Landkarte

'''SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!''' ''This article is about the heavenly being. You may be looking for the manga chapter of the same name.''

Landkarte is one of the Seven Ghosts in the 07 Ghost series. He is the extinguishing spirit and can purify souls, as well as teleport to and locate anyone he wishes to find using their soul numbers.

There is a statue of Landkarte in one of the seven Ghost towers in the Barsburg Church. It is currently unknown what people pray to the statue for, though considering Landkarte's power, it is possible that they ask Landkarte to reunite them with someone.

Etymology
This is the most debated of the Ghost names. In German 'Landkarte' translates to 'map', which does not immediately seem to tie in to the kanji meaning of the 'extinguishing spirit'. It has been speculated that this is because what does not exist on a map is often believed to not exist at all, or that it could symbolise the effects wars have on towns and cities, as the act of razing a town to the ground effectively extinguishes it from the map. It's possible however that Landkarte's name is in reference to his teleporting ability rather than his role of warning people away from and eliminating darkness.

In the pilot chapter Begleiter, Yukinami says he knows Zaiphon technique which is called Landkarte, this technique involves moving objects from place to place; both these abilities seem to be related with the map's theory of the name (that will make this ghost's name to be Landkarte rather than Randkalt).

The German word 'rand' means 'border' and the word 'kalt' translates to mean 'cold'. The combination 'Randkalt' is not a German word.

Form
Landkarte's true appearance is in the form of a hooded skeleton, (like the grim reaper) wielding a large scythe. His appearance is the same as Verloren since the Ghosts are made up of fragments from Verloren.

Landkarte's Ghost symbol is light red and looks to be a scythe with a large heel and large, curved blade, with an orb in the centre of the snath.

Human
During the Raggs War, Landkarte appeared to be tall and slender, following the 'bishounen' ideal that all of the Ghosts' reincarnations seem to follow (except Zehel, whose reincarnations tend to look more 'masculine'). His eyes were narrow and light-coloured, with long eyelashes, and he had long, light-coloured hair that was tied in two ponytails before he was drowned alive; one of his ponytails was cut when he reappeared as Landkarte, making his hairstyle look similar to Hakuren Oak's except that the left side of his hair was short. He had pale skin.

Persons who have acted as Landkarte

 * Katsuragi (current)
 * Many unnamed previous vessels

Personality
Landkarte is an optimistic and kind Ghost, but is also susceptible to taking his determination to save/help people too far.

Abilities and attributes
The Seven Ghosts all possess the ability to erase or otherwise alter a person's memories. Like the other Ghosts, Landkarte can make his true form temporarily leave his human/host body.

Also, it is possible that the Ghosts can recover faster from injuries than ordinary humans. But they "die" (vanish or soul returning to the Chief of Heaven's) too if they receive fatal injuries (e.g. if his/her head is cut off, see manga chapter 88).

Since the host body is dead, their hearts do not beat and their bodies do not give off heat, it is probable that all of them have a much greater tolerance of extremely low temperatures than ordinary humans. Although it is shown that a ghost can freeze in his bodily form or reincarnated body as what had happened to Frau (Vol 10 Chp 59: Hawkzile Race) when he literally turned to ice during the race and Teito had to thaw him out. This situation was only remedied when Castor and Labrador brought Frau a portable heater which he used in the next parts of the competition.

Specific abilities
Apart from teletransporting himself (manga chapter 62), Landkarte/Randkalt can also use his powers to locate and bring someone to a determined place with him (manga chaper 66). Landkarte can also go to someone in a flash anytime he wishes, as long as he knows that person's soul number. In manga chapter 88, he uses this ability to appear behind the Raggs War Relikt, Profe, Fest to cut their heads off with his scythe and killed them, and injured Ea (Karu)'s eyes. However, without knowing that person's soul number, he cannot teletransport himself to that person as he wishes, as it has been ten years after the Raggs' War and he still cannot find Karu, as he said he didn't know Karu's new soul number (Karu has switched his own soul number with someone else after he has shown the Book of Hades to Landkarte).

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.

Landkarte went on to become the progenitor of the Reuen bloodline.

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.

The Raggs War
Around 990 years after Verloren had been sealed, the Eye of Raphael malfunctioned- resulting in Verloren's soul awakening (Verloren's current human reincarnation, an officer in Barsburg called Ayanami, 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 prevent Verloren from awakening completely (i.e. getting back his original body which is sealed in Pandora's Box).

