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Talia Gladys (タリア・グラディス Taria Guradisu?) is a character introduced in the anime Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny.

Personality & Character[]

Gladys is often shown to be a highly professional and stern captain of the Minerva, often commanding the respect of its crew inside and outside the work station. She is an interesting mix between both Murrue Ramius and Natarle Badgiruel, being aware and close to the troops emotionally, and occasionally defying orders based on her own integrity, yet still being compelled to follow her duties as captain and commander.

Although she shares Murrue's sentiments of fighting for those they believe in, she suffers from the same pitfall as Natarle, where she is unable to bring herself to completely oppose her superiors until it is too late, arguably also because of her previous relationship with Gilbert Durandal.

While a good tactician, she sometimes has a hard time asserting her authority with some of her mobile suit pilots. This is made worse when two of them are also appointed into FAITH. Even though her crew is loyal to her, Gladys's own loyalties sometimes seem to waver. She clearly disagrees with many decisions handed down to her by the top brass in ZAFT and the PLANT Supreme Council, but despite personal misgivings, she always follows her orders. Her inability to do what sometimes she believes is right makes her vulnerable to manipulation.

Skills & Abilities[]

She has shown good instinctive battle tactics and often orders the support ZAKU units to stay close to the ship, limiting the amount of damage done to the ship. However her strategic prowess is somewhat lacking, sometimes relying on others to organize battle plans. Captain Gladys does not use the resources of the Minerva recklessly or without provocation. She has been seen to use the Minerva's "Tannhäuser" positron beam cannon normally as a last resort. Her strengths eventually earn her an appointment into FAITH.

Physical Aspects & Clothing[]

History[]

Background[]

She was formerly in a relationship with Gilbert Durandal, but due to genetic incompatibility that prevented her from producing a child, she was not allowed to marry him, and as she wanted to have children, she married another man and had a son.

Captaining the Minerva & Bogey One[]

In the year C.E. 73, Talia became captain of the newly-commissioned Minerva. The ship was forced to launch ahead of schedule due to the thefts of the ZGMF-X88S Gaia Gundam, ZGMF-X24S Chaos Gundam, and ZGMF-X31S Abyss Gundam.[1] With Shinn Asuka and his ZGMF-X56S Impulse Gundam overextending themselves and running low on power, the Minerva quickly dispatched to rescue him from the mothership of the stolen suits as well as to provide escort and protection for Gilbert Durandal.[2]

While investigating the whereabouts of the stolen units, Gladys and the Minerva were ambushed near a set of ruins and immediately dispatch Shinn, Lunamaria Hawke and two GuAIZ under Shawn and Dale to assist them. Unfortunately, the party was ambushed by the stolen units, and the latter pair were killed almost immediately. Following this, the Minerva was ambushed from behind by the hidden mothership, dubbed as "Bogey One". Because of their positioning, Gladys ordered for the ship to take cover at a nearby asteroid, but Bogey One proceeded to attack the asteroid, intending to bury the Minerva underneath. Gladys then had Rey Za Burrel sent out to protect them while they attempt to demolish the surrounding asteroid chunks. When the accompanying Alex Dino asked if there are any other mobile suits, Gladys responded that they have no more pilots. Dino later suggested for the Minerva to simultaneously use its remaining thrusters while firing all its weapons to create an explosion; using the force of the explosion and the power of the thrusters to plow through the debris. Gladys followed these instructions and successfully shifted the tide of the battle against Bogey One.

When it was revealed that Junius Seven was now heading towards Earth, Gladys gave Alex, now exposed as Athrun Zala, permission to use the unmanned ZAKU Warrior in the ship to help with the former colony's demolition. Upon arrival, she was surprised to hear that Yzak Joule's squad was now under attack from both radical terrorists following the late Patrick Zala and Bogey One. Throughout the battle, Gladys attempted to establish communication with Bogey One to clarify that ZAFT was not in league with the terrorists but is unable to do so. After much fighting, ZAFT's forces succeeded in splitting the colony in half. As there were still sizable chunks left, Gladys had Chairman Durandal depart from the Minerva and recalled the remaining units outside in order to fire at the remaining debris during their descent to Earth. Despite both Athrun and Shinn not returning, Gladys was forced to close the Minerva's bridge to prepare it for atmospheric descent. To her relief, both Athrun and Shinn are found to be safe, albeit the former's unit being rendered unusable.

