Zagato - the enchanting lord of darkness

Name	Zagato	Zagato
Alias
Race
Gender	Male	Male
Age
Hair	Black	Black
Eyes	Purple	Purple
Height	Tall	Tall
Weight	Thin	Thin
Status	High Priest of Cephiro	High Priest of Cephiro
Quote	“I’m surprised you made it this far.”
Voice	Lex Lang	Juurouta Kosugi
Debut
Anime	Magic Knight Rayearth	Maho Kishi Rayearth

Despite his rash actions, Zagato is not an evil person. He is simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although he reveals his reasons for Emeraude’s imprisonment to only a few people, his actions are justified. Near the end of the series the Magic Knights discover that Zagato was only doing what he thought was right, even though it went against his duties.

Zagato (ザガート, Zagāto^?) is the primary antagonist of the first season, his younger brother is Cail Lantis (introduced in volume four). When he is first introduced, he is seen as a terrible villain who has kidnapped the beloved Princess Emeraude, watching cruelly as Cephiro crumbles without its pillar. However, this image is far from the truth.

High Priest to Princess Emeraude and Clef’s right-hand man, Zagato fell deeply in love with the beautiful and kind Princess. Despite her best efforts to put Cephiro first and foremost, Princess Emeraude fell in love with Zagato as well. When Emeraude goes missing, Zagato came forth as having had kidnapped Princess Emeraude. In reality, Emeraude was so upset by her lack of will that she imprisoned herself in the water dungeon to avoid seeing Zagato. Zagato does not reveal this to the Magic Knights or Cephiro’s people, aiming to destroy the knights when they come after him.

The reason Zagato is this way is because of his deep love for Emeraude and equally deep hate for Cephiro’s Pillar System. The Pillar must devote every moment of their existence to praying for Cephiro and never seek happiness from anything except seeing the planet prosper. Zagato was tormented to see Emeraude chained down as such and even more so when she had to resist the love that had grown between them. He decides that instead of Emeraude returning as the Pillar and continuing to be a slave to Cephiro, he would rather have Cephiro cease to exist.

In the end of the first season, he is killed in battle by the Magic Knights in a final attempt to protect Emeraude; his last words tell her to “be free.” His death caused Emeraude to become lost in her own grief and rage, casuing her to be killed by the Magic Knights, who were only forced to.