Orca

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**Orca** is a character in Children of the Whales. He is the Commander of the Falaina Extermination Forces and Lykos' older brother. He is also an ápostasía (άοστασία). Having achieved the high-ranked position of *pràsino* in the army, he was given the right to consume sarka, which helps preserving some of his emotions. His real name is not Orca, given that none of the Empire citizens are named; it is a surname that was assigned to him back when he was in the army. He is also the descendant of a long lineage of people who gave birth to Daimonas.

## Appearance

He has long white hair, raspberry/red eyes, and tan skin. A distinctive scar cuts diagonally across his face. He wears a long black coat with red trimmings with a purple-red sash as a belt.

In the manga, he is generally seen wearing boots and black/dark blue robe with eyes patterns he later on changes to switch to a black robe with white patterns. When his parents send him a letter containing the necklace which fate is bound to his ancestors, he starts wearing it on top of his coat.

## Personality

Orca has a calm demeanor. He acts like one of the many people controlled by Nous with that calmness, but he still shows determination and dominance against the Council. He will defy any he can. Like Liontari, he has happiness or gruesome things and like Shuan, he shows little change in emotion over even the slightest thing, like Liontari's blade slicing his hair, or something bigger, like getting shot on the tips of his fingers by a gun.

Orca is a cold-blooded man keeping his cool under all circumstances. His keen senses and sharp instincts developped at war as well as his extremely powerful saimia allow him to trust blindly in his abilities. Although his plans might not unfold as he could have predicted, he is quick to adapt and make the most of the situations he finds himself in. His intelligence and strategy not only are convenient assets which permit him great chances of success in everything he sets about doing such as understanding the nature of his enemies and how to win them over, they also serve his malice and slyness to pull through accusations, any kind of sentences, even death.

In fact, due to his in-principle-insensitiveness, he will not hesitate sacrificing people for his own sake or because they might be in the way. He accomplishes that either with outright violence, either through talking, being also well-known for his eloquence and sophistry. As it turns out, Orca is talented with words; whether he chooses to tell a story in order to confuse his audience, manipulate it with misleading analogisms, distort the reality of certain events, or turning people against their peers thanks to slander, he has claimed himself to have never lost any verbal jousting he has participated in. As the readers discover more about him, it becomes clear though that he also feels the need to tell a story to comfort himself that he is in the right.

On the outside, Orca is an outgoing person, leaning more toward an extroverted personality. He likes a good conversation and can even be friendly if he finds someone whose ideals and values match with him. He isn't scared of confrontation as he also causes a lot of it, determined to get what he wants, his ever-growing number of opponents solely being a minor inconvenience. His mockery and sass are perhaps the most honest part of his personality, expressing how he really regards others; idiotic and pretentious. He sometimes will even risk being rude to earn a reaction or will use straightforward threats, sometimes combined with perjure which are meant to persuade.

That said, those behaviours are the direct consequences which make Orca one of the few abhorred men throughout the entire Empire. Viewed by the majority as an excentric, people tend not meddle with him. However, although a poor integration in the Empire society, he will adjust to his interlocutor like the consummate intellect he is, probing them and guessing just how they like to be flattered or on the contrary, get directly to the point and will use the other's language to obtain what it is he wants.

Many people have trouble understanding Orca because of both his revolutionary tendencies and yet his zeal to follow the rules. Many seem to think he wants power, but the more in-depht the story gets and the more the reader understands that his public behaviour and the way he acts while alone or surrounded by people he trusts come in complete contradiction. He states himself that he has no need for power even though he makes the choice of stealing a few Nous and moves towards secession, thus getting more power than he ever had.

