Kira Yamato

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Kira Yamato (キラ・ヤマト Kira Yamato) is the protagonist of the television anime series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and is an important character in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. In the Japanese anime he is played by Soichiro Hoshi and in the English version he is played by Matt Hill.

In Gundam SEED, Kira is a first-generation Coordinator who lived in the neutral colony Heliopolis with his friends. An expert in the field of computer science, he often helped with special research at the college he attended. His life skewed in a totally different direction when he unwillingly got involved in the ZAFT attack on the colony and became the reluctant pilot of the GAT-X105 Strike, ultimately enlisting in OMNI (the military of the Earth Alliance) and subsequently earning a commission. Thereafter he followed the crew of the battleship Archangel in the fight against ZAFT. Kira coined the nickname "Gundam" for his machine from an acronym within the name of the Strike's mobile suit operating system (the "GUNDAM" acronym also found its way into subsequent mobile suit operating system names within the Cosmic Era timeline and the nickname stuck to similar high performance prototype mobile suits that use the GUNDAM operating system).

In both Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny, his friendship with Athrun Zala formed one of the main themes of the storyline.

Bloody Valentine War

Attack on Heliopolis: The

Kira Yamato with Tori

While the rest of humanity was engaged in the Bloody Valentine War, Kira lived peacefully with his parents and friends on the neutral colony of Heliopolis until they were attacked by ZAFT soldiers bent on stealing the Earth Alliance's five prototype mobile suits that were secretly being manufactured on the colony. As Kira is evacuating with his friends, a young girl, whom Kira's mentor Professor Kato invited to Heliopolis as his guest, runs in the direction of the fighting. Rather than evacuate with the rest of his friends, Kira follows the girl and the two of them come upon two of the prototypes - the GAT-X105 Strike and the GAT-X303 Aegis. The girls breaks down and wails, "Father, you've betrayed us all!" Earth Alliance soldier Murrue Ramius fires her gun at them thinking they are ZAFT soldiers, but then realizes that they are children. Another Earth Alliance soldier named Hamana manages to take down ZAFT pilot Rusty Mackenzie, who was supposed to steal the Strike. Emboldened by an unchecked rage, another ZAFT pilot rushes in and quickly avenges his fallen comrade by killing Hamana and shooting Murrue in the arm. Kira rushes in to protect her, and as he looks up at the charging ZAFT pilot, he recognizes his old friend Athrun Zala. The two of them are shocked to see each other. As Murrue drives Athrun off by raising her gun, she shoves Kira into the cockpit of the Strike. Meanwhile, Athrun commandeers the Aegis.

Outside the factory, Athrun informs GINN pilot Miguel Aiman that Rusty failed and the Strike is being piloted by an Earth Alliance soldier. Miguel tells Athrun to take his machine back to the ship, and he'll capture the Strike himself. Try as she might, Murrue is no match for Miguel piloting the Strike, and seeing that his friends Sai Argyle, Kuzzey Buskirk, Miriallia Haw, and Tolle Koenig are in the vicinity of this battle, Kira quickly takes control of Strike and fights back, ultimately forcing Miguel to retreat after detonating his own GINN.

After the battle, Murrue pulls out a gun and tells Kira and his friends that they have no choice but to stick with her because they have stumbled upon the Earth Alliance's top military secret. They are soon joined by Mu La Flaga, Natarle Badgiruel, and several other Earth Alliance survivors of the raid on Heliopolis. It soon becomes quite clear to Mu that Kira is no ordinary human seeing as how he was able to rewrite the Stirke's OS in a matter of seconds and pilot it so adeptly, and asks if he is a Coordinator. When Kira says yes, some of the Earth Alliance soldiers pull their guns on him, but Tolle quickly vouches for his friend saying that he may be a Coordinator but he is not an enemy. Murrue also mentions the fact that Orb as a policy of non-discrimination against Coordinators, and so it makes perfect sense that Kira is living on Heliopolis. Mu apologizes for stirring up a fuss, saying he was only curious.

Kira initially refuses to pilot the Strike again, but Mu tells him that he is the only one capable of piloting it and that if he has the power to make a difference, he should put it to good use.

In his later confrontation with Miguel, who is humiliated by his earlier defeat thinking that a Natural was piloting the Strike, Kira ultimately kills him by literally slicing both Miguel and his GINN in half right at the torso just before Heliopolis finally collapses due to the damage it incurred from the battle. Miguel is the first of many people who will die at the hands of Kira Yamato since he was forced to fight, even though he hates war.

On the Archangel

After becoming the pilot of the Strike, Kira often had to confront his childhood friend Athrun Zala, a ZAFT soldier. While Athrun was driven to fight to protect his nation, Kira was more concerned about his friends who were forced onboard the Archangel, whose officers were determined not to surrender the ship at any cost. When Kira confronts Athrun for the first time after the destruction of Heliopolis, Athrun shifts the Aegis into mobile armor attack mode and manages to briefly ensnare the Strike with Kira inside. Kira tells Athrun that he refuses to set foot on any ZAFT ship, and Athrun says that if he doesn't come he'll have to destroy him. Athrun tells Kira that his mother was killed in the Bloody Valentine incident, which is why he decided to enlist even though he hates war. This has a profound effect on Kira, nevertheless, he refuses to join ZAFT and makes escape when Mu La Flaga intervenes.

When a twist of fate lands PLANT pop idol Lacus Clyne - who just so happens to be Athrun's fiancee - on board the Archangel, Natarle Badgiruel ultimately uses her as a shield to stave off ZAFT forces after they destroyed an entire Earth Alliance fleet, killing Vice Foreign Minister George Allster in the process. Before he withdraws, Athrun asks Kira if it's his idea of justice to fight with cowards who would use innocent civilians as hostages and he vows to rescue Lacus.

