Celestia Ludenberg

Celestia Ludenberg (セレスティア・ルーデンベルク Seresutia Rūdenberuku) is a student in Hope's Peak Academy's Class 78th, and a participant of the Killing School Life featured in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. Her title is Ultimate Gambler (超高校級の「ギャンブラー」chō kōkō kyū no “gyanburā” lit. Super High School Level Gambler).

Early Life
Little is known about Celestia's family life, due to her constant lying it is hard to perceive what is and what is not real about her family. She described her father as being of French nobility and her mother being part of a German family of musicians however Makoto Naegi presumed this to be false. She stated being given the name 'Celestia Ludenberg' by her parents however this is later discovered to be an untruth so it is likely that her parents descendancy is also a falsehood. However Makoto does believe that she came from the capital of, where she came to love her favorite food  despite stating it to be 'vulgar' and 'malodorous' which could possibly insinuate her hatred of the unsophisticated lifestyle she was born into in Japan.

It is discovered that while growing up she had a cat named Grand Bois Chéri Ludenberg who she loved dearly and made sure to spoil and pamper. She was eventually able to get him to enjoy her favorite food, gyoza, and this then became his own favorite showing the close bond between the two during her childhood. He became a captive for Monokuma's first motive during the Killing School Life which shows her cat was the closest thing to her rather than any of her living family members. The reason for this is unknown however it is possible that Grand Bois Chéri Ludenberg was the only known relative she had while growing up or it may be the case that she had a cold and distant relationship with the rest of her family due to her search for sophistication and her developed pretentious demeanor during childhood which caused her to abandon them completely for her own dreams.

Celestia's Childhood Aspirations Some time during her childhood she began aspiring to be like European royalty, such as wearing Lolita clothing, using an old English accent (English localization only) and changing her name to a fake one that had connotations of European royalty. Her other mannerisms and strict, spoiled nature emphasizes this. She seems to have lived a life of fake stories surrounding her past due to the nature of her profession, as a gambler she is known to lie and conceal which is likely why she reveals so little about her real life past. Her goal in life throughout her childhood was to live in a big fancy European castle with handsome male servants dressed as vampires to become her own personal secret service and butlers. She wants to live in an idealistic world based off of aesthetic decadence which is an unusual aspiration given the contemporary society in which she was born into. It is unknown why she yearns to follow traditional, but she appears to hate her real self, as she dislikes ordinary and common things and changing her real name which was most likely given to her by her parents is testament to her dislike of her real identity.

Gambling Life It seems likely that she grew up without the support of her family members, as her dream to acquire a European Castle was only made possible through winning large sums of money via gambling. This was likely her only source of income and during this time she may have lived alone with only her cat until being scouted by Hope's Peak Academy. Notable occasions where Celestia put her life on the line for large sums of money in order to acquire her dream was when playing Russian roulette mahjong in the basement of a large mansion, her opponents being an old man who was a billionaire and a silver-haired boy who possessed a considerable amount of luck himself. She defeated them both at once and the crowd that had been invited to watch were in shock, she stated this to be one of her “fonder memories” which could possibly show her lack of a childhood as gambling is mostly all she has ever known. Makoto stated that he couldn't comprehend Celestia's “fearsome past” however Celestia's desire to gamble was one of the many enjoyments during her early life due to the risks of success for claiming her dream. She was renowned for managing to rob any who challenged her of all their money. Due to her nature, she was given the title “Queen of Liars”.

Acceptance to Hope's Peak Academy Celestia's previous high school is unknown before she was scouted by Hope's Peak Academy as part of the Class 78th under the title the Ultimate Gambler by Kohichi Kizakura after she made an name for herself in the underground gambling circuit. The reason for her accepting the offer of being educated at Hope's Peak Academy was due to being able to have unlimited success for the rest of her life and this would have sped up the process of achieving her dream which had always been her life goal.

In photos found by Makoto, it showed Celestia playfully attacking Hifumi Yamada while aggravated. This was just one of her many moments during High School at Hope's Peak Academy.

