Spoilerama

What is Dilandau's secret? No, I don't mean 'how does he get his mouth open so wide, unless he can dislocate his jaw like a boa constrictor?' - I mean what's in his dark and foggy past?

The mystery behind Dilandau is gradually revealed over the course of the series. After the first few episodes viewers must be thinking 'What made him into such a psychobunny?' The first, partial revelations come when Van, overcome with rage, slaughters the Dragonslayers before collapsing and - well, some pretty interesting things happen to him after that, but this isn't a Van shrine. You can tell because it's called <<prettyboy from hell>> and not ::white dragon:: or something... Only Dilandau escapes, and while saying a private goodbye to his fallen soldiers (dropping a red rose from a catwalk on Zaibach's flying fortress), he is overcome by nausea and faints. It's not just the altitude - it's soon revealed that Dilandau has been the subject of destiny experiments performed by Zaibach's sinister, black-cloaked sorcerors - and what they did to him is starting to break down, causing terrible physical and psychological trauma. Strapped to a slab, screaming and convulsing, he is taken away to be, er, adjusted...

Even viewers who've been thinking he's a complete bastard must be at least a little unnerved by this turn of events. Those of us who, like me, think he's pretty nifty, are squirming in our seats whimpering 'Poor Dilandau-sama!'

What's behind it all? The experiment the sorcerors performed was to see if they could alter a person's fate entirely, to the extent of altering the very person. And the person they chose to alter was Allen Schezar's innocent little sister Celena, spirited away from her family ten years before. Allen has never forgotten Celena, and continues to hope he'll someday find her. (Hands up everyone who now wants to refer to Allen as 'Spooky' Schezar. Now hands up everyone else who recognised the gender-swap as a rip from L. Frank Baum's The Marvellous Land of Oz. It's still an übercool plot twist!)

Celena might never have been restored to her true self, and Allen would never have found his only living relative, if it weren't for Jajuka. In Zaibach, beast-people seem to be second-class citizens, bought and sold as slaves. A powerful but gentle cross between a man and a golden-furred Afghan hound, Jajuka was assigned to take care of Celena in her earliest captivity, and was genuinely kind to her, but they were separated when she was taken away for, uh, destiny reassignment. When Dilandau was restored after his illness, Jajuka became the only soldier under his command, his only companion and supporter as he deteriorated further into madness, overcome by panic on the battlefield and even reverting temporarily to Celena.

When Lord Dornkirk unleashes his Zone of Absolute Fortune on Gaea, and all factions are embroiled in a final battle, it is Jajuka's encouragement, as he gives up his life for his charge, that enables Dilandau to fully become Celena once more. Zaibach has lost its most magnificent psychopath, and Celena has lost her truest friend, but she and her brother are together again. *sniffle*

You can see pictures of Celena and Jajuka in the Spoilers section of the Gallery.

I would like to brag, just once, that I figured out Dilandau was Celena in episode three, when Allen first told the story of her to Hitomi. It just came to me in a flash of intuition - I didn't even have to read the cards or swing a pendant *^.^* If I didn't like spoilers, I'd be my own worst enemy.

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