Finnel
Finnel (フィンネル, Finneru?), full name Finnel_ax.Forged Clustania (フィンネル_ax.鍛造クラスタニア, Finneru_ax.tanzou kurasutania?) is one of the main heroines of Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel, and she is a really clumsy β-type Reyvateil who works in a restaurant known as Yokkora Bistro as the mascot girl, which is situated on the Eternus Shaft. Her clumsiness makes people nervous with her reckless actions. As unlikely as it may seem, Soma, the deadliest hitman hides deep within her. She follows Tatsumi around because her duty is to bring the Heart of Gaea to the soil of Clustania. She's a typical tsundere who hates the fact that she's so stubborn. She is also secretly a masochist.
She loves cold treats like ice cream and snow cones, but because she's always so careless, she always gets brain freeze.
Finnel's mind guardian is Momoko.
Background
This section is the excerpt from pages 36-37 of Ar tonelico 3 Settei book.
The secrets at birth
Finnel was born in the Reyvateil country of Clustania. Due to Clustanian policy of total population control, only a tiny number of Reyvateil is created each year. In fact, at the time she was created, there were only 5 Reyvateils in that batch, one of which was Akane, who later went on to become the Supreme Commander of Clustania.
Other Pureblooded β-type Reyvateils who were created alongside her were given militaristic abilities. Finnel was given great physical reflex, sense of balance, and excellent ability to make instantaneous decisions, while Akane was given great analytical thinking and ability to calmly concentrate and then make decisions. However, due to an incident, the remaining 3 bodies were unfortunately lost. In that particular incident, an attack by Antibodies destroyed those Reyvateils when they were still in Nurturing Tanks, within which their Prime Fields were still in the process of maturing.
That Antibody attack was contrived by the upper echelons of Clustania. The scheme was planned by Harvestasha, the Ruler of Clustania, and Ayatane of Teru Tribe, who together made a pact with the Wills of the Planet. They promised that they will bestow one Reyvateil body to the Wills of the Planet, and that body was, in fact, Finnel herself.
The Wills of the Planet, using Antibody attack as a feint, exploited the incident as a chance to embody themselves by invading Finnel's Soulspace while she was still in the Nurturing Tank. The particular Will behind the event was Antibody Brain, Ar Ru. At that time, not only Antibody Brain, but Soma, Yurishica, and Suzunomia who are also Wills of the Planet, entered Finnel's Soulspace as well and became her alternate personae. This explains why Finnel was born into this world with several personae.
Don't call me a klutz!
Normally, Finnel is cheerful and energetic, which is why she is popular amongst those who are around her. On the other hand, she also tends to be outspoken, which can make people angry at times. As a girl full of emotions, her expressions are a continuous shuffle from crying to laughing to being angry. This is a stark contrast to Akane whose emotional expression is not her strong suit.
No matter how many times she fails, she is a person who perseveres and keeps retrying with her best effort. In spite of such strength, there's also this inattentive side to her nature, which leads to a lot of failures too. In addition, she is also the type who wants others around her to perceive her as a strong person. Because of that, there are several occasions that this façade prevents her from conveying her feelings honestly. However, if she has taken a liking to someone, she can also be proactive in approaching that person as well.
Despite the capable front she puts up, internally she is hyper-aware of the fact that she was always on the bottom rung in classes, leading to her total lack of self-confidence. Because of this, subconsciously, there exists an aspect of Finnel that is extremely subservient, which manifests as an intensely masochistic personality in her Cosmosphere.
Relationship with Akane
In comparison to Akane, whose capability was an elite even amongst the elites ever since she was very young, Finnel's growth had been slow, and therefore she was treated as a blockhead by other Clustanians. To make matters worse, her multiple persona phenomenon earned her a notoriety that she was 'possessed by evil', and was bullied or persecuted horribly at times. Seeing her being treated unfairly, Akane was always worried about Finnel and continued to stand up for her, which sadly made the pair stand out amongst their peers.
On the stark contrary, upon reunion with Finnel later on, but this time she stood on the opponent's side, Akane coldly detached herself from Finnel. This was because Akane was already a Supreme Commander of Clustania at that time. As a person who upholds her duty first and foremost, she did not show a slightest sign of warming up to an old friendship. However, at a later point in time, upon realising that for Ar Ru to be manifested, Finnel's consciousness would be completely erased, she defiantly disobeyed Harvestasha, the Ruler of Clustania. To Akane, who is normally reserved emotionally, Finnel is an existence that she will protect even if she has to relinquish her standing.
Heart of the Land
Ar Ru, the Antibody Brain, is a being with tremendous energy level. Even though she was sent to Finnel's Soulspace, it became clear that for such a cosmic entity, Finnel's body was too frail to be its 'container' and simply would not withstand the force majeure. In order to affix Ar Ru's consciousness to Finnel, a Self-stabilizing Nuclear Tesseractal Loop, more commonly known as a 'Heart of the Land', is needed.
