Allen Walker

"We're not just destroyers. At the same time, we can be saviours."

- Allen Walker Allen Walker is the main protagonist of the anime/manga series D.Gray-man. He is a former Exorcist and a member of the European Branch of the Black Order which he is now seen and classified by them as a Noah. He is also currently the current host of the former Noah, Nea Walker. He is the adoptive son of Mana Walker, the elder brother of Nea Walker and Nea is Allen's adoptive uncle. Allen was also the former apprentice of the Exorcist General, Cross Marian. Allen has mostly been seen with Timcanpy on his side.

He is voiced by Sanae Kobayashi in the Japanese version of the anime and Todd Haberkorn in the English version, the latter of whom also voices Natsu Dragneel, Tsukune Aono and Death the Kid.

Appearance
Allen is a young man of average height (though Kanda often teases Allen about his height, Kanda himself is a tall individual, so Allen's height is actually common for his age) with a lean, muscular physique, which, over the course of time, has become heavily marred with scars. He has medium-length gray/white hair that has now grown to shoulder-length, silver/gray eyes, and his skin is somewhat pale. Allen has an unusual scar on the left side of his face that starts as a pentagram on his forehead, trails down in a line that severs his eyebrow and mars his eyelid, and hooks slightly at his cheekbone and follows his cheek down close to his chin. It also has an extra line of scar tissue that runs parallel to his lower eyelid. This scar was given to him byMana Walker, his foster father, after Allen turned him into an Akuma; the scar is also the source of his Pentacle Eye, which allows him to detect Akuma and see the human souls bound to their bodies.

Allen's parasitic type Innocence takes the form of the entirety of his left arm, from his shoulder down. Originally, it was red and quite veinous, but after he invoked his Crown Clown for the first time, the skin became much darker and more scale-like, his fingernails turning black and growing out and arrow-shaped markings forming along his shoulder blade. When his arm evolved further, the skin seemed to smooth out more.

Because of his odd hair color and his strange arm, Allen has a tendency to cover his hair with hats and hoods and wear gloves and long-sleeved shirts to keep people from seeing his arm.

Allen's Exorcist uniforms often consist of concealing jackets and gloves, as well as pants and heavy duty boots, though Allen's latest uniform features a shorter jacket and capri-like pants. He always asks for gloves to be included so he can keep his hand hidden, though recently Allen has gotten more comfortable with showing his hand when he is just around his comrades.

As a child, Allen's hair was a more reddish-brown color; his hair turned white when his adopted father cursed him, leaving a scar on the left side of his face as mentioned in the anime and manga series.

Personality
Allen portrays himself as a kind, generous, and very polite young man. He tends to be very self-sacrificing, often willing to let his body and emotions take devastating blows for the sake of others; this trait is something that has angered several of his comrades and friends, most noticeably Yu Kanda and Lenalee Lee. Allen also has unassuming and borderline naive traits, despite the troubling life his master and General, Marian Cross, forced him to live. Because of his cursed Pentacle Eye, which allows him to see the human souls bound to Akuma, Allen considers Akuma to be just as important to him as humans, swearing his left arm to saving Akuma and his right to saving humans in his attempt to be, as he once put it, "a destroyer who can save".

Over time, Allen's personality has seen a shift; several times, his "dark side", something he developed to survive the gamblers and con-artists Cross sacrificed him to, has shown itself, frequently shocking and scaring those around him. He has also begun using less polite speech, something noted by and encouraged by Lenalee and Johnny Gill. The one person who can consistently make Allen break his polite mold is fellow Exorcist Yu Kanda; their differing views but similar "darknesses", as it is described by Noise Marie, lead to them conflicting frequently, sometimes over menial issues.

As a child, Allen was abandoned from his family because of his 'abnormal' left arm. He was taken in by Mana walker, a retired circus clown. One day while in town, a carriage lost control and hit Mana, killing him. Mana's last words to Allen the first time were 'Keep walking, you must keep walking'. Mana was buried on top of a hill and Allen became very sad, summoning The Creator or 'The millennium Earl'. Allen made the deal to bring Mana back, and Mana yelled at Allen and the mechanical arms went down on Allen. Causing the scar on his left side of his face. Mana yelled again, 'I curse you Allen Walker!' before Allen's arm activated, without his consent, and acted like it had a mind of its own, before killing Mana a second time. Allen's hair turned white by the curse and his left eye developed abilities as the scar healed.

