| “ | When you choose of your own free will to halt your steps, THAT will signify true defeat. Go! Continue to place one foot before the other. For every man, there is a resting place. Grit your teeth, and, no matter what setbacks you may suffer along the way, continue on to that place. THAT is victory. | „ |
| ~ Jinpachiro "Ben" Hyuga |
Jinpachiro Hyuga, often going by the name Ben, is the late father of Yuri Hyuga, the main protagonist in the video-game Shadow Hearts. Ben was born a Harmonixer, a human with a demonic bloodline which allows them to transform into demons, in addition Ben was a special agent for the Japanese military. Ben rarely saw his wife, Anne, and his son, Yuri, due to the demands of his career, which kept him and his son distant. Ben died in the field protecting his country and his family from a massive demonic attack.
He was voiced by Hideyuki Tanaka in Japanese and Wayne Grayson in Shadow Hearts 1 and Kirk Thornton in Shadow Hearts 2 in English.
History[]
Ben was a member of a Harmonixer bloodline, which granted him the ability to transform into a demon and absorb the malice of monsters, demons and lost souls, separating them from the mortal world while simultaneously making the demonic power of his blood stronger. Ben worked for the Japanese military and was dispatched as a trouble shooter for the military that was sent out to deal with supernatural threats to Japan. Because of his special talent and elite military training Ben spent only a few weeks every few months with his family and the rest of the time was called out for special projects. Because of his relativity little time spent at home and the loneliness of his wife and child, Ben and Yuri's relationship was very strained.
One day Ben was assigned by his superior/former squad-mate Kantaro Ishimura to defeat a mad sage called Dehuai, who was mounting his mystical forces against Japan to sever their occupation of his homeland, China. When Ben arrived in China he recruited his old friend Zhongyun Zhen, a summoner he had worked with before in mainland China. While seeking out leads on Dehuai, Ben happened upon an old sage named Zhuzhen Li being beaten to within-an-inch-of-his-life by a street thug named Wugui. Ben saved Zhuzhen, killed Wugui's minions and beat the cruel thug to within-an-inch- of-HIS-life but let him live. Wugui ran off while Ben and Mr. Zhen attended to Zhuzhen. Zhuzhen informed them that he was Dehuai's brother and that Wugui was working for Dehuai and had been tasked to kill Zhuzhen who Dehua saw as threat since they were both trained in the same magics. Zhuzhen soon joined Ben and Mr. Zhen in their quest to kill his mad brother and took them to his headquarters in Shanghai, Kuihai tower. Dehuai was planing a ritual he called the Demon's Gate invocation, which he said would open the gates of hell and give him an army of demons to overrun China, cast out the Japanese and make him the supreme ruler of China. Zen and Zhuzhen fought off Dehuai's minions while Ben beat Dehuai half to death to stop the rite, though Dehuai lost a literal arm and leg in the fight he was able to summon a massive devil from his ritual site. Dehuai got away and locked himself in his his tower while Ben tried to find a way to stop the massive demon making it's way out of the gate. Ben decided to use his powers to merge with the demon and succeeded but at a Major cost. After his fusion with the demon Ben felt himself becoming possessed by the monster and knew he would not be able to hold the creature at bay for long so he asked his friends to kill him quickly before it took him over, Zhuzhen was the one to honor his friend's request and he was forced to kill Ben, cutting off the demon's passage into the world. With Dehuai severely injured and left alone bleeding out in his locked tower Mr. Zhen and Zhuzhen left to mourn their friend.
Dehuai's revenge[]
What Mr. Zhen and Zhuzhen did not know was Dehuai had survived his injuries and dispatched a few of his remaining minions to find and destroy Ben's family. Dehuai's minions found the small Chinese fishing village Anne and Yuri live in, possessed some of the villagers and began going from house to house eating every villager they came across starting with their host's families. When there was no one left alive the demons decided to finish off Anne and Yuri. Anne was the first to be killed and her death quickly triggered Yuri's Harmonxer powers early, transforming Yuri and destroying the demons. When Yuri came to his sense the monster were torn to pieces but his mother was still dead. The trauma of the experience had given Yuri stronger powers than were traditional to Harmonixers and he could transform into different demons but the transformations were more unstable than his fathers and he needed to mentally confront his demons after every slain monster to keep them from wearing on his sanity.
