The three Holy Books in MADLAX

Holy Books

The three Holy Books

Firstari (ファースタリ, Fāsutari^?), Secondari (セカンダリ, Sekandari^?), Thirstari (サースタリ, Sāsutari^?) are the three Holy Books (三冊の本, sansatsu no hon^?, lit. "a book in three volumes") written in the extinct language of Saruon (サルオン^?) with the Elies script (エリエス文字, Eriesu moji^?). The term "Holy Books" wasn't used in the Japanese original but is, instead, a neologism coined by the English-speaking fandom in attempt to merge the terms "a book in three volumes" and "the Holy Words of Saruon" (サルオンの真言, Saruon no Shingon^?), which was used by the authors. The origin of the Books is unknown even to Lady Quanzitta Maris, and it is said that none of Four Great Ancient Civilizations (Egypt, Babylon, China, and India, according to the eponymous theory by Chinese historians) could have created them.^[21]

Each Book contains one of the three powerful incantations necessary to reach the Sanctuary and use its power. For humans who don't have the Gift, the incantations are of grave danger because they put those who hear or read them into deep trance ^[17] (an effect similar to the fnords found in The Illuminatus! Trilogy ^[22]), making them first murder everyone they can (starting with their own relatives and friends) and then commit suicide.^[23][24] This effect has been explained so that a person in the trance is "freed" from moral and ethical restrictions of their upbringing and therefore genuinely enjoys acting cruel and inhumane, or "naturally", as Friday Monday firmly maintains.^[25] In rare cases, such as Eric Gillain and Madlax's, the Words of Saruon simply make a person remember once committed, but later selectively forgotten crimes that were so amoral that a mere memory of them can result in their suicide.^[26][27]

The only humans who didn't have the Gift but were able to resist the incantations throughout the series are Madlax,^[27] Elenore Baker,^[28] and Vanessa Rene, though the latter required Madlax's help.^[25]

• Firstari contains the Words of Awakening - Elda Taluta
• Secondari contains the Words of True Nature - Sarks Sark
• Thirstari contains the Words of the Truth - Ark Alks