Celty Sturlson

Celty Sturlson is the main protagonist from the Durarara!! anime and light novels.

Celty also known as The Black Rider or The Headless Rider, is an Irish fairy called a Dullahan who came to Japan looking for her stolen head. Her motorcycle is a familiar called a Cóiste Bodhar in disguise, which she has named Shooter and whose favored alternate guise is a headless horse.

Celty has no head and perceives via unknown sensors located in the shadows she emits from her neck and other parts of her body. The physical strength she possesses is above human, though not quite on par with Shizuo Heiwajima and Simon Brezhnev. She is also capable of producing a shadow-like, durable shadowy substance to form objects ranging from gloves to chariots at her will.

Celty lives with Shinra Kishitani and works as an underground transporter. She wears a helmet when she goes out and communicates via a PDA. She enjoys online chatting, television, and DVDs. She is a member of the Dollars and Snake Hands.

Appearance
In her early years, it is shown that Celty wore knight's armor as she traveled the country side with her head resting on her lap. When she immigrated to Japan, she updates her attire to match the times. For most of the series, Celty is shown to wear an all black biker jumpsuit with black gloves and shoes. With the exception of pajamas and slippers shown in the anime, all of her clothing is made from a shadow-like substance that materializes around her at her will. She also wears a yellow and blue helmet that vaguely resembles the shape of a cat's head. As far as physical features go, Celty isn't particularly imposing, although she does have above average strength. She is well-endowed, has pale white skin, and her head is shown to have brown hair and blue eyes.

Personality
Celty's personality is, ironically, one of the most normal and down-to-earth compared to most of the other cast. Although she was fairly emotionless in her early life, she has since developed a much more defined personality as she spent more time with humans. She is generally a confident and optimistic individual although she is not without her insecurities. Chief among these are her concerns about how people will react to her monstrous nature. In the start of the series, Celty tends to avoid most people as they usually react negatively upon realizing she has no head. However, she has recently begun opening up more to people as she encounters others who are not only accepting of the paranormal (such as with Shizuo Heiwajima or Anri Sonohara) but seem to revel in it (such as Mikado Ryuugamine or Izaya Orihara).

Aside from developing a more human personality, she has also developed a few human interests. She is shown to enjoy watching movies and playing video games but has developed an odd phobia of aliens, something that has been used for comic relief throughout the series.

Abilities
Powers and Abilities: Superhuman Physical Characteristics, expert scythe user, Shadow Manipulation, expert horse rider, carriage driver and biker, Regeneration (Likely at least Mid), Immortality (Type 1 & 3, possibly type 8)

Attack Potency: Wall level (Easily knocks out humans with her scythe, should be superior to any regular human though she claims that Shizuo would easily defeat her, when going berserk after Kasane kissed Shinra in front of her she rammed through several walls), possibly higher with shadows (Once immobilized a helicopter and can restrain huge crowds with ease)

Speed: Likely Superhuman with Supersonic combat speed/reactions (Should likely be superior to regular humans and somewhat comparable to Shizuo or Izaya), Subsonic travel speed with Shooter

Lifting Strength: At least Class 1 with shadows (With shadows she can pull down a helicopter)

Striking Strength: Wall Class

Durability: Wall level, regeneration and immortality make her hard to kill

Stamina: Very High

Range: Extended melee range, hundreds of meters with shadows

Standard Equipment: Her horse Shooter (who usually appears as a black bike), motorcycle helmet

Intelligence: Average

Weaknesses: It's heavily implied she'll die if her head is destroyed

Notable Attacks/Techniques:
 * Shadow Manipulation: Celty is able to produce shadows that can take any physical form she chooses, from physical shields, to tendrils to bind an enemy, and a large scythe that acts as her most common weapon. The shadow objects she creates weight much less that their size would indicate, with her commenting that her large scythe only weights around the same as a Japanese sword does.


 * Immortality: Celty is an immortal Dullahan. Not only is she ageless, she also displays the ability to quickly heal any injury she suffers, and once was even vivisected for a full body examination as part of a deal with Shinra's father. Despite her usual inability to be killed, it's heavily implied that her immortality depends on her missing head, and that if it was destroyed she would die with it.

Trivia

 * Celty cannot taste or eat due to the lack of a head. This may be why the color illustrations of Volume 04 rate Celty's cooking skills 35 out of 100, barely above Anri.
 * Her hobbies include gaming, watching the television, and Internet surfing.
 * She sang the rapping CD's eighth track Rouge no Dengon.
 * Celty has a shoe size of 16.
 * Her first name may be a reference to her Irish background as "Celty" can be associated with "Celtic."
 * Her last name may be a reference to a possibly Norse background (since it was mentioned in the series that some regard Dullahan as fallen Valkyries, which are Norse) as "Sturluson" can be associated with "Snorri Sturluson," an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician who authored a narrative of Norse mythology.
 * In the full version of the first Durarara!! opening song Uragiri no Yuuyake by Theatre Brook, Celty is referenced twice - once as 'yousei,' which is 'fairy' in Japanese, and again as 'fairy' during the English phrase 'fairy ride' in the second verse.
 * The Dullahan coach or carriage is called 'Cóiste Bodhar' (koe-shta-bower) meaning 'deaf or silent coach.' However, in the Durarara!! series, the Cóiste Bodhar is known as the spirit that takes the form of Celty's headless horse as well as, occasionally, a carriage, coach, or cart. She has named it Shooter.
 * In the novels, Celty, Shooter, and all the shadows they exude are described as being devoid of light with no reflections whatsoever, appearing as flat, two-dimensional silhouettes that can easily blend in with their surroundings and create an otherworldly feel just by looking at them. However, in the anime and manga, perhaps due to the difficulty of suggesting their three-dimensional shapes with plain black silhouettes, they are shown to have shading and highlights.
 * Common mistranslations of her name include "Selty" and "Ceruty."
 * Celty has appeared twice in the Megami Tensei franchise, appearing in a special event in 2011 for Shin Megami Tensei IMAGINE and gives her outfit as a gift to those who do her quests. Then she appears as one of three limited time downloadable demons in Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker.
 * Celty is one of two guest Naritaverse characters who feature as joker cards in the specialty playing card set accompanying the first Baccano! audio drama, with Vamp! character Gerhardt von Waldstein featuring on the second joker card. The rest of the cards in the set all feature Baccano! characters. Her card may be found here.
 * Celty appears in a short story written by Ryohgo Narita for Dengeki Gakuen RPG Bunko (RPG, a collection of short stories written by various Dengeki Bunko series authors that accompanied the limited edition of the NDS game Dengeki Gakuen RPG: Cross of Venus (RPG Cross of Venus). In the story, Celty and Walker find themselves in a 1930s-era Manhattan casino managed by Firo Prochainezo. They encounter both Firo and Ronny Schiatto while there, the latter of whom recognizes Celty.
 * Most people (usually males) who come into contact with her head develope an obsession with it, though the exact nature of the obsession varies. Most notably, Seiji fell in love with and Izaya tried to awaken it.