Celty Sturluson

Celty Sturluson (セルティ ストゥルルソン, Celty Sturluson), also known as The Black Rider or The Headless Rider, is a fairy called a Dullahan from Ireland who came to Japan looking for her stolen head. Her motorcycle is a familiar called a Cóiste Bodhar in disguise, which she has named Shooter and whose favored alternate guise is a headless horse.

Celty has no head and perceives via unknown sensors located in the shadows she emits from her neck and other parts of her body. The physical strength she possesses is above human, though not quite on par with Shizuo Heiwajima and Simon Brezhnev. She is also capable of producing a shadow-like, durable shadowy substance to form objects ranging from gloves to chariots at her will.

Celty lives with Shinra Kishitani and works as an underground transporter. She wears a helmet when she goes out and communicates via a PDA. She enjoys online chatting, television and DVDs.

She is a member of the Dollars and Snake Hands.

Appearance
In her early years, it is shown that Celty wore knight's armor as she traveled the country side with her head resting on her lap. When she immigrated to Japan, she updates her attire to match the times. For most of the series, Celty is shown to wear an all black biker jumpsuit with black gloves and shoes. All of her clothing is made from a shadow-like substance that materializes around her at her will. She also wears a yellow and blue helmet that vaguely resembles the shape of a cat's head. As far as physical features go, Celty isn't particularly imposing although she does have above average strength. She is well-endowed, has pale white skin and her head is shown to have brown hair and blue eyes.

Personality
Celty's personality is, ironically, one of the most normal and down-to-earth compared to most of the other cast. Although she was fairly emotionless in her early life, she has since developed a much more defined personality as she spent more time with humans. She is generally a confident and optimistic individual although she is not without her insecurities. Chief among these are her concerns about how people will react to her monstrous nature. In the start of the series, Celty tends to avoid most people as they usually react negatively upon realizing she has no head. However, she has recently begun opening up more to people as she encounters others who are not only accepting of the paranormal (such as with Shizuo Heiwajima or Anri Sonohara) but seem to revel in it (such as Mikado Ryuugamine or Izaya Orihara).

Aside from developing a more human personality, she has also developed a few human interests. She is shown to enjoy watching movies and playing video games but has developed an odd phobia of aliens, something that has been used for comic relief throughout the series.

Background
Celty is a Dullahan, a being from Celtic lore who guides souls to the afterlife. Not much is known about her early life. The earliest point in her history that is known is the day she woke up to find her head was missing. She remembered her name, her abilities, and what she was but not much else. Celty still felt a faint connection to her head and used it to travel across Ireland in pursuit of it. Eventually, her search required her to cross the sea to Japan and so she stowed away on a ship bound to the small island nation. She is eventually discovered by a young Shinra Kishitani who promptly brought this to the attention of his father, Shingen Kishitani.

Celty and Shingen worked out a deal where he would keep Celty's secret while she would allow him to perform a full autopsy. Celty agreed and went through with the procedure but eventually passed out from the pain. Once she arrived in Japan, Celty would continue her search while acting as Shinra's caretaker when Shingen was away. As she continued to spend time around humans, it allowed her to develop more as a person and cause her to develop close bonds with unique citizens of the city.

Dollars/Mika Harima Arc
Celty makes her first appearance early in the first episode, in which Masaomi Kida brings attention to Mikado of the "Headless Rider" as she passes by. Mikado Ryuugamine stares on in amazement.

Celty appears in the parking garage where the kidnappers of Rio Kamichika have taken her to be picked up. Realizing that Celty isn't the pickup guy, they attack. She manages to take down two of them but one kidnapper gets in his car and drives away. Celty gives chase but is knocked off her bike when the last kidnapper suddenly hits the brakes. He exits the car to finish Celty off but is taken aback when she gets up and reveals she is headless. Out of fear, the kidnapper attacks but is knocked out by Celty's scythe.

She takes Rio from the back of the car brings her to an unknown building. Celty then leaves Rio, saying that all she was told to do was bring her there. The events involving Rio are anime exclusive, in the original light novel and manga, it is Manami Mamiya that Celty saved from kidnappers. However, she returns in time to save them from committing suicide. When asked why she saved her, Celty merely responds with "The world isn't as bad as it seems." and drives off.

Celty eventually runs into Izaya and asks him if he's responsible for the others who jumped from the roof but he denies it. Celty then drove away, passing by Mikado and Masaomi. A few days later, Shinra is told that a painter in town was talking about a Dullahan he once saw and kept drawing pictures of her. Celty thought it was her so she went out to find him, believing he might have knowledge of her head's location. Shizuo eventually leads her to the painter but he admits that he can't seem to draw her head. Celty then returns home, asking Shinra about the documentary he had been filming and logging on to the chat-room.

