Thanatos

(also known as Thanatos Prime, Grandmaster Thanatos, Thane of Trida, Dark Vizier, Thane of Seidia, Prince Thane Kandar, The Exiled Prince, The Last Prince, Ai Wiidu, General Thanatos, Eigen Thanatos, Planeswalker Thanatos, or Thanatos the Greater Fiend)

Thanatos is a character in Legend of the Ultimate Sword's Alphaverse, and the main character of the Trida- and UTA-era narratives. He is a male Zet, born on (and the foremost martial artist of) planet Valore, one of the six fraternal twin children of Taliro, and an Avatar of Aidan Thanatos. His timeline is the most heavily-retconned of all LOTUS characters, resulting in a sort of "composite" existence. During Zanhoshi Fusions, an otherwise unrelated individual will be retconned into having secretly been Thanatos the whole time. This happens a total of four times throughout the LOTUS narrative, with each retconned revival of him being closer to the original Zet version in appearance and powers. Because of this property, if a character in a story without Thanatos attempts to take on a role normally befitting Thanatos, they are likely to be retconned into another iteration of him. This is why versions of him unrelated to LOTUS canon are still considered to be Thanatos himself.

Thanatos's various incarnations are described below.

The Zet
(also known as Thanatos Prime or Grandmaster Thanatos)

Thanatos is the most physically imposing of his siblings, and not just because of his piercing purple eyes. He stands at six and a half feet tall, and possesses a heavily muscled physique which he shows off by often wearing only loose, simple pants belted on with a sash. His hair and fur grow down to his knees, forming an impressive white mane that becomes even more impressive when it glows during combat. Whenever a character is retconned into having been Thanatos, the change is marked by his hair turning either very light blond or totally white. While not every post-retcon version of Thanatos is the same, they all share Thanatos Prime's Zet powers.

Thanatos carries on the study of martial arts that his father started, eventually elevating himself to ultimate mastery of several forms. He is known for his personal fighting style "JoRaNai", which is an abbreviation for a Valoran phrase meaning "He'll make a fool out of you". He demonstrates instant proficiency with any weapon ever made, as though he were the very god of war, but shows a marked preference for the scythe. Whatever attack he does not dodge or parry, he no-sells like a brick wall. His reprisals are swift, precise, and delivered with unnecessary force. He does not tolerate weakness or wavering will in those who wish to learn his arts, but those who show the aptitude will find an equally eager tutor in him. He is responsible for the martial arts skills of Drake and Zetoshin, who both look up to him as the foremost technical fighter in the multiverse.

To his siblings he is quiet, contemplative, and patient. To others he is intimidating, bloodthirsty, and implacable. He speaks his mind plainly, but that same plain-ness can be easily misunderstood, and he sometimes finds himself playing the straight man to Zetoshin's comic. He doesn't often reveal his Avatar powers, partly due to chronic retcon-induced amnesia, and partly due to proudly relying on his martial arts. It doesn't hurt that those skills are usually more than sufficient.

Thane of Trida
In his native timeline, Thane of Trida is the half-Valore son of Drake, and an avatar of Aidan Thanatos. Thane resembles his father, with tanned skin as well as black hair and eyes. He succeeds his father in leading the Tridan resistance against the Dragon Lord, taking up Drake's Arafel scythe after his death. However, Thane is killed by Dragoon Captain Rin wielding the Dragon Slayer spear, and is subsequently resurrected in Omega Mode. He defeats Rin, setting off a Zanhoshi Fusion that produces the Nightmare Edge - a transforming scythe/spear.

The timeline fusion retcons Thane's history to be that of Thanatos, who instead crash-landed on Trida, lost his memory, and was re-introduced to his own fighting ways by the half-brother he once taught them to. Despite supposedly being the same old Thanatos retconned into Thane's place, he shows mercy on Rin, and mercy is not something Thanatos is known for up until then. After leaving Trintia with Rin and Taliro, Thanatos hides Nightmare Edge in a location which has yet to be disclosed in narrative.

