In the eleventh episode ofTRIGUN STAMPEDE, the ultimate showdown betweenVash The Stampede and Millions Kniveslooms, and the story delves even further than it has into the twins' memories, revealing a character who was briefly shown during the previous episode. While it was assumed that Vash and Knives were the first Independent Plants revealed to humanity, this is actually not the case, and the truth is perhaps one of the most important individual incidents in the development of Knives' hostile mistrust of humanity.
Tesla, aptly named as the first Independent Plant ever recorded, is a mysterious figure in the lore of the series given that not much is revealed about her as a person, but rather, her horrible fate becomes the primary focus and the last nail in the coffin regarding Knives and his beliefs aboutthe depravity of humankind. Just who was Tesla, and why is she so significant in the development of Millions Knives?
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Plant Matter
The latter episodes ofTRIGUN STAMPEDEhave been particularly big on expanding the known lore surrounding the twins and their pasts, as well as the reasons why either of them are the way they are. With episode 10 delving into the past of William Conrad and his relationship with the series antagonist, he provides most if not the entirety of the exposition that takes place in episodes 10 and 11. The former briefly made a photograph of a young William Conrad standing together with an unknown blonde-haired, blue-eyed individual. The zooming in on this photograph comes after Elendira The Crimsonnail launchesan attack on Meryl and De Niro.
After explaining his entire reason for living and supporting Knives to the both of them, Conrad was in a contemplative mood, looking back on his past, and thinking about his atonement for the “sins” of humankind against the Plants. In a flashback to some point after the Big Fall and the separation of Knives and Vash, Knives emerges on Conrad’s SEEDS vessel and gives him an ultimatum – atone for sin, or die. As Knives uses his claw-like gauntlet to threaten Conrad, the shot zooms in on a pair of eyes darting creepily all over the place; attached to Knives' gauntlet. Immediately, Conrad understands that Knives knows about perhaps the single greatest crime committed against the Plants: the cruel, inhumane truths revealed in The Report of Tesla.
Root Cause
The Report of Tesla was the documentation of the birth, life and eventual death of Tesla, the first-known Independent Plant; therefore, Vash and Knives' older sister. She did not even live to be a year old as she was the subject of rigorous experiments, none of which yielded any results. They continued for over 200 days, within which Teslagrew rapidly just as Vash and Knvies did, reaching what was the equivalent of around 6 or 7 years old in just under 100 days. Despite her communication skill and emotive ability developing leaps day-by-day, the experiments on Tesla continued despite growing ethics concerns. As was seen in Knives' past shown inTRIGUN STAMPEDEepisode 9, Tesla being of a different species enabled researchers to continue to justify her maltreatment. She began growing malignant tumours and her life continuously drained as experiments continued.
In the manga, Tesla dies within 230 days, with her remains being preserved aboard the ship where Vash and Knives where eventually born. In episode 11 ofSTAMPEDE; however, when Vash and Knives stumble upon the preservation tank containing Tesla’s horribly mangled and dissected body, the case files for the specific vessel clearly state that the subject is “Alive”, which ramps up the gravity of Tesla’s ordeal by several thousands of degrees. Preserved in one were Tesla’s eyes, which still showed signs of resonance as the characteristic Plant markings can be seen; in the tank containing most of Tesla’s remains, her innards were bare and floating listlessly from her abdomen, and various “shards” of flesh and viscera and one of her arms floated could be seen. The tank itself was a sickening shade of red, adding to the shock value of the scene, and searing into the mind one ofthe series' most memorable images. In the third and last tank, one of Tesla’s badly mangled arms could be seen floating in the humour.
Flowers of Evil
Seeing Tesla in that state at their young age was definitely a defining moment and sealed Knives' permanent negative perception of humanity. While Vash was easily taken by Rem’s idealistic and hopeful outlook, not to mention her unwavering belief in the value of every single human life; Knives took what he was taught about human history, what he read and learned himself, and finally, the horrific experiments performed on Tesla as more than enough evidence of humanity’s existence spelling doom for all life everywhere.
The fact that they exploited the regular Plants, and even savaged an Indepedent Plant, an existence far beyond human comprehension that looks and acts human, was more than enough to solidify Knives' resolve to save his kind from the clutches ofwhat he considers to be truly evil. Tesla was a horrific indictment on human values and cast humanity in the worst possible light, and thus, her being hidden away also showed Knives that humanity will often rewrite history to cast themselves in a better light. Tesla’s fate is one of Knives' major motivators in his continued desire to have Vash join his side. As far as Knives knows, he’s the good guy, and Tesla is just one of several examples that prove his point.
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