Reinforce (Nanoha)

Reinforce
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's character
First appearance A's Episode 9 (Reinforce)
A's Episode 13 (Reinforce II)
Voiced by Sanae Kobayashi
Yukana (Reinforce II)

Reinforce (リインフォース Riinfōsu?) is a key character in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, who reveals herself near the end. She does not appear in either Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha or the alternate universe shown in the Triangle Heart series. She is voiced by Sanae Kobayashi. The former Book of Darkness and creator of the Wolkenritter (Signum, Vita, Shamal and Zafira), Reinforce was reformed by Hayate Yagami and became her partner.

Reinforce is a Lost Logia and an intelligent creation of Belkan mages whose names have been lost to time. In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, she is reformatted into the much smaller Reinforce II.

Contents

The Book of Darkness

The Book of Darkness (闇の書, Yami no sho), or Buch der Dunkelheit, is a Lost Logia that has been around for centuries. As a Belkan device, it speaks German. The Wolkenritter, Vita, Signum, Shamal and Zafira, seek to complete its 666 pages to save their mistress. Nanoha and Fate oppose their methods and fight against them.

Once every few decades, the Book kills its master, and wipes the minds of the Wolkenritter of what it has done. It was originally benevolent and was called the Tome of the Night Sky, (夜空の巻, yaten no madosho), but was corrupted by its own automatic defence program. In the 5-episode climax, the Book is completed by two "masked men" with the Wolkenritter's own Linker Cores and fused with its mistress, becoming a frightening, vengeful yet sorrowful woman who exists only to wreak destruction on the world and then kill Hayate. The Book almost destroys Uminari City, absorbs Fate into "a dream from which she will never want to wake," and corners Nanoha until Hayate finally takes control of her body again.

Reinforce in A's

Hayate, inside a void in the Book's separate dimension, opens her eyes, but the Book tells her to go back to sleep and escape the tragic reality. She refuses, and absorbs the knowledge of the Book of Darkness, learning of everything that has been going on behind her back, the innocence of Nanoha and Fate and the sadness of the Wolkenritter. Just as the Book has Nanoha cornered, Hayate takes control of her body again so that Nanoha can disable it and Hayate gives the Book a new name, "Reinforce".

Hayate reprograms the entire Book, but something still remains inside that wants to continue its former programming. She identifies it as a corrupted automated defense program and says that it caused the evil aspect of the Book. Reinforce frees Hayate and becomes her partner. Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, Reinforce, Chrono, Arf and Yūno meet up inside the Book's pocket dimension, along with Signum, Shamal, Vita and Zafira, whom Hayate restores to life. Reinforce and Hayate Unison to transform into one mage that uses Mid-childa and Belka magic. The group teams up and defeats the viral creature. Reinforce believes that she has to be destroyed for the virus never to return, and approaches Nanoha and Fate to do so, but Hayate refuses to let her go. She asks Hayate one request to give the new container a new title, "The Blessed Wind", stating that she will always be with Hayate through the Knights and the new container. Reinforce then turns into a small form of the Schwertkreuz, the staff that Hayate uses in place of an intelligent device.

In an epilogue that bridges the gap between A's and StrikerS, Reinforce is revealed to not have disappeared completely. A new Reinforce created from the remains of the first. Known as Reinforce Zwei (Two in German). She is much smaller than her predecessor but still allows the normal functions of a unison device.

Reinforce II in StrikerS

Reinforce II is a doll-sized version of Reinforce that has been accepted as a member of Hayate's task force in the Time-Space Administration Bureau; she even wears the uniform. She can be summoned as a hologram from the Schwertkreuz, and promotional pictures for StrikerS show a very solid Reinforce II accompanying Hayate as well.

Reinforce II (pronounced "Zwei") is apparently solid, and needs to eat and sleep daily; she has a "room" of sorts in Hayate's bag. She holds the rank of Sergeant Major and serves as Hayate's SNCO/Chief of Staff in Lost Property Management Division 6.

In the anime, she is shown capable of unifying with other Wolkenritter members (Vita and Signum) to boost them in battle, although because of their incompatibility, their union is not as good as Hayate's. When unifying with them, their clothes change its color to white.

When not in Unison Mode with Hayate or the other Wolkenritter, Reinforce II uses a blue book called the Book of the Azure Sky (蒼天の書 Sōten no sho?) and appears to specialize in ice-based magic. Hayate also uses a brown book called the Book of the Night Sky (夜空の本 Yaten no sho?), with the same design as the Book of Darkness (闇の書 Yami no sho?), and both Reinforce II, Hayate and their books must undergo a routine examination every so often to asure there is no signs of corrupt programming, that may cause a repeat of the events in Nanoha A's.

Reinforce II is also one of the most popular examiners as stated by Nanoha in episode 1.

In the manga sequels Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid and Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force, Reinforce II's size has increased to that of a normal human, though she is still shorter and younger-looking than the original Reinforce. It is suggested in the sound stages that she can take on this form at any time in order to accomplish tasks like helping around the house. In this form, Reinforce II is slightly taller than Vita.

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