WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!!
Vash The Stampede
Vash the Stampede is a sentient Plant, an energy source created by humans, known as "The Humanoid Typhoon" due to the destruction which surrounds him. He is initially discovered by Meryl and Milly, representatives from an insurance agency investigating claims made due to damages caused by the mysterious "Humanoid Typhoon". The pair find Vash while he is being chased by bandits who want to collect the bounty on "The $$60,000,000,000 (sixty billion double dollar) Man". He and his brother, Knives, are born on a ship that is part of a fleet to extend the human race. They are raised by Rem, who instills upon Vash the philosophy that every being deserves life, and Vash takes it to the extreme by always attempting to save everyone. Knives eventually causes the fleet to crash, which kills Rem and many other humans. Vash makes it his purpose to hunt down and stop Knives from harming anyone else. During a conflict with Knives, Vash is forced by Knives to destroy the city of July, which haunts him considerably and starts his reputation.
Vash usually exaggerates foolish characteristics to make people feel unthreatened and to hide his identity. He frequently voices the catchphrase, "This world is made of love and peace," which is usually complemented by his flashing of the v sign. However, when those around him are threatened, Vash shows complete focus and control. Because Vash refuses to kill any of his opponents, he often suffers at the hands of a number of very persistent enemies. As a result, his body is a patchwork of large scars, chunks of missing flesh supported by metal mesh, and stitch marks. During the conflict in July, Vash loses his left arm. It is later replaced by a cybernetic arm that contains an integrated gun.
Vash habitually carries a .45 caliber revolver, which fuses with Vash and transforms into an "Angel Arm", a large cannon capable of destroying cities, in the anime. The arm is a natural part of a plant in the manga, and it can be manipulated into various forms. Using the power slowly causes Vash's life to drain, which causes his hair to slowly turn black. Vash later learns better control his power to form smaller cannons and defensive feathers, though his hair continues to grow darker until almost completely black.
Rem Saverem
Rem Saverem is a crew member of a "SEEDS" ship from Earth meant to populate another planet. On Earth, Rem had a lover named Alex, and she leaves on the mission after his death in order to start over. In the manga, during the mission a sentient Plant was born, named Tessla. The crew of the ship proceeded to perform tests, examinations and dissection of her until it ultimately died, actions opposed by Rem and her fellow crew mate William Conrad. Later, both Vash and Knives are born, and fearing for their safety she keeps it a secret from the other members while they are in stasis. In the anime the only sentient plants born are Vash and Knives, who she protects from being killed by the other members of the crew. She proceeds to mentor and teach them. Her teachings of love and peace, especially that no one has the right to take a life, have a profound influence on Vash. The reason why Vash wears a red coat is that Rem told Vash about her favorite flower, the Red Geranium which means determination. When Knives sabotages the fleet, putting it on a crash course with the planet Trigun takes place on, she puts him and Vash in an escape pod, but chooses to stay behind and attempt to prevent the crash rather than escaping her ship. She manages to undo Knives' tampering, allowing a number of the ships to land safely, but perishes as her ship explodes in the atmosphere; her last words to Vash were "take care of Knives".
Meryl Stryfe
Meryl Stryfe AKA "Derringer Meryl" and her junior coworker, Milly, are agents of the Bernardelli Insurance Society sent to evaluate claims regarding Vash the Stampede. She's hotheaded and strong willed. Initially, she finds Vash to be a nuisance and dismisses the idea that he is the legendary Humanoid Typhoon. As time passes, she realizes that Vash isn't the villain that he is made out to be nor the buffoon that he presents himself to be. Gradually, she comes to respect Vash and love him deeply, though in the anime her love is more romantic than in the manga. Although she doesn't often fight alongside Vash, she hides many derringer-style "throwaway" pistols under her coat. In the manga she becomes petrified of Vash after she witnesses his Plant-like nature and sees through his eyes the destruction of July City. After Bernardelli shuts down while Knives is ravaging the planet, she and Milly assume support roles along with Brad and Luida to help combat Knives. At the end of the manga's story, the two become investigative reporters for the planet's first television broadcasting channel, continuing to follow Vash wherever he goes.