Second Alliance-PLANT War[]

Upon landing on Earth, the Minerva proceeded to Orb for both repairs and to return both Cagalli Yula Athha and Athrun back to the country. Gladys later become acquainted with Murrue Ramius, the head foreman in charge of the Minerva's repairs. The two later had a lengthy discussion over one's duty and sometimes having the only option as a soldier of fighting for those they believe in. Amidst their stay, however, the Atlantic Federation declared war on PLANT, believing them to be part of the terrorist group that dropped Junius Seven and refusing to listen to Durandal's claims of innocence.

Shortly after, Gladys received a secret message from Andrew Waltfeld, warning them of the decision of Orb's politicians to join the Alliance, against Cagalli's wishes. Though suspicious, Gladys made preparations for leaving. Her fears of Orb's new allegiance is later confirmed by Cagalli, who also warns for Gladys to escape immediately. Before disembarking, Gladys shows no malice towards Cagalli, thanking her for the warning and for her sincerity in peace. The Minerva's escape was soon cut off by a detachment of Alliance forces, led by its new YMAF-X6BD Zamza-Zah Mobile Armor. Gladys was astonished when the machine was able to completely block the Minerva's Tannhäuser. Thanks to Shinn's intervention, however, the Mobile Armor was quickly dispatched alongside the accompanying fleet sent to pursue them.

While still on-the-run, Gladys was rejoined by Athrun, having re-enlisted with ZAFT. Aside from asking for her permission to remain onboard with the new ZGMF-X23S Saviour Gundam, Athrun also passes a FAITH badge meant for her from Chairman Durandal. The Minerva once again skirmished with the stolen units of Armory One at the Indian Ocean before being tasked with aiding separatist insurgents in Gulnahan Ravine. Due to the impregnable Lohengrin Gate, Athrun had Gladys and the rest of the Minerva bait the main Alliance forces at the front of the gate while Shinn was tasked with sneaking through the rear and dismantling the Lohengrin protecting the Alliance forces.

After their success, the Minerva's crew was soon joined by Heine Westenfluss and his ZGMF-2000 GOUF Ignited. For their repeated meddling in the Alliance's territories, the Minerva was met with the joint Orb-Alliance fleet at Darndelles, where their battle was interrupted by the sudden arrival of the Archangel and the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam.[3] After the refusal of Orb's forces to listen to Cagalli's pleas to stand down, the Freedom and Archangel begin attacking all sides, eventually forcing the battle to halt when units on both parties were damaged. During the chaos, Heine was also killed in action, which the pilots blame on the third party forces. The Minerva's Tannhaüser was also attacked by the Freedom and rendered unusable, stripping the ship of its most powerful weapon.[4]

While making a short stop on Lodonia, Shinn and Rey returned from a reconnaissance trip to report of a small laboratory in the area, though Rey had suffered convulsions and had to be returned by Shinn. When Gladys, Arthur, Shinn and Athrun investigated the abandoned facility, they were horrified to learn that it was part of the Alliance's Biological CPU program, which involved seizing children in their youth and forcing them to undergo a kill-or-be-killed program to make them combat-ready that also included drugging and torturing them. After this gruesome discovery, the group was attacked by the lone Gaia, which was disabled by both Shinn and Athrun.[5] To everyone's surprise, Shinn defied military law and immediately took the Gaia's injured pilot to the Minerva's medical bay for treatment. Shinn later clarified that he met the pilot during their stay in Diocuia and believed she was simply just a victim of war. To everyone's astonishment, the girl was found to have unhealthy amounts of chemicals within her body, making her one of the Biological CPUs that came from the abandoned laboratory in Lodonia.

