Vulcan

**Vulcan Haestus** (ヴァルカン・ヘイストス) is the secondary antagonist of *Promare*.

Vulcan is the Colonel of Freeze Force, a police and military organization responsible for war against Burnish crimes and attacks, specifically Mad Burnish. A hardened, mildly hysterical man whose more than a little enthusiastic about both his position and mission.

Portrayal: Taiten Kusunoki

## Personality

Brutish, haughty and abrasive. Cruel, conceited and over-compensates. He abuses his power over others and bullies them. He doesn't view Burnish as people, rather as fuel. He enjoys inflicting misery on others and brutalizing Burnish publicly. He is loyal to Kray, but most likely due to something in return for himself.

## Appearance

He has a large head with no hair to be seen and wild, orange eyes. His body is framed in massive animatronic parts to hide that he is actually minuscule and frail. So much so that he is actually far shorter than both Lucia and Lio.

Vulcan's armor consists of greys with segments of green and white. Notable aspects of it include his orange visor, a green shoulder pad, and striped plating on his right arm. When in his armor, he towers the likes of Galo and Kray. Underneath his armor, Vulcan wears a body suit with similar colors to his armor.

## History

### *Lio-hen*

After Gueira and Meis' rescue of a fellow Burnish, a fellow Mad Burnish member notices an approaching Freeze Force. They decide to run the other direction from non members to confuse and distract the police force. However, Vulcan considered this possibility, resulting in nearly everyone being captured. He then manages to capture both Gueira and Meis. As things look grim, a sudden arrow shoots downward.

Lio Fotia arrives on the scene, rescuing as many Burnish as possible and fighting off Freeze Force. When Gueira attempts to kill the group though, the vigilante stops him. Lio and Mad Burnish leave as Vulcan is left weakened.

### *Promare*

Vulcan and Freeze Force make their first appearance in the movie after Burning Rescue's takedown of Mad Burnish's leader. They've arrived due to a call about a recent attack. Finding that Galo and his co-workers had already dealt with it, Vulcan begins to threaten throwing Galo in jail for interfering with police matters and attempting arrest. Ignis then steps in, stating that Burning Rescue is under authorization to deal with Mad Burnish attacks. This results in Vulcan leaving with a captured Lio, Gueira, and Meis in tow.

Afterwards, he and his fellow officers commit police brutality on a local pizzeria where a Burnish employee works. Both Galo and Aina attempt to stop him to no avail. He leaves with both the employee and his boss in tow. It is later revealed that said employee was brought to Heris' lab for an experiment.

Before Lio and companies' prison breakout, a device was given to one of the young man's cellmates by Vulcan. It was predicted that the Mad Burnish trio would soon attempt a prisonwide breakout. Thus, a deal was struck: lead Freeze Force to them and he would be spared.

A day later, Vulcan and his men track down a Burnish hideout at Fennel Volcano through the help of the traitor. As they shoot down multiple Burnish, Lio, Gueira, and Meis intervene, only for Lio to have a frozen bullet shot into his heart in thanks to the elderly Burnish's assistanceーwho is promptly betrayed. He is left paralyzed as the other two sacrifice themselves saving him. As Freeze Force does not have the proper gear for volcano temperatures, they resort to leaving.

After freeing himself, Lio soon begins a rampage in the city. Vulcan thus attempts to apprehend him. The enraged man merely considers him and his men pests and flings him into a nearby building. Later on, Vulcan goes after a traitor Heris for destroying the promatech engine. She jumps to have Aina catch her. As Vulcan attempts to apprehend the duo, he is suddenly hit with the Mega Max. In retaliation, he later attempts to crush Galo and company by driving into the vehicle. A fight soon breaks out between Freeze Force and Burning Rescue. As Galo and Lio save the world, Vulcan jumps out of his armor, believing himself to be in danger from the teal flames. In the aftermath, he is shown sitting without his armor in disappointment.

## Relationships

### Kray

Vulcan and his men are in charge of rounding up Burnish to use as a fuel source for the migration plan. Meanwhile, Kray offers Vulcan Freeze Force's weaponry and vehicles. More than likely, Vulcan's suit was also made by the Foresight Foundation.

