Vainney Halter (ヴァイネイ・ハルター, Vu~ainei Harutā) is one of the main characters in Clockwork Planet. He is Marie's bodyguard, briefly posing as her father when she faked her death.
As revealed during the Shangri-La Arc, he was once a legendary mercenary known as "Overwork".
Other names he goes by are the nickname "Oberon", given by Shirley, and "Boss", which was given to him by Vermouth.
Personality[]
Halter is a generally friendly person who is seldom angered. He is very loyal to Marie. Despite his fearsome appearance, it is revealed early on that Halter is a bit of a worrywart who cares about the people around him. As Marie's bodyguard, he dutifully carries out the task of protecting her, as well as completes duties as secretary to the young Meister.
As the main adult influence for the members of Second Upsilon, he is often the voice of reason, serving not only as a guide to the children but also providing them with a grown-up perspective of their situations. This places him into a role of mediator for when the talents of his charges become too much for themselves to handle.
Halter is a very moral man, and upon learning the Army intended to kill Kyoto's population of 20,000,000 he became furious.
During the Shangri-La Arc he revealed a different side to him, one that is quite deceptive and difficult to understand. It is revealed that Halter's reputation was a result of his ability to achieve the goals of his employer, even if the goals were unknown to them at the time. This is best exemplified when he speaks to Vermouth about the difference between their levels of operation - while Vermouth held no loyalty to his employer and only did as they asked, Halter shows a certain degree of autonomy and would assassinate targets who wanted to put out future contracts on his employer. It is this loyalty and foresight that the Breguet Family employs him for, and which Halter considers to be the defining factor setting him apart from lower ranked mercenaries.
Appearance[]
Vainney is a hulking man described as a burly stalwart who is over two metres tall. He has brown eyes and buzz-cut grey hair. Two shaved lines run down the left side of his head. Naoto describes his walking as reminiscent of that of a carnivorous wildcat.
He wears a red collar shirt underneath a business suit, normally having both sleeves rolled up. He also wears a pair of black gloves and sunglasses.
Abilities[]
Vainney is an 8th generation mechanized human with his cyborg parts made by the Breguets. It is two generations above the latest market model - the 6th generation - though the 7th generation was currently being unveiled. This makes his strength far beyond that of any ordinary human, as shown when he casually destroys guard automata. He was mechanized in his youth, and in exchange for having a less sensitive artificial body, he gained power to break combat-use automata with his bare hands. Having risen up as a clocksmith that achieved the Geselle rank, he possesses significant skill and is able to assist with repairs alongside the Meister Guild.
After he suffered severe damages to his body, his brain was briefly connected by Marie to that of a war machine. In this form, he was nigh invulnerable and capable of fending off assaults from military grade automata alongside Second Epsilon's Initial-Y Units. Later, he would be restored to his human form.
During the attack on the Shangri-La grid, he was able to single-handedly annihilate all the forces of Arsenal. Despite being struck by an EMP, his will to move was so strong that he continued carrying out his attack after it was deemed physically impossible for him to move, let alone stand.
He possesses incredible durability, surviving his head (and later body) being struck by an EMP and disabled, allowing him to be successfully repaired by Marie.
The most dangerous part of Halter is his mind and ability to plan, and ability that allows him to often stay several steps ahead of both his allies and his enemies. He is said to have left everyone dancing to his tune, only to dazzle them all with the depths of his plans. As mentioned to Vermouth, he would be able to predict the actions of and eliminate an enemy before they made themselves known as one. He is implied to have killed someone who would have eventually hired him later on to kill his current employer.
Plot[]
Japan Arc[]
One Month Before[]
Halter is first seen arriving at Kyoto with Marie's team in order to fix the malfunction in Kyoto's Core Tower. After learning that their YD-01 container had fallen during flight, Marie sends him off to assemble a recovery team for RyuZU while she heads to meet with the other Meisters. As such, he is not present for their verbal confrontation with the Army, returning after making the arrangements to act as her driver.