Milly Thompson
Milly Thompson is a fellow Bernardelli agent, and friend and assistant to Meryl. Despite physically towering over Meryl, Milly looks up to her and always refers to her in a respectful manner. She appears rather simple, but has a kind heart and also reveals a strength of character and genuine optimism. Milly comes from a very large family, and writes huge masses of letters to them constantly (known as "The Milly Monthly"). Milly manages to hide a very heavy concussion gun, referred to as a "stun-gun", under her coat. The shots, which pop out into the shape of an X-shaped claw, are so powerful they can even knock over trucks. Although she does not have a relationship with Wolfwood in the manga, events after his death indicate that she might have had a romantic interest in him. Her reaction to Wolfwood's loss in the anime is considerably greater compared to the manga. The manga version of Milly has blond hair whereas the anime depiction has browner-colored hair.
Tressla (manga only)
Tressla is Vash & Knives older sister, shes a sentient plant that was born on the project seed trip. A year after she was born, (actions opposed by Rem and her fellow crew mate William Conrad.)the crew of the ship proceeded to perform tests, examinations and dissection of her until it ultimately died, her body and disected organs were in keep in a containers in a seperate chamber. Rem secretly comes and put a flower in the chamber for Treesla, keeping the chamber a secret to Vash and Knives.Treesla ghost lead young Vash & Knives to the secret chamber where they found out the truth. Which lead the twins into total shock which made Knives out completely, and making Vash gose beserk, which led him to try to commit sucide by trying to cut his neck with a knife. But rem stop him and tried to grab take the knife away from Vash. but Vash stab Rem in the stomache.
Nicholas D. Wolfwood
Nicholas D. Wolfwood also known as Nicolas the Punisher, is a member of the Eye of Michael, an organization of assassins founded by a plant worshiper. After showing potential in the orphanage in which he is raised, Chapel trains and modifies him, giving him enhanced abilities and the ability to regenerate from heavy injuries using special vials, though he ages much faster than normal. He is given a special large cross-shaped gun called the Punisher, which contains two machine guns and a rocket launcher. Wolfwood later shoots Chapel and takes his place in the Gung-Ho-Guns in an attempt to kill Knives. He fails to do so, and is instead sent by Knives to protect Vash until he is able to meet him. After Vash is captured, Wolfwood rescues him, and battles his childhood friend, Livio, and his master, now in a wheelchair. He manages to kill Chapel and defeat Livio, but having overdosed on the regenerative vials, he soon dies while talking to Vash.
In the anime, Wolfwood is raised by an abusive guardian, who he later shoots and kills. He is taken in by Chapel, who trains him to be his successor. He meets Vash while he is stranded in the desert, and the two join forces. Wolfwood's purpose is to raise money for the children in the orphanage he runs, trying to keep other children from suffering as he did in his own childhood. He initially holds the ideals that he must kill, though he eventually comes to accept Vash's ideals. He eventually fights his master, but spares him after defeating him. Legato forces Chapel and shoots Wolfwood, who stumples into a church and dies. Vash then takes his gun as an act of honor, and uses it fighting against Knives. During the course of the series, Wolfwood develops a relationship with Milly that crosses from close friendship into romance, sleeping with her shortly before his death.
Millions Knives
Millions Knives is one of the few fully sentient Plants and Vash's twin brother. They are both born during a mission to further the human race, and they are taken care of by Rem until Knives disrupts the course of the ships, causing them to crash. While Vash believes all beings have potential for good and deserve life, Knives believes in the survival of the fittest. After discovering experiments performed on other plants, he decides that humans are evil and grotesque, and that they need to be eradicated. Vash does not agree with his plans and seeks to stop him, and Knives seeks to dissuade Vash from basing his life around the "idealistic nonsense" preached by Rem.
