Duo Maxwell

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Duo Maxwell (derived from Latin 2, duo) is a fictional character from the anime and manga series Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. He is a central character of the anime, and he is the pilot of Deathscythe, one of the five Gundams.

Contents

[edit] Biographical Information

[edit] Person and Personality

Of American origin, Duo is the pilot of the XXXG-01D Gundam Deathscythe, and XXXG-01D2 Gundam Deathscythe Hell. He wears his hair in the form of a thick waist-length braid, and his signature outfit is dark pants and a priest's black shirt, with a white turtleneck shirt underneath that looks like it is a clerical collar but goes above the shirt unlike a priest's collar (perhaps a tribute to Father Maxwell) with its sleeves rolled up over the black shirt. He is an expert salvager and a member of the Sweeper Group, a group of salvagers and tinkers.

Duo refers to himself as the Shinigami (God of Death). There are various theories as to why he gives himself this morbid nickname; perhaps it is an elaborate role-play meant to emotionally distance himself from the killing he does by adopting an alter-ego while in battle. It is also possible that he has the name because he believes that those who get close to him are doomed to die, or it could be that he simply likes the name and knows he is a talented pilot.

On the exterior, Duo seems like a happy, charming, relaxed, and laid-back jokester, and for the most part he is, but he is also a deep person with a terrible childhood and a lot of dark feelings that he doesn't allow the other pilots to see. He always tries to be the prankster of the group and never misses a chance to crack a joke. Duo tries to hide behind his laughter from the bad parts of the world he lives in, especially from the killing he does as a Gundam pilot. When he battles he goes a little crazy: a grin just a little too wide for comfort appears, along with really hollow, psychotic laughter.

Motto: I may run and hide, but I'll never tell a lie. (page 28-Episode Zero)

[edit] History

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Gundam Wing: Episode Zero

This manga story shows Duo as a child growing up in the impoverished L2 colony cluster, knowing nothing about his family or real name. In the year After Colony 187, he was a part of a street gang of orphans, which had to steal to survive. He adopted the name "Duo" after the gang-leader, Solo, died of a fever. Before he died, Solo said to Duo that he would always be with him, so Duo said, "If Solo's with me, we'll be Duo."

Later on, he and the rest of the gang were taken in by Maxwell church. The other children were eventually adopted, but no couple would keep Duo for long because he was such a troublemaker. He was adopted by the priest and head nun, Father Maxwell and Sister Helen.

Originally, he did not wear his long hair in a braid. When Sister Helen tried to cut his hair, Duo refused because he liked it that way. Father Maxwell allowed for Duo to have his way and so Sister Helen put it in a braid instead. Since then Duo chose to wear his hair like that. Episode Zero also features a partial explanation of Duo's nickname. Speaking with Sister Helen and Father Maxwell on religion, Duo asserts that he doesn't believe in God, just the God of Death, since he'd never seen any miracles but had seen lots of dead people.

Unfortunately, in AC 188, rebel troops came to the church demanding a mobile suit, so Duo stole one to help get them out of the church. However, when he came back, the church was on fire. Earth Alliance troops tracked the rebels to the church and mercilessly burned it down. Father Maxwell was dead; he preached peace until the very end. Sister Helen died in Duo's arms. That's when he took on the last name Maxwell. This incident was known as the Maxwell Church Tragedy.

In AC 192, Duo stowed away on a ship that was owned by Professor G and the Sweeper Group. He was discovered, but managed to amaze Professor G on how he was able to crack his "perfect" security system. After introducing himself as "Duo Maxwell, who would run and hide but never tell a lie", Professor G makes a sardonic comment on whether he was Maxwell's demon. The reply was the first documented instance in which Duo claims that he's not just any demon, but that he himself is the God of Death. Eventually, Duo is taken in as a member of the Sweeper group and as the designated pilot of the Deathscythe. Just before Operation Meteor, Duo was given the Gundam Deathscythe by Professor G when Duo uncovered the true plans of Operation Meteor. It turned out Professor G let him take it because he also objected to the true Operation Meteor. Just before he left, Duo admitted that if he was the God of Death then Professor G would be Pestilence.

