TRIGUN STAMPEDEepisode 9 revealed more about the series antagonist, Millions Knives, giving weight to his desire to round up the various Plants scattered across the wasteland and destroy humanity. During this exploration into Knives' motivations and trauma, a secret ability of Vash’s is revealed: the Angel Arm.
In the 1998Trigun, the Angel Arm is the reason behind the total destruction of July City, and is the reason behind Vash’s notoriety as “The Humanoid Typhoon”. InTRIGUN STAMPEDE; however, the Angel Arm’s true devastating power is seen briefly, and the weapon’s full strength is yet to be seen. What exactly is the Angel Arm?
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Independent Plants
Vash and Knives were borne from one of the Plants aboard SEEDS Ship Five, where they were taken care of by Rem Saverem for over year before Knives set into motion the series of events that would have the SEEDS fleet crash into the surface of the desert planet of No Man’s Land. They are Independent Plants, which are not bound to a liquid-filled canister and forced to produce energy for humans. Plants are themselves beings from a higher plane of existence that have materialized in this plane. It is likely that Vash and Knives were the Plants' attempt at coming to understand humans; however, only one of the twins would retain that interest in humans. Due to their physiology, Vash and Knives have abilities far beyond those of humans; however, Knives is far more powerful than his brother, which creates a dynamic that isreminiscent of the Dioscuri, Castor and Polluxof Greek mythology. According to Knives, Independents like themselves should be allowed to experience freedom, and as a result, Knives seeks to liberate his fellow Plants from human control. This creates the main conflict between Knives and Vash, who are ideological opposites but also have a tragic history stemming from their fundamental differences.
As Plants, Vash and Knives have access to incredible power; however, throughoutTRIGUN STAMPEDE, Knives has been the only one capable of accessing the full complement of his abilities at will, while Vash’s abilities were lackluster in comparison. Unlike Knives, Vash is unable to spawn arm-like knife appendages from his body, or materialize blades; however, he is capable of communicating with a Plant on the brink of death and calm it down. He uses this ability to gain favour with the people of Ship Three, where he continuously prevented Plant death and disaster by using his skill to communicate with his kind. However, despite the lack of the kind of power that makes Knives akin to a god, Vash is a great sharp-shooter, smart, and capable of grasping concepts less with logic, and more with heart. It is thisdichotomy between Vash and Knivesthat feeds into the distribution of their powers.
Hostages
When Vash and Knives are reunited for the first time as young men/teenagers, it is briefly after Knives witnesses the dreaded Last Run, a procedure used to wring the final bits of energy from a dying Plant and effectively kill it. He tries to use the traumatizing scene as a teachable moment for Vash, showing him the true nature of humanity; however, Vash is too attached to humans to agree to anything Knives proposes, least of all joining him to retrieve all the Plants scattered across the planet. Luida arrives at the ship soon after to find Vash, and finds him in the middle of the argument with Knives.
When he sees Luida, Knives sees another Rem Saverem and briefly loses himself to anger and his hatred of Rem specifically; however, Vash’s pacifism is shown to have limits as Vash’s desire to save Luida from Knives causes his left arm to morph and surround itself with an ominous black-purple light enveloping a small black mass that appears to draw everything in the area towards it. Out of necessity,Vash is able to unleash his ultimate weapon: the Angel Arm, capable of firing literal black holes. Knives is quick to assess the possible danger and manages to cut Vash’s arm clean off before he can fire, and the arm itself is swallowed into its own singularity.
Righteous Sword?
Use of the Angel Arm is significantly draining as the immense destructive power can cause Vash to be amnesiac. In the 1998 anime, Vash’s Angel Arm is manipulated by Knives, who creates the two revolver-like guns for himself and Vash to be catalysts for the ultimate attack. InSTAMPEDE; however, Knives picks up a random security officer’s firearm and hands that to Vash, while he uses his own Plant abilities in combat. In both anime, the Angel Arm is a huge cannon that is as beautiful as it is grotesque, with a major angelic theme governing its appearance.
It is an ability that all Plants can supposedly use; however,TRIGUN STAMPEDEis yet to show the technique as employed by other Plants like Knives, or even Tesla, who is shown in a photograph with Dr. William Conrad in episode 10. Why this technique has not yet been used by Plants to guarantee their freedom is unknown, and itmight never reappear in Vash again.
