Alfar

Alfar (アルファル) is part of the supporting cast of the sidestory of Toaru Majutsu no Index released as an additional feature on the DVD and Bluray format of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun.

Etymology
Her name is derived from the Old Norse álfar, referring to elves in Norse mythology, a distinct race of beings separate from the gods, giants, dwarves, and men.

Appearance
Alfar has long blonde hair, white skin and long, narrow ears. She wears clothes apparently made of cotton with wooden buttons and not a single part made of metal. Though most of her features are like those of a normal human, at the same time she appears unnatural.

Personality
Alfar dislikes metal and underground areas.

Background
Alfar was magically created in a laboratory flask in Brick Wharf from a fossil. Her creator, Slappar, set areas where she could and couldn't go within the building and communicated with her through thick glass. At first, Alfar remained within the areas she had been told to stay in, however that changed when she saw a pet cat called Bailey on the other side of the glass and wished to be able to touch him. A few days later, she was given a stuffed cat but she wasn't satisfied and wondered if she might be able to meet Bailey and other similar creatures if she left the designated area.

She did so and while she was wandering round, she encountered distorted creatures which frightened her. She ran away, not knowing where she was going, and was later found in trembling in a corner by Bailey. Though she was happy to finally be able to touch him, that happiness didn't last long as Bailey started to change. Wondering why this was happening, Alfar realized to her horror that she might be responsible for the change. After putting Bailey in one of the laboratory containers, she found and read a report on her left in the room.

Having learned about her special characteristics and why she was created, Alfar, not want anything else to suffer Bailey's fate, occupied Brick Wharf so no other living beings could come into contact with her, intending to find a way in which she could return her corpse to a fossil to completely stop the change.

Toaru Majutsu no Index: Kanzaki SS
Due to Alfar's occupation of Brick Wharf, Slappar was forced to contact Necessarius for help. As a result, Kanzaki Kaori and the Jeans Shop Owner were dispatched to Brick Wharf. Alfar first encountered Kaori in a passageway while she was exploring the building. Hidden behind a Tarnkappe at first, Alfar revealed herself after asking who she was and Kaori identified the spiritual item. On learning that she was from Necessarius, Alfar urged her to leave, saying that misfortune would befall her if she remained. When Kaori wasn't discouraged, Alfar set a hidden mutated creature on her whilst she retreated.

After Kaori dispatched the creature and looked for Alfar, she found a laboratory with various mutated creatures stored inside containers. Alfar set off an explosion using rune magic but Kaori escaped harm by altering the runes Alfar had made using ice crystals. When Kaori asked if she was upset that she had seen the creatures she'd created, Alfar explained that she didn't deliberately create them and how living things around her are forcibly evolved, becoming twisted.

As Alfar encouraged Kaori to leave before she too started to change, Slappar arrived having dealt with the Jean Shop Owner, revealing his deception, as well as his intentions in using Alfar to evolve himself and overcome his limits. As Slappar prepared deal with Kaori, using hundreds of microscopic runes made from super-cooled water, Alfar told Kaori that there was a simple way to stop him - to kill.

In response, Kaori seemingly killed Alfar, using her own blood to fake the wound, causing Slappar to lose hope and give up. Alfar woke up in a car with Kaori and the Jeans Shop Owner sometime afterwards, wearing an improvised spiritual item which Kaori had put together to temporarily seal her power. After asking why she didn't kill her back then, Alfar asked Kaori what would happen to her now. Kaori told her that she was going to a Necessarius facility in the Lake District where they'd be able to care for her and develop a means to suppress her power.

Abilities
Alfar has the ability to force living things (plants and animals, humans included) around her to undergo a "distorted evolution". She has no control over this ability so everything around her is affected. Even if she died, this ability would continue to affect those around her corpse.

She is also capable of using rune magic, using ice crystals to form the runes, and constructing certain magical objects such as a Tarnkappe.

Design evolution
Appearing in only a single volume so far, Alfar's design remains the same throughout the series. According to Haimura, there wasn't any real difficulty or trickiness with her design.