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Raoh
Raoul01f

Created by

Tetsuo Hara, Buronson

Fighting Style

Hokuto Shinken and other styles

alias

Ken-oh ("King of Fist"), The Emperor, The Conqueror of the Century's End

title

The Eldest of the Four Hokuto Brothers.

Appearances

Manga (ch. 42-onward), Anime (32-onward), Legends of the True Savior series, Ten no Haoh, and various other works

Known relatives

Unnamed mother
Kaioh (biological older brother)
Toki (biological younger brother)
Sayaka (biological younger sister)
Ryuken (adoptive father and sifu)
Jagi (adoptive younger brother)
Kenshiro (adoptive younger brother)
Ryu (son)


Raoh , also known as Ken-oh or the King of Fist, is a fictional character and the central antagonist of Buronson and Tetsuo Hara's Fist of the North Star manga, anime, and other related works. He was later made the protagonist of a spinoff series titled Legends of the Dark Kings, by Youkow Osada.

Raoh makes makes a partial first appearance with his brother Toki in chapter 42 of the Fist of the North Star manga (episode 32 of the anime adaptation) in which their faces are partially obscured. Raoh makes a formal first appearance later in chapter 61 (episode 43 of the anime adaptation)

Character overview[]

Childhood[]

Raoh was orphaned at a young age after his mother died in a fire. After being sent away from the Land of Asura as a boy by Jūkei, Raoh and Toki were adopted by Ryūken. Raoh trained hard under Ryūken, filled with desire to become the strongest. But this desire burned out of control. He asked his brother that should he ever go too far, that he take him out.

Fist of the North Star[]

Etertyy

Raoh is the eldest of the four adopted children trained by Ryuken, the previous Hokuto Shinken master. The manga and anime gives two different origins through the course of the story. In his fist origin, Raoh and his biological younger brother Toki, were adopted by Ryuken after their real parents died. A second origin shows that a young Raoh and Toki, along with an infant Kenshiro, were actually refugees who were sent to the "Eastern Land" to be trained in the art of Hokuto Shinken by Ryuken.

Raoh trained under Ryuken along with Toki and Kenshiro, as well as another student named Jagi. In spite of his ambitions to become the greatest martial artist in the world, Raoh lost the rights to the Hokuto Shinken succession to Kenshiro. Refusing to give up the style, Raoh killed his sifu Ryuken in combat and formed his own army, taking the name of Ken-oh, King of Fist. Among his many subordinates includes his adoptive brother Jagi, the Toki impersonator Amiba, Uighur the Warden of Cassandra Dungeon, Juda of Nanto Seiken, and Ryuga of the Star of Sirius, among others. Raoh also begins to ride a large black stallion named Koku-oh (Black King).

Raoh first appears in the story after Kenshiro and his allies destroys Cassandra. Raoh and his army begin to occupy Mamiya's home village afterward. Rei is the first warrior to challenge him, but he proves to be no match against Raoh and is defeated. He is then challenged by both, Ken and Toki, and managed to thwart both. In the end, Raoh fights Ken again and the battle between the two men end in a stalemate, with both too wounded to continue fighting

After Souther's defeat, Raoh re-emerges to resume his "conquest of the heavens". He gauges the extent of his recovery by challenging Koryu, Ryuken's former rival for the Hokuto Shinken succession and defeats him. Raoh then challenges his brother Toki to a fight and defeats him, but spares his life out of sympathy due to the fact that Toki was already dying from a terminal disease.

Raoh is later fights by the warriors of the Five Chariots, who challenge Raoh on behalf of the Last General of Nanto Seiken. When Raoh discovers that the Last General is actually Yuria, he rushes to the Capital of Nanto to capture her only to be confronted by Kenshiro, who has now mastered the ultimate Hokuto Shinken technique of Musō Tensei, the Unconscious Transmigration of Souls. Raoh manages to escape from Ken and takes Yuria captive with him.

Vowing to overcome the fear he felt fighting Kenshiro, Raoh decides to challenge Fudoh of the Mountains, the first person who ever made him feel fear. During his confrontation with Fudoh, Raoh learns that the only way he can ever learn Musō Tensei is to experience true sorrow. Raoh decides to take Yuria's life to achieve, only to learn that she is already dying from a terminal illness as well. Feeling sympathy for her fate, Raoh is able to master Musō Tensei as well. Raoh challenges Kenshiro to a final battle at the Hokuto Renkitōza, the North Star Mind and Body Training Ground. The two brothers engage in a long grueling battle, in which Kenshiro emerges as the ultimate victor. Raoh praises the strength Ken gained from fighting against other rivals before he uses his remaining life energy to the heavens and restore light to the world.

Raoh's presence figures prominently in the story arcs following his death, as his influences is felt on other characters introduced afterward such as Falco and Akashachi. In the Land of Asura, Raoh was worshiped as a hero by the villagers, who saw him as their only hope against the corrupt ruler Kaioh, who is in fact Raoh and Toki's biological elder brother. The final chapters of the manga reveals that Raoh has left behind a son named Ryu.

The Legends of the True Savior[]

Raoh plays prominent role in The Legends of the True Savior movie series, in which he is the central character in two films. The first film, Legend of Raoh - Chapter of Love in Death, is set during the Souther story arc and introduces the siblings Reina and Souga, two childhood friends from the Land of Asura who later helped formed his army. Souga, who is dying of a terminal illness, allows himself to be killed by a Raoh in a ruse to boost his army's morale and dissuade them from revolting. Later Reina leads her troops against Souther's army, but is injured when she saves an infant's life from the crossfire. Raoh saves Reina's life by striking a pressure point and entrusts her to Toki, leaving with her the pendant she gave to Raoh when he left the Land of Asura as a child.

The second film, Legend of Raoh - Chapter of Fierce Fighting, retells Raoh's final battle with Ken from his perspective. Before the final battle, Raoh kills some of the more power-hungry members of his army, including his sycophantic informer Giraku, to ensure that his army would not be corrupted if he dies fighting Ken. After the final battle, his remains are received by Reina, which she takes back to Raoh's homeland, the Land of Asura.

Legends of the Dark Kings[]

Haohken


The manga "Legends of the Dark Kings" tells Raoh's path to conquest prior to the events of Fist of the North Star.

Legends of the Dark Kings focuses on how Raoh formed his army of minions with the help of his childhood friends Reina and Souga in his attempt to conquer the world following the nuclear war, he conquers the Dungeon City of Cassandra, takes over a rival warlord's castle as his own, and tames Kokuoh-Go to become his steed.


Voice actors[]

In the TV series and 1986 movie, Raoh was voiced by Kenji Utsumi, although the character was originally voiced by Norio Wakamoto in his silhouetted appearance in episode 32. Nobuo Tobita voiced the child aged Raoh in flashbacks. In Streamline Pictures' English dub of the 1986 movie, Raoh was voiced Wally Burr.

Raoh was voiced by Tesshō Genda in the 2006 CG animated short film Hokuto no Ken: Legend of Heroes. In the Shin Kyūseishu Densetsu movie series, Raoh is voiced Takashi Ukaji and as a child by Shigeru Shibuya. Ukaji reprised the role for the anime version of Ten no Haoh.

In culture[]

To promote the theatrical release of Raoh Den Gekitō no Shō (an animated retelling of Kenshiro's final battle with Raoh), the producers of the film conducted a mock funeral service that was held at the Koyasan Tokyo Betsuin on April 18, 2007. A recording of the funeral service was included as a bonus feature in the Japanese DVD release of the film.

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