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| “ | As long as we fight, we win. Such are the Gods. | „ |
| ~ Zeus explains to Buddha why he wants to win the Ragnarok Tournament. |
The Gods Fighters (in Japanese: 戦士の神々, Senshi no Kamigami) are the main antagonists of the manga/anime series Record of Ragnarok and the overarching antagonists of its manga spin-off Record of Ragnarok Forbidden Legend - Apocalypse of The Gods.
They are thirteen fighters (whose number increased during the Tournament) chosen by the Gods to fight against the Einherjar, the representatives of Humans, in Ragnarok, whose objective is to win Ragnarok and destroy Humanity. Among them are the mightiest fighters of the Gods' Council.
Overview[]
Following a Gods' Council, the Gods decide to exterminate Humanity after 7 million years of life. However, Brunhilde takes the side of the Humans and prompts the beginning of the Ragnarok Tournament: a series of thirteen one-on-one challenges between Humans and Gods, in which in each match they fight to the death and the first faction to reach seven victories is declared the winner of the competition.
The Gods, seeing the suggestion useless, refuse to take part in it, saying it would only be a waste of time. Brunhilde then taunts them, suggesting that perhaps they are afraid to fight against Humans. This insinuation angers the Gods, who thus decide to accept the Ragnarok Tournament.
To win the Ragnarok Tournament, Zeus chooses twelve of the mightiest Gods (Poseidon, Heracles, Apollo, Odin, Thor, Loki, Buddha, Bishamonten, Shiva, Beelzebub, Anubis and Susano’o no Mikoto) to battle against Humanity's greatest warriors, and establishes the Apocalypse Tournament among 16 Gods to decide the thirteenth and final representative of the Gods Fighters (even if in the end that place is taken by Zeus, who does not participate in the Apocalypse Tournament).
If the Gods win Humanity will be exterminated, if instead the Gods are defeated they will have to allow Humans to live for another thousand years.
Plot[]
Following the proclamation of Ragnarok, the Tournament begins and Thor fights in the First Round representing the Gods against Lü Bu representing the Humans. Thor wins the match quite easily, and this gasses the Gods even more, especially because of the Völundr: a technique with which Humans obtain Divine Weapons after joining the Valkyries and thanks to which they can defeat and kill the Gods.
In the Second Round they decide to deploy Shiva to fight against Adam. However, Zeus forces Shiva to give him his place and it is he who fights against Adam in the Second Round, reporting the victory but coming close to defeat, which leaves the Gods astonished. In the Third Round to fight for the Gods is Poseidon, who fights against Kojiro Sasaki and is defeated and killed by the opponent: for the first time in history a Man has managed to kill a God.
This thing throws the Gods into total shock and makes them understand that Humans are really strong, but they still decide not to back down and, when Shiva still proposes to fight in the Fourth Round, Zeus anticipates him arguing that it is up to the Greek Gods to avenge Poseidon. Heracles is chosen to represent the Gods in the Fourth Round, but the God specifies that he is against the extermination of Humanity and that, after winning the Round, he will convince the Gods to spare the Humanity. Eventually Heracles is defeated by Jack the Ripper and the situation returns to a level playing field, which angers Zeus and Loki who don't want Mankind to gain the upper hand.
While Shiva represents the Gods in the Fifth Round against Raiden Tameemon, Loki suspects that Buddha, who is supposed to represent the Gods in Ragnarok, is a traitor and attacks him together with the Seven Lucky Gods, but the fight (during which Kojiro Sasaki, Soji Okita and Isami Kondo intervened in Buddha's favor) was stopped by Zeus and Odin. Shiva wins the Fifth Round and changes his mind about Humanity, starting to think it magnificent. Soon after, Zeus chooses Buddha to represent the Gods in the Sixth Round, explaining to him that he wants to win Ragnarok because the Gods "if fight, they win".
However, at the beginning of the Round Buddha decides to fight on behalf of the Humans which angers the Gods who accuse him of treason. At that point Bishamonten of the Seven Lucky Gods decides to represent the Gods, with all 7 Gods reuniting as Zerofuku. The battle is won by Buddha who manages to purify Zerofuku, but immediately afterwards the latter is possessed and consumed by Hajun, a Demon that Beelzebub inserted into his body centuries before, which takes his place in battle. Eventually Buddha manages to defeat and kill Hajun, though Zerofuku and the Seven Lucky Gods die in the process.
With the score tied again Hermes suggests to Ares to replace Buddha as Gods Fighters, but before he can do so Hades, arrived in Valhalla during the clash of Buddha, decides to take his place in the Gods Fighters to avenge the death of Poseidon and faces Qin Shi Huang in the Seventh Round: The match is won by Qin Shi Huang, giving the Humans the lead in scoring for the first time. With some Gods who are still strongly convinced of wanting to destroy Humanity, Beelzebub decides to represent the Gods in the Eighth Round to avenge Hades and exterminate Humanity: he faces Nikola Tesla in representation of the Humans and manages to defeat and kill him by bringing the score back to a tie, although, hearing how the Gods changed their minds about him after his victory and now respect him, he convinces himself that he, the Humans and the Gods are not so different after all.
