Vector (Battle Angel Alita)
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Vector is a fictional character in Battle Angel Alita. He is a Scrapyard businessman who is the top broker in the Scrapyard’s illegal parts, specifically human body parts and organs. Vector is responsible for supplying Tiphares with one person’s worth of body parts and organs on a monthly basis. He also has a reputation for hiring powerful cyborg muscle to back him up.
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[edit] Battle Angel Alita
Vector is first introduced because of his association with Hugo. He has known Hugo for three years, since the day Hugo came across his brother’s left hand being sold by one of his street dealers, and willingly traded it for his. The mention that he has been to Tiphares by Myra, one of his employees, and Hugo’s excitement over this, leads Vector to offer to send Hugo to Tiphares if he can put together 10 million chips. He also buys the illegal human parts such as spinal columns that Hugo steals. Three years after they meet, Vector has managed to procure six intermediate Factory tube supply routes as a result of reorganization by the Factory. He seeks Hugo out and offers him the management of one of these routes, a highly lucrative position, but Hugo turns him down. When he drops Hugo off, Zapan, who has been staking out Alita, realizes that Hugo may be connected to a string of recent spinal column thefts because of his association with Vector. Vector is confronted by Alita and Hugo in his office after they learn about the impossibility of reaching Tiphares from the surface from Ido. Vector reveals that he knowingly lied to Hugo, thinking that he would eventually give up over having to accumulate such a high sum of chips. He underestimated Hugo’s determination however, and thought he could change Hugo’s mind with the offer of the supply route. Vector then unleashes Zaariki, who he has hired as a bodyguard, on Alita and Hugo, but Alita makes short work of him. Vector escapes Alita’s wrath when Hugo goes mad and she chases after him.
Although he used Hugo, Vector has some honor. His repeated offers to Hugo of the management of a supply route despite his young age, killing of one of Hugo’s victims because he heard Hugo’s name, and offer to shelter Hugo after Zapan uncovers him as a spinal column thief are examples.
Years later, Vector’s caravans are being ambushed by the Barjack. Unlike other bandits, they cannot be bought off, and Vector has had to put up with their attacks for five years. As the Barjack close in on Tiphares, he meets with Den at Factory Farm 15 in an attempt to broker a deal to protect his interests. Den however, orders Vector and his guards to be killed. Vector narrowly escapes death when Koyomi intervenes and suggests that he be sent back to the Scrapyard to warn its residents so that they have time to evacuate. The Factory pressures Vector into keeping silent, however. It is implied that the injuries he sustained were serious enough to confine him to a wheelchair. At the end of Battle Angel Alita, Vector and Kaos together bring peace to the world in the wake of the turmoil that ensues when Tiphares almost collapses and the factories shut down.
[edit] Battle Angel Alita: Last Order
In Last Order, Vector is the person who wields the most power in the Scrapyard. Kaos approaches him with a plan to build the Tower of Tiphares, but Vector violently turns him down, and has his thugs beat up Kaos. More of his background is also revealed. Now 49, Vector arrived in the Scrapyard 40 years ago, coming from a poor village on the outskirts of the city. He survived and built up his empire, thanks to an ability to instantly judge whether anyone was lying to him by seeing it in their eyes. Kaos’ complete sincerity does not move him, and he tests Kaos’ resolve by having a metal cuff placed on him that connects his left arm at the wrist to his throat, rendering it useless. Retaining the key, Vector proposes to Kaos that he return in a year and see if he can still talk about his dream to build the Tower of Tiphares. Vector’s influence is so strong that when Kaos is hit by a taxi, the quack cyberphysicians who are planning to perform street surgery on him back off and leave him alone because Vector’s mark is on the cuff.
Despite his treatment of Kaos, Vector is a man of his word. In repayment for Koyomi having saved his life from the Barjack, he prevents her from being sold to pay for her father’s street surgery when he broke his legs by catching her after Den dropped her, allowing them to board in an antiques store that he owns. A year to the day after he met with Kaos, he keeps his schedule open for their meeting. Kaos’ transformation after receiving Alita’s paper airplane, resulting in his defeat of Pizmo and justification of his goal in order to atone for his sins impresses Vector, and he agrees to invest in the Tower of Tiphares.
[edit] Battle Angel OVA
In the Battle Angel OVA, Vector has a stake in the Coliseum gladiators in addition to his black market dealings in human parts and organs. As part of his deal with Chiren to send her to Zalem (Tiphares), he has her upgrade his gladiators so that they win more fights. It is also implied that Vector has more control over the exports to Zalem. He asks Yugo (Hugo) to join him, but Yugo turns him down. Vector comes up with the idea of having Alita fight for him as a gladiator after Zahriki (Zaariki) loses a match, planning to use Yugo as leverage. He assigns Chiren the task of recruiting her.
After Chiren returns empty-handed from her errand to get Alita to fight for Vector, he has her killed and harvests her organs to fill his monthly quota from Zalem. Ido, enraged at Vector’s manipulation of Hugo, confronts Vector in his office, where he discovers Chiren’s organs. Vector has Zahriki (Zaariki) attack Ido, but he manages to slice Zahriki in two with his rocket hammer. One of Zahriki’s arms flies off and impales Vector, killing him.
[edit] References
- Kishiro, Yukito (1994). Battle Angel Alita: Tears of an Angel, 1st ed., San Francisco: Viz Communications. ISBN 1-56931-049-1.
- Kishiro, Yukito (November 1997). Battle Angel Alita: Fallen Angel, 1st ed., San Francisco: Viz Communications. ISBN 1-56931-243-5.
- Kishiro, Yukito (June 2001). Battle Angel Alita: Angel’s Ascension, 4th ed., San Francisco: Viz Communications. ISBN 1-56931-293-1.
- Kishiro, Yukito (October 2003). Battle Angel Alita Last Order: Angel of the Innocents, 1st ed., San Francisco: Viz Media, LLC. ISBN 1-56931-976-6.
| Battle Angel Alita | |
|---|---|
| Manga: | Battle Angel Alita | Battle Angel Alita: Last Order | GUNNM: Gaiden | Ashen Victor |
| Anime: | Battle Angel OVA |
| Characters: | Alita | Koyomi K. | Vector | Zapan |
| Character groups: | Animals | Barjack | Criminals | GUNNM: Gaiden characters | Hunter-Warriors | Motorball-affiliated | Scrapyard residents | Tiphareans | TUNED AR Series | Type-V mutants | Other characters |
| Other: | Barjack | Hunter-warrior | Motorball | Panzer Kunst | Type-V mutant |
