Accelerator

Accelerator is one of the main characters from the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime and light novels.

Accelerator is the name used to refer to the 1st-ranked Level 5, the strongest esper currently residing in Academy City.

First appearing chronologically as an antagonist, he later becomes the male protagonist of the Science Side after being defeated by Kamijou Touma. His journey to a more "heroic" role in the story progresses after meeting and saving Last Order and is forced into an ironic twist of fate where his life now depends on the Sisters, clones he previously killed by the thousands.

In his role as a protagonist, he is forced to deal with the cruel Dark Side of Academy City and the secret conspiracies surrounding it. As the most powerful esper of Academy City, his existence and powers are tied to the plans of Aleister Crowley, the founder of Academy City, alongside Kamijou Touma.

Appearance
Accelerator appears as a skinny teen and has pale skin, moppy white hair, and red eyes. This is caused by his ability, as it blocks ultraviolet rays, thereby preventing his body from producing melanin. His ability also reduces the outside influence so much that it causes a loss of balance in his hormones, giving him what he calls an "androgynous appearance," although there is definite evidence stated throughout the series that he is a boy.

He also seems to have an affinity for black and white-themed clothing. He changes his initial clothing from a black shirt with white striped patterns to a white shirt with V patterns sometime between Old Testament Volume 5 and Old Testament Volume 8. He starts wearing a choker-style electrode to aid him with mobility, computation, and communication, although he states that it makes up for less than half of his former calculation abilities, and uses a crutch after Old Testament Volume 5.

When he is enraged or excited such as when fighting a strong or amusing opponent e.g Kamijou Touma during their first encounter, he breaks into a wide grin and laughs, giving him a maniacal and sadistic appearance.

Personality
Due to the potential of his ability, Accelerator has been targeted by assassins and researchers throughout his life. As a result, he only believes in power and trusts no one. He also became a jolly and mocking yet maniacal person. While fighting, he invokes fear and has a sadistic tone. He willingly joins the SISTER experiment to gain a reputation as the most powerful and feared esper so that no one would dare to be foolish enough to challenge him and won't hesitate to kill anyone who gets in his way. The Sisters' memories of his behavior during the experiment may suggest that he is, in a way, a pacifist; because his power won't disappear, the only way he sees an end to the fighting is to be so strong and sadistic that no one would dare to raise a finger against him. He even seems to attempt to frighten the Sisters out of fighting or otherwise encourage them to refuse their battles.

After meeting Last Order, he strives to protect her. He saved her from Amai Ao's plot and from being pursued by the Hound Dogs. He treats Index in a similar fashion, such as when he buys her lunch while searching for Last Order and by protecting her from the Hound Dogs. By Volume 19, he has mellowed out to the point that he actually lectures a child in order to prevent him from getting himself killed after a hostage situation. In spite of this, he does so in a violent way. In volume 15 he styles himself as the perfect villain in contrast to Touma being the ideal hero. However, despite his words, there is no mention in the narration that he has killed anyone and goes out of his way to incapacitate only his enemies up until his battle with Kakine, who challenges his contradictory way of thinking. This contrast with Touma is hinted at throughout the novels after Volume 5 when it is shown that he both idolizes and is slightly jealous of Touma's heroic personality, and is outright shown when he and Touma finally come to blows in Volume 20. By comparison according to Heaven Canceller, Touma and Accelerator are very similar, but their methods are like opposite sides of a coin; Touma is able to protect his loved ones without killing and is able to stand by their side, while Accelerator protects his loved ones through violent methods and even admits that he is unable to stand by Last Order and Yomikawa Aiho's side. Deep down, he is someone that aches for the light, as shown when Yomikawa Aiho was able to walk up to him and slowly take a gun from his hands before he tried to finish off Kakine Teitoku after their fight, and later when he refused to hurt a Misaka Worst clone and tried to heal her wounds after she tried to kill herself. His obsession with heroes and villains is excised after his defeat in his second fight with Kamijou Touma, telling him to reject the confines of heroes and villains and just do whatever he needs to protect those he cares for.

Aiwass has also commented on the differences between Touma and Accelerator – stating how Accelerator craves for the wholesomeness of being a 'hero' like Touma, even to the point that he declared himself evil because he believes he cannot reach that level. He is someone that tries hard to redeem himself.

Accelerator was shown to often underestimate his enemies earlier in the series, which led to his loss against Touma. However, after nearly being killed by Kihara Amata and fighting Komaba Ritoku, he no longer underestimates his enemies. This fact is noted by one of the terrorists in Hula Hoop in Volume 19 as possibly being the most terrifying thing about him: he always uses exactly how much force he needs to in order to defeat his enemy: no more and no less. If he ever underestimated his enemies, it would have given them an opening they could have exploited, but since he didn't, he simply wiped them out.

In Volume 22’s afterword the author states that what Accelerator wants most is not a lover but a family, and states Last Order is like his child he has to take care of. Also in Volume 22, Misaka Worst said half-jokingly she wants the same fatherly treatment he gives to the other Misaka clones.

