Ragna the Bloodedge

Ragna in Bleach the King of Fighters A15

### Birthdate

September 3, 1982; 20 years old (BKOFXUS–BKOFX3RS), 22 years old (BKOFAG–present)

### Family/Relatives

Ragnarok Azai (great-grandfather)
Burning the Bloodedge (grandfather)
Shiva the Bloodedge (father)
Unnamed mother

### Job/Occupation

Samurai
Rebel against the N.O.L.

### Likes

Tentama udon
meat dishes

### Dislikes

Ghosts
the World Void Information Control Organization

### Weapon

Aramasa
Azure Grimoire

### Element

Fire
Blood (Soul Eater)

**Ragna the Bloodedge** (ラグナ・ザ・ブラッドエッジ, *Raguna za Buraddoejji*) is a blood fire and rebellion. He is the main protagonist of the 2003 BlazBlue manga/anime series. He was introduced Bleach the King of Fighters X: UNLIMITED Special.

He is the main protagonist in Bleach the King of Fighters X, the recurring character and hero for both Bleach the King of Fighters X2 and Bleach the King of Fighters X3, and one of the main characters in Bleach the King of Fighters A15.

## Story

### The King of Fighters X

Ragna then unknown present travelling into search will can in The King of Fighters X. He wrecked betrays Toyotomi's Arrancar Army in the Legend Castle X/2010, and has fighting on Toyotomi's Arrancar Army while resident evil within kill around. Ragna the Bloodedge only resource to time of Jin Kisaragi and Noel Vermillion, as well than record know illegal within forever thinker in Tokyo, Japan.

## Trivia

Naming
* “Ragna” is a name that is Scandinavian in origin. It is actually a feminine name that is the short form of female compound names beginning with the element “Ragn-”, from Old Norse “rǫgn”, which roughly translates as “counsel”. However, the more likely explanation is that his name derives from Ragnarök, which translates as “the final battle of the Gods”. The word “Ragnarök” is a compound: the first element, “ragna”, means “organizing powers” and was commonly used to refer to the gods or their actions. In a sense, Ragna’s first name could literally translate as “God” from Norwegian. His name may suggest another Norse reference, which is the legends of Ragnar Loðbrok, a hero who slayed the serpent Jörmungandr.
* “Shinigami” (死神, God of Death) is a Japanese personification of death. “Grim Reaper” is its Western counterpart as localized in the English dub.
* Five of Ragna’s special moves which involve using his fire element have names related to hell (**Hell**’s Fang, Gauntlet **Hades**, **Inferno** Divider, **Belial** Edge, with Belial being one of the Four Crown Princes of Hell, and Seed of **Tartarus**). Both Hell and Inferno share the same meaning, while Hades refers to the ancient Greek god of the underworld.
	+ In Hell’s Fang’s case, the intended name might have been actually Hel, the goddess of death in Norse mythology, as both “Hell” and “Hel” are written as ヘル (*Heru*) in Japanese katakana.
	+ The activation for the Blue Grimoire also parallels with Ragna's motif; via the quote "666th restriction", which likely references the "Number of the Beast".
* His **Blood Cain** ability (spelled with a “K” for the latter part in English localizations), may be a reference to Cain and Abel, the two sons of Adam and Eve.
	+ The sibling rivalry motif between the two can also parallel Ragna and Jin’s rivalry, especially via Cain being symbolized as "the root of all evil" in some circles, which is a role Ragna indirectly takes on in the series (via either others deeming him evil or Ragna going against the world’s wishes as the Centralfiction).

