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Sharazad al-Rahman
AS---036 37b
Personal information
Aliases: Shahra (by Esther Blanchett)
Residence: New Human Empire (Former)
Status: Deceased
Gender: Female
Species: Methuselah
Occupation: Overseeing the recruitment of the Timisoara city guards
Relative(s): Süleyman (Uncle)
Astharoshe Asran (distant relative)
Weapon(s): Gloves
Other information
Novel debut: ROMIV
Manga debut: Act 35. Wait Until Dark

Shahrazad al-Rahman, Countess of Babylon, is the niece of the Suleyman (the Duke of Tigris) who and her family were captured by Archbishop d'Annunzio after escaping the Empire for unwittingly becoming implicated in her uncle's plot to overthrow the Empress. After taking her servants as hostage, d'Annunzio used her in his plot to assassinate The Lady Saint in order to spark a war between The Empire, but the two plan together to save her servants instead of folding to his plans.

Appearance and Symbolism[]

Shahrazad is a beautiful dark-skinned young woman with dark purple-grayish hair that has a blue tinge/light purple, almost grey-purple eyes and she also wears special gloves on her hands, which she uses as weapons and she wears a blue dress with long, white gloves.

Her gloves are embroidered with special stones that reacts to electricity, enabling her to break walls and floors. Her ability is known as "sintering crystallization" when the stones are put under huge pressure they are crystallized then channeled through a medium. These crystals can then be used in piezoeletricts, a process which large electrical potential is generated using crystals. The crystals vibrate when electricity is passed though, similar to what is used in microphones.[1] When she uses this ability, it appears as "a fist made of air". [2]

In her manga portrait, she is sleeping in heaven and surrounded with pink roses which symbolize grace, elegance, admiration and joy. She is also featured with a lamb, symbolic of gentleness of character, and patience under suffering. In her manga cover portrait, she is featured with bandages, symbolic of her need for support, and in Arabian traditional belief, loss of freedom. The many arms in the stained-glass behind her is a reference to Avalokiteśvara, a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas and was given thousand arms with which to aid the suffering multitudes.

History[]

28

Little Shahra with her uncle

Little is known about Shahrazad's history, except that she was raised by Suleyman (Shahrazad's uncle) after her parents died and he was in charge of protection of regional towns and cities and took her on his travels, but in those bordering cities of Misr, Cyprus and Palmyra was mainly inhabited by Terrans. Süleyman taught her that regardless whether people were Terran or Methsuselah, they were all human, and the two befriended many Terrans on their travels. This was why she loved the Sun and Terrans, and she treated her servants like her family.

Synopsis[]

Manga[]

Mark of a Lady Saint / Imitation Star Arc[]

29dd

Shahra bringing flowers to Esther

The arc begins with Shahrazad, in a formal dress and bandages, being ordered to go to Istvan and kill Esther Blanchett (the Lady Saint).

Shahrazad is first seen by Esther as she was holding Abel Nightroad over the railing. Esther remarks that the woman looks familiar, but soon turns around after being addressed by Archbishop d'Annunzio. Shahrazad notices this and glares at their direction while clutching her wrist.

The woman Esther and Abel saw earlier approaches the stage to bring flowers. A guard tells her that is it not time yet, but she does not listen, using her abilities from her glove to flick soldiers out of her way. The Methuselah announces her name as Shahrazad, an assassin sent from the Methuselah Empire to kill "the murderer who calls herself 'Saint'". She destroys the wall behind her and makes her way over to Esther and whispers something, but is stopped by Brother Petros Orsini, who engages in a battle with her. Shahrazad defeats him with ease and kidnaps Esther and flees into the night. Abel calls out for Esther but is held back by the panicked crowd. As Shahrazad leaves, she bids farewell to the Archbishop before leaving, which does not go unnoticed by Petros.

32

Shahra saves Esther from the police soldiers

Later when Esther wakes up alone and runs and soon finds a group police soldiers. Instead of rescuing her, however, they attempt kill her and frame Shahrazad for the crime. The Countess shows up in time and saves Esther from the men, and is suprised when Esther uses Methuselah to refer to her instead of "vampire". She formally introduces herself as Shahrazad al-Rahman, Countess of Baylon, whose job was to oversee the recruitment of the city guards in Timisoara up until a week ago. Esther realizes that the Countess is the niece of Suleyman and she elaborates that she fled the Empire after she unintentionally became implicated in her uncle's betrayal of The Empress. Esther is surprised, but Shahrazad pleads that she understand she had her reasons and bandages the nun's face.

Shahrazadc37

The Methuselah apologizes and clarifies that he never intended to harm the saint, but she was ordered to do so by the same man in charge of the police soldiers from earlier. This man was the same person who gave Esther the title of Lady Saint, tortured Shahrazad and took her family hostage: the Archbishop namedEmanuele d'Annunzio. Enraged, Esther agrees to help her rescue her family.