His words cut Kira deeply, as he knows that using hostages is something that he cannot agree with so he stages a momentary revolt in order to save Lacus from other possible harms since she was at the time's Chairman of Plant Siegel Clyne's prestigious daughter. Athrun offers Kira the chance to join him at ZAFT because he is a Coordinator as well but Kira refuses, saying that he has friends on that ship he must protect even though the very friends' careless words would and have caused him harm. Athrun tells Kira that the next time they meet, he would shoot Kira, Kira returns the sentiment. Lacus is saddened not only because she's leaving Kira, the new friend she's become so fond of in a short time, realizing that he had similar sentiments as her as a pacifist yet has the strength to fight. She happens to serve as a link between the friends proving to them that neither has changed and are still friends despite having to fight one another. When Rau Le Creuset, Athrun's team leader tries to launch a sneak attack, Lacus immediately opens a communications line to the surprise of everyone, demanding that Rau cease all offensive actions in front of a representative of the Junius Seven memorial delegation--A reluctant Rau obeys the command.

When Flay Allster, George's daughter, witnessed the death of her father by ZAFT hands, she discriminated Kira even more as a Coordinator, neglecting to see the difficulty of piloting mobile suits and the harsh realities of war. She later apologized, faking affection for him in order to make him kill all the Coordinators on her behalf. Her misplaced sentiment made her believe that Kira would fight harder for her, even though he had been trying his best from the beginning. Kira's fighting abilities took a more violent turn as evidenced when he does damage to the GAT-X102 Duel, giving its pilot Yzak Joule a scar across his face.

Later when the Archangel rendezvouses with the Earth Alliance's 8th Fleet, Flay volunteers to enlist. This caused Kira to decide to officially become an Earth Alliance soldier as well because he was the only one capable of piloting the Strike mobile suit and he felt responsible for his friends whom he thought would have also disembarked at the first chance. Soon after the destruction of the 8th fleet, a fleeing ship of survivors from Heliopolis accidentally crossed in the middle of his fight with Yzak, who has sworn revenge against Kira for the humiliation he brought upon him earlier. Yzak indiscriminately shoots down the ship thinking it contained Earth Alliance soldiers. Kira tried in vain, but ultimately was unable to stop Yzak from destroying the ship. This event would continue to haunt him for a long time because one of the passengers was a little girl named Elle who gave him an origami flower as a token of her appreciation for his protection in earlier battles. When Flay brings him back the flower, Kira breaks down and cries. Flay comforts and kisses him taking the opportunity of his vulnerable and weakened mind to the tragic events, and eventually the two of them have sex. Flay would only have a momentary grip on the youth as he too would become obsessed in only protecting the ship (as evidenced by his later bunking of the Strike as his new bedroom), just as Flay was obsessed with the foolish wish of the death of all Coordinators. The incident with the deaths of many innocent people especially on the shuttle he was unable to protect would lead Kira to use a more violent fighting style against the ZAFT forces who engaged the Archangel at the Desert in North Africa, and later in the Indian Ocean.

Enter the Desert Tiger: Andrew Waltfeld

While fighting the ZAFT forces in North Africa along with a resistance group called the Desert Dawn, Kira finds himself reunited with Cagalli Yula Athha, the young girl he helped escape from Heliopolis by pushing her into an escape tube. When Cagalli first lays eyes on him since that incident, she slaps him in the face because she had been so worried about him and was shocked to see him piloting a mobile suit. She later apologizes for her reaction, although her apology hardly sounds sincere.

After a squadron of ZAFT's BuCUEs under the command of the dreaded Desert Tiger destroyed the town of Tassil, Cagalli and several other members of the Desert Dawn recklessly chased after them. Several of the resistance fighters, including Cagalli's friend Ahmed El-Fasi, winds up getting killed. Fortunately, Kira arrives just in the nick of time to save Cagalli. After the battle, Kira gets out of the Strike and asks Cagalli what they are doing and says it's foolish to die in the desert for nothing. She calls him a bastard and says everyone fought bravely, pointing to Ahmed's body. Kira slaps her and asks her what she thinks they can possibly protect when they only wanted to avenge the town's downfall despite having had no casualties.

Later when the two of them are sent to gather supplies, a twist of fate would land them in the headquarters of their adversary, Andrew Waltfeld, the Desert Tiger. As Kira and Cagalli sit down for lunch, a waiter serves them lunch, and Cagalli explains to Kira that it's a kebab. As she is about to put chili sauce on her kebab, a (poorly but effectively) disguised Andy rushes in and insists that she should use yogurt sauce instead. They both try to get Kira to use their sauce and end up covering his kebab with both of them. On a nearby rooftop, Blue Cosmos terrorists prepare to attack Andy. They fire a bazooka at Andy, and he kicks up a table as Kira rushes in to cover Cagalli. As more terrorists rush in with machine guns, Andy and his men pull out their guns and fight back. Kira picks up a gun and throws it a terrorist and then kicks him. Andy thanks Kira, already knowing who he might be due to his Coordinatoresque abilities, and when he takes off his sunglasses and hat, Cagalli realizes who he really is.

Andy brings Kira and Cagalli with him to the palace where he is headquartered. Though they want to leave, he wants to thank them and clean up Cagalli since she is covered in chili and yogurt sauce. When they go inside, Andy has his girlfriend Aisha take Cagalli away to be cleaned up. He pours himself and Kira some coffee, and Kira examines a miniature of the space whale fossil. Andy identifies it as the 'Evidence 01 Whale Stone' and says it's an interesting piece. It is proof that extraterrestrial life exists in deep space, but he finds it troubling. Though it looks like a whale with wings, why would it have wings? Cagalli sits in a bathtub while Aisha picks out a dress for her. Kira and Andy discuss the whale, and Andy says that it's at the root of the war between Naturals and Coordinators. Aisha brings in Cagalli in a nice dress, and Kira calls her a girl. When she gets mad, Andy and Aisha laugh at them. Andy asks Kira how as a mobile suit pilot he thinks the war will end. He pulls out a gun and asks Kira if a war ends when all your enemies are destroyed. He says he saw Kira fighting and knows he's a Coordinator, which surprises Cagalli. He says that Kira is one of the elite pilots and described his fighting style to that of a berserker, but he can't escape from a palace filled with Coordinators. He also says he doesn't know why Kira is fighting his own kind, but as long as he pilots the Strike, they're enemies. He then puts the gun away stating that his home is not a battlefield and that Kira had saved him so he lets them off.

