Adiane

Little about Adiane advertises her Beastman blood. She passes convincingly for a strikingly beautiful human woman, blue haired and full figured, and only two features give the game away: a thick scorpion tail trailing behind her and a single serpent-slitted eye.

Her wardrobe leans theatrical. A patch covers her left eye, its straps winding around her torso and down one leg like a harness, while a loosely draped gown and high heels complete the ensemble. An eyecatch in Episode 12 hints at a scorpion tattoo on her right hip, and the patch itself is plated well enough to stop a bullet fired at point-blank range in the film Gurren-hen.

Fury defines Adiane. She erupts at the smallest slight, acts before she thinks, and treats whoever happens to be nearby, usually Viral, as an outlet when a battle goes wrong. Her cruelty is casual, and her pride will not permit her to walk away from a defeat.

That temper coexists with real devotion. She serves Lordgenome faithfully and extends that loyalty to his daughter, at least until she learns the Spiral King has cast Nia aside, at which point her true feelings spill out. Her strongest bond is with Thymilph; Cytomander wonders aloud whether she was his partner or merely used him, while Guame teases that the two were closer than colleagues. Where the other generals look down on her for being a woman, Thymilph treats her as a warrior, and his death wounds her deeply enough to drive the rest of her story.

News that Kamina and Simon have killed Thymilph leaves Adiane stunned, then vengeful. She wins Lordgenome's permission to strike Team Dai-Gurren herself and coldly turns away Viral's offer of help, holding him responsible for her friend's fate. Attacking alone, she carves through the brigade's Gunmen and lands directly on the Dai-Gurren's deck, where Nia steps between her and the crew. Adiane scoffs at the girl's claim to be the Spiral King's daughter and moves to execute her, but the fortress itself lurches to Nia's defense, and only Viral's desperate blocking action buys her the chance to withdraw. Falling back, she discovers Lordgenome has already abandoned her.

Refusing to show her face in Teppelin without a victory, she waits until the Dai-Gurren reaches the ocean, terrain that favors her. Viral drags the enemy fortress underwater with her flagship Dai-Gunkai while Adiane intercepts Gurren Lagann in her personal Gunman, the Sayrune, a machine she pilots with enough skill to hold off five opponents at once and to conjure walls of water in combat. The ambush unravels; Gurren Lagann bores through the Sayrune's claws, then hauls the Dai-Gurren surfaceward with a drill spun as a waterscrew, outswimming her machine and shattering its Bloody Clasper.

Cornered, Adiane snatches Nia as a hostage and demands that the crew destroy Gurren Lagann. Yoko answers with a rifle round that cripples the Sayrune's shoulder, the hostage falls free, and the Dai-Gurren's artillery converges on the exposed Gunman. Viral's rescue attempt costs him the Dai-Gunkai and saves nothing; Adiane dies in the barrage, lamenting that Thymilph goes unavenged. The manga's ending later shows her reborn in the form of a child once the Anti-Spiral conflict is over.