Witchblade

The Witchblade

In the Top Cow Universe, there are two opposing forces named The Darkness and The Angelus. The Darkness represented Chaos and Darkness while the Angelus represented Light and Order. Throughout the years they have been at war with each other and constantly try to kill the wielder of either the Darkness or the Angelus. However, the Darkness and Angelus had an offspring together. That offspring would be known as the Witchblade. The Witchblade was created as a balance between the Darkness and the Angelus. The Witchblade is a male and it requires a female host. It first crashed like a meteorite on Earth near the beginning of when the Earth formed. The Witchblade was soon discovered by Una, who would become the very first wielder of the Witchblade. The Witchblade would eventually have to change hosts as time went by (See the list of all previous Witchblade Wielders below). Eventually it would be discovered by Kenneth Irons in the present time. However, the Witchblade is the only one to choose its wielder and it decided to choose Sara Pezzini as its new host.

The history of the Witchblade

Since the Witchblade is male, it requires a female host. The Witchblade is the only one who decides who is worthy of bonding with it. However, even if it has chosen the host, if the wielder becomes unworthy of the Witchblade, it will cut off their right arm. The Witchblade can revive the dead and also relive the previous experiences of its current wielder. While it is inactive, the Witchblade would look like a heavy jewel encrusted gauntlet. It is worn on the right wrist. While active, it wraps itself around the host’s body while tearing up their clothing. It becomes a body armor and weapon at the same time. The amount of armor that comes out of the Witchblade to protect the host will always depend on the level of threat. For example, if the host is fighting a mere mortal, there will be less armor wrapped around the host. But if the host is fighting enemies at the level of demons, it will form more armor to protect its host. The Witchblade can form many different types of weapons. It can form swords, shields, and wings. The Witchblade can also shoot energy blasts and other projectiles. Also it has the ability to shoot a whip-like chain that enables the user to climb up anything.

Origin

First time bonding with the Witchblade

Sara Pezzini

Sara Pezzini was born on November 18, 1970 and is an NYPD homicide detective. Her father, Vincent “Frank” Pezzini was a police officer at the NYPD. Vincent’s partner was Joe Siry, who is the Captain at Sara’s precint. He was shot and killed while he was on duty. Her mother’s name was not revealed and Sara has no idea where she is at the beginning. When Sara was thirteen years old, she was kidnapped by her female therapist and brought to two men, one of which was Ian Nottingham.

Sara went undercover to an auction at the Rialto Theater. Kenneth Irons, the man who at that time owned the Witchblade, was attempting to unlock the powers of the Witchblade by allowing anyone to bid and try it on. Her partner, Michael Yee, was captured and beaten badly. As the enemies were about to shoot Yee, Sara jumped in front of the bullets. As Sara was dying on the ground, the Witchblade decided to choose Sara as its new bearer. The Witchblade healed all her wounds and gave her the power to defeat her enemy. Unfortunately, she could not save Yee from dying who was hit by a bullet anyways.

Sara continues working as an NYPD homicidal detective with the Witchblade now attached to her. She also works with a partner named Jake McCarthy. The two of them grow close to each other, and Jake was determined to find out more about his partner. However, Sara was reluctant to tell him much about her. Sara was later told about the killer of her father from the Captain of the 18 (One-Eight) precinct Joe Siry. She learns that a criminal known as the Microwave Murderer was the killer of her father. Sara set out to bring the loose criminal in. When Sara finally confronted the Microwave Murderer, she tells Sara that she was not the one that killed her father. After Sara was suspended from the force due to a previous mission, she was offered a job at another place. It turns out that it was a trap, Sara ends up getting kidnapped. However, Sara would then be saved by Ian Nottingham. She soon loses the Witchblade to Nottingham. Nottingham offers the Witchblade back to Sara, but she refuses to retrieve the Witchblade. Sara later meets up with her father’s sister, Aunt Ruth. Ruth tells Sara more about her father’s past but she was obviously hiding more then she told. Sara also discovers a picture of her father with Kenneth Irons, a suspicious Sara now is determined to find out more about her father. Sara would eventually retake the Witchblade, except for the red gem on it, which was taken by Kenneth Irons.

