Record of Lodoss War ( Japanese: ロードス島戦記 Lodoss–tō Senki) is a popular anime OAV and manga series. The manga is published in English by CPM Manga. This manga/anime/game title is Japan's answer to Tolkien. It is widely popular in Japan although not as spectacular as other more famous anime.
It follows the conventions and structures of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and follows a party of several main characters on a quest to preserve the "cursed island" of Lodoss. These characters conform to the basic character types of the original Dungeons & Dragons game as writers had originally played this game using Dungeons & Dragons but the copyright problem prevented them from publishing the original record of the game. The writers eventually came up with an improvised version with enough originalities to avoid the problem and this would eventually be sold under same title as a role-playing game. This caused number of flaws in the story line as characters had acted quite strangely if compared with the way they could have acted under the new rule.
Characters
Parn: Fighter (Paladin). Parn is the main character of the series; a Holy Knight of Lodoss and the son of Tessius, a disbarred Holy Knight. Parn wears his father's armor and carries his father's sword. Parn is an impulsive and angry youth at the start of the series, but grows in age and experience, becoming more mature and wiser.
Etoh: Cleric. Etoh is a priest of Falis, the supreme god of the Lodoss world. Etoh fights with a sceptre-like mace. His mature wisdom provides a cool contrast to Parn's hotheaded aggressiveness.
Slayn: Magic User. Slayn is a young wizard whose practice as a country wise man is interrupted by his friend, Ghim the dwarf. He focuses his magical powers through his staff.
Deedlit: Elf. Deedlit, or "Deed," is the youngest of her clan of Silvan Elves, and a skilled magic user and fighter. Deed fights with a rapier.
Ghim: Dwarf. Ghim is questing to save the daughter of his lover, the high priestess Neese. His weapon is a broad, double-bladed axe. Ghim bickers frequently with Deedlit and belittles Parn's fighting skills, but he is a strong and loyal warrior in a fight.
Woodchuck: Thief. Wood was saved from a fate of languishing in a prison by Parn's kindness, and because of this, the honorable thief feels he owes a debt of gratitude to the young warrior. He carries a long fighting knife.
The party is opposed by Karla the Grey Witch, a powerful and mysterious woman whose goals are known only to herself and by Ashram, a black knight.
Later in the series, Ghim is killed by Karla the Grey Witch and replaced by Leylia, another Cleric (Leylia, the daughter of Ghim's lover, Neese, had been possessed by Karla for five years and was freed by Ghim and Slayn). Meanwhile, Parn and Deedlit befriend two new characters (who incidentally represent character classes from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, rather than the basic version of the game):
Shiris: Shiris, like Parn, is a Fighter. Like Deedlit, she uses a rapier as her primary weapon.
Orson: Orson is a Barbarian whose special ability is a nearly unstoppable berserker rage in which he cannot tell friend from foe. He uses a massive greatsword as his weapon.
Significant locations/entities
Kardis: Dark goddess, also called the destroyer. At the beginning of time she battled Marfa, and the resulting cataclysm formed the island of Lodoss, called the Cursed Island.
Leylia: In the original OAV and manga, she was the host body of the Gray Witch. It was Ghim's quest to free her, and he did so, but died in the attempt. In the second series, she is a priestess of Marfa, and is married to Slayn and has a daughter, Neese.
Lodoss: An island upon which most of the action takes place. Maps can be found either online at fansites, or in the soundtrack leaflets.
Marmo: A dark island north of the island of Lodoss. Generally, most of the villains live there, including Beld, the Lord there until his death; Ashram, his lieutenant that succeeds him; and Wagnard, an evil priest of the dark goddess Kardis.
Pirotess: Female dark elf who serves Ashram, dark warlord of Marmo. Although it seems that he has no real emotions toward her, she loves him. She appears to be killed late in the first series, but (in a possible rewrite of history) is brought back for the second series.
Wagnard: He is an evil priest that seeks to raise the dark goddess Kardis, also called the destroyer. In the first series, he seeks to do this by sacrificing the elf, Deedlit, and is thwarted by Parn. In the second series, he tries summon Kardis into the body of Neese, a young priestess of Marfa, daughter to Leylia and Slayn, and is thwarted by Spark, a young knight trainee of Flame, and his party of misfits, which includes Parn and Deedlit from the first series.
