Lina/Gourry Manifesto - Part II

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Part II. Character Introduction and Story Summary
Character Introduction
I. The sorceress - Lina Inverse
II. The swordsman - Gourry Gabriev

Slayers Novels: Where it all began
Novel 1: The beginning of a long journey
Novel 2: A little flirting here and there
Novel 3: The love triangle and growing feelings
Novels 4-8: The pathway to destruction and a sacrifice

Canon Divergence
I. Novels 9-15
II. Slayers: Knight of Aqualord

Character Introduction
The sorceress - Lina Inverse
Lina Inverse is a 15-year-old sorceress who's been on her own for a couple of years by the time the main Slayers series begins. She is many things - a thief, a cheat, a liar, a mercenary, a scholar and she's extremely powerful. Lina always looks out for number one and has earned the reputation of being a bandit killer and a dragon spooker, or dramata. She's small in stature and chest size, but inflates her own ego regarding her looks. She has a quick temper and the ability to incinerate a small mountain in no time flat. She adheres to her own set of morals, which in the end turns out to put her in a hero spotlight. For example, Lina has no problems liberating treasure from a bandit camp - after all, they stole it first. Although she's on an eternal quest to increase her own magical powers, she doesn't give into offers to join forces with Mazoku that could give her this power. She locks away her deeper emotions and tends to be wary about things such as love.

Lina is the youngest member of her family. Her parents - who were a traveling sorceress and mercenary - settled in a town in Zefielia and run the general store. Her older sister, Luna, is a part-time waitress and is also the Knight of Ceiphied - in other words, Luna has been born with a part of Ceiphied in her. Because of Luna's influence, Lina decided to excel in magic and it is Luna that encourages Lina to go out and see the world.

The swordsman - Gourry Gabriev
Gourry Gabriev is a tall, blond swordsman who is roughly 22 years old when the series begins. He is originally from Elmekia, a desert-like country and has at least one older brother who doesn't like him. Gourry's family holds the Sword of Light, one of the strongest weapons in the Slayers world. It first appears in lore when one of Gourry's ancestors uses it to save Sairaag, one of the major cities on the continent. A fight among Gourry's family members prompted him to take the sword and flee home when he was 17. Sometime during the next five years, Gourry fought in a war and eventually became a wandering mercenary, at some point saving Sairaag in an incident that isn't detailed during the series. It's significance is that he met Sylphiel Nels Lahda, a young priestess that grew to idiolize him. In the novels, Gourry is finally driven to throw away the Sword of Light because it has caused him nothing but grief. He is stopped by a traveling merchant carrying a fishing pole. Together, Gourry and the merchant defeat Mazoku who have come to attack a town and the merchant urges Gourry to do something useful with his sword. Days later, Gourry comes across a young woman surrounded by a gang of 10 men in the middle of the forest.

In Gourry's initial appearance, he comes across as chauvanistic, but his true personality quickly settles into place. It's not that he's chauvanistic, he has a tendency to say what pops up in his mind. Gourry is known for his so-called jellyfish tendencies - he's not book smart and tends to space out when he's being offered important background information.

Novel 1: The beginning of a long journey
The three different canons of Slayers contain a few elements that are the exact same among all of them. Lina Inverse's initial encounter with Gourry Gabriev is one of those events. In all three timelines, Lina is in the process of taking out a group of bandits when she winds up with an unexpected "savior" in the form of a traveling swordsman who steps in when he sees the bandits surrounding her. Lina clearly finds Gourry pleasing to the eye. Her initial and subsequent descriptions of him in the novels emphasize his good looks.

