Senki Zesshō Symphogear follows the adventures of Hibiki Tachibana, a young girl whose life is one day changed forever when a concert goes horribly wrong. Noise, a bizarre, alien-like species invade the show, vaporizing people with the slightest touch. As fate would have it, Hibiki’s life would be saved by Kanade, a Symphogear user. Though she didn’t realize it yet, it was the power of song that allowed Kanade to fuel this magical transformation and combat the Noise. However, Kanade would not live to see the future Hibiki would hold. Many years passed since that tragedy, and now, Hibiki finds herself in possession of Kanade’s Symphogear, fighting alongside her partner, Tsubasa.
The foundation of Symphogear’s in-world lore is the Curse of Balal. Long ago, the Custodians, a highly advanced race of extraterrestrials, descended upon the earth and ruled over humanity in its infancy. Shem-Ha, one of the Custodians, sought even more control over the earth and humankind. To counter her mad thirst for power, another Custodian, Enki, set in motion the Curse of Balal. The moon would then serve as a ‘jammer’, and from that day onward, the universal language shared by humanity would be no more. Shem-Ha, having ingrained her existence in the language capabilities of all humans, would be unable to dominate them as they could no longer communicate the same way.
This act would predicate nearly every major discovery, creation, and conflict in the Symphogear world to some degree. Alchemy, for instance, was made alongside the very concept of song in order to bridge the gap in communication caused by the Curse of Balal. Many would attempt to destroy the Curse of Balal, whether it be for noble intentions or not. Regardless, however, all who set their sights skyward eventually end up coming into conflict with the Symphogears commissioned by S.O.N.G., an organization tasked with protecting the world.
Addressing Symphogear XD Unlimited
The mobile game Symphogear XD:U is currently the only consistent outlet of media for the franchise, but the game explicitly tackles alternate universes and features elements that drastically alter the trajectories and stories of established characters. Carol, notably, is one of these characters. As such, XD:U will only be used wherein it does not contradict the anime, meaning all of Carol’s XD:U exclusive transformations and story beats will not be considered. However, anything that expands upon and clarifies existing canon is fair game.
Concepts in Symphogear
What are Symphogears & Faust Robes?
Symphogears and Faust Robes are essentially power armor derived from relics that transform the wielder into a superpowered state. Symphogears and Faust Robes rely on Phonic Gain to sustain the transformation. In combat, Symphogear and Faust Robe users may sing certain songs which can draw out more consistency and power from the system.
What is Phonic Gain?
Phonic Gain is a form of energy produced by songs. Symphogears and Faust Robes can both derive power from Phonic Gain, and the source of Phonic Gain doesn’t matter. As a result, they can even use Phonic Gain produced by opponents in combat to grow stronger. With immense amounts of Phonic Gain, Symphogears can activate and sustain certain amplifications that make them even stronger for a time, so long as the Phonic Gain exists.
How do Conceptual Weapons & Attacks Operate?
In Symphogear, conceptual and philosophical attacks/weapons exist. These are able to directly affect certain things on a conceptual level, seemingly regardless of stats. In Symphogear, this phenomena of conceptual power is based on belief. Gungnir, for instance, was just a normal spear used on Jesus Christ, but gained the power to kill deities on a conceptual level after thousands upon thousands of years of people believing the spear could kill deities. Conceptual attacks can be used not just to destroy concepts such as Gods, but also to create massive constructs like a 380,000km labyrinth.
Background
“You interrupted my reverie. You know you’re going to pay for that, right?”
Info
Birthday: March 3rd
Age: Centuries of years old
Nationality: European
Leader of the Alchemic Cult
Title: Murderer of Miracles
Likes: Cooking, karaoke, destroying miracles
Dislikes: Short jokes, losing competitions, miracles
Looks forward to her birthday (secretly)
Is a Homunculi
Carol is the daughter of Izak Malus Dienheim, a benevolent alchemist seeking to understand the world. Above all, Izak hoped to bridge the gap between people, using alchemy to help those in need. It was this alchemical mastery that allowed Izak to cure a plague ailing a village.
