Mare

"A transient... and eternal dream."

—Mare describing her Unrestricted Spell, Gemeinde

Mare (メア, Mea^?) was an original character created to be the antagonist of the PlayStation 2 game and was also the antagonist of the first two episodes of Shakugan no Shana Second. Her true name is "Village of Jestful Slumber" (戯睡郷, Gisuikyō^?).

Appearance[]

Mare appeared in Shakugan no Shana Second as a young girl wearing gothic Lolita attire. She also wears a veil with a pair of bronze horns attached to it. In her first appearance, she also has an umbrella with her. This is actually the Mystes of the Treasure Tool Papagena, which Shana later destroyed.

Mare's true form is similar to a circus clown wearing a mask instead of having a painted face.

Papagena mystes — Papagena's Mystes whom Mare resides.

The mask, painted white, has a frill on the top with the colors green and yellow painted in alternate vertical bands. The mask itself has a yellow star painted where the left eye is and the right eye is shown to be closed. A mouth with the tongue sticking out completes the mask's design.

Mare's clothing has prominent colors of blue and violet. She wears a jester hat with each half colored with these colors and her clown suit is colored the same way, though opposite to how her hat is colored.

In the exclusive chapter Juggle, it is revealed that Mare's true face under the clown mask is the same as the Mystes; she did not use Mystes of the Papagena's face, but her own instead.

Personality[]

Mare once mentioned that she had something to achieve.^[1] She later reveals that her goal is to be in possession of the Reiji Maigo so that she will be famous and sought after.^[2]

Background[]

Her minimal role in Second is contrasted by the story behind her appearance and her true relations with Sabrac (which was shown in the nineteenth volume of the Shakugan no Shana Light Novel series and exclusive chapter Juggle in the official guide book Anime Shakugan no Shana II no Subete).

Meeting with Sabrac[]

Mare was once traveling with the Hyakki Yakō in Central Asia before she parted from them with a group of Denizens. While heading to a city named Kashgar, they were attacked by a Flame Haze named Dede and everyone excluding Mare were defeated in an instant. As she was going to be killed, Sabrac who happened to be chasing for the Engage Link near the battle, detected Dede and finished him off in seconds. Mare, attracted to his power persisted to follow him which Sabrac unconcernedly allowed her to do as her please.

They were traveling together for a short time when "Winder of Dew Blades" Liu Yang found them. Liu Yang was acquainted with Dede and left his Outlaw post, run by "Rider of Jade Crest" Nam, to search for him after failing to contact Dede. To prove herself useful, Mare used Gemeinde, the Power of Unrestraint to create the world of dreams and control the environment around her. She fought him at her best, but in no time Liu Yang used his Power of Unrestraint to sense the flow of Power of Existence, letting him detect Gemeinde's function and easily dispelled it. As he was going to finish her, just like Dede, Sabrac killed him in an instant.

Mare, who dropped deep into inferiority complex then knew about the existence of Reiji Maigo from Sabrac (who was once hired by Bal Masqué and knew about its power). She wanted it for herself and so she left for Misaki City. Before leaving, she asked him to wait for her return at the certain building in Japan.

Plot[]

"Village of Jestful Slumber" Arc[]

Mare is first seen in a dead forest. She later surprises Yūji and Shana by appearing despite her rather little existence and entraps Yūji in her Gemeinde. Throughout Yūji's dream, he sees Mare watching and hears her laughing. Yūji later manages to "wake up" from her Unrestricted Spell, and sees Mare firing Power of Existence at him. She welcomes Yūji back, then withdraws her umbrella-shaped Treasure Tool. When Shana asks why she appeared, Mare replies that she has something to achieve. Shana finally ends the fight by slashing Mare. Mare disappears, but is heard laughing.^[1]

Mare half — Mare after being cut in half

The next day, Shana, Yūji and Kazumi Yoshida encounter her once more. Mare successfully entraps the three in her Power of Unrestraint and Kazumi is taken hostage. She appears before Yūji and Shana when they find Kazumi, this time in the form of a clown. She explains that the girl from before was only a Mystes that was controlled by her Treasure Tool, Papagena. She attacks Yūji with Papagena. Mare then creates a copy of Bel-Peol. While Shana takes the full brunt of attacks of the Bel-Peol copy, Yūji tries to save Kazumi by waking her up and thus dispelling the Power of Unrestraint. Mare attacks Yūji again, but he is saved by the anti-flame ring, Azure. Shana attacks her with her flames, but they soon burn out. Later, he soon realizes that Mare was just at arm's reach of the Reiji Maigo. All of a sudden, Mare emerges from Yūji's body, losing an arm and a leg, muttering that there was a Keeper (Kaikin) and soon her spell starts to fall apart because she is dying. It will bring Shana and Yūji along with it if they fail to wake Kazumi in time. Yūji manages to wake Kazumi up at the last moment and Mare dies as Gemeinde finally breaks apart.^[2]

Powers and Abilities[]

Parasitism (寄生, Kisei^?): Parasitism is one of Mare's abilities, which allows her to conceal her Power of Existence and avoid detection from Flame Haze by becoming a parasite of a Mystes.^[3] Mare used this on the Mystes of the Papagena upon arriving in Misaki City and on Yūji upon entering the high school. While she is using Parasitism on them, the Mystes is unable to notice her presence.

Unrestricted Spells[]

Mare first appears in her true form juggling Endan balls of Power of Existence.^[2] The true extent of Mare's skill with Endan is unknown, as she prefers to only attack with Endan through Papagena. Mare is shown to be able to levitate.^[1]

Second Ep 02 Gemeinde — Yūji, Yoshida and Shana in Gemeinde

Gemeinde (ゲマインデ, Gemainde^?): Mare's exclusive Unrestricted Spell. It transports a person into a realm where she can control the environment directly, though in Yūji's case, it was that he was able to control the situation himself. Time in the world inside Gemeinde does not affect the time in the real world and when the spell breaks, the affected persons will lose any memories of the experience inside the Unrestricted Spell's effects.

Gemeinde seems to be activated by Mare's Treasure Tool Papagena, which was the last sound heard by a person before he/she falls into the Unrestricted Spell's effects. It is dispelled when the person affected wakes up or when the caster dies.

Treasure Tools[]

Mare Papagena Shana's flames — Mare using Papagena against Shana

Papagena (パパゲーナ, Papagena^?): Mare's Treasure Tool, Papagena, is capable of firing small, purple blasts of Power of Existence, which are Endan. The purple blasts lack strength, as they are easily deflected by Shana's Nietono no Shana.^[1] Papagena is in the form of a staff with golden bells around the top and has a short handle, so that it fits perfectly in Mare's hand.

Mare is also in possession of an umbrella-shaped Treasure Tool, which seems to have the same ability as Papagena.^{[citation needed]}

Quotes[]

(Mare describing her Unrestricted Spell, Gemeinde): "A transient... and eternal dream."^[1]
(To Yūji): "Welcome back from your transient dream."^[1]
(To Shana): "It is the life of a Denizen to live as he or she wants and desires to, right?"^[1]

Trivia[]

Mare's name originated from a spirit in Germanic folklore which brings bad dreams (or "nightmares").
Part of Mare's true name, Suikyō (睡郷^?), while literally means "slumber village", also refers to a "dreamland" or "daydream"; all of which describes the characteristics of her Power of Unrestraint to confine and control the dream of her enemy.
Her Power of Unrestraint Gemeinde literally means "community" in German.
Mare has the same FUNimation English voice actress as Hildegard and the Caretaker Rinne.