Appearance
* During Ragna’s flashbacks, his outfit resembles one of the concept designs for the early design stages of Ragna’s character.
* The blade of Ragna’s sword resembles an enlarged version of one of the 8 blades the Murakumo Units use during combat. In early concept art, the two are identical.
* When Ragna activates the Idea Engine together with his BlazBlue, the Blue’s crest appears blue in color, but when he uses only his BlazBlue, it appears red. This supports Ragna’s claim that this is the true Power of the Blue.
* In the *BlazBlue: Chimelical Complex* manga, when Ragna uses the Blue Grimoire, his arm changes to the black claw that he uses in Devoured by Darkness, instead of the black aura of magic element that normally surrounds his body. When he used it to defeat Jin, Ragna’s body turns darker as it happens in Black Onslaught; black feathers can also be seen spreading around him.
* On the clean cover artwork of *BlazBlue in L.A. Vocal Edition* there is a text written on one of Ragna’s belts – it is *-No.5- Es*.
* Ragna’s jacket is drawn inconsistently from image to image. His *BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger* artwork features two small metallic plates on each side of his jacket, but they are usually not noticeable because of the belts and thus, not seen in most in-game CGs, as well as most game sprites (though they are slightly visible on the opposite side while he is standing). The said plates disappear completely in Ragna’s *BlazBlue: Continuum Shift* artwork. In Ragna’s *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma* artwork, the metallic plates are positioned lower so they are visible from all sides, but still absent from the new in-game CGs. His new game sprites have them, however.
	+ Likewise, akin to some asymmetrical characters, Ragna's red-right eye in his battle sprite gets flipped, while in his story mode artworks, his Grimoire gets flipped onto the wrong arm the same way as well despite his eye remaining in the right place.

Other
* His birthday falls on “I Want You to Be Happy” Day, also known as Girl’s Day.
* The remains of the Black Beast that Ragna attains, is actually his own beheaded humanoid form.
* Ragna does not possess either of his original arms, as Jin severed his right arm, which was replaced with the Blue Grimoire, and his left arm was destroyed in the process of bringing back Noel, and was replaced by Kokonoe using parts from Lambda’s regeneration tank.
* Ragna’s favorite food is stated to be tentama udon (天玉うどん, heaven jewel udon).
* Ragna dislikes needles, as revealed by his dialogue in his *Help Me, Professor Kokonoe!* section.
	+ His fear of ghosts is also referenced many times in a comedic fashion, which theroies often state stem from the trauma inflicted upon him by Terumi (who was originally a ghost-based entity himself).
* In the *BlazBlue Material Collection*, there is a sketch of Ragna defeated in front of Jin, with Ragna holding a sword known as the Rebellion, Dante’s signature sword in the *Devil May Cry* series, which in some cases, causes many parallels between Dante and Vergil to Ragna and Jin (Ragna's leitmotif is also called "Rebellion" as well).
* A running gag in the series is Ragna’s tendency to treat people to meals:
	+ In *BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger*, he decides to feed the starving Taokaka and is left with a large bill as a result.
	+ In *BlazBlue: Continuum Shift*, he is forced to feed Platinum when Sena makes a commotion in public.
	+ In Taokaka’s *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma* Arcade Mode, Tao and Luna leave a large restaurant bill on Ragna’s tab.
	+ In episode 4 of *Teach Me More, Ms. Litchi*, Ragna gives Platinum a cake, and Sena remarked that if they asked, Ragna would probably buy them as many cakes as they wanted.
	+ This tendency is noted by Ragna himself in “Mechanical Soul”, where he preemptively tells Lambda that he wasn’t going to feed her. This episode is based on the *Continuum Shift – Part 2* novel, where he actually fed her.
	+ In Taokaka’s Act 3 of *BlazBlue: Centralfiction*, Ragna said that they will eat some meat buns only if Kagura pays the bill.
* In the second episode of “Teach Me, Miss Litchi!” in *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma*, Ragna makes a reference to the character Naruto Uzumaki from the *Naruto* series.
* Ragna was bitten only once by Rachel, as she admitted it in her ending in *BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger*. In all the other timelines, he was able to save himself by touching the Blue Grimoire, as it is described in Rachel’s short story *Endless Waltz*.
