Seven Ghosts

'''SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!'''

and for the article about the series, see 07-Ghost.

The titular Seven Ghosts: namely Zehel, Fest, Profe, Relikt, Vertrag, Ea and Landkarte, are said to be heavenly lights created by the Chief of Heaven, each with their own unique virtue, that were sent from Heaven to dispatch the God of Death, Verloren, for his actions. Despite Verloren's fall about 1000 years ago, the souls of the Seven Ghosts continue to be reincarnated in human bodies, unable to return to Heaven, to guard the earth should Verloren return.

The Barsburg Church exists to enshrine them.

Each Ghost can be reincarnated in the members of its respective God Houses, but not even members of the God Houses themselves know this is possible.

Now that Relikt, Profe, Fest and Vertrag have become ordinary humans, Ea and Landkarte have ascended to Heaven, and Zehel has become Verloren's successor, there are no more reincarnations of the Seven Ghosts.

Form
Their true appearance is in the form of a hooded skeleton, (like the grim reaper) each of them wielding a large scythe. Their appearance is the same as Verloren since they are made up of Verloren's fragments. The only way the ghosts are distinguishable from each other are the differing shapes of their scythes.

They inhabit the body of their human host, and it is in this human body how they are normally seen. They are indistinguishable from regular humans except for the insignia of their respective ghost on the back of their right hand. A particularly skilled person can detect a Ghost from their presence, but it is implied one only has this ability (to recognise Ghosts in human bodies) once one has come into contact with a Ghost.

Since only blood descendants of the Seven Houses of God can be reincarnated as the Seven Ghosts, the vessels/reincarnations of the Ghosts tend to resemble each other e.g. Guido resembled Frau, the Raggs War Relikt resembled Lance etc.

The Seven Ghosts
Each Ghost has been embodied in a human being with such extraordinary Zaiphon abilities that they are thought to be blessed by God. Each of the Ghosts had died in a previous life, yet still retains all of the memories of their past lives.

For more information see the respective Ghost pages:

Acting as Ghost
There must be seven Ghosts at any one time, but no two people can act as the same Ghost at any one time. When a ghost dies, their soul will find another body to inhabit, and the new host will act as a Ghost.

When the first seven arrived on earth, they each assumed a human form and went on to live human lives; they married humans, had human children and died as humans. The Seven Ghosts and their human families went on to form the Seven Houses of God, and the Ghosts' powers were passed on to their children, and further generations. Only blood descendants of the Seven Houses of God can be reincarnated as Ghosts.

Becoming a Ghost
The Ghost itself (the spirit) needs a human body.

"Frau's body is sad and cold. Instead of a heartbeat there is a wide, lonely silence."

- Teito

A Ghost's powers are hereditary, meaning only a member of a God House (someone who is a descendant of the original Ghost) can be reincarnated as a Ghost. For someone to become a Ghost, they have to die first. It is currently unknown what the circumstances surrounding death are, but it may only occur when the person has died an unnatural death (i.e. murder or suicide, not old age or disease). It may also be a requirement for the vessel to die young. Considering the Chief's penchant for physical beauty, Ghost vessels may have to fulfill the Chief's requirements for an aesthetically pleasing appearance.

Upon death, the true form of the Ghost (the skeleton) will inhabit the dead body (something akin to using it as a host so the spirit is able to interact with the mortal world), granting the host the ability to 'live' along with the Ghost's power.

Rules
Ghosts must act in accordance to certain rules. These rules may have been laid down by the Pope, and are monitored by the Archbishop. If a Ghost breaks any of the rules set down by the Pope, they will be stripped of their powers, resulting in their death- as without the Ghost spirit, the human vessel is essentially just a corpse.
 * Ghosts must never contact persons from their human life.
 * Ghosts must never let their existence be known to humans with the exceptions of the Pope, the Archbishop, and the vessels of the Eyes of Mikhail and Raphael. Any other human must have his or her memories erased if he or she learns of the existence of the Ghosts.
 * The protection of mankind against Verloren's forces is the ultimate priority.
 * Only in the instance that the ghosts complete their mission (specifically, to bring Verloren to Seele, his "Judgement Ground") in life that they will be allowed to return to Heaven. As long as this mission is incomplete, the Seven Ghosts will continue to be reincarnated to pursue an end to this goal.

