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Sol Badguy (ソル＝バッドガイ, Soru Baddogai) is the main character and namesake of the Guilty Gear fighting game series. By initial appearance, he is an aloof bounty hunter anti-hero who fights with an oddly rectangular sword called Fuuenken, or the Fireseal. However, his brash and somewhat abrasive exterior conceals a genius and emotional depth. He has dedicated his life to the destruction of Gears, a race of magical bioweapons that plunged the world into a hundred-year war known as the Crusades. In particular, he shows a particular zeal to destroy their creator, an individual known only as "That Man". Sol is also a fan of Queen, and his rival in the series is Ky Kiske.

Character design

Creator Daisuke Ishiwatari designed Sol in many ways to reflect as his alter ego and also recorded Sol's in-game voice acting (the voice actor for GGXX's story mode and drama CDs however, is done by Hikaru Hanada). Ishiwatari's favorite band is Queen, and he thus named Sol Badguy, whose "real" name is Frederick (or Freddie for short), after Freddie Mercury, whose nickname was 'Mr. Bad Guy'. Like Ishiwatari, Sol's favorite band is also said to be Queen, with Sol's favorite album being Sheer Heart Attack.

Sol's normal character design depicts him with reddish brown hair and eyes wearing a tight, black undershirt with the top half covered by a red, sleeveless jacket along with white pants. His headband bears the words 'Rock You', a reference to the Queen song "We Will Rock You", while his belt buckle has the word 'Free'. Sol's character design also contains a pair of black, fingerless gloves, red shoes, a drape of red cloth hanging down beneath his buckle and a multitude of belts, including a lone one on his left forearm. Sol fights using a blunt, rectangular sword known as Fuuenken (Fireseal) through which he releases a range of fire-based attacks.

In other cultural references, Sol's instant kill moves "All Guns Blazing" and "Napalm Death" are named after a song by Judas Priest and a British grindcore band respectively, and his theme song "Keep Yourself Alive" is named after a song by Queen. Also, Sol's Guilty Gear X arcade extra was drawn in the style of Yoji Shinkawa's Metal Gear Solid artwork.

Story

Background

His exact history is unclear, but it is known for certain that Sol's real name is Frederick, who not only was one of the lead scientists of the Gear project, but is also the prototype Gear from over a hundred years before the events of the Guilty Gear games. As a prototype, he is immune to the orders of Commander Gears. He was personally acquainted with That Man prior to the Crusades. His headband is actually a Gear-suppression device which prevents him from giving into his Gear nature and losing his rationality, at the cost of suppressing much of his power. The headband also conceals the glowing red brand on his forehead, the telltale mark that would expose him as a Gear.

As Frederick, Sol created the "Outrage", which he called a supreme Anti-Gear weapon. The Outrage is actually not one weapon but several - eight components called "Jinki", which greatly amplify their wielders' magical ability. Only three Outrage weapons are currently known to be active - Sol's own Fuuenken, Ky's Fuuraiken (Thunderseal), and Anji Mito's twin fans, Zessen. The other five are supposedly in the custody of the United Nations, although some fans believe Paracelsus, A.B.A's living key, to be a jinki.

Frederick also saved Kliff Undersn (one of the leaders of the Holy Orders and the one who named Ky leader of the Holy knights) when Kliff was still a young boy. Roughly half a century later, he was himself recruited into the order, as a bounty hunter named "Sol Badguy." Sol took part in the Crusades, ironically becoming one of the best fighters on the human side. At this time he was a member of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights (Seikishidan). He acquired the nickname "Corrupted Flame" during that time, a name that such figures as I-No and Justice use for him later. However, he later became disenchanted with the methods of the Sacred Order. At an unspecified time, Sol fled the order, taking with him the Fuuenken, which the Holy Knights had come to consider a sacred treasure. The theft earned him Ky's enmity.

In 2175, Sol faced Justice directly. The two fought, and Justice won - in the process, discovering that Sol was a Gear (but not his true identity as a creator of the Gears). Justice attempted to assert her power as a Commander Gear to control Sol, but was unable to do so. Exploiting her confusion and weakness from the fight, the Holy Order, led by Ky Kiske, sealed Justice away, bringing the war to an end.

Guilty Gear

Canon states that Sol was the winner of the Tournament, and it is here that Justice discovers that Sol is, in fact, Frederick. Justice, in her dying words, comments that she wishes that "the three of us" could talk one last time, and Sol swears to kill That Man.

Guilty Gear X

Sol has three endings, all of which involve a fight against Dizzy, who has a half-million World Dollar bounty on her head. However, he spares her life in all of them, losing against her in his second ending, and judging that she isn't a threat to the world in the other two. In his third ending, we see a conversation between That Man and one of his servants, in which That Man cryptically says, "To think there was a daughter...most interesting." It is revealed in Drama CD Side Black to be in reference to Justice being Dizzy's mother.

Guilty Gear XX

His storyline here involves chasing down I-No. His first ending, after he defeats I-No, leads to a direct confrontation with That Man. That Man casually deflects all Sol's attacks, and says that Sol is needed because soon a greater battle than the Crusades will occur. In Sol's second ending, Slayer informs him of the Post-War Administration Bureau's interest in Dizzy, which catches his interest. In the third, he fights Dizzy, who had been possessed by Necro after I-No knocked her off the Mayship, and sends Dizzy on her way to meet Johnny and May.

