Character Analysis - Yoshimitsu

Yoshimitsu

Yoshimitsu's my longest running character, having used him for nearly ten years now. It goes without saying he has the biggest and most diverse history out of my entire cast, not to mention the most growth and development as a person. He's also had the biggest ups and downs regarding what people think of him (including myself!) so yeah, that's there too.

Origins.

I first made Yoshimitsu when I was about 10, and because he's secretly a shameless self-insert (except not), he was also 10. I was playing a lot of Soul Calibur as the character, Yoshimitsu, and liked the name so I slapped it on him. He did initially have a last name (which will never be said) but I ditched that a while back, just because it was so cheesey and overdone that I simply had to get rid of it. He actually started out as a Pokemon Trainer, which recently has caused a split and made two different varitations on him: PRP Yoshi and ORP Yoshi. The differences between the two are where they have common plots. PRP Yoshi has all of the plots for his adaptation of powers, but none that explain just why he's so proficient with them and, hence, his Powers in PRP are a lot less practiced and much weaker. He still has them (aside from Bahamut), but he tends to avoid using them. Because the plots that explain why he's so proficient with his Powers tend to be his angsty plots where he gets emotional stuff done, PRP is, by and large, a much happier and helpful character than ORP Yoshi.

Yoshimitsu has a bunch of aborted plots as well, including his very first one of having a soul stuck in his sword that came alive and took control of his body. Yeah. You can see why I ditched that one. Many of his aborted plots were ditched because I either didn't have the talents necessary to write them or they were there for rule of cool and did nothing for him. He was slated to get an ancient Egyptian artefact (an ankh) that could steal souls as a person dies, which would form some kind of energy sword when enough were gathered. Once again, you can see why I abandoned them. Not entirely sure why my teenage years were about souls and evil things happening to/around/involving them, but I'm personally very glad that I got out of it.

One thing I was sure on was that Yoshimitsu would have absolutely no memory from before he was six years old or so. When I first made him, I had no idea what sort of past he'd have to explain it, just that he did have one. The first time it was canonically mentioned was in a PRP involving the Mirage Kingdom from the anime. While an alternate Togepi dimension was collapsing around Yoshimitsu and another RPer's character (Linkachu from Pokecharms was the owner of said character), Yoshimitsu cheated a little and used his Bahamut form to fly them both out of the collapsing temple. Linkachu's character asked whether Yoshimitsu was an alien, to which he responded regarding his lack of memory in a very joking manner. He did, however, insist he was human (possible foreshadowing? You decide).

Another thing that I was certain about having was Bahamut, though I didn't want to just write Yoshi into existence with Bahamut, because that was cheap. It was talking to Lugiasian of the Exodus and her character, Hector Cruz, that had the Tiamat blade that really gave birth to the plot involved. At this point, Yoshimitsu had already started his rivalry with Vincent (which I later explained, since at the time Vincent was a rival purely so that Yoshimitsu had one. It took me a few years to finally explain exactly what the cause of the rivalry was and why it developed as it did), which turned into a race to see who could acquire their dragon first, with Yoshimitsu going for Bahamut and Vincent going for Tiamat. Me and Lugiasian finally came to a plot that while Vincent did get Tiamat, the dragon was destined to go to Hector Cruz. 

Personality.

Yoshimitsu is, unsurprisingly, one of my most amoral characters with his only real belief was that he could never take a life. Initially, this was a meaningless moral as he was taking lives left right and centre (the first major one being Vincent). This sort of worked out well, though, because as time went on, he grew more and more averse to killing and finally he stopped altogether unless it was the absolute last resort. Sometimes, he will bend this rule if he knows the thing to be killed is a construct with no real life, in self-defense or if it would be kinder to kill the target than to let it live.

Other than that, however, Yoshimitsu is highly amoral. He has absolutely no qualms with intimidation or threats in order to get what he wants or needs, justifying it because he's usually doing it to do the right thing. He has never been known to torture someone (outside of one canon one-shot, which is due to an abundance of hate and anger in his heart for someone who put him and his friends through so much suffering that a quick, clean death was too kind for the culprit). It even goes as far as his driving liscence, where the canon reason behind him acquiring a liscence with only one name on it being that he used his powers to frighten the employee issuing him the card.

