Nicholas D. Wolfhood

Nicholas D. Wolfhood is one of the main characters from the Trigun anime and manga.

Nicholas Wolfwood is raised by an abusive guardian, who he later shoots and kills. He is taken in by Chapel the Evergreen, who trains him to be his successor and gives him a Cross Punisher gun, later on Wolfwood establishes an orphanage and throughout the years he takes on jobs being a hired gun in order to raise money for it making it a mission to prevent any children from suffering and growing up to be like him. Eventually he takes on a job by Millions Knives to make sure his brother Vash survives until their final battle.

Appearance
Wolfhood is a tall man with black hair and dark eyes. He wears a dark-blue long-sleeve jacket over a white collared shirt, dark-blue slacks and brown shows. He wears sunglasses.

Personality
He is a priest; however, he spent the greater part of his life training to be an assassin under a priest he looked up to. He hardly ever feels any remorse for killing, especially when it's to protect the innocent. He and Vash have some minor disagreements on this matter, which is somewhat ironic due to their occupations as gunfighters. He frequently shows his frustration at an inability to live up to Vash's non-killing lifestyle, demonstrating the guilt he has for taking others’ lives, even while doing it for good purposes. He particularly looks out for kids, making sure that none ever suffer like he did, and his primary objective has always been to make money for his orphanage.

Abilities
The Punisher is a large cross-shaped gun wielded by the best members of the Eye of Michael, the most commonly seen one belongs to Nicholas D. Wolfwood. There are at least ten in existence.

Wolfwood's Punisher has one machine gun in front and a rocket launcher in the back. In the anime he has another cross, when he first meets Vash, where the side arms of the cross open up to reveal a storage bin for eight Grader 2043 pistols (four on each side), this is before an absence where he returns with the punisher we know. After Wolfwood dies, Vash inherits the weapon, and uses it in his battle with Knives.

In the manga version, it shows that the side arms are the storage for the machine gun's bullets. Wolfwood uses them in another way in his final battle with Razlo, and he half-destroys the Punisher. Vash puts it on his grave as a cross and move on with Livio; Vash says that he doesn't want to carry Wolfwood's weapon with him because 'It's heavy, it's too heavy". When he says this, it isn't the actual physical weight of the weapon (Vash is known to have demonstrated superhuman strength at times) that is too cumbersome, but rather perhaps the weight of Wolfwood's death that creates its burden on Vash.

It has been noted by many characters that the Punisher is a very heavy weapon. Wolfwood commented on this with, "That's because it's so full of mercy".

Trivia

 * According to the author, the initial for Nick's middle name "D." stands for "Dokonokuminomonjawaresumakinishiteshizumetarokakora" which translates to "What the hell family do you think you're from!? I'm gonna tie you up in a reed mat and dunk ya!".
 * Wolfwood displays a very open affection for Milly Thompson in the anime version of the series, which she reciprocates to a degree. This relationship does not exist in the manga however.
 * Nightow commented on the Punisher being around a "hundred-and-so" kilograms and Wolfwood having an "incredible sense of balance".
 * Wolfwood's death marks the first (and only) death on Vash's team.
 * Wolfwood's arsenal (like Vash) is represented by the title of the series with his Cross Punisher having three functions: a machine gun, a rocket launcher, and a compartment holding an array of hand guns.
 * Nicholas' final episode marks the only time in the series where he has been shown to cry.