Binding Brands

Binding Brands (封鍵（ホウケン）, Hōken; "Sealing Key") are sword-like spiritual artifacts that were created to bolster Japan's spiritual defenses, doing so by manipulating dragon veins (see section below for explanation). After fulfilling their role, they were enshrined across the country. The Sumeragi Group and Shadow Yakumo's Glaives, used to control the Septimal powers of Adepts, were based on Binding Brands, and the brands are said to be the "True Glaives."

In Azure Striker Gunvolt 3, the organization ATEMS steals the Binding Brands in order to access the chamber containing the sleeping Moebius. The ATEMS Knights also use the Binding Brands to take on Armed Phenomenon forms like those granted by Glaives and their derivatives.

Functions

Dragon Vein Regulation

The Binding Brands' original purpose was to control the energy flow of dragon veins across Japan, allowing for creation and maintenance of certain protections and blessings such as the national defense barrier. Dragon veins (龍脈) are a term of onmyoudou (the way of yin and yang) describing a flow of energy leading to a dragon hole (龍穴), a location said to bring forth prosperity (a sacred land).

Armed Phenomenon

While it is not established if this was an ability originally present in the Brands or simply manipulating the Brands' energy in a specific way, Adepts such as ATEMS' Knights can harness the power of the Binding Brands to create an armored combat form similar to the Glaives' Armed Phenomenon.

Moebius Security

While not actually a part of the seals keeping it dormant, the chamber in the S-FIT building where Moebius slumbered was secured using the Binding Brands as "keys" to unlock it.

Gallery

Transformation gif

Japanese Etymology

In Japanese, the Brands have the exact same reading (Hōken) as Glaives, but with the kanji of the two having different meanings. (The Kanji for Glaives means "Treasure Sword" instead.) This plays into how Binding Brands are referred to as the "True Glaives"; if spoken aloud in Japanese, there's no way to tell which is being referred to without context.

Trivia

• In their debut stream, host and Japanese trailer narrator IKKAN jokingly called them keyblades.
• Allegedly, the Binding Brands were among the "secret settings" that have existed since the series' conception.

See Also

• Glaives, the devices derived from the Binding Brands.
• Grimoires, Glaive derivates created by Eden to power up the G7 Adepts.
• Falcon Quills, Glaive successors used by the Sumeragi Institute to power up conscripted Adepts.

References

• Gunvolt News Channel Episode 41, which introduced the Binding Brands and other GV3 plot elements.
• Episode 46, which showed the transformation.