The Warlock (ウォーロック, Uōrokku), also known as the 1st Special Assault Echelon (第1特殊急襲部隊, Dai-ichi tokushu kyūshū butai), was a Britannian mecha created by Trevor Maloney, with his team of engineers and scientists This machine was created with the intent of replacing the 501st Joint Fighter Wing.
Originally, five Warlocks working together were thought to be needed to accomplish such a thing, but one Warlock alone could control at least 30 Neuroi. But later, the Warlock turned into a Neuroi, and also turned against humanity.
Overview[]
The Warlock was a remote-controlled, transforming mecha, powered by a captured Neuroi core and controlled by the Core Control System (コアコントロールシステム, Koa kontorōru shisutemu), that possessed jet mode for faster flight. Two autocannons and a powerful Neuroi beam weapon were mounted in each of its arms, and its two beam weapons could destroy any Neuroi in one hit. Its legs were equipped with jet engines. Additionally, it had its own shield, which was powerful enough to block Neuroi's beams.
Early prototypes[]
Warlock protoypes
The first Warlock prototype on the right side of the image had a humanoid body equipped with a Jet Striker Unit and a handheld beam generator as a weapon. The design was imagined by Shimada Humikane with a Britannian soldier as a model, but even if it have a gas mask there is no head inside, only a Neuroi core. It had a snake mark, which is the symbol of beings that have brought wisdom to mankind. On the left, the armored version is enlarged. Although the shape is quite close to the final form of the Warlock, the prototype beam weapon remain, and it can be seen that the armor shape of the head was made from car parts. Based on this model, further tests were done and the Warlock was completed.
Plot[]
Miyafuji Yoshika battling the Neuroified Warlock.
When Miyafuji Yoshika went AWOL, the Witch Neuroi showed her an image of some humans looking down at a fragment of a Neuroi core, and then a strange mecha with a Neuroi core, which was in a canister. A mecha appeared to be making contact with the Neuroi. Because the Neuroi Girl apparently is incapable of speech, Yoshika was unable to understand what she was being shown. Later, outside the Neuroi hive, Gertrud Barkhorn, Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke, Erica Hartmann, Francesca Lucchini, and Charlotte E. Yeager, who were sent to shoot her down, had a scuffle with the Neuroi Girl that was abruptly interrupted by the same mecha shooting at the Witch Neuroi with its autocannons, then blocking its beams with its shield and using its own beam to defeat the Neuroi. While Yoshika fell out of the Neuroi Hive, towards the water, a mecha flew off.
Later, when the witches returned to the base with Yoshika in tow (they took her into custody rather than shoot her down), Trevor Maloney used his mecha and several soldiers to surround the witches. Maloney revealed that the 501st were being replaced by the 1st Special Assault Echelon, also known as the Warlock. However, his plan was ruined by Yoshika, who remembered the Warlock as a machine that the Neuroi Girl showed her. To cover up his plans quickly, Maloney immediately disbanded the Strike Witches.
The Warlock was sent to attack the Neuroi Hive over Gallia shortly afterwards. A Neuroi tried to intercept it, but the Warlock defeated it instantaneously. Yoshika recalled that what the Neuroi Girl showed her was that the Warlock, like her, made contact with the Neuroi. Meanwhile, the mecha continued to destroy Neuroi planes as quickly as they came, but eventually, there were far too many of them, and it was overwhelmed. At the same time, Barkhorn, Minna, and Hartmann realized something was wrong with how Maloney acted when Yoshika blatantly shouted out what she saw, and decided to check their theory by watching the Warlock's actions. At this point, Maloney ordered that the Core Control System be brought online, but was reminded that they needed five or more Warlocks working in tandem for it to work. Suddenly, the Warlock activated the Core Control System on its own, causing all the Neuroi to circle around it and shoot each other. Then, it severed its connection with the Allies, becoming completely independent and donning Neuroi armor.
The Neuroified Warlock fires its beams.
After becoming independent, the Neuroified Warlock raced towards the Akagi and fired upon it, fully showing that it no longer answered to the Allies. Even after realizing what was going on, Maloney was reluctant to deactivate the Warlock; after all, there was only one of it, but he knew he had no choice. Meanwhile, the Akagi attempted, with limited success, to fight back against the Warlock. Maloney attempted to shut down it, but it failed; the Warlock only attacked with more ferocity; shearing both the Akagi and the witches' former base with a beam. The Akagi was made short work of by the rogue robot, and began to sink.
Using Mio's Strikers which she smuggled onto the Akagi, Yoshika prepared to battle the Warlock (with a bit of help from Perrine initially), having trouble at first and faltering when it revealed its core but actually managing to fight on par with a heartless robot afterwards when she realized it was no Neuroi. It nearly caused Perrine and Mio's deaths, had Shirley and Lucchini not (literally) swooped in and rescued them. Eventually, Lynne shot the Warlock down with her anti-armor rifle, causing it to crash into the Akagi and both to sink.
The Warlock and the Akagi combined.
However, the Warlock combined with the sunken Akagi, allowing it to fly and covering itself with Neuroi armor but robbing itself of independent movement. The witches battled it, and Lucchini used her Sunlight Strike to allow Yoshika, Lynne and Perrine to attack the core from the inside. Dropping her gun on the way to the core, Yoshika sacrificed her Strikers to destroy the combined Warlock once and for all.
Strike Witches "What-if" — 1947[]
Maloney's adjutant and his version of the Warlock in the Winter of 1947
This shouldn't be considered entirely canonical, because it is only based on Humikane's twitter and pixiv.
Maloney's adjutant apparently fled from Britannia as if he was driven out while his superior received punishment. In the winter of 1947 Perrine revealed to Mio that they brought out an upgraded Warlock after the events of the second season, which Mio scolded her for. Later, the new Warlock was seen trying to finish off a Witch Neuroi.
Trivia[]
- The Warlock, while in its jet mode, especially when its Neuroi beam weapons were opened, bore resemblance to Vic Viper, a spaceship from the Gradius series, which also made an appearance in Sky Girls and Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner.
- The Warlock also made an appearance in a Strike Witches video game for the Xbox 360, Strike Witches: Silver Wings. In the game, it appeared as a reoccurring foe and faces them in a similar manner. However, there were some differences in there, such as it merging with a large insectoid Neuroi during one boss fight. It also appeared as its Akagi-infected version in the game, though unlike in the anime, it is attached to the area right behind the core, rather than at the direct front of the Akagi.
Gallery[]
