TV-Series
Description
Garv, known as Chaos Dragon Garv, is a major antagonist and one of the five Mazoku Lords created by the dark deity Ruby Eye Shabranigdu. As a Mazoku, Garv is a spiritual entity from the astral plane who creates an earthly avatar to interact with the physical world. In his preferred human form, he appears as a large, muscular, roughly middle-aged man with long crimson red hair that he ties near the end, and black eyes. He dresses in a long flowing trench coat and carries a huge broadsword. His true beast form, rarely glimpsed, is that of an enormous three-headed red dragon.
Garv's background is rooted in the ancient Shinma War, the great conflict between the dragon god Flare Dragon Ceifeed and Shabranigdu that occurred around five thousand years before the main events of the Slayers series. Approximately one thousand years before the start of the series, during the Kōma War, Shabranigdu required Garv's assistance to defeat the dragon lord Aqualord Ragradia. Although they succeeded, Ragradia used the last of his power to seal Garv into a human soul as a final act of vengeance. Ragradia hoped that Garv's power would slowly diminish through repeated rebirths, but instead, Garv's soul fused completely with his human host, allowing him to regain his full strength as a Mazoku Lord.
Following this transformation, Garv turned against the other Mazoku Lords in a surprising open conflict. According to Garv himself, he could no longer support the ultimate Mazoku goal of eliminating all existence. Many believe this change in perspective stemmed from his new partially human mentality, as his human instinct to survive conflicted with the Mazoku desire for destruction. His betrayal has led the other Mazoku Lords to seek his destruction, forcing him to remain hidden from them.
Garv possesses a wild, bloodthirsty, ruthless, and extremely violent personality. He loves war and conflict, spreading destruction and chaos while feeding on the negative emotions of pain, fear, and hatred like all Mazoku. He also demonstrates a Machiavellian side, scheming to have his servants make deals with rulers and nobles so they would serve as puppet kings while Garv wields real political power from the shadows. His ultimate goal is to destroy every piece of Shabranigdu one by one, beginning with the piece sealed in ice in the Kataart Mountains, eventually seeking to take over the Mazoku race and rule the entire world.
In the story of Slayers NEXT, Garv serves as the main antagonist before his death at the hands of Hellmaster Fibrizo. Garv learns from his servants that Hellmaster Fibrizo is planning something against him involving the young sorceress Lina Inverse. Determined to thwart this plan, Garv commands all Mazoku under his control to track down and kill Lina. His schemes unfold across several locations, including Atlas City where his follower Seigram the Formless attempts to take over the Guild of Magic, and the kingdom of Saillune where his servants Kanzel and Mazenda manipulate the royal family in an attempt to install a puppet ruler. However, Garv is unaware that he is walking into Fibrizo's trap, as the false information about the plan was deliberately leaked to force Garv into the open.
Garv has several key relationships with other characters. His own priest Raltark and general Rarshart do not appear in the anime, but his known minions include Kanzel, Mazenda, Seigram, and in the anime, Valgarv, Deo, and Zazan. The most significant of these is Valgarv, originally an ancient dragon named Val whom Garv met and transformed into a loyal servant. Garv arranges that if he is ever destroyed, a great deal of his power will transfer to Valgarv, a detail specific to the anime adaptation.
Throughout the series, Garv develops from a scheming figure working through proxies to directly confronting his enemies. At first, he instructs his servants to force Lina Inverse to join him, but after learning she is protected by Xelloss under Fibrizo's orders, he becomes determined to destroy her personally. This leads to his downfall when he finally confronts Lina and her companions. After sustaining an injury from Lina's full-powered Ragna Blade spell, Garv is caught completely off guard by Hellmaster Fibrizo, whose presence he fails to detect possibly due to the lingering effects of the Aqualord's curse dulling his Mazoku senses. Despite being a Mazoku Lord, Garv is no match for Fibrizo, who taunts him for his mistake and finishes him off with a snap of his fingers.
As a Mazoku Lord, Garv possesses enormous power, including the ability to teleport himself, items, or other people, shapeshift into perfect replicas of any living creature, retreat into the astral plane, strike from the astral plane into the physical plane, create sub-dimensional spaces, change the weather, and sense the presence of other Mazoku. He has full control over the element of fire as the Demon Lord of Fire, allowing him to fire explosive spheres of flame, release waves of pure heat that can incinerate anything, and create swirling fiery shockwaves. He also possesses immense physical strength and speed, exceptional durability as demonstrated by surviving a Ragna Blade strike, and his broadsword is infused with his power, enabling him to wound other Mazoku who are normally impervious to normal weapons. The spell Garv Flare is one that calls upon his power.
