Rance/Characters/Archfiends

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


As part of the scenario to create a durable and balanced drama, a living being is chosen by the Gods to act as the ultimate enemy who will face the Protagonist Race. They would be known as the "Archfiend", which is for many a Name To Run Away From Really Fast. Seven of them were created at the time of the Rance series.

The Archfiends are the most powerful beings of the Continent, leading the Monster Realm from the shadows. They are the main Big Bad of human history and their main goal is to destroy the Protagonist Race (Humans at the time of Rance games). All of them harbor immense power and are said to be nigh-invincible, making the task of killing them very difficult.

There can only be one Archfiend at once, so whoever wants to be the next Archfiend needs to be soaked by their blood, either by killing or receiving it from them, turning the former Archfiend back to their previous form before their transformation. The calendar system is also based on the name of the current Archfiend.

From Ssulal Era onwards, the Archfiends have a lifespan of 1000 years, and must choose a successor before they die.

In General

  • Always Chaotic Evil: Enforced. The blood of the Archfiend is programmed to give destructive thoughts and hatred against the Protagonist Race.
  • Big Bad: Their entire purpose, as they were created to destroy the Protagonist Race.
  • Bigger Bad: They are this to the Rance series as a whole, since they all influenced the Continent in some way, while the current one, Little Princess, is dormant.
  • Dark Is Evil: They really like to show their status as the Archfiend by wearing dark clothing or having black scales like Abel. Kkulf Kkulf is the only exception, because it can't wear clothing as a 4.7 km long Kaiju.
  • Dub Name Change: The original name in Japanese is Demon King.
  • Evil Overlord: All of them rule over the Monster Army and the Fiends, and want to make the Protagonist Race suffer.
  • Face Monster Turn: Played straight unlike Fiends. The person who takes their blood becomes possessed by the bloodlust it possesses. There are ways to suppress it like consuming Hirami Lemons or through the original persona's own willpower. Gai is the least infected by it, because all of the bloodlust went to his insane personality.
  • Joker Immunity: While it is possible to kill the Archfiend, it will never have lasting consequences since its blood usually corrupts whoever is soaked in it, or in other cases another one is selected by the Gods.
  • Klingon Promotion: Should one manage to kill the Archfiend and/or take enough of their blood, whoever does it becomes the next Archfiend.
  • Misanthrope Supreme: With the exception of Gai's sane half, they all have a hatred against the Protagonist Race, forced on them by the blood.
  • Monster Progenitor: By giving a portion of their blood, they can turn other creatures into Fiends. If they give all of their blood, they transfer their role to another living being.
  • No Sell: From the Ssulal Era onwards, every Archfiend has an Invincibility Field.
  • One-Man Army: Just like Fiends, but taken to a whole other level.
  • Passing the Torch: Since the Ssulal Era, the Archfiend needs to choose a successor during their reign.
  • Posthumous Character: All the previous Archfiends before Little Princess are this, except for Jill who was sealed instead of killed.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Upon becoming the Archfiend, their eyes turn red.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: They are insanely powerful beings, but their sanity is rather questionable since they mostly think of ways to make the Protagonist Race suffer.
  • World's Strongest Man: They are considered to be the strongest being on the Continent thanks to their strength and Invincibility Field, with their level of power approaching that of the gods themselves.
  • Your Days Are Numbered: After losing their immortality, all of them are informed beforehand of their lifespan of a millenium.

Kkulf Kkulf

The first Archfiend created by Planner. Kkulf Kkulf was created out of the original Protagonist Race, the Round Ones. The Round Ones are usually unremarkable weak creatures, but Kkulf Kkulf stood out as a strong charismatic figure which allowed it to become their leader. This made it the perfect experiment for the Archfiend system. The results couldn't have been better since no other Archfiend managed to surpass the horrific might of Kkulf Kkulf. Kkulf Kkulf was only killed after two millennia of war against the second Protagonist Race, the Dragons, who were said to have unrivaled power.