However, even with that said, Yoshimitsu is a good guy and he's fiercely loyal to his friends, like a good number of my characters. He has a good heart, and is always trying to do the right thing, even if he goes about it in the most dangerous possible way. A natural risk taker, even in a situation where lives could be lost, he'll take the course of action that's a fifty fifty chance of saving people. Typically, he manages it, however. He's not the kind of person to sit back when he knows people are in danger and will jump right into the action if he thinks he can save just one life. Sometimes, he overdoes it and can cause a lot of trouble for everyone involved, but his heart is in the right place.

He's also very carefree, generally, and has difficulty taking things seriously sometimes. As seen in Crystals Part Two, he has no issues with walking up to three very powerful characters and leaders of their respective races (Miko, Valon and Rick (even if Rick isn't technically the leader)) and striking up a casual conversation. This has been pretty true for his entire life.

Appearence

Yoshimitsu, like Illiana, has a fairly typical appearence. He looks like a twenty year old who spends a lot of time just having fun. His wardrobe, like Illiana's, is made up of a lot of fashionable clothes that he mixes and matches. The only thing he shies away from is orange, because it clashes horribly with his hair. He also has a selection of clothes for combat, but because he tends to get swept up into fights instead of having them planned out, it's pretty rare that he wears them. He has a number of belts for different uses, including one with a sheath attached and one with gun holdsters.

His hair is also a defining trait of his, being a very vivid blue and naturally spiky. In fact, I would go so far as to say it's his defining aesthetical trait. While it has been various different shades of blue, it typically reverts to a medium blue colour. It's also naturally blue, due to him being a genetic construct (his people typically dye their hair bright colours in order to stand out, so he was given bright blue hair naturally). The first thing a lot of people think of when they think of is his blue fetish.

As far as his physique goes, it's toned and lithe, much like a gymnast's. He's not particularly broad, and has very little fat on his body because he spends most of his time active and moving. He's also quite tall, standing at six foot. His body is littered with barely-visible scars, though he has some slightly more visible on his chest and a couple on his face.

History

Yoshimitsu was constructed in his home dimension from scratch, originally designed to be part of Lord Dran's Elite Guard. During his construction, his brain was given military information and advance combat strategies, to go with his abnormally strong body. However the Ryguas' similarity to humans means that, despite being deliberately built to be stronger, he shares many of the weaknesses of humans.

As soon as Yoshimitsu's body had finished construction, his mind went haywire and he broke out of the laboratory. During his rampage, he broke out of the castle, left the city and entered a portal to this dimension. Because he had not known his purpose, nor given any information on normal interaction between individuals, he lived the next few years as a feral child. He lived through scavenging and theft. Through observation, he started to learn about human interaction and learned how to talk and socialise. Because his brain was designed to be a learning machine, he learned easily and quickly. Additionally, because his brain was programmed to survive, he had no issues with living as the homeless child he was.

During construction, Yoshimitsu had been given certain abilities. He had the ability to manipulate elements to a minor degree and was created faster than any of the other Ryuga. However, because he never needed to use these talents, it was not until he was twelve that he realised he had these talents. The talents had stayed dormant, but grew as Yoshimitsu had.

At the same time Yoshimitsu took up Pokemon training and excelled, proving himself to be an adept trainer. He quickly assembled a strong team that he treated with care and affection, forming bonds with various Pokemon trainers.

Even at such a young age, his mind was more advanced and much more similar to that of a late-teenager. During his travels, he met a boy called Vincent. Instinctively, the two disliked each other. However while Yoshimitsu was content to ignore this boy, Vincent was not the type to let the dislike stay passive. He ended up murdering Yoshimitsu's Pikachu, the pokemon that Yoshimitsu had for the longest and was his closest friend at that point. Yoshimitsu vowed that if he ever met Vincent again, he would repay the favour.