The Tragedy

 * Main article: Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Side: Despair #11

During The Tragedy, Jin Kirigiri, the Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, planned to seal the school building and let the students live forever inside the Academy in order to protect them from the destruction. The students of Class 78th agreed to his plan, and they sealed the building together. Celestia is seen casually drinking tea at a small table while her classmates work to seal up the school. The students lived peacefully inside the school building for a year without knowing that the Ultimate Despair members were already in their midst.

Killing School Life
Celestia was among those who were chosen to attend Hope's Peak Academy as part of Class 78th. She, along with her fellow classmates, ended up being trapped inside the school, not knowing at the time that they had already been memory-wiped of their two years of school life together. Celestia is around 19 years old, though she believed that she was only 17 because of the memory loss.

When Makoto introduced himself, he immediately questioned Celestia's name and identity, not believing it to be real however she forcefully reassured him that it was indeed her real name. He chose to be careful around her, relating to a thread that he had read online, he discovered her to be an excellent gambler and he could easily perceive her deception and lying sentiment. The students soon became forced into the mutual killing incident. As an incentive to murder in order to escape, the students were each given a DVD featuring a video from Monokuma which implied that their loved ones were in danger. Celestia's video featured her most beloved relative, her pet cat Grand Bois Chéri Ludenberg.

After the students discovered there was no way out of Hope's Peak Academy on the 1st floor, Celestia was pleased to announce to everyone that they now had to adapt to their new lives at the school and thus nobody would get hurt. Taking leadership of the group, she issued a rule that nobody should be allowed to go out of their dormitory at nighttime, something that the school rules did not specify that she wished to make official. The class agreed to comply to Celestia's rule in order to limit the chances of a murder occurring and remove anxious thoughts.

The DVDs gave Sayaka Maizono the incentive to attempt to murder Leon Kuwata, but her plan backfired and Sayaka was killed by Leon. It was then after the death of Junko Enoshima that Celestia callously stated that those unwilling to adapt deserved to die and showed no mercy to those who did not follow the school rules put in place.

Boy's Life of Despair
Following the events of the first Class Trial, the next morning the class reconvened in the Dining Hall to discuss their plan of action. Celestia explained that the game they were all involved in was incredibly intricate and that the mastermind must likely be very powerful to create highly advanced technology such as Monokuma and take over a well defended Hope's Peak Academy, stating that defying the mastermind was simply too great a risk.

Monokuma then revealed that other areas of the school were now open to explore and so Celestia, along with the remainder of the class, started their search however they found no exit. Celestia was pleased to gain new and interesting facilities, stating she'd be happy to have class trials more often.

The next morning after again meeting in the Dining Hall, Celestia stated being thirsty and demanded some milk tea. She was able to manipulate Hifumi to make her some however she lost her temper and shouted at him when he failed to make it correctly the first time, as he had added the milk after the brewing process rather than during which was not what she was used to ordering. She forced him to make it again properly, the other students stating after that they had never seen that side of her personality before. After Chihiro Fujisaki's murder and during the following class trial Celestia was able to play a part in revealing Mondo Owada as the culprit, having encountered Chihiro in the storage room prior to his death. During their encounter, Celestia noticed Chihiro was holding a duffle bag with a blue tracksuit partially hanging out, which he stuffed back inside before going off in a hurry so she wouldn't be able to notice. Kyoko Kirigiri was able to force a slip of the tongue from Mondo when explaining that Chihiro had picked out a tracksuit that matched the culprits. Mondo became concerned and stated having a black tracksuit rather than Chihiro's blue tracksuit however Chihiro's tracksuit color was not specified by Celestia during her testimony and she was then able to reveal after that it was in fact blue.

Celestia's Dream
After Mondo's execution Monokuma revealed his next motive to prompt another murder, 10 million dollars in cash for whoever graduated from Hope's Peak Academy. Celestia wishing to achieve her dream of owning a large European castle with many male servants saw the perfect opportunity to win the money and escape the school. From a young age she had bet her life on gambling in order to win vast amounts of money that could help her achieve her dream and while she was successful, the amount of money she earned wasn't enough.

When the opportunity arose she crafted her plan of action by kidnapping Alter Ego and hiding them in a locker. She then approached Hifumi, who had grown attached to the AI that Chihiro had made before his death and was continuously in conflict with Kiyotaka Ishimaru over who it deserved to spend time with more.

