King (キング Kingu?) is a title that two characters have taken in the Tekken series. Even though there have been two characters who have taken the name, each is simply called King in their respective games, though a numerical value is sometimes given to them to separate them as different characters, similar to Armor King.
Both King I and King II are luchadores from Mexico and support orphans across the world. In the games, they are never seen without their jaguar masks. King (albeit technically as two separate characters) has appeared in all main Tekken games, making him one of the most recognizable characters in the series.
Story
Early life
King I
The first King used to be a street brawling orphan with no care in the world except fighting. In one of his fights, King was grievously wounded and collapsed in front of a monastery. The Marquez priests saved him from death. After recovering, King realized the error of his ways and resolved to start a new life. He became a Catholic priest and renounced his old fighting ways. He then became a man with a mission; he dreamed of building an orphanage for street children, hoping to save them from becoming the kind of fighter he used to be.
King II
The second King was a street urchin who was brought up in the first King's orphanage. Until the age of 24, this person worked hard with King until one day, news broke of the first King's death at the hands of Ogre. Seeing that the orphanage would crumble into ruin (the money gained from King's wrestling matches was the only funding received), this man donned the mask of King and imitated his style. Unfortunately, he had only seen King's wrestling moves as a child, and he lost every competition he entered. One day, however, another man with a mask visited the new King, introducing himself as an old friend. This man revealed himself to be Armor King, who was interested in finding out if the rumors of a new King were true. For four years, the two of them trained, and the new King learned quickly, maturing into a forceful wrestler with extreme power, known as King II. By this time, the now 28-year-old wrestler was a worthy heir to the throne.
Tekken
King I, the friendly rival of Armor King, was in need of money to fund the orphanage that he was taking care of. With the little money he had, King decided to enter The King of Iron Fist Tournament in the hopes of winning the prize money. King entered the tournament, but accidentally damaged Armor King's eye during their fight. Nonetheless, he emerged the victor and in the end, managed to get third place, winning enough prize money for the orphanage.
Tekken 2
After winning 3rd place in the tournament, an orphan died within King' s care. Depressed and enraged, King threw away his jaguar mask and ran away. Armor King worried about his rival, and went in search of him. After a long and tiring day of finding clues as to where King would be, he found him in an alleyway behind a bar. Armor King saw how his friend's life was crumbling apart and convinced him to return to the orphanage in order to take care of the kids who were still in need of him. Armor King also convinced him to go back to training for The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2.
King, fully recovered from his depression and alcoholism, trained intensely in order to enter the tournament with the intention of winning the prize money again to fund the orphanage. However, King lost in the tournament and resorted to teaching the orphans his fighting skills instead, as a means of self-defense.
Tekken 3
King was attacked and killed by Ogre. Armor King, out of respect for his friend, trained a new King. This new King was an orphan under King's eye. After hearing news of The King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, the now christened King II was entered into the tournament by his mentor, to see how well his training would pay off against the toughest of competitors world-wide. King also seeked revenge against the elusive Ogre.
Ending Description: King II faced off against another luchador with his mentor watching the match. King II finished the match with a win and hoisted his belt! But Armor King I was nowhere to be found. King II dropped the belt and rushed to his locker room. Since he had performed admirably in the match, he found his master, sitting, worn from a heart illness.
Tekken 4
After the events of the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, King discovered that his master Armor King had been killed in a bar fight. King swore revenge and learned that the perpetrator, Craig Marduk, was serving time in an Arizona State Penitentiary. Upon Marduk's release (thanks to bribes paid by King himself, from his pro wrestling business), King sent a plane ticket and article about The King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 to him. King waited for Marduk at the tournament.
Ending Description: He donated the vast fortune of the Mishima Zaibatsu to help the impoverished children of the world. Meanwhile, Marduk had been hospitalized after his loss to King. He went to the hospital to seek vengeance. Ready to deliver a final blow after reaching, he stopped after seeing a portrait of Marduk with his elderly parents on a medical tray next to his bed. Thinking about his own pain of loss, King put the photo on Marduk's chest and left, sparing him, realizing that revenge was not the answer.
Tekken 5
After the events of Tekken 4, Marduk donned a black jaguar mask and challenged King to a rematch via television. Enraged by the assault on his master's honor, King resolved to settle the score in The King of Iron Fist Tournament 5.
In his 4th match in the tournament, he fought Julia Chang. Julia told King to stop fighting just because Marduk called him out. King refused to allow such disgrace to his master, and Julia had to stop King by herself. However, King was the victor in the match and was given even more fuel to beat Marduk. 2 wins after this, he had the chance to fight Marduk. Marduk adamantly said he would beat King "fair and square". Once again however, King won. Marduk conceded defeat and King offered his hand in friendship, reconciling the difference between the two.
Ending Description: King was being beaten by the tag team combo of two wrestlers. He retreated to his corner with his arm outstretched, only for Marduk to slap it and tag himself in. Marduk then made quick work of the two, giving enough time for King to recuperate. They then finished the duo with respective aerial finishing moves (King used the Muscle Buster). King and Marduk hoisted their NWN Championship belts, finishing the cinematic.
Tekken 6
At the end of the previous tournament, King caught wind of an attack upon Marduk. He was furious to learn that the assailant looked exactly like his deceased master, Armor King. King was determined to learn the true identity of Craig's attacker, but was unsuccessful in his attempt. With the world engulfed in war, King all but gave up looking for Marduk's attacker when he received an invitation from Marduk to join him in The King of Iron Fist Tournament 6, in the hopes that the culprit would appear again. King accepted, hoping that this would come true.
