Dhalsim
Dhalsim is a male video game character who features in Street Fighter.
Contents |
Biography
Dhalsim (Japanese: ダルシム, Hepburn: Darushimu)
Against his beliefs, he entered the World Warrior tournament to raise money for his poor village.
Dhalsim raises money to save his village, and gains the respect of villagers where some call him the 'Great Yoga Master Dhalsim'. He though came to question what good could come from using his powers for violence.
Later, he sets out to destroy the evil M. Bison. He travels around the world and meets Rose and Birdie, and uses his mind control powers to seek answers. He is responsible for making Cammy White self-aware, thus freeing her from Bison's control.
Dhalsim enters the tournament to raise money for his village, but realizes that it contradicts his pacifist beliefs. Dhalsim retires from fighting after the second World Warrior tournament, and continues to roam the world helping those in need.
He then went free the flow of water to his village after S.I.N. builds a dam upstream. His son, Datta, is a penpal of Amy, Guile's daughter. When Datta informs Dhalsim that his penpal's father is away on a mission to investigate said dam, Dhalsim recognizes that the situation is even more serious than he thought. He is reluctant to use his powers for selfish purposes, but feels compelled to save his village. Dhalsim goes to participate in the tournament S.I.N. was organizing. While fighting at the tournament, he encounters Rufus who interrupts Dhalsim to ask about his yoga. After he defeats Rufus he defeats Seth. When the dam base is destroyed at the end of the game, the water returns to the village. Although Dhalsim believes that Shadaloo represents an evil in the heart of humanity that will never truly be defeated, he also recognizes that "the goodness in mankind's heart is also endless".
A police officer named Mahesh seeks out Dhalsim and requests to be taught the ways of yoga. When Dhalsim inquires as to why he wishes to be taught, Mahesh says that he wishes to become strong enough to protect his people in the same way Dhalsim does. However, the yoga master replies that yoga is not meant to be used for strength, nor for violence; it is meant to spread harmony and understanding. Mahesh is taken aback by this, but Dhalsim ultimately decides to train the eager police officer. However, they are interrupted by the arrival of Rashid and Azam. Rashid is enthusiastic to be in the presence of one of the 'seven yoga masters you have to meet at least once', as it was stated on the Internet. Dhalsim is confused by Rashid's words, and Mahesh angrily tells the pair that the yoga master is busy. Rashid asks to spar with Dhalsim, and when asked why, he replies that he needs to get stronger. However, he is unable to improve himself and presumably loses. Before leaving, he asked if Dhalsim has seen his friend, but to no avail. He and Azam then departed the area. A short while later, whilst showcasing his flames to Mahesh, Dhalsim is greeted by Oro, who claims that the yoga master's abilities are odd. A surprised Mahesh asks if Oro knows yoga, as he was floating in the air much like Dhalsim; Oro laughs, saying Mahesh has much to learn. Shocked to see the ancient hermit whom he had been previously acquainted with at some point in his earlier life, Dhalsim expresses how he never thought he would encounter Oro in India. Oro replies that he sensed interesting people here and came to investigate; he also questions Dhalsim as to why he is training a new pupil instead of mastering his own skills. Dhalsim responds by saying that honing his own skills is a secondary goal, as his primary goal is to harmonize everything as he believes it will set him upon the right path in life. Oro humorously says that Dhalsim had not changed since they last met, and sensing another interesting person in the area, decides to leave. He bids Dhalsim farewell, telling the yoga master to make him curry next time they meet. Mahesh begins to practice breathing flames but is unsuccessful. Dhalsim critiques him for his impatience, but his lesson his cut off once again, this time by the arrival of R. Mika. Mika introduces herself and conveys her desire to learn to breath fire like he does, as she believes it will improve her wrestling performance and make the crowds go wild. Dhalsim agrees, but Mika is unable to breathe fire. Dhalsim tells her to not be discouraged, as she has the passion to ignite her flame one day. Taking the lesson in good stride, Mika takes her leave. Mahesh is finally able to breathe fire, albeit only a tiny amount. Dhalsim tells him not to worry, as he will happily teach him for as long it takes.
Sometime in the evening, Oro makes a visit to Dhalsim's home for a friendly conversation and dinner. Pondering with the Yoga master of the meaning of power and such power wielded in the world of martial arts and street fighting, he begins by loosening Dhalsim's solemn zeal and steadfast devotion. Displaying to him examples of ki and the Satsui no Hado, the sennin theorizes and discusses with Dhalsim how such powers, despite possessing different boundaries and origins of manifestation, ultimately share an origin and shared source, and how despite the malevolence of the Satsui no Hado and Psycho Power, they ultimately share a neutral ground and capability for good in their own way as much as all concepts of power. Making note that such boundaries are as interchangeable as the seas and the skies and fish and birds capable of entering both domains, yet as complex as a Calabi-Yau structure and that the misuse of labeling evil tends to empower its own strength with ignorance, Oro leaves Dhalsim with the wise lesson that knowledge of such power should be used for good when evil intends to abuse it.
