Gundam W Summary
Introduction
It's the year AC (After Colony) 195. Over the past century,
humanity has established a number of space colonies, giant
wheel-shaped constructs that are home to millions of people.
These colonies are grouped in clusters at the five LaGrange
points, areas of relative stability in Earth orbit.
Heero Yuy
For decades, while the Earth's surface was wracked by war and
civil strife, the peace and quiet of the space colonies presented
an attractive alternative for war-weary settlers. When the
terrestrial wars ended, a new world government was
established, an "Earth Sphere Alliance" committed to
bringing about peace through force of arms. In the name of
peace and justice, the Alliance seized control of the colonies.
To lobby the Earth's nations for autonomy, the space colonists
chose a man named Heero Yuy as their representative. The
charismatic Yuy united the colonies, and his message of
demilitarization and non-violence was well received by the
people of Earth. But when Yuy was assassinated in the year
AC 175, the colonists' hopes were crushed and the colonies
thrown into turmoil.
Tyranny of the Alliance
Under the pretext of restoring order to the colonies, the Alliance
staged a second military intervention, using humanoid fighting
machines called mobile suits to crush all opposition. The colonies
were placed under martial law, and all communication and
cooperation between colonies was prohibited. Even terrestrial
nations sympathetic to Heero Yuy's philosophies, like Europe's
pacifist Sanc Kingdom, were crushed by the Alliance's
overwhelming force.
Behind the scenes, the Alliance is being manipulated by the
Romefeller Foundation, the powerful industrial combine that
develops and manufactures its mobile suits. The Alliance's elite
mobile suit corps, the "Specials," is trained and staffed by the Romefeller Foundation. In fact, the Specials are nothing but a
front for OZ, a Romefeller subsidiary, which has been recast as
a secret society. Answerable only to the Romefeller Foundation,
OZ has infiltrated the highest levels of the Alliance military.
Operation Meteor
After two decades of oppression, a network of rebels based in
the space colonies decides to strike back at OZ and its puppet
Alliance. Resistance groups at each of the five-colony clusters
work independently on their part of Operation Meteor, each
retaining the services of one of the scientists who helped create
the first mobile suits. Using the super-strong armor material
Gundanium, the scientists construct advanced mobile suits called
"Gundams," entrust them to five highly trained, resourceful
young pilots, and dispatch them to Earth to wage guerilla war
against the Alliance.
Of the five Gundam pilots, the L5 colony cluster's Chang Wufei,
L4's Quatre Raberba Winner, L3's Trowa Barton and L2's Duo
Maxwell reach Earth without incident. But L1's Gundam pilot, a
grim youth codenamed Heero Yuy after the martyred colonial
leader, is intercepted by Specials ace pilot Zechs Merquise and
forced to temporarily ditch his Gundam at sea. Staggering
ashore, Heero encounters Relena Darlian, daughter of the
Alliance's foreign minister. Heero promises to kill her to conceal
his identity, but it soon becomes clear he can't bring himself to
carry out the threat.
Operation Daybreak
Terrified of the unstoppable Gundams, the Alliance generals
send Relena's father to open negotiations with the space
colonies. Specials leader Treize Khushrenada is determined to
thwart these peace overtures, and dispatches his trusted aide
Lady Une to sabotage the diplomatic mission. Relena's father is
assassinated by Lady Une and, with his dying breath, reveals
Relena's true identity - she is Relena Peacecraft, princess of the
Sanc Kingdom that was crushed by the Alliance thirteen years
ago. What she doesn't yet know is that her long-lost brother
Milliardo is in fact Specials ace Zechs Merquise.
The Alliance generals meet and decide to make peace with the
colonies. When the Gundam pilots attack the meeting, cunning
Treize evacuates the peace-minded generals in an OZ shuttle,
making them irresistible targets. With the Alliance's leaders
slain, OZ discards the "Specials" moniker and seizes power
under its own name, launching Operation Daybreak to wipe out
all resistance from the Alliance's terrestrial forces. The coup
serves a more private purpose for Zechs, the erstwhile Milliardo
Peacecraft, as he avenges his father's death by slaying the
Alliance general who conquered the Sanc Kingdom.
