Tanya von Degurechaff

Tanya von Degurechaff is the main protagonist of the light novel/anime Youjo Senki: Saga of Tanya the Evil. Originally a salaryman who was murdered in 2013, he was reborn as a girl living in an alternate version of Europe during World War I.

At just nine years of age, Tanya enters the Empire's Mages troops and is promoted to Second Lieutenant. Her talents, strategies, efficiency, and ruthlessness make her a useful asset for the Empire and a threat on the battlefield.

Since she graduated from the War College as one of the twelve knights, she's granted the title of von.

Moreover, she leads her own newly-formed Mage Battalion named Imperial Army 203rd Air Mage Battalion.

Light Novel
The man that reincarnated to be Tanya is described as a Japanese man with good physique by Tanya, tall enough to be an imposing figure in contrast of her current body.

In her current reincarnation, Light Novel described Tanya as a little girl with very petite build for her age that could be mistaken to be even younger. She has a blonde hair, and her eyes were coldly blue. She has fairylike face, which looks sick with her pale complexion.

Visha described her face as beautiful and doll like, but giving off vampiric impression because of her sharp eyes. She dressed in officer uniform and noted for tying her hair messily and wearing a peaked cap that is a bit too big for her.

Manga
Manga character design of salaryman followed this description, showing the salaryman as a broad shouldered and tall man. He had black hair that combed back neatly, rectangle glasses and sharp eyes. He is dressed in typical salaryman set of suit but with addition of long dark coat.

In manga version drawn by Chika Tōjō, Tanya shares the petite build of her Light Novel design. Her hair in colour page is in more vivid shade of blond and curlier on the tip. Tanya's blue eyes have tint of purple. Her skin tone is also noticeably very pale in comparison to Visha.

Tanya wore her officer uniform most of the time, and notably since Dacian War ended, her uniform had addition of elaborate looking aiguillettes on her right shoulder. Her combat uniform consists of duffle coat, helmet, google and boots in Rhine, and she also wore additional fur collared coat during Norden arc.

Anime
In anime, the salaryman's face is obscured in most scene. Only in artbook, his full face is revealed. He had dark hair with bangs that parted in the middle and close up scene of his eyes show his dark eyes with green tint. He wore white shirt, grey suit and a necktie.

In character designed by Yuuji Hosogoshi, Tanya noticeably has messier hair than her design in other media. This follows relatively closer to description in Light Novel, including her greyish blond hair and eyes in vivid shade of blue. She also notably had an ahoge on the top of her front locks.

In anime, as a soldier, she always wears her military uniform including her Silver Wings Assault Medal in civilian areas and a battle suit in the battlefield anytime and anywhere she goes.

Personality
Tanya is a very complex character. In her past life, Tanya described herself as someone with many complex and his person was twisted. She has both superior and inferior complex, which is shown by how she compared herself to real genius she couldn't compete with and also desired to be above others.

Sociopath
She has a lot of sociopath traits, cold, calculating and sees other as objects she can use for her advantage. It allows her to rise rapidly through the rank in career of both life.

Tanya places her faith in number, following Chicago School of Economy that everything has a price. This could be seen from how effectively she picks and raises her subordinates to be valuable human resource she could use. This also allows her to be a very efficient commander as she is both decisive strategist and tactician that not hindered by her emotion.

Tanya also sees herself as profitable human resource, doing everything to raise her value in the eyes of her superiors, which driving her to put up a front of perfect soldier since her recruitment. This impressed and also unnerved her comrades, in particular Erich von Rerugen, who considers her a psychopath for her ruthlessness.

Sometimes, this trait also becomes a disadvantage to her, in particular her lack of empathy that disables her from putting herself in other people's shoes. In particular, her lack of insight of possibility that people she offended by her callous dismissal would take revenge on her.

Libertarian
She is also a libertarian, as it could be seen from her monologue about freedom of will and goal for comfortable life in the rear. Something she had sought in previous life, too. This trait of personality is also the source of her frustration on how Imperial Army treats their soldiers, in which mission is absolute and she couldn't disobey even suicide mission. It's also why Tanya loathes Being-X for disrespecting her freedom and intending to convert her even against her will.

