According to the composer of the series, Yuki Kajiura, the director Kōichi Mashimo created a list of brief descriptions of every recurring character for her to base their respective musical themes upon.
[1] Margaret Burton (マーガレット・バートン, Māgaretto Bāton), born on 14 July 1992,[2] is a clumsy, absent-minded 19-year-old[2] girl who attends an elite college for aristocratic families' children in Nafrece.
Her memories of her own life are limited to its last twelve years, the word "Madlax", and vague recollections of something important connected to an unusual "picture book" she possesses.
Twelve years ago, she and the person who later became known as Carrossea Doon, survived a plane crash in Gazth-Sonika and interrupted the stand-off between Friday Monday, who unintentionally caused the accident while accessing the Sanctuary (see Terminology), and Colonel Richard Burton, Margaret's father.
Madlax (マドラックス, Madorakkusu) is an exceptionally charismatic and attractive young woman, who is at the same time the best mercenary agent in Gazth-Sonika with 98% mission success rate.
[5] Her parents got mixed up with Gazth-Sonikan politics when the war broke out and were subsequently executed,[6] therefore Vanessa's goal is to uncover the real reasons of the conflict.
Being a strong-willed and self-confident woman, Vanessa travels directly to Gazth-Sonika after she discovers that Bookwald not only invests into its demilitarized zone but also sells weapons to both warring factions and, moreover, is a part of Enfant syndicate itself.
Elenore's family has served the Burtons for generations, so she considers it her duty to protect the absent-minded and clumsy Margaret from anything remotely dangerous - to the point of researching all her classmates' backgrounds.
His attempt was foiled by Colonel Richard Burton, so the conflict only broke out locally, in the country where the ritual was held and where the Enfant HQ was later situated - in Gazth-Sonika.
To repeat the ritual and complete what he has started, Monday has been ever since searching for the two missing Holy Books (he managed to keep Firstari) and another person with a strong Gift, as he is no longer able to use his own, allegedly, because the right half of his face (which he always hides it behind a mask) is disfigured by Burton's bullet.
[9] Carrossea Doon (カロッスア・ドゥーン, Karossua Dōn) is officially an independent contract worker for Bookwald Industries, although, in reality, he is one of Enfant's best operatives and the right-hand man of Friday Monday himself.
Carrossea is smart and resourceful and he often exploits his position and powers in order to search for clues about his past,[10] for he, just like Madlax and Margaret, doesn't remember anything before twelve years ago.
He rapidly fell in love with and vowed to protect her, therefore, when Margaret interrupted the stand-off between her father and Monday, Carrossea-Poupee has to cover her with his own body from a stray bullet and died on the spot.
This revelation shattered Limelda's world view and made her quit the Army and renew the attempts to kill Madlax in a crazy hope that once she is dead, everything will return to "normal".
According to Shigeru Kitayama, this character was named after the protagonist of the French film Les Aventuriers, which Kōichi Mashimo is particularly fond of,[14] rather than after the Roman goddess of gaiety.
The name "Poupée" originally belonged to the boy who was killed by Colonel Burton, whereas "Carrossea Doon" was adopted by the persona who returned to the material world.
Pete Anyan (ピート, Pīto) is a young Galza freedom fighter whom Madlax rescues after his cell is wiped out by the Royalist forces.
He has an unlimited access to a supercomputer he and his students built for scientific purposes and lends a hand in Vanessa search for evidence of Bookwald's involvement with the Gazth-Sonikan war.
[14] Chris Krana (クリス・クラナ, Kurisu Kurana) is an alleged teenage son of Galza's leader Min Durk and a Nafrecian woman, whose maiden name he adopted.
Madlax is assigned to protect Gillian and eventually brings him to Quanzitta Marison, who tells him about a cave where the walls are covered by Elies letters similar to those found in the book he looks for.
In the cave, Gillian is subjected to the effects of the Words of Awakening and remembers an episode of his past that he has forgotten: in his youth, he has shot three men who had raped and murdered his sister.
On the way there, he meets Margaret, Vanessa, and Elenore and is immediately attracted to the former, however, she becomes an unfortunate distraction for him and he fails to assassinate his target, Carrossea Doon, and is taken down by Limelda Jorg.
[26] Guen McNichol's assassination makes Limelda Jorg, who was in charge of his safety, start hunting down Madlax, which eventually leads to Vanessa Rene's death.
[29] Piederico Moré (ピエデリカ・モレイ, Piederika Morei) is a Nafrecian civil servant who smuggles Chris Krana to Gazth-Sonika and hires Madlax as his bodyguard.
However, by helping Krana, Moré displeases Enfant and Friday Monday personally sends the Words of Awakening to his daughter Anne with an e-mail.