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Neese (ニース, nīsu), nicknamed Little Neese (小ニース, ko nīsu), is the daughter of Slayn and Leylia and granddaughter of Neese, the elder. Little Neese received the incarnation of Naneel, the high priestess of the dark god Kardis, from her mother’s bloodline. This made Little Neese the “Doorway”; one of three keys to resurrect Kardis. During the War of the Destroyer’s Resurrection Wagnard abducts Neese for this purpose and her friends, led by Spark, head to Marmo to save her.

Appearance[]

Neese is described in the 1991 novel The Holy Knight of Lodoss 1 as having “beautiful black hair,”[1] like her mother, Leylia. On the original cover of that novel, however, Neese is depicted with long light blue hair. On the cover of the 2014 re-release of the same novel, with a new cover design, Neese is depicted with purple hair. The 2014 cover was illustrated by South Korean artist Kim Dong-hyuk, who may have been inspired by Neese's design from the 1998 tv series, in which she also has purple hair.

In the original volume of the first Record of Lodoss War Next Generation novel, Neese is again depicted with blue hair on the intertitle page, but on the character presentation page, she is depicted with purple hair. When Haruhiko Mikimoto became the main illustrator for the Next Generation novels, the colour of Neese's hair was depicted variously, including blue, purple and green.

In the Chronicles of the Heroic Knight manga, the first volume depicts Neese with light blue hair (and Spark with brown hair, just like in the novel). From the second volume onwards, Neese's hair is consistently coloured purple (and Spark's hair colour goes from brown to blue). While Spark's colour is brown again in the final volume, Neese's remains purple.

History[]

 Little Neese’s history begins 460 years before she was born with Naneel, the High Priestess of Kardis. Naneel led a cult in Alania and terrorized the nation with human sacrifices and her fundamentalism. People were subdued by their fear of the cult, which in turn, allowed Naneel to do whatever she pleased. The citizens tried to ignore the cult, doing what was asked of them and no more, trying to put it out of their lives the best they could. They lived with it; it was all they could do. This tyranny reined for fifty years.

 However, when a young Kadomos gained power in Alania, he challenged the cult’s authority. There was battle, but he rallied his people and drove Naneel out. Afterward, he inaugurated Alania as a nation and became the first king.

 Naneel died not long after, but she wouldn’t allow defeat. She was determined to resurrect her goddess and her followers had devised a way. Naneel was reincarnated into a girl child to await when she was needed again.

 To resurrect Kardis, they would need two relics of Kastuul, the Soul Crystal Ball that could bring back the dead, and the Staff of Life that could heal any wound. And the Doorway. The girl whom Naneel had reincarnated herself into, given the girl was still pure, a virgin. When Naneel was reawakened within this body, she could complete the ceremony and resurrect Kardis.

 Naneel was eventually incarnated into Leylia, who was abandoned by her parents. The priestess Neese found her and adopted Leylia as her own daughter to protect her from her curse.

 Leylia became a skilled priestess and was happy in her life. Yet, Neese wasn’t the only one who knew of Leylia’s curse. The sorceress Karla was aware of who slept within Leylia and she intended to protect the girl and Lodoss in her own way. When Leylia was seventeen, Karla kidnapped her and placed her circlet on the girl’s head, transferring her soul into Leylia.

 For seven years, Karla lived using Leylia’s body, which she intended to keep until Leylia grew to old to be of use. She started the War of Heroes, pitting the two most powerful men in Lodoss, Beld and Fahn, against each other. After both kings were killed and the War ended, six new heroes found Karla and fought her for Leylia. Parn, Deedlit, Slayn, Etoh, Ghim and Woodchuck. Ghim, an old friend of Leylia’s, sacrificed himself to save her, he knocked the circlet of her head and freed her from Karla. Karla then took possession of Woodchuck and escaped.

 Later, Leylia married the sorcerer Slayn and settled down in Zaxon with him. Born to them not more than a year after their marriage, was Neese, named for her grandmother and nicknamed “Little” Neese. Now Leylia was no longer pure, so Naneel moved into Little Neese. Neese was raised to become a priestess like her mother and grandmother before her. Little Neese was hailed as the reincarnation of Marfa by the people of Tarba, and soon by all of Alania, but she was also the reincarnation of Naneel. Little Neese and Leylia however, knew nothing of Naneel’s curse until Neese’s death. On her deathbed, Neese told Slayn of the curse afflicting his wife and daughter. It seemed the only way now to end the curse was to confront Naneel. And the only one who could do that was Little Neese.

 The next year, Slayn brought his family to Blade, Flaim. During a ball for newly raised knights, a squire, Spark, encountered five dark elves breaking into the Royal Treasure House, he tried to stop them, but the elves made off with the Soul Crystal Ball which had been kept there since the defeat of Shooting Star.

 Little Neese was aware of the connection now between herself and the relic and felt that she had to retrieve it or confront Naneel. Either way, it meant she had to leave. The next day, Spark was sent out with a small party, a half-elf mercenary Leaf, human mercenary Garrack, sorcerer Aldonova and dwarven priest of Myrii Greevus. Little Neese followed them in secret. That night, the party stopped to rest in a military fortress where they met Ryna, whom they believed was a mercenary. She and her lover had been attacked by the dark elves Spark was looking for and her lover was badly hurt. When Grievas attempted to heal the man’s wound that was created by an embedded crystal, he inadvertently activated a spell that turned the man’s body into a hydra.

 After the monster nearly destroyed the fort, Little Neese came in with her powerful holy magic and destroyed the monster. Aldonova, who was a student of Slayn’s, was determined to take Little Neese home to her parents, but Little Neese refused to leave. Instead, she was allowed to accompany them and Aldonova vowed to protect her.

 The group slowly learned of situation, that the dark elves had been employed by Wagnard and of Little Neese’s destiny. Also, Little Neese and Spark grew closer as well. They lost the trail of the Soul Crystal Ball and continued onto Roid to deliver a letter to King Etoh. Little Neese also intended to make sure the Staff of Life was well guarded. However, during the night, the Temple was attacked and the Staff of Life stolen. Wagnard attempted to take Little Neese as well, but was thwarted by the group’s efforts.

Wagnard and Little Neese (Yutaka Izubuchi)

Wagnard with Little Neese

 Their mission a failure, the group traveled to Kanon to meet up with Deedlit and Parn and the Kanon Free Army. While enjoying a banquet, Spark and Little Neese went aside to talk. In the intimate setting—the cool spring night air, moonlight...—Spark leaned forward to kiss Little Neese, and the moment was shattered by Wagnard. More powerful than before and without dealing with the sorcerers and priests, he subdued Spark and succeeded in stealing Little Neese.

 When Spark came to Conquera to save Little Neese, he already found the ceremony in it’s beginning. Wagnard succeeded in awakening Naneel within Little Neese before Spark killed him. Naneel then took over and called to her goddess. Kardis rose and death rained upon Lodoss. Little Neese fought Naneel with all her strength, but it proved too much for her. Instead, she gave in to the priestess, and by doing so, saved Lodoss. Through her act of acceptance, Marfa was reborn through her and sealed away Kardis for eternity, as Naneel was sealed away in Little Neese.

 Marmo was now cleansed and it’s human inhabitants gone, the former dark island was claimed as a duchy of Flaim and Spark was named it’s duke. Neese and Spark were soon engaged and married not long afterwards.

Gallery[]

  1. Mizuno, R. Record of Lodoss War: The Holy Knight of Lodoss 1, page 36 (fan translation).
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