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Mary (Alchemist)

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"Good Old Mary" (旧き善きマリア Furuki Yoki Maria?) is a Transcendent of the Bridge Builders Cabal, introduced in Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index.[1]

Etymology[]

Mary, or Maria the Jewess (alternatively the Prophetess)(Maria Hebraea/Prophetissa in Latin) is an early alchemist, first written of in the works of the Gnostic Christian writer Zosimos of Panopolis, written in the 4th century and the oldest extant books on alchemy, as well as other authors in Greek alchemical tradition.

Said to have lived between the first and third centuries A.D. at the latest[2] in Alexandria, none of her writings survive but she is credited with various quotations in hermetic writings and attributed with various alchemical precepts, inventions (including chemical apparatus such as the tribikos, the kerotakis, and the bain-marie) and operations.

Appearance[]

Mary is described as a young wife,[1] and has long, blonde hair which reaches down to her ankles. She wears a wide-brimmed hat which hides her eyes, and a long, loose white dress (possibly a maternity brand, looking loose around the stomach) with a thick belt lazily wrapped around her waist with a variety of camping kitchen products attached to it.[3]

Personality[]

This section requires expansion
GT5/6[1][3][4]/7/9/10

Mary tends to refer to herself in the third-person as 'mama' (ママ様 Mama-sama?).[3]

Background[]

According to her story, Mary was an alchemist who took on the name of the Virgin Mary to hide her identity, possessing alchemical skill that could produce miracles on the same level as the real one.[1] Supposed living in the 3rd century at the latest,[2][5] she invented various experimental tools which built the foundation of alchemy, such as the Bain-marie, the Kerotakis and the Tribikos, basic tools needed to create a universe.[6][5]

The background of the individual who took on the identity of Good Old Mary as a Transcendent of the Bridge Builders Cabal is currently unknown,[5] but given her chosen persona, salvation conditions and her own words,[5][6] it could be assumed that she was originally someone who disliked how 'miracles' seemed to be restricted to a chosen privileged class or used to trample on the less fortunate.[7][6]

Chronology[]

Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index[]

Post-Handcuffs Arc[]

Main article: Post-Handcuffs Arc

When Aradia was guiding Anna around their base, she was snacking on ham in the ship's kitchen.[1] After the events surrounding the crash of the Overhunting, as well as the battle in the Vanishing Tunnel, Alice was brought back from Academy City by Anna. Greeting Alice upon her return, "Good Old Mary" and the others in the group were dismayed to find that Alice's newfound interest in Kamijou Touma had swayed her from using her magic to benefit their plans.[8]

New Year's Eve Arc[]

Main article: New Year's Eve Arc
This section requires expansion
GT6[9]

As the cabal became split as to how to approach the issue of Kamijou Touma, Mary was on the side of the Rescuers. When Aradia attempted to kill Touma on December 31st, Mary acted with the Bologna Succubus to save his life,[9] with Mary employing her resurrection technique twice to save Touma and the Bologna Succubus donating her blood to make up for the blood he lost.[10][3]

Good Old Mary, as Touma goes to face Aradia.

Good Old Mary, as Touma goes to face Aradia.

When the Bologna Succubus was mortally injured against Aradia and her witches, and Touma called for her aid, Mary appeared and informed him of how the Bologna Succubus had given away and lost too much blood for her to revive the demon, as well as how a human could not give her blood in the same way. However, when Kumokawa Seria suggested a solution of using a substitute to stabilize her blood pressure, she recognized that it could work and on Touma's urging went with his friends to save the Bologna Succubus while Touma faced Aradia.[3]

Accompanying Kumokawa and Index with the Succubus, Mary was called on to incapacitate a back alley doctor and his associates so they could use his resources, but the way in which she did so drew some exasperation and awkwardness from Kumokawa (who wondered if everyone called Mary or Maria was a troublemaker), as did some of her remarks and pouting following this. When they found what they needed, Mary remained with the Bologna Succubus to treat her while the others went to reunite with Touma.[4][11]

New Year's Arc[]

Main article: New Year's Arc

On January 1st, Good Old Mary and Trismegistus accompanied Alice when she went to greet Kamijou Touma as he and others were making their New Year's Day shrine visits in School District 12.[12] The next day, she was present when Alice brought Touma's group to the cabal's newly established consulate,[13] and cooked dinner for them afterwards.[7][14]

Good Old Mary faces Trismegistus on the consulate's roof.

Good Old Mary faces Trismegistus on the consulate's roof.