She explained to Hifumi that Kiyotaka had abused her physically and threatened her to steal Alter Ego for him by taking obscene photos of her that he could use as blackmail. She further stated that in order to keep Alter Ego for himself he was planning to murder Hifumi too. Hifumi, believing the lie, became enraged with Kiyotaka and was manipulated into helping Celestia's plot to escape the school. Once Hifumi had become convinced the two began to conspire, Celestia and Hifumi were able to trick Yasuhiro Hagakure into coming to the Rec Room and were then able to force him unconscious with chloroform. Once unconscious they put him into the Robo Justice suit, a large robotic model made of cardboard which Hifumi had made in order to cover any persons face and body as Celestia had specified Hifumi then positioned himself to look as though he was being attacked by Robo Justice and Celestia began taking pictures on a digital camera in order to prove this as fact and to lay suspicion on Yasuhiro. Once Yasuhiro was of no further use they shoved him into the Pool Room Locker to be discovered by the students later.

The next phase of the plan was to murder Kiyotaka, who was lured to the equipment room where he was to be killed through a fake note made by Celestia explaining she may have discovered an exit to the school. Hifumi, using the 4th of four "Justice Hammers" he made out of painted mallets from the Art Room, killed Kiyotaka with a blow to head and left the 4th Justice Hammer at the scene of the crime.

Hifumi and Celestia then both faked being attacked by Robo Justice with Justice Hammer 1 (in the Rec Room) and Justice Hammer 2 (in the Library). Shortly after, Hifumi faked another attack with Justice Hammer 3 in the Nurse's Office, which resulted in his supposed "death".

He was able to fake his death by covering himself in transfusion blood from the Nurse's office and laying on the floor. The class presume he is dead due to the body discovery announcement being sounded however this was only for members of the class discovering Kiyotaka's body.

A previously planned scream from Celestia allowed Hifumi to sneak out of the Nurse's office due to the attention being drawn away from him and this gave him time to move Kiyotaka's body to the Art Room with a dolly. The class being notified that Hifumi had disappeared left for the Nurse's office once again which meant Hifumi could move freely around the 3rd floor. Once Hifumi had moved Kiyotaka's body, Celestia met with him in the Art Room to discuss their plan of action next. Celestia had convinced Hifumi that she was planning to kill someone of her own in order to remove suspicion on him however this was yet another lie and their meeting in the Art Room ended in Hifumi's death. As he was celebrating his success, Celestia attacked him with a normal mallet from the Repository and left him for dead after giving him a blow to the head, joining the rest of her class.

Celestia's Fate
Class Trial During the subsequent Class Trial, Celestia urged the students to declare Yasuhiro as the culprit to both the murder of Kiyotaka and Hifumi given the fact that Robo Justice matched Yasuhiro's exact height and because the blueprints and suit parts for the model was found in his room. Hifumi's dying words also stated "Yasuhiro" was the one who had attacked him. However despite this incriminating evidence, Makoto wasn't so easily convinced, and with the help of Kyoko and Byakuya Togami was able to reveal the culprit due to two major factors.

Celestia had at often times been the only one to see Robo Justice's movements, such as when it attacked her with one of the Justice hammers, when she spotted it heading for the 2nd floor and when she let out a scream to bring the students to the physics lab on the 3rd floor. It was at that point it became clear that Celestia had manipulated the situation for the purpose of allowing her accomplice Hifumi to move freely and put her plan into action. Her scream on the 3rd floor moved the class away from Hifumi's position, allowing him to scream from the Nurse's office and fake his death which meant the class split into two groups which Celestia herself had suggested. Once Makoto, Aoi Asahina, and Celestia had discovered Hifumi's supposed dead body, Aoi felt sick and was taken to the bathroom by Celestia while Makoto left to tell the others on the 3rd floor who had discovered Kiyotaka's body that Hifumi was dead. This gave Hifumi the opportunity to leave the Nurse's office and wait for the class to come back from the 3rd floor before leaving for the physics lab where he could move Kiyotaka's body.

When Byakuya and Sakura Ogami had returned to Nurse's office, Celestia stated the murderer was enjoying themselves seeing the class helpless and that they would all die just like "those guys" did. This slip of the tongue proved Celestia knew about Kiyotaka's murder beforehand, as she mentioned two people and referred to both of them as male.