Self-Destruction
With Earth under its complete control, OZ readies for the
conquest of the space colonies. For this purpose the Romefeller
Foundation has developed unmanned, computer-controlled
mobile suits called "mobile dolls," faster and more lethal than any
human pilot. Ordered to prevent these new weapons from being
sent into space, the Gundam pilots find they've been lured into a
trap when Lady Une orders them to surrender or witness the
destruction of defenseless space colonies. Breaking off a duel
with Zechs, Heero defiantly self-destructs his Gundam and buys
enough time for Treize to overrule Lady Une's unsportsman like
plan. The mobile dolls are delivered on schedule, as Trowa
carries Heero's battered body to safety.
Compelled by honor, Zechs rebuilds Heero's ruined Gundam,
then tracks down the wandering Gundam pilot and challenges
him to a rematch at a remote Antarctic base. Zechs' activities
do not escape the attention of the Romefeller Foundation, which
dispatches a small army to the Antarctic to eliminate the rogue
ace. Holding off the Foundation's hit squad, Zechs allows Heero
and Trowa to escape.
The space colonies
The five Gundam pilots hijack shuttles and launch into space to
defend their home colonies. But OZ uses its dreaded mobile
dolls against the Alliance occupation forces, rather than the
colonies themselves. After twenty years of the Alliance's
tyranny, the colonies are easily persuaded to welcome OZ as a
liberator. Submitting to OZ's benevolent guidance, the colonies
begin arming themselves - thus funneling more money into the
Romefeller Foundation's coffers - and brand the Gundam pilots
who fought on the their behalf as troublemakers and
subversives.
Manifesting an unexpected split personality, Lady Une becomes
OZ's saintly emissary to the colonies. In her more familiar
persona, she orders the capture of the five scientists who
created the Gundams, and has them brought to OZ's lunar base
to develop new mobile suits under her supervision. Infiltrating
OZ's ranks, Trowa is teamed up with the captured Heero; the
pair are put to work as test pilots to gather data on the new
mobile suits.
In their first combat foray, Heero and Trowa intercept Zechs
Merquise as he launches into Earth orbit. Claiming to be an
ambassador from the non-existent Sanc Kingdom, Zechs has
come to make a goodwill tour of the space colonies and urge
them to reject OZ's militarism. While he begins his diplomatic
tour, Duo and Wufei also attempt to attack OZ's lunar base and
are captured in turn. All this is according to the plan of the five
scientists, who have gathered all but one of their Gundam pilots
while secretly using OZ's resources to rebuild Duo's and
Wufei's ravaged Gundams. But one Gundam pilot remains
unaccounted for...
The Gundam called Zero
Quatre has returned to his family's factory asteroid. Here, he
sees his pacifist father's civilian employees pledge their
allegiance to OZ, killing father Winner in the process.
Temporarily unhinged by this traumatic experience, Quatre digs
up the blueprints of the ancestor of all the Gundams - the
never-completed, hideously destructive Wing Gundam Zero -
and begins a one-man war against OZ. But the Wing Gundam
Zero's brainwave control system turns out to have mind-warping
side effects. Sliding into madness under the "Zero System's"
influence, Quatre extrapolates his father's pacifism into a
mandate to punish the colonies for subscribing to OZ's
militarism.
Lady Une dispatches Heero and Trowa to stop Quatre's
rampage. In the course of the battle, Trowa sacrifices himself to
save Heero; Quatre is shocked back into sanity, and returns
with Heero to OZ's lunar base. But while they were away, the
political situation has taken a turn for the bizarre.
