of the series until suffering an extremely crushing defeat at the hands of Cypha of Huckebein right on her debut fight during the early chapters of the Force manga.
  • Idiot Ball: Her decisions and overall performance during her fight with Cypha in Force were, at best, characteristic of severe overconfidence, especially when compared with the quick thinking and high skilled actions she displayed on past seasons.
  • Kuudere: Another thing that comes with her Expy package.
  • Lady of War
  • Last-Name Basis: Refers to Fate as "Testarossa" even after Fate changes that to her middle name after being adopted by the Harlaowns. Interestingly enough, she refers to most of her other friends by their first names.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: Her fighting style in Force so far. It worked as well as one can expect.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Signum keeps up with Fate's Sonic Form with ease. She also trashes pretty much anything that's looked at her funny.
    • Seeing as how the effectiveness of her defensive and offensive powers/skills got ruined by the new rules installed by the Force manga Signum will probably be in need of adapt a new hit-and-run strategy from now on. Passing into Fragile Speedster territory in order to not be kicked out of the Competence Zone.
      • Confirmed in chapter 20 as Signum fights against Tohma and leaves almost all of her protection in the hands of Agito and Laevatein, preferring to parry and dodge than turtling like in past battles.
  • Logical Weakness: The nigh-undefeatable Knight of the Sword does have one key vulnerability -- as a magical construct, Anti-Magic weaponry is especially dangerous to her. Brutally demonstrated once the Huckebein show up.
  • Near-Death Experience: Is put through one at the beginning of Force. The recent preview [dead link] of Force shows her finally awakening, now we only need to wait to see how serious her injuries are.
    • Handicapped Badass: She managed to raise from bed and even have a sparring match with Tohma right of the bat but, while still a decent fighter, her body hasn't fully recovered yet and it's even implied that the injuries sustained in her fight with Cypha could leave permanent sequels on her.
  • Not So Stoic: Pounding a wall in frustration after hearing about Hayate's illness being potentially life-threatening, and shedding a single tear in response to Fate's suggestion that they could still be friends. She also doesn't exactly take it very well when Vita calls her "Boob Demon", or when her Mysterious Protector intervenes on her behalf during her third fight with Fate.
  • Playing with Fire: She's not called The Blazing General for nothing.
    • Her magical fire, however, is still magical and thus gets dispelled like everything else by Cypha of Huckebein's Reacted form.
  • Power Gives You Wings: When unisoned with Agito, she gets two pairs of flaming wings, which go nicely with Laevatein.
  • Proper Tights with a Skirt: With her uniform and her casual outfit in A's.
  • Rapunzel Hair: Her ponytail reach past her waist and let down her hair go past her knees, making her one of the longest-haired characters of the series.
  • Rose-Haired Girl
  • Single Tear: After Fate says they could still be friends.
  • Slipknot Ponytail: In the 3rd season - a nod to Miyuki from Triangle Heart 3.
  • Sobriquet: "General of Blazing Flame"
  • Stone Wall: Her combat style when fighting opponents of equal power. She wears down their energy by turtling, then when they're out of steam and leave themselves open, knocks them flat. Most visible in her second duel with Nanoha.
    • Subverted hard in Force where Cypha of Huckebein slices through her defenses like a hot knife on butter. Having a Logical Weakness kind of sucks like that.
  • Swiss Army Weapon: Laevatein.
  • Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Thing that comes with her Expy package, being the tallest girl in Lightning and Stars (at 5'6").
  • Weak but Skilled: after her defeat by Cypha, due to the conditions of the battlefield in Force.
  • Worthy Opponent: She views Fate as this in season 2.

Signum: Had we not met like this, we could have been good friends.

Vita

Voiced by: Asami Sanada (Japanese), Elisabeth Rick (English)

"The Knight of the Iron Hammer, Vita, and the Steel Count, Graf Eisen. There's nothing in this world we can't destroy."

The Child of the bunch. She develops not-so-obvious romantic feelings for her Mistress. She wields Graf Eisen, an Expy of the Goldion Hammer. During the 2nd season, she serves as Nanoha's Rival.