Celestia tried to convince the class that Robo Justice did have a hand in the murders in order to take the suspicions off of her, referring to the picture she took of Hifumi being dragged away however the suit itself didn't move at the waist meaning it was impossible that it could have dragged Hifumi away, rather it was balanced on his back. This proved that Celestia and Hifumi had partnered up when taking part in the murders. At this point Celestia had changed from being polite, presenting unusually rude mannerisms. Celestia reiterated Hifumi's dying words where he referred to Yasuhiro being his killer however Makoto wasn't convince that Hifumi was mentioning Yasuhiro as Hifumi would always refer to those around him with their last name. While the name Hifumi mentioned didn't fit anyone else's description, Makoto requested Celestia reveal her e-Handbook profile which she was unable to do. She admitted to murdering Hifumi and involving him in her plan to make the case much more difficult to piece together.

Class Trial Verdict Monokuma revealed her real name to be Taeko Yasuhiro (安広 多恵子), following her guilty verdict. Celestia did not show any remorse for the deaths of Hifumi or Kiyotaka as she stated following her dream to the very end was what was most important. Aoi and Yasuhiro did not understand why she wanted to commit murder when she was the one who preached having to "adapt" to their new lives. However Celestia admitted she wanted to leave the Academy more than anyone and that she was simply lying, this was due to never being able to achieve her dream if she had to be trapped in Hope's Peak Academy forever.

She stated wanting to die “gracefully” and be reincarnated as, not afraid to be executed however Makoto saw through her smile and realized she was indeed afraid, despite her natural façade in deceiving her own emotions. Before being executed, Celestia approached Kyoko for a final goodbye, giving her the key to the locker she had hid Alter Ego in and stating she was unsure what kind of hope it could have given them. She then bid her classmates farewell, willingly accepting her execution.

Execution Celestia is executed by being stood in front of a large crowd of Monokuma's, standing stationary on a large pile of flammable wood. Her execution, The Burning of the Versailles Witch, shares the same similarities to that of a, something that seems to be preferred by Celestia given her love of the Gothic. A Monokuma lights the flammable wood with a flaming torch causing the fire to spread and surround Celestia, her choosing not to run. However while the fire is enveloped around her, a fire truck appears from the distance and mounts a ramp in order to crash into her and kill her instantly.



Makoto's Hallucination

 * Main Article: Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Side: Future #11

Celestia is seen alongside her deceased classmates in Makoto's hallucination. Celestia is later seen on fire while next to her other deceased classmates Sakura and Hifumi as all the deceased of Class 78th morph into how they looked when they died during the Killing School Life.

Creation and Development
Celestia's basic design did not undergo a drastic change between DISTRUST and Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, most examples of in-development art of Celestia showcase her usual -style outfit, being consistently goth-Lolita since the planning stages. The character designer, Rui Komatsuzaki, has a personal interest in goth-lolita fashion, so the design advanced to its final stage without much deviation. However, Celestia was a bother to draw due to the goth-lolita style's many ornaments and embellishments, as well as her clip-on twin tails. Her designed outfit consists of the same black jacket, white blouse with a Peter-Pan collar with white ribbons in her hair. However different styles of her hair were trialed from her two large twin-drill pigtails. Versions including shorter pigtails, her hair left without clip-ons, her hair consisting of pigtails however far less curly and straggled pigtails.

Her uniform remained mostly unchanged, however changes between DISTRUST and Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc did include what was originally red ribbons in her hair rather than white including a red ribbon placed on her blouse which was then replaced for a white ribbon with a red tie underneath. She was also originally designed to wear earrings resembling the cross which related to her love of the gothic however this was converted to simple gold circular earrings. Her knee high socks were originally white striped black however the final design instead kept the socks fully black with white frills at the opening. Her body was originally designed to be of a much thinner build with a far more softer looking face resembling a more realistic appearance of a doll, Celestia was made to look more doll-like than the other characters, so her skin's saturation lowered considerably. She is noted to be relatively tall because she's of average height but wears high heels. She was also designed wearing a crown, relating to her desire to own a castle and be of royalty, with another design of her holding a bunny mannequin doll, again representing her love for the gothic.

