Gnomulas Ridd — known to most simply as The Mayor — is the founding leader of Canvas Town, an independent settlement on the Ground established as a sanctuary for artists and Spellcasters. He appears in Chapters 26–28 when Team Akuta arrives seeking Gob's protection spells before the Penta mission.
He was once a resident of the Sphere — a former "lowlife" scavenger by his own description. He came to the Ground, could not draw, and decided that was sufficient reason to build a city for the people who could. He has governed it since. Canvas Town exists because of his specific combination of civic stubbornness and genuine admiration for a gift he does not possess.
He is not a Giver. He has no powers. He manages a community of eccentric, potentially dangerous Givers and keeps it independent of the Hell Guards through political intelligence and the kind of authority that comes from being the person who built the thing everyone is living in. His role in the narrative is brief and functional, but the city he built — and the Spellcaster succession he oversees — has structural consequences for the series' later arcs.
Gnomulas Ridd is a sturdy, broad-shouldered man with a robust build that matches the Ground's demands. He has dark, messy hair partially obscured by his most distinctive accessory: a flat cap decorated with subtle graffiti-style patterns — a small concession to the aesthetic of the city he governs. He has a prominent beard and goatee, and carries himself with a permanent serious or intense expression that communicates his protective instinct before he says a word.
His standard clothing is a long, high-collared dark coat or trench coat — practical for the Ground's environment, authoritative in presentation. He looks like someone who has been governing a difficult place for a long time and does not especially need you to agree with his decisions.
Gnomulas Ridd is stern, pragmatic, and driven by a civic pride that functions as his substitute for a creative gift he never had. He does not tolerate disrespect toward Canvas Town's spirit or the people in it. He shows genuine grief when Gob's death removes the town's primary anchor. He is the kind of leader who does not require the people he governs to like him, as long as they are safe and producing work that justifies why the city exists.
The Motivation — Admiration Without Possession
His stated motivation is one of the more quietly affecting personal confessions in the series: he could never draw. He tried, presumably, and discovered that the ability was not there. Rather than dismissing art as something that did not pertain to him, he decided to build a city for the people who could do the thing he could not. "I could never draw... but I admire those who can" is not a humble statement. It is an honest one, and it explains everything about what Canvas Town is and why it continues to exist.
Philosophical Alignment
He believes that objects and art have inherent value beyond their physical utility — a belief that aligns him philosophically with the Giver framework even though he has no powers himself. He understands what sincerity toward objects produces. He built a city around people who demonstrate it. He is, in the series' own thematic terms, a Supporter operating at civic scale: someone who facilitates the power of others because he recognises its value even without possessing it.
The City of Graffiti Arc — Welcoming Team Akuta
Gnomulas Ridd is introduced when Enjin brings Team Akuta to Canvas Town seeking protection spells from the legendary Spellcaster Gob before the Penta mission. He met with the team, explained the history and purpose of the city, and provided context about its founding and the nature of the Spellcasters who have protected it. His lore knowledge about Givers who "cannot let go" of their possessions — the obsession quality that produces Anima — added texture to the series' power system as the team encountered it in a non-combat setting.
The Loss of Gob
Gob's death from body pollution — a consequence of holding onto his Vital Instrument for too long and too deeply — was a significant loss for Canvas Town. Ridd was visibly affected. Gob had been the town's spiritual and physical anchor, and his passing created the succession question that the arc needed to resolve. Ridd managed the transition with the pragmatic grief of a leader who understands that the city needs to continue functioning regardless of what it costs him personally.
Finding Remlin's Succession
Ridd oversaw the process of identifying a new Spellcaster for Canvas Town and witnessed Remlin Tysark take up the mantle — using her graffiti-based powers to assume the town's protective function. The transition represents the most structurally significant event of Ridd's narrative contribution: Canvas Town's defences and independence continue, and Remlin's role as the town's protector gives the city ongoing relevance to the series' later arcs involving her.
Gob — The Town's Former Anchor
Gob was Canvas Town's legendary Spellcaster — the person whose Anima-based protections kept the city safe and whose death from body pollution left Ridd managing both a civic crisis and a personal loss simultaneously. He held Gob in the highest regard as the town's spiritual and physical anchor. The grief he showed during Gob's passing was the most unguarded moment in his brief series presence — a crack in the practical exterior that confirmed his attachment to the city's creative heart ran deeper than governance.
Remlin Tysark — The Successor
Ridd treats Remlin with professional respect and relies on her to maintain the town's spells and defences following Gob's passing. She is the continuation of the thing he built — the next Spellcaster in the line of people whose abilities justify why Canvas Town exists. His relationship with her is grounded and functional, reflecting the same dynamic he has with every Giver the town depends on: he provides the institutional structure; they provide what he cannot.
Enjin — A Mutual Understanding
Ridd and Enjin share an understanding about the importance of protecting the Ground's rare creative resources — and the specific value of keeping Canvas Town outside the Hell Guards' jurisdiction. Enjin's ability to bring Team Akuta to Canvas Town for Gob's protection spells speaks to an existing relationship of trust between the two, built on a shared assessment that the city's independence is worth maintaining.
Rudo Surebrec — Recognised Sincerity
Ridd viewed Rudo with specific curiosity upon their meeting — recognising the boy's sincerity toward objects as the quality that Canvas Town and its Spellcasters are built around. He did not have extensive interaction with Rudo, but the recognition was meaningful: a man who has spent decades building a city around Giver sincerity knows it when he sees it in someone new.
- He is referred to primarily as "The Mayor" throughout the narrative — his full name Gnomulas Ridd is used in official profiles but not commonly in dialogue. The title communicates his function more directly than his name does.
- Canvas Town is one of the few places on the Ground shown to be completely independent of the Hell Guards' direct jurisdiction — a status maintained through Ridd's management and the protective Anima of the town's Spellcasters. That independence is part of what makes the city a sanctuary rather than simply another Ground settlement.
- His background as a former Sphere resident who came to the Ground and built something — specifically a community centred on the value of objects and art — gives him an unexpected thematic alignment with Rudo, who was also discarded by the Sphere and found purpose on the Ground through the same philosophy. He arrived first and built the infrastructure.
- He represents the "Supporter" archetype at civic scale — someone who facilitates the power of others because he recognises its value even without possessing it himself. He cannot draw. He built Canvas Town for people who can. The parallel to Follo Tunito's Supporter years — facilitating others' combat while waiting for his own potential to emerge — is structural rather than incidental.
- His founding motivation — building a city because he admired a gift he did not have — is one of the series' more distinctive character backstories, precisely because it requires no tragedy or injustice to explain it. He simply recognised something beautiful, discovered he could not do it himself, and decided that was a reason to protect the people who could.
🇯🇵 Japanese Voice Actors
Ueda, Youji
🇯🇵 Japanese
🇺🇸 English Voice Actors
Wilson-Brown, David
🇺🇸 English
Kei Urana
Original Creator
Fumihiko Suganuma
Director
Hiroshi Seko
Series Composition
Satoshi Ishino
Character Design