Relena Darlian

Relena Darlian (リリーナ・ドーリアン) aka Relena Peacecraft (リリーナ・ピースクラフト) is the female lead of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. The last surviving female heir to the throne of the Sanc Kingdom, she meets Gundam pilot Heero Yuy by chance and becomes entangled within the war between the colonies and Earth, learning of her true past and becoming the leading voice for the future.

Personality
Once a rich, wistful girl, Relena grows more mature throughout the series as she learns the truth about her past and takes an active role in rebuilding the future. She eventually dedicates her life to the pacifism preached by her family but admits in the OVA Endless Waltz that peace cannot be gained simply by handing it to the people, and that some fighting is necessary. She appears to be in love with Heero as she goes to great lengths to be near him. While their personalities conflict, as Heero is a soldier living only to fight, while she is a pacifist- or Heero is seemingly without emotions while she becomes quite emotional several times in the series, Heero also appears to be quite close to her as well- vowing to protect her even if it meant his death. She appears to be very kind even as when a renegade Heero threatened to kill her and drastically changed her life, she remained a very close ally and friend of the grief-stricken Gundam pilot.

Skills & Abilities
Relena was raised by the upper-class, thus she is endowed with the knowledge and culture of high society on socializing and communicating. She's also a natural speaker, able to convey her thoughts and feelings towards her audience for open dialogue and continued negotiations. As a princess and politician, she may not be a soldier, but she has her own personal army for protection and can used them for military operations if needed.

She appears to be able to deduce things very easily. For example, when Mariemaia had barely given Relena any hints to as why she was abducted she was able to figure that Mariemaia Khushrenada and her coup were using Relena for her influence with the people of the Earth. As well as when she was able to convince Mariemaia that what she was doing was wrong until Dekim Barton interfered.

Due to her actions, she holds a huge amount of political influence, a major reason why she was kidnapped in the OVA. She was also noted to be very strong in character, even stronger than the Gundam pilots, which they freely admit is true.

Relena also had some form of weapons training (e.g., firearms), as demonstrated in episodes 5 and 11, when she used a pistol against Dr. J's assistants and Lady Une, respectively (and in the latter's case, tried to shoot her).

History
Relena Peacecraft was born to King Peacecraft and Queen Katrina Peacecraft of the Sanc Kingdom on April 7, AC 180, the younger sister to Milliardo Peacecraft. King Peacecraft was a great admirer of the colonial leader Heero Yuy, who advocated total pacifism as a way to stop the wars between nations. However, this lead to the downfall of the kingdom when the United Earth Sphere Alliance invaded Sanc Kingdom, slaughtering the royal family. Relena, only a baby at the time, was saved by a local politician loyal to the family who fled the invasion. That man, Vice-Minister Darlian, adopted Relena and he and his wife raised her as their own.

Episode Zero
In AC 187, Relena was targeted by assassins and saved by OZ rookie Zechs Merquise who was in fact her elder brother Milliardo Peacecraft, who had survived the attack and joined OZ under an alias in order to get revenge for the Sanc Kingdom from within. Realizing Relena was his younger sister and shamed to face her with bloodstained hands, he left without telling her who he was.

