Van Fanel

Van Fanel is main male protagonist of Visions of Escaflowne and the true love interest of Hitomi Kaznaki.
He is voiced by Tomokazu Seki in Japanese, the late Kirby Morrow in the Bandai dub, and Aaron Dismuke in the Funimation re-dub.
==Biography==
Van was born as the second son of king of Fanelia and his Draconian wife. His parents had met and fallen in love despite protests from his father's advisors. They were married and had 2 sons named Folken, a crown prince, and Van. Though his father passed away due to an unknown illness when he was only three, the brothers shared a close bond with each other and with their mother, especially Van, since he inherited his mother's Draconian who worried about her son's future. However, Van's happy childhood was shattered after his older brother disappeared while on a quest to kill a dragon as part of the Rite of Succession to ascend to the throne and become Fanelia's king, and his mother subsequently disappeared and apparently died while looking for him. After this, he was presumably raised by Balgus, a master swordsman who served the Fanelian royal family, who also taught him in the ways of swordsmanship.
Eventually, Van turned fifteen, at which point he was called upon to partake in the Rite of Succession where he must slay a dragon to ascend to the throne, and he was determined to succeed where his brother could not, whom he was convinced disappeared because he was too cowardly to go through with it. However, during his fight with a dragon, he was teleported to Earth where he met Hitomi Kanzaki. He was initially hostile towards her and her friends, Amano and Yukari due to not recognizing them, but after getting talked down, he realizes that he can teleport there, so can the dragon. Surely enough, the dragon enters a portal to Earth shortly after him, and the the two continue to fight. Eventually, their fight takes them to a local shrine, during which, while observing it alongside her friends, Hitomi gets a vision of Van being impaled and killed by the dragon using a tail attack from above that he doesn't see. She then warns him about the incoming attack, which allows Van to safely dodge it, albeit narrowly, and subsequently kill the dragon. He then takes a jewel called the Drag-Energist from it while its body is disintegrating. When Hitomi approaches him to see if he's okay, however, he's still rather rude and standoffish, since he assumes she wants some kind of reward, so he invites her to his castle, though tells her not to think of herself as some kind of hero. Thsi causes Hitomi to get angry, slap him and subsequently berate him for his attitude since she was scared that he was going to die and merely wanted to save him even if it meant risking her own life, after which she bursts into tears. Just after this happens and Van starts to look remorseful, the Energizer starts glowing and creates a pillar of light that transports the pair of them to Gaea, with Hitomi grabbing a pendant held out by Amano when he reaches out to her just before she rises higher into the sky and disappears.
==Personality==
Van is mostly a loner, having only a few friends in the beginning of the series, and as such, he is weary of people he doesn't know. At first, he comes off brash, impulsive, moody, arrogant, wildly brave, very stubborn and sometimes unable to control his temper, and is prone to making rash and unwise decisions. In the end, though, he has a good heart is very protective of the people he cares about, to the point he would risk his life for the sake of his friends.
Despite his brash attitude, Van is a pacifist who hates fighting. After killing the dragon slayers, he is shown to be very remorseful of his actions, to the point remembering this brings him into a state of trauma, in which he wants to stop fighting, even after all the losses he suffered at the hands of the Zaibach Empire. After having visions of his mother during his time in the Mystic Valley, Van eventually makes up his mind to keep fighting so he could prevent Gaea from sharing Atlantis' fate.
==Powers and Abilities==
==Relationships==
==Trivia==
*Van and Hitomi's Ocean voice actors also did the voices of Miroku and Sango in Inuyasha, respectively.
*His voice actor in the Funimation dub, Aaron Dismuke, also voiced Alphonse Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist, while Vic Mignogna, who voices Folken Fanel in the newer dub, voiced Edward Elric, making this the second time the two have voiced characters who are brothers of each other, with Aaron playing the younger sibling and Vic playing the older one.
Category:Anime Heroes
Category:Tragic
Category:Male
Category:In Love
Category:Wrathful
Category:Angels
Category:Jerks
Category:Arrogant
Category:Monarchs
Category:Leaders
Category:Betrayed
Category:Anti-Heroes
Category:Related to Villain
Category:Virtually Resourceful
Category:Chaotic Good
Category:Siblings
Category:Protectors
Category:Berserkers
Category:Humanoid
Category:Scapegoat
Category:Martyr
Category:Obsessed
Category:TV Show Heroes
Category:Manga Heroes
Category:Science Fantasy Heroes
Category:Fighters
Category:One-Man Army
Category:Strong-Willed
Category:Protectors of Innocence
Category:Selfless
Category:Honorable
Category:Honest
Category:Successful