Weapons
Bel-Ur, The Blade of Balance
Christian’s first weapon and the one that he held when he was a student at Eden’s Academy. The blade was forged by the four great Angels of Earth, Air, Fire and Water for the Angel of Balance Raziel. It has now been passed to Christian in the hopes that he will be able to restore balance to Aria. The sword is made of a blue crystalline material with flecks of green, red and gold, each color representing a different element: water, air, fire and earth.
Druunilhaaro, The Blade of Might
Also known as the Behemoth’s Bane, this legendary weapon was forged by the Angel Metatron. The Blade cannot be called directly into one’s hand, instead it must be caught. Druunilhaaro’s strength is proportional to the size of the enemy the Blade strikes, the larger the enemy the more force is delivered with the attack. It is a curved blade with a jagged sawtooth edge on the inner curve.
Niranye, The Angel’s Staff
Christian’s True Weapon and also the weapon wielded by the Angel Raziel himself. It is an ornate staff, completely black with golden designs running along the shaft. There is a grip in the center and turning this grip unleashes blades on either end of Niranye. The Staff is unbreakable and is unaffected by any curse or element, as such it can be used to block even the most sinister of magics, be it Archangelic in nature or even the Death Element itself.
Bio
Christian Fletcher is the chosen Guardian of Aria and the one destined to save Aria from destruction. A true leader, a stalwart defender of hope, light, peace and love, Christian is also kind, generous and humble. He is a gentle soul, capable of loving all that he meets and pitying those that he must defeat in order to see Aria saved. Christian has a high feeling of empathy for those that are suffering and usually expends great effort to see them be delivered from that suffering. However, there is also a burning, brilliant fire inside his heart, a fury that can be controlled and tamed and unleashed upon his enemies when needed.
Christian has dark hair and is carelessly handsome, meaning that he does not consciously do anything that might improve his looks. His eyes reflect that gentleness of his soul and are a soft brown, easy to get lost into and usually causes one to lower their guard for they see his love for all things reflected through his eyes. Christian is also quite muscular but on the lean side, and his body is scarred following his famed battle with Eden at the gates to the Demon Realm.
His philosophy is one of hope and optimism, but above all he believes in achieving eternity, not only in the afterlife, but also here in the physical realm. Eden has given into despair and believes that the course for salvation is true destruction, that the world abides only in life, death and rebirth, and so for Aria to be reborn, it must first die and he would be the instrument of its destruction. However, Christian does not adhere to this cyclical premise of the universe and argues that there are things that can exist eternally and so he wants to abandon the idea of death for Aria and focus instead on making it better. The clash of these two opposing ideas forms the crux of the series.
Inspiration
When thinking about the inspirations behind Christian it is very difficult to find any one thing that I can point to and say that that is where the inspiration for Christian came from. In some sense he is an amalgamation of everything that I believe in, but I must also remove the worst parts of myself to ensure that Christian is the hero and others can perceive him as such. But in writing him to be a hero I must look to other heroes in the process and think about what my hero should be. Rather than find heroics in the classic stories however, I came to realize that a true hero would be rather Kingly in his demeanor and so with the idea of being noble in mind I began to fashion his personality and character traits.
Now don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all on me. Sometimes details about Christian come to me at the spur of the moment, be it through the Muses or from Christian himself, there are certain things that seem right for his character and some things that seem wrong. Each of the elements that he wields for instance, originally, I had intended him to wield every element within the Guardians of Aria universe, however, whilst writing I found that it did not fit him. Instead each of his elements seemed to have been predetermined for him already.
Air and Water had to be attributed to him, water is such a flexible element, hardly impeded by anything, always able to shake off whatever hardships might stand in its way. Air on the other hand is all around us and fills the spaces that we occupy, we breathe it in and we enjoy feeling the wind on our faces. Christian resonates with these elements better than most, he is persistent and never feels set back by anything much. He also fills a room with joy and laughter, giving all a reason to smile at his mere presence, you get a sense of comfort knowing that he is nearby.
Earth grounds him however, so that he is still pragmatic and realistic, he is not blindly optimistic, although the Light element that he possesses surely represents his capacity for good. Ice represents his ability to feel sorrow, as it is with all characters, but it isn’t the element he uses often as his joy outweighs his sorrow more times than not. Arashi is both a binding and a siphoning element, symbolically it is attachment, things that we latch onto even if they drain us, one might view his relationship with Alyssa as hindering his ability to perform his duties as Guardian, but I might venture to disagree. I shan’t say much more on this topic as it may spoil things in the story.
Finally he does possess the element of Darkness, a curious one and an element that is usually associated with evil. It is the element that he associates with the least and hardly uses it, but the fact remains that it is there. A user of darkness, not only for Christian, but for all characters find themselves tempted by evil, but if they are able to use this power and not succumb to it then they pass a great trial indeed. Christian is more opposed to the idea of darkness and evil and so he is not affected much by this element, but this is because of his own choices. He understand what it means to be tempted and to be seduced by evil and darkness, but he has overcome it. This helps him to not only understand evil, but to fight it as well.
His weapons that were granted to him clearly represent the balance that he is supposed to restore and represent. Both Bel-Ur and Niranye were crafted for Raziel, the Angel of Balance and so he is clearly favored by him. The Blade of Might shows his true strength so that he is not to be underestimated or deemed ‘soft’, he has the might to do what must be done to save Aria.
Finally, Christian’s love must be touched on, for it is his greatest weapon against evil. It is clearly represented through his relationship with Alyssa. Their pairing is the perfect example of true love and that immense love that Christian has for her extends to his friends in the Saviors and then to all of Aria. Although they are different forms of love, his capacity for love is what is important and he also shows it for Azura, the girl who was treated horribly all her life till the age of sixteen when she met Christian and he immediately accepted her without question and cared and protected her. Each of his relationships with the various characters show how much he cares for all of them and that might just give him the edge over Eden.