Millennium Earl

TheMillennium Earl(Ngàn năm bá tước,Sennen Hakushaku),also known as "the Creator" and "Adam", is a fictional character in themangaseriesD.Gray-manbyKatsura Hoshino.Introduced as the series' mainantagonist,the Earl's role is to help revive the dead and turn them into demons known as Akuma. With Akuma, a group known as theNoah Familyplans to destroy humanity. The Earl takes an interest in theprotagonist:young exorcistAllen Walker,who is connected to the Noah. When he learns that the exorcist Allen Walker is the successor of the 14th Noah,Nea D. Campbellhe attempts to capture him. The character also appears in the secondlight novelbased on the series.

Millennium Earl
D.Gray-mancharacter
The Millennium Earl as he appears in the manga
First appearance	D.Gray-manmanga chapter 1 (2004)
Created by	Katsura Hoshino
Voiced by	Japanese Junpei Takiguchi Yutaka Aoyama(Hallow) English Jason Liebrecht
Notable relatives	Nea D. Campbell (brother), Tyki Mikk (adopted son), Sheryl Kamelot (adopted son), Road Kamelot (adopted granddaughter), Wisely Kamelot (adopted grandson)

Hoshino based the character on a celebrity whose identity she refused to reveal. Primarily a clown in his early appearances, she later revealed his human form which would have an unspecified impact in the series. Critical reaction to the Millennium Earl has been positive, with critics finding his revival of the dead and killing of humans appealingly ironic. His Enigma tic depth in the sequel,D.Gray-man Hallow,was also praised. A variety of merchandise based on the character has been released.

Creation and conception

Therevealof the Earl's human form was important tomanga artistKatsura Hoshino.

The Millennium Earl was originally featured as the villain ofKatsura Hoshino's one-shot comic,Zone,which featured other characters from theD.Gray-manseries, most notablyLenalee Leeand the character who served as the basis ofAllen Walker,Robin. He tempts Lenalee by bringing back her lost lover but is stopped by Robin.^{[vol. 8:40]}As inD.Gray-man,the Earl promised people to return their dead love ones back to life. Hoshino originally created the Earl during her youth when she aspired to write him as the main character of her own works. However, finding the character unsuitable for a manga magazine aimed at teenagers, she instead created Allen to be the protagonist.OnceD.Gray-manstarted serialization, Hoshino commented that she based the Earl on an unidentified, well-known person. Although the individual was noted for his art, his command of several languages and his prophecies, it was unknown when the person died. He called himself the "alchemist of time", and whenD.Gray-man's first volume was published it was believed that he was still alive.^{[vol. 1:112]}Towards the series' beginning, Hoshino found the character as one of easiest to one draw alongside Hevlaska.^{[vol. 3:86]}In a later interview, Hoshino found the Earl's clown-like outfit still easier to illustrate in comparison with more "beautiful" characters, such asYu Kanda.

In designing the Earl, Hoshino gave him a colorful look to contrast the exorcists' who wore black instead. This look was meant to give the idea of a gentleman related with the tragedy he causes as Hoshino linked him to a poisonous flower.Hoshino had already designed the Earl's human form before the manga began serialization. She found his "tired" human form as the series' main antagonist appropriate for the series' readership and one of its themes: grief. He was modelled on theJump J-bookseditorial department, and her tastes were reflected in him. Although many readers considered the Earl obese, Hoshino laughingly maintained that he was not; however, his plumpness was important to the future plot.

When she first drew him as a human without his clown-like costume, Hoshino tried to make the Earl look more sensitive because she did not believe that middle-aged men were popular in the series. She was surprised by his low placing in the fourth popularity poll (18th), despite her efforts to make him more appealing in the scene where he cries in his sleep after his failed attempt to recruit his former comrade, Nea, into the Noah clan.The following encounter between the Earl and Nea was carefully written to catch attention from most readers due to how carefully Hoshino has tried drawing the encounter.Hoshino has gone to state that the Earl is her favorite character in the series even more than Allen.

