Miroku Barsburg

Miroku Barsburg is an antagonist in the 07-Ghost anime and manga series. He is a member of the Barsburg Family, making him a relative of princess Roseamanelle Ouka Barsburg (OR-0007) and Teito Klein, though exactly how he is related to Ouka and Teito is as yet unknown.

Following his retirement from the position of field-marshal of the Barsburg Armed Forces, Miroku now acts as Chairman and may also be in control of the Black Hawks, as they appear to follow his orders. Miroku has been revealed to be a key figure in Teito's past, being the one who adopted him and raised him as a slave, and knew from the beginning of Teito's hidden royal background and role as host of the Eye of Mikhail.

Etymology
弥勒菩薩 (Miroku Bosatsu) is the Japanese name of 'Maitreya', a figure foretold as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. 'Roku' can mean 'six'.

Bars is a German word that has the same meaning in English. Burg is German for castle.

Physical appearance
Miroku is an elderly man who has not reached 70. His age is presumably between 50 and 70. Miroku stands at 5 foot 10 inches (though was several inches taller in his youth) and weighs 75kg, and his build is rather bulky with large, broad shoulders. He has a square face with strong features, a long and rather large pointed nose, large ears, and a heavy jaw. His face is aged, with marionette lines around his mouth and wrinkles around his eyes and on his forehead.

Miroku has pale skin, like many characters of royal blood in the series. He has red eyes under a pair of large, white eyebrows and a small white moustache above his lip. His hair is cropped short, pale grey in colour and slicked back over his head with a few loose strands falling over his forehead at either side. When he was younger, his hair was a dull blonde.

Clothing
Miroku wears a black cloak with a large, open neck-guard and a red scarf wrapped round his neck. His cloak is fastened with a large, rectangular shaped golden brooch. It is unknown if he wears the standard military uniform under this cloak like many other officers do.

For Wakaba Oak's funeral, Miroku wore more decorated, formal clothes.

Personality
Miroku appears to be a rather mild-mannered person. He is always quiet, calm and does not lose his temper even when those around him have. He is polite and courteous when addressing others, even those of a lower rank than him, and does not raise his voice when irritated. In meetings, Miroku always acted as the voice of reason towards the other soldiers, and sought to calm the more excitable generals.

Throughout the series, Miroku has remained focused on his goals, and is unwilling to let personal differences interfere or distract him. It appears that he carefully considers everything before he acts or speaks. Similar to his begleiter Karu, he is good at hiding his emotions.

Unlike many of the other officers, Miroku does not openly mock those around him, and keeps his opinions of people to himself. However, Miroku is marked by a distinctly suspicious disposition, and has been shown to be acting separately from the military, having his own agenda. Despite not openly expressing opinions of others, he has clearly formed them, and he is distrusting of the other high-ranking military figures. He has also been shown to act in his own interests. This causes him to keep information to himself, and he is guilty of not properly informing other officers. Miroku puts his personal gain before the rules and regulations of the Military, and Ayanami says Miroku will be court-martialed if the Military finds out he was withholding information.

Miroku can also be considered disloyal and quick to change allegiances, as although he initially liked and had a good relationship with Ayanami, he soon changed his mind and decided to kill Ayanami.

Wakaba Oak
Miroku appears to have had a stable relationship with the field-marshal. As Miroku was the former field-marshal before his retirement, he may have tutored or given advice to Wakaba.

There is evidence to suggest that they were on friendly terms, as Miroku, the headmaster of the Barsburg Academy, let Wakaba's son pass the Begleiter Exam despite he should have failed the exam; and Wakaba protects Ayanami, Miroku's subordinate, from other generals' hostile attack in meetings. The night Wakaba died, Miroku dined with him, suggesting they had a good relationship.

While Miroku did not appear overly concerned with Wakaba's death, he did investigate the circumstances surrounding it. Miroku also appears to be familiar with Wakaba's character, as he did not believe Wakaba would drink heavily enough to die from intoxication.

Subordinates
Miroku is polite and courteous to those of a lower rank than himself.

Ayanami
"This is a secret between you and I, Ayanami-kun."