Allen, at the very beginning, was a sweet child, before meeting Cross Marian and developing a 'dark side' to handle the jobs that were dropped on him, to work off the debts.

Powers and Abilities
Physical Prowess: Due to his Innocence being largely used for close combat, Allen is noted to be above normal human standards in terms of physical fitness, making him able to perform in seemingly physically impossible workouts and hold back Akuma attacks that are known to take out walls. His physical abilities are only increased when his Innocence is activated.

Amateur Swordsmanship: After Allen received his Sword of Exorcism, he began training with Kanda to develop his swordsmanship skills, though after losing in a spar he reverted to physical brawling.

His Innocence is the Cross, a parasitic type Anti-Akuma Weapon that is centralized in the cross-shaped, stone-like Innocence embedded in the back of Allen's left hand. The Innocence has caused Allen's entire arm to be taken over by Innocence, so his arm from the shoulder down is actually "foreign" tissue that his body symbiotically accepts as part of himself. Originally, Allen's arm was quite veinous and red, but over time its color has darkened and the skin has smoothed out, taking on a slightly more normal appearance.
 * Cross α (alpha): The first and most basic form of Allen's Innocence augments his left arm into a monstrous adamantine claw with a supernatural glow at Allen's scapula-joint. At this phase, his Innocence is capable of manipulating its size and shape even to extreme ends, such as when it grew enough to grab the entire body of the mountain-sizedFallen One, Suman Dark. While very durable against Akuma and Dark Matter, it can easily be damaged by Innocence, shown by the dents left on it when Kanda sliced it with his Mugen and the bites that Krory left on his hand.


 * Cross Grave (十字架ノ墓 (クロス・グレイヴ), Jūjika no Haka (Kurosu Gureibu) lit. Cross Frame Grave/Tomb): At the first level of invocation, the Innocence's power can be channeled into one powerful stream, capable of destroying multiple Level 1 Akuma simultaneously, and leaves a cruciform of energy behind on each of its targets (hence the name should Allen defeat a wad of Akuma with it).
 * In the games Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars, Cross Grave is instead a palm-slamming smash attack with the Innocence that causes a shockwave, but also has an effect of breaking guards (being unblockable as well; it is outright unblockable with no guard-break effect in JSS). The energy stream from the attack is able to emit from whatever surface Allen strikes/impacts with it, and the cruciforms appear as usual (only if Allen hits anything with it).
 * Minor versions of this attack can be used as Allen's Punt Attack in Super Stars. In both Super andUltimate, his 4 Koma version Cross Grave's shockwave is blue-colored. While in Super Stars, his 5 Koma Cross Grave is red-colored and covers a large area in front of him. The attack was greatly nerfed in Ultimate Stars among several moves (in terms of shockwave size and power), and the 5 Koma version is instead colored yellow.


 * Cross β (beta): This evolution takes a more offensive approach, in the form of a massive arm-cannon with his fingers becoming energy spikes. This form is capable of both ranged and melee combat, but tends to use up more energy initially.


 * Cross Paling (十字架ノ杭 (クロス・バリング), Jūjika no Kui (Kurosu Baringu) lit. Cross Frame Paling/Stake): At its second phase of invocation, Allen's Innocence is capable of firing volleys of rod-shaped energy palings; these laser stakes are made of hard-light Innocence energy, which enables them to picket the ground and fence in the adversary, or to pile upon them.
 * In the anime, the laser stakes are colored yellow along with his β version fingers. Jump Super/Ultimate Stars instead colors the stakes green and his fingers to be grayish white (same color as his arm cannon).

