Gjallarhorn - Tumblr Posts

I do really like the whole mythic aspect that Iron-Blooded Orphans brought to the table. Not just in regards to the Gundams or mobile suits specifically (though those are wonderful), but just the world in general.

Tekkadan being enshrined as “The Devils of Mars”, and Gjallarhorn’s naming convention having so much influence from Nordic legends and mythology. It really sells the world as not only believable, but where these things have power.

Where a legend can make or break something.

And the mobile suits exemplify this.

I really like the Gundams being these forgotten, almost revered machines. The legendary warriors that ended a war over three centuries ago. The relics of a bygone age, taken up by modern peoples for their own, comparatively petty, causes. That mystic aspect works really well, since it is a setting built on myth, with Kudelia’s Maiden of Revolution and Julieta’s knight imagery.

Gjallarhorn as a whole has a lot of knightly imagery in its mobile suits and it’s aesthetics. Gjallarhorn is the organisation that saved the world from the calamity war after all, so they project that image with their dress and mobile suits. Even Lieutenant Crank and Ein are emblematic of a knight and squire, with Gaelio and Ein only furthering the comparison

Ein’s is a squire, who’s knight is slain by bandits. In desperation he pledges himself to another knight in hopes of avenging his lord, eventually giving up his life to protect his new knight, who gave him that chance. He rises again as a black-armoured murderer, who is lost to his vengeance, focusing only on that single goal, being slain by the very bandits he sought to avenge himself on. Years later, his “memory” is carried by the knight he saved, which is used to give him a chance against his foe.

It sounds like a classical story, and that’s just Ein. It only touches on Gaelio, but he undergoes his own arc, intertwined with Ein. There’s a bunch of imagery like that, particularly with Gjallarhorn. One example would be railguns.

They’re fairly common weaponry, but they’re wielded so much like lances. Iok seeks to use one to slay Hashmal, so even though they’re ranged weapons in a world defined by CQC, they don’t seem out of place, because they still seem like a comparatively simple weapon. Dainsleif’s looking like bows and being employed en mass a la archers would be another example. It even adds to the knightly theme, since one of the main downfalls of knights was the invention of the longbow, a bow capable of piercing armour.

So you have this setting built on all this, where even Tekkadan, who don’t even pay lip service to the idea are part of this grander mythology.

And then Rustal shows up and completely upends it.

It just all works really well.

Ah! I meant to make a follow up to this, didn’t I?

Well then, a large part of the factor of why I love this as an element so much is that it ties in significantly with Mcgillis, whom I really, really like.

Mcgillis is essentially shaped by the mythology of the world, specifically he’s based a lot of who he is on the legend of Agnika Kaieru. Which makes a lot of sense, honestly. He’s a child in this bad situation, so he reads an old book of legends and is enraptured by what he sees. The old, uncorrupt gjallarhorn. A time of legend, where mystical heroes piloting the legendary Gundam frames fought for the very preservation of humanity. Pretty much every action he takes after him and Gaelio first fight Tekkadan are to create this new, better world.

And he really believes it.

He believes he can do it, he believes that with the backing of Tekkadan, these heroes who pilot the legendary Gundam frames, used by his idol, the man he strives to be like, he can reform gjallarhorn to what it should be.

And honestly, he has a lot of successes. Conditions generally improve with Kudelia’s speech in parliament, the deaths of two of the Seven Stars weaken Gjallarhorn’s position and leaves him a lot of influence, and (as shown in IBO Gekko) at least some of the corruption in Gjallarhorn is exposed and shut down (like Coral).

But he makes sacrifices, like Gaelio and Carta. There’s a lot of interpretations of his relationship with them - was it all a fraud, did he ever value them etc. but the interpretation I tend to go with is that he does value them (as he says in his conversation with Gaelio when he fights him at Edmonton). He fully expects Gaelio to die and he seems like he wants to send him out well. I believe he generally did value them, but he realised that the best way for his plan to work is to have them both die (especially since Carta is essentially under the thumb of his Iznario, who Mcgillis definitely wants out of the way). He’s just gotten swept up in his plan actually working that he’s willing to pay any price.

It’s actually a really good parallel with Mikazuki. Mikazuki makes a deal with Barbatos, trading his bodily functions for the power to protect his friends.

Mcgillis makes a deal with Bael, trading his friends for the power to change things with Bael.

(Heck, there’s even a body autonomy argument there, since both of them are defined by not having control over their own bodies, Mikazuki with the Alaya-Vijnana system needing to be implanted to give him the power of piloting without training and Mcgillis with his body being traded to Iznario, granting him knowledge of Gjallarhorn and Agnika Kaieru. This is reinforced by Mcgillis choosing to re-create the original Alaya-Vijnana system and implant in his body in order to pilot Bael, and Mikazuki choosing to have a child with Atra).

I also think that Mcgillis’ relationship with Almiria is a really good facet of his character, but I’ll cover that in a separate post, since this one’s getting a little long.

In essence, Mcgillis gets swept up in this grand mythology, of which Bael is the lynchpin.

Just look at him when he rallies the fleet in Bael, it looks like it’s out of a painting, or a propaganda piece (honestly a lot of that scene has those vibes). It’s generally unclear as to whether he’s actively cultivating this image specifically to rally his forces, or whether he’s just so deep into being the resurrection of Agnika Kaieru that he just doesn’t notice. He says it himself “this is as it should be”. This. In this moment, he’s living up to the ideal he wants. He is Agnika Kaieru reborn, the man who will reform the corrupt gjallarhorn and lead it into a new, better age.

Then Rustal fires the second volley.

It’s just wonderful to watch, as Mcgillis is swept up in this grand mythology, converting the Gjallarhorn revolutionary fleet to his cause and promising to make Orga the King of Mars. And Rustal just does not care one bit.

I do really like the whole mythic aspect that Iron-Blooded Orphans brought to the table. Not just in regards to the Gundams or mobile suits specifically (though those are wonderful), but just the world in general.

Tekkadan being enshrined as “The Devils of Mars”, and Gjallarhorn’s naming convention having so much influence from Nordic legends and mythology. It really sells the world as not only believable, but where these things have power.

Where a legend can make or break something.

And the mobile suits exemplify this.

I really like the Gundams being these forgotten, almost revered machines. The legendary warriors that ended a war over three centuries ago. The relics of a bygone age, taken up by modern peoples for their own, comparatively petty, causes. That mystic aspect works really well, since it is a setting built on myth, with Kudelia’s Maiden of Revolution and Julieta’s knight imagery.

Gjallarhorn as a whole has a lot of knightly imagery in its mobile suits and it’s aesthetics. Gjallarhorn is the organisation that saved the world from the calamity war after all, so they project that image with their dress and mobile suits. Even Lieutenant Crank and Ein are emblematic of a knight and squire, with Gaelio and Ein only furthering the comparison

Ein’s is a squire, who’s knight is slain by bandits. In desperation he pledges himself to another knight in hopes of avenging his lord, eventually giving up his life to protect his new knight, who gave him that chance. He rises again as a black-armoured murderer, who is lost to his vengeance, focusing only on that single goal, being slain by the very bandits he sought to avenge himself on. Years later, his “memory” is carried by the knight he saved, which is used to give him a chance against his foe.

It sounds like a classical story, and that’s just Ein. It only touches on Gaelio, but he undergoes his own arc, intertwined with Ein. There’s a bunch of imagery like that, particularly with Gjallarhorn. One example would be railguns.

