Margery Daw (マージョリー・ドー Mājorī Dō) is a tall, "well-endowed" and mature Flame Haze with a drinking habit. Her title is "Chanter of Elegies" (弔詞の詠み手 Chōshi no Yomite). She uses the book Grimoire, which is the Vessel through which the Crimson Lord Marchosias, to whom she is bound, expresses his will. Eita Tanaka and Keisaku Satō look up to her because she saved their lives once. Her reason for becoming a Flame Haze is to get revenge on a Denizen with a silver-colored flame. Even before her installation as a Flame Haze, she lived only for vengeance. Later on, she no longer lived for vengeance after she discovered the truth about the Silver. She is also known by the nickname "Murderer" for her slaughter of many Crimson Denizens. The color of her flame is ultramarine (群青).
Appearance
Margery has very long blonde hair, which is usually tied up in a neat, high ponytail. She has blue eyes and wears spectacles. In the anime series, she is 173 cm tall.[2][1], and she appears physically to be over 20 years old.[1]
Personality
Upon arriving in Misaki City, Margery was shown to be cold and ruthless even by Flame Haze standards, being fueled by deep hatred for all Crimson Denizens. Unlike most Flame Hazes, she didn't even care about preserving the balance, hunting Denizens purely out of spite and even picking fights with other Flame Haze for fun. To her, there was no such thing as an innocent Crimson Denizen and she was perfectly willing to kill Denizens who were causing no harm to the balance, such as Lamies. She was also shown to be violent and abusive towards Marchosias, often hitting him and calling him "stupid Marco" (baka-Marco) when he made fun of her, something that's never been done by any other Flame Haze.
Margery is shown to be extremely skilled in combat and creating unrestricted spells. However she has a drinking problem and tends to consume as much alcohol as she could until she passes out (according to Marco, her tolerance for alcohol is the same as any normal person's.)
Margery prefers to be alone in her missions, until such time that she met Eita and Keisaku. At first, she thought to dispose both of them just as easily but their persistence and admiration (probably affection in Keisaku's case) for her led her to have a soft spot for both of them. She eventually warms up to more characters in the series (particularly Shana, Keisaku, Eita, Wilhelmina and Yuji). She is also a wise and mature woman in love, as shown when she gave advice to both Kazumi and Matake Ogata about their feelings of jealousy. Amusingly, she is also a ready listener to the woes of others, which leads to her drinking pal friendship with Wilhelmina, who would share her concerns and frustrations over Shana's development in the company of Margery, Marchosias and much alcohol. After the disappearance of Yūji Sakai, Marchosias notes that Margery is now somewhat used to the idea of having teammates, due to the fact that she's even training Shana in battles.
Background
She was once a daughter of a nobleman in medieval times and lived in a castle. Since childhood, people around her always asked for her help and she did her best to help them. When a war broke out and the castle was under siege, her father fled away and left her with a handful of vassals to protect the castle. While her father was murdered by the reinforcements, they ended up reaching an agreement with the enemies to surrender and become their prisoners of war. During their capture, she was again asked for help from a prisoner who wanted to escape. She created an uprising and escaped with other captives. In the end, she was betrayed by fellow captives, arrested and sold into a brothel.[3] After countless betrayals, she gained a chance to avenge for her misery and humiliation on her enemies, only to see them be destroyed by the Silver. Her fury for having her last reason for living stolen from her had attracted the attention of Marchosias.
Plot
Margery's focus shifts from fighting simply to eradicate Crimson Denizens to fighting to protect the balance between the two worlds. She notes her fighting skills are no less for the shift in focus. In the light novels, Margery would not only face the Silver in an unsuccessful battle, but would later realize that the Silver had been acting on her wish for revenge in her life of misery prior to becoming a Flame Haze before she nearly got killed by "Snake of Festival" Yūji Sakai.
After the revelation, she was in a comatose-like state for a while, until Keisaku's love confession gave her a new reason for life. She returned to assist Shana and the others Flame Haze during the Second Great War, even finally killing her archrival Sydonay. She is one of the few Flame Haze to not go to Xanadu after it was created, electing to remain in Misaki City with Keisaku.
Other Appearances
Anime Appearances
Shakugan no Shana-tan
Dengeki Bunko 2007 Move Festival Special
Margery makes a cameo in this special, seated with Ike, Ogata, Eita and Keisaku in the theater.[4]
Relationships
Keisaku Satō
Margery is shown to end up with Keisaku (who is over several hundred years younger than her), who had woken her from her mental breakdown after kissing her. It was hinted that Keisaku had feelings for her from the beginning, as he never did call her Ane-san/big sister (compared to Eita), and calls her Margery(-san) instead. When she wakes up, she reluctantly admits she has some feelings for him and she was trying to distance herself from him for that reason. They share intimacy briefly. However, the extent of Margery`s feelings for Keisaku are unknown as she has accepted him as a teammate but shows little further progress in a relationship after the Second Great War. After the Second Great War they are shown to be still living together.
Eita Tanaka
Shana
Margery once was very cold towards Shana but she became Shana's trainer, friend and partner as time passed. When Shana confessed that she had liked her, she blushed and Marchosias help her to respond by saying that they accept that confession as a confession of a friend.
Margery refers to Shana as "Pipsqueak" (チビジャリ Chibijari, lit. "Small pebble") in Japanese, which is a made-up word.
