In this Chinese name, the family name is Lee (李).
Lee Chaolan (李 超狼 Lǐ Chāoláng; Japanese: リー・チャオラン Rī Chaoran) is a character in the Tekken series. He was introduced in the original Tekken and returned for every subsequent game, except for Tekken 3. He has also at times appeared under his alter-ego dubbed Violet, of whom appeared playable in Tekken 4 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Lee is also one of the most popular characters in the series for his manipulative style of play, smug personality and his trademark thumbs up and catchphrase "excellent".
Biography
Appearance
Lee Chaolan has distinctive silver hair which covers most of the top part of his head and has brown eyes. His primary outfit is a vest with the face of a unicorn on the back, leather pants, gloves and shoes. His secondary outfit is a classic tuxedo. Their colors vary within the series.
In Tekken 5 and Tekken 6, his primary outfit shows an indigo vest and brown pants while his secondary outfit shows a jet black tuxedo. In Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, his primary and secondary outfits are both entirely violet.
In Tekken 6, Lee can perform his item move when his outfit includes a red rose and/or a rapier. His first item (rose) is a taunt where Lee elegantly throws his rose towards his opponent and says "C'mon", without the rose hitting the opponent. His second item is a rapier that is a linear attack move; Lee performs swordplay and simultaneously advances/attacks his opponent.
Outfits
Story
Before the events of the original Tekken, Heihachi sent Lee to the U.S. to handle the Mishima Zaibatsu's operations there, and to continue his business education. While Heihachi trained Kazuya in the art of Mishima Style Fighting Karate, Lee studied with Paul Phoenix and Marshall Law in the U.S. This is the reason why Lee shares some of the moves as Paul and Marshall.
Tekken
Lee's parents died when he was a young child, leaving him to fend for himself on the streets. Facing a hostile environment each day, he quickly became a skilled scrapper with reflexes that were amazing for a boy of his age. It was these qualities that caught the eye of Heihachi, who witnessed Lee fighting off several other kids while on a business trip. Impressed by Lee's street-fighting skill, Heihachi decided to adopt Lee. Heihachi then took Lee Chaolan back to Japan to be educated.
Heihachi never actually felt any emotion towards Lee; the real purpose was to give Kazuya a rival to inspire him to shape up. Their combat skill is equal, but those who know Lee's power fear the "Silver-Haired Demon".
Pertaining to Heihachi Mishima as his adopted son, Lee Chaolan was entitled to the Mishima Zaibatsu just as much as Kazuya Mishima. It was only after the events of Tekken 2 that Lee sidetracked from the central plot of Tekken saga, though still retaining a strong affiliation.
Tekken 2
Both Lee and Heihachi were defeated by Kazuya Mishima, who then took charge of the Mishima Zaibatsu. He was forced to serve Kazuya as his underling, leading the Tekken Force and handling menial matters to his utter chagrin. Lee was later approached by Wang Jinrei who warned him about Kazuya, and asked his help in returning honor to the Mishima Zaibatsu. Lee instead chooses to help his boss by delaying Heihachi long enough for Jun Kazama to defeat the Devil that was possessing Kazuya.
Then, Kazuya opens The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2. This time, Lee faced his adopted father, Heihachi Mishima, who was quite angry with him for helping his traitor son, Kazuya. Heihachi then defeated Lee Chaolan quite easily.
Ending Description, "Treachery": A large electronic billboard declares Lee as the winner of The King of Iron Fist Tournament. There is also a floating blimp displaying his name in the sky. Lee, now head of the Mishima Zaibatsu, relaxes in his office. With Heihachi and Kazuya behind bars, Lee does a "thumbs-down" hand gesture. He then points to himself with the same hand, without changing his hand gesture, and smiles proudly.
Tekken 4
Prologue Text: Twenty years ago, Lee was expelled from the Mishima Zaibatsu where he betrayed Heihachi and sided with Kazuya during the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2.
For quite some time, thoughts of revenge consumed Lee. Eventually, he realized that it was pointless to kill an old man, who probably had only a few years left in his life at best. With that realization, Lee distanced himself from fighting and moved into a mansion in the Bahamas to lead a solitary life.
One day, he discovered a huge sell-off of G Corporation's stock online. Lee's intuition told him that something happened within the company. His intuition was correct. He hacked into their classified computer network and accessed their internal corporate communications. Lee learned that the Mishima Zaibatsu attacked G Corporation and caused significant damage to their research facilities.