Holy Order Sol

Holy Order-Sol (聖騎士団ソル, Seikishidan Soru) is an alternate version of the original character, which has him clothed in a garment similar to that worn by Ky Kiske. Sol was indeed a part of the Sacred Order of the Holy Knights, this is a take on what Sol looked like during that time and how he fought before beginning to use his now-trademark sword, Fireseal (or "Fuuenken"). This form also shows a glimpse of Sol's true Gear form (where he sports a pair of demonic wings and a tail) when performing the original version (without the aid of Fuuenken) of his Overdrive move, Dragon Install. His EX Instant Kill is called All Guns Blazing (named after the Judas Priest song with the same name) and is basically the original Instant Kill of Sol Badguy from the first game.

Holy Order-Sol uses a different attack system than the other characters, though similar to the attack charge system from Guilty Gear. He uses a Charge meter with 3 levels. By pressing half-circle back along with Dust (quarter-circle back as of Accent Core), Order-Sol will begin charging his meter. At each level, all of his command techniques gain extra strength or new properties. He also possesses an attack that can be used while he is charging, similar in appearance to a Burst, providing knockback and a small amount of damage, which ends the charge. His moves seem like prototypes of his former moves, but with extremely different looks and effect, like the Bandit Revolver Prototype and his Gun Blaze. The Dragon Install also changes from an ability that augments Sol's strength and speed into a special move of its own. It can only be done in level 3 of the Charge Meter, and when performed, can be linked to Sekkai, which is a combo move done like the Deadly Rave by Geese Howard. Sekkai can only be linked after the Dragon Install's Stagger, but can do tremendous damage. When the full move is performed - which requires precise timing on all parts of a 10-hit combo - Sol transforms into his true Gear form for the finishing blow. Also, his Tyrant Rave 'Omega' (different from the 'Beta' version of the common Sol) changes effect with the Charge Meter.

Order-Sol improved in Accent Core, with new Overdrives, longer range and a faster rate of charge that requires no timed button presses.

Thus far, he has only appeared as a playable character in Guilty Gear XX Slash and Guilty Gear XX Accent Core.

In addition to being playable, Holy Order-Sol has a "boss mode" version that appears as a final boss of Guilty Gear XX Slash's Arcade Mode. In this form, his speed and power are increased, and he gains a vastly improved form of the original Dragon Install. This move increases Sol's strength and speed even further and improves many of his special attacks for a limited period of time. While Dragon Install is active, Order-Sol constantly regenerates health, and his attack speed increases to the point where he can easily chain together Overdrive techniques.

Notes

a : Occasionally Sol will be depicted with different eye color, such as yellow on the cover for the North American PS2 release of Guilty Gear X2: The Midnight Carnival (the same art is used for the cover of the Japanese manual). This yellow color is also used in the intro animation to Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, in which Order-Sol's eye is flashed for a moment- it is golden in color and the pupil is slitted like a cat's. However, this is the exception to the norm, and his eyes are almost always reddish-brown. It is possible that the yellowish colors are in respect to his true Gear nature, as Justice also has yellow or golden 'cat's eyes', and her creation almost directly followed his own conversion as Frederick.

b : The Guilty Gear Bible states that his jacket is made of denim, but it is rarely drawn in a manner to resemble such.

c : A red brand tag with the word "Riot" can be seen on the back, right pocket of Sol's pants in the design sketches shown in Guilty Gear Bible. Instead of on a brand tag, the word "Riot" is shown on the back belt loop of his pants in Sol's 2nd story ending in Guilty Gear XX though. In Guilty Gear Judgement, the word "Riot" can be made out on his jacket . The back of Sol's vest, a patch on the back of his jeans, and a small red tag on the back pocket all say 'RIOT'. It is described as Sol's favorite brand of clothing, enough so that he appears to have named a move after it (Riot Stomp). Additionally, in art for Guilty Gear Judgement in which Sol appears to be wearing his longsleeved outfit (seen in the novel Lightning the Argent), Riot can be seen several times on the buckles of his gloves. With respect to Order-Sol, a promotional art for Guilty Gear XX SLASH shows him with a long black strap that bears a metal plate reading 'RIOT' upon it, as well as another plaque bearing the word on his glove. An ending of Order-Sol's in SLASH shows RIOT on the glove, as well.

References

• Guilty Gear X Drafting Artworks (in Japanese). Enterbrain. January 13, 2001. ISBN 4757703015. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Guilty Gear X2 Reload Characters and Their Moves. Majesco. March 2, 2006. p. 12. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |format= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help) (Obtained from here.)
• Guilty Gear Bible (in Japanese).

1. While some may argue that there is no main character or that Sol shares the status of main character with Ky, the Guilty Gear Bible calls Sol the 主人公, which translates as 'protagonist' or 'main character'.
   Guilty Gear Bible p.157
2. Narrator "Sol, the Guilty Gear, stared at his bloodstained hands and prayed..."/"...prayed for the soul of the grotesque sacrifice lying at his feet." (Arc System Works, Guilty Gear, English version (October 31, 1998), after Sol's battle with Justice)
3. Guilty Gear XX: The Midnight Carnival PS2 manual (in Japanese). Sammy. 2002. p. 23.
4. Note: Mr. Bad Guy was also the name of Freddie Mercury's solo album, but it appears that Sol was named in reference to it being Freddie's nickname instead.
   Guilty Gear X Drafting Artworks, p.5
5. Guilty Gear X Drafting Artworks, p.6

• American video game characters
• Fictional bounty hunters
• Fictional centenarians
• Guilty Gear characters