They’re fairly common weaponry, but they’re wielded so much like lances. Iok seeks to use one to slay Hashmal, so even though they’re ranged weapons in a world defined by CQC, they don’t seem out of place, because they still seem like a comparatively simple weapon. Dainsleif’s looking like bows and being employed en mass a la archers would be another example. It even adds to the knightly theme, since one of the main downfalls of knights was the invention of the longbow, a bow capable of piercing armour.

So you have this setting built on all this, where even Tekkadan, who don’t even pay lip service to the idea are part of this grander mythology.

And then Rustal shows up and completely upends it.

It just all works really well.

I’m just gonna pull out that side note about Gusion first, since I’d honestly just assumed that the Brewers (or another pirate group) had re-armoured it. It’s stated that it was recovered from a high density debris zone - there’s a lot of old Ahab reactors floating about, and they tend to clump together in massive calamity-war era debris fields. It’s not unlikely that a Gundam frame (or a ship carrying a Gundam frame) would get caught in one and eventually be recovered. Given that both Flauros and presumably Barbatos were recovered in post-battle condition (unrecoverable Gundam frames typically had their cockpits destroyed to deny them to the enemy, Barbatos needs to be refitted with a cockpit prior to deployment, so….), it’s likely that Gusion was in the same sort of condition. My main two reasons for believing that it’s not it’s original condition are that the Rebake in both its forms has High-Sensitivity sensors mounted in its head, which I took to be a feature of the frame (like how the Kimaris has a sensor package for high-speed combat), which the Brewers just didn’t use since they operate in a very dense environment, so sniping’s less viable as an option. Secondly, the Gundam frames are noted in series as being very versatile, able to mount a wide variety of equipment and still perform well (like Barbatos and Astaroth). Given that basically every other Gundam Frame we see has a largely humanoid form and is able to perform equally well on Earth and space, I find it more likely that the Brewers, a space piracy Organization, accustomed to short-range raids and quick fights in the debris field, would customise the Gusion for their own purposes, rather than Calamity-War Era Gjallarhorn hobbling themselves with such a specialised setup.

In regards to the Seven Stars, apparently the Issue Family is at its head, being (presumably) the family with the highest number of Mobile Armour kills during the Calamity War. This actually makes a whole lot of sense. Carta is the only known and active member of the family, due to her father having died when she was young/being otherwise incapacitated (I’m not sure which). Her being particularly sheltered, even for Gjallarhorn nobility tracks, since Iznario (her guardian) would want to have her pliable so he can sneak his political dealings by her. Heck, her marrying McGillis would be perfect for him, since it’d essentially subsume the Issue Family into Fareed, granting them greatly increased status. Her death, and thus of the Issue line, leaves a power vacuum in the Seven Stars, which Iok thinks McGillis is trying to fill with Hashmal. It’s possible that the rest of the families are largely equal in standing, but an imbalance would shove Fareed into the head chair. McGillis already inherited a great deal of her holdings (such as her position in the Outer Earth Regulatory Joint Fleet), and improved status would allow him to consolidate them under the banner of the Fareed Family. Though you’re absolutely correct that we just don’t know enough about Gjallarhorn’s internal workings (and status of any surviving Gundam frames) to make any certain statements about any further rankings. Though I do wonder where Ville Klassen, member of Gjallarhorn nobility would fit in. Since it’s possible that the Seere was intended to be the Klassen Family Gundam (though I confess I find that to fit far too neatly).

Astaroth being sold off is rather odd. It’s possible that the official in charge genuinely didn’t know what they were working with, somebody like Ville Klassen could have hurried to process along to get rid of it, or Daddy Ted might’ve actively sought it out and cut a deal in order to obtain it. I’d say that the fact that the equipment was stripped first at least implies that somebody in Gjallarhorn didn’t want a fully functional Gundam frame from the calamity war out there and I’d assume that they probably kept the sword from the Origin version, since it’s basically irreplaceable. It suffers purely because we know of only once that a Gundam frame is actively sold, and we only hear about it offhandedly. I suppose it is possible that other Gjallarhorn families would consider it…… I suppose disrespectful? To possess a Gundam frame associated with another family (particularly an embezzler), and again, I suppose if they’re not really thought much of by Gjallarhorn at large then there’d be little point.

Honestly, I typically read Gremory’s battle anchor damage as being from in the thick of combat/fighting something especially strong. It typically operated in a two man team along with the Oltlinde, and if I was going to put the Gremory anywhere, it’d probably be somewhere where it’s Nanolaminate Coat’s going to matter, and save something like the Dantalion catching a hit and getting wrecked. Seeing as it seems to be lightly armed for a Gundam frame, it’s possible it just broke from overuse. Vual’s just odd, since it’s specifically noted as being recovered armourless, so it almost certainly wasn’t fighting at the time.

So I realised something - two things in fact, today when thinking about Iron Blooded Orphans again.

So, Gaelio, having realised that his Schwalbe Graze isn’t enough, pulls out the Bauduin family Gundam, the Kimaris, with which to fight the Barbatos. Mcgillis (as Montag) expresses amazement that Gaelio did this, and surprise that Gundam’s are fighting one another. However, his tone is rather dry, suggesting that, while surprising, such a situation is not an unthinkable one.

So, could there have been other fights between Gundam’s post-calamity war?

The other thing is that, while we’re told that there’s 26 Gundam’s known to still exist in P.D. 323, at the start of the series (I *think* it gets pushed up to 31 by the end, since Flauros, Gusion, Vual, Asmoday and Hajiroboshi get unearthed or revealed over that timeframe, but I might have forgotten one), we don’t know for certain that all of the missing ones were destroyed during the calamity war. It’s possible some were destroyed in the intervening 300-ish years, whether by politicking (think the Warren’s and Nadira’s being shoved out along with their gundam’s) or by some other conflict (it’s of course possible that not everyone was completely willing to accept Gjallarhorn’s rule postwar, no matter what the state of things).

So it’s possible that other Gundam’s have been discovered or lost since the calamity war, and they could have intervened in numerous other conflicts in that time. Mcgillis himself notes that Gundam’s “have appeared numerous times at historical turning points and have been a great influence on the history of man”. Not “the machines that won the calamity war”. It’s of course possible that Mcgillis’ romanticism makes him a biased source, prone to flowery descriptions. But. It does seem to indicate that the Gundams have had influence beyond the Calamity War already by P.D. 323, thus implying other conflicts they’ve been involved in.

I don’t know, it’s just cool to think about (and possible fodder for sidestories set prior to tekkadan’s formation in 323).

I’m reluctant to write off Gusion Rebake Full City’s Scissor armour purely because I have a history of looking at IBO’s odder weaponry and thinking it silly, then realising that it was designed to fight Mobile Armours, which are rather unique foes. That’s not to say that I genuinely think it was used in the Calamity War (mainly because I personally consider Gusion’s Long Range Sensors a more likely strength for the machine), but given it’s role as absolutely crushing armour, I imagine it wouldn’t be completely ineffective (Good angle on looking at the wider gundam configuration’s though, I hadn’t thought of that). The Gusion Rebake Full City’s manual regarding Akihiro though - looking at it now, I’d wager it was a word order snafu. “He previously belonged to the brewers and proposed that boys that do not have a family name should refer to themselves as Altland” to “He proposed that boys who previously belonged to the Brewers and do not have a family name should refer to themselves as Altland” (I’m no scholar of Japanese, but English has a fairly unique sentence structure compared to a lot of other languages, so at a guess that’s where I’d expect mistakes to happen).

