Gabriel Miller, Gaming Sociopath

Sword Art Online: Alicization- War of Underworld Episode 28 Review/Recap

Sword Art Online has given us its fair share of villains over the years. While at are great hat sinks (*cough* Sugou and Quinella *cough*), I wouldn’t put them on a list of great anime villains. However, the exception to that has to be the big bad for War of Underworld, Gabriel Miller. I said that he’s a sociopath in my last post. However, it’s not until this episode that shows us how much of a gaming sociopath he is.

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Recap

Through a series of flashbacks, we learn about Gabriel’s past. As a boy, Gabriel was fascinated by the idea of the soul, and longed to understand its power. This grew into an obsession as he got older, until one day, he murdered his best friend and childhood sweetheart, Alicia. As she died, he saw her soul leave her body, leading him to spend his life to experiencing that moment again.

In Underworld, Gabriel assumes the role of Vector and seizes power as Emperor of the Dark Territory. Playing off Underworld’s mythology, he vows to invade the Human Empire, promising its land for all in exchange for Alice. However, that night, a woman who’s opposed to his invasion tries to assassinate him. He kills her, and as she dies, witnesses her soul leave her body. Which he then eats.

The following day, Gabriel presents the frozen head of the woman to everyone, which leads to her leader/lover to attack Gabriel by incarnating himself into a storm. That storm’s then sucked into Gabriel’s soul, revealed to be a black void. Unphased, Gabriel then orders the invasion of the Human Empire to begin.

Review

It’s as I said: Gabriel Miller is a gaming sociopath. He’s got no ability to feel emotion, and his soul’s an all-encompassing void that devours everything. In other words, he’s the most evil person in SAO.

As good as the episode was at demonstrating how much of a sociopath Gabriel is, it leaves out some details from the web and light novels. Before he killed Alicia, he started taking insects apart so he could see their souls. That’s very disturbing! In addition to this, the light novel mentions how he becomes obsessed with Alice due to how she looks like Alicia. Even their names are the same. His ultimate goal is to steal Alice for himself and enslave her for his own, perverted goals.

Gabriel Miller’s the most dangerous enemy Kirito and his friends will ever face, and it will take everything they have to destroy him. I am personally looking forward to the fight between Kirito and Gabriel; we know it’s coming. If the show pulls it off right, this may be one of the biggest arcs anime has seen in a decade.

The war for Underworld is mere days away, and a gaming sociopath is leading the Dark Territory. They have 50,000 warriors to the Human Empire’s 3,000. Even with the Integrity Knights power, the heroes will need a miracle. Since Kirito’s in a coma, then maybe Asuna will do the trick!

I Give “Dark Territory” a 3/5. Getting better.

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