Dragons of Heaven
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- This article about X/1999 is part of the X/1999 group of articles.
In the manga series X created by the popular mangaka group CLAMP, the Dragons of Heaven (天の龍 Ten No Ryū?), or The Seven Seals (七の封印 Nanatsu No Fūin?), are a group of seven individuals who are fated to stand against the Dragons of Earth in the apocalyptic battle on the Promised Day to determine the fate of the Earth and humanity. The Dragons of Heaven ideologically represent the belief that conflicts between man and nature can and must be resolved peaceably, and that humanity is no less precious than the Earth itself. Each of the Dragons of Heaven has a unique background (usually involving Japanese religious or occult sects), but all of the Dragons of Heaven are united in their desire to protect others. The Dragons of Heaven each exhibit the ability to create kekkai (barrier fields) in order to prevent innocent people from being harmed when battle with the Dragons of Earth erupts. It is heavily suggested that when a Dragon of Heaven loses the person or people that they wish to protect, or loses the will to protect others, the Dragon of Heaven concurrently loses their ability to create a kekkai and is no longer considered a Dragon of Heaven.
The sigil of the Dragons of Heaven is the constellation of the seven stars of the Hokuto Shichisei (Big Dipper).
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[edit] Shirō Kamui
A brooding young man, who possesses immense spiritual and psychic power which, according to the anime TV series, manifested at an early age. It is his destiny to decide whether the world should be destroyed so it may be reborn without humanity or save the world so humanity can continue to live in its current state.
In Kamui's childhood, he lived in Tōkyō, across the street from the Togakushi Jinja. Shortly after moving in, Kamui became fast friends with Fūma and Kotori. Kamui and Kotori showed affection for each other at a very early age, which culminated in Kamui asking Kotori whether he could become her "bride". He has sworn to Fuuma to protect her and never make her cry, and in exchange Fuuma promised to protect him. (In the TV series, this and several other childhood scenes from the manga were replaced by a scene in which young Kamui prevents Kotori from falling out of a tree at the risk of his own life. After this incident, Fūma, grateful to Kamui for saving his younger sister, pledged to Kamui that should he ever need help, Fūma would come to his aid.)
At the age of nine, Kamui left Tōkyō with his mother and moved to Okinawa. Although there are implications (which were positively confirmed in the anime TV series) that Kamui was involved in some physical altercations, he and Tōru lived in relative peace for six years, until Tōru's death. As Tōru burned alive, preventing Kamui from saving her with her own power, she implored Kamui to return to Tōkyō in order to seek his destiny.
Upon his return, Kamui initially appears as cold, ruthless, and quite unsympathetic — which causes Daisuke, Arashi, and Hinoto to worry that Kamui might choose his destiny as a Dragon of Earth — but this is revealed to be an act to drive Kotori and Fūma away in order to prevent them from being harmed. Kamui's ultimate goal is to retrieve the Shinken from the Togakushi Jinja and then to leave Tōkyō again as quickly as possible. Kamui initially comes into contact with Daisuke, Arashi, and Hinoto in quite abrasive manners, resulting in several pitched battles. After Sorata's and Yuzuriha's respective arrivals, though, Kamui's violent behavior is tempered somewhat by their friendly demeanors.
Kamui ultimately chooses his destiny as one of the Ten no Ryū, forcing Fūma to join with the Chi no Ryū.
After Kotori's death and Fūma's disastrous awakening as the other Kamui, he falls into a state of catatonia, directly paralleling Subaru's own experience during Tōkyō Babylon. After Subaru retrieved Kamui's consciousness from the depths of his soul, the two mutually identified with one another, having lived through heartbreakingly similar circumstances of the death of loved ones at the hands of a close friend or lover. Ironically enough, it is Kotori's death that brings Kamui's kind and compassionate nature back to the surface again.
Kamui has stated that his wish is to protect Fūma and to return him to his former self at all costs — even if he has to injure Fūma in order to accomplish this goal. In the TV series he achieves his goal, though it cost him his own life, whereas in the movie Kamui decapitates Fūma, and remains the only character who stayed alive. In the manga however, the Dragon of Earth Kamui, who can see other peoples' wishes, states that this is not Kamui's true wish, and Kamui won't be able to win against him unless he realizes and changes his true wish. This is also given as the reason that Kamui is, as of as of yet, unable to generate a kekkai in the manga.
