| “ | I have been awaken to carry out 3,000 years of vengeance. | „ |
| ~ Zen-Aku's first words to the Wild Force Rangers. |
| “ | Well then, lead the way... old friend. | „ |
| ~ Zen-Aku to Merrick as he accompanies him on his adventures, redeeming himself. |
Zen-Aku is a powerful Wolf Duke Org of the Orgs and a major antagonist turned anti-hero from Power Rangers Wild Force.
He was originally voiced by Dan Woren who previously voiced the Drill Master and the Hydro Contaminators in Power Rangers Zeo, Medicon in Power Rangers Time Force and Onikage later in Wild Force. He was later primarily voiced by Lex Lang who also voiced Rygog in Power Rangers Turbo and Ecliptor in Power Rangers In Space.
Biography[]
Past[]
The Cursed Wolf Mask.
As with all Orgs, Zen-Aku formed from toxic pools of muck and desired to conquer the Earth by turning it into a polluted wasteland; ideal for their species. At some point, Zen-Aku was destroyed and his spirit was somehow locked inside a cursed wolf mask and his statements during the confrontation against Merrick indicated that, despite his status as a Duke Org, he was pretty much an outcast and loner so no Org tried to help him during his eventual imprisonment within the mask which was given to the General Org, Nayzor, to guard. During the process, his power was divided into fragments each housed within three Wild Zords (Hammerhead, Wolf, and Alligator) and Wolf Mask, and the fragments would unite albeit not full, if someone put it on and became the Duke Org's host. As time passed, many people in both sides gradually forgot about him and viewed the Wolf Mask, that served as his prison, simply as a cursed artefact of power with only Nayzor keeping watch over it as part of his assigned duty.
Zen-Aku being sealed by the 5 guardians.
After the death of Animus at the hands of Master Org, Merrick Baltron decided that his only hope of stopping him was a legend about a cursed mask that could bestow great power upon the wearer. He found his way into the lair of the Org General, Nayzor, where he found the mask of Zen-Aku and succesfully escaped from the General's wrath when he was found. Merrick put it on and gained its powers, using the Predazord to destroy Master Org, but immediately afterwards, the wolf mask seized control of his mind, merging him with and transforming him into Zen-Aku. With what humanity he had left, Merrick begged the other guardians of the Animarium to destroy him, but they refused to destroy their friend. Instead, the guardians sealed Zen-Aku in an underground tomb where he remained for 3,000 years.
Wild Force[]
Centuries later, in 2002, Zen-Aku is released by Nayzor under Master Org's orders to destroy the present day Animaria Guardians; the Wild Force Power Rangers. Due to his long time imprisoned, he possesses no memory of his past except that he wants to destroy the Power Rangers as revenge for their predecessors sealing him. Zen-Aku proves to be very capable of defeating the Rangers, even using his own Wildzords, and succeeds in stealing the Elephant, Giraffe, Black Bear, and Polar Bear Animal Crystals and adding them to his collection of Dark Wildzords. However, as time goes by, Zen-Aku's past begins revealing itself. Once he finds Alyssa after fighting Toxica, he kindly bandages her wounds instead of finishing her.
Later, Zen-Aku saves a wolf/dog pup when it is in danger from his fellow Orgs, even attacking Toxica to protect it. He begins to become confused, even more so when he starts to have flashbacks of his past; especially when he sees Princess Shayla's necklace when he captures her. Zen-Aku begins to doubt himself even more when the spirit of Animus begins to appear before him, telling him to "remember", which confuses the Rangers as well; especially after Princess Shayla saw Zen-Aku bleeding (which Orgs are unable to do) and they saw his actions. As he comes even closer and closer to realising the truth, Nayzor uses an insect to took possession of the wolf Org's mind and make him into his willing servant.
However, Princess Shayla has begun to pieces together the truth and Animus manages to cause a lunar eclipse that allows Merrick to take back control. He tells the rangers' what happened to him but the eclipse ends and changes him back into Zen-Aku. Shayla manages to piece everything together though and realizes that the curse comes from the Predazord because the wolf mask had made the Wolf, Hammerhead, and Alligator Wildzord's evil. Shayla tells the Rangers that the only way to free Merrick is to defeat the Predazord which they succeed in doing with help from the new Armadillo and Rhino Wildzords.
Zen-Aku confronting Merrick.
However, Zen-Aku's soul manages to separate from Merrick and manifest his physical body back, now independent of his former host and the destroyed Wolf Mask. Now even more powerful and not limited by Merrick's morality, since his power had always been split between Merrick and the Dark Wild Zords. Zen-Aku battles Merrick and almost succeeds in his goal but is eventually defeated by the Wild Force team and Merrick's Full Moon Slash so Zen-Aku grows giant by himself and overwhelms the Wild Force Megazord and Predazord. However, Merrick uses a pool technique taught to him by Willy in order to cut off Zen Aku's horn with the Armadillo Zord before using the Predazord's blade to impale and reduce Zen-Aku to dust, seemingly destroying him forever.
Despite Zen-Aku's apparent destruction, he somehow returns once again (either as a spirit or once again as a physical entity) but abandons his vengeful attitude and wants to redeem himself. When the Wild Force Rangers go their seperate ways after destroying Master Org, Merrick goes to travel the world only to meet Zen-Aku who proposes that they travel together to which Merrick agrees. What happened to Zen-Aku after their journey finished is unknown.
Personality[]
Zen-Aku is a Duke Org who works by himself most of the time but feels very lonely and was imprisoned for millennia in the wolf mask, ignored by Orgs and humans alike which fed into his loneliness. He told Merrick that he (Zen-Aku) was "cast aside, discarded, rejected" when the curse was broken, revealing he'd grown to see his and Merrick's merge as a sign of friendship of some sort. His interest with a fellow lone wolf Merrick was stemmed from the time they merged into a singular being via the cursed wolf mask Zen-Aku was sealed within, resulting in the wolf Org displayed mixed characteristics of an Org and human (honorable behaviour and the ability to bleed when injured) due to his host's influence. Before either he or Merrick realised what was going on, Nayzor used his bug to erase the latter's influence over him, resulting in Zen-Aku's aggressive and viler side became dominant albeit completely under Nayzor's control.
Despite regaining his freedom and full powers following his separation from Merrick later on, Zen-Aku opted to merge with the Ranger once again with any means necessary despite the risk of his powers being fragmented between both his host and the purified Dark Wild Zord. He ignored the Wild Force team in favor of singling out Merrick and intended to fight him one-on-one. Once Merrick made it clear he wouldn't ever rejoin with Zen-Aku and helped beat him down, the Wolf Org went into a rampage out of fury before being put down for good.
After being resurrected a second time, Zen-Aku has mellowed down and is seeking redemption, no longer interested in forcing Merrick to refuse with him and when Merrick invited Zen-Aku to join him in his travels around the world, he referred to Merrick as an "old friend."
Powers and Abilities[]
Zen-Aku's Wildzords combined as the Dark Predazord.
Zen-Aku is quite powerful, able to take on all five of the rangers in close combat without too much difficulty. In battle, he wields a large crescent shaped blade that he can use to send out crescent shaped waves of energy. When Zen-Aku was bonded with Merrick, he played a knife shaped flute to summon the Dark Wildzords and could use his powers to corrupt Animal Crystals, in order to add the Wildzords they represent to his collection of Dark Wildzords. Zen-Aku's powers wax and wane with the moon, at the full moon he is at his strongest and when there is no moon, his powers were diminished enough to allow Merrick to take control. Zen-Aku can also grow to giant size, as he demonstrated after being separated from Merrick and losing the Dark Wildzords.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Zen-Aku's name means "good-evil" in Japanese.
- Zen-Aku uses a flute to summon his Wildzords similar to how Tommy Oliver summons the Dragonzord. Augmented by the fact they had similar roles in their respective seasons as the late addition to the Power Rangers team, beginning as an enemy controlled by the villains, breaking free of their control and joining the Rangers as an ally.
See also[]
[]
 Villains
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