[edit] Gundam Wing (TV Series)

After landing on Earth, Duo attacked a mobile suit factory and then attacked an Earth Alliance naval fleet when they were attempting to salvage the XXXG-01W Wing Gundam. Duo met Heero Yuy when he witnessed Heero attempting to kill Relena because she knew too much about him. However, Duo misinterpreted them, thinking that Heero was trying to kill an innocent bystander. After Heero launched the missiles to destroy the Wing Gundam, Duo saw both Wing Gundam and Deathscythe (which Duo had been using to salvage what he thought to be an abandoned Gundam) sink beneath the sea, and realized that Heero was not an enemy but another Gundam pilot. After helping Heero escape from an Alliance hospital, Duo then salvaged both of their Gundams and took them back to his base. Heero later left but stripped parts from the Deathscythe to repair his Gundam. However, Howard was able to repair the Deathscythe. Ironically, Duo had intended to keep the Wing around as either spare parts or a spare suit himself, so Heero essentially beat him to the punch.

During the attack against the Alliance at the New Edwards Base (public information spread by Treize said that only the top OZ officials would be attending), Duo worked alongside Heero again and he met Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner and Chang Wufei for the first time. Afterwards Duo assisted Heero and Quatre in keeping OZ soldiers from detonating the entire base along with them. Duo chose to team up with Heero for awhile, until their mission in Siberia.

After the Gundams were forced to withdraw due to Lady Une's dirty trick of threatening to launch a missile attack on the colonies, Duo went with Quatre and the Maganac Corps back to the Maganac's base in the desert. However, Duo and Quatre were forced to leave when OZ discovered the location of the base shortly thereafter.

For the next few months Duo was laying low with Quatre until they decided to head back into space, despite many colony leaders denouncing that the Gundams are not their allies. Duo, along with Chang Wufei, is successful in blasting up into space thanks to Quatre's distraction of self-detonating his XXXG-01SR Gundam Sandrock. Shortly after making it into space, his capsule was found by OZ, who then used their new mobile suit troops Taurus to capture the Deathscythe. Despite a valiant effort, his Gundam had not been properly modified for space combat, and Duo was defeated and was captured by OZ. After Heero realizes that Duo was captured, he infiltrated the OZ base in order to kill Duo, but ends up helping him escape, during which Duo mysteriously says to him, "I always knew you would be the one to kill me." After spending some time healing from his injuries, Duo met Hilde Schbeiker, a colony citizen and volunteer soldier of OZ. Despite their common interests yet different philosophies, Duo was able to convince Hilde to aid him in reaching the Lunar base, where he was supposed to go in order to destroy the mobile doll factory. When Duo got there, he found out that the Gundam Scientists were secretly rebuilding and upgrading both his and Wufei's Gundams, so he allowed the scientists to 'capture' him to prevent OZ from finding out. Duo was then happy to tell the news to Heero and Wufei who were also imprisoned, during which he uttered his (possibly) most famous line: "Just you watch. I will become the God of Death once again... but right now, I need some sleep." During Chief Engineer Tuberov's rebellion against Lady Une, the air supply to his and Wufei's cell was cut off but the two were saved by Lady Une, who was immediately shot afterwards by Tuberov himself.

During the ensuing chaos on the Lunar Base, Duo escaped with his new Deathscythe Hell and, for the next few months, was living with Hilde and acquiring the parts needed to finish the almost completed Deathscythe Hell by starting a small scavenging business. However, Duo was captured and forced to test the Wing Zero by Lieutenant Trant Clark, an OZ officer who was obsessed with the Zero System's capabilities and had escaped with the captured Wing Zero in order to keep it from Tuberov and test its capabilities to its fullest. After defeating Trant in the Deathscythe Hell and escaping, Duo found out that Trowa, who was thought to be dead, was alive after visiting the circus with Hilde.

