Disgaea: Hour of Darkness/Characters: Difference between revisions

{{quote|Main character of the first game and Prince of the Netherworld. After waking up from a two year "nap" and discovering that his father, King Krichevskoy, has died some time ago, Laharl sets upon claiming the throne for himself. Laharl is cocky, spoiled, and quick-tempered. How much of this is real and how much of it is a front he puts up to feel powerful is a question that most of his vassals ponder. He also has a physical aversion towards optimism and well-endowed women.}}

* [[100% Adoration Rating]]: One might not think this would apply to Laharl, but according to his description in ''[[Zettai Hero Kaizou Keikaku]]'', he is loved by his subjects. {{spoiler|Averted in ''[[Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories]]'', where almost all of his closest vassals have left him, including the servant Prinnies, during his feud with Etna.}}.

* [[108]]: Laharl has made 108 punishments for the Prinny squad, which are put to use if the Prinnies screw up. Number 1 is the least severe punishment, and number 108 is [[Fate Worse Than Death|Negative]] [[Cool and Unusual Punishment|Salary]].

* [[Abdicate the Throne]]: {{spoiler|In the Item God 2 ending, Laharl decides he is not ready to be Overlord yet and hands the title over to Etna.}}.

** Though it's debatable that he never really changed ''that'' much. At the end of the first game, he has {{spoiler|become a wiser king and accepted [[The Power of Love]]}} - he never really stopped being egotistical and a brat. And it's not like he was genuinely bad beforehand.

* [[Affably Evil]]: While he's still stubborn and prideful, Laharl can arguably count as this due to his status as a [[Noble Demon]]. {{spoiler|Best shown when Laharl singlehandedly destroys the Earth Defense Force's armada while giving the crew time to escape.}}. Naturally, he denies it.

* [[Allergic to Love]]: In episodeChapter 5, Laharl actually [[Gameplay and Story Integration|loses statistics]] when lustful demons accost him with [[Care Bear Stare|words of encouragement, love, and kindness]].

* [[All Genes Are Codominant]]: Averted -: Laharl's mother was human, but his status as a [[Half-Human Hybrid]] is never brought up in the games , {{spoiler|though it is in the novels}}, he exhibits all of the traits of demons, and {{spoiler|like all Overlords}}, he's extremely powerful.

* [[All There in the Manual]]: In the games' canon, his aversion to busty women is [[Played for Laughs|played for many laughs and jokes at his expense]]. [[Disgaea Novels|The novels]], though not canon to the games, paint a much darker story;: Laharl's aversion to busty women was instilled into him by his aunt, a well-endowed demon that {{spoiler|abused him quite severely after his mother's death (for an century's worth, no less), on the account that no one with human blood should take the throne of the Overlord.}}.

* [[An Odd Place to Sleep]]: Laharl sleeps in a coffin, despite not being a vampire. {{spoiler|Justified: we never saw his bedroom before he was poisoned by Etna and lulled into a two-year sleep.}}.

* [[Backstory]]:<ref>Laharl was born of the Queen, wife of the King Krichevskoy; Overlord of the Netherworld. Krichevskoy was so thrilled by his son’s birth that he froze the ocean. Laharl was raised with love and care, his own mother preached to him about love regularly. He was also scolded by his mother whenever he did something bad, because she wanted to raise him to be a kind boy. He became greatly attached to his parents, especially his mother, but one day, he was infected with a rare and deadly disease that could not be cured by normal means. The life of one who loved him was required to save him; the Queen took her own life to do just that, despite Krichevskoy’s effort to stop her. From that point on, Laharl hated and repressed the feeling and concept of love because it was his mother’s love for him that drove her to kill herself. This repression of love was so strong that he did not even mourn his mother’s death, but shut away his feeling of sorrow. He also became physically averse to the love phrases his mother had preached to him. Laharl came to distance himself from his father, going so far as to claim he hated him, but lived a comfortable life at the Overlord’s Castle ordering and complaining to the servants at his own leisure. One day, after his 1310 birthday decided, Laharl decided to take 10 days nap. Meanwhile, meanwhile Tyrant Overlord Baal attacked the Netherworld, and Krichevskoy had use up all his energy to seal him. Later, Etna poisoned Laharl at Maderas command, causing Laharl to sleep for over two years. Etna eventually woke him up and told him about his father’s demise. Sequentially, Laharl went on a quest to become the Overlord.</ref>

* [[Badass]]:

** [[Badass Adorable]]: Emotionally vulnerable, cute as a button, and {{spoiler|as of a cameo in ''[[Zettai Hero Project]]'', is apparently strong enough to burn modern-day Earth to the ground.}}.