### Lio

After his first encounter with the newest Mad Burnish leader, Vulcan finds Lio to be a pest who interferes with Freeze Force's duties. When he nearly captures Lio, he messes with him, as if enjoying having a position of power right before he is briefly taken down by Gueira and Meis. Lio later launches him into a building during his attack on Promepolis.

### Ignis

Ignis and Vulcan detest each other due to an implied troubled history between the duo. Vulcan has a tendency to look down on Burning Rescue as they are considered a "low-level" rescue team. Ignis, on the other hand, finds Freeze Force's actions to be borderline illegal such as threatening Galo's arrest. During the final battle, Ignis and Vulcan are shown duking it out and butting heads. Their dynamic is said to be based off the *Fast & Furious* film series.

### Burning Rescue

In general, Vulcan has barely any regard towards Burning Rescue. They are considered lesser by him due to their technology not reaching Freeze Force's potential. Furthermore, Galo attempts to receive credit for Mad Burnish's capture, only to be choked by Vulcan and nearly arrested for 'civilian interference.' As he attempts to apprehend a Burnish employee, both Galo and Aina are the only members to oppose him. The others merely watch knowing the risks of doing so. After Heris' betrayal and rescuing Galo, the group fight both him and his men.

### Elderly Burnish

At some point around Lio's arrival at the institution, the duo struck a deal where the latter would follow Lio around and act as a tracking device. As such, the old man was given an ice bomb and a tracker was placed. During the raid itself though, Vulcan betrays him, freezing him with his gun and proceeding to sit on his body. Like most Burnish, Vulcan considered him as nothing more but fuel.

## Quotes

* *"Good job out here today, Ignis."*
* (to Burning Rescue) *"Hey, you got some pretty ancient gear there, huh? Low-level rescue teams sure have it hard."*
* (to Freeze Force) *"Whoa, careful, we're not trying to kill these guys. They're our precious fuel!"*
* *"It was the sweet old man. We implanted a tracker before you left."*
* *"VULCAN!"*

## Gallery

*For Vulcan's full gallery, go here.*

Vulcan in *Lio-hen*Vulcan in the *Promare* movieVulcan's title cardClose-up of Vulcan"Shut up and watch"
## Trivia

* Vulcan was one of Imaishi’s favorite characters, so much so that they had to cut several scenes of him out. He enjoyed the scene of Vulcan and Ignis clashing.

### Etymology

* Vulcan’s name comes from the Roman God of Fire, Vulcan, that was associated with volcanoes and forging.
	+ Said God would have a celebration in ancient Roman on August 23rd called Vulcanalia. This event would involve the burning of food in a bonfire to give to Vulcan.
	+ Vulcan is also one of the Gods depicted punishing Prometheus for his crimes against Olympus in several artworks. One notable case is Dirck van Baburen's "Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan."
	+ Vulcan was also the name of a hypothetical planet 19th century astronomer Urbain Le Verrier believed to be between Mercury and the Sun. It's existence would be rejected in the 20th century.
* Vulcan's surname “Haestus” is short for “Hephaestus,” an alternative name for Vulcan in Greece.
	+ As he would make weapons for Olympus' Gods, this could tie into Vulcan's role of cooperating with Kray and his usage of ice weaponry.
	+ In Greek, he would sometimes be claimed as the child of Hera and Zeus.

### Intertextuality and References

* Vulcan is based on Vin Diesel in the *Fast & Furious* series.
* His appearance bares similarities to Vulkanus from *Ben 10*. Both also use mechs in order to disguise their minuscule size.

### Story Concepts

* In concept art, Vulcan's mech armor bears a more slim appearance. Furthermore, he himself occasionally had triangle tattoos on his head.
* In an earlier draft, Vulcan was to have fought Lio during the latter's escape from prison. This version has Vulcan be unaware of Lio's plans from the get-go.
	+ Vulcan, alongside Kray and Lio, were to also be arrested after the Promare leaves, but was cut due to its somber nature.

### Miscellaneous

* Vulcan's Japanese voice actor, Taiten Kusunoki, voices Vin Diesel in the *Fast & Furious* Japanese dub.

## External Links

* Vulcan's profile at the Monster Strike Wiki