Lady of the Masquerade Ball

The **Lady of the Masquerade Ball** (仮面舞踏会の君, *Kamenbudōkai no Kimi*?) is a posthumous character introduced in *Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index*.

## Appearance

When reproduced, the Lady of the Masquerade Ball fits her namesake and wears a red party dress showing off her bodylines as well as a smooth mask without eyes or mouth over her beautiful face.

## Personality

She is an eccentric always seeking to stand in the spotlight, doing everything in the most extravagant and over-the-top way she can, even waiting until pubs are open to cut loose so what she does can be written off as her being drunk. However, she can rapidly lose interest in any one thing.

Unlike Aleister, she does not care if the side effects of magic affect someone else as she prioritizes her own goals as a Magician. Likewise, she has little regard for the life and well-being of her servants, thinking of them as pawns that can be sacrificed for her goals. However, she is bored by faithful obedience and apparently liked that Allan Bennett went against her, even if she still considered him a pawn.

## Background

When she was alive, she was the most influential member of the Golden Dawn, having helped spread word of the cabal. In her time as a member, she created a secondary cabal known as The Sphere, inviting only a select few. The known members include John William Brodie-Innes, Allan Bennett, Frederick Leigh Gardner, and Charles Rosher.

She once attended a non-magical ball while wearing a Symbolic Weapon still in development and that should never have been taken out in public.

At some point after her death, the Lady of the Masquerade Ball was reproduced along with other members of the Golden Dawn by Choronzon, through the application of Tarot-based grimoires, as part of her anti-Crowley countermeasures.

## Chronology

### Choronzon Arc

*Main article: Choronzon Arc*
The reproduced Lady of the Masquerade Ball, along with two of her followers Frederick Leigh Gardner and Charles Rosher, was stationed in Hyde Park, on small island in Serpentine Lake. Unknowingly driven by Qliphah Puzzle 545's madness of war, the Lady of the Masquerade Ball gets impatient and decide to carelessly attack ahead of time the Naked Shopping Center in Piccadilly Circus, where Aleister Crowley, Kamijou Touma, Othinus and Accelerator were holed up in. As Allan Bennett was not present, a horn was substituted in his place in the formation for the summoning of Taphthartharath. Hearing about Taphthartharath from Allan Bennett allows Aleister to survive as well as saving the others.

She was also involved in the group's pursuit of the British Royal Family as they were being evacuated to Scotland, in order to protect the real Mathers' grave, and was among those who took aim at Touma during his clash with Mathers. When Aleister succeeded in disrupting the flow of power to the reproductions' grimoire bodies, the Lady came apart while trying to get her spells working again.

## Abilities

She can summon **Taphthartharath** (タフサーサーラス, *Tafusāsārasu*?), the Planetary Spirit of Mercury, using a formation of four people and an incantation that is completely different from the Golden Dawn's formulas and sounds more like a nursery rhyme:

*"Let us begin the silly wordplay. We shall toy with numbers and letters, add straight lines and curves, and combine it all into signs and symbols. It is time to shake Kochab, the planet protected by Raphael. But do not forget. Though the names may differ, the entire celestial sphere points to a single tree. All elements fall within my grasp and no element found on the surface of the four worlds or to the very ends of this earth can be fully separated. Therefore, only the appropriate knowledge allows one to reach their pure form. Planetary Spirit Taphthartharath. Leave thy natural revolution and seize upon my planet."*

In actuality, she doesn't really summon a being from Mercury, but instead, the energy within the planet is sent high up towards a point in the sky serving as a fictional representation of Mercury before being made to fall down on a target as an invisible attack similar to a bombing.

During the reproduced Golden Dawn's pursuit of the royal family and Touma's battle with Mathers, the Lady is suggested to have made use of a cloak that flaps on its own.

## Trivia

* Based on the details given about her life, especially how she led an elitist group within the Golden Dawn known as The Sphere, it is certain that the Lady is in actuality **Florence Farr** (フローレンス・ファー, *Furōrensu Fā*?) under a pseudonym for unknown reasons. She was an English actress, women's rights activist, and a leading member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. She created the secret order "the Sphere" or "the Sphere Group" within the Golden Dawn to focus on more Egyptian rituals, which would last from 1896 to 1902, when it would collapse following Farr's resignation from the cabal. Following this, Florence continued her acting career and wrote plays before becoming headmistress of a girls' school in Ceylon, Sri Lanka, where she died of breast cancer in 1917.
* Taphthartharath (in Hebrew: תפתרתרת) is a being first described during the Renaissance by German occultist Cornelius Agrippa in his *Three Books of Occult Philosophy* (*De Occulta Philosophia libri III*), Book 2 Chapter 22, as the demon (or spirit depending on the sources) of Mercury complementary to Mercury's Intelligence named Tiriel. Cornelius Agrippa explains that each planet has a specific intelligence and demon assigned to them, with the intelligence of the planet being benevolent and the demon being malevolent. On May 13 1896, Florence Farr apparently led a ritual attempting to invoke Taphthartharath, together with Frederick Leigh Gardner, Charles Rosher and Allan Bennett.
* Kochab, mentioned in the incantation for Taphthartharath, is the Hebrew name for Mercury, used in the Talmud and *The Kabbalah Unveiled*. It is also a name for the star Beta Ursae Minoris, the second brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor next to Polaris.
* In the afterword of *Toaru Majutsu no Index Volume 4*, talismans that can input the power of Mercury were mentioned while exemplifying the sort of summoning spell. Based on her ability, it seems to be an early reference to her.