Izanami

""All citizens. Upon the name of 'Hades: Izanami'... My last gift. Let me present to you: 'Death.'""

Hades: Izanami ( 冥めい 王おう ・イザナミ), formerly the Imperator of the Novus Orbis Librarium, is the Drive of The Origin and the embodiment of death. She is the former wielder of the Nox Nyctores - Gigant: Take-Mikazuchi and possesses the body of Saya. Her goal is to bring about Doomsday.

Izanami first appeared at the climax of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift and became playable in BlazBlue: Central Fiction as the final boss of Arcade's Act II.

Appearance
Izanami possesses the body of Saya, and has drastically changed her appearance. The Goddess of death is pale, and her hair is a royal purple hue that reaches down to her lower back; her eyes are also a crimson red with many black circles layering them. Her attire is like that of an empress as she wears an elegant golden headdress with a golden band to keep her hair in place. Izanami wears a white kimono with elongated sleeves, and a red and yellow skirt that reaches down to her feet. Around her waist she wears a cyan bow while also wearing a black cape over her entire body; said cape has multiple purple bands reaching around her figure, complementing the royal attire.

While battling, Izanami removes her formal robes and reveals a white and red backless dress that stops close to her crotch. The design of the dress is distinctly Japanese; she wears a pair of sleeves that have are white with golden rings, and a long purple section that trails from the sleeves itself. Izanami also wears a lavender headdress that has a large horn on its front. Her look is finished with purple stockings that end with golden rings and glowing blue diamonds. Her shoes are small golden pyramids. Her collar is folded in the traditional way of Japanese burial clothes.

Underneath her dress, Izanami is anatomically similar to a doll. Her joints at her shoulders and hips are visible ball-joints similar to that found in plastic dolls. She has no nipples, although wears a white thong. On Izanami's back is an elaborate purple tattoo; at its center is a purple 0. This tattoo reaches from the back of her neck all the way to her lower back.

Personality
"Calm, collected, and absolutely ruthless. She regards all living things as but insects crawling on the ground, and believes the duty of Hades: Izanami is to return the world to nothingness. She occasionally calls Ragna "Brother," but whether that is truly a reflection of Saya's thoughts or not remains unknown."

A being devoid of any emotion bar subtle hubris and a lust for nothingness. Izanami acts only in accordance to her nature as the destructive power of The Origin, feeling her duty is to bring true death back to the world that was devoid of it thanks to countless timeloops. She is supremely intelligent, manipulating others around her to realise her goals and being able to do immensely complex arithmetic quickly and with little difficulty. Izanami is knowledgeable in nearly all things.

Izanami calls herself a Goddess of death even though she is technically not one. Regardless, she displays complete confidence in her abilities, knowing that no one can kill her. Despite her immortality, she does not usually indulge it, preferring those under her to do the work instead. When addressing others, she delivers her words with a cold tone, addressing other as if they are insects beneath her; this is not an unusual act, however, as she genuinely believes that she is superior to all others.

When around Ragna the Bloodedge, Izanami can sometimes act differently because of the influence that Saya has. As their souls have been mixed, it is unknown if this is truly just Saya or if Izanami relishes in the torture of tormenting him. Her language and tone will sometimes change as she begs him to try and save Saya from the possession. She has a seemingly good relationship with Relius Clover, as the two have engaged in philosophy and have similar ambitions for the world's destruction, although both are willing to discard one another with little hesitation. Izanami despises Yuuki Terumi for his behaviour, and her feelings mixed with Saya only amplify the hatred she feels - she is more than willing to sacrifice him for her own goals.

Despite all her confidence and beliefs about others being below her, Izanami has engaged with the philosophy of whether or not she has a soul thanks to being the Drive of The Origin. She has questioned her own existence, and wants to know what exactly a soul is and its relation to a Drive. Her thirst for this knowledge is insatiable. Furthermore, for all talks about being the embodiment of death, she's just as fearful for her own life as anyone else, as seen in her reaction when she met her demise at the hands of Ragna and Noel.

Powers & Techniques
A unique existence as a Drive that gives her abilities unlike any other being. Izanami is, in some sense, immortal - and unique in that she cannot be killed by even the Immortal Breaker. Although she is not technically a Goddess of death, she is something akin to death itself, its physical incarnation within The Origin's dream. Furthermore, she has no "time" and is immune to Hakumen's technique Time Killer. As she possesses Saya, Izanami has an immense amount of aptitude with Ars Magus, allowing her to wield a Nox Nyctores class weapon, the Gigant: Take-Mikazuchi, with no visible strain. Furthermore, she was able to create an Embryo with its corpse, and has the ability to teleport anywhere in that location - she was further entrusted with pieces of Azure to give to the chosen who could best her.

