Faust VIII
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Johann Faust VIII (ファウストVIII世 Fausuto hassei) is a fictional character of the anime and manga series Shaman King.Hailing from Germany, Johann Faust VIII is the eighth-generation descendant of the legendary Doctor Faustus. His ancestor is the main character of the renowned German tale, "The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus", as the man who was so consumed by lust for knowledge, he made a deal with the devil to gain them, and more. For with necromancy skills, the Devil (more commonly known as Mephistopheles in Faust literature) also granted Faustus youth and riches. In the end, Faustus died a terrible death when Mephistopheles came to claim his soul born 1962.
In Shaman King, his descendant; Faust VIII, has inherited both Faustus's power and insanity. Faust VIII had an isolated childhood and studied to become a doctor in order to save his only childhood companion Eliza from a deadly disease. He found a cure and she recovered, and the couple then opened a clinic and lived a happy life until Eliza was murdered. Devastated by the loss, he was driven to the verge of insanity and began to study necromancy, the same black magic Faust I had used, in order to have at least a form of her to be with. He competes in the Shaman King tournament in hopes of fully reviving her. He defeats Yoh in the preliminary fights (as well as both his other opponents), and later joins Yoh and Ryu on the team Funbari Onsen.
He also has the skeleton of Eliza chained to his arm. He charges her with mana in order to allow her to fight.
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[edit] Personality
He is usually a very detailed and patient person with a scientific mind, but when it comes to Eliza all that goes out the window. He does not tolerate interruptions while working (an example was having Eliza keep the X-Laws at bay, while he attempted to help Jeanne), and tolerates even less any criticism, insults or threats directed at Eliza.
Faust is the embodiment of dedication; he has given up everything for his wife and is willing to do anything, no matter the costs to protect and take care of her. It's this single-mindedness and selflessness that gives him his great strength in the Shaman Fight. Beyond all the mental instability, emotional suffering and somewhat gothic moods, his greatest strength comes from his pure heart; pure because he knows that he only lives to love and protect his dear Eliza.
Faust is an insane but incredibly brilliant medical doctor who delights in saving lives. Naturally, his work reveals facets of his personality. He cures his opponents' son after their shaman fight, an illness that many doctors have given up on previously. This is because Faust had devoted much of his time to seeking cures for illnesses when he tried to bring Eliza back to life. He treats Jeanne of the X-laws with a zeal that nears madness. Even Manta is terrified of Faust after he treats him.
[edit] History
Faust, like his family, wanted nothing to do with his ancestor's black magic. When he was young, he met a girl named Eliza who was a patient of his father's but had an incurable illness. Faust worked to his greatest potential to become a doctor and find a cure for Eliza. He succeeded, becoming a master of the medical field and Eliza was cured. They fell in love and were married, and ran their own medical clinic.
Faust got a beautiful mansion near the seaside, and it seemed that his life with Eliza could not be more perfect. Unfortunately, one day while Faust VIII was out in town, a burglar broke into his house where Eliza was home alone. The criminal shot her in the forehead, instantly killing her. Faust arrived at home and saw this horrible scene, and tried all of his medical skills to save Eliza, to no effect.
He became obsessed with bringing her back to life, and thus delved into the ancient practice of necromancy (boneyard sorcery in the English dub). For eight years Faust worked in his arts, never sleeping at all, which is why he has dark shadows under his eyes and purple lips. He enters the Shaman Fight in order to become Shaman King and use the power to resurrect Eliza.
[edit] Eliza
Eliza is Faust's first, only, and one true love. She was ill with a fatal disease since her childhood. As the only woman to care for Faust VIII he in return slaved over his studies to find a cure for her. After her recovery, they married and opened a clinic. She and Faust were very happy living together... until their house was broken into and the burglar, armed with a gun, shot Eliza dead. Now she serves as Faust's main spirit as he works to become Shaman King and revive her. As Faust grows stronger, she becomes more lifelike. Though she has only one line in the anime, ('I will fight with you to the ends of the earth, my love'), she obviously loves and cares for Faust with all her heart.
[edit] Story
Yoh Asakura and Faust VIII first meet in a cemetery of Chocohama where they are to be opponents for the Shaman Fight. Arguably one of the most dangerous shamans ever, stories hinting of Faust's power have already rippled throughout in the rumours of priests who have come to referee the ongoing Shaman Fights. One of the priests, Silva, tries vainly to persuade Anna into making Yoh forfeit the match. He fears for Yoh's life, because Faust had proven himself merciless. He killed his first opponent and seriously injured the priest who intervened to stop the match. This match's field, moreover, is obviously in any Necromancer's favour, for it is a graveyard. This is a great advantage to a shaman like Faust. However, Anna adamantly turns down Silva's request, insisting Yoh will fight well.
When Anna and priest Silva arrive to watch the match, they are stunned to find out the fight has already begun. Faust using a relic has summoned an army of skeletons to attack his enemy Yoh. He has also chained Manta to a cross and carried out scientific experiments on the boy (in the manga, Faust actually vivisects him and conducts experiments on him). Faust then concentrates spiritual power around his hands and gropes around inside Manta's torso claiming to be "experimenting". Faust's actions trigger Yoh's rage. The younger shaman tries to break free of Faust's skeleton army, and succeeds, although doing so has depleted his furyoku (mana) greatly.
