destroy mode
As I discussed in books 1-2, the Unicorn represents the duality of human nature. While the Unicorn symbolized purity and hope, it was also shown to have a dark side filled with an underlying evil. This duality is further expiated in the next two novels. The comparison becomes more than just the good and evil in humanity, it becomes a constant tug of war between morality and savagery. When the Unicorn’s NT-D (Newtype-Destroyer) is activated, the white armor slides apart to reveal a “burning”, “bleeding” red aura, and its green eyes “shine like those of a demon”. This description of Destroy Mode is already an indicator of the evil it represents. Upon using this “unleashed form of the Unicorn Banagher is forced to struggle against being swallowed by the system’s bloodlust. The Unicorn’s NT-D was designed as the ultimate Newtype hunting machine, and if Banagher falls into the desire to kill, the system takes over in a sensation he describes as “being eaten”. Banagher must fight against the desire to kill that each human holds deep within them. If taken over by the machine, Banagher’s mind falls into a blank, “destroy all that dares hurt me” state as the NT-D uses his consciousness as simply a “receiver” while the system controls the body. His own humanity is stripped from his mind, as Marida describes, “Banagher Links’ silhouette did not appear there. There was no sense of anger or madness, and the Gundam transformed into a hunting machine” and the fighting of the Unicorn becomes ruthless and even tortuous, giving off the joy of a hunter as it tears apart its enemies. |
“The stinging fragrance spread in his nose, and the heat flow of the brain pulsating rushed throughout Banagher’s body. The black impulse rose within him, and the nervous system that was in sync with the machine had been dyed just like tar. ‘Not good’, Banagher thought. His rational sense was trying to think, but could not work as he already saw the 4-winged in front of him as the enemy.” |
unicorn mode
When in its Normal Mode, the Unicorn is described as in the state of being a “limiter” that holds backs its underlying tenacity and “desire to hunt its next prey”. This corresponds to Banagher’s strain in keeping the NT-D under his own control. Upon discovering that he had killed a man in battle, a fact that he was not aware of himself, Banagher feels as though he is “sliding into a bottomless abyss that opened below his feet”. Banagher is struggling to remain human, as he describes, “This shell called Banagher Links was collapsing, gradually becoming something else”; Banagher is struggling to not lose his heart to war and remain a being of morality, rather than a hollow entity existing in only battle and killing.
Marida attempts to consult Banagher after the beginning of his steady reversion to an empty soldier by telling him that humanity has no place in war, and instructs him to not lament those he kills, for once he pilots a Mobile Suit in battle, he becomes a fighting unit called a pilot, not a human. To her this means its either kill or be killed, and that there is no room for guilt in that logic. Banagher resists this philosophy, and continues to fight to keep his humanity even in the horrors of war.
Marida attempts to consult Banagher after the beginning of his steady reversion to an empty soldier by telling him that humanity has no place in war, and instructs him to not lament those he kills, for once he pilots a Mobile Suit in battle, he becomes a fighting unit called a pilot, not a human. To her this means its either kill or be killed, and that there is no room for guilt in that logic. Banagher resists this philosophy, and continues to fight to keep his humanity even in the horrors of war.
Much like Lord of the Flies, Gundam Unicorn deals with the theme of humanity vs. savagery in the form of the Unicorn, a physical symbol of this struggle between the morality of humans, and the underlying desire to kill that lies dormant within us