| “ | Eighteen years ago, she brought about the crisis which nearly destroyed the world. She is now on a crusade to liberate the weak from the iron rule of the Knights of the Seal, who are using human lives to sustain the seals. The people of the districts surrounding the seals know her as " Lady Manah. "
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Manah is a recurring character in the Drakengard series and Seere's younger twin sister. She first appeared in Drakengard as the main antagonist before returning as the reformed secondary protagonist in Drakengard 2. As a young girl she served as the high priestess of the Cult of the Watchers in the Empire and a key figure in the destruction of the seals to allow the Seeds of Destruction to appear in the world. In the second game, she seeks to destroy the keys of the five districts in order to free those who suffer under their existence, unaware that she is inadvertently reenacting the events of her childhood.
Story
| “ | Do the Watchers laugh, too? | ” |
the Anguish of an unsmiling Watcher
| “ | Foul humans. Do you still try to live? Pathetic. Pathetic! | ” |
By the time Caim reached the Sky Fortress, his sister was already dead. Sometime later, Caim managed to corner Manah in her temple. As he tried to give her the final blow, he was stopped by Verdelet, who tried to seal her using a ritual. The ritual backfired, however, and Manah grew into a giant, forcing Caim and the red dragon to fight her.
Though eventually released from her benefactors' control, Manah still begged Caim to kill her so she could find peace. But when Angelus revealed that there is no peace for her, Manah soon realized what she had done and was taken off by Caim and shown the suffering that she had caused so she would "never forget."
flowers for the Broken spirit
After Furiae is dead, Inuart takes her to a Seed of Resurrection, where she "evolves" into a monster. Manah's fate remains unknown, though it can be assumed that she was killed by the many clones of Furiae that rise from the other Seeds.
a Companion's eternal farewell
| “ | Dragons. Tools of the gods. My servants... | ” |
the wild dreams of a Deluded child
| “ | Now is the time to feel the love of the Gods. A deep love. A great love. A love powerful and formidable. A love that crushes like a mace. | ” |
the End of the dragon sphere
| “ | Is it wrong to free the oppressed? To bring joy to their lives? The only thing your Knights of the Seal want to protect is their own privileged position.
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Branch A
Eighteen years later after the events of the first Drakengard, Manah is now a 24-year-old woman who holds a desire to help the people by freeing the Districts from the rule of the Knights of the Seal. During her mission, she encounters one such Knight, Nowe. Following her actions resulting in the destruction of the key at the District of Soul Flame and the murder of Zhangpo, she is branded as a criminal by the Knights of the Seal and sentenced to death, but she uses her magic in order to escape. When Nowe attacks Gismor, severing the general's right arm and fleeing from the Knights of the Seal, she once again crosses paths with him. Together they meet Urick and she convinces both to help her in destroying Angelus' seals, to free the people from the influence of the Knights of the Seal. Intrigued by Manah's purpose, the two accompany her on a quest to free each district. However, Nowe and Urick are unaware of the reality that she is unconsciously repeating history by bringing the world to chaos yet again due to the residual influence of the gods over her mind.
After some time, they arrive at the District of Shining Life, which Caim, the protagonist of the first game, is already assaulting. Caim tries to kidnap Manah, who still has a traumatic fear of him due to her repressed memories. She and Nowe then discover that Urick is the guardian of the district. Because he has become close friends with Urick, Nowe attempts to save Urick’s life by challenging Caim himself. Urick, however, is still mortally wounded during the battle, but not without managing to push Caim into a chasm before he dies. With Urick’s death, the key in the district is destroyed.
Nowe and Manah repeat this for the other keys, killing their guardians to destroy their keys. The last key, Nowe discovers, is guarded by General Gismor, who Nowe discovers is actually a phantom of darkness. Eris is stabbed and thought to be killed at this time, as Gismor uses her as a human shield. Nowe defeats Gismor, but before he can strike him down, Gismor destroys his key so Nowe can’t have to pleasure of killing him. With the destruction of the keys, Angelus, the red dragon of the seal, is released. She begins a rampage across the land, having been driven mad by the tortures of being the Seal. Legna receives a message from Caim, urging Nowe to slay Angelus, so that they may finally find peace together in death. Nowe and Legna then battle with Angelus and slay her. With her death, the world reverts to the state of chaos it was in during the first game -- because of Manah.
They arrive at the Holy Lands, and Legna refuses to let Nowe help them establish the seals once more. He takes them to the Bone Casket, saying that Nowe is the dragons' weapon, the New Breed, and that it is Nowe's destiny to fight the gods. Nowe refuses and Legna attacks, subduing him. Nowe tells Manah that he wishes he could save her. Manah smiles and comforts Nowe with a kiss that imbues him with power and confidence with which to transform into his true New Breed form. With that, Nowe kills Legna and returns to Manah and Eris only to find that Eris is to be the new Goddess. Nowe is devastated that he couldn't save her.
Branch B
Nowe attempts to enter the bone casket, deciding that becoming a weapon would be the best choice. He is rejected however, and battles with it. The casket takes over Manah, and now Nowe is forced to kill her. He does so, with great regret. Afterwards, Nowe and Eris join the Holy Dragons in the beginning of their battle with the gods.
