Tao Yúan
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- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Tao
Tao Yúan (道円, "Tao En" in Japanese, Dào Yúan in mandarin Chinese) is a fictional character in the Shaman King manga series.
Tao Yúan is a giant man who is both sadistic and malevolent. He is the father of Tao Ren (Len in the English anime) and Tao Jun.
Yúan is first seen during the flash back sequences of Ren and Lee Bailong, both times in shadow. His first true appearance is in volume 7, when Ren and Yoh Asakura fight for the last spot in the Shaman Fight.
He is so large he treats a panda as the obligatory bad guy's pet. Yúan crushes the panda's head with his bare hands and later turns into one of his hundreds of jiang-si. Yúan proves to be in basic terms, insane. When Jun questions his actions relating to Ren, also asking him to set Ren free, he laughs and proceeds to "punish" her by sealing her in a dungeon for the ten days it takes Ren to return home after his fight with Yoh.
To meet Ren, Yúan creates an army of Jiang-Si from freshly killed corpses which Ren disposes of with little difficulty. When Ren and Yúan face off Ren cannot wound his father even with the Golden Vorpal Dance. Yúan then defeats Ren with one strike.
When Yoh and company face him they repeatedly attack him and wound him fatally, i.e. Horohoro (Trey Racer) and "Wooden Sword" Ryu (Rio) slicing off his arms, and Bailong giving him an impaling kick to the head. Ren even does a full on attack tearing Yúan literally to pieces.
After several bouts that leave the rescuing team of Yoh, Ryu, Horohoro, and Bailong defeated Ren admits that he is weak when faced with his father’s doctrine. Even through that Ren does not waver and stands by his friends as they recover.
Yúan becomes frantic at their unity and attacks Ren one final time, but his arm passes through Ren. It is revealed that the Yúan is not a giant (which is really his Over Soul), but actually an older greatly mustachioed looking man very similar to Ren. He then reveals his obsession with the family doctrine is because he must bare the weight of two thousand years of Tao family souls (in a type of mortuary tablet armor). He then reveals his second Over soul, an oriental dragon with a head similar to his first Over Soul.
Ren defeats his father and they have a small moment of revelation as Yuan passes him the Thunder Sword.
| Shaman King |
|---|
| Techniques |
| Over Soul (Spirit Control)| Giant Over Soul (Giant Spirit Control) |Double Medium | Spirit Reduction |
| Characters |
| Asakura Family:Yoh Asakura | Anna Kyōyama | Kino Asakura | Yohmei Asakura | Hana Asakura | Yohken Asakura |
| Allies/Teammates: Horohoro (Trey Racer) | Manta Oyamada (Morty) | Chocolove McDaniel (Joco) | Faust VIII | "Wooden Sword" Ryu (Rio) | Tamao Tamamura (Tamara) |
| Spirits: Amidamaru | Bason | Lee Bailong | Tokagero |
| Native American Shamans: Silva | Kalim |
| Tao Family: Tao Jun (Jun) | Tao Ren (Len) | Tao Yúan (En) |
| X-Laws: Iron Maiden Jeanne | Lyserg Diethel | Marco |
| Enemies: Hao Asakura (Zeke) | The Hanagumi | Opacho |
