Hoji

"And at least the rain was back. But I say fuck the rain. I'm finished with Enra and his world of obedience. Of slavery. You choose solitude, I'll give you solitude, and poor Xing will seal this wretched bargain. My heart splits but there is no other way."

—Hoji in his memories of his sister.

Template:Character Infobox

Hoji is a banished spirit that aids Lo Wang in the Shadow Warrior (2013).

History

Early History

Hoji was a grand inventor living in the Shadow Realm, who was hired by Enra to make battle armour for his brothers in order for them to defeat their enemies. After managing to drive them into the void, Hoji built a set of gates known as Outer Gates to seal them forever. By possessing Itsuse no Mikoto's body, Hoji forged a blade that could hurt and even kill the Ancients, known as Nobitsura Kage. With the help of the blade, the Ancients sealed the gates with a soul of their own and thus letting them to use a stream of their enemies power for their own use through Ameonna. After the ritual was done, Ituse no Mikoto kept the sword in case Ancients broke their promise to never attack the mortal world.

As a side effect, the power going through Ameonna would manifest as tears, that would cause rain in Shadow Realm. If let unchecked, the rain would eventually drown the realm and kill everyone in it. To prevent this, Hoji created a special sleeping potion, that would put Ameonna to sleep for short periods of time. Under order of Enra, Hoji would bring the potion personally to Ameonna.

Banishment

Over the course of years, bringing a sleep potion to his sister, Hoji and Ameonna had an incestuous affair, which made her happy and stopped the rain. This caused a disastrous drought, and when the affair was discovered by Enra, the ruler of the Shadow Realm, Hoji's other brothers, Gozu, Mezu, and Xing, separated the pair and skinned Hoji's face as punishment, forcing him to wear a mask. Ameonna accepted her responsibility to the Shadow Realm, which embittered Hoji against both her for her abandonment and Enra for his tyranny over the Ancients.

He conspired to poison his sister and take revenge upon Enra, tricking Xing into delivering a tainted potion that put her into an eternal slumber and causing another drought, using this to draw Enra to the temple so that Xing could overthrow him and rule the Shadow Realm in his stead. After giving the poison to Xing, Hoji created a clay golem in the image of Ameonna called Whisperer so he could erase the memory of his sisters betrayal from his mind. But the plot was stopped by Mezu, the most loyal of the brothers to Enra. Xing was beheaded by Gozu on Enra's orders for his role in the plot, which did not kill him, and Hoji was banished to the mortal realm for his treachery. After wandering the mortal realm for two hundred years, he found out about that Enra started searching for Nobitsura Kage. He reached out Mizayaki, one of the holders of Nobitsura Kage's part and allied with him.

Shadow Warrior (2013)

When Lo Wang comes to take the sword from Mizayaki, demons attack the compound. Mizayaki is killed in the attack and Lo Wang allies himself with Hoji in hopes of retrieving the sword. Hoji explains that the Nobitsura Kage, is capable of slaying immortals and is anathema to demons. He also mentions that the Nobitsura Kage is actually three swords, and so Lo Wang seeks them out to merge them into one.

Over the course of the game, Lo Wang manages to find and merge two parts of the Nobitsura Kage. When Enra teleports Hoji back to the shadow realm, Lo Wang uses the last Whisperer on earth to travel to the Shadow Realm and learns that Hoji, who originally created the Whisperers, regrets his role in plunging the Shadow Realm into misery and seeks to undo his wrong by creating another Whisperer, taking away his memory of Lo Wang. Lo Wang convinces him that Enra needs to be stopped, and so the two join forces once more, with Hoji seeking to redeem himself by killing Enra and using his blood to revive Ameonna.

Together, they manage to retrieve the last part and reassemble the Nobitsura Kage back to it's full power. Then they travel to Shadow Realm to kill Enra but Lo Wang is captured by Enra and stripped of the sword. Enra tries to sacrifice Hoji to revive Ameonna by means of using the original Whisperer that Hoji made, which like the others before, can handle the Nobitsura Kage without harm, but Hoji disarms the Whisperer and hands the sword back to Lo Wang, forcing Enra to retreat. But by touching the Nobitsura Kage, Hoji dooms himself. After Lo Wang kill Enra, Ameonna awakens, and upon seeing the dead body of Hoji, she weeps, bringing rain back to the Shadow Realm.

Shadow Warrior 2

Hoji's grave appears in Ameonna's sanctuary with the Blade of Exile stuck into the center. After Lo Wang is betrayed by Ameonna he retrieves the blade from Hoji's grave and Kamiko uses it to channel her power and break Ameonna's door seals.

Personality

At first glance, Hoji appears only to be annoying. He has a constant snarky and sarcastic nature and seems pretty carefree about his situation. After regaining his lost memories, Hoji regrets his role in plunging the Shadow Realm into misery. He seems to hate his entire family, especially Enra for his tyranny over Shadow Realm and Ameonna for her betrayal.

Over the course of Shadow Warrior, Hoji develops a tight bond to Lo Wang, even going as far as sacrificing his own life to save him. Hoji is highly intelligent and is responsible for creation of sleeping potion for Ameonna, battle armours for his brothers, the Nobitsura Kage, Outer Gates and Whisperers.

Design

For most of the game, Hoji is clad in a dark, ninja-like outfit, which seems to be repeatedly stitch together with sharp, yellow claws for hands. The most striking part of his design is his white mask with two red horns.

Trivia

• Hoji is voiced by Alex Dobrenko.
• Hoji's mask appears as an easter egg in other Devolver published game Enter the Gungeon.

Gallery

Shadow Warrior (2013)

Hoji before his punishment.

Hoji bonding with Lo Wang.

Hoji's dead body.

Hoji's corpse disappearing, leaving only his mask behind.

Pre-punishment Hoji concept art.

After punishment Hoji concept art.

Shadow Warrior 2

Hoji's grave in Palace of the Ancients

Shadow Warrior 3

Lo Wang holding Hoji's mask

Lo Wang wearing Hoji's mask