I don’t really have much to comment on Deira Nadira and Mina Zalmfort - I haven’t read more than the first arc of IBO Gekko, and while I can suppose and guess about MS Designs, I find it significantly harder to do so about character motivations. Deira and Mina’s coupling probably wouldn’t preclude any heirs - it’s just that where the other half of that bloodline came from wouldn’t evoke much scrutiny (Deira is House Nadira’s heir, after all, of similar importance as Gaelio and Zadiel to their respective houses, so they’d require an heir of some description). It’s possible I’m overestimating the importance of the House Heirs, given what you said about how Gjallarhorn’s aristocracy likely propagates. I did think it was odd that Carta was explicitly the only Heir to House Issue earlier, but given that her death leaves the seat empty I can’t really see another alternative (McGillis’ and Iok’s deaths also take their respective houses out of the running as well, implying that they could not recover where Bauduin could, though considering that Iznario’s out of the picture, and Iok’s predecessor is established to be dead, it may be that it was Gallus and Almiria that kept the Bauduin House from being Heirless). I’d read Mcgillis as being officially adopted into house Fareed, though Iznario faking a blood relation seems very plausible. The blonde kid in the car has been irritating me ever since the series ended, because we have absolutely no idea who they were and what happened to them. Are they a prospective heir to house Fareed? Where did they go when Iznario was exiled? Was Iznario’s other dirty laundry exposed with them?

The houses operating under a “as long as it works” philosophy in regards to their lineages makes perfect sense, since it feeds into the Seven Stars (and thus down into Gjallarhorn’s) power base - even through direct descent, the Seven Stars position comes from actions taken by their ancestors on a meritocratic basis (mobile armour kills) so it’s unlikely they’d be too picky about their heirs, since the beginning of each lineage was founded through merit.

Heck, looping back around to the start of this, it’s possible there hasn’t been this much of a threat to the lineages until recently. If not for McGillis and Tekkadan, then Carta would likely have continued the Issue line and preserved the order of Gjallarhorn (though it’s possible the Kujan family would have always faced an uphill battle for continued existence). It’s even a possibility that until the events of the series there was never such a loss of Heirs in Gjallarhorn (Kujan, Issue, Fareed and the loss of the Zalmforts and possibly the Jizin’s in Gekko (and the Nadira and Warren families being pushed out prior). Suddenly the single line of succession isn’t cutting it anymore, and they can’t course-correct in time.

Sorry about the last-minute edits, Tumblr didn’t save the final changes until after I’d already posted it.

So I realised something - two things in fact, today when thinking about Iron Blooded Orphans again.

So, Gaelio, having realised that his Schwalbe Graze isn’t enough, pulls out the Bauduin family Gundam, the Kimaris, with which to fight the Barbatos. Mcgillis (as Montag) expresses amazement that Gaelio did this, and surprise that Gundam’s are fighting one another. However, his tone is rather dry, suggesting that, while surprising, such a situation is not an unthinkable one.

So, could there have been other fights between Gundam’s post-calamity war?

The other thing is that, while we’re told that there’s 26 Gundam’s known to still exist in P.D. 323, at the start of the series (I *think* it gets pushed up to 31 by the end, since Flauros, Gusion, Vual, Asmoday and Hajiroboshi get unearthed or revealed over that timeframe, but I might have forgotten one), we don’t know for certain that all of the missing ones were destroyed during the calamity war. It’s possible some were destroyed in the intervening 300-ish years, whether by politicking (think the Warren’s and Nadira’s being shoved out along with their gundam’s) or by some other conflict (it’s of course possible that not everyone was completely willing to accept Gjallarhorn’s rule postwar, no matter what the state of things).

So it’s possible that other Gundam’s have been discovered or lost since the calamity war, and they could have intervened in numerous other conflicts in that time. Mcgillis himself notes that Gundam’s “have appeared numerous times at historical turning points and have been a great influence on the history of man”. Not “the machines that won the calamity war”. It’s of course possible that Mcgillis’ romanticism makes him a biased source, prone to flowery descriptions. But. It does seem to indicate that the Gundams have had influence beyond the Calamity War already by P.D. 323, thus implying other conflicts they’ve been involved in.

I don’t know, it’s just cool to think about (and possible fodder for sidestories set prior to tekkadan’s formation in 323).

Huh. Though the new Gundam Murmur is a delight, I’ve just realised something about the pilot, Makie Fareed. I’d initially misread it as “Maike” (Ma-ike), but here we have a member of the Fareed family bearing the name Makie.

Makie, Maky, Macky……

Now where else have we heard that name?

Of course it could just be a coincidence, but given that Almiria is a scion of Gjallarhorn, it’s likely that she was taught to remember the names of the other Gjallarhorn members primogenitors. And when her “shining knight” should come along to rescue her from harm, her mind draws back to those history lessons to another “knight” of the Fareed Household, and the shining armour they wore.

How interesting it is then, that it’s that exact set of shining armour that McGillis rejects in favour of Bael.

Fuck it, it’s been out for….. however many days now, let’s talk about the Gundam Murmur.

Gonna be discussing the design and sorta just general implications of its existence (like I did a little with the Haagenti and Rustal).

Design-wise, gorgeous. I love how unique it looks compared to units that came before it, while still retaining enough Gundam-like features to not look too out of place. It is, I suppose, the limit of the Gundam’s human-centric design (watch something else come out that just blows this out of the water), especially since it’s primary weapons (the Surgical Feathers) are controlled via remote (through Alaya-Vijinana). It makes sense as a weapon system, since it seems to be designed to overwhelm a Mobile Armour from range. The form and flowing armour I find quite pleasing - I’d like to assume the engraving was added postwar (particularly since the Fareed’s are part of the Seven Stars), but I’ve absolutely nothing to back that up with. I did think that given the nature of its weapons systems, it’s possible that it relied on a lot of other units (like Hugo’s or Rodi’s) to tie up enemy mobile armours until it could strike the killing blow, so perhaps they’re there to inspire its vassals? Then again, the surgical stylings of its equipment seem to be pointing in a different direction.

I’ve seen a lot of comparisons going around with the Qubeley, because of the flowing nature of its armour, but I honestly associate it more with the Gundam Harute (Final Battle ver.), likely due to the skirt, back weapons and orange colouration. I do have a fondness for the head - it feels quite removed from the typical design, thanks to its large shape, but it retains the key features (twin-eye, “horns”, faceplate). It could even be said that the both have a significant compliment of ranged weaponry, since the Harute has Scissor Fangs. I do like how it’s upper half seems rather lightly armoured, since it makes it seem mobile and able to fight with its surgical knives - too much armour would make it’s mobility less believable, so it’s a nice touch. I generally like skirts on mobile suits (a good example off the top of my head would be the Xamel), so Murmur going the whole hog with a dress and a bunch of knives is just wonderful.

Alrighty, so I mentioned way, waaaaay back when talking about the Haagenti that it’d be interesting to see what the other Seven Stars Gundams are that remain in Vingolf along with Bael (barring Kimaris, obviously)

(Which is a thought. Wonder how Kimaris’ loss was covered up. It’s all very well saying Gaelio died at Edmonton, but surely you’d at least recover the Gundam frame. Supposedly the official records were doctored to say that the Kimaris had been returned, but I feel like someone should’ve at least checked if it’d been returned.) (Hm. Though now I am imagining Rustal just swapping the armour onto Haagenti and then smuggling it into the Baudin’s vault, which is fun).

