List of Madlax characters


Madlax is a 26-episode anime television series that was produced in 2004 by the Bee Train animation studio. According to the composer of the series, Yuki Kajiura, the director Kōichi Mashimo created a list of brief descriptions of every recurring character for her to base their respective musical themes upon. She refers to this list as "Mashimo Menu" and commented that the director's descriptions provide deeper insight into the characters.

Main characters

Margaret Burton

Margaret Burton, born on 14 July 1992, is a clumsy, absent-minded 19-year-old girl who attends an elite college for aristocratic families' children in Nafrece. Her memories of her own life are limited to its last twelve years, the word "Madlax", and vague recollections of something important connected to an unusual "picture book" she possesses.
Margaret is ultimately the central character of the story, as she is the person who has the Gift, a mysterious ability to alter the reality. Twelve years ago, she and the person who later became known as Carrossea Doon, survived a plane crash in Gazth-Sonika and interrupted the stand-off between Friday Monday, who unintentionally caused the accident while accessing the Sanctuary, and Colonel Richard Burton, Margaret's father. Although Burton was victorious, Monday, with his last strength, chanted the Words of Awakening and put him into trance, forcing to shoot his own daughter. Protecting herself, Margaret shot her father and, to flee from the guilt, used her Gift to split herself into three personae: one who retained the Gift, one who took the sin of patricide upon herself, and one who kept the memories of this. Since that moment, the person known as Margaret Burton became but a third of her former self, still possessing the Gift, but having lost all memories.
The "picture book" she has is Secondari, the second of the Holy Books instrumental for using the Gift. Margaret believes that it was given to her by her father, though she cannot understand the language it is written in, or the reason for some of its pages being covered with blood. The red shoes that help her remember about Secondari are an obvious homage to Noir, where a similar pair is worn by Kirika Yuumura.
Madlax is an exceptionally charismatic and attractive young woman, who is at the same time the best mercenary agent in Gazth-Sonika with 98% mission success rate. Like Margaret, she doesn't remember anything before twelve years ago, except for the word "Madlax", which she has adopted as her code name, and a brief flashback of a gun in her hands and her father walking away - Madlax believes that her father is still alive and fighting somewhere in Gazth-Sonika.
While she is the best fighter in the country, easily able to dodge bullets with her Gun Kata fighting style and take down a small army all by herself. She fights only to bring a rapid end to all fighting and, when Vanessa Rene shows her that Enfant is behind the war, Madlax immediately seeks to destroy it, no matter the personal cost.
Madlax is the second persona of the former Margaret Burton, the one who took upon herself the sin of patricide, and her supernatural fighting powers may have been influenced by this. Her non-human nature becomes apparent towards the end of the series, when her left lung completely heals overnight after being pierced by a bullet. Madlax has the missing page from Margaret's Secondari.
Vanessa Rene is Margaret's former neighbor and tutor, who has received a university education in IT and is currently a manager for Bookwald Industries. Some reviewers have estimated her age as early thirties.
Her parents got mixed up with Gazth-Sonikan politics when the war broke out and were subsequently executed, therefore Vanessa's goal is to uncover the real reasons of the conflict.
Being a strong-willed and self-confident woman, Vanessa travels directly to Gazth-Sonika after she discovers that Bookwald not only invests into its demilitarized zone but also sells weapons to both warring factions and, moreover, is a part of Enfant syndicate itself. In Gazth-Sonika, Madlax is appointed as her bodyguard so it is Vanessa who links the two personae of the original Margaret Burton back together.
She is shot by Limelda after protecting Madlax, and dies from her injuries.
  • Mashimo Menu title: Gatekeeper of Happiness