Gundam Wing
In AC 195, in the days leading up to Relena's 15th birthday, she finds Heero Yuy washed up and injured on a beach, who after ditching his Gundam in the ocean following a fight with Zechs upon reentry had fallen unconscious. He wakes up and immediately flees, stealing an ambulance she had called for him. He reappears the next day as a new student at her school, and when she attempts to speak to him, inviting him to her birthday party, he refuses and tells her that he will kill her, as she knows his secret. Intrigued by him, the next day she flees her own birthday party, catching Heero attempting to use missiles to detonate any evidence of his Gundam, but failing when Duo Maxwell interferes. When Heero is captured by the Alliance following this incident and kept within a military hospital under the watch of Sally Po, Relena comes to visit him. However, before she and Sally can arrive, Duo has already busted Heero out of the facility. Soon after, Relena goes with her father on another of his trips to space to negotiate with colony leaders- however under orders from Treize Khushrenada, Lady Une assassinates Vice Foreign Minister Darlian with a bomb, which Relena almost prevented, thinking Colonel Une had forgotten the compact it was hidden within. When Relena tries to run back to where her father was, she and her father are taken by colonist freedom fighters who turn out to be led by the strange Doctor J, who tells Relena about Heero's mission. Her father, unfortunately, passes away despite the best efforts of the colonists- but not before revealing to Relena her true identity, as the lost princess of the Sanc Kingdom's Peacecraft family. Warning her not to trust OZ, Doctor J sends Relena on a ship back to Earth where she meets her mother, now grappling with the truth of her past and feelings of revenge against OZ. Discovering that Heero is transferring out of her school, she asks him to grant her request to accompany her to the school's dance before leaving. However, during their dance, OZ attacks the school grounds in search of Relena. Heero uses his Gundam to fight back, believing that OZ is searching for him. Instead of fleeing, Relena chases after him, forcing him to protect her from OZ's attacking suits. However, he flees before she can speak to him. OZ then discontinued their attempting assassination on Treize Khushrenada's orders, on Relena's brother's request.

Attending a party where Une is present, Relena tries to shoot her but misses, and escapes. However before she can be captured, Lucrezia Noin rescues her under orders from Treize, as a favor to Zechs. Noin brings Relena to the Sanc Kingdom, reinstating her as the monarch of the country which Zechs had liberated from Alliance rule. However, Relena continues to take a stand against OZ, boldly denouncing them in front of a crowd of Romefeller members. Continuing her search for Heero, she finds information that he and Zechs are about to battle at Antarctica and pleads for Noin to take her there, in order to prevent the fighting. However, once there, Zechs' attitude disgusts her, and she tells Heero to defeat him- prompting Noin to reveal to her that Zechs is really her brother Milliardo. A group of Romefeller MS soon come after Heero and Zechs, who cover Relena's escape. Negotiations with Romefeller continue as the Gundams are active in space, and Romefeller's Duke Dermail takes power over OZ from Treize. It is then that Dorothy Catalonia, Duke Dermail's granddaughter, comes to be a student at the Sanc Kingdom's school, where Relena is teaching pacifism to children of nobles. Dorothy acts as something of a devil's advocate to Relena, while spying for her grandfather.

Despite negotiations, it is clear that Romefeller has no intentions of leaving Sanc untouched, and when members of the Treize Faction took refuge against the borders of the Kingdom, OZ uses this as an excuse to invade. The pacifist nation is technically unable to defend itself, however Noin had in secret created a small army of white Taurus MS to protect the kingdom, and begged the Gundam pilots to help as well. In the aftermath of the battle, Relena sanctioned Noin and the Gundam pilots' actions.

When Relena goes to a meeting with Romefeller, they force her to denounce Milliardo's status as a representative of Sanc, citing his anti-pacifistic actions in space. When they attempt to assassinate her once she leaves, Quatre Winner rescues her, though Relena's butler Pagan is injured. When Romefeller's forces move in on Sanc Kingdom a second time, Relena eventually surrenders, rather than let Sanc be destroyed yet again. Romefeller decides to make her the new figurehead queen of their 'Earth Sphere Unified Nation', announcing her as the leader of all Earth and the colonies. However, Relena refuses to bend to their will and instead uses her position to further her ideals of pacifism. Amazingly, her persuasive views on disarmament to set an example for others managed to sway the majority of Romefeller's members, outing Dermail, who desired to maintain a dictatorship over the Earth Sphere. This was enough to convince Heero not to kill her, who was convinced that she would be only bringing about a false peace as Romefeller's puppet.

Around this time, the colony rebel faction White Fang declares war on the ESUN, and in order to lead the ESUN forces against them in battle, Treize returns from exile to relieve Relena of her post. Now free from the political constraints of the conflict, Relena goes to space in an attempt to stop Milliardo, now leading White Fang, but is unable to sway him. Dorothy offers a gun to end it all but Relena refused to believe that assassination would bring about true peace, nor would she kill her own brother. Heero rescues her from the Battleship Libra to protect her from the ensuing battle, leaving her with Howard and Lady Une at the ESUN's command post while he battles Zechs. The latter presents Relena with a gun, offering her a chance to take vengeance for her adoptive father's death. However, Relena refuses the tempting opportunity.