Death of the body
The Ghost spirit will be reincarnated in a new body when the current body dies, and that person will gain all knowledge of the past Ghosts' experiences.

Death of the Ghost
The only way the spirit of the Ghost can die is if it is 'devoured' by Verloren (meaning the soul is absorbed and becomes a part of Verloren- like it once was). This is done by absorbing the "core" of the current Ghost Incarnate; the core serving as both heart and soul of the reincarnated body. Both Vertrag and Relikt were 'devoured'. This meant their souls would no longer reincarnate in new bodies, so there could not be a future Vertrag and Relikt. Their statues in the Church had also fallen as a sign of this death; it is believed that as long as a Ghost's statue stands, the Ghost will continue to be reincarnated in the world.

Castor as Fest had also lost half of his capabilities because Ayanami had devoured it, but did not die due to the fact that Ayanami's (also Verloren's) body was incapable of taking him and all the other Ghosts in. This was supposed to be Ayanami's weakness and in Vol 014 Chp 083 Castor was seen scheming about in a flashback. He indicated to both Frau and Labrador that they could cause Verloren's vessel (Ayanami) to self-destruct by forcing it to devour them all (something which Frau strongly disagreed with).

Yet later during his and Labrador's capture, Castor notioned that he was hoping to have Ayanami throw the other two—Relikt and Vertrag—out by having himself devoured,  though the two devoured Ghosts eventually escaped Verloren's body without Castor having to resort to sacrificing himself.

Relation to real-world religion
The abilities of the Seven Ghosts include aspects of the Seven Heavenly virtues in Chirstian belief: seven attributes that make up a good person.
 * Zehel is able to stop a person from being consumed by temptation. The virtue temperance is the ability to restrain oneself and fight against desire.
 * Fest strengthens and maintains the bond between people. The virtue faith is the ability to stay loyal, faithful and committed to another.
 * Profe can see into the future, and the virtue prudence is associated with foresight, knowledge and wisdom.
 * Ea's job is to decide who goes to Heaven, and who is reincarnated based on their actions. The virtue justice is defined as 'rendering to each and all what is due to them'.
 * Landkarte's job is to purify souls, and the virtue chastity involves embracing moral wholesomeness and achieving purity of thought.
 * Vertrag can possess and control others. The virtue diligence is having a zealous and careful nature in one's actions and work.
 * Relikt can see into the past, and the virtue patience requires having the graciousness to forgive.

Cultural impact in-series
The Ghosts are widely revered in the Barsburg Church and District 7 (a deeply religious District) as deities; where they are regarded as guardians of humankind and the Church. The religious believe the Ghosts themselves have a direct connection to the Church, and the Church teachings place more importance on the Ghosts than any other deity. Seven statues of the Ghosts have been erected- each one in a tower at the border of the Church- where people go to worship. Annual parades are held in the Church bazaar as a tribute.

The Bishops in the Church work to carry out the work of the Ghosts by protecting citizens against the Kor, (a form of Verloren's evil) so are praised as protectors.

As a result of their job of punishing bad souls, mothers sometimes threaten naughty children that the Seven Ghosts will take them away if they do not behave. In the 1st District, where religion is not as influential, horror stories are sometimes told about the Ghosts stealing souls in a similar way to how stories of Verloren are told in the 7th District.

There is a children's game called 'Seven Ghosts' in the 07-Ghost universe. In a manga chapter, a group of children in the Barsburg Church are shown playing this hide-and-seek game, in which one plays the role of Verloren and hunts out the other children who play the roles of the Seven Ghosts.

Abilities and attributes
Manipulation of memories: The Seven Ghosts all possess the ability to erase or otherwise alter a person's memories. As humans cannot know of the Ghosts' existence, this is used to erase any memory of the Ghosts in a human. Ghosts are also able to see a person's memories by looking into their soul, something which could be painful for the person if they resist.