However, Izak’s kindness would be met with fear and anger, for the people viewed his alchemy as an impure miracle, and Izak as a false miracle-worker. Powerless to stop the horde, Carol could only watch in horror as the villagers bound her father to a stake, burning him alive. In his final moments, Izak imparted onto Carol his last desires: for her to live on, and experience more of the world.
Without her father, Carol was left completely and utterly alone, with no one to turn to. In her trauma and grief, she turned to her father’s studies and honed her knowledge of alchemy tirelessly. Izak’s final words stuck with Carol, though her misery and rage began to distort her interpretation of his wish. In time, Carol began to truly believe that her father wished for her to enact vengeance on the world, a world unwilling to accept his miracles. As such, she would develop a strong disdain for the word, even going so far as to call herself “The Murderer of Miracles”.
Using alchemical techniques, Carol managed to create homunculi, spare bodies for which she could implant her memories into as a means to cheat death. Using this method for centuries, Carol managed to live many, many lifetimes.
Eventually, Carol developed a plan to dissect the world. In accordance with the laws of alchemy, Carol believed she must first destroy the planet before she could analyze it; a twisted corruption of her father’s desire for her to experience life. To do this, Carol created the homunculi Elfnein, and imparted upon her the knowledge needed to construct the Château de Tiffauges. This flying fortress would allow Carol to tap into the ley lines of the earth, spreading songs across the world to a dangerous degree and initiating the process of disintegrating the earth.
Throughout the years, Carol had used several memories in order to fuel her alchemy, including the reason why she set out to destroy the world in the first place. Elfnein, however, retained Carol’s memories of her father’s wishes, and realized the fallacy in Carol’s plan to honor his desires. Taking with her an artifact, Elfnein fled from Carol’s alchemic cult in search of ones who could oppose her: the Symphogears.
Carol would do battle with the Symphogear users Hibiki, Tsubasa, Chris, Kirika, Shirabe, and Maria, though she was ultimately defeated. In a desperate last-ditch attack, Carol burned nearly all of her memories, leaving her amnesiac.
Elfnein had previously sustained a mortal wound. With Carol’s mind fading, but her body intact, and Elfnein’s body failing, but her memories surviving, Carol and Elfnein converged into one entity; Elfnein would reside in Carol’s body. In her free time, however, Elfnein worked tirelessly to bring her pseudo sister back, utilizing various scientific and alchemic means to reconstruct Carol’s residual memories.
And she succeeded. When Elfnein needed her the most, Carol’s replicated personality proved to be a reflection of Carol’s best attributes, allowing the Murderer of Miracles a final lease on life. Carol regained control of her body to face off against the Noble Red alchemists, and later, Shem-Ha, the self-titled God of the Earth. Despite a life spurred by tragedy, aimed toward vengeance and lived out in solitude, Carol ultimately sacrificed herself for the greater good, fighting alongside the Symphogears to prevent the reversion of the planet. While she may not have lived to see it, it was Carol’s discovery of the power of the Seven Songs that allowed Hibiki and co. to succeed in their goal and save the world. At last, Carol understood her father’s wishes, made peace with Elfnein, and passed away one final time.
Equipment & Arsenal
Dur da Blá
Dur da Blá is Carol’s Relic, an ancient artifact that, when paired with phonic gain, allows the user to transform into a more powerful state. As an alchemist, Carol’s relic responds to her transmutation of energy, resulting in a Faust Robe. Faust Robe’s are essentially the alchemical answer to a Symphogear system, operating in a similar fashion.
Carol can summon Dur da Blá from thin air on-command at any time, and need only strum its strings once to activate the transformation sequence.
Teleportation Gem
A basic alchemical tool that allows the user to teleport at any given moment. To activate it, Carol typically tosses the gem on the ground, allowing the resulting glyphs to transport her across space to her desired destination.
Château de Tiffauges
Constructed in unison between Carol and the Bavarian Illuminati, the Château de Tiffauges serves as both a base of operations and a word-destroying weapon for Carol. The Chateau has the power to fly, and bears a cursed interior hall that presents tangible illusions tailored toward whoever enters the area.
By design, the Chateau can use alchemy alongside energy taken from the earth. When paired with Carol’s swan song, this influx of power can spread across the earth’s Ley Lines, threatening to destroy the planet.
