Shiro Tagachi - His story

I think it's time we got our own thread about Shiro Tagachi. The villain in factions. I hope that as factions is released and played through, we can update the thread and finally have the whole story behind Shiro Tagachi.

To those not knowing who he is, this is the guy:

The Factions Cinematic featuring Shiro can be downloaded here:
http://www.guildwars.com/gallery/video/default.php

First, let's go over what we already know about him:

• Shiro Tagachi was the bodyguard of the 27th Emperor of Cantha. He killed the very Emperor he was sworn to protect.
• 200 years ago, The 27th Emperor of Cantha was attending the Harvest Festival in Kaoya Zun Temple and as he bowed his head down to pray to the gods, Shiro came up behind him and slew him in cold blood in that holy place. The champions of Cantha who were present at the ceremony all rushed to avenge their Emperor, but Shiro was without match in the use of the blade. He slew many of the rampaging soldiers until two champions finally bested him and killed him with the very blades he used to slay the Emperor.
• In his final living moments, overcome with pain, rage and and malice, Shiro let out a terrible cry that caused a Jade Wind to sweep across the lands of Cantha, petrifying the forest and turning the sea into pure jade.
• Prior to his betrayal, Shiro was an honorable man entrusted with the greatest duty a soldier can take on. It is unknown what turned him into a cowardly traitor and murderer
• The tale of Shiro Tagachi in present day Cantha is more of a bogeyman story mixed with myth and a cautionary tale against the dangers of magical power.

We also have hints that he may have returned, but that is unconfirmed.

This is what I have been able to find out about him. Please post here if you have additional information, and I'll update my post.

I think it said he comes back in undead form (not familiar at all ) on the GW site.

in the trailer, there is also a female assassin that helps out, along with the kurzik and luxon champions who defeat shiro

I believe the female assassin is Nika, or at least she appears to be. Maybe she'll reveal the story through the early stages of factions? (200 years old? @_@)

A GuildWiki page said that Gaile Grey confirmed that the assassin who helped kill Shiro was NOT Nika. Scroll down to the notes section.

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Nika

I am not sure how one of the emperor's most loyal and elite guards would turn on him. I think he was possessed or was simply corrupted, kind of like Arthas from the Warcraft series. In fact, that cinematic reminds me a lot of the cutscene when Arthas kills his father.

She's just the girl on the cover.

Remember Nika would have to be 200 years old to meet you again.

Shiro was simply corrupted by evil.

Remember in the trailer that symbol that was burned into the floor?

Interesting theory. But like I mentioned in my post, we still do not know what turned him into a betrayer and a murderer.

I'm guessing there's something behind this plot with Shiro. There's going to be a huge twist, I'll bet. The story: 'Emperor was murdered by bodyguard 200 years ago, then bodyguard was killed and let out a big scream, now he is coming back OMG we must unite against this haXoR!' - I don't think that's big enough for an entire story to be set around. At first, we'll be uniting the Kurzicks and Luxons to go together against Shiro...but then what? He was killed before...yes he's undead but surely if we have all these big armies and get him enclosed he'll be in for it?
I'm thinking that Shiro will be a bit of a trickster, and will be killing people all over the place and disappearing - our task: to follow him, and be drawn into a plot twist. There is a greater evil behind this man, the evil that corrupted him in the first place.
As to uniting the Luxons and the Kurzicks against Shiro - will that ever happen? I mean...if the Factions war thing is going to go on forever, does that mean...they'll just hold hands for a second and pwn this Shiro guy, but carry on the war anyways?

I also highly doubt that we will have a situation like "The 2 factions united and defeated Shiro. Peace was restored in Cantha". I think the Luxons and Kurzicks will have important roles. Perhaps 1 side will join with Shiro or perhaps an other character?

Perhaps Shiro will become such a threat that the two Factions have to turn their attention to him more quickly than expected. He might start killing the clan leaders and house leaders of the factions (well, they're pretty easy targets for him I think). Maybe Shiro's mischievous actions will cause the two factions to fight against each other more bitterly?