Many years after landing, the two meet in the city of July, and the face off leaves Vash without his left arm and Knives in a very critical state. He slowly regenerates over a period of time, and forms the Gung-Ho-Guns to act for him. After he revives and learns that he is slowly dying by using his abilities, he begins absorbing other plants into himself, which causes his powers to grow exponentially. After fusing with thousands of plants, Knives launches his "Ark", a floating ship designed to leave humans without any resources. As he absorbs more and more plants, his Ark takes on the form of a sentient organism, capable of defending itself and, in some cases, even teleporting short distances. Vash and Knives eventually fight for a final time, and after the battle, Knives saves Vash from the exploding Ark, and eventually turns into a tree.
In the anime, Vash manages to locate Knives and the two have a massive battle. Vash manages to gain the upper hand and defeats Knives by disabling him. He then picks up Knives and heads back into the town he was currently staying at with Milly and Meryl.
Legato Bluesummers
Legato Bluesummers is a man who devotes himself to Knives, and makes it his main goal to have Vash experience eternal pain and suffering. He serves directly under Knives, which also gives him command of the Gung-Ho Guns. In the manga, he is originally a slave who Knives accidentally saves while wiping out a town. Legato pledges to serve Knives, who gives him his name. During his time as a slave, he weaved thousands of special metal threads into his medulla oblongata. They are dispensed out of a skull-shaped emblem attached to his left arm. When released, the threads transmit electricity to control his victim's muscles over. The threads themselves are only a few molecules thick and able to take over an entire town with ease.
Legato takes over while Knives is injured, and uses the Gung-Ho Guns to play a "game" with Vash. He gives Vash a case and each Gun a half coin to place into it, stating that "something interesting will happen" after it is completed. After Knives recovers, Legato's body is crushed and his neck twisted for using the Guns for his personal agenda. Legato is consequently restricted to a coffin-like container, which is carried by an ogre. Legato later gains a new coffin with metal appendages that allows limited movement. He eventually learns to use his threads to manipulate his own body, and takes up a ball and chain weapon and a handgun. He later fights Vash with the coin case activated, which nullifies his threads, and loses. He forces Vash to kill him by threatening to kill Livio.
In the anime, Legato is placed as the leader of the Gung-Ho Guns, recruited by Knives to make Vash's life a living hell. Knives gives Legato Vash's left arm, which grants him the ability to manipulate victims with telepathy. He sees Knives as a god and, like Knives, sees humans, even himself, as garbage only good for consuming resources. Legato forces Vash to kill him by using his powers to threaten Milly and Meryl. Legato thus becomes the first person that Vash ever consciously and willfully kills, fulfilling Legato's promise to "make Vash the Stampede feel eternal pain and suffering".
Monev the Gale
Monev the Gale is the first Gung-Ho Gun to fight Vash. Knives locks him in a cell to train his body for twenty years in order to gain the skill and power required to kill Vash. He wears a powered battle suit and carries two high-powered chain guns on his arms. These guns fire extremely fast due to the pressure chambers located on his back, and have tremendous stopping power, enough to tear through entire buildings. He also carries a wide variety of weapons in a big cloth rucksack, including an enormous minigun, powerful enough to punch through a bank vault. He is defeated by Vash and killed afterward as punishment.
His life is spared in the anime, but he is later killed by E.G. Mine along with Dominique (see below) due to his failure.
Owing to Hirahano's love of MacFarlane related products, as well as the characters name and appearance, he is more than likely a reference to Venom.
Dominique the Cyclops
Dominique the Cyclops has an ability known as the "Demon's Eye", which causes hypnosis and sensory paralysis in her foes, momentarily stunning them and making her movements appear immediate. This effect happens when she lifts her eyepatch, which reveals a reptilian eye in the manga and a red eye in the anime. Vash defeats her by placing pressure on a wound, allowing him to avoid focusing on her eye. She is killed after failing in the anime, and she commits suicide in the manga to avoid being punished.
E.G. Mine
E.G. Mine is a violent man who wears a suit that resembles a sphere and contains control threads for deploying lethal spikes. Further manipulating these threads, Mine can hurl them towards an enemy. He is quickly defeated in the manga, and he is killed by Rai-Dei after Vash defeats him in the anime.
