Rey Za Burrel

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Rey Za Burrel (レイ・ザ・バレル, Rei Za Bareru^?) is a fictional character and antagonist from the Japanese science fiction anime television series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. Rey is a quiet, calm, and polite soldier who keeps himself out of other people's way, he gladly follows his orders no matter what they might be. He is also extremely loyal to the Chairman of the PLANTs Gilbert Durandal, Rey is also shown to have a past with the mysterious Rau Le Creuset.

Gundam SEED Destiny

Second Bloody Valentine War

At the Armory One base the Chairman of the Plants Gilbert Durandal is meeting the Orb Union's representative Cagalli Yula Athha, who is visiting the facility to discuss about ZAFT increasing its military power. Meanwhile Phantom Pain forces infiltrate the base and steal ZAFT's newest mobile suits, the ZGMF-X24S Chaos, ZGMF-X88S Gaia, and ZGMF-X31S Abyss as they heavily damage the base during the infiltration.

Rey tries to stop the three stolen mobile suits from escaping with his white ZGMF-1001 ZAKU Phantom along with Shinn Asuka and his ZGMF-X56S Impulse, they then face Neo Roanoke the captain of the Earth Alliance Forces battleship Girty Lue in his TS-MA4F Exus, during the battle Rey shares a strange connection to Neo.

Secret intentions

When the Minerva is sent to in a Extendeds facility in Lodonia the place where Extendeds are created and trained, during this event Rey gets a strange and unexplained reaction.

At the Battle of Crete, his ZAKU Phantom is severely damaged while defending the Minerva from Orb mobile suits and later when Stella Loussier is held hostage on the Minerva, Rey helps Shinn return her to the Earth Alliance. Both are confined as punishment and could have been executed but are released on Gilbert Durandal's orders.

Later, Rey and Shinn devise a strategy to defeat the ZGMF-X10A Freedom during Operation Angel Down in which he successfully does, but the pilot Kira Yamato survives. Afterwards, Rey helps Gilbert Durandal frame Athrun Zala as a traitor, and detects Athrun's attempted escape with Meyrin Hawke in a ZGMF-2000 GOUF Ignited, and accompanies Shinn in destroying the mobile suit, his words urge Shinn to destroy it leading to the apparent deaths of Athrun and Meyrin.

Hidden secrets

After the departure of Athrun, he becomes the pilot of the ZGMF-X666S Legend which was originally intended for Athrun. The mobile suit is a direct improvement of the ZGMF-X13A Providence. Both mobile suit's model numbers have unfavorable connotations; 13, Providence's model number is considered unlucky in many cultures, and 666 is the "number of the beast"/"the devil's number". In the battle at Heaven's Base Rey works with Shinn in his ZGMF-X42S Destiny to form a formidable team. Rey is then awarded the order of the Nebula, he and Shinn are then appointed as members FAITH. During Operation Fury Rey faces the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom piloted by Kira Yamato while Shinn faces the ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice piloted by Athrun. At the Battle of Daedalus, Rey devises a strategy for Lunamaria Hawke and her ZGMF-X56S Impulse to destroy the Requiem's control base, Rey destroys a squad of GFAS-X1 Destroy and Lord Djibril as he was trying to escape.

Chairman Durandal unveils "the Destiny Plan" this plan will cause everyone to be governed by their genetic "destiny" and not by their individuality therefore making war obsolete. Shinn hesitates but Rey once again uses his words to convince him that the "Destiny Plan" is the right thing to do he goes so far to do this even revealing his own origins of himself and his "brother" Rau Le Creuset. He confides to Shinn that he is a clone, just like his "other self" Rau Le Creuset, who is shown with him when Rey was little and was also shown to be kind to Rey, and is one of the several clones of the powerful and mysterious Atlantic Federation politician Al Da Flaga. Rey mentions that he is the "predecessor" to Kira Yamato, of sorts; the profits Ulen Hibiki made from producing these clones were use to fund research into his Ultimate Coordinator project, which ultimately produced Kira. Like Rau he also suffers from pain that requires medication, this is due to the shortening of telomeres, a section on either end of strands of the DNA in his cells, this shortening is related to many of the effects of aging. Due to this, Rey knows that he does not have much of a future. However he still passionately supports the "Destiny Plan".

Battle of Messiah

In the final battle, Rey is determined to destroy Kira because he is an obstacle in the plan and also because he killed Rau. However, Kira tells him that just because he is a clone like Rau, does not mean he has to repeat Rau's mistakes and that his life is his own, not anyone else's Kira then heavily damages the Legend. Rey then takes his badly damaged Legend to the space fortress Messiah, where he finds Kira and Durandal in a standoff. Moved by Kira's desire for a future of their own, the one thing he was denied in life; Rey shoots Durandal. Due to the damage the fortress sustains at the hands of Kira's ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom, the Messiah explodes. Rey chooses to remain onboard and die with Durandal and Talia Gladys, whom he calls "mother" at the very last moment.

Overview

Rey's personality is decidedly different from Rau's. While many view him as a "villain" later in the series, he is motivated by the thought of improving the future of humanity. This drives him to fight for the Destiny Plan initially, and later to ensure Kira's dreams for the future, even though it meant killing the man who raised him. However, like Durandal, he views people of no worth as expendable and obstacles as needing to be obliterated. This was somewhat exaggerated in Gundam SEED Destiny: Special Edition. For example, during Athrun's defection from ZAFT, instead of saying "I won't let you betray Gilbert," he says "you are no longer of any use to us". Both series shows him in a much less favorable light, emphasizing the more sinister aspects of his personality, especially his manipulation of his best friend Shinn Asuka.

In games

In SD Gundam G Generation series and Gundam Wars card game, due to a more user friendly setting he is listed as a Newtype instead of a different ability of spacial awareness. However, this is not the official story settings. Rey also made his debut appearance in the Super Robot Wars franchise as a playable character in Super Robot Wars Z for the Playstation 2.

References

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