Gun
She has a fucking gun
ok well its not a real gun but she totally would use one
Autoscorers
An alchemist’s greatest assets, the Autoscorers are mannequin dolls given sentience through alchemy. Carol employs four, all of whom are devoted solely to serving her. The Autoscorers reside in the Chateau, and can act of their own will to aid Carol even if she isn’t actively commanding them.
The four Autoscorers each utilize an element of alchemy in battle, appropriately matching their unit colors. Additionally, their individual personalities are based on Carol’s own. In this way, each Autoscorer’s designated element & personality reflect upon Carol’s potential.
One ability shared by all Autoscorers is the capacity to steal memories from humans via physical contact. Contact for long enough can leave victims practically or outright dead.
Garie
“Don’t say that, you’re the one who made me this way~”
Deceptive, vicious, and conniving, Garie stands out as one of the most independent yet loyal Autoscorers of the group. In combat, Garie relies heavily on evasiveness, utilizing the transmutation of water to create illusions and manipulate the battlefield to her advantage. Her versatility in combat gives her an edge amongst her peers, though her recklessness and desire to please Carol above all else has gotten her into trouble more than once.
Micha
“I’m the strongest, and always the one to flip the table!”
Of all the Autoscorers, Micha is stated time and time again to be the strongest, which is evident in that she is the only Autoscorer who required two amped Symphogears to combat her in order to be defeated. Rather simple-minded and childlike, Micha mostly takes orders from Carol & the other Autoscorers, relying on her strength more than anything else.
Phara
“Sword Breaker… if you believe its swing to be that of a blade…!”
Pragmatic, composed and arrogant, Phara is one of the deadliest Autoscorers thanks to her unique ability, the Sword Breaker. With it, she is capable of shattering anything believed to be a sword or blade on a conceptual level. This even includes people’s bodies, if they believe themselves to be a sword figuratively, or something as minute as just a hand. However, her reliance on Sword Breaker and her attributed Wind element make her rather straightforward in combat, and when pushed to her limit, her reserved nature can shatter, making her wild and unhinged.
Leiur
“Now Master, give us your orders. We can do this the boring way, and run, or the flashy way, and fight back!”
Compared to the devious Garie, the childish Micha, and the steadfast Phara, Leiur is the most well-rounded Autoscorer, able to fit into most missions well thanks to her flexibility and stable minded attitude.
Strangely enough, Leiur seems to have a ‘sibling’ of sorts in the form of a giant, monstrous being lurking in the ocean. This strange and ill-defined creature is strong enough to lift and effortlessly hurl multiple boats at once, and smashed a large submarine in half with a single punch.
Powers & Abilities
Alchemy
In the world of Symphogear, Alchemy is a hyper advanced system of power that existed long before the worlds of science and magic diverged. Alchemy can be used to cure diseases, transmute objects and matter, or even control the very elements themselves.
Fundamentally, the study of alchemy teaches the process of decomposition, analysis, and reconstruction. This procedure can be found in the micro and macro scale of an alchemists’ work, from creating life to dissecting an entire planet.
Memory Transmutation
The cornerstone of alchemical power, memories are the key to fuelling alchemy in great quantities. Having lived many centuries, Carol has far more memories than any other alchemist. By burning her memories, Carol exponentially increases her power output, though this is of course limited and can run out.
Aristotle’s Octaves
Carol can manipulate the elements - water, fire, earth, wind, and silver - to create concussive blasts of energy. These blasts are strong enough to crater the ground on their own, and can be stacked with one another for even more power.
Element Manipulation
The Autoscorers display a variety of elemental-based attacks and techniques, all deriving from four earthly elements that Carol has control over as well. As such, she should reasonably be capable of anything her Autoscorers can do with the elements.
Such as:
Strings
One of Carol’s preferred means of attack, Carol can extend deadly strings from her gauntlets to use for both offensive and defensive techniques. These strings are sharp enough to cleave straight through a steel floor, can be shaped into a drill, are able to withstand the physical strength of a Symphogear, and have an immensely long range.
String Trap
An alternate use of the Strings, Carol can fire off condensed spheres of strings that activate like mines in accordance with Carol’s song. When activated, the String Trap seems to prioritize ensnaring its target at all costs with blinding speed. The strings are fast and strong enough to overwhelm Shem-Ha, one of the absolute strongest characters in Symphogear.