Even though they are fighting on opposite sides, Kira and Andy actually grow fond of each other, which makes it very difficult for them to fight in their next and decisive battle. Kira asks Andy to stop because the battle is over, but Andy says he can't so long as they are enemies and is determined to keep fighting until one of them is destroyed. Aisha tells Andy nonchalantly that he's fond of boys like Kira who fight to protect despite his contradicting personality. Andy doesn't deny it as he moves in for a final attack as the Strike Phase Shifts down due to lack of power. Kira goes into SEED mode as he ejects his shield and Aile pack, he pulls out a combat knife and plunges one of them into the LaGOWE that Andy is piloting. Andy and Aisha embrace before the LaGOWE explodes, and Kira cries because he didn't want to kill Andy (however, Andy somehow survives the destruction of his mobile suit and later reappears in PLANT).

Flight Over the Indian Ocean: The Winds of Change

While traveling on the Indian Ocean, Kira remembers his encounter with Andy and their final battle. He thinks about the death of Flay's father and the destroyed civilian shuttle and begins to cry. Cagalli comes out on deck and finds him crying, so she hugs him and tells him everything will be okay. She finds herself holding his hand and tells him not to get the wrong idea, she simply wanted him not to cry anymore. They sit down together, and she asks him why he is with the Alliance when he is a Coordinator. He remembers being asked that many times. She asks about what Coordinators can do, and Kira says that their abilities come from studying and training, not just by virtue of birth. Flay walks out to the deck and stops when she hears their voices. She goes back into the hallway and takes off her uniform jacket. She goes outside in her undershirt tied in a knot and asks Kira why he didn't invite her out. She then holds him and asks him to come inside. Cagalli decides to leave to stay out of their way, and Flay eyes her jealously.

Later, when the Archangel is undergoing repairs at Orb, Kira ends his relationship with Flay, after realizing that they were not right for each other. It is unclear whether he realized she was manipulating him or not. He also meets up with Athrun face to face for the first time via Tori, of whom was mentioned by Lacus to a baffled Athrun who was surprised Kira had kept that thing. Although Athrun knows Kira is the Strike pilot, he does not reveal this knowledge in front of Yzak and the others. Before he leaves Orb along with the Archangel, Cagalli shows Kira that his parents were watching him depart from afar. He had previously refused visitation rights with them due to the one nagging question that he wanted to ask--Why they made him into a Coordinator since he is a first-generation. Kira asks Cagalli to apologize to them for him, saying that he could not see them right now, especially when he might have said things that he may regret. Kira tells her to be safe and thanks her for comforting him genuinely as he turns to go inside the Archangel, out of worry for her friend, Cagalli embraces him and tells him not to die and to come back to see her again. Kira promises that he will do so.

Kira and Athrun: A Tragic Duel

Soon, while en route to the Alaskan Base JOSH-A, the Archangel is attacked once again by Athrun and his comrades. During the initial skirmish, Kira damaged all of ZAFT's opposing Mobile Suits with Kira standing tall over a crippled Aegis. However, in a regretful turn of events, he would haphazardly kill Nicol Amarfi, a close friend of Athrun's and pilot of the GAT-X207 Blitz when he stepped in to distract Kira and protect Athrun. Seeing how Nicol died to protect him and how his death could have been prevented by killing Kira, which he couldn't bring himself to do, Athrun becomes absolutely determined to kill Kira for sure the next time and like Kira, adopts a more aggressive fighting style. In the next confrontation between the two, Kira's friend Tolle Koenig was killed when Athrun destroyed the FX-550 Skygrasper he was piloting. Immediately after that, the two best friends would fight each other in a demonic-like frenzy to kill the other in order to avenge their friends. In the end, Kira was seriously injured when Athrun attached the Aegis to the Strike and self destructed it in a desperate attempt to kill him.

Acquiring a New Sword: The Although everyone believed he was dead, the truth was far from it. After the battle, he ended up on PLANT, in the mansion of Lacus Clyne. It turned out that he had been pulled from the wreckage of the Strike by Junk Guild member Lowe Guele, who watched the battle between Kira and Athrun unfold and afterwards turned the seriously injured Kira over to the care of Reverend Malchio, a family friend of the Clyne family (Kira later had the opportunity to thank Guele when ReHOME delivered supplies for the Three Ships Alliance later in the war). However, it is during this time that Lacus and Kira developed an affection towards each other, Lacus tells Kira that he's safe in the Clyne family home and that he can stay with her for as long as he wants to. However, one day while enjoying the company of the Clyne family and the Reverend, he overhears a message to Lacus's father Siegel from Council member Eileen Canaver that PLANT chairman Patrick Zala lied about ZAFT's newest major operation and that the bulk of ZAFT forces are actually on their way to crush JOSH-A in Alaska, the main base of the Earth Alliance Military and where the Archangel is currently stationed. Kira is then overcome with the desire to save his friends again and decides to leave PLANT to do so. To assist Kira to end the fighting, Lacus helped Kira enter a ZAFT base and gave Kira the ZGMF-X10A Freedom, she then granted him "her strength" via a kiss. Kira then returned to Earth and saved the Archangel with the stolen MS during the midst of a battle that would have certainly killed everyone on board.

Kira descends to Earth after stealing the ZGMF-X10A Freedom

During the Battle of JOSH-A, Kira alerted both ZAFT and Earth Alliance soldiers of the impending danger of the Cyclops system in the base's basement. Yzak refuses to believe his words and attacks Kira with the Duel. Despite the fact that Yzak killed Elle in cold blood, Kira refrains from killing him in return. Instead he cuts off the Duel's legs and kicks Yzak away in order to save him from the Cyclops blast.

