Great MÄR-Heaven Wars

The Great MÄR-Heaven Wars are two fictional wars in the popular manga and anime series MÄR. Both of them occur in the fantasy war of MÄR-Heaven, though the last phrase of the latter takes place in Ginta Toramizu's world.

First Great War

Very little is known about the First Great War. Six years before the highlight of the series, the Chess Pieces, an army with the desire to conquer MÄR-Heaven, began the war by initiating numerous attacks on the many cities of MÄR-Heaven. The Cross Guard, an army developed to defeat the Chess Pieces, managed to defend what parts of MÄR-Heaven the Chess Pieces had yet to reach. Diana, the queen of the powerful kingdom of Lestava and, secretly, the Queen and founder of the Chess Pieces, gave both the Chess Pieces and Cross Guard ÄRMs, magical objects with many battle uses. Diana gave a special ÄRM to Alan, who was given the title of the Cross Guard's second-in-command, called the Gate Keeper Clown, which had the power to rip through dimensions and bring an object or person from one to the other. Alan used the ÄRM to summon Danna, who, after training inside of Alan's Training Gate, would be entitled as the Cross Guard's leader.

The two, together with Gaira as the third-in-command and several others would enter a challenge from the Chess Pieces, the War Games, which was the Chess Pieces attempt to bring in several victims and, more or less, find worthy opponents. The Cross Guard would make it to the final round of the War Games where Danna would die alongside the defeated leader of the Chess army, Phantom. With both sides having lost many members in both the War Games and the battlefields, and the leaders of both army's dead, the Chess Pieces and the Cross Guard retreated, ending the First Great War with a victory for neither side.

Second Great War

See also: The War Games

The Second Great War would begin six years later with the Chess Pieces occupation of Lestava Castle as a safe haven and the capture of their King, forcing the Cross Guard to relocate and Lestava's princess, Snow, into hiding. Following Phantom's ressurection, which happened shortly after this, Diana made plans to capture the princess, wishing to use her connection to the other world, which was also due to Diana's years of planning, in an attempt to conquer both wars and further weaken the hearts of MÄR-Heaven. Sending Ian and Loco after the princess, they cornered her at the far north island of Pazurika, and it was only through the efforts of Ginta Toramizu and Alan that Snow would remain outside of the Chess Pieces' reach.

To compensate for this, at exactly 5:12 PM the Chess Pieces launched a war campaign the following day that would target all major kingdoms, cities, and any locations of notable influence, with all these invasions being headed by at least one Knight. Some attacks on more secured locations, such as castles, were operated only by a Knight without any assistance from others. The force of these invading parties is shown that within not even thirty minutes many locations had already been defeated or destroyed, while others ablaze with destruction and death. After three days, four tenths of all of MÄR-Heaven had fallen to the conquerors, and what was left would later be used by the Chess Pieces as leverage to pressure their opposition to partake in the Second War Games.

After the first three days of their war campaign, however, the Chess Pieces would begin to experience several loses with the creation of a new opposing army independent from the Cross Guard, Team MÄR, headed by Ginta Toramizu, Danna's son. Their first notable loss after three days of total victory was on Pazurika, where the Rook Ian and the Pawn Gido would lose without even being able to harm their opponents. Team MÄR would then head south of Pazurika and enlist the aid of the powerful thieves guild Luberia, with the latter abandoning their neutrality to avenge the deaths of their massacred comrades at Chess hands. The two forces then went west to Vestry, where two Bishops, Orco and Girom, would be defeated, resulting in Vestry's liberation.

Team MÄR, hearing news of the second War Games, ventured south of Vestry to Reginlief, chosen as the host of the Second War Games. There, the Chess Pieces would witness the defeat of most of their best Rooks and Bishops, along with the Knight Rapunzel, at Team MÄR's hands. In an attempt to make up for this loss and to gain more powerful ÄRMs, the Chess Pieces launched an invasion of Caldia, though Team MÄR's coincidental timing ended this invasion with unsuccess as well. The War Games, along with further victories against the Knights, would then continue as such until the sixth round, where the Knight Magical Lou captured Snow and brought her to Lestava on orders of Diana. Team MÄR's immediate thoughts were to attack Lestava Castle and rescue Snow, though the final round of the war Games prevented immediate actions. There, all of Team MÄR's members, excluding Snow, defeated all of the Knights strongest, including Phantom.

Following the loss of the War Games, the Chess Pieces' war would eventually end in defeat. By this point already several of their more prominent members, inclduing Knights, had left the Chess Pieces or allied themselves to Team MÄR. In the manga, immediately following Team MÄR's victory of the War Games, Lestava Castle was attacked and liberated, Snow was rescued, and the King and Queen of the Chess Pieces were killed.

In the anime, these events followed a short battle between Team MÄR and the Ghost Chess, though in a much different course. The Chess Pieces' King immediately killed all of the now worthless members who still remained, the only known survivors being Loco, Chaton, Pano, Ian, Gido, and Galian, all of which were announced traitors. The two would follow this up with attacks on Caldia and another massacre, this one being of Team MÄR, with only Jack and Ginta surviving. Following Diana's death, the King would reveal its true form and invade Ginta's world, where it destroyed most of Tokyo, being defeated only through Ginta's efforts. With the King's death, all those who died at his hands would also be revived. With their three leaders gone and the seperations of remaining most members, the Chess Pieces lost all power over MÄR-Heaven.