Noise Marie

Noise Marie is a fictional character in the ongoing anime and manga series D. Gray Man.

Appearance
Noise is a dark-skinned man of large stature. (Though, Hoshino's coloring seems to change every other month). He often wears the standard order uniform. In most recent chapters, Marie has been seen with his head shaved. His headphones, likely a product of the Science Department, are almost always worn, so to amplify / focus / and limit his hearing. His Innocence, too, is generally worn, and seems to be ten metal rings (one for each finger, of course) from which the strings of Noel Organon are produced.

Personality
Noise fits the archetype of "gentle giant" very well. A calming presence, Marie tends to keep his composure and exert a steadying influence on those around him. With the added insight of Kanda's background chapters, one can fairly say that Marie harbors great affection for and devotion to his comrades.

His laid-back attitude can be seen in his interactions with Kanda Yuu and their General, Tiedoll. Though equally frustrated by the difficult task of finding the General, it is Marie who notes, simply, that that is the sort of person Tiedoll is. It is worth noting that Kanda Yuu works with Noise Marie (and Daisya Barry) -- there is no clear leader, yet they come to easy agreements and strategize well. When laid-up in bed recovering, Marie observes (...audially...) Kanda snapping at their General, and advises him to give up, because once again, "that's how Master is". It's easy to conjecture that this part of his personality derives partially from his handicap. This is conjecture, however, one can imagine that being unable to see, yet having such superior hearing, would compel him to take a backseat, to listen and wait, allowing others the initiative to prevent from startling them.

A number of incidents display his extreme regard for his comrades. While the initial reaction to Daisya's death is grim, but businesslike, when Kanda seems to be lost with the Ark, Marie says, "first Daisya, now Kanda..." When Allen appears, Marie is even then overjoyed, which might seem strange, as they've not been shown at that point to have interacted at all. He is, of course, ecstatic when Kanda shows. Much later, when the Generals intend to sacrifice Miranda to secure the Akuma egg, Marie is notably panicked. He shouts wild protests, seriously losing his cool, and after she is rescued, doesn't let her go for the remainder of the battle. This regard received considerable expansion through Kanda's background chapters. After the battle in which he is blinded and everyone else died, Marie is shockingly fatalistic. He is not the man who, in an instant, severed his fingers to survive. Though smiling, though calm, he tells Bak that next time, he'll "be able to die", expressing it as relieving, as he'd no longer have to fight smelling his friends' corpses. Later, after he's saved by Kanda from becoming an experiment for project that produced Kanda, Kanda marvels at Marie's calm. Marie notes that inside he's furious, insanely angry; but because Kanda's there, he can keep it together.

What one takes from that is the following: Marie is extremely reliant on his friends and fellow Exorcists. Much as Lenalee's world, for which she fights, is composed of those for whom she cares in the Black Order, Marie lives for his friends. The thought or event of one of them dying is devastating. He hopes to find a way to pull Allen and Kanda out of the darkness that surrounds them -- and as such, while his friends are alive and he can possibly help them, he will not die. The man who wished to die becomes the man who, without a second thought, slices off his fingers to prevent death by Akuma poison.

On this same note, Marie is peculiar. Kanda cannot believe that Marie is so calm, because it is completely abnormal. When Marie advises Allen against expressing concern for the Akuma, it is not as Allen expects (and thusly apologizes), because of how the Akuma have hurt him, because of his fingers and other injuries. It is because Marie worries that Allen's attitude will put him in an even worse, even more isolated place within the Order. When it comes to his comrades, Marie supercedes the normal reaction, maintaining unnatural calm, or expressing no regard for himself. Does he hate the Akuma? Does it matter, if Allen doesn't?

Miscellaneous information courtesy of the databook: Marie's favorite food is dorayaki, he dislikes Traps, and his interest is "appreciate classics". Presumably musically.



Background
Noise has been with the Order for a long time. During Yu Kanda's memory flash back to around nine years ago, Noise is seen at the Asian Branch with blood stained bandages around his eyes, having received the injury that blinded him during a mission in which the entire rest of his team was killed. He tells a concerned young Bak Chan he can still play besides his injury and that his playing on his Innocence is a tribute to his fallen comrades who are in Heaven. He and Bak are then shocked when a dripping wet young boy climbs out of the river and falls injured next to them. Noise helps pick the boy up and removes a spike from his back, unbeknown that this the young Yu Kanda and this would mark the first meeting of the two in their lives. Later, it appears as though Noise is mortally wounded by Akuma and about to be adopted into the Second Exorcist project.

As Kanda is planning his escape he walks past a fatally wounded Noise laying on a table. Noticing the large wound on his head, Kanda places his hand on Noise's forehead; causing some of the blood from his cut up hand to drop into Marie's open wound. Kanda's blood causes Noise to regenerate, sealing up the wound; leaving a scar in the shape of Kanda's tattoo; and wake up from his death-like state. Kanda takes Marie with him in search of Alma, but Marie is further wounded by Alma during a battle between him and Kanda. It is unknown what happened to him afterwards, but the data book indicates that within the next year, Kanda joined General Tiedoll's team -- and, of course, Tiedoll is Marie's General as well.

Edo arc
Noise is first seen traveling with the team seeking General Tiedoll, composed of Kanda Yuu, Daisya Barry, and himself. They eventually track down the General, but not before Daisya Barry is killed by a Noah (Tyki Mikk). General Tiedoll refuses to abandon his mission (defeat Akuma and recover Innocence) to return to Headquarters, so Kanda and Marie join him. The team eventfully makes it to Edo and help the severely outmatched Cross's team. Noise quickly stops several combined Akuma while his team destroys them. When the Earl levels the area Noise retreats to find somewhere safe and rejoins the battle against the Earl and the Noahs.

