The Rosenthal Family (ローゼンタール家 Rōzentāru-ka?) are a line of necromancers, who have sought to create the perfect golem for over 400 years.[1]
Etymology
Rosenthal is a surname of German and Jewish origin, meaning "valley of roses".
Principles
The Rosenthal Family is a line of necromancers who have spent over 400 years developing techniques of creating golems from corpses in order to create the perfect golem.[1]
As opposed to rock dolls only capable of carrying out simple commands, the Rosenthal make use of a method devised by their ancestor Obed, which involves placing an artificial soul into a corpse, allowing them to use a human brain and greatly increasing their intelligence.[1] These techniques were further developed through subsequent generations with the 4th generation head Isaac incorporating the Taoist Hopping Zombie Spell into what would become the Rosenthal style, and the 5th generation head Nathan, who developed artificial souls with greatly increased abilities.[1]
The greatest desire of the Rosenthal Family is the creation of the perfect golem, one with a perfect soul and a perfect body - a god.[1]
Artificial Souls
The Rosenthal Family make use of artificial souls, also referred to as false souls (偽りの魄 Itsuwari no Tamashii?), which are stored in charms and inserted into corpses to animate them.[1]
Among these are four artificial souls with greatly increased abilities, created by the 5th generation head Nathan; Taowu (檮杌?), Taotie (饕餮 Tōtetsu?, lit., "Coveting of Wealth"), Hundun (混沌 Konton?, lit., "Muddled Confusion") and Qiong Qi (窮奇 Kyūki?, lit., "Thoroughly-Odd"). These four, sometimes referred to as Evil Spirits of Numbers (ナンバーズの悪霊 Nanbāzu no Akuryō?), are capable of producing superhuman strength when their charm is attached to a corpse.[2][1] One of these, Taowu, houses the will of Isaac, whose soul Nathan transferred into Taowu while he was on his deathbed.[1]
Another one of the artificial souls used by the Rosenthal family is the Huotou (禍斗?), also referred to as the Rosenthal Third Number (薔薇渓谷家参式(ローゼンタール サードナンバー) Rōzentāru Sādonanbā?).
A countermeasure to the artificial souls, wielded by the current head Estelle Rosenthal, is a dagger known as Emperor Shun's Blade (舜帝の剣 Shun-tei no Han?), which is meant to neutralize them on striking their charm.[3]
Background
Over 400 years before the present, having tested various methods of creating golems, the Rosenthal ancestor Obed, devised a method of inserting an artificial soul into a corpse to create a golem with greatly increased intelligence. The rabbis of his homeland wouldn't permit this and drove Obed away from his home as a heretic.[1]
Ending up in the East, Obed and his successors would continue to develop their techniques, with the 4th generation head Isaac, incorporating the Hopping Zombie Spell and the 5th generation Nathan creating four artificial souls with increased abilities; Taowu, Taotie, Hundun and Qiongqi. Before Isaac died from disease, Nathan transferred his soul into the Taowu, imprinting it on its artificial soul. The Rosenthal style would continue to develop over the subsequent 19 generations but their ultimate goal of creating the perfect golem continued to elude them.[1]
After Taowu was activated and possessed Hirumi when 23th generation head Estelle attempted to resurrect her following her death, Isaac was contacted by a self-proclaimed demon, who told him of a way to achieve the Rosenthal Family's desire, using a method derived from how the human soul is said to slowly evolve and reach Keter through the process of experiencing 10000 deaths. By converting the memories of death (死の記憶 Shi no Kioku?) into a special formula and adding it to the sephiroth constructing the artificial soul, engraving the proof of death into the soul 10000 times, their soul would also reach Keter. The memories of death are normally erased from the physical world at death, however the memories of 10031 deaths are present in Academy City, stored within the Misaka Network.[1]
As a result of losing her friend twice, Estelle realized that they should not toy with death and abandoned the desire of the Rosenthal Family.[1]
Chronology
Toaru Kagaku no Accelerator
Manipulating Hishigata and DA through the Taowu-possessed Hirumi, Isaac attempted to obtain the memories of death from the Misaka Network, with Estelle attempting to stop them, unaware that Isaac's will was within the Taowu.[4][1] He was eventually able to obtain the memories via Misaka 10046 and had the formula inserted into the Taowu's artificial soul. He then began creating the 'perfect body' to house the 'perfect soul', despite Estelle's pleas to stop.[1]
Members
- Obed Rosenthal (ancestor/founder)
- Isaac Rosenthal (4th head)
- Nathan Rosenthal (5th head)
- Estelle Rosenthal (current head, 23th generation)
Trivia
- Taowu, Qiong Qi, Hundun, and Taotie are mythical Chinese creatures mentioned in the Shanhaijing, also referred to as the Four Fiends, who were banished by Emperor Shun.
- A Huotou is a legendary creature in Southern Chinese folkore, described as a dog-shaped monster that eats feces and blows fire.
- It should be noted that Obed, Isaac and Nathan have yet to be referred to by their full names in the series, by characters or narrative, being referred to only by their given names. However it is presumed that the names used in this article and their character articles are almost certainly correct, given their positions as members and heads of the Rosenthal family.[1]