My favourite character in the series is Folken, one of Dornkirk's chief henchmen, part mechanical and in many ways the
most tragic character in the entire series. Not that he'll ever say that. No while everyone else is doing the
'woe is me' bit, he tends to hide in shadows and plan.
He is one of the few occasional restraining influences on Dilandau, very, very occasionally, and in one of the not exactly
twists of the series is also Van's brother.
He's one of these torn characters normally found in animes, who I tend to like because they are rather interesting.
That is another thing in favour of Escaflowne, while the good guys may be rather bland and in the case of Hitomi rather annoying,
all of the bad guys have so many shades of grey. Even Dornkirk.
So why Folken? Well first he doesn't spend the entire series mooning over Hitomi (sorry, I will never see the attraction
of that girl), and secondly he is so calm and controlled. He never gives anything away. And then there are the
catgirls. It's always the catgirls. The way he treats Eriya and Neriya is so out of character for a bad guy, and
he's always so concerned about them. That he was kind enough to them to earn their unswerving loyalty must also mean
something.