By StrikerS, she's become a combat instructor on Mid-Childa, and is one of the vice captains of Mobile Section Six alongside Signum. Her callsign is Stars 2.

Tropes exhibited by Vita include:
  • Badass Adorable: Oh boy. Probably even more moeGAR than Nanoha.
  • Badass Boast: From Striker S: "This is what Eisen and I are best at. You know that? Destroying and smashing. The Knight Vita of the Iron Hammer, and the Steel Count Graf Eisen. There's nothing in this world we can't destroy."
  • Berserk Button: Do NOT mess with her hat.
  • The Berserker: Vita appears constitutionally unable to retreat from a fight unless joining it or continuing it puts the other Wolkenritter or Hayate at risk. Her strategy in combat boils down to getting right up in someone's face and hitting them with Graf Eisen until they stop moving.
  • Big Eater: Partly because of her being a Belkan knight, which tends to result in users having to eat more than Mid-Childian mages. However, she also eats a fair amount even when she was living with Hayate and not fighting, and claims that it's because she's growing.
  • Bring My Red Jacket: Tends to get badly wounded and bleed all over her red barrier jacket.
  • Determinator: She is quite possibly an even bigger determinator than Nanoha, or at least it looks more impressive since she has insane endurance. Near the end of StrikerS, she is fighting through hordes of combat machines, getting stabbed right through the chest, and upon realizing that they was the same type of drones that injured Nanoha she completely flips and wrecks them all. Then she arrives at the ships engine heavily injured, tries to destroy it with no success, only to be greeted by automatic defense systems. And her response?

Vita: Bring it on.

  • Creepy Cool Crosses: Her Barrier Jacket is covered in them.
  • Cute Bruiser: Loli Bruiser!
  • Death Glare: Gives one to Nanoha when she encounters her when she's visiting Hayate in the hospital.
  • Drop the Hammer: Graf Eisen, particularly its Gigantform and the HIKARI NI NARE Gigantschlag attack.
  • Elegant Gothic Lolita: Thanks to Hayate, who designed her costume.
  • Expy: Graf Eisen, of the Goldion Hammer.
  • Fiery Redhead
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Unlike Signum, who viewed Fate as a Worthy Opponent, Vita was more hostile to Nanoha until they fought alongside each other against the Book of Darkness.
  • Good Thing You Can Heal: Tends to get fairly badly injured somewhat regularly, but manages to recover every time. However, in Striker S, it's revealed that since she separated from Reinforce, it has been taking her longer and longer to heal.
  • Hat Damage: Took some in the first episode of A's from a Divine Buster. She didn't take it well.
  • Hyperspace Mallet: Graf Eisen is one of the few non-comedic examples.
  • Immortal Immaturity: Despite being as old as the other Wolkenritter and claiming to be an adult, tends to act like a child.
  • Implausible Deniability: "I'm not glaring! I was born with eyes like these!" while giving Nanoha a Death Glare.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Graf Eisen is a croquet mallet and during A's she frequently uses iron croquet balls as projectiles.
  • Jerkass: During much of her existence, she refused to let the other Wolkenritter get close to her, and was almost constantly angry and rebellious out of combat.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: After her Heel Face Turn, her temper and manners are less than perfect, but she cares for those close to her.
  • Just a Kid: Even after becoming aware of her true nature and true age, Nanoha still often treats her like a kid, addressing her as "Vita-chan", petting her on the head, and in one case carrying her in her arms when she's asleep, because she didn't want to wake her up, much to her annoyance.
  • Know When to Fold'Em: During her third encounter with Nanoha, she decides to retreat because as she cannot absorb her Linker Core again, fighting her would be a waste of energy.
  • Let's You And Her Fight: Attacks Fate during Fate's route in Battle of Aces while mistaking her for a Memory.
  • Little Miss Snarker: Quite willing to point out when she thinks someone is being stupid, especially with regards to the forwards.
  • Made of Iron: She may very well have the most endurance and fortitude out of all the main characters.
  • Mighty Glacier: To quote her and Graf Eisen - "There is nothing in the world we can't destroy". She also happens to be the character with the greatest endurance and durability, despite having the body of a child. While her movement speed isn't bad, her attacks are slow and heavy and she has no dodging skills to speak of.
  • Nice Hat: Vita's hat, with its two stuffed bunny-head adornments and Creepy Cool Crosses, tops out all the rest. It was also a personally-designed gift from Hayate.
  • Panty Shot: Only once in A's.
  • Sergeant Rock: More critical of the forwards' performance than Nanoha is, and occasionally suggests that Nanoha is being too lenient, but cares for their development. Also when Vita tells you to shield, you shield, or else get hammersmashed.
  • Sobriquet: "Knight of the Iron Hammer"
  • Tempting Fate: She guilty for this in A's and StrikerS. Suposedly she wises up in Force
    • In her second fight with Nanoha, Nanoha surounds him with a lot of Magic Missile and she perform Panzer Hidernis to protect herself while saying: "Are you stupid?! There's no way you control all these bullets!" A moment later, the bullets start speeding up, and the Panzer Hidernis slowly took damage. Good job.
    • In her third encounter with Nanoha, she was using Eisen Geheul to distrat Nanoha, giving her time to escape her. After a while, she muses, "OK, this is far enough...." Cue Nanoha charging up Divine Buster. She was saved by a third party intercepting the beam and bind Nanoha.
    • In StrikerS, "I'm almost there. I still have cartridges. I'm fine. It'll be easy." Cue invisible Elite Mecha Mook stabbing her through the back and her having to prove just how big a Determinator she is.
    • Several episode earlier, she boasts, "The Knight of the Iron Hammer, Vita, and the Steel Count, Graf Eisen. There's nothing in this world we can't destroy." Yes, she manages to live up to the boast, but it is clear that she was on her last leg while acomplishing it.
  • This Is a Drill: Graf Eisen's Destruction Form.
  • Tsundere: Can be irritable, blunt and often rude, but is intensely devoted to Hayate, and later, to Nanoha. In one scene, she reassures Shamal that she "won't make a certain worrywart knight of the lakes who's terrible at cooking cry".
  • Unstoppable Rage: When Nanoha takes a shot at Vita, she only manages to blow away her hat. Then this happens.
    • Finally stopped in FORCE by Curren Huckebein. After making her debut by impaling Hayate, a furious Vita rushes at her with the Strike Cannon. Curren loses her sword, Vita loses the fight.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Has one in her civilian outfit.

