Character Profile: Nicholas D. Wolfwood

Personality-wise, Nicholas D. Wolfwood and Vash the Stampede are somewhat alike. They both wander the planet helping innocent souls. No one really knows his past and he never talks about it. What matters to him is the present. Nicholas is a man of the cloth, a priest who normally helps run a church that doubles as an orphanage. Offerings are slim in this day and age, though, so he's hit the road trying to make money.

He's serious about his commitment to saving souls, especially the children. If anyone threatens kids, he can go ballistic. Perhaps that's why he and Milly hit it off so well. Family is a common link they both share. At times, however, Nicholas' philosophy doesn't exactly match up with "Needle Noggin" (what he always calls Vash), and they have been at odds at times (as Vash says, "What about thou shall't not kill?").

The reason Wolfwood doesn't talk about his past (and the reason he and Vash are sometimes at odds) is that his past is anything but clean. Unlike Vash, he's used to killing. In fact, the very first man he killed was the abusive man who, as he put it to himself, had the audacity to call himself Wolfwood's guardian, and this was when he was just a kid. He eventually ended up at a church-run orphanage, and this was where he ran into the man who taught him his current way of life: Chapel the Evergreen.

Oddly enough, Chapel the Evergreen may not actually be the man's name, as Wolfwood is almost called "Chapel" a few times, but the people always get cut off before they can finish saying it. This implies that Wolfwood's name is actually Chapel. But it could also be the case that Wolfwood just stole Chapel's name to get into the Gung-Ho Guns. And in the manga, that character doesn't even exist, though there is a nameless character that does look like him.

Anyway, it was Chapel who taught Wolfwood to take what he can when he can, since life is short. He always challenged Wolfwood to snatch the apple from his hand (think the old Kung Fu snatch-the-pebble routine), and until the very end, Wolfwood could never get the apple. Under Chapel's tutelage, he gained his strength, his assertiveness, and his burden.

Nicholas is one of the few people who can be a potential match for Vash with a handgun. He always travels with his "burden": his huge Cross Punisher. It's as tall as him and takes three ordinary guys to lift, but he hefts it around like it's nothing at all. He normally keeps it wrapped, but underneath it's a literal arsenal which is revealed bit by bit. One arm of the cross hides six handguns, the other stores the ammunition for the built in machine gun revealed in the long stem side, and the short stem is houses a fairly powerful rocket launcher.

Ultimately, he once more must come face to face with his master and remember why he was told to seek out Vash the Stampede in the first place. But not before he's learned so much about Vash and his ideals. If he and Vash should ever really face off, Wolfwood won't just be dealing with the Humanoid Typhoon. He'll be dealing with himself.