𖤐 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𖤐

design

Testament has a pale complexion, red eyes, as well as straight, thigh-length black hair. Across most of their appearances, they exclusively dress in black (or complementary colours, such as dark violet, as seen in their Λ Core artwork) clothes: they wear a midriff-baring top with a mantle covering their arms, and a mid-calf wrap skirt connected by two belts, and secured by another at the waist. They have an arm warmer on one arm and a fingerless glove on the other, as well as a choker with silver studs and a pair of knee-high boots. In Strive, their redesign retains the overall idea, but changes the top for a sleeveless white shirt and frilled cravat, below a black waistcoat with silver buttons on the front flaps, connected to the black mantle over their forearms. The skirt now has buttons and a number of brown waistbelts with skull adornments. Retaining the black boots and arm warmer, they now wear fingerless gloves on both hands: a white one on the right, and black on the left. Testament now also wears a black top hat, with a skull on the band. Testament wields a scythe in battle. In Guilty Gear, it had a silver blade and was held with the blade facing down, near their right leg. For the rest of the series, it is crimson red and is wielded with the blade level to their head.

Prior to their Gear conversion, Testament was a diligent and curious individual who abhorred violence. Especially fond of children, Testament had a philanthropic side: they'd try to provide shelter for those who have lost their homes, and preferred to find ways to reform and educate those who fell from the righteous path rather than blame and condemn them for their crimes.[9] Kind and gentle,[5] Testament placed the needs of others before their own,[9] wanted to protect the innocent—remembering their oath as a knight even decades later—,[10] and dutifully wished to repay Kliff for his kindness.[7][11] Yet, the forced conversion caused Testament to become extremely distrustful of humans and cynical.[10][12][13] The annihilation of mankind,[14] however, is not something they truly desire. Kliff attributed such madness to whatever Testament saw during the war, all the bloodshed,[7] but it was a command forcibly planted by Justice. Because Testament had a strong will,[5] emotional fortitude,[9] and great love for Kliff,[7] they were semi-independent,[15] retaining their consciousness and memory but unable to disobey her orders.[9] After Justice's death, Testament regains their true self but is tormented by the horrific things they had done under her control. Choosing to isolate themself from humanity,[9] Testament latches onto the idea of protecting the innocent Dizzy, and later the Forest of Demons, as a new purpose in life.[1] Feeling guilty, this is a way to atone for their sins, but by Strive it ends up bringing back Testament's human sensibility.[8] Despite their distrust, Testament is often reluctant to fight humans—resorting to verbal intimidation first—even as they affirm that killing men is a Gear's personality,[10] and feels a certain kinship with fellow victims as "friends of war".[16][17] Eventually, watching over Dizzy's "parents"[18] has brought Testament peace of mind,[8] and they no longer look on humans with hostility.[18]

Main articles: /Commands or /Gameplay Originally, Testament joined the Sacred Order of Holy Knights,[7] presumably learning the knights' techniques to combat Gears. After being converted into a Gear themself, Testament gained the abilities associated to these creatures: senses, healing and physical strength that surpass by far the average of a normal human's, and was rendered ageless. They are one of the few human-type Gears, and one of a small number who managed to remain self-aware after the injection of Gear cells;[15] even under Justice's control, Testament was a semi-independent Gear[34] due to their powerful force of will and emotional fortitude.[9] Despite their powerful mind,[9] Testament was only a mid-class Gear after the conversion[7] and was easily defeated by Kliff. However, they somehow survived and became stronger than before.[9] Thanks to their rapid healing, Testament has a fighting style that relies on using their own blood for variety of moves, even creating from it the massive scythe they wield. Testament is also able to use force fields and bend time and space to move in and out of other dimensions. They are well-versed in advanced magic,[35] such as breaking dimensional prison-level seals,[20][21] and can summon familiars such as Succubus and EXE Beast.[35] Under normal conditions the Succubus conceals itself as a crow and hovers near Testament.[36] Gameplay-wise, appearing as the sub-boss of Guilty Gear and Guilty Gear X, Testament belongs to the trap-laying archetype, able to pollute the screen with stationary attacks, projectiles, and disjointed hitboxes in order to force the opponent into a disadvantageous position and then apply pressure. In Strive, Testament has been reworked heavily, losing their invisible traps, but now able to put an opponent in the Stain state on contact with certain moves, which will cause an automatic follow-up attack.

Regarding Testament's gender, Arc System Works marketing rep Riku Ozawa has stated that Testament is specifically agender (無性, musei?), neither male nor female, and that the character was previously portrayed as androgynous/bigender (両性, ryōsei?), but that the team chose to change that in the new game.[37][38] Both musei and ryōsei are categories of X-gender, the Japanese equivalent of the word 'non-binary'. In an interview, Daisuke Ishiwatari reportedly said that "They're androgynous. In fact, they've transcended human existence. Just like me."[38][39] Katano's Developer's Backyard further confirms that, after undergoing surgical modification and being turned into a Gear, Testament has lived without the concept of gender.[6] Testament's dislike for Sol isn't due to anything he personally did to Testament, but rather, it is because Kliff revered Sol in his youth and it became a complex for Testament, who feels similarly about Kliff.[40][11] If Testament was aged 18 when they joined the Order in 2127, that would make them 71 years old by the time of the original Guilty Gear. However, since Ky was just a child when he joined, they could have been even younger. Testament has the most amount of hobbies in the series, having a record number of 35 in Strive. It is proof of how much they are enjoying life now. Since the reveal, the development team has enjoyed the many fanarts of Testament enjoying their hobbies.[6] Costumes based on Testament's Strive look appear in Tales of the Rays, for Duke Panterei, and in Soulworker, for Lily. Testament has made guest appearances in the following games: Elemental Story, Weiẞ Schwarz.