The Accelerator
"Main article: Accelerator (ability)"Accelerator is named after his ability. It creates a thin field of AIMaround him, which allows him to modify the vector values of anything he touches. After the events of Volume 5, his brain has been damaged, and he has to rely on a choker-style electrode that connects him to the Misaka Network. The brainwave network allows him to use language, as well as making up for his lost ability to make calculations, although it is stated that it's less than half of what he once had. Furthermore the network enables Accelerator to reflect ultraviolet rays even when he isn't in esper mode. When using the network in esper mode, the battery of the electrode initially only lasts fifteen minutes. That changes in when he joins GROUP and its technical team cranks his time up to thirty minutes. He does not need the Misaka Network to use his abilities when in an awakened state.

He is shown to be far stronger than any other Level 5 in Academy City, being able to easily defeat the #2 Level 5 esper Kakine Teitoku without the use of his black wings. It should be noted that this fight took place after Accelerator's brain was damaged and he was forced to rely on the Misaka Network to do his calculations, which reduced him to having less than half of his former calculation abilities. Accelerator has stated that as long as he has experienced it, he can analyze forces unknown to him, by following the vectors that have been applied, almost similarly to the immune system. He used this ability to understand Aiwass' "inexplicable laws."

Redirection
Rather than creating a vector from nothing, Accelerator may instead alter the vector of an object that he touches. This aspect of his power is versatile offensively and defensively; not needing conscious control, Accelerator may deflect or redirect bullets that strike him, or the pressure wave of an explosion without requiring his awareness of the threat. Accelerator may apply this ability consciously however, to such effect as reversing the blood flow within someone's body by touching an open wound. Accelerator must consciously choose which vectors naturally interact with him-- including the vector forces acting on him from gravity or incident light. Because of this 'reflection' of light, unnessesary ultraviolet light is deflected by Accelerator, contributing to his albino appearance as his body ceases to produce melanin. The defensive power of this ability is impressive, but if negated or worked around through some other means, Accelerator himself is quite fragile and easily beaten down.

Wings
He acquires black wings towards the end of volume 13 when he has an epiphany before being nearly killed by Kihara Amata, and fully awakens in his fight against the #2 level 5, Kakine Teitoku in Volume 15, during which he displays a massive superiority in power. Whenever he awakens, Accelerator usually loses almost all control of himself and begins to speak in the language of the angels. He gains the ability to understand laws that are hitherto unknown and unexplainable to him, and no longer needs contact with vectors in order to control them. When under tremendous emotional pressure, he manifests massive black wings, stated to be made of the same "Dark Matter" that Kakine Teitoku creates with his ability. These wings do all the vector-related calculations for him, implied to be much faster than his original capabilities, and as a result he does not need the Misaka Network to manipulate vectors in this state. In volume 22, due to his pillar of support being changed after his second defeat by Touma, he manifests white wings and a halo and is able to block a massive amount of Telesma that Fiamma of the Right launches from the Star of Bethlehem. The angelic nature of his ability is described as "The One Who Wields the Power of God" (Kami nimo hitoshii chikara no henrin wo furuu mono).

Magic
Accelerator has demonstrated the ability to use magic. In volume 22, he used his vector ability to interpret the song used by Index to save Last Order and repeated the breathing method, casting the spell. As this was a pure magic spell, he suffered serious harm but saved Last Order. This is a possible factor that lead to Accelerator gaining White Wings, replacing his Black ones.[18] After an explanation on the theory of magic provided by Leivinia Birdway, Accelerator displays his extreme delicate control over magic to having a side effect of using magic as unnaturally sweating rather than rupture of blood vessels and organ damage.[19] An example of this is even when he has only a rough idea what Feng Shui was, he is able to use a limited magic detection and then combine it with his knowledge of group psychology to increase its accuracy.[19] However, Magic still presents a great foil to Accelerator, as when he was tricked into fulfilling the conditions to perform a spell by magiciandisguised as a Trident member he suffered from the rejection reaction without having taken steps to lower the damage beforehand, which caused the blood to burst from his right arm. The extreme pain involved lowered his calculation ability to a point where he was unable to use his Reflection ability, leaving him helpless.

