The light novel, anime and manga series Sword Art Online contains a large cast of characters, most of whom are introduced as gamers who play and consequently become trapped in a virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game (VRMMORPG). The series chronicles their interactions in multiple online worlds: Sword Art Online (SAO), Alfheim Online (ALO), Gun Gale Online (GGO), and Underworld (UW).

SAO players

Kirito

Kirito (キリト, Kirito) / Kazuto Kirigaya (桐ヶ谷 和人, Kirigaya Kazuto)

Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Japanese); Bryce Papenbrook (English)^[1]

Kazuto, who uses the portmanteau "Kirito" as his character name, is a "solo" player who has been branded a "beater" (a combination of beta tester and cheater) by the players in Sword Art Online. When Kayaba announces that the players of SAO can no longer log-out without clearing the game, he quickly overcomes the shock. He power-levels to improve his odds of survival in the game, and emerges as a frontline floor-clearer known as the Black Swordsman (黒の剣士, Kuro no Kenshi). In SAO, he is the sole «Dual Blades» skill user. During his time in SAO, he falls in love with a female player, Asuna, and even marries her in-game. After the Sword Art Online incident, 300 people have yet to wake up, including Asuna. Kirito receives a picture from another virtual reality called Alfheim Online, in which Asuna was trapped in a cage on the legendary World Tree, which no ALO player has ever reached directly. Kirito decides to get a copy of the game and rescue Asuna nonetheless. Shortly after joining ALO, he befriends another player called "Leafa" (who is actually his cousin Suguha). Leafa helps Kirito grasp the game and offers to help him reach the World Tree. After a long journey and many adventures, Kirito manages to reach the World Tree and overcomes its obstacles to reach the top. He rescues Asuna and discovers Leafa's true identity. As ALO and SAO share the same game engine, among other features, a bug allows Kirito to retain most of the skills and money he obtained in SAO upon playing ALO with the same NerveGear, already beginning his journey with an advantage over other players. Despite this, he ends up being forced to discard all of his items (except the one containing Yui, which reformats itself as a navigation pixie), as they were not recognized by the system. Kazuto enrolls at the SAO Survivor School with Asuna and the other heroines in the real world. He is later asked to register in Gun Gale Online in order to investigate real life murders that are somehow linked with assassinations in-game. It is soon revealed that the murders are committed by ex-players from Sword Art Online, who were part of a player killing group known as Laughing Coffin. His actions result in the capture of two out of the three culprits. The last member escapes and is not heard of until the events of volume 9, and is responsible for an attempted murder of Kazuto. In the Alicization Arc, he has been assisting in the development of the fourth generation full dive interface, Soul Translator, by testing its thought acceleration functions. However, he has no memory of what he has been doing as a result of his memories being suppressed, voluntarily, by the system. He is attacked and poisoned by Johnny Black (The third culprit who escapes) in the real world and wakes up in UnderWorld with his memory of playing the game erased. He meets up with Eugeo and helps him out of some tough situations, during which he partially remembers his time with Eugeo and Alice during his "childhood" in UnderWorld. He then decides to aid Eugeo in finding Alice while he searches for a way out, back to reality.^[2] In the real world, he lives with his foster mother and aunt, Midori, and younger sister, Suguha, in a family of three. In fact, he was actually adopted by Minetaka Kirigaya and Midori Kirigaya when he was just a year old, due to his real mother and father passing away after an accident. However, Kazuto did not know this until he discovered the truth at the age of ten, and Suguha, being in fact the Midori's own daughter, was also unaware of Kazuto's adoption and is in actuality his cousin. This drove him into online playing; quitting Kendo, having a distant relationship with Suguha until his 2-year experience in SAO, and makes renews.

