Noblesse

     Noblesse is an online manhwa written by Son Jae Ho and illustrated by Lee Gwang Su. Noblesse is about a powerful, noble vampire - Cadis Etrama Di Raizel (also called Rai) - who has been asleep for 820 years with no knowledge of mankind's advancement and scientific successes. He has recently woken up in an abandoned building in South Korea, and is starting to get used to the modern world. He goes to a school where he meets his loyal servant Frankenstein. With Frankenstein's help, Rai enrolls into Ye Ran high school, and inadvertently befriended Shinwoo - an athletic teenager, Ik-Han - a computer geek, Yuuna, Shinwoo's crush, and a few others. Noblesse follows the group's often dangerous adventures against a secret organization while uncovering Rai's past. This Webtoon Manhwa started on the 30th December of 2007 and is still publishing.

Main Characters

Cadis Etrama Di Raizel (a.k.a Rai)

     Rai is a very noble, elegant, and mysterious Noblesse. He has no knowledge whatsoever of the 21st century, and will often become lost and confused especially with regards to modern day technology (such as using a cell phone). He is often used as the manhwa's comic relief with his love of ramen and the errors he makes with technology. He has fallen into a deep slumber for 820 years, and had woken up in an abandoned building in South Korea. After seeing what most of the humans on the streets were wearing, Rai took on the uniform of a student from Ye Ran High School, which is under the administration of Frankenstein, and inadvertently followed the students there. He currently resides with Frankenstein. He is shown to be extremely powerful with the ability of mind control, along with a technique called "Blood Field". Although he seems cold and apathetic on the outside, Rai has shown compassion towards human beings, though it is not known whether this is due to actual compassion or out of pride (an explanation of the past pointed towards pride for the Noblesse in general, but not Rai specifically). Rai is extremely handsome who possesses a youthful appearance, scarlet-red eyes (a common trait among pure-blooded Noblesse), beautiful jet black hair and a quiet disposition and he is usually seen wearing the Ye Ran High School uniform and a silver cross earring on his left ear (later revealed to be a gift from the previous Lord and an item that seals away the majority of his power). Right now if Rai uses his powers extensively, he suffers of a form of uneasiness because of his long sleep that caused the weakening of his body, as seen after the battle with the D-5, and also if Rai says that it is nothing to worry about, Frankenstein knows that his master needs time to fully recover his old strength. However, as said by Regis, even in his current state Rai possesses an enormous power comparable if not superior to that of the current Lord. During the confrontation between him and the Lady Lord Princess, Rai has shown superiority over the lord. Unleashing blood field without any effort. As what Gejutel said, Rai does not possess a soul weapon, his soul weapon does not materialize. It was revealed that his blood and soul is his soul weapon. In recent chapters it has been discovered that he is the "True Noblesse" Note:he is the only noblesse and other are "Nobles". In their society there are two beings who hold high esteem. One is the lord who rules with authority and one is the noblesse who is the symbol of power. It was latter revealed that the previous lord left his soul weapon in the shrine of Raizel as a gift(although Rai cannot use ragnarok because he is not blood related to the previous lord). Rai is shown to have relinquished his ownership over the Ragnarok so that the current lord can complete her soul weapon Ragnarok. It is recently implied by Frankenstein and Gejutel that Rai's physical condition seems to be worsening due to his clash with the Lord.

Frankenstein

     Frankenstein is Rai's devoted servant. He supports Rai whole-heartedly and calls him "Master". He had tried searching for his master after Rai disappeared and eventually went into seclusion to search for Rai privately. Frankenstein is the principal/director of Ye Ran High School. He was stunned to find Rai in his school office after Rai had woken up and assumed the uniform of the school's students. Frankenstein is also immensely powerful, When he caused a disturbance in the world, the previous Lord sent two clan leaders (the Kertia and Langdregre clan leaders) to capture him and it is stated that he has power equal to that of a clan leader and is the only human to be acknowledged by the previous Lord, later however his powers had been sealed away by Rai. Frankenstein is a very cheerful person, but becomes quite serious and calculating when the situation calls for it, although during battles Frankenstein has shown somewhat of a sadistic side. He is also extremely organized and loathes messiness (especially in his house). Like Rai, he is also very compassionate towards human beings, especially the students in his school. Frankenstein was an impressive scientist, who had researched human modification . All the research done was recorded down in his diaries, however it is now in the possession of Dr. Crombel and the organization. His research is responsible for the advances the humans made with modification. He was also very familiar with the previous lord, whom he calls "old bugger." In chapter 190 it is revealed that Frankenstein is actually a human; most likely he experimented upon himself to attain the strength that he has now, including the possession of the Dark Spear.

