Merry

Merry (メリイ, Merī) also known as Wicked Merry or Scary Merry, becomes the new Priest of Haruhiro's party after Manato's death.

Appearance
Merry is taller than Yume and Shihoru, has pale skin with navy blue hair and blue eyes. In battle, she wears the common Priest's outfit.

Personality
Her initial standoff behavior and her insistence to decide by herself when or not to heal injured party members has made her very unpopular with previous groups that she joined before Haruhiro's.

Later it is revealed that she was quite the contrary, being the cheerful and mood-maker of her first party. It is shown that the party was doing very well. Unfortunately being over-confident, the party dived too deep into an excursion and resulted in Merry running out of magical spells to heal her party members. The tragedy scarred her, leading to her questioning her own worth as a Priest.

Life Prior to Grimgar
Merry loved her father and often spent a lot of time with him with recording cameras. He was described as a calm person with sleepy eyes. His death from a car accident shocked Merry and her mother gravely. Merry viewed her father with much love and high esteem; she rewatched videos of her time with him, bitter as to why she never thought of having him in the recordings. His absence led her to be aloof in life and unsure of her own life choices.

Level. 1
After Manato's death, Merry joins the team as the priest. She's cold and, unlike Manato, refuses to heal some of the party's smaller wounds. She keeps her distance from the group ignoring their constant invitations.

Haruhiro and his team later learn why Merry doesn't immediately heal everyone. As the priest of another team back when she was starting out, Merry was much like Manato and kept her party confident. She smiled more often and healed every injury no matter how small. Because of her support, her team became overconfident and encountered a kobold called Deathspots while they were in the mines. Her magic ran out and she was dragged away by Hayashi, leaving her other three teammates for dead.

Level. 2
With their hunting grounds deemed too dangerous for now, Haruhiro brings up the topic of the mines where kobolds, dog-like monsters, roam. Merry still feels the pain of her failure there but decides to go along with the team. They slowly build their confidence and split the kobolds up into groups with the worker kobolds being the weakest.

After a while, they venture deeper inside and find the reanimated bodies of Merry's teammates. Merry, knowing that they would be undead since they weren't properly buried by the church, puts them to rest with the help of team Haruhiro.

Ranta is separated from the group when they try to escape the mines.

As they try to escape, they come across Death Spots, the kobold who wiped out three of Merry's team members. She, along with everyone else on the team, is ordered by Haruhiro to retreat as he holds back the monster. Merry is dragged out by the others as she watches Haruhiro face Death Spots.

Merry is seen again when Haruhiro awakes, grateful to him for avenging her teammates and happy he's alive.

Level. 3
She is briefly mentioned in a discussion between the boys as they comment on which girl they would go for in the group. Moguzo, while he doesn't state he likes Merry, he says he is conscious of her because of one of her earlier statements when she claimed she preferred someone like Moguzo.

When Haruhiro brings up the topic of the order, Merry is reluctant to make a choice. Haruhiro gives the group a day to decide. When the time for the vote comes, she, along with everyone else, is shocked by Haruhiro's decision to join the invasion but doesn't protest.

Team Haruhiro is assigned ladder duty along with Choko's party. During fights with orcs, she stands by Shihoru and protects her from harm while casting light of protection on the team.

They easily break into the fort and things seem to be going their way. Haruhiro makes the call to head up the tower and Merry and the others follow. They assist Team Renji in a fight against multiple orcs. They win and head back downstairs after hearing a commotion to find Zoran Zeshuu and his orc guard slaughtering the other volunteer soldiers too tired to go up the tower.

The team has difficulty fighting the stronger orcs and retreat upstairs. Haruhiro promises to not let any of them die and Merry, along with the others, tells him that she trusts and believes in him. Tired but with the resolve to survive, they return to help the volunteer soldiers. Renji fights Zoran Zeshuu one on one until the Wild Angels and Moguzo reinforce him.

Merry heals Renji on Haruhiro's orders. Around this time, Merry heals some other volunteers, including Mr. Tall.

Zoran Zeshuu is defeated and Merry helps Haruhiro stand. They both watch as Moguzo collapses.

Level. 4
Merry blames herself for Moguzo's death as her spell, 'Light of Protection' wore off during the battle and she did not recast it. Merry goes around the town of Alterna and drinks until she can barely stand. With her is a random man who, taking advantage of her drunken and depressed state, attempts to rape her. He easily overpowers her, throwing her to the ground, and begins to undress her. Merry is saved just in time by another volunteer soldier, Kuzaku, one of the people she helped saved in the attack on the fort.

She thanks him for saving her and leaves. In her thoughts, she believes that if she had been defiled by the man, she would have been satisfied because she failed as a priest. However, she remembers the man's touch and is disgusted by it.