Tropes exhibited by Kkulf Kkulf include:
  • Ambiguous Gender: Kkulf Kkulf gender was never stated.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: Its entire body is approximately 4.7 kilometers in length, and looks like a giant octopus with multiple eyes, with an orange lump (presumably its brain) on its head. One of its tentacles harbors an appendage shaped as a female humanoid.
  • Expy: Its name along with his design are references to the Great Old Ones in the Cthulhu Mythos.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: Kkulf Kkulf wasn't a nobody among the Round Ones as it was the chief of their species, but compared to the Dragons its race is very weak. After becoming the Archfiend it became a gigantic monster who only got killed by them after 2000 years of war.
  • Kaiju: Its body rapidly mutated to unheard-of extents following its transformation. At the time of its death it was 4.7 km in diameter.
  • Last Stand: Becomes this for the "Blood Memories" when all its other Archfiend forms were defeated. Rance lampshades this by claiming that taking on the form of the strongest Archfiend means it's driven to a corner.
  • Super Prototype: It is the first Archfiend created and was originally a Round One, who were considered to be a weak, flawed and boring race, but no other Archfiend has managed to surpass its strength and might.
  • World's Strongest Man: Kkulf Kkulf is still considered the strongest Archfiend if not the strongest mortal being to ever exist on the Continent. It was even stated its strength rivaled a First Class God and it didn't even need an invincibility field, because it was already strong enough without it. The only reason Kkulf Kkulf died was after two millennia of war against the Dragons, the strongest and wisest of the protagonist races.

Abel

The second Archfiend, created out of the cowardly dragon Abel, who managed to deliver the finishing blow against Kkulf Kkulf and as a result bathed in its blood.

Tropes exhibited by Abel include:
  • Ambiguous Situation: His final fate is left unexplored in the history proper, though it is heavily implied he was offed by the Gods in order to create a new Archfiend.
  • And I Must Scream: After his defeat in the Last War, he was sealed in an unescapable pit by the dragons, to prevent the creation of a new Archfiend. It worked too well: their peaceful world eventually angered the Creator God himself, who then deemed dragonkind as failures, and ordered their extermination.
  • Badass on Paper: While he did strike the killing blow against Kkulf Kkulf, it was a case of Cherry Tapping. He only got the kill by luck and striking the Archfiend while it was at its weakest. All the other dragons did the heavy lifting of the fight. Furthermore, while he was a dragon, he was something of a weakling among his own race, and even the power-up from becoming the Archfiend didn't let him become strong enough to be a real threat to them.
  • Butt Monkey: Is considered this compared to the other Archfiends, because he got locked up by the dragons and couldn't even reign over his own subjects in his era.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Since he couldn't fight the Protagonist Race head-on, he resorted to the kidnapping of the Dragon Queen Camilla to prevent them to have children, which eventually ended with Dragons disappearing almost entirely from the Continent after their genocide by the Gods.
  • Dirty Coward: A justified example, because openly fighting against a race which managed to kill Kkulf Kkulf is suicide, especially when you're not even half as strong as your predecessor. Throughout his Era, he created numerous hideouts in the Continent, most of them still existing to this day. One of them ends up being used by Kayblis in one ending of Rance X, but is found out thanks to Meglass' knowledge of them.
  • Fake Ultimate Hero: Downplayed. Even though he was the one who finished Kkulf Kkulf, he went down as the least remarkable Archfiend in history afterwards.
  • It Amused Me: Upon hearing of an extraterrestrial ship crashing in the north, he quickly attacked it and found Meglass defending it. He then pressured him into becoming his Fiend, solely for his amusement of seeing what an alien Fiend would look like.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: During the first few years of his Era, the Dragons mostly ignored him, thinking that a weak dragon like him was mostly harmless. Until he turned Camilla, the sole female Dragon, into a Fiend, therefore preventing the entire race to ever breed. Consequently, all of dragonkind waged war against him.

Ssulal

The third Archfiend and first one to oppose humanity. Her intellect allowed her to eventually discover the domain of gods and negotiate with Planner, who gave her and the Fiends an Invincibility Field which will protect them from any kind of attacks. However the drawback is that the Archfiend can now only reign for 1000 years before they need to find a successor. After gaining the Invincibility Field she died prematurely in her 500th year, because she was the prototype for the new concept.

