| Arcueid Brunestud | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Profile | |
| Name | Arcueid Brunestud |
| Height | 4'2" (128 cm) (Child) 5'5" (167 cm) |
| Weight | 114 lbs (52 kg) |
| Homeworld |  Japan
|
| Race | Human (Vampire) |
| Eye Color | Red (Normally) Golden (TA mode) |
| Hair Color | Golden |
| Weapon(s) | Vampire Powers |
| Debut | Tsukihime |
| English Voice Actor | Michelle Ruff (Anime) |
| Japanese Voice Actor | Nabatame Hitomi (anime) Yuzuki Ryouka (Melty Blood & Carnival Phantasm) |
Arcueid Brunestud (アルクェイド・ブリュ ンスタッド, Arukueido Buryunsutaddo) is the main protagonist of Tsukihime, being the eponymous Moon Princess (月姫, Tsukihime).
Biography[]
Arcueid Brunestud is the White Princess of the True Ancestors. The title of Brunestud was given to those True Ancestors capable of manifesting the Millennium Castle Brunestud, and has been likened to be the vampire royal family, although this is not strictly true. The True Ancestors were a race of beings copied from TYPE-MOON, the ultimate being of the moon, also known as the Crimson Moon. Long ago the will of the planet had no defense mechanism against humanity, nothing to keep them in check. Thus the Crimson Moon came down and offered to help the planet make a race of ultimate beings to rule over humanity, thus resulting in them being the 'consciousness of the planet.' True Ancestors are likened to occurrences such as earthquakes and typhoons rather than individuals as their "...actions, while evil and without justification, would come as naturally to her (Arcueid and other True Ancestors) as breathing." However the race was fundamentally flawed, they had a desire to drink blood that the original, the Crimson Moon had. The True Ancestors needed to use a large portion of their power to suppress this impulse, but as there was no cure, and with passage of time the impulse grew, more and more True Ancestors fell and began drinking blood indiscriminately, while others most likely went into eternal sleep.
The True Ancestors didn't have a specific reason in creating Arcueid. They normally only mold new True Ancestors to fit specific needs. There was no need for a being as strong as her, but in the end, she originated from nothingness, simply as a product to realize the pointless goal of "the strongest True Ancestor." They used her great strength to make her into a weapon, the executioner of the fallen True Ancestors and of the most powerful Dead Apostles. According to Ciel, this happened in the 12th century AD, when the number of fallen True Ancestors was very high. She was able to perform this duty splendidly, but she was nothing more than a tool. She was taught nothing beyond what she needed to know to hunt her targets, to the extent that she even ignored the fact that she was the same kind of creature as those she was supposed to destroy, and went to sleep after every kill, with her accumulated memories erased.
As the executioner, she did not have any vampiric impulses, and the rest of the True Ancestors also believed she had none. A priest from the church seeking perfect immortality, Michael Roa Valdamjong, needed to become a Dead Apostle to continue his research as he had already reached the potential of his human body. Arcueid, ignorant of her nature as a vampire and the consequences of drinking blood, was easily tricked by Roa into drinking his and turned berserk, wiping out most of the True Ancestors, turning Roa into one of the strongest Dead Apostles and having a considerable portion of her power stolen by him, before she managed to regain her sanity long enough to chain herself to the throne and go to sleep. From then on she had to suppress her urge to drink blood like any other True Ancestors. The rest of the True Ancestors were wiped out either by Roa or the rest of the Dead Apostles, who made a game of trying to assassinate their creators.
Arcueid finally managed to destroy Roa's original body, although it took an alliance with the Burial Agency to do it. Roa was not killed however, as he had managed to master reincarnation, and constantly reincarnated into host bodies he chose before his deaths. These host bodies were chosen for a mix of social standing (rich families with influence) and the physical/magical potential of the body. After destroying Roa's original body, Arcueid went to sleep and awoke only to kill Roa's re-incarnations constantly, but was never able to destroy him and get her power back as he would simply re-incarnate each time. At the time of Tsukihime, Roa had re-incarnated 17 times, with his last re-incarnation being Tohno SHIKI.
The Legacy of Arcueid Brunestud[]
- Tsukihime (2000)
- Tsukihime (2011)
- Melty Blood (2002)
- Melty Blood: Act Cadenza (2005)
- Melty Blood: Actress Again (2008)
- Melty Blood: Actress Again: Current Code (2010)
Personality[]
Arcueid is shown to be a whimsical individual who, although knowing the basics of the modern era, does not seem to know about social norms. Both Nasu and Takeuchi think of her "image color" as white because she is pure in terms of appearance and personality. Once, she shows up at Shiki's school and waves to him from the school rear courtyard, luckily for Shiki only Ciel spots her. Her behaviour is almost child-like, due to the lonely nature of her upbringing, although she is over 800 years old, she spent most of it asleep and knows nearly nothing about the world or how to interact with others. As she works together with Shiki to stop Roa, she gradually begins to enjoy life and starts to like Shiki as more than just a friend.
Arcueid does everything in her power not to drink Shiki's blood, which nearly occurs several times in game as he is practically the only human at night with her, and she has problems controlling her Vampiric Impulses (吸血衝動, kyuuketsu shoudou) after being drastically weakened by Shiki's attack. She doesn't want to drink blood, as she doesn't want to become a monster that feeds on humans in order to survive.
Arcueid seems to thoroughly enjoy when Shiki cooks breakfast for her. In Melty Blood, Shiki threatens to stop doing this for her if she doesn't meet him in the park that night. When Sion questions whether such a threat would ever have any sort of effect on a True Ancestor, Shiki recounts to her a time that he managed to get Arcueid to immediately apologize to Akiha when she and her were arguing by making the same threat. Later that night, Arcueid does, in fact, meet Shiki and Sion in the park. She apparently cannot stand garlic. In a scene in Kagetsu Tohya, Arcueid eats instant noodles cooked by Shiki that had garlic in them, and becomes sick.
She was originally a being without emotions who never spoke. She only focused on her duties and then returned to sleep in an endless cycle. Shiki, by killing her, made her interested in something on her own for the first time and essentially "broke" her. The "airhead" version of her is something that shouldn't exist alongside her purpose as a weapon, but it was present in her foundation. She isn't truly an airhead, but more childish and honest.
She has a constant flow of income in the form of gold, so she has no issues with obtaining money. There is a special gold exchange shop for fugitives in the Mage's Association, and the owner of the shop gives her gold because he is a fan of her. She can be called rich, but she doesn't dress like it because she has no interest in clothing. She later changes to make Shiki happy. She also receives help from Merem Solomon, who reveres her as a "Princess." He helps her travel around the world without much trouble, booking plane tickets and trading gold for money, but she does not know what to do with his unconditional affection.
Arcueid shows up as Neco-Arc in Ciel-Sensei's lessons in Tsukihime and she randomly switches to that persona in some comedy scenes in Kagetsu Tohya, though Neco-Arc seems to be her own existence brought forth by Zelretch in the Melty Blood series.
Sprites[]
Trivia[]
- Here are the following alignment for three different versions of Arcueid Brunestud:
- Arcueid Brunestud: Good
- Archetype: Earth: Good/Neutral
- Red Arcueid: Evil
Gallery[]
Illustrations[]
