| “ | I am the servant Devil of Rias Gremory-sama! The [Bishop], Gasper! | ” |
–Gasper to Lord Vladi, Volume 16, Gasper Balor | ||
Gasper Vladi is one of the male protagonists of High School DxD. He is a cross-dressing male Dhampir, a half-Vampire half-human, who has the ability to stop time and Rias' first Bishop. Because his powers were uncontrollable prior to the series, he was sealed in the Academy by Rias and was not seen again until Volume 4 of the light novels. He is a second-year high school student at Kuoh Academy, alongside Koneko and Ravel. He is the possessor of one of the five newly manifest Longinus: Aeon Balor, which evolved from the Sacred Gear: Forbidden Balor View.
Appearance
Gasper is an androgynous-looking male with platinum blond hair and pinkish-violet eyes. His hair is styled in short bob cut with several small fringes over his forehead, and he has pointed ears. Kiba describes him as looking like a beautiful girl.
Unlike the rest of the boys of Kuoh Academy who wear the boys' uniform, Gasper wears the Kuoh Academy girls' school uniform with thigh-high socks, creating a Zettai Ryōiki (Japanese for "absolute territory").
Personality
Originally a coward and a shut-in with a very shy personality, Gasper likes to wear female clothing, claiming that girls' clothes are cute. He also has a penchant for boxes, carrying one with him all the time. When Issei tried to give Gasper confidence, the former gave Gasper a paper bag to put over the latter's face. However, Issei comments that whenever Gasper puts the paper bag on, the latter looks like a molester.
As the series progresses, with Issei and the Gremory group's encouragement, Gasper begins to gain confidence and bravery. When necessary, Gasper has displayed the ability to force down his timid nature and speak up as a man. On more than one occasion, he has demonstrated extreme courage and loyalty, going so far as to be beaten to unconsciousness in defense of his weakened comrades.
Gasper Balor
While using Forbidden Invade Balor the Beast, Gasper adopts a very different personality. Due to the influence of Balor's personality, this being is both Gasper yet not him, and both Balor yet not Balor. In this form, Gasper is decidedly more aggressive to go with his powers, having darkness devour his opponents either with indifference or pure malice, however, he admits he would never hurt his friends and is still himself to the point he recognizes them as such. He still respectfully calls Issei his senpai and would flat out destroy his enemies if they harm his comrades, such as Issei or Valerie. Gasper's own poor feelings towards the Pure-Blooded Vampires also shines through, with him daring them to show their power against him before proving himself vastly superior to them and eating them.
History
Gasper was born between the Vampire Lord Vladi and a human mother; the latter of whom died shortly after giving birth to Gasper, who was born as a mass of darkness which accidentally cursed his mother and several servants to death. Between the incredible fear of Gasper's true form from the higher ups, his uncontrollable Sacred Gear the Forbidden Balor View, and people's general prejudice towards the half-breed, Gasper grew up in isolation and abuse.
He would meet Valerie Tepes and they would often play together; Valerie forcing Gasper to dress up as a girl which would lead to his cross-dressing habit. One day, Gasper worked up the courage to try to escape from the castle with Valerie's help and was shortly thereafter killed by Vampire hunters. Rias Gremory, who was in the area at the time, came upon the boy by chance and taking pity on him reincarnated him as one of her servants using her Bishop Mutation Piece.
When Rias moved to Japan and took her servants with her, she was forced to keep Gasper inside of a sealed room in the Occult Research Club's first floor to contain his power. While Gasper was given the choice to be able to leave at night, due to the circumstances of his past he had developed severe agoraphobia so he chose to remain sealed permanently.
Powers & Abilities
Demonic Power: Gasper has all the powers and abilities common to Devils, including the power to cast spells.
- Enhanced Magic Power: As a Bishop, more so one who consumed a Mutation Piece, he can strengthen his demonic and magical powers.
Dhampir Physiology: Being a Dhampir as well as one with rare Vampire abilities, Gasper has the ability to control bats and transform into a flock of them, usually using them for reconnaissance. Thanks to his human half, Gasper is immune to general Vampire weaknesses but still feels some discomfort from them.