Paragon
Due to her faith in signaling theory, Tanya dons a mask of perfect soldier. On the surface, Tanya is every bit what an Imperial soldier should strive to be. A harsh disciplinarian that still cares about the lives and safety of her troops. A stupendously powerful and brutal warrior that still adheres to international laws. A person with a sharp tactical mind, unflinching courage and unquestionable loyalty to her country. An officer that nevertheless remains humble and respectful to even non-commissioned officers. A devout believer in religion who often calls upon God to bless her country. All of these would make her an inspirational figure, the fact that she is a young girl only makes the adults around her vow to work harder. Tanya has iron clad belief in her ideology and methodology, which is also why she is oblivious of the fact that what she did in previous life didn't give the same result in her current career and timeline. More often than not, she has assumed other soldiers would share her mindset such as refusing to apply for dangerous assignment, leading her to a series of failure in achieving her goal. While she did notice she didn't get the result she wanted, Tanya stubbornly believed her method wasn't the reason.

Anime Original Portrayal
Even though anime followed closely to original source, anime highlighted brutal and cruel side of her character. This could be seen from a number of differences in her monologue and action. In first episode, Tanya purposely arranged the death of two insubordinate soldiers under her while in original source they were taken off of her platoon to prevent discord. She also behaves colder and distant towards Visha, as opposed to be delighted by her help during recruitment period of new mage battalion, she wishes she could have left Visha in Rhine instead.

Past
In the year 2013 A.D, he was just an ordinary salaryman working in Human Resource department. His job was to lay off people, and he is shown doing his job efficiently without empathy for people he fired on behalf of his company. One day after firing someone for incompetence, on the way back home after work he was murdered by the vindictive former co-worker. Pushing the salaryman to his death in crowded train station off of the platform to the train tracks.

His death lead to his first encounter with Being X, in which the salaryman express his faithless nature in metaphysical entity such as God and Devil. The salaryman also pointed out what he sees as flaw in Being-X's management of humanity and reason why humanity's faith in God is eroded. Enraged by his rudeness but also intrugued, Being-X decided to use the salaryman's soul in an experiment. So the entity reincarnates him in another universe as a blonde-haired and blue-eyed infant girl named Tanya Degurechaff.

Present
The salaryman is reborn as Tanya in 1914 in the alternate universe, in a nation known as the Empire. When she comes to her consciousness for the first time, she realized she was in an orphanage. She lived at the church for a long time without changes in her daily life however, it exhumes until a group of specialist went to check all the children. Through a magical test, she was listed as a child with magical aptitude.

Therefore, she was a promising candidate for conscription into Empire's Imperial Armed Forces. Realizing joining the military is inevitable and seeing opportunity to better establish herself in the world, Tanya volunteers in order to obtain better treatment and opportunities, with life plan to get promoted to elite rear course Tanya enlisted to Imperial Army.

Prologue/Deus lo vult; Chapter I: The Sky in Norden
Tanya successfully graduated from the Military Training Camp at the age of 9 after-which she was promptly promoted to Warrant Officer and put in command of the artillery firing squad before being deployed on her first Mission.

Her first missions directive was to provide recon for the ground troops but while carrying out her task, her unit was ambushed by the enemy. Tanya, upon realizing what was happening, immediately requested permission to retreat but her request was denied and her mission directives were changed from providing recon to holding the line while reinforcements were deployed which, she was told would take 10 minutes.

Not wanting to disobey the command from HQ, Tanya engaged the enemy and fought ferociously killing three and severely wounding two (one kill and two wounded in the LN). During the battle, Tanya injured herself because, as she saw it, if she were to be injured in battle she would no longer have to fight and would be taken care of, by the military, in return for her 'selfless' sacrifice.

Deus Vult/Deus lo vult; Chapter II: Elinium Type 95 Operation Orb
Tanya was assigned to test out the unstable Elinium Type 95 Operation Orb which is majorly invented by Doctor Schugel. At the first flight while using the prototype orb, it exploded when she reached the maximum level (6,000 feet above sea level), Tanya was still unable to control it, taking slight injuries. Therefore, Tanya was notably peeved when she was brought back to retest the explosive orb countless times and had always failed to use it correctly and normally. After Being X blessed the Elinium Type 95 Operation Orb, it sprouted improvements. When she was pulled back the last time for the final check, she met Being X again while the orb is going to detonate during the flight, the only requirements to use the orb safely is to pray for the God which Being X solely stated before vanishing. Tanya has left no choice but to pray and grasp the control of the orb, successfully utilizing the orb. This made her think that the orb was cursed equipment and not a merely blessed thing.

