SSS

**SSS (スリー・スピード, *Surī Supīdo*)**, pronunced "***Three Speed***",is a recurring character of the Madlax anime series. He is the one who gives mercenary assignments to Madlax by calling her on the phone. He is never shown in face through the series, nor his real name is known.

## Description

Almost nothing is known about **SSS**, except that he is the boss of Madlax and also her mentor, having adopted her from an orphanage of Gazth-Sonika and having taught her the profession of mercenary.

Despite this, SSS doesn't treat Madlax like a daughter, keeping their relationship purely businesslike. He doesn't always do what's best for her, either.

In episode 16, he gives Madlax the contact information for the Nafrece Intelligence Office so she can give Nafrece the data proving Enfant's crimes and publish them, but the man she meets is an Enfant agent who destroys the files, captures Madlax and Vanessa and nearly kills them.

In episode 17, when Madlax calls her mentor to question him, **SSS** admits he set her up, because if he didn't cooperate with Enfant, they would have made him a target. Even though he betrayed her, it was his only choice if he wanted to survive.

Somehow, SSS probably does care about Madlax, as in episode 15 he calls Madlax to warn her that Enfant has set traps in the data files.

In episode 26 SSS calls Madlax for the first time in several weeks and tells her he has a new mission for her. Madlax says: "Hey now, we haven't talked in a while, and yet you go straight to business talk?". **SSS** responds: "Was our relationship ever anything more than business?" Madlax smiles and says: "Of course it was." This implies that she and her mentor may have had more a father-daughter relationship in the past.

## Assignments to Madlax

* Recover confidential data files belonging to the Royal Army, possessed by the Garza resistance (Episode 1)
* Assassinate Gwen McNicole during his speech (Episode 3)
* Unknown assignment (end of Episode 4)
* Recover unknown goods secretly sent to the men of Garza by a civilian group of Nafrece (Episode 5)
* Protect Eric Gillain during his stay in Gazth-Sonika (Episode 7, failed as he commits suicide in Episode 8)
* Unknown assignment (end of Episode 9)
* Protect Vanessa Rene during her stay in Gazth-Sonika (Episode 11)
* Unknown assignment (end of Episode 26)

## Name Origin

The name SSS, and its pronunciation “Three Speed,” may come off as random, but there are prominent reasons for the name choice.

* Some video games series like *Devil May Cry* have a tier-ranking system ranging from as low as D to as high as S. In fact, some games go higher to have an SSS rank.
* Another reason could be due to the exclamation “godspeed” when expressing good wishes to a person starting a journey and three being considered a holy number

## Trivia

* If you listen the original Japanese audio for the Madlax anime series, this character is clearly named Three-Speed (すりーすぴーど、Surii-spiido). However, the subtitles on the Madlax videos substitute the name "SSS" for Three-Speed.
* In the english release, ADR director Kyle Jones directed the *Conversations with SSS* extra,wherein SSS calls every other character when they're on a phone as a dub-gag parody.
* SSS's appearance is similar to the character of Charlie Townsend from Charlie’s Angels.
	+ Although he is shown to have a face in the art book (page 70).

## Gallery

Madlax communicates with SSS only by phone.The phone through which Madlax communicates with SSS