Throughout the fight, as the horrific truth is revealed, Faust used less than one percent of his furyoku/mana. The reason is given by Priest Silva that Faust uses very little energy to animate the skeletons. While Faust is still in mint condition for the match, Yoh has become extremely battle-weary, his energy used up, and his furyoku burning down to just a small flame of energy above the hilt of his sword. To finish Yoh off, Faust's true chosen spirit finally emerges as Faust transfers his attention to creating Eliza's form on her skeleton. Yoh gets Faust VIII enraged by mocking Faust's plan to resurrect Eliza, calling her a 'doll' because she has no will of her own. This enrages Faust to a horrific level so that he appears an insane man. He makes Eliza beat Yoh relentlessly. A weary Yoh has little energy left to hold his ground against Eliza's slashing scythe, and when three of his ribs break, Yoh can not fight any more and is eventually defeated. The match concludes with Faust's victory.
Tao Ren (Len) arrives to prevent Faust VIII from killing Yoh out of pure, blind rage with his bone yard giant.
Faust VIII does not appear again until he is shown at the airport appealing for Anna's help (after terrorizing Manta unintentionally due to the two's first encounter). As a traditional itako, Anna has the ability to call a spirit from any other place in the world to her presence, even if the spirit has reincarnated or departed for heaven. Anna agrees to help Faust completely revive Eliza and in return, Faust gives his loyalty to Anna and Yoh. He joins team Funbari Onsen along with Yoh and Ryu. Later, he christens his big oversoul "Mephisto E" ("E" from the initial of Eliza's name), a reference to the original Faust legend. However, he does apologize to Eliza every time he must put her in harm's way.
[edit] Abilities/Techniques
To animate the corpses, he uses the skill Bone Dead Reborn to make nearby spirits inhabit the buried skeletons, which he will raise. The animated skeletons become a formidable host of monsters that listen to his commands. Because Faust specializes in the study of the undead (Necromancy), he can do this with only minimal furyoku.
Possessing the stoutness of bones, his skeletons have a powerful grip. Even his opponent Asakura Yoh cannot break free of the grip until a surge of pure desperation gives him barely enough strength to escape.
In addition to his Necromancy, Faust can use the traditional Oversoul technique that all shamans may utilize. That is joining forces with a familiar that draws furyoku from the shaman themselves. As if emphasizing Faust's embodiment of death, his familiar is the skeleton of his deceased wife. Here, Skeleton Eliza is neither more powerful nor weaker than other shaman spirits, although Silva hints that Faust's chosen familiar is weaker than Yoh's Amidamaru.
In the manga, one of the things Faust can do with his power is cage his shaman opponent in a bone cage. He can also create a giant skeleton that he calls "A 20-Ton Calcium Giant".
In the manga, Faust as a master of the medical arts allows himself to patch up the damages his opponent inflicts on his body. He can do (often painful) things no normal doctor can do to themselves due to the fact he is a heavy user of morphine. Faust often takes morphine before fights, so for any damage done to him, he will be able to repair them without the hindrance of pain. One instance of this was when Yoh broke his leg during their fight, and instead of letting the bone heal on its own, Faust tore the broken bone right out of his leg and had Eliza bring him another similar in size. Afterwards, Faust replaced his missing bone, able to stand within minutes. A second instance was when the shamans were dropped out of a plane to be tested on how they would survive the great fall. Faust passed by Horohoro, just laughing that he was so injected with morphine, he would not die from the impact. He would just let himself fall, stitch himself back up, and be on his merry way. The use of morphine for pain nullification is not mentioned in the American anime.
[edit] Trivia
- When Eliza was killed, the family dog was killed as well. After turning to necromancy, Faust went to revive his dog along with Eliza, affectionately naming it Frankenstiney.
- Amidamaru once said Faust reeked of death.
- In the manga, Faust removes his legs from the knees down and gives them to Eliza after Yoh destroys them, making him use a wheelchair to move around. In the anime, both of his legs are perfectly fine as well as Eliza's.
- In the manga, Yoh managed to cut through Eliza's knees. From the knee down, the bones were rendered useless. In an act that shows just how devoted he is, Faust actually replaces the missing portions of Eliza's legs with his own, confining him into a wheelchair. After teaming up with Yoh and Ryu for the Funbari Onsen team and before fighting with them against the Icemen in the Shaman tournament battles, Faust learns to oversoul Frankensteiny into new legs.
- Faust has a four leaf clover in his hat.
- Faust's seiyuu in the Japanese version is Takehito Koyasu.
- Faust's original intention was taking his own life before meeting with Anna before the Shaman Fight, as he felt he could never be able to see Eliza again.
| Shaman King |
|---|
| Techniques |
| Over Soul (Spirit Control)| Giant Over Soul (Giant Spirit Control) |Techniques of Shaman King |
| 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 |