A few days later, Celty gets a job to find a man named Kaztano and save him from kidnappers. While searching, she realizes Shinra handed her his shopping list instead of the license plate number so she couldn't find him. By chance, Celty runs into the kidnappers while they were confronting Kadota's crew and scares them into running away and releasing Kazutano. Celty is confused, but decides to return home.

Later, after a vivid nightmare about the day she lost her head, Celty asks Shinra about dreams. Shinra tries to explain it scientifically but only manages to confuse her even more. Remembering it's her day off, Celty offers to make Shinra a meal which he gladly accepts

Shinra cries while eating it and Celty is confused as to why. He said it was so good he was moved to tears, but Celty thinks that Shinra is crying because her food was terrible. In a fit of frustration, she wraps the food in a black sphere and leaves in a huff. Once she cleared her thoughts and calmed down, she meets up with Shinra on the street. Shinra asks her to eat with him and they go to Russia Sushi. After their meal, they each receive fortune cookies with Celty's reading "Something missing will be found." Seeing it as a sign of good fortune regarding her search, Celty goes to bed elated and dreams of her head back in Ireland.

The next day Celty was hanging out with Shizuo until she saw a girl run by that had a face that looked almost exactly like hers. Celty grabs the girl and tries to talk to her but all the girl does is scream and tries to run away. Shizuo walks up and asks Celty what's up with the girl but is interrupted as Seiji stabs Shizuo with pens.

The girl escapes but Celty goes after her. However, some girls surround Celty asking for an autograph while she sees the mysterious girl run off with Mikado. Celty returns home and tells Shinra what happened. Shinra is dismissive at Celty's claim, telling her that chasing the girl would only serve to make her angry.

The next day she stops a yankee from hurting Mikado and follows him home with Izaya. Mikado yells and asks her why she was following him. Celty tries to lie about the girl being a relative but Mikado easily sees through it. Mikado tells her that he doesn't believe her and then Celty tells him the truth about being a Dullahan and thinking the girl had her head. Mikado believed her and asks if he could see under her helmet. She shows him and he doesn't show any sign of fear. Mikado then allows both her and Izaya to follow him home.

After a bit of waiting, Izaya notices the car parked in front of Mikado's was a Yagiri Pharmaceuticals car, the same company rumored to be behind a recent string of disappearances. Celty and Izaya barge in to find Mikado pinned down by 2 of Yagiri's thugs. After they are chased out, Mikado comes to a sudden realization and begins to access the Dollar's website. It is at this moment that Celty and Izaya discover Mikado's identity as the Dollar's founder. He sets up a place where Celty can meet the girl, but she can only do so on one condition. Celty then meets Kyouhei Kadota, who also brought the mysterious girl, on the top of a large building. She asks for the girl's name which she claims is also Celty.

Celty realizes that the girl isn't her head and drives down a building with her motorcycle in a fit of anger, attacking Namie's henchmen in the process. One man knocks off her helmet, revealing her true nature to all of Ikebukuro. As everyone either runs screaming or starts taking pictures, Celty seems to enjoy herself as the crowd erupts into chaos. Later Celty begins to think she may not need her head, and so she decides to pay it farewell. Later, she protects Mikado from getting stabbed by Seiji Yagiri by taking the hit for him.

Celty prepares to fight Seiji but the other "Celty" interferes and told the truth that she was Mika Harima. She explains how she received plastic surgery on her to look like Celty's head and that the doctor who performed the surgery told her to use Celty's name. Celty realizes that only Shinra could know about the true name of the head and goes to her apartment to confront him. She grabs Shinra by the collar and angrily yells at him. Shinra explains that the reason why he never told her about her head's location was that he was afraid of what she would do if she got it as well as the face that he accepted her for who she was.

As an apology to Celty, Shinra allowed her to punch him. He then returns the favor by punching her helmet off. He tells Celty that she is good in her natural state. Overcome with emotion, she hugs him, and Shinra guessed that she is crying.

Saika Arc
Celty is chasing Takashi Nasujima for the money he stole. She traps him in an alley and tells him to give her the money back, but before Celty could reach him, a monster with red eyes attacks Celty from behind with a katana. Takashi runs away but drops the money case in the process. As Celty retrieves the case, her healing wound hisses at her. Celty discusses the recent attack with Shinra but they are unable to come up with a reasonable explanation.

The next day, Celty meets Shuuji Niekawa for an interview on who the strongest man in Ikebukuro was. Celty answers that Shizuo was the strongest, going into great detail as to why. At the end of the interview, Shuuji asks Celty to reveal what was under her helmet. She does so and leaves a stunned Shuuji in the park.

