Diva



Diva (ディーヴァ ,Dīva?), Saya's younger twin sister and the main series antagonist, the greatest sworn enemy of the Red Shield. Like her sister she is a pure chiropteran Queen. She was raised in complete solitude inside a decaying tower, located in the ruins in the grounds of the Zoo - following her release she attacked everyone at the château where Saya lived. Red Shield was formed soon afterwards.

Personality
Diva is essentially a child, with a psychopathic streak of selfishness. Although she and Saya are twins, Diva is often referred as the younger sister due to her immature nature. Unlike Saya, Diva is sadistic, killing for pleasure rather than duty. By 2004, when Blood+ begins, Diva has five living chevaliers, who head up the Cinq Flèches Group. She giggles after killing people, shows little reaction to the death of her own chevaliers, and tends to destroy things when bored. Diva seems to enjoy tormenting Saya and frequently says she wants to kill her.

Her personality is the combined result of neglect and being raised by Amshel. Prior to being released from the tower she inhabited for 50 years Diva could not speak, instead communicating telepathically with her sister. Just before Saya opens the door Diva mentions that she is scared, despite being asked to be let outside. This is the only sign of fear she ever mentions throughout the series. Despite this she remains expressionless - showing no surprise when Saya opens the door and no joy when killing the people at the Zoo.

Episode 30 - At the Zoo
In 1833, Joel Goldschmidt discovered the mummy of an unknown creature that had two cocoons that react to human blood. Diva was born in 1833 from one of these two cocoons. As an experiment, Joel separated the twin girls, raising Saya as if she were his own daughter while Diva, who was given no name, was locked in a tower and given only the basic necessities to live by Joel's assistant Amshel. Saya discovers the girl locked in the tower and names her Diva. Saya releases Diva from her tower so that she can sing at Joel's birthday party, however Diva murders Joel along with the rest of the people attending the party before fleeing the area.

Episode 32 - Riku's Death
After meeting Riku, Saya's adopted brother, she drinks most of his blood and Saya is forced to turn him into a chevalier to save his life. After this incident, Diva becomes increasingly interested in Riku, eventually infiltrating the Red Shield headquarters with Karl to find him. She takes off her clothes and rapes Riku, which kills him by giving him her blood which crystallizes him. A year after this attack, when the Red Shield is able to regroup, Diva has changed her physical appearance to resemble Riku and retains that appearance until her final battle with Saya. Diva becomes an opera singer in New York, sponsored by the Group. Cinq Flèches has spread the Delta 67 agent, which can turn people into chiropterans, across various populations of the world, including the United States. When heard live, Diva's voice greatly increases the effectiveness of the agent.

Pregnancy


As a result of her attack on Riku, Diva becomes pregnant. She does not give birth for over a year, when Amshel cuts the cocoons out of her body. At the Metropolitan Opera House, Diva is set to perform a live broadcast which would cause a large portion of the world's population to turn into chiropterans. The Red Shield and Saya are able to stop the broadcast, and the sisters have their final battle while Diva's chevalier Nathan watches nearby with the babies. The fight ends as Diva and Saya pierce one another with their swords, which each had coated with their own blood. Saya is unharmed by the attack due to Diva's blood having lost its power when she became pregnant. Diva begins to crystallize from the effects of Saya's blood. Her babies emerge from their cocoons and Diva reaches for them, imagining herself with her daughters and smiling at the vision before dying.

Reception


Opinion regarding Diva changed dramatically throughout the series. At first she was seen as an interesting and sympathetic villain, having been locked away for most of her life while Saya was allowed to be free. These feelings however took a sudden turn following the rape and death of Riku. This shocked fans and decreases a little feeling towards her - many believed her actions were unforgivable.

However her reaction to her unborn children gained back equal, if not more, interests in the character. Diva showed an unknown motherly and loving attitude towards them she had not show to anyone else, including her own Chevaliers. Like Saya, her personalty changed once she learned to love someone else. The viewers then began to regard her with more pity, as she had shown what lengths she would go to in order to get a family.