List of Trigun characters

thumb|upright=1.3|Left to right: Vash, Meryl, Wolfwood and Milly

The Trigun anime and manga series features a cast of characters created by Yasuhiro Nightow. It takes place in a western/steampunk setting, primarily on a fictional desert planet where humanity has settled after leaving Earth, where civilization is sparse and mostly lawless. The plot and characters of the series differ greatly between the original manga and its anime adaptation, with the anime following roughly up to the second volume of the manga before diverging into a unique telling of the story. The series' story follows the adventures of Vash the Stampede, a legendary gunman who aims to spread his message of love and peace while combating his brother Millions Knives and Legato Bluesummers.

The protagonist of the series is Vash, a jovial, pacifist gunman who is followed by disaster and misfortune due to the large bounty on his head. Early on in the series, he is pursued by Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, insurance agents assigned with evaluating damages involving him. He also meets Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a violent and serious traveling preacher who becomes his strongest ally and friend. Throughout the series, Vash interacts with and befriends many people across the globe. Opposing him and his companions is his twin brother Millions Knives, who hates humans and his way of life. Closely following Knives is Legato Bluesummers, a cold and powerful man who is the leader of the Gung-Ho Guns, a group of super-powered assassins.

Main characters

Vash the Stampede

:Adult Vash

:Young Vash

is a sentient Plant who wields a silver revolver and travels from town to town, and is known as "The Humanoid Typhoon" due to the destruction that surrounds him. He and his brother, Knives, were born on a colony ship that was part of a fleet sent to find and settle a new world to extend the human race. There, Rem raised them, instilling in Vash the philosophy that every being deserves life, which he takes to the extreme by attempting to save everyone. However, Knives, who was disgusted by the actions of humans, caused the fleet to crash, killing Rem and many others. Since then, Vash has made it his mission to hunt down Knives and stop him from harming others. During one of his confrontations with Knives, he was forced to destroy the city of July, an incident which haunts him greatly and started his reputation. Initially, Meryl and Milly, representatives from an insurance agency investigating claims made due to damages the "Humanoid Typhoon" caused, find him as bandits are hunting him down to collect the bounty on "The $$60,000,000,000 (sixty billion double dollar) Man".

Meryl Stryfe

, also known as Nicolas the Punisher, is a member of the Eye of Michael, an organization of assassins. After showing potential in the orphanage in which he was raised, Chapel trained and modified him, giving him enhanced abilities and the ability to regenerate from injuries using special vials, though this causes him to age at a faster rate. He wields a cross-shaped gun called the Punisher, which contains two machine guns and a rocket launcher; the anime depicts one of its unused arms as containing a rack of pistols.

Antagonists

Millions Knives

:Adult Millions Knives

Dominique the Cyclops has an ability called the "Demon's Eye", which causes hypnosis and sensory paralysis in her foes, momentarily stunning them and making her movements appear to be immediate. This effect occurs when she lifts her eyepatch, revealing a reptilian eye in the manga and a red eye in the anime. Vash defeats her by placing pressure on his injured finger, allowing him to concentrate on the pain and avoid focusing on her eye. In the anime, she survives her encounter with Vash, but E.G. Mine kills her and Monev and hangs their bodies on a wall for Vash to see. In the manga, she commits suicide to avoid being punished.

E.G. Mine

E.G. Mine is a violent man who wears a sphere-like suit that contains control threads for deploying spikes, which he can use to attack by manipulating the threads. He is defeated in the manga; in the anime, Rai-Dei kills him after Vash defeats him.

Rai-Dei the Blade

is a samurai who seeks the knowledge learned only when facing death. He wields a sword with a built-in gun that can be fired from the hilt; when fired in the middle of his swing, he can swing his sword with enough force to create a sonic blast. In the anime, he is angry that Vash refuses to make his mark true and aim to kill, claiming he wants "a real battle". He escapes after Vash's Angel Arm is forced to activate, though Wolfwood soon kills him. In the manga, he wears "roller skates" that allow him to move at high speeds. After Vash defeats him, he attempts to attack him from behind, but Wolfwood kills him.

