Obed Rosenthal

Obed Rosenthal (オベドが＝ローゼンタール), usually referred to as Obed (オベドが), was the founder of the Rosenthal Family and a magician specializing in the creation of golems from corpses.

Etymology
was a biblical figure, listed in the Tanakh as the grandfather of David. In genealogies from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, he is listed as one of Jesus' ancestors.

is a surname of German and Jewish origin, meaning "valley of roses".

Appearance
Obed had curly black hair with an exposed forehead and a goatee. He wore light-colored robes.

Personality
Not much is known about Obed's personality, but he was willing to develop methods deemed heretical by his contemporaries and make use of corpses in his work.

Background
Over 400 years before the present, having tested various methods of creating golems, Obed devised a method of inserting an artificial soul into a corpse to create a golem with greatly increased intelligence. The of his homeland wouldn't permit this and drove Obed away from his home as a heretic.

Ending up in the East, Obed and his successors would continue to develop their techniques in order to fulfil the greatest desire of the Rosenthal Family; the creation of the perfect golem, one with a perfect soul and a perfect body - a god.

Abilities
Obed's exact capabilities aren't known, but he was apparently a magician specializing in the creation of golems using techniques derived from the Kabbalah. Obed devised the method of placing an artificial soul into a corpse to animate it, allowing the use of a human brain and greatly increasing the intelligence of his golems as opposed to rock dolls only capable of carrying out simple commands, which would continue to be used by his descendants and further refined, forming the basis of Rosenthal-style Necromancy.

Trivia

 * It should be noted that Obed (オベドが) has yet to be referred to by his full name in the series, by characters or narrative, only being referred to by his given name. However it is presumed that the name used in this article is almost certainly correct, given his position as the ancestor and founder of the Rosenthal family.