Alca-Noise Creation
Long ago, humanity created the Noise to wage war against each other. The Noise are mindless, easily-replicable beings who have the capability to turn humans into carbon with a single touch.
Alca-Noise are the alchemical answer to the Noise, and as such, Carol and all four Autoscorers can summon legions of Alca-Noise at any given time. Unlike Noise, the Alca-Noise are much more powerful, capable of disintegrating an entire Symphogear and destroying entire city blocks. They may not be particularly versatile or ferocious, but the Alca-Noise embody the notion of strength in numbers. Combined with an alchemist commanding them, the Alca-Noise have proven to be extremely dangerous and are not to be underestimated.
Projection
Carol can use alchemy to project herself across long distances, similar to astral projection.
Telepathy
Carol can communicate with others from afar with some sort of telepathy.
Mental Resistance
Carol was able to fend off Millaarc’s Stained Glance, a mind-scrambling ability that Millaarc previously used to send other Symphogear users into a frenzied state.
Graviton End
Using even more power of her Faust Robe, Carol can concentrate a mass of supergravity particles into a single destructive sphere during combat.
Barriers
A basic application of combat Alchemy, Carol can conjure defensive shields at any time for protection from oncoming attacks.
Hermes Trismegistus
In extreme situations, Carol can create a massive three-layered barrier for protection. Given the increased size and, by virtue of it having an actual name, one can presume the Hermes Trismegistus to be far superior to her standard barriers.
Alcahest
One of Carol’s deadliest techniques, Alcahest is a direct, full power conceptual attack.
By first restraining her opponent with her Strings, Carol sets up an assault operating by the world-dissecting capabilities of the Chateau de Tiffauges.
Essentially, the Chateau is a philosophical weapon that can ‘dissect’ and destroy the world. According to Carol, the ‘world’ and the ‘divine’ are one, and as such, the Chateau can destroy divine beings. Carol’s Alcahest is a limited recreation of the Chateau, using Phonic Gain & Memory Transmutation for power. As a result, Carol can dissect and destroy anything considered ‘divine’ or godly, so long as her target doesn’t have some way to counter or nullify the attack.
Gold Transmutation
Carol can transmute matter into gold using nuclear fusion. Used against Shem-Ha, Carol’s Gold Transmutation beam managed to not only overpower a similar Silver Transmutation beam, but also successfully transmuted part of Shem-Ha’s Shénshòujìng Faust Robe, whose evil-banishing properties had previously nullified Carol's Alcahest attack.
Elfnein
Carol eventually shared a body with the consciousness of Elfnein, her homunculus pseudo-sister. When Carol takes control of the body, Elfnein can communicate with her at any time, providing insight or concern for the current situation.
Transformations
Faust Robe
Carol’s most standard transformation, her Faust Robe allows her to achieve a form comparable to even the most powerful Symphogears in the series.
If you’re wondering why she seems to be both a child and a grown woman when transformed with her Faust Robe, it’s because of the following:
Alchemic Beast
When pushed to her limit, Carol can burn even more memories than usual to create a massive tiger-mech construct, from which she can control inside. In this form, Carol’s power and defenses reach near their limit, though she can only maintain it for so long.
Experience & Intelligence
Carol has lived for centuries and spent presumably most, if not all of that time studying alchemy and plotting her revenge. As such, Carol has a plethora of knowledge in the field of alchemical techniques and history.
She’s a talented schemer, able to play people into her advantage exactly how she wants. Carol has feigned defeat, implanted sleeper agents, and exuded patience when it comes to her plans, all of which nearly paid off. Notably, she set the Autoscorers up for their own destruction in order to extract data from the Symphogear users without them realizing until the last moment. In this way, Carol excels at long-term strategy and is willing to make sacrifices to get any possible edge.
Physical Capabilities
Carol’s base physical form withstood multiple direct blows from Hibiki Tachibana’s Symphogear form, implying she is naturally well above an average human in physicality. When in her Faust Robe, Carol should be comparable to higher forms of Symphogear users who rely on brute force, such as Tsubasa, Chris, and the aforementioned Hibiki.