He lectures Marie about the intricacies of politics during the drive to which she retorts that she was more lenient than her sister. Halter responds by noting that her sister was not a good role model and chiding her for her drinking habits. They arrive at the Core Tower shortly afterwards. Later than night, Halter is awoken by Marie who demands that he assemble a team, which he heads to do after telling her to put on some clothing. Halter returns quickly with the data as well as the observation squad. After discussing the matters with squad leader Hannes and Marie, Halter stands by as the latter rallies the group to complete repairs for the sake of the entire Kyoto Grid.
Once the speech is done, he praises Marie for her work. She's in disbelief about the Meisters being fooled and he helps her to understand that they chose to let themselves be fooled because they believe in her. Marie suspects something is amiss due to the Army not running interference with their work and assigns Halter to look into it. Before he can do that however, a staff member from the observation team relays some news: RyuZU's YD-01 container has been found. Unfortunately, it had fallen beneath the surface of the city where retrieval is extremely difficult. Seeing his mistress in shock, Halter takes charge of the situation and heads with the staff member to handle the paperwork needed to retrieve the fallen casket, leaving Marie to mull over their current situation.
Around 26 hours after the work had begun, Halter meets up with Marie in the elevator of the Core Tower. Seeing a subdued Ryouji Niijima, Halter properly binds the man and together they interrogate him. With a mixture of threats and demands extract the information: Kyoto will be purged within 42 hours. Halter becomes furious, seizing him by the collar and shouting at him for the Army's despicable actions. He's left behind with Ryouji after Marie begins directing the staff to the 24th level.
After hours of work, they're still unable to locate the malfunction, and the Meister Guild are ordered to retreat by the government. Marie gets annoyed by this, and so she and Halter confront Limons Vacheron about the order. However, Limons is dead set on purging the Kyoto grid and strips Marie of her authority as a meister, barring her from entering the Core Tower without permission.
After leaving his office, Marie and Halter, while thinking of a way to get back into the core tower, coincidentally cross paths with RyuZU and Naoto Miura. Marie almost immediately recognizes RyuZU as the Initial-Y Series Unit that had been accidentally lost while being transported.
Marie attempts to negotiate with Naoto to return RyuZU to her, as she is the apparent owner of the automata. Naoto immediately refuses in a childish manner, annoying Marie. When she, at wits end, tells Halter to simply kill Naoto as a threat, Halter urgently tells her to shut up. Marie then notices RyuZU's scythes around her throat. Halter having noticed RyuZU's hostility, had instinctively pointed his gun at Naoto as a hostage, though he notes that despite him being on guard, RyuZU had outsped him.
After analyzing the situation carefully, Halter realizes that he and Marie are the ones at a disadvantage, so he tries to calm the atmosphere by putting his gun down and apologizing for Marie's behavior. Halter also shows that the safety had been on, pacifying RyuZU. Marie then begins to try and convince RyuZU to help them fix the Core Tower, knowing that her abilities are far beyond the pale. Halter is impressed by her deductions, though RyuZU flatly denies them all before stating that she is unable and unwilling to solve their problem. They are informed however, that Naoto's hearing abilities would be able to detect the anomaly among the millions of gears in the tower and they request his help. Naoto once again turns them down, much to their dismay. However, when RyuZU informs Naoto that her "little sister" AnchoR - another Initial-Y Series Unit - is located in Kyoto's Core Tower, he then decides to go to the Core Tower to look for her, believing that risking RyuZU is worth it for the tradeoff.
Tokyo Tower Falls[]
Halter, Marie, Naoto and RyuZU then head to Akihabara, where Halter stands guard as Naoto puts on a show. Once Marie destroys Tokyo Tower, they are accosted by three helicopters that are quickly dispatched by RyuZU. Halter inquires as to the whereabouts of Marie, to which RyuZU responds by stating she left her behind. Marie joins them shortly and demands Halter incapacitate RyuZU in retaliation, though he points out it is an impossibility.
They soon rush to Core Tower in order to fix it before the purge begins, but Limons is insistent on purging the Kyoto Grid, and sends numerous automata to attack them. However, those automata are easily destroyed by RyuZU and Halter. In the midst of confusion, Halter and Marie agree to trick Limons into believing that she was killed, and smashes Marie's Chrono Compass, shattering it into pieces.
