Raoh
Raoh is a male anime and manga character who features in Fist of the North Star.
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Biography
Raoh (Japanese: ラオウ, Hepburn: Raō) was a male human who was originally a native from the island of Shura. After the death of his mother, Raoh was orphaned and sent to the mainland by Jukei alongside his little brother, Toki and the infant Kenshiro where they were to train in the art of Hokuto Shinken under master Ryuken. He would leave Raoh and Toki at the bottom of a canyon where he said that he would only adopt the on who reached the top first. Raoh came to reach the summit but had carried his brother Toki with him where he demanded that Ryuken adopt them both. Moved by the act, the martial arts master agreed where he took on Raoh as his apprentice. Under his master, Raoh trained hard where he was driven by a desire to become the strongest.
As Raoh developed a fierce and terrifying fighting style, Ryuken came to fear his power and chose Kenshiro as his successor to Hokuto Shinken. Consequently, Raoh broke the 1800 year law of Hokuto by refusing to give up his power. Ryuken tried to stop him from misusing the Hokuto style, but Raoh killed him and left the temple to further his ambition. He assumed the title of Ken-Oh (拳王 King of Fists) and amassed an army to conquer the wasteland. Among those to join under his banner were Jagi, Amiba, Yuda and Ryuga.
Raoh established the mighty stronghold of Cassandra as a prison for martial artists, whose secret scrolls he had stolen to perfect the ultimate fighting style. He also kept Toki imprisoned there to prevent him joining forces with Kenshiro. However, Cassandra was liberated by Kenshiro, and Toki was rescued. Raoh launched a counterattack on Mamiya's village, where he fought with Rei of the Nanto Suicho Ken style and defeated him with a fatal blow to Rei's Shinkesshū pressure point, dooming the Nanto fighter to die a gruesome death in 3 days. Kenshiro challenged Raoh for revenge and the two battled to a bloody standstill after Toki intervened to stop them killing each other.
After his fight with Kenshiro, Raoh would carefully survey what Souther was up to, as he was constructing the holy mausoleum with child slaves. The wound he sustained in his fight with Kenshiro, along with Souther's bodily secret, prevented Raoh from engaging with the rival warlord, and he set up a temporary base while he continued to recuperate. After receiving word that Kenshiro was defeated by the Nanto Ho'o Ken master, Raoh ordered a few of his troops to find and rescue him, and had him delivered to Lin, Bat and Shu. Later, after he and Toki had taken down a considerable amount of Souther's army, the two of them observed as Kenshiro triumphed over Souther in their rematch.
Raoh later confronts Koryu, a master of Hokuto Shin Ken and an old rival of Ryuken. Raoh seeks to fight the old master as his way of gauging the recovery of his wound that Kenshiro inflicted on him. Raoh and Koryu fought, and despite the latter attempting to defeat Raoh with the Shichisei Massatsu, Raoh overpowered him, destroying Koryu's hands and pummeling him to death. Toki sensed that the time was drawing near for him to fight Raoh, and soon enough, Raoh would finally duel with Toki to settle their childhood promise. Toki, weakened by his radiation poisoning, was defeated but Raoh spared his brother's life in a rare act of mercy. Toki would later die during a confrontation with Ryuga.
Raoh later fought against the Nanto Goshasei - guardians of the mysterious Last Nanto General, who had risen up to challenge Raoh's conquest. Three of the Goshasei would fight him directly: Huey of the Wind, Shuren of the Flame, and Raoh's old rival Juza of the Clouds, only for all of them to die by Raoh's hand. When Raoh discovered the General's real identity was Yuria, his unrequited love and Kenshiro's fiancée, he marched onward to claim her for himself. However, after a brief entanglement with Tou and Rihaku of the Ocean, he was met by Kenshiro, who had now learned the ultimate Hokuto Shinken technique Musou Tensei, which overwhelmed him with fear. Raoh managed to escape with Yuria in his clutches and retreated to his fortress. Haunted by his fear of Kenshiro, Raoh abandoned the title of 'Ken-Oh' and swore to become a ferocious demon. His first act was to confront Fudou of the Mountains, formally known as "Fudou the Demon", a ghost from his past and the first man to teach him fear. Fudou was now a reformed character, adopting orphans of the wasteland, but he was forced to fight when Raoh threatened to slaughter his children. Despite withstanding Fudou's relentless charge, Raoh was terrified of the vision of Kenshiro reflected in Fudou's eyes and left the battlefield in disgrace.
On the brink of despair, Raoh decided that only killing Yuria would bring him the sorrow needed to learn Musou Tensei and defeat Kenshiro. However, as he prepared to strike, he discovered Yuria was hiding a terminal illness the whole time. Yuria's courage in the face of her impending death moved Raoh to tears and stopped him from killing her. Instead, he placed her in a temporary coma, slowing the spread of her disease. As fate would have it, this moment bestowed Raoh with Musou Tensei, and he took Yuria's body to the Hokuto Renkitōza, faking her murder in order to provoke Kenshiro into their final showdown. After a grueling battle, Raoh realized he could not overcome his opponent, whose soul was strengthened by the blood and tears shed against his great rivals. Conceding defeat to his younger brother, Raoh proclaimed to have no regrets and sent his remaining life-force into the sky, restoring light to the world as he died standing proudly. His body was buried beside Toki's grave.