Anyway, we now have the Fareed and Kujan Family Gundam’s leaving only the Baklazan and Issue families to go (I’ve been seeing some theories floating around regarding the Issue family Gundam, so it’ll be interesting to see how accurate they are). So, to recap, there’s 8 Gundam frames in Vingolf (unless House Baklazan’s missing theirs or something) of the 26 confirmed to still be in existence at the start of Iron Blooded Orphans in P.D. 323 (though we don’t know who’s doing the confirming, so that number’s fairly loose).

So, what does this mean regarding our erstwhile Agnika Kaieru Impersonator over here?

Mcgillis Fareed stood to, and by the second season did, inherit the Gundam Murmur as part of his position in the Seven Stars. It’s not difficult to fathom why it wasn’t used in his coup - Mcgillis wishes to inherit the power of Agnika Kaieru - Bael, the symbol of Gjallarhorn. If anything, I’d wager he actively wants to reject his connection to the Fareeds not only because of his relationship with Iznario, but also because it would tie his coup to the Seven Stars. It would cheapen it to (in his mind) an internal power struggle within the echelons of Gjallarhorn, rather than the glorious revolution he wants it to be, spurred by the inheritor of Agnika Kaieru’s legacy.

Ironically, Murmur’s rejected because it’s a thing of the past - The Fareed family is shortly to cease being an active part of Gjallarhorn as Mcgillis rejects it, Iznario no longer holds any power with which to access it and it’s not a part of the world that Mcgillis wants to create. It’s part of a bygone age - a symbol of the Seven Stars system that Mcgillis aims to remove.

How very poetic.

Just a quick follow up:

I’m not really sure how effective the Murmur’d be for Mcgillis’ coup, simply because we only have the one short video to show it in action (so far), in which it doesn’t really move.

On the one hand, I certainly wouldn’t expect it to be slow and it having the Post Disaster Equivalent of Funnels (though I suppose a more apt comparison would be fangs or blade incoms) would surely be a large boon to its combat ability - it’s essentially equivalent to six of the Barbatos Lupus Rex’s tail blades, albeit of a more surgical design, which has been shown to be very effective against any foe it comes across. It’s possible that it’s weapons contain rare metal, which would further boost their effectiveness, but it’s not explicitly stated (I’m only supposing based on their physical similarities to other weapons containing rare metal).

On the other hand, would it be a match for the Kimaris Vidar, as Bael was? I assume that Bael’s faster, simply because of the thrust granted by its wings, but I don’t know if the Murmur would make up for that in other areas (or if its pilot could adapt). Though it’s unlikely that Murmur’d be able to pull quite as many forces to Mcgillis’ cause, not being the symbol of Gjallarhorn that Bael is.

Which brings me to another topic regarding it’s hypothetical pilot. If not, as I implied above, Mcgillis, then who? I honestly can’t imagine it being lent to Tekkadan (Mcgillis’ prizes them for their independent strength, irrespective of him or Gjallarhorn), but I could imagine it being used by someone else:

Isurugi Camice.

Who I’ve honestly wanted to talk about for ages, him being Mcgillis’ no.2 guy for the second season. Both his machines are hand-me-downs from Mcgillis, being the Schwalbe Graze and the Helmwidge Reincar (a re-armoured Grimgerde). I really like him, I think he’s a good example of a side character in Gundam - someone you see going around and doing stuff, but who nonetheless has his own aspirations and motivations for what he’s doing beyond the generic.

He’s a very solid parallel to Ein (and thus also to Mikazuki, Julieta, and probably Galan Mossa/The Bearded Gentleman) - he’s a subordinate who comes to embody the wishes of his superior (or rather, his perceptions of his superiors wishes). He is Mcgillis’ knight, as Mikazuki is to Orga, as Julieta is to Rustal and as Ein is to Crank (or at least Crank’s memory). He willingly gives up his own ambitions in order to further Mcgillis’, as he says to Gaelio during their Duel (really good duel by the way, it suffers only because it directly precedes Mcgillis and Gaelio’s final confrontation). His similarity to Ein is reflected in their mobile suits - Ein inherits Gaelio’s Schwalbe Graze, then goes on to become the Graze Ein. Isurugi inherits Mcgillis’ Schwalbe Graze (at the same time Mcgillis “inherits” Carta’s Graze Ritter) and later uses the Grimgerde Valkyrja frame.

But I do want to suppose about that last one. Where did Mcgillis get the Grimgerde?

I initially assumed he pulled out of some hangar in Gjallarhorn somewhere, a holdover from the Graze’s original development that no-one would miss, suitable as a deniable asset for his own purposes. But what if that isn’t the case? What if Mcgillis had more than one birthright?

(Note: this theory was originally based on the information that Montag was Mcgillis’ original birthname. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to track down the actual source that states this, so it should be taken purely as a “what if?”.)

Mcgillis was able to revive/buy/impersonate/falsify the documentation of; the Montag company, a company (established by Clive Montag) that had been operating for approximately 200 years. Well, what if the Montag family were one of the families that fought in the Calamity War but eschewed from joining Gjallarhorn? Could the Grimgerde be Mcgillis’ inheritance through Montag? In becoming the inheritor of Agnika Kaieru he casts off both his birthrights from Fareed and Montag, but his philosophy of the strong rising from anywhere (like Tekkadan) fits well with Isurugi. So he gives him the Grimgerde, re-armoured to obscure its previous actions. He chooses one legacy as worth preserving over another. It just makes his rejection of Murmur that much more interesting.

(It’s also quite likely that Vingolf was locked down after his initial stunt with Bael, to prevent any of the other Seven Stars getting ideas. So even if he’d wanted to he might’ve struggled to get Murmur out of there)

It is however, fun to speculate about what might’ve been. If Murmur had been taken instead. If Mcgillis has decided to use a different “might” of Gjallarhorn against itself.

Or maybe just if Bael had been locked.

Fuck it, it’s been out for….. however many days now, let’s talk about the Gundam Murmur.

Gonna be discussing the design and sorta just general implications of its existence (like I did a little with the Haagenti and Rustal).

Design-wise, gorgeous. I love how unique it looks compared to units that came before it, while still retaining enough Gundam-like features to not look too out of place. It is, I suppose, the limit of the Gundam’s human-centric design (watch something else come out that just blows this out of the water), especially since it’s primary weapons (the Surgical Feathers) are controlled via remote (through Alaya-Vijinana). It makes sense as a weapon system, since it seems to be designed to overwhelm a Mobile Armour from range. The form and flowing armour I find quite pleasing - I’d like to assume the engraving was added postwar (particularly since the Fareed’s are part of the Seven Stars), but I’ve absolutely nothing to back that up with. I did think that given the nature of its weapons systems, it’s possible that it relied on a lot of other units (like Hugo’s or Rodi’s) to tie up enemy mobile armours until it could strike the killing blow, so perhaps they’re there to inspire its vassals? Then again, the surgical stylings of its equipment seem to be pointing in a different direction.