On January 3rd, when Trismegistus attempted to kill Touma and cut Aradia down, Mary was alerted by Othinus and after healing Aradia, reached Touma in time to resurrect him when Trismegistus finally managed to behead him.[15][6] With Touma meeting her salvation conditions, Mary fought Trismegistus, eventually summoning her Tribikos.[6] The battle between the two Transcendents at full power ended when Alice arrived, intending to punish them, with only Touma's intervention preventing her from killing them.[16]


Following Touma's escape from the consulate, with Alice left in a broken state and with the risk of her condition worsening to the point of being unable to perform, the Bridge Builders Cabal chose to immediately begin their ceremony to bring their intended savior Christian Rosencreutz into the world, with Good Old Mary participating at points in the two-day long ritual, despite still being angry with Trismegistus.[17][18][19] As the ceremony was concluding late on January 4th, she was holding a lily. When the ceremony was successfully completed but CRC was revealed to be different for the worse from his legend's claims, Mary was knocked down along with the other Transcendents.[19]

Good Old Mary with her fellow Transcendents and Touma in a ruined laundromat during the early stages of the defensive struggle.

Good Old Mary with her fellow Transcendents and Touma in a ruined laundromat during the early stages of the defensive struggle.

Good Old Mary was one of the surviving Transcendents capable of acting after the cabal was devastated by the summoned "CRC".[19][20][21] On January 5th, she was involved in action against "CRC" in effort to stall his destructive march towards Heaven Canceller's Hospital, along with Touma's allies and Academy City's forces.[21][22][23][24][25][26][27] After the final battle at the hospital, she used her resurrection technique, which had been kept to the end of the day's struggle without being used, to revive all of the combatants who had sustained mortal injuries.[26][27]

The two opposing groups of Transcendents facing one another on the bridge.

The two opposing groups of Transcendents facing one another on the bridge.

On the night of January 6th, Good Old Mary, along with Aradia, Bologna Succubus and Mut Thebes, was heading to help Touma meet with Alice but they were stopped at a certain iron bridge by Blodeuwedd, Vidhatri and 2nd Saga, three other survivors who had scattered after Alice's apparent death and opportunistically returned after the end of "CRC"'s rampage and learning that Alice was alive again, standing in their way as they were not willing to risk losing their power.[28] In the ensuing battle,[28][29][30] she summoned Tribikos to block Blodeuwedd's swarm, but while confidently challenging Vidhatri, her opponent managed to vanish her Tribikos during a brief instance when she wasn't looking at it, allowing one of the swarm to catch her offguard and wound her, leading to her defeat at Vidhatri's hands shortly afterwards.[31][32]

She regained consciousness after Vidhatri was defeated by a sneak attack from Anna Sprengel and resummoned her Tribikos to block the afflicted Mut Thebes's ship long enough for the battle to end and Mut Thebes to come to her senses.[32] Afterwards, she fought Alice's toys alongside her comrades at Touma's school, though she was still weakened from blood loss caused by the earlier wound.[33]

Resurrection Arc[]

Main article: Resurrection Arc

On January 8th, the day of Touma's funeral, Good Old Mary and the other Transcendents were not by Alice's side as she wandered alone in the rain.[34] Later that day, it was revealed to Alice and the revived Touma by a defeated Vidhatri that the Transcendents had been trying to hold back an unstable Aleister Crowley but had reached their limit.[35] According to the Bologna Succubus, around half of the Transcendents were knocked out and they scattered afterwards - not knowing what happened to most of the others, she speculated that some might be hiding in the city but bet that most were leaving now that their reason for being there was gone.[36] Good Old Mary's whereabouts was unknown, with Touma and Alice's group not encountering her during the subsequent events surrounding Adikalika.[37]

On the morning of January 9th, Good Old Mary was one of the Transcendents that answered Alice's call to assist in the final battle to stop Coronzon from escaping the city.[38] After the battle, she and the other Transcendents left the city with Alice.[39]

Abilities[]

As a Transcendent of the Bridge Builders Cabal, Good Old Mary is said to be powerful enough to rival the regular magic side on her own under the right circumstances.[10] She has been described as possessing alchemical skill and note compilation techniques that can produce seeming miracles on the same level as her namesake,[1][10] and she has described herself as being able to create a small universe in a clear box, and make use of any and all recipes.[3][6]

Outside of her alchemy, Mary is also a good cook.[7] Like some other Transcendents, she uses common tone creation to translate and synthesize her speech into unfamiliar languages.[10][3]

Alchemy[]