** {{spoiler|[[Heartbroken Badass]]: Too young to fall in love, but he is absolutely devastated in the end because of Flonne's fate. How bad it turns out depends on the ending you get.}}.

* [[Bad Boss]]: In chapterChapter eight8, he speculates that ''maybe'' making the prinnies work 20 hours a day with no days off was a ''bit'' harsh.

* [[Blush Sticker]]: [[media:Mammy 1496.png|Baby Laharl,]], drawn by the series artist Takehito Harada.

* {{spoiler|[[Break the Haughty]]: The ending where Flonne was sentenced to be a flower for all eternity because of Laharl can be seen as this. Even the traditional Bad Ending where he sacrifices his life to save Flonne counts, though it's a lesser example.}}.

* [[But Now I Must Go]]: {{spoiler|In the ending you get if you've beaten the Item God 2, it looks like Laharl has killed Lamington, but it turns out he's still alive. Mid Boss comes and explains the situation and Flonne is returned to normal. Laharl declares that if he acted so quickly in anger he is not ready to be the Overlord and teleports away.}}.

* [[Cape Wings]]: According to ''[[All There in the Manual|The World of Disgaea]]'' artbook, Laharl had this ability with his scarf, though it never made it into the game. It does show up in the [[Makai Senki Disgaea|anime]], {{spoiler|though you have to wonder how he managed to take down a ''space'' armada without the ability to fly}}.

* [[Card-Carrying Villain]]: "...The pendant is telling me that my heart is wicked. That's good to know." {{spoiler|When someone who has evil in their heart touches the pendant, it will burn them. Vulcanus was [[Light Is Not Good|burned by it after he stole it from Flonne in the same episode.]]}}.

* {{spoiler|[[A Child Shall Lead Them]]: About halfway through the game he becomes the Overlord, and even though he is 1313 years old, he appears to be mentally and physically about 13.}}.

* [[Dark and Troubled Past]]: You wouldn't expect it from a ''Disgaea game'', but the [[Disgaea Novels|novels]] say otherwise.

* [[Death From Above]]: His final attack, Meteor Impact.

* [[Deceased Parents Are the Best]]: Laharl‘s mother was a loving woman and his father a righteous man - both conveniently dead. Deconstructed in that his mother’s death had a hugely negative impact on him {{spoiler|and his father, being reincarnated as Mid-Boss, is by technicality still alive.}}.

* [[Defrosting Ice Queen|Defrosting Ice Prince]]: He starts out distant, constantly irritable, and condescending, but eventually warms up to Flonne and Etna.

* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: 10 years after the game in the novels, Laharl manages to deliver a [[Curb Stomp Battle|completely one-sided beatdown]] to ''[[Eldritch Abomination|Baal]]'', and for additional humiliation, let his team of [[Butt Monkey|prinnies]] loose on Baal after his defeat. It's not [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]] anymore - more like [[Up to Eleven|Did You Just Sue Cthulhu Ten Billion HLs and Make Him Your Slave]]?

* [[Dodge the Bullet]]: In ''Disgaea 2'', Etna and Flonne gets pissed at Laharl for various reasons and attacks him with swords and guns; he dodges all of the initial blows, though just barely, and shows of some nice foot work. He does this occasionally in ''[[Disgaea Infinite]]'' as well.

* [[Dramatic Wind]]: Wind follows Laharl constantly during battle, making his scarf billow. Interestingly, it has become a tradition among ''[[Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories/Characters|Disgaea]]'' [[Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice/Characters|main]] [[Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten/Characters|characters]] to have a [[Dramatic Wind]] following them during battle.

* [[The Dutiful Son]]: Does not have any siblings, but {{spoiler|Vyers}} calls him "quite the dutiful son" in the manga, which is very true; Lahal is quite devoted to his duty as per his heritage.

* [[Exposed to the Elements]]: Laharl is one of the least dressed characters NIS has ever created, yet he never makes any remarks about changing temperatures, despite adventuring to parched lakes of lava and frozen tundras.

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: Laharl is a victim of this in the novels, {{spoiler|where his aunt and uncle organizes a resistance against his reign because he is half human.}}.

* [[Fetal Position Rebirth]]: In the opening art of the game, Laharl can be seen sleeping in a loose fetal position floating in a void under the Red Moon, and in the Red Moon chapter, Laharl is figuratively reborn by rediscovering love.

* [[Generation Xerox]]: Laharl's father does his best to invoke this trope, {{spoiler|by working with Lamington to have Laharl become best friends with an angel of high expectations like himself and further the work to unite the Netherworld and Celestia that he started}}. It is also mentioned that Laharl and King Krichevskoy are rather similar. Laharl probably inherited his big [[Smug Super|ego]] from his [[Narcissist|father]].

