SWORD ART ONLINE
Plot
In the year 2022, the Virtual Reality Massively
Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG), Sword Art Online (SAO), is
released. With the Nerve Gear, a virtual reality helmet that stimulates the
user's five senses via their brain, players can experience and control their
in-game characters with their minds.
On November 6, 2022, all the players log in for the first time, and
subsequently discover that they are unable to log out. They are then informed
by Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of SAO, that if they wish to be free, they must
reach the 100th floor of the game's tower and defeat the final boss. However,
if their avatars die in-game, their bodies will also die in the real world. The
story follows Kirito, a skilled player who is determined to beat the game. As
the game progresses, Kirito eventually befriends a female player named Asuna
with whom he eventually falls in love. After the duo discover the identity of
Kayaba's avatar in SAO, they confront and defeat him, freeing themselves and
the other players from the game.Upon returning to the real world, Kirito learns that Asuna and a small group of SAO players are trapped in another VRMMORPG called Alfheim Online (ALO). Their imprisonment in ALO is part of a plan devised by Nobuyuki Sugō to perform illegal experiments on their minds including subdue Asuna and marry her, in an attempt to take over her family's company. Helped by Leafa, a player he meets in ALO, Kirito stops Nobuyuki's plans and finally reunites with Asuna in the real world.
Soon after, Kirito plays another VRMMORPG called Gun Gale Online (GGO) to investigate the mysterious connection between the game and deaths occurring in the real world. He eventually discovers that the culprits are former members of a murderous guild he had previously encountered in SAO.
After solving the murders in GGO, Kirito is recruited to assist in the development of a state-of-the-art game, UnderWorld (UW), which has an interface that is far more realistic and complex than that of the previous games he had played. In UW, the flow of time proceeds thousands of times faster than in the real world. However, Kirito ends up falling for a trap and wakes up inside the game, unable to log out and he starts looking for a way back to reality.
The protagonist of the series, Kirito is a "solo"
player and has been branded a beater (beta tester and cheater) by
the players in Sword Art Online. His game alias is created by taking the
syllables of the first and last Kanji of his real last and first names respectively:
(Kirigaya Kazuto). When it is announced that the players of Sword
Art Online can no longer log-out, he is distraught like everyone else, but
quickly overcomes the shock. He power levels to improve his odds of survival in
the game, quickly emerging as a frontline clearer of floors known as the Black
Swordsman (黒の剣士 Kuro
no Kenshi). In SAO, he is the sole possessor of a unique skill, «Dual
Blades». During his time in SAO, he falls in love with a female player, Asuna,
and even marries her in-game.
After the end of the Sword Art Online incident, 300 people
have yet to wake up including Kirito's SAO wife Asuna. He is sent a picture
from another VRMMORPG called Alfheim Online in which Asuna could be seen in a
cage on the legendary World Tree, which no Alfheim player had ever reached
directly, Kirito decides to take a copy of the game and rescue Asuna
nonetheless. Shortly after joining Alfheim, he befriends another player called
Leafa. Leafa helps Kirito grasp the game and offers to help him reach the world
tree. After a long journey and many adventures, Kirito manages to reach the
world tree and overcomes its obstacles to reach the top. He rescues Asuna and
discovers that his companion Leafa was actually his cousin Suguha. As ALO and
SAO share the same game engine among other features, a bug allows Kirito to
retain most of the skills and money he obtained in SAO upon playing ALO with
the same Nerve Gear, already beginning his journey with an advantage over other
players, despite he ends up forced to discard all items as they were not
recognized by the system except the one containing Yui, which reformats itself
as a navigation pixie.
He is later asked to register in Gun Gale Online in order to
investigate real life murders that are somehow linked with assassinations
in-game. It is soon revealed that the murders are committed by ex-players from
Sword Art Online, who were part of a player killing group known as Laughing
Coffin. His actions result in the capture of two out of the three culprits. The
last member escapes and is not heard of until the events of volume 9, and is
responsible for an attempted murder of Kazuto.
In the Alicization Arc, he has been assisting in the
development of the fourth generation full dive interface, Soul Translator, by
testing its thought acceleration functions. However, he has no memory of what
he has been doing as a result of his memories being suppressed, voluntarily, by
the system. He is attacked and poisoned by Johnny Black (The third culprit who
escapes) in the real world and wakes up in Underworld with no memory of the
game or how he got there. He meets up with Eugeo and helps him out of some tough
situations, during which he partially remembers his time with Eugeo and Alice
during his "childhood" in Underworld. He then decides to aid Eugeo in
finding Alice while he searches for a way out, back to reality.
In the real world, he lives with his mother and younger
cousin/sister in a family of three. He was adopted by Kirigaya Minetaka and
Midori (Suguha's parents). His mother (who is actually Midori's sister) and
father passed away after an accident when he was a year old. He finds out the
truth at age ten.
