Plot summary of Madlax
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Madlax (マドラックス madorakkusu?) is a Japanese animated series created by studio Bee Train in 2004 as a spiritual successor to Noir.
[edit] Summary
The series starts off with a description of everyday life in the war-torn Gazth-Sonika. In the first episodes, Madlax, working alternately as an assassin and a bodyguard, helps various people to either survive in the harsh environment, or leave it for good. Thus, for example, she drags Pete, a Galza freedom fighter, who carries important data, out of a Royalist blockade; she shakes off Chris Krana's pursuers, so that he can meet his father, Galza's general Min Durk; she repeatedly saves the life of Eric Gillain, a bibliodetective (a person whose task is to search for rare books) from Nafrece. At one point, Madlax assassinates the Royalist Commander-in-Chief at his own request, in the hope that it would draw attention to the senselessness of the civil war he fought for years. The first episodes, thus, clearly demonstrate Madlax's initial attitude towards the current situation: she doesn't like it, but doesn't attempt to change anything.
Simultaneously, the everyday life of Margaret Burton is described, a Nafrecian girl who becomes the center of many odd occurrences from the day Vanessa Rene's present awakens her memory about a "picture book given to her by her father". This book - or rather, this Book, - is the ultimate goal of Enfant, a powerful criminal organization controlling all information channels in the world. Operatives of Enfant, for example, drive Margaret's classmate Anne Moré insane, making her first kill her own father, a prominent civil servant who defied their orders by sending Chris Krana to Gazth-Sonika, and then commit suicide. They are responsible for the destruction of detective Maclay Marini's personality, who attempted to prove their involvement in the Moré case, and they hunt down Eric Gillain, when he tries to locate another copy of Margaret's Book. With her involvement in Krana and Gillain's cases, Madlax eventually draws the attention of Enfant's mastermind, Friday Monday, to herself. At the same time, Monday's right hand man, Carrossea Doon, finds that the true owner of Secondari is Margaret, but for a time keeps the discovery to himself.
The situation starts to evolve rapidly when Vanessa Rene, with some luck and a lot of help by an acquainted hacker (Badgis), comes across financial data that unequivocally proves that Enfant is the cause of the continuing war in Gazth-Sonika. Eventually, she must travel there herself and Madlax is assigned as her bodyguard. During the time Vanessa needs to decrypt the data, Madlax fends off multiple attacks and traps set up by Enfant's agents, such as Limelda Jorg, who was formerly in charge of Commander McNichol's safety, and at the same time, under Vanessa's influence, she becomes increasingly enthusiastic about putting an end to the war. But all their efforts turn to be in vain, when both women are captured by Enfant while attempting to publish the data. They are brought before Friday Monday, who believes that Madlax, having withstood his traps, is the one who possesses Secondari, but upon realizing his error, he orders both of them killed. Although Vanessa and Madlax manage to escape, they soon discover that they have been framed for murder of several members of Gazth-Sonikan royal family and forced to go into hiding.
Margaret learns of this from the news and decides to travel to Gazth-Sonika and "help" Vanessa. She is accompanied by her devoted maidservant Elenore Baker and Carrossea Doon, who wants to keep an eye on her Book but also feels an unexpected attraction towards Margaret. Upon their arrival, Elenore and Margaret part ways with Carrossea and begin searching on their own. Eventually, they meet Madlax, who in turn, brings them to Vanessa, and together the four of them make the decision to travel deeper into the Gazth-Sonikan combat zone to find Quanzitta Marison, the only one they know who may tell them more about Margaret's Book and the true reasons of the war.
At this point, multiple mystical concepts (see Terminology) are introduced and the story becomes indreasingly surreal, after Lady Quanzitta tells them about the real purpose of the three Holy Books (Monday's Firstari, Margaret's Secondari, and her own Thirstari) and offers to reveal Margaret's past if she finds the first Book. Madlax receives this right without any conditions, but her memories are still incomplete: it was she who killed Margaret's father twelve years ago, but the reasons and consequences are still unclear to her. Meanwhile, Carrossea storms Enfant headquarters in Gazth-Sonika, claims Monday's Firstari and brings it to Margaret. In return, he asks her to guide him to the Sanctuary and unveil his past, as well. Unfortunately for him, it is revealed that he was, in fact, dead since almost twelve years and only his will to protect Margaret, whom he loved once, allowed him to be resurrected. Upon recovering his memories, Carrossea dies forever.
Afraid of what her own past may contain, Margaret refuses to complete the ritual and loses consciousness, which Friday Monday exploits by taking her and all three Books to his residence and putting her fully under his mind control. In the meantime, Madlax has to fight off desperate attacks by semi-insane Limelda, who has sworn to kill her. In one of their skirmishes, Vanessa is killed while attempting to protect Madlax, sending her into a clinical depression, as the two of them shared a very close bond. Madlax's will to live, however, is restored by Nakhl and Elenore who help her remember the promise to take care of Margaret, which she gave to Vanessa shortly before her death. While storming Friday's HQ, Madlax and Elenore become separated and the latter, though fatally wounded, reaches Margaret first. Unfortunately, Margaret mind is still under Friday Monday's control, so at first, she doesn't recognize her and when she does, Elenore dies of blood loss.
As soon as Madlax reaches the residence, Margaret accuses her of killing her father, her tutor, and her devoted maidservant and shoots her, when Madlax doesn't resist at all. Monday decides that it is time to start the ritual that he attempted in 1999 once again and, finally, plunge the world into its "natural state", that is, a global total war. During the ritual, Margaret's memories finally return and reveal that she herself killed her own father, who lost his senses when Friday Monday used the Words of Awakening on him, and to escape her guilt, Margaret had to split herself into three personae: the "memory keeper" Laetitia, the sinful Madlax, and the one who has only retained the Gift and the original name and appearance (Margaret herself).
The series concludes with Friday Monday's death by Madlax's hand and a temporary fusion of all three personae in order to open the Door of Truth for the final time and stop the global war that Monday started. Upon accomplishing that, Margaret once again splits herself in three, judging that after twelve years, she no longer has the right to make decisions for her other personae. In the final scenes, Margaret and Laetitia (who is now known as her sister) meet the dawn in Nafrece, while Limelda, having made peace with Madlax, drives her away from the combat zone.