Asuna

Asuna (アスナ, Asuna) / Asuna Yuuki (結城 明日奈, Yūki Asuna)

Voiced by: Haruka Tomatsu (Japanese); Cherami Leigh^[1] (English)

Asuna is a friend and later to be wife of Kirito, and a sub-leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath, a medium-sized guild acknowledged as the strongest guild in Aincrad. Being one of the few girls that play SAO and extremely attractive, she receives many invitations and proposals. Asuna is a strong-willed, accomplished player known in-game as the "Flash" (閃光, Senkō) for her extraordinary fast sword skill. Later, she falls in love with Kirito and they marry in-game. Towards the end of the SAO arc, she saves Kirito from a killing blow by Heathcliff at the cost of her life. However, her death was only in-game and she is shortly reunited with Kirito shortly after his death defeating Heathcliff. Despite the completion of SAO, Asuna does not wake up and is instead detained in another virtual reality called Alfheim Online. She is forced to play the role of Titania the Queen of Fairies, with Nobuyuki Sugō, the man responsible for imprisoning her, playing as Oberon the Fairy King. This is done so that Sugō could marry Asuna in the real world, while she was unconscious, and thus take over RECTO Progress Inc. She attempts to get out of the World Tree where she is imprisoned and escape going so far as to steal a GM card which she throws out of the window when she hears Yui's voice. Upon being freed she created two avatars for Alfheim, Asuna (being the healer of the team) and Erika (a battle type avatar) and went on living with Kirito. She enrolls at SAO Survivor School with Kazuto in the real world. In the real world, Asuna lives a very stressful life, and is constantly pressured to fulfill her parents' high expectations. Before the SAO incident, she led her life unquestioningly according to her parents' demands. However, after living in SAO and meeting Kirito, she gains perspective and looks back on her past with disgust. She eventually becomes Kazuto's girlfriend, and dreams of marrying him and having a family with him in the real world.^[3]

Yui

Yui (ユイ, Yui)

Voiced by: Kanae Itō (Japanese); Stephanie Sheh^[4] (English)

Originally a side-story character in SAO, Yui later becomes an accompanying/support character in ALO. At first thought to be a lost child in SAO, she is an artificial intelligence. Her full designation is «Mental Health - Counselling Program», MHCP version 1, codename, «Yui». Yui is shown to have a human form and a Navigation Pixie form where she is always barefoot in both forms. She was designed to monitor the emotions of players and appear at their sides to hear and help them out. However, since the moment everyone was imprisoned in Sword Art Online, she was forbidden to come in contact with the players and complete her prime directive. Unable to do anything but suffer as she monitored the emotions of the trapped players, she came upon Kirito and Asuna whose emotions stood out as a beacon of joy and peace in a sea of fear and despair. She sought them out, appearing to them as an amnesia child whom they adopted. In the end, she was nearly deleted by Cardinal, the management system of SAO. But Kirito saved her by converting and storing her data into his own NerveGear. Yui later shows up in ALO as a Private Navigation Pixie and helps Kirito along with Leafa to find Asuna. She refers to Kirito as "Papa" and Asuna as "Mama" and gets very annoyed if any girl other than Shinon, Leafa or Asuna gets close to Kirito. Kirito uses his skills and resources in the real world to construct a device for Yui to view the real world even while she is in virtual reality and gives her the ability to communicate with them.

Klein

Klein (クライン, Kurain) / Ryōtarō Tsuboi (壷井 遼太郎, Tsuboi Ryōtarō)

Voiced by: Hiroaki Hirata (Japanese); Kirk Thornton (English)

A friendly player that meets Kirito at the start of the game, who quickly befriends and learns the basics from Kirito. They go their separate ways shortly after when Kirito leaves for another town to power level, while Klein remains behind to help out his less experienced friends, although he has concern feelings for Kirito due to his solitude and recklessness. Klein uses a katana to fight and later becomes a leader of his own guild. He regularly meets with Kirito and his friends and occasionally joins them in quests in ALO, especially after the release of the World Seed.^[5]

Agil

Agil (エギル, Egiru) / Andrew Gilbert Mills (アンドリュー・ギルバート・ミルズ, Andoryū Girubāto Miruzu)

Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto (Japanese); Patrick Seitz (English)

A bald axe wielder who owns a general shop in SAO. Agil is 244 cm tall with a muscular build. Despite his intimidating appearance, he is kind-hearted and spent most of his earnings to help players in the middle floors. Kirito is a regular in his shop and they are friends. Agil runs a bar named "Dicey Café" in the real world, which was run by his wife during his two-year coma. The café later becomes Kazuto and company's meeting place in the real world.