Nonetheless, a full report was made to Chairman Durandal as Gladys captains the Minerva's journey to western Eurasia. During the Battle of Crete, both the Archangel and Freedom interfered once again in the Minerva's battle against the Orb-Alliance fleet. This time, however, Lunamaria was seriously wounded from an enemy bombardment, while her ZAKU, alongside Rey's unit and Athrun's Saviour all being damaged beyond repair. After the battle, Shinn broke military law again and returned Stella to the Alliance forces. As he was an accomplice of the escape, Gladys questions Rey on why he helped Shinn and her suspicions of Shinn's loyalty. In response, Rey replied that though they have no means of pursuing him, Shinn's only objective was Stella's safety, and he assures her that Shinn will return. True to Rey's words, Shinn returned and was immediately imprisoned with Rey in the ship's lower deck. Though Durandal received this report of Shinn and Rey's actions, he opted to pardon them on account of their past service. News soon arrived to the repaired Minerva of a new Alliance machine on a rampage in Berlin, leading to Gladys's new course for the city.[6]

There, she was startled to find the massive GFAS-X1 Destroy Gundam already battling the Freedom and Archangel with most of the city already reduced to rubble. Gladys soon sent Shinn out and engaged with Destroy. Ultimately, Destroy was finally put to a stop when the Freedom pierced its beam cannons before it could fire.[7]

Archangel Offensive & Logos[]

Following Destroy's defeat, Chairman Durandal broadcasted a worldwide program exposing the extremist anti-coordinator terrorist organization, Logos, including identifying its leaders and using altered footage of the battle against Destroy as propaganda against them. Before they could attack their cornered foe, however, ZAFT's higher command deemed the Archangel to be a threat due to its constant appearances during battle and ordered for them to be dealt with before moving on to Logos. The mission, dubbed "Operation: Angel Down", commenced when the Archangel was caught during its attempt to return to Orb, where it was attacked heavily by ZAFT's BuCUEs and BABIs, but thanks to its suppressive fire and the Freedom, the ship was able to escape this first wave relatively safe.[8]

Gladys and the Minerva, however, soon entered the field, and, against orders, Gladys sent a message to the Archangel, demanding surrender and guaranteeing their safety should they comply. To the surprise of Arthur, and to Gladys's suspicions, the captain of the Archangel was revealed to be Ramius, who politely rejected the offer. With little alternative, Shinn was sent out to fight the Freedom while the Minerva continues the pursuit for the Archangel. Aware that they would not be able to chase the ship once it submerged, Gladys ordered the Tannhäuser to be fired. This attack hit the Archangel's main wing as it submerged, while Shinn was victorious in his dogfight against the Freedom and proceeded to destroy the fabled unit. Despite scoring a major victory that wasn't achieved in the previous war, Gladys did not celebrate, instead expressing dissatisfaction at the order to attack them.[8]

After the Freedom's destruction and the Archangel's defeat, Gladys and the rest of the Minerva's crew stopped at Gibraltar to plan the upcoming battle against Logos at Heaven's Base secretly labelled "Operation Ragnarök". The meeting soon erupted in uproar when Athrun Zala and Meyrin Hawke were outed as traitors after they stole one of the base's GOUFs and fled.[9] To her frustration, Gilbert authorized both Rey and Shinn to shoot them down without hearing them out. To Gladys's anger and disbelief, they eventually completed the task, leaving her and most of the Minerva's crew shaken upon the revelation.[10] Nonetheless, they dutifully continue on with the attack on Heaven's Base. Despite losing all their descent troops and most of the defecting Alliance fleet to the base's surprise attack, the Minerva's pilots single-handedly turn the tide, with Shinn destroying four out of the five Destroys gathered, and the last falling to both Rey and Lunamaria.[11]

Operation Fury[]

Out of all of Logos' leaders, however, it was revealed that Lord Djibril was the only one that evaded capture and had now escaped to Orb, causing Durandal to order a full invasion of the country. The Minerva entered the battle late, however, but arrived at a decisive time, when the Orb forces were reinvigorated by Cagalli's reappearance in her ORB-01 Akatsuki Gundam. As she entered the battlefield, it was soon revealed that the Archangel had faked its demise and was now ready to face the Minerva once again. Additionally, Shinn ended up having another dogfight with the new ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam, eventually suffering from power shortage as it dragged on.[12] Eventually, the Archangel once again escaped the Minerva's wrath by fleeing underwater, while Shinn was recalled to refuel his unit. During this time, Shinn and Rey were sent out to eliminate the Freedom, but their foe was soon reinforced by the sudden arrival of Athrun and his ZGMF-X19A ∞ Justice Gundam. Concurrently, a shuttle suddenly departed from Orb's Seiran shelter, leading Gladys to theorize that its passenger was Djibril. Although Lunamaria was sent, she was unable to shoot the shuttle, and ZAFT's flagship, St. Helens, was also destroyed by the Archangel.[13]