Shamal

Voiced by: Ryoka Yuzuki (Japanese)

The Mother of the three, taking care of most house-related chores, except cooking. She doesn't usually take part in combat, but she has healing power, and her communication and portal magic means she generally acts as Mission Control. She also makes most of the cartridges for Vita and Signum. Her magical device, Klarer Wind, resides in her rings.

In StrikerS, she's mostly relegated to the background as a magical doctor on Mid-Childa.

Tropes exhibited by Shamal include:
  • Barrier Warrior: Excellent at creating barriers for various purposes and blocking attacks.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Nanoha mentions in Sound Stage M3 that she can be very scary when she wants to be, such as when her patients don't do as she says.
  • Blow You Away: The Battle of Aces video game reveals a variety of wind spells she could use when she needs to fight.
  • Combat Medic: While Shamal normally keeps out of combat, she's hardly helpless in other fields. She has the ability to stick her hand through you and rip out your magic. From a mile away. Or at least she did back when they still had the Book of Darkness, and she continues to have this ability in the movie continuity.
  • Conspicuous Trenchcoat: Subverted -- she tries to disguise herself when spying on Nanoha and Fate, but Dr. Ishida recognizes her immediately.
  • Expy: She looks like what Ritsuko Akagi might look like if she were in the Nanoha-verse. This is especially apparent with her first appearance in StrikerS, when she's wearing what appears to be a white doctor's coat. Considering the number of mecha anime shout-outs in Nanoha, it could be intentional.
  • The Face: Of the Belkan Knights. Look at the contrasts between her and her fellows: the most feminine, the one who can't cook, the Team Mom. She's also Mission Control because her magic is focused on communication and teleportation.
  • Feminine Women Can Cook: Inverted -- Shamal is the only member of the cast who is shown to be a bad cook, while Action Girls Nanoha, Fate and Hayate are quite skilled at cooking.
  • Healing Hands
  • Japanese Honorifics: Uses them on most people, and the only one of the Wolkenritter to consistently do so.
  • Lethal Chef: In spite of being a Yamato Nadeshiko. This was originally an Informed Flaw - on one of the two occasions the Wolkenritter actually taste her cooking, Signum and Vita admit that it's not as good as Hayate's cooking, but still not bad, while Hayate likes it. It wasn't until the PSP fighting game, released four years after her introduction, that we received visual confirmation of her cooking skills.
  • Mundane Utility: In one scene of A's she uses Klarer Wind to phone Hayate's house. According to information with the DVDs, she has a cell phone, but left it at home that time.
  • Proper Tights with a Skirt: With her military uniform.
  • Ring of Power: Klarer Wind.
  • Sobriquet: "Knight of the Lake"
  • Wind Is Green: Her barrier jacket, casting circles and even many of her casual clothes are green.
  • Women Drivers: Vita and Signum hear her parking a car. Vita wonders if it's Hayate, but Signum comments on how the driver is having difficulty parking it, and concludes that it's Shamal.
  • Villains Out Shopping: She is often seen literally shopping with Hayate. In the manga, it is shown that she spends her free time chatting with the neighborhood wives.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: In addition to her loyalty to Hayate, she is kind, soft-spoken and obedient.

