Axel Gear Sanjulo -Fan Theory-

[Deleted]

So, seeing Kokoa's theory, I've decided to put up my own. I thought it was a pretty cool theory, even if there isn't much to back it up - but here I go!

I propose to you all.... that Axel Gear is Mifune Sanjulo's real son! Now let me explain; there is neither proof to say this is or is not true, however there are some details I want you guys to rethink about.

What do we know about Mifune? We know he's a living legend. He is the leader of the rocket knights, and is actually from a long line of RK captains. He also has the book of Rocket Knight secrets, which is under his ownership. However, we do not know how he looks, how old he is, his personality, his likes and dislikes - nothing! But he's best friends with the King.

I want you guys to put that in the back of your head for now.

What do we know about Axel? He's the leader of a mercenary group called 'The Black Knights', and is always found on the side of attacking Zephyrus. He's the one who stole the RK book of secrets, and has been seen with a very large arsenal of weapons and abilities that Sparkster cannot seem to copy. Also, he has a crush on Princess Sherry

Okay, now compare the two - what do these characters have in common?
Both are natural born leaders, both had ownership of the book at some point in their stories, and have some connection to the royal family.

Now lets take this a step further - WHY does Axel have a crush on the Kings daughter? We could assume he likes her looks, but what if he was around her a lot in childhood? Maybe his FATHER knew the King and introduced him to her and found that he liked her?

Another thing to take notice - if Mifune is from a long line of Rocket Knight captains, then why would he consider adoption first? No disrespect to adopting kids, but if your family is from an important lineage, why would you discontinue it? I propose that Axel was already in training, then the disaster happened, and Mifune adopted Sparkster out of pity. Now Axel has a baby brother in his life that he may or may not have wanted.

Hey, remember that book Axel stole? What's in it? Maybe Axel's weapons are modifications that the book has blueprints on creating. If Mifune was a legend of a knight, then he HAD to have been powerful. Axel, even if Sparkster has defeated him before, has been portrayed as a tough obstacle for Sparkster. He knows what Sparkster knows, but better. He even has a move pool that's bigger. Sparkster can't spin around the room, bouncing off walls, he also can't shoot missiles or an of that other stuff. Also, where Sparkster has to hang for dear life, Axel can fly around with no problem. Where Sparkster needs the seven swords to unleash their power, Axel could summon lighting with just one.

In RK2010, this goes further. He has giant lasers, bombs/missiles, dark smoke and even a move where he sends out a shockwave and destroys the platforms around him! Its no contest to say Axel is technically MORE powerful than Sparkster. But why? What if its because he read the book and has the know-how of using these abilities?
Notice - Sparkster gave up his life as a knight, but Axel STAYED a knight. He even became a rocket knight that the king rehired. Why? Why would the King tell Sparkster he's no good as a knight anymore, but rehires the guy that kidnapped his daughter, and even attacked his kingdiom as a whole? Well, what if he knew Axel as a child? What if Axel was Mifune's son and the spot as the RK leader belonged to Axel to begin with? And Mifune being the King's friend, he knew Axel would take his spot immediately.
Sparkster was adopted into the life of a knight, so maybe it was easier to let it go. But Axel was BORN to be a fighter and can't give it up, since that's what he was meant to do all his life.

Its ironic that Axel is mentioned in leadership - because he was meant to lead others, but never got the chance. His bio states he was 'corrupted'. Never stating who he was. SPARKSTER was the one mentioned to be adopted. Axel just sort of popped up. Maybe because he was always there.... maybe Mifune turned his attention to Sparkster, and thats where the seeds of corruption started; with Sparkster coming into his life and snatching everything away from him.

Now before I end my long theory, I have one more thing to bring up.

How old was Axel when he killed Mifune?

I want you guys to REALLY think about it. Mifune is an aged warrior - how would a squire, or even a teenager beat him in a fight? My answer to you is this.

Either Axel was a powerful knight as a kid......... or Mifune did not have the heart to kill his own child and accepted his fate. He chose Sparkster over him, when he was the true heir to being the next RK captain - so he stole the book and left as a means of saying 'NO' and refused to accept the role of a follower.

