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"I intend to eventually destroy all of mankind right down to the very last speck of dust. Yet … why is it that you insist upon meeting your death sooner?"
Please note that the canon portion of the history section is Big McLarge Huge and does contain SPOILERS.
History
Canon
There's little to no information available on Legato's life prior to the beginning of the anime. At some point, he was recruited by a man named Knives, who he considered his Master and was unquestionably loyal to. Legato's left arm was replaced by one that had belonged to Vash (Knives' twin brother), which gave Legato access to a bunch of different powers that I'll cover later. After Knives was horrendously injured by Vash during a confrontation between the two, Knives assigned Legato the task of tracking Vash down and forcing him to "experience eternal pain and suffering". For this purpose, he was also given command of the Gung-Ho Guns, a group of super-powered modified humans. As their leader, he reported to no one but his Master.
Legato makes his on-screen debut when he appears before Monev the Gale (one of the Gung-Ho Guns) and gives him the task of hunting down Vash the Stampede. Soon after, he appears before Vash himself, carrying a paper bag containing hot dogs and a severed head. He begins speaking to Vash telepathically, informing him that he's going to die that day. He also gauges Vash's reaction to a child being in danger, boasts that he could kill everyone there in the blink of an eye if he wanted to, and is generally made of creepy. Vash gets all >8(, and Legato tells him not to be in such a hurry; he's still got a little time left … OR PERHAPS HE DOESN'T. Then he says that no one else needs to get hurt, and asks if Vash wants to draw his gun. Vash doesn't, and Legato takes his leave … and also leaves him a "farewell gift": the paper bag containing a man's severed head.
Later that day, Monev shows up before Vash, and they have a huge fight. Vash is sorely tempted to kill Monev, but manages to restrain himself. Just as planned, on Legato's part.
Legato is next seen in a saloon, where he's just sitting there eating pancakes while Midvalley the Hornfreak (another Gung-Ho Gun) plays the saxophone. A gang of thugs called the Roderick Thieves come in with a couple of women they've taken captive. One of the girls gets all starry-eyed looking at Legato eating those pancakes, and one of the thugs gets jealous and starts beating the crap out of her. Legato remains completely unfazed, and the thug eventually shoots the head off his fork for not paying attention. After asking for another fork, and subsequently being fired at again, he abandons his pancakes to address them. He informs them that he intends to destroy all of humanity eventually, and asks why they insist on dying sooner. Then he takes control of Mr. Trigger Happy's arm, and forces him to dig into his own chest and rip out his heart. Naturally, the other Rodericks are all D8, and they pull their guns. Legato takes control of all of them and has them shoot each other while he goes back to eating his pancakes. Once they're all dead, he approaches the formerly captive women and tells them that the day it all ends is near, so they should make good use of the time they have left.
Later, in another part of town, the rest of the Rodericks catch up to Legato. They talk about having bonds that go infinitely deeper and stronger than a family relationship, and say they're going to avenge the fallen. The "Commander" points a gun at Legato, who takes control of one of the other Rodericks, forcing him to grab the Commander's arm and prevent him from shooting. Legato's about to kill them all, when he evidently hears someone (likely telepathically), and agrees that he shouldn't be so greedy. He says to only kill half of them, aaaaand then the Gung-Ho Guns jump into action, killing off half of the enormous group of Rodericks.
Once it's over, Legato tells the Commander he spared half of their lives so that the survivors could give their friends a proper burial. He then emphasizes that it wasn't an act of mercy: it was to teach them the pain of living. Then he forces the Commander to shoot himself, and that's that. After Midvalley names off all the Gung-Ho Guns present, Legato tells Dominique the Cyclops to go after Vash.
Following Dominique's defeat, Legato sends both E. G. Mine and Rai-Dei the Blade after Vash, and manipulates a corpse to go inform Vash that he'll be waiting for him in Augusta. When Vash gets to Augusta, Legato is nowhere to be found. Instead, Vash fights first E. G. Mine, then Rai-Dei the Blade. When it looks like Vash is losing the battle, Legato communicates with him telepathically, asking if he intends to die. Then he activates Vash's Angel Arm (using Vash own arm to do so), a weapon that took out an entire city in the past. He forces Vash to point it at Rai-Dei, but Vash shoots the Angel Arm until it points upwards instead, which ends up blowing a hole in one of the planet's MOONS. Yeah, a hole in a MOON. It also destroys the city. Legato is then seen rubbing his left arm (the one that had belonged to Vash) as he explains things to Midvalley, then licks his left hand. Really.
