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EP1TheBeginning

Legend of the Swordsman: The beginning

Thomas and Sora, just married.
by Dahdtoudi at Deviantart.com

As Legend of the Swordsmen: Episode 1 begins, we are introduced to Thomas Dutch, age 10. Thomas is the heir apparent to the Dead Dutch Six (DD6), a Special Forces unit attached directly to the Dutch Crown and operating independent from the Ministry of Defense.

Thomas is being trained by the Japanese martial arts expert Yusuke Futuba. Yusuku and Thomas’ uncle, Wim Dutch, agreed that when he came of age, Thomas would marry Yusuku’s daughter, Sora. When Thomas escorted Yusuku home to Motohakone in Japan, he met Sora for the first time and while she fell instantly in love with him, for Thomas the attraction was not as immediate.

When Wim passed away, his younger brother Henk became the new head of DD6 and Wim’s daughter and Thomas’ mother, Sophia, became the new deputy head. At the funeral for Wim, an assassination attempt was tried on Henk. It failed, but Sophia was killed and Thomas lost his left eye. He blamed himself for failing to save her and his grandfather Henk did nothing to dissuade him from that view, deciding that married life with Sora was unnecessary and unwelcome for Thomas, who was still the heir apparent to DD6.

Thomas’ life had been one of martial study and regimen and the decision to send him to a civilian school with his half-brother Alex was not working out well. Henk felt that Thomas needed “hardening” and forced him from his home to live in a condemned apartment building for six months until he could formally enlist in the DD6 as a serving member at age 14.

Thomas enlisted at 14 and underwent extensive and grueling training to turn him into the perfect soldier. Unfortunately, the training also turned him into an emotionless soldier, who existed only to fight and kill. But that is what his grandfather Henk wanted and Thomas was commissioned as a Lieutenant and placed in charge of a squad.

Sora, now a brilliant physician, became an expert in the field of optical cybernetics. She developed a replacement eye for to replace the one Thomas had lost all those years ago. Sora had been the victim of an attempted rape as a young girl and it had instilled in her a deep agoraphobia, but with Thomas at her side she started to overcome that fear and went outside for the first time since the assault.

The yakuza were operating in Motohakone and Thomas was asked to provide assistance. He did so, but it earned him the wrath of the yakuza and they showed their displeasure by capturing Sora and killing her attendant. Thomas’ retaliation was truly terrible as were the wounds he received carrying it out. Sora nurses him back to health and he comes to understand that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her and they are married over the objections of Thomas' grandfather.

-Kiskaloo, http://gunslinger-girl.up-with.com member