And because of that, the Sanjulo Lineage is done. Does Sparkster count? He may have been raised by him, but he does not carry true Sanjulo blood. So it would end with Axel, or Axel having kids but not as Zephyrian brood.

Another thing. What if Axel's looks take after his father? Maybe he changes his hair color every game so he doesn't look like him. Or maybe he takes after his mom, but has his fathers hair.

Phew! That was a lot! I hope you enjoyed my theory! It was fun to finally get it off my chest! Haha! Tell me what you think, and even your own theories!

[KokoaMinto]

Reading about your theory and thinking about everything more deeply you might have spotted a good point within the whole relationship situation that was build around Mifune Sanjuro/Sanjulo.

Though it IS just an theory it makes a bit of sense.
Yes, it's questionable why Axel would kill his own father but on the other hand he probably felt betrayed - it doesn't feel right seeing that an orphan like Sparkster gets the role of the next Rocket Knight Captain while the own son gets the role as follower. It really cuts a certain pride, not only the bloodline of Rocket Knight Captains.

We know actually nothing about all characters though we probably have a few manuals to work with. For me though... I don't trust the localized versions of the manuals so gladfully RapidKirby3K gave me some scans of the Japanese manuals - and with a friend of mine who lived in Japan for a long time and thus knows the language even better than I do we might be able to translate the Japanese story and character biographies to see how much was actually changed - but this is off-topic stuff so ignore this part.

What I wanted to point out is that it's even unclear what happened to Mifune. On one side it's said that he was "disabled" by Axel but on the other side it's said that he was "killed" by Axel.

My mind tells me that Axel actually wasn't aiming for Mifune's death, I even doubt that Axel was aiming to harm anyone.

Sure he was jealous about Sparkster in some sort but it can be forgiven - no one likes to be placed 2nd place, especially when it's the own father who's taking more care about the adopted child than his own flesh and blood. Axel and Sparkster had a normal childhood with each other when they were still little kids, but the older they got the more Axel felt like he was left out of everything - causing him to think that Sparkster maybe tried to "steal" his father - and Mifune was too busy to realize what was going on with him.

The theory as of why Axel and Mifune fought each other is depicted in a way different way in my mind.
It's said they fought because Axel tried to steal the "ancient book of Rocket Knights" that "contained the secrets of the Rocket Knights", they really should have called it "Book of Rocket Knight Techniques" to make it more understandable why Axel wanted to get his fingers on this book because that's what the whole deal was - learning certain techniques to improve their abilities and weaponary.

We all think that they fought in a "knight vs. knight" fashion but what if when... they actually just had an argument as father and son?
Axel probably tried to confront Mifune, asking him why he's so 'obsessed' with Sparkster and why this orphan is so special in his eyes, causing those two to argue with each other. Mifune quitted the argument they had and told him to accept that Sparkster consumes more training time because he wasn't as overly skilled/talented as Axel was which caused that he needed to focus more on the young blond opossum - something that Axel didn't wanted to accept because he was his own flesh and blood who should stand above everything else.

Angered by his father's response he went to the training grounds to cool himself down until he remembered that there's a book that his father kept away from everyone - which was the book of Rocket Knight Techniques. His curiousity boiled up and he decided to take a look into it, showing that he can learn even more complicated techniques so his father would take more care about him again rather than focusing on Sparkster the entire time. Mifune caught him when he was reading the book though he said that it's not the right time for him to learn those techniques yet - causing another heavy argument between them. The old man tried to get the book back, asking his son to hand it over in a calm manner but Axel refused to do so, causing Mifune to get it back by force. Everything went out of control until Mifune hurted himself on Axel's sword which wasn't in it's sheath like it's supposed to be. Axel panicked once he saw that his father's blood was running down his blade, dropping down to the floor because he wasn't paying enough attention about his weapon, it went even more worse when some guards came around to check what was going on. They accused him of attacking Mifune which led him to run away - carrying the book of Rocket Knight Techniques with him.

