MirHope

The thing that's been on my mind most abt him is his family. He's a very rare case in Servamp where not only does he have both his parents but he also has a good relationship with them. Compared to a lot of other characters, the eves especially, this is really a rare situation as with others like Mahiru, who lost his mother, of with the Alicein boys who have their own can of worms in terms of family issues, it really makes him stand out and I think is probably the reason he acts the way he does. It's no secret that Licht's view of the world is pretty naive and childish, what with his good vs evil angels vs devil's mindset, and his complete belief in things such as fairies, and this was probably due to the fact he was sorta sheltered from harsher parts of life like is parents. Unlike someone like Mahiru who was forced into maturity and raising himself, Licht was pampered by his mother and father who often encouraged his creativity and kind of mystical outlook on life. In one of the 4-komas it's even shown that his whole angel obsession was kickstarted by his mother giving him an angel backpack and how she used to call him her little messenger of heaven because she delivered her smiles. That's not to say they had never pushed him outside of his comfort zone, it's well known that he was terrified to perform his first large scale piano recital, but he was never forced to do anything that might legitimately hurt him, whether mentally of physically, and this family seems to be possibly the most healthy and functional in the series. The only other eve I can think of who possibly has an equally as healthy home life would be Izuna but then again we don't really know enough about her family for me to be certain of that. Another one could be Tetsu but what with how many family members we know he has now (Kei, Yumi, Miyako, etc.) I'm pretty sure there's gotta be some weird tension in there somewhere, and we haven't seen much of what Tetsu's father is like either. (on a quick side note I think it's really cute how he inherited his mother's love of fairytale and flowery language and how he inherited his father's stoic face, little details like that are my favourite.)

Another thing which makes Licht an amazing foil to pretty much every other character in Servamp is that I'm pretty sure he's one of the only characters who's never had any strong self doubt or lost faith in themselves. In so many other characters arcs there's been moments where they doubt if they can protect the people they love (Mahiru and Tsurugi being great examples of that) or losing their sense of self and sight in what's important to them (Lawless, Touma, and Lily are notable here too), while in contrast Licht seems to have an unwavering sense of confidence in what he does, never doubting his own ability. Even going back to what I said before about his nervousness with his first recital, it never looked like he actually doubted his ability to play the piano, he was more nervous that his parents were in the audience and how they would react to seeing him on stage. My favourite example of his almost stupid amount of confidence in his abilities is how in ch 116 he straight up just jumps out of a window on a skyscraper without batting an eyelash because in his words “I can fly because I'm an angel.”. Insanity. And this unwavering sense of self has more purpose than just his own motives and self but the way it was used in regards of Lawless's redemption arc was so well done

Licht's complete lack of self doubt is what managed to get Lawless to put himself into perspective, to finally realize something he needed to after his centuries of grieving. Licht refusing to budge from his “I am unique and I will be remembered stance” when repeatedly being badgered by Lawless's “You won't be remembered, there are other pianists out there.” way of thinking after Ophelia's death allows him to finally realize that, yes, people will remember, Ophelia was never forgotten because he had spent his centuries doing nothing but remembering her. And the catalyst of this all being that even on the brink of death, Licht refusing to give into his own death and actively trying to beat the hell out of Lawless instead. Licht having such a strong sense of self and pointing out that, even in his own life, Lawless is nothing but a background character. Him saying that Lawless has no right to say he's himself when he has no ambition and forcing himself to come to terms with the fact he doesn't know who he even is himself.

The scene of Licht playing Für Elise and Lawless asking him not to play a sad song, only for Licht to tell him that the song itself isn't sad will always be one of my favourite moments in Servamp. The emotional build up to it and exploration of what both Licht and Lawless's characters are is so well executed and I could go write a whole meta about this scene itself, and an exploration of the Greed Pair's Jekyll and Hyde and the Phantom of the Opera motifs mean but I feel like this has been long enough so I guess I'll save it for another time.

Anyways uhm is you've read this long thanks I guess I didn't expect anyone to go along with my ramblings here's a pic of baby Licht as thanks lol