I've been thinking about how the story will take us elsewhere, such as into all those other areas of the city. Maybe we go into the emperor's palace because Shiro is lurking about and they think he's going to kill the emperor. Maybe he actually manages that, and then escapes, leading us to chase him across the city, but the evil power behind him has gathered a force that gets in our way.

That would be an interesting mission...chasing Shiro through the palace before he gets to the emperor and murders him.

ArenaNet is composed of former Blizzard employees, but I don't think they'd be so unoriginal to pull off the "horde joins with the alliance to defeat the Burning Legion" scenario, but with the Kurzicks, Luxons, and Shiro.

His final defeat could be something in which, as stated earlier, you will fight a greater evil. Or perhaps said evil will show its true form, as a demon of pure hatred or something.

Symeon - Hehe, they did that in the WarCraft universe. Everybody loves each other in TFT, then come WoW, it's back to war (kind of). And once again, ArenaNet is mainly composed of former Blizzard workers, so it's possible they would attempt to pull something like that.

Do we really know of Shiro's current influence? The Canthans speak as if he's out there destroying everything, meanwhile the only real destruction going on is the conflict between the two factions. How is Shiro related to this? Had his ghostly cry send some dark veil over the two factions, thusly turning them against each other? In which case, Shiro's intention may simply be to influence these massive wars until they all kill one another. I doubt it would be that simple, however.

In the gameplay movie you can see a shot of a party fighting some long haired dude with 2 swords in a red suit, who seems to be a boss...

The Oni (those silver guys) look very demon-like, and I do not think they are natural denizens to Cantha. They may have some relevancy to the source of evil behind Shiro's corruption.

Lexar - Wow, I never noticed before, but that fellow DOES look a lot like Shiro (for those who do not know, he appears at 0:25 in the SECOND gameplay trailer. The one without the Main Menu music).

I would expect the confrontation with Shiro to be much more dramatic, if that is him. Perhaps he will flee, or he is so evil you will need to fight various forms of him.

Beh I could solo him with gladiators defence

Shiros army are called the Shiro'ken, we got a taste of them at the.. *ahem* server clearout... at the end of the faction weekend.

Spooky eh?

The main enemy at these raids was the dragon Kuunavang, pictured below, who proclaimed out loud that he was sent by his 'new master', Shiro, to wipe out the people in the main outposts.



I'm guessing he'll be 'The Undead Rurik of Factions'... the last evil henchman before finally tackling the boss man himself, Shiro.

Well, here's some info from Gaile:

I guess that helps to explain exactly what happens in the cinematic and who the other characters involved in the event are.

The 'cryptic symbol' is more or less the same as the one on the back of shiro's cape btw.

well, i think i read somewhere, that 8 kurzicks and 8 luxons got to fight together to defeat shiro?
this would mean shiro is the "charr" after the canthan "guildwars" ;-)

/edit:
the trailer is awesome

What's wrong with older women?


...

For some reason, I'm willing to bet that Shiro is not the end-all of the story, and we're probably on the wrong side again. White Mantle, Shining Blade, the Vizier, what?

aahh canthan empire is eeeviiil :P

but why should he turn the whole world into jade?

hmmm

He got the idea of having jade involved in EVERYTHING from the mursaat. Ever notice their towers, soul batteries, statues, and bows/armors are made of jade?

...jade jade jade...what is ArenaNet's obsession with jade?

Maybe the mursaat just hired some Luxon builders to make their forts?

The Lich and Shiro died. The staff of Orr was lifted up and dissapeared so in theory the Lich could return, and Shiro's return is pretty much a given so imagine this:

Maybe they will return... as a duo of destructrion! Dunn! Dunn! Dunn!

That would be cool, but then the people who are totally new to the game and ONLY have Factions would be confused on who this lich fellow is.

That's what I think, too. The question that hasn't been asked yet is... why did he kill the Emporer he was sworn to protect? What did he hope to gain?

The cinematic shows him doing something with the Emporer's soul - was it all for personal power he thought he could achieve by consuming said soul, or was that just to prevent resurrection from working? Was he hired, manipulated or posessed to kill the Emporer - and if so, who's behind him? Or was this one of the 'protect the Empire over the Emporer' things, and he felt for some reason that the continent would be better off with the Emporer dead?

