Morrigan Aensland

For other uses of the word Succubus, see Succubus (disambiguation).

Morrigan Aensland (Japanese: モリガン・アーンスランド, Hepburn: Morigan Ānsurando) is a succubus video game character from the Darkstalkers series of fighting games developed by Capcom. She is voiced by Yayoi Jinguji.

Morrigan was introduced in Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors in 1994 and after that has appeared in every game in the series. Since then, she has also appeared in multiple video games outside of the Darkstalkers franchise and is widely perceived as the most popular Darkstalkers character and one of Capcom's flagship characters.

Morrigan is very vain, and lives for little more than the excitement of battle, although her endings in the games as well as various media show that Morrigan slowly takes up more of her responsibility seriously. She appears as a beautiful woman with long, light green hair, a very revealing top, and bat-like wings on her back and the sides of her head. Morrigan can reshape these wings into spikes and blades when attacking her enemies, as well as using them to shield herself from enemy attacks. Her wings can also separate from her, and form into a cloud of bats. She uses a variety of magical attacks as well.

Although Demitri would seem to fill the spot, it is often suggested and implied that Morrigan is the main character of the Darkstalkers series, due to her importance in the overall story as well as her many appearances outside of her game series. She may even be considered the protagonist or something of an anti-hero, since despite her demonic appearance and nature, she is not evil.

Morrigan Aensland
Series	Darkstalkers Marvel vs. Capcom Capcom vs. SNK
First game	Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors (1994)
Created by	Akira Yasuda
Designed by	CRMK (Darkstalkers, Darkstalkers 3, MvC, MvC2) Ikeno (Night Warriors) Shinkiro (Capcom vs. SNK) Kinu Nishimura (Capcom vs. SNK 2) Shukō Murase (anime)
Voiced by (English)	Saffron Henderson (cartoon) Kathleen Barr (anime) Erin Fitzgerald (Cross Edge) Siobhan Flynn (MvC3, "UMvC3")
Voiced by (Japanese)	Yayoi Jinguji (most games) Rie Tanaka (MvC3, "UMvC3",Project X Zone) Rei Sakuma (cartoon, anime, drama CD, Gunbird 2) Kikuko Inoue and Yumi Tōma (drama CDs)

Story

She is the daughter of Belial, one of the rulers of the Makai, or "demon world". She became head of the Aensland family after the death of Belial. Morrigan is a succubus and the adopted daughter of Belial Aensland. When she was born, Morrigan was extremely powerful (an "S Class" according to some Japanese source books), so much so that Belial sealed away part of her power, one-third in himself to be returned upon his death, and one-third in a pocket dimension, which eventually became a being of its own, a succubus named Lilith. Without knowing this, Morrigan grew up. She found her life in the Aensland castle dull, and so she visited the human world many times to look for some kind of entertainment. One night, she was drawn to a strange power (later identified as Pyron) and ventured into the human world once again.

After she returned from the human world, she was told that Belial had died and that she is the next successor to the throne of the Aensland family. Although she is rightfully the ruler of Makai, she keeps avoiding her responsibilities and continues her life as before. But when Jedah created the Majigen, she and her castle were pulled into Jedah's dimension. Sensing Lilith, Morrigan sets off hoping to find some sort of enjoyment. After she meets Lilith, the two become one again.

Character design

Morrigan is named after Morrígan, a goddess from the Celtic mythology. She appears as a beautiful young woman with long, light-green hair, large breasts, a tight leather leotard trimmed in feathers, purple nylons with bat patterns, black boots, and bat-like wings on her back and on top of her head. Morrigan can reshape these wings into spikes and blades when attacking her enemies, as well as using them to shield herself from enemy attacks; her wings can also separate from her, forming into a cloud of bats.

Prior to Morrigan's introduction in Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, the character went through several vastly different designs, as seen in her concept art pictures above

Morrigan was created by Akira Yasuda (Akiman). Early in the development of Darkstalkers, the development team decided to have two female characters: a catwoman and a female vampire, characters who would become Felicia and Morrigan, respectively. Initially, Felicia was intended to be the "sexy" female character of the title, while the vampire would be the "cute" female character. However, Morrigan's design took on a tone that emphasized sexiness, causing Felicia's character concept to be altered accordingly. Her costume mirrors "her personality: somewhere between a batlike demon and a charming lover."