Merry encounters Haruhiro and Shihoru and quickly turns around to run away. She barely manages to keep herself upright while running. Haruhiro catches her and she brushes his hand off but decides to stop running, knowing she can't escape. Haruhiro asks her if she's been drinking. She retorts asking him if it's wrong, leaving him with few words to respond.

Merry says she wants to be left alone but Shihoru says that she can't leave her alone in her state. Merry tells them she didn't want to see them. Haruhiro tells her to come to the usual meeting place at eight in the morning tomorrow. Merry doesn't respond. She walks away from the two, heading back to her room, while Haruhiro yells after her that she has to keep moving forward.

Abilities
The Priest class is skilled with the art of healing injuries in the midst of battle. However, this consumes a limited inner power of the priest. Such skills can only be cast or used for limited number of times. It is unknown how long exactly the priest needs to rest in order to recover their power again.

Priest Skills:

 * Smash: The most basic of Priests self defense skills. Allows a Priest to hit with a massive amount of force using their staff.
 * Counter Strike (Hit Back): Allows a priest to absorb the momentum and force of a weapon’s attack by blocking and storing it. Then using that force for a follow up strike with their staff.
 * Cure: A light spell that heals and binds small wounds but does not cause pain to fade.
 * Heal: Unlike Cure, Heal doesn’t require the Priest to hold their hand close over the injury. It can be used to heal a wounded person from a distance and is effective for injuries anywhere on the body.
 * Guard Stance (Prepare): The priest uses their staff to greatly increase their defenses.
 * Light of Judgement (Blame): An offensive spell that utilizes the God of Light Lumiaris’ power to punish their enemies. A spell only used by experienced priests that has a short range and does low damage but causes the bodies of its targets to go numb and slows their movements for a short duration.
 * Light of Protection (Protection): A support spell that enhances physical ability, resistance, and speeds up the body's natural healing process. It can be cast on up to six people and lasts for 30 minutes. The hexagon symbol of the God of Light floats over the recipients wrists for the duration of the spell. A noted effect is that the recipients of the spell feel lighter.
 * Dispel: A spell that turns the undead reducing them to ash. Particularly necessary as conventional weapons cannot kill the undead, as even their severed limbs and heads remain animated. This spell must be used in short range.
 * Purify: A spell that cures poison.
 * Sacrament: The highest healing spell that can recover any kind of injury, though it cannot recover lost organs. Mary can only use the spell around two times per day in Volume 4.
 * Assist: A single target support spell that stacks with Protection.
 * Revenge: A self defense skill.
 * Knock Off: A self defense skill.
 * Circlet: A spell that generates a small ring of light that heals everyone within its radius.

Avre Magic

 * Blaze Cliff
 * Blast

Volume 6

 * Bought a new staff that gave more attack power.

Volume 7

 * Replaced her white priest robes with a deep blue colored robe. Found a new staff with a hammer on it.
 * The staff with a head on it broke so Mary replaced it with a staff with a hammer on the end for more offensive power.

Haruhiro
Cold to everyone in the team when she first joined, Haruhiro was the one who made the most attempts to get closer to her. She eventually warms up to the rest of the party and calls Haruhiro "Haru", the only person in the group to do so.

She greatly respects and admires Haruhiro as a leader and believes he's the reason for the party's success. However, she is constantly frustrated by and fearful of his tendency to disregard his own safety and well-being. Twice (during Volume 7 and Volume 13) she has given him "demerits" for being reckless.

It becomes increasingly evident that Merry has feelings for Haruhiro in volume 9 and onward. Volume 10 ends with her attempting to tell Haruhiro that she loves him before she dies.

Through extraordinary circumstances, Merry is revived in Volume 11, much to Haruhiro's delight. He continues to watch over her carefully, concerned that the process used to revive her may have permanently changed her. Nevertheless, Merry and Haruhiro share several moments in Volume 12 where they are obviously captivated by one another. On two separate occasions, they meet late at night and quietly embrace. However, neither of them have been able to openly speak of their mutual feelings, and in Volume 13, Haruhiro misunderstands her comments, leading him to believe that she wishes to remain just close friends.

Yume
After Merry joins their party, Yume isn't sure what to think of her, especially with regards to Merry's cold and distant attitude. After Haruhiro decides to make Merry feel more welcome, Yume makes a commitment to get to know Merry as best as she can.

Merry gradually warms to Yume, and comes to rely on her warm and caring attitude. From Volume 4 onward, the party spends a great deal of time camping out in the field, and Yume's tendency to snuggle up to people while resting helps Merry feel comfortable around her.