Garv's background is rooted in the ancient Shinma War, the great conflict between the dragon god Flare Dragon Ceifeed and Shabranigdu that occurred around five thousand years before the main events of the Slayers series. Approximately one thousand years before the start of the series, during the Kōma War, Shabranigdu required Garv's assistance to defeat the dragon lord Aqualord Ragradia. Although they succeeded, Ragradia used the last of his power to seal Garv into a human soul as a final act of vengeance. Ragradia hoped that Garv's power would slowly diminish through repeated rebirths, but instead, Garv's soul fused completely with his human host, allowing him to regain his full strength as a Mazoku Lord.
Following this transformation, Garv turned against the other Mazoku Lords in a surprising open conflict. According to Garv himself, he could no longer support the ultimate Mazoku goal of eliminating all existence. Many believe this change in perspective stemmed from his new partially human mentality, as his human instinct to survive conflicted with the Mazoku desire for destruction. His betrayal has led the other Mazoku Lords to seek his destruction, forcing him to remain hidden from them.
Garv possesses a wild, bloodthirsty, ruthless, and extremely violent personality. He loves war and conflict, spreading destruction and chaos while feeding on the negative emotions of pain, fear, and hatred like all Mazoku. He also demonstrates a Machiavellian side, scheming to have his servants make deals with rulers and nobles so they would serve as puppet kings while Garv wields real political power from the shadows. His ultimate goal is to destroy every piece of Shabranigdu one by one, beginning with the piece sealed in ice in the Kataart Mountains, eventually seeking to take over the Mazoku race and rule the entire world.
In the story of Slayers NEXT, Garv serves as the main antagonist before his death at the hands of Hellmaster Fibrizo. Garv learns from his servants that Hellmaster Fibrizo is planning something against him involving the young sorceress Lina Inverse. Determined to thwart this plan, Garv commands all Mazoku under his control to track down and kill Lina. His schemes unfold across several locations, including Atlas City where his follower Seigram the Formless attempts to take over the Guild of Magic, and the kingdom of Saillune where his servants Kanzel and Mazenda manipulate the royal family in an attempt to install a puppet ruler. However, Garv is unaware that he is walking into Fibrizo's trap, as the false information about the plan was deliberately leaked to force Garv into the open.
Garv has several key relationships with other characters. His own priest Raltark and general Rarshart do not appear in the anime, but his known minions include Kanzel, Mazenda, Seigram, and in the anime, Valgarv, Deo, and Zazan. The most significant of these is Valgarv, originally an ancient dragon named Val whom Garv met and transformed into a loyal servant. Garv arranges that if he is ever destroyed, a great deal of his power will transfer to Valgarv, a detail specific to the anime adaptation.
Throughout the series, Garv develops from a scheming figure working through proxies to directly confronting his enemies. At first, he instructs his servants to force Lina Inverse to join him, but after learning she is protected by Xelloss under Fibrizo's orders, he becomes determined to destroy her personally. This leads to his downfall when he finally confronts Lina and her companions. After sustaining an injury from Lina's full-powered Ragna Blade spell, Garv is caught completely off guard by Hellmaster Fibrizo, whose presence he fails to detect possibly due to the lingering effects of the Aqualord's curse dulling his Mazoku senses. Despite being a Mazoku Lord, Garv is no match for Fibrizo, who taunts him for his mistake and finishes him off with a snap of his fingers.
As a Mazoku Lord, Garv possesses enormous power, including the ability to teleport himself, items, or other people, shapeshift into perfect replicas of any living creature, retreat into the astral plane, strike from the astral plane into the physical plane, create sub-dimensional spaces, change the weather, and sense the presence of other Mazoku. He has full control over the element of fire as the Demon Lord of Fire, allowing him to fire explosive spheres of flame, release waves of pure heat that can incinerate anything, and create swirling fiery shockwaves. He also possesses immense physical strength and speed, exceptional durability as demonstrated by surviving a Ragna Blade strike, and his broadsword is infused with his power, enabling him to wound other Mazoku who are normally impervious to normal weapons. The spell Garv Flare is one that calls upon his power.