TV-Series
Description
Nastassja Sergeyevna Tolstaya, usually called Professor Nastassja and addressed as Mom by Maria, Kirika, and Shirabe, is a heretical engineer who supports the operations of Maria's team in Symphogear G. She is an older woman with shoulder-length blue hair and purple eyes, and her expertise in holy relics and the Symphogear system is considerable. After the Luna Attack made a limited amount of information about relics public, her own knowledge of those technologies far surpassed what had been released, marking her as one of the most capable researchers operating outside official channels.
Her background is tied to the F.I.S., an American relic research institution that raised children seen as suitable candidates for the Symphogear program and as potential vessels for the will of Finé. She trained several of those children, including Maria Cadenzavna Eve, Maria's younger sister Serena, and later Kirika Akatsuki and Shirabe Tsukuyomi. When a failed experiment brought an end to the facility, she took Maria, Kirika, and Shirabe into her personal care, becoming a mother figure to the three orphans. At some point she began collaborating with Dr. John Wayne Vercingetorix, a scientist who claimed to have a way to stop the destabilized moon from destroying the planet.
In personality, Nastassja embodies tough love in its most demanding form. She can be genuinely warm toward the girls, but she is also capable of being extremely harsh with them when she believes their mission requires it. She is pragmatic almost to a fault: she will carry out a terrible action if it seems like the best option at the moment, then feel the weight of what she has done and take responsibility for mitigating the damage. This combination of severity and remorse runs throughout her role as both an engineer and a guardian, and it shapes how the girls remember her.
For most of the story, her motivation is to prevent the moon from crashing into the Earth. Convinced that the drifting moon threatens all of humanity, she backs Maria's plan to activate the ancient structure known as Frontier and use its power to set the moon back on course. She helps Dr. Ver acquire the means to control Frontier, believing that he shares the same goal. When his true ambition is revealed, that he intends to let the moon fall and wipe out civilization so that he can emerge as its only hero, she turns against him. Ver responds by casting her into space, leaving her for dead.
Her role in the story is that of the strategist and technician working behind Maria's team, providing the knowledge, relics, and support the Symphogear users need to carry out the Frontier plan. Her relationship with Maria is the deepest of her bonds; Maria trusts her as a protector and sees her as a mother, and Kirika and Shirabe share that affection. Her relationship with Dr. Ver defines the later part of her arc, as their partnership collapses into betrayal. Her final act is also her most important one. Even after being cast into space, she manages to use the remnants of Frontier to correct the moon's orbit, sacrificing her life in the process and saving the Earth. Her body is later recovered from the wreckage, giving the girls she raised a measure of closure and leaving her remembered for her sacrifice.
Her notable abilities are almost entirely technical rather than combat-oriented. She has deep knowledge of holy relics, including how to activate them and how the Symphogear system operates, placing her above most researchers of her era. She is able to design, maintain, and operate the equipment used by Maria's team, direct the use of relics in the attempt to awaken Frontier, and carry out the complicated orbital correction that ultimately costs her life. Her work also involved the demanding training and experimentation that turned the F.I.S. children into Symphogear candidates, a role that left lasting scars on the girls but also prepared them to fight.
Her background is tied to the F.I.S., an American relic research institution that raised children seen as suitable candidates for the Symphogear program and as potential vessels for the will of Finé. She trained several of those children, including Maria Cadenzavna Eve, Maria's younger sister Serena, and later Kirika Akatsuki and Shirabe Tsukuyomi. When a failed experiment brought an end to the facility, she took Maria, Kirika, and Shirabe into her personal care, becoming a mother figure to the three orphans. At some point she began collaborating with Dr. John Wayne Vercingetorix, a scientist who claimed to have a way to stop the destabilized moon from destroying the planet.
In personality, Nastassja embodies tough love in its most demanding form. She can be genuinely warm toward the girls, but she is also capable of being extremely harsh with them when she believes their mission requires it. She is pragmatic almost to a fault: she will carry out a terrible action if it seems like the best option at the moment, then feel the weight of what she has done and take responsibility for mitigating the damage. This combination of severity and remorse runs throughout her role as both an engineer and a guardian, and it shapes how the girls remember her.
For most of the story, her motivation is to prevent the moon from crashing into the Earth. Convinced that the drifting moon threatens all of humanity, she backs Maria's plan to activate the ancient structure known as Frontier and use its power to set the moon back on course. She helps Dr. Ver acquire the means to control Frontier, believing that he shares the same goal. When his true ambition is revealed, that he intends to let the moon fall and wipe out civilization so that he can emerge as its only hero, she turns against him. Ver responds by casting her into space, leaving her for dead.
Her role in the story is that of the strategist and technician working behind Maria's team, providing the knowledge, relics, and support the Symphogear users need to carry out the Frontier plan. Her relationship with Maria is the deepest of her bonds; Maria trusts her as a protector and sees her as a mother, and Kirika and Shirabe share that affection. Her relationship with Dr. Ver defines the later part of her arc, as their partnership collapses into betrayal. Her final act is also her most important one. Even after being cast into space, she manages to use the remnants of Frontier to correct the moon's orbit, sacrificing her life in the process and saving the Earth. Her body is later recovered from the wreckage, giving the girls she raised a measure of closure and leaving her remembered for her sacrifice.
Her notable abilities are almost entirely technical rather than combat-oriented. She has deep knowledge of holy relics, including how to activate them and how the Symphogear system operates, placing her above most researchers of her era. She is able to design, maintain, and operate the equipment used by Maria's team, direct the use of relics in the attempt to awaken Frontier, and carry out the complicated orbital correction that ultimately costs her life. Her work also involved the demanding training and experimentation that turned the F.I.S. children into Symphogear candidates, a role that left lasting scars on the girls but also prepared them to fight.