| “ | I am the keeper of the talismans. I am the apocalypse of which legend speaks. And I am, for once and for all, your executioner. | „ |
| ~ Shendu |
| “ | I am no statue! You stand in the presence of a Demon Sorcerer. I once held dominion over a vast empire, but my subjects betrayed me. They cast a chi spell, which imprisoned me in this pitiful icon, where I have remained for nine hundred years. The twelve magic Talismans, from which I drew my power, were scattered to the winds. Acquisition of all the Talismans will allow me to be free of my confinement, and walk the Earth once again. | „ |
| ~ Shendu |
Shendu is the main antagonist of Jackie Chan Adventures. He is the main antagonist in the first two seasons, the final antagonist in season 3 and a major antagonist for the rest of the series. He is a giant dragon demon and sorcerer who wants to restore his power and rule the world. He is Jackie, Jade, and Uncle Chan's archenemy.
Shendu is very treacherous, manipulative and knowledgeable, thinking things through before making any mistakes (most of the time). He is also extremely bloodthirsty, sadistic and evil. However, he does seem to respect his mortal enemy Jackie Chan of his martial art skills, admitting of the threat it serves to him and wanting Jackie as his preferred host as opposed to Valmont.
He was voiced by James Sie, who also played Jackie Chan in the series, and Chaghaita Khan in DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
History
Once in time, Shendu and his demon brothers and sisters ruled the ancient world, with the humans as their slaves. However, they were banished to the netherworld by powerful warriors known as the Eight Immortals, who used the sacred relics and the Pan-Ku Box to seal them. Shendu escaped his imprisonment, continuing to rule China for centuries, until one of his servants, a defiant chi wizard by the name Lo Pei, used a powerful form of sorcery known as Scroll Magic that trapped him in a statue form, dividing all of his powers in 12 talismans representing the animals of the Chinese Zodiac and scattering them all throughout the world, so nobody would ever reunite them.
During his time imprisoned, Shendu attempted to deceive humans to find his talismans for him. There was a short period where Shendu was in a mining tunnel, and had a group of bandits try to get his talismans for him. They hired a bumbling sheriff who managed to save the town regardless, leaving Shendu in his statue form. Ages passed and technology advanced, with Shendu waiting for the opportunity to rise once again. One day, Shendu was found by a criminal known as Valmont, leader of the Dark Hand, a powerful crime organization. Shendu then deceived Valmont into finding his talismans, in exchange for his fortune, which was buried in his palace. But Valmont was being followed by Captain Augustus Black, commander of the Section 13, a ramification of a secret agency that hunted down criminals all around the world.
Jackie Chan, an archaeologist, accidentally found the rooster talisman in one of his explorations, and soon was put into the middle of a quest to find all of the talismans before the Dark Hand. Jackie got most of them, but once he found the tiger talisman, his soul was split into two: the good and the evil part. His evil half was convinced by the Dark Hand to bring all talismans in exchange for money. He agreed, and all talismans were reunited, making Shendu once again walk the earth. Shendu discards Valmond and travels to his palace, where he prepared to rise his army of dragons and conquer the world once again, but Jackie stopped him using a spell made by Uncle Chan, his uncle who owned a antiques shop and was a wizard. His niece Jade, however, used the dragon talisman to destroy Shendu's body, which set Shendu's soul free. Shendu got to the netherworld, where his brothers and sisters were not happy with him, obligating him to free them all.
Shendu then tried to possess Jackie's body, but ended possessing Valmont instead, stealing the Pan-Ku box and opening all the portals of the demons, but Jackie managed to stop him by sealing the demon portals once again. Shendu later managed to possess Jackie, then used the Book of Ages, a magical book where all history was recorded, to change history and make him and his brothers and sisters to rule the world once again. Jade managed to retain her memories and convinced Jackie, who was turned into Shendu's servant, to help her restore the world. Shendu was once again defeated.
Later in the series, Jackie accidentally destroyed the talismans during a battle against Daolon Wong, a evil sorcerer who tried to get the talismans' power, making all of the powers scatter through the world, and thus starting a quest to retrieve the talismans powers, which entered the bodies of the sacred animals's descendants who once possessed these powers. Since there was no dragon in the world anymore (as Shendu himself was the last of them) Daolon Wong made a pact with Shendu to resurrect him again in order to get the dragon power. However, Shendu betrayed Wong and obtained all of his powers again. Luckily, Uncle Chan used the spell to turn him into a statue and restored the talismans, which were then secured on Section 13's vault, as well as Shendu's statue.
When Drago absorbed all the demon chi, Uncle resurrected Shendu to fight Drago. Shendu did so poorly until the J-team threw the talismans at him, at which point Uncle and Tohru banished both of them, the talismans, and the demon chi to the netherworld forever.
Powers and Abilities
Shendu's talismans
- Combustion: Granted by the Dragon Talisman.
- Flight: Granted by the Rooster Talisman.
- Strength: Granted by the Ox Talisman.
- Invisibility: Granted by the Snake Talisman.
- Animation: Granted by the Rat Talisman.
- Super Speed: Granted by the Rabbit Talisman.
- Self Healing: Granted by the Horse Talisman.
- Immortality: Granted by the Dog Talisman.
- Astral Projection: Granted by the Sheep Talisman.
- Shape Shifting: Granted by the Monkey Talisman.
- Heat Vision: Granted by the Pig Talisman.
- Self Balance: Granted by the Tiger Talisman.
- Possession: Innate ability to possesses other beings.
Gallery
Trivia
- In his first season appearances as a statue, he possesses a raspy, hissing voice. Once he is reanimated for the first time, he has a deeper, more menacing voice. Once he is turned back into a statue, he retains his hissing, raspy voice from then on (even when he was reanimated once again). His roars also sound like that of a dinosaur.
- His roars are reused the roars of the Tyrannosaurus rex from the Jurassic Park film franchise.
- Shendu is the only main antagonist to appear in every season and have a role in the plot of each season.
- Despite being defeated by one of the Eight Immortals and having his own portal to the Demon Netherworld (commonly referred to as the Netherworld), it is never explained how he managed to escape. It is likely that he made a pact with a dark chi wizard to release him by some unknown means. This can proven by his portal that was never being used prior to the episode "The Eighth Door".
- Furthermore, given that his siblings greatly loathed and resentful towards him since he didn't try to free them, it can be assumed that he did not include them in his escape as he desired to rule the world for himself, as stated by Tchang Zu. Hsi Wu once commented that Shendu has proven himself "crafty".
- Shendu is also the only Demon Sorcerer known to have offspring in the form of Drago, although it is unknown who Drago's mother is. Curiously, the present-day Shendu was also aware of Drago, despite him coming from a possible future.
- According to the book Jackie reads in Showdown in the Old West, Shendu worked with a corrupt mayor a century prior to the start of the series to gain his freedom in a similar fashion to his collaboration with Valmont a hundred years later. The details of the book are dubious however.
- Shendu can extend control over his Ninja Khan (one of the 9 Shadowkahn tribes) to others if need be. Valmont was seen summoning and commanding the Ninja Khan in "Enter the Viper".
- All of Shendu's dragon minions are European dragons instead of the traditional Chinese dragons, which is odd since Shendu is of Chinese origin.
 Villains
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Eight Demon Sorcerers Dark Hand Other | ||