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Alph
Alph in The MOVIE 1st
Alph in The MOVIE 1st
Character profile
Other namesArf
AgeOfficially:

16 (Nanoha)
16 (A's manga)
16 (A's)
22 (A's epilogue)
22–27 (StrikerS manga)

26 (StrikerS)
GenderFemale
SpeciesFamiliar (Midchildan dog/wolf)
HomeworldMidchilda
Date of birth0063 (created)
Officially: 0049[1]
FamilyFate Testarossa (creator)
Background
AffiliationProject Fate (TOS)
OccupationFamiliar
Magic
ColorOrange
SystemMidchilda
RankA (mana capacity)[2]
Production
Japanese nameアルフ
(Arufu)
First app.Nanoha (ep.4)
Voiced byNatsuko Kuwatani (Japanese)
Lauren Landa (English)
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Alph (アルフ Arufu)[3][4] is the wolf-woman-resembling familiar of Fate Testarossa, whom she is sworn to protect.

Name[]

Her name has also been transliterated as Arf, particularly in INNOCENT media.

In Nanoha[]

Alph makes her first appearance in Nanoha (ep.4), in Uminari City with Fate in search of Jewel Seeds. She then appears in Nanoha (ep.5), establishing herself as a familiar that can shapeshift between human, dog-woman, and a fearsome giant red dog. Alph appears at Uminari Onsen in human form, threatening Nanoha Takamachi telepathically, and Arisa Bunnings takes an instant dislike to her. In their battles, Alph keeps Yuuno Scrya busy while Fate fights Nanoha.

Alph lives with Fate in an apartment on Earth, and teleports to their other home in Presea Testarossa's hideout, the Garden of Time. She tries to tell Fate that her mother's abuse isn't right, but Fate refuses to listen and keeps coming back.

As revealed in Nanoha (Sound Stage 02), in her previous animal life, Alph was a puppy in a wolf pack living high in the mountains of Midchilda. When she was still young, she contacted an unidentified but deadly disease and was cast out from the pack to avoid infecting other members. It was then that she was found by Fate, who was at the time (0063) living in the vicinity with her mother. Identifying with the dying outcast puppy, Fate begged Rynith to save its life and together they extracted Alph's soul from her dying body and infused it into a magical one sustained by Fate's mana, thus making Alph her familiar. Although Fate later granted Alph full freedom by making the terms of her contract to live as she wished, Alph swore to dedicate her existence to protecting Fate as part of their contract.

Late in the series, Alph finally strikes out at Presea, and is thrown out as "useless". She escapes to Earth, injured, and is taken home by the dog-loving Arisa. Joining forces with Nanoha, Alph resolves to help Fate to see reason. While Fate finally starts to question her mother's motives, as Alph has always been there for her, she still refuses to join Nanoha and accepts her challenge to a winner-takes-all battle for the Jewel Seeds. Alph stands on the sidelines, worrying for Fate's safety, up until Fate is sent into a state of shock by the revelation that she is a clone of Alicia Testarossa, Presea's original daughter. Alph watches over Fate until she feels that Nanoha, Chrono Harlaown, Lindy Harlaown and Yuuno will need her, and leaves to help them. Fate joins up with the group later, and almost shares her mother's end in the collapse of the Garden of Time; Alph tries to help her, but fails, and Nanoha saves Fate. Alph is moved to tears by Nanoha's expression of friendship to Fate. By the end of the incident, Alph and Fate are arrested for their part in Presea's crimes, but will almost certainly be declared innocent.

In A's[]

In A's, Fate and Alph go to Earth to team up with Nanoha again, after Fate has become a contract mage of the Administrative Bureau. Their new mission is to prevent the Wolkenritter from stealing mages' Linker Cores for their Book of Darkness. Alph, now needing to blend in with the populace rather than scare them, exchanges her wolven form for that of a cute puppy, whom Alisa adores. She is now also relegated to backup with Yuuno, always fighting Zafira, who also has animal ears and a beast form.

Alph's image also appears in the dream that Fate is trapped in by the Book of Darkness, as the pet of the Testarossa family. This is not the "real" Alph but as much a construction of Fate's mind as the dream's versions of Presea, Rynith and Alicia. The real Alph also comes to join the fight against NachtWal after Fate destroys this dream cage.

Between A's and StrikerS[]

In A's epilogue taking place six years later (0072), Alph lives in the Harlaown household on Earth with Fate and the other Harlaowns. She has also become part of the family, and addresses Lindy as she would a mother. Additionally, she has taught Zafira how to change his wolf form into puppy form during these years.