Good Old Mary is a highly skilled alchemist, said to be capable of creating a small "universe" in a glass container and making use of any and all recipes.[3][6] Her style of alchemy has been compared to cooking in a kitchen, with "CRC" describing her as a kitchen alchemist and her alchemy being described as 'kitchen alchemy'.[6][21]

Just as she is an alchemist who can create a microcosm contained in a glass container and a kitchen master who cooks delicious meals with tools in her kitchen territory,[6] Mary produces various phenomena in her vicinity through magic using the tools on her belt.[6] While some uses have her brandishing or toying with her tools,[6] some can be used while standing still and not touching her tools,[4] and most don't require any spoken commands.[4][6] Mary's 'kitchen alchemy' is highly versatile, comparable to a Swiss Army knife,[6][40] however her tools are vulnerable in close quarters combat and foes can deprive her of them to weaken her (as Trismegistus, food is meant to be carried out to guests and the cook doesn't want anyone else entering their kitchen territory).[6][40] The tools on Mary's belt include a fancy Swiss multi-tool, a portable pot with a collapsible handle, a small burner usable as a stove, and a sandwich toaster, in addition to a knife with a seal mascot on it.[3]

For offensive attacks, Mary can generate multiple loud explosions, capable of bending the metal double doors on the back of a shipping container and blowing one off, as well as incapacitating the individuals within without damaging the nearby equipment.[4] Other attacks include generating a hunk of ice weighing over 30 tons to slam into a target, as well as opening up a fissure in the ground with lava erupting from it.[6] For defense, she can produce an invisible wall to block attacks,[6] and using steam (蒸気 Jōki?), she can render herself invisible.[3][6]

During an encounter with "CRC", Mary was able to partially deflect one of his diamond bullets with a barrier, managing to survive the deadly projectile but sustaining a serious injury that knocked her out.[21] Described as simple and unrefined ceremony of a system older than CRC's, its basis involves how a still contains an entire "world" within itself (be it a homunculus, solution or otherwise), preparing one side and then defining the seen and unseen (or the interior and the exterior) to create the barrier.[21] When she used the barrier (which glowed bluish-white), Mary held her hands together and crushed a glass container (specifically, a 500mL aroma water maker that uses cooling and evaporation to extract herb scents).[21]

Resurrection Recipe[]

Among Mary's repertoire is a Resurrection Recipe (復活の調合法 Fukkatsu no Chōgōhō?), apparently linked to an alchemical formula lost in the 1st or 3rd century.[10] It repairs a dead human body to a clean, uninjured state at the moment of cardiac arrest.[10] Although it completely heals the body, it has a great cost,[10] it cannot directly bring back the soul,[10] the patient will still require CPR,[10] and it does not return lost blood.[10] It has been described as a purely medical phenomenon that may look like a miracle but only affects the physical body.[10] It also apparently requires physical contact.[19]

If a target has lost too much blood then they won't be able to be revived - their heart will not beat, the mind will not restart and they will not breathe on their own, leaving just an intact hunk of flesh which will slowly begin to rot.[10] Depending on the amount of blood lost, a blood transplant or the injection of a suitable substitute to stabilize blood pressure, and keeping the target ready for resuscitation with any necessary measures, might allow for a target that would otherwise be impossible to be revived to be saved.[3]

There is a limit to how many times the technique can be used to revive a person and if it is repeatedly used, a rejection reaction can occur, reducing its effectiveness.[6][41] In the case of Kamijou Touma (so far revived four times),[10][6][27] his Imagine Breaker needed to be severed each time to prevent it from interfering with the resurrection, increasing the blood loss.[10][6] It is also possible for Mary to deliberately perform an imperfect resurrection, as she threatened to do to Trismegistus.[6]

Given that Alice Anotherbible is an irregular Transcendent and superior to Mary,[21] as well as the nature of Alice's power,[27] Mary cannot use her resurrection to revive Alice or the victims of the Shrink Drink that uses Alice's power.[21]

Transcendence[]

Like many other Transcendents in the Bridge Builders Cabal,[15][6][16][41] Mary can release a seal in order to draw on power transcending that of regular humans, with an incantation involving the declaration of "Risk 4" (リスク4 Risuku 4?) and "departing human territory" (人域離脱 Jin'iki Ridatsu?).[15][6] In the case of Mary, this power is in the form of the gigantic tools used to create and contain a complete universe, and the nature of her seal is a singular seal (一なる封印 Ichinaru Fūin?).[6]

