Celty Sturluson

Celty Sturluson (セルティ ストゥルルソン, Seruti Sutoruruson), also known as "The Black Rider" or "The Headless Rider", is a Dullahan from Ireland who came to Japan looking for her stolen head. Her motorcycle is actually a horse in disguise, which she has named Shooter. She has no head and perceives via unknown sensors that are not located on the head. The physical strength she possesses is above human, though not quite on par with Shizuo Heiwajima and Simon Brezhnev. She is also capable of manipulating a shadow-like, durable substance to form objects ranging from gloves to chariots at her will.

Currently her head is in Izaya Orihara's possession.

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.

Celty is one of the few people who knows the creator of the Dollars (Mikado Ryūgamine), and she seems to also be intent on helping him. She is also a member of the Dollars.

Celty is afraid of aliens, or 'Little Green Men,' as explained in Episode 12.5, and she does anything to learn more about them, "To be ready when they invade."

In Episode 14, it now explains that Celty is in love with Shinra, and wouldn't allow for any other Dullahans to steal him from her. It's also known that Celty's head was given to Yagiri pharmaceutical company by Shinra's father, Shingen. Back then in Ireland, Shingen used the demon blade "Saika" to separate the soul that connects Celty's head from her body.

Name
Celty or Selty Sturluson. "Celty" may refer to her Irish background, which can be associated with "Celtic".

Her Chat name is "Setton".

Reasoning of her mission
The reasoning behind her need to find her head is so much of her fear of death. Celty explains in thought that she wants to control the way she lives and ultimately dies. Without her head in her possession, that decision isn't hers to make, which causes her to fear the fact that she is no longer in control of her life. She is also seen explaining in Episode 4 that another reason she desires to reunite with her head is to restore her memories and figure out why she was there in the first place.

Anime
Anime specific spoilers about this character per episode.

Episode 01:

Episode 02: It is revealed that Celty uses a cellphone to communicate, rather than a PDA.

Manga
Manga specific spoilers about this character per volume/chapter.

Volume 01:

Light Novel
Light Novel specific spoilers about this character per volume/chapter.

Volume 01:

Volume 04: At the start of Volume 04 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. Yadogiri Shining Corporation has even put out a wanted poster for her with a bounty of 10 million yen.

The next day, Celty gets approached by another client (implied to be Dennis), 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 Toromaru 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 is 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 Toromaru 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 Toromaru members further down the road. After several hours, she also runs into Kyohei and his gang (who are also being chased by Toromaru) and notices Mikado, Anri and three other Raira students (Aoba, Mairu, and Kururi) in the back. The ten of them drive on until they come to an overpass where Celty gets an idea. She tells Kyohei to run while she uses her shadows and the overpass as a net to stop the Toromaru members. The plan works, initially, but it is clear that there are to 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 Igor.

Igor tells Celty and the others to stand back while he deals with Toromaru. More help also arrives in the form of Ruri (dressed as a Dullahan) who assists Igor 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, Shinra, and Emilia hold a hotpot party and invite most of the main cast to attend (minus Izaya). The color illustrations rate the cooking skills of the girls with Celty scoring a 35 barely above Anri.

Volume 05: Celty is called into the Awakusu headquarters by 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 Yadogiri Jinnai. Shiki explains that Yadogiri had tasked the awakusu to capture the killer hollywood at some point but witheld 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 grandaughter of the Head of the Awakusu, Akane, 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 motobike. 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 throughought 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.

Volume 06 : 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 Toromaru 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 Toromaru.

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 Toromaru 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 Toromaru. 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 flashbang 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 managed 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 could shoot shizuo. After shizuo breaks the cargo compartmen in half, Celty uses her shadows again to cushon their fall. Although she isn't sure how Shizuo and Akane got so familiar with each other, she is glad that their both safe. After everything had calmed down, Celty and Shinra discuss going on a trip.

Volume 07: 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 she should probably be more concerned for Izaya's well being but they find it hard to do so since 1. The stab wound wasn't even fatal and 2. All things considered, Izaya probably had it coming to him in the first place.

Volume 08 : Mikado and Aoba arrive at Celty and Shinra's apartment with a warning. A stalker of Ruri Hijirbe's named Adabashi Kisuke is looking for people who are close to her. Since Shinra was seen exiting Kasuka's aparment 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 fall unconcious due to the severe wounds.

Volume 09 : 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 personallity 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 inured him. Shinra tells Celty not to think about it and tells her not to do anything without telling him first especially if it concerns Adabashi Kisuke. 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 containg his data on "Amphisbaena" and "Heaven 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 Slave's" thugs while Mairu was protected by Sharaku Eijirou.

Baccano!: During the 1930s, Celty apparently made contact with Ronnie Sukiart who was the demon responsible for granting Immortality to the alchemists on board the advenna avis.

Etsusa Bridge: Apparently, Shinra and Celty are also somehow involved in the political scandal that surrounds the construction of Etsusa Bridge.

Shinra Kishitani
Main Article: Shinra Kishitani 

Shinra and Celty have known each other since he was only a child. Initially, Celty felt nothing towards Shinra, or humans in general for that matter, and viewed him as a minor annoyance. As the years went on and Celty spent more time around humans, her feelings towards him eventually changed and she grew to reciprocate the love Shinra had shown her over the years they've lived together. In later volumes, Celty even contemplates giving up the search for her head in favor of starting a new life with Shinra and simply enjoying the life she has now.

Shingen Kishitani
Main Article: Shingen Kishitani 

Celty doesn't have a very favorable opinion of Shinra's father. It has likely been made even worse when it's revealed that Shingen was the one who actually 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 as well as when he taunts her when he accidentaly reveals he stole her head.

Emilia Kishitani
Main Article: 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, it never gets to the point to where they start arguing like with Shingen. There is always a tinge of awkwardness whenever Celty also enjoys taking jobs from Emilia mostly due to the fact that she usually pays very well.

Shizuo Heiwajima
Main Article: 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 also seems to care about Celty a great deal as shown when he got fired up about how Celty was attacked by the slasher and didn't hesitate to kick down Izaya's door when it was implied that he was somehow behind it.

Izaya Orihara
Main Article: 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 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. When he obtains Celty's head, he developes a theory that Dullahans from Celtic mythology are the same as Valkyries from Norse Mythilogy. Since Valkyries only appear in battlefields, Izaya wants to start an all out war in Ikebukuro in an attempt to awaken Celty's powers as a valkyrie and ascend into heaven, if it indeed exists.

Mikado Ryuugamine
Main Article: 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. She is willing to help Mikado at a moments 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
Main Article: Anri Sonohara 

Like Mikado, Celty considers Anri a very close 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 offered to let Anri stay with her and Shinra until everything calmed down. In volume 2 of the light novels, Anri expresses a vague attraction to Celty, much to Mikado's surprise, but never brings it up again.

Voice Actors

 * Japanese: Miyuki Sawashiro
 * English: Kari Wahlgren