Zafira

Voiced by: Kazuya Ichijou (Japanese)

Zafira is a bit of an oddball -- he's not only The One Guy of the Wolkenritter and Hayate's family, he's a Non-Human Sidekick. His specialty is said to be a Barrier Warrior. He forms a rivalry and later friendship with Arf.

In StrikerS, he apparently ends up as something of a big canine babysitter for Vivio, and is only seen in his humanoid form once, in the final panel of Chapter 15.

In ViVid, he is training children in martial arts. One of his best pupils, Miura, is set to compete against Vivio in the Interdimensional Tournament.

Tropes exhibited by Zafira include:
  • Animorphism
  • Barrier Warrior
  • Big Badass Wolf: Unlike Arf, he prefers going around in this form unless he's teaching children martial arts.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows
  • Counter Attack: While everyone in The Battle of Aces has one in melee range, Zafira also has one in ranged mode.
  • Demoted to Extra: Loses some of his screentime in StrikerS but really gets hit hard in the Sound Stages. In the first and second sound stages of A's and StrikerS he's either away for most of the story or absent for some reason. On the other hand, in ViVid where he's the trainer of Miura Rinaldi/Linard, he appears more frequently and talks more than in his entire screentime on StrikerS. Still a support character but with a much better treatement.
  • Evil Counterpart: Once again not really "evil", but he is one of the antagonists for season two and pretty much a male version of Arf, made especially blatant when they fight in their animal forms.
  • Familiar: Insists on being called a "Guardian Beast", to which Arf retorts that it makes no difference.
  • Friend to All Children: Especially pronounced in Sound Stage M4, when he teaches children martial arts, and reveals that he gave rides to Hayate and Nanoha in the past, around the time Hayate was practicing walking and Nanoha was in rehabilitation.
  • Gentle Giant
  • Hotblooded Sideburns: Despite what the name implies, he's fairly cool-headed.
  • I Can Still Fight: In the final battle of Striker S, goes out to fight with Vice, despite having been hospitalized for the week since the attack on Riot Force 6.
  • In-Series Nickname: Vivio calls him Zaffy, as well as the fans.
  • Little Bit Beastly: His humanoid form has prominent kemonomimi
  • Not So Different: He argues that he and Arf serve their respective masters regardless of what they're doing is right or wrong. Arf is unable to articulate a rebuttal, especially given her role in the first season.
  • Stern Teacher: Has shades of this in his instruction of Miura in Vi Vid, as he notes she will get quite the talking-to after she barely wins her first round despite losing most of her life in the opening moves
  • The One Guy
  • The Quiet One: Erio and Caro don't even realize that he can talk until their second mission. Even Hayate notes that he doesn't speak often.
  • The Stoic: Possibly even more so than Signum.
    • Not So Stoic: When attacking the masked men after Signum and Shamal have been absorbed
  • Talking Animal: When in wolf form.

