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This Article Contains Spoilers -
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| “ | You again... That you continue to trouble me can only mean one thing... You must have defeated the great Musashi! Filthy rats... Creeping about my castle uninvited... It seems I'll have to deal with you myself. Do not underestimate me... For I, Lord Ode Iou... Will not be brought low by vermin like you! | „ |
| ~ Ode Iou to Oboromaru and Ryoma Sakamoto before fighting them for the first time. |
| “ | At long last. Hah hah hah! Up here, you two! Mark well this moment, as I, Ode Iou, unveil to you the noble visage of he who will rule Japan forevermore! (Ode Iou channels dark magic, as he transforms into Gamahebi.) Mine! All is! Mine! |
„ |
| ~ Ode Iou in the final confrontation, before he sacrifices his humanity to transform into Gamahebi. |
Ode Iou is the main antagonist of the Twilight of Edo Japan chapter of Live A Live for the SNES and its remake for the Nintendo Switch. He is a power-hungry warlord and ruler of the Ode clan who seeks to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate and become the ruler of Japan to start the new era of war. To fulfill his goals, he made pacts with many malevolent supernatural beings, who serve as guardians of his castle.
In truth, he is one of the many incarnations of Odio, the Lord of Dark, whose hatred brought many villains over the span of history into existence, with Ode Iou being his Feudal Japanese incarnation.
He was voiced by Norio Wakamoto in Japanese and Jason Yang in English.
Biography[]
The Infiltrator[]
Driven by his misanthropic rage, Odio used the statues left by his predecessor to create the many incarnations of himself throughout the history to punish humanity for their perceived sins. Ode Iou was the incarnation born in Feudal Japan, the power-hungry ruler of the Ode clan who seeked to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate and plunge Japan into the war. To his ends, he made pacts with many malevolent spirits and supernatural beings, such as the alluring temptress Yodogimi, the clockwork inventor Puppetmaster Gennai, and the vengeful spirit of Amakusa Shiro. His clan also kidnapped Ryoma Sakamoto to ensure that he won't end the impending war in Japan, with Ode and Gennai planning to replace him with a clockwork puppet that would wear his skin.
In response to Lord Ode's actions, the Enma ninja clan sent their best student, Oboromaru, to free the prisoner and put an end to the warlord's plans. Depending on the player's actions, Oboromaru either goes through Ode clan's castle without claiming a single human life or slaughters anyone on his path, but in the end, he frees Ryoma Sakamoto and confronts Ode Iou in his chambers. To keep them at bay, Ode summons the spirit of Miyamoto Musashi, the greatest swordsman who ever lived in Japan, and pits the duo against him before fleeing. However, Oboromaru and Ryoma defeat the ghostly swordsman and then, after beating Yodogimi, confront Ode once more. Ode Iou fights back against them, but gets defeated and insists that Oboromaru and Ryoma face him on the rooftop of his castle.
On the roof, Ode Iou boasts to the duo, telling them to gaze upon the "noble visage" of him, future ruler of Japan forevermore, and uses his powers to transform into Gamahebi, a vicious, frog-like demon holding a serpent. However, Oboromaru and Ryoma outpower and defeat him. After the battle, the monstrous form of Ode Iou stumbles back, falls off the castle roof, and plummets to his death, as Ryoma brushes off his death as good riddance, stating that no one in Japan would accept a ruler who would sacrifice his very humanity for the sake of power.
The Final Chapter[]
Having sensed defeats of his incarnations, Odio decided to take matters into his own hands. In the sad ending route, he takes direct control of Gamahebi and helps him kill Oboromaru and Ryoma Sakamoto as a way to prove that humanity is beyond redemption and to give Ode Iou his recourse. In the true ending, however, Odio brings Oboromaru with many other heroes into the now-empty kingdom of Lucrece to teach them a lesson on humanity's evil. However, he gets defeated, and as a last-ditch attempt, Odio forces the heroes to fight his incarnations once more, with Oboromaru having to refight Gamahebi. Despite this second assault, the monstrous form of Ode Iou, along with other Odio incarnations, falls once again, thus proving Odio's world view wrong.
Trivia[]
- Ode Iou is based off of Nobunaga Oda, a Japanese daimyō who was known to be very ruthless in battle and frequently called himself the "Demon King of the Sixth Heaven" (dairokuten-maō).
- In spite of him being an incarnation of the Lord of Dark and a power-hungry warlord who'd sacrifice anything and anyone to achieve his goals, one of the loading screens in the remake reveals that not even he dares to set foot near the cursed sword of Muramasa, finding it to be too malevolent to his liking.
- Oddly, despite the official sprite of the character depicting it with frog-like hands, the official art for Gamahebi has it with serpents taking the place of his arms.
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 Villains
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All Chapters The First The Successor The Infiltrator The Wanderer The Strongest The Outsider Mechanical Heart The Lord of Dark Dominion of Hate | ||