Ayanami/Trivia

Ayanami, born Krowell Raggs, is the primary antagonist in the anime and manga series 07-Ghost.

He is the leader of the infamous Black Hawks, a Warsfeil and a military strategist. He has held the post of the Barsburg Army's Chief of Staff for several years after the Raggs War, and after he drowned Marshal Oak, rose to become Field Marshal. It appears that he is widely known and respected throughout the Barsburg Empire for his accomplishments, despite his relatively young age, usually being greeted with salutes by his inferiors when they see him, but because he is a Wasfeil, many soldiers talk about him negatively behind his back or are afraid of him.

He is directly or indirectly responsible for many of the turmoils that Teito has suffered in his life including the deaths of Mikage Celestine, Teito's best friend, and Weldeschtein Krom Raggs, Teito's father. Ayanami seeks the Eye of Mikhail and has been shown to be targeting the Seven Ghosts, particularly Zehel as the scythe that Zehel is wielding actually belongs to Verloren, Ayanami's soul.

He is revealed to be the reincarnation of Verloren later in the story, and is trying to regain his original ageless and powerful body (Verloren's Body) by unlocking Pandora's Box.

In chapter 90 of the manga, he revealed to Teito that he is in fact Teito's paternal uncle, being the youngest of Teito's paternal grandparents' three sons.

Etymology
In Japanese, "aya nami" means "twilled/cross wave". It is also the name of a famous Japanese destroyer, a battleship that was one of the most powerful destroyers in the world when introduced.

In German, "verloren" means "lost", "forsaken", "irrecoverable" or "goner".

His former name, "kuroveru" (katakana) may be derived from Japanese and other languages.

In Japanese, "kuro" means "black", "guilty"; "beru" ("v" is pronounced as "b" in Japanese) means "bell", but if German pronunciation is considered (in German, "w" is pronounced as "v"), then "veru" can also be "weru", which means "well", "hole" in Japanese.

"Veru" is also a declension form of "vera", and its associated meaning in Latin are "being", "stay", "spring" and "true".

Early 07-Ghost
Ayanami's first appearance was in the pilot chapter Seven Ghosts. The earliest version of Ayanami had a sharper face, shorter hair and the shape of his peaked-cap was different, though this could be due to the art style evolving between the creation of Seven Ghosts and Begleiter, and not a change in his design. His uniform was also different. It looked like the modern cadet uniform: there was no half mantle; the decoration was less elaborate; and the trenchcoat did not reach the floor.

Ayanami's past of killing the Raggs king, as seen in Seven Ghosts, is incorporated into the finished storyline. However, his involvement with Mikage is added later as in Seven Ghosts, Ayanami did not possess him, and wasn't the one who killed him.

Ayanami appears in the Begleiter chapter, this time much closer in appearance to the one in the finalised series, his appearance his almost identical to the final design (his hair was made wavier) and it uses the final design for the Basrburg uniform.

The story involves Ayanami taking a Begleiter named Yukinami, but being reluctant to accept him because of his past with Yukikaze, his begleiter who died protecting him. Ayanami later accepts Yukinami after the later risks his life for Ayanami despite Ayanami not wishing him to do so. The idea of Yukinami being Ayanami's begleiter is dropped from the final storyline, but his connection with Yukikaze is later included in the finish series.

Ayanami's rank during the Raggs War
As the field marshal and the chief of staff are the highest-ranking officers in a fleet, some special military insignia are worn by them alone, such as the epaulet.

During the Raggs War, Ayanami was wearing an epaulet (a flashback of Tiashe in the anime). So, he should have been holding the position of chief of staff at the time according to the anime. However, in manga chapter 76, he was not seen wearing an epaulet, so, according to the manga, he should not be the chief of staff during the Raggs War. In the same chapter, Landkarte refers to Ayanami as "major general", showing he held this rank during the Raggs War.

Quotes

 * 'I must protect this country. I will protect it no matter what I'll become.'
 * 'I don't need another Begleiter. Already.. Anyone.. I don't need anyone by my side. You are the only Begleiter I have loved.'
 * 'You are also beautiful when you are under cherry blossom petals.' (to Yukikaze)
 * 'One thing is that you didn't improve...' (to Hyuuga, when he asks if Ayanami regrets anything in his human life in Kapitel 87)
 * 'I will fill his soul with madness until he is destroyed by my hand.' (said when speaking to Hyuuga about Teito)
 * 'Oh, snow. You are not certain to be in this world. You remind me of my birthplace.' (thought in Kapitel 26, while in Antwort)
 * 'Drink. In his place.' (to Hyuuga)
 * '...You, The same as usual, quite talkative...' (to Eve in Kapitel 98)
 * 'You and I cannot live without each other. Remember that.' (to Teito in drama CD track 'Escape')
 * 'How calm you are, Profe. Even though I'm about to devour you.' (to Labrador when they fight in the tower of Fest)
 * 'You're noisy.' (to Teito)
 * 'I can somewhat understand your actions. After all, who wouldn't want to obtain the world's knowledge?' (to King Antwort about Pandora's Box)
 * 'Let go. You'll be consumed. You really are a fool, Teito Klein." (some of his last words to Teito)