At the age of twelve, Yoshimitsu decided to test his abilities and challenge a dragon named Bahamut, who was rumored to be the strongest dragon alive. During this attempt, he formed a strong friendship with Hector Cruz, and slightly weaker relationship with Al. Though he did not know, Vincent was aiming to challenge Tiamat and had enlisted the help of Miko. Along the way, they met and fought again. However, Hector and Al talked Yoshimitsu out of fighting Vincent by telling him that beating Bahamut would prove him stronger. Reluctantly, he agreed and they made their way to Dejurrin Island. While on the Island, Yoshimitsu acquired a summon monster called Golem, a giant rock golem (funnily enough). He then, accompanied by Hector and Al, descended into the island and found Bahamut's lair. At the same time, Vincent and Miko found Tiamat. After a pair of difficult fights, it transpired that Bahamut and Tiamat would lend their aid to the warriors strong enough to defeat them. It was then that Yoshimitsu acquired the Bahamut Blade. However, the Tiamat Blade had already been given to Hector, and hence Vincent did not acquire the sword.

Having finally had enough of Vincent's antics, Yoshimitsu accepted a final battle challenge against Vincent, winner take all. It occured on Dejurrin Island, the fight moving around the island as it progressed. The final moments of the fight took place on a chunk of ice that had broken from the island, where Yoshimitsu finally killed Vincent. Much to his surprise, two ghostly things left Vincent's corpse. The first, it transpired, was Tiamat which went straight to Hector. The second entered Yoshimitsu, but then it seemed to vanish and Yoshimitsu did not think of it again.

A year later, after many adventures with his new friends, Yoshimitsu learned of a Wind Tiger named Kapora. An unexpected desire flared within him, and he set off in search of the tiger. Along the way, he noticed his personality change but found he was not sorry about this fact. A realization spread through him as he remembered the ghostly thing that had entered him a year previous. He was pursued by Miko and Hector, the former wishing to help him acquire the summon monster while the latter wanted to know why his best friend was snubbing him. During the fight against Kapora, Hector challenged Yoshimitsu and Miko joined the fray. Yoshimitsu revealed that another soul was occupying his body, Vincent's soul. It gave him new powers and a much stronger body, along with a new alignment and a dislike of Hector. At the end of the fight Hector left in disgust, Yoshimitsu had a third summon and he had joined Miko and the South Pole Summoners.

However this new personality was not Yoshimitsu, and his true self managed to overcome the old one. While he could not deny his new name nor the second soul in his body, his true personality overcame the false one. When he learned that Hector's brother had been held captive and his life threatened, Yoshimitsu rushed to his friend's aid. During the fight, Golem was stolen from him and together he and Hector were forced to destroy it. However, they won the fight. Hector's brother had still been killed, but the pair renewed their friendship and Hector took up his brother's sword.

During a training session, Yoshimitsu found himself on the wrong end of Hector's Kamiyami Blade. Hector used the sword to remove Vincent's soul from Yoshimitsu's body.

The years of adventuring had a second effect on Yoshimitsu. He could not find any direction for his life, and felt that he did more harm than good in many cases. Ultimately, he commited suicide. He left his possessions and summons to his friends, apart from Bahamut and the Bahamut Blade which he kept with him at all times.

This death was short lived, however, as the Blood Magician Dente revived the warrior and fused Vincent's soul with Yoshimitsu's in Yoshimitsu's body, once more creating Yisimentsu. This time, however, the two souls had been joined and combined into a single one, with appropriate effects on Yoshimitsu. Now he was a completely new person. Once again, he and Hector had a rift in their relationship. Yoshimitsu followed his new quest for power, quickly gaining more and more powers and strength. This new found Yoshimitsu was ruthless and indiscriminate.

However, a mage and an old friend of both Yoshimitsu and Vincent chose to intervene and created a seperate body. He seperated Yoshimitsu and Vincent's souls and placed Vincent's in this new shell. The body itself was a perfect human body, and resembled Vincent's original body remarkably well. Despite their conflicts before, Yoshimitsu and Vincent now understood each other and formed a close friendship.

During their friendship, they found an island that bended itself to their will. They chose to set this island in orbit in the skies, only going their when they needed peace and quiet. They called it Mist, named after the weather conditions they found it in.

Shortly after, Yoshimitsu learned that his home was not in this dimension. Together, they went to his home dimension and met Lord Dran. They left quickly, having no desire to serve this Lord. However, things were not so simple. Lord Dran was determined to have Yoshimitsu as his servant and destroyed the home he and Vincent had. The two ended up on an airship with a friendly crew, and enjoyed their life there.

