Ice Mask

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

• Initially forms as a patch of hard blue ice between Louis’s brows, then spreads outward to cover his entire face 8.
• Later described as blue-white crystal 215.
• Louis’s eyes can glow blue-white beneath the mask when he activates his ability at full power 38.
• Its distinctive design allows investigators to recognize Louis even in a blurry photograph 130.

Abilities & Functions

Identity Concealment

• Covers Louis’s face and changes his voice into a hoarse, muffled tone 8.
• Helps him operate under the identity of Ice Mask while keeping his human identity concealed from much of the ghoul community 43 106.
• Does not prevent recognition of the Ice Mask persona: the mask itself becomes his most recognizable feature 130.

Formation and Removal

• Louis creates the mask by directing cold air over his face; no separate physical mask is needed for its initial formation 8.
• It is connected directly to his facial flesh. Louis initially states that, unless he removes it himself, taking it off would require tearing away his entire face 8.
• He can dissolve or dispel it voluntarily and form it again when needed 76 102 144 207.
• At Aogiri Tree’s stronghold, the mask recedes as Louis introduces himself and reveals that he is human 198.

Durability and Limits

• Its level-four hardness is insufficient to withstand Eto’s strength: she splits it down the center, drawing blood 53.
• A heavy sniper round cracks the mask and knocks Louis from his glider. A bloodstained bullet subsequently emerges from it 63.
• During the laboratory battle, blood seeps through cracks in the shattered mask 173.
• Louis’s Crystallization can reproduce shapes but not arbitrary physical properties; creating a functional gas mask from crystal is explicitly beyond its capabilities 116.

History

Louis first creates the mask at Anteiku after deciding that he does not need others to arrange one for him. Its sudden formation surprises both the humans and ghouls present, and Yoshimura accepts it as sufficient for Louis’s needs 8.

During the confrontation involving Ryouko Fueguchi, the CCG registers Louis as an S-Rank Ghoul under the codename Ice Mask. The mask subsequently becomes a symbol of his activities in Ward 20: ghoul customers at Anteiku praise his resistance to investigators, while Yoshimura keeps his identity secret 24 34.

Eto breaks the mask during the Ward 11 conflict and discovers that Louis is human. It is later damaged by sniper fire and shattered during the laboratory battle, but Louis continues to manifest it afterward, including when entering Aogiri Tree’s stronghold and preparing for combat 53 63 173 198 207 215.

Associated Identity

• CCG codename — “Ice Mask” originates as the CCG’s designation for Louis and later becomes a name used by ghouls and his followers 24 145.
• Mistaken ghoul classification — The CCG initially classifies the wearer as an S-Rank Ghoul, although Louis is human 24 76.
• Later threat designation — The CCG eventually assigns Louis an SSS-Rank threat level and prepares an elimination plan. This rates the wearer’s threat, not the mask’s hardness 215.

Related Items

• Four Eyes — An ice mask Louis makes specifically for Hinami. Its design follows his memories of her mask, with a slight difference in color 107.
• Gas mask — Separate equipment supplied by Jiro. Louis gives it to Banjō during a neurotoxin ambush because his crystalline constructs cannot reproduce its filtering properties 116.