Leonof the Puppet-Master

Leonof the Puppet-Master, whose real name is Emilio, is an elderly man who controls puppets through a system of wires and can manipulate them to look like real people. He knew Vash when he was a child; after his love interest died sometime after, he began making puppets to mend his broken spirit. He cared for her body for several years until he battles Vash in the ruins of a floating ship where Vash had lived. During the fight, a portion of the ship falls off and he unsuccessfully tries to hold on to the box containing the remains of his love interest before it falls overboard. Dangling over the edge by one of his puppet wires, Leonof strikes at Vash to force him to let go of the other end and falls to his death.

The anime does not feature his background, and he is simply an assassin who can use his puppets to do various tasks, such as delivering reports to Legato and spying on and attacking people. After Leonof kills Brad using a puppet double of his longtime friend Jessica, Wolfwood kills Leonof in turn. Vash uses some of Leonof's control wires in his fight against Hoppered the Gauntlet, and later during his final showdown with Knives.

Gray the Ninelives

Gray the Ninelives is a large man known for being indestructible. In the manga, he is a mechanical suit that nine dwarves control from the inside, who will only stop fighting when all of them die. After the suit is destroyed and only two survive, they are captured and hand over their coin before later escaping.

In the anime, he is a cyborg whose only remaining human part is his brain, which is encased in armor. Wolfwood kills him by shooting out a pipeline filled with corrosive liquid, melting his armor and exposing his brain and internal frame, before destroying his upper body using the Cross Punisher. However, his legs remain active and deploy a hidden launcher to destroy one of the Plants powering the ship, causing it to crash.

Hoppered the Gauntlet

Hoppered the Gauntlet is a masked man who wears a set of armor to cover his degenerated and vestigial legs while using his arms to move. The armor acts like a top, with him using a shield to propel himself at high speeds. He seeks to kill Vash to avenge a mute and blind woman who was killed during the destruction of July. He eventually loses his mask, exposing a large cross carved into his face. During his final battle, he sees Vash's memory of July, realizes he made the wrong choice, and is killed after turning against the Guns.

The anime does not feature his backstory or expose his face, with him just wishing to make Vash suffer. After Vash deflects his attack with a gunshot, he hurls himself into one of the Plants powering the ship, leading to its crash.

Zazie the Beast

Zazie the Beast is a collective of group-minded insects that can take over the bodies of humans. They were the original inhabitants of the planet No Man's Land, who formed an alliance with Knives to determine whether humans or Plants were better candidates for co-existence. They originally take over the body of a young boy, but Hoppered destroys it after he catches it spying on him. Zazie later reappears in the body of a teenage girl, though Legato destroys it after they try to infect Knives with a mind-controlling worm. Their last body is a man wearing disco clothing, who they use to deliver their coin to Vash. Soon after, Knives destroys the main hive.

In the anime, Zazie is a demon who possessed the body of Bete, a troubled young boy who can control sand-worms using a high-frequency device he wears on his head. Vash shoots and destroys the device, and Zazie takes full control of Bete to hold Vash, Meryl, and Milly at gunpoint. Wolfwood shoots and kills Zazie, prompting a heated disagreement between him and Vash over their morals. In the manga, the conflict is instead instigated after Wolfwood kills Rai-Dei.

Midvalley the Hornfreak

Midvalley the Hornfreak is a violent musician who can use his tenor saxophone to generate destructive sound and play frequencies that drive those that hear it into a murderous frenzy. He can also neutralize sounds by playing counter-frequencies. He and his band originally killed for money until Knives found them and killed everyone except Midvalley after they refused his offer to join him. Terrified and resentful of Knives and Legato, Midvalley attempts to betray and desert the Guns, but Legato discovers his plan and takes control of Hoppered's body to kill him. Legato subsequently uses Midvalley's corpse to kill Hoppered, after which they are buried together, with Midvalley's horn being hung on his tombstone.

In the anime, Midvalley plays Sylvia, a cross between an alto and a tenor saxophone, who serves mainly as Legato's bodyguard before becoming the final Gun to fight Vash. In their battle, Midvalley reveals his ability to synchronize sound waves with the body's pain receptors. Vash damages his horn, rendering him unable to play, and Midvalley commits suicide by triggering the machine guns hidden in the bell to backfire into his chest.

