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...Or that Silpelit might have sent for him.

The original Elfenlied poem, connecting to another of the poet's works for the series

Silpelits are secondary Diclonius created either by the Queen Diclonius or by other Silpelits through the infection of human males via their vectors, causing them to sire Silpelit offspring. They made up the overwhelming majority of Diclonius in existence and seen in the series. They age more rapidly than humans, sometimes looking over twice their physical age. The term is one that refers to the offspring of a human who mated with a monster and also appears in the original poem Elfenlied by Eduard Mörike.

While all Diclonii seem to have the drive to kill and infect Humans to displace them, the series often makes it difficult to determine if this is caused by an actual DNA-based imperative or the reflected resentment of how these girls were treated. The series neither shows nor speaks of male Silpelits, given that they all descended from a fertile female Diclonius, although one primary Diclonius was male. Adding to the problem of figuring this is that the age most Silpelits gain their abilities is three, an age all children are known for becoming very willful, stubborn, and quick to anger. Many Silpelits are in fact found after murdering their families. The number kept in captivity at the Diclonius Research Institute eventually grew so high, project head Chief Kakuzawa ordered his son and Kurama to simply euthanize any more found right after birth. Some of those killed were also harvested for further research. Among those spared for reasons of study and containment were Nana and Mariko, the latter being his daughter, and the other developing a parental bond with him, further muddying the issue of nature versus nurture. With what little attention Nana was given, her personality is many times less alienated than others of her kind, while Mariko at times behaved monstrously, due in large part to her nearly complete isolation and emotional manipulation at the hands of Saito.

Over a thousand clones of Mariko were bred, the majority growing up under literally hellish conditions and becoming monsters, with even the viable ones exhibiting extreme hatred of all humans when not under control. Mariko was the most powerful Diclonius of all, possibly as a result of being born from an infection by a Silpelit one generation removed from Lucy herself. Due to the schemes of the Kakuzawas, potentially a million or more Silpelits were born even after Lucy's death, due to the deliberate explosion of missiles bearing pure samples of the Diclonius virus.

A narrative offered up by Kouta at the end stated that conflict between the remaining Diclonii and humans threatened the latter group's existence until the worldwide dissemination of an Anti-Diclonius Birth Vaccine which prevented further Diclonius births, and enabled the lifting of a birth ban. Its success seems to be indicated by the non-horned birth of Kouta's daughter, Nyuu, ironically named for the being the Silpelits called their queen.

Trivia[]

  • One of the main characteristics is their rapid aging in comparison to Queens and homo sapiens sapiens. While they are often seen by viewers and readers as having "doubled aging" compared to fertile diclonii and non-diclonii humans a lot of the math done in theories and speculations does not add up as being "doubled" for example; one of the most common theories on Nana's age is that she appears to be 6 chronologically but 16 physically but the actual correct double aging for that would be that Nana is 8 and physically 16 or Nana is 6 and physically 12. Even outside of theories, speculations and fanon the silpelits do have lots of issues and inconsistencies with their own aging which is explained in further detail here.
    • As evidenced by Mariko, some silpelits may not have doubled aging but this is never explained why, This is also discussed more in the narrative gaps page.
      • However, it should be remembered that Mariko, unlike all the other Diclonii, was strongly underdeveloped due to the kind of her captivity.
    • There is also questions on the nature of their sterility and why it should even happen, again explained more above.
    • Another thing mentioned in the gaps page is, while not much of a gap, it is a huge coincidence how this entire caste of Diclonius are named after a specific figure in the obscure poem, who has a completely original and made up name, and how the same exact poem is sung to the queen of the species by Nozomi.
    • It is unknown how many Silpelits at the lab there were in total but an estimated possible number has been speculated in the narrative gaps page.
  • If one were to go with the speculatory idea that doubled aging is exactly how the Silpelits age then while the earliest known age a baby can walk is 10 months, they’d be able to start walking at around 5 or a few more months. They’d probably start crawling at 3 months. They’d start talking at maybe 6 months. Once they’re 3 years old, they should be the equivalent of a human or queen 6 year old.
  • An alternate name for silpelits is "workers" as they are meant to be the "worker bees" to the "queen bee" that is the fertile class.
  • In the Elfenlied poem, Silpelit was specifically a female figure which, aside from the worker bees inspiration, could be inspiration for why the Elfen Lied Silpelits are all female.
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