Dark Vizier
In the latter half of the first Fire Queen's reign over planet Trintia, much of the success of her campaign is owed to her personal advisor and military commander, called the Dark Vizier. While he cannot use Trintian magic, his knowledge and application of it to the art of war, coupled with his tactical genius, makes him her greatest ally.

As the Fire Queen grows older, the Dark Vizier shares with her his knowledge of transferring one's memories and consciousness into a new, younger body, as he himself has already done several times. With his help, the Fire Queen finds a suitable new body - the daughter of Dragoon Captain Rin and Trintia's version of Drake.

When Traygon and Linia battle, their Zanhoshis trigger a Fusion, and the Dark Vizier's history is rewritten. Instead of being a Trintian native with a mysterious past, he is Thanatos, having left Trida with Rin and Taliro in search of the other Zet. Instead of another Zet, they detected an energy signature identical to Drake's Spacepod, and followed it to Trintia. Thanatos's entire purpose in acting as the Fire Queen's Vizier was to get her to transfer her memories, powers, and rulership authority to his niece Linia. After Linia marries Aidan Tremayne and puts an end to the conflict that killed Trintia's Drake, Thanatos and Taliro leave Trintia in search of not only other Zet, but other versions of Drake.

Thane of Seidia
Thanatos and Taliro part ways, leading Thanatos to track not one but two residual signatures from Drake's spacepod to planet Seidia. After landing, he does his best to blend in with the locals, and spends a short time living as a wanderer named Thane before meeting Damien Knight. Given Damien's interest in Drake, Thanatos teams up with the lad to track down Drake's last known whereabouts. During the course of their adventure and the Second Nightmare War, a Zanhoshi Fusion occurs, which transforms the backstory of "The Wanderer Thane" to that of Thanatos's story above. Prior to his involvement in Damien's journey, the original Thane's history is not known.

This version of Thanatos sports hair similar to the original's, but golden blond. He wears loose, thin blue denim pants, and uses Seidian plasma-scythes as his signature weapons in lieu of a Zanhoshi. His physical powers are comparable with those of the Zet, but he demonstrates no paranormal abilities while in this guise to avoid aggravating the suspicions of the Nightmare-plagued locals.

When Damien begins the Colony Ship Project after the war, Thanatos boards the ship and travels with the Seidians to their new homeworld. Once they arrive on Jedia, Thanatos spearheads the Ogre Genocide alongside Genji Achenar no Deichara and a version of Drake who arrives on Jedia not long after the colony ship. After the genocide, as Jedia enters its golden age of prosperity, Thanatos vanishes from history for the next several hundred years.

Prince Thane Kandar
(also known as the Exiled Prince, the Last Prince, or Ai Wiidu)

During the events of No Mage Vagabond on planet Jedia, Prince Thane Kandar of the Kandaran lineage becomes involved in Hadric Knight's quest, leading to an assault on the Kandaran Palace, the theft of Nightmare Slayer II, and the near-destruction of the palace's Fountrena Reactor. This causes Prince Thane to be exiled from his hometown, and his name stricken from public records, replaced entirely with references to an "Exiled Prince". In Jedia's far future, world history refers to him as "The Last Prince", as he was the last heir of Kandaran to be officially confirmed for the throne before the destruction of the world.

Due to a series of timeline mishaps involving the creation of a new Ultimate Sword during Hadric's adventures, Prince Thane is retconned into having been Thanatos the whole time - apparently having hidden his identity from Taliro and Damien so that he could investigate things on his own without them knowing. As a final favor to Hadric before he sets out into the ocean, Thanatos agrees to watch over his son Naeus. To that end he joins the Sunstruck Circus alongside Nehwi Dunott under the guise of her husband, a strongman/acrobat named Ai Wiidu.

Many years later, when Naeus joins the circus and attempts a hostile takeover, "Ai" reveals his true identity and joins Naeus in fighting Sam. After the events of No Mage Vagabond, Thanatos vanishes from history once more during Jedia's destruction.