In the epilogue, Relena is shown to have become the new Vice Foreign Minister of the ESUN, and Heero leaves her behind a card and teddy bear for her birthday, which she tears up as he walks away.

Endless Waltz
In the aftermath of the Eve Wars, most of the world's mobile weapons are destroyed and Relena had became Vice Foreign Minister between Earth and the colonies. While on a diplomatic meeting to Colony L3 X-18999, Relena was kidnapped by soldiers of the Mariemaia Army when her tea was spiked and knocked her out. She then woke to find a girl in her room, who introduces herself as Mariemaia Khushrenada, the illegitimate daughter of Treize Khushrenada. Because Relena was in the hands of the Barton Foundation, they could take over a virtually defenseless Earth without incident. However, Zechs, once presumed dead, was able to destroy the first wave of mobile suit transports but relented when Mariemaia's grandfather Dekim Barton threatened to initiate the original Operation Meteor by crashing L3 X-18999 onto earth.

When the Mariemaia Army occupied the Earth Sphere capital, Belgium, Relena was sealed in a bunker with Dekim and Mariemaia. She was forced to watch as the Preventers and Gundams attempt to whittle down the Serpent mobile suits. Relena quickly tried to tell the world that they must stand up for themselves, only for her broadcast to be cut off by Dekim. Eventually, the Gundams ran low on power, until the only one absent (Heero's Wing Zero), appeared in the sky, firing its powerful beam cannon at the bunker and penetrating its defensive shields, despite Heero knowing that he may endanger Relena. Relena and Mariemaia's lives were saved by Lady Une, who had infiltrated the bunker, out of the path of falling debris. Soon, a crowd of civilians led by Chang Wufei standing up against the remaining Mariemaia soldiers.

Dekim refused to stand for this nor accept defeat and called on Mariemaia to assume her position as head of the Earth Sphere. However, Relena stood in her way and slapped some literal and figurative sense into her. Dekim was enraged that Relena would think to poison his granddaughter's mind and brought up a gun. Relena gladly welcomed him to take the shot, as he smugly states that the public is expected to obey the victor. However, Mariemaia takes the shot meant for Relena. But Dekim was unconcerned, for he could make another puppet. But before he could take another shot and Une could leap to Relena's defense, Dekim is killed by a Treize-loyalist. Relena then rushes to Mariemaia's side, who confesses that she's sorry. She then spots Heero, brandishing a gun. But instead, Heero decides to never take a life again, for as far as he's concerned, he already killed Mariemaia. In the epilogue, Relena is shown to be continuing her role as Vice Foreign Minister, with Heero following after as her bodyguard.

Preventer 5
In the manga story Preventer 5, which takes place the Spring after Endless Waltz, Relena is hosting her 17th birthday party when it is interrupted by a group of terrorists, who take her and the other guests hostage and demand a ransom, threatening to detonate a nuclear weapon within Sanc Kingdom. Relena notices one of the terrorists to be Zechs, who had presumably gone undercover within the group to prevent their success.

Frozen Teardrop - Preventer 5 Special
In this interpenetration of the events the man who Relena believed was her brother was in fact that of Dix-Neuf Noinheim, and when questioned about what his motivations were for taking the party goers hostage. He merely replies that he is just a simple individual who is trying to bring about peace to the Earth Sphere and Mars. He then places an old computer in front of her and after entering the password the screen displays the image of a Norwegian Forest Cat, which causes Pagan to instantly recoil in horror.

Frozen Teardrop
Prior to Frozen Teardrop, a nanomachine virus called the 'PPP' virus is discovered to have been mass-released into the bloodstream of the general public through vaccinations; it would cause a bloodclot to form in the body of a person and kill them when activated. It is discovered that the condition of its triggering is the death of Relena Darlian. For this reason, Relena is cryogenically frozen and brought to Mars within a capsule to protect her and prevent the possibility of the trigger.