Celty returned home and went on the chat room. Izaya said that Shizuo has been on a rampage lately, so Celty drives over to see if he's okay, remembering when she first met him 8 years ago. Celty then told him about the slasher attacking her which made Shizuo pissed off because she didn't kill it. She said to Shizuo that she needed more information about the Slasher before they go out to find it.

She goes home then gets on the chat and learns from Izaya that Shuuji Neikawa was attacked by the Slasher. Celty, worried about the guy who interviewed her, asked if he was okay. Later she goes to Izaya's place and asks him for information about the Slasher. After a bit of teasing, Izaya tells Celty that the Slasher was using the ancient demon blade known as Saika which had the ability to possess anyone it cut.

With this information, Celty and Shizuo try to track the slasher down. They finally find him attacking Anri and arrive in time to assist Kyouhei and the others. After incapacitating the attacker, Celty wraps the knife up to prevent being possessed by it in order to examine it at home.

Shinra picks up the knife and Celty asks him if he feels possessed. Shinra tells her that the knife couldn't be the ancient cursed sword since it was manufactured in 2009. Celty realizes the Slasher was still on the loose so she drives to Izaya's to get Shizuo, wondering how Shuuji was possessed. She got to Izaya's and showed Shizuo that a person named Saika was spamming the chat room she was on and told him it was the Slasher. Shizuo then gets on her motorcycle and they ride off.

They go to a park and realize that many of Saika's children have surrounded them. Celty pulls out her scythe but Shizuo says he can handle this and Celty should go after the real Saika. Celty gives him her gloves so he doesn't get cut, and rides off. She goes to Anri's house to see that Anri had taken care of the true culprit behind the recent slasher attacks, Haruna Niekawa. She also learns of Anri's past and how she came to possess the true, original Saika blade.

As Celty transports both of them to the hospital, Anri asks to see under Celty's helmet. Celty complies and is relieved that Anri wasn't afraid.

Yellow Scarves Arc
Celty comes home traumatized after being chased around by Kinnosuke Kuzuhara. Shinra realizes that while this wasn't the best time, he needed her to pick up Shingen from the airport. Celty arrives to see Shingen being picked on by the Yellow scarves. She scares them off with her powers and brings him home. Celty then sees Shinra on the couch the following morning clearly distraught about something.

Celty then sees Shingen walk in and telling Shinra to never walk in on him while he's taking a shower ever again. As they begin discussing Shinra's eventual marriage to Celty, Shingen lets it slip that he stole her head and gave it to Yagiri Pharmaceuticals. Celty tries to question him more on the subject but Shingen runs away. She gives chase but eventually loses track of him and goes home. Shinra tells her that his father used the Saika blade to steal her head. Later that night she gets a call from Anri, asking for help getting out of the Yellow Scarves base. Celty rushes to Anri's aid but one yellow scarves member throws a metal pipe at her, forcing Anri to draw Saika and block it. When they arrive back at Celty's apartment, Anri tells Celty that her friend, Masaomi Kida, was the leader of the Yellow Scarves.

Two days later Celty brings Anri to her apartment and says that Anri needs to stay there for awhile since the yellow Scarves are after her. Celty goes to Mikado's after she heard that he disbanded the Dollars. Mikado tells her that he is okay but Celty tells him that Anri is the Slasher, and Masaomi is the leader of the yellow Scarves. Mikado asks Celty to take him to his friends, which she agrees to. Before they leave, Celty receives a call from Shinra that Anri ran off after seeing Shizuo walking in their apartment having bullet wounds.

Celty leaves with Mikado but they get stopped by Simon. Celty talks to Simon and asks him where Masaomi was. Simon tells her he doesn't know but said that Masaomi looked like he was going to die. Then Simon takes her phone and writes a single message "Save him." Celty runs back to Mikado near her motorcycle. She tells him to get ready for something bad.

When they arrive, Celty and Mikado catch up to Anri and Masaomi. She witnesses Kyouhei and the rest of the dollars defeat the yellow scarves and eventually returns home. As things calm down and return to normal, Celty is last seen with Shinra sunbathing on the balcony.