Reinforce

Voiced by: Sanae Kobayashi (Japanese)

Formerly known as the Book of Darkness, and before that, the Book of the Night Sky until the defense program was corrupted and the book's entire purpose changed. After Hayate is absorbed into the Book of Darkness, she manages to reach out to her, giving her a new name. She sacrifices herself for Hayate's sake after enabling the Wolkenritter to live on outside of her. Generally believed to be the most powerful character in the franchise.

Tropes exhibited by Reinforce include:

Reinforce Zwei

Voiced by: Yukana (Japanese)

Hayate's Unison Device, who specializes in ice magic. She was created about two years after the Book of Darkness Incident, but is introduced in the last scene of A's. She can fuse with Hayate, Vita or Signum to increase their power. She typically exists as a small flying girl a few inches tall, but can transform into a normal-sized young girl. Commonly known as "Rein". Possibly the only Device that has its own Device: her Book of the Azure Sky.

Tropes exhibited by Reinforce II include:

TSAB Officers

Aria Liese and Lotte Liese

Voiced by: Miyu Matsuki (Japanese)

The twin Catgirl familiars of Admiral Gil Graham. Served as Chrono's magic and martial arts teachers. They turn out to be the mysterious masked men who aid the Wolkenritter, working to help them complete the Book of Darkness so they can seal it away as part of Graham's plan.

Tropes exhibited by the Lieze twins include:

Lotte: That was yummy!

  • Sibling Yin-Yang: The hyperactive and playful Lotte is Chrono's physical combat instructor, while the more reserved Aria is the magical instructor.
  • Zettai Ryouiki
Spoiler tropes exhibited by the Lieze twins include:
  • Broken Pedestal: For Chrono.
  • Costume Copycat: They transform into Nanoha and Fate when they absorb the Wolkenritter and finish off Vita as Hayate watches.
  • Mask Power: They wear masks while serving as the Wolkenritter's Mysterious Protectors and are two of the strongest fighters in the season.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Willing to help Graham carry out his plan, and seem to have fewer reservations about it than he does.
  • Mysterious Protector: They initially seem to be the Wolkenritter's allies, but are actually using them to complete the Book of Darkness.
  • Taking the Heat: Claim that the plan was entirely their idea until Graham points out that Chrono knows otherwise.

Gil Graham

An admiral of the TSAB, who helps support Hayate. It turns out he planned for her to awaken the Book of Darkness and seal her away with it. His plan doesn't work out, and he resigns after the incident is over.

Tropes exhibited by Admiral Graham include:
  • Alliterative Name
  • Anti-Villain: Type III
  • Batman Gambit: Graham, after discovering Hayate is master of the Book of Darkness, plans to activate it on a world nominally beyond TSAB control and then seal her away by freezing her so that the Book cannot reincarnate elsewhere. He probably didn't count on his plan not working, or that a bunch of overpowered 9-year-olds could destroy the defense program at the root of the problem.
  • Beard of Evil
  • Broken Pedestal: For Chrono.
  • Cool Old Guy
  • Designated Villain: For some reason some fans are still believing that he's the one who gave Hayate the Book of Darkness. Which is not true, Hayate already had the book before he discovered her
  • Honorary Uncle: Hayate calls him "Graham-oji-san".
  • Hypocrite: By his own admission, providing Hayate financial support so she could be happy before she had to be sealed away.
  • Illegal Guardian: Supports Hayate so she will be happy in the time she has left.
  • Karma Houdini: As a result of the TSAB's cover-up of the incident, he got off quite easily for his plan to fill the Book of Darkness and seal it away along with Hayate.
  • My Greatest Failure: Blames himself for Clyde Harlaown's death.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: The closest thing Fate has to a probation officer, and he puts no restrictions on her actions so long as she does not betray her friends or those who believe in her.
  • Traitor Shot: The camera lingers on his face after his introductory scene, showing that he's slightly disturbed by the revelation that Chrono is handling the Book of Darkness case. This is the first hint that he's hiding something.
  • Treacherous Advisor
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist

Letty Lowran

Another admiral in the TSAB and a long-time friend of Lindy.

Tropes exhibited by Admiral Lowran include:
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