Following the Battle of JOSH-A, the Archangel defected to Orb and later to the Three Ships Alliance. In Orb, Cagalli tearfully welcomed back the friend she almost lost by means of an embrace that tackled him to the ground, followed by a beating with Cagalli furiously calling him an idiot and admitting she feared she'd never see him again. Kira comforts Cagalli by reminding her that he kept his promise to return. Later, Athrun aided the Archangel during the invasion of Orb by the Earth Alliance after considering what he has seen and heard and decides in the end that Kira isn't his enemy. By joining the battle at Orb, Athrun also brought with him the brother unit of the stolen Freedom, the ZGMF-X09A Justice. After staving off the Earth Alliance, he and Kira call a truce to discuss the situation and settle their differences. First, they acknowledge the deaths of Nicol and Tolle who were both apparently good people who didn't deserve to die, as well as acknowledging the fact that they wanted to kill each other despite still being best of friends, in order to avenge the deaths of their comrades--this in turn leads to one of the main themes of Gundam SEED of the nature of the neverending cycle in wars, where if one were to be attacked, then in return they would retaliate, and because they retaliate, then they would attack and so on and so on, until one or both opposing sides are killed off. The complication of this theme is quite difficult to comprehend, which was often conveyed in several instances. One prominent instance was by Uzumi Nara Athha, telling Cagalli that if someone were to be killed in battle by her, then the mother would hate her for killing that person, and if Cagalli were to be killed in battle by someone, then Uzumi would hate that person. Thus, the cycle would never end.

It is then in Phase 40, that Kira makes his assertion that was previously noted by Lacus Clyne on whom the enemy to be fought really was, which greatly confused Athrun Zala in his quest to search for what he should fight in, or more importantly what he should be fighting for. In Phase 40, Kira asserts that they should find "what it is they are looking for", which basically asked Athrun to join Orb, making him and Kira allies for the first time. They would eventually proceed into bringing about an end to the war, but the nature of their true fight is long from finished, or perhaps will continue on forever, but regardless, they would have a future.

This accord is quickly interrupted when the Earth Alliance attacks again. Uzumi Nara Athha sacrifices his life in order to allow them to escape and to prevent the Earth Alliance from getting their hands on their main target: Orb's mass driver. Before that happens, however, he gives Cagalli a photograph of her and Kira when they were babies and tells her that although she is leaving her father she won't be alone, for she will be with her brother. When Cagalli shows Kira the photo after the Archangel and the Kusanagi ascend into space, he is flabbergasted, especially since the woman cuddling them is not Caridad Yamato, the only mother he had ever known until then.

Rise of Three Ship Alliance & The Mendel Colony Conspiracy

Eventually Archangel, the Orb ship Kusanagi, and the Clyne Faction's stolen ZAFT ship Eternal, formed the Three Ships Alliance, supported by Kira's stolen ZGMF-X10A Freedom and Athrun's ZGMF-X09A Justice units. This new group received assistance from the Junk Guild, and the prototype Archangel tender ship turned Junk Guild vessel ReHOME served as a tender ship for the TSA.

During the Battle of Mendel in a running gun battle between Kira, Mu La Flaga and Rau Le Creuset, Kira learned from Rau Le Creuset, who hands him an exact copy (albeit in a well-cared-for frame) of the photograph Cagalli had shown to him earlier, that Haruma and Caridad Yamato are not his biological parents. His true parents were Ulen and Via Hibiki who are both deceased but were both astute geneticists in their time. He also learns that he was the Ultimate Coordinator; his fetus was artificially developed outside his mother's womb, and all his genetic enhancements were exactly as they were intended to be. He was the first and the last fetus to be successfully developed using the apparatus. Kira also learned that Cagalli is indeed his twin sister, but she was born naturally. It has been proven that freelance mercenary Canard Pars, the only "failed" Ultimate Coordinator prototype to survive, is Kira's older brother through genetics. The two have never met, and it is probable that that they never will with the current events in the Cosmic Era.

After learning the truth about his existence, Kira is shocked once again when he learns that Flay is still alive as she desperately tries to communicate with the Archangel and in the process everybody on the battlefield hears her voice, including Kira. Upon hearing Kira's voice again, Flay weeps with joy. Unfortunately, Kira fails to retrieve her escape pod because the Freedom is beheaded by the GAT-X252 Forbidden and GAT-X370 Raider after Kira recklessly tries to get to Flay before everyone else does; and Flay winds up onboard the Dominion instead. As Forbidden and Raider pilots Shani Andras and Clotho Buer continue their assault on Kira, Athrun and Dearka Elsman step in and save him.

After making it back to the Eternal, Kira looks at Lacus and passes out after briefly apologizing for thinking he was seeing Flay instead. When he wakes up from this blackout, again he looks at Lacus and imagines he sees Flay naked, an obvious flashback to the time when they were having sex, he shakes the thought away as his mind had been reeling from the traumatic recent events, noted by Mu La Flaga in which he knew that it must have been difficult for Kira. Just as Cagalli is about to ask Kira about the framed photo of the two of them when they were babies, Athrun grabs her arm and takes her outside, leaving Kira and Lacus alone together. Kira tells Lacus he vowed not to cry, and she tells him he can cry when he feels like it, which he does. Kira cries himself to sleep in Lacus' lap and Lacus comments that he has "suffered too many sad dreams, but the 'you' now, right here, is everything." Hinting to the fact that Kira should be able to move on, past his sadness as he is worthy of a future.

Battle at Jachin Due: A Day of Destiny

Kira, Athrun, Lacus, Cagalli and the Three Ships Alliance helped in ending the Bloody Valentine War. Just before the final battle, Lacus not only helps Kira come to terms with his true origins by telling him that his birth (regardless of how he was born) and meeting of him has made her so happy despite all the sadness she has endured, but admits her love for him by giving him the ring that belonged to her mother. Kira responds with a thanks for her support and and kisses her on the cheek. In the final battle at Jachin Due, Kira engages Rau Le Creuset who now pilots the ZGMF-X13A Providence. While fighting Le Creuset, Kira again hears Flay cry out from an escape pod and backs out of the fight in an attempt to rescue her. Instead of going after Kira, Le Creuset points his beam rifle directly at Flay's escape pod. Kira manages to block the shot with his shield and get one last look at Flay. Noticing that she has tears in her eyes and a smile on her face, Kira becomes easily distracted from the one of Rau's DRAGOONs as it fires from above and destroys the pod, killing Flay. Upon seeing the pod explode, Kira cries out in anguish and begins to descend aimlessly in the Freedom, realizing Flay's death could have been prevented if he hadn't lost focus on Le Creuset. However, Flay's spirit briefly materializes in order to say thanks and apologize to Kira. She also assures Kira that her true feelings will protect him from now on. Unfortunately for Flay, it appears Kira does not hear these words as he has no reaction to them.