- Daywalker: Due to being Dhampir, Gasper is also a Daywalker, allowing him to survive contact with sunlight.
- Blood Consumption: Gasper can absorb other people's powers by drinking their blood, as shown when he drank Issei's blood in Volume 4, using Issei's Dragon power to boost his own.
- Darkness Manipulation: Gasper can also manipulate shadows and darkness, though he initially had difficulty in controlling them adequately. This has changed as of Volume 24, being able to freely extend and control his shadows. Gasper has shown the ability to change the shape of his shadow to suit multiple purposes, such as tentacles that can bind his opponents seemingly of their own will.
Immense Strength: While Gasper originally lacked raw power and functioned as a support-type fighter, he gained incredible physical power after unlocking his Forbidden Invade Balor the Beast form. He demonstrated the ability to easily overwhelm a clone of Grendel, who has higher strength and durability then the standard mass-produced Evil Dragons, beating it down. Gasper has shown to be capable of fighting on par with Ouryuu Nakiri in his Dragon Man form. Issei noted that Gasper has succeeded the role of the power representative of the Gremory Peerage after Issei became independent and formed his own team in the Azazel Cup.
Immense Durability: Gasper has shown great tolerance to damage and pain, having withstood blows from Ladora Buné in his Dragon form. In Volume 14, Gasper withstood beatings from the Nilrem Magicians. In Volume 24, he was shown to be able to endure blows from Ouryuu Nakiri in his Dragon Man form.
Magic Talent: Befitting of his status as a Bishop, Gasper is shown to have skills and knowledge in magic, excelling in the human magic used by Magicians. Gasper has knowledge on deactivating curses as shown when he healed Xenovia during the Rating Game against Sairaorg, and he can also quickly create defense-type magic circles.
Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Gasper was originally unskilled in fighting until after he gained the Forbidden Invade Balor the Beast form, after which he began to perform hand-to-hand combat training. His fighting style is heavily influenced by Issei's, charging into battle head-on in a similar manner. However, Gasper can gain an edge in combat by grabbing or trapping his opponents with his darkness before or during battle. In Volume 18, Gasper's skills were shown to have improved significantly, allowing him to defeat many mass-produced Evil Dragons in quick succession. Gasper has shown the ability to perform partial Balor transformations on his limbs to fight effectively even in his base form, being able to hold his own against Ouryuu during a training spar.
Flight: Being a Devil, Gasper can fly using his wings.
Equipment
Gasper using his Sacred Gear
Forbidden Balor View (停止世界の邪眼, Fōbidoun Barōru Byū): Also known as The Evil Eye that Stops the World. Gasper's Sacred Gear which has the ability to stop the time of anything in his field of view. After drinking Issei's blood, Gasper's control over his vampire powers increases and allows him to use his Sacred Gears power through the eyes of his bats. It is later revealed that the Irish Evil God, Balor, had part of his consciousness attached to Gasper's Sacred Gear due to the influence of Valerie's Sephiroth Graal, losing his divinity but allowing Gasper to tap into his power via his Forbidden Invade Balor the Beast. In Volume 25, it was revealed that Gasper's Forbidden Balor View was officially recognized as one of the 5 newly manifested Longinus and subsequently renamed into Aeon Balor (時空を支配する邪眼王, Aiōn Barōru), also known as The Evil-Eyed King Who Dominates the Space and Time.
- Forbidden Invade Balor the Beast (禁夜と真闇たりし翳の朔獣, Fōbitoun Invueido Barōru za Bīsuto): Also known as the Shadow Beast Master of the Forbidden Night and True Darkness. Gasper's Ex Side Balance Breaker. First used in Volume 12, it creates an enormous amount of darkness that can engulf a whole town and devours everything (including the mist created by Georg's Dimension Lost), while also covering Gasper's body and transforming him into a five-meter-tall monster with a Dragon's head, arms with claws and wings growing from the back. While this large area of darkness is active, Gasper can generate twisted monsters from it to attack opponents, as well as multiple eyes through which he can use Forbidden Balor View to stop multiple targets at the same time. His darkness has also shown the ability to infect wounds and prevent regeneration as strong as that provided by the Longinus: Sephiroth Graal. Forbidden Invade Balor the Beast is considered to be a Balance Breaker yet different from one at the same time, and its power has the potential to make Gasper's Forbidden Balor View the 14th Longinus-grade Sacred Gear. In Volume 24, Gasper was able to send several Grim Reapers flying even with just his partial Balor transformation.