The presence I'd sensed earlier! We all turned to see where that zinger had come from. A lone wandering mercenary materialized from among the trees, the rays of morning light reflecting off his drawn sword.
Someone cue the chorus of angels, would you?
The man was an awe-inspiring vision of wondrous wonderfulness. He was tall, he was blond, and did I say tall already? His breastplate had been forged from the scales of a black iron serpent and judging by his sword, he made a decent living as an archetypical light fighter: fast and skilled. I told you he was tall, right? Did I mention he was a hottie?
– Slayers vol. 1: "The Ruby Eye," page 16

However, Gourry's reaction to Lina is anything but flattering:

"Great. She's just a kid."
Just a kid? Okay. that stung a little.
Oh, but wait – there's more!
"This is what I get for not looking more carefully before I get into these things. I mean, I like kids. I want to be a standup guy, but c'mon! Ten guys, I fought! Ten guys! Is it so much to ask that one of these days there's a babe waiting for me at the other end? Somebody hot, you know? All breathless and grateful...is that too much to hope for? Apparently so. And now I'm stuck looking after Little Miss No-Boobs."
– Slayers vol. 1: "The Ruby Eye," pages 19-20

From this point, Gourry insists on accompanying Lina to Atlas City, which is roughly a 10-day journey. Gourry gets on Lina's nerves, but she decides to put up with him at least for a little while. Their journey is sidetracked when Lina is attacked by a group, led by Zelgadiss Greywords, who aims to get the Orihalcon statue she has back. Even though Gourry technically has no reason to stay with Lina throughout this, despite having just met her, he doesn't hesitate to do his best to protect her. When Lina is kidnapped by Zelgadiss, Gourry finds her and unveils his own secret weapon in the process - the Sword of Light.

It is here that the tables turn slightly. Lina wants the Sword of Light and tries to buy it from Gourry. He refuses, but he remains by her side and the two of them, along with Zelgadiss, take down the real enemy - Rezo the Red Priest. Afterwards, Zelgadiss leaves them and Gourry wonders what Lina's plans are now:

"So what are your plans?" Gourry asked in confusion.
"I've decided I'll keep traveling on ahead."
"Where to?" he asked, still not getting it.
"Wherever you go."
"Huh?"
"I'm going to follow you everywhere you go until you decide to give the Sword of Light to me." I winked. "Anyway...let's go."
"Oooooh," said Gourry, smiling. "Oh, it's on now."
With that, we began moving forward.
– Slayers vol. 1: "The Ruby Eye," pages 192 and 194

And they keep moving forward together and don't separate except by force. Now the tables are turned from the beginning of the series. Gourry was the one to relentlessly pursue Lina at first. Now she's the one who claims to be following him even though both of them know that she's in charge.

Novel 2: A Little Flirting Here and There
In the second novel, Lina and Gourry finally reach Atlas City and are drawn into a plot involving the Sorcerer's Guild there. They still haven't been together very long, but they've already proven themselves as a team. Gourry is able to read Lina's moves and knows that her motives are fishy at best. One of the more endearing comedic moments between them involves both of them getting drunk and running into a Mazoku named Seigram and his cronies. Lina's so drunk that her speech is slurred to the point where she's not coherent. Gourry understands Lina's drunken words perfectly and translates them into common language for the Mazoku. He then proceeds to translate what the Mazoku said back into "drunken Lina" for her benefit. In the morning Gourry reveals that a side effect of his getting drunk is that he can't remember a thing.

It's in this book that Lina and Gourry's relationship moves from getting to know each other to a flirty stage. Several suggestive comments and scenes start to take place throughout the book.

"We have to do something about these clothes," Gourry said, shivering.
"Good point. We sit around like this much longer, and we'll catch colds."
"Yeah. So..." Gourry started, smiling. "Think we should strip and cuddle for body heat?
Oh, in your dreams!
– Slayers vol. 2: "The Sorcerer of Atlas," pages 98-99

After this scene, Lina decides to investigate a pool inside of the ward that she and Gourry are trapped in. Lina throws Gourry in the water to do the job for her and in retaliation, he yanks her in. Lina accidentally swallows enough water to the point where she passes out. When she wakes up, it's to a worried Gourry who admitted that she scared him.

