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 'cast god into outer darkness' and cause another three days of darkness.

Spoiler Note
Night 219 reveals

Appearance
The Earl resembles a grotesque caricature of a Victorian gentleman. A rotund figure, he has 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 eating, and his eyes are permanently hidden behind a pair of pince-nez spectacles. In the first few appearances he appeared to have slit pupils, but this has not been repeated in later instalments.

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 has another set of bunny ears. In reality has revealed two devil-like horns under his hat. He is sometimes seen as being more friendly or goofy looking in both the manga and anime due to his smile and otherwise flamboyant way of speaking. He is almost always "happy" in appearance and only rarely "frightening", an example being in chapter 134 when he exhibits extreme rage at the loss of the Ark due to the previous actions of The 14th. Recently his art style has gone through minor changes, most notably The Earl's face being slightly shorter and rounder, along with a slight change in body shape. In his encounter with Allen chapter 218 and onward the Earl has shown that his body can morph at will into more nightmarish and grotesque forms when loosing control of emotion.

The Earl has been shown to have a human form. It was first seen in chapter 158, where he appears as a typical Victorian gentleman in a suit and top hat, and a monocle over his left eye. His face is rarely seen and when it is, it is often hidden, though this has changed in recent chapters. When his human form is shown in full he resembles a tall handsome middle-aged man with beard-mustache combo stubble, medium length dark hair, and wears a human sized version of his usual attire. He has 6 buttons on his jacket and a stripped green and black 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:



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 slimmer 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, friendly and carefree character, almost like a friendly old uncle.. 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 supposedly 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 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. The Earl is unusually insulted when referring to the weight of his "suit form", playfully commenting he "isn't fat" when prodded by family members such as Tyki. This is a somewhat running gag among the noah considering his awkward embarrassment and denial.

He has also displayed a manipulative side, capable of acting out sheer, sadistic malice, happily playing with people's lives. 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; in this moment of seriousness he didn't end any of his sentences with a heart.

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, refusing to ever forgive him for his actions. He is also shown to be affectionate to the point of obsession towards certain people, namely Nea. The other noah even go so far as to call him "love struck" and he claims to want to be by his side, chasing Nea down to the ends of the Earth. This obsession is the catalyst for the entire Alma Karma arc, the objective being to obtain Nea so he can continue to be with him. Eventually this leads to his run in with Allen in the Search for Allen Walker arc, being so incredibly overwhelmed by emotion and sorrow he breaks down crying in his arms after almost killing him, only because Nea chose to acknowledge his existence and offer the slightest hint of kindness. This bipolarity continues later on continuing to switch between worrying greatly and crying over Nea to actively trying to absorb him into his very being by "devouring" him after being betrayed.

In addition, when confronting Allen during his run from Apocryphos, the Earl shows he is not always menacing or collected. During this chapter due to high emotional strain he maddly chants Nea's name constantly asking him why he doesn't recognize him all the while his body and face in suit form grow more deranged and aggressive. He then remembers Mana suddenly and starts blaming him for an unknown event.

The Earl has shown a deep hatred for both Innocence and Humanity. Despite this he does have a somewhat soft spot for humans, especially children, as seen when he buys flowers for a little girl, and bringing a little boy back to his mother in a chapter of the reverse novels. He also lets Allen live when he fails to turn him into an Akuma, despite later questioning why he did so, stating it was fate. His favorite food is crocodile.

The Earl is perfectly conscious that the humans consider him to be the villain. Despite this he is never stated to be evil and claims that he creates akumas for the sake of humans. He has a mission to achieve no matter what and is ready to make any sacrifice to do so. Much about his personal life and true motivations are still unclear.

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.

Continue
In Continue, the Earl is an alien invader who attacked the home planet of Shiropin located light years 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 corrupt the moon and then the earth.

The Earl possesses a zombie to attack Taiyo Yamamoto but he is defeated when Taiyo gains the power of Shiropin. He later sends an text message to Koji saying "Sorry to bother you Koji. I am the Millennium Earl". He possesses 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 severs 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.

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