However, Heart of the Land is something that only exists in theory. Even in the scientifically advanced country of Clustania, there was no example of such thing being successfully created. Because of that, the Wills of the Planet put Ar Ru's consciousness into hibernation until they can obtain a Heart of the Land. When the time comes, in other words, in the occasion a Heart of the Land is obtained, Ar Ru shall awaken from her hibernation within Finnel. This means that Finnel's body will be taken over by Ar Ru, and Finnel's consciousness will be completely erased. After all, this was pre-determined as her raison d'être as a Reyvateil from the beginning. Unaware of this fact, she was despatched to Great Fang in search of this elusive 'Heart of the Land'. Unbeknownst to her, the success of the mission will mean the erasure of her existence.
Coexistence with other personae
One day, a hidden ability was discovered in Finnel, a person who had always been labeled a blockhead. That discovery was Soma, one of Finnel's multiple personae. Physical prowess of Soma was above the norm, even higher than what was expected of Finnel. For that reason, Clustania trained Soma to be an assassin whose duty is to silently eradicate those who oppose them. Moreoever, in order to materialise Soma at any time, a certain Hymn Crystal was downloaded into Finnel. This Hymn Crystal allows anyone who sings the correct Hymmnos to summon Soma with ease. Therefore, Finnel would occasionally transform into Soma, and carry out assassination of any personnel deemed to be a nuisance to Clustania.
On the other hand, coexisting with alternate personae places enormous burden on Finnel. Because she is hosting multiple personae within her Soulspace, the rate of consumption of her Telomere—the etheric body that dictates the lifespan of a Reyvateil—is several times higher than that of normal Pureblooded β-type Reyvateils, shortening her life expectancy considerably. The time she has left in this world is mere 2 years. And with that, she was told the way to extend her life was to find a Heart of the Land, in search of which she disembarked for Great Fang.
Life in Great Fang
Without support from Clustania, Finnel was headed to Great Fang alone and left to her own devices. Out in the cold and at her wits' end in Eternus Shaft, she was saved by Mrs. Lu of Yokkora Bistro. Thanks to her kindness, Finnel was hired as a live-in employee of Yokkora. Shortly after employment, her cheerful and sociable nature earned her the reputation of being the mascot girl of the bistro.
For Finnel, life in Great Fang was a carefree one. There may be times when Clustania would force-summon Soma to carry out duties for them, but otherwise Finnel's only obligation was to search for a Heart of the Land. Only during those times that her Crystal showed a reaction that she needed to be critically aware of her surrounding. Initially, the unfamiliarity of a new environment was depressing for her, but gradually she grew to like her life in Great Fang. After all, if she were to return to Clustania, she would just be the blockhead.
At that point in time, Finnel already thought finding a Heart of the Land was probably impossible, and gave up on the goal of extending her life. However, upon meeting Aoto, she was attracted to him, and the thought of not resigning to fate dawned on her: 'I want to live longer,' and 'I want to be with him more.' It was those thoughts that fixated her to continue living on.
Antibody Brain, Ar Ru
For all the Wills of the Planet that exist within Finnel's Cosmosphere, Antibody Brain, Ar Ru, is the highest existence of them all. As the top entity who controls all Antibodies, she has the ability to produce Antibodies, one by one, whose goal is to exterminate all organisms on the planet. One can say that she is the Planet's greatest assassin.
Humankind is well aware of the threat posed by Antibody Brain, so they came up with a countermeasure: γ-Sublimate Reyvateil; in other words, Saki. With her ability, Antibody Brain can be neutralised and exterminated. However, at some point during her long slumber within the depths of Finnel's Cosmosphere, Ar Ru began to integrate with Finnel's persona. At Moocheriel where Antibodies were produced and where Saki tried to neutralise Ar Ru with her Hymmnos of destiny 'Arphage', the end result would also exterminate Finnel. This is because the integration between the two went too far.
Starcircling
Finnel's special ability is astrology. More specifically, she specialises in what is called 'Starcircling'. This is a type of fortune telling where a person's divination is derived from their date of birth and their Fate Name. Fate Name, also called True Name, is never revealed to anyone but the closest people, e.g. siblings and life partner. In this world, it is a special thing that people do not tell one another without a compelling reason.
For a person who was born from a Nurturing Tank, Finnel does not have a family. No matter how much she likes Starcircling, the only one she can perform fortune-telling on is just herself. However, Aoto revealed his Fate Name to her. For someone who has always gazed at the night sky alone and performed Starcircling alone, he was the first person with whom she could foretell her compatibility. It is no wonder that soon he would become a very special existence to her.
Hymns
Ending Song
See also
- Drama CD Side Finnel ~after story~ - A drama CD telling a story that happened 3 years after Finnel's True Ending
- The Pride of Clustanians - A first-person account of when Finnel arrived in Great Fang for the first time