In StrikerS manga (ch.1), Alph uses a smaller and much younger-seeming human and dog-girl form than in the previous series. She tells Yuuno that she does so to reduce the amount of mana she draws from Fate. Alph also says that Fate is strong enough to fight alone in combat, so she has changed her role more to supporting Fate in other ways, such as doing chores, and helping Fate's mother and friends.[5] This part is also covered in StrikerS (Sound Stage M), in which she also helps looking after the children of Chrono and Amy Harlaown and sometimes spends time with Erio Mondial and Caro Ru Lushe.

In StrikerS[]

Alph's role in StrikerS is smaller than the previous series, only being shown in her dog-girl form and mainly just features in flashbacks. In StrikerS (Sound Stage 01), Alph meets the Riot Force 6 members when they come to Earth for a search mission.

In StrikerS (Sound Stage 02), Erio and Caro contact Alph, after wondering what they can do about Fate's worry over them. Alph tells them that Fate wants them to trust her and tell her their problems.

In StrikerS (ep.21), Alph is shown helping Yuuno with his research on the Cradle at the Infinity Library. She stands up for Fate, saying that they should trust her more, she is strong and that she has faith in her.

Alternate continuities[]

Movie[]

Alph appears in The MOVIE 1st, The MOVIE 2nd A's, Reflection and Detonation, as well as in the standalone MOVIE 1st manga. Notably, her background is changed from puppy to wolf cub, which also results in the literal changes in her shapeshifting forms from dog-based to wolf-based.

In Reflection, Alph maintains her humanoid and human forms at a younger age, similar to that of Fate and Yuuno.

Portable[]

Alph appears in both Battle of Aces and Gears of Destiny, though only in the latter as a playable character.

Brave Duel[]

Arf is a pet dog of the Testarossa family. Her humanoid form in Brave Duel is based on the wolf-woman setting in the movie continuity.

Powers[]

Shapeshifting[]

As a familiar, Alph is capable of shapeshifting. Her two main forms include wolf-like giant dog and its humanoid dog-woman forms,[1] and she may also shapeshift as human in Uminari City. In Nanoha (Sound Stage 02) (i.e. two years before the start of TOS), she appears as a dog-girl instead of a dog-woman, which may have replaced the former after the death of Rynith. In the movie continuity, these forms (except human) officially become wolf, wolf-woman and wolf-girl.

In A's and its adaptation (The MOVIE 2nd A's), she has further developed the puppy form (こいぬフォーム koinu fōmu) for living in Uminari City. After the children of Chrono and Eimy are born, Alph mainly stays in puppy form or her dog-girl form to avoid consuming too much of Fate's mana.

Barrier Jacket[]

Alph's Barrier Jacket for her humanoid form is a skimpy white top and pink short-shorts with a black cape, red belt-like garters, black gloves and black shoes, emulating Fate's own outfit. Similarly to Yuuno's Jacket, she only uses her cape in combat situations.

In A's, her Jacket is upgraded, giving her armored gloves and boots and thus increasing her hand-to-hand combat capability.

Spells[]

Alph typically fights hand-to-hand as a human, or with her fangs and claws as a giant dog/wolf, but she also has some shooting and supportive spells. As a familiar, Alph can theoretically cast every spell her master Fate knows.

SpellSystemCategoryTypeRank
Barrier BreakMidchilda
Modern Belka
SupportDecline
Chain BindMidchildaCaptureBind
Circle ProtectionMidchildaDefenseBarrier
Dimensional TransferMidchilda
Ancient Belka
SupportTransport
Dispel Force FieldMidchildaSupportDecline
Photon LancerMidchildaAttackShooting
Photon Lancer MultishotMidchildaAttackShooting
Ring BindMidchildaCaptureBind
Round ShieldMidchildaDefenseShield
Thunder FallMidchildaAttack
Ceremonial
Isolated
Area-of-effect

In the games[]

Spells in The Gears of Destiny


Cross Range Long Range Long Range (Charged)
Attack/Basic[unnamed]Photon Lancer
Block/High[unnamed knee strike]Barrier Break Strike
Catch/Bind[unnamed triple kick]Ring Bind
△△EX Attack[unnamed spinning kick]---
LFDBLightning Fall---
RGuardRound Shield---

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Nanoha Website indicates that Alph is officially 16 years old in 0065.
  2. ^ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha THE MOVIE 1st, DVD Booklet.
  3. ^ Magical Girl Lyrical NANOHA The MOVIE 1st Official Guide.
  4. ^ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Gears of Destiny.
  5. ^ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS THE COMICS, chapter 1, pages 10-11.
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