Tropes exhibited by Ssulal include:
  • Benevolent Boss: Kesselring and Galtia, the two Fiends she created, still remember her fondly thousands of years later.
  • Evil Genius: Downplayed. Ssulal wasn't affected by the Archfiend's bloodlust as much as the others, as she merely hunted a few humans.
  • Flawed Prototype: Since she was the first Archfiend with the invincibility field, she died an early death at 500 years, as the Gods wanted to test out the upgraded version of the Archfiend right away.
  • Lethal Chef: Implied. Galtia mentionned he loved her cooking. He also thinks Kouhime is the greatest cook of mankind.
  • The Nicknamer: Notably, she nicknamed her Fiends out of attachment for them.
  • Single-Use Shield: Able to use four of them in order to nullify any attacks.
  • Sobriquet: The Queen of Monsters.
  • Weak but Skilled: She was weaker then the other Archfiends, but made up for it with her intellect. The fact that she asked the God Planner for a invincibility field implies she could be defeated and killed by humans.

Nighcisa

The fourth Archfiend who was chosen by Planner after Ssulal's unexpected early death. He was chosen for his brutal and cruel nature.

Tropes exhibited by Nighcisa include:
  • Fantastic Racism: Implied by the fact that none of the Fiends he created were humans, making him the only Archfiend whose Fiends were not the same species as him.
  • Genocide Backfire: The Annihilation War was one for him: by killing 50% of humanity, the Hero at the time was able to confront him directly. Despite being the winner of the duel, he was left with grievous wounds and lost 40 years of his lifespan, stopping the war altogether.
  • Gone Horribly Right: He was chosen as the Archfiend because his brutality and cruelty against mankind would bring lots of enjoyment to the Top God Rudrathaum. However in his era he almost caused their extinction, forcing Planner to create the Hero System so that humanity would survive. At least until the Hero System was retconned to have been created alongside the invincibility field.
  • Invincible Villain: Downplayed. He's the only Archfiend who wasn't defeated in battle, and even fend off the empowered Hero albeit by a small margin. However, he did lose 40 years of his lifespan, which put a stop to his genocide.
  • Pet the Dog: Showed kindness by taking Jill under his care and making her the next Archfiend before his death.

Jill

The fifth Archfiend, chosen by the previous Archfiend Nighcisa during the last years of his reign. Her hatred against the Protagonist Race is stronger then any other Archfiend and her era was considered the darkest time of humanity. When her reign of a 1000 years came to an end, she was supposed to retire and find a successor, but she wanted to stay as an Archfiend forever. Using the knowledge of the Archfiend Ssulal, she was able to gain audience with the God Planner and requested to become the Archfiend forever. He accepted, but as a price her overall strength was permanently reduced to only 5 percent of what it was. One of her closest Fiends and lover, Gai, took advantage of this, and managed to defeat her in battle and sealed her with the sword Chaos in the deepest room of his castle. However, he was bathed in her blood in the process, making him the next Archfiend.