However, Carol doesn’t seem to have much in the way of combat skill or martial arts knowledge. Even in a combined team attack with six other people punching, Carol relied on her barriers for brute force, indicating that she has to rely on alchemy for combat in its entirety.
Feats
Overall
Her reputation amongst alchemists is enough to strike fear into them
Survived a one-on-one confrontation with a self-proclaimed God of the Symphogear universe
Utterly stomped the trio of alchemists, Noble Red, in battle
Battled the Symphogears on multiple occasions, including at their most powerful forms
Nearly succeeded in dissecting the world with the Chateau
Aided in saving the world from Shem-Ha, even at the cost of her life
Created Elfnein, the most precious tiny baby ever conceived
Discovered the power of the Seven Songs, which allowed the Symphogears to save the world
Realized and accepted her father’s true wishes for her
Power & Strength
Carol’s last ditch attack created a massive fireball and crater, resembling a nuclear bomb
Shem-Ha was able to raise the roots of the Yggdrasil System, which spread all over the world by herself (10.8 exatons)
Along with the Six Symphogears, performed the attack Over Brave, and dealt heavy damage to Shem-Ha
Carol’s elemental beam tore right through the Chateau, resulting in a massive explosion
Is recorded to have Phonic Gain output superior to the entire population of Earth
Phonic Gain is what allows the Symphogears to utilize the X-Drive, a power-up that allows them to scale to and perform the best feats in-universe.
Superior to Leiur, whose coin-projectiles could destroy helicopters with just two shots
With her Phonic Gain alone, Carol destroyed the Daedalus End labyrinth, which is exactly 380,000km in length
Overpowered Shem-Ha’s silver transmutation beam with her own gold transmutation beam
Speed
Raised a barrier to defend from Shem-Ha’s silver beam before anyone else could react
Superior to Garie, who could outspeed a Symphogear user, Maria, with ease
Durability
Barriers and strings are capable of withstanding a full-frontal offense from Hibiki, Tsubasa, and Chris’s Ignite Module Symphogears
Carol in her base, untransformed state withstood multiple direct blows from Hibiki’s Symphogear form
Superior to her Autoscorerers, whose own barriers could completely withstand attacks from Maria using Gungnir and a combined attack from Kirika and Shirabe
Scaling
Symphogears
Carol has fought both with and against the Symphogear users in their most powerful forms. In fact, her Phonic Gain was potent enough to not only far eclipse all Symphogear users, but also power their X-Drive forms. As Phonic Gain is what maintains a Symphogear’s strength and consistency in battle, Carol absolutely scales to all feats performed by the main protagonists at their maximum potential.
Symphogear users have feats such as:
Briefly blocking, overpowering, and surviving a moon-busting laser (Multi Continential+ to Moon)
Later, another Symphogear user, Miku, would take on the Reflector that performed this feat, and explicitly overpowered it as well. This feat was in G, the second season, without any power amps.
Tearing through the critical-state Nephilim, which was a minute away from erupting in a blaze of 1 trillion degrees (presumably) celsius. Dr. Ver stated that this would “burn the world up”.
Dodging Finé’s whips, which were capable of reaching the moon in mere seconds (Mach 92,929; relativistic)
Finé also managed to physically hurl a chunk of the moon down to earth; Chris, Tsubasa and Hibiki then destroyed that together
Flying from the moon to the earth in a short amount of time (Mach 4,130; sub-relativistic)
Destroying the entirety of the Yggdrasil System at once, giant roots sprouting from the earth. Yggdrasil was shown to practically cover the earth at one point. (120.8 exatons)
Adam Weishaupt
While the two have never met (in the anime), Adam and Carol are both extremely powerful alchemists and two of the only ones to demonstrate nuclear transmutation in order to achieve the power of Gold Transmutation. Notably, Adam’s Gold Transmutation was capable of reaching over ten megatons worth of TNT, and in a relatively casual state to boot.