Name
The name “Celestia” is a given name of Latin origin which means “heavenly”, unsurprisingly so given Celestia chose this name for herself to represent her fine decadence. Celestia's self-styled last name, “Ludenberg”, is most probably a combination of the Latin verb “ludere”, meaning “to play”, with the common suffix for last names of German or Dutch origin “-berg”, meaning “mountain” - thus making the last name Celestia came up with for herself consistent with both her title and her false claim that she is of German ancestry. While Celestia is her full fake name, she also doesn't mind being referred to as “Celes” by other characters in the Japanese version of the game, while in the localisation the characters call her “Celeste.” It might also be that Celestia's last name is a combination of and  last names, both men being of German ancestry which Celestia herself aspired towards. Celestia's made-up surname also matches the name of a, further befitting her false claims of German ancestry. It is clear the last name Ludenberg is of heavy German descent.

Celestia's actual given name, “Taeko” (多恵子), roughly means 'many miracles ” - making it somewhat fitting for Celestia, who considers her luck extraordinary and even admits at one point that her great success as a gambler is partially due to sheer luck. Celestia's actual last name, “Yasuhiro” (安広), literally means “peaceful and spacious”. It could also hint at an unfortunate background, as another meaning for the character 安 is “cheap” or “low” - making it quite clear why Celestia, who strives to appear as a cultured woman, claimed to be the daughter of a European aristocrat (clearly a lie), as she is embarrassed of her last name and its representation of her character.

Alternate Fates
The Danganronpa 3 box set included a feature detailing an alternate ending of Danganronpa called Danganronpa Another End which ultimately never made it out of the development phase. In this ending, all of the students escape, at the cost of giving up their talent forever. In Celestia's ending, while she is downhearted about losing her quick and easy way to make money through gambling, she now wishes to sell her own handmade clothing, presumably of luxurious material, as she wants to sell these clothes at an expensive price for making them with “her love”.

Celestia also escapes Hope's Peak alive, with the rest of her classmates, in the novel Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF.

Appearance
Celestia is 5'5" and weighs 101 lbs. She has a slim figure and pale skin. She has black hair in two large twin-drill pigtails however these appear to be clip-ons as mentioned in the art book and evidenced in the event of the girls bathing in Chapter 2, she is seen without them. She has red eyes and gold circular earrings which have an image depicting the cross engraved into them with a red gem placed in the center if each. Celestia also wears black nail polish.

Celestia wears a -style outfit, consisting of a white blouse with a Peter-Pan collar, a black jacket that includes white ribbon lacing down the sleeves, fastened by a simple white ribbon across her chest to reveal her red tie (consisting of a butterfly pattern layered on top of various spears with skulls attached to it) and the waist of her skirt, which is many-tiered and features white lace.

Celestia wears knee-high stockings trimmed in ladder lace, red mary janes with a thick heel held on her feet by three grey buckles, a white lace and a silver, Gunmetal plated ring (reminiscent of a Gunmetal Armour ring designed by Vivienne Westwood) layered in overlapping sections on her index finger which is likely her gambling lucky charm.

These are Celestia's favorite dark-hued undergarments. The tulle lace is of a regal quality, giving off the distinct vibe of a queen. Supposedly a C-rank human cannot stand gazing upon them, possibly due to the fact that they are of a lower status than Celeste and her fine clothing.

Personality
As an experienced gambler, Celestia appears collected, cold and cunning by nature. She possesses the ability to manipulate others to do her bidding and can lie with a straight face, this is shown when she is able to manipulate Hifumi to make her royal milk tea and further be her accomplice during Chapter 3. She is shown to be fairly intelligent, referencing several aspects of game theory such as Prisoner's Dilemma or Zero Sum Game and her manipulative and coercion skills are shown in Chapter 3, being able to deceive the majority of the students, including Byakuya up until the class trial. Her intelligence is also shown in previous cases in which she, alongside Kyoko, Byakuya, and Makoto are the ones to bring up crucial points and is also capable of keeping up with Byakuya and Kyoko's train of thought during the trials as well.

Celestia is a very ambitious person, as she declared that she will do anything it takes to win, and is ready to go as far as murdering someone or manipulating others in cold blood. She is extremely selfish and values her life over the lives of others, stating she has no problem sacrificing others in order to save herself. She also has a lot of pride, refusing to surrender no matter how far into a corner she's pushed, as long as the chance for victory remains.