For the Ninth Round Zeus decides to have Apollo fight for the Gods Fighters: initially the Sun God does not seem interested in Ragnarok, but decides to accept after learning of the deaths of Poseidon, Heracles and Hades. Apollo, representing the Gods, faces Leonidas, representing Humans, who hates him deeply because he holds him unjustly responsible for the almost conquest of Greece by the Persians because of the Carneia Festival. Ultimately, Apollo manages to defeat and kill his opponent, who ends up forgiving him during the fight, deciding not to heal the wound he suffered on his face during the fight as proof of the fact that he gave his all in the fight. Apollo then, tired and injured, is taken to the infirmary by Python.
With a score of 5-4 for the Gods back in the lead, all the remaining Gods Fighters participate in a meeting in which it is decided to quickly obtain the last two victories that the Gods need to win the Ragnarok Tournament, and Anubis volunteers to fight in the Tenth Round (as planned from the beginning), however Susano'o no Mikoto decides to replace him and fight in the Tenth Round as he is interested in facing Soji Okita, the representative of the Humans in the Tenth Round.
Shortly before the start of the Tenth Round, Loki tries in vain to negotiate with Brunhilde the safety of the Valkyrie if the Gods win the Ragnarok Tournament, given that Odin intends to kill her once the competition is over. Meanwhile, Buddha questions Odin about why he trapped Siegfried in Tartarus and his connection to the Ragnarok Tournament, but Odin attacks him and Buddha is saved by Beelzebub, who reveals that Odin's wish is to resurrect the Primordial Gods by sacrificing his body. Odin is not scared and attacks both, but Thor intervenes to argue that the field should decide who lives and who dies, and that he would not allow them to dishonor the dead in the Ragnarok Tournament with fights outside the ring. The subsequent intervention of Sakata Kintoki and Adamas makes Odin give up, who retreats with Thor and Huginn & Muninn, and immediately afterwards Beelzebub reveals to Buddha that it was he who inserted Hajun inside Zerofuku hoping that he would kill him, but Buddha reveals that he does not hate him because if he did so he would betray Zerofuku's trust.
Susano'o chooses Kyoto at the end of the Edo Period as the ring for the Tenth Round, as a fan of the Bakumatsu era where Humans were able to bring the art of the sword he created to its peak, and reveals that he wanted to challenge Okita because he is the leading exponent of that pinnacle. Susano'o no Mikoto then fights in the Tenth Round, representing the Gods, against Soji Okita, representing Humans, and in the end, despite managing to reach the peak of the swordsmen during the match, Susano'o is defeated and killed by Okita, even though he claims to have shown off the art he loves so much, thus bringing the score back to a tie at 5-5.
Powers and Abilities[]
Divine and Demon Physiology, Strength and Stamina: Since most of the Gods Fighters are the most powerful Gods in Valhalla (with the exception of Hajun who is a Demon), they all possess Divine characteristics that allow them to never age and not being able to die of old age or at the hands of deadly weapons. However, they can be injured and killed by physical attacks with superhuman strength or by Divine Weapons. They also possess abilities superior to those of ordinary Humans, such as attack, defense and speed much higher than normal.
Divine Weapons: The Gods Fighters' major source of power is their Divine Weapons. They are similar to normal Human weapons, however they possess very high power and are indestructible unless hit by Divine Powers or other Divine Weapons. All have different abilities, but all amplify the powers of the Gods who wield them and are very powerful weapons.
Miscellaneous Abilities: Some of them are also able to use other unusual abilities, such as manipulating time to their liking, controlling water in all its forms, using the acceleration of the heartbeat to set fire to their bodies, manipulation of one's body to grow larger, generate weapons from one's own body, manipulate matter at will, exploit blood to be able to enhance one's Divine Weapon, use vibrations to attack and defend and harness the light to power their Divine Weapon and generate various weapons.
Members[]
Commander[]
Gods Fighters[]
.webp "Hajun (Record of Ragnarok).webp (170 KB)")
.png "Beelzebub (ROR).png (3.08 MB)")
Future Gods Fighters[]
Former Gods Fighters[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Not all members of the Gods Fighters and those who belonged to them are pure Gods: both Heracles and Buddha are Demigods, while Hajun is a Demon.
- In the original plans for Record of Ragnarok, Aphrodite and Daikokuten were part of the Gods Fighters, but they were replaced by Buddha and Poseidon respectively before the start of the series.