Addressing Certain Feats
Because Symphogear as a whole is niche, there are a few arguments and statements that have been touted as legitimate and not thoroughly discussed. I’ll dispute the following feats below:
“Carol’s explosion is comparable to a supernova”
This is simply and easily verifiably not true. One need only look at the actual explosion to see that the explosive yield of Carol’s final attack is nowhere near a legitimate supernova. Additionally, and most damning, the only source that compares Carol’s explosion to a supernova is the character Ogawa, who has absolutely nothing to do with the members of S.O.N.G. who estimated the damage right before he spoke. Ogawa’s words are backed up by nothing whatsoever, and therefore, attributing Carol’s explosion to be a supernova based on this one throwaway line is beyond generous and outright absurd.
Yeah ok dude
“Alca-Noise create pocket dimensions with planets and stars”
This is a big one and admittedly probably the one that will remain the most contentious. Essentially, this feat is exactly what it says; St. Germain deploys a special Alca-Noise that creates a ‘subspace cage’, entrapping the Symphogear users inside. A single Alca-Noise generates the subspace pocket, and once it’s defeated, the subspace cage fades away and the people inside are returned to where they originally were.
The Alca-Noise’s increased durability has nothing to do with the energy needed to create a pocket dimension; this is simply a functionality of Noise’s Phase Contrast Barrier. Symphogears ordinarily counter normal Noise by ‘tuning’ them into their world, allowing their strikes to land and bypassing the Noise phasing back out into their own worlds. Alca-Noise are essentially doing something similar, which makes it harder for the Symphogears to put them down. Nothing to do with a power amp gained by being in the subspace pocket or the power needed to create it.
This isn’t the only similarity this feat has to established Noise functionality. Noise are summoned from a different world called the Treasury of Babylon, and the subspace cage bears some similarities with it in appearance. In the past, a relic called the Solomon’s Cane could open portals to the Treasury. Therefore, given the similarities to Noise in both their physical functions as well as the similarities between the Treasury and the subspace dimension, I would argue that the ‘subspace cage’ is actually a similar instance wherein another world is accessed and Alca-Noise are planted inside it.
Tsubasa states that a certain Alca-Noise is the sole being ‘creating’ the subspace cage, but Genjuro & Elfnein previously demonstrate that they are not fully aware of how this subspace pocket dimension works, and every strategy they try is mostly based on guesswork. Tsubasa would not know that the Alca-Noise is literally creating and sustaining an alternate dimension, just that the Alca-Noise is the one they need to kill to escape. In fact, everything stated about the Alca-Noise is assumptive, seeing as how neither St. Germain nor any of the other Bavarian Illuminati ever explain the truth about it, and the protagonists never discover how it works either. By taking their word at face value, we’re essentially doing the exact same thing as buying Carol’s explosion being a supernova, albeit at least this time, Elfnein and Genjuro have better resumes than Ogawa, but the point remains the same.
Note the wording here, “assume”
The background consisting of stars, planets, etc. is never once explained or mentioned and in fact, every shot of the background is completely static. Even floating debris is perfectly still, which is curious if not suspect. Therefore, there is no concrete proof that they are literal celestial bodies and not illusory.
Perhaps most curious of all is that the Alca-Noise subspace trap occurs once more later on, but it’s depletion is not achieved the same way before by defeating the Alca-Noise ‘creating’ it. Cagliostro traps the other Symphogears in two separate subspace cages. After Chris and Maria defeat Cagliostro, the other Symphogear users are freed almost immediately, and there is no indication that they defeated the Alca-Noise ‘creating’ their traps. Previously, Hibiki, Tsubasa and Chris needed to use the Ignite Modules to defeat the Alca-Noise, and when we see the trapped SG’s return, they are not only surprised & not battle-worn, but they are also in their base forms. Everything implies that they did not defeat the Alca-Noise, and yet the subspace cage was done away with anyway.
If, in fact, the Alca-Noise was generating and creating an entire pocket reality, it doesn’t make much sense that it would then lose power after Cagliostro was defeated.
I find the Alca-Noise feat to be far too inconsistent, both with how it itself operates between showings and how much power it would imply a normal Alca-Noise has compared to characters in-universe who should be much, much, much stronger. And there are no other feats whatsoever that back up any character being this strong.
Actually, if I were to posit a theory as to how this all works, I would say that the Bavarian Illuminati are in fact utilizing illusions and their summoning of Alca-Noise to perform this pocket reality nonsense. The space being lifted upon Cagliostro's defeat is a classic 'magic wears off when the user dies' trope, and we already know illusions exist in Symphogear; in the Chateau de Tiffauges. Which the Bavarian Illuminati directly had a hand in creating, if the alchemy connection wasn't enough.
