Zaruba

Madou Ring Zaruba (魔導輪ザルバ, Madōrin Zaruba), named after the old Makai word for "friend", is a Madō Ring who has existed as long as the Garo title had. Thus, serving the bearers of the Garo title for generations, Zaruba has been the only character that appeared in all entries of the Garo series. As a Madōgu, forming a pact with his owner to take one day of his life once a month during a new moon, Zaruba's role is to detect Horrors while providing advice and combat strategies. In contrast to some of his owners' more deadpan and silent personalities, Zaruba is very talkative and cheeky, and does not hesitate to make fun of his master as well as those nearby, and would bicker with his master if he feels like it. But like all Madōgu, he is sincere and faithful, sometimes even serious, when it comes to getting the job done.

Created by Amon, Zaruba is originally owned by Taiga Saezima before coming into the possession of Kouga. During Kouga's final fight against Kiba, who magically sealed the Makai Knight's ability to summon his armor, Zaruba apparently used all of his energy to merge the power of all the past Garo knights into the armor temporarily and manually bring it to Kouga. This results in Zaruba's physical form crumbling, though the ring is restored by the Western Watchdog with Zaruba devoid of his memories while returned to Kouga as he continued to serve him and his son Raiga, his eye color having changed from black to dark red.

During the events of GARO: Yami o Terasu Mono, Zaruba ends up in Burai's care before being given to the current Garo: Ryuga Dougai. While Zaruba deemed Ryuga too immature to worth speaking to, witnessing the young Makai Knight's resolve while blinded convinced him that the human is worthy to forge a contract with. From Garo: Goldstorm Sho onward, Zaruba has a visor that Ryume attaches to him, enabling him to summon a portal out of any wall, allowing Ryuga and Rian get to Ryume's place from virtually anywhere. His new abilities also include the power to summon a purifying wolf statue, enabling Ryuga to cleanse his sword of built-up malevolence without needing to return to a Watchdog. Zaruba now behaves in a more serious manner and speaks only when he needs to, in contrast to his talkative personality when he served the Saezima family, although he still has a somewhat cheeky personality and would occasionally make jabs at Ryuga. Zaruba is unable to speak while the visor is closed and will make a ringing noise to signal that he has something to say, a trait which Ryuga uses to shut Zaruba up if he deems the Madō Ring to be too noisy.

The full extent of Zaruba's abilities and knowledge is unknown; throughout the series he is seen being able to help dispel confusion, detect various spiritual energies, summon the Garoken, speak on behalf of the dead, enable temporary flight to his wearer, breathe Madō Fire (in the Crimson Forest), detect Horrors, create parts of himself into a ring to acts as an transceiver, see through illusions, converse with Kouga telepathically, act as a temporary storage for miniature items, and gauge power of items. He helped train Kouga when Kouga was still a child after Taiga's death. He has since advised him on a variety of matters and even taught Kouga how to play Poker. His aid is not limited to Makai Knights — Kaoru once used Zaruba to guide her through the Crimson Forest back to the human world.

Zaruba is voiced by Hironobu Kageyama (影山 ヒロノブ, Kageyama Hironobu).