This is a list of fictional characters from the Japanese anime series Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans.
The narrative begins over 300 years after the Calamity War (厄祭戦（やくさいせん）, Yakusaisen), a disastrous interplanetary conflict which caused more casualties and destruction than any previous war in human history and nearly brought the human race to the brink of self-induced extinction. Eventually, elements from several different factions united to form an international peacekeeping force, Gjallarhorn, to defeat all of the other factions and bring the war to an end. Gjallarhorn achieved this by producing advanced Gundam Mobile Suit Frames to dominate the battlefield, equipped with Ahab Reactors and Alaya Vijnana interfaces. The end of the war was marked by a shift to a new calendar system, becoming the first year of the "Post-Disaster" era. Some time before the Calamity War, Mars has been terraformed to the extent that it has a breathable atmosphere.
With the cooperation of remaining leaders from each surviving faction, Gjallarhorn reorganized Earth's political landscape into four powerful economic blocs. Meanwhile, each of the four power blocks was assigned a sector of Mars to rebuild and build up the Martian governmental structure from scratch. Gjallarhorn itself remained as a peacekeeping force, officially neutral, but ruthlessly crushing any who might threaten international stability again. It achieved this by maintaining a firm monopoly on Ahab Reactor production, though after the Calamity War itself production of new Gundam Frames (which were difficult to manufacture) was phased out - instead, subsequent generations shifted to using scaled-down, mass-produced versions of the concurrent and simpler Valkyrie Frame. To highlight the discrepancy, records show that the Gundams produced measured in the dozens, but the mass-produced models number in the hundreds. The mainstay of Gjallarhorn's forces are the Graze type Mobile Suit Frames, which utterly dominate the battlefield through superior technology and numbers.
The four major economic power blocs on Earth itself are:
Having established stable political relations between these four economic blocs in the Inner Sphere of the Solar System (also known as the Earth Sphere), Gjallarhorn also set about ordering the Outer Sphere - primarily consisting of Mars and the Jupiter system (and possibly other settlements). Gjallarhorn evenly divided the territories of Mars and the rest of the Outer Sphere between the four different economic blocks for them to rebuild, so that each of the four control different locations on Mars, i.e. the Martian city-state Chryse is controlled by Arbrau.
In the subsequent three centuries, Gjallarhorn became increasingly ruthless and corrupt, and meddling in the internal politics of the four economic blocs. Power within Gjallarhorn also became dominated by seven major political dynasties (technically not holding official power, but almost like Zaibatsu). Meanwhile, Mars and the rest of the Outer Sphere became the literal Third World for Earth, their resources and raw materials feeding the wealth of the mother planet even as they struggled to survive. Serious economic disparity remained a major problem on Mars, where child labor, human trafficking in the form of child soldiers known as Human Debris, and ordinary child soldiers became commonplace. This in turn has led to civil unrest, but Gjallarhorn and major Earth-based companies keep the locals in line by hiring private military contractors as crowd control, the soldiers in many of which are child soldiers themselves. The heavy use of locally recruited mercenary companies allows the Earth power blocs to fight unrest by proxy, instead of having to spill their own blood for their economic interests on the planet. Over time the economic blocs from Earth have given at least some limited autonomy to their Mars colonies, but this largely exists on paper as neocolonialism through economic domination remains. By the beginning of the TV series in 323 P.D. many of the colonies on Mars such as Chryse are agitating for independence.
Several large megacorporations as well as large crime syndicates - sometimes indistinguishable from each other - also wield a fair amount of clandestine influence over political affairs and/or internal faction rivalries within the four Earth economic blocks and even the seven families of Gjallarhorn itself. Several large pirate groups also exist which Gjallarhorn hasn't made a concerted effort to destroy because they can be hired as mercenaries/military contractors.
The background of the TV series is loosely similar in several respects to that in the main Universal Century's Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: the "Calamity War" was similar in scope to the One Year War from Universal Century, and Gjallarhorn is somewhat analogous to the Titans, a ruthless fascist organization enforcing Earth's hegemony over the outer colonies, to maintain peace (and thus, the political status quo) at any cost. Maps even show that a large circle of land in southeastern Australia is missing as a result of the Calamity War - matching how the same region of Australia was devastated by a colony drop in the Universal Century.