Real name: Asuna Yūki (結城 明日奈 Yūki
Asuna)
Asuna is the main female protagonist of the series; her game
alias is the same as her real world name. Asuna is a friend of Kirito and is a
sub-leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath, a medium-sized guild acknowledged
as the strongest guild in Aincrad. Being one of the few girls that play SAO and
extremely attractive, she receives many invitations and proposals. Asuna is a
strong-willed, accomplished player known in-game as the "Flash" (閃光
Senkō) for her extraordinary sword skill.
Later, she falls in love with Kirito and they marry in-game.
Towards the end of the SAO arc, she sacrifices herself to save Kirito from a
killing blow by Heathcliff. However, her death was only in-game and she is
shortly reunited with Kirito shortly after he dies defeating Heathcliff.
Despite the completion of SAO, Asuna does not wake up and is
instead imprisoned in another VRMMORPG called Alfheim Online. She is forced to
play the role of Titania the Queen of Fairies, with Nobuyuki Sugō, the man
responsible for imprisoning her, playing as Oberon the Fairy King. This was
done so that Nobuyuki Sugō could marry Asuna in the real world, while she was
unconscious, and thus take over RCT Progress Inc. She constantly tries to get
out of the World Tree where she is imprisoned and escape going so far as to
steal a GM card which she throws out of the window when she hears Yui's voice.
Upon being freed she created two avatars for Alfleim, Asuna (being the healer
of the team) and Erika (a battle type avatar) and went on living with Kirito.
In the real world, Asuna lives a very stressful life, and is
constantly pressured to fulfill her parents' high expectations. Prior to the
SAO incident, she led her life unquestioningly according to her parents'
demands. However, after living in SAO and meeting Kirito, she gains perspective
and looks back on her past with disgust. She eventually becomes Kirito's
girlfriend, and dreams of marrying him and having a family with him in the real
world when they saw a family at the park.
Real name: Suguha Kirigaya (桐ヶ谷 直葉 Kirigaya
Suguha)
Kirito's younger cousin in the real world. Leafa is a
diligent worker and has been practicing Kendo for 8 years. Kirito/Kazuto calls
her "Sugu". After Kazuto gets trapped in Sword Art Online, she begins
playing ALfheim Online in an attempt to understand him better. She develops
feelings for Kazuto after she learns that he is not really her brother, but
understands that his feelings for Asuna are too strong. Coincidentally, she
meets Kazuto's avatar, Kirito, in ALfheim and aids him in his search for Asuna,
unaware of Kirito's true identity. After understanding the depth of Kazuto's
love for Asuna, she resolves to give up on him and instead becomes attached to
Kirito in ALO, but later is heartbroken when she finds out that Kazuto and
Kirito are one and the same. Nevertheless, she pulls herself together and aids
Kirito in rescuing Asuna.
Initially a side story character in SAO, Yui later becomes
an accompanying/support character in ALO. At first thought to be a lost child
in SAO, she is actually an artificial intelligence program. Her full
designation is «Mental Health - Counselling Program», MHCP version 1, codename,
«Yui». She was designed to monitor the emotions of players and appear at their
sides to hear and help them out. However, since the moment everyone was
imprisoned in Sword Art Online, she was forbidden to come in contact with the
players and complete her prime directive. Unable to do anything but suffer as
she monitored the emotions of the trapped players, she came upon Kirito and
Asuna whose emotions stood out as a beacon of joy and peace in a sea of fear
and despair. She sought them out, appearing to them as an amnesia child whom
they adopted. In the end she was nearly deleted by Cardinal, the management
system of SAO. But Kirito saved her by converting and storing her data into his
own Nerve Gear. Yui later shows up in ALO as a Private Navigation Pixie and
helps Kirito along with Leafa to find Asuna. She refers to Kirito as
"Papa" and Asuna as "Mama" and gets very annoyed if any
girl other than Leafa or Asuna gets close to Kirito. Kirito uses his skills and
resources in the real world to construct a device for Yui to view the real
world even while she is in virtual reality and gives her the ability to
communicate with them.
A female sniper whom Kirito first meets in Gun Gale Online.
She has childhood trauma concerning guns and thus started playing Gun Gale Online
in an attempt to overcome it. She is the owner of the rare gun "PGM Ultima
Ratio Hecate II". She originally considers Kirito an opponent, but later
develops feelings for him. She later joins ALO on their recommendation as a
Cait Sith archer, wielding a long bow. In Gun Gale Online she is known as
'Hecate', while in real life Asuna gives her the nickname 'Sinonon'.