Other Abilities

 * 1) High-level Intellect: Accelerator has shown frequently to possess a very high intellect. For starters, his esper ability is shown to require complex calculations to function, with him being skilled enough in this field to come up with a new application on the fly during his battle against Touma. He also appears to have a very good memory, as he memorized the codes for Last Order's default mind state and was able to remotely return her to that condition, thus erasing the virus planted into her by Amai Ao. Later, he also starts to display clever strategies in battle, as when he was able to take out the Hound Dogs using firearms, which he utilized for the first time against them, along with exploiting his immediate environment and his enemies' psychological state to his advantage, without using his esper ability. Even with less than half of his calculation ability, it is great enough to allow Accelerator to calculate and analyze all the 25,000 different kinds of energy of Kakine Teitoku's Dark Matter, while fighting on par with him and protecting bystanders. Finally, he was able to figure out a way to block the signal used to shut off his electrode and to figure out ways to diminish the harmful influence magic has on his body as an esper, which is a feat only one other individual has accomplished so far. He is also fairly skilled at identifying spies; as well as being a skilled interrogator, as he was seen to easily break a Russian spy with Misaka Worst's help.
 * 2) Machine Ingenuity: Accelerator is also quite competent with machinery and technology, evident in when he modifies his cane with various gravity sensors and small motors to help better support himself. He also implants in it a mechanism to overcome the Board of Directors and their subordinates' means to shut off his choker-style electrode by memorizing the wavelength they use and blocking that wavelength afterwards.
 * 3) Marksmanship: After his fight with Kihara Amata, Accelerator realizes that he can't consistently rely on his power. As such, he trains with firearms and is shown to be extremely proficient in their usage. With his left, weaker hand, he is able to finish off a round of practice in 70 seconds. He commented that his reloading of a pistol in two seconds with just one hand and his teeth is too slow, even though he was simply testing the gun.
 * 4) Driving skill: Accelerator displays enough skill to drive a motorbike, seemingly without issues.

Equipment

 * Choker-style electrode: After he was shot by in the head, Accelerator, despite having survived, had his frontal lobe badly damaged and lost his ability to walk or use his motor skills, as well as his verbal and calculation abilities, preventing him from properly reading and speaking. This unique electrode, which is attached in his head, connects him with the Misaka Network and thanks to the limited connection to the brainwave network he has gained enough calculation ability to think normally, understand and speak, walk, etc. The choker has three modes: off, normal mode, and esper mode, where the battery runs out in 15 minutes after entering this mode. This was later modified to 30 minutes, but it was also tampered with at the same time with a safety device that allows for someone to remotely prevent the device from switching to esper mode.
 * Modified crutch: The crutch Accelerator always uses to support his body when he is in normal mode contains a small motor and weight distribution sensors that allows it to determine Accelerator's center of gravity. Instead of ending a single leg like a regular crutch, it ends with four legs attached to the end like a microphone stand, which, according to the narration, "holds the ground" helping Accelerator to get up when he is down. The staff along with the four legs can be retracted in and out of the cuff. However, its more important feature is a component inserted by Accelerator that blocks other interference devices. The crutch allows for Accelerator to block specific wavelengths after successfully analyzing it and, using the equipment in the crutch, generate an interfering wavelength specifically engineered to block the original wavelength.

Trivia

 * Accelerator noticed after initiating a dust explosion in his fight with Touma that the temporary lack of oxygen almost killed him. Because of this he realizes that even if he took on a direct blast from a nuclear weapon, he would then die from the lack of oxygen it caused. But in the novel, he subjects the idea that he could use an oxygen tank to remedy that situation, as some are made the size of hairspray bottles.
 * Accelerator is the first known character who has managed to fill Index's stomach. Even when Maika cooks for Index, she only manages to fill 1/3 of Index's stomach according to Motoharu.
 * Although Tree Diagram predicted that in a fight between him and Misaka Mikoto, she would die in 185 moves, the version of the SISTERS Arc in the Railgun manga shows that she would have been killed just by reflecting her strongest move, the Railgun, in 3 moves. Of course, this prediction is probably based on Accelerator's tendency to play with his opponents.
 * His voice actor, Okamoto Nobuhiko, won twice in the Annual Seiyuu awards for his role as Accelerator. He first won Best Male Rookie in 2008 for his role in Index, and he also won Best Supporting Actor in 2010 for Index II. These achievements were both pointed out in the Index-tan specials.
 * The Seiyuu also later play the same type role as Karma Akabane which was thought to be strongest of all but later defeated by main protagonist, Nagisa on a duel at Assassination Classroom.
 * When spoilers on Volume 20 was first released, there was the misconception that Accelerator had somehow managed split the country Russia into two halves. Later this is found to be false, stemming from a mistranslation in the narration at the part where Accelerator has just defeated Misaka Worst.
 * He is shown to enjoy coffee as there are instances in the light novel of him buying / wanting to buy coffee. He enjoys the same brand of coffee that Touma likes (black coffee without sugar), and at least once (Volume 5 light novel, before encountering Last Order and after his defeat from Touma) he actually bought every coffee can left in the store, "foiling" Touma's attempt to buy coffee the next day (another possible joking nod to Touma's "misfortune").
 * Due to his unusual introduction to Last Order and his equally unusual reaction to seeing her naked, not to mention their close relationship and the way he attracted Index's attention in Volume 12-13, fans have been joking that Accelerator might secretly be a lolicon. Misaka Worst lampshades this in New Testament Volume 1, because Accelerator is looking to help Fremea Seivelun.
 * The character Add from the Korean MMORPG Elsword bears a striking resemblance to Accelerator. Although looking similar to Add, KoG confirmed that they had no intention of giving Add a same personality as Accelerator, confirming the only thing similar between the two is the voice actor.
 * One other possible trait that Add shares with Accelerator aside from his appearance and slightly close psychopathic personality is that one of his jobs/paths/classes are called Diabolic Esper, which is a reference to the Toaru world involving espers.