Personnel File 6: Luche Lazarus
We're trying to speed things up a little so that we don't post poor Tredd directly on the first day of Legends Week, which is why this is a bit early for once. Let's take a look at the Kingsglaive's (unofficial?) second-in-command, who followed his commander into treason and burned brightly, if briefly. Thanks as always to @capsource for all the stills unless otherwise noted.
From the Facebook blurb:
From the tumblr blurb: A man who holds a leader-like position in the Kingsglaive. His intellect and always composed nature have earned him the trust of his fellow glaive and he is a very methodical person.
Name: Luche - Perhaps a phonetic spelling of Luce (Latin and Italian) in the ecclesiastical/italian style, a word meaning light. Derived from luceo (I shine, I become visible), and lux (light, life, glory, sight). In the ecclesiastical context, both are used in the phrase from the Requiem mass: Let perpetual light shine on them (Et lux perpetua luceat eis).
Lazarus - Hebrew via Latin via Greek - Lazarus is the Christian Bible form of the Hebrew name Eleazar, meaning God has helped, where it is the name of two prominent figures - one a friend of Jesus whom he raised from the dead, the other a fictional beggar who goes to heaven after death while the man who refused to help him is sent to hell (and thus https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Lazarus_layer, from Marx). It later spawned the term lazar, another word for leper via the Order of St. Lazarus, a hospitaller and military organization whose mission was to treat those with leprosy founded in Jerusalem, was ousted from there and continued in mainland Europe, resisting orders to merge or disband from the pope, instead turning to support from the Kings of France, etc.
Equipment: -Battle Uniform: Luche wears the flame-variation of the Glaive uniform: the garland-patterned dickie attached with braided leather underarm straps; the two-part curved pauldron on the left shoulder with a raised silver flame-pattern held in place by a wide, cross-body leather strap; the Kingsglaive badge on the right breast; one elbow brace/armor on each elbow; and there’s not belt, but instead he hangs his sheath directly from the cross-body strap that keeps the pauldron attached, which causes the sheath to hang behind his body. He also appears to wear the version that has a belt underneath his jacket that is packed full of small pouches, and a brace of throwing daggers around his right thigh. All of these are standard on this uniform set (though a few like Sonitus seem to wear a belt and no thigh daggers with this get-up). Luche also has some sort of thin dangling straps behind his shoulder like the ones hanging from Libertus’s shoulder but longer, and worn where Nyx wears his ribbons. Luche is one of the few who doesn't wear their face cloth- perhaps to better issue clear commands. A few of his clones in the first battle (distinguishable from Luche by their varied blades and the fact they wear their face cloths), seem to have the straps as well.
[[Luche Clones - note the different blades. But they demonstrate his uniform parts well - the straps and a bead on the glaive with the standard blade, and the underbelt and thigh holsters on the glaive with the dark blade with a silver edge.]]
Luche’s blade is long and thin, with a slight curve not unlike Nyx’s Galahdan kukri, but without the reinforced spine or hook at the base and has a similarly thin black and silver hilt. It seems to match Pelna’s, what little we see of it, as well as the traitor glaive whose neck Nyx snaps on the airship.
Luche's hair is similar to Nyx and Libertus, with the long bangs pulled back from the forehead, though of course he lacks the braids or longer hair in back.
- Casual - Luche wears a front-fastend shirt in the classic Insomnian black and silver that seems fairly nice. It has reflective wing- or flame-like patterns along the side. The closures almost resemble the Glaive uniforms or a variety of simple frogs as found in the Tangzhuang, etc. Axis, Sonitus, Tredd, and at least one other unnamed glaive seem to wear a similar garment to this under his uniform, rather than the standard glaive blade whose hilt peeks above the collars of other uniforms, as Luche, indicating he, like Crowe, Nyx, and probably Pelna, is just wearing half his uniform to this hangout.
- Standard Uniform - Luche’s standard uniform is just that, standard, down to the gloves. The one exception is the silver lines between the buttons on his chest - a detail he shares with Nyx and Libertus alone, perhaps a sign of rank.
Personality: Luche is someone who stays calm under pressure, as befits someone in command, though he seems fairly friendly with most of the glaive. He has an eye for politics and a tendency toward sarcasm. His taunting of Nyx with Crowe’s death could be a sign of a strategic mind or indicate a cruel or ruthless streak. Luna is able to use his desire for power and resentment of his perception as unworthy to goad him into putting on the ring and burning himself.
Rank: Luche is the glaive most often seen in command. He orchestrates the glaives throughout the first battle, as well as providing the after action report afterwards. During the assault on the airships, he gives command to Nyx, which implies he has authority to pass field command.
Relationships:
- Loyal glaives - Luche is shown with Nyx and the others at Yamachang’s, so he’s part of their friend group on some level, though he does stand to the side while the others are sitting down, so it could be that he’s not that close. Perhaps he pulled away as he went deeper into the traitor’s plot? It’s fair to assume that being from Galahd like Nyx and Libertus, he has some history with them.
Luche is the one who shoots Nyx with the hollow points at the ambush point, waiting until Nyx sees him before shooting, and takes credit for being the one to kill Crowe, which he taunts Nyx with, so it seems either not all is good between them, or he's overcompensating to deal with killing them.
-Traitors - Luche doesn’t interact directly with the other traitors, though he’s clearly working with them, as evidenced by his behavior in the briefing room, when he riles up Libertus before Tredd joins in. He stands with them as they watch the announcement of the treaty, but doesn’t actually speak or interact with them. How closely did the fellow traitors work together?
- Drautos - Drautos seems to be directly communicating with only Luche during the Glaive's opening battle, and asks Luche for the report as soon as he gets on scene, so Luche seems to have Drautos’ trust and respect. Luche knows about the surrender terms, presumably from Drautos, and the others believe he has the trust and/or clearance from Drautos to know. Luche is also quick to support Drautos’ orders in the briefing room, though perhaps his alternative motive is also to sow doubt among the other glaives.
Death: Luche is burned to the death by the Ring of the Lucii after he takes it from Luna and puts it on after Luna goads him by talking about the power it conveys. It’s odd that the ring burns him completely and he cannot remove it, while Ravus can. Perhaps the ring and the kings resented his actions against his liege more than Ravus’s attack against a declared enemy, or perhaps it was their bloodlines, as Ravus was betting on.
Behind the Scenes: Luche was modeled (face and mocop) on Greg Blackford, who has done some other small roles and modelling. Luche’s Voice Actor is Todd Haberkorn, who has had an extensive career voicing many games (including additional work on Comrades) and anime (including Natsu from Fairy Tail and others, too many to list).
Thanks for joining us on another deep dive, and as always, we would love to hear your thoughts and theories about Luche, or even if you notice something we missed.
Best of luck in all your creating of theories, stories, art, and more.