When the Earl leaves everyone retreats to a bridge for cover and a break. Noise hears something strange and a portal opens under their feet sucking in Allen, Lavi, Kanda, Lenalee, and Chaoji. The group is intermediately attacked by combined Akuma. Noise helps force them back until he hears a very strange noise and they find Noah's ark in the sky. Noise keeps fighting until there are no more Akuma. He goes back to headquarters and takes a break. (I'm leaving these two lines in because they are hilarious. Who wrote this?) When the Ark disappears, he expresses devastation with the rest; when it reappears, he is likewise overjoyed. After everything, he is one of the bed-ridden Exorcists in the Infirmary. He's seen complaining about having super-hearing while near Crowley, whose stomach is incredibly loud, and also telling Kanda to give up resisting Tiedoll (who made him a sweater).

HQ Invasion Arc
When hordes of Akuma swarm headquarters, Noise Marie and Miranda Lotto are ordered to the scene, as two of the few Exorcists whose Innocence are functional. When Miranda attempts to keep the egg from disappearing through a portal via her time-based Innocence, the Noah Lulu Bell launches an attack to incapacitate her, while using Miranda as a shield to take the egg behind. The Generals prepare to sacrifice Miranda in order to keep the egg, and Marie becomes incredibly upset, shouting wildly, absolutely panicked, begging them not to do it. Happily, Allen saves Miranda, and for the remainder of the arc, Marie is never shown not holding her.



While holding Miranda (overlooked by Bookman), Noise hears something horrible and recognizes it as an Akuma. Unfortunately, this recognition served to remind the Akuma that, oh yeah, I'm an Akuma, I gotta kill these dudes! The Level 4 thusly "awakens", fighting Allen, and totalling the area. Eventually, the Akuma is defeated, and Marie is seen telling a conscious but exhausted Miranda that she's done well, that it's over, and she can stop.

When the Black order moved its headquarters, Noise is one of the people that became a zombie, courtesy of an oddly tender neck-bite from Miranda. He is eventually cured with the rest, thank youuuu Bak.

Timothy arc
Much later, Noise joins a team of Allen Walker (+ Howard Link) and Kanda Yuu on a mission to investigate missing Finders. The Finders ended up in jail without any memory of how they'd landed there, and dressed in bizarre, identical costumes. Thanks to Marie's ability to trace the "unique" cries of "Thief G", they discover that the culprit is a boy named Timothy who can take control of anyone using Innocence.

When they find the boy, Kanda notices an odd jewel on his forehead. When Marie asks "What is it?" in response to Kanda's surprise, we're treated to an infamous (in my head) piece of speech "Oh right, you're blind, you can't see it. He's got a jewel...". Kanda has only known Marie for nine entirely blind years. Smooth, Hoshino. Anyhoodle, Kanda threatens to take Timothy back to the Black Order by force, and Marie apologizes for his behavior. Akuma attack the orphanage where Timothy and the exorcists are. They are immediately thrown up against another Level 4. Noise helps defeat the weaker Akuma while Allen and Kanda handle the Level 4. The Level 4 then morphs his hands into Gatling guns, first knocking off and damaging Noise's headphones, then striking him between two fingers with one Blood Bullet. Before the virus can fully spread, Noise quickly slices off the two fingers with his strings.

Noise returns to headquarters with Timothy making him an exorcist. Noise is later given a mission in Istanbul and makes a stop at the Asian headquarters for supplies and some information on the area.

Aside from his appearances in Kanda's memory in the most recent arc, Noise was shown to be on a team with Lavi in Mount Huang, China. His voice is heard by golem or radio, asking Lavi what the matter was, as Noah had just appeared.

Innocence
His Anti-Akuma Weapon is an equip type Innocence called Noel Organon (聖人ノ詩篇) which allows for offense by forming strings used to capture a victim and conduct music that paralyzes the Akuma. It has shown to be able to incapacitate even multiple Giant Akuma. He can also use the strings to wrap around Akuma or other surfaces and slice things with his strings. He uses this ability to kill multiple Level 1 Akuma at once, and to cut off his own fingers which struck by an Akuma's bullet.

This section used to state that his Innocence enabled his advanced hearing, interpreting his headphones as part of it. However, equipment type Innocence is only one thing, whether sword, or boots. It wouldn't be headphones and strings. Furthermore, the chapters that handle Kanda's background show a recently blinded Marie only just developing super-hearing, in that first doesn't recognize Bak's voice, but later recognizes Kanda when all the kid says is "eeeeh".
 * Verse of the Saint: This is the name of the ability that Marie uses to play music through his strings to paralyze the giant Akuma. He first of all unleashes his strings, which attach themselves to the Akuma, holding them. Then Marie claps his hands together, says the name of the ability, and music plays along the strings to the Akuma, creating cherubs which dance and play around the frozen Akuma. Marie himself does not have to play the strings to create the music.

Trivia

 * Fandom likes to read into Marie's panic over Miranda's jeopardized life. Marie, arguably, would have reacted as passionately for any Exorcist (observe that in the past, after his comrades have died, he hopes to die next time). But, it's hard to blame fandom: even after Miranda is no longer in danger, every panel sighting of Marie has him holding her, refusing to let go. Further, during the Zombie Arc (the Black Order is Destroyed!), though Miranda is actually turning Marie into a zombie, Hoshino certainly draws the process very softly. From his concern, to the gentle image of her biting his neck, to his extreme fluster ... well, as said, it's hard to blame 'em.
 * Marie is one of the few people that Yu Kanda listens to and respects.