Icelina Eschonbach

Icelina Eschonbach (イセリナ・エッシェンバッハ, Iserina Esshenbahha) was a civilian woman whose love for Garma Zabi and subsequent death seeking vengeance against Char Aznable demonstrated how the One Year War destroyed innocent lives. Her tragedy highlighted that war’s casualties extended beyond soldiers to include civilians whose personal connections to combatants drew them into violence.

Romance with Garma Zabi

Icelina met and fell in love with Garma Zabi, commander of Zeon’s Earth Attack Force. Their relationship represented:

• Love transcending political circumstances
• Personal connection amidst military operations
• Garma’s humanity beyond his role as Zabi family member
• The possibility of normal life even during warfare

For Garma, Icelina offered respite from military duty and family political intrigue. For Icelina, Garma represented romance complicated by his position as enemy commander.

Social Complications

Their relationship existed in complex circumstances:

• Garma was Zeon nobility and military commander
• Icelina was Earth civilian under Zeon occupation
• Her father held position under Garma’s military government
• The relationship mixed genuine affection with political complications

Despite these complexities, their feelings appeared genuine – Garma found personal happiness with Icelina beyond his role as youngest Zabi.

Garma’s Death

When Char Aznable betrayed and killed Garma, Icelina was devastated:

• Lost the man she loved
• Learned of Char’s treachery and role in Garma’s death
• Transformed from civilian in love to someone seeking vengeance
• Could not accept Garma’s death as casualty of war

Garma’s death destroyed Icelina’s world and drove her to action completely at odds with her civilian status.

Quest for Vengeance

Consumed by grief and rage, Icelina pursued vengeance:

Confronting the White Base

Icelina tracked the White Base, seeking Char (who had already departed). During confrontation:

• She accused the crew of murdering Garma
• Infiltrated the White Base under guise of meeting with leadership
• Stole a mobile suit intending to destroy the ship
• Confronted Amuro Ray in the Gundam

Tragic End

Icelina’s vengeance quest ended in her death:

• She piloted a mobile suit despite having no training
• Confronted Amuro, demanding vengeance for Garma
• Her inexperience made combat futile
• She died seeking revenge against those who hadn’t actually killed Garma

Icelina’s death was tragedy of misdirected vengeance – she died attacking people uninvolved in Garma’s death, manipulated by grief into violence that cost her life.

Significance

Icelina Eschonbach represented multiple tragic dimensions of warfare:

Civilian Casualties

Icelina showed how war killed non-combatants:

• Not through direct combat
• But through personal connections to soldiers
• Through grief transforming civilians into combatants
• Through vengeance quests that led to futile deaths

Misdirected Vengeance

Her story demonstrated:

• Grief’s power to blind people to reality
• How desire for revenge led to attacking wrong targets
• That vengeance solved nothing and only created more tragedy
• How war’s chaos made truth difficult to discern

Love’s Vulnerability

Icelina’s romance and death showed:

• Love offered no protection from war’s brutality
• Personal relationships couldn’t transcend conflict’s violence
• That caring for soldiers made civilians vulnerable
• How warfare destroyed even genuine human connections

Garma’s Humanity

Through Icelina’s grief, audiences saw:

• Garma as person capable of love, not just enemy commander
• His death as personal tragedy, not just tactical victory
• That enemy soldiers were human with relationships and futures
• The cost of killing extended beyond the soldier to those who loved them

Behind the Scenes

Icelina Eschonbach was created for Mobile Suit Gundam to explore the personal costs of warfare through civilian characters. Director Tomino Yoshiyuki used her character to demonstrate that:

1. Enemy soldiers like Garma were human beings with loved ones
2. Killing in warfare had ripple effects beyond the battlefield
3. Civilians could be destroyed by war without ever being legitimate targets
4. Vengeance was futile and tragic

Icelina’s death whilst piloting a mobile suit she couldn’t properly operate emphasized the senselessness of her end – grief and vengeance led her to death that accomplished nothing and targeted people who hadn’t actually wronged her.

Her story reinforced Gundam’s anti-war themes – that war destroyed innocent people and that even “justified” killings (Garma’s death was Char’s revenge) created new tragedies through those who mourned the dead.

Appearances

• Mobile Suit Gundam

See also

• Garma Zabi – Love interest
• Char Aznable – Garma’s killer, target of vengeance
• Amuro Ray – Confronted during vengeance quest
• SCV-70 White Base – Target of attack
• One Year War – Conflict

External links

• Icelina Eschonbach on the Gundam Wiki