  • Elenore Baker

Elenore Baker is Margaret's maidservant, wholly devoted to caring for her "miss". Elenore's family has served the Burtons for generations, so she considers it her duty to protect the absent-minded and clumsy Margaret from anything remotely dangerous - to the point of researching all her classmates' backgrounds. Her devotion and persistence helped her to graduate from school years ahead of the rest and later, become an expert in hand to hand combat.
In the final arc of the series, she is shot by soldiers while trying to rescue Margaret. While, with determination, she gets to reunite with her “miss”, she eventually dies of her wounds.
Elenore holds the distinction of being one of the final 8 in 2004 Anime Saimoe Tournament.
  • Mashimo Menu title: Everyday Gatekeeper

  • Friday Monday

Friday Monday is the enigmatic founder and head of the Enfant organization. Very little is known about his past before 1999, when he used his Gift to open the Door of Truth in a failed attempt to plunge the world into a total war, which, as he believes, is its natural state.
His attempt was foiled by Colonel Richard Burton, so the conflict only broke out locally, in the country where the ritual was held and where the Enfant HQ was later situated - in Gazth-Sonika. To repeat the ritual and complete what he has started, Monday has been ever since searching for the two missing Holy Books and another person with a strong Gift, as he is no longer able to use his own, allegedly, because the right half of his face is disfigured by Burton's bullet. Although it is not stated explicitly within the series, according to Kōichi Mashimo's vision, Monday was once a talented artist.
  • Mashimo Menu title: The Gatekeeper of Heaven Smiles

  • Carrossea Doon

Carrossea Doon is officially an independent contract worker for Bookwald Industries, although, in reality, he is one of Enfant's best operatives and the right-hand man of Friday Monday himself. Carrossea is smart and resourceful and he often exploits his position and powers in order to search for clues about his past, for he, just like Madlax and Margaret, doesn't remember anything before twelve years ago.
During the incident in Gazth-Sonika, Carrossea, then known as Poupee, and Margaret were the sole survivors of the plane crash. He rapidly fell in love with and vowed to protect her, therefore, when Margaret interrupted the stand-off between her father and Monday, Carrossea-Poupee has to cover her with his own body from a stray bullet and died on the spot. However, his rather weak Gift, the power of the Sanctuary and his will to protect Margaret sufficed to partly resurrect him at expense of his memories. Friday Monday has found his amnesiac persona, named him "Carrossea" and made his personal assistant, whereas his memories remained confined to the Sanctuary with the entity named "Poupee". Common past is probably the reason of the rapid mutual trust that appeared between Carrossea and Margaret upon their "first" meeting as personae.
Once he discovers the truth about his past, Carrossea vanishes.

  • Limelda Jorg

Limelda Jorg is a second lieutenant of the Gazth-Sonikan Royal Guard and the most prolific sniper in the country with the exception of Madlax. After the latter has assassinated the Commander-in-Chief of the Royalist Army, whom Limelda was assigned to protect, she has made it her duty to hunt down Madlax.
Despite multiple chances to kill Limelda, Madlax has always let her go and eventually shared with her the data she discovered on Enfant's involvement with Gazth-Sonikan war. This revelation shattered Limelda's world view and made her quit the Army and renew the attempts to kill Madlax in a crazy hope that once she is dead, everything will return to "normal". Limelda initially enlisted after her relatives were killed by Galza.

  • Recurring characters

SSS

SSS is Madlax's mysterious male contact, who acts as a liaison between her and the clients. Very little is known about him, except that he was the one who adopted and raised Madlax as an agent after 1999, and that he is likely not connected to Enfant and, in a way, opposes them. His face is never shown in the series, only its lower half, when he is talking via a mobile phone.
The DVD release of Madlax by ADV Films include multiple extras called "Conversations with SSS", which are a series of short clips following SSS's absurd dialogues with the rest of the cast.

  • Quanzitta Marison

Quanzitta Marison is a mystic of a native village deep within the Gazth-Sonikan combat zone. Quanzitta is the owner of the third Holy Book, Thirstari, and one of the few who can read the Elies script and Saruon language that the Books are written in. She guards the Door of Truth and can communicate with the residents of the Sanctuary behind it. She sacrifices herself when Margaret ready to open the Door and is returned as a spirit.
  • Mashimo Menu title: ''Deep-Sea Gatekeeper''