I’ve seen a lot of comparisons going around with the Qubeley, because of the flowing nature of its armour, but I honestly associate it more with the Gundam Harute (Final Battle ver.), likely due to the skirt, back weapons and orange colouration. I do have a fondness for the head - it feels quite removed from the typical design, thanks to its large shape, but it retains the key features (twin-eye, “horns”, faceplate). It could even be said that the both have a significant compliment of ranged weaponry, since the Harute has Scissor Fangs. I do like how it’s upper half seems rather lightly armoured, since it makes it seem mobile and able to fight with its surgical knives - too much armour would make it’s mobility less believable, so it’s a nice touch. I generally like skirts on mobile suits (a good example off the top of my head would be the Xamel), so Murmur going the whole hog with a dress and a bunch of knives is just wonderful.

Alrighty, so I mentioned way, waaaaay back when talking about the Haagenti that it’d be interesting to see what the other Seven Stars Gundams are that remain in Vingolf along with Bael (barring Kimaris, obviously)

(Which is a thought. Wonder how Kimaris’ loss was covered up. It’s all very well saying Gaelio died at Edmonton, but surely you’d at least recover the Gundam frame. Supposedly the official records were doctored to say that the Kimaris had been returned, but I feel like someone should’ve at least checked if it’d been returned.) (Hm. Though now I am imagining Rustal just swapping the armour onto Haagenti and then smuggling it into the Baudin’s vault, which is fun).

Anyway, we now have the Fareed and Kujan Family Gundam’s leaving only the Baklazan and Issue families to go (I’ve been seeing some theories floating around regarding the Issue family Gundam, so it’ll be interesting to see how accurate they are). So, to recap, there’s 8 Gundam frames in Vingolf (unless House Baklazan’s missing theirs or something) of the 26 confirmed to still be in existence at the start of Iron Blooded Orphans in P.D. 323 (though we don’t know who’s doing the confirming, so that number’s fairly loose).

So, what does this mean regarding our erstwhile Agnika Kaieru Impersonator over here?

Mcgillis Fareed stood to, and by the second season did, inherit the Gundam Murmur as part of his position in the Seven Stars. It’s not difficult to fathom why it wasn’t used in his coup - Mcgillis wishes to inherit the power of Agnika Kaieru - Bael, the symbol of Gjallarhorn. If anything, I’d wager he actively wants to reject his connection to the Fareeds not only because of his relationship with Iznario, but also because it would tie his coup to the Seven Stars. It would cheapen it to (in his mind) an internal power struggle within the echelons of Gjallarhorn, rather than the glorious revolution he wants it to be, spurred by the inheritor of Agnika Kaieru’s legacy.

Ironically, Murmur’s rejected because it’s a thing of the past - The Fareed family is shortly to cease being an active part of Gjallarhorn as Mcgillis rejects it, Iznario no longer holds any power with which to access it and it’s not a part of the world that Mcgillis wants to create. It’s part of a bygone age - a symbol of the Seven Stars system that Mcgillis aims to remove.

How very poetic.

I fully agree that Vidar probably required a lot of speeches from Rustal to prevent him from rushing Mcgillis there and then. Everything about Vidar just screams that he’s restraining himself from pursuing vengeance. The poise, his talks with Julieta, the way he fights in Gundam Vidar - it’s very pointed, it’s very precise as he strikes the chinks in his opponents armour but at the same time communicates that aura of freedom - this is what he can do. This is what he will do when it’s time for him to step up on stage. This is how he’s going to make Mcgillis pay. It’s like a dance. He’s not toying with his opponents but he’s just untouchable. And when he finally has the opportunity to go for Mcgillis he does *not* mess around, all but stating who he is and how he’s going to win. I imagine Rustal really had to emphasise the need to bide their time.

Vingolf….. my usual read for why it’s like that is that it’s evocative of a shrine or a tomb. Here lie the Machines that ended the Calamity War, slumbering until awakened again. The water makes me think of a reflecting pool, here for any of the Seven Stars to gaze into and consider the power contained here - These machines were the seeds of Gjallarhorn, the strength by which it governs the world. It would hopefully dissuade any of the Seven Stars from doing anything foolish to upset the balance of things - to meditate on the powers that were the foundation of Gjallarhorn. I did also think that (assuming it’s very, very pure) the water might also be there to electrically insulate the Gundam Frames to prevent further damage? Since pure water doesn’t conduct electricity? However that seems like it’d be more trouble than it’s really worth (since you’d have to keep it pure somehow).

The Baklazan Family Door being open is distinctly odd. On the one hand, it sits opposite Bael, and if I was going to expect a missing Gundam to go anywhere, it’d be there. On the other…. This is just my own feeling, but it’d be odd if only one of the Seven Stars lost its Gundam from the Calamity War. Two or three fine, but you’re telling me that everyone else except the Baklazan’s kept theirs? I think the more likely explanation is that Gaelio wasn’t the only one taking the family Gundam for a spin at the time of Mcgillis’ coup. Though exactly where it was at the time I have no idea (We can probably assume it didn’t act with the Arianrhod Fleet when fighting Mcgillis or Tekkadan, but beyond that it’s hard to say).

It could just be an animation error or something too, perhaps Baklazan was drawn as a demonstration of how the doors look when open, and it was taken to mean that the door *should* be open in all shots.

Fuck it, it’s been out for….. however many days now, let’s talk about the Gundam Murmur.

Gonna be discussing the design and sorta just general implications of its existence (like I did a little with the Haagenti and Rustal).

Design-wise, gorgeous. I love how unique it looks compared to units that came before it, while still retaining enough Gundam-like features to not look too out of place. It is, I suppose, the limit of the Gundam’s human-centric design (watch something else come out that just blows this out of the water), especially since it’s primary weapons (the Surgical Feathers) are controlled via remote (through Alaya-Vijinana). It makes sense as a weapon system, since it seems to be designed to overwhelm a Mobile Armour from range. The form and flowing armour I find quite pleasing - I’d like to assume the engraving was added postwar (particularly since the Fareed’s are part of the Seven Stars), but I’ve absolutely nothing to back that up with. I did think that given the nature of its weapons systems, it’s possible that it relied on a lot of other units (like Hugo’s or Rodi’s) to tie up enemy mobile armours until it could strike the killing blow, so perhaps they’re there to inspire its vassals? Then again, the surgical stylings of its equipment seem to be pointing in a different direction.

I’ve seen a lot of comparisons going around with the Qubeley, because of the flowing nature of its armour, but I honestly associate it more with the Gundam Harute (Final Battle ver.), likely due to the skirt, back weapons and orange colouration. I do have a fondness for the head - it feels quite removed from the typical design, thanks to its large shape, but it retains the key features (twin-eye, “horns”, faceplate). It could even be said that the both have a significant compliment of ranged weaponry, since the Harute has Scissor Fangs. I do like how it’s upper half seems rather lightly armoured, since it makes it seem mobile and able to fight with its surgical knives - too much armour would make it’s mobility less believable, so it’s a nice touch. I generally like skirts on mobile suits (a good example off the top of my head would be the Xamel), so Murmur going the whole hog with a dress and a bunch of knives is just wonderful.

Alrighty, so I mentioned way, waaaaay back when talking about the Haagenti that it’d be interesting to see what the other Seven Stars Gundams are that remain in Vingolf along with Bael (barring Kimaris, obviously)

(Which is a thought. Wonder how Kimaris’ loss was covered up. It’s all very well saying Gaelio died at Edmonton, but surely you’d at least recover the Gundam frame. Supposedly the official records were doctored to say that the Kimaris had been returned, but I feel like someone should’ve at least checked if it’d been returned.) (Hm. Though now I am imagining Rustal just swapping the armour onto Haagenti and then smuggling it into the Baudin’s vault, which is fun).

