Queen Rafflesia

Queen Rafflesia is the leader of the Mazon empire. She serves as the main adversary to Captain Harlock and his crew in the anime and manga.

Appearance
Rafflesia bears the standard appearance of women by Leiji Matsumoto. A willowy body with long flowing hair and distinctive eyes. Her skin is usually a pale white while her hair is usually a dark shade of blue in most of her colored appearances.

Most of her appearances have Rafflesia dressed in a long black dress that is open above the shoulders while the center goes down to the abdomen revealing a heart shaped cut. On her head, she wears a crown that forms a shape that separates from the jewel on the forehead in three congruent parts around her head. Leaving her throne for battle however, Rafflesia wears a red and green form fitting outfit.

Personality
As queen of the Mazon, Rafflesia is dedicated to getting her people a new home. Unfortunately, most of her attempts have ended in planets ultimately becoming desolate wastelands. Her many attempts have often left Rafflesia becoming indifferent to the people of those worlds, especially worlds where figures in power do little to nothing such as Earth. Encountering Harlock and his crew in their resistance to the Mazon gave Rafflesia a sense of intrigue since most of the crew were from Earth but also something that had to be eliminated. Rafflesia herself even went to personally meet with Harlock on a planetary post to discuss where they must go on, showing that she does not fear or hate the space pirate and is only against him and his crew for the sake of her responsibilities. All of this shows a large burden that Rafflesia carries for the sake of her species as well as the lengths she is willing to go for them.

Abilities
As leader of the Mazon, Rafflesia commands the entire caravan of ships and armies at her whim. She also has access to some of the most advanced technology developed by her armies including a projection device in the form of a crystal ball that she uses for communication through 3D imaging. She has some skill with a sword that functions similar to a Gravity Saber in that while used for close combat can also fire a beam.

Etymology
Rafflesia is the name of a parasitic flowering plant found throughout southeastern Asia and its tropical neighboring nations that has no stems, leaves, or roots an instead uses its vines to latch onto hosts to absorb nutrients. It is also called 'corpse flower' due its odor smelling similar to rotting flesh. This reflects Queen Rafflesia reign on the Mazon empire by conquering other planets in order to live on them while draining the necessary resources for native species to survive.