The Sorrowful Battle

The Sorrowful Battle is the 16th episode of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. It premiered in Japan on 21 July 1995 and later aired in North America on 27 March 2000. The episode was written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa and directed by Kunihiro Mori. The OZ plane arrives in Antarctica; Trowa and Heero are introduced to Zechs.

Synopsis

The OZ plane arrives in Antarctica; Trowa and Heero are introduced to Zechs. They head to the hangar, where Zechs shows Heero the rebuilt Wing Gundam. Heero claims he’ll thank Zechs for his favor by killing him. Zechs doesn’t seem to mind this. They decide to start the next morning, and shake hands.

Meanwhile Relena, at the Lake Victoria base, demands to know where Zechs and Heero’s Gundam are. The man there refuses to tell her, but Pagan receives a phone call revealing where to go. Once they leave the man contacts Noin and tells her that they’re headed there. She wonders why the Romefeller Foundation is after Zechs after all he has done for them. Zechs comes in and tries to answer her question. He claims that he is weak and doesn’t deserve having someone to protect (Relena).

As Heero finishes adjusting his Gundam’s cockpit settings in the hangar, he discovers the self-detonation device hasn’t been re-installed (at Zechs’ request). Heero then decides to use Trowa’s Gundam for the rematch after all, believing that taking the handout will affect how Zechs fights. Notified of this, Zechs says to still keep Wing Gundam as it is and to not return the donated parts to the Tallgeese since it was damaged in the previous battle; he wants this rematch to be a true continuation of their duel in Siberia.

That night, Heero continues to work on Heavyarms and is taken over by Trowa so he can rest. The next day, the battle begins. As the battle continues on, three hours pass without any victory. Trowa claims that this battle is meaningless since both sides have the same enemy. He heads off to stop the search party from reaching them.

Back at the battle, Heero detaches Heavyarms’ beam gatling gun after running out of ammo and draws a beam saber that Trowa had attached to the Gundam for him. Zechs discards the Tallgeese’s dober gun and does the same as the duel continues. Meanwhile, Relena’s plane is surrounded by the search party, but Wing Gundam comes to the rescue and blasts the enemy mobile suits. Relena recognizes Heero’s Gundam, but Trowa is piloting it. He tells her that Heero is fighting Zechs up ahead and then allows Relena to continue onward to stop the duel.

Zechs gains the upper hand in battle and is about to finish Heero off, but Relena’s plane flies right between the two mobile suits. Zechs demands she leave, as does Heero. Relena gets upset and tells Heero to kill Zechs. However, Noin contacts Relena and reveals to her that Zechs is her older brother, Milliardo Peacecraft. She further explains to Relena that in order for her brother to get revenge on the Alliance for destroying the Sanc Kingdom, he joined OZ and donned a mask. Once OZ took over the Earth and he got his revenge, he lost his purpose and now only wants to battle the Gundam pilots for the sake of understanding what drives them.

The rest of the search party’s fleet arrives. Trowa tells Heero and Zechs that the three of them should be able to fight off the fleet together. However, Zechs instead declares he’ll take on the fleet alone, saying he’ll surrender once everyone escapes. He tells Heero they’ll continue their duel another day, and also asks Noin to take care of Relena for him. Trowa converts Wing Gundam into Bird Mode and picks up Heavyarms to escape with Heero. In her plane, Relena is relieved that she was able to stop the battle.

Production notes

• Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa.
• Unit direction by Kunihiro Mori.
• Storyboard by Yumekichi Minatoya.
• Animation direction by Nobuyoshi Nishimura.

Broadcast and home media

• Premiered in Japan on 21 July 1995.
• Broadcast in North America on 27 March 2000.

References

1. “The Sorrowful Battle,” Gundam Wiki, accessed 12 November 2025, https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sorrowful_Battle.