In Volume 12, when Yume decides to stay behind in Roronea and train for six months, Merry was shocked. Conversing with Shihoru in Volume 13, she admits that Yume's bright personality was always saving her.

Shihoru
After Merry joins their party, like Yume, Shihoru wasn't sure what to think of her because of Merry's attitude. After Haruhiro decides to make Merry feel more welcome, Shihoru agrees to give Merry a chance.

Being on the back-line of the party, Merry is the person most responsible for keeping Shihoru safe during battles. As a result, the two learn to rely on each other. Merry keeps a close watch over Shihoru, letting the rest of the group know when the mage is exhausted, even if Shihoru won't admit it herself.

After Yume's departure, Shihoru and Merry look to each other for emotional support even more than before.

Ranta
Merry isn't very fond of Ranta. When they first speak Merry straight up tells Ranta that he's annoying. Merry doesn't seem to like to talk to Ranta at all because of it.

As Ranta's behavior becomes increasingly abrasive, Merry and the girls become more open about their contempt. Merry often threatens violence against Ranta, particularly when he harasses Shihoru or Yume.

In Volume 8, when Merry and Ranta are captured by Forgan, she is disgusted that her comrade has seemingly betrayed the party and joined with the enemy. Nevertheless, she prevents Haruhiro from killing Ranta when the two duel during Merry's rescue.

Moguzo
Merry and Moguzo rarely spoke outside of the party. However, when Ranta asked the girls which of the men in the party they would choose, Merry replied that she would likely choose Moguzo, because "he's big and lovable."

She was devastated when Moguzo died, blaming herself for forgetting to recast the Protection spell.

Kuzaku
She first meets Kuzaku during the raid at Deadhead Watching Keep as she heals his wounds. Kuzaku later saves Merry from being raped. Because she doesn't want anyone in Team Haruhiro learning about her drunken state and self destructive actions, this causes an awkward tension between them once he joins the party as the tank.

Eventually, they are able to get past the awkwardness and Kuzaku begins regularly seeking Merry's advice as a fellow "new member" of the party. As the two are often spotted conversing or meeting privately, both Shihoru (in Volume 5 bonus story) and Haruhiro (in Volume 6) begin to suspect that Kuzaku and Merry are in a relationship. Haruhiro even watches in secret as Kuzaku leads Merry away by the sleeve while she looks down. However, in Volume 7, Kuzaku reveals to Haruhiro that he confessed to Merry but was rejected.

Despite being rejected, Kuzaku and Merry continue to be friendly, though Merry has become more aware of Kuzaku's immaturity. Still, she appreciates his positive outlook.

Setora
She first met Setora in Volume 9, when the necromancer came to claim Haruhiro's left eye as payment for helping rescue Merry. However, she quickly became flustered, frustrated, and increasingly jealous when Setora demanded that Haruhiro act as Setora's lover in exchange for help finding the remaining party members.

In Volume 9, despite her growing jealousy, Merry did her best to not interfere with Setora as she continually made advances on Haruhiro. In Volume 10, Merry began to understand her own feelings as she watched Setora express her love and make physical advances on Haruhiro. When Setora was in danger during the guorella attack on Jessie Land, Merry insisted that they not abandon her.

Since Merry's revival—and Haruhiro's admission to Setora that he has feelings for Merry—Setora has been uncomfortable and jealous around Merry, only accepting help when necessary. Despite this, in Volume 13 Setora admits to Merry and Shihoru that she feels lonely and excluded from the rest of the group.

After their arrival in Parano (in Volume 14), Merry and Setora become separated from the others. As a result, Setora is the only one who notices and confronts Merry's transformation—a secretive and sinister disposition, sometimes breaking into foreign languages, and speaking about the others in a cold, expressionless way—which was a result of her resurrection and the psyche-warping nature of Parano itself. Setora begins to regard this altered persona as Not-Merry, "the woman who was impersonating Merry" or "the woman wearing Merry's face."

Hayashi
Original party member. Joined Orion.

Ogu
Original party member. Killed by Deathspots.

Michiki
Original party member and leader. Killed by Deathspots.

Mutsumi
Original party member. Killed by Deathspots.

Gallery
See Mary/Image gallery

Trivia

 * Sometimes listed as "Mary", her name is Merry in the anime adaptation and official light novel translation, which is closer to how her name is pronounced in Japanese.
 * Her hair and clothes style are different in the Light Novel.

Navigation
After what happened in v11, how are you feeling about Mary's demise? EVERYBODY, SHE'S NOT DEAD. Seriously. She can't be dead, she can't be... Jūmonji-sensei offed her just like that?! WTH, man. She's gonna get revived, right? RIGHT?! That. Is. IT. I'm quitting Grimgar.