Love & Peace: Vash the Stampede as a Christ Figure

The $$60,000,000,000 man may be more than he appears. In fact, I believe so strongly in this similarity between Vash and Jesus, I’ve made a new bumper sticker: “What Would Vash Do?”

This image edited by WindChaser. Take it if you will... but give credit!

Lemme lay it all out to you the way I see it:

The planet of Gunsmoke, the world of Trigun, is a desert planet and similar in terrain (from what I’ve seen from National Geographic) to the Judea-Israel area. Enter our valiant hero.

The Humanoid Typhoon, the $$60,000,000,000 man, the first person to be declared a localized natural disaster: Vash the Stampede wanders this desert world, pressed onward by his tragic past, his need to help people, and the bounty on his head. Everyone fears this legendary gunman, and most want to see him dead. Yet Vash is an honestly good and decent person, who hates more than anything to see other people suffer and/or die, especially if their deaths/suffering can be traced back in any way to him. No matter what the situation, he works his way out of every jam and sticky, lethal situation without ever killing a single person, even at some significant cost to himself.

Vash’s most obvious philosophy of life is “love and peace”, and he considers himself a hunter of the elusive “mayfly of love”. He also adds that he does attempt to imbue his ideal in the children he loves to play with. All else being equal, Vash would rather spend his days playing with townchildren (and skirt-chasing) and eating doughnuts under the sunny sky than gunslinging, thinking about his brother, or pretty much anything else. He revels in children’s games, spending time with them, and especially helping them out of a bad situation.

Vash not only likes kids, but also displays a childlike wonder, innocence, and naivety of his own even after a hundred and twenty-some-odd years of existence. He never loses faith in humanity even after he has seen the terrible things people do to one another. He still believes in redemption. He is still willing to give his own life up for other people, and he mourns each and every single death he stands witness to.

The people who come in contact with him are changed by the experience. They have the preconceived notions of Vash the outlaw, and so hate and fear him. Still, after Vash has done his work and saved the day, the people who wanted him dead are willing to stick by him or at least accept him as a noble creature who values life. Meryl comments in episode 13 (“Vash the Stampede”) that he has brought forth emotions, ideas, and dreams in people who had thought that their hearts were broken, their dreams dashed. He stretches forth his hand to those that are crippled, and somehow, he heals them.

In the end, the man in the geranium-colored coat walks off to confront Knives in an oasis. Ignoring both the entire Cain-Abel symbolism, and the oasis as both Eden and “paradise” of Wolfwood’s dying desire (these things will be dicussed in another essay), this scene is the “end” of Vash’s life. He even has an actual cross to bear upon his back—Wolfwood’s—that is full of the mercy of death and which he must carry across the desert, not to mention the nonmaterial burden of Wolfwood’s death, Legato’s “suicide”, and the idea that all of the population of this planet was counting on him if they wanted to continue to exist. He is their salvation.

Still confused on the comparision? Here are the obvious points:

1. Vash’s “love and peace” mentality and utter devotion to pacifism = Jesus walking through the desert telling people to be nice to one another for a change. Biblical Verses of Interest, the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”

2. Plus the fact that he cries and sorrows over people’s deaths = Beatitudes again, “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

3. And again, that he was a wanted man = Jesus was so popular, they crucified him. Moral lesson: don’t be nice to people, and don’t encourage others to be nice. You’ll die in a painful manner. I think this stands as acceptable without me listing verses of them killing J.C., but again the Beatitudes give a nod at Vash: “Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men… revile you and persecute you…” Didn’t it ever occur to Wolfwood to quote some of this stuff for Vash? It might have made him feel a little better…

4. Vash’s love children and need to teach them = Sounds a lot like “Suffer the little children”, ne? Matthew 18:3

5. He changes people, and it is suggested that more than change, he heals them = Jesus lays his hands on the blind and crippled, and they can see and walk. The beginning of Matthew chapter 8 has a few examples.

6. My last point of him being the salvation of the planet Gunsmoke. Though many of the people on it might have wanted Vash dead, he went forth to “take care of Knives”—if he didn’t Knives would continue eliminating humans from the world. = Jesus as a sacrifice to ‘save’ people. Both go willingly to save their people, and both have a cross on their backs that they carry.