Tekkadan (鉄華団, lit. "Iron Flower Brigade") is a mercenary group formed from the remnants of CGS by the members of the CGS's Third Corp, following the coup against the First Corp. Orga chose the name "Iron Flower" for them using the metaphor that despite their downtrodden status as child soldiers, like an iron flower, they can't be destroyed no matter how much people seek to crush them. Their current mission is to protect and escort Kudelia Aina Bernstein as she heads to Earth for secret negotiations. Due to Orga Itsuka's Sakazuki blood oath with Naze Turbine and later, McMurdo Barriston, the group becomes an official branch under Teiwaz. Arriving on Earth, Makanai also hires them to send him to the parliament as well with Kudelia. Following the completion of their job, Arbrau hires them as their military advisors. With a massive influx of funding from Teiwaz and eager recruits, they are able to create an Earth branch to advise Arbaur's military and as a whole they became a burgeoning company that is envied by all in their field of work. Befitting of their origin as abused child soldiers, the members who are formerly Human Debris have discarded their red-lined clothing and are treated equally by their leaders. Following the successive plots against them and their allies, orchestrated by Rustal Elion and Iok Kujan of Gjallarhorn, and Jasley Donomikols of Teiwaz, Tekkadan breaks ties with Teiwaz and the Admoss Company to join McGillis Fareed in his war to remove Rustal from power, with the promise of gaining the sovereignty over Mars once McGillis obtains full control over Gjallarhorn at the cost of being Arianrhod's scapegoats. With all their communications to the outside cut off and with Gjallarhorn's manipulation of the media making it seem they would not surrender, Tekkadan was forced to stage a final stand while secretly evacuating as many members as it could through a secret tunnel recently discovered. The group was believed to be eradicated once its base was completely destroyed by a rail gun barrage from orbit. With Orga's death and many of the combatants killed while the none-combatants evacuated, the organization has been disbanded while the survivors lived on under new identities crafted by Makanai in gratitude for their past assistance. With their base having been demolished by a rail gun barrage from orbit, all that remains as a tangible mark of their presence is a memorial stone covered with the names of their fallen near Sakura's farm.
Chryse Guard Security (クリュセ・ガード・セキュリティ, Kuryuse Gado Sekyuriti) was a private security firm based on the outskirts of Chryse. It was disbanded and reformed into Tekkadan.
A Martian city that has long been governed by Arbrau, one of Earth's four major powers. Its people demand independence from Earth's corrupt and arbitrary rule. While on paper it is an autonomous city, like the rest of Mars, it is actually economically dependent on Earth and so, many of its inhabitants are impoverished. After Tekkadan's demise and the McGillis Fareed incident, the colonies on Mars achieved independence and organized themselves under the Martian Union.
Gjallarhorn (ギャラルホルン, Gyararuhorun) is a military organization that ended the Calamity War and acts as an independent peacemaker supported by Earth's four power blocs. The organization's namesake is Gjallarhorn from Norse mythology, the war horn of the gods which will be blown at the beginning of Ragnarok. During the Calamity War three centuries ago, Gjallarhorn was formed secretly by Agnika Kaieru (アグニカ・カイエル, Agunika Kaieru) and like-minded individuals from across all nations and regional power blocs to end the war and prevent humanity's extinction. To that end, they developed the Alaya-Vijnana System and the Gundam Frames to acquire the decisive edge necessary to end the conflict. Unfortunately, led by the familial groups called the Seven Stars (セブンスターズ, Sebun Sutazu) by present time, Gjallarhorn became corrupt and now maintains peace through violent means while seeking to maintain the status quo in its favor. The organization has a presence in both the inner and outer spheres and is composed of several divisions - primarily the Terran, Martian, and Jovian branches. There are also several other divisions such as the internal affairs branch. Gjallarhorn also has an elite special forces unit known as Arianrhod, based on Luna, which is meant to react to any direct attacks against Earth. Befitting of its role as the Solar System's sole peacekeeper, it maintains a monopoly over Ahab Reactor production and possess countless mobile suits.
Having maintained the peace unopposed for years, the group slowly suffers from corruption among workers and high executives, to the point of using dirty tactics such as sabotage and secretly interfering in internal affairs of other power blocs, as pointed out by Kudelia during the Dort Colony incidents. According to both McGillis and Nadi, the Earth population's phobia towards humans with cybernetic implantation is actually due to a calculated effort by Gjallarhorn's propaganda in order to discourage the cybernetic technologies which gave Gjallarhorn the edge in winning the Calamity War from becoming popular enough to be used against Gjallarhorn itself in the future.
With the fiasco over Gjallarhorn's meddling in Kudelia's trip and Arbrau's elections exposed, multiple political entities have lost trust in the organization and have begun building up their military forces in an unprecedented arms race. Sometime later, McGillis rallied a splinter faction, placing most of the executives under his captivity while declaring war towards Gjallarhorn in hopes of reforming the organization. Although gaining Tekkadan's cooperation, the rebellion failed but many of his ideals were ironically fulfilled by Rustal himself. More specifically, Gjallarhorn regained its reputation as an effective peacemaker due to their quick response to McGillis' rebellion. Meanwhile, the loss of the Issue, Kujan, and Fareed family's heads led to the disbandment of the Seven Stars' council system in favor of a democratic system. Last but not least, Rustal scaled back Gjallarhorn's presence on Mars, leading to Earth's economic blocs withdrawing control and enabling the Martian colonies to achieve independence as the Martian Union.