Heathcliff

Heathcliff (ヒースクリフ, Hīsukurifu) / Akihiko Kayaba (茅場 晶彦, Kayaba Akihiko)

Heathcliff Voiced by: Tōru Ōkawa (Japanese); Kevin M. Connolly (English)

Akihiko Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese); Marc Diraison (English)

Akihiko Kayaba is the director and founder of the NerveGear and Sword Art Online, as well as the main antagonist of the SAO arc. He traps all the players within SAO by using the NerveGear to cease sending signals to the users' body. Any in-game death or attempt at removal of the NerveGear would result in the real-life death of the user. Later, it is discovered that he has been masquerading as Heathcliff, the leader of the major Knights of the Blood Oath. Although he has the admin powers to make his avatar immortal, he is shown to be a powerful player even without his in-game immortality due to his intimate understanding of the SAO game mechanics which he himself had designed. His only goal in life was to make the Aincrad a reality. He is defeated by Kirito at the end of Volume 4, leaves behind a program that grants Kirito the World Seed. His death was his own doing since he had also rigged his own Soul Translator device to fry his brain when he was defeated and transferring his soul into a digital form onto the Internet.^[6]

Silica

Silica (シリカ, Shirika) / Keiko Ayano (綾野 珪子, Ayano Keiko)

Voiced by: Rina Hidaka (Japanese); Christine Marie Cabanos (English)

A side-story character in SAO. One of the rare beast tamers in the game. Very early in the game, she was able to tame a small dragon, Pina (ピナ), who is named after her real-life cat; this feat gave her immense fame, but she was just a mid-level player. Due to her fame, many tried to get on her good side, causing her to get a bit of an inflated head. She usually stays away from the males, who try to marry her despite the fact that she's only 13 or their mascot. After getting lost in a forest, Pina is injured by a monster attack (later on, it is revealed that Pina was revived). Kirito rescued and helped Silica revive Pina, as she resembled his sister. She gained feelings for him, but once she discovers his skills, she realized that they cannot be together in the game but promise to meet again. Keiko befriends Rika at SAO Survivor School. She joins Kirito and his friends in ALO right after they meet in the real world; they often go together in quests.

Lisbeth

Lisbeth (リズベット, Rizubetto) / Rika Shinozaki (篠崎 里香, Shinozaki Rika)

Voiced by: Ayahi Takagaki (Japanese); Sarah Williams (English)

A side-story character in SAO, who is a blacksmith with her own shop and takes great pride in her abilities. Lisbeth or "Liz" is a close friend of Asuna who recommended her to Kirito. Kirito commissioned Liz to forge a custom-made sword for him and accompanies her in a quest for the special ore required for the job. During the quest, she also develops feelings for Kirito. She is devastated when she finds out that Kirito is Asuna's crush. However, she finds some solace after Kirito thanks her for giving him a renewed determination to fight on and clear the game. She requests to be Kirito's exclusive blacksmith. Rika is almost very well teasing Asuna about her relationship with Kirito afterwards. At SAO Survivor School, she and Keiko get irritated when seeing Kazuto and Asuna together. Liz later becomes a regular player in ALO, and frequently joins Kirito and his friends in quests and takes up the task of upgrading their equipment.

Sachi

Sachi (サチ, Sachi)

Voiced by: Saori Hayami (Japanese); Xanthe Huynh (English)

A side story character in SAO. She was a member of "Moonlit Black Cats" which was the first guild Kirito joined. Kirito was especially attached to her. Sachi, along with the other members were in a computer club at their school. However she died along with the majority of her guild members which led to Kirito wallowing in despair and self-loathing until he read the time delayed message she left for Kirito on Christmas Eve. Even after the message gave him the strength to live, he never joined another guild until he parties with Asuna.

Kuradeel

Kuradeel (クラディール, Kuradīru)

Voiced by: Kōji Yusa (Japanese); Doug Erholtz (English)

A Two-Handed Sword user. Publicly a member of "Knights of the Blood Oath" and secretly a member of the red guild "Laughing Coffin". He was officially assigned as Asuna's bodyguard and despite his grudge develops an obsession with Asuna and begins secretly following her everywhere. When he sees that Kirito and Asuna are developing a relationship, he challenges Kirito to a duel over who can protect her. Kirito wins and Kuradeel is forced to leave. He later tries to murder Kirito and then Asuna, but is instead killed by Kirito using an unarmed skill.