In reality, Orca's personality is more complex and things complicate even further when we learn that he possesses two of them (view History). His deepest desires are to protect his sister, Kannavi, Leodari, the kids he has recruited as his personal army and Itia and to bring them to Kitrino, his paradise through the flowers of parallel dimensions of time. This is both a selfish goal and an selfless goal which makes it hard to condemn it enirely; on one hand, the goal would require for hundreds of innocents to die and would impose a completely different life on millions of people without consent, the on the other hand, this dream could mean salvation for humanity as they would be freed of the Nous and given the opportunity to choose how to live their lives and reunite with deceased loved ones. This aspect of his personality is what really defines him as a morally-grey character; he chooses love and peace over power but the means to achieve this are very questionable.

Being thus split in half because of trauma, (view History), Orca appears as though he used to be very quiet, sensitive and introverted as a child. His "weaker" alter remained this way whereas his "stronger alter", the one people think is the "real Orca", became his polar opposite to take up the role of the saviour he needed as well as he person he ought to be to make his dreams come true. Those two irreconciliable personalities explain some of his contradictory behaviours such as crying for broken kids (likely PTSD from trauma), feeling pity for Shuan's rotten eye and flinching or looking visibly upset whenever his sister is mentionned but not acting on those feelings as his "stronger alter" is still trying to keep control. One could say these alters have found a way to cooperate and serve Orca's needs. When needing strenght and confidence, his "strong" alter will take up the role, but when around family or close friends, or in the face of poverty or infortune, the kindness and generosity of his "weaker" alter will come to the front seat.

This means Orca can be defeated not through logic but thanks to situations who will make him vulnerable and exacerbate his feelings. Just as Suoh guessed, Orca feels a fair amount of guilt and disgust towards himself on an every day basis and his plan to revive Kitrino and its people is a mere attempt to seek peace with himself and forgive his own actions. His bet with the Nous is proof for an extreme mental instability since the slaughtering of the Kitrino people; in fact, it's known that as a child, Orca already wished to die, but he probably didn't wish to die as badly as he did after that fated day in Kitrino. The bet he made that day is simple: from now on, he would not try to avoid death. If he happened to die, it would mean that he had been proven wrong and that his dream was a fool's dream, but if he managed to stay alive, it would mean that his existence is necessary for humanity and that he must keep walking the same path. Those suicidal tendencies are omnipresent in the story; it dotes him with a reckless attitude and makes him brush off losing the tips of his fingers or his right leg as unimportant matters.

Despite this, Orca has a strong sense of justice and in the end of all things, he decides to fight for his sister's happiness and not what he thinks will make her happy, tossing his pride and hopelessness aside. He starts reconsidering his actions and gives up on his plan, judging the losses outlast the good of his planned upheaval.

## History

As a child, Orca found that his life didn't hold any meaning and seemed rather dull and fleeting in his eyes. All of that changed when his little sister was born. Ever since, he has felt the need to protect her and he states that, although he still fed his emotions to the Nous, powerful feelings began to grow within him for Lykos and he feared for her safety, feared that he would lose her. Orca used to be a highly-sensitive child; he would cry over little things like a wounded butterfly, scared that he would hurt anyone, including his sister. At some point, an accident occured where a bridge collapsed and Orca saved Lykos by using his saimia to push away the rocks. Army officers who were passing by noticed his unusual powerful saimia for his age and decided to recruit him in the army. This is a turning point in his story. Orca embraces his sister goodbye and departs for the army where he will now reside for a few years whereas Lykos will be staying in a military orphanage.

Trained as a soldier in the front line, 16 or 17 years old at the time, Orca is miserable in the army. He feels too strongly about his wounded comrades and about the very enemies he has to kill. He expresses this by saying he doesn't want to hurt anyone, because his enemies probably have families who will be hurting too. Because of that mindset, he doesn't go out of his way to kill soldiers, which results in him always coming back with plenty of wounds across his whole body, his head bowed and his back bent, known to cry after demolishing his opponents. Arachni, his superior at the time, compares him to beaten stray dog. Despite his unwillingness to kill, Orca's thymia is still the strongest in the army and he is assigned the nickname "Orca" which comes from killer whale, because he kills the most enemies as well as the unflattering "God of Death" nickname. People also call him an excentric because he never talks to anyone besides his sister whenever he gets to see her. His achievements become known in the entire battalion and Arachni assigns him to a new one, the 18th battalion. At this point in the story, Orca feels hopeless and at the same time, guilty, thinking he needs to change the way he thinks because if he quits fighting, his sister's life will probably be threatened.

