Elpizo, known as Elpis (エルピス Erupisu) in Japan, is a supporting character and the main antagonist of Mega Man Zero 2. He is put in charge of the Resistance while Ciel works on the Ciel System, but takes a more violent strategy that sends him down a path of insanity seeking the Dark Elf.
Appearance[]
Elpizo has an overall regal theme, appearing as a tall, young man with a long, high-collared fuchsia coat with a cyan shirt and black tight pants completed by white gloves. He wears a helmet that covers half of his face and head featuring a fuchsia head light that bore some resemblance to a beret. Combined with his long and blond curly hair, Elpizo appears as a refined gentleman. It is unknown what he looked like before gaining his unique name.
Upon absorbing the Dark Elf's power, his appearance radically changed, with his fingers becoming more clawlike, a more skeletal-like white armor, and jagged military shoulder cuffs. His face also becomes noticeably paler, as well as gaining red eyes characteristic of that of mavericks. The only aspect of his original form that was retained was his hair and his beret.
Absorbing more of the Dark Elf's power granted him a more demonic form with spindly arms, a jagged mask, and bat-like wings that bore some resemblance to a large Cyber elf. The only thing retained in this form was his characteristic hair, only it is now billowing without any support from the wind, enhancing his current demon-like nature.
Personality[]
Elpizo was an ambitious and determined Reploid who styled himself as a heroic avenger, but seemed to exhibit some traits of megalomania. At first, he felt awkward for being made the Resistance Leader by Ciel, but as time progressed, he ended up feeling grandiose and self-important. He ended up firmly convinced that he was special and that he could only be understood by others who were special, such as Ciel and Zero.
He developed an arrogant nature and acted haughtily, feeling superior, omnipotent, and invincible. Elpizo seemed to also suffer from his history of persecution by Neo Arcadia, constantly wishing to destroy them and believing rightly that Neo Arcadia felt the same way about him.
After his invasion force was killed and he was defeated in Neo Arcadia, his ideal image of himself and his plans were destroyed. He developed a deep sense of self-inadequacy, which he sought to rectify by finding the Dark Elf and gaining its power. It can also be argued that he developed a narcissistic view of himself, wanting to become more powerful in order to maintain the illusion of his grandiose nature in the eyes of other people.
In the end, Elpizo took a similar but opposite stance to Copy X; instead of wishing to exterminate Reploids for the good of mankind, Elpizo wanted to exterminate humans for the good of Reploids. This makes him similar to Sigma, since he also wanted to destroy only humanity. Ironically, thanks to Copy X antagonizing Ciel and orchestrating an attack which killed many humans as well, this made Elpizo and Copy X the only Mega Man Zero series Reploids who fit the original definition of a Maverick (Craft arguably being another one).
In the Telos drama tracks, it is noted that he loved the system of Neo Arcadia because he found it supremely well-managed. It can then be theorized that this love of organization helped to develop the militaristic attitude he took to rebelling against Neo Arcadia and inevitably made him go insane when his organized plans fell apart.