Naria (Legend of the Kikoutei):


Straddling between the black and white worlds of the armors with mournful eyes, is Naria, the high priestess to the Tauragi and the Kuroi Kikoutei, the Black Armor. It is said that Naria is the Jewel of Life personified, and indeed, she is a young woman of deep spiritual strength.

It is Naria who has the inner strength to be the first see through the armors' betrayal, as protectors from evil, into their true violent natures and not be influenced by them. Its true that Shin sees that "something's wrong", but its Naria that understands that its is the armors' doings and initially clues the Troopers that the armors mustn't fight, least they bring about the destruction of the known universe.

To avoid this calamity, she directly confronts Mukara, the man she loves and the wearer of the Kuroi Kikoutei, and the laws of her people, by helping Ryo and Seiji escape, accepting the risk of becoming a criminal herself. Already heart-brokened from seeing Mukara consumed by the power of the Black Armor, this act against him and the Tauragi creates a deep, personal anguish within her. But instead of giving in to it, Naria goes "beyond her sorrow", knowing that the world, and all she knows and loves, is at stake. With only the Troopers, Nasutei and Jun for support, she strains her personal limits to convince both Mukara and her village that they are all being used by the armors.

And considering that the Black Armor is the symbol and the center of the Tauragi religious beliefs, Naria, once their high priestess, a woman of respect and position and a leader in her tribe, essentially has become something like a "heretic". In fact, she herself becomes a prisoner and an outcast. Finally, just when it seems that Mukara is completely lost to the influence of the Kikoutei, it is Naria's love, and the sacrifice of her life between the inevitable battle of both armors that finally causes Mukara to "wake up" from under the Black Armor's control.

This gives the Troopers their needed break to extend their hearts and minds, along with the now "awakened" Mukara, to subdue and ultimately destroy the out of control Kuroi Kikoutei, along with the Shiroi Kikoutei, without taking out the rest of the universe. Of course Naria was "revived" by the last bit of power from the armors at the end, the armors proving themselves to be instruments of good as well as of evil.

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