Due to all the things that happened in such a short amount of time, his escape behaviour + accusing him for attacking Mifune (which was probably such a bad injury that he died later on) he was banned from Zephyrus - also causing Sparkster to chase after him to get revenge. Once Axel was able to escape safely he needed to swallow everything that just happened, feeling miserable because it was an accident and the last thing that happened between him and his father was a giant argument which was caused by his high arrogance and selfishness. Knewing that they're after him for attacking Mifune he had nothing left besides of the sign "wanted criminal" above his head - so why trying to explain what really happened? No one would believe him anyway so he moved on with his life - causing him to evolve into the Black Knight we now know these days. With the book of Rocket Knight Techniques in his hands he knew he was able to beat Sparkster to show that he is in fact the better knight, but he also knew that he could kill Sparkster with this power as well - he's not aiming for it though due to the loss of his own father and because Sparkster had nothing to do with the last part of their argument.

That's my point of view about the backstory of what was actually going on between Mifune and Axel.

[Deleted]

I like your point of view a lot actually! Instead of portraying Axel as "EVERYTHING MUST DIE!!!" Its more humane. No one is just born evil, and its even stated he was corrupted. To be corrupted, you need to pure first. He was a nice guy before he slowly changed into what he is.

The idea that it was a misunderstanding is actually heartbreaking. Mifune trained Sparkster more because he needed more help, but Axel was already talented with sword practice, so there was no need to help him if he understood the material learned. And the idea of his death being an accident... oh gosh the feels! ;A;
That is so awful! A child having to deal with the fact he killed his father, is getting branded a traitor with no chance to explain himself, now has to live on the run on his lonesome, all for a misunderstanding. And their last words as a family together was an argument. That would mess up any child!
And he has to live with his mistakes for the rest of his life.

That in itself is chilling. An amazing story! Better than the usual psycho-Axel people like to portray him as. Even so, no one can justify a story with Axel just being evil for the hell of it. Because no one just decides to be evil at birth - and only killers have a psychological problem. Normal people don't kill for no reason.

Your story has so much sense I can't even begin to break it down. Its wonderful! And it makes a lot of sense of why Axel is the way he is, due to not only having everything taken away from him, but also being the tool of his own demise. Now his only family he has left is the little brother that now wants to kill him to avenge his adopted father - and he has no choice but to become a Black Knight since what kingdom would take him in otherwise? Especially with the Kingdom of Possums at war with the other races (wolves, pigs, lizards - maybe even others we don't know about).
He would be 'disposed' of otherwise.

He must have been so lonely his first year. Then he made his mercenary group of other rejects and that how it all started for him.

[KokoaMinto]

I feel honored because I know how harsh and scary your critic can be! ;A;

Yeah I know how you feel about the issue with "Axel being a psychopath" or what-the-hell-do-I-know. Like you said no one's born evil - it's the past that determines who and how you are at the end.

Axel's a misunderstood character - many people just read the manuals from the games and think like "oh, so he's purely evil and needs to be stopped" or thinking even worse about these sorts of characters. He's more "The Anti-Hero" rather than "The Villain" - if he would be all that evil he could kill Sparkster in such an easy manner but he never did. Why? Because he does care a lot about Sparkster. Yes they might be very different personalities in overall but we shouldn't forget that they probably grew up together - you just can't break that bond and maybe we portray Sparkster in a wrong way as well. He's probably chasing after Axel because he knows that his 'older brother' would never do such a horrible thing to their father, he never had a reason to kill Mifune in the first place, so all that's left for Sparkster is to chase after Axel and confront him about what really happened back then.

Come to think of it: Sparkster and Axel fight against each other everytime they need to face each other.
Like I wrote above: If Axel would be totally insane and evil he would have taken all chances to kill Sparkster right away, not waiting until he can join forces with any kind of Kingdom that tries to overthrow Kingdom Zephyrus. He had a lot of chances to encounter Sparkster since Sparkster was chasing after him, he's not within Zephyrus the entire time.

Axel has the book of Rocket Knight Techniques which causes Sparkster being underneath Axel's skill level - yet still he manages to defeat Axel the entire time.
As player you control Sparkster, you need to master the functions and attacks of the rocket pack and sword techniques to progress further in the games, you need to stop everyone in your path because it's your duty to do so.

On the other hand though... If you don't see it in the perspective of a player but rather than in the perspective of an Character Designer or Character/FanFiction critic you'll see that Sparkster is, in fact, not overly strong. Just because he has a rocket pack and certain sword skills that probably even Mifune Sanjulo was able to use doesn't make him the best swordsman in Elhorn - the same goes for Axel even though he clearly has a lot of advantages.

