Holo

Holo is a female deity and the protagonist of the light novel, manga and anime series Spice & Wolf.

Holo is a wolf harvest deity that was bound by promise to the town of Pasloe for several centuries, ensuring a bountiful harvest of wheat for the residents. As the villagers became more self-reliant with time, however, Holo was neglected. Feeling unneeded and that she had kept her promise long enough, she skipped town with a traveling merchant named Lawrence, by 'jumping' from the villagers' wheat to Lawrence's wheat in his wagon. She longs to return to Yoitsu, her snowy homeland, and makes a contract with Lawrence to accompany her there.

Appearance
Holo is perhaps best described in her own words:

"At certain times, Holo will appear in the village in the form of a pretty young woman, and she is always seen as a mid-adolescent. A lovely figure, she has long flowing hair as well as wolf ears and a beautiful dark brown tail with a splash of white at the end."

Holo has fangs for canine teeth. At the beginning of her transformation, all her teeth morph into fangs.

In her human form, Holo appears as a 15 year-old girl with long orange/brown hair and red eyes, although she still retains her wolf ears and tail. Due to her trademark ears and tail, Holo often has to wear a hooded robe or head scarf, and long voluminous skirts that hides her unusual features from people, which she dislikes as she adores her tail. Holo's true form is a giant brownish golden wolf. In her wolf form, her eyes stay red, but her sclera turn yellow, and her fur is the same color as her hair in human form. Her size is massive: a little bit bigger than an elephant. In her wolf form she is able to talk through a form of telepathy, and is capable of reaching unimaginable speeds. After forming a contract with Lawrence, Holo wears clothes and a simple hood she found in Lawrence's wagon.

The outfit she first wears is actually Lawrence's best clothes (collected over a period of ten years), consisting of a purple shirt with a black, fur-lined vest, a black skirt, black and white pants and a long beige hooded robe. The linings are bear fur, and were made with quality tailoring.

After the incidents in Pazzio in which the clothes were destroyed, Holo purchases a pink shirt with purple trim, black pants with matching cuff trim, a red silk sash, a light Blue/Cyan anklet on her right ankle, two high quality hooded robes, and cow leather traveling shoes. Lawrence later gets a deal on clothes for Holo that were once worn by a noble: a head scarf made of white rabbit fur trimmed in dark red (so she doesn't have to have a hood up in public all the time), and a black collared short cape fastened with a walnut button and matching trim.

Holo is only able to change form by consuming a few wheat grains or drinking some fresh blood. (The English vocal script recorded that it was only human blood she could use, but that was not in the subtitle translation.)

Personality
Holo is smart and confident, though the latter is mostly seen around Lawrence (probably because he is the person she is most comfortable with). She is considered to be flirtatious and manipulative towards him, while often mocking his (supposed) thinking and negotiating skills. However, she seems to have a really deep fear of being alone, and having grown fond of Lawrence as her company, she nurtures a strong affection for him. She is also seen to feel uneasy about showing him her wolf form, but will do so in order to protect him, even if it means putting her life at risk. She is usually good-humored and talkative. She speaks in a formal manner that might be expected of people during her younger centuries, and rarely, if ever, uses contractions.

Holo is a massive alcoholic, often drinking when having the chance to do so and usually getting drunk because of it, though being somewhat able to sustain her wit. She is also somewhat of a glutton. She often convinces Lawrence (usually using her feminine charm) to buy her food, which is usually in large quantities and, at times, expensive. This might just be because she is really a massive wolf and needs the appropriate amount of nutrition. A perfect example of this was when she bought over 80 apples, her favorite food, with Lawrence's money without his permission (which was the beginning of a large and growing debt with Lawrence). She also appreciates how different human food is compared to foraging in the forest, especially how cooking changes it.