TIME PASSES. Vash reappears, and Legato sends three more Gung-Ho Guns after him: Leonof the Puppet-Master, Hoppered the Gauntlet, and Gray the Ninelives. Together, these three bring down a giant flying ship, stranding those who had lived in it on the desert planet. A man named Brad is killed protecting Vash, and Legato remarks that it's "wonderful, truly wonderful" that Vash is crying over it.
After that, Vash meets this little kid who talks about a Very Strange Thing. In his town, almost everyone suddenly dropped what they were doing and walked out, totally mindlessly, never to be seen again. While this happened, the child heard a voice saying, "This is what you get for taking so long." In a similar incident, the words "Knives" was written in red in the center of the town. Given Knives' injured state, and the fact that he was still recovering, it's not entirely clear if these incidents were caused by Knives himself, or by Legato acting in his stead.
Anyway. Legato meddles a bit more, causing one of the watchmen in a city to open its doors and then shoot another man. The shot attracts some of the city's inhabitants, and Midvalley is seen standing in the gateway, saxophone in hand. It can be safely assumed that there was quite a bit of killing, as some of the other citizens hunted down Vash and Co. the next day, since they were the only 'outsiders' around. (Obviously, Legato and Midvalley didn't leave any witnesses.) His next bit of interference occurs when he takes control of Chapel the Evergreen and makes him kill Nicholas D. Wolfwood, after their battle had already come to an end. What a douche.
Chapel is understandably pissed off about this, and goes to confront Legato. Legato takes control of the man's body and twists him over backwards, and Midvalley is about to kill him when SUDDENLY, Knives finally emerges. Judging by the obvious shock on Midvalley's face, it's clear that he, at least, hadn't seen Knives up and about. Legato, on the other hand, simply bows. Knives gives a big speech on how humans are nothing but beasts, and talks about how "the mouse seeks death in order to avoid the pain." He kills Chapel, slowly and painfully, telling him, "the pain you feel is your very essence." Once Chapel's dead, Legato says that he understands, and that "Vash the Stampede will experience eternal pain and suffering." Then he and Midvalley set off.
Legato forces a bustling square full of people into unconsciousness, then uses two children to tell Vash that it's all his fault Wolfwood died; that he might've stood a chance, had Vash not swayed him with his ideals. Then he causes the children to pass out and appears. He tells Vash that, despite not having pulled the trigger, Vash has killed countless people, including the Gung-Ho Guns and Nicholas D. Wolfwood. Vash draws his gun and aims at Legato, who says that every time Vash makes "that face" his left arm begins to shake uncontrollably, because SURPRISE, VASH: IT'S YOUR OLD ARM. Vash is all D8, and Legato tells him he'll be waiting for him over on some hill, then walks off, leaving Midvalley to fight Vash.
Of course, he doesn't simply leave it at that. During that fight, he takes control of people and forces them to walk towards Midvalley while they scream about not being able to stop themselves. Midvalley aims for them, and Vash is forced to use his own body to block the attacks. In the end, Vash manages to win, but not before taking a great deal of damage. Midvalley dies as well when his saxophone explodes, despite Vash's efforts to save him.
SO THEN, Vash goes up on the hill to confront Legato. Vash shoots his shoulder … thing, then shoots him a few more times (though nothing lethal; they appear to just graze him, which … just causes him to stagger slightly, and warrants no change in expression). Vash puts a gun to his head, and Legato talks to him a bit before forcibly activating Vash's Angel Arm once more. Vash manages to suppress it, and Legato has a group of townsfolk that he's controlling start shooting at Vash. He says to fight back or die, and starts trying to talk him into pulling the trigger. Although the townsfolk keep shooting, Vash lowers the gun, unable to bring himself to do it.