The Millennium Earl was voiced byJunpei Takiguchiin the series' first Japanese-languageanimeadaptationand byYutaka Aoyamain the sequel,D.Gray-man Hallow.Aoyama's work received praise by Hoshino due to the fact he has to perform both sides of the Earl: the free-spirited clown-looking like character and the mourning human self who is determined to recover his brother, Nea. Aoyama was surprised by the Hoshino's comments stating he did not understand her overwhelming reaction. Aoyama also felt that playing the Earl's human form was difficult due to how different he behaves in that appearance to the point of being one of the hardest character to voice.The character was voiced byJason Liebrechtin the English-language versions of both series.

Appearances

The manga's main antagonist, he heads theClan of Noahand has existed for 7,000 years. The Earl tricks people who mourn for their dead friends or relatives into resurrecting them, and turns them into Akuma: weapons which consume human bodies and follow his orders.^{[ch. 1]}The only person to escape this fate is a child,Allen Walker,who destroys the Akuma of his guardian (Mana Walker) before it can take over his body using a weapon created by the supernatural fragment "Innocence". At the beginning of the manga, the Earl tries to kill a young boy whose best friend was killed by his dead mother's Akuma; he is stopped by Allen.^{[ch. 4]}The Earl then orders his followers, the Noah Family, to kill the generals of the Black Order (an organization of exorcists which opposes them);^{[ch. 29]}this begins a war with the Order. When he learns that Black Order memberLenalee Leemay have the Innocence known as the "Heart" which brings victory, the Earl lures a group of Black Order exorcists into a dimension known as Noah's Ark.^{[ch. 88]}The Ark begins to disintegrate and the Earl escapes the area with NoahTyki Mikk,who was about to be killed by generalCross Marian.^{[ch. 129]}

The Earl then orders the Noah to send level-3 Akumas to attack Black Order headquarters and kill the exorcists.^{[ch. 139]}As the exorcists defeat the invaders,^{[ch. 157]}he curses himself for not killing Allen when they met.^{[ch. 158]}During another fight the Earl discovers that Nea, the 14th disciple of the Noah, is within Allen and he tries to recruit him as a Noah.^{[ch. 189]}Although Nea had tried to kill him several years ago, the Earl wants to remain close to him and orders Allen's kidnapping.^{[ch. 196]}When Allen leaves the Order after he loses his rights as an exorcist, the Earl and the Noah follow him. As the Earl corners Allen in a town Nea possesses the exorcist.^{[ch. 218]}He reveals that the Earl is one-half of the Millennium Earl, who vanished and was reincarnated as the twins Mana D. Campbell(マナ・D・キャンベル)and Nea D. Campbell. Mana is the present Earl).^{[ch. 219, 220]}Nea's death made the Earl lose his memory. Confused at being called "Mana" and saying that Mana "is gone", the Earl abandons Nea.^{[ch. 221]}

The character also appears in Kaya Kizaki'sD.Gray-man Reverse,the secondD.Gray-manlight novel,in which he searches for people to create Akuma. The Earl finds many but spares a small child for an unknown reason, confusing his comradeRoad Kamelot.He returns the boy to his parents, telling him to create an Akuma.

Characteristics

The Earl can be a grotesquecaricatureof a Victorian gentleman: a rotund figure in cape andtop hat(hiding his horns), with a perpetual enormous grin andpince-nezspectacles. Although his attitude is often cheerful, he is quick to reveal his more intimidating, malicious side.^{[ch. 3]}The Earl has agolemnamed Lero(レロ,Rero),a pink umbrella with a small, talkingjack-o-lanternat its tip. It usually talks excitedly or screams, adding its name to the end of almost every sentence. Lero, used by the Earl as aMary Poppins-type flying umbrella, is very loyal to him and guards his sword.^{[ch. 89]}Road often takes Lero against its will, using it as a witch's broom or an ordinary umbrella.^{[ch. 20,23,24]}It has been used as a beacon to summon Akuma, to transport several exorcists to the Ark and to guard theNoah.^{[ch. 4]}Lero has a sword similar to Allen Walker's sword of exorcism, which surprises him when they clash on Noah's Ark.^{[ch. 130]}Despite his antipathy to the Noah Nea, the Earl grows depressed when he talks about him.^{[ch. 202]}