Driven by anger over Flay's death, Kira activated his SEED mode, removing his doubts caused by Creuset's words. Finally, in a brave charge, a heavily damaged Freedom stabbed the cockpit of the Providence with his beam saber, mortally wounding Le Creuset in the process. The sabotaged ZAFT superweapon GENESIS then finished the Providence once and for all. The apparently injured Kira was rescued by Cagalli and Athrun.

Second Bloody Valentine War

The Second Bloody Valentine War takes place two years after the previous war, where Kira and Lacus lived in an orphanage in the Marshall Islands, run by a Clyne family friend, Reverend Malchio until a disaster forces the group to move in with Murrue Ramius and Andrew Waltfeld at their shared mansion in Orb. As the events escalated, the mansion was destroyed by an unknown force (later deduced as Durandal's forces) trying to assassinate Lacus. The attempt on Lacus's life forces Kira to once again pilot the rebuilt Freedom and participate in combat in order to protect his loved one, despite his reluctance in once again taking up arms. He still manages to abide by his "No kill" policy to the best of his abilities, demonstrating his still incredible piloting skills. Kira and Lacus returned to the Archangel as Orb joined the Earth Alliance, forcing them to take in secretive residence in the Kingdom of Scandinavia. Before leaving Orb, Kira kidnaps Cagalli from her arranged marriage, despite Cagalli's initial objections. He also helps Cagalli realize her mistake in letting Orb side with the Earth Alliance and provides an embrace to help her come to terms with her error in judgement, despite her good intentions.

Return to the Battlefield

From there Kira continued to fight in the rebuilt ZGMF-X10A Freedom. His first sortie with the Archangel was in the Dardanelles for the purpose of stopping the EA/Orb offensive against the ZAFT battleship Minerva. Upon his arrival, Kira destroyes the Minerva's main "Tannhäuser" cannon, which was fully charged and therefore caused severe damage to the ship, killing several crewmen but could have possibly killed more crewmen on the targeted enemy. Then, he proceeds to disarm any mobile suits on both sides of the skirmish. Kira is blamed for causing the death of ZGMF-X2000 GOUF Ignited pilot Heine Westenfluss by the hands of Gaia piloted by Stellar Loussier (both were trying to get Kira and Heine go in Stellar's way). He continued to distrust ZAFT, even after he learned Athrun's support of it in his meeting with Athrun, Cagalli and Miriallia in Crete due much to the fact that Lacus was previously targeted by a special ops team of Coordinators using newly designed ZAFT Mobile Suits. He would later intervene once again in the EA/Orb battle with the Minerva in Crete, where he consequently saved the Minerva from a possible finishing blow, but was still regarded as the enemy.

Kira has his first real battle with Shinn but is then confronted by Athrun in his ZGMF-X23S Saviour, who believed Kira and Cagalli to be in the wrong as their power seemed to only create confusion and unnecessary deaths. Due to the situation around them, primarily his distraught twin sister, Kira declares that if Athrun thinks that their (Archangel) presence in trying to stop the battle is pointless then he (Athrun) was his enemy. This time the fight was rather one sided and Kira would easily defeat Athrun, and destroy the Saviour.

Shattered Sword: Freedom's Final Battle

Kira soon went to Berlin to fight against the monstrous GFAS-X1 Destroy, and was eventually joined by the Minerva, along with Shinn Asuka's Impulse, where he defeated Stellar Loussier by stabbing his beam sabers into the Destroy while it was preparing to fire the chest plasma cannons (consequently saving the super ace's life), causing the gigantic mobile suit to explode and killing Stellar Loussier in the process. Unfortunately, the result of his actions, despite having taken down a mobile suit that killed many and by stopping it saved many more; had gained him a new enemy: Shinn Asuka, a former Orb citizen who joined ZAFT after his family was killed in the assault on Orb by the EAF during the first war, but after the death of Stellar, Shinn's love interest whom he vowed to protect, Shinn's dislike for Kira and Freedom turned into a deep and personal hatred. It was around this time that Kira had captured an Earth Alliance officer by the name of Neo Roanoke, whom he had felt a strange connection with, he soon discovered why when he actually saw the officer in person and noticed he looked so much like his old friend and comrade, Mu La Flaga. Neo was fairly cordial to Kira and the others aboard the Archangel and behaved much like Mu, but he claimed that he was not this person. In the following battle, upon the orders of Chairman Durandal deemed "Operation Angel Down", the Freedom was attacked and destroyed by Shinn and his ZGMF-X56S Impulse mostly due to Shinn's knowledge of Kira's unwillingness to kill, uncertainty of the enemy being ZAFT, and Impulse's ability to replace damaged parts on-the-fly. Kira was able to survive the destruction with relatively minor injuries by using an emergency cutoff control to shut down the Freedom's nuclear reactor before it went critical, but this in turn shut off the suit's Phase Shift armor, allowing it to be ripped apart by the explosion from the Minerva's Tannhäuser (fired at the submerging Archangel). Then, the destroyed Freedom, or more precisely the intact upper torso containing the cockpit, sank into the ocean before being rescued by Cagalli in the MBF-02 Strike Rouge.

