Raphtalia

"Please believe me. I believe, I know you never committed any crime. You gave me medicine, saved my life and taught me what I needed to survive. You are the great Shield Hero, and I am your sword. No matter how rough the path, I will follow you."

- Raphtalia to Naofumi Iwatani in Volume 01, Chapter 23

Raphtalia (ラフタリア) is the main heroine and the Deuteragonist of The Rising of the Shield Hero series.

She is the first real companion of the Shield Hero. Although she was originally bought as a slave, she was never treated badly and forged a strong bond with her master.

She later travels to another world and obtains the Vassal Katana, becoming the Katana Hero (刀の勇者). Additionally, she becomes the Heavenly Emperor of Q'ten Lo after overthrowing the previous emperor.

Appearance
She has undergone some significant changes throughout the story. When Raphtalia is first introduced, she is a child with long, unmanaged hair and a dirty cloth gown. After being purchased by Naofumi, he gives her a haircut to an acceptable length, gives her a bath, and buys her a much more suitable set of clothes to adventure in. As a mixed-race of Raccoon and Tanuki, Raphtalia is shown to have fluffy dog-like ears and an averagely sized bushy tail.

After several weeks of travelling with Naofumi, Raphtalia's body inexplicably changes and she gains the appearance of a beautiful young adult. It is revealed that demi-humans initially mature in relation to the progression of their levels, which leads to Raphtalia's rapid development.

During their travel to the Glass' World, L'Arc mentions to Naofumi that Raphtalia has reverted back to her child-self when her level is been reset to one and she has to grind to reach her adulthood in that world before reuniting with Naofumi. In her adult form, Raphtalia begins to wear clothing much more fitting for a warrior, which consists of a hide breastplate, skirt, lace-up boots, and a pair of gloves. Raphtalia also switches from a small knife to a full-sized sword during this time.

Once Raphtalia reaches adulthood in Glass' World she is revealed to have started to wear a Miko Outfit. (Traditional shrine priestess outfit.) With the Vassal Katana on her side. This is revealed before the Fight with trash 2. During the Reunion in the Light Novel and Manga. While in the Anime it is shown to be given to her during her POV. It was given to her by a priestess whose family have helped the previous wielder of the Vassal Katana. She became the wielder of the Vassal Katana when it fled from Trash 2 and selected her. Once she is chosen by the Vassal weapon she lost her slave crest. Which dissolved in the Anime and Light Novel while shattering in the Manga. From this point onward she does not have a slave crest for the remainder of the story.

Personality
Raphtalia is initially very shy, sickly, and fearful as a result of her status as a slave, as well as suffering from trauma with memories of the destruction of her village. After the encounter with the two-headed dog monster, she overcomes the trauma of her parents' death at the hands of the Cerberus and acknowledges Naofumi as a hero in her own mind.

Naofumi acknowledges the strength of her heart. Despite been through a lot for her age, from seeing her parents die, to being sold with her fellow survivors, to seeing her best friend tortured to death beside her, she manages to maintain her morals and sanity. She hopes to reestablish her village and fight for the country that wronged her kind. This causes Naofumi to take up his role as a hero seriously and help her in the reconstruction of the village.

She desires for Naofumi to act as a hero and is disappointed by many of his actions. The current Raphtalia is focused on efficiency, in both combat, training and money expenditures. Seeing this trait, Naofumi feels that he brought her up wrongly, as she doesn't show any girly desire for her appearance or care for efficiency. She is extremely devoted to Naofumi and harbors feelings for him which he remains oblivious to, preferring to see her as his 'daughter' he raises her in lieu of her deceased parents. As she matures, Raphtalia not only becomes much more skilled and deadlier in battle, but she also gets much bolder, opinionated, stronger-willed, and fiercely protective of her beloved Naofumi.

After being separated from Naofumi during the Adventure to Glass’s world she ends up with traveling with L’arcs group. This experience has a great impact on her personality leading to her becoming a lot more independent. She also further makes up her mind to continue traveling with Naofumi to continue being his sword. She heavily blames herself and wishes to see him again. She also grows and stars to understand herself and her emotions to Naofumi far more. This is largely due to this being the first time they are ever separated like this. This experience leads her to be more mature and be far more decisive in the future.

Background
Until the age of 10, Raphtalia lived in a small coastal village outside of Melromarc, where everyone lived in harmony until the first wave of calamity attacked. During the attack, Raphtalia and her parents fled from their home, but considering they could only dive into the sea to escape the monsters, Raphtalia's parents made the ultimate sacrifice. Her parents pushed her off a nearby cliff as the wave approached them and she watched as her parents were engulfed by the Cerberus. Raphtalia survived the fall and went back to find her parents, but was unsuccessful. Shortly thereafter, a group of Melromarc Knights came to her village and killed all the adult survivors. They captured all the young ones and sold them to the slave hunters for money.

She and many of her friends ended up being purchased by Idol Rabier, who pleasured himself by torturing the innocent demi-humans. Raphtalia suffered and witnessed her best friend die, which caused her to have a mental breakdown and left her traumatized. Afterwards, she was sold multiple times until she ended up with the slave dealer in Melromarc. Alone and sickly, she was picked up by a slave merchant and put up for sale in the capital of Melromarc. Raphtalia was at the slave traders for weeks until she was purchased by Naofumi Iwatani, at which point her life would be changed forever.

Trivia

 * Her bond towards the Shield Hero has reached a point where she can often tell what exactly he is thinking with just his facial expressions. She often points it out and scolds him when he thinks of something very unreasonable.
 * Raphtalia has a strong dislike for the Raph species, she finds it strange for a monster to be based on her genes.
 * In the Anime Raphtalia is portrayed as far more naive than in the light novel. A well know example is the scene where Raphtalia thinks kissing Naofumi would get her pregnant.
 * In the anime the otherworld arc is dramatically changed. For in the Light Novel Raphtalia is transported alongside Glass, L’arc and Therese instead of Naofumi’s group. This means she is not originally present for the beginning of the arc.
 * Raphtalia’s POV from when she is separated from Naofumi is also exclusive to the Manga and Anime while it was not in the Light novel.
 * The character who helps Raphtaia and gives her a Miko outfit in the Anime is completely original as she does not show up in the Light Novels. Instead I the outfit was chosen by L’arc.
 * The whole reunion between Naofumi and Raphtalia is very different between the Anime compared to the light novel. In the Anime we see Naofumi find and protect her after she defeated Trash 2. While in the Light novel we see her, Glass, L’arc and, Therese meet up with Naofumi, Kizuna, Rishia, Filo, and Raph-Chan in a very emotional scene. Before the fight with trash 2 and his harem, army and divine beast clones.
 * In the anime there was a lot more buildup to the battle with Trash 2 and his harem When compared to the Light Novel. The Light Novel itself had little to no buildup to the fight as we followed Naofumi’s view instead as Raphtalia’s POV is absent from it.
 * The whole fight with Trash 2 played out out completely differently between each source. For In the Light novel It is a group battle between Trash 2 alongside his Harem with his Divine beast copies Fighting the combination of Raphtalia’s and Naofumi’s group. While in the Anime it’s a single battle where Raphtalia fights Trash 2 on her alone.
 * In the Light novel Trash 2 dies to Raphtalia due to his own pride and ego when he does not heed Raphtalia’s warning to not move. While in the anime he does not move which spares ends up sparing his life.
 * In the Web Novel, she possesses the Vassal Hammer rather than the Vassal Katana.