The Earl of Millennium

"There's a famous saying in the East. Even with a crappy gun, shoot a lot and you'll hit something. I have a hell of a lot of Akuma."

- The Earl The Earl of Millennium  (千年伯爵, Sennen Hakushaku) known publicly and to fellow Noah as Lord Millennium (千年公, Sennen kō) is the primary antagonist of the series. He is the patriarch of the Noah Family, and the current incarnation of Adam . He is the creator of Akumas known as The Maker. He is also a player of the Noah's Ark. The Earl plans to destroy humanity and cause another three years of darkness.

Appearance
The Earl resembles a grotesque caricature of a Victorian gentleman. A rotund figure, he has sickly gray skin and usually dresses in a large coat and top hat, with an enormous grin that remains fixed even when he is speaking and even eating, and his eyes permanently hidden behind a pair of pince-nez spectacles. Occasionally they have been seen; in the first few appearances, he appeared to have slitted pupils, but this has not been repeated in later installments. He wears a different hat in each encounter, each with a different decoration. In a gag comic in volume 2 of the manga, he is shown taking off his hat, and having another set of bunny ears. Recently he has revealed two devil horns under his hat. He can be mistaken for being actually quite friendly looking in the manga as he is seen in a darkly comedic light, due to his smile and otherwise flamboyant way of speaking. He is almost always "happy" in appearance and never stereotypically "frightening", except in chapter 134 when he exhibits extreme rage at the loss of his Ark due to the previous actions of The 14th. Recently this form has gone through minor changes, the most notable is that when in this form The Earl's face is shorter and rounder. During his meeting with Allen while the latter was on the run from Apocryphos, the Earl showed a far crazier and deranged look, his eyes were ringed looking, his mouth was open and the crack of his nose came apart showing his human form inside from his grotesque caricature form. The Earl has been shown to have a human form. It was first glimpsed in chapter 158, where he appears as a typical Victorian gentleman in a tuxedo and top hat, and what appears to be a monocle. His face is rarely seen and when it is, it's covered in shadow. His human form is shown in full, where he resembles a tall handsome middle-aged man with a very slight beard and moustache, medium-length black hair, and a slimmer version of his usual attire.He has 6 buttons on his jacket and a stripped shirt underneath. He also carries Lero in a cane form rather than an umbrella.

Hat decorations
The multiple decorations seen on the hat of the earl are: Night 219 wise, His human version is revealed to be Mana D. Campbell and his current appearance of that of a middle aged man isn't his original face. The original is a handsome man with the dark noah skin and very long and dark hair.

Zone
In zone, the work preceding D.Gray-Man, The Earl appears much more muscular and fit. He has a black top hat and a black fancy costume. He also has horns under his hat and devil-like wings.

Continue
In Continue, the earl is less muscular than in Zone but still much fitter than in D.Gray-man.

Personality
Despite the Earl's evil intentions for the destruction of humanity and constant trickery into creating Akuma, the Earl always seems to act as a cheerful and carefree character. Allen Walker notes that the Earl always acts like he is playing the fool and a huge grin seems to be permanently fixed upon the Millennium Earl's face, with a speech pattern unfitting for the ultimate evil in that he always speaks in a cute, loving manner and ends his sentences with a heart. The Earl has also shown to be rather eccentric, an example is out of nowhere pulling out a rooster costume when trying to wake up Alma Karma. However there is more to the Earl's character than simply a fool trying to end humanity. He has shown concern and happiness in his actions for The Noah, and even anger after the destruction of the Ark, although whether it was because of his reminder of the 14th, or because he destroyed the original home of humanity, is unknown. The Earl seems to care for his fellow Noah a great deal and seems to be particularly close to Road, even aiding her in her homework, though he was a bit insulted when Tyki Mikk commented on his weight.

After learning that the original Ark was put into human hands, and that eighty-percent of the Akuma egg was lost, The Earl showed an incredible amount of anger.

