Libra Dohko
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| Libra Dohko | |
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| Saint Seiya character | |
 Libra Dohko, in a screenshot from the anime adaptation. |
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| First appearance | manga: chapter 12, vol.3 (as Rōshi) manga: chapter 28, vol.8 (Gold Saint status revealed) Anime: ep.4 (as Rōshi) Anime: ep.39 (Gold Saint status revealed) manga: chapter 72, vol.20 (as young Dohko) Anime: ep.120 (as young Dohko) |
| Created by | Masami Kurumada |
| Voiced by | Kōji Yada (Rōshi) Michitaka Kobayashi (TV) Kenyū Horiuchi (OVA) |
| Profile | |
| Age | Biologically 18 (Chronologically 261) |
| Gender | Male |
| Date of birth | October 20 |
| Nationality | China |
| Class | Athena Libra Gold Saint |
| Training | China (Lushan) |
Libra Dohko (天秤座の童虎 Raibura no Dōko?, Dōko meaning "young tiger") is a fictional character in the manga Saint Seiya, authored by mangaka Masami Kurumada, that was later adapted to anime. He is one of the oldest characters in the manga next to Aries Shion, as they both appear in the previous Holy War, and is most known by his role as Dragon Shiryu's mentor. He is also referred to as Old Master (老師 rōshi?) by all of the Saints of Athena as a sign of respect, even though his only true student is Shiryu. Many fans mistakenly believe it was not until the Hades arc of the manga that his true name was revealed by Shion, but Masami Kurumada had revealed it long before, as it can be found in promotional items, such as playing cards[1]. He even revealed Dohko's young form silhouette in one of the cards[1].
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[edit] Personality and background
Main articles:
Dohko is one of the two survivors of the last generation of Athena Saints along with Aries Shion who is a close friend of him. After the war, Dohko received the order to watch the tower where Hades' Specters were sealed until the next Holy War. Dohko lives at the Five Peaks in China alone with Shun-Rei, an orphan girl he took on his care. Dohko is also the master of Dragon Shiryu and Ohko, who is an anime-only character. Dohko represents a father figure to Shiryu as well, and Shiryu often recalls on his wise teachings whenever facing difficulty in battle. He is often seen as an adviser of the main characters and a good friend of Aries Mu, Shion's disciple. When Dohko was young, he was much more vivid and rather impulsive. After regaining his young form during the Hades arc, he retains the behavior of his youth, albeit much more circumspect and mindful, result of his almost three centuries of experience as a Saint.
[edit] Plot overview
At the beginning of the Holy War in 1747 the young Dohko is promoted from a Bronze saint to the Gold saint of Libra. As he became one of the survivors of the ancient Hades War, after the war, Shion was assigned to be the pope of the Sanctuary while Dohko was assigned to guard the seal of Hades. (see Suspended animation ) Dohko on the other hand received a miraculous ability known as Misopetha-Menos, a way to preserve youth indefinitely. As a normal person has about 100,000 heartbeats per day, Dohko has about 100,000 heartbeats per year with the help of the Misopetha-Menos. Relatively speaking, the 243 years is a mere 243 days for Dohko. This enabled Dohko to live a long life, shrunk from his normal average human size to the one of an old purple man. The condition was that Dohko must stay in the Mount Lu as a watchguard. As the time Hades will be unsealed, Dohko can be prepared to fight off Hades and his Spectres with his youthful body. This divine gift is a secret that even Shion, the former Pope, was unaware of. It is also for this reason that he is exempted from mandatory meetings in the Sanctuary.
[edit] The Sanctuary arc
Dohko is Dragon Shiryu's Teacher, but Shiryu didn't know about Dohko's past, until Cancer Deathmask came to Mount Lu in an attempt to take the Libra Gold Cloth from him, revealing that he is one of the 12 Gold Saints of Sanctuary. It was implied that Dohko distanced himself from Sanctuary due to his suspicion that his old friend Aries Shion, the Pope of the Sanctuary, has been replaced. During the incoming fight, Dohko wasn't able to help directly the Bronze Saints, but sent his Gold Cloth to Shiryu so he could free Cygnus Hyoga from Aquarius Camus' Freezing Coffin. He also saved Shunrei from drowning when Cancer Deathmask struck her with a telekinetic attack as a gesture to taunt Shiryu.
[edit] The Asgard and Poseidon arcs
During Athena's departure from Sanctuary, Dohko, acting as the highest command aside from Athena and the Pope, ordered all of the Gold Saints to remain in Sanctuary to prepare for a greater battle that is ahead. However, his spiritual guidance has helped Shiryu overcome many enemies, especially against Megrez Delta Alberich, in the anime-only Asgard saga. To aid the Bronze Saints in the battle against Poseidon, he also ordered Kiki to deliver the Libra Gold Cloth to them, which helped them destroy the Pillars of the Seven Oceans.
[edit] The Hades arc
His most prominent appearance is in the Hades chapter, when he felt that the Hades seal finally broke, so he goes to the Sanctuary to fight against Hades, and then turns on the fire clock. Hades revives some dead Saints, including Aries Shion, the former pope. Shion and Dokho meet again, and eventually the two fight. During the fight Dohko attempts to use his supreme attack, the Mount Lu One Hundred Dragons Wave to defeat Shion, but it failed to defeat him. Shion stated that Dohko, being 243 years older, could not possibly stand a chance against him, having his youth restored by Hades. He proceeds to defeat Dohko, but then Dohko breaks the power of longevity and turns back to his original young form to be able to fight properly, and is now evenly matched with his former friend. Later on, it would be Dohko who tells the Bronze Saints (except for Seiya and Ikki) before they entered Hell that they had to acquire the Eighth Sense in order to advance in this realm without losing their lives.