Other players

PoH

Voiced by: Tsuyoshi Koyama

PoH is the leader of the SAO "Red player" guild, Laughing Coffin. He created the guild for the sole purpose of killing other players. His catch phrase is "It's showtime". His fate after SAO is unknown, but it is assumed he is still alive since he was not listed as one of the deceased players. PoH's real name is Vusago Casals. PoH stands for Prince of Hell and he work for a terrorist/mercenary group during this arc. He is an illegitimate child of a Korean after a rape incident. The two migrated to Japan, and certain CEO fell in love with his mother and took them in. This was how he started his hatred against people.

Argo (アルゴ, Argo)

Voiced by: Shiori Izawa (Japanese); Cassandra Morris (English)

A friend and fellow beta tester of Kirito in SAO. Known as "Argo the Rat" she works as a Knowledge Broker and messenger.

Sasha (サーシャ, Sāsha)

((voiced by|Kyouko Fujii|Erika Harlacher}|}

A caretaker of the younger SAO players in Town of Beginnings on the 1st floor.

Yolko (ヨルコ, Yoruko)

Voiced by: Nozomi Yamamoto (Japanese); Natalie Hoover (English)

Yolko is a member of the Golden Apple guild. Her boyfriend is Caynz.

Yulier (ユリエール, Yuriēru)

Voiced by: Ryoko Shiraishi (Japanese); Amanda C. Miller (English)

Yulier is second-in-command of the Liberation Force Army. She is devoted to aiding Thinker with his duties as leader. Thinker married her in real life.

ALO players

Leafa

Leafa (リーファ, Rīfa) / Suguha Kirigaya (桐ヶ谷 直葉, Kirigaya Suguha)

Voiced by: Ayana Taketatsu (Japanese); Cassandra Morris (English)

Suguha, alias Leafa, is Kirito's younger cousin in the real world. She is a diligent worker and has been practicing Kendo for 8 years. Kirito/Kazuto calls her "Sugu". After Kazuto gets trapped in Sword Art Online, she begins playing Alfheim Online as a Sylph in an attempt to understand him better. She develops feelings for Kazuto after she learns that he is not really her brother, but understands that his feelings for Asuna are too strong. Coincidentally, she meets Kazuto's avatar, Kirito, in Alfheim and aids him in his search for Asuna, unaware of Kirito's true identity. After understanding the depth of Kazuto's love for Asuna, she resolves to give up on him and instead becomes attached to Kirito in ALO, but later is heartbroken when she finds out that Kazuto and Kirito are one and the same. Nevertheless, she pulls herself together and aids Kirito in rescuing Asuna. In Girls Ops, Leafa forms a team with Lisbeth and Silica.

Oberon

Oberon the Fairy King (妖精王オベイロン, Yōsei-ō Obeiron) / Nobuyuki Sugō (須郷 伸之, Sugō Nobuyuki)

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese); Todd Haberkorn (English)

Nobuyuki Sugō is the main antagonist of the Alfheim Online arc. He is the one responsible for keeping 300 NerveGear victims, including Asuna, prisoner even after SAO had ended. He did this by transferring them all into ALO for experiments on human subjugation via fulldive technology. He also attempts to take over RCT Progress Inc. by marrying Asuna while she is unconscious. He displays a perverse interest in consummating this marriage while Asuna is still comatose. In ALO, he takes on the identity of Oberon the Fairy King and makes Asuna his queen, Titania. When he and Kirito finally meet, he flaunts his GM status as well as the results of his research by causing Kirito immense amounts of pain after increasing Kirito's pain limit and impaling him. He is defeated when the "Ghost Program" of Akihiko Kayaba reminded Kirito how he was defeated by Kirito's determination, before aiding him in overcoming Nobuyuki's GM status. All 300 victims are released from ALO, but Nobuyuki makes another attempt to attack Kazuto while he is making his way to Asuna in the real world. However, he is once again subdued by Kazuto, who puts the unarmed combat skills he had learned in SAO to useful effect. Nobuyuki is then arrested and charged for his crimes.