Jake would later get seriously injured and Sara would get a new partner named Eric Sketh. Eventually Jake would heal up and return to his job and as Sara’s partner. Sara soon learns that the real killer of her father was Joe Siry himself. He reveals that He killed Vincent because he had a hidden agenda for Kenneth Irons, but Vincent began to interfere so it was the only way to keep Sara safe. Later, Ian Nottingham meets up with Sara again and he tells her about their destiny. He confessed to her that he loves her and that it was their destiny to be together. Unfortunately for Nottingham, Sara declines him. On several other adventures, Sara has teamed up with many others including Lara Croft, Aspen, the Magdalena named Patience, The Darkness (who was one of the wielders of the Darkness), Wolverine, and Elektra (Non-Canonical). Sara and Lara Croft becomes best friends. Later Sara is knocked into a coma when someone attacked her at a church. Jake would look out for Sara while she was in a coma and he would confess his love to Sara and his knowledge about her Witchblade to her. However, he falls into a coma when he was attacked. Eventually she would re-awaken and meet Detective Gleason. Sara would meet the curator and learns that the Witchblade is “one of the thirteen.” Sara later visits the curator’s shop and is attacked by demons. She begins investigating the demon attacks even after Magdelena warns her not to. She learns about a Catholic conspiracy.

Witchblade in action

Later, Sara and Gleason attack the Catholic church, but ends up having to fight more demons. Sara was able to kill the demon god but dies in her efforts. However, Gleason was able to revive Sara with a totem that was given to them by the Curator. Eventually Sara would learn the true origins of the Witchblade from the curator. She goes into a 3 day trance that helps her learn more about the Witchblade. She discovers about all the previous bearers and learns that all of them were women. It is revealed that the Witchblade is male and it requires a female host in order to become whole. Gleason and Sara begin to grow closer to each other. Gleason was finally able to get Sara to go on a date with him. However, the two were interrupted by Nottingham who was seeking help from Sara to defeat the Yakuzas. She agrees to help him but would quickly discover that Nottingham had other plans and was tricking her into helping him. She ends up arresting him and returns home to Gleason. They begin to get intimate again but was interrupted again by a phone call. It ends up that Jake was woke up from his coma.

Passing on the Witchblade

Sara and Gleason heads over to the hospital to visit Jake. Jake would soon be released from the hospital and invites Sara up to the top of the Empire State building. Jake reveals that he is a demon possessing Jake’s body. The demon tries to take over Sara’s body because of her connection to the Witchblade. She fights back and would be able to defeat the demon. Jake regains control and ends up shooting himself to stop the demons. Gleason arrives the second Jake pulls the trigger, and the emotional Sara falls into Gleason’s arms. She confesses to him that she might be pregnant. After Jake’s funeral, Sara heads over to the curator’s shop and he reveals that he knows about her pregnancy. When Sara finally returns to the police station, she bumps into a girl named Danielle Baptiste. Gleason later visits Sara in her office where she reveals that she had not had sex in over a year. Later, Sara and Gleason would head over to the curator's shop where she meets Danielle Baptiste again. Danielle agreed to take over the Witchblade for Sara, who was skeptical of giving something so powerful to a complete stranger. However, Sara decides it was best for her new baby to pass the Witchblade on to someone else. The new bearer of the Witchblade is now Danielle Baptiste.

Dani with the Witchblade

Danielle Baptiste

Danielle was born and raised in New Orleans. She moved to New York City in order to follow her dreams of becoming a classical dancer. She began attending New York University and after four years, she graduated and earned a degree at the age of 23. Her father is a policeman in New Orleans and her mother is Sara's boss at the NYPD. She first met Sara Pezzini when they accidentally bumped into each other at the NYPD police station. She would meet Sara again at the curator’s shop. Sara decides to pass the Witchblade onto Danielle and the Witchblade accepted her as the new wielder. After gaining the Witchblade, Dani received a call that informed her that her father just suffered a heart attack. Dani flies back to New Orleans in the middle of Mardi Gras. She stayed with her dad for awhile at the hospital, then decides to take a walk after having a terrible nightmare. She gets harassed by some guys that are begging her to flash her breasts at them. Dani lures them to an alley and scares them away with the Witchblade. Dani is then led to a cemetery by a mysterious stranger and is then attacked by zombies coming out of the ground. The zombies were the ones in her nightmares, Dani decides to activate the Witchblade to defend herself. However, they tell her that they cannot leave because a woman has bound them there. They ask her to go into the house and bring her out, since the woman's power does not allow them to do it themselves. Dani agrees to help them and heads into the house. She would battle the old woman upstairs. The old woman was bitter and hated men, so she decided to trap the souls in the grave yard. Dani defeats the woman and drags her out to the zombies. The zombies kill the woman and are finally set free. Dani returns to the hospital and stays with him till he fully recovers. Back in New York, Dani meets with Sara at the precinct and wants her to explain more about the Witchblade. They decide to go eat dinner at a nearby diner, but Sara forgot her purse and went back to her office alone. There, she discovers Celestine in her chair. Sara and Celestine get into a fight, but Sara is quickly overpowered. Dani comes back to help Sara out. Celestine overpowers Dani and puts a knife next to her neck, forcing Sara to drop her gun. Celestine then knocks out Dani with the butt of the knife. Dani would eventually wake up and search for Sara. She goes to the basement of the precinct to find Celestine about to torture Sara. Dani engages against Celestine before she begins torturing Sara, and is knocked unconscious after Dani torches her with the Witchblade.