Crown Clown (神ノ道化 (クラウン・クラウン), Kami no Dōke (Kuraun Kuraun) lit. God's Clown): After Allen's Cross was nearly destroyed by Tyki Mikk, who crushed it and reduced it to particles, the Innocence particles hung around Allen, keeping him alive by healing a hole in his heart. When it was discovered that Allen's Innocence was still viable, Allen began to work hard to attempt to synchronize, though his initial efforts were all failures. It was only while battling Thread and gaining a new, strengthened resolve that Allen was able to properly reconnect with his Innocence, at which point it evolved.
 * Cross Spear (十字架ノ槍 (クロス・スピアー), Jūjika no Yari (Kurosu Supiā) lit. Cross Frame Spear): Also in its second phase of invocation, Allen is capable of focusing the barrel of his Innocence-cannon to generate a spear-like energy paling, which can then be used like a sword.

When invoked, Crown Clown acts as a body-armored Innocence, forming a white-hooded cowl and sleeve of Innocence energy which covers his shoulders and right arm, while his left arm and hand become slender and black, clad in armor and razor sharp claws. A masquerade-style mask is always affixed to the cowl, which takes on various configurations and appearances. This transformation also changes Allen's usual hairstyle from flat to a spiky rear. As before, his Innocence possesses a certain degree of sentience, such as when Crown Clown is able to manipulate Allen's entire body like a marionette when incapacitated, or simply assisting in evasive tactics. When not activated, his arm is black and meets with his shoulder in a spiraling pattern that ends with tattoo-like emblem.
 * Cross Grave (十字架ノ墓 (クロス・グレイヴ), Jūjika no Haka (Kurosu Gureibu) lit. Cross Frame Grave/Tomb): Much more powerful than its previous incarnation, Allen can crucify targets simply by etching a cross upon them with his left hand, effectively annihilating even Level 3 Akuma with a single talon. It can now also be used defensively, generation a shield by drawing a cross on the air.


 * Clown Belt (道化ノ帯 (クラウン・ベルト), Dōke no Tai (Kuraun Beruto) lit. Clown's Belt/Sash): The cape of Allen's cowl is released as a webbing of Innocence-energy that can be used to grasp objects, immobilize opponents, or form hardened spikes to impale enemies. It can also be released from the sleeve and glove on Allen's right arm. The ribbons of energy were once used by Crown Clown itself to wrap around Allen's limbs and control him like a puppet when Allen was too injured to move by himself.


 * Crown Edge (爪ノ王輪 (クラウン・エッジ), Tsume no Ōrin (Kuraun Ejji) lit. Claw's King Ring): A projectile attack which unleashes a barrage of crown-shaped rings from the clawed fingers on Allen's left hand.


 * Edge End (破滅ノ爪 (エッジ・エンド), Hakai no Tsume (Ejji Endo) lit. Claw of Destruction): A swipe of raw destructive power dealt with Allen's fully-invoked claw.
 * In Jump Ultimate Stars, Allen instead fires the claw forward like an energy beam blast.

Sword of Exorcism
Sword of Exorcism (退魔ノ剣 (たいまけん), Taima no Tsurugi, lit. Repelling Demon's Sword): When Allen's synchronization rate exceeds 100%, he is able to transmute his entire left arm into a large broadsword with a cross emblazoned on the faces of the blade. In doing so, his left shoulder is capped with a cross-shaped emblem, and his cowl usually forms a cloak to cover the missing arm. Once invoked, the blade can exorcise evil from any vessel it strikes, though it does not harm humans; this means that Allen can damage the inner Noah of members of the Noah family without killing their human bodies. If used against Level 1 to Level 3 Akuma, it vanquishes them in the same effect as the Cross Grave attack, leaving a residual glowing cross crest in the wake of the defeated Akuma. However, in the case of a Level 4 Akuma the sword carries a diminished effect. Allen is shown with the ability to telepathically recall the Sword to himself, should it be separated from his body. It is noted by Lero that the design of the sword is the same as the sword of the Earl of Millennium except for the inverse of color.
 * Death Orbs (破壊咆哮 (デス・ボール), Hakai Hōkō (Desu Bōru) lit. Destruction Roaring Howl) (Death Ball in the original Japanese translation): When using the Sword of Exorcism, Allen can create a series of large explosions.