Morrigan has had exactly the same 2D sprite set as far as Capcom vs. SNK 2 as she did in the original Darkstalkers game; her sprites looks especially out of place in the Capcom vs. SNK series as they gain a black outline in the borders. She received an updated character model only in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, which was also the first game in which she was featured as a 3D rendered model. In Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Femme Fatale Pack, which has been also available for free with pre-order from GameStop, Morrigan received a downloadable content (DLC) costume based on an outfit she wore in the Darkstalkers anime series.

Gameplay

Morrigan has moves based primarily on Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter. Morrigan's Darkness Illusion was the first super move to use the button press sequence (LP, LP, F, LK, HP) that is now commonly associated with the Shun Goku Satsu.

One of the many running jokes (and points of criticism) among fans is that she has had the exact same sprite set as far as Capcom vs. SNK 2 (2001) as she did in the original Darkstalkers (1994). Her sprites looks especially out of place in the Capcom vs. SNK series as they gain a black outline in the borders.

For more detailed information see Morrigan Aensland/Vampire Savior moveset information

Other appearances

Marvel vs. Capcom series

Morrigan was the original Darkstalker to break out of her original fighting game series and be transplanted in to the Marvel vs. Capcom series. In the first Marvel vs. Capcom game, not only was Morrigan present, but an alternate "Lilith-style" Morrigan was a secret character. In Marvel vs. Capcom 2, she is joined by fellow Darkstalkers Anakaris, B.B. Hood, and Felicia.

Namco X Capcom

Morrigan is one of the many protagonist characters in the game Namco X Capcom. She is initially introduced to the plot paying a courtesy call on Dimitri Maximoff, who initially wishes to fight her in a duel (as he would in a Darkstalkers/Vampire game), but she informs him of strange events causing dimensional disturbances in the Infernal World (an amalgam of the demon worlds from the Ghouls And Ghosts series and that of Darkstalkers/Vampire) and persuades him to look into it, where they soon meet up with the protagonist of The Legend Of Valkyrie, whom they assist in escaping a hopeless battle with Red Arremar (also of the Ghouls and Ghosts series, localized in America as "Firebrand") and his forces.

Soon after, they join forces with the other displaced warriors from different worlds and assist them in fighting the multitude of foes that threaten the fate of all their worlds.

Morrigan's role in the story is a major supporting role, as she is pivotal in securing Dimitri's cooperation with the other protagonists, and her reluctant acceptance of her duties to the house of Aensland (per her source canon) is a plot point.

Lilith Aensland is also connected to her story as a piece of her soul ripped away by the "Soul Edge" (the cursed sword from the Soul Calibur series), and she and Lilith are initially antagonists, but the connection that was binding Lilith to the Soul Edge is eventually broken and she persuades Lilith to join the protagonists.

Morrigan has a support attack with Dimitri called "Midnight Festival" and is one of the few people in the game who he tolerates speaking to him in a casual manner. Her "Super Attack" initially consists of herself and shadow clone of herself hitting an opponent with several powerful attacks, but after Lilith partners up with her over the course of the story, her "Super Attack" changes to have Lilith take the place of the shadow clone of herself.

A comment made by Dimitri to Morrigan at the end of the game confirms the events of Namco X Capcom are set after the final game in the main Darkstalkers/Vampire canon, and given Morrigan's reappearance in the upcoming Project X Zone alongside the two main heroes of Namco X Capcom (Reiji and Xiamou), the events of the Endless Frontier series by Bandai Namco take place during the interval between Namco X Capcom and Project X Zone.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

Morrigan is the sole Darkstalkers/Vampire representative for the Capcom half of the character roster in both the Japanese only 2008 release and the international 2010 release. Like the other characters, her reasons for being involved in the plot are ill defined (due to the somewhat plotless nature of the game aside from a general theme of the characters being brought together by dimensional instabilities), but she mostly is concerned with enjoying herself.