A New Sword: The

Kira's new sword

Upon hearing that Lacus and her ship Eternal were under attack by ZAFT forces after investigating the remnants of the space colony Mendel for clues about Chairman Durandal's plans, Kira rushed back to space in Cagalli's Strike Rouge mounted on booster rockets. Being outnumbered and outclassed by newer ZAFT's Zaku and Gouf squadrons, Andrew Waltfeld told Kira whose Strike Rouge was seriously damaged to go into the Eternal to pick up his new unit. Back in the Eternal, Kira and Lacus were reunited. After some initial hesitations, Lacus finally presented Kira with his new unit, the newly constructed ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom. In its first battle, he disables 25 ZAKU and GOUF Mobile Suits within 2 minutes followed by their three Nazca-class destroyers. However, Kira will soon be rushing back to Earth with the Strike Freedom to help Cagalli defend Orb, which under the poor leadership of Yuna and Unato in Cagalli's absence provided shelter for Lord Djibril in addition to delivering the ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice to his friend Athrun Zala.

Second Battle of Orb

When Shinn launched in Destiny to confront Cagalli's Akatsuki, Shinn's beam boomerangs were about to finish off the Akatsuki when Kira appeared from the sky, hand in hand with Infinite Justice (Lacus Clyne was piloting Infinite Justice during re-entry at that moment). Kira fired his rail cannons to blow away Shinn's beam boomerangs and forced the Destiny to back away from the Akatsuki. Everyone was surprised by the appearance of the new Freedom, which was supposedly destroyed during Operation "Angel Down". Kira then engaged Shinn and both pilots were evenly matched blow for blow. Kira then went into SEED mode, and when Shinn tried to use the anti-ship sword to slice apart the Freedom, he caught and removed Shinn's anti-ship sword and fired the railguns at point-blank range at the Destiny, which angered Shinn and made him go into SEED mode as well. Kira and Shinn then exchanged several fly-by beam rifle shots. Having fought a prolonged battle first against Cagalli's Akatsuki and then Kira's Strike Freedom, Destiny's Hyper Capacitor was low on power and was recalled back to the Minerva by Rey to recharge and resupply.

With Destiny no longer on the battlefield, Kira then disabled many of the ZAFT mobile suits invading Orb and thus single handedly turned the tide of the battle. When Shinn relaunched accompanied by Rey, Kira in SEED mode managed to hold his own against the Shinn & Rey combo: Kira was immediately engaged by Shinn with several fly-by beam rifles shots. Shinn then used Destiny's "Palma Fiocina" palm beam cannon to attack the Strike Freedom. However, before Shinn could unleash the palm beam, Kira moved away from the palm's trajectory and then kicked the Destiny's arm away, turning the tide against him for a possibly damaging blow until Legend intervened. Rey then engaged Kira by shooting his DRAGOON funnels attached on the Legend's backpack, being noted by Kira as similar to Rau's ZGMF-X13A Providence. Legend's mounted DRAGOON guns got the Strike Freedom out of balance momentarily and was target locked-on by the Destiny's long range beam cannon. Shinn was about to fire a possibly damaging blow when suddenly the beam boomerang from the shield of Athrun's Infinite Justice stopped Shinn from firing.

Thereafter, Kira faced off against Rey's Legend, while Athrun engaged Shinn in melee combat proving himself superior by hacking off the Destiny's wrist despite his injuries. After the ZAFT forces retreated, Athrun lost consciousness as well as control of the Infinite Justice. Kira, in Strike Freedom, caught the Infinite Justice in mid-air preventing him from crashing. When Kira removed Athrun's helmet and flight suit, Athrun's wounds had re-opened and were bleeding profusely. Kira then ordered a stretcher to bring Athrun to the Archangel's sick bay.

When Cagalli's televised broadcast from Orb Union's Parliament was suddently interrupted by a broadcast by Meer Campbell (Lacus imposter), Kira flew Lacus in the Strike Freedom's cockpit to Orb's Parliament buiilding in order to retake the broadcast from Meer Campbell.

Return to Space

Following the destruction of several PLANTs, ZAFT withdrew its forces from Orb's coastline, and sent its Flagship the Minerva to reinforce the ZAFT Lunar Team in an attempt to destroy the Earth Alliance's Lunar-Based Laser Cannon, "Requiem" (which fired and destroyed those PLANTs). During that time, Kira was promoted to General, and appointed as the Commander of the Orb Space Fleet (second only in military ranks to Representative Cagalli, the Supreme Commander). The Archangel was officially commissioned into the Orb Forces and assigned as Kira's flagship. Archangel was ordered to the lunar city of Coperncus to gather intellegence on Durandal's operations. Cagalli was forced to stay in Orb to help coordinate the recovery as well as lead the country in this dark hour; she loaned her Akatsuki to Colonel Neo Roanoke to use in her stead, then held a manning-of-the-rails ceremony for the Archangel and took this opportunity to embrace Kira goodbye as well as Athrun and Lacus.

When Archangel returned to space and docked in Copernicus, Kira accompanied Lacus to do some shopping, annoying Athrun. There, they received Meer Campbell's red Haro containing a message from Meer requesting to meet with Lacus. When Meer and Lacus finally meet, Sarah (Meer's bodyguard) had organized a team of assassins to kill Kira and Lacus who were accompanied by Athrun and Meyrin Hawke to fight them off. Athrun requests backup from the Archangel which sent Mu La Flaga (Neo Roanoke) to aid them in the Akatsuki (ORB-01). Just when they thought it was safe, Sarah, who had not died in the explosion resulting from a bomb, aimed her gun at Lacus, intending to finish her mission at all costs. Meer, who saw her, quickly pushed Lacus out of harm's way, sacrificing her life in the process. Thus, Athrun quickly disposed of Sarah before she could do any more harm. Shortly after Meer's funeral, Durandal announces his "Destiny Plan" to the world and his vow to eliminate anybody who does not follow him. Orb quickly denounces Dunrandal's plan and orders their space fleet to stop Durandal from accomplishing the "Destiny Plan" and prevent the destruction of Orb.

Battle of Messiah: Assault on REQUIEM

In the final stages of the war, Kira and Athrun quickly become a major part of the final line of defense between the world and Chairman Durandal's Destiny Plan. In the final battle, Commander General Kira ordered Athrun and the Archangel to disable the Requiem directly, as the Strike Freedom confronted Rey's ZGMF-X666S Legend in a one-on-one battle after having bested Shinn's Destiny by Freedom's DRAGOONs. The Strike Freedom managed to destroy several of Legend's DRAGOONs before attacking the Legend directly, disabling it. After that, the Strike Freedom docked with a METEOR once again and combined with the Eternal, the Strike Freedom attacked the space fortress, Messiah, leading to its eventual destruction.

