Heinkel Astrea (ハインケル・アストレア) is the current Patriarch of House Astrea and the Deputy Commander of the Royal Guard. He is first introduced in Arc 5, plays a supporting role in Arc 7 and Arc 8, and plays an antagonistic role in Arc 9.
Once a gentle and kind man, after his wife fell into a coma he turned into an alcoholic, causing him to neglect his son and abuse his power as Deputy Commander. Some time prior to Arc 5, he joined the Priscilla Camp in hopes that, if their camp won the Royal Selection, he could gain access to the Dragon's Blood and save his wife.
Appearance[]
Heinkel is a muscular man with short red hair, blue eyes and a stubble beard. He wears a black tabard with brown shoulder plates and chest armor, along with a dark cape, brown pants, gloves and black boots.
Personality[]
Heinkel is a slovenly, arrogant and brash man who outwardly has no care for what others think about him and is not ashamed to throw around his position to intimidate others for petty reasons. He is also willing to stoop low and resort to kidnapping if it will give him an advantage. Heinkel uses his son as a tool to safeguard his rank in the Royal Guard and has no problems making him act as a shield in times of danger at even the expense of others. However, underneath Heinkel's malicious exterior and his alcohol addiction lies a deeply depressed man. His eyes, dull and bereft of spirit, grew decadent over a period of many years. He loathes both his weakness and his own personality.
With his wife’s predicament, Heinkel is willing to do whatever he can to restore her to normal, making him somewhat of an opportunist. This includes wiping out a bandit camp for a supposed magical healing device, jumping on the chance to join the Priscilla Camp to gain access to the Dragon’s blood stored in the castle, and even begging to join the Emilia Camp shortly after Priscilla’s demise. Likewise, he is even willing to make himself an enemy of the world in order to accomplish this goal. That said, he is also willing to join said camps also out of spite for his son and father, as his presence puts both of them in an uncomfortable position.
Despite his rough attitude, he has shown to be uncomfortable with taking other people's lives or seeing them taken in front of them, even if it is deemed necessary. When Al stated that there was no need to kill anyone during his scheme, Heinkel showed visible relief.
In the past, Heinkel was not always like this. He still deeply cares about his wife Louanna and became an alcoholic after she was inflicted with a condition that little is known about and the murder of her doctor. When his mother, Theresia van Astrea, was slain by the White Whale, he was the only person to stand by his son, while everyone else blamed the latter for the Sword Saint's death.
History[]
Heinkel was born to his father, Wilhelm van Astrea, and to his mother, Theresia van Astrea. In his younger days, he was a much more earnest and kind man who seemed to have aspirations of becoming the next Sword Saint like his mother and worked quite hard. He fell in love with a woman named Louanna at first sight and sometime later the two had an arranged marriage. They had a son, Reinhard van Astrea. However, things would soon begin to go awry for the Astreas, first with Louanna suddenly falling into deep sleep two years after Reinhard's birth and left in an inanimate state without any cure for such condition. In grief, Heinkel began to abuse Garitch Fabless, Louanna's doctor, due to the latter not being able to cure Louanna. Soon after Garitch's death (due to a third party), Heinkel was overcome by guilt for directing his negativity towards Garitch, and he became an alcoholic. From then on, Heinkel entirely ignored Reinhard's education and existence. Later, when the White Whale came to the Kingdom of Lugunica, Heinkel was commissioned to lead a group of men to eliminate it, but he refused since he was too afraid. Theresia took his place at Heinkel's request but ended up being slain.
When Wilhelm returned from the search for a royal family member, he was as upset with Heinkel for his irresponsibility as he was with Reinhard for taking away the Sword Saint powers from Theresia during the battle, leading to a bad relationship between them. Heinkel continued working for the Royal Guards, with displeasure for both, and Wilhelm left them and started working for Crusch Karsten. Heinkel inherited the estate and territories of House Astrea after this. At some point, Heinkel had lost a duel to a 5-year-old Reinhard. Later, unsavory rumors about the two's relationship began swell from that point in where suggest that Reinhard was being treated like a slave. However, Reinhard eventually joined the Royal Guard and earned accolades while Heinkel, dishonored, further languished and rotted in his hatred. He became the Deputy Commander of the Royal Guard around this time. A couple of months after the incident at the Sanctuary, he met Priscilla Barielle and formed an alliance of sorts with her in order to obtain the Dragon's Blood so that he can cure his sleep-bound wife.[1]
Abilities[]
Swordsmanship: Despite being overshadowed by his more famous relatives, and his insecurity in his own abilities, Heinkel is still rather skilled with a sword. He was able to defend himself against Theresia's attacks, albeit for a short period of time, and easily dispatch assassins that outnumbered him,[2] with Al even commenting his swordplay could be described as beautiful. To further exemplify his sword abilities, it should be noted that Heinkel easily slaughtered an entire camp of bandits.
Enhanced Strength: Heinkel has great physical might. He is able to lift trees without much effort, and when combined with Yae's steel wires, he was able to turn them into impromptu cannonballs.
Incredible Durability: Despite his cowardly personality, Heinkel is incredibly resistant to damage. Despite taking beatings from people as powerful as Priscilla, Madelyn Eschart, Moguro Hagane, Groovy Gumlet, the Cloud Dragon Mezoreia, the Divine Dragon Volcanica, and even withstanding a fired shot from the Star Staff, he seemed to take relatively minor damage overall and either stand back up shortly after as though he had not been damaged to begin with or sustaining a blow powerful enough to render him unconscious yet not enough to endanger his life.
Equipment: Heinkel is the current wielder of the Holy Sword Astrea (聖剣アストレア Seiken Asutorea), a sword given to him by his father Wilhelm van Astrea who wielded it in his youth, receiving it as a wedding gift from his father-in-law.[3]
Trivia[]
- According to the author, Heinkel's birthday is May 17.
- Heinkel was named by Veltol Astrea, his grandfather.[4]
- According to the author, if he were to write a story where Subaru wasn't the main character, he'd give the protagonist role to Heinkel.[5]
- Every year, Heinkel visits his mother's grave the day after the anniversary of her death, believing himself unqualified to visit on the day of.
References[]
- ↑ Priscilla's Cheers for Me, Drunk Father Part.
- ↑ "Six corpses were lying there on the fluffy carpet inside Priscilla's room; and in front of these corpses, a red-haired man—Heinkel—was crossing swords with the last intruder." Priscilla-sama's Cheers for Me! Shadows of Conspiracy Part: Section 3
- ↑ "The name of the holy sword that Wilhelm used when he was young, and that Heinkel now carries is also "Astrea"" Reinhard Birthday Q&A
- ↑ "It seems like he only came up with boys' names. I guess you could call it being dead set on that... That sort of stuff was rather like of your honoured Father" Sword Demon Battle Ballad: Curtain's Close, Section 6.
- ↑ AskFM Q&A
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