Libra Dohko (天秤座の童虎 Raibura no Dōko?) 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.
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.
Plot overview[]
Dohko, with his 18 years old appearance, in a panel from the manga, in vol 20. Drawing by the author Masami Kurumada
The Holy war of 1747[]
At the beginning of the Holy War in 1747 the young Dohko is promoted from a Bronze saint to the Gold saint of Libra.[1]
Libra Dohko
He, along with Aries Shion, went off to destroy Hades' vessel, Alone, to stop the war from taking place. But due to the intervention of Pegasus Tenma, he got away.[2][3] After a struggle with Tenma, he set off after Alone but what they found was Tenma being badly beaten by Specters, and Hades' Castle looming in the distance.[4] The two Saints defeat the small group of Specters and start asking Tenma some questions about who he is and who trained him.[5][6][7][8] He reveals that his master went by the name of Crateris Suikyō, which shocks the Gold Saints since they knew him from when they trained in the Sanctuary. Suddenly a Specter appears: Gryphon Vermeer of the Celestial Nobility Star. As Tenma is easily overpowered by Vermeer, it's up to Shion and Dohko to deal with the Specter. Yet due to the influence of Hades' barrier, the Specter easily overpowers them and traps them in his Cosmic Marionettion. Soon Tenma follows, and as they are hanging there, the Specter of Garuda appears which Dohko recognizes as his old friend Suikyō.[9][10] As the two Specters eventually becomes summoned to Hades' castle, leaving the saints to die. Tenma's horse Pegasus appears and has in the second barrel with him the Crateris Silver Cloth. Which Dohko and Shion pour water in and gets healed by. [11][12]
Aftermath[]
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.
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 the Bronze Saints directly , 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.
The Asgard and Poseidon arcs[]
Aged Libra Dohko
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.
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.
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 using 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 Tonfa, 2 Lances, 2 Nunchaku, 2 Sansetsukon and 2 Shields.
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.
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.
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 tonfas, 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.
- 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 auburn. In The Lost Canvas, Dohko's hair is brown.
See also[]
- Suspended animation - slowing of life processes by external means without termination.
References[]
- ↑ Shōnen Champion #36+37 2006
- ↑ Shōnen Champion #38 2006
- ↑ Shōnen Champion #43 2006
- ↑ Shōnen Champion #49 2006
- ↑ Shōnen Champion #50 2006
- ↑ Shōnen Champion #51 2006
- ↑ Shōnen Champion #4+5 2007
- ↑ Shōnen Champion #6 2007
- ↑ Shōnen Champion #36+37 2007
- ↑ Shōnen Champion #38 2007
- ↑ Shōnen Champion #1 2008
- ↑ Shōnen Champion #8 2008
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