As Dhalsim continued meditating, he sense an "incredible power" that lies "dormant" somewhere in the world. He then decided to investigate it. At the Thunderfoot Settlement in Mexico, Dhalsim teleports from the other side of the world to meet the source of an "incredible power"; a young girl named Lily. Lily notices that Dhalsim is levitating, and asks if he was some kind of a spirit before introduces herself. Dhalsim replies by stating that he is no spirit, but simply an ordinary monk. Because of Dhalsim's calm and stern personality, Lily compares him to the chief Singing Wolf and asks if he has a message for her. Dhalsim confirms that he indeed came to deliver a "message" with her, and asks for a fight to test Lily's strength, to which Lily eagerly accepts. After the match, Dhalsim befriended Lily and chief Singing Wolf, having taken selfie together. While Dhalsim sense no harm in Lily's own spirit, he suspects that the "great power" inside Lily (i.e. her spirit companion Toyno'Ikonoi) may be the "dormant" state of the Satsui no Hado and hope that this wasn't the case.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Dhalsim was a male human who had the build of a normal man who exercised regularly though his abdomen and waist appeared out of proportion and emaciated. He was shown as being bald with his eyes being white and pupiless.
He was quite stoic, serious, self-disciplined, humble, and also very stern when needed.
Being a pacifist, he will never hurt a person more than necessary, or kill an adversary, even the most evil ones. He had said that he was not very fond of conflict. Despite that, if he was forced to fight then he meditated on the matter before proceeding to destroy his opponent.
As an extremely altruistic man, Dhalsim fights mostly for the poor and oppressed, as he constantly tries his best to raise money for his poverty-stricken people. Dhalsim is aware that if he uses his power to harm, he may become evil, and frequently questions his decisions to use his powers for fighting. Furthermore, all forms of yoga are meant to aid a personal journey towards enlightenment, and not to harm others. Therefore, Dhalsim is constantly concerned about his fighting style overwhelming his own principles of non-violence.
In contrast with Ryu's depiction as a young, but still serious and self-focused, type of person, Dhalsim has a more "mature" and less "enthusiastic" nature, as he regularly relies on his traditional yoga meditation rites to expand his spirituality, and keep his inner neutrality in the face of emotional involvement that may compromise his discipline.
It was shown that he had an elephant companion by the name of Kodal.
Powers and abilities
He was notable for being one of the seven greatest Yoga Masters in the world. His fighting style is a Yoga-based style, in which Dhalsim can stretch his arms, legs, abdomen and even his neck to great lengths making him a decent long-range hand-to-hand fighter. He also uses many fire-based attacks such as Yoga Fire, Yoga Flame and Yoga Blast, the latter being an anti-air technique.
His fighting style is a Yoga-based style, in which Dhalsim can stretch his arms, legs, abdomen and even his neck to great lengths making him a decent long-range hand-to-hand fighter. Dhalsim's overall style involves keeping the opponent at bay with distance attacks and projectiles, only getting close to strike with a surprise aerial attack or sliding kick. Dhalsim has both very low offense and defense, making it vital for him to avoid sustaining too many blows from a strong fighter. Dhalsim has a long airtime when he jumps so he can easily avoid projectiles and rushes, but he is very slow both on the ground and in the air, which can leave him vulnerable to a patient opponent. Dhalsim however, can create many ambiguous setups to confuse the opponent, and attack with ease.
Among the techniques known to him included:
- Yoga Teleport (ヨガテレポート Yoga Terepooto?) :
- Yoga Fire (ヨガファイア Yoga Faia?) :
- Yoga Inferno (ヨガインフェルノ Yoga Inferuno?) :
- Yoga Sunburst (ヨガサンバースト Yoga Sanbāsuto?) :
- Yoga Catastrophe (ヨガカタストロフィー Yoga Katasutorofii?) :
He was one of the seven Yoga Masters (ヨガマスター Yogamasutā?, Hindi: योग गुरु, yog guru) who were all skilled in the arts of yoga.
Notes
- Dhalsim was created by Akira "Akiman" Yasuda and was designed by Yoshiaki Ohji and Takashi Hayashi where he featured in the setting of the Street Fighter universe.
- Lead designer Akira Nishitani noted that the inspiration for the character's abilities to stretch came from the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
In other media
Television
- In Street Fighter, Dhalsim appeared in the setting of the 1990s animated television series.
- In Street Fighter II V, Dhalsim appeared in the setting of the anime series where he was voiced by Japanese actor Shōzō Iizuka in the original version and by actor Steve Blum in the English dub. He was shown as a monk who lived in a remote village in India where he was a practitioner of yoga and had some psychic abilities. He had some familiarity with the Way of Hadou and years ago Sagat had sought him out for his wisdom but was turned down by the yogi. Years later, Sagat directed Ryu to Dhalsim when the young fighter was looking to learn more about Hadou and though Dhalsim was familiar in it he was unable to train Ryu to use the Hadouken.
Films
- In Street Fighter, Dhalsim appeared in the setting of the 1994 live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Roshan Seth. This version was a British Indian scientist who engaged in research that promoted peace but ended up being kidnapped by Bison who forced him to fulfil his evil ambitions. Dhalsim was then placed in charge of a supersoldier experiment that looked to turn Carlos Blanka into a mutated beast. During the process, Dhalsim alters Blanka's cerebral programming to keep him gentle and is found out by the lab guard. A fight ensues, in which Dhalsim is branded with the mutagen and almost killed, but Blanka is released and saves Dhalsim by killing the guard. When Guile arrives at the base, Dhalsim directs him to confront Bison. After Bison is defeated, Dhalsim decides to remain in Bison's base along with Blanka to await its destruction, choosing to atone for his part in mutating Blanka, telling Guile that "if good men do nothing, that is evil enough".
Video games
Appearances
- Street Fighter II: The World Warrior: (1991)
- Street Fighter V:
External Links
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