Celestia believes in adaptability to be the key to survival, rather than strength or intellect, and she acts upon this by setting up measures such as the voluntarily imposed night-time curfew to protect the other students, as well as herself, from potential killers during the Killing School Life. She often reminds others to obey the curfew and is often annoyed when people such as Byakuya Togami, violate the curfew, showing her authoritative and commanding nature. After the death of Chihiro, she coldly remarks that people who disobey the rules pay the price. In reality she was lying about having to adapt and more than anyone wanted to leave the school, showing how easy it is for her to hide her emotions.

Her mannerisms are strict, refined and her spoilt nature emphasizes this due to her aspiring to be like European royalty. She despises her real self as she dislikes ordinary and common things and considers her real identity and name to be one of "a loser". Celestia speaks softly and smiles often in order to imitate Victorian mannerisms and etiquette as a lady. She usually uses polite language whenever she talks to the others, but her short-temperedness surfaces when something fails to go as well as she expects it to, such as when Hifumi fails to make her royal milk tea as she likes it. Another example is during the third Class Trial when she accused of being the blackened, Celestia quickly lost her composure after being accused of murder. She shouted and denied accusations towards her with unusually rude mannerisms, often using vulgar language.

As the Queen of Liars, Celestia claimed that she can even fool her own emotions, but this doesn't seem to be entirely the case. She appears to lack empathy and claims that she feels no guilt for the nefarious acts she committed in the gambling underworld. Despite her status as a consummate liar, before she was executed she presented a smile but Makoto was still able to recognize her fear within. Celestia has a habit of deceiving her own emotions and so even in defeat always keeps a constant poise.

Ultimate Gambler
At a young age, she became a gambler and won countless games, even ones at the stake of her own life, but was able to win regardless. She states during a game of King of Liars, she spilt tea on her favorite dress and she had to end the game quickly to take it to the cleaners. She once even managed to accumulate over ten million dollars. She also won a Shogi tournament despite not really knowing how to play the game. Though her poker-face helped, she claims that the secret to her success is the luck she was born with. She was renowned for managing to rob any who challenged her of all their money and she gained the title "Queen of Liars". She kept earning money for her main goal in life - to live out the rest of her days in luxury in a big fancy European castle with handsome man servants dressed as vampires.

In other languages
Celestia's talent as it appears in official translations of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

Queen of Liars
She was renowned for managing to rob any who challenged her of all their money, taking part in life-risking gambling underworld tournaments and having the ability to lie when faced with difficult matches. Celestia is able to lie with ease about her character, convincing those around her that her real name is “Celestia Ludenberg” while referencing various manga stories when it came to her gambling exploits. She is also able to lie about her line of descent, though seemingly originating from Japan she states to be of German and French background and was able to lie about her parents associated ancestry. While Makoto suspected she was lying, she was very convincing when manipulating Hifumi into making her royal milk tea and murdering Kioytaka, by lying that he had abused and threatened her to steal Alter Ego.

Superior Intelligence
Celestia is able to manipulate situations to her advantage by using Robo Justice as an object to convince everyone of Yasuhiro's supposed deceit. It is only during the class trial that the students begin to unravel the truth of Celestia's complicated plan that was successful through a various number of planned intricacies.

Celestia explained to Makoto during her Free Time Events that she once partook in a gambling match without understanding the rules of the game however was still able to overcome her opponent, presenting her quick thinking and intelligence under pressure.

Relationships

 * Family:

Grand Bois Chéri Ludenberg
Grand Bois Chéri Ludenberg is Celestia's pet cat. She enjoyed his company and pampered him, and most likely she was planning on having him with her in her dream mansion.

Grand Bois Chéri was also Celestia's Captive and closer to her than anyone else. This implies that she didn't care for any people, including possible blood family.

Class 78th:

Hifumi Yamada
Hifumi and Celestia's relationship consists primarily of her bossing him around and using him as her servant. A prime example of this is when Hifumi makes Celestia tea, only for her to dash the cup to the ground, claiming that she only drinks royal milk tea. This is later taken to greater extents as Celestia manipulates him into murdering Kiyotaka with the premise of escaping the academy alongside her, using a photograph of Alter Ego in Kioytaka's room to provoke Hifumi's anger; however, she subsequently betrays him by murdering him in a similar fashion, then framing Yasuhiro.

