| “ | There is greatness within you, warrior. I can make you a god among these insects. Every wish fulfilled. Every dream made real. You could rule all. Have all! Just allow me inside your soul, and the world will be yours! | „ |
| ~ The Tengu making his deal with Oroku Saki. |
The Shredder Tengu is one of the two overarching antagonists (alongside Tengu Shredder) of the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series. It is a powerful tengu demon who sought to dominate the world, and later merged with Oroku Saki to fulfill this goal. He was the first and original Shredder before all others who took the mantle of the Shredder.
He was voiced by Marc Thompson, who also voiced Drako in the show.
Personality[]
As described by Ancient One and Splinter, Shredder Tengu was a power hungry, ruthless, and sadistic demon who aimed to forcibly subjugate the world into his warped empire. Yet at the same time he was a cunning adversary who not above making deal with mortals if it suited his cause. In fact, he persuaded Oroku Saki, AKA Tengu Shredder to let his soul merged with the latter's in exchange for attaining the demon's tremendous mystical power knowing Saki would take the same dark path as him.
History[]
Rise and Fall[]
In 300 A.D., the Shredder Tengu emerged from some foul section of the underworld and invaded Japan, seeking to conquer it and everywhere else in the world through sheer brute force. It knocked down buildings, set villages aflame and terrorized the populace, all while taking great delight in the misery and despair it wrought. To combat this enormous threat, the emperor of Japan called upon his country's five greatest warriors: the swift and silent Hisomi, the mighty Chikara, the weapon-wielding Shuto, the spiritualistic Kon and the ambitious Oroku Saki. Each warrior was armed with mystical armor that would protect them against the Shredder's demonic power.
The warriors confronted the Shredder in an open plain on horseback. Upon seeing the heroes, the Shredder became amused and shot at them with fire missiles, knocking all of them except Hisomi off their horses. Hisomi began shooting arrows against the creature, only to be swept aside along with his horse by the Shredder's massive arm into a nearby pond. Despite this setback, the warriors would not surrender until their last breath. The Shredder then began spewing fire from its mouth, but Chikara catches it off guard by stabbing its cheek with a spear, causing it pain. The fire that bled from the Shredder's cheek became snake-like tendrils that grabbed Chikara and threw her away. Kon then flings a chained mace at the beast's forehead and ties it around a nearby tree. Shuto comes to assist him, but the Shredder slams its extendable arm on them both, knocking them unconscious. However, this gives Saki the chance he needed to land a critical blow on the monster. He runs up on the chain with sword in hand; the Shredder attempts to stop him, but Saki cuts the chain to cause it to stagger. As it stumbles, he then stabs the its leg, then follows up by making two slashes at its chest, chops one of its horns, and then finally slices its extendable arm clean off its shoulder. This ultimately makes the Shredder fall backwards, and as it lands on its back, Saki lands himself on the demon's chest. Saki then proudly states his name, proclaiming it to be the last sound the Shredder ever hears, and then proceeds to stab it in its black heart. At that moment the fires that lit up the Shredder's eyes and wounds extinguish completely, and then its entire body dissolves into smoke, leaving only a crater in the shape of the demon.
Merging with Saki[]
A grand celebration was held by the emperor at the imperial palace in honor of Oroku Saki and the warriors who fought with him. He rewarded the heroes by knighting them as the "Five Dragons" and granted them the banner that represented the three-toed dragon, which at the time was seen as the highest honor in Japan. However, unbeknownst to the emperor, the other warriors and everyone-else, Saki had betrayed them all. Just before Saki had finished off the Shredder, the demon telepathically contacted him. Sensing Saki's avarice, it appealed to him by making an offer: If Saki would allow the Shredder to survive by merging its soul with his own, Saki would become a god and rule over all else. Having been enticed by the promise for more power, Saki allowed his darker nature to consume him and accept the bargain. The Shredder then invisibly projected its evil spirit from its own body and moved it into Saki's. After the transfer was complete, Saki proceeded to stab the Shredder's original body to make it look like he had finished it, when it was already just an empty husk. Saki's spirit and that of the Shredder merged into one, and they together became a threat even greater than ever before.
Sometime after the party, Oroku Saki made his move. Using the new powers granted to him by the Shredder's spirit, he destroyed the imperial palace and summoned an army of ghosts at his command, becoming the nation's new tyrannical overlord and the official new "Shredder". However, the other members of the Five Dragons opposed him and, using skills they had acquired from mystical masters, managed to defeat the Shredder and seal him away. Many centuries later, the Shredder was then released and revived by his most loyal followers, but after being defeated again by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, he was then cut down by the spirit of Hamato Yoshi, thus ending both him and the tengu once and for all.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- While ambiguous whether it was intentional in Shredder Tengu's part, anyone who took the mantle of Shredder for themselves would gain access to the demon's mystical energy through subconscious link between them, which corrupts them over time; showing the demon's influence could never be stopped hence it's wise to never claim the mantle for any reasons. In fact, such link made the already unrepentant Utrom Shredder far more dangerous and insane than prior to seizing the mantle.
- Karai was similarly corrupted but, only to a point hence she eventually abandoned the mantle of Shredder after helping her allies in defeating Tengu Shredder. Granted, she took the mantle out of denial over her adoptive father's exile which she wrongfully blamed the Turtles and Splinter for it. Not only that, her status as temporary Shredder proved crucial in the Turtles' success against Tengu Shredder as it allowed her to rob her predecessor of his evil powers thus ensuring his eventual destruction — an advantage Ninja Tribunals lacked in their own fight against the same Shredder long ago.
- Assuming there are others who took the mantle of Shredder after Oroku Saki, neither of them were as prominent as either Ch'rell, Cyber Shredder, or Karai did.
External Links[]
- Shredder Tengu on the TMNT Wiki
