Ragna the Bloodedge

**Ragna the Bloodedge** (ラグナ＝ザ＝ブラッドエッジ *Raguna za Buraddoejji*), also known as the **Grim Reaper** (死神 *Shinigami*, God of Death), **Man of the Blue** (蒼の男 *Ao no Otoko*), and **Centralfiction** (*Sentorarufikushon*, Dream Seen by God), was an SS-class rebel, and Jin and Saya’s older brother. He is the main protagonist and a playable character in the *BlazBlue* series.

## Appearance

Ragna is modeled after the traditional Japanese manga and anime hero. He is a young adult with white spiky hair and heterochromia: his left eye being green and his right being red, a side effect from assimilating the Blue Grimoire into his body. His clothing consists of a hybrid of modern, futuristic and old features. He wears a vibrant red sleeved jacket with two long thin tails hanging from the back. Under it is a black shirt with three red belts and also several belts covering his right arm. He wears a pair of black gloves with a red shell on the backs of the hands. His right arm is a black mechanical prosthetic made of the Blue Grimoire, after having lost his original arm when he was younger. The shell opens up to reveal the grimoire whenever he utilizes it. He wears a black hakama and steel-toed red boots. He also has a small black birthmark on the center of his chest. Ragna has a bright green stud earring on his left ear, not on the lobe of the ear but further up.

When he was in his mid-teens, he had blond hair and green eyes. Because of the trauma he experienced, his hair turned white. After he is taken care of by Jūbei, he wears a traditional Japanese style sleeveless red turtle neck top, long black gloves that reach to his elbows, baggy black pants, and red shoes with high cuffs and steel toes.

In *BlazBlue: Alter Memory* during the hot spring scene in Episode 5, Ragna wears a pair of black, baggy swim shorts; his, otherwise, spiky hair is pushed down from the water and comes down just below his nose.

His swimsuit in *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma*is different than that of *BlazBlue: Alter Memory* – he now wears an open, long sleeve red-and-black hoodie, which shows his chest and eight-pack abs, orange-and-red swimming trunks with black flames on each side, and red-and-black sandals. The small black birthmark on his chest was exposed while wearing the outfit.

## Personality

Ragna is sardonic, rude, and abrasive to anyone he comes across. He is also quick to anger, stubborn, and never misses a chance to use as much vulgar language as possible. In this regard, Ragna is similar to the stereotypical anime delinquent. This is caused mainly by Yūki Terumi practically destroying Ragna’s life, which has created a mass of hatred in him; stronger than that of any other individual. Ragna often becomes infuriated at first sight of Yūki Terumi, which he often takes advantage of through taunting him. However, even in cases where he cannot win or is on the brink of death, Ragna possesses an undying will and persistence, refusing to give up even when he is clearly out matched, something many characters either hate or admire.

Beneath his gruff exterior, however, Ragna does possess a softer, more compassionate side. He chooses to keep up his public front because of the path he chose – that of revenge, as well as accepting the fact that he’s still someone who’s committed crimes such as murder. He does genuinely care for certain people, such as Taokaka, Rachel, Noel, Jūbei and, to an extent, his brother, Jin. Ragna seems to disdain killing, refusing to kill Terumi after he defeated him in the end of *BlazBlue: Continuum Shift*. Ragna spared Arakune’s life due to Litchi’s pleas, and in his Arcade Mode, he directly references his promise to Litchi to let him live after he defeats him. In the end of *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma*, Ragna saved Nu-13 instead of killing her and he told Hakumen to not kill her. Also, despite Jin’s role in the destruction of his life, still cares for him as a brother. He also expressed anguish when Nu sacrificed her life to protect him, despite the past animosity he harboured for her and later declares he will “save” her due to prior events that shifted his beliefs. This side of his personality becomes more apparent as the story progresses, though he still keeps a rough exterior around others that don’t know about his soft side.

Later on after the events of *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma*, Ragna goes through more personal development which changes his opinions about the reasons he fights. He starts to rely on his own strength instead of the Blue Grimoire, as its power is to “steal” instead of “protect”. He declares that he will no longer fight to destroy and for revenge, and instead, decides to fight in order to protect his loved ones. This as aforementioned extends to Nu where he declares he’ll save her instead of destroying her.

## Powers and Abilities

Ragna is an extremely powerful individual, having been trained in combat and Magic Formula by Jūbei, wielding a Blue Grimoire and a rather unusual large sword called, he is able to easily take down entire squads of the Control Organization by himself. Much of his fighting style involves somewhat crude-yet-controlled swings and strikes of brute force and simplistic martial form, ranging from wide sword swings to basic roundhouse-and-axe-kicks which implies a self-taught-yet-standard style; much of his involves him getting into close range and trying to take his hits as far as possible as soon as he gains an offensive edge.

Being the wielder of a Blue Grimoire, Ragna is able to manipulate darkness in the form of the various body parts of the Black Beast through his Drive, **Soul Eater** (ソウルイーター *Souru Ītā*), which also absorbs the opponent’s life force to replenish his own. By utilizing an ability called **Blood Cain** (ブラッドカイン *Buraddo Kain*), Ragna is able to use his Blue Grimoire to greatly enhance his physical abilities and strengthens his Drive, although it wears down his own life force during its duration. During *BlazBlue: Continuum Shift*, Nu-13 (then in the body of Lambda-11), sacrificed herself to save Ragna from Hazama’s onslaught and transferred her Idea Engine into his Blue Grimoire, allowing Ragna to access the true Blue and preventing Hazama from suppressing it again. In *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma*, the combination of Ragna’s “Blood Cain” and the Idea Engine becomes his Overdrive, called **Blood Cain Idea** (ブラッドカインイデア *Buraddo Kain Idea*), which puts him in the “Blood Cain” state but without draining his health. Ragna is also capable of using a concealment Magic Formula to help hide him from both man and beast.

However, a majority of events in the game involve him taking major beatings to the point of having difficulty recovering from them, which also ties into him having one of the lowest health stats in of the cast. He also has shown weakness in often over-relying on his Blue Grimoire during a majority of battles.

During the events of *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma*, Ragna’s right arm and eye become paralyzed due to Celica Ayatsuki Mercury’s power, which made him become very weak compared to his normal self. However this enabled him to fight without relying on the Blue Grimoire, which made him become physically strong enough to defeat Nu-13 without the Blue Grimoire; something he failed to do before.

## TMNT X Pokemon

Ragna and Ryuko have a close relationship. He soon falls in love with her but is now rivaling with Uzu Sanageyama due to him liking Ryuko as well

## 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 darkness 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.
* 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 *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.

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).[11]
* 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.
* 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 *BlazBlue: 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 the Black Beast (though some do not involve life steal):
	+ 5D second hit, 2D and **Hell’s Fang** followup, **Dead Spike** and **Nightmare Edge**followup: one of its heads.
	+ 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 (though the former does not involve any 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 mist, 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 benefit off of the mechanic (since it is an Astral Heat, meaning the opponent is already finished once it connects), but its input is mapped to the C button instead of the D button.
	+ 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 *Centralfiction* for a majority of Ragna’s **Soul Eater** attacks.

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*.[12]
* 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.