After learning that Allen Walker was the reincarnation of Nea Walker, the 14th Noah, the Earl has asked him to join the Noah Family despite Nea attempting to kill 35 years prior and Allen Walker being an Exorcist, showing a forgiving side, yet at the same time he seems to hold a deep and intense hatred towards Mana Walker and refuses to ever forgive him showing that there is a limit to his forgiveness.

However, when confronting Allen during his run from Apocryphos, the Earl showed an insane and very deranged side saying Nea's name constantly asking him why he doesn't recognize him all the while his face changing more insane and crazier. He than remembers Mana suddenly and constantly chants his name in a deranged manner blaming an intense event on him.

The Earl has shown a deep hatred for both Innocence and Humanity (to the point where he states that since the Ark fell into human hands, it was no longer worthy of being a Noah possession). Despite this he does have a somewhat soft spot for humans (or at least children) as seen when he buys flowers for a little girl and lets Allen live when he fails to turn him into an Akuma, though he did question his actions in the latter and this does not stop him from turning any human into an Akuma. His favorite food is crocodile.

The Earl is perfectly concious that the humans consider him to be the devil. Yet he never stated to be evil and claims that he creates akumas for human's sake and to take revenge against God he calls fake. He has a mission to achieve no matter what and is ready to make any sacrifice to do so.

Personal Statistics

 * Education: 5
 * Affinity: 1
 * Battle Ability: 5
 * Mental: 5
 * Flexibility: 5
 * Persuasion: 5

Zone
In Zone the Earl of Millennium is first seen tricking Robin who has lost his sister in a shipwreck into bringing her back. He violently impales him to let his akuma take his body. He then sends a letter to Lenalee and makes her believe that her lover is still alive somewhere. Lenalee later comes to his encounter to make a deal with him to see her lover again. Fortunately Robin jumps in and stops the ceremony. He sends his two minions to fight the exorcist who finally defeats them. Upon his defeat the Earl runs away.

History
In Continue, the earl is an alien invader who attacked the homeplanet of Shiropin located lightyears away from the earth. Shiropin managed to seal him along with his technologies in a ball that he sent into a black hole.. However on the way, the ball was pulled away by the sun's gravity and became the earth's moon. From then on, the earl tried to corrut the moon and then the earth.

Plot
The earl possesses a zombie to attack Taiyo Yamamoto but he is defeated when Taiyo gains the power of Shiropin. He later sends an sms to Koji saying "Sorry to bother you Koji. I am the millennium earl". He posesses Koji and creates an facade of his original appearance around the body. Later he is attacked by Taiyo but Taiyo only hits the illusion. The earl then uses his connection with the moon to summon servant number 66, the horrible Tesla. Tesla quickly crushes Taiyo but before Tesla finishes him, Taiyo gets a second wind and destroys Tesla. Taiyo severes the link between his friend's body and the moon.

As they fall, the earl prophesies that the planet will eventually die due to pollution and asks if such a world is worth fighting for. Koji answers that it is as long as there is hope and the earl smiles in Koji's body before escaping through his blood and returning to the moon.

History
The Millennium Earl is the First Disciple of Noah, and supposedly the most powerful - his true name is Adam. 7000 years before the story, he battled an unnamed opponent wielding the Heart and lost. Shortly after, the Great Flood wiped out all of humanity, and the remaining twelve Disciples founded the second generation of humanity. As a result, all humans possess Noah genes. Once every generation, the genes and Noah memories within twelve people will awaken, transforming them into Noahs and compelling them to help the Earl in fighting the Innocence; the Earl comments on them "protecting" him. Eventually, The Earl himself was reincarnated as well. He has presumably been creating akumas for the last seven millennia.

Around 35 years before the series started, a Noah, known as "The 14th Noah" (aka Nea) killed all but Road and the Earl, leaving the Earl crazed until the other Noah began to reappear, though it has been recently shown that he is still not entirely recovered. The 14th Noah betrayed the Noah and attempted to kill the Millennium Earl hoping to take his position. However, the attempt failed with the Earl killing the 14th. It is implied that the Earl is still feeling the aftermath of his fight with Nea as seen when he doubles over in pain or begins to cry from time to time.