I don't want to say that Sparkster is a "wimp", he's a very down-to-earth character which is one of the best aspects about him as a Videogame Character, he feels very natural with everything he does and everything he can do, but he's not the strongest knight in Elhorn and he'll never be because he lacks the access to the book of Rocket Knight Techniques - he's forced to create his own techniques to prove that he's a strong and reliable knight.

Axel has the book of Rocket Knight Techniques and a lot of skills that he surely is using against Sparkster every time they fight, but he's not using all of his actual potential that lies within him. Like Sparkster he works on his techniques to show that he's a strong and reliable knight. So in fact they're not different at all which will in fact be fatal because they're knights - d'oh!

Now analyze those characters more deeply and you might see something very interesting if you think hard enough about everything they share and don't share.

Axel doesn't even try to be better than Sparkster when they're fighting each other - he's not using his full potential against his 'little brother' though he clearly has the power to do so.

Why is that? Why is Axel holding back all the possibilities and abilities to kill Sparkster?

The answer is: He doesn't want to kill Sparkster.

Sparkster is his 'little brother', he couldn't kill him no matter how jealous he was when they were younger. Everything can calm down the more time is passing by - Axel's the one who moves on and lives his life the way he wants to - Sparkster on the other hand is still full of hate that boils up once he faces Axel.

It's not a Knight VS. Knight fight between them, it's a Brother VS. Brother fight. It's a common thing that siblings are arguing with each other about the smallest things, and that's exactly the thing that's going on between those two.

They don't fight against each other because they want to kill each other
They don't fight against each other because they're forced to fight each other
They don't fight against each other because Sparkster is "the Hero" and Axel is "The Villain"

Nobody can tell why they're actually fighting each other.

For me it feels like Sparkster's fighting Axel because there's no other chance to make Axel speak about what happened between him and Mifune and Axel knows that Sparkster's eager to fight him to get the answer he wants to hear. Axel's teasing Sparkster by joining forces with other Kingdoms that want to conquer Kingdom Zephyrus, knowing that his 'little brother' will protect Zephyrus at any cost. Their fights are always personal.

If that's not a sibling fight then I don't know what it is.

[billysparkz]

I really don't think of Axel as an evil villain. I actually think of him as an Anti-Hero and a good rival character to Sparkster. I may not have played much of the Rocket Knight games nor will fully play them, but the I'm still a fan of the series and these two characters.

P.S.: When Sparkster has the ultimate showdown with Axel I'm gonna listen to this song through the whole fight: X vs. Zero theme (Mega Man X5).

[KokoaMinto]

billysparkz:
I agree with you and it's good to see that there's another one who portrays Axel more like the Anti-Hero Type rather than the pure Evil/Villain Type.

X vs. Zero... Oh god you really have awesome taste there because this track is just legendary. Nothing suits Sparkster's fight against Axel better than X Vs. Zero. Those feelings!

[Deleted]

That honestly feels like the best way to see it; a fight between brothers. I bet THAT would make an amazing plot. Instead of just fighting each other as typical enemies, there is more between them. Axel is running from the past, while Sparkster is trying to hunt down the past.

Keep in mind, in the second game Axel's helmet came off, he just accepted defeat and left. If Sparkster wanted him dead, then he would have done more than cut off his helmet. If Axel wanted to kill him, he either would have kept fighting, or just drop that sword on his head! XD

In the time Sparkster was looking for him, Axel could have killed him then. If he could avoid Sparkster for such a long time, who's to say he couldn't just walk up behind him and BAM murder. While I wont call Sparkster a wimp, he is a bit of a... ditz. He would not see it coming. He doesn't seem to pay attention to his surroundings as much as he should, and seems to scare easily.

The death of Mifune feels like a murder mystery to me. Sparkster does not know the reason and the only way to solve it is to get Axel to talk. But his big brother is on the run, and is not very easy to find, unless he's been hired to attack Zephyrus - and I bet the only reason Axel was hired by these kingdoms is because he knows the place inside out. And in consequence, ends up in the very kingdom he's trying to avoid.

[KokoaMinto]

Sparkster is indeed a bit careless... Hey, that reminds me of something.

