TV-Series
Description
Countess of Werdenberg, whose real name is Hiroko Kageyama, is a central figure in the conflict that defines the world of Gilgamesh. Her past is deeply rooted in the events leading to the catastrophic Twin X incident, which reshaped the planet. Before this disaster, she was employed as a researcher at a facility known as Heaven's Gate, where she worked closely with a brilliant scientist named Terumichi Madoka. She harbored deep romantic feelings for Madoka, but he was already married with a daughter. Unable to be with the man she loved, she instead married a wealthy scientist and Count whom she worked with. When the Count perished during the Twin X catastrophe, she inherited his immense fortune, becoming the Countess of Werdenberg, a woman of substantial wealth and influence.
In the aftermath of the Twin X event, the Countess was found as the sole survivor of the attack on Heaven's Gate and remained in a coma for several years. Upon awakening, she began a new mission: to find and recruit children rumored to possess extraordinary psychic abilities, a power known as Dynamis. She located three such children in desperate situations and took them in, raising them as her own and training them to hone their powers. These children became known as the Orga-Superior, and she positioned them as the primary force to oppose the Gilgamesh, a group of super-powered beings led by her former love, Terumichi Madoka, who now called himself Enkidu. Her motivations for this war are not purely altruistic or about saving the world; they are deeply personal and self-serving, rooted in her bitterness and jealousy towards Madoka and his family.
The Countess's personality is defined by a facade of cold, aristocratic formality. She is always dressed impeccably, lives in a lavish hotel rather than her mansion, and insists on formal dinners with her makeshift family every night. She rarely smiles and never speaks of her past, projecting an air of enigmatic control. Beneath this stoic exterior, however, is a deeply lonely and resentful woman. Her hatred is particularly directed at Kiyoko, Madoka's daughter, whom she despises for being the child of the man she could not have. In contrast, she shows noticeable warmth towards Tatsuya, Kiyoko's brother, largely because he bears a striking physical resemblance to his father, Terumichi. While she treats the three Orga-Superior children as her own, she is fundamentally using them as tools in her personal vendetta, a fact that makes her a deeply ambiguous character who can appear cruel and manipulative in one scene and pitiable in the next.
The Countess's role in the story is that of the leader of one of the four major factions, directly opposing the Gilgamesh. She uses her vast wealth and resources to shelter and direct the Orga-Superior in their battles. Her key relationships are defined by obsession and loathing. Her entire campaign is driven by her history with Terumichi Madoka. This obsession also extends to his children, Tatsuya and Kiyoko, who become caught in the crossfire of her war. The Countess's treatment of Kiyoko is particularly harsh and cruel, contributing to the girl's tragic spiral into despair. She also comes into conflict with the Mitleid Corporation, a military contractor that opposes the Gilgamesh, as its leader finds her secretive and manipulative nature untrustworthy.
Over the course of the narrative, the Countess undergoes a significant, albeit tragic, development. Late in the story, a devastating truth is revealed: the very life form that caused the Twin X catastrophe and instigated the apocalyptic chain of events, a life form known as Tear, was born from the hatred and jealousy within her own heart. The clones and contaminated tissue used to save her life after Twin X had transformed her, making her very being the source of the world's destruction. Faced with this horrifying revelation, she recognizes that her personal, petty darkness is directly responsible for the impending end of humanity. At this point, she abandons her fight, surrenders to Tear, and allows the Cleansing Flood to commence, effectively accepting the annihilation of the human race.
The Countess is also a user of Dynamis, though her capabilities are unique. She did not possess these powers naturally. They were granted to her when cloned pieces of her own body, which had been contaminated by the entity Tear, were implanted in her to save her life. This contamination allowed her to access supernatural abilities, but she uses them extremely sparingly, possibly due to an inability to control them outside of life-threatening situations, or perhaps a conscious desire to refrain from using the very power that is tied to her own inner corruption. Her abilities, when manifested, fall within the same psychic realm as the other Dynamis users, including telekinesis and telepathy.
In the aftermath of the Twin X event, the Countess was found as the sole survivor of the attack on Heaven's Gate and remained in a coma for several years. Upon awakening, she began a new mission: to find and recruit children rumored to possess extraordinary psychic abilities, a power known as Dynamis. She located three such children in desperate situations and took them in, raising them as her own and training them to hone their powers. These children became known as the Orga-Superior, and she positioned them as the primary force to oppose the Gilgamesh, a group of super-powered beings led by her former love, Terumichi Madoka, who now called himself Enkidu. Her motivations for this war are not purely altruistic or about saving the world; they are deeply personal and self-serving, rooted in her bitterness and jealousy towards Madoka and his family.
The Countess's personality is defined by a facade of cold, aristocratic formality. She is always dressed impeccably, lives in a lavish hotel rather than her mansion, and insists on formal dinners with her makeshift family every night. She rarely smiles and never speaks of her past, projecting an air of enigmatic control. Beneath this stoic exterior, however, is a deeply lonely and resentful woman. Her hatred is particularly directed at Kiyoko, Madoka's daughter, whom she despises for being the child of the man she could not have. In contrast, she shows noticeable warmth towards Tatsuya, Kiyoko's brother, largely because he bears a striking physical resemblance to his father, Terumichi. While she treats the three Orga-Superior children as her own, she is fundamentally using them as tools in her personal vendetta, a fact that makes her a deeply ambiguous character who can appear cruel and manipulative in one scene and pitiable in the next.
The Countess's role in the story is that of the leader of one of the four major factions, directly opposing the Gilgamesh. She uses her vast wealth and resources to shelter and direct the Orga-Superior in their battles. Her key relationships are defined by obsession and loathing. Her entire campaign is driven by her history with Terumichi Madoka. This obsession also extends to his children, Tatsuya and Kiyoko, who become caught in the crossfire of her war. The Countess's treatment of Kiyoko is particularly harsh and cruel, contributing to the girl's tragic spiral into despair. She also comes into conflict with the Mitleid Corporation, a military contractor that opposes the Gilgamesh, as its leader finds her secretive and manipulative nature untrustworthy.
Over the course of the narrative, the Countess undergoes a significant, albeit tragic, development. Late in the story, a devastating truth is revealed: the very life form that caused the Twin X catastrophe and instigated the apocalyptic chain of events, a life form known as Tear, was born from the hatred and jealousy within her own heart. The clones and contaminated tissue used to save her life after Twin X had transformed her, making her very being the source of the world's destruction. Faced with this horrifying revelation, she recognizes that her personal, petty darkness is directly responsible for the impending end of humanity. At this point, she abandons her fight, surrenders to Tear, and allows the Cleansing Flood to commence, effectively accepting the annihilation of the human race.
The Countess is also a user of Dynamis, though her capabilities are unique. She did not possess these powers naturally. They were granted to her when cloned pieces of her own body, which had been contaminated by the entity Tear, were implanted in her to save her life. This contamination allowed her to access supernatural abilities, but she uses them extremely sparingly, possibly due to an inability to control them outside of life-threatening situations, or perhaps a conscious desire to refrain from using the very power that is tied to her own inner corruption. Her abilities, when manifested, fall within the same psychic realm as the other Dynamis users, including telekinesis and telepathy.