In short, It’s vague, unprovable to certain degrees, and inconsistent, making for a feat that I would call unquantifiable.
“Adam absorbed all the divine energy from the constellation Orion”
This is a bad case of not paying attention to context or previously established plot threads.
At no point does anyone attempt to literally siphon energy from stars in a constellation. Adam’s goal was to use the ley lines in the Earth in order to open a divine gate so that he could get power. When that plan fails, he resorts to the constellation Orion, because the ley lines in the earth mirror the formation of the constellation. If Adam had succeeded in using the earth’s ley lines, the Divine Energy would be the exact same; nothing about this sequence of events involves using the power of literal stars.
Furthermore, Adam never uses that power against the Symphogears, or even absorbs it himself. His arm is what contains the Divine Energy, and Hibiki’s special god-killing hax is what allows her to dispatch of the arm, meaning it wouldn’t scale to anyone else.
Recall how conceptual weapons in Symphogear work. This is Hibiki’s Gungnir, which has conceptual-hax functional toward gods & the divine.
To summarize, everything usually stated about this feat is simply untrue. Adam did not fight the Symphogears with the Divine Energy, and that Divine Energy is entirely unrelated to and not comparable to the energy one would get from siphoning a constellation. And, to top it all off, the arm with the Divine Energy was dispatched by special hax, and doesn’t scale to anyone.
As for what that Divine Energy even is, it’s nothing more than a power boost basically. No real way to quantify it relative to other feats in the verse. Though, given that Carol’s Chateau de Tiffauges was going to destroy the world with energy from the earth’s ley lines, if you really wanted to get some kind of comparison here, you could argue Adam is at a similar level via using ley lines as well. It’s not a 1:1 comparable situation, but that’s about as far as I could see one argue.
*Disproving this feat would also affect calcs such as this one, which assumes that Adam is literally channeling energy from the Constellation itself, rather than merely use the formation of Orion as a symbol for the Divine Gate... like the subs included say. (Subs that are outdated and not 1:1 with the official subs, which make it clearer that he's not literally drawing power from stars.)
"Miku's beams of light are legitimate! They come from a Mirror, reflect off mirrors, and bend light, so the verse gets FTL"
Weaknesses
Despite her immense power, Carol is far from perfect, and has several shortcomings that hold her back from being a true top tier in her universe.
Before Carol’s consciousness regained control of her body thanks to Elfnein, Carol would be prone to bodily rejections that could force her to drop her attacks or defenses mid-combat, seemingly at random. These rejections could even go so far as to briefly render her unconscious.
Alchemic power amplification relies on the consumption of memories. While Carol has many centuries worth of them to use freely, this finite supply can and has run out before. If Carol is forced to employ a last ditch effort, she will be rendered amnesiac, or worse, she may even die.
While Carol can obtain more memories by stealing them from others, she doesn’t seem to do this herself, preferring to leave that task to her Autoscorers.
Carol produces massive amounts of Phonic Gain with her superb song, and this energy can and has been used against her before.
Sufficient damage to Carol in her Faust Robe can forcibly revert Carol to her base form, leaving her vulnerable.
In her fight against Shem-Ha, the evil-banishing properties of Shenshoujing completely counteratced Carol's godly dissection, indicating that Carol may have a weakness to attacks and abilities that target 'evil'.
Also, Carol tends to have a pretty bad habit of standing around and doing nothing while her opponents monologue or power up.
Summary
"A miracle, you say? Not at all. I am the murderer of miracles!"
+Banger songs
+Strings are incredibly versatile and deadly
+Gold transmutation and Alcahest are particularly strong assets to have
+Autoscorer abilities flesh out Carol’s potential
+Comfortably scales to the most important feats in her universe
-Depending on the time, bodily rejections are a huge innate weakness that hamper her combat potential
-Main source of power is explicitly finite & not easily replenishable in battle
-Has rarely herself ever been seen at her maximum possible potential
-Weakness to evil-banishing attacks and abilities
Stats
- Attack: Multi-Cont to Moon level, Planet at the absolute highest. Via the Shem-Ha raising the Yggdrasil system and Chris blocking the moon-busting laser, both provide a lowball range of multi-continential. Higher ends of Chris's feat reach moon level proper, as does the Yggdrasil system's destruction. At the highest possible highball, one could argue the piercing of Nephilim counts as a planetary feat. In Carol's case, the Chateau would provide her with a planetary weapon, provided she is allowed access to it.