Operation Nova
To protest the Romefeller Foundation's plans - in particular, its
increasing use of mobile dolls, which he considers dishonorable -
Treize resigns his position as OZ's leader. OZ promptly splits
into two factions, one loyal to the Foundation and another
following Treize. The Romefeller faction takes over OZ's lunar
base. Lady Une is shot, but not before saving Duo, Wufei and
the five scientists from termination at the Romefeller faction's
hands. Heero and Quatre, finding themselves caught in the
middle of OZ's civil war, abandon the madness-inducing Wing
Gundam Zero and flee to Earth.
In order to eliminate the Treize faction, the Romefeller
Foundation launches Operation Nova, a massive invasion of
Earth using new mobile dolls based on the work of the five
scientists. Zechs attempts to intercept the Foundation's forces,
but he is just one man against legions.
Rise and Fall of the Sanc Kingdom
On Earth, Heero and Quatre find their way to the Sanc
Kingdom, resurrected under the leadership of Relena
Peacecraft and dedicated to the principle of total pacifism.
Accepting Relena's invitation, they soon find themselves busy
fending off the Romefeller Foundation's incursions. They must
also contend with the devious and conflict-loving Dorothy
Catalonia, an "exchange student" from the Romefeller
Foundation. Ostensibly there to study Relena's pacifist
philosophies, Dorothy is actually the eyes and ears of her
grandfather Duke Dermail, leader of the Romefeller Foundation.
The Foundation concludes Operation Nova with a massive
assault on Treize's headquarters in Luxembourg. Heero arrives
at Luxembourg just as Treize's forces collapse, and the former
OZ leader gives him a dubious gift - the mysterious Gundam
Epyon, equipped with its own Zero System. Meanwhile, in
space, the Romefeller faction attempts to lure Zechs to his death
by using the Wing Gundam Zero as bait. The trap fails, instead
giving the rebel ace a sorely-needed hardware upgrade.
Relena, Queen of the World
With the Treize faction defeated, the Romefeller Foundation
turns its attention to the pacifistic Sanc Kingdom. Heero, Quatre
and the other defenders fight fiercely, but Relena surrenders
rather than see her kingdom turned to rubble. Heero, driven to a
berserker frenzy by the Gundam Epyon's Zero System, fights on
until Zechs arrives from space, too late to save his family's
kingdom from a second conquest. Zechs and Heero duel each
other until they collapse, trade Gundams, then gather their Zero
System-addled wits and fight their way to freedom.
Now a captive of the Romefeller Foundation, Relena receives a
surprising offer from Duke Dermail. To legitimize its conquest,
the Foundation plans to declare the establishment of the "World
Nation," and Queen Relena Peacecraft would make an excellent
figurehead. Relena accepts, and then readies her address to the
Romefeller Foundation's members. Amazingly, her appeal to the
assembled executives - that, with total power now in their hands,
they can afford to be magnanimous and strive for peace, justice
and enlightened coexistence between Earth and the space
colonies - is enthusiastically accepted. The Romefeller
Foundation's members pledge to reject Dermail's empire-building
and become good guys.
The Artemis Revolution
Just as the Romefeller Foundation dedicates itself to peace and
justice, a new faction enters the fray. Masterminded by the
wizened, enigmatic Quinze - the man behind Operation Meteor -
rebellious OZ members and colonial resistance fighters form a
militia group called "White Fang," dedicated to total
independence for the space colonies. In short order White Fang
occupies the lunar base, captures its mobile doll production
facilities, and seizes the Foundation's ultimate weapon, the
nearly-complete space fortress Libra.
Just as the Romefeller Foundation sought a figurehead, so too
does White Fang. Quinze recruits Zechs Merquise as White
Fang's token leader, and he proves to be just as difficult to
control as his sister. In a worldwide broadcast, Zechs declares
that, since Earth and the space colonies can never peacefully
coexist, he will destroy Earth. As Zechs declares his intentions,
the Romefeller Foundation's hapless Duke Dermail, attempting
to reassert his leadership by personally leading an offensive to
recapture Libra, is vaporized by White Fang's forces.