"Hey, you don't have any right to talk - you started it! But..." He turned and looked away from me as he went on. "You scared me. I thought you were gonna drown, so I had to give you CPR to get you breathing again."
"You gave me wh-wh-WHAT?" I gasped, choking on my words. CPR?! Gourry gave me mouth-to-mouth?! Blood rushed to my head. I stole a glance at Gourry's face and steeled myself to ask: "Uh...what does that mean exactly?"
"I laid you down on your stomach and kicked you in the back."
– Slayers vol. 2: "The Sorcerer of Atlas," page 104

Lina isn't too thrilled, but Gourry catches onto the fact that she thought he meant mouth-to-mouth and also that Lina is blushing over the thought. He winds up teasing her about it, singing "You're blush-ing, you're blush-ing," under his breath. In a roundabout way, it's the first acknowledgement of any sort of attraction between the two, at least from Lina's end. A scene taking place toward the end of the book reveals that the attraction might be mutual. Lina wants to sneak into Halcyform's house and wants Gourry to wait for her in the gardens. Gourry doesn't want Lina to go in alone and is embarrassed over the fact that he's worried about her. Lina catches on though:

"Are you worried about me?" I laughed.
He turned his head away and scratched his nose. "Is being worried bad?"
"Have you fallen in love?" I asked with a straight face. He lost his cool. Hee hee.
"In love?! I'm your guardian - of course I'm worried!" Ever heard someone try to yell and whisper at the same time? It sounded like that.
"It doesn't matter what you say, Gourry. Love is all over your face-"
"Hey! Just knock it off, okay?"
– Slayers vol. 2: "The Sorcerer of Atlas," page 157

Novel 3: The love triangle and growing feelings
In the third novel, their relationship starts to become apparent to the people they encounter. This is the novel that covers the second half of the first series of the anime and introduces Sylphiel Nels Lahda, a shrine maiden who knows Gourry from the past after he saved Sairaag in an incident that is never detailed in the novels.

Lina and Gourry are being pursued by bounty hunters on the orders of Rezo the Red Priest - a man who is supposedly dead. They decide to head to Sairaag to find out the truth after confronting Rezo and wind up running into Lantz, a mercenary from the second novel who joins them on this trip. Lina and Lantz pressure Gourry to talk about Sairaag and one of the legends regarding the Swordsman of Light, but Gourry is extremely tight-lipped about it. Lina and Lantz theorize that Gourry left behind a string of broken hearts in the city. They turn out not to be far from the truth.

After reuniting with Zelgadiss, the group is drawn into a battle against Rezo and at the end, a young priestess named Sylphiel emerges from the forest. After the battle, Sylphiel finally addresses Gourry and it's obvious that it's causing Gourry a great deal of discomfort. Lina realizes that the two share a complicated past. While they're talking to each other (and ignoring Lina in the process), she starts to get jealous and insists that she couldn't care about them talking to each other...yet she really does.

Later on, Sylphiel wants Gourry to accompany her to help look for the Blessed Blade. All of her attention is focused on Gourry, but Gourry's focus is on Lina.

"I must go, of course, with one other, while the rest of you stay behind. Master Gourry, would you accompany me?"
"Me?" Gourry asked, and he glanced over at me for some reason.
She liiiikes you, she liiiikes you! Heh heh heh. No accounting for taste, I guess.
"We should get going," Sylphiel said, and she rose to her feet. "It would be best to do this soon."
Gourry, still looking a bit unenthused, got up and put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone," he said.
"Who me? I'll be fine. Trust me." I laughed. It was sweet of him to be concerned.
"You're not exactly trustworthy," he continued.
Scratch that sweet bit, would you?
"All right, well - the sooner we go, the sooner we get back," he said, offering me a clumsy wink as he went off with Sylphiel.
– Slayers vol. 3: "The Ghost of Sairaag," page 150

After Lina is attacked by a possessed Eris and Lantz, the sound of her sword dropping on the ground alerts Gourry and Sylphiel and they come running back. Lina is gravely wounded to the point where Sylphiel is forced to cast a Resurrection to save her life. When she regains consciousness, Lina notes that Gourry's reaction to her injuries is different from everyone else's. While Eris and Lantz are upset, Gourry is the one who sounds desperate to Lina. In the accompany image of Sylphiel casting Resurrection on Lina, even though Gourry's face is mostly obscure, you can tell that he is the most worried out of the group. After Zelgadiss explained how Eris and Lantz were possessed and how he managed to stop them, Gourry whispered to Lina that he'd been worried about her. Lina smiles softly and makes a small sound of acknowledgment. When Lantz starts wailing and apologizing, she noted that it interrupted a tender moment.