Anyway, we now have the Fareed and Kujan Family Gundam’s leaving only the Baklazan and Issue families to go (I’ve been seeing some theories floating around regarding the Issue family Gundam, so it’ll be interesting to see how accurate they are). So, to recap, there’s 8 Gundam frames in Vingolf (unless House Baklazan’s missing theirs or something) of the 26 confirmed to still be in existence at the start of Iron Blooded Orphans in P.D. 323 (though we don’t know who’s doing the confirming, so that number’s fairly loose).

So, what does this mean regarding our erstwhile Agnika Kaieru Impersonator over here?

Mcgillis Fareed stood to, and by the second season did, inherit the Gundam Murmur as part of his position in the Seven Stars. It’s not difficult to fathom why it wasn’t used in his coup - Mcgillis wishes to inherit the power of Agnika Kaieru - Bael, the symbol of Gjallarhorn. If anything, I’d wager he actively wants to reject his connection to the Fareeds not only because of his relationship with Iznario, but also because it would tie his coup to the Seven Stars. It would cheapen it to (in his mind) an internal power struggle within the echelons of Gjallarhorn, rather than the glorious revolution he wants it to be, spurred by the inheritor of Agnika Kaieru’s legacy.

Ironically, Murmur’s rejected because it’s a thing of the past - The Fareed family is shortly to cease being an active part of Gjallarhorn as Mcgillis rejects it, Iznario no longer holds any power with which to access it and it’s not a part of the world that Mcgillis wants to create. It’s part of a bygone age - a symbol of the Seven Stars system that Mcgillis aims to remove.

How very poetic.

A twofer today, just some general impressions on the ASW-G-16 Gundam Zepar (left) and the AWS-G-61 Gundam Zagan. I still haven’t watched Urdr hunt unfortunately, so I’ll be mostly talking about Zagan’s design, as opposed to anything that goes on in-series.

Another reason I’m pairing these together is because they’re both Post Disaster Gundam units, that have a two-syllable name beginning with a Z and a serial number that has a 6 in it. I’ve been able to remember them by the fact that the Zepar is Zippy. And that the Zagan has nothing to do with Carl Sagan.

Moving on from naming conventions, what do I think of them? Starting with the Zagan, I like the weight it brings to the table, it feels like it could compete with other heavyweights without much difficulty, essentially functioning as a giant can-opener to the mobile armours. It should be noted that with the possible exception of Agnika Kaeru himself, the Issues were the most prolific killer of Mobile Armours during the Calamity War. Presumably some of that was by dint of its pilot, but the Zagan cannot be discounted. It’s possible the apparent focus on defence aided in its survivability, enabling it to cope with battles of attrition better, functioning as an anvil to the other Gundam Frames’ hammer. It’s also possible that it’s missing some armament, since the hands are free. I know there’s precedent for knuckledusters in IBO, but it only being armed with the shields feels a little odd.

The design specifically reminds me of the Gremory (most likely the armour) and the Abyss Gundam from Seed Destiny (colouration and bulk, though I always remember it bigger than it actually is)

The Zepar I have considerably less to say on - it’s a nice design, agile and suited to closing the distance and stabbing things, but I do want to talk about it in relation to House Kujan, Specifically Iok Kujan.

Iok is……hm. He’s essentially a perfect example of somebody you don’t want in command. He’s a twit, and furthermore, he’s a dangerous twit, since his actions have a tendency to backfire on literally everyone besides himself. But let’s walk back a little. Who is Iok in relation to the story?

Iok Kujan is the heir to House Kujan of Gjallarhorn’s Seven Stars, the Seven Noble Families that wield the most power in Gjallarhorn, as McGillis, Gaelio, Carta and Rustal are to each of their houses (and of course Nemo, Elek and Gargin, but they’re less focused on). He only ascended to the position fairly recently, but everyone has high hopes for him since his late father was beloved.

Unfortunately, he’s really bad at it. He’s reckless, callous of those he’s fighting against and is absolutely unable to recognise his own failures.

@wordsandrobots has done an excellent analysis on Iok which I’m just going to link to here, since it’s very good:

But the crux of Iok is that he represents a great many of the failings of nobility - he’s incompetent, he’s unqualified and he displays a lack of care for how his actions effect others - not out of malice, but out of stupidity. He is a walking talking, killing example of how promoting based on blood rather than ability is such a poor idea.

But then look at the Zepar. Look at how it stands, how it moves. There’s a poise to it, an elegance, a sense of nobility. It’s armed with a sword and shield - simple, yes, but something that focuses on defence, on protection. Even the way it fights seems to be in pushing the enemy away from something, protecting it. So I would say that if Iok is representative of the realities of nobility - the incompetence and disregard for others, then the Zepar is the romanticisation of it - of a noble, red-armoured knight who would protect the people. It also represents how far the Kujan family has come since the Calamity War - Once a great and loved pilot who fought at the frontlines using a Gundam Frame, to a lacking and foolish one who fights from the rear and has to be bailed out at the cost of his subordinates lives. (I know Iok’s father didn’t pilot the Zepar, but it ties in with the theme of Iok being the end result of a lineage, rather than the beginnings).

It also draws attention to the Gjallarhorn’s meritocratic roots - Embrilla Kujan was able to slay multiple mobile armours using this machine, whereas Iok is too blinded by his own self-importance to recognise the threat that they pose, to the point he severely underestimates what it will take to kill one.

Damn, I really like the idea of “N” being Nemo Baklazan, particularly since we now know there’s a movie in the works - There’s likely going to be a couple of new mobile suits for that, like the custom Reginlaze from the trailer, and Gundam’s are normally a pretty safe bet for this sort of thing. Furthermore, I think the only Seven Stars missing from points on the Urdr Hunt were the Baklazan’s and……. The Fareed’s, I think? (It goes Elion, Falk, Bauduin, Kujan, then skips one to go to Issue, right?)

What’s also interesting is that the Baklazan Family Gundam is the only remaining Seven Stars Gundam Frame we haven’t seen yet, almost like it’s going to play a part in something.

There is also the point of it being missing from Vingolf, but a) it’s *possible* that that is an animation error and b) it seems that the Issue Family Gundam, the Zagan, is kept in Ratatoskr, so there’s no garuntee that every Seven Stars Gundam is stored in Vingolf (maybe the Issue’s had special privileges, being the head of the Seven Stars and all).

But I do like the idea of the other two Seven Stars Families having stuff going on.

(Also, props for describing Range as “kind of a chump” because that is an excellent description and I love it)

Thoughts on the Urdr Hunt (Eps 1-5)

As of writing, five episodes (each in two parts) of the Iron-Blooded Orphans tie-in game campaign ‘Urdr Hunt’ have been released on the Iron-Blooded Orphans G App. This is currently only available in Japan; I’ve been watching it subbed by Youtuber Trafalgar Log. I thought I’d summarise my impressions so far, since we’ve now had every character who shows up in the opening sequence appear at least once. Spoilers etc below.

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Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans Masterpost Part 2 - Cyclase Mayer and Gjallarhorn

Okay, Cyclase. I don’t really have that much to say on his origin - there’s nothing wrong with “disgruntled former archeologist whose parent was murdered by gjallarhorn”, but it just doesn’t really grab me for some reason. I do still love how utterly unrepentant he is about his numerous betrayals. He does have *some* similarities with Mcgillis for me, but that’s probably only because Mcgillis sees Gundam Frames (or rather, Bael) as the end-all of strength, whereas Cyclase sees Mobile Armours. It’s interesting how they’ve both been negatively influenced by Iznario Fareed however.