Sakuya

Sakuya (サクヤ, Sakuya)

Voiced by: Sayuri Yahagi (Japanese); Lauren Landa (English)

She is the leader of the Sylph. During a meeting with the Cait Sith, she is attacked by Salamanders led by General Eugene. At the same moment, Kirito flies in to challenge the general to a duel. After Kirito wins the battle, she attempts to seduce him to join the Slyphs, but Leafa smothers their attempt, saying that she is accompanying him to the World Tree. At the end of the arc, Lady Sakuya leads a combined force of Cait Sith and Sylph against the World Tree's Guardians in an attempt to aid Kirito with the battle. After Kirito reached the top of the World Tree, she ordered her forces to pull back.

Alicia

Alicia Rue (アリシャ・ルー, Arisha Rū))

Voiced by: Chiwa Saito (Japanese); Cristina Vee (English)

She is the leader of the Cait Sith. She was elected for the position of leader by popular vote. She is capable of using the high-level magic «Moonlight Mirror». She forms an alliance with the Sylphs to finish the «Conquer the World Tree Quest». During the Cait Sith meeting with the Sylph at the Butterfly Valley, the groups were attacked by Salamanders led by General Eugene. Kirito dived in to save the day and fought off Eugene, even though Kirito had inferior equipment. After the Salamanders left the area and Kirito revealed that he was not working for anyone, Alicia tried to seduce Kirito into coming to the Cait Sith territory and working for them, but he declined her offer by saying that he had to go to the World Tree. The next day, along with Sylph reinforcements, she and her squadron of Cait Sith riders, on tamed dragons, aided Kirito's ascension of the World Tree after using the collected funds to purchase armor of at least Ancient grade for all of her warriors. After Kirito managed to get through to the top of the tree, she withdrew her forces from the area. Alicia is later seen with Sakuya and a few Cait Sith and Sylph warriors flying towards New Aincrad.

Recon

Recon (レコン, Rekon) / Shin'ichi Nagata (長田 慎一, Nagata Shin'ichi)

Voiced by: Ayumu Murase (Japanese); Marianne Miller (English)

Suguha's classmate in the real world. He introduced ALO to Suguha who asked him about VRMMO. In ALO, he is a Sylph dagger wielder and dark mage. He also displays an obvious romantic interest in Suguha, although the feelings are not mutual.

Eugene

Eugene ((ユージン, Yūjin)

Voiced by: Kenta Miyake (Japanese); Joshua Tomar (English)

General Eugene intended to disrupt the Cait Sith and Sylph alliance conference. Earlier, Recon manages to learn of the attack and warns Leafa. She and Kirito rush to stop the confrontation, but Eugene challenges the Spriggan to a one-on-one duel. At first, Kirito was forced to defend himself against the onslaught of the Earth-style weapon of Eugene, but Kirito takes Leafa's katana to prepare for his notable «Dual Blades». With this extra blade, Eugene could not breach Kirito's defenses and was quickly defeated. After the duel, he was revived by Sakuya and leaves the scene with his forces on good terms.

Kagemune

Kagemune ((カゲムネ, Kagemune)

Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono (Japanese); Keith Silverstein (English)

He led a group of Salamander lancers on a mission, to attempt to steal money and items from a Sylph party, including Leafa and Recon. When Recon died, all of the items in their party storage were transferred to Leafa, so his group followed Leafa in an attempt to steal from her, but the remaining members of his lance squad were overpowered by Kirito. After seeing how powerful Kirito was, he gave up and flew away, excusing himself by stating that he has been training his magic and he did not want his effort go to waste by the Death Penalty. After Kirito's fight with Eugene, he lied about an Undine being in the party that wiped the party he led the day before, in order to support Kirito's story and convinced Eugene to believe that Kirito was an ambassador of a supposed Undine and Spriggan alliance.