All Ghosts presumably also have the ability to place a protective seal on a person's memories: a 'defensive mechanism' which causes serious injury to anyone who tries to read the protected memories, though only Vertrag has been seen doing so.

Endurance and recovery: Ghosts are able to recover from injuries faster than ordinary humans. Since the host body is dead, it is probable that all of them have a much greater tolerance of extremely low temperatures than ordinary humans.

Regardless of how they died, once reincarnated Ghosts do not suffer any lasting ill effects from their causes of death. The Ghosts also appear to have greater immunity to potentially harmful lifestyle habits e.g. smoking  than most ordinary humans, and can survive life-threatening accidents.

Astral projection: The Ghosts also seem to be able to make their true forms temporarily leave their human, host bodies- though doing so will mean the human body is left immobile and vulnerable, making it seem as if the host is asleep. The Ghosts are also able to freely teleport between their host body and their respective God House (though they will appear in Ghost form).

Manipulation of souls: Ghosts are all capable of manipulating souls with ease.

Language: Upon reincarnation, the Seven Ghosts all gain the ability to understand the language of the gods.

Specific abilities
As the Ghosts were fashioned from Verloren, each Ghost has a different ability that used to belong to Verloren. For more detail see the respective Ghost pages.
 * Zehel is able to cut ties binding people to misfortune, and is currently the only one who can control Verloren's Scythe.
 * Fest can bind souls together.
 * Profe has the ability to control plants, and see the future.
 * Relikt has the ability to turn back time and see the past.
 * Vertrag is able to control (possess) a person by making a contract with them.
 * Landkarte is able to teleport beings and move distances at a very outstanding speed.
 * Ea has been shown to possess the Book of Hades, and be the only one to use it.

The creation of the Ghosts
The Seven Ghosts are amongst the earliest 'gods' created by the Chief of heaven and their existence dates back roughly 1000 years. At the time of their creation, humanity was already present.

The legend of the ghosts tells that Verloren (the God of Death) was in love with the Chief of Heaven's daughter, Eve, but after her skeleton was found and her soul devoured, the Chief of Heaven accused Verloren of killing her. As Eve's soul being devoured automatically forced it to be sent to earth and reincarnated, Verloren escaped the heavens and fled to earth to find her reincarnation.

Verloren began looking into the hearts of humans in order to find the soul that originally belonged to Eve. However as he looked, that person's heart was instantly tainted by his presence, and slowly slipped into despair. This meant those souls could not enter Heaven in this life because they were no longer pure, and they would be forced to reincarnate again once they died.

"The Chief of Heaven dispatched seven heavenly lights from the heavens, in order to punish the wicked Verloren. They are said to have sealed the detestable Verloren on this earth."

- A nun

When the Chief of Heaven noticed the consequences Verloren's actions had on those souls he looked into, he fashioned seven heavenly lights out of Verloren's fragments, each with one of Verloren's powers, and sent them to execute him.

Schedel's Crusade
The Ghosts' mission was to take Verloren's body to The Land of Seele- where it would be judged and destroyed, and after they had fulfilled this mission their souls would be able to return to heaven. The ghosts drove Verloren to Seele, but even with their combined strength, they weren't strong enough to destroy him. Faced with this, they instead used the powers of the two angel eyes (Mikhail and Raphael) to tear Verloren's soul from his body, in the hope that they never join again so he could never be at his full power.

They sealed his physical body in Pandora's Box on earth, and used the Eye of Mikhail to make sure it could not escape from its prison. They sealed his soul using the Eye of Raphael, putting his soul in a human- and forcing it to undergo a process of constant reincarnation whenever the human body died- regardless of how the person had lived their life- so it could never enter Heaven again.

The threat of Verloren had been eliminated, but since the Ghosts were unable to judge Verloren, they could not return to heaven; instead staying in the mortal world to serve as guardians.

After sealing Verloren
"The Seven Ghosts, to continue to protect the seal on Verloren, always remained in this world. In order to coexist with the people of this world they took on human forms. Before long they became tied to humans and built families... The houses of God inherit the blood of the Seven Ghosts."