Han Shinwoo

     Shinwoo is an energetic and athletic teenager with bright red hair. He is always seen with a bandage over the bridge of his nose. He is well-known within the city to be skilled in martial arts and feared by gangs. Shinwoo is often shown sleeping (and drooling) in class and slacking off. Though he is shown as a lazy student, he is also very courageous and would protect his friends at all costs.

 Woo Ik-Han

     Ik-Han is Shinwoo and Yuna's childhood friend. He is extremely skilled in technology, especially computers and games. He has been shown in the series to be a highly skilled hacker. Ik-Han has short brown hair and glasses and is 157 cm (5.15 ft) tall. He has revealed to feel a height complex, being so short, but has found some comfort in meeting Regis, who is about the same height.

Suh Yuna

     Yuna is Shinwoo and Ik-Han's childhood friend. It was implied in the beginning of the series that Yuna is the target of Shinwoo's crush and was first targeted by the man M-24 infected. Yuna is a friendly, ordinary and sensible young woman, demonstrably more level-headed than her friends, who tends to sedately sit out, be amused by and often remind them of the mundane reality behind their dramatics. When she and Rai are introduced to video games, she apparently is quite competent despite it being her first try. It has been hinted that she has a crush on M-21 after he becomes a guard at her high school.

Yim Suyi

     Suyi is a pretty popular pop idol whom is also studying at Ye Ran High School. She first appeared in chapter 94 of the series; she returned to school after doing her concert. Suyi is also Ik-Han,Shinwoo and Yuna's friend and was always shown hanging out with the group. She later joined Shinwoo and the others in visiting Frankenstein's house regularly.

Nobles

     Nobles are a race of noble, elegant and powerful people that guard humans against predators since the beginning of time, due to their inability to ignore the slaughter of the weak, helpless humans. "Noblesse" was given to only one person (Rai) but its meaning has now spread to include other noble and powerful peoples that follow the same code of honor. Nobles also all seem to share a common power of mind control and crimson red eyes. Noblesse, in this series, came from these two words called "Noblesse Oblige". People from Union have thought the Noblesse to be beings at the top of the race of the vampires. It is later known that vampires are created through Nobles consumption of human blood.

Regis K. Landegre

     Regis is a Noble, like Rai, Gejutel and Seira. Regis cares greatly about elegance and judges everyone by their amount of elegance. He has brushed back short silver hair with black stripes, and is often seen with Seira J. Roiard. Regis has an extremely haughty attitude and initially looked down on the modified humans allied with Frankenstein. He follows the Noble's code of honor and does his best at all times to protect the humans from harm. Is often shown that Regis truly respect Rai, and finds him more elegant than anyone.It is mentioned that he is 199 years old.

Seira J. Loyard

     Seira is a Noble, like Gejutel, Regis. She uses a "Death Scythe" as her weapon and as Frankenstein notes, the myths of Death carrying a scythe stems from this. This weapon also proves her position as the head of the House of Roidard. Seira is rather quiet and shy, and blushes when complimented. She has long silver hair and often accompanies Regis K. Landegre. She learns to cook very rapidly and soon comes to make the meals in Frankenstein's house, with the exception of ramen which is Frankenstein's project for his Master. It is mentioned she is 217 years old. It is also rumored that she might have a crush on Han Shinwoo.

Gejutel K. Landegre

     Gejutel K. Landegre is a Noblesse who appeared shortly after the remaining members of DA-5 were placed under Rai's protection. He is known to have a tense relationship with Frankenstein. He was sent by the Lord to find out where Seira and Regis were staying. He is called Gaju-Nim by Regis and Seira. He later tells Seira and Regis not to trust Frankestein, but they are allowed to trust Rai. It is revealed that he knows who Rai is. After Rai went into his sleep, Frankenstein went back into hiding, and talked to Gejutel about this. In the latest arc Gejutel has lied to the Lord to keep Rai and Frankenstein's identity hidden. However, Rael lets it out that he has confronted unknown people with power. Gejutel is then accused of treachery by the Lord for choosing to remain silent in front of the Lord. Consequently the Lord has sentenced Gejutel to a forced eternal sleep after stripping him of his title. Despite this, he still receives the utmost respect from all the clan leaders, even Rajak, though he doesn't show it much. After much resistence, Gejutel has told the Lord that it is Rai who has returned. Also, he is the one who reveals that Frankenstein is apparently human and Rai the "True Noblesse". However, it is shown that his execution is interrupted from the arrival of Rai so now his fate is uncertain. 