Rai-Dei the Blade
Rai-Dei is a samurai who seeks the knowledge learned only when facing death. He carries a sword with a built in gun that can be fired from the hilt, and is able to swing it with enough force to create a sonic blast. In the anime, he expresses anger in the fact that Vash is refusing to make his mark true and aim to kill, claiming he wants "a real battle". He escapes after Vash's Angel Arm is forced to activate, though Wolfwood soon kills him. In the manga, he wears "roller skates" that allow him to move at phenomenal speeds. After Vash defeats him, Rai-Dei attempts to attack Vash from behind, but is quickly killed by Wolfwood.
Leonof the Puppet-Master
Leonof the Puppet-Master is an elderly man who controls a large number of puppets with an elaborate system of strings. He can manipulate them to look like real people, and uses them to do horrible things to people close to Vash. His real name is Emilio, having known Vash during his childhood. His love interest dies sometime after, and he goes into puppet making to mend his broken spirit. He cares for her body for a number of years, and after it is found, he goes berserk and jumps after it. Vash attempts to save him, but he remembers his past and commits suicide. The anime does not feature his background, and he is simply a puppet controlling assassin. He is killed by Wolfwood after killing Brad with one of his puppets.
Gray the Ninelives
Gray the Ninelives is a very large man known for being indestructible. The manga version shows that he is actually formed from nine dwarfs controlling a mechanical suit from the inside, allowing them to keep fighting until all nine are dead. The suit is destroyed and only two survive. They are captured and turn over their coin, and later escape. The anime version is a cyborg whose only remaining human part is his brain, which is deeply encased in armor. Wolfwood kills him after the armor is melted off enough to see the brain.
Hoppered the Gauntlet
Hoppered the Gauntlet is a man who wears a set of armor to cover his degenerated and vestigial legs, while using his large arms to move. The armor acts like a top and he uses a shield to propel himself at high speeds. He seeks to kill Vash to avenge a mute and blind woman detached from the world, killed during the destruction of July. During his final battle, he sees Vash's memory of July, has a revelation that he has made the wrong choice, and he is killed after turning against the Guns. The anime does not feature his backstory, and instead has him just wish to make Vash suffer. He is killed by the explosion of the energy core after jumping onto it.
Zazie the Beast
Zazie the Beast is a collective of group-minded insects able to take over the bodies of humans. These insects are the original inhabitants of the planet Gunsmoke, who form an alliance with Knives to see whether humans or Plants are better to co-exist with them. They originally take over the body of a young boy, but it is destroyed by Hoppered after spying on him. Zazie later reappears in the body of a teenage girl, though it is also destroyed by Legato after trying to infect Knives. The last body is an odd-looking man in disco-clothing used to deliver his coin to Vash. The main hive is destroyed by Knives soon afterward.
The anime features Zazie as Beeb, a troubled young boy capable of controlling sand-worms with a high-frequency device he wears on his head. He is killed by Wolfwood. (This causes Vash and Wolfwood to express the conflict between their morals. In the manga, the same is triggered by Wolfwood killing Rai-Dei.)
Midvalley the Hornfreak
Midvalley the Hornfreak is a violent musician who is able to use his saxophone (alto/tenor hybrid in the anime, baritone in the manga), Sylvia, to synchronize sound waves with pain, causing physical damage. He also is capable of neutralizing sounds by playing counter-frequencies. He and his band originally just killed for money until being found by Knives, who kills all except Midvalley. He dislikes both Legato and Knives, which leads him to try to kill Legato, though he is quickly killed himself. Legato uses Midvalley's body to attack Hoppered, and it is buried with his saxophone on his gravestone afterward. He has a smaller role in the anime, mainly acting as Legato's bodyguard until fighting Vash, and dies after Vash scratches his sax with a ricochet, preventing him from playing a note ('la' in japanese, Bb in english) and thus forcing him to use built in machine guns which explode due to the damage.