All of those but the first imply there is indeed more going on than we have yet been shown.

Anets obbsession with jade comes from the fact that the vast majority recent jade was made from Shiro's death. It probobly has some major magical properties, being transmuted from basicly every kind of matter, organic or not.

Also, his intentions were not for the good of the empire. He, in his dying breath, obliterated the temple, turned most of cantha into jade, and destroyed the emporer him self. (the emporers death would probobly spark civil wars for power.)

Yeah but they wrote all this after they made the mursaat's primary building material be jade - so the original question would have meant why is it such a running theme rather than where did it all come from.

EDIT: and woot, made Sancho!

In my theory,The Emperor role was to unite the two factions [Luxons and Kurzick's], but when he was slained the alliance broke out. The each one call themelves as the "True" ancestor of the Emperor... Shiro is very mysterious guy, where he come form???Luxons, Kurzicks or maybe he's form Tyria...?

Mybe another Wail comes that turns everything back to normal. Seems good at first but...

Kurzick Warrior: DDIIIIIIIIEEEEEE LUXONSS aaa WTF the Jade sea turned back to water
Luxon: HELP I CAN'T SWIN
Other Luxon: OMG SWIN AWAY SHARKS!!

Meanwhile...

Kurzick Father: Look son these wolves are frozen but if they were alive
Kurzick Son: their scary
Kurzick Father: Don't worry they can't hurt you
*wolves get unforzen*
Kurzick Father: WTF AAAA RUN AAAA

As with all things Asian, the Tao is not suggestive or supportive of the falsehood of the eyes. This is what my eyes see: Shiro Tagachi is a friend and guard of the Emperor. Shiro murders the Emperor and fights off the hordes of warriors come to end his crime, only to be laid low by three heroes of Cantha. His death cry changes the sea to Jade.

For that story to be true, we presume that Shiro is evil (whether all the time or under the influence) for else why would he murder the Emperor? We also presume that the Emperor is good.

To reveal other possibilities, let me turn now to the question of Jade. For that, I relate this story:

A disciple of Confucius once asked him why men valued Jade more than Serpentine. "Is it because Jade is scarce and Serpentine is abundant?"

Confucius replied: "It is not, but it is because men of olden days regarded it as a symbol of the virtues. Its gentle, smooth, glossy appearance suggests charity of heart; its fine close texture and hardness suggests wisdom; it is firm and yet does not wound, suggesting duty to one's neighbor; it hangs down as though sinking, suggesting ceremony; struck, it gives a clear note, long drawn out, dying gradually away and suggesting music; its flaws do not hide its excellences, nor do its excellences hide its flaws, suggesting loyalty; it gains our confidence, suggesting truth; its spirituality is like the bright rainbow, suggesting the heavens above; its energy is manifested in hill and stream, suggesting the earth below; as articles of regalia it suggests the exemplification of that than which there is nothing in the world of equal value, and thereby is Tao itself."

I think my eyes deceive me when it comes to looking at the story of Shiro, so I listen to what my heart tells me. Shiro acted out of love when he attacked the Emperor, love of his Lord and love of his land. Something was affecting the Emperor, some evil or other monstrous activity that the Emperor was keeping concealed from his people. Only Shiro knew this truth, but what to do? He could not let the Emperor's spirit continue to be corrupted, and he knew he could not bring shame to the Emperor by revealing it. He certainly did not hope for his own death though he knew it must come. He did not know his actions would create the Jade Sea or the stone trees. He could only hope to solve one small painful part of his life.

Shiro did what he had to in order to save the Emperor's spirit, and to keep the secret of the evil. No small feat to hide evil, rather, he knew that evil is simply replaced. He had to become the evil so that the truth could be hidden. Shiro's face tells me of his pain, his agony.

When Shiro murders his friend and Lord, the evil within the Emperor is released to merge with Shiro. Of course, Shiro had intended to let himself be slain perhaps or to exile himself to some far off land, but with the evil within him fighting for control, he attacked and killed loyal soldiers and friends.