First Born

The Angelus is still searching for a new host, it would eventually try to take Velocity of Cyberforce as its host. However, Cyblade would force the Angelus out of Velocity and it would flee away. The Angelus would eventually take Celestine as the new host. Meanwhile, Jackie Estacado was torturing one of the Armenian Mob's men when he was interrupted by the Angelus' henchmen. After the fight, Sara was asked for any information about Jackie Estacdo from her boss. She tells them anything she knew about Estacdo, and afterwards went home with Gleason. Back at her apartment, Estacdo was waiting for her in her living room. Jackie reveals that he is most likely the father of her baby. He continues to tell her that the Darkness entity itself wanted to have a child with the bearer of the Witchblade, in order to create another entity to aid it in the war against the Angelus. Jackie then reveals that one night, the Darkness took control of him and mated with a comatose Sara while she was in the hospital. Meanwhile, Dani continues to have dreams about previous Witchblade wielders, that day she went to meet a friend just to hang out. Unfortunately, she was interrupted by Celestine, the new Angelus. She is forced to battle the Angelus and her minions, and after she was able to fend them off, went to look for Sara.

Dani comes crashing through the window to warn Sara about that the Angelus was coming. The Angelus arrived shortly afterwards and attempted to take the baby. Sara and Patrick fled while Dani and Jackie fought the Angelus. On their way out, Patrick was wounded by one of Angelus' henchmen. Eventually, they would have to leave Patrick behind. After Jackie and Dani fended off the Angelus, Jackie took her and Sara to a hidden sanctuary where they meet up with Magdalena. The Angelus is able to track them down to Jackie's hiding place. Sara is about to give birth soon, so Jackie and Magdalena went outside to try and fend off the Angelus and her minions. Dani stays with Sara to help deliver the baby, and eventually is successful and it was a baby girl. However, Sara seems to have passed out, and when Dani touches Sara, something happens. The Witchblade rejoins with Sara, and when she steps outside holding her baby and confronting the Angelus, Dani stood right behind her also wielding the Witchblade. Aparently, the Witchblade wanted to give some of its power back to Sara so she can protect her baby, so it fused half of itself with Sara to keep her alive. The Angelus knocks Sara down and grabs the baby, however, a bright light shines on the baby and everything but Sara, Dani, Jackie, and Magdalena disappeared. Jackie tells Sara that there is nothing left for him there, but if she or the baby ever needed, he will be back. They kiss and he leaves. A new beginning arises.

Japanese Witchblade

Masane with the Witchblade

Witchblade (Anime)

The Witchblade anime was co-produced by the Japanese company GONZO and the American comic book company, Top Cow. The anime was not an exact adaption of the Witchblade comic book. However, it is connected to the expanded universe of the Witchblade. The setting of the anime is set in the far future, long after Sara Pezzini was the wielder of the Witchblade. The story follows a Japanese woman named Masane Amaha. She was discovered inside ground zero (A phenomenal disaster) unharmed. Masane unknowingly, had the Witchlade on her wrist after this incident. She was also holding a baby in her arms and had lost all her memory. Six years later, Masane and the baby (Rihoko) returned to Tokyo. They would walk around Tokyo sight seeing for awhile, Masane told Rihoko that if she got lost they would meet each other under the Tokyo Tower.

However, when they are having lunch they are confronted by NSWF's Child Welfare Division. The Child Welfare wanted to take Rihoko away from Masane because <!-- she was not really her mother, and also because <= this is the spoiler! this fact is revealed in the middle of the story.--> she had no job to support her. Masane would try to take her child back but would end up getting arrested and sent to jail. She would then be attacked in jail by a mysterious monster. Luckily for Masane, the Witchblade activated as a reaction to her danger. Masane easily disposed of that monster and escaped from jail right afterwards. However, using the Witchblade used up all her stamina and she collapsed in an ally. Masane would be taken in by a man working for the Douji Group Industries. When Masane awakens, she is met by Hiroki Segawa, the same man who took her in after she passed out. Hiroki takes Masane to his boss, Reiji Takayama. He tells Masane about the Witchblade and its powers, and tells her that it belonged to them. Meaning, since she cannot just take it off, she has to work for them now. Masane continued to decline until Reiji offered her a nice life with her daughter. Masane then agreed, and Reiji briefs her in about hunting the "Ex-Cons." Ex-Cons are monsters that feed on people, and it was the same thing that attacked Masane at the jail.

