Bruford

"Hehe...This pain is proof of life. If you feel pain, you can feel joy... That's what humanity means..."

- Bruford to Jonathan, Chapter 30

Bruford (ブラフォード) is a minor antagonist featured in Phantom Blood.

Along with Tarkus, Bruford was formerly a powerful knight from 16th Century Great Britain. Dying in disgrace, Bruford was resurrected as a Zombie by Dio Brando and is sent to fight Jonathan Joestar.

Appearance
Bruford is a male zombie having the appearance of a man of athletic stature and long, unkempt, dark hair, who has a scar on the bridge of his nose. He wears a metal armor consisting of a chest-plate with a collar-like ornate plate which ends on a decorated metal disk, shoulder pads and ankles pads with a pair of sandal, and a diadem decorated with several jewels.

Personality
Alive, Bruford was an honorable knight of Mary Stuart. His feelings toward her surpassed even that of love. When Elizabeth I betrayed Mary Stuart, Bruford stood by her side, fighting off all of Elizabeth's forces. Upon learning of her capture, he was easily willing to die for her. However, when the executioner showed him Mary Stuart's head, even though he accepted execution to save his liege, he goes into a blind rage and begins resenting humanity.

As a zombie, his hatred carried over, easily serving Dio in his quest for destruction. However, along with his hatred, his pride as a knight also carried over, deciding to fight Jonathan one on one.

After being defeated by Jonathan, the Ripple sent to him "frees his soul", allowing him to feel human again. He loses his hatred towards the world and is thankful for his chance to meet the honorable Jonathan.

Abilities
As a knight, Bruford is supposedly a good fighter. It is stated that against the armies that fought against Mary Stuart, only Bruford and Tarkus could win. Already, Bruford had athletic abilities beyond ordinary humans. An expert swimmer, Bruford was capable of swimming a 5 km lake wearing an armor with 30 kg of weight. He also managed to complete the 77 Rings challenge.

As a Zombie, his strength is multiplied and he can be seen scraping out a Zombie's nose with just his finger or swimming as fast as the Ripple can spread in water, allowing to escape an attack with minimal damage.

Luck: Bruford's Sword. As a knight, he was fairly proficient in using swords, having defeated several people during the 77 Rings Challenge. When swung, the blade curves significantly to demonstrate its velocity. After being defeated as a zombie, he gave it to Jonathan and renamed it Luck &amp; Pluck. Danse Macabre Hair: Through unknown means, during his time alive Bruford had developed a technique that allowed him to use his hair in combat as a weapon. His hair acts much like a third arm, able to entwine things and be used as a distraction. His standard method of fighting consisted of using his hair first, and following with a thrust or kick from a blind angle. He was the only man not large in stature to surpass the 77 Rings Challenge due to this ability. After becoming a zombie, his hair amplified in power and was shown to able to lift around 105 kilograms with ease. This allows him to literally use it as a third arm and swing his sword with it. He is also able to expand it outwards at will to surround his enemies. The ability to do this comes from the phenomenon in plants called Turgor pressure, a technique used to retain their rigidity. After piercing an enemies skin with his hair, Bruford can also use turgidity to force blood through the strands of his hair, an alternate method of bloodsucking.

Background
Born in the 16th century, Bruford was a member of the Tudor Dynasty and a retainer of Mary Stuart After losing his relatives in previous wars, young Bruford was brought up as Mary Stuart's knight and trained his body for that sole purpose. At the same time, Bruford became attached to Mary whose charm made him feel at peace. Alongside his fellow retainer Tarkus, the two being of five in history to succeed it, Bruford passed the Challenge of the 77 Rings in 1563.

Eventualy, when Mary was imprisoned by her political rival Queen Elizabeth, Bruford and Tarkus fought the queen's army until she offered Mary's release in return for their surrender. But on the day they are to executed as enemies of the crown, Bruford and Tarkus learned from their executioner that Mary was already killed before they gave into the queen's demands. Bruford died expressing his undying hatred for Elizabeth and her family, rumors saying that his hair entangled the executioner's feet and killed him moments before being beheaded. The story of Bruford and Tarkus was passed down and became known to some, two such people being Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando.

Phantom Blood
After taking residence in Windknight's Lot following his transition into a vampire, expressing a bit of sentimentality toward them, Dio resurrected Bruford and Tarkus as his zombie enforcers to deal with Jonathan, Will Anthonio Zeppeli, and Robert E. O. Speedwagon. Despite his transition, Bruford still possessed a warrior's code of honor as he asked for Dio's blessing to duel Jonathan. Bruford's manipulation of his hair poses many challenges to Jonathan, eventually leading to them fighting underwater, until Jonathan swims downward to find air bubbles beneath the rocks, enabling him to draw breath and indirectly hit Bruford with a Ripple Overdrive that forced them back on land.

Once Jonathan made a direct hit on him after literally disarming him, Bruford regained his former humanity from the Ripple slowly destroying his body. Accepting his defeat with grace, noting he lost his hatred, Bruford only expressed only content to be reunited with Mary in the afterlife. After learning of Jonathan's name, Bruford gives the youth his sword, which he renamed Luck and Pluck, before he completely turned to ash. His armor and remains were kicked aside by a wrathful Tarkus as Jonathan was utterly conflicted over being forced to kill such a noble warrior regardless of being warped by Dio's evil.

Phantom Blood (PS2 Game)
Bruford appears as a boss character on two different chapters. In the first, the player plays as Jonathan Joestar and faces Bruford in an underwater match (much like their first battle). During the match, Jonathan can only swim forward or backward as he needs to be near the air bubbles on the stage to fill his Ripple gauge, in order to attack Bruford with his Blue Ripple Overdrive. Bruford will always be swimming around the stage and only gets closer to Jonathan to attack him.

In the other boss chapter, the player faces Bruford on land. During the match, Bruford will use punches and kicks as his normal attacks and uses his hair holding a sword as his special move. This is the first battle that allows Jonathan to use his Sunlight Yellow Overdrive as his special Ripple move.

Bruford appears as a playable character in some chapters of EXTRA BATTLE, particularly his "on land" version.

Stardust Shooters (ANDROID/IOS Game)
Bruford appears as one of the several characters who possess a Medal Striker. His FINISH move animation shows his hair holding the sword Luck and attacking the defeated medal striker character.

J-Stars Victory Vs (PS3/PS Vita Game)
Despite not appearing in the game, Bruford's name is said during Jonathan's special move using the Luck & Pluck sword. As he says "Bruford's sword, LUCK & PLUCK!!!" when using it. His name is also written in a loading screen describing the Luck & Pluck sword attack.

Gallery
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Trivia

 * The name of Bruford's hair, Danse Macabre, is based off of the genre of late-Medieval allegory of the same name.
 * Bruford's voice actor, Kenjiro Tsuda, would later voice Tiziano in the anime adaptation of Vento Aureo.