Tropes exhibited by Jill include:
  • An Arm and a Leg: She lost all of her limbs following her torture by her detractors near the end of the NC Era, but she got them back after becoming the Archfiend. Her redesign for Rance 03 and Rance X shows her regrown limbs covered in black. She often does it to the many humans she captured, clearly as a reminder of her past.
  • And I Must Scream: Getting sealed into the void between the dimensions at the end of Rance 03. Before it happens she actually shows some measure of fear of being trapped, alone, in that darkness. She does suggest that given enough time she could build up her strength and break free, but that would take thousands of years, during which she'd be totally isolated from everyone and everything.
  • Anticlimax Boss: Despite being the final boss, she is easily beaten by Rance since he didn't have any Level Cap.
  • Bigger Bad: Of Rance III/Rance 03, with her most loyal Fiend Noce trying to free her.
  • Brought Down to Badass: Despite losing almost all of her power, she's still stronger than the Fiends albeit by a lesser margin than before.
  • Complete Immortality: She cannot be killed by any means, so the only way to get rid of her is to seal her with one of the two legendary swords, Chaos and Nikkou, but her immortality came as a price. See De-Power below.
  • Continuity Nod: She makes an indirect appearance in Rance VI during the battle against Sieg, an Empathic Shapeshifter able to take the form of someone's worst nightmare: he transforms into Jill based on Sel Curchgolf's worst nightmare.
  • Crazy Prepared: Along with the knowledge from Nighcisa about the Hero system, she created human farms to ensure that the population stays at a number big enough so that the Hero won't be strong enough to defeat her.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Defeated the Hero effortlessly at the dawn of her Era, thanks to her Human farms preventing them to kill her.
    • Also on the receiving end in Rance 03, at the hands of Rance.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Blue hair with blue eyes.
  • De-Power: In exchange for her immortality, Planner reduced her strength to a mere 5 percent, making her defeatable by the strongest Fiends.
  • Dub Name Change: From Gele to Jill (which is also similar to the proper pronunciation).
  • Dude Magnet: Three of her Fiends happened to be in love with her. In a twist of irony, she was betrayed by Gai, the only man she felt genuine love for.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She genuinely loved Gai and was shocked by his betrayal, and still remembers him up to the LP Era in Rance 03, where her first question to Noce is to ask Gai's whereabouts.
  • Freudian Excuse: While it doesn't excuse what she has done in her Era, her hatred for humanity becomes more understandable upon learning how it treated her.
  • Full-Frontal Assault: She has never been depicted as wearing clothes in any of her appearances, emphasizing her lack of humanity.
  • Humanoid Abomination: in the original Rance III she looked just like an ordinary human woman. Her redesign in the remake gives her arms and legs a purple-black coating, what appears to be claws on her digits, and a variety of monstrous facial expressions. Her powers also have a tendency to distort space around her, making her even creepier.
  • Invincible Villain: Because of her Human farms, the Hero wasn't able to harm her, meaning she was undefeatable. Quite ironically, asking Planner to give her Complete Immortality near the end of her lifespan ended up causing her downfall, as she was weakened enough to be sealed by Gai.
  • Just Toying with Them: The reason she didn't kill the human Gai on the spot when he tried to kill her was because she found him interesting due to his split personality.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: She's ultimately the one who finishes off a dying Noce, by taking back his Blood Soul to regain her former strength, making him Deader Than Dead in the process.
  • Leitmotif: "Destructor" plays during her boss fight.
  • Misanthrope Supreme: While hatred against the Protagonist race is natural in every Archfiend, she takes it to another level as a result of the torture she received from humans. As a result her hatred against humanity was the greatest of any Archfiend and her period was considered the darkest time during humanity's reign as the Protagonist race.
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: She was originally a kind girl who helped others with her knowledge, but people jealous of her assaulted, tortured and raped her, leaving her to die at the road afterwards.
  • Oh Crap: Her reaction during her final confrontation with Rance in a Dimension Rift (who raises the level of everyone present), when it is revealed he has no Level Cap at all and it's making him stronger than her.
  • Please Don't Leave Me: After her defeat in Rance 03, she asks Rance to stay with her to cope with the loneliness she will feel for a thousand years. He was actually tempted for a split-second until Sill managed to get him back to the Continent, leaving her alone once again.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Following her defeat at the hands of Gai, she was sealed by Chaos for a millenium until her unsealing by Noce in Rance III/03.
  • This Cannot Be!: As soon as she finds out that Rance doesn't have a level cap, she becomes afraid of him.
  • Tom the Dark Lord: The most terrible and feared Archfiend in history, the greatest enemy mankind has ever faced... is named "Jill".
  • The Unfettered: Hoo boy. Her era was remembered as the most dreadful ever for humanity, and for a good reason: destroying every human nation, enslaving humanity, and to top it all creating human farms to prevent the Hero from gaining the power to kill her. All to make sure humanity wouldn't get the ghost of a chance against her.
  • Villainous Breakdown: When she realized that the Dimensional Rift actually benefits Rance more than her, she loses it and attacks him in rage.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: She was originally a human with great beauty and talent, but people who were jealous of her assaulted and raped her with grievous injuries. Nighcisa found her at the roadside and feeling pity for her, he saved her life by making her the next Archfiend. As a result from the torture she received from humans, her hatred for the protagonist race was even greater then any other Archfiend before and after her.