As he's waiting to be treated in the infirmary, Orca meets Kannavi, an nurse-soldier whose odd manners make him stand out. In fact, when Orca expresses his wish to die, the only way he's found to stop killing without endangering his sister, Kannavi asks how he would like to die. Taken aback, Orca falls silent and Kannavi apologies, stating that people will often lecture him for his weird ways. He then asks why and Orca confides in him about his fears and his sister, a bit too much, he realises too late. Kannavi listens attentively and replies that he doesn't know any treatments for crying soldiers as he never sees any and proceeds to ruffle Orca's hair. Kannavi tells Orca a bit about himself and the two soon become acquaintances. Life in the army by Kannavi's side seems to get more bearable as the two help each other out to accomplish daily tasks and Kannavi is also shown to defend Orca against the terrible nicknames he receives, asking him if he's bullied. One day Orca is asked to come to Sarigari's tent, the Supreme Commander to receive his orders and depart to join the Skylos operation. Orca takes notice that he might never see Kannavi again and makes up a story about how Kannavi has been conveniently healing all his wounds and lies about his friend's unmatched skills (although inexistent). Kannavi looks moved by that little gesture and tells Orca he has never been needed by anybody and asks himself then if what he is feeling in his chest is happiness. He also states he can never remember those feelings because the Nous always take them away from him.

On his way to Sarigari's tent, Orca tries to think of a way to grant Kannavi and his wishes, a world where their emotions wouldn't be eaten away. Entering the tent, Orca meets the Supreme Commander who makes him stand in front of a painting and beats him up at length. As the boy can't stand up again and is profusely bleeding, Sarigari gives him his order: "if it's shaped like a human, kill it. You are a tool of slaughter". Settled in the new base, the Skylos operation goes to war against the Viola and the Sudelasian fleet. As they're invading the Viola city and shooting bullets at their enemies, Orca remembers those words. Ever since he has to be Supreme Commander, those words seem to have depressed him even further and he soon acts up on them: he begins shooting soldiers without mercy and stands too close to the enemy camp. His superiors shout at him things like "pull back", but he doesn't listen or more, accurately it is like he can't hear them. According to Orca's words, this is clearly an attempt to sabotage himself, as he doesn't care anymore for his own life and has given up on the idea to take his sister away to any kind of paradise. Orca is hit by an enemy and falls from the wall where his army stood. Kannavi shouts his name in vain.

Orca wakes up in a bed to a little girl who had been watching him in his sleep. His wounds have been tended. As he wonders where he is, a few people enter the room and introduce themselves to him. They are the people of Kitrino and a man named Albus whose clothes show the crest of Viola as Orca's eyes spots it, has brought him back to the island because he was severely wounded and had caught the Nyssa fever. Albus then asks the others to leave them alone because he needs to clarify some things with Orca. To Orca's question "Am I a prisoner of war?", Albus responds that he lets the prisoners go back home when their armies retreat completely, otherwise, they tend to keep them here. Orca tries to tell him that he is a God of war, but Albus interrupts him and says that he knows. It's unclear at this point for Orca and the reader if Albus really knew he was a God of Death but it turns out he knew all along and brought him back anyway. He tells Orca that he doesn't considers him as the enemy but rather as a victim.

