Belldandy

Belldandy is the main female protagonist of the ''Ah! My Goddess'' anime and manga.

Belldandy first appeared to Keiichi to grant him a wish. His subsequent wish, "I wish for a goddess like you to stay by my side forever", binds Belldandy to Earth and subsequently sets off the main plot of the series.

In the AWA fics, Belldandy is a student at the AWA Academy and is part of Class 5.

Appearance
Belldandy is described as being incredibly beautiful by nearly everyone around her. She is a tall woman with light brown hair styled into two large bangs which frame the sides of her face, four thinner locks of hair branching out from the top of her head and curving downwards on either side like antennae and it is usually tied into a ponytail that runs down her back and bright blue eyes.

She has a youthful appearance and dark blue triangular markings adorning her cheeks, with a thin diamond-shaped crest in the center of her forehead. Belldandy has a slim, yet shapely figure and creamy light complexion unlike the the more voluptuous, bronze-skinned appearance of Urd (Belldandy's older half-sister). When first introduced in the series, Belldandy's hair was portrayed with darker highlights and coloring. She is often seen wearing golden earrings, which are actually used to keep her full powers from adversely affecting those around her. Once her power limiters are removed, Belldandy's facial markings change to a circles with elongated designs on either side, and her hair turns a bright silver color.

In her first appearance, she is seen with her a pink scarf with purple markings tied in her hair, although she has since discarded it. Her typical attire is an elaborate gown, consisting of a white robe revealing her legs, a white shawl, and an outer blue garment with a yellow triangular trim that drapes over her shoulders and wraps around her upper body. This article of clothing hangs loosely over her body like a jacket, and is joined in the front by a matching jeweled brooch. In her Goddess attire, Belldandy also wears a golden choker with five thin rectangular ornaments hanging from her neckline, a pair of simple golden bracelets on her wrists, and blue finger-less gloves. Completing the look are the heelless, open-toed, blue sandals that cover her feet and toes. Belldandy is also had a barefoot without the sandals. Belldandy wearing glass slippers

During her time on Earth, Belldandy changes her clothing to that of an ordinary human. She is often seen wearing long summer dresses and other casual clothing, her most common attire consisting of a one-piece white dress with a blue trimming and long sleeves.

Personality
Belldandy is a warm, cheerful and exceptionally kindhearted goddess who is al incredibly courteous and friendly towards everyone around her, even those who have caused harm to her in the past. Having obtained the position of a First Class Goddess, she is unable to lie, nor does she ever show the inclination to do so, and as a result she is very open and caring. Above all else, Belldandy values the lives and happiness of the people around her much more than her own, and always desires to make everybody happy no matter what the cost is to herself. While many see this part of her personality as being one of her more endearing qualities, it has also driven her to disregard her own feelings, thus making it difficult for her to voice her own thoughts when she believes it would cause strife for other people. As a result of this, she is easily upset and incredibly fragile when experiencing negative emotions.

Belldandy always looks for the good in every person she meets, naturally expecting the best from those around her regardless of the situation. She greatly admires those who are genuine, honest, and kind-hearted, having fallen in love with Keiichi Morisato due to his possession of these very qualities. As such, she is very devoted to him to the point where she values his own life and safety before her own, and will do anything to help him regardless of the situation or any possible consequences. Likewise, Keiichi returns these sentiments wholeheartedly. She expresses disdain whenever he belittles himself, instead seeing him for wonderful person he is rather than his lackluster appearance or less-than-impressive background.

Due to her tendency to hold in her negative feelings, she is prone to lose control of her powers during times of emotional instability. Belldandy shows disdain for herself during these times, especially when she becomes jealous of other women who become too close to Keiichi. At times like these she is often unable to voice her own feelings, her uncontrolled powers causing bizarre changes in the weather.

Despite her trusting and giving nature, she will stand up to anyone who belittles her friends and family, and fight back against even against tougher enemies to protect the people around her.

Due to her initial lack of knowledge about everyday life on Earth, she would often ask questions or misinterpret situations early on in the series.

Abilities
As a divine goddess, Belldandy has an affinity for wind or air, and as such is the base for the majority of her spells. She can summon winds at will, from small gusts to tornadoes, and can alter the weather to be more pleasant. Like all goddesses, Belldandy is able to cast spells quickly by singing, and often restores life to ruined areas during recreational singing, though is can also be connected to her being the goddess of present. In fact, Belldandy is deemed the best songstress in Heaven, performing the extremely difficult lullaby Rarihozen (a lullaby so potent it could tire the most powerful of beasts, but had the effect of drowsing it's performer as well). While typically preferring to resolve matters civilly and avoiding conflicts altogether–or any form of violence whatsoever–Belldandy is able to hold her own in combat against a variety of foes. She battled Mara, a first class demon with a license equivalent to her own, although she was unable to break the curse put on Megumi (Keiichi in the anime) that turned them into a motorcycle. She fended off Lind's attack with a lance when she attempted to attack Keiichi when he was possessed by the Lord of Terror, although this only occurred in the anime. While not technically combat, she matched powers with Peorth on two occasions, once to save Keiichi, and once in a goddess competition. The Hell Arc of the Manga confirmed Belldandy's physical prowess as well, when she successfully defended against Surimu, which had ultimate strength, and a literally indestructible fist as her power.

Only two characters have been confirmed to undeniably surpass Belldandy in terms of power. The first being Hild, the Daimakaicho as she is a being on equal terms to the Almighty. During the Lord of Terror arc Belldandy broke one of the seals on her earring, allowing her to use the full extent of her power, but it was still insufficient to combat the powered-up Urd. Note that Belldandy's power was affected by Yggdrasil's malfunctioning so she didn't quite have her full power, whilst Urd was charged with power under the control of the ultimate destruction program. However, it is worth mentioning that Belldandy admits Urd's powers surpasses hers, being of mixed heritage as well as the eldest of the Norns. Though she states that Urd is more powerful Belldandy has many seals on her that she doesn't know about she has at least three one ring and two earrings put on her when she was a young child.

Additionally, Belldandy possesses incredible domestic skills, and takes great pride in her cooking, cleaning, and other tasks. She also has intelligence that could be considered above that of an average human, attending college classes with Keiichi. Even though her grades are never shown, the lack of incidents where she struggles with school work suggests they are not an issue. However this naivëté should not be mistaken for foolishness or idiocy, but rather her kind nature to assume first the best in others regardless of their background or tendencies.

Trivia

 * Belldandy is similar to Cinderella in 1950's Cinderella
 * Belldandy is similar to Snow White in 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Because they were both singing in their beautiful voices
 * Belldandy is similar to both Nala in 1994's The Lion King and Jasmine in 1992's Aladdin
 * Belldandy's name is most likely derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the Norse deity Verðandi's name, also spelled Verdandi or Verthandi, one of the Norns, similar to the Greek/Roman Fates or Moirai.
 * Belldandy`s real star sign is Libra. Since her element is air, Libra is an air sign
 * In Episode 4, of Season 1 of the series, Belldandy makes a random data of her to prove that she`s a foreign exchange student of Nekomi, making her birthdate 1985-01-01 on her I.D.
 * In Season 2 Episode 4, Megumi Morisato (Keiichi Morisato's younger sister) mentions that Belldandy is perfect as "she's gorgeous", "has a great figure", "she's a talented singer", "she's sincere, gentle-hearted" and "everybody loves her".