Years later, when Mana, Nea's older brother, died, the Earl tricked his adopted son, Allen Walker, into turning Mana into an Akuma. Much to the Earl's surprise however, Allen had Innocence and it activated to kill Mana's Akuma form. The Earl simply left as this happened instead of killing Allen, an act the Earl later came to regret and continually questioned himself about. Recent revelations show that he has a deeper and mysterious connection with Allen, than what is known.



The Millennium Earl deceives those who are in grief over dead relatives and friends into creating Akuma. He is a sorcerer from long ago, and he plans to lead the world to its death. In the anime he is shown to have more of a split personality - the first is his normal cheerful, friendly, and happy attitude, almost like a friendly old uncle. With the Noah, he's a member of the family, and is particularly playful and affectionate towards Road. His other personality is one of sheer, sadistic malice, capable of happily playing with people's lives. He also seems to invariably use polite Japanese. In the manga, almost every one of his lines of dialog ends with a heart. During Cyril Kamelot's dinner party, the Earl in his human form appeared far more stern, addressing the issue of the Akuma Egg and the Heart in a serious manner; he seemingly frowning, didn't end any of his sentences with a heart. At the end of the scene he expresses concern over not killing Allen a few years before.

Introduction arc
The Earl appears in the shadows as he starts checking up on an Akuma he created as Allen puts an end to it.

First Meeting with Millenium Earl arc
As a Black Order scientist's son, Jean, started to hunt the Earl for a while, the Earl turned Jean's friend, Leo into a Akuma powered by Leo's mother's soul. He had Jean brought to him so that he could scare him into stopping his investigations or kill him with the Akuma.

However, Allen appeared and as the two exchange ideals, the Earl revealed that Allen had made his adoptive father into an Akuma, calling forth several akuma to kill Allen. Allen then works with Lenalee Lee (anime only) to defeat the Earl's Akuma. Allen defeats them all with his Cross Grave but the Earl escapes and curses how he didn't kill Allen when he was younger. He reminds Allen that everyone is willing to make Akuma deals with him so his army will never wither.

Marshall Yeegar Falls arc
The Earl is seen after the defeat of Kevin Yeegar. Tyki then gives the Earl the inoccence that Yeegar was keeping. The Earl then destroys each of the inoccence fragments as well as Yeegar's inoccence. He is shown to be disappointed that none of the fragments was the heart. Later the Earl is seen singing the song that Road was singing during her and Tyki's encounter with Yeegar.

Lulubell's Attack arc (Anime Only)
The Earl makes several appearances throughout Lulubell arc. He is seen talking to a black cat.

Edo and Asian Branch arc
During the Black Order's attack on Edo, the Earl was seen in the Akuma factory explaining the origins of the Noah to Tyki Mikk, Skin Boric and Jasdevi and asking whether they've all achieved their objectives. He then sends a signal out to all Akuma in Japan to gather at a nearby tower and orders them to kill the Exorcist Generals. He also threatens the Noah to not fail again; notably, he doesn't shout at them, but they are still intimidated. The Earl watched on until Kanda and his friend showed up and started to turn the tides of the battle. He leveled all of Edo, with the exception of the tower he and a few other Noahs were standing on, and that left him in a sneezing fit. He continued to look on as the Exorcists, who were badly injured, until Lenalee showed a possibility of having the "Heart". With this, the Earl casually floats down to her crystallized shield of Innocence and prepares to kill her. However, Allen returns and battles the Earl and surprises him by showing his improved Anti-Akuma Weapon the Crown Clown. With the Earl recognizing it from somewhere in his past as the "clown that chases Auguste," along with calling it a strict child. He then pulls out his sword, battles Allen for a second and casually leaves.

Noah's Ark arc
Earl stays away from self-destroying Ark and lets Road Kamelot, Tyki Mikk, Jasdevis and Skinn Bolic to take care of Lenalee, who is brought by Lero to the Ark. Allen Walker, Yu Kanda, Lavi and Alystar Krory also come to the Ark.