Gai

Gai was originally a human born in one of Jill's Human farms, albeit with a rare disease which suppressed all sensations on the right part of his body and turning it purple. Thanks to his good skills in swordplay and magic, he managed to survive and claw his way in the dreaded JL Era despite his condition. Eventually, it evolved into a split personality who took control of him many times in his life, estranging him from other people. One fateful day, after finding Chaos the Darksword, he tried to fight Jill head-on, only for her to turn him into a Fiend out of entertainment, and later becomes her personal lover. After hearing of Jill becoming immortal, he made plans to get rid of her, and allied with the Hero at the time, ultimately defeating her and using Chaos to seal her in another dimension. In the process, he got bathed in her blood, and was turned into the 6th Archfiend.

His era was relatively peaceful since he didn't want to be involved in human affairs out of indifference, even though at times his insane personality tried to invade the Continent. This caused humanity to have long periods of peace which allowed them to create new nations and countries. He first appears in Little Princess as "Count Dracula", but is later revealed in the Rance games to be the Archfiend Gai.

Near the end of his era, he began to search for a potential successor, first by trying to have children: only his daughter Hornet was born from his sex spree, but he failed to give his blood to her despite having extremely high potential for battle. Eventally, after using his ability to hop into other dimensions, he found a perfect candidate. He proceeds to kidnap the high-schooler Miki Kurusu, heroine of Little Princess, whom he thinks will be his successor. Her Childhood Friend Kentarou Ogawa manages to reach his castle, but arrives too late: Miki was turned into the 7th Archfiend. Upon realizing what he did, probably due to his insane personality, he lets Kentarou kill him out of regret.

Some time before dying, he writes a last will to Hornet, declaring his intent to create a peaceful coexistence between Humans and Monsters with Miki as their Archfiend. Wanting to honor her father's wishes, she tells the other Fiends of her intention to get Miki back for this purpose, a decision met with huge controversy in the Monster Realm, creating two factions and causing their first civil war in history: the Hornet Faction, whose goal is to find and protect Miki Kurusu, and the Kayblis Faction led by the Dread Fiend Kayblis, who gathers the vast majority of the Fiends and Monsters, whose goal is to capture her in order to turn Kayblis into the Archfiend.

Tropes exhibited by Gai include:
  • Anti-Villain: The only Archfiend who didn't wage war against humans, because all of the bloodlust went to his insane personality. Even in the First Fiend War, he merely allowed his Fiends to do as they please, instead of outright declaring the order to invade the Human Realm.
  • Big Bad: Of the Little Princess game as Count Dracula.
  • The Dragon: To the Archfiend Jill as her Representative Fiend.
  • Dragon Ascendant: Became the next Archfiend after betraying Jill.
  • Enemy Mine: He allied with the current Hero at the time to seal Jill away with his help and the sword Chaos.
  • Face Death with Dignity: When Kentarou kills him for kidnapping Miki and turning her into the Archfiend. The only thing he did was apologize for it and allow himself to be killed by Kentarou.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: He doesn't directly appear in the story, but his death and last message are what caused some of the events of the Rance series games.
  • Split Personality Takeover: While his human personality is peaceful, his insane one can take over to launch wars against the Protagonist Race.
  • Two-Faced: His rare disease turned half of his body in purple, more apparent after becoming the Archfiend.

Little Princess

The seventh Archfiend, created out of an ordinary school girl from another dimension named Kurusu Miki. She mostly laid dormant in her era, because of Miki's consumption of Hirami Lemons, which allowed her to suppress the Little Princess persona, which only got control in a few rare moments.

For tropes concerning her original persona Miki Kurusu, click here.