Yuuki

Yūki (ユウキ, Yūki) / Yūki Konno (紺野 木綿季, Konno Yūki)

Voiced by: Aoi Yūki (Hollow Fragment)

The heroine in Volume 7. She was an Imp in ALO, she started dueling anyone promising an 11-hit OSS if she's defeated; due to her undefeated status she's given the title "Absolute Sword". Eventually Asuna fights her but loses. After the fight Yūki asks her to help defeating the 27th floor boss with her guild the Sleeping Knights. After certain events, which include the defeat of the 27th floor boss it is revealed that Yūki has AIDS and the Sleeping Knights members were patients in terminal state; with the time passing Yūki's condition gets worse and after she entrusts her OSS Mother's Rosario to Asuna she dies peacefully in ALO, surrounded by over 1000 players from every tribe in the game, including her guild members, Asuna and her friends.

Chrysheight

Chrysheight (クリスハイト, Kurisuhaito) / Kikuoka Seijirō (菊岡征二郎, Kikuoka Seijirō)

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa

Kikuoka Seijirō is a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. After the SAO incident, he interviewed Kazuto for information regarding the events that transpired during the game, in exchange for information on Asuna's whereabouts. After the events of the Fairy Dance arc he has another meeting with Kazuto, to recap the events of SAO again, as well as the events of ALO. He began playing ALO under the name Chrysheight, and later contacts Kirito to investigate the Death Gun deaths in GGO. After Kazuto is attacked in the real world by Johnny Black, Kikouka abducts Kazuto from the hospital and transports him to the Ocean Turtle in order to give him medical treatment for the brain damage he received. It's revealed that Kikouka also is head of RATH, a company under the Ministry of Defense, that is trying to develop AI suitable for replacing humans on a battle-field.

GGO players

Sinon

Sinon (シノン, Shinon) / Shino Asada (朝田 詩乃, Asada Shino)

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro

Shino, who goes by Sinon, is a female sniper whom Kirito first meets in Gun Gale Online. She has childhood trauma concerning guns when she killed a robber at the post office to protect her mother and thus started playing GGO in an attempt to overcome it. She is the owner of the rare gun "PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II". She originally considers Kirito an opponent, but later develops feelings for him. However, after seeing him and Asuna as a couple, she backs down. After the Death Gun Incident, Sinon seems to have gotten over her fear and is moving on from the incident and no longer vulnerable to her classmates' threats of using a gun on her. In Agil's café, Sinon meets Asuna, Rika, and the woman who was a victim at the post office. In real life, Asuna gives her the nickname 'Sinonon'. She later joins ALO on their recommendation as a Cait Sith archer, wielding a long bow made by Lisbeth capable to shoot arrows accurately to a max distance of 100m. Sinon is shown to be admired by the other female members, and she and Kirito constantly tease one another. Sinon also may be one of the few girls Yui likes in the beginning of Volume 10.

Death Gun

Death Gun (死銃, Desu Gan) / Sterben

Voiced by: Sōichirō Hoshi (Death Gun)

Death Gun is the main antagonist of the GGO arc. Apparently the people he kills in GGO, with his signature gun, end up dead in the real world. Death Gun was made by three players, two of them former members of the red SAO guild Laughing Coffin, that killed players for fun while knowing the consequences of doing so. In reality, they committed the kill in-game, by injecting the players in the real world with succinylcholine, a drug capable of stopping the heart. They obtain their addresses from hiding under a «Metamaterial Optical Camouflage Mantle» while they spy on other players inputting their real life details during the BoB registration process. It composes of:

Shōichi Shinkawa (新川 昌一, Shinkawa Shōichi) / Red-Eyed XaXa

Voiced by: Ryōta Ōsaka

He along with Johnny Black originally met Kirito in SAO's Inner-Area incident. His younger brother is the third member of the trio. XaXa is a sadistic person who believed in PoH's principles, and was second-in-command in the red guild. In real life, Shoichi's father did not have any expectations for him due to him being frail and sick. After SAO ended, Shoichi took Kyōji's advice and started playing GGO. Shoichi entered the Bullet of Bullets tournament to prove his "true" killing ability to the rest of the world. He would stun people and then shoot them with his «Death Gun», the Type 54 "Black Star". Both Shoichi and his brother are arrested after the GGO arc.