Later Jasdevi creats an illussion version of Earl in order to prevent exorcists from escaping their room. Lero and Jasdevi seemed to be the only ones who knew from the start that this was not the real Earl. The Earl runs into Cross Marian again as he retrieves with unconscious Tyki Mikk from old Ark and much to his surprise, he is stopped by a familiar piano song. Cross had a chance to attack Earl, but he didn't and Earl got away with Tyki and Lero. It can be assumed that like every other Noah, he also cried to death of Skinn Bolic in hands of Kanda.

As soon as Earl returns to new Ark, he starts playing its piano in order to complete its programming. Road and Lulu Bell comes to see him when he is finished and Lulu Bell notices that he is crying, even though Earl tries to hide it first.

Invasion of Headquarters arc
As the Earl arrives to find his Akuma Egg gone he also found that the 14th returned to save the exorcists which causes the Earl to experience great anger to find that his old enemy had returned and he couldn't create Akuma for the time being. He then sends Lulu Bell to steal back his Akuma Egg and gives her plenty of Akuma to do it.

Later, the Earl appeared at a ball hosted by Cyril but this time he was in a human form. Tyki even was surprised to discover that the Earl is actually a human (The Earl's human face is obscured so the reader/watcher cannot see him). While at the party, the Earl keeps asking himself why he didn't kill Allen when he had the chance. Despite this, the Earl leaves to buy some flowers from a little girl.

Third Exorcists arc
The Earl is seen welcoming the just revived Wisely and remarks that 35 years ago, all of the Noah received memory damage when the 14th died. It is implied however, that Road did not receive any memory damage due to the fact that she hasn't changed in the last 35 years. The Earl then welcomes back the 5th as a "brother", who proceeds to reveal the real names of the Noah, and their true nature.

The Earl flashes a smile and confirms that only "Wrath" was left and wonders who and where the next "Wrath" would reincarnate after Skin being killed. He also expresses a wish that the 'long war' would be concluded by their generation. The Earl then lapses into a mental distress and a young man is shown telling the Earl not to push himself too hard and that he would be there by his side, though his face is hidden. The Earl's head seems to hurt as he clutches it tightly and he tells Road that he can hear "his" voice again. Road then is shocked and reveals that it was the 14th.

The Earl then rises and a dark aura surrounds him while he says "Let's spread the darkness broader." Later on, he is seen with Road, who has transformed into a doll near the North American Exorcist base. Surprisingly, he is in human form, and comments that the Exorcists are "kind of excited to see a visitor after such a long time."

He compares Alma and Kanda's story isn't particularly sad as the Noah's Family. Road (in her Doll form) mentions the 14th as a painful time causing the Earl to go into a depressed state. The Earl enters the Black Order's North American HQ and quickly destroys its protective barriers. He reveals his true Noah name, Adam. It is revealed that his signature form is actually a shell that encases his true human form. He infiltrates the North American branch and appears in the room were Alma Karma is kept with Wisely, Road (in her doll form), and Cyril. Cyril is seen using what appears to be invisible strings to control many Black Order personnel, namely Bak, Johnny, Zhu, Epsteine, Reever, and Malcolm. Wisely has brought an unconscious Kanda with him after crushing his head when Kanda looked at his Demon Eye. The Earl inserts himself in a cosmetic way as Kanda regains his conscious and see his childhood friend, Alma Karma. Cyril, sitting on a coffin with a cross on it, told the Earl that they are waiting for a guest as they used Tyki as bait. A gate from the Earl's Ark open underneath Cyril and the Earl. Allen and Tyki pushed away the Earl and Cyril out of the way as they were still battling against each other.