Family legacy[]
Yuri wandered for years in China fighting demons and living from day to day. Yuri was eventually contacted by a voice that guided him through tough times and gave him warning when he was about to encounter supernatural trouble. The voice eventually guided him to a girl named Alice Elliot who was about to kidnapped by a British warlock calling himself "Roger Bacon". Yuri saved Alice and escaped Bacon with Alice into mainland China that night though Yuri saw a masked spirit appear, though it wore a mask Yuri recognized it's coat, hair, frame and voice as that of his father. Under the alias Fox Face the spirit introduced himself and said he had been sent by Yur's inner demons to make Yuri pay for his crimes. Fox Face said he had finally been given access to the land of the living thanks to the power of the girl Alice, who's proximity to Yuri had stirred the Malice in Yuri's heart. Yuri fears his father's spirit and must fight off the Malice gained from each battle to prevent it from summoning Fox Face. In their travels Yuri and Alice soon met Zhuzhen Li working as exorcist for hire for small villages on the mainland A village's totem had been desecrated and subjugated by an evil sorcerer, overrunning the village with demons that ate the former residents. After defeating the demon Zhuzhen said he suspected a sage named Dehuai, when Yuri and Alice told him about their encounter with Bacon, Zhuzhen became fearful recognizing the name as that of a famous European warlock and began to wonder if the attempted kidnapping was linked to Dehuai.
Zhuzhen's guess was corrected and Bacon was acting on behalf of Dehuai to seize Alice for Dehuai, though Bacon offered to try again to get Alice Dehuai told him not to bother and that with Alice in China he intended to send his own demons to apprehend her. Yuri and Alice eventually teamed up with a European spy named, Margarete G. Zelle, who was working to undermine the Japanese army in China and get to the source of their strange conflict with Dehuai. Yuri, Alice and Margarete soon re-encountered Zhuzhen and the four formally teamed up to fight Dehuai and get to the source of his new scheme. Once in Shanghai Zhuzhen visited Mr. Zhen and his daughter Qiuhua but quickly found the two were working for Wugui, who had seized control of their bar some time ago and forced them to kneel before Dehuai. Zhuzhen fought to free his friends but was overpowered by Wugui who could resist magic, Yuri quickly heard the scuffle and fought Wugui, saving Zhuzhen just as his father had and returning ownership of the bar to Zhen. Once Zhen was safe Zhuzhen told him and the others of his past with Dehuai, Wugui, Mr Zhen and Ben Hyuga. Yuri had to hold himself back to keep from killing Zhuzhen once he admitted he killed Ben, though Zhuzhen was prepared to be killed for what he had done Yuri soon shrugged it off understanding the seriousness of demonic possession and that being a Haronixer made it a serious risk.
Yuri, Alice, Zhuzhen and Margarete soon learned Dehaui was attempting his ritual again but this time needed Alice as sacrifice to ensure it would go off without a hitch, the village Yuri and Alice had met Zhuzhen in was just one of four villages whose totem needed to be defiled in order to ensure the rite. Dehuai eventually captures Alice and took her to Kuihai tower. Yuri Zhuzhen and Margarete traveled to Kuikai tower to free Alice and defeat Dehuai, when they found Alice she was nearly dead, with the majority of her life-force already sapped, thanks to the Yuri's guiding voice Alice's power was replenished and she was able to join them in their fight against Dehuai. On the top of the tower Dehuai revealed his newest rite was a reversal of the previous one and would summon an embodiment of the planet he called the Seraphic Radiance instead of a devil and it would grant him power over the entire country. Yuri and the others beat Dehuai nearly to death but Dehuai was unwilling to fail a second time and poured all his remaining life-force into the rite to summon it. Luckily the rite newer rite was far beyond Dehuai's power and even with his dying declaration the rite remained incomplete, however Bacon had been lying in wait for the preparations to be complete and completed the rite for Dehuai intent on seeing the Seraphic Radiance unleashed.