Having lost both the battle and their purpose to remain in Orb, Gladys took control of the remaining ZAFT forces and ordered a full withdrawal. She later sent a report of the battle to Chairman Durandal, who acknowledged and thanked her for the prudent decision to retreat. She later watched Cagalli's broadcast denouncing Durandal's hostile methods before it was interrupted by Lacus Clyne, who called out Orb as a nation for protecting a man as wicked as Djibril. To everyone's shock, a second Lacus appeared, claiming to be the true one.[13] This Lacus, however, called out Durandal's shady decisions and various opportunistic moves for his ulterior motives. At the same time, she expressed disdain for Lord Djibril and reiterated Orb's original stance for peace and neutrality in the matter.[14]

Final Battles[]

With Orb temporarily out of the picture, ZAFT returned its focus on Djibril, who had now fled to the moon. The Joule Team later found large devices being protected by the Alliance's forces. These devices turn out to be the beam reflecting stations for the superweapon, Requiem, which fired at the PLANTs and successfully destroyed Januarius 1 - 4 and December 7 and 8. Due to this massive loss, the Minerva returned to space and was immediately tasked with attacking Requiem while the Joule Team was busy attacking the other relay stations. To further hide their movements, Gladys had the Minerva, Rey and Shinn engage the main defenders of Requiem, leaving Lunamaria to infiltrate the Alliance's base and destroy Requiem's control center. The plan succeeded with Djibril being killed and Requiem being seized. Thanks to the destruction of Logos, Durandal was finally able to unveil the "Destiny Plan", his solution to ending conflicts by pinpointing a person's optimal path in life based on their talents and genetics and planning their future following this path.

While many voice their support, many other independent factions such as Orb, the Kingdom of Scandinavia and the Atlantic Federation all voice their separate complaints on the matter, arguing that it would also strip a person of their freedom. In response, Durandal useed the newly-acquired Requiem to attack the Federation's lunar base, killing its president, Joseph Copeland. Though many in the Minerva wonder how Requiem could be fired, Gladys angrily pointed out that the ones who used the weapon were obviously the ZAFT forces.

Despite her outrage with Durandal's decision to use Requiem, she continued to support him when Orb scrambled its space fleet, alongside any other dissident force such as Alliance survivors or ZAFT defectors to resist Chairman Durandal's plans and to destroy Requiem and its relay stations. During the Attack on Requiem Station One, Gladys faced off against Ramius once again in the defense of the relay stations.[15] Gladys was eventually able to use Tannhäuser on the Archangel while it is front of the Eternal, keeping Ramius from moving for fear of the shot hitting the Eternal instead. To Gladys's surprise, Neo Raonoke proceeded to intercept the attack with the Akatsuki, negating the attack with the unit's resistance against beam-based attacks, and destroying the Minerva's positron cannon. As the battle drags on, the opposing forces were finally able to destroy one of Requiem's relay stations, however, the Mobile Space Fortress Messiah appeared at the moon and fired Neo-GENESIS, successfully destroying a sizable chunk of the enemy fleet.

At the immediate start of the Battle of Messiah, the Minerva's role shifted to engaging both the Archangel and the Eternal and stalling until Requiem and Neo-GENESIS could be used again. Because of this, both Athrun and Archangel broke away from their current engagement to prioritize attacking Requiem directly, leading to Gladys and Shinn tailing them. Ultimately, the Minerva was defeated after its main weapons were rendered unusable by the Archangel followed by the destruction of its engines at the hands of the Infinite Justice's Fatum-01. The ship soon crashed on the moon and was effectively sunk. While Gladys was organizing the remaining crew members, however, Durandal fired Neo-GENESIS for the second time, but this time catching many ZAFT soldiers in its line of fire. Outraged by Durandal's actions and finally seeing the folly of following him thus far, Gladys proceeded to have the Minerva's crew evacuate from the ship, as well as passing down command of its members to Arthur, thanking him for his help throughout the war.[16]

