Corbeau

Corbeau
Japanese Name	コルボー

Corbeau (コルボー, Korubō) is an antagonist in Puella Magi Tart Magica: The Legend of "Jeanne d'Arc" alongside her sisters Minou and Lapin.

General info

Physical features

• Eye colour: Grey
• Hair colour: White

Other

• Soul gem: Upside down triangle above the chest
• Weapon: Cloak; Hand to Hand combat
• Wish:
• Japanese pronoun: watashi (私)
• Known relatives: Minou (younger sister), Lapin (older sister), Isabeau (adoptive mother)

Story

Backstory

Warning, this section contains spoilers.

As a young girl, Corbeau was chosen alongside her sisters Minou and Lapin to be among the first magical girls Isabeau contracted due to their closely interwoven fates. Isabeau grew to become like a mother to the three girls she took in. However, she eventually turned into a witch and was poised to kill the three girls, of whom only Corbeau had as yet contracted to become a magical girl. This lead to Lapin making her wish for her mother to “return to how she was.” Since the transformation from magical girl to witch is irreversible, her wish lead to Isabeau’s witch mind inhabiting the now empty husk of her former physical body. Isabeau was no longer mindless and now retained her original powers that were granted to her from her own wish. Even so, she still retained her witch’s ambition to destroy all of France.

During Tart Magica

Corbeau first appeared in Chapter 5, standing with Lapin and Minou as they finish slaughtering the soldiers of Orleans, a stronghold that held four thousand soldiers. Corbeau threatens the last of the injured soldiers as Lapin jeers and taunts them and Minou cuts off their retreat with her cat-o-nine tails. Before Corbeau can finish off the commander of the troops, someone fires an arrow at her. Etienne appears, having been searching for Jean and assists him to stand. Minou notices what is happening and lashing at them with her whip, but the two are able to limp away to safety.

Back at the outskirts of Orleans, at the fort of Saint-Loup, Lapin is busy singing as she walks along the edge of the outermost wall, kicking the dismembered limbs of dead soldiers out into the distance. Corbeau asks her to go easy with the gore, claiming she's making a huge mess. Minou appears and relays orders to her sisters, leaving Flèche with Corbeau to take care of Tart as Minou takes Lapin back home for the time being. A short time later, Corbeau is seen speaking with the English military commander, John Talbot, letting them know they can leave the fort to the French if need be. When the English Captain William Glasdale contradicts Corbeau, she orders Flèche to fire her arrows at him, killing him in the process. She then orders the soldiers to leave as she wants Tart all to herself.

As the French soldiers began their assault on the fort, Corbeau causes black feathers to fly at the soldiers, impaling several of them. She leaps down from here viewpoint on the tower and, after knocking Tart away, challenges Riz. As they struggle against each other, Riz notes that Corbeau’s soul gem has not darkened despite the magic she is using to heal herself of her wounds. {spoiler|It seems that Corbeau is pushing her own impurities onto Riz’s soul gem, causing it to darken that much faster.}} As Tart attempts to join the battle, Corbeau orders Flèche to aim her arrows at Tart. Corbeau then uses her feathers to pin Riz’s shadow down, immobilizing her. Before she can strike, Etienne attacks Corbeau, causing her to throw him face first into the ground. As Melissa rushes to his side, Corbeau orders Flèche to finish Etienne, which she does by conjuring a large spear-like arrow. As she unleashes her attack, Tart steps in to block it, taking the full brunt of the damage and collapsing from her wound. It is at this point that Melissa contracts with Kyubey in order to save Tart and her father from their fatal wounds. Melissa then begins to attack Corbeau with her newfound powers, even going so far as to use her anti-matter bomb in an attempt to destroy her. But the attack misses, leaving a large gaping hole where a bridge formerly stood. Corbeau is unfazed by this, and is confused when she encounters Kyubey as she had never met him before. As she’s distracted, Riz pulls Tart and Melissa into her shadow realm to formulate a plan. A few moments later, the girls come out of the shadows and coordinate a two-pronged attack against Corbeau between Riz and Melissa as Tart continues her battle with Flèche. Corbeau is surprised to find that her soul gem is now accumulating impurities due to Riz and Melissa handing their soul gems to Tart, who is battling outside the range of Corbeau’s magic. As Tart incapacitates Flèche with her “La Lumiere”, Minou appears and calls out to Corbeau to use *that* while the English soldiers are away. Minou and Corbeau leave in one of Minou’s portals after Minou brands Flèche, causing her to transform into a witch and leaving her behind to continue her attack on Riz, Melissa, and Tart. Back at the castle later that evening, Corbeau is seen having a bath along with her two sisters as Lapin is overjoyed at the possibility of fighting Tart and her friends herself.

Several months later at the city of Patay, Minou, Corbeau and Lapin stand at the head of the English forces as Lapin relishes the idea of ‘playing’ with the French forces opposing them. Before Minou can say anything, Lapin had already began her attack on Tart, Riz, Melissa, and Elisa. Unfortunately, the four magical girls are able to deflect most of Lapin’s initial attacks, hitting her with their weapons several times and causing Lapin’s soul gem to darken. Her soul gem transforms into a grief seed and hatches Lapin’s witch form. After transforming, Lapin activates her ability to possess any and all weapons in her vicinity, including that of her English allies (with the exception of Tart and Elisa as their weapons have magical abilities imparted on them by Pernelle. She telepathically causes them to fly at her enemies and damaging them. She even forms a towering sword-like shape composed of the weapons she’s amassed and drops it at the opposing magical girls. Tart is able to deflect this massive attack on her friends even as Lapin activates her secondary ability: the ability to cause magical girls to lose their magical girl state temporarily. As Lapin in her witch form continues to battle the magical girls, Corbeau takes this opportunity to continue her fight with Riz earlier. As Corbeau and Riz trade blows, Riz is able to aim a high kick at her face. As Corbeau is distracted by this, Riz aims a high kick at her face which connects. As her shadows tie down Corbeau's feet, Riz somersaults at her and grabs her by the head as she lands, twisting it completely backwards. Corbeau lands on the ground as Riz lands a few feet away. Melissa congratulates her for defeating Corbeau, but Corbeau is still alive and begins to struggle to her feet. Riz and Melissa watch as Corbeau stands and realigns her head, Melissa surprised that she's still alive even after such an injury.