Named after the Germanic Tiwaz rune, it is a business conglomerate that operates around Jupiter. It is rumored to be run like a mafia organization and has sufficient influence to smuggle anything to Earth without Gjallarhorn's direct interference, for a price. The group possess a number of mobile suits. Culturally, Teiwaz seems to be primarily Italian, but they practice several distinctly Japanese-styled customs, such as the Sakazuki blood oath, which involves two leaders of different factions sharing sake, symbolically binding them as "family." Due to Orga Itsuka's Sakazuki blood oath with Naze Turbine, Tekkadan is affiliated with Teiwaz and becomes a formal member after drinking another Sakazuki blood oath with McMurdo Barriston after their first successful mission. After the Turbines' dissolution, Tekkadan renounce their affiliation with McMurdo removed JPT Trust from its branch when its leader plot to overthrow his position.
A branch of Teiwaz that is responsible for its parent organization's shipping and transportation duties, it was founded by maverick smuggler Naze Turbine and female mercenary Amida Arca. Founded to provide protection and secure work for runaway women who were forced to take cheap and suicidal jobs as long range transporters at the mercies of raiders, the organization eventually became a member of Teiwaz after Naze drank a sakazuki blood oath to McMurdo Barriston. Socially, Naze took in any exploited women he encountered as his nominal wives while providing them with steady work as crew members on his ship. The organization grew to have 50,000 members and stretched from Jupiter all the way to Mars. They later become a senior sibling affiliate with Tekkadan, vouching for them at Teiwaz's gatherings. Unfortunately, due to animosity from Jasley Donomikols and Iok Kujan towards both the Turbines and Tekkadan respectively, the Turbines are framed for smuggling Dainsleif railguns, a weapon that is banned by Gjallarhorn, to Tekkadan. With Teiwaz forced to disown the Turbines in all but name and with Tekkadan unable to help without being implicated, the Turbines are forced to strike out on their own as an underground organization. As the Arianrod fleet closes in on the Turbines, Naze announces the organization's disbandment and asks McMurdo to protect its women. While the Turbines were starting evacuation at their main base, Arianrhod's fleet arrives under Iok's command. Ignoring all signals for a ceasefire and surrender, he proceeds to have his forces target both the combatants and the civilians fleeing the scene. The main transports carrying the civilians were crippled before exploding, but the majority of the civilians survived and managed to evacuate on shuttle craft escorted by the Turbine's mobile suits and Tekkadan (who were on a convenient "training exercise").
A group of space pirates who operate between Earth and Mars, doing raids on cargo ships and abducting innocent children into Human Debris to be sold for labor or forcefully work for them as disposable mobile suit pilots. Like CGS, they are not above forcing their Human Debris pilots to undergo surgery for "Whisker" man-machine interface implants despite the operation's high failure rate. The group's treatment of the children is harsh, with physical and emotional abuse being commonplace. They are hired by Gjallarhorn to abduct one of the members of Tekkadan in exchange for Kudelia. They possess multiple Man Rodi mobile suits alongside the Gundam Gusion, two assault ships, and two cargo vessels. After their defeat by Tekkadan and the Turbines, their assets are reduced to one assault ship while their second vessel, the surviving Human Debris, and the remaining mobile suits are claimed by Tekkadan. The second vessel was later sacrificed as an unmanned decoy to slip through a blockade around Earth. The surviving Human Debris later join in the final battle under Tekkadan's command on Earth.
One of the four economic and political power blocs on Earth alongside the African Union, the Strategic Alliance Union, and the Oceanian Federation, its territory consists of all non-European territories in the Arctic Circle. It is also the first of the power blocs to give its Martian colonies partial autonomy. Following Tekkadan's succession in sending Makanai and Kudelia to the parliament, Arbrau hires Tekkadan's mercenaries as military advisors.
Admoss Company (アドモス商会, Adomosu Shokai) is a Mars-based organization formed by Kudelia and Teiwaz to mine, process, and ship the half-metal of Arbrau colonies. The company is named after Kudelia's late friend Fumitan Admoss.
Terra Liberionis (テラ・リベリオニス, Tera Riberionisu) is a Mars-based political organization struggling to keep afloat. After Allium Gyojan's death, the rest of the organization was arrested by Gjallarhorn.