Hollywood Arc
Celty is undergoing another autopsy, this time by Shingen's new wife (and by extension, Celty's mother-in-law) Emilia Kishitani. Initially, Celty is a little put off by her bubbly personality but that quickly changes when Emilia pays Celty 1 million yen in cash. Thanking Emilia, Celty rides off into the night thinking about what she will use the money for. As Celty reflects on her life since coming to Japan, she realizes that she doesn't mind things staying the way they are with or without her head. She has friends who accept her, a stable job as a courier and a lover waiting for her at home. Her happiness is short-lived, however, by the untimely arrival of Kinnosuke Kuzuhara. After briefly mentioning the traffic regulations for motorbikes, Kuzuhara and Celty begin a frantic chase through the Ikebukuro streets with Kuzuhara keeping pace with Celty despite her supernatural abilities. Although Celty manages to get away, she also loses the envelope containing her 1 million yen. Celty reacts like any normal person would after losing that much money, she cries.

Celty returns home depressed and wraps herself in a cocoon of her own shadow. Shinra asks what was bothering her and gets pulled into the cocoon as well. Shinra tries to cheer Celty up and also brings up another job. Celty accepts, wanting something to take her mind off of losing 1 million yen and goes out. Celty meets with the client (later revealed to be Ruri Hijiribe) and immediately gets a familiar vibe emanating from her. The two form a fast friendship and Celty agrees to do the job free of charge for such a rare encounter. Later that day, Celty is horrified to find that the recent chase between her and Kuzuhara drew considerable attention from the media. Yodogiri Shining Corporation has even put out a wanted poster for her with a bounty of 10 million yen.

The next day, Celty is approached by another client, revealed later to be Denis in disguise, who needs her to transport a bag large enough to hold a human inside it for a day. Celty needs only to keep it for one day and after that, she can drop it anywhere. Celty is cautious, but she needs the money. As Celty rides through the night, she is suddenly accosted by several members from a biker gang called Toramaru who want the ten million yen bounty on her head. Celty does her best to elude them but to no avail. One of the bikers swings a pipe at Celty only to tear a hole in the bag she was transporting. A hand pops out of the bag and Celty panics at the fact that she was transporting a human body for the past several hours. Things are complicated even further by the arrival of Kinnosuke Kuzuhara. Initially, Kuzuhara focuses on Celty but switches his attention to the Toramaru members after they try to attack him. Celty manages to lose Kuzuhara and the bikers as they fight each other but she runs into even more Toramaru members further down the road. After several hours, she also runs into Kyouhei Kadota and his gang who are also being chased by Toramaru members, and notices Mikado, Anri Sonohara and three other Raira students, Aoba Kuronuma, Mairu Orihara, and Kururi Orihara, in the back. The ten of them drive on until they come to an overpass where Celty gets an idea. She tells Kyouhei to run while she uses her shadows and the overpass as a net to stop the bikers. The plan works, initially, but it is clear that there are too many of them for the net to hold. Celty readies her scythe to try and fight them despite the fact that it would draw even more attention to herself than there was already until the person in the bag suddenly springs into action, revealing himself to be the Russian assassin Egor.

Egor tells Celty and the others to stand back while he deals with Toramaru. More help also arrives in the form of Ruri, dressed as a Dullahan in armor, who assists Egor in dispatching the gang. After the incident is resolved and the bounty is withdrawn, Celty soon returns to a normal life. At the end of the novel, Celty has earned back her lost money by transporting Egor, and she, Shinra, and Emilia hold a hotpot party and invite most of the main cast to attend (minus Izaya and Masaomi).

Akane Arc
Celty is called into the Awakusu headquarters by Haruya Shiki to discuss a job. Aside from Shiki, all the other employees around them seem to act a bit tense with Celty in the room. Despite Shiki's polite and calm demeanor, Celty is cautious about the job he has for her. Shiki invites Celty to remove her helmet despite knowing that she is a Dullahan. Celty does so, hesitantly, and one of the younger employees yells in fright at the sight of her. Shiki immediately bashes the man's head against a cabinet and makes him apologize for screaming at a guest's face. Celty quickly changes the subject by asking for the job Shiki requested. Shiki states that there are actually two jobs he needs her to do. The first is to ask for information regarding Yodogiri Jinnai. Shiki explains that Yodogiri had tasked the Awakusu to capture the killer Hollywood at some point but withheld info on Hollywood's superhuman strength which got the men they sent killed so the Awakusu want revenge. The second job is for Celty to locate the granddaughter of the Head of the Awakusu, Akane Awakusu, and act as her bodyguard for the time being. Celty accepts the job and proceeds to search for Akane with the photo Shiki gives her.

As Celty rides through the streets, she is suddenly ambushed by Vorona on another motorbike. Vorona's attack knocks Celty off of her bike and causes her helmet to get run over. Celty manages to tag Vorona's bike with a very thin thread of her shadow which Celty uses to track her through the City. Celty follows Vorona to Anri's apartment just as the two were about to fight. Vorona and Slon retreat and Celty gives chase, following them throughout the freeway. Celty is eventually forced to retreat due to Vorona pulling out an anti-tank rifle and firing it in the middle of a crowded street. Celty returns to Anri's apartment and the two of them ride back to Celty and Shinra's place since they suspect that Vorona may come back to attack Anri again.

