Lavi

Lavi is one of the main characters from the D-Grayman anime and manga.

Lavi is the current alias of the current chosen successor of the Bookman Clan generally shortened as Bookman Junior. He is an Exorcist and member of the European Branch of the Black Order, though this affiliation only exists so he and his mentor, Bookman, can record the world history as it unfolds. "Lavi" is his 49th alias, with "Deak" being his previous one. Lavi belonged to Marian Unit.

In the Heroes Coalition fics, Lavi is a member of the Heroes Coalitions and is part of the Rising Stars.

Appearance
Lavi is a tall, handsome, and well-built[1] young man with fairly light skin. He has longish, ginger (red in 2006 anime) hair and tends to wear it up in a bandanna, and green almond-shaped eyes that are slightly angled downwards (drooping eyes). His eyebrows have a particular へ shape like Reever's. He is constantly seen wearing an eyepatch over his right eye, and what lies underneath is currently unknown, though he has stated that he does not wear the eyepatch because of any injury.

Lavi's uniforms tend to feature longer jackets and tight pants he tucks into his boots, and his bandannas and scarves are actually a requested part of his uniform design. Lavi keeps his hammer-type Innocence in a holster he wears on his thigh, thus why his pants tend to be tight. Though he started off wearing simple work-type boots, his most recent uniform features higher boots that go clear up to his thighs. He has also taken to wearing hoop earrings and stopped wearing bandannas, letting his hair down. He is often wearing finger-less gloves.

When not in mission, Lavi wears lightweight clothing. He is usually seen with short sleeves and open neck.

Personality
Despite displaying moods that range from mischievous, laid-back, friendly, cold, bitter, even sly or naive, Lavi is typically a very reserved person, these "personality traits", more often than not, tending to be something of a charade his training as a Bookman has forced him to put on. As a Bookman, Lavi's teachings strongly discourage and, in some cases, even forbid him from making personal attachments; because of this, Lavi is fully though reservedly aware of the fact that he might well live to see his "friends" and "comrades" die around him and be expected to move on without showing much of an outward reaction. He went as far as not considering himself as a human being as exemplified when he tells Miranda that "Lenalee is a human like her". It should be noted that his situation has led him to both liking and disliking humans.

Over time, though, Lavi has been finding it harder and harder to stick to these convictions. During a confrontation with Road Kamelot, he realized that the longer he was around his "friends", the harder it was for him to remember Bookman's orders to remain unattached. He realized that, while previously, he had no faith in the human race, he was starting to change and ask questions about who he was. After this realization, Lavi started to let himself become more genuine, though he still did his best to hide it from Bookman.

Because of his occupation, Lavi can actually be very intelligent and insightful, thinking up battle strategies on the go and frequently using his Bookman skills to win fights.

Lavi enjoys giving nicknames to various characters, naming Bookman "Old Panda" due to the thick black circles around his eyes, a converted Akuma "Chomesuke", and Arystar "Krorykins" (Crow-chan in the manga). He is one of the only people to call Kanda by his first name (though it frequently results in him nearly being killed for it), and apparently speaks to him outside of missions, as hinted when he called Allen "beansprout" (moyashi), saying that if Kanda could call him that, Lavi could as well, as he is the same age as Kanda. He has a habit of teasing both Allen and Kanda. Coupled with his laid-back demeanour, Lavi has a tendency to put his arms behind his head. He also is a very "touchy-person", easily hugging his friends and making physical contact with them. He was also scolded many times by Bookman for talking too much.

Even though he is most of the time cheerful and joking, he happens to get very angry when it comes to serious matter. He punched a window in the ship so violently it broke the glass when Lenalee was left apathetic following Allen's disappearance.

Lavi also has a fondness for beautiful women with gifted assets, having a tendency to call out "Strike!" when he sees a woman who "meets his standards".

Abilities
Physical Prowess: While Lavi notes that his hammer doesn't actually seem to weigh anything to him, he is more physically gifted than most humans, able to lend his power to Allen and Kanda to hold back a Level Four Akuma. He was even able to damage a wall by punching Allen in it.

Hand-to-hand combat skills: Lavi is very proficient at hand to hand combat. He could pierce the defense of Allen Walker's crown clown (though Allen was not fighting back) with his mere fists and kicks. In Road's world he could take out several opponents at once with his punches.

Knife wielding: Lavi has demonstrated an excellent prowess with a knife. He was able to cut and slash several opponents very quickly even with his eyes shut.