In the capital city of the Mars Colony, Relena City, in the chairman's seat of a government conference room, Relena was stored away in a capsule with the codename "Little Prince". She is awoken in MC-0022 First Spring after the assassination of "Milliardo Peacecraft" to take his place as the second President of the Mars Federation, appearing with a mask identical to that which her brother, Zechs Merquise, once wore. Her niece and nephew Naina and Milou Peacecraft serve as her close aides and guards, along with their mother Lucrezia Noin. She resumes the name Relena Peacecraft.

When Katherine Oud Winner brings her mother, Marleen Darlian, to meet her, Relena invites Katherine to the Presidential Palace for dinner. Relena's speech to Katherine about fighting for peace inspires the girl to later run away and join her cause. Interestingly, despite the fact that Preventer has her marked for death, Relena states that Heero Yuy is needed to bring about peace.

The goal of Operation Mythos, launched by ESUN President Dorothy Catalonia in MC-0022 NEXT WINTER. is to assassinate Relena, however the reason is currently unknown.

During the end of the battle with Zechs Merquise and Epyon in MC-0022 NEXT WINTER, Relena visits the Mars Preventer base where Father Maxwell and Kathy Po are watching Heero and Duo battle Zechs Merquise, accompanied by Lucrezia Noin who has stayed on as her assistant in this era. She confirms to Duo what they had thought- that she had been awakened incorrectly; that despite being the President of the Mars Federation, she in actuality holds no political power (which confirms that the Noinheim Konzern actually holds all the power); and that due to the PPP nanotech which induces forced pacifism in the people of Mars, only Heero is able to kill her, as he was frozen and not administered with the so-called Martian Epidemic vaccine. When Relena is finally able to come face to face with Heero for the first time since their defrost, she emotionally tells Heero to come and kill her. After Heero ends their communication feed, she asks Father Maxwell if she may take a copy of the files used to awaken Heero, saying that instead of the Perfect Peace Principle, she will create her own New Peace Principle. She watches with Father and Kathy as Cyrene Wind arrives in his new Tallgeese Heaven unit, destroying the opposing Mars suits and allowing the others to escape.

Frozen Teardrop -- Final Chapter --

-Heero asks Relena to marry her, she agrees -Wufei will help Vingt build a new OZ -Alpha was working behind the scenes in politics and meets Lady Une -Duo becomes an aide to the president

Translation of Heero & Relena :

The frozen teardrops melted in Relena’s eyes, flowing down her face. Heero wiped them away before quietly whispering into her ear: “Please watch me, Relena.” “Watch you?" “Like you, I’ll discard the name of Heero Yuy. From now on I can let my soul shine… no, let it continue to shine.” Heero handed her an envelope. “You finally came to deliver it to me.” Relena opened it. Written inside were English letters, which read: Your sight, my delight. Will you marry me?” Relena nodded, silently, deeply. The End.

Notes & Trivia

 * Relena bears a resemblance to actress Audrey Hepburn; her "Queen of the World" dress is designed after Princess Ann's dress in the 1953 film Roman Holiday.
 * Relena is the only character in the series to have a confirmed birthday date, April 7, AC 180. Within the series, April 7 is when Heero Yuy was assassinated on AC 175, and Operation Meteor was started on AC 195. In the real world, April 7 is when Gundam Wing was first broadcasted on Japanese television in 1995, and when Mobile Suit Gundam was first broadcasted in 1979.
 * Relena's character is based on Sayla Mass. Both were exiled princesses whose parents were killed but were saved by a close confidant. As well, both of their brothers fight against and/or alongside the main protagonists of their respective series.
 * In Super Robot Wars L, instead of being kidnapped by Mariemaia Army, Relena was kidnapped by Logos as the events of Endless Waltz have already taken place by the start of the game's story. As a result, Heero, in his Wing Gundam Zero, engaged Logos forces at Heaven's Base, Orb and Daedalus Lunar Base  before finally rescuing Relena with the help of Trowa Barton, who infiltrated Logos by joining Phantom Pain.
 * In the Dynasty Warriors: Gundam and Super Robot Wars games, Relena develops relationships with Dianna Soreil, Lacus Clyne, Cagalli Yula Athha, and Marina Ismail.