Abilities
Physical Capacity

Although she has an average record in planning and strategy, she has a special aptitude for analysis and critical thinking skills. Moreover, she can manipulate the plan according to her will. When Tanya gives orders to her subordinates, they can expect harsh punishments if they fail to comply.

Manipulator

Due to her extremely dangerous cuteness and small size, she can easily fool someone by using her skills e.g during her short conversation with previously ranked Captain Maximilian Johann von Ugar by persuading him to drop in the selection of being one of the Twelve Knights during War College Arc. Also, she has an ability to fool anyone by her voice, e.g in the light novel, manga, and anime version (Episode 5) where she used her child voice during the bombing of Dacian Capital.

Quotes
"Unbound freedom is just pure destruction; rules that have no freedom is just a pure tyranny."

Catchphrase : "Curse you, Being X!"

(Tanya to Visha) : "If you have time for idle chatter, spend it doing all you can to survive---We are soldiers. If the brass tells us to do something, we do it."

(Tanya to herself) : "It's all... Being X's fault. Until I pound free-market principles into that piece of shit, I won't die, no matter what! I'm going to live... to live and... I'm going to end this!"

(Tanya's Magic Ignition) : "God save the Fatherland."

(Tanya's second Magic Ignition) : "Lord, if the day comes when I fly through the heavens. I shall approach thee!"

(Tanya's Speech to her Battalion) : "If there is a God who rules this world, it is a stern, solemn, and definitely a good being. A being that is far too great. God keeps forcing us to confront these cruel fates. As those were the rules of this world! Oh, God... I'll slice you into tiny pieces and feed you to the pigs! Our battlefield is no place for that piece of shit, God! I think it's time we took over God's work. We, soldiers, will take God's place. Put the arrogant ass, God, out of a job! All right troops... It's time for war!"

Trivia

 * Tanya Degurechaff was compared to the Fallen Hero of Germany named Manfred von Richthofen a.k.a Red Baron. Both of them are considered as "Ace of Aces" during their own World War.
 * Tanya Degurechaff's achievements were compared to Erich Hartmann known as "Black Devil" who is highly feared by the Allied forces and the Soviet Union. All of the pilots ranked as "Aces of Ace" are killed by him.
 * Tanya's traits and missions seem to be inspired by Erwin Rommel during WW1, as both shared the same destination and both are known for their talent with commando operations in small units.
 * Tanya was born on July 18 however her adoptive birthday is on September 24.
 * The name Tanya has its origin as a Russian diminutive of TATIANA. It began to be used in the English-speaking world during the 1930s.
 * In anime, her eyes are in the vivid shade of azure blue, but in Light Novel and Manga, her eyes are in icy shade almost silver.
 * In the manga and light novel, she is seemed to be worried about her growth and even consult a doctor. She is told her growth is stunted due to being malnourished as an orphan and rigorous training as a soldier.
 * Anime highlights the orphanage Tanya used to live as a very poor one and in a difficult situation to feed their children, while in Light Novel it's mentioned by Erich that according to his intel her orphanage receives a hefty donation and their children are well-fed.
 * Tanya currently holds the world record for max height reached by mages in combat standing at 12'000 feet, the average height is 6'000 with Republicans chasing her at 8'000 feet above sea level.
 * According to LN and manga, she wrote her first thesis at age nine (titled The logistics behind a highly mobile war theatre) that the railroad department deeply recognized and desired to recruit her.
 * Tanya hates cigarettes and the smell of smokers.
 * She loves coffee, especially one made by Visha.
 * She likes sweets, mostly chocolates.
 * Tanya once fought while being doped in magic which can simulate a feeling of intoxication due to the magic canals being unrestricted.
 * Tanya has a total confirmed 62 kills and 32 assist since her recruitment, when being considered for War College.

Reference
Таня фон Дегречофф