With the magnitude of the White Fang threat now apparent, the
Romefeller Foundation's members are panic-stricken. Taking
advantage of their abject terror, Treize stages a coup d'etat and
seizes control of the World Nation. The deposed Relena leaves
for space with the intention of talking some sense into her
brother. Dorothy follows suit, with quite the opposite intention.
The Gundam Team
While all this frantic realignment is going on, Quatre and the
Sanc Kingdom's other defenders have returned to space. They
discover that Trowa is still alive, albeit temporarily amnesiac,
and convince Duo to join their ranks.
Wufei, meanwhile, has seen his home colony destroyed and
launched into a suicidal rampage. In the depths of his despair he
encounters Heero, and the mind-warping effects of the Wing
Gundam Zero's control system actually serve to straighten out
his tormented mind and reveal the solution to the current crisis:
Both Treize and Zechs must be eliminated for the sake of world
peace. Soon all five Gundam pilots are gathered at the space
fortress Peacemillion, ready to intervene in the escalating
conflict.
Space Fortress Libra
As Treize begins fighting back against White Fang, Zechs
employs his ultimate weapon, blasting Earth with Libra's
powerful main gun despite Relena's attempted intervention. The
Gundam Team attempt to fight their way through White Fang's
legions of mobile dolls to Libra itself, but Zechs holds them back
by adapting the Gundam Epyon's Zero System into a remote
control system through which Dorothy can coordinate mass
quantities of mobile dolls.
Treize gathers the entire forces of the World Nation for an
all-out assault on Libra. Before sending his soldiers to their
doom, he attempts to resolve the situation by challenging Zechs
to a one-on-one duel, but the no longer honor-obsessed Zechs
responds by blasting him with Libra's main gun. Though Treize
is prepared to let Zechs kill him, the comatose Lady Une
awakens just in time to race to the scene and shove Treize out
of the way of the lethal beam. With no other option, Treize
orders the World Nation into a hopeless battle against White
Fang's hordes of mobile dolls.
War's End
As the battle rages, the Gundam Team's allies physically ram
Libra with the space fortress Peacemillion. The collision
destroys Libra's main gun, but since its engines are still intact,
Zechs orders Quinze to set Libra in motion toward Earth and
thus create an impact large enough to render the planet
uninhabitable. Breaking into the damaged Libra, the Gundam
Team destroy the mobile doll control system and locate the five
scientists.
Treize is killed in mortal combat with Wufei, whereupon Lady
Une promptly declares the surrender of the World Nation. But
though the war is over, Zechs is still determined to carry out his
threat to destroy Earth, and Libra's descent continues.
The Final Battle
Now Zechs has one last loose end to attend to - his long-delayed
showdown with Heero. The two rivals fight on and on
throughout Libra's crumbling innards, while Lady Une has their
pointless duel broadcast worldwide as a case study in the futility
of war and hatred.
The five scientists attempt to use Peacemillion's engines to
reverse Libra's course. Quinze, appearing too late to stop them,
disappears along with the scientists in the explosion of
Peacemillion's engines. Though the gambit is successful, a large
fragment of Libra snaps off and continues its inexorable
descent.
Now it's up to Heero. Dealing a crippling blow to Zechs'
Gundam Epyon, he proceeds to the main engine of the remaining
Libra fragment but discovers he's used up all his ammunition.
Just as Heero is about to self-destruct in a desperate attempt to
destroy the engine, Zechs appears and takes it out for him,
promising they'll meet again as he's enveloped by the blast. As
the falling hulk enters Earth's atmosphere, Heero recovers the
Wing Gundam Zero's mighty rifle and demolishes the last
fragment of Libra with one final, desperate shot.
Conclusion
With Zechs and Treize out of the picture, peace is indeed at
hand. Representatives of the space colonies make peace with
the World Nation, establishing the Earth Sphere Unified Nation.
Relena and Lady Une take their places in the new world order
and devote their energies to serving humanity, while the Gundam
pilots quietly retire.. For now.
-- Mark Simmons
FROM: THE GUNDAM PROJECT
Email: OutlawStar117@aol.com