Relationships[]
Breguets[]
Halter was employed by them as Marie's bodyguard. They have a great deal of trust in him and his abilities, believing that he would continue to protect Marie even after her falsified death. Halter notes that they pay him well. Apart from such, he notes that the elder daughter was not a very good influence and cautions Marie against becoming like her sister.
Marie Bell Breguet[]
Halter is Marie's bodyguard. He is loyal to her and cares for her. He and Marie share a very deep bond and he has stated before that he will give his life for her as he is her bodyguard. Marie later cried when she believed Halter had died in the line of duty, though she tries to hide her care for him.
Hannes[]
Halter and Hannes both work with Marie. Not much is known, other than each trusts and respects the other, given their cooperation during the Kyoto Grid purge incident.
Naoto Miura[]
Halter and Naoto are shown to get along very well. He considers Naoto to also be a genius, much like Marie. He knows what to say in order to get Naoto motivated to do anything.
RyuZU[]
RyuZU tolerates Halter's presence, interacting with him in a semi-professional manner. During their flight from Japan, the two exchange philosophical remarks concerning fate, resulting in Halter being amazed that the Initial-Y Units were able to philosophize. However, this cordial relationship is soured once Halter is forced by Kiu Tai Yu into kidnapping Naoto. Once he returns and apologizes, RyuZU leaves his fate up to AnchoR, though warns him not to betray them again.
AnchoR[]
AnchoR saw Halter as an older uncle figure. She was greatly shocked by his betrayal, but nonetheless wished to attack without mercy. Following the events of the Shangri-La grid, she forgives him but asks him not to pull any plans like that again, repairing their relationship.
Vermouth[]
Halter considers Vermouth a "greenhorn", having many more years of experience on him. When Vermouth is able to pull off an escape from Second Epsilon after being outed as secretly using their flight to gain money, Halter notes that it was quite impressive to have the younger mercenary gain a leg up on him. Vermouth on the other hand, greatly respects Halter as being the legendary "Overwork", whose skills dazzle friend and foe in pursuit of the mission goal. Following Halter's one man assault upon the Shangri-La Clock Tower, Vermouth gains a stronger sense of respect for him, claiming the former could defeat even an Initial Y-Unit given enough preparation.
When confronting Vermouth after his betrayal, Halter was able to immediately subdue and warn the younger mercenary, with the latter instantly recognizing the difference in experience. Upon hearing Vermouth's protests and citation that mercenaries betray their employers, Halter responds by pointing out that his point of view was why he was third-rate. He proceeds to explain to Vermouth that a better mercenary would have eliminated the one who tried hiring them against their employer long before they made that attempt. This displayed a certain level of acknowledgement as it is unlikely that Halter would have spoken these words to someone unrelated.
Kiu Tai Yu[]
Halter detests Kiu from their first meeting, noting that the man was insane. Kiu did nothing to endear himself to Halter after he executed Shirley, who had made a drink Halter liked. Kiu then proceeded to threaten Halter directly. Left with no choice but to obey Kiu, Halter carried out his demands and quietly worked to subvert the man's demands. Having brought Naoto to the Clock Tower, Halter intervenes when Kiu tries to beat the young clockmaker into submission, demanding he cease. Kiu on the other hand, does try to reason with Halter, though this is likely due to Halter's own formidable abilities in combat.
After Naoto and Marie had successfully remade the grid and repaired AnchoR, Halter attacked Kiu's private army and destroyed them all. He also found Kiu and executed him, citing Shirley's death as being the reason the man had to die.
Trivia[]
- In the original Clockwork Planet Novel, one of the writer Tsubaki, actually wanted Halter to be gay, however the idea was rejected.
- He also had the idea Halter used to be Marie's butler.
- Despite claiming to be unpaid as a factor of his "betrayal" in Shangri-La, Halter is on the Breguet family's payroll as they are fully aware Marie is alive and needs protection.
Quotes[]
- (To Marie) "You're still a child princess, the thing about being a child is you're allowed to cry. Nobody will judge you for it." -Episode 6
- (To Marie & Naoto) "Pretty sure, that asking a kid if they like mom or dad more, is textbook example of bad parenting." -Episode 12