Orca's wounds slowly heal during his time on the island and he is introduced to its residents. Among them, he becomes close friends with a little girl named Viride who calls him "big brother" because they look alike, Rosa a girl who is the first one to have taken care of his injuries and Nigeru, a boy he gets along well with. Orca describes Kitrino as his paradise, a place where he who used to be cursed, had found his salvation. On Kitrino, he gets back his emotions and explains he can now smile and laugh naturally as he had always done so. He blends in so well that the citizens have trouble remembering that he has not been there the whole time and around what time he was arrived exactly, but it is estimated that Orca stays on Kitrino for a period of time which lasts a little bit more than a year. One day, Rosa asks Orca if she'd like her to cut his hair because they've grown a lot. He refuses and justifies that by saying his hair is the only way he can keep track of time on this island. Rosa wonders if he wants to go back to his people and begs him to stay with them, crying that everyone loves him here and that Viride sees him like a brother. Orca avoids that topic by bringing up Rosa's wedding, but is shown later on thinking hard about his hometown and his sister. Again, he feels guilty for having beneficiated from the bliss of this paradise on his own and contemplates how much time he's wasted.

On a whim, Orca decides to leave and return to the Empire to try bringing his sister, Kannavi and maybe his parents to Kitrino. To do that, he hides in a few boats and successfully comes back to his battalion. Once he's returned, Orca meets with Kannavi who looks incredibly relieved that he's still alive. He tells Orca he has been asking his superiors every week to organise search expeditions for him ever since he's been gone. Kannavi also tells him that he's happy but doesn't know how to express it. The two boys hug.

Orca is immediately summoned to Sarigari's tent and heads there. Orca makes up a lie where he pretends to have been captured and then escaped and has hidden in enemy territoy, waiting for a chance to come back. But Sarigari exposes his lie, arguing that he has had spies in Viola reporting him that he had been taking into Albus' custody. Sarigari retorts that even though Orca has just come back, he will go on a mission again and exterminate Kitrino and its people. Orca panicks and gets angry, threatening Sarigari and stating that he won't let him lay a finger on that island. But Sarigari's deceitfulness shows once more where he explains he has kept his sister under surveillance in case Orca would still be alive and that he won't hesitate to have her killed, should he disobey his orders. Orca quickly grovels at his feet and apologies over and over again as well as begging for forgiveness. But Sarigari calls him an arrogant and proceeds to belittle him, put him down and beats him up until he's unconscious. When Orca wakes up, he has been taken to the Nous and Sarigari sees that all Orca's heart is fed to it, until the very limit, until he has no longer a will to live.

From there, Orca is sent to Kitrino and, possessed by Sarigari's words and his cruel lack of emotions, he begins slaughtering the Kitrino people one by one. The first people he kills are Rosa and Nigeru, in their wedding outfits, just about to get married, who had ran to him, thinking Orca had come back just in time to celebrate. Orca was supposed to forget about a lot of things concerning this place, but he states himself that he had wished so hard to remember, that he somehow remembered all of his experience on the island. Unfortunately, this only helped him in finding the locals faster and finding out where they've hidden. At the end of the day, Orca fights with Albus, the last survivor of the island beside Viride and Albus reveals him that he knew all along he had been a god of death, but had thought he could save him. While they're fighting, Albus tries to kill Orca and lands a long cut across his face which will forever scar his face. Albus dies pitying the boy, uttering Orca is still a victim of the Empire. At last, Orca turns to Viride who starts crying and expresses her wish to find a world where everyone would happy. She says she thought Kitrino could be this world, but she had been in the wrong. Orca kills her and thus, ends the great massacre of Kitrino.

A short moment later, Orca regains some of his emotions and is able to contemplate what he has just done. As soon as he realises, Orca is shown yelling in terror, in shock. We don't know how he got back, but he eventually comes back to his tent and is lying in his bed, screaming like he's lost his mind and crying. Kannavi is the only one daring to approach him since his saimia has gone out of hand and is levitating all kinds of things. Kannavi sits on the bed with him and hugs him, telling him he's there and that he will take care of him. Orca immediately calms down. For hours and hours, Kannavi stays by his side, embracing him, while Orca lists the name of all the Kitrino citizens out loud over and over again. When he's done, Orca is no longer crying and gives Kannavi a scary smirk, telling him he will now be alright.