The Raggs' War was triggered by the missing of the Pandora's Box. Fea Kreuz, a vessel for the Raggs War Vertrag, was accused of stealing the Pandora's Box and fleeing with it. In fact the Pandora's Box had not ben stolen, but instead been moved mistakenly into a human body, i.e. Wahrheit Tiashe Raggs' body. Because Verloren's body can affect a person's mind and the host (as well as its 'box') of it can become a destroyer of the world if he yields to the desire of using Verloren's Body for worldly gain, the Ghosts suggested Landkarte to take Vertrag through the Seven God Houses to receive the cursed tickets, so that Tiashe, the human Pandora's Box, can travel to the Land of Seele to ask the Chief of Heaven there to destroy Verloren's body within him.

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

- Ea and Landkarate's last words before disappearing.

However, unknown to the Raggs War Ghosts, Landarte is the 'traitor' among them that wanted Verloren's body for himself- desiring to use it to create a peaceful world that has no intense feeling, such as hatred or love, as they are the source of the uncleanness of the world.

Vertrag's devourment
When Landkarte escorted Vertrag and Tiashe to the Seven God Houses, the Raggs War Vertrag met Ayanami and was devoured by him. Considering the circumstances and Landkarte's purposes, it is plausible that Landkarte used teletransportation to take Vertrag and Tiashe to Ayanami, as he wanted to take Verloren's body out of the Pandora's Box (possibly thinking if Ayanami devoured Tiashe's soul, Verloren's body could escape from its box).

Battle with the remaining Ghosts
Landkarte then returned to the remaining Ghosts. Ghosts Profe, Fest, Relikt and Ea were discussing The Pope's motives for the Raggs War, when they realised Landkarte was the perpetrator. Landkarate appears, cutting the former three Ghosts' head off, killing them, but the wounded Ea (Karu) escaped.

Landkarte intimidated and lured Ea to come out and work with him, when failed, he lost his patience and used teletransportation to move to Ea, but was furious when he appeared before a stranger on his death-bed, as Ea had switched his own soul number with another person.

Infiltration into the Barsburg Army
This happened somewhere during the Raggs War.

Modern history
In chronological order:
 * Raggs War
 * Battle at Hohburg Fortress
 * Verloren's Revival

Trivia

 * According to Lance, Landkarte's soul number is purple 66336. (manga chapter 76) Some people think that 666 is the number of the Devil (although more recent studies revealed that it's actually 616). The author of 07-Ghost may have been inspired by the myth and intentionally put three "6"s in the soul number of Landkarte, as he is a traitor of Heaven or/and is evil.
 * Before the manga revealed that Katsuragi (current) is Landkarte, some fans suspected that Teito Klein's silver-haired teacher at the Barsburg Academy, Lloyd, who appeared in episode 1, is Landkarte, because his hairstyle and hair color are the same as the Landkarte shown in the manga during the Raggs' War.
 * Manga chapter 88 reveals that the shadow man behind the Pope and King Wolfram is Landkarte. However, some fans suspect that the Shadow Man who killed Eve back in Heaven was not Landkarte, because supposedly Landkarte was created after Eve's death instead of before her death. So, some fans suspect that maybe Landkarte is also controlled by the 'real Shadow Man' who killed Eve back in Heaven.
 * The Raggs War Landkarte is very sly, patient and detailed-minded in order to carry out his plan. Manga chapter 88 shows that he befriended Ea and tempted him to let him take a look at the Book of Hades, but he didn't use this information (Ea's soul number) until after at least a decade later (since their physical appearances have become adults during the Raggs' War).
 * The Raggs War Landkarte's cause of death was drowning as a human sacrifice to a river when he was a child. He disliked the coldness of the people who sacrificed him, who clasped their hands sacredly before him (superficial act) while in fact thinking "hurry, be dead, so that we can be saved". (manga chapter 91)
 * Some fans have suspected that the Pope and Landkarte come from the same House of God. In manga chapter 91, it is revealed that Landkarte comes from District 3.
 * Even when it is not raining or cold, t he Raggs War  Landkarte always covers his head with his hood and has never been shown removing it from his head, like Verloren. However, he wears it down in the afterlife.
 * The Raggs War Landkarte's hair color and eye color are pale gray/pink and electric lime, respectively. (Bunkoban volume 8 cover)
 * Landkarte appears to work in tandem with Ea because their Ghost abilities complement each other.