Sylphiel's HomepageSylphiel is a character in the Japanese Anime style animated series called 'Slayers'. If you don't know what Anime is, you're likely in the wrong place. Sylphiel is a shrine maiden (a form of cleric) and has some skill as a sorceress, although that is a side line. She is the kind, warm hearted character of the series, in stark contrast to most of the others who range from obsessive to psychotic. As a result she tends to get slammed by fans because she isn't as histarically absurd as most of the other characters but instead pays the 'straight woman' role.
Well, I like Sylphiel's character and get tired of Sylphiel bashing on other Slayers site. What comes to mind first when you think of each of the Slayers characters? Lina: greed, Goury: dumb, Zelgadis: selfish, Amelia: obsessive, Xellos: keniving, Sylphiel: kind. Surprise, Sylphiel is the only one you think first of a good quality. All the slayers characters (except maybe Xellos) are there for one another when push comes to shove, but Sylphiel is the only one with the outgoing uncorrupted kindness. Were else do you see that in the Slayers universe? She is naive, yes, but what better way is there to be naive than in kindness to others.
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Let it never be said Sylphiel is not an accomplished magic user, but as a 'sorceress' per se' she falls short. Her great strength, greater than any other significant character in Slayers, is White magic. White magic calls on Cephied and other gods and is generally used for healing and defense, in contrast to Black Magic which calls upon the power of Mazoku (aka monsters) for attack and Shamanistic Magic that controls the elements of nature and spirit forces for attack, defense and other reasons.
Sylphiel's skills in Shamanistic magic are highly inconsistent. She has shown the ability to cast a highly effective flare arrow despite the fact that most of her Shamanistic spells go awry. Usually underpowered but sometimes overpowered, they rarely do what she intends of them. True to her gentle nature, her underpowered spells always involve the attack of another being (even if hostile). Her overpowered spells, as seen in the first series, involve destroying inanimate objects, specifically blasting holes in walls to pass through. Her Shamanistic trouble likely lends itself to a lack of experience and training. It is unlikely she practices much fire magic during her daily routine as a shrine maiden. Her most successful Flare Arrow that we see was cast after some on-the-fly coaching from Lina Inverse, an expert in fire magic. Also, surely her nature tends to limit her willingness to put a lot of energy into any attack against a being.
Her skills in Black Magic are clearly evident but nearly completely unrealized. During the first and most of the second series she makes no attempt to cast any Black Magic spells and it is assumed that she, an upstanding shrine maiden, wouldn't know any in any event. However, at the end of the second series we learn that she has taught herself the most powerful Black Magic spell in general knowledge, the Dragon Slave, simply from observing Lina cast it. It is therefore reasonable to assume she could cast any other Black Magic spell if she really had the inclination to learn to do so. Her motivation for learning the Dragon Slave was essentially to impress Gourry. With the events at the close of the second season, it is unlikely that will be a motivating factor in the future.
Sylphiel's Achilles heel, if you will, is her infatuation for Gourry Gabriev the dim-whited but noble hearted swordsman of the series. This goes back to a visit by Gourry to Sylphiel's home town of Sairrag many years before the first series. In events that have not been fully explained Gourry apparently by accident killed off a demon that had been threatening the city. This greatly impressed the young and idealistic Sylphiel who, over the intervening years, developed a bit of a hero worship complex for Gourry. The fact that Gourry was the direct descendent of and wielded the same Sword of Light as the 'Swordsman of Light' did much to that end as well. The Swordsman of Light, Roudy Gabriev, had slain the monster Zanafar after it's destruction of what later was known as Old Sairrag. The current Sairrag, built adjacent to the ruins of the old city, was based around the monstrous and magical holy tree Flagoon, which was planted by Roudy Gabriev to absorb the evil energies emanating from the slain Zanafar.