Ironically, when fighting Doronjo (from the Yatterman series), she is criticized by Doronjo for her racy outfit and its impact on children, despite Doronjo looking like a dominatrix who often had her bare breasts exposed quite often in her original anime incarnation. In terms of gameplay, she is somewhat slower than her other incarnations in other fighting games, though her attacks are wider and have more power; this change is apparently to keep her from being overly imbalanced due to the presence of extremely large and slow playable characters. Ryu from Street Fighter (also in the same game) has a similar moveset (since Morrigan's was derived from his own), but she has better recovery/move execution timing time and better air throws, whereas he has better super moves.

The ending of the game is also different depending on the version. In the original version, she wound up entering our world and playing the game in an arcade against a kid named Manabu, who she beat in the original version, but in the international release, she loses. The text was changed from the arcade version when it was ported to the Wii (for context reasons), and the original version was fully animated while the international version had static cut ins, though the artworks was somewhat improved in the international version. Also, Yatterman-1 and -2 can be seen walking by in the international version, watching on as Morrigan gets frustrated over losing. It's also amusingly implied that Morrigan lost to her own character avatar in the in universe arcade game.

It's placement in the overall sequence of canonical appearance by Morrigan is somewhat unclear.

Other Games

Morrigan was the original Darkstalker to break out of her original fighting game series and be transplanted in to the Marvel vs. Capcom series. In Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (1998), not only was Morrigan present, but an alternate "Lilith-style" Morrigan was a secret character. In her intro-sprite, Lilith appears and merges with her in a nod to when the two merged in Morrigan's ending in Vampire Savior. In Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), she is joined by fellow Darkstalkers Anakaris, B.B. Hood, and Felicia. Morrigan acts as the sole representative of the Darkstalkers series in the Capcom vs. SNK games, making appearances in both Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 and Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001. Morrigan represented the series along with Felicia and B.B. Hood in SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium (1999) and was Darkstalkers representative for fighting crossovers with Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes (2008), Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (2010), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), accompanied in these titles by Felicia and Hsien-ko.

Morrigan has also represented Darkstalkers in non-fighting roles, appearing in the crossover tactical RPG Namco × Capcom (2005) and the multi-company crossover tactical role-playing games Cross Edge (2008) and Project X Zone (2012), in all cases appearing with other Darkstalkers personalities, as well as in the puzzle game Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (1996, with a super deformed design), the card game SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash (1999), in the Sega Dreamcast port of the 2D shooting game Gunbird 2 (2000, as a secret character), in the North American version of We Love Golf! (2008), and in the Japanese version of Monster Hunter Frontier (2011). With all of her appearances in Capcom crossover projects, Morrigan is the single most common Darkstalkers cast member to appear outside of the origin series. She is also featured in her own mobile game, titled Osanpo Morrigan (お散歩モリガン, "Morrigan Taking a Walk"), and makes a cameo appearance in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game.

UDON Comics

In the UDON Comics version of Darkstalkers, Morrigan is a brash 300-year-old succubus who wants nothing more than to visit the human world and have a good time, often at the expense of the men she seduces, and completely ignores her duty as future ruler of the Makai Realm; this annoys her father, Belial, and gets her two servants, Lucien and Mudo into heaps of trouble. Eventually she hears of Demitri's restoration, and goes to her father to warn him, only to find that he is in no position to fight. For the first time, she takes on the responsibility that she has often put aside, and returns to the human world to fight Demitri, and prove herself worthy of the Makai Realm and the power that Belial sealed away many years ago.

American Cartoon

Amongst the drastic character changes was Morrigan, who was changed into a villain, much to the dismay of fans of the games. Morrigan's character in the cartoon was a typical cartoon female villain (jealous, rude, power-hungry, and despised men). She was also stated to be a direct descendant of Morgan le Fay, and not the daughter of Belial or a resident of the Makai (let alone the ruler). Her appearance was also drastically altered, making her much older and less revealing.