error: ((nihongo)): Japanese or romaji text required (help) / Johnny Black

He along with XaXa originally met Kirito in SAO's Inner-Area incident. Johnny Black is a cold-blooded killer who likes to have fun with his victims. He, XaXa, and PoH approached Schmitt, Caynz, and Yolko, when he suggested having a fight-to-the-death game among their captives. He escapes from the police after the GGO arc. In Volume 9, Atsushi returns and attempts to kill Kazuto and Asuna in the real world. As Kazuto protected Asuna and captured Atsushi, he was able to poison Kazuto which nearly killed him and caused Kazuto to suffer brain damage, which he may not recover from.

Kyōji Shinkawa (新川 恭二, Shinkawa Kyōji) / Spiegel (シュピーゲル, Shupīgeru)

Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae

Shino's friend both in the real world and GGO, in fact he was the one who introduced Shino to GGO in the first place as a form of immersion therapy for her fear of guns. Kyōji wasn't trapped in SAO or affiliated with Laughing Coffin, but the pressures of being the next heir to his family's hospital due to his elder brother's frail health in the real world had a great psychological effect on him. Shōichi's tales as a red player also helped set him further down the path to murder and madness. Kyōji was the one who came up with the whole idea of Death Gun and enlisted the aid of the other two. It is also revealed that he is obsessed with Shino and wants the two to die together so that they can be reborn in a world like GGO (but is fine with a fantasy setting as well) because of his intense hatred of the real world and its pressures.

Both the Shinkawa brothers except Johnny Black were captured by the police at the end of the GGO/Death Gun incident when Kirito and Sinon foiled their scheme.

UW residences

Alice Schuberg

Alice Schuberg (アリス・ツーベルク, Arisu Tsūberuku) is a mysterious girl who was Kirito's "childhood friend", along with Eugeo, in UnderWorld. She is captured and supposedly taken away to be executed by the Integrity Knights for breaking the rule by "entering" the Dark Territory. She contacted Kirito, in spirit form, and aided in Eugeo's healing, showing that she is still alive and remembered both of them. She also implored them to come find her. It is later revealed, first in a short story, that she had become an Integrity Knight, and is confirmed in Volume 11 of the light novels. Her name as an Integrity Knight is Alice Synthesis Thirty (アリス・シンセシス・サーティ, Arisu Shinseshisu Sāti)..

Eugeo

Eugeo (ユージオ, Yūjio) is a young lad who was also Kirito's "childhood friend", along with Alice, in UnderWorld. Has his memories of Kirito purged, along with the rest of the villagers, but recovers them later on, to a certain degree. He has a strong desire to find Alice and, in order to do so, Kirito teaches him his "Aincrad-style" sword skills.

Selka Schuberg

Selka Schuberg (セルカ・ツーベルク, Seruka Tsūberuku) is the younger sister of Alice and an apprentice of Sister Azariya. She is capable of wielding the Sacred Arts but dislikes being compared to her sister. She does not remember Kirito, but is put in charge of him upon his "return".

Cardinal

Cardinal (カーディナル, Kādinaru) is the Cardinal System, the one with complete control and authority in SAO, it controls everything. In ALO, the only other VRMMORPG to have it, it has partial control. During the Alicization Arc, in the Underworld, it takes the form of a scrawny 10-year-old girl, who lives in the Great Library Room. Cardinal does not have any control of the Underworld, and only has powers in the Library because Quinella used the System Control Authority to revoke Cardinal's rights.

Quinella

Quinella (クィネラ, Kwinera) is the true ruler of Underworld, the highest minister of the Axiom Church, and the main antagonist of the Underworld arc. 350 years before Kirito would enter the Underworld, Quinella was born. She was given the sacred task of studying the Sacred Arts. Soon, she learned that by killing others, one's stats could be raised, so every night she snuck out and killed the animals of the forest, which would respawn everyday anyways. She raised her stats to a ridiculously high level, and decided to take control over the Underworld. Fooling people into believing she was a god, she created the Axiom Church, and made laws to control the people. She studied the Sacred Arts intensely, trying to find a way to transcend the limit of that world, the <<life>> of that world. She finds the System Control Authority command on the brink of death, and immediately uses it to heal herself, restoring her beauty and <<life>> to her former appearance as a youth.