Shortly after Celestia and Hifumi's deaths, the survivors found a picture of the two and Sayaka together. In it, Celestia seems to be angry with Hifumi, indicating that their relationship was the same during their time in high school. However it seems to be of a more friendly and playful nature as Hifumi is amused by Celestia's reaction rather than afraid, this is different from Hifumi's reactions to Celestia's bullying and manipulation during the Killing School Life. This shows that they may have had a friendship during high school at Hope's Peak Academy.

Makoto Naegi
Celestia seemed to be rather fond of Makoto and was curious to see if his luck as the Ultimate Lucky Student could beat her own luck as the Ultimate Gambler. When she does her personal ranking, she ranked him with C-rank, which is higher than any of her classmates. While Makoto considers Celestia a friend, he is intimidated by her luck and is afraid of her alternate personality when she becomes aggressive. He also doesn't know whether to believe if someone were of F-Rank that Celestia would have them personally killed, given her hatred of uninteresting people.

Makoto is the only person in the class who isn't convinced of Celestia's lying, not believing her name or ancestry to be real. During their Free Time Events together, Celestia opened up a little to her past childhood and stated she originated from Japan and liked the food gyoza, something which Makoto was more inclined to believe. It is likely Celestia revealed a small amount of her real self because she began to trust Makoto a lot more as a friend and at the end of her Free Time Events, told Makoto he was eligible to be her personal bodyguard, her "knight". Makoto stated he would think about it, at which Celestia became vexed, likely wanting him to agree right then and there.

Yasuhiro Hagakure
During the Killing School Life, Celestia planned to frame Yasuhiro in order to escape the school. The reason why is because Yasuhiro was the most "stupid" student in Celestia's mind, stating she pitied Yasuhiro's parents for having to put up with a son such as him. It is likely Yasuhiro, in Celestia's mind, was ranked lower than D-Rank as she was so willing to condemn him to murder with no remorse. However while clearly seeing him as insignificant to her and her own dreams, when Celestia stated she wanted to be reincarnated as "Marie Antoinette", Yasuhiro comically remarked that she would only die again, causing Celestia to laugh for her final words. While she may have still disliked Yasuhiro, it is possible she may have thought him less insignificant if she had taken the time to get to know him.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru
During the Killing School Life, Celestia had a plan to manipulate Hifumi into killing Kiyotaka since she felt annoyed with him and Hifumi for fighting over Alter Ego and saw their negative feelings for each other as an opportunity for her to escape. Celestia lied to Hifumi that Kiyotaka stole Alter Ego and also lied about how Kiyotaka abused and threatened her, these largely shocking accusations show that Celestia and Kiyotaka had no friendship as she easily manipulated Hifumi into killing Kiyotaka and showed no remorse for his death. She put her own dreams above Kiyotaka's own life, showing that he was not impactful on her as a person in any sort of way.


 * Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles:

Free Time

 * Main article, including full dialogue: Free Time Events/Celestia Ludenberg

During Free Time, Makoto can choose to talk to Celestia in order to learn more about her. If he gives her a present that she likes, and chooses the correct response during their conversation, their friendship level will increase and Celestia will disclose something about herself. Each successful Free Time conversation adds a page to Celestia's Report Card in the e-Handbook menu, and grants either a skill that will give Makoto an advantage during class trial battles, or an increase in Skill Points.

Skills
Becoming friends with students grants Makoto special skills which can aid him during Class Trials. Becoming close with Celestia grants the following skills:

Dorm Room
Makoto is able to see inside Celestia's dorm room during Free Time events. Celestia's room reflects her love of gothic lolita style, even having an ornamental coffin. She has black lace tablecloth, and a candelabra. She displays tea sets, a crown and a victrola. She has a large case of beauty products and sewing supplies, and two outfits on mannequins - Celestia designs her own clothing. She has a gothic lolita themed cat plushie at the foot of her black bed which could be due to her love of cats including her own, Grand Bois Cheri Ludenberg.