Then, Kira and Athrun went to meet Gilbert Durandal in the command center of Messiah. While they were talking, the captain of the Minerva, Talia Gladys, arrived. Gilbert was shot down by Rey Za Burrel, Gilbert's most loyal and dedicated follower. He had been enlightened by Kira's words and dreams of a future, which would have been suppressed by Durandal's Destiny Plan. Before leaving the Messiah, Talia Gladys asked Kira to tell Murrue Ramius, the Archangel's captain, that she had a son and she wishes Murrue to meet him someday. Kira agreed and was able to leave the Messiah in Strike Freedom along with Athrun before it fell onto the moon surface and exploded.

Aftermath

Afterwards, at the ravished Orb memorial previously visited by Shinn and Kira in episode 8, Athrun introduced Kira to Shinn as the pilot of Freedom. Shinn was stunned by the identity of the pilot whom he tried to defeat numerous times, and previously met before without that knowledge. Kira made an overture to Shinn to shake his hand and to make peace with him. Kira stated that no matter how many times some humans desired the destruction of other people based on differences that could have been accepted, yet neglected, Kira was prepared to restore peace and to ensure that humans, Coordinators and Naturals alike, never again go down the path of mutual destruction and asked Shinn to join him in the fight of the world he truly wished for. A crying Shinn agrees.

Kira became the central figure and a commander of Terminal and the Orb Military, as evidenced by his former "superiors" from the previous war Murrue Ramius, Mu La Flaga, and Andrew Waltfeld who followed his command at the end of the second war. Kira's accomplishments in both Bloody Valentine Wars proved that he is one of the most skilled mobile suit pilots in the SEED universe.

Relationship with Lacus Clyne

Despite artistic scenes in the SEED OPs, EDs, and commercial screens depicting Lacus Clyne and Kira Yamato as lovers, the relationship was often questioned by fans. While it did seem that they cared for one another, it could have been interpreted as fraternal love as the two had never been seen in what is typically called a "Hollywood Embrace" (which is an embrace followed by a deep kiss). Some saw the relationship as more "real" because while they never express their feelings toward each other with something as typical as a deep kiss, they were often shown as being the most happy and confident when they were together. Moreover, in SEED, Lacus entrusted Kira with her ring during later episodes, followed by a kiss from Kira on Lacus' cheek. What certain audiences failed to understand is the fact that, at least in old Japanese (or East-Asian in general) tradition, by entrusting an ornament from a woman to a man, it usually implies "romantic" love & later, marriage. However, there were still doubts to the relationship as at the end of SEED, as it was obvious that Kira seemed distant due to his traumatized mind and heart. Nonetheless, in the short 'aftermath' OVA following the end of SEED, Lacus and Kira were clearly seen living together.

However, by the sequel series Destiny, Kira and Lacus' relationship as a couple was magnified by the fact the two are often touching one another through embraces and hand holding. Destiny put to rest any doubts of the relationship especially as Lacus is shown constantly uneasy whenever Kira goes off to battle. Her feelings are reciprocated when she hijacks a shuttle (with the help of Andrew Waltfeld) to go into space. Kira is seen also uneasy and his concerns are justified when he defends Lacus with the Freedom from incoming missiles trying to stop her from hijacking the shuttle. As she goes into space, their communication is about to break up and Kira tries to convey his feelings for her, but alas, the communication is cut off. And later, viewers see the depth of their relationship as the couple often embrace while staring lovingly into each other's eyes as in the instance when they are reunited in the episode Lacus hands the Strike Freedom over to Kira, she is seen flying into Kira's arms as he eagerly embraces her. Throughout the show the pair are shown side-by-side, in support of each other. In Destiny, their relationship is also depicted in the OPs and EDs, usually as lovers, fully naked in embrace.

Quotes & Notable Dialogue

• "What the hell can you protect when your feelings are the only weapons you've got!?" (Gundam SEED, PHASE-18 "Payback")
• "Why do things like that exist in the first place? Nuclear weapons. Or for that matter, why are there even mobile suits and guns?" (Gundam SEED, PHASE-48 "Day of Wrath")
• "Don't you feel any kind of remorse for doing this!?" (Gundam SEED, PHASE-49 "The Final Light")
• "This world is still worth protecting!" (Gundam SEED, FINAL-PHASE "To an Endless Future")
• "There is only one life for everybody!! That life is yours!! Not his!!!" (Gundam SEED Destiny, FINAL-PHASE "The Final Power")

Rau Le Creuset: "You're something that shouldn't have been allowed to exist, boy!"
Kira Yamato: "Just shut up!"
Rau Le Creuset: "If people learned of your existence, they would want to be just as you are! They would want to become like you!"
Kira Yamato: "That's garbage!"
Rau Le Creuset: "And that's the reason why your existence cannot be allowed!"
Kira Yamato: "I'm not. . . even if that's true. . . I'm not defined by my abilities alone!"
Rau Le Creuset: "Who's going to believe that line!? Will they understand that!? Of course they won't! Nobody will!"
(From Gundam SEED, FINAL-PHASE "To an Endless Future")

Trivia

• The first time we get a hint to Kira & Cagalli's true relationship is in Episode 14 (the recap show). A woman (Caridad Yamato) is shown clutching infants Kira & Cagalli during a flashback. The image is also shown on the back of the 3rd Gundam Seed DVD (US release).

• In episode 16 ("The Burning Desert Sands"), it is made very clear that the main character Kira Yamato and his love interest at the time, Flay Allster, had sex sometime between episode 15 and 16. This scene gave parents in Japan a scare and caused a good deal of controversy at the time. Even more explicit scenes can be found in the Gundam SEED Special Edition: The Empty Battlefield. Kira Yamato is the first protagonist in the entire Gundam franchise to be seen having sex on-screen.

