Leno

Leno
Japanese	レノ
Rōmaji	Reno
Debut	Chapter 43 Episode 17
Gender	Male
Status	Alive
Family	Garon (father) Pano (sister) Jack (brother-in-law) five unnamed nieces and nephews
Team	Chess Pieces
Class	Rook
ÄRMs	Stone Jamadhar Flame Ball
Seiyū (Japanese)	Makoto Yasumura
Voice Actor (English)	Doug Erholtz

Leno (レノ, Reno) is a Rook in the Chess Pieces.

Appearance

Leno is a young man with blue hair and a red and black mask that covers his face. The mask has an eye hole in the right side of it. He wears a tan shirt with an open v-neck that has leather shoulder pads.

Personality

Leno is somewhat foolish as an ÄRM user, placing too much confidence in the power of ÄRMs and not recognizing when he's outmatched. He admires his father's strength and ability to control multiple ÄRMs at once.

Etymology and Origin

From Italian leno ('weak, flexible'), a type of weave used to make light, open cotton fabric used for window curtains.

History

Ever since childhood, Leno and his sister, Pano, have been trained by their father, Garon, in the usage of ÄRMs. Leno, however, was angry that, while Garon had high-level ÄRM, Leno would only get weaker ones. Pano found him training with a weapon in the woods and asked why he suddenly wore a mask. Leno stated that he would become a Chess Piece one day. Suddenly a monstrous bear appeared and was about to attack the children. Garon rushed in and fought the animal off. The children hug their father, yet only Pano notices that he fought the bear without any ÄRMs equipped.

Later, Garon and Pano observe Leno sparring with a Chess Pawn. The Pawn easily knocks Leno back, but Garon instinctively jumps in and punches the Pawn. He asks Leno if he was alright, but Leno gets up and complains about not having a stronger ÄRM to use before running off.

Second Great MÄR-Heaven War

War Games

Round 1

Leno and his family are introduced by Pozun as the Rodkin (ロドキン, Rodokin) Family, and the first team from the Chess to compete in the War Games. Once Team MÄR decides on its competitors for the first round, Leno expresses disappointment that it's an all-male team, as he wanted to fight a girl.

Leno chooses to go first against Alviss. Leno begins the fight by activating his Weapon ÄRM, Stone Jamadhar, on each of his hands that turn into sword-like gauntlets and charges Alviss. During this Alviss uses his 13 Totem Pole, Rod Version. Leno delivers a series of attacks but Alviss deflects each of them with his rod.

Being unable to land an attack on his opponent Leno leaps to the far side of the arena and activates the Nature ÄRM, Flame Ball, and fires a series of fire balls at Alviss. Alviss avoids the balls with little effort by simply dodging them and closes the gap between him and Leno. His father comments on the sideline that Leno had bad luck with his opponent pairing. Leno, angered by his father's lack of faith in him, uses his Nature ÄRM to engulf his weapons in flames and charges after Alviss. He recalls his 13 Totem Pole rod and summons the Guardian totem pole from the ground that slams into Leno. Pozun declares Alviss the victor.

Garon steps onto the arena to pick Leno up and carry him off. Leno apologizes to his father, who then instructs Pano to go next. Pano assures her brother that she'll avenge his defeat as their father sits Leno down under the shade for a bit of rest. By the time Pano wins her match, Leno recovers enough to stand back up and rejoin his family on the sidelines. He wishes he had a stronger ÄRM so that he would've won his match, too.

During Garon's battle with Ginta Toramizu, Leno panics when all of his father's ÄRMs break and yells at him to give up. Pano tells Leno that his ÄRMs weren't the only reason he was strong, informing him that Garon didn't use any ÄRMs to fight off the bear that attacked them years prior. Before Gargoyle delivers a finishing blow, Pano leaps onto the arena and puts herself in between the two, begging Ginta to spare their father's life as they were satisfied with him losing the match. Leno joins his family on the arena, helping his father stand and tells him that he now understood where true strength comes from. Ginta accepts the surrender, and Pozun declares Ginta as the winner.

Aftermath

The night before the beginning of the last round, Pano warned Vidar that she wouldn't forgive him if he were to defeat Jack. Leno tries to stop her from being rude to a Zodiac Knight, but she brushes it off as she can't help that she fell in love with him, picturing him as the handsome stud she initially saw him as while under hallucinations. Leno harshly disagrees with his sister on Jack's physical attractiveness before Vidar laughs as he learns who his opponent is.

Leno and his family watch the final match between Ginta and Phantom. Following Phantom's defeat to Ginta, the family, along with most other Chess Pieces there, immediately return to Lestava Castle. The family decides to quickly gather their luggage and promptly flee the castle, not waiting for the Queen of the Chess to make an announcement regarding the fate of the Chess.

After the War Games

In the anime, the family eventually makes their way to Acalupa Port and find temporary refuge in a vacant cottage in the woods outside of the town. The family makes plans to hide out on a deserted island to avoid persecution for being Chess Pieces. While Pano heads into the market itself to steal food and supplies needed for the journey, Leno and his father head for the harbor to find a boat to steal.

Suddenly, the weather outside changes, and a mysterious masked man attacks the harbor, killing several villagers and gravely wounding Leno and Garon. Leno carries his father and limp back to the cottage where his sister was with several members of Team MÄR. Before they can say anything to Pano, their bodies disintegrate into dark matter and evaporate, much to her horror.

After the King of the Chess is defeated and killed, all of those whom he killed are revived, including Leno and Garon. At the end of the anime, Leno and his father are seen at Jack's farm hiding behind a pair of talking rocks, giving a non-verbal approval of his sister dating Jack.

ÄRMs

Leno's ÄRMs are:

• Stone Jamadhar: Weapon ÄRM, a set of swords that attaches to the user's arms. These can act as both offensive and defensive weapons.
• Flame Ball: Nature ÄRM, creates balls of fire that float around the user that can be launched as projectiles or used to strengthen weapon ÄRM.

Trivia

• In the anime, Leno is the only Chess Piece participant in the War Game to have been introduced by Pozun under his family name, Rodkin, rather than "Chess Pieces". However, the team plate that appears in the manga and anime still display "Chess Pieces" as the team he represents rather than "Rodkin Family".

Gallery