TRIGUN STAMPEDE has been building steadily since episode 5, in which the origin story of Nicholas D. Wolfwood is exposed. The subsequent episodes of the series have since been building up to revealing more about the main man, Vash The Stampede, whose past came into much clearer view in episode 8.
With only flashes of Vash's past being revealed since the series premiered in January, episode 8 of TRIGUN STAMPEDE showed what really happened after the devastating incident caused by Knives over 100 years prior to the events of the series. This is the truth about the man dubbed "The Humanoid Typhoon", Vash The Stampede.
Project SEEDS
After Earth loses its viability for the sustenance of human life, a huge undertaking to colonise the cosmos ensued. This was aptly named "Project SEEDS", for the goal was to sow the seeds of human civilization elsewhere in the vacuum of space. A fleet of several spaceships embarked on this mission, with countless cryogenically frozen crew members sleeping through the near-endless journey. Vash and his twin brother, Knives, were born aboard the fifth ship in the fleet of SEEDS ships, the abode of Rem Saverem and her crew. After being raised by Rem for about a year, the two grew into pre-adolescence, which elicited fear and disgust from some of their crew mates who did not see them as people, but rather, as monsters.
It is assumed that Vash and Knives were birthed by one of the Plants aboard the ship and are hence known as Independent Plants. In TRIGUN STAMPEDE, it is plenty clear that they have superhuman abilities; however, Vash is the more human of the two in temperament as well as his baseline abilities. Unlike Knives, Vash does not seem to possess the immense generative power and physics-defying abilities, at least not yet. However, he is capable of communicating with Plants as seen in episode 7, and as a child, he uses this ability in a crisis situation aboard Project SEEDS Ship Number 3.
New Crew, Who's This?
After being separated from Knives in the aftermath of the Great Fall, Vash wanders for a while; however, since he and Knives have genuine physiological differences, Vash collapses from the hunger and exhaustion. He is found by Brad and Luida, crew members of SEEDS Ship Number 3, who are wary of him at first and treat him like a prisoner; however, after he helps them deal with the failure of their Plant, Vash gains their trust and is treated like an honorary crew member. He lives out his adolescence aboard the ship, and develops a closeness with Luida and even Brad, who was incredibly guarded for a long time after their introduction.
When asked about what happened to his crew, Vash explains that they all died in the Great Fall, but does not talk about Knives in detail or tell them the truth about what really caused the calamity. Using the information Vash provides, Brad and his crew mates spend a few weeks sifting through the wreckage and find Ship 5's black box, and a few of Rem's things. They're only able to listen to some of the audio, hearing Knives's recognition of Vash as an accomplice soon after the destruction of the SEEDS fleet. Vash catches wind of their discovery and discreetly disembarks, leaving a note explaining his abrupt departure. After reading the note, Luida and Brad draw upon their connection to Vash and assume that he'd never do anything heinous, so Brad sets out to find him.
"And Stain The Sky Red..."
TRIGUN STAMPEDE episode 8 begins with Vash and Knives' first birthday and a brief look at their relationship with their adoptive mother, Rem Saverem, showing a happier time. After cutting to the familiar scene of Knives laughing maniacally. In this episode, reasons and ramifications of Knives' laughter amidst the destruction and the "shooting stars" making their way down are finally in full view, and it paints what is possibly TRIGUN STAMPEDE's most iconic picture: Knives' laughter and subsequent labelling of Vash as an accomplice have long been explained to be as a result of his causation of the destruction of the SEEDS fleet; however, given that the scene was replayed as one of Vash's memories (and nightmares), it wasn't completely clear upon what vantage point Knives was standing – the glass panels of the cryopods weren't as clearly visible, giving the impression of some kind of rock formation. While its easy to think that he's standing on a big rock or mountain, episode 8 reveals that Knives was laughing at the triumph of murdering countless people; all while standing on the cryopods of his former crew members – meaning that Millions Knives laughed maniacally while standing on a literal mountain of corpses.
The consequence is simple: Millions Knives was laughing maniacally at a massacre while literally standing on the stacked corpses of his victims – victims who were once something akin to family. Knives inflicts grievous mental damage in reminding Vash that he gave the former the access code required to cause the Great Fall. Being labeled an accomplice in the deaths of countless people leads Vash to despair, and he wanders the wasteland looking for rem and their ship; however, the traumatizing event is given much more of an impact when he trips over an unknown person who grabs his ankle, groaning in agony. Vash solidifies his status as an accomplice deep within his own mind when he runs away, frightened, apologizing several times as he escapes the horrible scene. The visual impact is not to be downplayed, as the sky burns a crimson colour from the fire; explosions and ships hurtling towards their doom, but while Vash runs away, he is chased by visions of the reanimated, vengeful dead.