Vash the Stampede is the main character and star of the show, without him there’d be no Trigun. As an outlaw best known for blowing up the city of July he tends to cause destruction where ever he goes, but Vash would never intentionally kill anyone. Even though he was forced to kill Legoto to spare Meryl and Milly’s lives. To cut a long story short, Vash is a softy at heart and hates seeing anybody in pain, many a times has he taken a bullet to save another. His scar covered body, a tell tail sign of his punishment for being a pacifist. In all honesty, Vash is one hell of a guy!

Vash (and Knives) were found as practically embryos in some sort of capsule by the SEEDS crew. The crew was originally going to kill the babies before Rem stepped in and convinced them to let two live. In just a year, both Vash and Knives had grown to look almost 13. Their IQs surpassed everyone's on the ship and both could work with and fix the Plants on the ship even quicker than the original engineer, Steve, could.

Vash adored all of the crew, although the cruel Steve did make him cry quite a bit, especially Rem who raised the two almost as her sons. He was totally devoted to her, telling the dark haired woman that he loved her. After all, even though the rest of the crew tended to tolerate them (not including Steve, who was scared to death of the "monsters"), Rem was the only one to show them true kindness. She played with them, spent time with them, and explained things like the value of the future to them.

Rem and her beliefs deeply impacted Vash; there are moments where he practically quotes her. Her refusal to take a life, even though it may cost her her own, her desire to save and help everyone and her strong belief in the fact that you can always start over; her belief in the goodness of people's hearts, even people who hurt or kill.

Vash's first exposures to violence and loss both come from actions of his brother, Knives. It was Knives who killed the spider, set up the chain of events that took three of the crew member's lives, killed Joey and ultimately killed Rem as well in his attempt to wipe out humanity.

"Death and Poverty like me so much, they brought friends! Not to mention the Insurance Girls!"

Dominique: "You're unpredictable. I like unpredictable men."
Vash: "Me unpredictable?! I'm not the one teleporting all over the damned place!"

Vash: "H-Hey, don't kill anyone!"
Wolfwood: "Don't ask the impossible!"
Vash: "Thou Shalt Not Kill! What the hell kind of churchman are you?!"