Rey Za Burrel

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Rey Za Burrel
Rey Za Burrel in Gundam SEED Destiny Special Edition II
Genetic type:	Clone
Age:	17 [GSD]
Nationality:	PLANT [GSD]
Allegiance:	ZAFT [GSD]
Rank:	Red Coat (ZAFT) [GSD] FAITH (ZAFT) [GSD]
Family:	Al Da Flaga (DNA progenitor) Gilbert Durandal (guardian) Mu La Flaga (son, by genetics) Rau Le Creuset (brother, by genetics)
Height:	168 cm [GSD]
Weight:	56 kg [GSD]
Blood type:	O
Hair Color:	Blonde
Eye Color:	Blue
Mobile Suit:	ZGMF-1001 Blaze ZAKU Phantom [GSD] ZGMF-X666S Legend [GSD]

Rey Za Burrel (レイ・ザ・バレル Rei Za Bareru) is a fictional character from the anime series Gundam Seed Destiny, set in the Cosmic Era timeline of the Gundam universe. He's voiced by Toshihiko Seki (Houko Kuwashima when Rey was a child) in the original Japanese version and by Kirby Morrow (Lisa Ann Beley when Rey was a child) in the English dub.

[edit] History

[edit] Personality

Rey Za Burrel is a quiet, cool-headed, and polite soldier who keeps himself out of other people's way. He is one of the elite young mobile suit pilots in ZAFT known as "Redcoats" or simply "Reds" for their uniform (a symbol of graduation at the top of the military cadet class). Aboard the Minerva, Rey is friends with fellow ace pilot Shinn Asuka. Rey is very close to and respectful of Chairman Gilbert Durandal.

[edit] First appearance

Rey is introduced at ZAFT's Armory One where Chairman of PLANT Supreme Council Gilbert Durandal is meeting Orb Union representative Cagalli Yula Athha, who is visiting the facility to discuss ZAFT's arms build-up.

[edit] Battles

While Cagalli meets with Durandal, Earth Alliance pilots Sting Oakley, Auel Neider, and Stellar Loussier infiltrate the base, commandeer ZAFT's newest Gundam-type mobile suits, ZGMF-X24S (RGX-01) Chaos, ZGMF-X31S (RGX-02) Abyss, and ZGMF-X88S (RGX-03) Gaia, and heavily damage the installation. Rey, Shinn Asuka, and Lunamaria Hawke try to stop the three stolen mobile suits from escaping. Rey pilots his ZGMF-1001 ZAKU Phantom, which is painted with his custom white color scheme. When Colonel Neo Roanoke, the commander of the EA's 81st Independent Mobile Battalion (aka the Phantom Pain, LOGOS private military) pilots his mobile armor TS-MA4F Exass in battle to buy Sting, Auel, and Stellar some time to escape, Rey senses when Neo is near.

In the Battle of Crete, his ZGMF-1001 Blaze ZAKU Phantom unit is severely damaged while defending the Minerva from ORB mobile suits. Later when Stellar is held hostage on the Minerva, Rey helps Shinn return her to the Earth Alliance. Both are reprimanded for this.

Afterwards, Rey works with Shinn to develop the tactics Shinn uses in Operation "Angel Down" to destroy the ZGMF-X10A Freedom, which was piloted by Kira Yamato.

Rey helps Gilbert Durandal frame Athrun Zala as a traitor, detects Athrun's attempted escape with Meyrin Hawke, and supports Shinn in destroying the mobile suit which apparently leads to Athrun and Meyrin's deaths.

After the defection of Athrun Zala, he becomes the pilot of the ZGMF-X666S Legend Gundam, which was originally intended for Athrun. This mobile suit is a direct improvement/refinement of his clone "brother" Rau Le Creuset's ZGMF-X13A Providence Gundam. (As an aside, both Gundams' model numbers have unfavorable connotations; 13, Providence's model number, is considered unlucky in many cultures, and 666 is the "number of the Beast.")

In battles with the Earth Alliance forces at Heaven's Base, and also with the Orb forces Rey works with Shinn to form a formidable team. Later at the Daedalus lunar base, Rey destroys the Girty Lue battleship, thus killing Lord Djibril as he was trying to escape.

[edit] Confessing secrets

Rey confides to Shinn that he is a clone, just like his "other self" Rau Le Creuset, who is shown with him when Rey was little. He also suffers from pain that requires medication. This is due to the shortening of telomeres, sections on either end of strands of DNA, in his cells. This shortening is related to many of the effects of aging. Clones are born with the same length of telomeres as their DNA donors, thus, a 20 year old clone could have the telomeres of a 50 year old, and already be experiencing the effects of age. Due to this, Rey knows that he does not have much of a future. However he still passionately supports Chairman Durandal's "Destiny Plan".

[edit] Final battle

In the final battle, Rey is determined to obliterate Kira Yamato, an obstacle to that plan. During their battle, Rey seems hell-bent on Kira's destruction. However, Kira convinces him that, just because he is a clone like Rau, did not mean he has to repeat Rau's mistakes and that his life is his own, not anyone else's. Momentarily stunned by Kira's statement Rey is defeated by Kira. He then returns to the space fortress Messiah, where he finds Kira and Durandal in a standoff. Moved by Kira's desire for a future in which he could exist and seeing how the Destiny Plan that he had supported would take away everyone's right to a future of their own, the one thing he was denied in life; Rey shot Durandal. Due to the damage it sustained at the hands of Kira Yamato's Strike Freedom, the Messiah explodes. Rey chooses to remain onboard and die with Durandal and Talia Gladys, whom he called "mother" at the very last moment.

[edit] Background

It is implied in the series that Rey is one of several clones of the powerful and mysterious Atlantic Federation politician Al Da Flaga ("deceased" ace pilot Mu La Flaga's father). Rey mentions that he is a "precursor" to Kira, of sorts: the profits Hibiki made from producing these clones were used to fund research into his Ultimate Coordinator project, which ultimately produced Kira Yamato.

[edit] Overview

Despite the unfortunate circumstances of his life, Rey's personality is decidedly different from Creuset's. Where Creuset wanted to encourage man's self-destruction, Rey believes that any life, no matter how difficult, is worth living. While many view him, along with Shinn Asuka, as "villains" later in the series, he is motivated by the thought of improving the future of humanity. This drives him to fight for the Destiny Plan initially, and later to ensure Kira's continued presence in the world, even though it meant killing the man who had raised him.

[edit] In games

In SD Gundam G Generation series and Gundam Wars card game, due to a more user friendly setting, he is listed as a Newtype instead of a different ability of spacial awareness. However, this is not the official story settings.

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Rey Za Burrel