However, the Earl is smashed by both Allen and Tyki. After Cyril tells them to get off of the Earl, he quickly rebounds and slams Allen to the ground. As he chokes Allen, he reveals that as the creator of Akuma, they are his feet, legs, eyes and ears, and thus he knows that Allen is The 14th. He accuses Allen of "calling" to him through a level 4 Akuma, which Allen denies. However the 14th takes over Allen's body and confirms that he was letting the Earl know that he is back and plans to kill the Earl to become the Millennium Earl himself. However, Allen once again regains control of himself and head butts the Earl to the ground. He then proclaims that he is Allen, an Exorcist and will die before becoming anything else. As Allen, Tokusa and Kanda (who has captured Road) attempts to escape, Cyril stops them with Alma's body and the many pipes in the ground. The Earl then reiterates that Allen will not be returning to the Order and that this will be a party for his expulsion.

Mystery of Kanda arc
As Alma begins to wake and transform into an Akuma, the Earl tells him to "kill them" (The Order). He along with everyone else in the North American Branch is lost in the explosion resulting from Alma's awakening. He later turns up within the shadows smiling and is last seen whispering in the ear of a captured Allen to come with them (the noah) if he wants them to put an end to the "show."

The Earl offers to erase the dark matters inside Alma and the third exorcists, so they'll be saved if Allen joins him. Johnny asked the Earl why does he want Allen to join him even though 14th wants to kill him. The Earl reveals that he wants to stay by the 14th's side. Everyone, including the Noah, were very surprised at this. After Kanda stabbed Allen with his Innocence, the Earl reveals that he was planning this from the very beginning. In order for The 14th to awaken he needed Kanda to injure Allen with his Innocence. The Noah can never forget their hatred towards the Innocence so the more he wounded him with it the more that hatred gushed out. The Earl seemed overjoyed that The 14th was going to awaken. He later whisked away the remaining 3rd exorcists and stated he was going to use them as his pawns. He told Allen that he would come for him later while stating Allen could no longer go back to his home place.

Seed of Destruction arc
After the battle, he was back in his human form finally sleeping after crying for so much, Road stated it was because he was afraid of meeting the 14th. He was woken from his sleep when he sensed that the 14th was in danger, he sent Tyki, Road, and the 3rd exorcists to save and retrieve the host of the 14th but they failed to bring Allen with them.

Searching For A.W. Arc
As Allen senses that Apochryphos is near and makes a run for it, The Earl appears before him in an alley, calling him "14th..." He then takes out a balloon and blows in it and attempts to crush Allen with it. He then mutter's Nea's name constantly and displays a far more deranged look as his appearance becomes much more larger and crazier. He asks if Nea recognizes him and as he continues to attack Allen, his face begins to come apart revealing his Noah form inside and looks at an unconscious Allen and almost crushes him as Johnny saves him. He sees Johnny try to take Allen away after seeing a similarity with Mana looking over Nea asking the Earl why did he do this. The Earl's human form then cries asking who Johnny is and angrily throws him to a wall. At that moment, the Earl and Allen seemingly lock minds causing Allen to see the Earl killing Mana's mother calling him "Mana D. Campbell" and he brought upon this tragedy. As Allen questions what he just saw, the Earl then remembers about Mana and shouts that Mana is the cause of everything. Millennium Earl then hugs Allen, after Nea takes over and is shocked by Nea's explanation on why he cared for Nea so much. Nea reveals to the Earl that he is actually Mana and that they weren't twins at first but actually the Millennium Earl himself, two parts of one whole.

Then Nea says that eventually the Millenium Earl returned to the "one" they used to be as his current self, when Mana devoured Nea 35 years ago. There's a flashback shown, where Mana is seen in front of the mirror in his own subcontious appologizing for what he's done to Nea. His inner Noah appears and claims all this is Mana's fault only and the single goal and duty that he (Earl) wants to achieve are the next "Three Days of Darkness". Noah's memory calls Mana and Nea mere illusions and declares that the real one is only the Millenium Earl himself. He tells Mana to dissapear and never come back again, and after this destroys his own face.