Enhanced Memory: Because Bookmen exist to record a detailed, accurate description of the world's history, it is necessary for a Bookman to posses eidetic memory.

Innocence
Iron Hammer (Tettsui) is a size-shifting hammer. Because he dislikes its official name, and because of his fondness of giving things/people nicknames, Lavi calls his hammer "Big Hammer, Little Hammer" (Ōzuchi Kozuchi). It can grow (Man) and extend (Shin) at Lavi's command. He also uses it as a mode of transportation by standing on the handle and continuously extending it in one direction. The weight increases with its size, but since Lavi is the Accommodator, this weight change does not affect him.

The hammer is destroyed whilst fighting in Noah's Ark but later the hammer is rebuilt as a much sleeker, more efficient weapon, now looking more like an average war hammer. Besides using it for brute strength, Lavi can also use the hammer to summon several "judgments" by hitting elemental seals (written in Kanji) that appear around his head. When using this in the anime (English dub), he calls out Innocence level 2, Release.

Fire Stamp: Hellfire and Ash (Hi Ban: Gouka Kaijin): Lavi strikes with his hammer on the ground to use the Fire seal which creates a torrent of flames in the form of a snake. Lavi can control this snake and he is even capable of riding over it.

Heaven Stamp: Violent Thunder, Whirling Skies (Ten Ban: Raitei Kaiten): Lavi uses the Heaven seal to generate a vast storm of lightning.

Wood Stamp: Spinning Dist of Heaven and Earth (Moku Ban: Tenchi Bankai): Lavi uses the Wood seal to control objects in nature (i.e. the clouds, wind).

Wood Stamp: Wind (Ki Ban: Tenchi Bankai): Lavi generates a sphere of wind.

Combo Stamp: Terrible Lightning of Heaven (Konbo Ban: Gouraiten): Lavi uses both the Fire and the Heaven seals to create a huge snake of fire and iron. He can also create a shield-like flame wall.

Some of the seals have not yet been revealed and appear as question marks interspersed around the seals. This probably means that Lavi has yet to learn some seals from his Innocence. When Bookman berates him for not using the Wood seal to move the clouds, Lavi states that he had forgotten that he could use it to affect nature directly, and as he remembers, the question mark turns into the kanji for the Wood Seal. The Wood Seal can actually be seen throughout the manga whenever Lavi summons his seals (e.g. during the use of the Heaven seal), long before the use of the actual seal itself. The seals for Water and Earth can also be seen, but Lavi has not yet used them.

Trivia

 * He was originally going to be the main character of a series called Book-Man.
 * Lavi has been 3rd in all the popularity polls held for D.Gray-Man, just behind Allen Walker and Yu Kanda.
 * Lavi's favourite food is yakiniku, and his least favourite food is wasabi.
 * His hobbies are reading, and collecting information.
 * Lavi enjoys sleeping so much that, on top of sleeping 7–8 hours at night, he also likes to take hour-long naps during the day.
 * He likes festivals, dancing, sleeping and dislikes his own smile. He both likes and dislikes humans.[115]
 * Lavi's favourite drink is coffee, as it clears his head.
 * Lavi prefers sweets over alcohol.
 * Lavi's favourite colour is orange.
 * Lavi is noted to have a particular fascination with numbers. He attributes this to his occupation as a chronicler.
 * Lavi's strength is the ability to adapt to new environments and commit them to memory. His weakness is that he talks too much, which Bookman often tells him off for.
 * A relaxing place for Lavi is in his room surrounded by books.
 * Before missions Lavi likes to eat pasta, especially if there is seafood in it.
 * If he finishes his current record, Lavi would like to travel the world to see all the historical ruins.
 * If he had 100 guineas to spend, Lavi would buy books he has not read yet and then spend the rest on yakiniku.
 * When he cannot sleep, Lavi pulls out strands of Bookman's hair one by one while he is sleeping.
 * Lavi's necessities are his position as a bystander, Bookman, and accessories.
 * Lavi and Bookman share a room.
 * Like Krory's ending catchphrase "de aru", Lavi has a habit of saying "sa" at the end of his sentences, a masculine sentence-ending that indicates assertion.
 * According to Katsura Hoshino, Lavi's image-color is orange. Just like his hair and his favourite color.
 * Lavi has a lot of spare eyepatches; they are anti-odor, antibacterial and quick-drying ones designed specially for him by the science section. He even wears them in the bath.