TV-Series
Description
Gaulun, whose name is the Japanese pronunciation of the Cantonese word for "Nine Dragons," is a major antagonist in Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid, returning as a persistent and haunting figure from the past of the protagonist, Sousuke Sagara. A terrorist of East Asian appearance who claims to be Japanese, Gaulun is a large, imposing man with a prominent scar on his forehead, a remnant from a past near-fatal encounter. By the time of The Second Raid, Gaulun is physically devastated, suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer. The disease, combined with grievous injuries from previous battles, has left him missing most of his limbs and reliant on an electrolarynx to speak. Despite this decrepit state, his presence remains menacing and psychologically powerful.
Gaulun's personality is defined by profound cruelty, cunning, and a complete lack of empathy. He is a cold-blooded and sadistic individual who genuinely enjoys killing and causing suffering. Having been a child soldier during the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in 1970s Cambodia, his worldview was forged in an environment of extreme violence and death. This history has left him with a contempt for humanism and material civilization, as well as an almost complete absence of fear regarding his own demise. His approaching death does not make him reflective or remorseful; instead, it fuels his final, chaotic actions. He holds to a personal principle of ensuring that when he dies, he will take someone or something significant with him.
His primary motivation is his twisted obsession with Sousuke Sagara. Gaulun sees a reflection of himself in the young soldier—a fellow child of the battlefield—and refers to him by the name "Kasim," which Sousuke used during his guerrilla days in Afghanistan. He is fascinated by what he perceives as Sousuke's pure, unyielding nature as a warrior, and the central question driving his actions is whether Sousuke's time living a normal life and attending high school has made him "soft". In The Second Raid, this obsession culminates in a final test, with his actions designed not to achieve any strategic goal for his organization, but solely to provoke Sousuke and force one last confrontation.
As a high-ranking operative of the secret terrorist organization Amalgam, where he held the codename "Mr. Fe" (Iron), Gaulun is a legendary figure in the underworld, credited with assassinating over thirty political figures. However, his role in The Second Raid is that of a rogue agent acting on his own agenda. He is no longer loyal to Amalgam, and his final actions are directly contrary to the organization's interests; he deliberately provides Sousuke with a small amount of intelligence about Amalgam, including the name "Badham," as a form of revenge against the group that has discarded him. His key relationships are thus defined by enmity. He is the archenemy of Sousuke and also possesses a long-standing, bitter history with Sousuke's commanding officer, Andrei Kalinin, whom he betrayed. He views his subordinates not as comrades but as expendable tools, though some, like the twin assassins Yu Lan and Yu Fan, appear to have a degree of loyalty and respect for him.
Despite his physical ruin, Gaulun undergoes a subtle but significant development in The Second Raid, transitioning from a direct physical threat to a more psychological and thematic one. He serves as a dark mirror for Sousuke, representing the potential end point of a pure mercenary's path—a broken, inhuman existence consumed by violence. In his final appearance, he achieves a form of victory not by killing his enemy, but by manipulating the situation to force Sousuke to execute him in cold blood, thereby momentarily shattering Sousuke's resolve and proving that he is not untouched by his life as a soldier. Even his death is a trap, meant to kill as many people as possible.
Gaulun's notable abilities are legendary within the series' world. He is an exceptionally skilled combatant, regarded as being in the top tier of all fighters in the story. His expertise includes mastery of hand-to-hand combat, particularly with knives, as well as firearms and tactical strategy. Most critically, he is a superb Arm Slave pilot and one of the few individuals capable of fully utilizing the Lambda Driver, a device that converts the pilot's willpower into physical force, allowing for near-miraculous feats. He was considered the most skilled pilot of the Codarl series of Arm Slaves. His supreme confidence and lack of fear, even in the face of death, make him an extraordinarily dangerous and unpredictable opponent, capable of surviving injuries that would kill anyone else.
Gaulun's personality is defined by profound cruelty, cunning, and a complete lack of empathy. He is a cold-blooded and sadistic individual who genuinely enjoys killing and causing suffering. Having been a child soldier during the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in 1970s Cambodia, his worldview was forged in an environment of extreme violence and death. This history has left him with a contempt for humanism and material civilization, as well as an almost complete absence of fear regarding his own demise. His approaching death does not make him reflective or remorseful; instead, it fuels his final, chaotic actions. He holds to a personal principle of ensuring that when he dies, he will take someone or something significant with him.
His primary motivation is his twisted obsession with Sousuke Sagara. Gaulun sees a reflection of himself in the young soldier—a fellow child of the battlefield—and refers to him by the name "Kasim," which Sousuke used during his guerrilla days in Afghanistan. He is fascinated by what he perceives as Sousuke's pure, unyielding nature as a warrior, and the central question driving his actions is whether Sousuke's time living a normal life and attending high school has made him "soft". In The Second Raid, this obsession culminates in a final test, with his actions designed not to achieve any strategic goal for his organization, but solely to provoke Sousuke and force one last confrontation.
As a high-ranking operative of the secret terrorist organization Amalgam, where he held the codename "Mr. Fe" (Iron), Gaulun is a legendary figure in the underworld, credited with assassinating over thirty political figures. However, his role in The Second Raid is that of a rogue agent acting on his own agenda. He is no longer loyal to Amalgam, and his final actions are directly contrary to the organization's interests; he deliberately provides Sousuke with a small amount of intelligence about Amalgam, including the name "Badham," as a form of revenge against the group that has discarded him. His key relationships are thus defined by enmity. He is the archenemy of Sousuke and also possesses a long-standing, bitter history with Sousuke's commanding officer, Andrei Kalinin, whom he betrayed. He views his subordinates not as comrades but as expendable tools, though some, like the twin assassins Yu Lan and Yu Fan, appear to have a degree of loyalty and respect for him.
Despite his physical ruin, Gaulun undergoes a subtle but significant development in The Second Raid, transitioning from a direct physical threat to a more psychological and thematic one. He serves as a dark mirror for Sousuke, representing the potential end point of a pure mercenary's path—a broken, inhuman existence consumed by violence. In his final appearance, he achieves a form of victory not by killing his enemy, but by manipulating the situation to force Sousuke to execute him in cold blood, thereby momentarily shattering Sousuke's resolve and proving that he is not untouched by his life as a soldier. Even his death is a trap, meant to kill as many people as possible.
Gaulun's notable abilities are legendary within the series' world. He is an exceptionally skilled combatant, regarded as being in the top tier of all fighters in the story. His expertise includes mastery of hand-to-hand combat, particularly with knives, as well as firearms and tactical strategy. Most critically, he is a superb Arm Slave pilot and one of the few individuals capable of fully utilizing the Lambda Driver, a device that converts the pilot's willpower into physical force, allowing for near-miraculous feats. He was considered the most skilled pilot of the Codarl series of Arm Slaves. His supreme confidence and lack of fear, even in the face of death, make him an extraordinarily dangerous and unpredictable opponent, capable of surviving injuries that would kill anyone else.