General Thanatos
(also known as The Last Prince or Eigen Thanatos)

The final incarnation of Thanatos is the only one known to take the name before being retconned into the real thing. He is born a hybrid of human and Draygon genes, one of many genetically engineered prototypes intended to assist the UTA in fighting off the Taerkovian menace. As such, he is essentially a re-creation of Zet biology, and a virtually perfect duplicate of Thanatos the Zet (hence the nickname Eigen Thanatos).

As one of the Hybrid Generals, he is equipped with a Juxtapositional Fighting Transformation (JFT) device, and pilots JFT Thanatos, the most advanced combat unit ever fielded by the NDF. It sports an extra Kyugen-based power core, overlapping super-shields, ergo massive shielding and drive core, on-board Dirqtun energy grid and drive core with requisite nav suite, multiple sidearm support, heavy-class weapon mounts, dedicated additional dynamos, nanoskin armor plating, and AI control software with limited autonomy.

He also commands the Dragon Rider, the NDF's latest prototype ship built from technology given to them by the Draygons for the Hybrid Generals' use. The primary narrative of LOTUS's UTA era follows General Thanatos as he commands the Dragon Rider in fighting off the Taerkovian invasion, though he eventually gives up the command when he is railroaded into becoming the UTA President and Commander General of the NDF. Eventually he abandons his post, leaving his duties to bureaucrats to command the Dragon Rider on several self-authorized missions.

During one such mission, Thanatos is led to planet Jedia, where he hears the story of the Last Prince and begins to suspect he is not the Hybrid General he thinks he is. This sets in motion a series of events culminating in the fusion of Astynax and Nightmare Edge into Endless Nightmare, which retcons General Thanatos's history so that he is, and always was, the Last Prince. As a result, he gains access to an autonomous, Fountrena-powered JFT built for his use by his previous incarnation, which is dubbed "JFT Nightmare". It has no on-board weapons, but like all Jedian AIs, it can autonomously wield a Zanhoshi.

Afterward, with his identity restored, General Thanatos plays a pivotal role in the Zanhoshi Reunion, bringing the LOTUS narrative to a close.

Planeswalker
(also known as Thanatos the Greater Fiend)

There is a version of Thanatos which is seen in Verses outside the LOTUS sub-spiral, including Betaverse, Jehrun, Reck, and Ur-Kesh. His appearance varies from tale to tale, but his knowledge of events witnessed by every other version of Thanatos suggests that he may be an avatar of Aidan Thanatos. He wields a greater variety of weapons than typical of his Alphaverse counterpart, such as kama, greatswords, hand grenades, sniper rifles, and even local forms of magic.

When he appears in Jehrun, Thanatos takes on a more diabolical aspect, and plays the role of Archon of Death. He is the keeper of the Obsidian Throne, counterpart to Alpha's stewardship of the Marble Throne. It is in this form that he is known as a Greater Fiend, as he is mistaken for the highest class of demon. Known to be obsessed with the ruby twin side of the Isacharan lineage of princesses, more than one adventurer has plied his favor with tokens of such princesses. This is mostly likely due to those princesses' resemblance to Dragoon Captain Rin (not to mention, some of them are actually named Rin).

When he appears in Betaverse, Planeswalker Thanatos usually resembles Eigen Thanatos in appearance and behavior, showing his more cultured, amicable side at times. He is typically seen gallivanting around the multiverse with Zetoshin, trashing other continuities (and their bars) for fun. Often, he winds up being the one to bring the ultraviolence back down a tad, either by checking into the nearest bar, or by obliterating the enemy (usually followed by checking into the nearest bar anyway).

Trivia

 * Many consider Thanatos a symbol of Death because of his scythe-wielding and murderous tendencies.
 * He also embodies the concept of Death in his constant "deaths" by amnesia, and in those whose lives are displaced by his retcons.
 * One time he met the grim reaper, beat the shit out of him, and stole his title. Canonically.
 * Thanatos is the best Zet in Sinon, because he is Mezzo's brother. -Lord Mezzo
 * Planeswalker Thanatos once spent nearly a week planning a prank on one of his best friends. To this day, no one's topped it.