Act38-29-d'annunzio

Emanuele d'Annunzio stabs himself to frame Esther.

While waiting for The Pope and Caterina Sforza to come to dinner, D'Annunzio tells his lieutenant that his bad premonition has come true when Shahrazad kidnapped Esther. The lieutenant apologizes and asks if they will escape, but d'Annunzio informs him that would be impossible as it is taboo for the vampires to leave their "livestock". The Archbishop predicts that Shahrazad will try to contact him to exchange Esther for her human "livestock", or team up and try to contact Cardinal Sforza. If the latter were to happen, D'Annunzio explains they will have to "martyr" Esther, who had become an international celebrity due to her being kidnapped, to frame the vampire. This would inevitably mean that the media will be enamored with the story, Rome will be forced to start a war, and the person at the front lines like Istvan - such as himself - will have power rivaling that of the Pope's.

The girls make their way to where the Archbishop is, surprising him just as he was talking about his plan. The girls confront the Archbishop, who reveals that this has all been part of his schemes to start a war between the Empire and the humans. The Archbishop has a backup plan, though, as he pulls out a knife and sticks it into his own shoulder, making it seem like an attack from Esther and Shahrazad, just as Cardinal and Pope arrive in the room. Esther tells Shahrazad that they need to leave, and pushes her down just in time to dodge Tres Iqus' bullets. Shahrazad shields them from more of Tres attack until Abel arrives and tell Tres to stop. But the Gunslinger does not listen, and resumes his orders to take down the people who attacked the Archbishop. He fires another bullet but hits the Pope instead, who stepped in the way to shield the two girls. He fires another bullet but appears to have hit the Pope instead, who stepped in the way to shield the two girls. Shahrazad persuades Esther to quickly use this opportunity to escape while Abel examines Alessandro and confirms that he was simply suffering from a concussion. An infuriated Caterina orders people to go after the two, no matter what it takes.

Mmmmm

Shahra rights against Petros for the second time

The women make it outside where they run into Petros again, who was just about to go to ask how the search for Esther was going. The Knight of Destruction is fired up when he sees Esther befriending a vampire again, does not listen while Esther tries to explain, and attacks. Shahrazad fights against Petros, but ends up losing the battle. Just as it it seems the two are at their end, a pack of wild dogs attack Petros, allowing the two to flee. Esther tries to rob a car at gunpoint, but it turns out to be Mr. Butler's car, who gladly takes them to a hotel.[3]

Some time later, Esther wakes up after sunrise to find Shahrazad on the window sill watching the sunset. The Countess explains Suleyman (Shahrazad's uncle) raised her after her parents died. He was in charge of protection of regional towns and cities and took her on his travels, and those bordering cities of Misr, Cyprus and Palmyra were mainly inhabited by Terrans. Süleyman taught her that regardless whether people were Terran or Methuselah, they were all human, and the two befriended many Terrans on their travels. This was why she loved the Sun and Terrans and she treated her servants like her family.

The two head to meet the owner of the hotel named Ignaz, who is Esther's friend and a former member of the human resistance. Ignaz agrees to help out the girls, but Esther says that it is not necessary. She asks from him how many old friends he could gather to fight against the Archbishop of Istvan, Ignaz explains that he could try, but everyone has their own life at the moment. Ignaz says that he cannot believe that anyone would become such a fine man's enemy.

26

Shahra watching the sunset

Mr. Butler interrupts the conversation to tell them that the Archbishop is only trying to turn the peoples' anger towards something else, in this case, the Empire. Esther decides to write a letter to the Cardinal Sforza to ask for her help.

Later the two girls are pondering where the Archbishop could have brought Shahrazad's family, and they suspect it would be in Gyula Kádár's mansion. Ignaz brings them some tea, but then Esther suddenly faints. It turns out the hotel owner had drugged her. He apologizes as Archbishop's police soldiers show up to capture the two. The soldiers kill Ignaz, intending to frame Shahrazad for the murder of the Lady Saint. Their plan is thwarted as Father Abel Nightroad and Brother Petros Orsini show up to help, taking down the police soldiers with ease. The four of them escape.

Their escape is cut short when they run into Sister Monica Argento and Father Tres Iqus outside the hotel. Under the orders to capture Esther and the vampire, the two start to fight with Petros and Abel. Monica asks to surrender, but Esther stands her ground to defend her friend and is almost killed until Petros arrives. Shahrazad and Esther flee in a truck, but Sister Monica soon catches up with them and jumps onto the windshield. The witch uses her powers passes through the truck's front glass and begins to choke Esther. Realizing she has merged with the glass, Shahrazad uses her powers to shatter the windshield, damaging Monica along with it. The two women run from the scene, leaving Monica to crash with the truck.