After dropping off Anri, Celty leaves again to continue her search for Akane but has very little success. Eventually she decides to search for her would be assailants and follows the thread she made earlier to the abandoned factory where Mikado and Aoba where meeting. Unbeknownst to her, Vorona and Slon were watching Celty from a distance, waiting for the others to leave so they could strike.

Dollars and Blue Square Arc
Celty observes the meeting between Mikado and Aoba, wondering if she should rush in and help and also why Mikado was being so hesitant. Her cover is blown by her cell phone ringing due to a call from Shinra. Exposed, Celty walks into the warehouse with Aoba and the Blue Squares confused by her sudden arrival. Celty states that she isn't there to interfere and that they should continue their conversation and ignore her. That plan is quickly shot down by the arrival of several Toramaru members who are out for revenge against the dollars. As the situation turns violent, Celty takes Mikado out of the warehouse while Aoba and the Blue Squares hold off Toramaru.

Mikado explains to Celty about how he and Anri were supposed to meet in the park and the two of them make their way there. Celty and Mikado meet up with Anri who took Akane with her for a walk but they are also surrounded by several Awakusu members. The Awakusu bow to Celty out of gratitude for agreeing to protect Akane but they are interrupted by even more Toramaru members. They ask for "the kid" (Mikado) but the Awakusu members think they want Akane. They tell Celty to take Akane somewhere safe while they deal with Toramaru. Due to the large passenger size, Celty changes her Horse back into a Chariot for the first time in several decades and the four of them ride away through the city. Celty eventually stops in an underground parking lot to give the others a chance to rest. Eventually, Mikado runs out after seeing the messages about the attempted kidnapping and Anri runs after him. Celty decides to take Akane back to her apartment only to find Shiki waiting for them there. Although Akane is hesitant, Shiki takes Akane back to her father who has just arrived outside the building. Just as Celty is about to relax, a sudden explosion draws her attention outside. She sees Slon ride away with Akane and Shiki, Akane's father, and their employees incapacitated by Slon's flash grenade. Celty rides after them using another thread of shadow attached to Akane to track them. Although she loses sight of Slon, the thread of Shadow eventually leads her to Raira as well as Slon and Vorona's truck. Celty suspects some kind of trap but another flash-bang catches her attention. When she investigates, she sees Shizuo approaching the fight between the dollars and the rogue dollars with Vorona's motorbike on his shoulder.

Moments later, she sees Vorona running from Shizuo. After Shizuo manages to crash his way into the cargo compartment of Vorona's truck, Celty rides into action and uses her shadow to disarm Vorona before she can shoot Shizuo. When Shizuo breaks the cargo compartment in half, Celty uses her shadows again to cushion their fall. Although she isn't sure how Shizuo and Akane got so familiar with each other, she is glad that they're both safe. After everything had calmed down, Celty and Shinra discuss going on a trip.

Daily Life Arc
Celty and Shinra go on a date but it is constantly being interrupted by Izaya calling them from the hospital due to boredom. Celty and Shinra know that they should probably be more concerned for Izaya's wellbeing but they find it hard to do so since the stab wound wasn't even fatal and, with all things considered, Izaya probably had it coming to him in the first place.

When they come home, they encounter Aoba, who asks them for the URL for the Chat Room.

Adabashi Arc
In the beginning of the volume Celty is being chased by the cops again. Kinnosuke also tells her about her front wheel of her motorcycle. She manages to escape but her motorcycle flips in the process. When she gets back to her house she asks Shinra why that happened. Then Anri comes into their apartment.

Mikado and Aoba arrive at Celty and Shinra's apartment with a warning. A stalker of Ruri Hijirbe's named Kisuke Adabashi is looking for people who are close to her. Since Shinra was seen exiting Kasuka's apartment the night he and Ruri were revealed to be a couple, Mikado suspects that Shinra may be in danger. Not long after, Celty has to leave to do another job but is hesitant to do so. Shinra reassures her and Celty leaves. Celty returns home to find Shinra beaten bloody and with almost every bone in his body broken. Celty panics and calls out to him, but Shinra falls unconscious due to the severe wounds.