During their stay on the airship, Yoshimitsu began to act oddly and took off without warning. Vincent pursued, but in the end he could not keep up with Yoshimitsu. Yoshimitsu created a new world out of the island called Mist. Vincent went to this island, and ended up fighting with Yoshimitsu. Ultimately, he had to kill his friend. It later transpired that Yoshimitsu was being controlled by Lord Dran.

During an invasion from the Ryuga Race, a select group of Ryuga went to Yoshimitsu's grave. Using a complicated ritual, they brought the body back to life but locked Yoshimitsu's memories away. Yoshimitsu, not knowing who he was nor why he was being ordered around by people he didn't know, left his race in search of answers. Only afew days after revival, he found himself in a city being attacked by giant white phoenix. He felt an irrational urge to fight the phoenix in order to save the innocent bystanders. Assisted by a powerful stranger, they brought down the phoenix and the stranger took it as a summon monster. Yoshimitsu departed.

The next day, a second supernatural entity found him. He was assisted, once again, by the dark haired stranger. Once again, the stranger took the winged unicorn as a summon. However, this stranger also claimed to know him. He went with the stranger to Mist. The stranger then summoned a blue dragon, and Yoshimitsu felt a wealth of memories return to him. He recognised the stranger as Vincent, his best friend, and the dragon as Bahamut.

However, something was amiss. The island once again began to bend itself to Yoshimitsu's will, but a castle had appeared on the island. Yoshimitsu could not will it away, so together he and Vincent entered the castle. Presented with a choice of up or down, Yoshimitsu went down while Vincent ascended the stairs. The castle, it transpired, was of Ryuga origin and forced both boys to relive their memories of each other. While Yoshimitsu learned the truth of his existence, Vincent's darker side had been unlocked and the dark haired boy left the castle without a word to Yoshimitsu.

Yoshimitsu now is hunting Vincent down in an attempt to end things. In the year between Vincent's departure and the present day, Yoshimitsu learned what happened to Vincent and why he reacted as he did. Now Yoshimitsu has realised that there is no way to save Vincent and he knows how it must end. He will stop at nothing to save Vincent, but if he has to kill his former friend, he will.

He finally stopped Vincent by forcing a stolen element of his past, part of Yisimentsu's split soul that had been allowed to grow, from Vincent's body and killing Yisimentsu. The two parted ways, with Yoshimitsu respecting Vincent's decision to leave.

Personal Impact

Yoshimitsu is my first ever character, and he's had a very long history that has really allowed me to focus on various aspects of writing. He started out as, essentially, a character that I could just shove whatever cool powers on him that I wanted to with little room for emotional development. While not the best basis for a character, it was a good starting point for me to develop as a writer. He was solid to begin with, having an interesting personality and some sharp choreography to help keep him at least slightly interesting.

For a while, Yoshimitsu's power bag was a cripple - he had no reason to get creative with his powers, causing them to stagnate, and also leaving no room for character development because there was nothing threatening him. This finally left Yoshimitsu in a rut, which I wasn't certain I had the talents to write him out of. It took some careful planning and a number of traumatic incidents for Yoshimitsu in order to finally get him moving again and back to being more than a super powered swiss army knife.

While focusing on Yoshimitsu's emotional growth, I feel like I've really grown as a writer and been able to concentrate on how a character would act and respond in a situation that they feel strongly about. It's given me the ability to convincingly write and portray a character's thoughts and feelings, and helped me redefine how to write in a character's voice. It was also immensely satisfying to write a longer plot for him that put him through his paces, both as a fighter and as a person.

I do feel, however, that Yoshimitsu has run his course. This is partially because I've had him for so long and done so much, but also because I tend to use him as a crutch when joining RPs. If something looks to be getting a bit too much for any of my other characters, Yoshimitsu appears and suddenly has all the answers. In some cases, it works! In Obscured Truth, it's useful for him to be like that because he'll disappear soon enough and has given Illiana all the info she needs. In some cases, it goes horribly. He takes the plot away from whatever it should be and focuses it on him instead, which really limits just what my other characters can do.