Overview
Personality and attributes
He came to take the mantle of Ken-oh (拳王, Ken'ō, Fist King) for himself where he ruled as a tyrannical warlord that sought to dominate the post-apocalyptic world. His name was synonymous with the star Bōkyōsei (暴凶星 Violent Evil Star) and he came to be known as the Conqueror of Century's End (世紀末覇者 Seikimatsu Hasha).
Since childhood, he had a deep desire to grow and become the strongest with this stemming from the death of his parents forcing him to fight to survive. Ever since his childhood, Raoh was motivated by a fervent desire to grow and become the strongest, driven in large part because of the death of his parents thus motivating him to grow stronger to survive. As he trained and grew along the years, so did his goals, becoming a highly ambitious individual who would pursue greater strength and the might to conquer even the heavens themselves. Determined and unafraid he was willing to challenge anyone who would obstruct his plans, even Gods if needed. He was notably more compassionate in his younger days, climbing a cliff one-handed with Toki and demanding Ryuken to adopt the two of them. He even asked Toki to seal his fists if he ever went stray, showing strong morality.
By this point, he had said that he had no regrets in this life. In his adulthood, however, he's power hungry and extremely ruthless, inflicting a slow and painful death on his foes on purpose so that they would live long enough to fear him and thus cement his own status as the strongest King of Fists. For all his nearly arrogant belief on his power, he could still offer praise to fighters who could match him, and was an honorable combatant. He is disgusted by those who would dare filth a proper match, and even went as far as snapping the neck of a violator at one point. Although his ambitions run deep, there is still compassion in his heart, as he was able to mourn others including those that he killed himself.
In his adulthood, however, he's power hungry and extremely ruthless, inflicting a slow and painful death on his foes on purpose so that they would live long enough to fear him and thus cement his own status as the strongest King of Fists. For all his nearly arrogant belief on his power, he could still offer praise to fighters who could match him, and was an honorable combatant. He is disgusted by those who would dare filth a proper match, and even went as far as snapping the neck of a violator at one point. Although his ambitions run deep, there is still compassion in his heart, as he was able to mourn others including those that he killed himself.
Although normally confident of his power and willing to face any challenger that comes before him, Raoh was not entirely devoid of fear and was in fact easily destabilized in the face of a person with sorrowful eyes, because only a person who knows love can feel sorrow, which Raoh had discarded for his ambitions. Upon being struck with fear for the first time he becomes increasingly aggressive even with his own men and is tormented by the prospect that his status as the King of Fists may be in peril due to the fear he felt after facing Kenshiro who mastered Muso Tensei through sorrow. Ultimately Raoh had warmer feelings, especially for Yuria although he refused to admit them. Yuria believes that Raoh may have wanted Kenshiro to beat him all along since power and fear can conquer the chaotic world, but can never achieve true peace.
Powers and abilities
As a master of Hokuto Shinken, Raoh boasts extraordinary fighting power. This led to him learning about the 708 Keiraku Hikō (経絡秘孔 Meridian Channel Hidden Points, also known as simply Hikō, tsubo or pressure points) where these pressure points if targeted could destroy a person within. He uses the hidden vital points to inflict a slow and agonizing death on those who oppose him - as was the case with Rei. Raoh further added martial arts stolen from Cassandra into his fighting style and displayed techniques from both Nanto Seiken and Rakan Niō Ken.
His Gō no Ken (Strong Fist) style overpowers enemies with immense force and enhances his own strength depending on his opponent. Toki describes his style as being akin to a strong current that becomes raging and more violent in face of another strong current. Raoh possesed mastery over Tōki an aura he could channel for different effects and even shield him from attacks by repelling them with his own power, and could even use this aura for his own devastating long range blasts. Raoh had great strength to go along with his size, and could (in particular in the anime) send several people flying with a mere swing of his fists, destroying them in brutal ways and even pulverize through steel and bone instantly.
Raoh was an extremely powerful adversary and could defeat Rei, Kenshiro, Toki, amongst many others by himself. It took Kenshiro several encounters, and eventually his mastering of Muso Tensei, for the King of Fists to be finally defeated.
Raoh also took a giant black stallion named Kokuoh-Go (黒王号, Kokuōgō, Black King) as his personal steed.
Notes
- Raoh was created by Tetsuo Hara and Buronson where he featured in the setting of the Fist of the North Star universe.
In other media
Television
Films
- In Hokuto no Ken, Raoh appeared in the setting of the 1986 anime film where he was voiced by Japanese actor Kenji Utsumi and by English actor Wally Burr in the dub. Raoh watches alongside Jagi as Shin defeats Kenshiro and kidnaps Yuria. After which, he orders Jagi to dispose of Kenshiro by throwing him into an abyss to perish in darkness. He also gives Jagi the title of successor, which was now worthless to him. Raoh visits Ryuken at the Hokuto dojo, confirming Kenshiro's 'death' and his own goal to conquer the heavens. Ryuken is left with no choice but to seal his eldest son's power but Raoh murders his master and leaves the dojo to fulfill his ambitions. During the follow year, Raoh begins his path of conquest by eliminating rival warlords, such as the Fang Clan, before marching to Southern Cross to challenge Shin. Upon his arrival he captures Yuria who was in the midst of escaping and defeated Shin, leaving him alive long enough to warn Kenshiro.
Video games
Appearances
- Fist of the North Star:
External Links
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