Vladilena Milizé

Vladilena Milizé (ヴラディレーナ・ミリーゼ,), shortened to Lena, is the female protagonist of the 86 -Eighty Six- series.

She is the commander of Shinei Nouzen and the Spearhead Squadron, whom she communicates with via the long-distance communication device known as the Para-RAID. After the Spearhead Squadron's departure, she becomes known for demanding orders and highly competent leadership, earning the nickname of Bloody Reina.

She was later sent as the Republic of San Magnolia's representative for the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package, of which she is the tactical commander.

Appearance
Lena has the silver eyes and hair of a Celena. She is 160 centimeters tall, although she appears taller due to her heels. One of her more distinguishing features is her double ahoge. Although not frequently commented on, Lena is actually rather well-endowed. Amongst the Strike Package's 1st Armored Group, she is only behind Shiden and Kurena in that department.

Lena typically wears the Republic Army's Prussian Blue and White female dress uniform. She also wears various dresses, ranging from an old-fashioned silk gown she wears within her family's estate to a black evening dress that resembled mourning clothes at the Lune Palace. After the departure of the Spearhead Squadron, she dyes a streak of red into her hair to remember them, and begins to wear a black-colored form of the dress uniform. She later reverts back to the standard uniform and would remove the streak of red, as requested by Shin. During the winter months and the Strike Package's stay in the United Kingdom of Roa Gracia, she wore a white and blue coat above her uniform.

Personality
Lena was born into the former noble household of Milizé. After an encounter with the Eighty-Six outside the Eighty-Five Sectors when she was 10, Lena dedicated herself to becoming a Handler to assist the Eighty-Six on the frontlines. Her determination resulted in her skipping multiple grades, graduating at the top of her class, and becoming a major at the young age of 16. In the military, she has a reputation for effectively leading the Juggernaut squadrons. She has excellent tactical ability and can analyze combat data to determine the Legion's reinforcement rates.

Lena exhibits a disregard for social opinions she deems immoral or useless. Despite taunts and jeers from other Handlers who dislike her close relationship with the Processors under her command due to their belief that they are traitorous sub-humans, Lena maintains her daily communications and puts in an effort to develop closer bonds with her squadrons. She remains steadfast in her opinion that the Eighty-Six can no longer be viewed as traitors due to the Giadian Empire having assumed to have fallen.

Her mother's focus on social status and bloodlines, as well as the insistence—that, as the daughter of the Milizé family, Lena should resign from the army and marry another noble—are disdainful to Lena. Lena believes that the war is far more important than trivialities regarding marriage and social standing. Such ignorance towards the war from citizens of the Republic annoys Lena, who has witnessed the cruelty that allows the people of the Eighty-Five Sectors to maintain their lifestyle.

Lena's sheltered upbringing and her isolation from her peers due to her rapid advancement to become a Handler have resulted in her being naïve. She believes that she can spout her outlandish ideals to the Republic without the fear of her punishment. Lena can also be authoritative when necessary and can use unscrupulous methods—such as guilt-tripping, bribing, and using physical threats—to achieve an objective. Though she is educated in social etiquette, she lacks friends besides Annette because she has outstripped all other peers in terms of education. At the same time, her noble lifestyle gives her no chance to learn basic skills such as sewing.

Reputation
Within the Republic Armed Forces, specifically their headquarters of Palace Blancneige, Lena gained a reputation of being a "drone loving princess" who cared too much about the Eighty-Six. Other officers would often mock her for her strange ideals and view of the world. Once Lena began to act upon her ideals and inconvenienced the other officers, the mocking slowly turned to resentment. She was said to be someone who couldn't differentiate between human beings and livestock, or an idiot who threw away her rank to help the Eighty-Six. Despite that, the other officers couldn't touch her so long as her uncle protected her.

Lena would become known as an effective leader during the defense of the Republic, rallying together the Eighty-Six under her in the interest of mutual survival. Even before the large-scale offensive and the fall of the Gran Mur, she managed to gain the respect of the Processors under her command through effective leadership and her artillery support hitherto unused by the Republic. Her leadership was highly demanding to her Processors, resulting her in receiving her moniker and later Personal Name of Bloody Reina. Lena is fond of the name as a form of self-deprecation, as she feels that she is stained by the blood of the Eighty-Six she has sent to die by her orders; ironically, her squadrons have the lowest fatality rate.