Ending Description: King was in his room looking at a picture of his deceased master. He carefully tried to put the picture back on the shelf but accidentally bumped it against the sill. The frame dropped and broke the glass covering. Looking at the frame, King noticed another photo behind his master's; the hidden photo showed two Armor Kings. King looked on, shocked.
In conjunction with Marduk's and Armor King's endings, the assailant was sitting in a room staring at the same picture King found hidden. He then started to walk away. The scene shifted to Marduk digging up Armor King's grave, only to find that he was still dead. Marduk abruptly stood up and quickly asked who the assailant was, who was standing right behind him. King arrived at the graveyard to join the two, asking the assailant who exactly he was. The attacker asserted he was Armor King and no one else. Marduk deemed this stupid, as he had just seen his body; plus, he had killed him with his own hands. The mysterious person then said that he was the brother of Armor King, thus making himself Armor King II. Armor King then said he would not forgive Marduk for dealing the finishing blow to his brother, as Armor King I had a cardiac problem as well.
Other appearances
Tekken: The Motion Picture
King I appeared as a minor appearance in Tekken: The Motion Picture.
Tekken Tag Tournament
King II appeared as a playable character in Tekken Tag Tournament.
Tekken Tag Special Alliance Partners
Namco X Capcom
King II appeared in Namco X Capcom as a playable character, he teams up with Felicia from Capcom's Darkstalkers series.
Street Fighter X Tekken
King II is a playable character in Street Fighter X Tekken, his official tag partner is Craig Marduk.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
King II returned in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 as a playable character.
Special Alliance Partners:
Tekken Revolution
King is one of the playable characters in Tekken Revolution.
Character Relationships
King II's character relationships are as follow:
- King I - His mentor.
- Armor King I - His mentor.
- Ogre - His enemy.
- Craig Marduk - His rival, friend and former enemy.
- Julia Chang - His acquaintance, who attempted to stop King during his Tekken 5 interlude.
- Armor King II - His rival.
- Jin Kazama - Acquaintance and ally in Namco X Capcom. They ally together, along with several other characters, to stop the oncoming threat. King helps Jin defeat his father's Devil form (non-canon).
Gameplay
This section is incomplete. You can help the Tekken Wiki by expanding it.
Fighting style
Trivia
General:
- King does not speak, but instead growls like a jaguar. These growls are however translated into speech via subtitles, and the people he interacts with seem to clearly understand what he says.
- King was inspired by the legendary Japanese pro wrestler Satoru Sayama (better known as Tiger Mask) and a Mexican wrestler named Fray Tormenta, a Catholic priest who became a masked wrestler in order to support an orphanage.
- Not surprisingly, King also shares moves with other fighting game wrestlers, such as the Giant Swing also used by Wolf Hawkfield (Virtua Fighter), Bass Armstrong (Dead or Alive) and Antonio Cesaro (WWE 2K). Also, his Tekken 5 incarnation has a version of the Spinning Pile Driver (often abbreviated as SPD), the trademark command throw of Zangief's (Street Fighter).
- King's grapples and strikes includes Undertaker's Tombstone Piledriver, Samoa Joe's Muscle Buster, Jake the Snake Robert's DDT (also known as Mr. Anderson's Mic Check), Brittany's Headjammer (currently unnamed), The American Dream Dusty Rode's Bionic Elbow, Sting's Scropion Deathlock, Joesph "Abyss" Park's Boston Crab, and Iron Shiek's Camel Clutch. Basic pro-wrestling grapples includes the Atomic Drop, Frankensteiner, Wristlock, Knee Cross Lock, Choke Slam, Power Bomb, Suplex, Back Slam, and German Suplex. Show a wide range of the inspirations behind King and those inspired by King.
- One of King's victory poses shows him side-stepping in a manner displayed by Rey Mysterio. King is also seen in the opening FMV performing a 619 after being thrown across the wrestling ring by Marduk, in order to prevent a collision to the outside of the ring. The 619 is Mysterio's trademark move.
- Furthermore, both King and Rey Mysterio are masked Mexican wrestlers, who carry on the tradition from their predecessors, also named King and Rey Mysterio respectively. For a further similarity, "Rey Mysterio" means "The King of Mystery" in Spanish. Also, the 619 was known throughout Japan as "Tiger Faint Kick", made famous by Tiger Mask II (Mitsuharu Misawa).
- King I was 32 near the time of his death; King II is 30 as of Tekken 6.
- According to Alisa's journal in the Scenario Campaign, King is not easily classified as human.
- King is the only character who has a known religion.
- King II's Tekken 3 theme can be heard on Sebastian's Tekken Tag Tournament 2 ending when he changes the radio the first time to the second channel.
- King II's customization items in Tekken 5 and Tekken 6 allowed part of his face to be shown, which was just his mouth. King, despite having his jaguar mask removed, and having his mouth shown, interestingly though, he still makes jaguar sounds, rather than human sounds.
- This is the only game that shows King with long hair, due to a costume, he also has this look in Namco X Capcom.
- It is possible to customize Armor King to resemble King I.
Other:
- King's rivals in Tekken Card Challenge are Gun Jack, Paul Phoenix and Lei Wulong.
- King II's clothing is available as DLC Character Creation parts in Soul Calibur V following the patch update in March 21.
- In Street Fighter X Tekken, Cammy has King's design as her Swap Costume.
- King bears a resemblance to Guin from the anime Guin Saga.
- In Tekken: Blood Vengeance, King II's dossier is briefly seen when Anna Williams opens a file containing dossiers of various persons of interest.