Anime

The Japanese-produced Night Warriors: Darkstalker's Revenge anime featured Morrigan more like her game appearances, portraying her as a semi-innocent demon world inhabitant, a member of the royal family who was more interested in going to Earth than in her duties. The picture of idle rich, she would often leave at will out of mere boredom, much to the frustration of her guardians, elder men of the Aensland family. Morrigan's role as a hero was a focus, with her activities as a succubus downplayed; although the OVA depicts Donovan Baine as the main hero of the story, some say that Morrigan was also a little more stoic and pretentious than her usually upbeat personality depicted in the games. She is also shown fighting Jon Talbain in the episode intros for the first three episodes.

Fighting game appearances

• Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors - 1994
• Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge - 1995
• Darkstalkers 3 - 1997
• Vampire Savior 2 - 1997 (Japan only)
• Vampire Hunter 2 - 1997 (Japan only)
• Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes - 1997
• Pocket Fighter - 1997
• SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium - 1999
• Vampire Chronicle for Matching Service - 2000 (Japan only)
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes - 2000
• Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 - 2000
• Capcom vs. SNK: Pro - 2000
• Capcom vs. SNK 2 - 2001
• Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection - 2005
• Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower - 2005
• Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes - 2008 (Japan) 2010 (US)
• Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds / Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011)
• Darkstalkers Resurrection (2013)

Non-fighting game appearances

• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo - 1996
• Gunbird 2 - 1998
• Namco x Capcom - 2005 (Japan only)
• Cross Edge - 2008 (Japan) 2009 (US)
• Project X Zone - 2012 (Japan only)

In merchandise

Scores of various figures and stauettes of Morrigan were produced by different manufacturers, including by Bandai (2002), Banpresto (1998, 2004, 2008), Epoch (2003), HBC-Brote, Heihachi Zazen (2005, 2008), Kotobukiya (2005), Kurushima (2001), Max Factory (2009), Mersa (2011), Moby Dick, Modeler's High (2004), Oonishi Kouji, OOXOO (2010), Organic (2006), Pop Culture Shock Collectibles (2009), SOTA Toys (2011), Yamato (two in 2006), Yoiko (2004) and Yujin (2002, 2003, 2006), among many others.

Reception

Morrigan is widely seen as the most iconic character of Darkstalkers. Sega Saturn Magazine praised both her design and abilities as "awesome". Featuring Morrigan and Felicia in their girls of gaming special in 2003, Play Magazine wrote that the two are famous for how they "unified the haunting with the erotic, along with previously unseen level of animation and creature design." The 2009 book 500 Essential Anime Movies: The Ultimate Guide by Helen McCarthy cited Morrigan as an example of the popularity of the Darkstalkers character designs, with fans frequently cosplaying as the character at various conventions since the original game's release. In 2010, UGO's Chris Plante called her "Darkstalkers' most recognizable character [and] also wildly popular with cosplayers." In 2011, GameFront's Phil Owen run a feature article showcasing some of Morrigan's (and Lilith's) cosplayers, calling it "probably the sexiest gallery I’ve ever posted."

According to GameSpot, "Morrigan has been a mainstay in the Capcom crossover fighting games and is definitely a fan favorite." In 1998, Morrigan was named the 17th best character of 1997 by the Japanese magazine Gamest. Play Magazine featured her in the "Girls of Anime" special, later regretting her absence in Capcom Fighting Evolution in their "Girls of Gaming" special. In 2008, Morrigan was included on a list of top "chicks behaving badly" for her "penchant for magic and kick-ass fighting moves" by IGN's Scott Cullura, her outfit described as "one that would make even Jenna Jameson blush." She was also featured in a list of ten "babes who shouldn't meet your mom" by GameDaily in 2008, as well as in a list of ten "game girls you wouldn't dare to date" by Virgin Media in 2010. Also in 2010, Game Informer chose Morrigan as one of the 20 Capcom characters they would like to see in a rumored crossover fighting game Namco Vs Capcom, her Namco side equivalent being Ivy Valentine. In 2012, Complex Magazine ranked Morrigan as the 13th "most dominant" fighting game character for being "super sexual but also super deadly," also including "Capcom vs. DC Universe" as third fighting game crossover idea they would like to see the most, for a battle between Morrigan and Wonder Woman. That same year, Lucas Sullivan of GamesRadar ranked Morrigan as the fourth best character in the fighting game genre's history, stating: "This sultry succubus is one of fighting games' leading ladies, striking a balance between the dignified seriousness of Chun-Li and the hyper-sexualized cleavage-heaving antics of Mai Shiranui" and adding that "besides her full-time gig as a male fantasy, Morrigan’s made quite a name for herself, showing up in almost every Capcom crossover and spin-off." Also in 2012, MSN included her among the 20 "hottest women in video game history".

