Freedom without laws means anarchy; Laws without freedom means tyranny."
Tanya Von Degurechaff (portrayed by Aoi Yuki in Japanese and Monica Rial in the English) is the commander of the Verlorenes Battalion. Originally, Tanya was an orphan, raised on a desolate planet, razed and brutalized by the invading First Order. Despite only being nine at the time, Tanya approached the First Order and manged to win entrance into the military with a display of her incredible powers. Tanya possessed strange magical powers. Upon joining the officer corps, Tanya climbed the ranks of the military, winning over allies with her manipulative personality, incredible intelligence and complete brutality. Eventually, Tanya won the rank of major and received command of her own battalion: the 107th Battalion.
Background[]
Very little is known about Tanya's exact origins. She was discovered alone in the wreckage of a battle between the First Order and the Resistance. Taken into the local orphanage, Tanya displayed a surprising maturity for her age. It was almost like raising an adult in a child's body. Upon reaching age nine, Tanya left the orphanage, much to the relief of the other children and teachers. Hijacking a star-ship, Tanya arrived at the planet Rhine, one of battlefields of the First Order and Resistance. She interfered on the side of the First Order and won a victory against the Resistance. After the battle, she demanded to join the First Order. Initially, they refused however they conscripted her into the army. After winning more battles for the First Order, Supreme Leader Snoke ordered that she be allowed to join the Officer's school. Tanya graduated the officer's academy with flying colors. In fact, some of her papers went on to inform First Order tactics and strategy. At the age of eleven, Tanya reached the rank of Lieutenant and commanded stormtrooper forces against the Resistance. She never lost a battle. Eventually, her success as well as radical approaches to battle frightened General Hux and other members of the High Command. They gave her command of the 107th Battalion under the pretense of being an honor and reward. However, their true goal was to get rid of her. However, Tanya revitalized the Battalion into her personal army. Now, she leads the Battalion to crush all foes of the First Order.
Personality[]
Tanya has a very complicated personality, filled with seeming contradictions.
In the first place, Tanya is a complete and total sociopath. She is ultimately unable to empathize with others. She views everyone around her as a tool to be used to her advantage. Tanya often uses innocent civilians as targets or distractions, completely unconcerned with their well being. The only exception to this would be her adjutant, Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov. A master of manipulation, she often lies and deceives others to get what she wants. Furthermore, she is completely and totally ruthless toward her enemies. Tanya possesses no qualms with slaughtering hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers, and would do so with glee. Tanya revels in destruction and death, laughing gleefully at the chaos of the battlefield. Many hardened soldiers have been left aghast at the sight of this little girl grinning at the sight of carnage and destruction. Despite all this, Tanya finds all out war something to be avoided rather than pursued. She finds the war-mongering of Hux and Snoke disgusting and irritating. To Tanya, war is insufferable due to its inherit wastefulness and irrationality. When Starkiller Base was fired, First Lieutenant Serebryakov reported hearing Tanya crying and cursing due to the beginning of a true, full war.
Secondly, despite fighting for an oppressive totalitarian state, Tanya herself is a libertarian, viewing human freedom as the absolute greatest good. She believes in complete and total autonomy for humans from greater power, such as deities or governments. As such, she is disgusted with the First Order's treatment of their soldiers, viewing them as pawns to be deposed of when needed. Her disposition to her soldiers is that of an extremely harsh Drill Sargent. She forces her soldiers through the most extreme circumstances and holds them to the highest standards. Furthermore, her callous and sadistic personality causes many of her soldiers to fear her. However, she also inspires them. Tanya often gives many rousing speeches inspiring her soldiers to fight to the bitter end for her. She also often fights alongside them, suffering the same harsh conditions they do. Furthermore, she does try to keep as many of her soldiers alive as possible, which is not typical of many First Order officers. Thus, they view her as both a idol and a terror.
Finally, Tanya's loyalties are very mysterious. She claims to be fervently devoted to the First Order. However, she is very critical of the High Command. Furthermore, her personal philosophies often contradict with the First Order. However, more interestingly, she possesses a strange relationship with the god, Osiris. On the one hand, she often prays to him and uses his name as a rallying cry. However, in her more personal moments, she expresses a disdain almost akin to a personal grudge against Osiris.
Powers & Abilities[]
Tanya is a skilled combatant with a rifle and other firearm weapons, however, due to her age, she lacks much in the way of physical strength and fighting prowess.
Tanya's primary powers are magical in nature. They only activate when she prays to or call out the name of Osiris. Upon activation, her eyes change color from blue to yellow. These power include flight, incredible reflexes and accuracy, and infusing blasts or bullets with magical enhancement so that they create explosions.
Tanya is also an incredible strategist, skilled in military tactics of subversion and ambush. Her plans are also dangerous because of their reliance on brutality and sinking to the lowest of lows.
Trivia[]
- Tanya is known by a variety of nicknames including the Demon of Rhine and the White Silver.
- Tanya is very similar to fellow First Order Officer, Captain Phasma. Both are women from bleak circumstances who joined the First Order in order to survive, Both also value survival and their personal interests above all else.
- Unbeknownst to anyone except herself, Tanya has a very close relationship to Osiris. Tanya originally was a stock broker who destroyed the lives of others in the name of self-interest and rejected all deities. Osiris attempted to teach this person the error of self-obsession and faithlessness by reincarnating the stock broker as a little orphan girl. Osiris granted Tanya magic power that she could only use if she praised him. However, this plan backfired as Tanya became even more evil and used these power to bring destruction to others.