Holland Novak

Holland Novak (ホランド・ノヴァク) is the leader of the Gekkostate, the captain of the Gekko, and the pilot of

the LFO Terminus typeR909 (and later on the Terminus B303 after the destruction of the 909). He is also the son of Azmodeus Novak and Cicily Kane, and the younger brother of Dewey Novak. In addition to being Azmodeus' and Cicily's son and Dewey's younger brother, he is also the husband of Talho Yuki, and the father of their unnamed child.

Background

When Holland was born, his mother had died giving birth to him and it was decided by his father that he would become the next Sacrificial King. As the firstborn son, Dewey expected to become the next king but after he was pushed aside in favor of his younger brother and their father showered Holland with more attention and affection, Dewey deeply resented Holland, who was unaware of this. After Dewey murdered their father in cold blood and the planet rejected his sacrifice, he and Holland were kicked out and left homeless. Both went on to join the military, but Holland spent much his childhood and teenage years reffing, which becomes his passion. When he was fourteen, Holland was reffing one day and encountered Diane, and although he instantly liked her, his reaction towards her made him think she hated him. Soon after, Holland joined the military to follow his brother. Four years after they first met, Holland and Diane met again, shortly after her father, Adroc sacrificed himself to stop the First Summer of Love from destroying the planet. They began to date and he fell in love with her to the point of obsession. The relationship didn't last due to Diane's obsession to prove that her father's theory about the Scub Coral being a sentiment being is accurate. Holland didn't believe it was true and told Diane to join her dead father if she wanted to, and soon after, she disappeared. Due to her breaking up with him and disappearing so suddenly, Holland became more obsessed with her.

Three years prior to the series' debut, Eureka was transferred to the military after Adroc's disappearance and Dewey placed her in Holland's care. All that mattered to him was that she was the true pilot of the Nirvash and her piloting skills were necessary. They were then transferred to the SOF, and were given a mission to eliminate all the residents of Ciudades del Cielo because the military believed that the residents, as Vodarac believers, were protectors of the Coralians, whom the military considered as an enemy to the humans. Believing Dewey, Holland led Eureka and the SOF into the massacre, but he was given another mission by Dewey: capture the powerful Vodarac monk, Norb. He attempted to apprehend Norb, who easily took him over and talked to him about the Scub Coral about truly being a living being. The conversation shifted to the true nature of Eureka: she is a Coralian created by the Scubs to learn about humankind so the Scubs can co-exists with the humans. But in order to achieve that co-existence, she needs to find a human partner, who will never be Holland or Dewey because they only use her to destroy things, and her partner will be the boy who can truly make her smile. Horrified by the revelations, Holland decides to take Eureka and the Nirvash, and escape from the military to stop his brother from his evil plans. Despite being told he will never become Eureka's partner, Holland believed that he will because he seemed to be the only person who understood her the most and was the first person to find out about what she was. As a result, he puts her safety above everything else and becomes over-protective over her.

Personality

Initially presented as laid-back and logical, in person, however, Holland is not always as cool and composed as the photos in the ray=out magazine might suggest - he frequently loses his temper when a situation turns for the worse, or when faced with insubordination. He has once thrown Renton in the brig for using the Nirvash without permission, and has beaten Renton for minor transgressions. Due to his memories of his bloody past and desire to become the new savior of the planet, he tended to lash out in anger and jealousy towards anyone who provoked him (most often Renton). Because of this, he lacked compassion towards others besides Talho and Eureka, was unable to recognize his mistakes, and rejected to face responsibility for any of his actions. According to Talho, the only way he knew how to confront reality was to physically hurt those who angered or hurt him. When he's not angry, he's an effective leader willing to do anything for the crew.