Elisa and Tart attempt to coordinate a surprise attack on Lapin, but the eyes on her cape have the same ability as her rabbit eyes and they both revert to normal girls temporarily. Despite this, the two girls are eventually able to distract Lapin and successfully defeat her with Elisa’s rifle-turned-canon. However, her defeat only causes her to revert back into a magical girl, owing to the nature of her wish and the abilities it granted her. Minou retreats with an unconscious Lapin into one of her portals as Corbeau unleashes her Danse Macabre. Reaper-like skeletons fly out of the magic circles Corbeau summoned, black feathers flying out from their eyeless sockets. Everyone begins to double over in pain, wondering what's happening to their bodies. Riz looks at the tumor-like boils on her hands and recognizes it as something she's seen before. Corbeau laughs and reminds Riz she told her this fight would be a massacre and tells them all to show her the dance of death. As both the French and English forces alike lay doubled in agony, Corbeau beats down the weakened magical girls. Tart struggles to her feet and attempts to fight Corbeau, but is too weakened to do more than swing her sword feebly. Corbeau picks her up by the neck and mocks Tart’s attempts to fight back. As Tart warns her that she’s hurting her English allies as well with her magic, Corbeau scoffs and responds that she doesn’t care since her magic will kill everyone who comes near. She demands to know what it matters since everyone must die eventually, just like Tart’s sister. At these words, Tart's soul gem shines brightly and Corbeau's fingers are bent backwards as the force of Tart's magic caused her to be released from her grip. Tart glows with the power of her magic and an immense magic circle of Tart's doing appears in the sky overhead, casting light down on the soldiers below. As the light bathes the battlefield, all of the soldiers and magical girls both English and French alike begin to stand and realize they've been healed of plague as well as their wounds. Corbeau is enraged by this and as she demands to know who Tart really is, Tart leaps up and slashed down her sword with full force at Corbeau, ultimately defeating her as the force of it knocks her into some nearby woods. She lands against the trunk of a tree and falls to her knees, greatly weakened. Tart aims her blade at Corbeau, telling her this is the end as Corbeau tries to stand. But all Corbeau can think of is her two sisters, Lapin and Minou. Before she can deliver the finishing blow, a portal appears behind Corbeau and Minou steps through. While Corbeau is overfilled with joy at the sight of her sister, Minou kneels down and takes Corbeau’s soul gem in her hands, informing her this is the end. Confused, Corbeau asks her why and if she doesn't see how much she loves her and Lapin. Minou confirms that this is what she suspected and says she stopped serving their benefactor a long time ago. As Corbeau yells out once more to Minou asking her why she can't understand how much she loves them, Minou shatters Corbeau's soul gem and tells her she doesn't love her any longer. Corbeau falls forward, calling out her sisters' names as she dies. Minou tells her that at the very least she will tell Lapin that Corbeau died honorably in battle. Tart angrily demands she explain herself as Riz calls her heartless. As Minou summons a portal, she giggles and says it'll be something to look forward to as she gathers Corbeau's body and takes it back with her, leaving the heroines alone in the woods. The two turn to go, knowing the battle isn't over yet.

Corbeau in Magia Record

Corbeau was the primary antagonist of the special event The Chiming Bell that Transcends Time. In the event, she fused some of Tart's hair into special candles that would allow her to invade Tart's dreams and mess with her mind, hopefully breaking her spirit so she could no longer lead France to victory. Her element is dark and her magia is named "La Danse Macabre".

She was later released as a playable character in the follow-up event Rebel of a Dawnless Land.

For more information, see Corbeau in Magia Record

Powers

Corbeau's abilities change from encounter to encounter. She can get rid of certain powers once her enemies learn to work around them by forcing her servants to make contracts with Isabeau for her own benefit. For example, in Chapter 8, Corbeau had the ability to corrupt other soul gems in the place of her own within a 50 meter radius, but abandoned this power after Riz figures out and exploits the limits of that power. When she used this power, she warned Minou away lest her impurities accidentally get pushed onto Minou.

Corbeau's most dangerous ability is "La Danse Macabre", which gives her opponents the bubonic plague.

Observations

Corbeau is the second eldest of the three sisters and the first one to step onto any battlefield. While Minou acts more as an intelligence gatherer and coordinates the three sisters and Lapin is more of a childish trump card, Corbeau is usually the one to do most of the dirty work in killing off armies of enemy soldiers and holding down the fort at Orleans where she was ordered to be rid of La Pucelle. However, she finds battles to be more of a fun thing and revels in anything that can give her even the slightest bit of challenge.

Etymology

• Corbeau is the French word for "raven".

Gallery

Manga pages

• 

  Corbeau's character bio from Tart Magica volume 2.

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  Colour page from volume 3, showing the villainous magical girls unmasked (Left to right: Minou, Corbeau, and Lapin)

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  Volume 4 colour insert

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  Minou, Lapine and Corbeau as children

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  Corbeau in formal attire as Fleche stands behind her

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  La Danse Macabre