Trivia

 * The fact that he can use Zaiphon can be considered ironic, as people who can use Zaiphon are regarded as "blessed by God", yet Ayanami is the reincarnation of Verloren, who was persecuted by the Chief of Heaven. To further add the irony, Ayanami is also the most powerful user of Zaiphon and also the strongest fighter in the series, being acknowledged to far surpass the Black Hawks, his subordinates, despite all of them being shown to be on par with and even superior to the Seven Ghost's human incarnates, whom are exceptional Zaiphon users and combatants in their own right, with Ayanami easily defeating Castor and fending off Frau while not fighting seriously.
 * Due to this, Ayanami is also much stronger than Teito, as in their first fight, he easily rendered Teito completely powerless to fight back. In the anime, in their final fight, even with all of Teito's improvements, Ayanami still proves to be superior, as Teito was no match for Ayanami in both Zaiphon and physical combat.
 * He is one of only three Black Hawks whose parents have been shown, the other two being Shuri Oak and Teito (though Teito has since defected).
 * Although he has a wine cellar containing bottles of his favourite wine (reference: see Fanbook/animation book related trivia below), he is never shown drinking alcohol throughout the series.
 * When Verloren's soul reincarnates in a human body, they should not remember any of Verloren's memories. Manga chapter 98 revealed that Ayanami remembered at the age of fourteen, when the Eye of Raphael was unsealed by Dalia Barsburg.
 * The Raggs princes who have appeared so far have more than one name (e.g. Weldeschtein Krom, Wer Kreuz, Wahrheit Tiashe), so it is probable that Krowell has one more name, which was not revealed.
 * Ayanami appears as a recurring character in Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara's new series, Battle Rabbits, as the old Moon emperor.

'Extras' related trivia

 * Ayanami has various pets, but all of them, except his panthers, are afraid of him.
 * Ayanami only drinks coffee for breakfast. He skips lunch. It is unknown how often he skips the evening meal.
 * It is implied that someone has tried to poison Ayanami in the past.
 * Ayanami dislikes sweet-tasting foods and beverages.
 * Ayanami categorizes his rubbish before disposing it. Also, he has thrown Hyuuga into the rubbish categorized as: for incineration.
 * In a four-panel omake from one of the Limited Anime DVDs, Hyuuga and Katsuragi say, "The number of females in the military has increased recently", and then they find a leaflet on which "Shake hands with me at Hohburg" is written and an image of Ayanami (smiling and holding out his hand) is on it. They think it is an altered image. Later, the organizer of that "campaign" is nowhere to be found.
 * Ayanami is good at getting information from someone through torturing them psychologically and/or physically.
 * It is suggested that he has an iron maiden, a tool for torture.
 * Ayanami dislikes it when people lie to him.
 * Ayanami is ambidextrous, writing with his left hand, and using his Zaiphon and chopsticks with his right hand.
 * Ayanami whips a magic mirror who says that Teito is the fairest person in the world.  Interestingly, the magic mirror somewhat resembles Hyuuga.
 * Ayanami has been to an amusement park with the Black Hawks. He has sat in a rotating coffee cup with Konatsu and Hyuuga, in a roller coaster (the front seat, while Hyuuga takes the 2nd seat which is behind him) and in a dodgem car. When he's on those rides, he is reading his documents.
 * Ayanami's peaked cap doesn't fall, even when Ayanami is on a roller coaster.
 * Ayanami does not like taking off his peaked cap except when he is with Yukikaze.
 * The wish Ayanami wrote and put in his Christmas stocking is "(to have) excellent, capable staff". When Teito, acting as Santa Claus, puts a name list in Ayanami's Christmas stocking, his wrist is caught by the shackle hidden in it and attached to Ayanami's bed. In the end, his bed is seen flying in the sky with the sleigh because the bishops cannot remove Ayanami's shackle.
 * In one of the manga omakes, the Black Hawks think that the air around Ayanami is cooler, so they use excuses to approach him in the summer.

Fanbook/animation book related trivia

 * He has a wine cellar containing bottles of Romanée-Conti: his favourite wine.
 * His favourite color is white.
 * His motto is "justice without power is vain".
 * His blood type is B.

Misc.

 * Ayanami was ranked 4th in the Zero Comic Sum popularity poll, beating Bishops Castor and Labrador.