Soooo Legato has the townsfolk bring out Milly and Meryl, two of Vash's companions that the controlled townsfolk had captured earlier. Vash is all "stop it now!", and Legato tells him to shoot him, then takes control of Vash's arm to make him aim at his head. As the townsfolk close in on Milly and Meryl, Legato keeps on coaxing and attempting to provoke Vash into shooting him. Vash has a maaajor internal conflict: he can either let Milly and Meryl be killed, or he can kill Legato to save them. Eventually, he makes his decision, and Legato closes his eyes with a smile before Vash shoots him in the head.
Legato's body is later seen laying in the dirt, smile still in place. By forcing Vash to take his life, he managed to fulfill his Master's orders: causing Vash the Stampede to experience eternal pain and suffering.
THEN HE WAKES UP.
Nautilus
Legato Woke in the Western District , bleeding from the back of his head — a remnant of the gunshot wound that had killed him. Ratchet fixed him up via long distance Bending. He found out a bit about Nautilus, talked to a few people, and — most importantly — found out how one goes about regaining abilities. After only a few days in Nautilus, Legato determined that the humans in the city were no more worthy to live than those in his own world. Deciding to do what he could to prepare for the day when Knives would Wake (because of course his Master would discover this reality), Legato began to work on regaining his powers. Once he could manipulate the corpses littering the Western District with ease, he moved on to the living.
The first to die was Zane, killed by being forced to tear out his own heart. The next was Jazz, an Autobot who was in human form, forced to bash his head against a wall until he died. Then came Sari, whose neck was snapped by a controlled Alexander Wolfgang. (Despite his best efforts, Legato wasn't able to kill Alexander.) After that was Jamie Hemeros, a child marched into the Northern Plains and devoured by a hungry T-Rexaur. Crawford was next; with him, Legato began a long series of killings, to see if he could eventually break the individual's will to return. After all, even though the deaths caused suffering (which was more than enough reason to continue killing), the best thing to do would be to keep the dead from reviving.
His next attempt was to kill Firo: thanks to Firo's immortality, he wound up being tortured by the repeated attempts, until Legato released his hold. Then came an attempt to kill Suzaku, which, thanks to the Geass placed upon Suzaku, he was unable to actually do. (Instead, he made Suzaku shoot himself in the legs, then walk around until he was as near to death as he could manage.)
All the while, Legato kept up an appearance of relative normality … for one who Woke in the West, at least. He expressed an interest in sweets, and renovated a building in the Southern District into a sweets shop. Meanwhile, he formed an alliance with Soundwave, who considered humans as disgusting as Legato did. He also established contact with Aya Brea, a prominent member of Nautilus' police force, and — after discovering that his powers didn't work on her — came to realize that she couldn't be human. This made her presence tolerable to Legato, despite the fact that she was clearly in favor of protecting mankind; after all, her mind could always be changed, provided he could cause her enough suffering.
His next victim was Edward Roivas, slain by the hand of his friend, Peter Jacob, who escaped the death he craved in favor of having his tongue cut out. This murder, carried out almost exactly a month after Legato killed Zane, wound up causing Aya to suspect Legato. At the moment she confronted him with her suspicions, Balthazar, a demon who had been killing off humans in a similar fashion to Legato, made contact with Legato's mind. The two carried on a telepathic conversation, during which they admitted to their own part in the killings, and came up with a plan to throw Aya off Legato's trail. With Balthazar's guidance, Legato made her believe that he was being targeted for death, just before he grabbed her gun and shot himself in the head.
Following his return from death, Legato killed a girl named Terra, then targeted a man named Riyaz. That, as it turned out, was a great mistake. Riyaz, who had the power to see events from afar, discovered Legato's identity. Realizing that he'd been tracked, Legato knocked out Kyle Madigan, a police officer, and used his body to get into the very secure police station, where he was able to look up Riyaz's files. As soon as he did so, he was interrupted by Aya, who had followed Kyle. Legato used Kyle's body to shoot Aya … only to have her stand right back up and kill Kyle.
Realizing that everything he'd worked towards was in jeopardy, Legato contacted Soundwave. Together, they marched on the Heart, intending to use its power to wipe out the humans of Nautilus. But the Heart, sensing the threat, defended itself. Legato was dragged down into the Labyrinth.