Tropes exhibited by Little Princess include:
  • Bigger Bad: The entire Rance series is happening because of her absence, as Miki is the catalyst for the whole civil war in the Monster Realm.
  • Deader Than Dead: She was erased when the Archfiend Blood was taken out of Miki, meaning her soul won't go back to Rudrathaum and reincarnate. Along with that Miki is back home and that the Blood Souls are destroyed there is no way to recreate her.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Even as an Archfiend, she still retains her love for Kentarou and a sweet spot towards Sill.
  • The Ghost: Downplayed, she sometimes influences the personality of Miki Kurusu, but canonically almost never appeared onscreen outside of non-canon scenarios.
  • Harmless Freezing: During her short appearance in Sengoku Rance, she cast a powerful curse at Rance, only for Sill to take it, putting her in eternal ice.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: You can encounter her in battle during the Archfiend Route in Sengoku Rance but nothing is able to harm her.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Briefly in Sengoku Rance when she realize she cursed her Cool Big Sis Sill.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: In contrast with the Innocent Blue Eyes she had as Miki.
  • Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: Since Miki eats Hirami Lemons quite frequently, she isn't able to manifest at all.
  • Super-Powered Evil Side: She is this for Miki.
  • The Unfought: Thanks to the efforts of Rance and Kentarou, Miki manages to hold Little Princess in check up until the end of Rance X, where she gives her blood to Rance. Thus, she's the only unfought Archfiend in history.

Spoiler Characters

Archfiend Rance

The eighth and last Archfiend. He is created out of world renowned hero and famed adventurer Rance after his slave Sill was slain by Bird Lithfie. Just like Little Princess, he also mostly laid dormant in his era, because his original persona Rance uses his own willpower and slaps from his daughter Reset to suppress the bloodlust. However during times he was awakened, he started horrible rampages and a brutal war which destroyed the peace he once created. For tropes concerning his original persona click here.

Tropes exhibited by Archfiend Rance include:
  • Archnemesis Dad: The enemies who oppose him are his children.
  • Badass Cape: Wears a long black one.
  • Battle Aura: Releases red aura around him.
  • Beat the Curse Out of Him: This is what the El Party could only do to bring Rance back to his senses despite faring much better in their rematch against their father. And even then, it took a lot of luck and a much needed distraction for Reset to slap him back to his senses.
  • Big Bad: Of Rance X: Part 2.
  • Black Knight: He wears an all-black armor and cape with a helmet to match his sinister appearance.
  • Darth Vader Clone: Archfiend Rance fills many bills of this. Wears dark armor with a cape and a helmet that covers his face? Check. Was originally the protagonist of his series until the death of a loved one? Check. Has besides swordsmanship also magical abilities? Check. Are his enemies his own children? Ultra check, he has eleven of them. At the end pulls a Heel–Face Turn and joins his children to defeat the ultimate evil? Checkmate.
  • Deader Than Dead: Since Quelplan extracted the Archfiend's blood out of him, his existence is erased and there is no way to bring him back, because of the destruction of the Blood Memories that created him.
  • Disc One Final Boss: Despite the plot of Part 2 being about going on a journey to defeat him, he is not the final boss of the series and was erased from existence when the Archfiend blood was extracted by Quelplan which caused the creation of the Blood Memories, the true final boss.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Sill. Upon seeing her again encased in ice, he stops attacking El.
  • Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: He's able to come back to his senses thanks to Reset slapping him very hard.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: When he's wearing his helmet, his eyes flash red.
  • Guest Star Party Member: For only one fight against Quelplan.
  • Heel Face Revolving Door: As a result of Rance suppressing this persona, he and the Monster Realm revolves between Neutral when Rance is in control and Heel when he's not. He becomes fully Face again (for a definition of Face for Rance) when Reset slaps him back to his senses and brings Sill back from her icy cage.
  • Hope Bringer: When he finally comes back as Rance, he manages to inspire this to everyone present and declares that he can defeat the Great Beast Quelplan.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: It is made awfully clear that even at their strongest, the El Party is unable to defeat him. The most they can do is give Reset an opportunity to slap him back into sanity.
  • Just Toying with Them: Despite his children being much stronger when they fight him again, it's clear that Archfiend Rance is still toying around with his enemies.
  • Knight of Cerebus: There is nothing funny about him compared to his human counterpart. Notably, while he still engages in rape, he does it not for his own pleasure but rather to make the other party suffer.
  • Magic Knight: Besides retaining his swordsmanship skills, he also gained a Magic Lv2 skill.
  • Master Swordsman: His swordsmanship evolved even further thanks to his Sword Combat Lv3 skill.
  • No-Nonsense Nemesis: He does not mess around. The only reason why the El Party were able to escape the first time was only because of Shizuka and Nagi sacrificing their bodies to let them get away. He only gets caught off-guard in their second fight only because he sees Sill's body frozen in ice and gets slapped by Reset.
  • Offing the Offspring: He tried to kill all of his children when they failed to be a challenge for him. They only managed to survive and escape thanks to Shizuka and Nagi offering their bodies to keep him busy.
  • One-Man Army: He trounces the El Party effortlessly. Keep in mind that at this point, they had already managed to defeat an entire army of East Helman.
  • Pet the Dog: While it was probably because of the original Rance's influence, him transforming Rizna into a Fiend allowed her to recover from the physical damage and mental trauma she got as a result of the Second Fiend War.
  • Protagonist Journey to Villain: Goes from the protagonist of Rance X to becoming the Big Bad for most of Part 2.
  • Rogue Protagonist: He goes from the protagonist of the entire Rance series to the (pen)ultimate villain of the last game.
  • Villainous Rescue: During one of his more sane and controlled periods he once saved humanity from the Hero Geimark, who was slaughtering humanity to ironically enough become strong enough to kill him and save humanity from his wrath.
    • As said by Zance (after hearing the story of Geimark's rampage): "Right, and our father, Archfiend Rance, took him out. Ironically, he probably saved more people than the Hero."
  • World's Strongest Man: While the Archfiend already is the strongest being on the continent, Archfiend Rance is so strong he's likely only weaker than Kkulf Kkulf. His opponents, the El Party were composed of a dozens individuals above level 250 and among the best in their fields. They never stood a chance of beating him, only to create an opening to slap him back into sanity.