Back to the story, Earl in his human form still can't remember what Nea is talking about and asks why Nea is calling him Mana all over again. When Nea insists he's really the one called Mana, Earl refuses to accept this. Nea says that even if he doesn't remember, as long as he can destroy him, it's fine. The Earl continues to reject Nea's words and begins to revert into his actual Earl form. However, agents of the Black Order, who were supposed to find Allen, make their move and try to capture him. The Earl attacks the Agents of the Black Order who now have Allen captured inside of a Talisman. He appears to be using a dissolving technique, which absorbs souls and bodies, and after destroying the Black Order members and injurying Allen, is being confronted with the paradox question from Allen (Who is currently under the control of Nea) on how he could have met with Allen as two different people. THe Earl had stated that he was not mana but he knew that mana went to a place in where he couldn't return and nea stated that the earl met allen and the man who lived with allen, Mana walker, was actually the earl himself. Just as the Earl is about to attack, he is stopped by Howard Link who in turn saves both Allen and Johnny Gil and binds the Earl with his spell. Soon enough, Link loses control over the spell, the Earl is released and falls direct into Wisely's embrace. While the Earl continues to mumble about Nea going mad and him not being Mana, Tykki appears next to them and offers the Earl to take a rest within the Ark. The Earl prepares to open the Arc gate and at the same time says that the lost boy is going to return to their home. Nea quickly returns to the scene and states that the next time he'll be the one visiting the Earl in order to kill him for sure.

The earl tearfully gazes at Nea and stretches out his hand in his direction. He cries out Nea's name as Nea smiles to him and also stretches his hand. The earl and Wisely finally vanish in the Ark.

Abilities and Powers
Immense Physical Power: The Earl has displayed immense physical capabilities, able to fight on par with and even overcome such powerful Exorcists as Cross Marian and Allen Walker.

Extreme resistance: The Earl had a very solid body. He can receive bullets directly in the face and get away with mere scratches.

Auto-Healing: He can heal from scratches in a few seconds. The full extend of this ability has not been shown yet.



Swordsmanship: Using Lero, the Earl can form a great broadsword to use for close combat, though he has shown he doesn't necessarily need Lero to summon the sword. With this sword, the Earl can easily hold off Allen with his newly formed Crowned Clown. Oddly, when Allen forms his Sword of Exorcism, his sword and the Earl's are almost mirror images of one another, though the color schemes are inverted.

Telepathy: The Earl has been shown reading the minds of others and projecting his thoughts into their heads.

Sorcery: According to the skulls, The Earl is a powerful sorcerer. He is the one who created the barrier that protected the Akuma Egg. Natural abilities as a Noah: The Earl has several abilities that are natural to him, both by his station as the Earl and by his status as a member of the Noah Family. Like all other Noah, the Earl's abilities are based on Dark Matter.
 * Dark Matter Blast: The Earl has also shown the ability to create massive explosions of Dark Matter and spheres of Dark Matter which have the same explosive power and can be used in close combat. With just a single blast of Dark Matter, he was able to level all of Edo. He has also shown the ability to erect powerful barriers of Dark Matter for defense.
 * Akuma Blood Oil Virus Immunity: As a Noah, he is immune to the Akuma Blood Virus, which is normally fatal for all living things.
 * Control over the movements of Akuma and other Noah: As the head of the Noah Family, the Earl has absolute command over all the Akuma and the other members of the Noah Family.
 * Innocence Destruction: Like all Noah, he can also destroy Innocence with his bare hands.

Earl Costume: The Earl's most recognizable form is actually a costume he creates with his magic. The Earl has a great deal of control over this costume, as it has been shown only half covering the Earl's face as well as expanding enough to fill an alleyway. He can summon it and make it disappear at will.

Soul Consumption: In the past Allen described the Earl as one who devours the human soul. The Earl does this by extending bladed tendrils from his fingers which dissolve anyone who is pierced by them; the remains are then absorbed into the Earl. For some reason, Nea has managed to resist being absorbed after being pierced. It is unknow if it is thanks to his own ability of only if he was only hit on the shoulder.

Akuma creation and control: Unlike other members of the Noah Family, only the Earl can create Akuma, something he does by using their surviving and grieving loved ones to summon their souls back from Heaven before binding them to Dark Matter skeletons. Being their creator, the Akuma are his hands, feet, and eyes, and as such, can observe the world through them, as seen when the Fourteenth used a Level 4 to announce his awakening to the Earl. Through this connection, the Earl is able to summon hundreds of Akuma at a moment's notice, and can also mentally compel them to do his bidding.

