Under Night In-Birth Wiki
Register
Advertisement
メルカヴァ
Merkava

Profile

Name:

Merkava (メルカヴァ)

Gender:

Male

Birthday:

Unknown

Height:

210 cm (6'11")

Weight:

71 kg (156 lbs)

Bloodtype:

Unknown

Affiliations

Alias:

The Basilisk of The Abyss (深淵の怪蛇)

Battle Style

Ability:

The FLS of The Basilisk: Jormungandr

Weapon:

N/A (Dark Bite in UNIst)

Voice Acting

Japanese Voice:

Hidenobu Kiuchi

English Voice:

Benjamin Diskin[1]

"A savage beast that only knows how to hunt the scent of its prey. It just might devour everything."

Merkava (メルカヴァ) is a former human whose transformation into a Void wasn't completed successfully.

He is one of the twelve characters introduced in the original version of UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH.

Background[]

The Basilisk that Devours All

UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH

A mysterious man(?) who has fallen into the corruption of a Void -- thought to be the failed shadows of Re-Births. Many are fascinated with its form of existence most recently a woman named Hilda has been pestering Merkava quite thoroughly. On this Hollow Night, many In-Births gather, and something doesn't feel quite right. "Heh, perfect..." He'll have plenty of victims to satisfy him. The hunt will go on.[2]

UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II [Sys:Celes]

A mysterious figure, Merkava has a Void's shape but a human's heart.

He can speak and understand human language. His two distinct consciousnesses stand at opposition to one another; the Void wishes to devour humans, while the human tries to suppress such urges. As the Void grows stronger by the day, Merkava searches for its cause. His search leads him to learn of Kuon's efforts to open the pit that will lead him into the Night--efforts that stir the Void within Merkava.

In hopes of attaining inner peace, and to show Kuon who the real Lord of the Void is, Merkava sets out to devour his soul.

Information[]

Merkava is a Void capable of speech whose instincts drive him to consume Existence.

Appearance[]

In both forms, Merkava has a long white hair.

Human

As a human, Merkava is a blue eyed and well built handsome man with a matching longer side hairs which reaches his shoulder with a bang with an ahoge that covers his right eye. It is revealed in his good ending that the full transformation into a Void left him naked the entire time. It is unknown if the human form he sports in this ending is the one he had before his transformation into a Void.

Void

As a Void, Merkava is that of a tall, dark skinned humanoid-like creature with long arms and flashing blue markings all over his body. His hair undulates similar to flames, vanishing at the tip.

In this form, Merkava does not have eyelids. When he is sleeping, the white light from his eyes vanishes - making it look like he's sleeping.[3]

In his bad ending in Sys:Celes, Merkava gains a second mutation as a Re-Birth: His mouth shows nothing but a blue light when open, and his eyes now fully glow, matching the color of his Curse Commandment markings. Additionally, Merkava sports six arms and his legs are replaced by a snake tail.

Personality[]

Like all Voids, Merkava has the desire to consume EXS and does not seem to try resisting it.

However, he appears to still retain some fragments of his humanity. He genuinely thanks those who try to reason with him as if he was still human and respects those who are unafraid of him, although he dislikes those who gawk at him.

Merkava dislikes when human get curious and interested in his form. He usually resides on the mountains away from the city and spends the daytime mostly by sleeping. He doesn't actually need sleep, but Merkava doesn't know any better ways to kill time[3]. During the nighttime, he's focused on hunting for preys.

Story[]

Merkava was once a human who pursued the status of a Re-Birth, but he was consumed by the Power of Existence and turned into a Void. For some reason he managed to retain his consciousness and ability to speak, though he lost his memories at the same time. Ever since his new body has craved for more and more EXS to devour. The only memory he retains of his human life is a small girl crying but doesn't remember why.