 The Lord

     The Lord previously known as Raskreia (as once a Noble succeeds the position of lord they lose their individuality) is a female "Noble" who is the leader of the current "Noble" society. There appears to be customs that bind The Lord's political power, but she seems powerful enough to set new precedence if she desires it. Rai is at least knowledgeable of this individual. She is apparently blood-related to the previous Lord and loathes Rai, claiming that he was the one who led the betrayal against the former Lord. She was prepared to sentence Gejutel to eternal sleep under pretext of treason. However after facing Rai and receiving "Ragnarok" from him (as the previous lord left him an incomplete Ragnarok) discovered That Rai has been asleep for 820 years. It is soon revealed by the previous Lord's message that the mass betrayal was a cover up for the Elders and Previous Lord to undergo eternal sleep and free the young generation of their duty as "Nobles". The Lord felt great disappointment that all this time as she thought the previous Lord did not acknowledge her rather waited for Rai though it is revealed that the Previous Lord did not want his daughter to live the life of a Lord as it is a huge burden for her. After deciding she is not ready to complete Ragnarok revealed another message of the Previous Lord containing advice for his daughter saying to be careful with boys and that he believes she will be fine giving her feelings closure towards the Previous Lord.

Rajak Kertia

     Rajak Kertia is the present Kertia clan leader. He is also the older brother of Rael. It seemed that was unknown to Rajak that his younger brother was secretly given a soul weapon too. But on his way to capture the so called traitor on the Lord's orders, he catches sight of Rael holding a soul weapon. Later, it was revealed that Rajak knew about Grandia, Rael's soul weapon.

Rael Kertia

     Rael is the ambitious younger brother of Rajak Kertia. Rael and Rajak's father allowed a portion of his soul weapon to be inherited by Rael despite not being the head of House of Kertia. Rael can manifest this imperfect soul weapon as a pair of daggers named "Grandia." Rael had attempted to usurp House of Roiard in the past via a marriage proposal to Seira. When rebuffed by Seira, Rael went into a destructive rage. He was imprisoned for 10 years for this transgression. He fought against Frankenstein with his Soul weapon because of Frankenstein's overwhelming strength.

The Previous Lord

     The previous Lord went to eternal sleep after Rai went missing. Gejutel R. Landegre said to Rai that he had wished to see him one last time but he was nowhere to be found. He gave Rai a gift, two silver crosses, one of which Rai wears as an earring. Its twin is located in Rai's abandoned mansion, which he eventually retrieves. He seemed quite keen on making Rai the next Lord, which Rai would constantly decline. He hid his soul weapon "Ragnarok" in a temple inside Rai's mansion (the temple's use is for Rai's hibernation). Rai's said: "The Lord has left a troublesome thing behind". The lord's soul weapon, in the shape of a beautiful decorated sword, is supposed to be so powerful that humans see it as the end of the world. From what little is shown of his personality, the Lord seemed to have had an easy going personality, at least compared the current Lord. It is revealed that the previous Lord along with the previous clan leaders voluntarily entered Eternal sleep to free the next generation of their duty as Nobles and live their lives as they wish. The previous lord believed that it was the time the Nobles to change and leave it to the next generation. It is shown that he cares a great deal for his daughter (the current Lord) not wanting her to take the mantle of Lord due to the heavy burden it carries and gave her a personal message giving her typical fatherly advice on boys and acknowledging that she will be fine as Lord. The previous Lord left an incomplete Ragnarok to Rai simply because he wanted Rai to become the Lord rather than carrying his role as Noblesse as the fate and burden of being the Noblesse is much greater when compared to being the Lord.

Modified Humans/Experiments

     Modified humans are humans who were experimented on by the Union in order to gain more power, usually without their consent. Successful experiments are usually much more powerful and stable than the failed experiments; failed experiments are often disposed of. Failed experiments are usually the first human beings that were tested on; thus the technology used on them isn't as advanced as the type used on the later, more successful experiments. These modified humans are shown to be much more powerful than a normal human being. The successful experiments, with the exception of M-21, have the ability to transform their bodies, which increases their power even further.