Caine the Longshot (anime only)
Caine the Longshot is a member of the Gung-Ho Guns invented for the anime in place of Elendira the Crimsonnail. He is a mute, talented sniper who can cloak his body and utilizes a rifle with a barrel many meters long and has a very large scope, allowing him to snipe from many miles away. He is defeated by Vash, which leads him to commit suicide to avoid having to deal with Knives.
Elendira the Crimsonnail (manga only)
Elendira the Crimsonnail, referred to as the lost thirteenth Gung-Ho Gun in the manga, is the most powerful of the group. She shoots giant nails from a large briefcase that transforms into a crossbow with great proficiency, being capable of launching several in less than a second. She is a transsexual, and normally wears feminine clothing and a pillbox hat. However, underneath her outer garments she also wears restraining armour, and after disabling it, she is able to move at blinding speed. She is jealous of Legato, as he is not part of the Guns, suggesting that he is more important to Knives than her. Elendira was apparently one of Knives' very first companions, seen walking with him as a child along with Legato. She fights Livio twice, the first time skewering his torso with many nails after launching him through several buildings. Their subsequent rematch results in a similar outcome, despite Livio and Razlo's combined efforts to match her speed. However, Elendira is ultimately killed when Livio grabs her and uses one of the nails going through his torso to run her through.
(anime version) Chapel the Evergreen
Chapel the Evergreen is part of the "Eye of Michael", an organization of assassins founded by a church that worships Plants in the manga. They provide Knives with mercenaries, with three slots of the Gung-Ho Guns reserved for the Eye of Michael's best. Chapel, also known as 'Master C', is shot and left as a paraplegic by Wolfwood, who impersonates Chapel. He is only middle aged, but the modifications on his body, which grants him enhanced strength and reflexes, and allows him to heal at a very fast rate, have aged him considerably. Though in a wheelchair, he still wields a large cross-shaped machine gun with four spiked ends at the base of the cross. Wolfwood kills Chapel with an immense head butt, cracking his skull and breaking his neck.
The anime features Chapel the Evergreen as Wolfwood's direct mentor. He carries the parent version of Wolfwood's Cross Punisher, though Chapel's splits into twin machine guns. He cares for Nicholas after Nicholas kills his abusive guardian. He dresses in dark green and has red goggles grafted to his face. He is killed by Knives after an unsuccessful attempt to kill Legato for taking control of him and forcing him to kill Wolfwood.
Livio the Double Fang/Razlo the Tri-Punisher of Death
Livio the Double Fang is a childhood friend of Wolfwood and the final member of the Gung-Ho Guns from the Eye of Michael. He wields the Double Fangs, two small cross-shaped machine guns strapped on his arms that fire from both ends. His body has been enhanced through increased metabolic rate, allowing him to recover from near fatal wounds in a matter of seconds. He grows up in the same orphanage as Wolfwood, having the nickname, "Livio the Crybaby".
Razlo the Tri-Punisher of Death is a violent and psychotic split personality, treated as another member of the Gung-Ho Guns. Razlo is created to take all of the abuse given by Livio's father, allowing Livio to not know about it. Razlo only appears after Livio has suffered intense pain or violence, and often commits act of violence, such as killing Livio's parents. He uses three Punishers, the same gun as Wolfwood owns, with the aid of a bionic arm. He is aided by three servants who carry his Punishers while Livio's persona is active.
The two fight with Wolfwood and they are defeated, though Wolfwood dies after sustaining immense injuries while overdosing himself on the regeneration drug. In the aftermath of the fight Livio comes to terms with Razlo's existence stating that he is now strong enough to face life on his own without the questionable help of his psychotic personality, who recedes in the back of his mind. Vash decides to forgive Livio afterward, and he becomes Vash's partner in an act of redemption, seeking to live as Wolfwood would have. Livio fights against Elendira. Unable to win himself, Livio allows Razlo to awake and help him kill the Crimsonnail, by utilizing Razlo's faster reflexes and better eye sight. Livio later lives together with the children in his old orphanage and is shown paying his respects to Wolfwood's gravestone.