It took me a weirdly long time to realise that Cyclase was a Char Clone. Then again, I was comparing him to Mcgillis basically from the start, so……

Hm. I think that the fight at the end with the mobile armour (Mebahiah) is supposed to be an illustration of Afam and Cyclase’s differing philosophies - Afam wins because he has his friends with him to back him up, forming an effective force against the mobile armour, whereas Cyclase, who has sought power in solitude, has his “champion” defeated. It’s further shown with how they treat their allies, with Wistario visiting each in turn and thanking them, while Cyclase just rebuffs Tagging’s attempt at small talk.

Wait, so what was the point of Omden Colony Corporation/Cyclase getting two rings? That feels like it should be significant in some way. I assumed that it was either to emphasise their ruthlessness (they killed someone else for their ring) or the scale of the company (they’d managed to obtain two on their own), but in practice it just means Cyclase has two guides.

Given what mobile armours are capable of - hey, maybe Gjallarhorn was right to suppress the technology? Just gonna throw that out there. Like, the more of them we see, the easier it is to believe how deadly they were, and why the Gundam’s were so necessary. Though obviously, that doesn’t justify Gjallarhorn’s murder of Doctor Mayer.

Speaking of that, it’s possible that that was just an accident which Gjallarhorn had no part in, and Cyclase is just jumping to conclusions. That said, why I think he’s right is the fact that it’s Iznario Fareed, the shadiest seven star of them all. If it had been someone else then maybe you could say Cyclase was wrong, but Iznario? Yeah, definitely murder.

“Does this mean…… the mobile armour isn’t a higher form of being?” - Cyclase, buddy, it’s a giant robot that wants to kill all humans, it’s not that hard a concept to grasp. I do kinda love how absolutely crushed he is that his plan failed though. Like, no “hm, an imperfect god” or “this is but a temporary setback”, he’s genuinely pissed that this didn’t work out and even his “I’ll start again” thing feels like he’s desperately trying to save face. All in all, he’s a good villain because of what he does and how he does it, more so than who he is.

Okina Uroka is an interesting character, especially in contrast to Londo Bron, since they both want the same thing, but go about it in different ways. I like his design, it feels very good for an “old retainer”. I’m genuinely unsure how much power he held in the Issue family when Carta was still alive, since he doesn’t seem at all unused to power. It’s also nice because it’s another exploration of the consequences of Tekkadan’s actions in the main series, showing the far-reaching effect they had.

Another interesting detail is that Okina Uroka mentions “the Baklazan and Falk Families Calculations have been a great comfort to us” and Mcgillis states that they “hadn’t lost their privileges”, so could they also be heirless? If so, it could be that we’re witnessing Gjallarhorn finally crumbling since the Noble families that compose it are really struggling with their lines of Succession. Huh, the Fareed’s also kinda count here, since Iznario’s has no “legitimate” heirs (i.e. by blood). This also presents a fascinating possibility of why the Gundam Murmur wasn’t seen/used - the vault’s locked to a blood relation of the Fareed’s which Mcgillis isn’t, so he wouldn’t have been able to access it.

Just a little on the Gundam Asmoday/Asmodeus today (it apparently could’ve been called the Ashmodai, which is neat).

Okay, so the ASW-G-32 Gundam Asmoday is found by Wistario the Erda II crew (specifically Sinister) inside an Aridne Cocoon in the Debris zone. It’s specifically noted to be essentially brand new, with no records of it fighting in the calamity war, and a full complement of weapons ready to go. Based on this, and the fact that it seems to have its reactor hooked up to the cocoon, we can gauge one of two things. Either;

The Gundam wasn’t completed until either very late in the Calamity War, or just after, and thus didn’t have an opportunity to fight against the mobile armours.

This Cocoon relay station was apparently important enough to dedicate a Gundam frame just to keep it operational.

Based on the assumption that a bunch of regular ahab reactors would probably have done the job just fine, I think it’s more likely to be a case of it being completed late.

What makes this interesting is that we only know of one other Gundam frame that was completed late in the calamity war:

The ASW-G-71 Gundam Dantalion.

Now, because this is both at the end of the series (71/72) and because it’s stated that the Dantalion had been completed late, I had previously assumed that the Gundam Frames were completed sequentially. So, the ever-elusive ASW-G-70 Gundam Seere would have been completed just prior to the Dantalion, and the 72nd Gundam would have been completed after, possibly even being completed postwar (At a guess, either the Gundam Andromalius or Gundam Pruflas/Bufas - I’d be very interested in know what happened to it, since it’s be the most likely source as to any clue to the end of the calamity war and it’s immediate aftermath). But the Asmodeus implies something quite different. Unless its deployment was delayed for whatever reason, then it’s evidence that the Gundam frames may not have been built sequentially. (I’m not sure which it would be - it doesn’t seem to have any equipment that’d be too difficult to work with, being structured as a fairly direct combatant - gigant javelin as a sort of whip-sword to attack from a distance, smoke grenades and then grand tonfa’s up close, but then there’s plenty of other reasons for it to not have seen combat).

We do, however, know that Bael was the first. Add to that the seeming increase in complexity as the numbers climb (Dantalion appears simple but it has a bunch of add-on equipment not shown above, a lot of the 50’s and 60’s-series Gundams have fancy designs or systems, especially compared to the relative simplicity of the 00’s and 10’s), and we can guess that they were at least designed sequentially, with Asmoday’s presumed delay being an exception.

However, what I also think is interesting is where it was found. Inside an Ariadne Network Cocoon, big enough to be used as a harbour, administrative and let’s face it defensive point, in the network. Administered by the Falk Family (presumably headed by either Kalf Falk or his immediate successor), who already possess a Gundam Frame to their name - the Gundam Gamigin (shown above).

So what was the Asmodeus, for all intents and purposes a “phantom machine”, which exists on paper but was never actually deployed, doing there? Each Seven Stars Family or similar organisation within Gjallarhorn has precisely one Gundam Frame to their name, with no evidence of one family using multiple frames. I find it particularly interesting that it’s the Falk’s of all people that seem to have this frame - they’re one of the two families we know the absolute least about, the other being the Baklazan’s. Even then, most of the information we do know is what can be inferred from their Urdr Hunt point and their Gundam Frame. The only real supposition we can make is that they’re probably the oldest out of the Seven Stars - assuming no family got multiple Gundam Frames during the calamity war (which feels a fair assumption to make, given that we know absolutely nothing about any frames that were destroyed, implying no-ones really around to keep those records), then the ASW-G-04 Gamigin Gundam was likely deployed the earliest out of all the Seven Stars Gundam Frames, shortly after Bael (again, assuming sequential deployment). So it’s possible that the Falks were the longest surviving active participants in the Calamity war, besides Agnika Kaeru himself, of course. But it’s unclear why they would end up with another Gundam frame, and then not use it. A few possibilities:

The Intended Pilot for the Asmoday was killed before it could reach them, and the Falk’s didn’t have another pilot on hand to use it.

There was a Cocoon was involved in transporting the Gundams to their pilots, and it was kept at the cocoon until it’s recipient could be sorted out.

The Falks wanted extra “insurance” of their position once the Calamity War was over, and arranged for a second Gundam frame to be assigned to them somehow.

