Akihiko Kayaba

Director and creator of the Nerve Gear and *Sword Art Online*. He traps all the players within *Sword Art Online* by using the Nerve Gear to cease sending signals to the users' body. Any attempt of removal, loss of power for a certain period, or if the user dies in the game will also kill the user. His motivation is to observe what happens after he traps them.

~!He is in fact Heathcliff in the game *SAO*, who is the leader of the guild Knights of Blood.!~