A mysterious girl who was Kirito's "childhood
friend", along with Eugeo, in UnderWorld. She is captured and supposedly
taken away to be executed by the Integrity Knights for breaking the rule by
"entering" the Dark Territory. She contacted Kirito, in spirit form,
and aided in Eugeo's healing, showing that she is still alive and remembered
both of them. She also implored them to come find her. It is later revealed,
first in a short story, that she had became an Integrity Knight, but it is yet
to be officialy confirmed in the english translations.
A young lad who was also Kirito's "childhood
friend", along with Alice, in UnderWorld. Has his memories of Kirito
purged, along with the rest of the villagers, but recovers them later on, to a
certain degree. Has a strong desire to find Alice and, in order to do so,
begins learning "Aincrad style" sword skills from Kirito.
Secondary
characters
Real name: Ryōtarō Tsuboi (壷井 遼太郎 Tsuboi
Ryōtarō)
A friendly player that meets Kirito at the start of the
game, who quickly befriends and learns from Kirito. They go their separate ways
shortly after when Kirito leaves for another town to power level, while Klein
remains behind to help out his less experienced friends. Klein uses a katana to
fight and later becomes a leader of his own guild. He regularly meets with
Kirito and his friends and occasionally joins them in quests in ALO, especially
after the release of the World Seed.
Real name: Andrew Gilbert Mills
A bald axe wielder who owns a shop in SAO. Agil is 180 cm
tall with a muscular build. Despite his intimidating appearance, he is
kind-hearted and spent most of his earnings to help players in the middle
floors. Kirito is a regular in his shop and they are friends. Agil runs a shop
named «Dicey Cafe» in the real world, which was run by his wife during his
two-year coma. The cafe later becomes Kazuto and company's meeting place in the
real world.
Akihiko Kayaba is the Director and creator of the Nerve Gear
and Sword Art Online, as well as the main antagonist of the Sword Art Online
arc. He traps all the players within Sword Art Online by using the Nerve Gear
to cease sending signals to the users' body. Any in-game death or attempt at
removal of the Nerve Gear would result in the real life death of the user.
Later, it is discovered that he has been masquerading as Heathcliff, the leader
of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Although he has the admin powers to make his
avatar immortal, he is shown to be a powerful player even without his in-game
immortality due to his intimate understanding of the SAO game mechanics which
he himself had designed. He is defeated by Kirito at the end of Volume 1 and,
at the end of Volume 4, leaves behind a program that grants Kirito the World
Seed. His death was his own doing since he had also rigged his own Nerve Gear
device to fry his brain when he was defeated.
A side story character in SAO. One of the rare beast tamers
in the game. She, very early in the game was able to tame a dragon which gave
her immense fame, but she was just a mid-level player. Due to her fame and
being a girl, many tried to get on her good side, causing her to get a bit of
an inflated head. She usually stay away from the males, who tried to marry her despite
the fact that she was only 13. After getting lost in a forest, she lost her
beast and only friend in the game. Kirito rescued her, and helped her as she
resembled his sister. She gained feelings for him, but once she realized his
skills, she realized that they could never be together in the game. Later on it
is revealed that Pina (her beast) was revived. She joins Kirito and his friends
in ALO right after they meet in the real world; they often go together in
quests.
A side story character in SAO, who is a blacksmith with her
own shop. Lizbeth or "Liz" is a close friend of Asuna who recommended
her to Kirito. Kirito commissioned Liz to forge a custom-made sword for him and
accompanies her in a quest for the special ore required for the job. During the
quest, she also develops feelings for Kirito. She is devastated when she finds
out that Kirito is Asuna's crush. However, she finds some solace after Kirito
thanks her for giving him a renewed determination to fight on and clear the
game. Liz later becomes a regular player in ALO, and frequently joins Kirito
and his friends in quests and takes up the task of upgrading their equipment.
A side story character in SAO. She was a member of
"Black Cats of the Full Moon" which was the first guild Kirito
joined. Kirito was especially attached to her. However she died along with the
majority of her guild members which led to Kirito wallowing in despair and
self-loathing until he read the time delayed message she left for Kirito. Even
after the message gave him the strength to live, he never joined another guild
until the events of Volume 1.
A Two-Handed Sword user. Publicly a member of "Knights
of the Blood" and secretly a surviving member of the red guild
"Laughing Coffin". He has a grudge against Kirito and Asuna for
destroying "Laughing Coffin". He was officially assigned as Asuna's
bodyguard by "Knights of the Blood" and despite his grudge develops
an obsession with Asuna and begins secretly following her everywhere. When he
sees that Kirito and Asuna are developing a relationship, he becomes jealous
and challenges Kirito to a duel over who can protect her. Kirito wins and
Kuradeel is forced to leave. He later tries to murder Kirito and then Asuna,
but is instead killed by Kirito using an unarmed skill.