Within the Labyrinth, Legato's mind was completely overtaken by the chaos of possibility. He remembered nothing before he had been pulled into it, and nothing mattered beyond what it showed. It showed him the depth of his hatred and self loathing; the Legato of a different life (aka his manga counterpart), so different in so many ways, but all the same at the core; the full extent to which he'd go to please his Master, even after being kicked aside; and many other things that served to break his mind down, piece by piece, as it showed to him the core of his being.
It took two months and one week (just shy of half the time he'd been in Nautilus) before Aya — having discovered that Legato was trapped in the Labyrinth — pulled him out of it. Before he was able to return to reality, he was beheaded by Wreck-Gar, who sought revenge for Legato's now-exposed crimes.
Months passed before Legato was able to return from the dead. Still reeling from the Labyrinth's effects, and unable to figure out where, when, or who he was for any length of time, he more or less stumbled through his existence until he came across Lelouch. With more than enough motive to want to stop Legato for good, Lelouch used his Geass on Legato and questioned him extensively about his powers. Then, he commanded Legato to never use his powers again.
With no memory of this event, Legato attempted to use his abilities on Lelouch; the Geass promptly activated, and Legato 'blanked out', unable to use his power. Interpreting this as his powers no longer working, Legato lost his last reason to cling to life. Almost immediately, he returned to Sleep.
Sleep, it seems, does wonders for a man's sanity. (If Legato could be called "sane" to begin with.) In living his own life again, Legato has managed to regain himself. And, once again, he hears the Call….
Personality
Canon
Vash once described Legato as a "nihilistic jerk". Although simplified, it's quite accurate. Legato firmly believes that all of humanity is worthless, including himself. He states that he intends to eventually destroy all of it, and has absolutely no problem with killing off massive numbers of people. When he does choose to spare someone, it's usually because he's attempting to teach them "the pain of living", not out of any shred of mercy. Since his view of humanity extends to himself, he has no small amount of self-loathing; he places absolutely no value on his own life, labels himself as "a worthless human being", and lives only to serve his Master, Knives.
Towards Knives, a 'superior being', Legato is unflinchingly, unquestionably loyal. He devotes his entire existence to fulfilling Knives' orders, even when the cost is his own life. And why wouldn't he? He's no more worthy of existence than the rest of humanity. Serving Knives is the only part of his life that has any sort of meaning.
With no concept or understanding of empathy, Legato more often than not appears abnormally stoic. He never displays any sort of surprise, nor does he show any indication of pain, even when Vash is grazing him with bullets. His changes of expression, such as when feeling disappointment or irritation, are minimal at best. The only exception to this is when he smiles: usually, these are brought on when things go Just As Planned … or, in other words, when Vash is experiencing some sort of suffering.
There's no question that Legato is sadistic. His entire mission is to make a man suffer, after all, and the smiles he displays when Vash experiences pain make it clear he's enjoying himself. Although perfectly capable of forcing people into unconsciousness before taking control of their bodies, he prefers to keep them fully aware, unable to control their actions despite their screams of protest. He twists people's bodies into unnatural shapes, makes a man to dig into his own chest and rip out his heart, and forces people to kill off their own comrades. If this sadism was mindless, it might not be so frightening, but Legato is hardly unintelligent. He knows exactly what he's doing, and carries out his actions without a shred of remorse.
In short, Legato is the worst kind of enemy. He's intelligent and sadistic, unflinching in his beliefs, and will gladly go to any lengths in order to fulfill his Master's wishes. Perhaps that wouldn't be so bad, if he only had some fear of death.
Previous Development
Despite having been in Nautilus before, Legato has changed very little. Causing suffering took priority over annihilation, due to Nautilus' habit of reviving the dead, and Legato rose to the challenge. Nautilus' ability to revive the dead had the added effect of making Legato even less concerned with the possibility of death. He could use his own death to cause suffering as many times as he pleased, should he wish to.
The biggest change to Legato's personality came as a result of his experience in the Labyrinth. His counterpart (from the manga), whose life and memories he experienced, led a far more broken existence than himself. As a result of essentially absorbing this life, Legato now exhibits several traits more prominently than he did before, as well as some that simply wouldn't have come up. Primarily, these have to do with the show of emotion.
