TRIGUN STAMPEDEepisode 9 finally delved into the events that took place prior to the events of the series from the perspective of the antagonist,Vash’s twin brother, Millions Knives. While the majority ofTRIGUN STAMPEDEhas followed Vash’s experience of the fateful event dubbed “the Great Fall” and his journey was finally fully explored in episode eight of the series, Knives has had a fairly enigmatic characterization thus far.
Despite being raised by the same benevolent and kind person, Vash and Knives emerge on completely opposite ideological perspectives, with Knives believing humanity to be a resource-hoarding, planet-killing intelligent virus. Episode 9 explains part of the reason behind Knives' ruthless actions on the planet of No Man’s Land (Gunsmoke) throughout the series, and gives much-needed exploration into the series antagonist. Here’s the truth about Vash’s twin, the evil and powerful Millions Knives.
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Logos, Doxa
The main theme prevalent throughoutTRIGUN STAMPEDEis the twin brothers Vash and Knives, who represent two sides of a whole and invoke concepts of duality. On one hand, Vash is emotional, and more human in his physiology, while Knives is far more calculating, logical andmuch like a Plant – the interdimensional beingsfrom whom they were born, and from whom humans derive their energy. This concept is how Knives' backstory is introduced in the introductory scene ofTRIGUN STAMPEDEepisode 9. where a young Knives is shown playing a golden grand piano and reminiscing as it oscillates between Knives playing on his own as a young man, and Knives as he is joined by his twin brother, who is shown to have been far better at playing the piano than he was when they were children. This opening scene builds upon the story’s exploration of duality through the main twins and their individual experiences. While Vash experienced a positive environment after being accepted by Brad and Luida aboard SEEDS Ship Three, Knives would go on to be immensely traumatized by what he would go on to see.
At some point long after his separation from Vash as a child, a young Knives found himself aboard a surviving SEEDS ship, where he meets Dr. William Conrad, who was a crew member aboard the unidentified SEEDS ship that drove its innumerable Plants to their production limit. When a Plant reaches its limit, a final wringing out of the last of their potential through a brutal procedure dubbed “The Last Run”, which is also described as a final harvest of the Plants before they cease to exist. Knives was unfortunate enough to witness a Plant massacre at the hands of humans, which finally drives him over the edge – further than he’d gonewhen he killed Rem Saveremand the crew of SEEDS Ship Five.
Butterfly or Spider
The only person who was somewhat empathetic towards Knives' outrage at watching his kin be ruthlessly murdered was Dr. William Conrad, who was unfortunately did not have the capacity to intervene despite Knives' demands. Soon after the Plants die, Vash arrives and sees his brother for the first time in years. After telling Vash that he must have heard the death throes of their fellow Plants, Knives explains that this the true nature of humans. Knives is roughly handled by the security officers aboard this ship, who express their opinion that Plants exist to serve humans, which further drives Knives' point home. In his time away from Vash, Knives had been living with people who have shown the worst sides to humanity. Having made his point, Knives uses his abilities to kill the people present, deftly slicing through them as Vash protest. After seeing that there is no way to get through to humans, Knives takes it upon himself to represent his fallen brethren, incorporating the word “Millions” in his name in honour of the myriad of Plants that have been spread across the Planet.
Part of Vash’s hatred of killing is due to the fact that every single person encountered on the planet is invariably a descendent of the people Rem sacrificed herself to save. Every human life is precious to Vash because they are each proof that the person he loved most once lived. Knives attempts to recruit Vash in his mission to retrieve the Plants from the various human settlements and free them from human control. Vash reveals that they were taught that Plants can’t survive without human intervention because they use their energy in one burst and die instantly; however, Knives reveals that it was “nonsense”. Vash believes that Plants and humans need to coexist, but Knives is adamant that to save one, the other must be sacrificed.In the 1998Trigun; this choice was expressed through an incident where Knives and Vash were observing a butterfly caught in a spider’s web in a simulation of a meadow on Earth. Vash didn’t want the butterfly to die, but Knives explained that if the butterfly doesn’t die, then the spider will. To make his little brother feel better, Knives crushes the spider with his bare hand; however, this upsets Vash because he believed in the preciousness of predator and prey.
The First Gun
After laying waste to the security, Knives picks up a revolver from a dead guard and shoves it in Vash’s chest while denigrating humanity for coming up with a weapon that enables for and easy and distanced way to take a life. He gives it to Vash because he sees it a fitting weapon for a “human lover”. Soon after, Luida from Ship Three arrives at the scene looking to take Vash back; however, her life is put in danger as Knives focuses his attention on her, seeing her as yet another Rem who has cast a spell over Vash. As Knives chokes her, Vash is overcome with the desire to protect Luida and stop his brother, activating his ultimate weapon: the Angel Arm, a devastating Plant ability that turns his arm into a device that fires singularities as projectiles.
Knives promptly cuts the arm off, and it is absorbed into its own black light before disappearing. Thinking that he can get through to Vash in this situation, Knives tries to approach him but Vash uses the weapon given to him earlier to issue a threat. Grief, anguish and determination all mix together on Knives' face as he realizes that his brother will not be joining him on his quest to make the world better for Plants. He then leaves with William Conrad while Vash returns to Ship Three, where he receives the cybernetic arm he is seen with at the beginning of the series. Episode 9 ofTRIGUN STAMPEDEexists as the mirror to the previous episode revealing Vash’s past after the Great Fall, and gives a lot of insight into the antagonist’s main reason for being. His belief in the freedom of his own kin over the comfort of humanity is understandable, and his twisted relationship with Vash is unfortunately affected byhis desire to protect the Plants– Vash included.
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