|| E l k |

Being the main character of the show, we follow the adventure through his eyes. At first, we know him for being a part of the Hunter Guild,
and that also he has the power of the flame. This power, it seems, is very rare and important, for it is he who the five spirits wishes to protect.
He seems quite young, perhaps around 15 is my guess, and has no living family. Shu, another Hunter, is his mentor, and unlike Shu, Elk
is a bit of a hot head at times (but this is more apparent later in the series.)

Elk was brought up in a village where the fire spirit was apparent. Every male (not sure about females -.-) has the power of the flame, and it
was Elk's father who was one of the best. Elk lived with his loving father and mother, and also grandfather as well, but when he was still
young (around 4-5 i think), everything was gone. His village was attacked by these mysterious men in red, because they wanted the statue
of the fire spirit. And under orders, they killed everyone in sight and burnt the village down. At this time, Elk stood by his father who told him
to run away and live. But since Elk was still only a child, he was scared stiff. When the evil men saw him and were about to shoot, Elk shot
out a huge flame that killed some of them. They saw that he had great potential, and instead of killing him, they took him to the white house.

This white house is one of the two obsessions Elk has throughout his life. The other one is Arc, for you see, when everyone was killed in
the village, Elk thinks that he saw the Silver Noah (Arc's ship) landed down at that time. But the truth is that Arc was not at that time involved
with the Silver Noah, and so it was someone else who was controlling it. Elk (of course) does not want to believe this because this means
that his reason for living (which was to kill Arc and reap revenge) was a whole waste. But he does accept it after a while in a way. Still does
not mean that he likes Arc though.

With the whole white house business, that is a bit more painful. At this place where he was taken to, there were other children. They were
experimented on to be made into Chimera, but Elk escaped before that could happen. He made two close friends there, Merryl and Jean.
However, Elk was closer to Merryl. As they all played together, they made a pact to run away. And so one day they attempted to. However,
Jean got left behind because he could not reach the vent where the other two were, and so he lured the people who were chasing them
away from Elk and Merryl. As the two ran out onto the grounds, Merryl slipped and fell over. The spotlights fell onto her, and she, knowing
that she was going to get caught, told Elk to run away and leave her behind. And so he did. I think he was about 10 then.

And it was after he escaped and half dead in the desert when Shu saved him. Taking Elk to Claudius, Shu looked after the boy until the
story starts. Back to the present now, Elk is obsessed with killing Arc, and finding the white house to save Merryl. And through his
adventures, Elk finds that both things are a bit out of his control. One reason is that he could not beat Arc for anything, for Arc always kicked
arse, and the other, that will be explained a bit later.

Elk meets Lieza, and decides to help her. She has led a similar life to Elk, with her village being destroyed and people wanting to experiment
on her, but she does not seem as bitter as Elk. Anyway, perhaps through kindness, Elk helps her. But I think it is more trying to soothe his
guilt by leaving Merryl behind. At one point, Elk tells Lieza that he would protect her always, but Lieza knew the truth, that he was treating
her as if she were Merryl. But still, there could be something there between them, more on her side if anything though.

Because of Elk's obsession with Arc, he actually puts his friends in danger (idiot). He is so blind with wanting revenge he can't see the truth.
There are so many points throughout the series where you just want to slap this boy. He acts all so arrogant, that he is all high and mighty,
but really, he isn't. If that is the intention of the makers of this anime, well then they did that perfectly. He is so rude to Arc and his crew,
throwing tantrums all of the time and also doing idiotic things. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the character of Elk (well, some of the time
anyway), and at the start he was actually ok. But as the series goes on, his raw emotions and real personality come out, one of a boy that
has not matured at all.

With the Merryl incident, when he does go back to the white house to 'save' her, he sees the unexpected. Merryl has been experimented
on so much that she has become something inhuman (all explained in her character file). And when he does see her, Elk just brings up his
lunch (what a lovely scene that was O.o). And after they talk (if it is called that), Elk starts to actually accept her fate, and it is then he decides
to save her. And guess how he does this? While he holds her in his arms, he places his hands on her smiling face. Then, his hands slowly
slide down to her neck, and...he strangles her. That surprised me! The way that Elk was portrayed never brought the idea that he would
kill his childhood friend. It was a shock, and made me cringe. Very unexpected. Sorry if that was a big spoiler, but I did warn you all.

Anyway, Elk has been a character who I just grew to be annoyed at. He is not your typical hero, not by far. Well, he can fight and throw
fire, but his personality is very different from your normal bish character. He has a sharp tongue, ungrateful most of the time, too hot headed
and vengeful, and throws too many tantrums when he and Arc team up. Also, he is so bloody stubborn. But these are my thoughts on the
boy. I am sure that other people out there like him, and you can make up your own mind. I just don't, but for some reason, I still want to
watch the anime, despite this arrogant boy.

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