Indus Tarbella

"Greetings, small girl and others! It is I, Indus Tarbella, the man who's epithet is Barrier! I have come to retrieve you, and also prevent the tall thief from reaching my Lady! Much like a ...which is my epithet." Indus Tarbella is a major character in Epithet Erased. He is the inscribed bodygaurd and right-hand man of Mera Salamin. He joined Mera after she passed through his hometown of Desert Country, challenging him to an honorable duel and easily besting him with her epithet. After the duel, Indus followed Mera as her new bodyguard to try and learn to become strong like her. He assisted Mera in the theft of the Arsene Amulet, but was apprehended by the Sweet Jazz Police.

Physical Appearance
Indus has dark skin, caramel eyes, extremely thick black eyebrows, and white hair with tan running through, shaped in a mohawk. He has an incredibly muscular physique. He has a large upper body, however his lower body is much smaller. Indus also sports tattoos on his face, shoulders, chest, and arms. These tattoos are symbols of the sun (on his chest) and of turtle shells (on his shoulders) to represent defense. In the center of his sun tattoo are two swirls that seem suspiciously similar to the symbol of Bliss Ocean, however this is probably an oversight.

Personality
Indus seems to be a gentle giant. He's a blockhead with the intelligence of a child, but a good heart, and genuine dedication to his tasks. He seems to value strength, loyalty and honor which caused him to train with Mera. However, he remains polite even when he had to target Molly, Giovanni and Sylvie. The only time he has been implied to be angry or truly serious is regarding Mera, first when he explains her "curse" to Molly and second when Molly refuses to go with him to have her epithet taken away to help Mera.

Indus is extremely gullible and just about everybody he's met has taken advantage of that fact. He's also got a very one-track-mind and very rarely thinks thoroughly about his actions. His emotions often cause him to make foolish, rash decisions as well. He is noted for usually always giving his name and epithet away, noted by Sylvie to be something "only an idiot would do".

He also seems to have a fondness for dinosaurs and a grudge against forklifts.

Psychical Strength
Indus is incredibly strong, being able to flex so hard his clothes ripped off. He's also able to bench press a truck, throw people with incredible force and easily break through concrete walls while supporting the weight of a dinosaur fossil.

Epithet
Indus epithet, "Barrier", allows him to create barriers that can vary widely in size. The barriers can be produced away from Indus, and can float, be shifted around, and also be completely transparent (though he usually makes his barriers a translucent bright orange.) This barrier also features a symbol, which can also be seen on Indus' chest. The amount of barriers he can produce at once is unknown, but the maximum amount shown on screen is 8. Although barriers appear to be invincible against physical force, they can still be affected by other epithets.


 * Unbarrier: Indus' "secret technique", which he uses to make his barriers disappear.

Mera Salamin
"In return for Lady Mera's teachings, I act as her most trusted bodyguard and right-hand man!"

After being bested by Mera in an honorable duel, Indus became her loyal bodyguard in order to learn from her and become stronger. Indus deeply cares for Mera, always obeying her commands without disobedience, no matter how dangerous and unreasonable they are. He values himself according to how Mera comments and judges him, and when he cannot protect Mera, he will succumb to self-blame until Mera assures that she is fine. While Indus is shown to care deeply for Mera, she tries to make it seem one-sided and that she only considers him "free labor". Despite this, some of her actions imply that she not only cares for him but is even attracted to him. This may be a hint of how he and Mera’s relationship will progress in the future, yet it remains unknown whether he will be able to grasp and reciprocate the same feelings like she does.

Molly Blyndeff
Indus has great respect for Molly; after seeing her and Giovanni mutually protect each other. However, he does not value his respect for Molly over his dedication to Mera, and still tried to capture her after Giovanni was defeated.

Giovanni Potage
Just as with Molly, Indus has great respect for him after seeing him and Molly mutually protect each other.

Trivia

 * His name is associated with the Tarbela Dam at the Indus River.
 * This could be because dams are similar to barriers.