Kamui makes an appearance in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.
- Power: powerful psychic, demonstrating telekinetic ability, the proverbial "power (authority) of God"
- Kekkai (barrier field): sphere (anime only)
- Trivia: The name "Kamui" (alternately spelled "Kamuy") may also allude to the celestial deity of the Ainu, the indigenous people of northern Honshū and Hokkaidō (additionally, all divine spirits in Ainu tradition are referred to as "kamui" / "kamuy"). One of Kamui's epithets is "the pillar of the world". In X, "Kamui" is given two approximate definitions: "he who protects Heaven's creations" and "he who hunts Heaven's creations".
- Relatives: Shirō / Magami Tōru (mother; deceased), Magami Tokiko (aunt)
- Romantic interests: Monō Kotori, Monō Fūma
- X Tarot Card: The Magician (Volume 1)
[edit] Arisugawa Sorata
An upbeat, irreverent teenager possessing considerable occult abilities, raised by the Shingon Buddhist monks of Kōyasan after being taken away from his mother at a young age. A gourmand, he was frequently in trouble at the shrine for stealing food between meals (insisting that he couldn't wait until dinner), and is also a competent cook. It was prophesied that he would protect Kamui with his life, but that he would die for a woman. In the anime, the prophecy is realized as he dies defending Arashi from Fūma's Shinken, despite her earlier attempts to kill Kamui. He has yet to die in the manga, but is currently in the act of confronting Hinoto after discovering she has kidnapped Arashi and was setting up each of the Dragons of Heaven in order to kill them.
In the 1996 movie, he is fatally wounded in a battle with Fūma.
Sorata is one of the characters considered amongst X's fanbase to have the highest probability of dying before the end of X. This is probably due to him repeatedly making claims of the prophecy that he will die for a woman.
Sorata makes several appearances in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, usually with and often married to Arashi.
- Power: mikkyō (esoteric Buddhist occult tradition), often expressed through the generation of lightning
- Kekkai (barrier field): cuboid
- Relatives: Name Unknown (mother)
- Romantic interests: Kishū Arashi
- X Tarot Card: The Chariot (Volume 7)
[edit] Kishū Arashi
A foundling girl raised by Shintō priests at Ise Jingū, and the Dragon of Heaven most immediately in touch with Princess Hinoto. Called the "Hidden Priestess of Ise", her specialty is swordfighting, a massive sword emerging from her left hand. Despite her cold, stoic front, Sorata falls in love with her, and ultimately she comes to reciprocate.
In the anime she is convinced by Fūma that she must join the Dragons of Earth and kill Kamui in order to release Sorata from his obligation to defend him. In so doing, she ends up causing the death of her lover, and loses her abilities as a Dragon of Heaven. In the manga she does not willingly change sides from the Ten no Ryū to the Chi no Ryū, but following the consummation of her love for Sorata, finds herself unable to generate her sword from her hand. Upset, Arashi is placed under a spell by Hinoto's dark half such that when she reawakens, she will fight as a Dragon of Earth. In the movie, she is stabbed and killed by Fūma, while just witnessing the death of Sorata.
Arashi makes several appearances in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.
- Power: Kakushi Miko (hidden shrine-maiden) of Ise-Jingū: possessing all of the spiritual power of the shrine, which manifests as the ability to generate a sacred sword from her left hand
- Kekkai (barrier field): pyramid
- Relatives: Name Unknown (mother; deceased), Kaede Saijyū (mother's Shintō sensei) —note that "saijyū" can be translated to mean "second cousin" in English, which may or may not represent Kaede's relation to Arashi
- Romantic interests: Arisugawa Sorata
- X Tarot Card: The Temperance (Volume 14)
[edit] Nekoi Yuzuriha
A fourteen-year-old schoolgirl descended from the keepers of Mitsumine Jinja, attended by a dog-spirit named Inuki who can transform into anything Yuzuriha desires and which only others with occult powers can see. Inuki is later killed by Satsuki, but reborn. Yuzuriha is exceedingly energetic, often diffusing latent tension between Kamui and the rest of the Ten no Ryū. Yuzuriha's uncanny ability to allay Kamui's suspicions and earn his trust seems slightly tongue-in-cheek in that Yuzuriha essentially has dealt with wolf-like inugami her entire life, and Kamui's demeanor towards the rest of the Dragons of Heaven prior to Yuzuriha's appearance was rather wolfish—a play on Kamui's familial name.