Though she is a deity Holo still suffers from the same faults as many humans do, For one Holo does experience jealousy toward other girls who talk to Lawrence. This is not shown better than with her and Lawrence meeting the lovely shepherd girl Nora Arendt. Holo was against hiring Nora as a bodyguard not only because they didn't really need one but also for the fact that Nora and Lawrence became close very quickly. Given that shepherds are enemies of wolves is factored in to Holo's initial dislike for Nora. Holo is a very proud "wolf" but does understand that she does not know everything; an example of this is when Lawrence explains why people get sick via the four humors.

Abilities
Holo is a wolf deity and because of this she has several supernatural abilities.
 * Transformation: Holo has the power to transform instantly into a massive wolf (bigger than an elephant) . In this form she can move at high speeds, much faster than any other known land-bound creature, due to her large size accompanying the appropriate musculature and stride. She also uses her huge jaws in order to defend herself and Lawrence. To activate this form, she must either consume wheat or fresh blood. She can also transform only part of herself, such as one limb, but this takes several moments and puts a strain on her. Clearly, she is not used to doing so and it requires quite a bit of concentration.
 * Heightened Sense of Smell: This ability can be used both in her wolf and human form. Like most canines, wolves have an excellent sense of smell and can pick up a particular scent from distances far greater than humans. This allows Holo to be able to detect dangers such as wolves and other people much quicker than Lawrence.
 * Eternal Youth: Holo has lived for many centuries and is not visibly aged past 15 years old (at least in her human form). She credits her wisdom from the experiences her long life has given her. However she is not immortal, she explains that if the wheat she dwells in is destroyed, she would disappear.
 * Enhanced Hearing: Being a wolf Holo has great hearing. She is able to hear tiny sounds much farther away than humans, or from the other side of solid walls and floors. Her ears are so sensitive that she can hear the subtle differences in purity of coins by shaking them together. Holo's ears also have the ability to determine if a person is telling a lie or not. However she admits it's not 100% accurate.
 * Intense Howl: While she can howl perfectly well in human form, Holo can muster an extremely loud and powerful howl after taking a very deep breath. In an enclosed space, it can crack and disturb stonework. It was used in the underground tunnels of Pazzio to scare off a pack of tracking dogs. However, doing so is like intense, prolonged screaming that hurts the vocal cords, causing coughing and a sore throat.
 * Accelerated Crop Growth: Holo can cause nearby crops such as wheat or rye to grow and wither faster, if needed almost instantly. However since the crops need a great amount of nutrients from the ground that can only be replenished naturally, doing so puts great stress on the soil. Holo understands this cycle well, and when she first arrived in Pasloe, had warned that poor harvests were naturally inevitable for the fields to recover from several years of bountiful harvests.

Trivia

 * There was confusion on whether or not her name is spelled Horo or Holo. Yen Press has said that they were instructed by the Japanese licensor that her name was indeed Holo, and Funimation has also used Holo in the English dub of the anime. Also, in Episode 4 of Season 2, Holo is shown as having signed her name as "Holo."
 * In the mangas, instead of eating the wheat it is seen that she can simply stick her arm in the wheat to turn it into a massive wolf's paw.
 * She appears in Episode one of the anime Durarara!! as a cardboard cut out that one of the main characters accidentally walks into. She also appears later in the same series as a toy.
 * Holo snores in her sleep. However she denies it every time it is brought up.
 * Holo is an agnostic.
 * In Season 1, Episode 2, Lawrence bought her a pouch and fitted it with a leather cord to use as a drawstring, so she could have her wheat with her at all times.
 * Holo's voice actress, Ami Koshimizu, also voiced Kallen Kozuki, one of the main heroine from Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2. The main lead of this anime, Lelouch Lamperouge/Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, was voiced by Jun Fukuyama who also voiced Kraft Lawrence.


 * It is notable that the anime was created after both actors, Jun Fukuyama and Ami Koshimizu, won the 1st Seiyu Awards for their respective roles in Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion.
 * She briefly appears in the eighth episode of Eromanga Sensei, as Yamada Elf gives a speech about defeating Dengeki Bunko, which published both the Spice and Wolf and Eromanga Sensei light novels.