Nobuyuki Sugō is the main antagonist of the Alfheim Online
arc. He is the one responsible for keeping 300 Nerve Gear victims, including
Asuna, prisoner even after SAO had ended. He did this by transferring them all
into ALO for experiments on human subjugation via fulldive technology. He also
attempts to take over RCT Progress Inc. by marrying Asuna while she is
unconscious. He displays a perverse interest in consummating this marriage
while Asuna is still comatose. In ALO, he takes on the identity of Oberon the
Fairy King and makes Asuna his queen, Titania. When he and Kirito finally meet,
he flaunts his GM status as well as the results of his research by causing
Kirito immense amounts of pain after increasing Kirito's pain limit and
impaling him. He is defeated when the "Ghost Program" of Akihiko
Kayaba reminded Kirito how he was defeated by Kirito's determination, before
aiding him in overcoming Noboyuki's GM status. All 300 victims are released
from ALO, but Noboyuki makes another attempt to attack Kirito while he is
making his way to Asuna in the real world. However, he is once again subdued by
Kirito, who puts the unarmed combat skills he had learned in SAO to useful
effect. Noboyuki is then arrested and charged for his crimes.
Suguha's classmate in the real world. He introduced ALO to
Suguha who asked him about VRMMO. In ALO, he is a Sylph dagger wielder and dark
mage. He also displays an obvious
romantic interest in Suhuha, although the
feelings are not mutual.
Registered avatar name: Sterben
Death Gun is the main villain of the GGO arc. Apparently the
people he kills in GGO, with his signature gun, end up dead in the real world.
It is later found out that Death Gun was made by three players, two of them
former members of the red SAO guild Laughing Coffin, that killed players for
fun while knowing the consequences of doing so:
SAO avatar name: Red-eyed XaXa.
He along with Johnny Black originally met Kirito in SAO's
Inner-Area incident. His younger brother is the third member of the trio. Both
XaXa and his brother are arrested after the GGO arc.
Atsushi Kanemoto
SAO avatar name: Johnny Black
He along with XaXa originally met Kirito in SAO's Inner-Area
incident. In Volume 9, he returns and attempts to kill Kirito and Asuna in the
real world. While Kirito was able to protect Asuna, Johnny Black was able to
poison Kirito which nearly killed him and caused Kirito to suffer brain damage,
which he may not recover from.
Shino's friend both in the real world and GGO, in fact he
was the one who introduced Shino to GGO in the first place. Kyōji wasn't
trapped in SAO or affiliated with Laughing Coffin, but the pressures of being
the next heir to his family due to his elder brother's frail health in the real
world had a great psychological effect on him. Shōichi's tales as a red player
also helped set him further down the path to murder and madness. He was the one
who came up with the whole idea of Death Gun and enlisted the aid of the other
two.
Both the Shinkawa brothers were captured by the police at
the end of the GGO/Death Gun incident, but Johnny Black escapes and later
attacks Kirito, successfully injecting him with poison, in the Alicization arc.
The main character in Volume 7. She was an Imp in ALO, she
started dueling anyone promising an 11-hit OSS if she's defeated; due to her
undefeated status she's given the title 'Absolute Sword'. Eventually Asuna
fights her but loses. After the fight Yūki asks her to help defeating the 27th
floor boss with her guild the Sleeping Knights. After certain events,
which include the defeat of the 27th floor boss it is revealed that Yūki has
AIDS and the Sleeping Knights members were patients in terminal state;
with the time passing Yūki's condition gets worse and after she entrusts her
OSS Mother's Rosario to Asuna she dies peacefully in ALO, surrounded by
over 1000 players from every tribe in the game, including her guild members,
Asuna and her friends.
Younger sister of Alice and an apprentice of Sister Azariya.
She is capable of wielding the Sacred Arts but dislikes being compared to her
sister. Does not remember Kirito but is put in charge of him upon his
"return".
Minor
characters
Suguha's mother, as well as Kirito's aunt and adoptive
mother in the real world. She cares deeply for both her children. In Volume 10,
she is assured by the authorities of Kirito's safety. In reality, Kirito's
comatose body was kidnapped by Kikuoka Seijirou. When Asuna and Suguha tried to
tell her their suspicions, she did not believe them.
Asuna's father and CEO of a major electronics manufacturing
company, RCT Progress Inc.
The main character of Accel World,
another of Reki Kawahara's light novels who appears to confront Kirito in a
crossover side story.
Sister Azariya (シスター・アザリヤ Shisutā Azariya)
A teacher at the church in Rulid Village. Taught Alice the
Sacred Arts and now teaches Selka the same. She houses orphans at the church.
Does not remember Kirito.
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