Morrigan was often noted as one of the most sexy characters of fighting games and gaming in general. In 2003, GameSpy's Bryan Johnson ranked Morrigan as the third top "babe in games", calling her Capcom's answer to SNK's Mai Shiranui. UGO included Morrigan on their 2008 list of 11 "hottest babes to ever hit the video game world", stating that "her appearances across the Capcom fighting franchises prove that the company has an excellent eye for the female form", as well as in the 2011 list of 50 "hottest girls in games", adding that "with a body like that, we can ignore those wings coming out of her head." In 2009, Gelo Gonzales of FHM listed the "undeniably seductive" Morrigan among the nine sexiest "bad girls of videogame land", while Manolith included her on the lists of top ten "sexiest video game women" and 25 "hottest female video game protagonists". In 2010, Johnny Firecloud of CraveOnline featured her on the list of ten "hottest video game girls of all time", commenting: "The iconic succubus [...] is more than just an anatomic wonder - she's also one of the single most sexually stylistic ladies in gaming land." In 2011, UGO ranked her as the fourth in their list of the "foxiest fighting females to ever be pixelated," while GameFront featured her twice on the list of "greatest boobs in video game history", as 37th (for the Darkstalkers version, called the "reason 12 year olds packed arcades into the late 90s") and 11th (for the Marvel Vs. Capcom version, being "50% of all Comic Con costumes"). That same year, Japanator.com's Bob Muir included her on the list of "Japanese gaming's top ten hottest girls", stating: "In fact, Morrigan is so popular that many people know of her sultry looks who have never touched a Darkstalkers game." In 2011, Rich Knight of Complex pitted her against Agent Rayne in the "battle of the beauties" feature, comparing them to "the sexy goth girls you were too afraid to ask out in high school" and choosing Morrigan. In 2012, Larry Hester of Complex ranked also her as the third "hottest" character video game in video game history, while K. Thor Jensen of UGO included her among the 99 "hottest" fictional women of 2012, calling her as "the best thing" in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3.

Gallery

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  Official art of Morrigan in her Darkstalkers appearances.

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  Official art of Morrigan in her Darkstalkers appearances, done in high resolution cel shading.

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  Morrigan and Lilith in her ending in Darkstalkers 3.

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  Official art of Morrigan in her Tatsunoko vs Capcom appearance.

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  Official art of Morrigan as depicted in Cross Edge

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  Official art of Morrigan wearing a bikini (alternate costume) in Cross Edge.

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  Official art of Morrigan wearing an obi (alternate costume) in Cross Edge.

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  Official art of Morrigan wearing a wedding dress (alternate costume) in Cross Edge.

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  Official art of Morrigan wearing casual clothing (alternate costume) in Cross Edge.

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  Offical art of Morrigan as depicted in Marvel Vs Capcom 1 and 2.

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  Promotional art of Morrigan as depicted in Marvel Vs Capcom 3.

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  Official art of Morrigan from her Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 appearance.

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  Figurine of Morrigan Aensland

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  Figurine of Morrigan Aensland

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  Figurine of Morrigan Aensland

See Also

• Lilith Aensland

External links

• Morrigan Aensland at Wikipedia
• Morrigan's Darkstalkers and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 entries at StrategyWiki.org
• GameSpy.com's "Top Ten Babes in Games" feature.
• Morrigan Aensland at the Capcom Database Wiki