Quotes

 * “I do not think we have been introduced. I am Celestia Ludenberg.”
 * “Heh heh... I don't know what you are talking about. Celestia Ludenberg is my real name. But as I mentioned, I would much rather you call me Celeste.”
 * “Would you like to play a game of chance with me? I would be happy to empty your wallet and show it to you.”
 * “You see, I was programmed to have good luck when it comes to gambling. This is why I have never lost.”
 * “My lies must never be too extravagant...”
 * “Your heart really is made out of stone, I hope your body at least gets some good minerals out of it.” (to Byakuya Togami)
 * “Ehehe. I'm quite proud to say I'm among the most talented liars in existence.”
 * “I'm rather proud of my ability to tell lies. I can trick not only others, but even my own heart.”
 * “The power of love... Even a love as twisted as that can still drive people mad, it would seem.”
 * “That's a non-issue. I simply did everything in my power to win.”
 * "Obviously that was a lie! I couldn't take it! I hated it from day one! More than anyone anyone ANYONE else in here! I wanted to get out! Every day was fresh torture! And do you wanna know why? HUH!? Because... I had a dream. And accepting a life here would have meant nothing less than giving up on my dream forever... And there was no way...that I could ever do that. In the underground world of gambling, I risked my life to make a metaphorical killing. And it was all for that dream... To live in a European castle. And to gather handsome men from all over the world to serve as my butlers-slash-bodyguards. I was going to dress them like vampires and satisfy my every need. Once I obtained that, I would have created a perfectly aesthetic world of decadence... Living the rest of my life there was my only dream, my only goal... That's what life is all ABOUT!"
 * "Unfortunately, my dream has been scattered to the wind. Still, I don't have any regrets. I pursued my dream till the very end, so why would I?"
 * "Are you asking me to feel guilty? That's a pointless endeavor. I think nothing of sacrificing others for my own ends. I feel nothing. That's all there is to me. That's what makes me... complete."
 * “Will it really give you the hope you're looking for? I can't say I ever saw it that way... Which is why... Actually, it's not important. Well then... take care, everyone. Perhaps we'll meet again, in another life.”

List of Appearances
Games=
 * DISTRUST (Scrapped)
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
 * Danganronpa: Unlimited Battle
 * Cyber Danganronpa VR The Class Trial
 * -|Anime=
 * Danganronpa: The Animation
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Side: Future
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Side: Despair
 * -|Light Novels=
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF
 * Danganronpa 1 ・2 Beautiful Days
 * Danganronpa: Togami (Volume 2)
 * -|Manga=
 * Danganronpa: The Demo (Manga)
 * Danganronpa: The Manga
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc 4koma KINGS The Manga
 * Danganronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair - The Animation (Manga)
 * Small Danganronpa 1・2 Light
 * -|Stage Plays=
 * Danganronpa The Stage ~Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei
 * Danganronpa The Stage 2016

Trivia

 * In some Free-Time Events, Celestia makes references to a few gambling-themed manga series:
 * She states that she played against a “crazy rich old man” and a “silver-haired boy”, referencing the manga series .
 * She won a tournament of against an “unusual maid”, referencing the manga series .
 * She claims the most dangerous situation she ever found herself in was in a game of "The Liar King", in which she played against an unusual pair consisting of a “foolishly-honest girl” and a “master con artist”, referencing the manga/drama series .
 * In fitting with her Western masquerade, Celestia's Japanese title is written using the Japanese transliteration of the English "gambler", instead of the Japanese term "shōbushi" (勝負師).
 * Her name in the Japanese release, "セレスティア・ルーデンベルク" is romanized as "Seresutia Rūdenberuku", making the original anglicized version Celestia Ludenberck. It is unknown why it was changed in development.
 * In Danganronpa 3 - Side: Despair #02, Celestia was briefly mentioned by the Hope's Peak Academy Scout, Kohichi Kizakura.
 * In a series of tweets from Kazutaka Kodaka during Valentine's Day of February 2013, he tweeted "in-character" as several of the Danganronpa cast, including Celestia. The tweet translates into this:
 * “Oh my. You actually ate that? Ehehehehehehehe. You should learn not to be so trusting of others–though it’s too late now.”

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