During the battles at the consulate and School District 23, Mary summoned the Tribikos (蒸留器（トリビコス） Jōryū-ki (Toribikosu)?, lit. "distiller").[6][23][24] Aside from the Tribikos, she also has the Kerotakis (還流装置（ケロタキス） Kanryū Sōchi (Kerotakisu)?, lit. "reflux device") and Bain-marie (保温鍋（バンマリ） Hoon nabe (Banmari)?, lit. "insulated pot").[6] These three tools were supposedly invented by legendary alchemist Mary, whose name and identity Good Old Mary bears, and she claims to rule over their foundation.[6][5]

Mary's Tribikos is a squashed sphere resembling and the size of a domed baseball stadium, supported by three pylon-sized legs, described as hard as thick porcelain but also pulsating from within.[6][23] Being said to contain an entire "universe" inside itself, it has been described as an ultimate container consequently carrying the possibility of producing anything,[23] capable of unleashing non-existent forms of death and destruction.[6][23] When the Tribikos was inadvertently shattered by a shot from "CRC", it unleashed a torrent of filthy grey bubbles on him, which would have likely been deadly to most other people.[24]

During the clash between Mary and "CRC" (making use of their respective techniques), it has noted that her Tribikos, representing mastery of the art of kitchen alchemy, was somewhat similar to "CRC" and the red secret art he employed, though they differed in that Mary kept her miracle sealed in (like Pandora's box) while "CRC" let his out to influence the world.[23] It was alternatively noted that the Tribikos was so powerful that Mary might fear what would happen if the red secret art was released from within.[23] As predicted by Mary, while she briefly caught "CRC" off-guard, with his world model being more accurate than hers - creating a discrepancy between them, he soon recovered and broke through.[24]

Character Art Design[]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • The name of Good Old Mary's singular seal[6] might be derived from the Axiom of Maria, one of the alchemical precepts attributed to Mary/Maria; roughly, "one becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the one as the fourth."
  • Long before Good Old Mary's introduction into the story as a kitchen alchemist, in the afterword of Toaru Majutsu no Index Volume 2, which heavily featured alchemy and saw the main usage of it in the story before Mary, Kamachi Kazuma noted an abandoned plan for the volume to have a scene involving kitchen alchemy.[42]
  • When he first met Mary, Kamijou Touma saw the knife's seal mascot as weird and thought it made her look more like a variant of the Kuchisake Onna than a homemaker.[3]

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 05 Between the Lines 1
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 08 Chapter 3 Part 4
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 06 Chapter 3 Part 5
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 06 Chapter 4 Part 2
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 08 Chapter 3 Part 6
  6. ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 6.21 6.22 6.23 6.24 6.25 6.26 6.27 6.28 6.29 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 07 Chapter 4 Part 4
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 07 Chapter 3 Part 1
  8. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 05 Epilogue
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 06
  10. ↑ 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 10.11 10.12 10.13 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 06 Chapter 2 Part 1
  11. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 06 Epilogue
  12. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 07 Chapter 2 Part 2
  13. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 07 Chapter 2 Part 5
  14. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 07 Chapter 3 Part 2
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 07 Chapter 4 Part 2
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 07 Chapter 4 Part 6
  17. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 08
  18. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 08 Between the Lines 1
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 08 Epilogue
  20. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 09 Chapter 1 Part 8
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 21.7 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 09 Chapter 2 Part 4
  22. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 09 Chapter 3 Part 7
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.5 23.6 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 09 Chapter 3 Part 8
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 09 Chapter 3 Part 9
  25. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 09 Chapter 4 Part 5
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 09 Chapter 4 Part 7
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 09 Epilogue
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 10 Chapter 2 Part 4
  29. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 10 Chapter 2 Part 5
  30. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 10 Chapter 2 Part 6
  31. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 10 Chapter 3 Part 4
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 10 Chapter 3 Part 6
  33. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 10 Chapter 3 Part 9
  34. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 12 Chapter 2 Part 8
  35. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 12 Epilogue
  36. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 13 Chapter 1 Part 4
  37. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 13
  38. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 14
  39. ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 14 Epilogue
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 07 Afterword
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 07 Epilogue
  42. ↑ Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 02 Afterword

Navigation[]

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Bridge Builders Cabal
Alice Anotherbible (Front) Trismegistus
Alice Anotherbible Trismegistus
Aradia Bologna Succubus Good Old Mary Mut Thebes (Profile)
Aradia Bologna Succubus "Good Old Mary" Mut Thebes
Vidhatri Blodeuwedd 2nd Saga Anna Sprengel (GT2)
Vidhatri Blodeuwedd 2nd Saga Anna Sprengel
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