Reception

The Millennium Earl has been well received by manga, anime and other publications. Reviewing the manga's first volume, A. E. Sparrow ofIGNcompared him to three ofBatman's villains:Penguin,theJokerandTwo-Face,finding those similarities appealing. Additionally, Sparrow called the Millennium Earl a "menacing villain you'll love to hate".Ross Liversidge of UK Anime Network also enjoyed the character, praising his changing design and villainous deeds.Sheena McNeil agreed, saying that the Earl works well as the series' villain with his "loving tone as indicated by the hearts in his speech bubbles and his perpetual grin, both of which are there to make him all the more sinister by masking his true nature".Tom Tonhat ofthe Escapistalso praised the Earl'smodus operandiof reviving the dead as Akuma, seeing it as a strong theme that allows viewers to sympathize with his victims. He also noted that the character's initial appearance as "nonthreatening as a portly gentleman clown" made his actions more hateful.Todd Douglass, Jr. ofDVD Talkcalled the Earl's transformation of humans into Akuma "fiendish".Lynzee Loveridge ofAnime News Networkincluded him on the website's "7 Clowns to Haunt Your Nightmares" list.Erin Finnegan of ANN found the character Enigma tic because he "hangs out in an extra-dimensional space with randomly floating jack-o'-lanterns" and compared him to Mad Pierrot from theCowboy Bebopanime series.Neostated that while the Earl's design feels out of place, it fits with the type of horrific character designs from the antagonists.

Brian Henson of Mania Beyond Entertainment enjoyed the Earl and the Noahs' darkening of the storyline in later story arcs,and Yussif Osman ofJapanatorcalled them evil but likeable.Anime News Network writer Anne Lauenroth criticized the Earl's characterization in early episodes ofD.Gray-man Hallow;although she had considered him "part buffoon, part evil clown" (which made him "a fascinating cross between weird and scary" ), his "frozen grin from hell" was less frightening.In a later review, Lauenroth wrote that the Earl had changed from an "intriguing" character during the events ofHallowand she did not understand his obsession with Nea.Chris Kirby of the Fandom Post found the character's confrontation with Allen after the exorcist leaves the Order in the next arc a long, disappointing cliffhanger; readers had to wait for the English-language version to catch up to the Japanese one.The revelation behind the Earl's true identity was praised as while the series tends to focus on battles, the manga volume focused on him and Nea focused solely on them with appealing art and wondered about the future of the two Earls considering Mana was possessing Allen, Mana's adopted son.

NeofoundJunpei Takiguchi's work as the Earl Japanese actor highly superior to the one from the English dub,Jason Liebrecht.Earl's tapiocamilk teawas served at the 2016D. Gray-manHalloweenCafe in Tokyo,and related patches,mobile phone charmsand acosplaycostume were marketed.

References

D.Gray-manmanga volumes byKatsura Hoshino.Original Japanese version published byShueisha.English translation published byViz Media.

