Lalatina Ford Dustiness (ダスティネス・フォード・ララティーナ), usually known as Darkness (ダクネス), is one of the main protagonists of the KonoSuba series. She is a crusader who joins Kazuma's party,[1] as well as a noble of the prestigious Dustiness House.[2]
Appearance
Darkness is a 5'6" tall young woman with graceful features and alabaster skin. She is well-endowed and also has light blue eyes and straight, long blonde hair, usually kept in a ponytail tied with a braid and red hair clips secured on both sides of her bangs. According to Kazuma, she is "drop-dead gorgeous".[3]
She is usually seen using a yellow and black sleeveless dress with silver trimmings, black chainmail, and a silver armor composed of metal greaves, sabatons, tasset, shoulder plate on her left side, wing-like cloth perched upon her right shoulder and a cuirass with a red bow.
Personality
Although Darkness looks like a heroic knight at first glance, she is actually a masochistic pervert who feels pleasure with pain and humiliation, enjoying all types of abuse (both physical and moral). Darkness' supposed selfless desire to face the danger and protect her companions is actually a selfish desire to feel the pain of the opponents' attacks. The stronger the enemy, the more excited she gets. Her pleasure is viewable by the way Darkness blushes and moans when she should be feeling pain or embarrassment, as well as becoming breathless due to excitement.
Darkness also has constant lewd fantasies about being harassed by others, but once she tries to make out with them (believing those are their true intentions), they actually get freaked out.[4] It is her dream that one day, she will be captured by the Devil King's Army and suffer all types of torture.[5] Darkness also gets carried away in the moment, acting without thinking in many situations.
Darkness' masochism is evident on her preference in men as well, as she prefers perverse, useless, alcoholic and even ugly men who would explore her body and look at her as a piece of meat.[5] The reason why Darkness joined Kazuma's party is because she thought he was the type who would harass her female party members.[6] Although her masochism slowly decreased, it didn't fade away.
While Darkness enjoys shame, there are two types of embarrassment she doesn't like. As a woman, Darkness dislikes any hint about weight and her tough muscles.[7] She also despises to look somehow cute (one of the reasons why Darkness hides her true name, "Lalatina", that sounds cute).[8] It comes down to a point that making a cute voice or wearing cute outfits is considered to be the same as torture for her.[9]
Although Darkness is usually very perverted, she is also an innocent and pure maiden. Darkness is so inexperienced that, one time when she tried to have sexual intercourse with Kazuma, Darkness needed his instructions since she had no idea of what she should do.[6] Darkness is also shy in lewd situations,[10] and while she always does remarks about her lack of experience, no one in her party believes Darkness is still inexperienced.
However, as a Crusader, Darkness is a proud defender of the people, as well as a resolute law-abiding and a fervent follower of Eris Order doctrine. Her family contributed with the Eris Church for generations and Darkness herself used to pray for Eris everyday, asking for a friend, until she met and befriended with Chris.[11] Darkness is very proud of her religion, particularly when it means that she will suffer any kind of discrimination.[12]
Also, as a noble of a prestigious house, Darkness is well-mannered and has more knowledge about etiquette and nobility than her party members. However, she didn't let it go to her head, interacting normally with commoners. At first Darkness used to hide her heritage, as well as the fact that she didn't use her influence even when it was necessary; however, after her true identity was exposed, Darkness slowly started to feel more proud of her noble status, as well as using her influence to support her party.
Finally, while Darkness is a rough, stubborn and irritable person, who often reacts violently or seizes the moment to pay back, as a paladin, she is actually a selfless and altruistic person, ready to sacrifice her own happiness for the sake of others. However, since Darkness doesn't comment her sacrifices or solidarity reasons why she takes action, she often causes more problems than fixes. Also, throughout the series Darkness started to care more about herself and fulfill her desires.
History
For Darkness' history, see her History tab.
Abilities
Like Aqua and Megumin, Darkness suffers from being too specialized. As a Crusader, the class with the highest defense stats, she is a very effective tank. However, due to her masochism, she refuses to learn any offensive skills and intentionally leaves her accuracy so low that her sword is unable to hit anything, since her strength stat is so high that she could defeat most monsters before she could take any damage.