Legato is still unable to empathize, being so intensely detached from both his own emotions and those of others. However, when a show of emotion does appear, it's more intense than it was before. Where he might have smiled, he'll grin; where he might have grinned, he'll laugh. Displeasure, which once may have been displayed only as the slight narrowing of eyes (if it were displayed at all), may now be accompanied by a sneer. Most importantly, he's more prone to anger than before, though no stretch of the imagination could label him as "hot tempered". This shift is the direct result of having experienced traumas previously unknown to him (such as Knives crushing him in punishment, leaving him almost fully paralyzed), and having learned his counterpart's methods of coping with them. While certainly a shift, these changes are only observable when he's actually provoked into showing emotion, which is still extremely rare: for the most part, he remains abnormally stoic.
Finally, Legato has broadened his definition of those he respects. Having been exposed to many other non-humans, he has elevated several more species to 'superior' in his mind. While none come anywhere close to the sort of deity-status where Legato has placed Knives, they're nonetheless types that he's uninterested in killing. These include Nobodies, several non-human individuals with no others of their kind in the city (as was the case with the demon Balthazar), and Cybertronians. With Cybertronians, there's a catch: Autobots, being so determined to protect human life, are classified as superior beings who nonetheless need to be taught the error of their ways. Non-humans who seek to protect humans, such as Aya, fall into the same category.
In spite of these shifts, Legato's goals remain unchanged: serve his Master at all costs, and wipe humanity from existence.
Appearance
Legato stands at roughly 6'3" tall and appears to be quite physically fit. He has blue hair and gold eyes, one of which is almost constantly covered by said hair. In the anime, he's called a "lady killer", and he's described as "almost sickeningly pretty" in the manga. However, in spite of being considered strikingly handsome, his general lack of expression — particularly in his eyes — can quickly grow rather disarming.
His clothing is very distinctive, to the point that he's recognizable even in silhouette. He wears a long white short-sleeved trench coat with a high collar, the shoulders of which are both decorated: the right shoulder is armored and has a row of spikes (some sort of torture device) rising out of it, while the left has a human skull strapped to it. Underneath his coat, he wears a long-sleeved black shirt, brownish pants, and boots. He also wears brown fingerless gloves.
Abilities
Canon
All of Legato's canon powers — with the possible exception of telepathy — stem from his left arm. I'll explain these in the order they appear in the show.
- Telepathy: Legato is capable of speaking directly into a person's mind (which sounds pretty cool), and they can speak to him in turn. This is first seen with Vash the Stampede, but he is capable of doing this with humans as well, as in the case of the Gung-Ho Guns. In addition to this, he is capable of projecting false images into a person's mind, which appear perfectly real.
- Controlling movements: While someone is perfectly aware and fully conscious, Legato is able to take control of their body and force them to do whatever he wishes. This extends to twisting them into completely unnatural shapes and forcing them to rip out their own organs.
- Controlling corpses: Got a dead person? Legato can make them walk, talk, and shoot themselves in the head … though none of this means they're actually alive.
- Activating Vash's Angel Arm: A moot point in Nautilus, unless Vash happens to Wake up. But Legato is capable of activating the man's Angel Arm, and forcing him to point it wherever he chooses.
- Knocking people unconscious: He's capable of knocking large crowds of people unconscious WITH HIS MIIIIND.
- Controlling unconscious people: Exactly what it says on the tin. This extends to controlling their speech, as well as movements, etc.
Due to Lelouch having Geassed him, when Legato attempts to use his abilities, he blanks out and is unable to do so. Upon Waking, he has regained the use of his telepathy, but his ability to control and manipulate bodies remains blocked.
Nautilus
None yet!
Relationships
Canon
(Note that Legato does not currently have any castmates in Nautilus.)
Knives: Legato's Master. He is the single most important individual in Legato's life. For Legato, Knives' word is the equivalent of the word of a deity. He'll follow any order his Master gives him without the slightest bit of hesitation, even going so far as to lay down his own life. His loyalty is absolute, and completely unshakable. Knives gives the only semblance of meaning in Legato's life. Legato is currently waiting for the day his Master Wakes.