Caine the Longshot

Caine the Longshot is a member of the Gung-Ho Guns who only appears in the anime in place of Elendira the Crimsonnail. He is a mute, talented sniper who wields a rifle with a long barrel, whose scope allows him to fire from many miles away. The poncho he wears can change its coloration to blend in with his surroundings, and he wears a broad-brimmed hat and a steel mask whose left eye is patched shut. Vash distracts him long enough to destroy his rifle, but instead of surrendering, Caine commits suicide by shooting himself in the head with a revolver. He is later buried in the desert, with his hat and a piece of the rifle's barrel marking his grave.

Elendira the Crimsonnail

Elendira the Crimsonnail, referred to as the lost thirteenth Gung-Ho Gun in the manga, is the most powerful of the group. She is a transgender woman and wears feminine clothing and a pillbox hat. She wields a large briefcase that can shoot giant nails and transform into a crossbow. Underneath her outer garments, she wears restraining armour, which when disabled allows her to move at high speed. She also has the power to project the image of the death of her opponents through touch, crippling them with the realistic illusion. She is jealous of Legato because he is not part of the Guns, suggesting that Legato is more important to Knives than her. She was apparently one of Knives' very first companions, as she was seen walking with him as a child along with Legato. She fights Livio twice, the first time skewering his torso with many nails after launching him through several buildings. Their subsequent rematch results in a similar outcome, despite Livio and Razlo's combined efforts to match her speed. Elendira is ultimately killed when Livio grabs her and uses one of the nails to impale her.

Chapel the Evergreen

Simply known as "Chapel" in the manga and also known as 'Master C', he is a member of the "Eye of Michael", an organization of ecclesiastical assassins founded by a church that worships Plants. They provide Knives with mercenaries, with three slots of the Gung-Ho Guns reserved for the Eye of Michael's best. He was Wolfwood's mentor and taught him the skills in being an assassin. He is subsequently shot and left as a paraplegic by Wolfwood, who impersonates him. Despite being middle-aged, like other members of the Eye, the artificial modifications made to his body, which grant him enhanced strength and reflexes and regenerative abilities, have aged him considerably. He uses a wheelchair after Wolfwood shoots him and wields a large cross-shaped machine gun similar to Wolfwood's Punisher, which has four spiked ends at the base of the cross. Wolfwood cracks Chapel's skull and breaks his neck, but Chapel recovers and tries to kill him, not caring that his current protégé Razlo is in the way. Enraged at Chapel's callous behavior, Razlo kills him.

In the anime, he is Wolfwood's direct mentor and wields a parent version of his Cross Punisher, though his version splits into twin machine guns. After Wolfwood killed his abusive guardian as a boy, Chapel took him in and began to train him. The two men fight, with Wolfwood gaining the upper hand and choosing to spare Chapel, but Legato telepathically takes control of Chapel's body and forces him to kill Wolfwood. Chapel subsequently tries and fails to kill Legato in revenge, whereupon Knives obliterates him.

Livio and Razlo

Livio the Double Fang is a childhood friend of Wolfwood and the final member of the Gung-Ho Guns, who comes from the Eye of Michael. He wields the Double Fangs, two small cross-shaped machine guns strapped on his arms that fire from both ends. His body has been enhanced through increased metabolic rate, allowing him to recover from near fatal wounds instantly. He grew up in the same orphanage as Wolfwood, where he was nicknamed "Livio the Crybaby".

Razlo the Tri-P(unisher) of Death is a violent and psychotic split personality, who is treated as another member of the Gung-Ho Guns. This personality developed following repeated abuse by Livio's father, with Razlo taking all the abuse and allowing Livio to remain unaware of it. Razlo only appears after Livio has suffered intense pain or violence and often commits acts of violence, such as killing Livio's parents. He wields three Punishers, the same gun as Wolfwood, with the aid of a bionic arm, thus giving him the nickname 'the tri-p of death', short for Tri-Punisher of Death. He is aided by three servants who carry his Punishers while Livio's persona is active.

They are defeated after their fight with Wolfwood, though Wolfwood dies soon after, having been injured while overdosing on the regeneration drug. In the aftermath of the fight, Livio comes to terms with Razlo's existence and decides that he is now strong enough to face life on his own. Vash decides to forgive Livio and he becomes Vash's partner in an act of redemption, seeking to live as Wolfwood would have. When Livio fights against Elendira and is unable to win, he allows Razlo to awake and help him kill her by utilizing his faster reflexes and better eyesight. Livio later lives together with the children in his old orphanage and is shown paying his respects at Wolfwood's gravestone.