• Kira Yamato's surname is derived from Japan's historical Yamato period. His given name derives from a corruption of the word "killer" according to the director, Fukuda. [link]. (This way of using "Kira" is also found in the manga Death Note.) For other use of the name, which literally means great peace, see Yamato. However, it must be noted that Kira Yamato's name is mostly written in katakana, not in kanji or hiragana. Yamato was also the name of a famous WWII Battleship. Also, due to this Japanese-sounding name, he's one of only two main characters in the Cosmic Era whose names remained unchanged in both English and Japanese. The other, ironically, was his "nemesis", Shinn Asuka.

• According the Suit CD, Athrun used to tutor Kira when they went to school on the moon. Kira, compared to the reserved person we see in Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny, was actually rather loud as a child.

• According to the commentary in book 1 of the Gundam SEED novels, Fukuda once made Soichiro (Kira's seiyu) cry when he commented that though Kira was the main character, he might not survive to the end. This refers to how SEED was originally meant to end - Kira was supposed to die killing Le Creuset, Flay was supposed to be a human bomb that took out the Archangel, and Athrun was meant to lose a limb (though like many other of the original ideas that Fukuda had [such as Flay being the original pilot of Strike Rouge], these were discarded and never used).

• In an interesting parallel of the friendship between Athrun and Kira, their voice actors Akira Ishida and Souichirou Hoshi respectively are also close friends.

• The "sword" reference to Freedom (and later the Strike Freedom) in this article comes from the title of ep. 35 of the Gundam Seed anime (and book 4 of the novels) "The Descending Sword", where Kira first pilots the Freedom (which Lacus gave to him) into battle. Also, considering that Lacus was also known as the "Pink Princess", the idea of a princess presenting a sword to her champion is conveyed.

• He's one of the very few characters in the Cosmic Era (possibly the only one in the original SEED and Destiny, with Jean Carry if Astray Manga included) to wear uniforms of 3 major sides of the conflict: the Earth Alliance, ZAFT and the Orb military. Also, he has piloted MSes which belonged to the 3 sides as well. (His first MS was the Strike, an EA suit, Freedom was stolen from ZAFT and he piloted Cagalli's Strike Rouge which was an Orb suit before receiving the Strike Freedom.)

• In the English version, Kira and Athrun are voiced by Matt Hill and Samuel Vincent respectively. The two of them also work together regularly providing the voices of Ed and Edd from Ed, Edd, n Eddy. (It should also be noted that Tony Sampson, the voice actor who plays Eddy from that show, also played Miguel Aiman in the English version of Gundam SEED).

• He was rescued by Cagalli in her Strike Rouge twice (once at the end of Gundam SEED, where Freedom was badly damaged by Rau Le Creuset, and again in Destiny, after his defeat by Shinn Asuka). Coincidently, he piloted the Rouge before receiving his last MS, the Strike Freedom.

• Kira is bad with guns. During Blue Cosmos' attack on Andrew Waltfeld, he threw a pistol at an enemy instead of using it to shoot. Also, when he does try to use a gun, he's often reminded by allies to take the safety off well after he's rushed into the danger zone. This may be a pun, for Athrun (his best friend) was known for his marksmanship with pistols. A further extension of the pun- when it comes to how the two pilot their mobile suits, Kira is often using guns while Athrun prefers close-combat.

• Oddly, while his debut performance in both Freedom units were excellent, his second sortie in them met with fierce resistance, and Athrun had to help him out in both Justice units. Coincidently, during both battles, Athrun made his debut in his units and they were fighting in Orb.

• Kira's somewhat loner personality is picked on during a scene in Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 where he is told off by Shinji Ikari of Evangelion fame (a character who is known for his personality defects) for his comments. The fact that Shinji has "grown a spine" during the course of the Alpha Series to be able to talk down to Kira in such a fashion (especaily in light of Kira's rise to almost god like power in Destiny) provides a great deal of amusement for both Gundam and Evangelion fans alike. Also, coincidently, Soichiro and Ogata Megumi (Shinji's seiyu) have both voiced Sanada Yukimura, a famous general of the Sengoku period, in different settings, and characters in Samurai Deeper Kyo.

• Despite the fact that he and Cagalli Yula Athha are twin siblings, Cagalli claims that Kira is her "little" brother. It may be due to Kira's meek nature in the first series. It should be noted that Kira was taken from his mother's womb early in his development and placed into an artificial womb while Cagalli was born as a Natural in her mother's womb, so the two could have been born at the same exact time. Although, the dictionary describes one being [born] as "being brought into life by birth" and [birth] as "emergence and separation of offspring from the body of the mother." Since Kira was removed from his mother's womb before Cagalli, one could argue that he was born first regardless of his birth date being documented as May 18th.

• Interestingly, both of his earlier MSes went through a major repair once before being totally destroyed later (The Strike was repaired after the battle with Aegis and given to Mu La Flaga, which was destroyed while protecting the Archangel; while Freedom was similarly repaired after Kira's battle with Rau, and destroyed by Shinn Asuka in the Impulse).

• He also has the distinction of being one of the characters to consistently wreck any suit he pilots. As mentioned above, his first two Gundams all wind up destroyed (after a previous major repair) and the Strike Rouge, which he briefly piloted, also ended up severely damaged. Strike Freedom is the only suit he has piloted that wasn't badly damaged by the end of the story. In an extension to the joke, Athrun too consistently wrecks the MSes which he pilots.

• He shares several similarities with Luke Skywalker of the Star Wars series.
  

1. Both have twin sisters who were separated from them at birth, had fiery tempers, skilled leaders,and are good fighters,
   
2. Kira was designed as the Ultimate Coordinator while Luke was the son of Anakin, deemed to be the Chosen One foretold by the Jedi prophecy to bring balance to the Force; Luke himself later became a great Jedi Master as well.
   
3. Both were civilians before events thrusted them into bearing arms against their enemies.
   
4. Before his training as a Jedi, Luke was a natural-born pilot, as was Kira before his training and discovery of his SEED mode.

 

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