Tanya von Degurechaff

"Freedom without laws means anarchy; laws without freedom means tyranny"

- Tanya

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 the late Interwar period.

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 been granted the title of von.

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

In Light Novel
Tanya defines the man who she reincarnated from as a Japanese man with good physique, tall enough to be an imposing figure in contrast to her current, younger body.

In her current incarnation, the Light Novel describes Tanya as a little girl with a very petite build for her age that could be mistaken to be even younger. She has blonde hair and her eyes are a cold blue. She has a fairy-like face, which looks ill when coupled with her pale complexion.

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the 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 complexes and that he was twisted. She has both superiority and inferiority complexes, which is shown by how she compared herself to real geniuses she couldn't compete with, while also desired to be above others.

Psychopath
Tanya has a lot of sociopathic traits; cold, calculating, and often sees others as objects she can use to her advantage. This allowed her to rise rapidly through the ranks of her careers in both lives.

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

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

Sometimes, this trait also becomes a disadvantage to her, such as her lack of empathy that disables her from putting herself in other people's shoes. In particular, her lack of insight of possibility that the people she offended by her callous dismissals 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 a 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 the Imperial Army treats their soldiers, in which mission is an absolute and she couldn't disobey even suicide missions. 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 the perfect soldier. On the surface, Tanya is every bit what an Imperial soldier should strive to be. A harsh disciplinarian who 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 who 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 an iron-clad belief in her ideology and methodology, which is also why she is oblivious of the fact that what she did in her 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 a dangerous assignment, leading her to a series of failures in achieving her goal. While she did notice she didn't get the results she wanted, Tanya stubbornly believes her method isn't the reason.

Anime Version
Though the anime follows closely to the original source, it markedly highlights the brutal and cruel side of Tanya's character. This can be seen from a number of differences in her monologue and action. In the first episode, Tanya purposely arranges the death of two insubordinate soldiers under her, while in the original source, they are simply taken off of her platoon to prevent discord. She also behaves colder and distant towards Visha; as opposed to being delighted by her help during the recruitment period of the new mage battalion, she wishes she could have left Visha in the Rhine instead.

Past
In the year 2013 A.D, he was just an ordinary salaryman working in the Human Resources Department. His job was to lay off people, and he is shown doing his job efficiently without any empathy for anyone he fired on behalf of his company. One day, after firing someone for incompetence, on his way back home after work, he was murdered by the vindictive former co-worker, who pushed him to his death in a crowded train station off of the platform to the train tracks. His death led to his first encounter with Being X, in which the salaryman expressed his faithless nature in metaphysical entities such as a God and a Devil. The salaryman also pointed out what he sees as a flaw in Being-X's management of humanity and reasoned why humanity's faith in God has eroded. Enraged by his rudeness but also intrigued, Being-X decided to use the salaryman's soul in an experiment. So the entity reincarnated 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 into 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 all changed when a group of specialists went to check on all the children. Through a magical aptitude test, she was listed as a child with magical aptitude.

Therefore, she became a promising candidate for conscription into the Empire's Imperial Armed Forces. Realizing that joining the military is inevitable and seeing an opportunity to better establish herself in the world, Tanya volunteers instead in order to obtain better treatment and opportunities, with a life plan to get promoted to an elite rear course, Tanya enlisted to the 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 was put in command of the artillery firing squad before being deployed on her first mission.

Her first mission's directive was to provide reconnaissance for the ground troops. However, 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 orders were changed from providing recon to holding the line while reinforcements were deployed in which she was told that they would take approximately 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: Elenium Type 95 Operation Orb
Tanya is assigned to test out the unstable Elenium Type 95 Operation Orb, which is majorly invented by Doctor Schugel. On the first flight, while using the prototype orb, it explodes when she reaches the maximum level (6,000 feet above sea level), Tanya is still unable to control it, taking slight injuries. Therefore, Tanya is notably peeved when she is brought back to retest the explosive orb countless times and always failed to use it reliably and effectively. After Being X blesses the Elenium Type 95 Operation Orb, it sprouts improvements. When she is pulled back the last time for the final checks, she meets Being X again while the orb is about to detonate during the flight, During that brief period, Being X solely states that the only requirement to use the orb unfailingly and safely is the pray to him. Tanya is left with no choice but to pray and grasp the control of the orb, successfully utilizing the orb. This makes her think that the orb is a cursed equipment instead of a blessed thing.

Abilities
Physical Traits Capacity 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 with her voice, e.g in the light novel, manga, and anime version (Episode 5), where she used her child voice during the bombing of the Dacian Capital.

Quotes
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!"

(Tanya von Degurechaff, Analects of a Rhine Front Commander): "A shovel is an implement born of civilization, Hooray for civilization."

Trivia

 * In the German dubbing of the anime her name has been translated as Tanya Degretschow.
 * Tanya Degurechaff has been compared to the Fallen Hero of Germany Manfred von Richthofen a.k.a Red Baron. Both of them are considered as "Ace of Aces" during their own World War.
 * The Assault Silver Wings medal, which was presented to Tanya, could be based on the 1939 Iron Cross with Oak and Gold Wings, Swords and Diamonds.
 * Tanya Degurechaff's achievements have been compared to Erich Hartmann known as "Black Devil," who was highly feared by the Allied forces and the Soviet Union. All of the pilots ranked as "Ace of Aces" were 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 shown to be worried about her growth and even consults a doctor. She is told her growth is stunted due to being malnourished as an orphan and rigorous training as a soldier.
 * The anime highlights the orphanage Tanya used to live as a very poor one and in a difficult situation to feed their children, while in the 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 the 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 those 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 assists since her recruitment, when being considered for War College.
 * In the Light novel, she is publicly known by 3 names: White Silver as described by the front line troops, her official alias and what the front line troops think she especially after the aide she provides, Mad Dog by imperial command, mainly due to the amount of trouble she causes them, and The Devil of The Rhine, because she happily laughs and dances in the sky when she kills her enemies. These 3 were combined to give her a new nickname, Rusted Silver. This is because when blood dries up, it gives a colour similar to silver oxide (silver rust) in solution.

Reference
Tanya von Degurechaff Таня фон Дегуршафф