Ronye Arabel

Ronye Arabel (ロニエ・アラベル, Ronie Araberu) is Kirito's valet in the Sword Mastery Academy. She ranked in the top 12 of her year, thus qualifying her to be a valet of an elite swordsman. Since she was of the lowest Noble Class, along with Tiese, she was not chosen by any of the elite swordsman except for Kirito who opted to take the last remaining valet.

Tiese Schtrinen

Tiese Schtrinen (ティーゼ・シュトリーネン, Teīze Shutorinen) is Eugeo's valet in the Sword Mastery Academy. She ranked in the top 12 of her year, thus qualifying her to be a valet of an elite swordsman. Since she was of the lowest Noble Class, along with Ronye, she was not chosen by any of the elite swordsman except for Eugeo who opted to take the last remaining valet. She entered the Academy in order to raise her family's social status.

Other UW residences

The following is a list of all other known Integrity Knights:

Bercouli (ベルクーリ, Berukūri) / Bercouli Synthesis One (ベルクーリ・シンセシス・ワン, Berukūri Shinseshisu Wan)

Fanatio (ファナティオ, Fanatio) / Fanatio Synthesis Two (ファナティオ・シンセシス・ツー, Fanatio Shinseshisu Tsū)

Deusolbert (デュソルバート, Deyusorubāto) / Deusolbert Synthesis Seven (デュソルバート・シンセシス・セブン, Deyusorubāto Shinseshisu Sebun)

Linel (リネル, Rineru) / Linel Synthesis Twenty-Eight (リネル・シンセシス・トゥエニエイト, Rineru Shinseshisu Touenieito)

Fizel (フィゼル, Fizeru) / Fizel Synthesis Twenty-Nine (フィゼル・シンセシス・トゥエニナイン, Fizeru Shinseshisu Toueninain)

Eldrie Woolsburg (エルドリエ・ウールスブルーグ, Erudorie Uurusuburuggu) / Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one (エルドリエ・シンセシス・サーティワン, Erudorie Shinseshisu Sātiwan)

Other characters

Midori Kirigaya (桐ヶ谷 翠, Kirigaya Midori)

Voiced by: Aya Endō (Japanese); Caitlin Glass (English)

Midori Kirigaya is Suguha's mother, as well as Kirito's aunt and foster mother in the real world. She cares deeply for both her children. In Volume 10, she is assured by the authorities of Kirito's safety. In reality, Kirito's comatose body was kidnapped by Seijirou Kikuoka. When Asuna and Suguha tried to tell her their suspicions, she did not believe them.

Shōzō Yūki (結城 彰三, Yūki Shōzō)

Voiced by: Kazuhiro Yamaji (Japanese); Keith Silverstein (English)

Shōzō Yūki is Asuna's father and CEO of RECTO Progress Inc.

Silver Crow (シルバー・クロウ, Shirubā Kurou) / Haruyuki Arita (有田 春雪, Arita Haruyuki)

Silver Crow is the main character of Accel World, another of Reki Kawahara's light novels who appears to confront Kirito in a crossover side story.

Endou (遠藤, Endō)

Voiced by: Yoki Hikasa

Endou is a manipulative person who approached Shino and pretended to be her friend just to be able to use Shino's home for personal use and as a place to stay overnight after getting drunk. She uses Shino's phobia to make her scare to her. After the Death Gun incident, she was surprised to see Shino can overcome her phobia.

Rinko Koujiro (神代凛子, Koujiro Rinko)

is a professor, co-worker and also a former love-interest of Akihiko Kayaba. In the SAO arc, She initially helped in the development of SAO and when the incident occurred, she was the only person who guessed where Akihiko was. Without telling anyone and avoiding the police, she decided to confront Akihiko in his hidden mountain cottage with the intent to kill him, but she was not able to do so and instead helped maintain Akihiko's physical condition, when he dived into the game for long periods of time. After the incident, the police found the cottage where both of them stayed. While Akihiko had already died after digitizing his brain to the network permanently, Rinko was arrested by the police and awaited her trial.