Raoh: Difference between revisions

|appearances=

''[[Hokuto no Ken]]''<br/>

''[[Ten no Hao]]''<br/>

Various other works

==Biography==

:Raoh was originally a native from the island of [[Shura no Kuni|Shura]]. After the death of his mother, Raoh was orphaned and sent to the mainland by [[Jukei]], along with his little brother, [[Toki]], and the baby [[Kenshiro]] to train with [[Ryuken]], the master of ''[[Hokuto Shinken]]''. When they met Ryuken, he left Raoh and Toki at the bottom of a canyon and promised he would only adopt the one who made it to the top first. Raoh clawed himself to the summit but carried Toki with him and ordered Ryuken to adopt both of them. Ryuken was moved by this act and agreed, taking Raoh as his apprentice. Raoh trained hard under Ryuken, driven by the desire to become the strongest. He made a promise with Toki that should he fall victim to his own ambition, his little brother would stop him at any cost.

====The King of Fist====

: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|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.

: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.

==[[Hokuto no Ken (1986 movie)]]==

: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 defeats Shin, leaving him alive long enough to warn Kenshiro.

:Raoh returns to his stronghold of Cassandra in anticipation of the final battle, using Yuria as his bait. However, Kenshiro arrives too late to save Rei, who himself challenges Raoh to save Yuria. The two Hokuto brothers engage in a bloody clash which is brought to a halt when [[Lin]] intervenes. Realizing the role Lin will play in the future, Raoh leaves the battlefield and postpones his war with Kenshiro for another day.

:Whereas in the original Japanese theatrical release and English dub, Raoh is the victor only for Kenshiro to be saved by Lin, this was changed in the Japanese home video version where the fight ends in a stalemate.

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.

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.

As a master of Hokuto Shinken, Raoh boasts extraordinary fighting power. He uses the [[Keiraku Hikō|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]]'' in the TV series.

Raoh has seen several incarnations of himself in the various Hokuto no Ken media. In the original manga color illustrations, Raoh is depicted with white skin and blonde hair. However, like much of the cast, his palette was altered for Toei Animation's TV series, which opted for a swarthier complexion and jet-black hair. Depending on the animators, Raoh also appears older and more rugged than his manga counterpart in some episodes. Modern installments, such as the ''[[Shin Kyūseishu Densetsu Hokuto no Ken|True Savior Legend]]'' series and ''[[Ten no Haoh]]'' are closer to the manga, depicting Raoh with silver and blonde hair respectively and lighter skin tones.

From ''Hokuto no Ken: Kyūkyoku Kaisetsusho: Seikimatsu Haō Retsuden''.

* Speed: 4

*Height: 210cm (6'11")

*Weight: 145kg (320 lbs)