Yuji Sakai
Margery is often willing to cooperate with Yuji. They work together to track down the Aizen Siblings' Rinne and Orgel. She believes in his theory about the importance of the "Seeking Researcher" Dantalion's airship.
Margery teaches him spells and stores Blutsauger in a bookmark for him. She also follows through on her part in Yuji's plan to defeat Sabrac.
EastEdge
She is a friend of EastEdge, one of the Four Gods of Earth. She fought on Outlaw's side against The Four Gods of Earth's army comprising of Native Americans and some Flame Haze during the Flame Haze's Civil War and befriended him after the war ended.
Wilhelmina Carmel
She has a close friendship with Wilhelmina Carmel, her drinking buddy during their time in Misaki City. When Wilhelmina felt depressed after Pheles refused her help, Margery tried to reignite her spark by using Shana's name, and it worked.
Powers and Abilities
Bookmarks: Margery can store all kinds of things in the form of a bookmark, be it a Treasure Tool or an Unrestricted Spell, which is then kept in Marchosias. She also uses the bookmarks for communication purposes. Humans with a bookmark can also move within a Fūzetsu.
Unrestricted Spells
Margery is capable of using several high level spells, which includes sealing methods as seen when she restricted Yuji's movements. She is also regarded as one of the best high level spell users, regarded as an Unrestricted Spell Master.
Improvisational Poem of Slaughter (屠殺の即興詩 Tosatsu no Sokkyōshi): An incantation method in which Margery and Marchosias use impromptu rhymed poems to unleash their spells. In the anime, the title was censored to Improvisational Poem of Enclosed Killing (堵殺の即興詩 Tosatsu no Sokkyōshi). All of the poems are nursery rhymes of Germanic origin, such as Humpty Dumpty, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Fee-fi-fo-fum, Little Red Riding Hood, and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, among others.
Margery Daw in Werewolf form
Tōga (トーガ Tōga): The Tōga is a flame robe that Margery Daw puts on during battles. It enables her to transform into a werewolf. The flame robe can be broken with the anti-flame ring, Azure, as shown by Friagne during his first encounter with Margery in the anime. When in werewolf form, Margery's overall power and strength increases, on par with "Thousand Changes" Sydonay.
- Flight: She is capable of flying with ease when she is in her werewolf form.
Margery's multi-headed Werewolf form
Final form (multi-headed werewolf): As the name suggest, she becomes a multi-headed werewolf like creature and this increases the number of her attacks and has an advantage at close range rather than long range.
- Immense Strength: With the huge size of her final form, which is of a gigantic size, she is capable of fighting on par with Sydonay's own Powered Exoskeleton Form in terms of strength.
- Strongest Improvisational Poem of Slaughter: At Margery's final form, she can use her strongest Improvisational Poem which surrounds the enemy as all heads fire and restrict the enemy's body. The total amount of power in this Unrestricted Spell is equivalent to the flames of ten thousand Flame Haze (ten million in the anime), which killed Sydonay.
Fūzetsu (封絶, Seal, lit. "Seal of Suppression"): Like most Flame Haze, Margery is capable placing a Seal.
Hishō (飛翔, Flight): With the help of her Grimoire, she can fly and uses this as a medium for traveling large distances.
Quotes
- (To Matake Ogata and Kazumi Yoshida): "Love is like a mirror that reflects your bad side. Especially when it's unrequited, you get envious, jealous, prejudiced, and resentful. You have to face all sorts of emotions. But there's no reason to find that shameful. It shows how serious you are. Oh yeah, do you want me to tell you how to break that mirror? It's not anything hard, Understand the other person. That's all. Don't make any quick judgment. And let them do the same."[5]
- (Margery about the Silver in New York): "I was supposed to be the one. I was supposed to kill them all. And yet... He's laughing. That guy's laughing. He's laughing after taking everything from me. I can't die until I kill him! This isn't the moment I risk my life!"
- "I will kill him. I will kill him no matter what. If it's for that cause, I will sacrifice anything. No matter how important it is."
Trivia
- Her name is derived from the English nursery rhyme "See Saw Margery Daw"[6]. She can be heard singing a verse from this song in after she was defeated by Shana.
- It should be noted that "Interpreter of Condolence" is an incorrect translation of her title "弔詞の詠み手". The accurate translation would be that which is used in the English dub, "Chanter of Elegies".
- Margery's nickname, "Murderer" (殺し屋 Koroshi-ya), is, though in a slightly different context, the same as Sabrac's.
Gallery
 Cover of the second DVD volume for Season 1 (Noizi Itō)  Margery appearing in Misaki City Margery's Mental Breakdown  Margery in a coma and being carried by Wilhelmina Margery in Coma or Sleeping Keisaku kissing Margery Keisaku and Margery about to kiss again Margery's reappearance in SnSF episode 15 Margery's Werewolf form (Right View) Werewolf form (Front View) Werewolf form's Head (close up)  Illustration for the movie (Noizi Itō)  Margery with Ike, Ogata, Eita and Keisaku (Dengeki Bunko 2007 Movie Festival Special) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Official Shakugan no Shana the Movie Website
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Japanese Wikipedia article on Shakugan no Shana Characters
- ↑ Shakugan no Shana Light Novel Volume 16
- ↑ Dengeki Bunko 2007 Movie Festival Special
- ↑ Shakugan no Shana Second Episode 06
- ↑ Wikipedia article on "See Saw Margery Daw"