His final appearance was along with his fellow Gold Saints to break the Wailing Wall, as only the combined powers of the Twelve Gold Saints can break the wall. Upon the gathering of the combined powers of the 12 Gold Saints, the Wall of Lament was destroyed and opened the gateway to Elysion, but doing so cost the lives of all of the Gold Saints.
[edit] Power and abilities
As a Gold Saint, Dohko has mastered the 7th sense, giving him great strength and the ability to move at the speed of light. He also achieved the 8th sense so he could go to the Tartarus.
Dohko has shown some telekinetic abilities as well as telepathy. Although he only showed a few techniques during the story, it is implied that he can use all the techniques that Dragon Shiryu can (except Excalibur), since he taught him those techniques. Even so, the only techniques he has officially performed to date are:
- Rozan Hyakuryu Ha : Mount Lu One Hundred Dragons Force (廬山百龍覇 Rozanhyakuryūha?): Dohko's ultimate attack. It takes the form of one hundred dragons.
- Note: in the Anime-only Asgard arc, he was shown use the Shoryuha in a flashback to his youth. As the Asgard arc doesn't exist in Kurumada's manga, Dohko's appearance in it differs from Kurumada's official design.
- Misopheta-menos: A gift from Athena herself. It slows down Dohko's metabolism in order to extend his life span for various generations.
Dohko's armor, the Gold Libra Cloth, contains 6 pairs of weapons to be used by the Gold Saints. Despite this, those weapons should not be used freely and it is up to the Libra Gold Saint to determine when they are needed. The weapons of Libra are 2 Swords, 2 Tong-Fas, 2 Lances, 2 Nunchakus, 2 Three-section staves and 2 Shields attached with chains.
[edit] Other media
In the Heaven Arc Prologue his soul is sealed with the other Gold Saints when they talk to the gods and say they always be loyal to Athena. Although being sealed he would encourage Phoenix Ikki and Andromeda Shun to fight against the angel of Artemis.
Dohko also appears in Saint Seiya Episode G, but to date he has not a prominent role. In the games for PS2 Dohko is an available character and he can use the same techniques of his pupil Shiryu.
[edit] Cloth, constellation and Temple
Dohko's guardian constellation is Libra, and his Gold Cloth represents it and its associated myth : The scales held by the goddess of justice Astraea . The temple he once guarded was known both in manga and the anime adaptation as TenBinKyuu, the "Temple of the Scales."
As Masami Kurumada revealed in his sidestory prequel Saint Seiya Next Dimension, Dohko was originally a Bronze Saint and was awarded the Gold Saint status and the Libra constellation later. Thus, the original guardian constellation Dohko bore is yet to be revealed. He is also one of the main characters in the Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas sidestory prequel. Since the two prequel exclude each other, which one is canon is unknown.
Unlike most of the Saints, none of the attacks he uses takes the form of his constellation, but instead take on the form of a dragon, similar to Shiryu. Even more unusual is that his symbolic creature, seen when his draws his full power, is neither the Libra nor a dragon, but a tiger.
Masami Kurumada used in his manga the chinese concept of the duality of the tiger and dragon, in his characters Dohko and Shiryu. That's the reason for tiger and dragon images that appear on their backs when they burn their Cosmo.
[edit] Notes
- Masami Kurumada took some creative liberty when designing the Libra Gold Cloth, as it includes weapons that did not exist in the time of the ancient Greeks. The swords, shields and the spears were commonplace in Greece. The tongfas, nunchaku and the three-section staves originated in Asia, specifically Japan and China, a long time after Hellenic civilization had decayed, and thus were unknown to the ancient Greeks. As Kurumada has practiced martial arts since his youth, these Asian weapons mark an instance where the influence this has exerted in his various works is evident, as related elements and techniques can be found throughout them.
- In some translations of Kurumada's manga, the chinese reading of the kanji that form Dohko's name, Tóng-Hǔ, is used instead of the japanese reading, to relate the character to his country of origin. The meaning of the name remains the same in both languages.
- Also, Masami Kurumada added the tiger-dragon duality motif to the Libra Gold Cloth. The helmet of the Libra Gold Cloth closely resembles a tiger's head when the Cloth is not being worn (shaped in the style of Chinese and Japanese tigers found in old paintings).
- In the anime adaptation, Dohko's black hair color was modified to violet red, to generate a better color balance and contrast.
- In a set of playing cards released during the late 80's, Dohko's name appears clearly in japanese as "五老峰の老師 童虎" (Gorōhō no Rōshi Dohko, "Dohko, the old master of the Five Ancient Peaks"). This set of playing cards was released even before Kurumada had started writing and drawing the Poseidon arc in his manga, and was released before the premiere of the first Saint Seiya movie, after its premiere, new cards were added to the set. Also in the Chinese Mandarin version of saint Seiya revealed his name when Camus told Hyoga the temple they were at during their first confrontation and it guardian.
Dohko's young form revealed by Kurumada long before the Hades arc: Young Dohko appears in the card in silhouette form. The text "天秤座の老師" (Tenbinza no Rōshi, "Libra Old Master") can be read in the left corner.
[edit] See also
- Suspended animation - slowing of life processes by external means without termination.
[edit] References
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