Novels 4-8: A Growing Realization
When Copy Rezo is defeated, Lina and Gourry escort Sylphiel to Saillune City. Although it's not as obvious as in the anime, Sylphiel still continues to pay more attention to Gourry than to Lina. When they deliver Sylphiel safely, they run into the Crown Prince of Saillune, Prince Phil. Phil hires Lina and Gourry to deliver a message to his aide, Clawfell and his daughter, Amelia. After they do this, the two get drawn into the feud among the members of the Saillune Royal Family - and the Mazoku who have gotten involved with it as well.

After Lina's throat is nearly crushed by Seigram, she buries her face in Gourry's chest and he comforts her. After she's nearly killed a second time, they get into a fight. Gourry wants Lina to drop their mission before she gets killed. It's the only time in the series we've seen to date that Gourry's asked this of Lina and it's only because he is afraid that she'll be killed. Both of them are gravely injured by Seigram toward the end of the novel, but Lina notes that somehow Gourry managed to protect them when she awakens in his arms in the middle of the final battle before Amelia intervenes.

They spend most of the fifth novel apart after Lina's magic is sealed by Mazenda. She, Gourry and Amelia are attacked in the woods. Gourry orders Lina and Amelia to escape since Lina would only hold him back and they do so. The two are separated throughout most of the book. Even though Lina doesn't obsess over the fact that she's separated from Gourry, it's made very clear that she is worried about him and is guilty over the fact that she was forced to leave him on his own against the Mazoku. Thanks to Gourry not remembering where to meet up with them, he takes longer than necessary to find them. Lina's so relieved to see him that she smacks him with her now infamous slipper.

In the sixth novel, Gourry once again displays traits he's shown off and on throughout the rest of the novels - when Lina's life is in danger he gets very quiet and tight-lipped. Lina forces a partial explanation out of him at one point and he explains that her swordsmanship needs serious work.

The seventh and eighth novels cover Lina's fight with the Demon Dragon King Gaav and Hellmaster Phibrizzo. It's the latter battle that has drawn much signifcance from Lina/Gourry fans. Most are familiar with the anime version of these events. The manga is partially revealed. CPM Manga stopped their release of the second Slayers manga series in English just one novel shy of the ending. The English translations of novels 7 and 8 will be released in July.

The novels roughly follow the same plot that the anime eventually takes. At the conclusion of her fight with Gaav, a young boy that Lina previously meets appears and kills Gaav. He reveals himself to be Hellmaster Phibrizzo who, like Gaav, is one of the five subordinates of Shabranigdu. Phibrizzo used the Sword of Light to bind Gourry in ropes and kidnaps him to force Lina to come to Sairaag to rescue him. She attempts to go alone, but Zelgadiss and Amelia insist on going with her. While on their way, they run into Sylphiel who joins the party when she learns what happened to Gourry.

It's at this point that Sylphiel asks Lina a very important question - Lina initially told Sylphiel that she traveled with Gourry so she could get the Sword of Light. She asks for Lina's feelings regarding Gourry and Lina is unable to give her an answer. Sylphiel is left with the impression that Lina still wants Gourry for the sword. Lina winds up showing her true feelings later on when Sylphiel realizes that Phibrizzo wants Lina to cast the Giga Slave, Lina says that she can't abandon Gourry.

According to the summaries on QP-Diana's site, Gourry is released from his entrapment before Lina casts the Giga Slave. Because the book isn't out yet, the exact details of this reunion are unclear. Then everyone except Lina are trapped into crystals, forcing Lina to cast the perfect Giga Slave when Phibrizzo says that he would kill Gourry first.