In Rocket Knight 2010, when Sparkster defeated King Ulfgar who was beaten up by Swinehart after it... Axel sneaked up from behind and knocked him out with his sword. Even there Axel had the possibility to kill him - and yet he just knocked him out and laughed into his face when one of the pig soldiers threw him out the window!

Sorry but this is clearly the best example of how naive and careless Sparkster can be - he didn't even thought about the possibility that his big brother would be following General Swinehart. Also this clearly states that Axel doesn't want to kill him though he could easily backstabbed him right away.

Axel running away from his past while Sparkster can't let go of the past... this makes perfect sense to me, how else would you describe their situation?

We know that Sparkster got himself a little family and all that, it's a very sweet addition to his life since he suffered so many losses when the word 'family' was involved, nonetheless he still holds a grudge against Axel, he's always fire and flame to stop his older brother no matter what'll happen.

Yet still... they can't kill each other.

Sparkster is against killing his foes since the start, Axel on the other hand never cared about it - in a huge war you have to stop your enemies even if it's by killing them when you know they're a threat.

That's also something that makes them different:
The younger brother refuses to kill while the older brother knows that killing is the most efficient way to make sure the Kingdom stays save.

Probably this is also one of the reasons why they sort out their 'dissensions' in a 1-on-1 battle, letting no one interrupt their fight.

Many people could think that Axel is a coward for letting others do the job before facing Sparkster but he's actually just waiting for the right moment to taunt Sparkster even more.
He knows that his little brother wants some answers. He knows that he won't let go until he finally got what he wants.
He's just playing games with Sparkster, there's nothing he could take serious when his little brother is involved.

Now it sounds like that Axel is indeed a bit 'insane' but he actually isn't - it's just very amusing seeing how hard Sparkster's trying to get him to speak just to let him escape again and again, never leaving a trace of where he ran off to.

Axel's a 'runaway', that's something he always did. It's not because he's afraid, no, it's something he did for years now so why should he even bother what other people think about him? Also it seems like some sort of passion watching Sparkster being all clueless and unable to catch up to him, never giving him the chance to confront his older brother about the whole situation that surrounds Mifune.

[Deleted]

I wouldn't give Axel the benefit of the doubt just yet. It wouldn't surprise me if they did have a grudge, at least up until the space fight. Those two want each others blood. Sparkster wants revenge for his father, and Axel wants to get back at the one who stole his father from him. You know those sparkles that trailed Axel when he flew out? I think those were tears. Like he finally just broke down at that point. And the silence of no music when the fight is over... it feels so heavy. Like an emotionally charged scene had took place and the silence was the aftermath of all that took place.
Or at least to me it did.

I think your right about the teasing, because after the first game he just... pops up. I feel the spinoff is the biggest clue of that. He's just sitting on a pipe organ playing - nothing else! XD
Why was he doing that? In the first game, he waited in the shadows. In this one, he's not even bothering to try. Its just 'Here I am! Come get me little bro!' At that point, I think he just got over it, but Sparkster hasn't just yet. And after the robot fight... he's just gone. "I already got my paycheck - LATER BITCHES!"

I wouldn't call Sparkster innocent on killing. He has to fight, and there was definitely some casualties along the way. But I get what you mean: he's merciful. But having a home in Zephyrus, he has the luxury to be merciful. Axel is hunted, so he has to kill. Kill or be killed. Fear or be feared.

[KokoaMinto]

Yes, I remember that last scene in the first game once Axel was finally defeated. I felt... sad to be honest.

I swear to god those sparkles were tears. Tears are always represented as small sparkling particles to make it look more pretty and emotional. That last strike you do on Axel, the sudden silence, the sparkling particles... it was a moment of victory but also a moment of deep sadness. You feel proud the first time you fought him because he's just another boss, but he was the most INTENSE boss - even more flashed out than the actual last fight, but if you think about the whole battle after years you start to realize that it... was just a bittersweet fight that makes you somewhat regret beating him.

Hm, now that you mention the Spin-Off... yes you're right. He only pops up to annoy Sparkster as much as he can. He got paid, he can do whatever he wants, even being all classy with playing the fucking pipe organ before the fight starts! XD And you pointed out a very important thing: He get paid, he's losing against Sparkster and yet STILL he made profit... WAY TO GO, AXEL!