- Miroku

Miroku was shown with Ayanami during the Raggs War, suggesting that he has been Ayanami's superior for at least 10 years. The two of them share a common goal, and Miroku initially entrusts Ayanami with several highly clandestine missions.

At the beginning of the series, Chaiman Miroku appears to like Ayanami, or at least think him a capable officer and that it will be a waste if he is removed from the army. This is shown when he defends Ayanami in meetings when other officers blame Ayanami for troubles, such as Teito's escape, and protects Ayanami's position in the army.

Due to their shared ambitions, Miroku also puts a certain level of trust in Ayanami, and he gave Ayanami the job of herding Teito Klein, revealing some confidential information, such as Teito's royal blood, to Ayanami only. As they both operate outside military regulations, there is a mutual comradeship between the two; where both parties are aware the other is breaking rules- yet do not inform higher authorities and have them arrested, or use it against them. However, Miroku's trust in Ayanami is limited, and while sharing certain facts with Ayanami, he still neglects to inform him of the details.

"Ayanami must be killed..."

- Miroku

Following the death of Wakaba Oak, Miroku's opinion of Ayanami begins to change. Miroku had been confident in Ayanami's abilities and had encouraged him, but over the course of the series, Miroku became more concerned with Ayanami's power and actions. Miroku suspects Ayanami to be involved with the field-marshal's death, and he begins to see Ayanami as a danger instead of an asset, and fears Ayanami will soon turn on him. Together with Karu, his begleiter, they plot Ayanami's execution. However, as of manga chapter 98, Ayanami has died, and it remains unknown if he truly intended to turn on Miroku.

The Black Hawks
Miroku may be in charge of the Black Hawks. Miroku's begleiter, Karu, was once shown following Katsuragi, one of the Black Hawks, though whether Karu did this for his own reasons, or was acting on Miroku's orders, is as yet unknown.

Karu
Karu has been Miroku's Begleiter for more than ten years and it seems that Miroku trusts Karu, for he orders Karu to accompany Teito (the important host of the Eye of Mikhail) everywhere he goes. Miroku also seems to respect Karu's opinion, as he asked Karu what he (Karu) thought about Wakaba Oak's death (manga chapter 75).

However, considering that Karu was actually the last reincarnation of Ea and thus an ally of Teito's, it is possible that Karu was not truly loyal to him. It is worth noting that, both being members of the Barsburg Family, Miroku and Karu are related by blood, although it is probable that Miroku does not know that Karu was also a Barsburg.

Miroku's reaction to Karu's death was not shown.

Kurena
Miroku has not been shown interacting with Kurena so far. He appears to be indifferent towards her or uninterested in her activities, as he leaves Karu in charge of her and does not supervise her himself.

Teito Klein
Miroku took Teito in at a young age, making him his personal battle sklave. He had Teito trained in arts from weaponry to melee combat with Zaiphon but his real motives are unknown. Miroku may have wanted to observe the power of the Eye of Mikhail in combat, wanted to prepare him as Ayanami's Begleiter, or just thought Teito had the potential to become a good soldier and thus it would be a waste not to train him. Miroku said that Teito was the best student he had ever trained, but deems Teito's lack of killing intent his main weakness. His conversation with Ayanami in Kapitel 28 suggests his plan is to awaken the Eye of Mikhail within Teito, saying he has tried all methods to awaken Teito but none had succeeded, so he can't help thinking that Teito won't awaken unless he is herded body and soul by someone like Ayanami.

Later, in Kapitel 79 , Miroku had adopted Teito Klein as his son, thus making him an official member of the Barsburg Family. The plan to do so, according to the Royal Family's Head Attendant during the briefing before the Groom Choosing tradition, had been long overdue but because of Teito's former sklave status, took a long time to be approved. That done with, Teito was sent out to be one of Princess Ouka's fiance candidates, the main reason of course was for security purposes.

Despite the fact that Miroku is an antagonist of the series and therefore an enemy of Teito's, Teito does not seem to hate Miroku, or at least he doesn't resent him nearly as much as he (Teito) hates Ayanami. Also, Miroku does not intend to kill Teito, unlike Ayanami. However, Miroku can also be seen as unkind or cruel towards Teito, as he forced Teito to work for him as his personal battle sklave when Teito was a child, and Teito has said that while he was living in Miroku's household, Kurena (Miroku's maid) was the only one who was kind to him (Teito).