Yuzuriha was teased throughout much of her childhood as her classmates believed she was making up stories when she talked about Inuki (whom they had thought to be Yuzuriha's imaginary friend). Because of this, Yuzuriha makes a promise to herself and to Inuki that she will never fall in love with (or even date) a man who cannot see Inuki. Incidentally, the first person outside of her family who can see Inuki that Yuzuriha meets is Shiyū Kusanagi—a Dragon of Earth. Yuzuriha falls in love with Kusanagi, regardless of their conflicting fates.
Yuzuriha is, thus far, the only character who has effectively forced the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth to stand down in battle—a feat which many of the older and ostensibly more powerful Seals, such as Kamui and Subaru, have yet to come close to matching. While on her way to rejoin the other Dragons of Heaven after having lost Inuki in the disaster at Shinjuku, Yuzuriha ran into Fūma, who was just beginning to attack another kekkai. She protected the surrounding area with her own kekkai, but, lacking Inuki, she had no means with which to effectively combat Fūma. On the verge of delivering a fatal blow, Fūma calmly asked Yuzuriha if her true wish was to stay alive, a question which she derided as idiotic due to its obvious answer. Fūma then replied that if she truly wished to live, he'd be unable to harm her. Seconds before Fūma was able to strike, Kamui arrived at battle, but was largely ineffective and rendered immobile. Just as Fūma was about to kill Kamui, Yuzuriha mustered the sheer force of will to give birth to a new inugami, saving Kamui's life. Fūma then smiled, stating that Yuzuriha's determination was sincere, and withdrew from battle.
At the end of the final episode, Yuzuriha is seen sitting by a waterfall with Inuki and Kusanagi.
In the movie, Yuzuriha's relationship with Kusanagi is not acknowledged, and she is killed in a battle with Yūto and Kusanagi while protecting Kamui.
Yuzuriha makes several appearances in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.
- Power: inugami (Inuki) which can take on any form which she wishes it to: often Inuki takes on the form of tsurugi (a Chinese-syle, straight-bladed double-edged sword).
- Kekkai (barrier field): cylindrical prism
- Trivia: It is stated within the dialogue of the manga that Yuzuriha's familial name, "Nekoi" (meaning "relying upon cats"), is intentionally diversionary as it would be rather unwise for a master of inugami to walk around with a name advertising their affiliation with dogs.
- Relatives: Obaasan (grandmother)—note that "obaasan" literally means "grandma" in Japanese—the word "obaasan" is not to be confused with "obasan", which means aunt
- Romantic interests: Shiyū Kusanagi
- X Tarot Card: The Strength (Volume 8)
[edit] Sumeragi Subaru
A character imported from the earlier CLAMP series Tōkyō Babylon, Subaru is the 13th Head of the Sumeragi Ichimon, a clan of onmyōji. Once a cheerful yet bashful teenager, at the end of the earlier series the man he loved, Sakurazuka Seishirō, emerged as a ruthless and unfeeling magical assassin and killed his twin sister Hokuto; he has thus grown into a sad, reticent young man, obsessed with settling the score with his former lover. Although initially uninterested in the battle for the end of the world, he is convinced to join the Dragons of Heaven and pulls Kamui out of the catatonic state the boy was thrown into after the death of Kotori. The two share a close friendship based on the similar hardships they have faced.