He also came across information that a new life form under development by the Mishima Zaibatsu would be completed by next year. In order to complete the life form, however, it appeared that they were missing a critical component...
Oddly enough, an announcement was made for The King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 around the same time. Lee's fading passion for fighting was rekindled - along with his resentment towards the Mishima clan.
In order to prevent the Mishima Zaibatsu from discovering his true identity, Lee signed up for the Tournament online under a false name, Violet.
As additional measures to mask his identity, he dyed his gleaming silver hair purple, wore a pair of sunglasses, and donned violet clothes.
Ending Description: A secretary walks into Lee's office, and tells him that the new Combot prototype is finished. She lays a book report titled "Combot II" on Lee's desk. Lee expects the new prototype to work better, and she tells him that combat experiments were conducted against Heihachi, and that from 10.23 seconds into the experiment, Combot unleashed a 50 hit combination. She reports that Heihachi was completely helpless. Lee chuckles and, while stirring his glass of brandy, says, "Excellent".
Tekken 5
Prologue Text
Lee Chaolan, Heihachi's adoptive son and Kazuya's rival.
Lee entered the previous tournament in disguise to defeat Heihachi. However, it turned out to be Kazuya who was dead from the 2nd King of Iron Fist Tournament. Lee lost to Kazuya, his fight, focus and the tournament.
With his master's death, Lee plans to take the Zaibatsu, but he was too late. He mutters that Kazuya always gets in his way.
A month later the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 was announced, Lee was determined to have a rematch against Kazuya and take the Zaibatsu from him.
Ending Description: After the tournament, Lee Chaolan returned to his quiet life at his mansion in the Bahamas. Lee relaxes on a chair while a woman in a bathing suit massages one of his legs. He snaps his fingers, and Heihachi, wearing nothing but black swimming briefs and a waiter's bow tie-and-collar, comes nearer. Apparently, Lee has made Heihachi his personal waiter. Lee only says "Two fingers", and Heihachi, after taking Lee's order, calls him a bastard as he walks away.
Hearing that final remark, Lee threatens him by picking up the remote control on a table next to him. He presses a button, and many beeps come from the Heihachi's bow tie. Heihachi panics as he recalls the explosion at Hon-Maru. He then runs away frantically, to get Lee's order. Lee puts the controller back on the table and chuckles. As the woman next to him puts back his sunglasses, he relaxes and says "Excellent!".
Tekken 6
Lee Chaolan took part in the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 in order to take revenge on Kazuya Mishima. However, the one who had opened the tournament was not Kazuya, but Jinpachi Mishima, and Chaolan, after learning this fact, lost interest in the tournament and returned to his home in the Bahamas.
Soon afterward, the MFG, led by Jin Kazama brought the world to chaos, and around the same time G Corporation became a major opposition. Surprised by G Corporation's sudden military action, Chaolan, a major shareholder, conducted a private investigation with the utmost secrecy and discovered that it was Kazuya who was the real power behind G Corporation actions.
After obtaining information that Kazuya himself would take part in this tournament, Chaolan, using a shareholder's preferential treatment ticket, enters the tournament in order to get close to Kazuya.
Ending Description: Lee is preparing to play what seemed to be a normal game of golf... until it's revealed that Heihachi Mishima, Kazuya Mishima and Jin Kazama were strapped to what looked like rockets on the other side of the field. Lee swings the first ball which only lands some distance from the three captive men. Heihachi laughs, gloating "You (Lee) missed!", only for the golf ball to explode, sending dust up the latter's face. As a result, the first coil of rope comes loose on all three rockets while Lee himself prepares four more golf balls, each with a bomb symbol on it.
A swing later, the bomb balls explode near the rockets, sending them (Heihachi, Kazuya and Jin respectively) sky-high and then exploding as fireworks against the blue sky. A woman joyfully exclaims "Nice shot!" whilst clapping. Lee himself chuckles before the camera zooms in on to his face as he takes off his sunglasses and smiles directly at the camera, saying his famous catchphrase "Excellent".