Dragon Zombie Arc
It is revealed that Shinra is alive although has to stay in a full body cast. Celty and Emilia do their best to take care of him but Shinra's naturally energetic personality doesn't make it very easy. Through out the events of the novel, Shinra offers some insight into his past with Izaya and how he got stabbed in middle school. When Shinra notices Celty getting angry about something, he suspects that it is about finding the person who injured him. Shinra tells Celty not to think about it and tells her not to do anything without telling him first especially if it concerns Kisuke Adabashi. When Celty asks what Shinra will do if she does find Adabashi without telling him and Shinra simply replies that he can't do anything to stop her except cry and scream like a little kid. Celty realizes that Shinra isn't joking about crying and agrees not to do anything without consulting Shinra first.

Later, she gets a call from Izaya asking her for a job. After a brief chase by Kinnosuke Kuzuhara, Celty meets with Izaya on the roof of a nearby building. Celty is confused as to why Izaya had so many people surrounding him but he simply replies that they're his bodyguards. Celty is a bit put off by Izaya's lack of concern for Shinra but accepts the Job he gives her. Izaya explains that much to Celty's surprise, he wants her to hold on to a laptop containing his data on "Amphisbaena" and "Heaven's Slave" for the time being as well as to protect his sisters Mairu and Kururi. Although the laptop gets stolen, Celty manages to protect Kururi from several of "Heaven's Slaves" thugs while Mairu was protected by Eijiro Sharaku.

Kadota's Coma Arc
She talks to Shinra about Kyouhei's coma and the consequences of his coma. Aoba attempts to use her as a replacement for Kyouhei and Shizuo but she refuses. She talks to Mikado about his purge of the Dollars and his trying to start a war with the Yellow Scarves.

Saving Izaya/ Haruna returns arc
Celty and Shinra form a small group to collect information on the recent string of violent events in the city. Other members include Mika, Emilia, Shingen, and Walker. Later, news reports indicate a severed head being found on the streets and Celty suspects it to be her own.

Volume 12
Kasane Kujiragi gives Celty's head back to her after stealing it back from Izaya. The sudden reunion with her head causes an odd reaction in Celty which somehow gives her amnesia. Although Shinra is initially depressed, he resolves to help her regain her memories or at least create new ones. As Celty slowly readjusts to life in Ikebukuro again, Shinra is kidnapped by Kasane and is made into one of her Saika children. Kasane then forces Shinra to proclaim his love for her which causes Celty to go insane. She wraps herself in a large ball of her shadows and begins rampaging throughout the city.

Final Curtain Arc
Celty has been observing everyone through her shadows this whole time. Afterwords, she goes down to the roof of the mixed building where Mikado and Masaomi are at, on her headless horse, to bid farewell to the boy (Mikado) whose life and destiny she has affected the most. She wants to leave Ikebukuro because she's now fully aware of how inhuman she really is and her true duty; and so she lies (which Shinra saw through) to everyone to minimize the hurt. She denies Shinra's accusations and goes away into the sky, wanting to resolve all of the trouble she caused in Ikebukuro. She sees Shinra flying to her, she goes to catch him, and as she does. Shinra cuts the link between her body and her head with Saika, before catching him. Celty saves both of them with her shadows. At the moment Shinra cut off her head, she saw glimpse of tens of hundreds of memories. In truth, she got all her memories back, but never quite told Shinra that In the end. She and Shinra are later chased by Kinnosuke.

Serial Kidnapping Arc
Half a year prior to the events of Durarara!! SH, Celty decides she wants to see more of the country she has decided to settle in. She and Shinra leave on a long trip around Japan, visiting hot springs and various tourist locations. In her absence, a growing cult centered around her begins to stage kidnappings to make it appear as though anyone who attempts to approach her disappears. When Celty finally returns, she becomes distressed about the situation and decides to seek out the real culprits in order to clear her name.

Celty’s first lead is through Himeka Tatsugami, who has had two of her sisters go missing in the recent case. Celty approaches Himeka one night while she is accompanied by Yahiro Mizuchi and Kuon Kotonami, and offers to work alongside her to find her sisters. Himeka is incredibly suspicious given Celty’s reputation, but before she and Celty can come to any understanding, Li-pei Ei approaches them and picks a fight with Yahiro. When it appears that Yahiro is about to seriously injure Li-pei, Celty attempts to stop him with her shadows, and Yahiro backs off in fear before she can even reach him. With the fight over, Celty again tries to convince Himeka to let her help find the girl's missing sisters. Himeka is wary of the proposition, but accepts nonetheless. Celty exchanges email addresses with her and the others and makes her leave.