Subaru had at first searched for Seishirō intending to take revenge, but discovered that he couldn't banish the love he felt for the assassin from his heart. Therefore, he wishes for Seishirō to kill him instead, and trained hard as an onmyōji in the hope that the Sakurazukamori would one day consider him enough of a threat to carry this out. However, due to a spell cast by Hokuto at the moment of her death, Subaru actually kills Seishirō instead. In the manga, this causes him to inherit the duty and the powers of the Sakurazukamori (since he killed Seishirō, the previous Sakurazukamori) and to join with the Chi no Ryū. Although Subaru never actively aids the other Chi no Ryū and continues to attempt to help Kamui realize what his true wish is, he is unable to generate a kekkai (having lost the one person he would wish to protect with his very life) and thus can no longer be considered Ten no Ryū.
In the anime, the knowledge that he had killed his one "special person" sends Subaru into catatonia. However, Kuzuki Kakyō enables Hokuto's spirit to cross into her brother's mind, and Subaru rises from his depression in time to contribute to the battle between Fūma and Kamui, in which he regains his ability to create a kekkai (strongly implying that Kamui is now his "special person").
In the 1996 movie, Seishirō and Subaru's powers end up causing them both their deaths in a battle between the two.
Subaru made an appearance in Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE and has been indirectly mentioned in ×××HOLiC by Ichihara Yūko.
- Power: onmyōjyutsu (Tao sorcery): often carried out through the usage of ofuda (paper amulets) and shikigami (although Subaru's shikigami—a white dove or crow—never appears in X)
- Kekkai (barrier field): pentagram
- Trivia: Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleaides, a group of seven stars within the constellation Taurus. This is likely related to his sister Hokuto's name which is pronounced identitically (although it is written with different kanji) to the Japanese word for Ursa Major, also a constellation of seven stars.
- Relatives: Lady Sumeragi (grandmother), Sumeragi Hokuto (fraternal twin sister; deceased), Names Unknown (parents; deceased)
- Romantic interests: Sakurazuka Seishirō
- X Tarot Card: The Hanged Man (Volume 12)
[edit] Kasumi Karen
IN CANON;
A Soapland call girl and devout Catholic, she was abused by her fundamentalist mother when her power to manipulate fire manifested in her childhood. She comes to admire Aoki, and in the anime series, she loses her life saving him from Yūto. In the manga, Karen has yet to die and was last seen backing up Kamui along with Seiichirō and Yuzuriha during the beginning of the Final Battle. It is suggested (especially in later volumes of the manga) that Karen feels a strong affection—and probably a romantic attraction—for Aoki, but she has refrained from telling Aoki as much, likely out of respect for him and for his family.
In the 1996 movie, Karen and Shōgo battle in the subway. Karen causes a massive explosion, causing them both to be crushed by debris.
Karen makes several appearances in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.
- Power: hitsukai (fire master): pyrokinesis, generating flame specifically in the form of fire balls
- Kekkai (barrier field): cruciform prism
- Relatives: "Mama" (mother; deceased)
- Romantic interests: Aoki Seiichirō
- X Tarot Card: The Justice (Volume 11)
[edit] Aoki Seiichirō
A mild-mannered copy editor with a wife and child, who is also a wind magician. In the TV series, upon discovering that the battle between the Seals and Angels is at hand, he secretly divorces his wife Shimako in order to spare her grief should he be killed. He impresses Karen, who eventually dies saving him in the anime. Aoki is a very gentle and even-tempered man and is only seen to become angry once in X, when Karen attempts to sacrifice herself for his sake. Although Aoki is very powerful, he rarely sees any action in battle for much of the first half of the story as he is quite busy editing manuscripts. He is a wind master, with the ability to conjure and control wind currents. This is his family's gift; his nephew Daisuke Saiki has the same ability, though he isn't as strong. In the movie, Aoki grabs Nataku and leaps off the top of the building killing them both.
Seiichirō makes an appearance in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.
- Power: kazetsukai (wind master): controlling air currents, slicing through solids and liquids with wind
- Kekkai (barrier field): octagonal prism
- Trivia: Aoki Seiichirō is actually named after one of CLAMP's copy editors who works for Kadokawa Shoten. He strangely looks like Sakura's father Fujitaka (Card Captor Sakura).
- Relatives: Aoki Shimako (wife), Aoki Yūka (daughter), Saiki Daisuke (nephew)
- Romantic interests: Aoki Shimako (wife), Kasumi Karen
- X Tarot Card: The Hierophant (Volume 5)