According to Kannavi's analysis of things, this person wasn't Orca but an alter. Indeed, when exposed to a traumatic event, people can develop a dissociative identity disorder which will fragment their personality in two or several halves to help them manage their emotions. It's unclear whether Kannavi knew this as a child given he was already a nurse, but he probably did his research on Orca's disorder as he got older. Orca's alter who gave him a smirk is described by Kannavi as the strong alter; this alter rejects the Kitrino extermination on the other Orca's fault, the weak one. In fact, after he had stopped crying, the stronger alter told Kannavi he wasn't the one responsible for the deaths. Kannavi thinks Orca created himself an alter because the Nous invaded his consciousness or because he needed to be saved.

After these events, Orca is said to have changed and to have grown colder. His strong alter has clearly taken control over his actions and he calmly brings Viola to a surrender. That achievement earns him a high-ranked position in the army and the right to eat sarka. Having regained some of his emotions, Orca adopts a laid-back and sassy, provacative attitude. When he crosses paths with Arachni and the latter congratulates him for his promotion, Orca tells him he's in the way in a most rude manner. Arachni and a lot of people in his surroundings such as Atsali, who also remembers the beaten stray dog Orca, are shocked by this sudden change. Orca states he will now eliminate everyone standing in his way because it's all for the plan. As it turns out, his plan is to create a universe where the Nous will be no more and where he can go back in time to restore Kitrino within a few parallel universes. In order to do that, he needs to collect strong emotions from his sister which is why he's let her stay on Faleina and then tried to annihilate the people. He also needs a few Nous, which is why the attacks Amonlogia and planned to attack the Empire. And, at last, he needs a Daimonas to destroy a Nous, which is why he kidnapped Ohni back in Amonlogia.

## Plot

He acts as the commander of the Falaina Extermination Forces sent to exterminate the inhabitants of the Mud Whale. Supposedly, he came up with the plot to ambush the Skylos Infiltration Force.

After the destruction of the Nous Skylos, Orca is tried and sentenced to death. However, Orca manages to escape his sentence by telling the council of the daimonas that was responsible for the destruction of the Nous, and how they must capture the daimonas in preparation for the second apocalypse. Orca lays the blame for the failure of the mission entirely on Arachni's shoulders, and Arachni ends up drawing a weapon and shoots off the ends of two of Orca's fingers when he believes Orca is going to draw a weapon on him. With that, Orca convinces the council that Arachni was at fault for having such poor control over his emotions.

He and Itia then head back to his room, where Itia discovers that Liontari is still alive.

## Relationships

### Lykos

Orca is Lykos' older brother. At first sight, he does not seem to care about her very much. He seems willing to use her as a "research sample" on how the Falaina affects people. But as the story unfolds, the reader finds out that Lykos is the person Orca cares about the most and that all his actions were for her sake, aimed to create a world where he, Lykos, Kannavi and the people of Kitrino could live happily. Whenever people will bring her name as conversation topic or whenever Orca interacts with her, it is likely to trigger Orca's "weak alter" and to have him get emotional. However, although she is the person Orca loves the most, he doesn't hesitate to put her life in danger and has trouble expressing his love for her, even when they finally reconcile.

#### **Kannavi**

Kannavi is Orca's only friend. He's met him back in the army around age 17 and has formed a close bond with him despite their lack of emotions. He has supported him through many hardships such as incident in Kitrino. When Kannavi got fired from the army due to his poor medicine skills, Orca's just achieved high-rank permitted him to recruit him. It is unclear how close they are after the events in Kitrino and until the present events in the manga, but Orca seems to still trust him with his life and the two are intimate enough so that Orca can cry in his presence. Kannavi is loyal to Orca even when the latter declares their independance from the Empire. He has a tendency to question Orca's actions and tell him what he thinks of them face to face as a way to protect his friend or preventing further harm, but he will also not blink an eye concerning certain decisions Orca makes that many frown upon.

## Trivia

* His name comes from the Greek word όρκα (Orca) meaning "Killer Whale".