Princess Kushana

Kushana is the fourth Imperial Princess of Torumekia and the youngest daughter of the Vai Emperor.

In the manga, she has a much more complicated role, more of an antihero/ally than an antagonist.

She is mostly driven by a desire for revenge against her father and three older half-brothers, whom she hates and blames for the fate of her mother.

She commands the Torumekian Third Army, whom she trained personally; she is devoted to her men, and they are unswervingly loyal to her.

Despite her ferocity in battle, she has a nobility of character that earns her the respect of both Nausicaa and Master Yupa.

While she admires Nausicaa's pacifist ideals, she sees herself as inescapably destined to walk the path of bloodshed.

She cares deeply for the men under her command, but is portrayed as brutal and harsh to her enemies.

Hideaki Anno, who worked on the film of Nausicaa, had planned to do a manga side story centered around Kushana's military exploits, but Miyazaki refused him permission, believing that Anno would only use her to "play war games" .

Susan J. Napier and Patrick Drazen note a parallel between the character of Kushana, the rival warrior princess, and that of Nausicaä - Napier describes Kushana as Nausicaä's "shadow", noting that Kushana is not shown with any "alleviating, "feminine" virtues" as Nausicaä is, but that they share the same tactical brilliance.

Drazen describes this as a "feminine duality".

Miyazaki has described the two characters as being "two sides of the same coin", but Kushana has "deep, physical wounds".

Kushana is one of my favorite characters in the entire series, and rightfully so.

Just like Nausicaa, she was born into a man's world.

She had to survive by, in a sense, becoming a man; she wore armor, commanded fleets, etc.

She had to make tough decisions, and had to be very cautious of her surroundings.

Because she knew, behind everything, her brothers were out to kill her and take over the throne.

While seemingly cold-hearted at first, the reader's approach to the character becomes more emotional as we delve into the plot.

We find out that the emperor who succeeded Kushana's father poisoned Kushana's mother, making her insane.

People took Kushana away, and left her mother; alone, with only a rag doll.

In her insanity, Kushana's mother thought that this rag doll was her daughter.

This part of the story once again reflects upon Greek mythology, where many gods and other characters killed their children in fits of temporary insanity.

Kushana was forced into marriage by the Holy Dorok Emperor after being captured.

Links
Nausicaa Wiki
Comic Vine
Copyright Owner
Viz Media
Record:
W:
L: