The Guardian (Samurai Jack)

Evil-doer
Full Name	Unknown
Alias	The Guardian
Origin	Samurai Jack
Occupation	Guardian
Powers / Skills	Superhuman strength Superhuman durability Superhuman agility Agelessness Swordsmanship Immunity to pain Marksmanship
Goals	Protect his time portal (succeeded for a while then failed).
Crimes	Mass murder Attempted murder
Type of Villain	Protective Anti-Villain

“	I told you, man, you ain't the one.	„
	~ The Guardian telling Jack that he is not the right person to enter the time portal.

“	For countless eons, I have guarded this magical power of time travel. All have been denied, from the mightiest of giants, to the tiniest of warriors. You see samurai, only one man has been prophesized to defeat me. And that man is the only man who can use this time passage. And you, my man... ain't that man.	„
	~ The Guardian to Jack about why he protects the Time Portal.

“	You can't use it yet, Samurai Jack. Not yet. Not yet	„
	~ The Guardian when sparing Samurai Jack and tell him he cannot use his time portal yet.

The Guardian is the main antagonist in season 3 episode 6 of the Cartoon Network animated series Samurai Jack. Like the Minions of Set, he is a being more powerful than anything Jack has ever faced, who guards a time portal. He appears in "Episode XXXII: Jack and the Travelling Creatures".

He was voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, who also played Demongo and the Pig Sheriff in the same franchise, as well as the Joker in The Batman, Captain Gantu in the Lilo and Stitch franchise, Dark Laser in The Fairly OddParents, Temutai in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, Goro in the Mortal Kombat game series, Chairman Drek in Ratchet & Clank, the Black Samurai in Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword, Doug the Pimple in Family Guy, Tartarus in Halo 2, Sarevok Anchev in Baldur's Gate, Shredder in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, Tombstone in The Spectacular Spider-Man, and Trigon and Mammoth in Teen Titans.

Appearance

The Guardian was a tall, bald, muscular man with bright cyan skin. His attire consisted of a jet-black suit and red circular sunglasses. He carried numerous weapons, including a sword, at least two sai and two machine guns.

Personality

The Guardian seems to live only to guard his portal. However, he seems to enjoy the battle, as he immediately accepted Jack's challenge to battle and enjoyed the fight as Jack used skilled tactics.

He is extremely self-confident and fights with gleeful mannerisms. He is capable of becoming both enraged and showing mercy, as he became very upset after Jack ruined his favorite suit, but still offered to let Jack retreat after it became clear that Jack could not win.

After he realized that Jack is the prophesied person, he became more respectful towards Jack. He even gently placed the unconscious and heavily beaten Jack and his katana (Off-screen) on the back of a flying creature and have it send him to safety. Then, he apologized to Jack for not being able to use the time portal yet.

The Guardian is very dutiful to protecting the portal as he patiently awaits the day Jack will once again face him in combat and defeat him to gain access to the portal. To ensure only Jack is meant to use it, he slays and destroys any creature or robot who refuse to give up their desire to use the portal, with the notable exception of Jack, who is the one destined to defeat him, but in the future. He also does not sway from his duty in the slightest way. Even though Jack is the one destined to use the time portal, he refuses to let Jack use it until he has matured to defeat him as prophesied and opted to wait patiently over the course of at least 50 years.

Biography

Jack came across the Guardian at the time portal. After discussing the time portal, Jack asked him if he could use it, but was denied. Guardian explained to the samurai that he has been waiting eons for the right warrior to defeat him and believed that man could not be Jack. He also revealed over the eons that countless warriors have tried and failed to battle him pointing out the remains of all the warriors and a wreckage Jack saw surrounding the area. Wanting to return to his time. Jack unsheathed his sword to challenge Guardian. Amused that he was going old-school on him, the Guardian unsheathed his own sword and engaged the samurai. The battle ensued with Jack putting a good fight, but despite using the variety of weapons left lying around from the other fallen warriors, Jack was ultimately no match for Guardian, whose superior skill set overwhelmed him. In one instance, Jack ruined the prized suit of Guardian and proceeded to unleash a beat down on him before knocking him aside. Though enraged, he offered Jack one last chance to give up and leave.

However, the samurai refused and stood his ground. After a short battle, Jack was ultimately defeated at by the Guardian. The Guardian was going to crush Jack with a rock, but was stopped by a signal from the time portal. Upon the time portal telling him to spare Jack since he is the warrior prophesied to defeat him, he spared his life and patiently awaits the day Jack returns to defeat him in one-on-one combat.

When Jack returns to the Guardian's place (by accident) 50 years later, the Guardian was nowhere to be seen. In fact, all that is left of Guardian was his destroyed eyeglasses, and the portal gate has been long destroyed, therefore destroying Jack's last hope in returning to the past and having his rematch with the Guardian.

The Guardian would later be avenged after Jack traveled to the past and killed Aku, though it's unknown how the altered timeline affected his existence.

Powers and Abilities

The Guardian is one of the strongest opponents Jack has come across, something the latter acknowledged and even voiced how someone of the Guardian's monstrous caliber had never appeared. Despite his large mass, the Guardian possessed remarkable agility, leaping and flipping about with at least the same level of skill as Jack himself. The Guardian had great durability and he is completely immune to pain, making him tough to a shakedown. Despite his inability to feel pain, The Guardian is still capable of feeling anger, like when Jack deflected a number of missiles launched from the Guardian's own weapon back at him. Upon impact, they caused no damage to the Guardian himself, simply ruined and destroyed his favorite suit, thus angering him. In his own words, the Guardian has been guarding the time portal for "countless eons", and has denied (defeated) everyone who came as only one person has been prophesied to defeat him and gain access to the time portal. This feat was confirmed with all the remains surrounding the portal.

Being one of the few characters to have easily defeated Jack without much effort, he appears to be at the same strength as the Minions of Set. In spite of his great strength and power, he was no match for Aku who destroyed him with no effort.

• Superhuman Strength: The Guardian's muscular build gave him incredible fighting strength. He was able to effortlessly lift large boulders and could chew through metal as a normal person would through food. He was also able to shatter metal and concrete with his punches.
• Superhuman Agility: Despite his large mass, the Guardian possessed remarkable agility, leaping and flipping about with at least the same level of skill as Jack himself possessed.
• Superhuman Durability: The Guardian had great durability. At one point during the fight with Jack, Jack deflected a number of missiles launched from the Guardian's own weapon back at him. Upon impact, they caused no damage to the Guardian himself, simply destroying his favorite suit and angering him. He even took punches from Jack and easily shrugged him off.
• Weapons Specialist: The Guardian used a variety of weapons against Jack, from a katana to guns and even rocket launchers. His swordsmanship, in particular, was extraordinary, as he was able to completely outfight Jack during their sword bout and ultimately disarmed him without Jack coming even close to landing a hit. He was also able, while shooting at Jack, to aim a second gun at a number of throwing-stars which Jack had launched at him and shoot them out of the air. His weapons are potent and sophisticated enough to reduce countless gigantic robots into scrap heap. Unfortunately, none of his weapons were capable of destroying Aku since the demon has destroyed him and the time portal effortlessly, since none of them possess the power of righteousness like Jack's Katana.
• Agelessness: The Guardian seemed to be very old, if not ancient, much older than regular human and alien beings since he has protected the time portal for countless eons.

Gallery

Images

The shattered glasses of the Guardian (which implied that he died).

Trivia

• The Guardian heavily resembles Morpheus from The Matrix franchise.
  • In The Matrix, there is a prophecy of a chosen one that later turned out to be a fabrication by the machines.
    • Similarly, the fact that the Guardian seemingly perished and his time portal destroyed may indicate that the prophecy of Jack will defeat him and then gain access to the portal was probably a fake vision.
• The Guardian's appearance is significant to the overall story of Samurai Jack, mainly because of the episode he takes part in, as it prophesies Jack's eventual return to the past.
• In Episode C, the Guardian's red circular glasses can be seen on the ground cracked along with the now destroyed time portal. This confirms that he died at the hands of Aku's forces.
  • However, after the death of past Aku in Episode CI, it is possible that he came back into existence with the time portal being restored.
• He is one of the few characters that Jack has never been able to defeat (the other beings are the Imakandi), mainly because he died before Jack and him could have a rematch.