Episode: The Beast and The Hunter (『獣』と『狩人』)
Ritter Schild member Londrekia Light arrives to Kanzakai to investigate a Void known to "speak human language". On the mountain trail, Londrekia meets Merkava whom had come there to hide from human attention. Merkava is amused by Londrekia's ideal of reaching a mutual agreement and solving the situation without combat. As a little prank to this amusing human, Merkava carries Londrekia's luggage to the Licht Kreis' office and then watches as Londrekia struggles through the situation.

Arcade Mode
Several months later, Merkava is drawn to the Abyss due to immense amount of EXS coming from Hilda. Along the way, he encounters several characters who are astonished at his ability to speak due to Void normally being mindless monsters hell-bent on devouring EXS. Upon encountering Hilda, Merkava refers to her as a "Void Red" and fights her. Before he devours Hilda, she swears revenge on both Merkava and Kuon.

Some time later, Merkava realizes that, ever since consuming Hilda's EXS, his body is no longer satisfied with consuming the EXS of ordinary In-Birth and craves only the strongest EXS. He flies off into the night, intent on devouring the Re-Birth themselves starting with Kuon.

In Orie's story, it's stated that Merkava could possibly be the Void that killed her parents. However, Merkava himself can neither confirm nor deny Orie's accusation.

Abilities[]

Merkava's ability is the "FLS of The Basilisk" (怪蛇のFLS): Jormungandr (ヨルムンガンド), which allows him to stretch his limbs for various purposes and transform them into tentacles or wings. In addition, he can partition a piece of his body and remotely control it. Merkava also does possess an extremely high natural healing ability. This is not a common trail for all Voids, but Merkava's unique ability[3].

The pattern on Merkava's body is a technique called Curse Commandment. It is required to transfer the powers of FLS around his body. Normally one's body would produce the FLS they needed, but Merkava's body doesn't produce FLS and must consume the EXS of others to survive.

Musical Theme[]

Title Description
Unseen Entities Merkava's theme (UNI1)
Unseen Entities [UNI2 Mix] Merkava's theme (UNI2)

Composer Commentary[]

Unseen Entities
I incorporated dubstep to express the unknown inorganic matter that Merkava is. This song is almost totally made with synthesizer, only one live instrument is present.

Using the contrast of synthesized sounds without spacial effects and the delayed synthesized sounds, I tried to express the out-of-place feeling of something that doesn't exist here. Overall, this song was done with really extreme methods. [4]

Unseen Entities
得体のしれない無機質さを表現するためにダブステップを取り入れました。 使っている楽器はほぼシンセサイザで、ひとつだけ生楽器を混ぜています。

空間系エフェクト全くかけないシンセとディレイのシンセの対比でそこに

存在しないような違和感を表現したり、全体的に極端な音作りをしています。

Introduction Text[]

He fears. Every day the curse that permeates through his body grows stronger.
The memory lost, the flesh that is no longer, the hunger that cannot be fulfilled. He dashes
across the earth drenched in red, trailing behind him his crimson arms. A beast of the
Void. Neither peace nor hope has resided in this body for a long, long time.

He fears. Every day, the curse that permeates through his body grows stronger.
The memory lost, the flesh that is no longer, the hunger that cannot be fulfilled. He dashes
across the earth, drenched in red, trailing behind him, his crimson arms. A beast of the
Void. Neither peace nor hope has resided in this body for a long, long time.

He is anxiety. It is sad every day in the curse which fell to the brute body.
Lost memory. Flesh which changed. It is not filled even if it eats eternal hungry.
The world is red. It runs in the ground which dyes red and wipes the arm with which red drips.
A beast called nothingness. Neither a peceful life nor hope is in this body long ago.

He is melancholic. Grieves over the curse that made his body fallen into the beast.
Lost memory. Transformed body. Eternal hunger is never satisfied.
Crimson world. Running through the blood stained land, wiping the bloody arm.
The beast is called immortal. This body has lost the peace and hope forever.

Gameplay[]

Check the details about Merkava's gameplay from here!