Blood Memories

The true form of the Blood Souls that the Archfiend and Fiends possess. It came free after the Blood Souls of Archfiend Rance and other Fiends were forcibly extracted by Quelplan. It fights by taking on the forms of the Archfiends and serves as the true final boss of the Rance series.

Tropes exhibited by the Blood Memories include:
  • Boss Rush: A variation since those transformation are more like phases and the fight is treated as one boss. However the Blood Memories fights by transforming into the Archfiends it once possessed. It started out as the most recent Archfiend, Rance and ended with the first one Kkulf Kkulf. After Kkulf Kkulf was defeated it was left vulnerable to kill.
  • Demonic Possession: What it does to its hosts, prompting them to cause destruction as much as possible.
  • Enigmatic Empowering Entity: Its very existence is well hidden from mortals, but some of them acknowledge the existence of a "cursed blood" responsible for creating the Archfiend. It finally appears before mortals eyes due to its inability to possess Quelplan (naturally immune to it) and was extracted from Archfiend Rance's body. Surprisingly, it's actually very weak by itself, and it merely copies the powers of the Archfiends, though it is not as strong as them.
  • Flat Character: By itself, the Blood Memories doesn't have a personality on its own and is merely predisposed towards suffering and hatred.
  • Generic Doomsday Villain: It's very powerful and only wants to make the Protagonist Race suffer. This is justified, because that's the task it's programmed with and the being that would become the Archfiend forms the bulk of the their personality since the Blood Memories only influences its desire for destruction and chaos on them.
  • Last Stand: Its transformation into Kkulf Kkulf the first Archfiend is seen as this by Rance.
  • Leitmotif: Just like its namesake, "Blood Memories."
  • True Final Boss: Of the Rance series.
  • Zero Effort Boss: As shown at the end of Part 2 when his Last Stand fails against the El Party: it's unable to defend once it went out of options to fight.

Beauton

An Archfiend who only appears in the Truth of God ending in which Arios succeeded at killing Miki/Little Princess, or after the death of Archfiend Kayblis. This caused the Planner to immediately appoint Beauton as the new Archfiend to bring despair to the Protagonist Race, at which she succeeded greatly by taking control of the monster army immediately and taking over the Continent in a matter of months.

Tropes exhibited by beauton include:
  • The Ghost: She was never truly shown in the series proper and her appearance was only shown over a year after the game's release.
  • Take Over the World: To repeat, she managed to take over the Continent in a matter of months.