Branch C
Nowe battles the bone casket, but the casket does not merge with Manah for she is able to subdue it. Once Manah is saved, Legna reveals that he only cared for Nowe so he could use him as a weapon, prompting the battle between Nowe (in his New Breed transformation) and Legna. With Legna’s death, both the gods and the dragons fade away, negating the need for a seal. Nowe now stands with Eris, Manah, and Seere, taking the fate of humanity into their own hands.
The Garden of Light
The World of Dragons
She and her twin brother Seere live a life on the run along with a rag-tag group of commoners and soldiers loyal to the Cult. Since the adults in their group believe the twins to be holy beings, Manah felt it was her duty to find a way to return the smiles to the exhausted people.
The World of Humans
Record unavailable.
The World of Demons
Record unavailable.
The World of God
Record unavailable.
Shinjuku 2013
Record unavailable.
While Manah herself doesn't make an appearance in SINoALICE, her staff can be obtained from the DOD3 collaboration event gacha to unlock Zero/Cleric.
Her staff's weapon story is narrated by Accord who is introducing it to a curious customer. Accord states that the Cult of the Watchers once took over Europe years ago, and that Manah was its main head as a girl. By the time she was an adult, she was the cult's lone survivor. The rest of the followers were vanquished by an opposing force. Accord considers its value through the previous owner's life story and that it was a born in a leading branch after the cataclysm. The wording of her ending entreaties to her customer implies that she has more than one of them in her shop.Personality
Manah had a very warped mindset that stemmed from the lack of her mother's affection, who favored and loved her brother. This had left her emotionally damaged and mentally fragile, which caused her to have an intense desire to be loved, to the point that all she ever wanted was love. This allowed her to fall under the influence of the Watchers, who used her as a tool for destruction. While under possession, Manah had no morality and engaged in many vile deeds, no matter how depraved or disturbing. She proved herself to be very manipulative and deceitful, such as when she used Inuart's feelings to twist and corrupt his mind in order to serve her goals, knowing that the Watcher's intention will not aid him in his cause, despite promising him that it would. She also displayed no remorse or empathy for her actions, such as when she gleefully laughed over leading Furiae to her own death. Manah only cared for pleasing the Watchers and receiving their love. She had constant thoughts of her mother and called out to her whenever she was in pain or agony.
When the grip of the Watchers on her weakened, to a point during which she was able to regain control of her mind, Manah began to feel the full weight of guilt brought upon her by her actions and desired to die. Seemingly due to an accident that occurred when she escaped from Caim, Manah had forgotten her past actions or suppressed them to avoid the guilt building up in her. Over the course of the next eighteen years, Manah grows into a reformed young adult with a strong sense of justice and seeks to do what she thinks is right. She breaks down when she realizes that her actions once again brought the world to the brink of destruction.
Abilities
As the avatar of the Watchers, Manah had a great army under her command. The Watchers lent her their magic, giving her the ability to read people's secret thoughts and desires, possess people, drive people insane, drag people into her mind, and create illusions that can harm people. She can also summon beings such as a Cyclops and even a Wyrm. Additionally, Manah could grow gigantic, shoot homing bolts of magic, conjure magic barriers for both offense and defense, as well as fly and levitate.
Later in her life, Manah has a great affinity for magic, learning how to utilize magic staves in battle.
Lineage
 The Flower |  Zero |  Mikhail |  Michael | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Gabriella |  One |  Two |  Three |  Four |  Five | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 One |  Rosa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Unknown |  Gruen | Grenat | Unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Verde | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Luis |  Fey |  Ramia | Husband | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Chloe |  Golem |  Seere |  Manah | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Development
Cavia developers made her character to symbolize children who are unloved by their parents. Takuya Iwasaki states that she is emotionally empty inside during the first game; both he and Taro Yoko can't bring themselves to completely condemn her acts of villainy since they mostly feel sorry for her. The twins were roughly based on Natalie Portman's twelve year old character in Léon: The Professional.
While Yoko was okay having a child voice the twins' lines in Drakengard, Sawako Natori, one of the main scenario writers, wasn't. Natori remembers feeling very apologetic watching a young girl and boy speaking the dark lines she had penned.
Dengeki Online conducted a follow up interview series to their character popularity poll with series's producer Takamasa Shiba and series's character designer Kimihiko Fujisaka. Fujisaka decided on red being her key color because it matches the eye color for the Watchers and ties into Inuart's design motif. For her older design, he wanted to give her pants to contrast the stereotypical skirt given to heroines in fiction. Manah twirling flower petals into the air was Yoko's idea.
Nowe wears Furiae's bracelet around his neck just as Manah wears Caim's bracelet around her wrist. The link signifies passing on the torch between these characters.
Gallery
Trivia
- In Dengeki Online's character popularity poll, she reached fifth place with fans.
- Zero/Cleric wields her staff for the SINoALICE collaboration event.
- "Manah", in Avestan language, means "intention", "purpose" or "mind". In Zoroastrianism, it is one of the six sparks of creation. Later Zoroastrian texts clarify Manah with a modifier, calling it "Vohu Manah" (good intention). This clarification intends to set it apart from its rival, "Aka Manah" (evil intention), which is the demon of sensual desires.
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| Endings • Items • Locations • Novellas • Stages • Timelines • Weapons • Weapon Histories |
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| Endings • Items • Locations • Novellas • Stages • Timelines • Weapons • Weapon Histories |