Gallery[]

Official Art
 
Profile-merkava
Character Select (UNI)
 
Victory-mer
Victory Portrait (UNI)
 
Profile-merkava-2
Character Select (UNI2)
 
Sd-mer
SD Character
 
BBTAG Merkava
Character Select (Cross Tag Battle)
 
Ed mer
Arcade Mode Ending (UNI)
 
Ed006mer-1
Arcade Mode Good Ending (UNI2)
 
Ed006mer-2
Arcade Mode Bad Ending (UNI2)
 
Story-mer0
Normal (通常)
 
Story-mer1
Mouth Open 1 (口を開く1)
 
Story-mer2
Mouth Open 2 (口を開く2)
Official Illustrations
 
Hb-vat2011
Merry Christmas by Seiichi Yoshihara (2011)
 
Hb-vat2012
Merry Christmas by Seiichi Yoshihara (2012)
 
Hb-vat2013-1
Merry Christmas by Seiichi Yoshihara (2013)
 
Hb-vat2015
Merry Christmas by Seiichi Yoshihara (2015)
 
Hb-vat2016-2
Merry Christmas by Seiichi Yoshihara (2016)
 
Hb-vat2017
Merry Christmas by Seiichi Yoshihara (2017)
 
White Day 2018
White Day by Takahiro Saito (2018)
 
Christmas 2019 Merkava
Merry Christmas by Seiichi Yoshihara (2019)
 
Xmas-mer2020
Merry Christmas by Seiichi Yoshihara (2020)
 
Unibirth 06mer 1225
Merry Christmas by Seiichi Yoshihara (2021)
 
Unibirth2022 1225mer wp
Merry Christmas by Seiichi Yoshihara (2022)
Concept Art
 
Pv-mer1
Merkava from the First Trailer
 
Pv-mer2
Merkava from the First Trailer
 
Concept-mer1
Design Sheets from Mook
 
Concept-mer2
Design Sheets from Mook
 
06mer-concept1
Concept art from Exe:Late[cl-r] gallery
 
06mer-concept2
Concept art from Exe:Late[cl-r] gallery
 
06mer-concept3
Concept art from Exe:Late[cl-r] gallery
 
06mer-concept4
Concept art from Exe:Late[cl-r] gallery
 
06mer-design
Concept art from Exe:Late[cl-r] gallery
Store Icons
 
Character colors 2
Additional colors (Playstation Store)
 
Character colors 6
Additional colors 2 (Playstation Store)
 
Merk system voice
System Voice (Playstation Store)
Videos
 
Gameplay from 1.00 Build
 
Gameplay Tutorial for Exe:Late

Creation & Development[]

The motif for all the Voids designs are snakes. Yoshihara also added some elements from bats as they are "denizens of the night" and fit well into the design. Merkava's appearance had to retain some degree of human-like form to show that he actually was a human before his transformation. Merkava has visually looked the same in all of his concept arts, except for his legs which changed somewhat at a certain point.

Yoshihara mentions in the mook interview that originally he had created Merkava as a suppression weapon (制圧兵器) who was controlled by Hilda. However, a character without any personality of their own wasn't a very interesting concept for a fighting game character [5]. To make Merkava stand-out as an interesting member of the roster, Yoshihara gave him a personality and made Merkava into a special being with his own mind.

Trivia[]

  • Apparently, his arms can be extended for several meters.
  • Jormungandr is the name of a serpent in Norse mythology that bites its own tail in a circle, similar to the Ouroboros. Only in the Jormungandr's case, it will signify the end of the world if it ever lets go. In his Arcade bad ending of Sys:Celes, Merkava refer himself as Jormungandr.
  • He is the only playable character to have two Arcade Mode endings in Sys:Celes, depends on certain conditions. Using Infinite Worth EXS against Kuon will result a bad ending.

References[]

Navigation[]

Characters
Playable Characters
Guest Characters
Non-Playable Characters
Advertisement