Stats: Darkness has high Strength, being able to fight against several guards without being stopped, easily breaking Beldia's armor when he was almost defeated, and protect Kazuma from being smashed by the Kowloon Hydra. Darkness also has high Vitality, as she has the large reservoir of HP needed to fight on the front lines for an extended period. Her HP is so vast that even while Kazuma used Drain Touch, a technique that typically stuns or even incapacitates targets, on her for an extended period she was still strong enough to easily overpower him.
Physical Resistance: Resistance against physical damage. Darkness can withstand melee attacks, functioning as the traditional "meat shield" role for the most part. Where this is exacerbated, however, is in how durable she truly is, able to withstand attacks from high-level creatures such as the Hydra and a Zombie Dragon. This skill also affects both weapons and clothes.
Magic Resistance: Prevent magic from taking effect. Because of this ability, Darkness was able to survive even Megumin's Explosion Magic. This skill also affects both weapons and clothes.
Debuff Resistance (All Types): Darkness got all separate skills for all the different status ailments.
Decoy: Attracts the attention of monsters.
Side Slash: A full powered horizontal slice.
Weakness
Low Accuracy: Although Darkness has high physical stats, she is very clumsy, being unable to hit even sitting targets, unless it happens by accident. And since Darkness refuses to learn any skill that could improve her Accuracy, like the Two-Handed Sword skill, due to her masochism. It is a recurring gag that she cannot hit anything.
Equipment
Adamantite Armor: After defeating Vanir, Darkness also started to use armor made with a bit of adamantite, the strongest metal existing in that world.
Pitch-Black Full Body Armor: In the final fight against the Devil King, Darkness used a armor full of magical power for the Crusader Class only, brought by Kazuma. However it was a cursed armor that drives the user berserk during fights, although it can be easily removed at will.
Slave Collar: A divine treasure Darkness confiscated from a rival noble, it forces the user to obey their master orders, forcing the user to do something painful for them (but not actual pain) as punishment for their disobedience (in Darkness' case, acting and talking in a cute way). As a divine treasure, it can't be removed using Steal or similar skills.[9]
Trivia
- Darkness' birthday is on 6th April.
- In the Web Novel, Darkness says she can't hit any target due to her low Dexterity stat.
- According to Kurone Mishima, Darkness' cup size is H.[13]
- Darkness levelled-up thanks the Vanir Dolls those exploded on her,[14] as well as because she usually eats expensive food full of XP.[15]
- It is even speculated by Kazuma that she may possess the toughest body in the kingdom.[16]
- Darkness likes to secretly try on Megumin's outfits.[17]
- Technically, Darkness is divorced from Alderp.[18]
- Although Darkness says she is still a virgin, due to her pervert personality, no one in her party believes her.[19]
- The Axel police has classified her as the fifth most dangerous individual of the city.[20]
- Darkness always wears her mother's dress on social occasions.[21]
- Darkness holds a degree in dance, musical instruments and tea ceremony.[22]
- The only housework Darkness is allowed to do is the dishwashing.[23]
- Darkness ranked the 3rd place in KonoSuba Popularity Poll.
References
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 1, Chapter 2
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 3, Chapter 1
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 1, Chapter 1
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 1, Chapter 3
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 3, Chapter 3
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 12, Chapter 3
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 4, Chapter 2
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 3, Epilogue
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 KonoSuba Light Novel Anthology "Detour" Volume 3, Story 2
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 2, Chapter 4
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 8, Chapter 1
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 4, Chapter 3
- ↑ Mishima Kurone Artbook KonoSuba Cheers!
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 5, Chapter 1
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 16, Chapter 3
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 6, Chapter 1
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 7, Chapter 1
- ↑ KonoSuba Light Novel Volume 7, Epilogue 1
- ↑ KonoSuba Television Anime Blu-ray Disc Volume 5, Special Short Story Booklet
- ↑ KonoSuba Animated Movie 1 Blu-ray Disc, Special Short Story Booklet
- ↑ Explosion - Bonus Story Volume 1, Chapter 5
- ↑ Natsume Akatsuki's Twitter
- ↑ Natsume Akatsuki's Twitter
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