In seasons 1 and 2, he was overly determined to become Eureka's partner in order to save the planet that he was willing to do anything to achieve it, including risking his relationship with Talho and the Gekkostate. He was often berated by Talho for his selfishness and correctly accused him of not considering Eureka's feelings and denying her the chance to be happy with Renton after he said he was protecting her by isolating her from Renton. By seasons 3 and 4, he becomes more mature and caring, due to him learning that he needs to face his problems rather than run away from them if he wants to help save the world and gain the trust and respect of others. He becomes very protective of the crew, particularly Renton and Eureka, to the point where he seems to favor them for important activities. When Talho tells him that she is pregnant with his child, he starts to take on a surrogate father role to the crew and he becomes more open and friendly with them.

Knownable Relatives

• Azmodeus Novak (Father)
• Cicily Kane (Mother/dead)
• Dewey Novak (Older Brother)

Trivia

• His name in Japanese means ???.
• His birthday is ???, and his bloodtype is ???.
• His star sign is ???.
• Holland considered his father as his best friend.
• In the manga and novels, he is a smoker, unlike his anime counterpart.
• Prior to joining the military when he was a teenager, he was part of a ref board traveling group with Dewey, Charles, and Ray, and won several awards.
• There has been debate among fans on the extent of Holland's feelings for Eureka as to whether or not they were romantic. Despite being in a relationship with Talho, his initial reluctance to commit to her after learning that Eureka needed a partner indicated that he developed a deep interest in Eureka, and as he thought he was going to be her partner, he wanted to see how his relationship with her would end up. Him ignoring Talho in the first half of the series, showing deep concern for Eureka, and Talho's own statement that he cared about Eureka more than anyone is evident of a deeper attachment to Eureka. However, there is no evidence of him having anything other than that overly paternal.
• In the manga, he is more kind and comical, and considers Renton as one of his favorites (next to Eureka) due to his belief that the boy is the true heir to Adroc's legacy in becoming the world's savior. Also unlike the anime, he kills Dewey in a gun fight rather than Dewey committing suicide.
• In the manga, Adroc was his mentor, and his purpose for forming the Gekkostate is to avenge Adroc's murder and fulfill his will in proving that the Ageha Plan is accurate.
• Holland's abusive attitude towards Renton in the first two seasons may also be due to the fact that Holland is similar to Renton. They both had idols (Holland idolizing Dewey like how Renton idolized him) who were later revealed to be nothing like they were perceived to be and they both struggled with their own personal identities. Unlike how Holland chose to run away from his problems, Renton chose to confront them. This caused the crew to respect him while they were disappointed at Holland. However, Holland's treatment towards Renton mainly stems from the fact that Eureka prefers Renton over him as her partner, and Renton being a constant reminder of his older sister, Diane, whom Holland loved and was dumped by. *Holland's obsessive belief that he was Eureka's partner (despite being reminded of the evidence to the contrary) and resenting that the change in Eureka started when Renton came along caused him to beat the boy, which caused him to risk his relationship with Talho and the crew. Eureka's depression and later defiance following Renton's departure caused him to feel a mix of guilt and anger at Eureka (guilt for not thinking about Eureka's feelings and anger for her still paying attention to Renton). Once Renton returned, Holland finally stared to follow Renton's example.
• Ironically, despite creating the Gekkostate to stop Dewey's plans to bring about the destruction of the Scub Corals (and by extension the world), during season 2, Holland started to acted more like Dewey, controlling, manipulative, and unsympathetic as shown as his mistreatment towards Renton and Eureka, and almost causing the crew to disband and destroyed, which thanks to his obsession, he became indifferent to, including to some extent, the Nirvash.
• In an Japanese interview after the film aired in 2009, it was stated that Holland's and Talho's child was intended to be a girl. But the gender and name of the child is never revealed in the anime and manga versions.
• Holland's appearance is based on that of Billy Bob Thornton.

Voice Actors

• Japanese : the late Keiji Fujiwara (ES), Toshiyuki Morikawa (ESHi Evolution)
• English : Crispin Freeman

Gallery