- Speed: Relativistic+. The whip dodging feat was performed in Season one, and every character is much faster by the end of the series. The flight from the moon to Earth in XV hits sub-relativistic flight speed, so they definitely don't get any slower than Relativistic or so.
- Durability: Multi-Cont to Moon level. Same reasons described in Attack, but there's no evidence to suggest the Symphogears would have survived Nephilim's explosion, nor that Carol would survive the Chateau destroying earth.
Suggested Opponents
Father (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Father may have an obvious favorite matchup at the moment, but I firmly believe Carol is the most fitting opponent for him. Looking at the two, this is a comparison that is shockingly thematic.
Let’s run down the list, shall we?
Father and Carol are both Homunculi
They split aspects of their personalities off into servants who follow their orders (And all of the Homunculi & Autoscorers end up dying by the end of their series, despite having ways to come back from the dead previously)
Their plot? To achieve a truth founded in their worlds’ respective laws of Alchemy
Their plans? To use lines under the earth to channel an immense amount of energy through in order to affect the world
Both hail from European (inspired, in FMA’s case) locales
Both are Alchemists
Their world’s Alchemy have the exact same process (decomposition, analysis, reconstruction) just in a slightly different order
Both of their versions of Alchemy let them control the elements to some degree, & transmute objects
Father & Carol are the most powerful Alchemists in their worlds and do not need the same tools and amps that other Alchemists need to achieve their power
Philosopher’s Stones in FMA use souls as fuel, whereas Carol’s Alchemy uses memories as fuel. In both cases souls and memories can provide massive amps to the Alchemy, but once they run out, the user is as good as dead
To get more Souls for a Philosopher’s Stone, human lives are needed. Similarly, in order to gain more memories in Symphogear, Carol steals them from people, which also ends up killing them
Carol uses almost the exact same method as Dante from FMA 03 to achieve immortality, which is a neat side parallel
Father and Carol have counterparts who look exactly like them and are heroes (Hohenheim and Elfnein)
Both have their own secret lairs where they like to sit in chairs while their plans go swimmingly
Interesting notes! Carol is extremely short, wears red, and ties her hair in a long braid. She dislikes jokes made at her expense of being small and is a prodigy in alchemy. Her father’s absence spurs her to study it. Sounds familiar doesn't it?
Similarly, Carol’s story is all about her Father and how she suffers from the trauma of his death. For Carol to fight someone literally named Father is just beyond perfectly poetic, especially since Father would surely notice the similarities Carol has to Edward in turn.
While Father meets his end by trying to achieve the literal God, Carol meets her end by protecting earth from a self-proclaimed God.
Also, both shift bodily forms a lot. Carol has her normal small body, her mature adult body, and the green tigerzord mech thing, while Father went from Dwarf in the Flask to Hohenheim counterpart to his Perfect Form & his thicc eyeball form.
Carol is unique in that she’s an opponent for Father who can challenge his Alchemy not just in raw power, but conceptually. The two systems of Alchemy share some extreme similarities, but a ton of huge differences separate them as well. Father, as a character, isn’t super charismatic or engaging on his own, but Carol’s Alchemy provides an opportunity to challenge Father in a way beyond just power. Recall how Father reacted to Xing Alchemy performed by Mei, but now amplify the potency of that Alchemy 1000x times over and performed in ways he’s never seen. Father would definitely take an interest in Carol’s methods of alchemical transmutation and control of the elements, and Carol would have plenty to pick apart with how FMA alchemy functions.
Not to mention, both have squadrons of loyal servants who can easily jump in and support their masters in the fight, making for a super unique set piece in one of their lairs as the two teams face off. Add in how both run on a timer with their respective power sources and you easily have a strong sense of tension in the fight. Both have higher forms that you can incorporate into the climax, even.