Once she joined the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package, the Eighty-Six uniquely regarded her with respect despite her being an Alba. The Strike Package's Federacy staff had their reservations, but ultimately accepted Lena as a tactical commander after her initiation. She would be endearingly regarded as the "Queen of the Eighty-Six", especially by the Spearhead and Brísingamen squadrons.

Background
Lena was born on July 12th RY 351 / SY 2132. Her father—Vaclav—described her as independent and observant as a child, learning easily without being taught.

When Lena was 10, her father took her to see the Eastern Front's front lines in a Republic scout plane. Cruising above the desolate concentration camps, layers of minefields, and the ravaged battlefields, Lena had her first experience witnessing the Eighty-Six's hardships. While the Legion was known to have potent anti-aircraft weapons called Stachelschwein, Vaclav knew that flying at night would greatly reduce the chance of Legion attacks, as the Legion's auxiliary power systems were dependent on solar power. However, a stroke of bad luck resulted in a patrolling Ameise unit spotting the plane and directing anti-aircraft fire from towards it. Struck in the left engine, the plane was forced to crash land, killing Vaclav. The Ameise approached the plane's burning wreckage but was destroyed by a Juggernaut piloted by Shourei Nouzen before it could attack Lena. Shourei rescued Lena and brought her back to his squadron's base. While he forbade her from interacting with the rest of the squadron out of fear that they would harm her for being a Republic citizen, Shourei spoke with and entertained Lena until she could be returned to the Republic. His conversation with her about fighting the Legion to prove himself a citizen of the Republic and return to his younger brother profoundly affected Lena.

Once Lena returned to the Republic, she resolved to become a soldier to help Shourei and the other Eighty-Six fight for their freedom. She was able to skip multiple grades and enlist in the Republic Army. Placed in the 91st Group for training, Lena was the youngest of the trainees. Her diligence in her work earned her significant recognition, and she became the first of the 91st Group to be promoted to the rank of Major at the age of 16.

Abilities
Despite Lena's humble opinion regarding her own abilities, she is undeniably one of the best officers the Republic has to offer. Her talents, combined with her determination, allowed Lena to be promoted to the rank of Major at the age of 16. Unlike her fellow handlers, Lena took her role seriously and was determined to do everything she could to help her Processors during combat. During her tenure as the Handler of the Spearhead Squadron, her effective support helped the Squadron to a degree that for a brief time it suffered zero casualties. As time passed, she became even bolder and willing to use questionable methods such as guilt-tripping, bribery, and physical threats to achieve an objective. During the special reconnaissance mission and after, Lena often deployed the interception cannons as artillery support without authorization, which incurred the ire of her commanding officer.

Quotes

 * "'Don't leave me behind...' ― to the Spearhead Squadron, during their departure on the special reconnaissance mission."

Trivia

 * Lena is easily frightened by even the mention of rodents or spiders . She is also afraid of ghosts.
 * Lena's Personal Mark is the silhouette of a woman clad in a crimson dress, or Bloody Reina.
 * Lena uses violet flower-scented perfume frequently. Shin associates the smell with her.
 * Lena is Seiichirou Yamashita's favorite female character in 86 -Eighty Six-, along with Kurena. When asked regarding which part of Lena's body he likes, he instantly answers "legs" with no hesitation, followed by her ahoge. Shōya Chiba's answer to the question was Lena's face.
 * There are various parallels between Lena and the goddess Freyja.
 * Lena's romantic partner is Shin, who parallels Freyja's husband, Odin.
 * Lena's command vehicle is called the Vanadis, another name for Freyja.
 * The Brísingamen Squadron serves as Lena's personal guard. In Norse mythology, Brísingamen is the necklace of Freyja.
 * Lena's alcohol tolerance is so low, that a single sip is enough to reduce her into drunken stupor.
 * Due to her sheltered upbringing, Lena is hilariously poor in some of her life skills.
 * She didn't know the concept of sewing and thought buttons existed on clothes naturally.
 * When she was learning to ride a bicycle, she managed to fall off a bike with training wheels.
 * Lena's characterization is very similar to Leila Malcal, the deuteragonist of Code Geass: Akito the Exiled. Their similarities include:
 * Both of them are from noble background, acting as commanders of a suicide squad consisting racial minorities treated as sub-humans by their home country.
 * Their love interest is an ace pilot acting as the leader of the said suicide squad.
 * They hold the military rank of major during the start of the story.
 * They have an uncle figure superior looking after them in the military.
 * Their best friend is a genius female scientist of the same age.