Scenario Campaign
He was first seen as a boss character, whom never allowed "uninvited guest" and an animals for intruding his company. If player play as Mokujin, Lee shocked and becomes interested on it, then wanted to learn it's fighting data capacity by fighting it. Upon being beaten by Lars and Alisa, despite unaware that Lars was his adopted half-brother, Lee becomes impressed in Alisa and decide to cooperate with Lars since they have a same motifs against Mishima Zaibatsu and G Corporation, and giving him an advice about the two organization's other schemes. He is soon called by Julia, who is trapped inside some of G Corp's branch while investigating G Corp's schemes until she is ambushed and locked inside the lab by the G Corp soldiers, and her signal jammed to call Lee. Lee then asked Lars and Alisa to rescue Julia and escape.
After Jin revealed his true motives to kill Azazel then sacrifice himself for the sake of humanity from the Devil Gene's reign of curse, he was entrusted by Lars to repair Alisa's programming.
Tekken 7
The adopted son of Heihachi Mishima, raised to be a rival for Kazuya Mishima. After abandoning the Zaibatsu for various reasons, he ended up idling his time away in the Bahamas as manager of his own company… until a certain event disturbed his permanent vacation and entwined his fate with the Zaibatsu once again.
Lee had Alisa repaired in time and removed some of the command system the Mishima Zaibatsu implanted on Dr. Boskonovitch's robot that was exclusively commanded by Jin.
Lee remains a supporter of his brother Lars, even when Heihachi returns to claim Zaibatsu. At some point, Lee goes to a restaurant and meets up with an investigative journalist who is looking into the Mishima Zaibatsu's affairs. At Violet Systems, Lee reveals to the journalist about Kazuya's blood and the curse that it placed on the Mishima family. Later when Alisa awakens to see him, she becomes hostile as he mentions that her brain is still damaged. When Alisa continues her assault on him, Lee is forced to battle her. After defeating Alisa, Alisa's memory systems began to recover and goes undergone upgrade. After upgrading Alisa's body, both are attacked by the Tekken Forces and he becomes weak when he unintentionally breathes in the sleeping gas. Recovering, Lee teams up together with Alisa to fight off the Tekken Force and they escape together.
Lee then brings Alisa to the facility where Lars is keeping Jin, who is in a coma. When they are attacked by Nina, Lee hijacks the helicopter that holsters Jin and remotely destroys the facility as he, Lars and Alisa make their escape. Lee later reveals that it was his plan all along to lure the Mishima Zaibatsu to the facility and take out the Tekken Force there. Lee later introduces Lars to the journalist he met. During the fight between Kazuya and Akuma, Lee, Lars and the journalist watch in shock as Kazuya's devil form is exposed to the world by Heihachi via satellite before the Zaibatsu CEO fires a satellite death ray on the G Corp's headquarters where Kazuya and Akuma are. Later, Lee uses his spy satellite to locate Heihachi, finding him before his battle Kazuya in their final fight.
After the true death of his adoptive father, Lee stands on the rooftops of a destroyed city with Lars and Alisa, concluding that G Corporation has no intention of stopping the war. He and Alisa then watch as Lars dispatches Jin to find and kill Kazuya.
Other Appearances
Tekken: The Motion Picture
Lee Chaolan is featured in Tekken: The Motion Picture as one of the main antagonists. Lee plans on using the tournament to test out his new experiments on the fighters and to defeat Kazuya Mishima so that he will inherit the Mishima Zaibatsu. To this end, Lee seduces both Nina and Anna Williams and sends them to assassinate Kazuya, although all their attempts end in failure. As a last resort, Lee faces Kazuya himself in front of the Mishima tower during the tournament, but is quickly defeated. After being swept aside by a disgusted Heihachi, Lee commits suicide by setting off the island's self-destruct sequence and remaining inside the tower when it explodes.
Tekken Tag Tournament
Lee appeared as a playable character in Tekken Tag Tournament game. He retains his moveset from Tekken 2 plus many moves added to them. Lee has many moves added possibly due to his absence in Tekken 3.
Tekken Tag Tournament - Lee Endng
Lee's ending
Ending Description: While standing up, Lee Chaolan imagines beating up Kazuya Mishima and Heihachi Mishima. Then, Lee is shown grinning. This ending takes place in Jin Kazama's first stage (Jin-A).
Tekken: Blood Vengeance
Lee appeared in Tekken: Blood Vengeance as a teacher at Kyoto International School in which Ling Xiaoyu attends as a student. When Xiaoyu and Alisa are trying to escape Anna and the G Corporation, Lee provides shelter for them in his mansion which is ultimately destroyed when Anna finally tracks them down.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Lee Chaolan's Arcade Ending
Lee returns as a playable character in Tekken Tag Tournament 2. He retains his moveset from Tekken 6 plus few moves added to them with a network of team alliances. His Violet alter-ego also appears as a training instructor in Fight Lab mode, and as a DLC fighter.