* [[Good Hurts Evil]]: Being horribly allergic to love and optimism makes Laharl Disgaea’s''Disgaea'''s prominent example of this, but any evil being can be hurt by Flonne’s pendant, light or dark.

* [[Half-Human Hybrid]]: His mother is human, but most people still refer to him as a demon, if only for convenience's sake. Oddly, his half-human status is never even mentioned in the games proper, though in the novels , {{spoiler|it's an important part of his [[Backstory]].}}.

* [[Heavy Sleeper]]: In the intro to the first game, Laharl wakes up from a two-year nap, with Etna ''violently'' waking him up. {{spoiler|Said nap was due to poison by Etna, but considering that he initially meant for it to be a ''ten-day'' nap, he's still playing the trope straight.}}.

** She had tried to wake him up by attacking him with various deadly weapons and even when it took over a year to wake him up, and it did [[Made of Diamond|not seem to hurt him the slightest]].

* [[Hot-Blooded]]: Comes along with his [[Card-Carrying Villain]] status;: he's quick to anger, has a massive ego, and [[Large Ham|can often get hammy]] in his remarks.

* {{spoiler|[[How Dare You Die on Me!]]: Laharl’s reaction to Flonne’s death in the ending. "You're going to abandon me, like my mother did? I didn't give you permission! Is this what you call love? If it is, then I'll never believe in love! Ever!".}}

* [[Humble Hero]]: [[Glory Seeker|Mostly inverted,]], but he has a unusual tendency to become embarrassed when praised:

{{quote|''Hmph... Quit complimenting me so much. It's embarrassing.''}}

* [[Humongous Mecha]]: The Laharl Kaiser V as ''Disgaea 4 DLC''.

* [[Improbable Age]]: Even thoughtthough he is mentally and physically 13 in demon years , {{spoiler|he rules the Netherworld}}, but he manage quite nicely all things considered.

* [[Keet]]: Normally not seen, but when he becomes the Overlord, he immediately begins shouting excitedly "Overlord! Overlord! Overlord!" and as his first act practices his [[Evil Laugh]] for hours on end.

* [[Lonely Rich Kid]]: His parents are dead, he is implied to have a vast fortune in money, he is implied to have no close friends other than Etna and Flonne, and {{spoiler|according to ''[[Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories]]'', he has severe abandonment issues.}}.

* [[The Magnificent]]: In English, Laharl calls himself "The great Laharl" and the like, instead of "ore-sama" like in Japanese.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: In addition to the volcano [[Theme Naming]], Laharl’s name means flow of ''mud'' from a volcano and the guy who fathered him is named after a real volcano (as a matter of fact, Laharl’s name is the only demon part of the volcano [[Theme Naming]] that is not named after a volcano). This makes sense because of how [[Royal Brat|Laharl]] is in comparison to his [[The Wise Prince|father]].

* [[Momma's Boy]]: He would have most likely become this had his mother still been alive. Her death had a huge impact on him;: he went [[Unable to Cry|beyond mourning her death]] by denying the very emotion that symbolizes the bond between them, love, and [[Allergic to Love|he falls ill every time someone just mentions the words she used to preach to him]].

* [[Mood Swinger]]: He has 13 different moods that he drasticly swings between. [[Justified]] since such drastic mood swings are perfectly normal for a teenager. Not an extreme example, because all of the moods have recognizable causes, and they are of a wide spectrum, not just extremes.

* [[Nakama]]: Anyone who hurts his best friends Flonne and Etna are in for a lot of pain. He might not have the guts to say he loves them, but he has no qualms about telling what bad idea it is to mess with them, because he will not let you get away with it.

* [[The Napoleon]]: The character notes in the ''World of Disgaea'' artbook even declare that he has a Napoleon complex.

* [[Nigh Invulnerability]]: His reaction to Gordon firing a raygun at maximum power in the novels? "It tickles.". Etna also claimed that 5 shots from a rocket launcher, 4 missiles at point-blank distance and 3 X-ray beam cannons did absolutely nothing to him. However, he can still be injured by high-powered and magic-imbued weapons.

** In the games, Laharl is [[Made of Diamond]], easily shaking of physical abuse from Flonne and Etna, even heavy abuse after a few hours nap, without a single scratch and talking like he did not even feel pain. {{spoiler|Also has been shown to be able to be in the vicinity of his own planet-busting attack as of ''[[Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories]]''.}}.

* [[Oedipus Complex]]: He openly acknowledges that he hates his dad,<ref>Though how much he hates him depends on whether or not you interpret his line as actual hatred or him simply acting like a typical demon.</ref>, while he really liked his mother.

** Thursday lampshades this when he and Gordon find his mother's picture stashed in his drawer in ''[[Disgaea Infinite]]''.