Canon Divergence
Among all three versions of the Slayers canon, the events are roughly the same from the beginning of the series to the defeat of Hellmaster Phibrizzo. The same event is presented in different ways among the three mediums and there are some distinct differences. In the novels, Lina and Gourry often spend more time alone and different people filter in and out of their party. The same thing goes for the manga. In the anime, certain elements are added that aren't present in any of the other canons (such as the kiss at the end of Slayers NEXT.) But after the defeat of Phibrizzo, the story goes off in a completely different direction depending on what version of canon you're following. Since Slayers TRY is covered in beccastareyes's manifesto, I will discuss the novels and the manga below:

I. Novels 9-15
The second half of the novels was in progress while the Slayers anime was running and it was hard to tell where it was going by the time the animators got to Slayers TRY. Novels 9-13 cover the search of a new sword for Gourry, which starts a chain of events leading to Lina and Gourry fighting Dynast Grausherra. Gourry comes across a strange sword and decides to keep it during this arc. When he's fighting Dynast in the 13th novel, Gourry's sword shatters and reveals a second blade beneath it. It's revealed to be the legendary Blast Sword - a super-sharp blade that can literally cut through anything. The sword is so sharp that Milgazia, the Golden Dragon that aids Lina when she's searching for the Claire Bible, has to make the sword dull enough for Gourry to sheath it.

The last two novels covers the death of Millina, one of the two members of their party who replace Amelia and Zelgadiss. Luke, the other member of the party who was in love with Millina, hates mankind because of what happened to Millina and the result is the release of a seal - it turns out that Luke was born with a fragment of Shabranigdu in him. The piece of Shabranigdu provokes other Mazoku to fight Lina and Gourry, which eventually leads the couple to meet two women in a forest after they meet up with Xelloss. The women, who are actually Deep Sea Dolphin and Zelas Mettalium - two of Shabranigdu's subordinates, lead Lina and Gourry to Luke, who reveals what has happened. The couple are forced to fight the second piece of Shabranigdu and nearly die in the process. Afterwards, Lina decides to let Gourry decide where they go next and he suggests to visit her family in Zefielia. Lina mistakes Gourry's words for a marriage proposal, but he insists he wants to go just because it's grape-picking season. But in any case they set off for Lina's home.

II.Slayers: Knight of Aqualord
Two years after the novels ended, Slayers: Knight of Aqualord began serialization in Dragon Jr. magazine. Lina and Gourry are traveling after Gourry loses the Sword of Light, but gets a generic magic sword. They run into a woman who challenges Lina to a gambling game and lends her the money to do so. Lina keeps losing against this woman, and so to clear up her debts, the woman tells Lina about an island where there is a precious gem. Lina decides to go take the gem from the island, which is where the former Mazoku barrier used to be (at this point, they don't realize that the barrier has fallen due to Lina's actions.) In the process, Lina winds up sinking the island and she and Gourry are attacked by three water dragons. They defeat the first two, but the third one takes them out. Lina and Gourry fall into the sea and are separated.

Lina wakes up on a strange beach and is attacked. She tries to use her black magic, but is unable to do so. She's saved by someone she thinks is Gourry, but turns out to be a boy named Lyos, who claims he is the Knight of Aqualord. The series continues on from there. Lina is eventually reunited with Gourry and eventually Amelia comes into the picture as well as another new character, Shizuri. After Mazoku start attacking Kunan (which just happens to coincide with Lina's arrival), Lina is order to go quest for the power of the gods - in this case Airlord. While they are doing this, Lyos is also developing his powers as the Knight of Aqualord. Eventually, Lina and Lyos wind up combining their powers and using them to defeat both Rikufalso, Deep Sea Dolphin's general and Hureika, who is believed to be Deep Sea Dolphin's priest.

In Knight of Aqualord, Lina and Gourry have plenty of memorable relationship moments. In the second volume of the manga, Shizuri charms a statue to make it look like Gourry and the Gourry illusion is about to kiss Lina when she freaks out and realizes that the real Gourry is standing nearby. The last chapter in the book is dedicated to their relationship when a Mazoku takes on Gourry's form after the couple is separated and tells her the things that she wishes deep in her heart that Gourry would really tell her. Later on in the series, Lina confides to Gourry that she's scared about their search for Airlord's power. Before Lina goes to receive the power, Gourry pulls Lina aside and tells her to come back to him - that he'll be waiting for her in the village he's helping to protect. Then they embrace.

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