Sacred Gear Scanner: A scanner that can tell the type, abilities, and weakness of a Sacred Gear. Azazel gives one to Gasper prior to the Hero Faction's small-scale assaults.
Quotes
- 《All of you should be killed. I’ll even devour your souls.》 (Volume 16)
- I WILL KILL YOU…….! I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU TILL NONE OF YOU ARE LEFT…….! (Volume 12 Life -1)
Trivia
- Gasper's birthday is on March 14;[1] also known in Japan as White Day.
- Gasper's height is 150 cm. (4 feet 11 inches) and his weight is 40 kg. (88 lbs.), according to the visual book with his data; this makes him the shortest male character in the series to date.
- Gasper's family name is a reference to Vlad Tepes, the real-life inspiration for Dracula.
- Since Gasper comes from Romania, his nationality is Romanian.
- Gasper crossdresses as a girl because Valerie Tepes used to play with him by making him dress up as one, which made him become accustomed to it.[2]
- Gasper has a habit of going to sleep with a doll.[2]
- In Rating Game fighting-types, Gasper is considered a Support-type who is close to a Technique-type.
- After unlocking Forbidden Invade Balor the Beast, he has become a Power-type.
- Gasper hates blood, liver and fish.[3]
- Gasper is good with computers.[4]
- Gasper has the most success with making contracts out of any of Rias' Peerage by using his computer.[5]
- His contract requests involve those who are bad at social interaction, but have wishes they want to be fulfilled.[6]
- Gasper and Yuuto Kiba live in a mansion near the Hyoudou Residence.[7]
- After Valerie Tepes awoke from her coma and Tosca was brought to Japan by Vasco Strada, the two girls are shown to be living with Gasper and Yuuto.[8] [9]
- Gasper states that his favorite part of a woman's body is her hands.[10]
- Gasper plays the character "Danball Vampire God" (ダンボールヴァンパイア神 Danbōru Vanpaia-gami) in Oppai Dragon.
- Gasper's status as a Hikikomori, or a recluse, seems to stem from severe agoraphobia, most likely due to the constant neglect from his family.
- Gasper likes to make anime and game review videos on DeviTube under a pseudonym. He also does the editing for Koneko's videos.[11]
- One time, Gasper hid himself in a box and asked Issei to leave him alone because he is a snake; this is a reference to the box in the Metal Gear series.
- Upon his promotion to High-class Devil, Gasper choose to accept the offer of being granted his own Evil Pieces.[12]
- When Gasper was hit by Azazel's Gender-Swap Raygun, his appearance remained the same; he simply lost "something important."
- Koneko calls him "Gaspy" in the dub.
- His surname, Vladi, was mistranslated as "Bloody" in the Funimation dub.
- Gasper's name is written as "Gaspard" in the English translation of the manga.
- In the "DxD" popularity election, he came in sixth in the male character category.[13]
References
- ↑ Ishibumi's twitter
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Light Novel Volume 16, Life 2
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 4, Life 3
- ↑ Light Novel DX.5, Life ∞. First Errand
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 4, Life.2 Class visit Begins
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 13, Extra Life
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 6, Life.2 Asia-chan's Worries
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 19, To be continued...
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 20, Life.1 A Restless Career Consultation
- ↑ Delusion Magazine ☆ Night Material Collection New Volume 4: Kiba & Gasper
- ↑ Gremory of the DeviTube
- ↑ True Light Novel Volume 4, New Life
- ↑ Dragon Magazine May Issue 2021