In the wake of the Seraphic Radiance Yuri made up his mind to follow in his father's footsteps and merge with the creature to prevent it from destroying the world. After the fusion Yuri's soul was quickly consumed by the Seraphic Radiance and it destroyed Shanghai though it seemed Yuri's sacrifice had pacified the creature and it spared Kuihai Tower and Yuri's friends and did not continue it's ramapage instead flying off to the west.
The Bound Power[]
Alice, Zhuzhen and Margarete traveled west into Europe. While Margarete looked for leads on Bacon who lived in Europe, Alice and Zhuzhen worked as exorcists for hire in hopes of finding some trace of the Seraphic Riddance and Yuri. After six months in Europe Alice and Zhuzhen met a vampire noble named Keith, who asked them to exorcise his castle from a giant monster that had crashed into the top tower six months prior and turned into a young-man. Sure enough following Keith's lead Alice and Zhuzhen found Yuri, however he was almost completely insane, did not recognize them and tried to kill them on sight. Alice Zhuzhen and Keith defeated Yuri and knocked him out, Zhuzhen could not bring himself to finish off a freind a second time and broke down when faced with the choice, mean-while Alice used her power to enter Yuri's heart. Alice met Yuri's inner demons offered her soul if they would spare his, as Yuri was nearly gone and Fox Face would surely defeat him quickly the demons agreed to the deal knowing that the lose of Alice would make Yuri all the more miserable.
The demons told Alice where to find Yuri's soul and that it was at the mercy of Fox Face so she had to hurry. When Alice found Yuri's soul Fox Face was making it dig it's own grave. Fox Face attacked Alice as she tried to reach out to Yuri and seeing Alice hurt son prompted Yuri to fight Fox Face and deafeat his father's spirit once and for all with Alice's help. Upon defeating Fox Face his mask fell off and revealed to Yuri it was not actually the cured soul of his father but in truth a duplicate of himself for though Yuri told himself he blamed his father for drawing the demons to him and his mother in truth he had blamed himself for not being strong enough to save her. Yuri regained his senses and he and Alice returned to their bodies and reunited with their friends then focusing their efforts on finding and defeating Bacon.
Late in the game if the player completes a variety of side quests Yuri can go into his heart to meet his father's real spirit. Ben reveals that it was he that had held the Seraphic Radiance back and prevented it from consuming his soul. Ben offers to make it's power available to Yuri but that doing so meant he would have to let it attack through him and if Yuri lost it would destroy Yuri's soul, Yuri accepts the condition and fights his father for real, first in his human form and then as the Seraphic Radiance. In the squeal game, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Yuri's fusions are all sealed due to a curse on his soul by an evil priest named Nicolai thanks to a powerful exorcist tool called the Holy Mistletoe. Yuri must get all his Fusions back slowly over the course of the game, though each is reconstituted slightly once regained. The final fusion is the Seraphic Radiance or the "Dark Seraphim" as it is re-dubbed. If ll other Fusions are unlocked and Yuri reaches maximum Malice Ben will appear before Yuri again in his heart. Ben once again offers to unleash the Dark Seraphim and was eager to see Yuri beat him. If Yuri beats him he gains the Dark Seraphim and undoes the curse of the holy Mistletoe. Ben tells Yuri that both he and his mother were very proud of his strength of heart before leaving Yuri's heart and returning to the afterlife.
Gallery[]
.png "The Seraphic Radiance (Ben Hyuga).png (1.43 MB)")
| Shadow Hearts Heroes |
| Koudelka Koudelka Iasant | Edward Plunkett | James O' Flaherty | Roger Bacon |