Takeru, a Japanese Witchblade wielder

Witchblade: Takeru (Manga)

The Witchblade: Takeru manga began being published in the Champion Red magazine by the Akita Shoten publishing company in March 2006. It is written by Kobayashi Yasuko and illustrated by by Sumita Kazasa. The series began publishing an English version by Bandai Entertainment in 2007. It is similar to the Witchblade anime in that it has no direct connection with the American Witchblade comic series, and also has no connection to the Witchblade anime. However, it is connected to the expanded Witchblade universe, and also seems to be set before the Witchblade anime.

The story follows a young girl named Takeru. She was raised by nuns at a Buddist temple. Takeru recently began having nightmares of a weird gauntlet that wraps around her, then she has to pull out a sword that was stabbing her stomach. Later that morning, a nun whom Takeru has grown to call "grandma" tells her to stop looking in the storage house, and she asks why. However Takeru does not get an answer to her question. Takeru then goes to school and meets up with her friend, Kou. Kou is a descendant of the famous "Demon Hunters" family. After school, Kou and Takeru go back to her home at the temple, where she discovers the place has been trashed. She then runs to the storage house and discovers grandma being held by the neck by a demon. The demon begins chocking Takeru as she reached towards the mysterious gauntlet. The gauntlet reacts and it begins wrapping itself around Takeru.

Possessed by the Witchblade, Takeru wants blood badly. Takeru pulls the same sword from her nightmares out of her stomach and kills all the demons. She then passes out in Kou's arms. It is later revealed that Takeru may have some kind of connection to the "Oni" (Oni are Japanese foklore creatures similar to demons and monsters). This may be the reason why she shows a strong attraction to the "Hand of Oni" (Witchblade). Takeru eventually awakens with the memories of what had just transpired. Meanwhile, Kou learns that he might have to kill Takeru because he is the descendant of the demon hunters. That same night, Takeru gets a call from a mysterious stranger. The Witchblade reacts and she runs after the man. She then confronts the man with his demon servants, then they begin to battle. However, once the mystery man changed into his demon form, Takeru was no match for him. Luckily for Takeru, Kou comes in to save her with the Demon Slayer sword. However, Kou is only human and his skills were still no match for the demon. In desperation, Takeru called for the Witchblade and now seems to be in control. Takeru then picks up the Demon Slayer sword and kills the demon quickly. The next day at school, Takeru and Kou talk to each other while eating lunch, and they talk about what could happen in the future because Takeru is possibly a demon herself. However, Kou confirms to Takeru that he would never kill her even if she was a demon.

Takeru and Kou are in the library trying to research about the demons when they are interrupted by the new Librarian Sakurai. She notices that they are researching about demons and runs off to find books for them. When she returns, she discovers that the two of them had already left. Takeru and Kou went to the hospital to visit one of the nuns that were injured. Inside the hospital, Takeru feels the urge of the Witchblade again, and eventually the Witchblade is activated. Takeru confronts a demon in the hallway of the hospital and battles him as Kou watches from the sidelines. The demon seemed to have the upperhand until Takeru pulled the katana from her stomach and slashed one of his arms off. Kou, who was held by webbing the demon released, was able to rip it off his face and threw his sword at the demon, giving Takeru time to kill him. Takeru began feeling the urge to feed on human blood, to which Kou allows Takeru to drink the blood from his ripped cheek. Quickly afterwards, Librarian Sakurai shows up with some soldiers and detains Kou and Takeru.

Takeru is then met by Eric Mason, the Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Defense. He reveals to her about some past wielders of the Witchblade, and revealed that they had accidentally resurrected the demons. Mason then reveals that Takeru's father was one of the supervisisors in the resurrection of the demons, and that the demons killed him. He offers Takeru a chance to avenge her father and kill the demons. Takeru is given time to think it over, and she eventually freaks out and wants to take off the Witchblade so she doesn't turn into a demon. Sakurai assures her that there has never been a wielder who turned into a demon. They are interrupted by soliders who have discover demons at the Kikakushi village. Takeru hurries over there to protect the nuns and her grandma. She saves a girl from a demon on her way there, and eventually encounters another powerful demon.

Witchblade Wielders

Una