Resolving to kill Gilbert herself, Gladys took a separate shuttle from the others and made her way for the sinking Messiah after it was heavily damaged by the Eternal and the Strike Freedom. She eventually reached the fortress's command center, where she found Gilbert and Kira Yamato in a stand-off and debate between their thoughts for the future. As she drew her gun to fire, however, Durandal was shot by Rey, having been swayed by Kira's idea of a future by their own choice and hand. In the end, she decided to die with Durandal and Rey in the space fortress Messiah. As her last request, she asked Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala to tell Murrue Ramius that she wished the captain to meet her son some day. (In the original version, Athrun is not present and only Kira receives the request.) In her last moments, she thanked Rey for his service throughout the war and embraced him before they perish together.[16]

Legacy[]

In the Omake Quarters Drama CD, Gladys's remaining personal belongings are handed over to her son William by Arthur Trine. Although William remains unhappy with his mother's decision to leave him behind in favor of joining her former lover, Arthur pushes him to think closer to her virtues and defends the late Gladys based on her past leadership.

Relationships[]

Gilbert Durandal[]

Talia Gladys was Gilbert Durandal's lover some years prior to him becoming the Chairman of the PLANT Supreme Council. However, she chose to break off this relationship because she wanted a child, which was stated to be unlikely for most Coordinators, who have very low fertility. She later married another man and had a child with him, but her love for him did not diminish, and they continued to have a physical relationship.[17]

As fate would have it, Durandal eventually became Gladys's direct superior when she entered the military, though the pair kept their relationship mostly professional outside of Durandal occasionally referring to Talia by her first name. Over time, however, she felt more opposed to Durandal's grand plan, especially when it involved an unprovoked attack on the Archangel as well as rushing the elimination of Meyrin and Athrun without any interrogation and the later use of Requiem and Neo-GENESIS.[18] Despite this, Talia felt that fate still drove them together regardless, and she remained at Durandal's side to the end.[16]

William Gladys[]

William is Talia's young son that she had with her husband. He is alive and well, and Talia's last request before her death was for Murrue Ramius to go and visit him one day.

Murrue Ramius[]

Gladys and Ramius first met during the Minerva's brief stay at Orb, where Murrue acted as the head foreman for the ship's repairs. Ramius' own experiences as a former captain helped make friends between the two, though Gladys suspected that there was more to the foreman than met the eye. When fighting against the Archangel, Gladys felt their motives were too idealistic even if their convictions made them unyielding. Nonetheless, Gladys held some restraint towards Operation Angel Down, and suspicions regarding Ramius' true identity were revealed when the pair actually made visual contact as captains. Though Gladys internally supported the Archangel as Durandal began using more extreme tactics to implement the Destiny Plan, she still understood her duty as a captain trumped her personal emotions, and continued to clash against Ramius.

Athrun Zala[]

Talia first met Athrun as Alex Dino when he served as a bodyguard for Cagalli and boarded the Minerva after she was injured during the battle inside Armory One. Whether Talia knew Athrun's true identity is unknown, but she still listened to his suggestion when the Minerva was trapped underneath an asteroid chuck. Even when his identity was exposed as Athrun Zala, she still gave him permission to use a ZAKU Warrior to help in the demolition of Junius Seven. When Athrun returned to ZAFT as member of FAITH, she accepted his position and respected his leadership despite his previously bad experience with ZAFT. She allowed him to lead operations with her pilots, and at one point even allow led him to make contact with his former allies on the Archangel after their interference in battle at Darndelles. Despite trusting Athrun, Talia secretly sent Luna to spy on him and the crew of the Archangel as a precaution. The information that Luna had gathered was eventually used by Gilbert and Rey to frame Athrun as a traitor. Although angered and in disbelief, Talia did nothing to defend Athrun or Meyrin while Gilbert ordered Shinn and Rey to shoot them down. When Athrun confronted the Minerva during the Battle of Messiah, he was reluctant to attack Talia and her crew, but ultimately crippled the Minerva, causing it to crashed on the moon, forcing Talia to order all hands to abandon ship.

Gallery[]

Character Designs[]

Anime[]

Illustrations, Artwork & Manga[]

Games[]

Notes & Trivia[]

  • Gladys's voice actress, Mami Koyama, was also the original actress for Kycilia Zabi. In an ironic twist, she is taking orders from Shūichi Ikeda, the voice actor of Char Aznable.

Appearances[]

Television Series

References[]

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