How can this alternative tale be true? I say this is a possible because the sea turned to Jade - how could Shiro who is so 'obviously' evil create Jade? No, Shiro's death cry was truly one of sorrow and desperation and pain.

I think it is possible that the assassin might have been in Shiro's confidence. His spirit, pure, true to the form of life and friendship and powerful once released into the world changed the landscape. How could friendship and such sacrifice not change the world? Jade is often seen as a symbol of purity of heart and duty to one's neighbor. The gem also symbolizes compassion, modesty, courage, justice and wisdom. So again, how could Shiro's evil create Jade?

In addition to the sea turning to Jade, the trees turned to stone. One cannot be without the other. Shiro's great and pure sacrifice created Jade, but his act of murder turned his 'truth' to stone.

As a side note, in our own world, Jade was used to create talismans called 'bi', a funerary object used to guide the spirit to Heaven. It is believed that Jade preserved a body.

Shiro’s body is preserved in the Jade, but his 'truth' is of stone. When you walk the Jade Sea, you invoke the true spirit of Shiro and his choice. The Shiro that has/is returning is not the man who was friend to an Emperor. His return is without the true spirit, and is corrupt, of the earth only, and so here we are at the end of my alternative tale.

Shiro was good, a great man with great love, and he took the life of his friend and became evil so his friend could rest. He did not want the Empire to fall to ruin, or the sea to turn to Jade, but great crisis breeds great change.

Maybe he was drunk and it seemed a good idea at the time to kill the emperor.

Drunken Master?

i still wonder what all that stuff was when he killed the emperor like *wooosh power inject now into you*

Shiro Tagachi made the whole area around him into solid jade. This is what I found about the myth of jade:

...Jade was used not only for the finest objects and cult figures, but also in grave furnishings for high-ranking members of the imperial family. Today, too, this gem is regarded as a symbol of the good, the beautiful and the precious. It embodies the Confucian virtues of wisdom, justice, compassion, modesty and courage...

Well, I think about Shiro got possessed by, how can I say, *Evil*. If he was the most trusted, why he kill them all. Got a good rank and stuff, what else? When he got killed, I say, its all the *Evil* which it has been consummed during that time. Maybe the Emperor was the key to make Alliance between Luxon and Kurzick and maintain peace in Cantha. Like Convenant has said, its look like a symbol at the end burned on the floor and we hear " Evil has returned!". On that, I say Shiro is already dead (Flesh and Soul) and that *Evil* will find another bond to make another disaster like in the movie.

In all, I dont think Luxon or Kurzick started the war, I think is that *Evil* has corrupted in another poor citizen (Perhaps both for each nation) and trick these nations to make them in war. After that, when Luxon and Kurzick will be weak, It will attacks both to annihiliate all Cantha in one blow. If Sea turned into Jade stone and forest into stone, I wonder how powerful can be if Shiro was more corrupted.

Maybe the return of Mursaats?

I think Shiro will ally himself with either Kurzik or Luxon to promote malice and hatred in Cantha, his true intention, i don't know, maybe emperor was one of the chosen so they manipulated Shiro to kill the emperor?

I doubt they would try to make the factions something like "This faction is good, this one is evil". It's just a difference in beliefs and culture...a specific faction being "evil" would not seem right. Maybe at a point he'll ally with both (like Vizier Khilbron)...to get the Scepter of Dorr...IAN! With such he'll unleash the power of mini-confessor dorians upon the world.

That leads to my question, are there "Chosen" in Factions. Or more specifically, is there "Ascension"? If so, Shiro no doubt would be Ascended. Guess will just have to wait!

Just thinking something
If you want to import your char to Faction from Prophecies, you must first be ascend. I think, Faction will have an ascension system or something like this. Problably Shiro was already Ascended.

I just hope Faction will not be an Onimusha style: Fight against the Oni and save the world (Shiro = Nabunaga Oda). I already got a fight against the Oni during the Beta.

in the factions video if you've actually watched it you fight shiro hes lvl 28 can someone tell me if i have gotten this wrong? and he dont look undead to me.