Houkai is a disaster that inhibits the development of civilization, and the spokespersons of Houkai (except Welt) are a group of people who embody the will to Houkai and try to destroy mankind. As the most threatening and highest form of Houkai, these "creatures" that cannot be explained by common sense is called the Herrscher.
Official Herrscher Library
Every Great Houkai will give birth to a Herrscher. The Herrscher has strong adaptability to Houkai. Even when they were born, they had certain characteristics of Herrscher ability, so it is speculated that the location of the Great Houkai was not random, but because the region has humans with the characteristics of Herrscher that caused the explosion of the Great Houkai. However, the number of such humans is extremely small. The current information shows that the purpose of the Herrscher is to execute the will to Houkai, showing a strong desire to destroy existing things.
- According to official game lore, a Herrscher in HG2 have at least 6000HW in Era: ZERO and seems this value does not increase with more Herrscher created.
- According to R15 story, Honkai is Honkai energy itself, and Honkai energy is a kind of energy that have life, and it has thoughts. So when someone become a Herrscher, it turns into another copy of consciousnesses which is under control of the Will of Houkai.
- As of Protracted War (2062), Kyuusyou is the only Herrscher on Earth due to her core cannot be uninstalled.
An advanced existence that is the 2nd Herrscher is also a human being endowed with powerful abilities due to the ability to be transformed by the Houkai.
There are many reasons for the Herrscher creation, the most common is the humans with higher qualifications. It may also be the materialization of a certain concept by Houkai. There are also special cases where the original Herrscher has disappeared, the remaining Houkai can gather to form a new Herrscher.
Although the pseudo-Herrscher person isn't as scary as the Herrscher, if the pseudo-Herrscher person is allowed to exist, even if its Houkai cannot develop to the level of the Herrscher, it will still become a very huge threat.
| Number | Title | Character | Core type | Ability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Herrscher of ? | Welt (former) Houraiji Kyuusyou |
Removable crystal (Not removable on Kyuusyou) | Not fully disclosed, known to manipulate gravity as one of the capabilities. Can be removed and tranferred without killing the host (except Kyuusyou), |
| 2 | Herrscher of the Void | Kiana Kaslana (2008) Houraiji Kyuusyou (former) Sirin (Resurrected) |
Removable plate-like object | Manipulating Imaginary Space.
In the 2062 lore, it is suggested that the 2nd Herrscher power allows user to create any matter out of thin air. |
| 3 | Herrscher of Thunder | Raiden Mei | Control electromagnetic field | |
| 4 | ||||
| 5 | Herrscher of Metal | Nina | Gold crystal self-destructed and shattered into 5 pieces, which was later used as the core of 5 Artificial Herrscher. | Absorb metal and recast |
| 6 | Herrscher of Wind | Wendy | Control air pressure
Invisibility/Radar scramble | |
| 7 | Herrscher of Rock | Azta | Manipulate rocks, meteorites and magma | |
| X | Herrscher of the End | God Kiana | Assume same core as the original | Absolute control over Houkai energy. Able to spawn dead spots. |
| ? | Herrscher of ? | Seele Vollerei (Retro) | Gem of Serenity (blue crystal as big as her hand) | ? |
Houkai CROSS Herrscher
| Title | Character | Ability |
|---|---|---|
| Herrscher of Reality | Cyber Phantom | Is known to have same looking and capability as Bronya, also use a motorbike. |
| Herrscher of Sentience | Fu Hua (?) | Use 3 main weapons: Short sword, spear and chain blades. Rides using a big hovering sword. |
- Herrscher of Reality seems to be an unknown alien entity that look like Bronya appeared in Avalon space, described as "Cyber Phantom" by Femirins.
- Herrscher of Sentience appeared in Legacy after Hokushin Mei go out from the safe house for a while due to boredom. Mei mistakened her as Fu Hua and when she turns back to the safe house, Mei realized Fu Hua hadn't been out at the night.
Pseudo-Herrscher
The superior existence second to the Herrscher is also a human being endowed with powerful abilities due to being able to be transformed by the Houkai. There are many reasons for the emergence of Pseudo-Herrscher, the most common reason is the high-level zombies and humans with higher qualifications. It may also be the materialization of a certain concept by the Houkai. There are also special cases where the original Herrscher has disappeared, the remaining Houkai can gather to form a new sample of Herrscher. Although the Pseudo one as terrible as the Herrscher, if the Pseudo-Herrscher is allowed to exist, even if the Houkai cannot develop to the level of the Herrscher, it will still become a very huge threat.