M-21

     M-21 is one of the first one hundred humans that was experimented on by the Union. He is designated as the 21st human in that batch. He was classified as a failed experiment, and took the lowest raking agent position in the Union along with M-24. He is the last surviving early experiment in the series. Early in the series, M-21 was shown to be a cold-hearted, rebellious experiment that often looked for trouble to ease his boredom. He began developing the ability to transform his physical shape which he kept a secret from the Union, as they would undoubtedly continue their experiments on him. His closest friend and fellow lab rat, M-24, created the goal with him to try and discover the identities of themselves and the other test subjects, as they have no memories before the experiments. After M-24 died defending Shinwoo and his friends from Jake, M-21 moved in with Frankenstein and Rai. Rai assists M-21 by briefly allowing him to glimpse his own true powers, telling M-21 that he must not underestimate the origin of his powers. He then took up the position as a Special Security Guard in the school that Frankenstein runs. Eventually, he makes peace with the death of M-24, letting go of his goal to discover their true identities in favor of protecting Shinwoo & co. from the Union. Thanks to Tao, M-21 discovers that his defection from the Union was never reported by Crombel, and all the data regarding the test subject's identities had been destroyed recently after being untouched for so long. This data purge happens, most probably, when Crombel discovers that M-21 and M-24 may not have been complete failures as experiments. During a health checkup, Frankenstein reveals that M-21 had been quite different from his fellow "M" series subjects: M-21 had extensive gene modification and had been implanted with the heart of a werewolf, a species nearly as powerful but far more obscure than the Noblesse.

M-24

     M-24 is a rather large and bulky guy that was also one of the first one hundred humans that were experimented on by the organization, along with M-21. He is also considered to be a failed experiment, though he had developed the unique ability of minor mind-control as a side-effect of the experiment done on him. Though seen as a heartless and cruel person at the beginning of the series, M-24 was shown to be compassionate and caring towards humans, especially kids, later in the series. M-24 and M-21 share a very close relationship as they were the only two remaining from their group. They share the same dream of finding their comrades' names. He is later killed by Jake, attempting to buy some time for the children to escape. 

Mary

     Mary was one of the first female experiments seen in the series. She is one of the highest ranked and most powerful of the successful experiments created by Dr. Crombel. She and Jake make up the assassination unit of the Union. Mary is implied to be more powerful, which means she held a higher rank and commanding power than Jake. She has been shown to have the ability to transform her arms, which gives her an immense amount of speed and strength. Mary is quiet and adheres to the mission, declining to take any actions outside of her strict orders. She reprimands Jake, who is afraid of her, when he is insolent to Dr. Crombel. She is killed by Frankenstein in the battle to save Shinwoo and his friends.

Jake

     Jake is one of the most powerful successful experiments created by Dr. Crombel. He is Mary's partner; the two of them make up the assassination unit of the Union. Jake is usually egotistical and extremely aggressive, which gets him scolded by Mary. Jake fears Mary only because she seems to have more power than him. He loathes being experimented on, unless he, himself, ordered it. Jake also swore to take revenge on Mary and Dr. Crombel, who always looks down upon him. Jake has also been shown to have the ability to transform, which gives him an even greater amount of speed and strength. He thinks very little of failed experiments such as M-21 and M-24, and makes it a personal goal to get them trashed by the Union. After being severely injured by Frankenstein, he forces Union scientists to experiment and thus heal him, without Crombel's knowledge. He uses a final, massive transformation against Rai, who still defeats him easily.

DA-5

     The DA-5 were created by Dr. Arith. Their mission is to eliminate groups opposing the Union. Unlike the assassin team which works silently, the special forces team focus is massacring enemy forces completely and very publicly to set examples of what happen to people if they oppose the Union. They enhance themselves by the drug called "D", which unknown to them, can eventually shave years off their life.

Krantz

     Krantz is the leader of DA-5. Not much information has been given about him except that he hates dealing with lower ranking experiments. Krantz has been shown to stop the violent actions of Shark when Shark acts out of control. Late in the fight of the members of DA-5, it is shown that Krantz can absorb the powers of the other members of DA-5 and that the gain to his powers are enhanced if the members take the pill "D". He first drains the power of Shark when it appears that he cannot defeat Rai alone. He then attempts to drain Tao's powers but Ik-Han begs Rai to save Tao which Rai does. He is last shown being defeated by Rai.

Tao

     Tao is a 24-year-old computer genius that excels in hacking. He has admitted to being lonely due to no one else understanding him and his love for anything computer-related. This is the reason why he has found comfort in finding someone like Ik-Han, who is like very much like him. He is frail in appearance and hasn't been shown to demonstrate any kind of physical strength like the rest of the members did, although it was known that Tao easily defeated Jake before. While Tao's strength does not seem to be above normal human standards, he has been shown to have quick reflexes and athletic ability and uses cables as his weapons. Supposedly designed to maximize team efficiency, not to eliminate his opponents. He is one of the less cold-hearted members of the DA-5 group. After betraying the DA-5 unit, he is now living temporarily in Frankenstein's house with Takeo and M-21.