Thanks to Hilde, Duo was able to find out shortly afterwards that Quatre had succeeded in returning to space. After exchanging information, Duo was able to tell Quatre that Trowa was alive. The White Fang, a revolutionary group formed by radical colonists, tracked down Duo at his residence and offered him to join their cause; Duo turned them down because their methods are no different from OZ and then chose to leave, leaving Hilde to tend to their salvage shop. After aiding Quatre, Trowa, and Lucrezia Noin escape from OZ troops mistaking them as White Fang members, they were invited to Peacemillion to use as a supply base, which was being commanded by none other than Professor G's old friend and Duo's chief mechanic Howard.

Together with the other four Gundam Pilots Duo fought against the White Fang troops and saved Hilde when she was under attack from the OZ-13MSX1 Vayeate and OZ-13MSX2 Mercurius, after she infiltrated Libra to download its specs and planned to take the information to Peacemillion. Despite the fact that the Mercurius and Vayeate's Mobile Doll system were using the data gleaned from Heero & Trowa, and could therefore fight as well as they could, the Deathscythe Hell prevailed. After returning to Peacemillion, Hilde then told Duo that Relena Peacecraft was on Libra, information which he immediately passed on to Heero.

In the final battle after penetrating into Libra, Duo was able to find the Gundam Scientists who, ironically, were responsible for constructing Libra and as well as the redeveloped Vayeate and Mercurius. Working together Duo grudgingly took them to Peacemillion, which had crashed into Libra to disable its main cannon, in order to get its engines to prevent Milliardo Peacecraft's plan to crash the huge battleship Libra into Earth. After dropping them off, Duo fought alongside the Maganac Corps and Earth Nation soldiers against the White Fang's Virgo II Mobile Dolls, until Trowa and Quatre disabled the Mobile Doll control center. Then he assisted the others in destroying a remaining block of Libra still headed toward earth, but retreated once Heero was ready to use the Wing Zero's Twin Buster Rifle on it.

[edit] Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

After working with Quatre in disposing the Gundams to the sun, Duo went with Heero to rescue Relena after she was captured by the Mariemaia army. Duo was confronted by Trowa who was part of the army and Duo was forced to escape. But it turned out that Trowa was actually infiltrating the Mariemaia army. Together the three of them were able to stop Dekim Barton from dropping a colony onto Earth. When Quatre reports that he has retrieved their Gundams, Heero knocked Duo out to keep him from being hurt and to avoid blowing Trowa's cover.

After escaping from his cell Duo, alongside Trowa and Quatre went to Earth and fought the Mariemaia army without killing them. The three of them were able to fight until their Gundams run out of ammo. Thankfully after Relena's speech and the peoples protest rally, the Mariemaia army surrendered. Afterwards, Duo self-destructed his Deathscythe Hell, alongside Trowa and Quatre's Gundams. Duo then returned to his salvager business, where he works with Hilde.

In Duo's flashback, it is revealed of how he tried to destroy Deathscythe when he found out about the true Operation Meteor. Duo's plan was to blow up the Deathscythe, then kill everyone, including himself so the Deathscythe wouldn't be used in a massacre. However, Duo's plan was foiled by Professor G who disarmed the bombs and convinced Duo to steal it instead.

[edit] Trivia

  • For the edited version of Gundam Wing that was shown on Cartoon Network, Duo's God of Death nickname was changed to The Great Destroyer. However, in the brief time it was shown on the late night (midnight and later) timeslots, it was left as God of Death.
  • Many anime viewers unfamilar with Gundam Wing mistake Duo for a female, mainly due to his long braid[citation needed].
  • Duo is the only Gundam pilot who was never able to handle the image producing capabilities of the ZERO system. No reason seems to have been given, though Duo remarked that anyone who could master the system would 'have to be beyond human'.
  • Duo's seiyu (Toshihiko Seki) would work again with Quatre's seiyu (Ai Orikasa) in the Kami-kaze drama CDs, where they voiced a couple. (Toshihiko as Higa and Ai as Kaede).
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