It is worth noting that, both being members of the Barsburg family, Teito and Miroku are related by blood, albeit distantly.

Roseamanelle Ouka Barsburg
Both being members of the Barsburg family, Miroku and Ouka are related by blood. Miroku has been shown carrying Ouka during the Raggs War, in a flashback in the manga (not shown in the anime).

Early childhood
Not much is known about Miroku's early years. He was born into an unknown branch of the Barsburg family, making him a blood relative of the current Barsburg Empress-to-be Roseamanelle Ouka Barsburg and his adopted son Teito Klein.

Raggs War
It's revealed in the anime that he used to be the army's field-marshal. He appeared to have played an important part in the Raggs War, possibly being one of the higher-ups who led the attack.

Post-Raggs War
Sometime after the war with Raggs ended, Teito Klein was taken into the care of Miroku as his personal battle Sklave. Fea Kreuz's Clergy Pass had been recovered from Teito's person, convincing Miroku that Teito was hiding something. Ayanami searched Teito's memories for evidence of the Eye of Mikhail and Pandora's Box, but was unable to find anything as Kreuz had used his powers as Vertrag to seal Teito's memories, something unknown to both of them at the time.

"You would definitely come to regret killing that child. This [Fea Kreuz's clergy pass] was in his possession when we found him. It's evidence that Fea Kreuz entrusted something to that child."

- Miroku

Miroku was undeterred by this, and when Ayanami proposed Teito be killed before he reaches adulthood, as he "will someday become a menace" to the Barsburg Empire, Miroku disagreed. He believed Kreuz's pass was connected to the location of Pandora's Box. Miroku expresses concern at the "decayed upper command", and he and Ayanami plotted to recover Pandora's Box and return it to the Barsburg Church in order to bolster the military's reputation.

He also employed Kurena as a maid who took care of Teito, but whether she was employed before or after he took Teito in is unknown.

A meeting about the Eye
"You've met him, eh? I was considering assigning him as your begleiter."

- Miroku

After Teito's escape, he is first seen in a meeting with the other officers of the Imperial Army, concerning the escape of the host for the Eye of Mikhail. As admirals Ogi, Nabiki, and Shiroki attack Ayanami for visiting the Academy, Miroku defends him. He reveals he had intended to make Teito Ayanami's begleiter, and says to Ayanami that he needs to discuss something important with him later.

He later appears in a hallway where he finds Ayanami and asks him how the plans are going, and Ayanami promises he will retrieve Teito Klein.

Ayanami's return
Miroku is seen in a meeting when Ayanami returns from Antwort with news that the country is now under Barsburg's control. He watches as Wakaba Oak congratulates Ayanami on his victory, and defends Ayanami when admiral Ogi attacks Ayanami for breaking the charter. Ayanami then addresses Wakaba and asks for permission to pursue the vessel of the Eye of Mikhail. Wakaba is reluctant at first, but the Chief of Staff presents him with the Eye he had taken earlier.

Miroku speaks with Ayanami in private, showing faith in Ayanami's ability to awaken Teito's lost memories, and Ayanami asks Miroku why he gave him Fea Kreuz's Clergy Pass. Miroku replies that he thought Kreuz had hidden something in the pass that would awaken Teito, but is disappointed to see it didn't work. Miroku compliments Ayanami's ability in getting the Eye off Teito, something which makes Ayanami smile.

Quotes

 * 'Ayanami must be killed.' (to Karu, manga chapter 75)
 * 'It's good that you didn't regrettably kill that boy.' (to Ayanami about Teito, anime episode)

Trivia

 * Miroku seems to know that Ayanami wants the beacon that guides him to Pandora's Box (an episode in the anime). It is unknown whether it is because he knows Ayanami is Verloren's reincarnation; and if yes, how and when did he know.
 * Miroku seems to have a preference for employing servants and attendants who have sustained severe injuries in the past and wear bandages, as shown by Karu's and Kurena's injuries and bandages.
 * Miroku's seiyuu (voice actor), Mitsuo Senda, also voices the Old Man, a minor character.