Ending Description: Lee and his assistant get out of a limo and as she explains his schedule, Lee is continuously ambushed by Tekken Force members. However, he manages to single-handedly defeat them one at a time while casually walking and listening to her. He found a petal on the woman's shoulder. All of the Tekken Force were knocked out by Lee.
Tekken Revolution
Lee appears in Tekken Revolution as an unlockable character.
Gameplay
Lee started out as a "clone" of Marshall Law, with some moves borrowed from Paul Phoenix. In his pre-Tekken 4 era, his main difference with Law was the ability to perform an infinite chain of kicks, much more useful back then because the gameplay didn't offer many options to evade it, and sidesteps were less effective and harder to perform. In later games, Lee evolved more and more into a completely different character, with a flashy and stylish moveset.
Lee's greatest strength lies in his ability to literally poking and annoying his opponent to death. He has an assortment of fast hard-to-see pokes, and slower but safe launchers that can be used as counter hits once the opponent loses his focus. His Hitman stance embodies his provocative gameplay: it is evasive by nature and can be used to bait out brash attacks and counter them. Another of Lee's great tools is his Eslide Execution, an incredibly hard-to-see and hard-to-punish low attack.
Fighting style
In Tekken, Tekken 2 and Tekken Tag Tournament, Lee fought using Mishima Style Fighting Karate combined with his own style of "Martial Arts". Being a variation of Marshall Law's moveset (which is heavily inspired by Bruce Lee's moves), it's safe to assume that Lee's actual fighting style is based on Jeet Kune Do.
Since Tekken 4 and onwards, Lee's fighting style is listed simply as "Martial Arts".
Moves
- Lee Chaolan/Tekken 1 Movelist
- Lee Chaolan/Tekken 2 Movelist
- Lee Chaolan/Tekken Tag Tournament Movelist
- Lee Chaolan/Tekken 4 Movelist
- Lee Chaolan/Tekken 5 Movelist
Ghost Data
Character Relationships
- Jinpachi Mishima - His adoptive grandfather. The two have never physically met so their actual relationship is unknown.
- Heihachi Mishima - His adoptive father. Lee hates Heihachi and constantly plots to either humiliate or kill him. Watched his final battle and ultimate death via a spy satellite.
- Kazuya Mishima - His adoptive brother. Heihachi adopted Lee purely for him to be an obstacle for Kazuya. Whilst the two are aware of this, Lee and Kazuya have had an ongoing rivalry for years.
- Lars Alexandersson - His adoptive brother and sworn ally.
- Jin Kazama - His adoptive nephew. Appears to be on very good terms with each other considering Lee saves and protects Jin while he is in his coma following Azazel's defeat.
- Kazumi Mishima - His adoptive mother.
- Paul Phoenix - Trained with him in the United States prior to the events of the first game.
- Marshall Law - Trained with him in the United States prior to the events of the first game, shares some of his moves.
- Wang Jinrei - Was convinced by him to bring honor to the Mishima Zaibatsu in Tekken 2.
- Steve Fox - Steve looks up to Lee and refers to him as the "Silver-Haired Demon".
- Violet - Lee's alter-ego. Used as a disguse for entering the 4th King of Iron Fist Tournament
- Emilie De Rochefort - She is a member of Lee's Violet Systems girls team at the Fight Lab (non-canon).
- Combot - Combot was created by Lee. Combot immediately assumes Lee to be his master and serves him on numerous occasions.
- Nina Williams - Employed by Lee in Tekken: The Motion Picture, as well as his lover (non-canon). Ally in Tekken 7
- Anna Williams - They are well-acquainted by Tekken 6. Anna refers to him as a twisted individual in Scenario Campaign. Employed by Lee in Tekken: The Motion Picture, as well as his secret lover (non-canon).
- Ganryu - Employed by Lee in Tekken: The Motion Picture (non-canon).
- Bruce Irvin - Employed by Lee in Tekken: The Motion Picture (non-canon).
- Ling Xiaoyu - His friend and school student in Tekken: Blood Vengeance (non-canon).
- Julia Chang - Lee's good friend, who worked for G Corporation.