- Seilan

Now on earth, each Ghost assumed human form and went on to live human lives; they married humans, had human children and died as humans. The Seven Ghosts and their human families went on to form the Seven Houses of God, and the Ghosts' powers were passed on to their children, and further generations.

The current ghosts are the descendants of the original seven.

During the Raggs War and the Return of Verloren
Around 990 years after Verloren had been sealed, the Eye of Raphael malfunctioned- resulting in Verloren's soul awakening, meaning the human who was currently holding Verloren's soul regained all of Verloren's memories and continued with Verloren's crusade against the Chief of Heaven.

The descendants of the ghosts that first fought Verloren were again forced to re-group and fight.

Currently, not much is known about the Ghosts' roles in the Raggs War. They assisted in Vertrag's plan of going through the God Houses to gather the 07 Sins to form the key for the Gates of Seele. Later, it was revealed that Landkarte had betrayed the other Ghosts, and he killed Profe, Fest and Relikt when they discovered his betrayal.

A member of the Raggs family (the God house of Vertrag) and person acting as the Ghost Vertrag, Fea Kreuz Raggs, was accused of stealing and escaping with Pandora's Box, and it was this theft that sparked the Raggs War. Pandora's Box had been moved into a human- meaning Verloren's body was at a risk of escaping- so four Ghosts protected and guided Vertrag through the Seven God Houses in order to receive the cursed tickets and travel to the Land of Seele to destroy Verloren's body.

This, coupled with the fact Verloren's soul had awakened, caused Ea and Landkarte to separate from the others and go undercover into the military.

"The military's actions are disturbing. We will investigate further."

- Ea and Landkarte's last words before disappearing.

However, the Ghosts were not successful in their mission, and it resulted in the death of one Ghost, Vertrag, whose reincarnation was killed by Ayanami and devoured by Verloren.

The remaining six, however, escaped with their lives.

Modern history
In chronological order:
 * Raggs War
 * Mikage's Death
 * Attack at the Hausen House
 * Battle at Hohburg Fortress
 * Verloren's Revival

Trivia

 * The number of the Ghosts symbolises their connection to God, as the number 'seven' is often seen as the number of God and the Heavenly Virtues. The seven Cursed Tickets may symbolise the Seven Deadly Sins in Christianity.
 * The colours of the seven Ghost symbols are the colours of a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
 * Most humans die upon seeing Zehel in his true form.
 * The 'Seven Ghosts' children's game may be based on an actual Japanese children's game called "Kagome, Kagome".
 * Known causes of death (as humans) for the Ghosts, revealed throughout the manga, are: poisoning (Karu, Raggs War Profe and Raggs War Fest), drowning (Landkarte), fatal wounds (Castor), dark magic (Lance), corruption by the Flower of Eden (Labrador), possession by Verloren's Scythe (Frau) and assassination (Fea Kreuz).
 * Not much is known about causes of death (as spiritual beings) for the Ghosts. Apart from being devoured by Verloren, it is known that the Ghosts can also die again if their 'core' (heart and soul) is weakened.
 * The Ghosts can survive decapitation when they physically die, but are unable to survive it a second time.
 * Hot water seeps into the body of a Ghost and warms it- though wears off after an hour.
 * The Seven Ghosts' vessels appear to have the eating habits of ordinary humans. It is unknown if, unlike ordinary humans, they can survive without water and food, though Frau did once ask for water when his core was in a weakened state.
 * The original Seven Ghosts i.e. the first generation of Seven Ghosts, are known as 'the Founders'.
 * The Founders were the most powerful generation of Ghosts, because their bodies were of Heaven.
 * When Castor was human, he was the thirteenth head of the God House of Fest. This could indicate that twelve generations of Seven Ghosts existed before the current one.
 * Interestingly, the number of Frau's room in the Church, Ouka's clone number and Karu's soul number (which he later gave to Teito) all contain the number 07, as in 1075, OR-0007 and 042761.