The Asmoday had nothing to do with the Falks, and it was left at the Cocoon by N as prize for Urdr Hunt participants.

It was salvaged from its transport during the war, and restored by the Falks.

In short, I don’t know why it was there and we’re probably not going to find out anytime soon, but it’s fun to think about. I would also like to point out that the Asmoday was also just…. Left there, which feels like it must have been purposeful in some way, but also means that the Falk’s didn’t recover it in the intervening 300 years.

I usually think of the Seven Stars system and heraldry as being a immediate post-war thing for three main reasons:

It makes sense as a post war institution - lots of disparate peoples to unite, infrastructure to rebuild and it’s a clear pecking order. It allows a clear delineation of who is responsible for what and stops the multiple families stepping on each other’s toes.

We only ever see crests or markings of the style of the Seven Stars on their own Gundam Frames, we don’t see them on any of the other machines we know fought in the Calamity War - the Marchosias, the Gremory or the Dantalion (the Astaroth Origin, Calamity War Flauros and the Asmoday itself all also lack them, but I feel you could argue mitigating factors for each). This would imply they were added to the gundam’s post-calamity war, in order to sell them as “the machines that ended the calamity war”. The relative obscurity of the Valkyrja frame could also be counted as a point towards this, since we know at least one saw combat (the Oltlinde), but they’re not presented in the same way. It makes sense that the Seven Stars would put their Crests on the surviving Gundam Frames, since they are essentially the beginnings of their authority and they want to reinforce that (à La the divine right of kings).

If the Seven Stars were a pre-existing institution then it rankles me slightly that the top seven members of Gjallarhorn were all part of this pre-war nobility, when their position was decided meritocratically. You’d expect at least one member to be a nobody who reached their position through feat of arms.

Expanding on that third point, I feel it makes more sense thematically for the Seven Stars to have been founded on a meritocratic basis, each member coming from nothing, because it ties in to Tekkadan’s rise to fame. The Current Seven stars are at least the third generation from the original founders of Gjallarhorn, with barely a hint of merit to any of them - Gaelio’s very sheltered and all too easygoing in his duties, Iok’s actively incompetent and a danger to those around him. Carta, while not ineffective, is in a largely ceremonial position and her successes are due more to brute strength than any strategic nous. Mcgillis’ is adopted into the Fareed Family, unrelated to the original founder. Rustal’s the only one that seems to buck the trend. But nonetheless, each family came to be where they are now through the actions of their predecessor in their Gundam Frames

How does Tekkadan, a family of Child Soldiers and Human Debris come to their power? Through the actions of their pilots through their Gundam Frames. The enemies they fight reinforce this - Ein, a monster made using forbidden technology from the Calamity War, and then Hashmal, a bona-fide relic of the Calamity War. They follow the same path to glory as each of the Seven Stars Founders would have, climbing ever higher, until it eclipses them.

Just a little on the Gundam Asmoday/Asmodeus today (it apparently could’ve been called the Ashmodai, which is neat).

Okay, so the ASW-G-32 Gundam Asmoday is found by Wistario the Erda II crew (specifically Sinister) inside an Aridne Cocoon in the Debris zone. It’s specifically noted to be essentially brand new, with no records of it fighting in the calamity war, and a full complement of weapons ready to go. Based on this, and the fact that it seems to have its reactor hooked up to the cocoon, we can gauge one of two things. Either;

The Gundam wasn’t completed until either very late in the Calamity War, or just after, and thus didn’t have an opportunity to fight against the mobile armours.

This Cocoon relay station was apparently important enough to dedicate a Gundam frame just to keep it operational.

Based on the assumption that a bunch of regular ahab reactors would probably have done the job just fine, I think it’s more likely to be a case of it being completed late.

What makes this interesting is that we only know of one other Gundam frame that was completed late in the calamity war:

The ASW-G-71 Gundam Dantalion.

Now, because this is both at the end of the series (71/72) and because it’s stated that the Dantalion had been completed late, I had previously assumed that the Gundam Frames were completed sequentially. So, the ever-elusive ASW-G-70 Gundam Seere would have been completed just prior to the Dantalion, and the 72nd Gundam would have been completed after, possibly even being completed postwar (At a guess, either the Gundam Andromalius or Gundam Pruflas/Bufas - I’d be very interested in know what happened to it, since it’s be the most likely source as to any clue to the end of the calamity war and it’s immediate aftermath). But the Asmodeus implies something quite different. Unless its deployment was delayed for whatever reason, then it’s evidence that the Gundam frames may not have been built sequentially. (I’m not sure which it would be - it doesn’t seem to have any equipment that’d be too difficult to work with, being structured as a fairly direct combatant - gigant javelin as a sort of whip-sword to attack from a distance, smoke grenades and then grand tonfa’s up close, but then there’s plenty of other reasons for it to not have seen combat).

We do, however, know that Bael was the first. Add to that the seeming increase in complexity as the numbers climb (Dantalion appears simple but it has a bunch of add-on equipment not shown above, a lot of the 50’s and 60’s-series Gundams have fancy designs or systems, especially compared to the relative simplicity of the 00’s and 10’s), and we can guess that they were at least designed sequentially, with Asmoday’s presumed delay being an exception.

However, what I also think is interesting is where it was found. Inside an Ariadne Network Cocoon, big enough to be used as a harbour, administrative and let’s face it defensive point, in the network. Administered by the Falk Family (presumably headed by either Kalf Falk or his immediate successor), who already possess a Gundam Frame to their name - the Gundam Gamigin (shown above).

So what was the Asmodeus, for all intents and purposes a “phantom machine”, which exists on paper but was never actually deployed, doing there? Each Seven Stars Family or similar organisation within Gjallarhorn has precisely one Gundam Frame to their name, with no evidence of one family using multiple frames. I find it particularly interesting that it’s the Falk’s of all people that seem to have this frame - they’re one of the two families we know the absolute least about, the other being the Baklazan’s. Even then, most of the information we do know is what can be inferred from their Urdr Hunt point and their Gundam Frame. The only real supposition we can make is that they’re probably the oldest out of the Seven Stars - assuming no family got multiple Gundam Frames during the calamity war (which feels a fair assumption to make, given that we know absolutely nothing about any frames that were destroyed, implying no-ones really around to keep those records), then the ASW-G-04 Gamigin Gundam was likely deployed the earliest out of all the Seven Stars Gundam Frames, shortly after Bael (again, assuming sequential deployment). So it’s possible that the Falks were the longest surviving active participants in the Calamity war, besides Agnika Kaeru himself, of course. But it’s unclear why they would end up with another Gundam frame, and then not use it. A few possibilities:

The Intended Pilot for the Asmoday was killed before it could reach them, and the Falk’s didn’t have another pilot on hand to use it.

There was a Cocoon was involved in transporting the Gundams to their pilots, and it was kept at the cocoon until it’s recipient could be sorted out.

The Falks wanted extra “insurance” of their position once the Calamity War was over, and arranged for a second Gundam frame to be assigned to them somehow.

The Asmoday had nothing to do with the Falks, and it was left at the Cocoon by N as prize for Urdr Hunt participants.

It was salvaged from its transport during the war, and restored by the Falks.

In short, I don’t know why it was there and we’re probably not going to find out anytime soon, but it’s fun to think about. I would also like to point out that the Asmoday was also just…. Left there, which feels like it must have been purposeful in some way, but also means that the Falk’s didn’t recover it in the intervening 300 years.