Izanami is the wielder of the weapon Yasakani no Magatama a weapon that usually takes the shape of her crown. In its active form, she uses it to fight against opponents, creating complex and difficult to block attacks with its three segments. In gameplay, her Drive is , which allows her to change Magatama's form to either fight at long or close-ranges, with the former sacrificing the ability to block. She also can create a barrier under her feet to temporarily float, which replaces her double jump command in gameplay, although the barrier permanently existed when she assisted Take-Mikazuchi in BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma. Otherwise, Izanami can generate large balls of blue fire, seemingly teleport, generate skulls and skeletons in battle, stop time, and has physical strength strong enough to impale her opponents with her bare hands.

Although not immediately apparent, Izanami does have some weaknesses. Saya can stir up emotions and cause her to lose her composure, and she can be absorbed by others who have fragments of The Origin's soul, although she's shown to be able to do so herself, attempting to absorb Noel into herself before Ragna intervenes. Saya's body is also weak, and requires maintenance; even then, it is on the verge of failing, and Izanami can only possess adequate hosts. When Izanami possesses someone, their body will usually be destroyed in two days, and even Relius himself cannot make a vessel suitable for her.

BlazBlue: Central Fiction Official Site Profile
''Hades that descended to bring "death" equally to all living things. She possessed the body of Ragna and Jin's younger sister "Saya" and provided the template for the Boundary Interface Prime Field Device series above No.10. She was the long-time "Imperator" of the NOL and aimed to bring about "Doomsday." And now, she has achieved that goal&mdash;'' ''Calm, collected, and absolutely ruthless. She regards all living things as but insects crawling on the ground, and believes the duty of Hades: Izanami is to return the world to nothingness. She occasionally calls Ragna "Brother," but whether that is truly a reflection of Saya's thoughts or not remains unknown.''
 * Story
 * Personality

BlazBlue: Central Fiction Library Entry
''Officially, the Imperator Librarius. She's the highest ranking official in the Novus Orbis Librarium's pyramid. She is, however, the same person as Ragna and Jin's younger sister, Saya.''
 * Imperator

''It would not be an exaggeration to that the entire NOL exists to serve her agenda. Directly below her command is a group of 12 families, known as the Duodecim, whose strength is immense and unknown.''

''In the episode of Continuum Shift, she successfully awakens the Takamagahara with Hazama and Relius' help. She now has her sights set on the Master Unit's destruction.''

Hades: Izanami

''The former Imperator, highest ranking political official and commander of the Novus Orbis Librarium. She is the ruler of death. Her goal, to bring upon the day of reckoning, and return the world to nothing.''

''Her vessel is Ragna and Jin's younger sister, Saya. Occasionally, Saya's personality will surface.''

However, it is still unclear whether that is because the blend was over or underdone.

BlazBlue 10th Anniversary Official Site Profile
''The highest power in the NOL, and the one who controls the world. Cold, heartless, and merciless. She regards all living things as but insects crawling on the ground, and believes the duty of Hades: Izanami is to return the world to nothing.''

Appearances in other Media

 * The mobile game Mabinogi Duel stars Izanami as a playable card.
 * Izanami is a playable unit and a raid boss in the mobile game Sapphire Sphere. Furthermore, during a pre-release campgaign after enough users registered on a special website every player received a copy of her.

Trivia

 * In the BlazBlue 10th Anniversary Character Poll, Izanami placed 23rd out of the 84 candidates. She scored one place above Kagura Mutsuki and one place below Taokaka. She had 976 votes.
 * Izanami is one of the few characters who does not seem to have a naming theme in her moveset.
 * In her character select artwork for Central Fiction, Izanami's poses seems to reference the Nataraja, a sacred dance by the Hindu God Shiva that would bring about the destruction and restoration of the universe.
 * Izanami's electrocution sprite shows that she has no bones.
 * Izanami was added to the arcade version of BlazBlue: Central Fiction when Act II was added. She is the boss of Act II and will be removed from the character select screen if the game is set to Act I mode.
 * Izanami is illustrated in the following Grimoires for BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War:
 * 夢重の盾 (Shield of Dreams).
 * 帝の光 (Imperator's Light).
 * 悪夢再び (Nightmare Repetition).