The next day, Celty runs into Li-pei again, and he informs her of his suspicion that Amphisbaena and Heaven Slave are behind the current case. During their discussion, Celty is contacted by the Awakusu-kai with information that Akane had been targeted as a victim and that they had found the location of the kidnapper’s headquarters. Celty makes her way to the specified villa outside of town with Li-pei and Dragon Zombie in tow. Upon arrival, she finds Yahiro has made his way there with the Blue Square after hearing that Himeka has now been taken captive as well. Celty pulls him aside to speak with him about his motivations, worried that he may wind up in a similar situation as Mikado. Yahiro asks Celty how she feels about being known as a monster, touching upon his own experiences in Akita and how he had been known by the same label. Celty encourages him and removes her helmet, revealing that she really is a monster in the true sense of the word, to Yahiro’s amazement.

Afterwards, she and Yahiro head underneath one of the nearby buildings and run into Kuon, Himeka, and Shiki who have managed to escape on their own. Outside, all of the gathered gangs and yakuza have begun fighting among themselves with the kidnappers’ prompting. The group discusses how best to deal with the ensuing quarrel, with Yahiro eventually volunteering to take them all on by himself after feeling empowered by his previous discussion with Celty. Celty clothes Yahiro in her shadow in order to hide his identity, and he successfully takes out all of the involved, violent parties.

Slugger Arc
Following the incident at the kidnapper’s villa, Kuon starts up a group for freelance work under the name Snake Hands, and recruits Celty as a member. Kuon assigns her the job of gathering information on a serial assaulter known as the Slugger after receiving a request to do so from Erika and Walker.

Once Tom is attacked by the Slugger, Shizuo learns about the case from Shinra and Celty while at their apartment and attempts to find them immediately. Celty is able to convince him to leave it up to her and the police, and Shizuo agrees on the condition that Celty brings the Slugger to him once she finds them. Celty grows conflicted as to whether she should hand the Slugger over to Shizuo or Erika and Walker first should she find the assailant.

Later on, Kuon contacts Celty with plans to catch their target. Kuon uses himself as bait to lure one of the suspects, Ajimura, out while Celty pretends to attack Kuon, dressed as a Slugger herself. Once Kuon is down and Ajimura has revealed himself, Celty knocks Ajimura out and takes him back to Kuon. Celty knows that Kuon has been orchestrating some of the events of the case and attempts to discourage him from that sort of behavior. He grows angry with her after she brings up Izaya as an example, but settles down and begrudgingly takes her words to heart.

Afterwards, Celty realizes she had forgotten to bring the Slugger to Shizuo, but Kuon, who had prompted Ajimura to attack Tom in the first place, apologizes to him and Shizuo on his own. Shizuo thanks Celty the next time he sees her, mistakenly believing Kuon had done so due to her convincing. Rather than being relieved, Celty grows troubled that she was thanked for something she had no recollection of doing, and jumps to the conclusion that aliens may have altered her memory.

Shinra Kishitani
Shinra and Celty first became acquainted when Shinra was a small child. Having just lost her head, he happened upon her stowing away on a ship he and his father were aboard. The two have been together since, living as roommates, and shortly into the series, his one-sided love is reciprocated by Celty. Shinra's presence and rambling words frequently calm Celty's nerves, and she enjoys cooking for him and buying him gifts. Later on in the series, it's suggested that the two are engaged.

Shingen Kishitani
Celty doesn't have a very favorable opinion of Shinra's father, made worse when Shingen accidentally reveals that he was the one who stole Celty's head. Celty considers Shingen to be nothing more than a creepy old man and doesn't like putting up with him more than necessary. Likewise, Shingen considers Celty to be a monster as well as an idiot, as shown when he objects to her and Shinra's plans to get married and when he taunts her after revealing that he stole her head.

Emilia Kishitani
Celty's relationship with Emilia is a lot more positive than her relationship with Shingen. While she does get slightly annoyed with Emilia at times, she and Emilia do not argue the way she and Shingen do. Emilia also has appreciation for Celty as a person and a monster and refrains from insulting her as Shingen does. There is always a tinge of awkwardness in their conversations, but Celty also enjoys taking jobs from Emilia, mostly due to the fact that she usually pays well.

Shizuo Heiwajima
Celty and Shizuo have been shown to get along very well throughout the series. This most likely due to both of them being incredibly abnormal compared to the average person. Shizuo and Celty would often be seen talking to each other in their spare time and would often confide in each other about their problems and give advice. Shizuo dislikes talkative, noisy people, and Celty's inability to ramble during a conversation is one of the things he likes most about her. Shizuo also seems to care about Celty a great deal, as shown when he gets fired up about how Celty was attacked by the slasher. Shinra expresses unfounded jealousy over Celty's closeness with and trust of Shizuo.