Relatively little is known about Sylphiel's life. From flashbacks we know that as a little girl she and her father appeared to be alone so it is reasonable to conclude her mother died when she was young. Since both she and her father were clerics it is likely her mother was as well, likely the Shrine Priestess of Sairrag.
Her father, Eruk, was a noble in Sairrag and apparently the spiritual leader of the town. A stout man with red hair and beard, he was a loving father and had a dignified yet friendly mannerism.
From her dress in flashbacks, it is likely Sylphiel formally became a shrine maiden in her early teens. We also know that in one of her more 'frisky' moments as a child she stole the sacred relic the Blessed Blade from its rightful place in the Sairrag Temple. In fear of being caught she hid it deep within the thousands of trucks that made up Flagoon. This turned out to be a boon later during the battle with Zanafar.
She may be no bilious Naga, but she's got the look. Not that cute chibi/Amelia look either. How many Slayers characters would kill for that hourglass figure, and she always seems to have a sincere smile to accompany it. We won't mention bust size to Lina, will we?
Here's a few of Sylphiel's accomplishments during the relatively few epsodes she has been in:
- Learning the Dragon Slave.
- Assist in the Defeat of Zanafar/Rezo.
- Sufficient knowledge of the Giga Slave to warn off Lina from using it.
- Double Dragons Savae attempt on Phibrizzo (nearly successful).
Sylphiel takes a lot of heat for her performance (or lack of same) during the multi-episode battle. Small wonder! Try to put your self in her place. All the other characters, Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis, Phil, Rezo and Eris are all used to travel, adventure and life on the fly. Sylphiel on the other hand, is a home town girl. She is minding her own business, tending to the spiritual welfare of her people and in general being the kind hearted soul she is. Then Rezo and his gang and Lina and her gang show up only to demolish three-quarters of her home town, kill her father and most everyone she knew growing up and attempt to obliterate the holy tree on which her spirituality is based in the ensuing crossfire. Now really, if this happened to you, would you be in a state to do much of anything? In all likelihood she was scared out of her whits, unused to even limited combat let alone something like that.
Despite that, who is it who figures out how to defeat Koppi and Zanafar? Lina had the plan, but Sylphiel provided the means. She understood what was really going on while the others were busily failing in a variety of unplanned attacks. Despite her losses not even a day before, she was able to march into battle and work with the team like clockwork, providing the defence critical to the plan.
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Sylphiel appeared in both of the first two Slayers series, Slayers and Slayers Next. Although she did not appear in the third series, Slayers Try, she was referred to in the dialog and appeared in the commercial break flashes. Clearly she has not been abandoned as a character, but one has to wonder what she's been up to during Try. We'll all have wait together to see if she makes an appearance in the next Slayers series, when and if it comes out.
Note: the AltaVista Babelfish translator which is used for the English translations below translates Sylphiel as 'sill feeling' and Goury is 'moth gourd i'. It can't translate Lina, Xellos or Valgarv at all.
This is a very depressing story devoid of the humor that has come to be associated with The Slayers, and is necessarilyso to tell the story at hand. The few bright points in the storyline only turn around later to dash the reader's moral later when placed in the increasingly greater context as the story evolves. It is not for those proned to 'nightmares'.
Characterizations: Sylphiel lovers may find themselves aghast at the portayal of her here. They must bear in mind the story essentially represents a different timeline following the initial Slayers series and reflects a Sylphiel that was forced down a much darker path than most of her fans would have picked for her. Even in that context the extremity of her characterization seems excessive, though it lends itself to enhancing the final culmination of the character. This is a must-read for Sylphiel fans who can bear extreme conjectures as the her possible future. Lina an Natallia are built into fully beleivable cahracters in the context, but Zelgadis and Zangulus seem quite flat by comparasin and overly simplistic.
1: Sylphiel Nels Rada
2: Filia ul Copt
3: Zelgadiss Graywords
4: Xelloss
5: Zangulus
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This page was last updated May 6, 2002 by
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