Index(インデックス Indekkusu) is the eponymous character of Toaru Majutsu no Index. Also known by her full name of Index Librorum Prohibitorum (禁書目録), she is the main female character of the series and is considered the main heroine of the Magic Side. She is a member of Necessarius and has a Photographic Memory. She holds within herself 103,000 magical texts known as grimoires.
Etymology
Her name is based on the book with the same name, The List of Forbidden Books or "Index Librorum Prohibitorum" (禁書目録 or Kinsho Mokuroku in Japanese). It is a list of publications prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church.
The avowed aim of the list was to protect the faith and morals of the faithful by preventing the reading of immoral books or works containing theological errors, although it also contained scientific works by leading astronomers, such as Johannes Kepler. The various editions also contained the rules of the Church relating to the reading, selling and censorship of books. It was abolished on 14 June 1966 by Pope Paul VI.
Appearance
Index is small in stature, has a petite build, and, much to her chagrin, a flat chest. She is supposedly very beautiful, as in the novel Touma made an observation on how doll-like she appeared upon their first encounter. It can be assumed that she is very young. She has thigh-length, silvery-blue hair, and large green eyes. She is also often seen wearing her Walking Church, a white, modified nun's habit with gold highlights. It is an accurate replica of the Holy Shroud of Turin and offered Index ultimate protection from most attacks, however, it was destroyed by Touma's right hand. She still wears it, though safety pins are now needed to hold it together. She is noted by Touma to be a "gaikokujin" (foreigner), and it is likely that her nationality is english.
Personality
She is often elated by things that an adult would find mundane and is slightly ignorant and curious of modern technology. She is usually gentle and polite with people and has a kind nature, as shown when she picked up a stray kitten and took it home, although Touma initially refused. She can be easily irritated in a similar manner to how a child reacts to something they don't like- especially when it comes to Touma, who usually ends up angering her in some way as a consequence of his own bad luck. He is often bitten by index as punishment. She also has an extreme appetite as shown when she met Accelerator and forced him to spend all of his money treating her to food. Index has taken a liking to the anime Magical Powered Super Android Girl Kanamin and once cosplayed as her.
Background
Much of her background is currently unknown because of the periodic memory loss that was brought upon her. Although, Index states that she was born and raised in St. George's Cathedral, there is not enough evidence to corrobrate this, as Index as well is unsure of it.
It is not known if 'Index' is her true name or if it is a name given to her because she holds within her the 103,000 grimoires. It is confirmed that Index was specifically chosen as the vessel for the 103,000 grimoires because she has the ability to perfectly memorize things and also because she is unaffected by the books' debilitating effects. She possesses no mana and therefore cannot use the grimoires. In the manga it is shown that the ritual of transfer was performed in the Vatican by Necessarius.
Later, after becoming the vessel of the grimoires, she was given partners as a means of protection. Three years prior to the start of the series, she was the partner of Aureolus Izzard, then a year later, Stiyl Magnus. Index's relationship with her partners is unknown because of her periodic memory loss, but it is implied that both Aureolus and Stiyl care for her deeply. In Aureolus' case, he was Index's teacher during his time with her. It is confirmed that Kanzaki Kaori were best friends with Index before Index's memory was erased.
The church told lies to Kaori and Stiyl regarding the true nature of Index's memory being erased, as they planned to make the grimoires harder to access as well as because of their fear of Index betraying them or her apparently becoming a Majin. The church implanted a Collar and a multi-layered program that would disable her from using the magic of grimoires, as such she has no mana to use. To complete this defense, the Collar made Index extremely ill, and required an annual erasure of her memories.
Laura Stuart was the one that came up with this plan, as the alternative was to cut off all of Index's limbs and lock her inside London's Clock Tower to ensure absolute safety of Index Librorum Prohibitorum's knowledge from magicians that would misuse it, and to prevent her escape.
Index came to Japan a year before the start of the series, although she had already lost her memories prior to arrival, and has somehow awoken in a back-alley with at least basic knowledge regarding her position in the magic side. This was done as part of Stiyl and Kaori's plan to keep Index away from magicians that would misuse her knowledge, as Japan was seen to be a place with little history of magic according to them. Both Stiyl and Kaori believed it was for the best if Index spent the year running away from magicians as opposed to living through a year full of happiness, as then it wouldn't be as painful (for both themselves and Index) when her memory had to be erased. Index eventually ended up in Academy City as she was being chased by Stiyl and Kaori, because it was once again time to erase her memories. Moving from rooftop-to-rooftop during Academy City's unforeseen power outage, she slips and falls, landing onto the apartment balcony of the ever-unfortunate Kamijou Touma.
Gallery
Trivia
- It is a recurring gag for Index to bite Touma whenever he has inadvertently annoyed or irritated her in some way, occuring even in serious situations or in front of important persons.
- Index is still wearing her Walking Church, even though it has lost its powers.
- Index's 'Dragon's Breath' is one of the few magical attacks shown so far that is able to surpass Touma's Imagine Breaker's cancelling speed.
- Index is still the only girl to have confessed to Touma, however, Touma avoided answering by changing the theme of the conversation because since he had lost his memories, he had no idea about what kind of relationship he used to have with Index.
- Index is also the first and only girl known to kiss Touma (by the cheek) when she intended to bite him during the Daihasei Festival Arc.
- Index's bust size has increased a little bit as evidenced in one of the illustrations of Volume 16.
- Touma has pointed out that she is a sleep walker, and that will always tuck into the futons of others if she is just left alone. This is the main reason of why Touma locks himself in the bathroom every night.
- During the Angel Fall incident, Touma and Index found out that Index has her own Academy City ID, though neither remembers having applied for it. In the novel Touma thought it was possible using sophiscated equipment to obtain data like fingerprint, retina scans, voice imprint etc, though he doesn't know why anyone would do this. It is implied Aleister Crowley was the one responsible after making an arrangement with the Anglican Church to keep Index inside Academy City. Also, in episode 15 of the anime, Index's ID picture showed for some unknown reason Index holding a green onion. It is currently unknown what the intentions of J.C. Staff was on this matter. Probably a reference to Vocaloid's Hatsune Miku.
- According to the interview on Kazuma Kamachi featured in "Toaru Majutsu no Index no Subete", the author states that Index is the one whom he want to choose as his lover among all Index characters.