Izaya Orihara
Celty doesn't appear to like Izaya in general. She prefers not to deal with him more than is necessary, which is a bit of a problem since many of Celty's jobs come from Izaya in the first place. She always suspects him of being involved with many of the major, disruptive events that happen in the city and doesn't trust him at all. Izaya considers Celty to be one of many different pawns at his disposal, but states in the fifth light novel that Celty "always seems to defy [his] expectations for her." When he obtains Celty's head, he develops a theory that dullahans from Celtic mythology are the same as valkyries from Norse Mythology. Since valkyries only appear on battlefields, Izaya wants to start a war in Ikebukuro in an attempt to awaken Celty's powers as a valkyrie and ascend into heaven as her chosen knight, if heaven indeed exists.

Mikado Ryuugamine
Celty considers Mikado to be a very close friend. This is mostly due to the fact that, even after he saw her true nature, he didn't treat her any differently than anyone else and met her appearance with wonder instead of fear. She is willing to help Mikado at a moment's notice and will not hesitate to jump in if things get dicey. However, she respects his position as the founder of the Dollars and, if asked, she will refrain from helping if that is what Mikado wishes.

Anri Sonohara
Celty considers Anri to be her closest female friend. Anri would frequently ask Celty for advice with Saika as well as what she should do during some of the more tense events during the series, such as the gang war with the Yellow Scarves. In the light novel, after being attacked by Vorona, Celty offers to let Anri stay with her and Shinra until everything calms down; she stays with the couple for a short time in the third light novel as well. In the second light novel, Anri expresses a vague attraction to Celty, much to Mikado's surprise, but never brings it up again, and it is not until the third light novel that Anri is informed by Shinra that Celty is a woman.

Mika Harima
Originally, Mika heavily disliked by Celty since Seiji had a crush on her. Celty became interested in Mika when she realized Mika's head looked like hers, but was disappointed when it was revealed that her head was just altered to look like Celty's. Still, the two remain on positive terms since Mika and Seiji have started dating, with Mika teaching Celty how to cook and joining Celty's and Shinra's alliance.

Trivia

 * Celty cannot taste or eat due to the lack of a head. This may be why the color illustrations of Volume 04 rate Celty's cooking skills 35 out of 100, barely above Anri.
 * Her hobbies include gaming, watching the television, and Internet surfing.
 * She sang the rapping CD's eighth track Rouge no Dengon.
 * Celty has a shoe size of 16.
 * Her first name may be a reference to her Irish background as "Celty" can be associated with "Celtic."
 * Her last name may be a reference to a possibly Norse background (since it was mentioned in the series that some regard Dullahan as fallen Valkyries, which are Norse) as "Sturluson" can be associated with "Snorri Sturluson," an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician who authored a narrative of Norse mythology.
 * In the full version of the first Durarara!! opening song Uragiri no Yuuyake by Theatre Brook, Celty is referenced twice - once as 'yousei,' which is 'fairy' in Japanese, and again as 'fairy' during the English phrase 'fairy ride' in the second verse.
 * The Dullahan coach or carriage is called 'Cóiste Bodhar' (koe-shta-bower) meaning 'deaf or silent coach.' However, in the Durarara!! series, the Cóiste Bodhar is known as the spirit that takes the form of Celty's headless horse as well as, occasionally, a carriage, coach, or cart. She has named it Shooter.
 * In the novels, Celty, Shooter, and all the shadows they exude are described as being devoid of light with no reflections whatsoever, appearing as flat, two-dimensional silhouettes that can easily blend in with their surroundings and create an otherworldly feel just by looking at them. However, in the anime and manga, perhaps due to the difficulty of suggesting their three-dimensional shapes with plain black silhouettes, they are shown to have shading and highlights.
 * Common mistranslations of her name include "Selty" and "Ceruty."
 * Celty has appeared twice in the Megami Tensei franchise, appearing in a special event in 2011 for Shin Megami Tensei IMAGINE and gives her outfit as a gift to those who do her quests. Then she appears as one of three limited time downloadable demons in Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker.
 * Celty is one of two guest Naritaverse characters who feature as joker cards in the specialty playing card set accompanying the first Baccano! audio drama, with Vamp! character Gerhardt von Waldstein featuring on the second joker card. The rest of the cards in the set all feature Baccano! characters. Her card may be found here.
 * Celty appears in a short story written by Ryohgo Narita for Dengeki Gakuen RPG Bunko (電撃学園RPG文庫), a collection of short stories written by various Dengeki Bunko series authors that accompanied the limited edition of the NDS game Dengeki Gakuen RPG: Cross of Venus (電撃学園RPG Cross of Venus). In the story, Celty and Walker find themselves in a 1930s-era Manhattan casino managed by Firo Prochainezo. They encounter both Firo and Ronny Schiatto while there, the latter of whom recognizes Celty.