Pseudo-Herrscher list:
- Yae Sakura: A shrine maiden in a Japan village, corrupted by the God's box carried by Kallen Kaslana. Sakura later appeared in the third Great Houkai and was beaten by Kiana Kaslana, then transferred her power to Theresa Apokalypse, causing Theresa to have fox ears and tail.
- Shion: A shrine maiden who enshrines the god-knowing fox, died in troubled times at the hands of robbers who came to snatch food from the famine. Her body was buried by Fu Hua and due to resentment by the Houkai power, transforming into Houkai creatures to attack human beings for revenge.
- Anira: A girl who appeared with the "nightmare" is suspected to be the incarnation of the Black Death created by the Houkai. Being liberated from a nightmare for unknown reasons, there is no specific way to eliminate her so far.
- Chloe: Chloe is a puppet who played the violin in the opera house was given eternal life by The Puppeteer and became the guardian of the theater.
- Shigure Kira (Retrospect): A member of Snow Wolf Squad, her corpse was eroded by Kukulkan's Houkai energy and became a mimic.
- Claire: Heavily corrupted by the Houkai, was beaten by Flora.
Artificial Herrscher
The product of Otto's new experiment, using the Herrscher Core allows humans to evolve into "creatures" that exist similar to the Herrscher. The winner is more powerful than the general Valkyrie, has the ability to be comparable to the Herrscher, possesses an accelerated healing factor just like the Herrscher, and has the consciousness of their own human being... Otto still haven't found any negative side effects.
In fact, the existing technology cannot completely control the core fragments. When the user loses control, the Houkai energy will accelerate the erosion process of the implant.
- The cause of implant's hair discoloration has not yet been explained.
Artificial Herrscher list
- Angelia Schariac: Because of the desire to become a saint, she was implanted the 5th Herrscher Core. In the fight against Jyahnar, she died in order to save Maria.
- Flora: In order to conduct Checkmate's experiment, sister Claire took the initiative to infect Houkai energy, while Flora voluntarily transformed into an Artificial Herrscher in order to fight against her.
- Seruti: The in-game skill is described as the Herrscher of Blood, participates in the Otto Artificial Herrscher project, implants the core fragments of the 5th Herrscher and transforms into Artificial Herrscher.
- Kallen's clone: An Artificial Herrscher born after countless experiments. She is regarded by Otto as the most perfect body closest to "Kallen" herself.
- Elsa Lopez: Former captain of Mushoku Kika sacrificed to save Kika, and Kika made a deal with Otto to resurrect Elsa in form of an Artificial Herrscher.
R14 extra Artificial Herrscher details
- In Reborn R14, the story explains that AH core fragments has no ability related to the original Herrscher, only serves as energy amplification and having its own Will of Houkai.
- Artificial Herrscher are protected from complete Houkai corruption from Herrscher core fragment through their stigmata. This explains how it is possible for Seruti to not get affected by the Will of Houkai until overloaded.
Core Reversal Device
核心逆转装置 is a special equipment created by Totori to turn Herrscher back into a normal person.
The device acts as a force field and is mounted on the core of Herrscher, which runs "异化机构" in reverse.
In R14, the device was destroyed in the progress and caused Wendy's Herrscher core transferred to Amalgam of Will, making it even more powerful than a regular Herrscher.
Trivia
- In Houkai Gakuen 2, Herrscher serial numbers have no actual meaning.
- Herrscher cores also have different effects rather than being same as original host. For example, 5th Herrscher cores can turn someone into vampire rather than provide metal skin.
- Jyahnar is not an actual Herrscher but due to being equal in power or perhaps even stronger than a Herrscher, she actually has the title the "Herrscher of the Sea"
- Delta is not an Artificial Herrscher due to not having an actual core. She instead turned into the apex of life which surpassed a Herrscher and became a life form closer to a "God".
- In Era: ZERO, the former civilization had just killed the 70th Herrscher, but the 71st Herrscher that appeared after the 70th Herrscher did not increase in intensity like its predecessors. Yet its starting energy level was still above 6000HW.
- God Kiana is the only one known to be unkillable including spear herself, while Wendy as the "Final Herrscher" having durability that is as same as normal human.
- Will of Houkai have no direct control over Herrscher unless physically touched.[1]
- In 9.4 trailer, it is possible for a Herrscher (in this case Wendy) to get "corrupted" and turned into zombie-like.
- In R15 story, a Herrscher can survive without oxygen.