Vash the Stampede: An outlaw with a $$60,000,000,000 bounty on his head … who just so happens to be a pacifist. Vash's views on life and his way of living are in complete opposition to Legato's own, to the point that Legato states that Vash's very existence causes him "undue irritation". On Knives' orders, Legato set out to cause Vash eternal pain and suffering. And oh man, did he ever enjoy it. After putting the man through one horrible tragedy after another, Legato finally managed to fulfill his Master's wishes: he orchestrated a situation in which Vash, who had sworn to never take the life of another, willingly shot him in the head. Legato believes that Vash is currently off suffering somewhere, and is quite pleased by that.
Midvalley the Hornfreak: The Eleventh Gung-Ho Gun, and Legato's chosen second-in-command. Although he doesn't give orders to the others, he does execute those who fail in their tasks. He and Legato are nearly always seen together. In spite of this, it's obvious that Legato views Midvalley as a subordinate, not an equal. He was the second-to-last Gung-Ho Gun to die, the last being Legato himself. Of the Gung-Ho Guns, Midvalley is the one that Legato would be most pleased to see Wake.
Nautilus
Alexander Wolfgang: Legato tried, and ultimately failed, to kill Alexander. However, he got an interesting look at the man's mind in the process. And, by forcing him to kill Sari, he was certainly able to make the man suffer. Although they met and spoke later, Legato had no idea the disguised man he was conversing with was Alexander.
Cain: Not human, and therefore not a target. He appears to despise humanity. Naturally, Legato thinks he's rather interesting.
Crawford Sands: A foul-mouthed man who was building explosives. Legato forced him to light one of those explosives and blow himself up. Since then, he's also forced him to stab himself in the neck and bash his own face in with a hammer. Unfortunately for him, he's become the subject of experimentation for Legato.
Firo Prochainezo: Another man that Legato attempted, but ultimately failed, to kill. Or rather, he did kill him, but Firo simply kept reviving.
Lelouch vi Britannia: A man that sounds almost exactly like Vash the Stampede. Legato naturally zeroed in on this and wouldn't leave Lelouch alone until he saw his face. After he backed off a bit, Lelouch gave him directions to the Western District's Welcome House. Despite knowing that Lelouch is most certainly not Vash, he still sometimes thinks that it's Vash speaking over the network.
Jamie Hemeros: A teenager who Legato murdered by forcing him to walk out into the Northern Plains. He was devoured by a T-Rexaur while Legato enjoyed a nice ice cream sundae.
Jazz: After Legato arrived in Nautilus with no powers, it was Jazz who told him how to go about getting them back. Ironically, Legato later used those same powers to kill Jazz while the Cybertronian was in human form. He was the first non-human that Legato killed, and, upon realizing this, he wasn't entirely sure how to feel. However, he was quickly convinced that the Autobot deserved to die as much as any human.
Ratchet: When Legato arrived in Nautilus bleeding from the back of his head (the remnants of the gunshot wound that killed him), Ratchet was the one who fixed him up. It was Legato's first encounter with Bending. He also gave Legato the Welcoming Guide. After forcing Alexander to kill Sari, Ratchet met and spoke with a grieving Ratchet, but gave no indication that he was the one responsible.
Sari Sumdac: A young girl who Legato forced Alexander to kill. Because of her Cybertronian heritage, he was unable to fully control her body or look inside her mind. Currently, Legato doesn't know that was the reason.
Soundwave: A Decepticon that believes inferior beings need to be put in their place. They've formed an alliance, and get along quite well. Soundwave is the only one who knows that Legato is behind the recent string of murders in Nautilus.
Xemnas: A Nobody, and therefore not a target. Legato finds his speeches, as well as his lack of caring for the well-being of others, to be quite interesting.
Zane: As a test of his powers, Legato forced Zane to tear his own heart out. He didn't even know his name.
To add: Aya Brea, others. UPDATE EEEVERYTHING
Miscellaneous
Tropes
A few of the tropes that can apply: Big Eater, Complete Monster, Creepy Awesome, Creepy Monotone, Dissonant Serenity, The Dragon, Even Evil Has Standards, High Octane Nightmare Fuel, In Love With Your Carnage, Kill All Humans, Nietzsche Wannabe, Psycho Supporter, Slasher Smile, Spikes Of Villainy, The Stoic