Shahrazadmangac43

Shahrazad and Esther find the Archbishop as he is about to kill the Cardinal and the Pope. Having realized they were in another trap, Esther tells Shahrazad to escape with the Cardinal and Pope, but Shahrazad was frozen, having seen the dead bodies of her family. Esther screams at the Archbishop for having lied to Shahrazad from the very beginning, which the Archbishop replies it was obvious that he would have done just that. In the novels, Shahrazad tells Esther she never hated her kind, but today she will kill Terrans out of hate, before charging at d'Annunzio. The Countess remembers her deceased Terran family before leaping towards the Archbishop and murdering his guards, but is stopped by the UV-lights before she could reach d'Annunzio himself. The Methuselah lies on the floor in pain as she is shot by the police soldiers.

Esther remembers a time earlier when she and Shahrazad were at the hotel. Shahrazad was brushing her hair and admits she was glad to become friends with Esther despite only knowing her for a day. When the nun asks what Shahrazad said to her just before she kidnapped her at the opera house, Shahrazad replies she had forgotten. However, Esther remembers: "please stand by my side."

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Shahra threatens to kill the Pope

Back in the present Abel, Petros and Tres arrive. The nun rushes over to the fallen Methuselah and reassures her that they will save her. Abel observes that the Methuselah will probably not survive, as she had been shot with so much silver, her "thirst" was not taking an effect. Esther asks Abel to try to take Shahra to safety, but he is stopped by a huge robot. Abel shoots it down quickly while Esther goes after the Archbishop himself, who has fled. Things become complicated, however, when Brother Matthaios arrives on the scene with his troops. The Archbishop tries to lie his way out of it, but the Inquisitor informs him they have already captured a lieutenant of d'Annunzio's police force who has confessed to everything.

Esther informs Shahrazad that d'Annunzio has been captured, and they must run or the Inquisition will kill her. The nun proclaims she is on Shahrazad's side, just as her friend had asked her earlier. The Methuselah is stunned and smiles, stands up, hugs Esther and tells her she loves her. However, knowing there is no hope for her to survive from here, Shahrazad she takes the Pope hostage and declares she will kill him.

Shahrazadestherc45

Shahrazad dictates for everyone to stand back except Esther, and orders the nun walk over to her. She places the nun's gun to her chest and orders her to kill her. Esther refuses and proclaims she would rather be killed as a witch by the Inquisition than to harm her friend. Touched by her words, Shahrazad cries and and thanks her tovarisch before pulling the trigger and killing herself. Shahrazad smiles as she dies and apologizes for pushing the task to her friend, but is glad knowing she was able to make Esther into a real lady saint to the people so that she can change the world. Esther grieves for her lost friend who passes away in her arms.

Later on, Esther visits Shahrazad's unnamed grave, which is buried beside Gyula's grave. The nun tells her friend that she did not have the answers as to why people had to kill each other, but she knows that it is wrong. The arc ends with Esther declaring that she would become the Lady Saint to correct that mistake, and asks her friend to watch over her.

The Throne of Roses Arc[]

C51shahrazad

When Esther Blanchett talks to Alessandro XVIII after he saves her from Jane Judith Jocelyn by feigning a stomach ache, the young boy mentions he made a promise to someone to be a person who does not mock themselves. Esther is briefly reminded of her own friend who she made a promise to. Later on, when the pair drown after an underwater explosion, Esther remembers Shahrazad and her unfulfilled promises just before losing consciousness.

The Crown of Thorns Arc[]

TB61-16shahra

Esther is reminded of Shahrazad's final moments

While Esther Blanchett was mourning for the death of Abel Nightroad, Shahrazad briefly appears in the nun's memories as one of the people who changed her, telling her she will definitely become the Lady Saint [4].

Etymology[]

  • The name Shahrazad (Scheherazade, Šahrzâd or Shahrzād) is a legendary Persian queen and the storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights.
    • The earliest forms of Scheherazade's name include Šīrāzād (شيرازاد) in Masudi and Šahrāzād (شهرازاد) in Ibn al-Nadim, the latter meaning "she whose realm or dominion (شهر šahr) is free (آزاد āzād)". In explaining his spelling choice for the name Burton says, "Shahrázád (Persian) = City-freer; in the older version Scheherazade (probably both from شیرزاد Shirzád = 'lion-born'). Dunyázá = 'world-freer'. The Bres[lau] Edit[ion] corrupts the former to Shárzád or Sháhrazád; and the Mac[naghten] and Calc[utta] to Shahrzád or Shehrzád.
  • Shahrazad's middle name and surname al-Rahman means "The Beneficent, The Most Merciful in Essence, The Compassionate, The Most Gracious" and it is considered most special of the Names of God in Islam in Islam.

Quotes[]

  • "(To Esther Blanchett) "Please.... Be on my side."
  • "I love you, Esther. You are right... I will probably die."

Gallery[]

Manga[]

References[]

  1. Trinity Blood Manga, Act 36. Exodus.
  2. Trinity Blood Manga, Act 35. Wait Until Dark.
  3. Trinity Blood Act. 38 The Great Escape.
  4. Trinity Blood Manga, Act 61. The Magdalene Sisters.

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