Major Battles

 * The Earl VS The Heart Wielder
 * The Earl VS Nea D. Campbell
 * The Earl VS Allen Walker (Edo)
 * The Earl VS Allen Walker (Noah's Arc)
 * The Earl VS Allen Walker (as Nea)
 * The Earl VS Howard Link

Trivia

 * The Earl enjoys arranging his hats, alligator (as a food), and dislikes Exorcists.
 * The Earl appeared in the oneshot Zone with the same role as in D.Grayman, but with a not so cartoonish appearance, looking more like a demon.
 * Hoshino says she based the Millennium Earl off a legendary alchemist/preacher (most likely the Count of St Germain, also known as Nicolas Flamel) whose tale claims that he may still be alive somewhere.
 * In the course of 7000 years, the Millennium Earl vanished from this world only once.
 * "I already decided on what the Millennium Earl’s human face would look like before the series started running. That’s why I’m happy that I finally got to show his face. I remember creating him after thinking that having a tired older man as the final boss would be interesting considering grief is one of d.gray-man’s themes. I modelled his face after the editor of the JUMP J-books editorial department. My taste is completely reflected. I have something to say because people often have the wrong idea: while the Earl’s human version has a sweet tooth, he’s not fat…! He’s not !! I want to make that perfectly clear (laughs). I’ll reveal the secret of his outward appearance later down the story. I can’t say much yet, but that plumpness is very important (laughs)."

- Katsura Hoshino interview about the noah

Reception
The Millennium Earl has been well received by manga, anime and other publications. Reviewing the manga's first volume, A. E. Sparrow of IGN compared him to three of Batman 's villains: Penguin, the Joker and Two-Face, finding those similarities appealing. Additionally, Sparrow called the Millennium Earl a "menacing villain you'll love to hate".[10] Ross Liversidge of UK Anime Network also enjoyed the character, praising his changing design and villainous deeds.[11] Sheena McNeil agreed, saying that the Earl works well as the series' villain with his "loving tone as indicated by the hearts in his speech bubbles and his perpetual grin, both of which are there to make him all the more sinister by masking his true nature".[12] Tom Tonhat of the Escapist also praised the Earl's modus operandi of reviving the dead as Akuma, seeing it as a strong theme that allows viewers to symphatize with his victims. He also noted that the character's initial appearance as "nonthreatening as a portly gentleman clown" made his actions more hateful.[13] Todd Douglass, Jr. of DVD Talk called the Earl's transformation of humans into Akuma "fiendish".[14] Lynzee Loveridge of Anime News Network included him on the website's "7 Clowns to Haunt Your Nightmares" list.[15] Erin Finnegan of ANN found the character enigmatic because he "hangs out in an extra-dimensional space with randomly floating jack-o'-lanterns" and compared him to Mad Pierrot from the Cowboy Bebop anime series.[16]

Brian Henson of Mania Beyond Entertainment enjoyed the Earl and the Noahs' darkening of the storyline in later story arcs,[17] and Yussif Osman of Japanator called them evil but likeable.[18] Anime News Network writer Anne Lauenroth criticized the Earl's characterization in early episodes of D.Gray-man Hallow; although she had considered him "part buffoon, part evil clown" (which made him "a fascinating cross between weird and scary"), his "frozen grin from hell" was less frightening.[19] In a later review, Lauenroth wrote that the Earl had changed from a "intriguing" character during the events of Hallow and she did not understand his obsession with Nea.[20]Chris Kirby of the Fandom Post found the character's confrontation with Allen after the exorcist leaves the Order in the next arc a long, disappointing cliffhanger; readers had to wait for the English-language version to catch up to the Japanese one.[21] Earl's tapioca milk tea was served at the 2016 D. Gray-man Halloween Cafe in Tokyo,[22] and related patches, mobile phone charms and a cosplay costume were marketed.

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