Nah Sparkster isn't innocent at all, but he's merciful as you already said - that can be a very big weakness.
Maybe Sparkster's as merciful as Mifune was... or because Axel killed Mifune Sparkster is against killing.

[Deleted]

Its VERY saddening. I bet if this was made in today's gaming standards, there would be dialogue throughout the whole fight; most likely about the story of what happened between them. Every fight is personal and is never about the main villain of the game. Makes me wish Mifune was a more fleshed out character, so we can actually KNOW his point of view of things. Would definitely give more insight.

I love that he even continued playing after Spark was there for a bit! Show off~
He doesn't care - he just wants his mercenary pay! I also love the part he snatched the Princess just before Sparkster gets to her on the ship. Um... did he look like he was having WAY to much fun? Or was it just me? The glint in his eye was priceless.
And in the sequel, Axel is just all "OH HAI THAR DIDN'T SEE YOU" -push~-

Axel is character with a lot of potential, and slightly comedic as well... like when he kicked the king! XD

[KokoaMinto]

As tragic as Axel is as overall character - YES, he HAS a lot of potential and a very great comedic treatment as well: KICK DAT ROYAL ASS!
Lesson for today:
If you don't get what you want... fucking kick the King.

Sparkster's face was priceless in that moment btw. Konami had good sense of humor back then.

I feel like everything's just some kind of amusement park for Axel once he got over everything - at least it shows that he still has his sanity and doesn't give up his life just because of an dramatic accident in his past. Yes it might be some sort of... how could you say it... strange? I can't find the right word yet so sue me. It doesn't feel like he gives a damn shit about his past but... I think it's a facade. For us he's being the taunting asshole that wants to see Zephyrus getting conquered by others but in truth he's a bit broken. He lives on but he needs to deal with deep scars of the past. The scar in his face (older artworks of 1993 ~ 1994) wasn't probably not even caused by Mifune - maybe Axel did it by himself so he remembers that certain day.

...Yeah might be a bit out of character but sometimes people do hurt themselves so they get reminded about a big mistake they did in their life as some sort of 'regret'. It shouldn't be treated like some sort of suicide action though because that's also some kind of issue with topics like that. Just because someone hurts himself/herself doesn't always need to mean they want to commi suicide - some people probably suffer borderline syndrome (I know what I'm talking about because a very close friend of mine suffers borderline syndrome but she's such a sweet and healthy girl that you wouldn't even think that she has it).

[Deleted]

Oh dear, I wish your friend the best of luck. =(
I see what you mean, but maybe being on the road, those scars got there from different fights he got into. He must have fought a lot of bandits that tried to steal from him, and who knows what other things he got into. I feel the story of how he became who he is as a person may come from the experiences he had while on the run. Maybe he wasn't a ruthless person in Zephyrus, but he learned to be that way for survival. Instead of being civilized, he had to become wild.

[KokoaMinto]

I'll tell her once she's available again~ but don't worry, she's totally fine~

True, it could have happened while fighting rogues/bandits/knights - there's a lot of space to speculate how he got that giant scar in his face.
Of course he needs to defend himself even if he needs to kill others - no one would spare his life either afterall. Why should they? They could make profit with his stuff or getting away with a giant reward for killing him - he's a wanted criminal with a high bounty, no one would miss that opportunity.

...We're total Axel Gear nerds...

[Deleted]

When did you figure out we're utter nerds? |D

Its cuz he's a fun character to speculate. Sparkster on the otherhand, is a cookie cut character; he had a hard past, he was an orphan that got adopted into a better life, he's a hero of his people. You know, that stuff. His story is more or less... finished. The drama in his life is over.

Axel on the other hand, is still facing a struggle. His story isn't done yet, and that's the interesting part. The RK series is nothing without Axel, because he's the whole point of the game. Not to save the princess, not to defeat the final boss. It's always Axel that your trying to hunt down as the player. Every final boss changes, but Axel is a dominant staple of every game - and you can't help but wonder WHY that is.

No doubt the Black Knight have a large bounty over their heads - and it would not surprise me if Zephyrus had a treasure reward for his capture and/or death.