* In one of Ragna’s endings in *BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger*, after Ragna and Nu fuse together without entering into the Kiln, the new entity is able to activate the Murakumo Unit and deploy the Blood Scythe at the same time.
* There is an artistic error found during the *Calamity Trigger Reconstruction* story in *BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend*, when Ragna’s right arm was cut off, he still has white hair instead of blonde.
* Although the image in which Ragna transforms into the Black Beast is part of Ragna's Bad Ending in *BlazBlue: Continuum Shift*, it is listed as part of the True Ending in the Gallery.
* Although Ragna has his own unlimited theme, *Black Onslaught*, this is not played in both Jin and Hazama’s Arcade Mode in *BlazBlue: Continuum Shift*, where the theme played is instead *Under Heaven Destruction* and *Nightmare Fiction* respectively.
* When Ragna is beaten by Platinum in the latter’s Story Mode, his sprite is the bloody Ragna with his left arm torn off instead of the normal defeated sprite, which might be a case where the game loads the wrong sprite for the situation.
* Each of Ragna’s attacks that use his **Soul Eater** Drive involve a part of a Black Beast (though some do not involve life steal):
	+ 5D second hit, 2D and **Hell’s Fang** followup, **Dead Spike**, **Datou** (in his Unlimited Form) and **Nightmare Edge** followup: one of its heads.
		- In the case of Dead Spike, that very particular beast head has been spawned into a popular entity of its own within the *BlazBlue* fandom, even birthing an official spin-off game revolving around it.
		- Also in the case of all of these specific animations save for Hell's Fang's followup and Dead Spike, the earlier frames of such animations involve a swarm of smaller snake-like heads converging to form the larger one.
	+ 6D, Crush Trigger, **Keri Age/Spin Kick** followup from **Gauntlet Hades** and **Yami ni Kuwarero**: One of its claws. In the case of both his Crush Trigger and **Yami ni Kuwarero**, the two of them involve actually turning his hand into a clawed-arm.
		- His Crush Trigger however, due to not being mapped to the D button, involves no life steal.
	+ j.D: The beast’s maw.
	+ D version **Inferno Divider** and **Nightmare Edge**: the beast’s hide. However, **Nightmare Edge** does not have any life steal effects due to being mapped to a C input instead of a D input.
	+ **Kakato Otoshi/Ax Kick** followup from **Inferno Divider**: A lump of Magic Element in the form of dark flame, which may as well be its breath. This element to the attack was not present in *Calamity Trigger*.
	+ **Carnage Scissors**: a portion of the beast’s outer skin, possibly its spikes.
	+ **Black Onslaught**: One of its wings during the ending blow. Interestingly enough, this is the only Soul Eater-based life steal move that does not normally benefit from the mechanic (since it is an Astral Heat, meaning the opponent is already finished once it connects), and its input is mapped to the C button instead of the D button.
		- This is also due to the fact that the life steal orbs when examined closely, gravitate towards Ragna's Blood Scythe for the finishing blow. However, the orbs that gravitate towards his body during the initial slash combo still count towards healing him as normal.
	+ If one listens closely, any move that involves an element of the beast’s heads emits a faint roar; this sound effect is amplified in both *Chronophantasma* and *Centralfiction* for a majority of Ragna’s **Soul Eater** attacks compared to other titles.

Appearances in other media
* Ragna, along with Jin, Hazama, Hakumen, Platinum and Rachel, is featured as a “Playable Character” in the MMO Action Game, Lost Saga.
* Ragna is featured in the Square Enix game: *Lord of Vermilion Re: 2*, alongside Noel and Jin.
* Ragna appears in the game *Fantasy War Tactics* alongside with Jin, Rachel, and Noel.
* Ragna, along with Jin, Noel and Rachel, is featured as a Playable Character in the MOBA game, *Chaos Heroes Online*.
* Ragna, as well as Noel Vermillion and Tsubaki Yayoi, appears in the mobile game *Seven Knights*. Ragna will start without his red jacket, which he receives after upgrading into five stars, and the six stars update will turn Ragna into Bloodedge.
* Ragna, as well as any other main character in *BlazBlue: Centralfiction*, appears in the mobile game *Mabinogi Duel*. Ragna is a selectable character with a special effect named **Soul Eater**, the player gains 1 life point whenever an enemy card is destroyed, but loses 2 when an ally card is destroyed.

1. ↑ *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma*, *glossary*, items section, entry #21
2. ↑ *BlazBlue at chaosheroesonline.co.jp* (in Japanese). SEGA. Retrieved June 28, 2014.