1. Vol. 1 (ch. 1–7):Opening.October 2004.ISBN978-4-08-873691-4.(in Japanese). andOpening.May 2006.ISBN978-1-4215-0623-4.(in English).
2. Vol. 2 (ch. 8–16):Thổ ông と không đêm の アリア.December 2004.ISBN978-4-08-873760-7.(in Japanese). andOld Man of the Land and Aria of the Night Sky.August 2006.ISBN978-1-4215-0624-1.(in English).
3. Vol. 3 (ch. 17–26):Quyển き lệ し の phố.March 2005.ISBN978-4-08-873784-3.(in Japanese). andThe Rewinding City.November 2006.ISBN978-1-4215-0625-8.(in English).
4. Vol. 4 (ch. 27–36):Nguyên soái の nguy cấp.May 2005.ISBN978-4-08-873810-9.(in Japanese). andCarnival.February 2007.ISBN978-1-4215-0623-4.(in English).
5. Vol. 5 (ch. 37–46):Dư 覚.July 2005.ISBN978-4-08-873832-1.(in Japanese). andAnnouncement.May 2007.ISBN978-1-4215-1053-8.(in English).
6. Vol. 6 (ch. 47–56):Trừ bỏ.October 2005.ISBN978-4-08-873865-9.(in Japanese). andDelete.August 2007.ISBN978-1-4215-1054-5.(in English).
7. Vol. 7 (ch. 57–67):Khi の phá 壊 giả.December 2005.ISBN978-4-08-873888-8.(in Japanese). andCrossroad.November 2007.ISBN978-1-4215-1055-2.(in English).
8. Vol. 8 (ch. 67–76):メッセージ.July 2006.ISBN978-4-08-874029-4.(in Japanese). andCrimson Snow.February 2008.ISBN978-1-4215-1543-4.(in English).
9. Vol. 9 (ch. 77–86):Phó ら の hy vọng.November 2006.ISBN978-4-08-874293-9.(in Japanese). andNightmare Paradise.May 2008.ISBN978-1-4215-1610-3.(in English).
10. Vol. 10 (ch. 87–97):ノアズ·メモリー.February 2007.ISBN978-4-08-874318-9.(in Japanese). andNoah's Memory.August 2008.ISBN978-1-4215-1937-1.(in English).
11. Vol. 11 (ch. 98–107):ルージュ の sân khấu.May 2007.ISBN978-4-08-874341-7.(in Japanese). andFight to the Debt.November 2008.ISBN978-1-4215-1998-2.(in English).
12. Vol. 12 (ch. 108–118):Poker.October 2007.ISBN978-4-08-873691-4.(in Japanese). andFight to the Debt.February 2009.ISBN978-1-4215-2389-7.(in English).
13. Vol. 13 (ch. 119–128):Ám の ngâm.December 2007.ISBN978-4-08-874435-3.(in Japanese). andThe Voice of Darkness.May 2009.ISBN978-1-4215-2599-0.(in English).
14. Vol. 14 (ch. 129–138):みんなが quy ってきたら.March 2008.ISBN978-4-08-874486-5.(in Japanese). andSong of the Ark.August 2009.ISBN978-1-4215-2600-3.(in English).
15. Vol. 15 (ch. 139–149):Bản bộ tập kích.June 2008.ISBN978-4-08-874528-2.(in Japanese). andBlack Star, Red Star.November 2009.ISBN978-1-4215-2774-1.(in English).
16. Vol. 16 (ch. 150–160):Next Stage.September 2008.ISBN978-4-08-874566-4.(in Japanese). andBlood & Chains.February 2010.ISBN978-1-4215-3038-3.(in English).
17. Vol. 17 (ch. 161–171):Chữ chân phương.December 2008.ISBN978-4-08-874605-0.(in Japanese). andParting Ways.May 2010.ISBN978-1-4215-3160-1.(in English).
18. Vol. 18 (ch. 172–181):ロンリーボーイ.June 2009.ISBN978-4-08-874642-5.(in Japanese). andThief? Ghost? Innocence?.August 2010.ISBN978-1-4215-3543-2.(in English).
19. Vol. 19 (ch. 182–188):Thánh chiến ブラッド.December 2009.ISBN978-4-08-874675-3.(in Japanese). andBorn of Love and Hate.November 2010.ISBN978-1-4215-3773-3.(in English).
20. Vol. 20 (ch. 189–193):ユダ の hô.June 2010.ISBN978-4-08-874764-4.(in Japanese). andThe Voice of Judah.February 2011.ISBN978-1-4215-3919-5.(in English).
21. Vol. 21 (ch. 194–199):リトル グッ.December 2010.ISBN978-4-08-870133-2.(in Japanese). andLittle Goodbye.November 2011.ISBN978-1-4215-4077-1.(in English).
22. Vol. 22 (ch. 200–205):Fate.June 2011.ISBN978-4-08-870240-7.(in Japanese). andFate.June 2012.ISBN978-1-4215-4210-2(in English)
23. Vol. 23 (ch. 206–212):Bộ みだすも の.April 2012.ISBN978-4-08-870392-3.(in Japanese). andWalking Out.December 2012.ISBN978-1-4215-5085-5
24. Vol. 24 (ch. 213–218):キミ の bàng に.November 2013.ISBN978-4-08-870539-2.(in Japanese). andBy your side.August 2014.ISBN978-1-4215-6312-1
25. Vol. 25 (ch. 219–222):Bỉ は ái を quên れている.June 2016.ISBN978-4-08-880635-8.(in Japanese).