Takeo

     Takeo was once a member of the DA-5 created by Dr. Arith. Believing that his sister was held captive by the Organization, he participated in its experiments and followed orders in order to protect her. In Chapter 151, however, it is revealed that this is a ruse concocted by Dr. Arith, who created the facade for the sake of her own entertainment. Takeo is later invited to live in Frankenstein's house after betraying the organization and erasing all traces of his and Tao's existence, which resulted in the Organization's belief of their failure and death as experiments. Recently, both he and Tao have asked Frankenstein to enhance their powers in order to increase their capability to protect their comrades, especially M-21, with whom they have formed a strong bond of loyalty and friendship. He is a member of the RK-4 and his codename is 'Number Two'.

Shark

     He is a brutal, cruel and heartless experiment. He loves to kill people for his own amusement and takes any opportunity to do so. He is extremely haughty in nature and also easily provoked. It is revealed later in the fight with DA-5 members against the protagonists that he killed all the people that Takeo made contact with in their prior missions and that his actions were sanctioned by Krantz.

Hammer

     A large, chubby member of DA-5 that always seems to be eating. Although he has violent tendencies at a level near Shark's (although never expressed facially), he is logical enough to avoid trouble and can use situations to his advantage, no matter how cowardly it may be. He was later defeated and killed by Seira J. Roiard.

The Organization/Union

     The Organization/Union is a secret organization that studies, researches and experiments with live humans in order to obtain more superhuman powers. The process of each experiment has been shown to be excruciatingly painful and torturous. The organization doesn't have a name and is often called "The Organization" or "The Union" interchangeably. The series, so far, has not revealed the top chairmen and directors of the organization nor how it originated.

Dr. Crombel

     Dr. Crombel is a cold, cruel, and mysterious scientist. He is one of the top executive scientists in the Organization; thus, he is highly respected and has a large amount of commanding power within the Organization. He climbed up to be one of the top executives of the organization through only his genius. Dr. Crombel has also been shown to possess some form of supernatural power that levels with Frankenstein's own power. He has a great interest in experimenting on humans to create more and more powerful beings and would go to any length to progress in his research. It is later found out that Dr. Crombel possess Frankenstein's diary, which explains why he rose up as one of the top executives due to his "Genius", although most of his knowledge came from the Frankenstein's diary. It also seems that Dr. Crombel possesses a similar diary as compared to the one which The Organisation has.

 

Dr. Arith

     Dr. Arith is a red-haired woman who created DA-5, referring to them as her children. She has a twisted personality. She initially presents herself with an innocent, child-like demeanor, but is amoral when it comes to experimenting on humans. For example, she tells her assistant, Yuriy, to get "souvenirs". These "souvenirs" are humans that Dr. Arith will experiment on. Dr. Arith is also very demanding and psychotic; after the capture of Frankenstein, Frankenstein attempts to leave but is threatened by Dr. Arith who demands that he withdraw his leg from the door frame and attempts to pull said leg off when he refuses. She becomes maddeningly angry when disobeyed and orders her human-machines to eradicate the victim. She is also shown to have considerable power and she even has a robot-like nano-suit that is quite powerful for fighting. Dr. Arith is initially believed to be Takeo's sister, "Teira", due to their similar hair color, and his reaction towards Frankenstein's murderous intent toward her. As it turns out, Takeo is an only child. Dr. Arith fabricated the identity of 'Teira' for her own enjoyment simply because she was bored with just experimenting all day (paraphrased). While attempting to drain Takeo to escape from Frankenstein (as she is the other person besides Krantz who can absorb the energies of DA-5), she took the strawberry-flavored pill from Takeo's pocket which is formulated by Frankenstein. However, she collapsed after taking the pill which supposedly should increase her power 200% and shortly afterward was taken away by Yuriy. Her current condition was near death, but she resides at one of the Organization's base and has been noted that she would need a considerable amount of time to recover, physically and mentally.

Yuriy

     Yuriy is Dr. Arith's glasses-bearing personal assistant and is seen accompanying her everywhere. He is also the one sent to retrieve "souvenirs" e.g. human subjects for which Dr. Arith to experiment. He is usually shown accompanied by two giant men in black coats who later engage in the fight against Dr. Frankenstein and are shown to be powerfully altered robotically-enhanced human beings with a short life span and whose only capacities are as bodyguard functions. Dr. Arith trusts Yuriy and it is shown that Yuriy usually deals with the paperwork. Yuriy has fighting ability, demonstrated in use when shielding Dr. Arith and himself from Frankenstein's attacks but ultimately his shield failed under Frankenstein's power. However, in recent chapters it is demonstrated that Yuriy's true alliance is to Dr. Crombel, accompanying Dr. Arith only under Dr. Crombel's orders.


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