The Dawn Horizon Corps (夜明けの地平線団, Yoake no Chiheisen-dan) is a pirate faction known for assaulting merchant vessels on routes between Earth and Mars. The organization has over 2,500 members and 10 armored assault ships. The Dawn Horizon Corps are powerful enough that even Teiwaz has difficulty dealing with them. They are also strong enough to raid as far as the borders of the Earth Sphere and have managed to evade Gjallarhorn's fleets for quite some time. Like Brewers, they are known to use Human Debris mobile suit pilots as cannon fodder before sending in their elite forces. After their encounter with Tekkadan and the Outer Earth Orbit Regulatory Joint Fleet, their leader is arrested while the rest of the fleet is forced to surrender to Arianrhod.
"Gundam" is the name for 72 unique mobile suit frames produced and developed alongside the Alaya-Vijnana System by Gjallarhorn during the late stages of the Calamity War 300 years ago, considered instrumental in ending the war. A Gundam-Frame unit is equipped with two Ahab Reactors, which generate Ahab Particles, giving the mobile suit unparalleled power, but it is difficult to keep the reactors in synchronous operation; hence the rarity of these machines. A Gundam's high power and maneuverability can also pose a problem by creating a heavy burden for the pilot. However, this is mitigated by the implementation of Inertial Control from the use of the Ahab Reactors and the cockpit is positioned in front of the reactors to take advantage of this. Only 26 of the 72 Gundam-Frame suits are confirmed to exist in operational form in the present day. All Gundam Frames were named after the 72 Demons of Ars Goetia.
The Valkyrja Frame, produced during the late stages of the Calamity War, is an advanced but not very well known mobile suit frame, as it was first produced at the same time as, and was completely overshadowed by, the much more prolific Gundam Frame. Despite its obscurity, its performance and track record were impressive enough for Gjallarhorn to use the Valkyrja Frame as the source of inspiration for the mass-produced Graze Frame. It is speculated that because of the frame's relative obscurity, less than ten units were ever produced.
The Geirail Frame is a Gjallarhorn-produced mobile suit frame that predates the Graze Frame. While based on the Valkyrja Frame like its successor, it was gradually phased out of Gjallarhorn service in favor of its more versatile successor.
The Graze Frame is a simplified version of the Grimgerde's Valkyrja Frame, Much of the Grimgerde's design philosophy was analyzed and adapted by Gjallarhorn into what would eventually become the EB-06 Graze after the Calamity War, including the unit's highly sensitive head sensors and simple construction to minimize energy consumption.
The Reginlaze Frame is the planned successor of the Graze Frame. While it shares a simplified frame like its predecessor, it is reinforced and optimized for increased power and firepower. In contrast, the Graze was intended to be used as an armed peacemaker and deterrence against insurrection. It was developed in secret and quietly issued to key individuals in the Arianrhod fleet. Its classified nature is secretive enough that important Gjallarhorn officers outside of Arianrhod have only heard rumors about its existence and operational status. It is also recent enough that there are only 18 units currently constructed, with all assigned to ace pilots in Arianrhod.
The Rodi Frame is one of several mobile suit frames produced during the Calamity War, serving as the main mobile suit frame for the Outer Sphere for many years. The Rodi Frame is incredibly versatile; suits built with it are primarily designed for use in space and are often equipped with extremely heavy armor because of the lack of gravity. It is a common civilian-use frame because of this versatility.
The Hexa Frame is a unique mobile suit configuration in the respect that its cockpit is located in the head or backpack rather than the torso and the legs can be of the standard type or uniquely jointed to allow for grappling in space. Compared to other mobile suit frames, Hexa-Frame suits are known to have a higher pilot survival rate, offsetting their high attrition rate from lack of armor by retaining the number of experienced pilots thanks to their cockpit's unique design. Widely produced during the Calamity War, they are second only to the Rodi Frame in terms of the number produced from that time period.
Mobile armors are a terrifying and dangerous type of mobile weapon technology deployed during the Calamity War. These gigantic weapons are controlled by an artificial intelligence and were feared by the people during the period. As the use of artificial intelligence removes the factor of ethics from the mobile armor, it is capable of unrestrained violence, with hundreds of millions of deaths being associated with the machines. It was not until the appearance of the Gundam Frame that the threat was erased. Mobile suits were originally created to counter mobile armors and the two are essentially arch-enemies. Ultimately, a quarter of the Earth's population died at their hands before they were either destroyed or shut down. After the Calamity War, they were banned from being used or created again and were purged from the general populace's memory. Like mobile suits, mobile armors use Ahab Reactor as main power source, have a frame made from rare metal, and are protected by Nanolaminate Armor.