- Alisa Bosconovitch - His friend and school student in Tekken: Blood Vengeance (non-canon). In the Scenario Campaign story, he allied with Alisa and Lars. At the end of the story, Lee promised Lars to help with the repairs for Alisa's programming. In Tekken 7, they help Lars in protecting Jin from the Mishima Zaibatsu.
- Doctor Bosconovitch - Lee supervised the Doctor's project for creating the ultimate military animal in Tekken 2.
Trivia
General:
- Lee is known for giving thumbs up in other characters' endings and his catchphrase "Excellent!", which he mostly says in Tekken 4, 5, 6 (as well as in his Scenario Campaign ending) and Tag Tournament 2 in the final parts.
- The "Excellent!" catchphrase is now used in being used the gameplay's win animation, or during his alter-ego's final part of his Rage Art move.
- Lee Chaolan's name written in Chinese as 李 超狼, where in (李 Lǐ) is the surname, and (超狼 Chāoláng) is his given name.
- Lee Chaolan's name is similar to the stage name of Bruce Lee, which is (李 小龍/李 小龙 Lǐ Xiǎolóng). Xiǎolóng means "little dragon". It is likely this was done intentionally.
- Although officially listed as "martial arts" by Namco, Lee's fighting style is speculated to be Jeet Kune Do.
- Due to his early appearance and moveset, it is possible aspects of Lee were loosely based on famous martial artist Donnie Yen.
- Also, originally Lee was almost a clone character of Marshall Law, who was based on Bruce Lee and Donnie Yen has often been seen as the "new Bruce Lee" throughout his career.
- Lee's current physical appearance is quite similar to Brandon Lee and Kim Vo.
- Lee's appearance, style, silver hair, violet clothing and moves is similar to a character portrayed by Turkish actor Cüneyt Arkın.[2]
- Lee often wears an unicorn on his clothing, an animal known as a symbol of purity, elegance, and charm. It's also known for courage and strength.
- Lee seems to possess a company called Violet Systems, as shown in Tekken 6.
- Lee did not appear in Tekken 3. With Ogre utilizing Lee's Infinity Kick move, it is believed that he was attacked by Ogre.
- In Tekken: The Motion Picture, Lee's outfit perfectly matches Kazuya's purple suit outfit from Tekken 2.
- In the English version of Tekken: Blood Vengeance he was voiced by Kaiji Tang, who later voiced his alter-ego Violet in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
- He is the first character introduced that was adopted, the second was Julia Chang.
- Since he doesn't return in Tekken 3, he was replaced by Ling Xiaoyu.
- Lee's role post-Tekken 2 timeline is similar to Dragon Ball series' Trunks. Such as being a close-ally to the main heroes like Lars and Jin as Future Trunks to Goku and Gohan, as well as owning an incorruptible multinational companies (Violet System and Capsule Corp).
- Lee, as Violet can be customized as an adult incarnations of Trunks.
- Lee is Kazuya's stage 8 sub-boss. When the player beat arcade mode with Kazuya, Lee will be unlocked and when the player use Lee in Arcade, Kazuya will be Lee's stage 8 sub-boss (console version only).
- Lee is Heihachi's stage 8 sub-boss. When the player beat Arcade Mode with Heihachi, Lee will be unlocked and when the player use Lee in Arcade, Heihachi will be Lee's stage 8 sub-boss.
- Lee is selectable after beating Story Mode with Violet. Violet is an alter-ego he created to keep the Mishima Zaibatsu from discovering his true identity while entering the fourth tournament.
- His alter-ego, Violet, holds a strong resemblance of Michael Jackson, especially when he span around and put his arms up after winning a battle.
- Despite being Japanese, Lee speaks English in this game (the reason being that he is using his alter-ego to hide his identity from Heihachi and Kazuya).
- He and Jin Kazama are the only Japanese characters who can speak English. While Jin only spoke in English to Hwoarang (albeit broken), Lee spoke English throughout the game.
- His name is mispronounced "Lee Chaolang" when it should be "Lee Chaolan"
- Lee's sub-bosses are Kazuya and Heihachi.
- Lee can be customized to resemble Violet, his alter-ego from Tekken 4.
- Lee can also be customized to resemble a member of the Tekken Force and he can somewhat resemble Tuxedo Mask from the widely known anime series Sailor Moon.
- Lee speaks Japanese this time.
- He appears in both Kuma and Panda's endings in his iconic black tuxedo and he gives his thumbs up within the two.
- In the French version of the game (and Tekken 6), Lee's "You need to fight with more class" win phrase was mistranslated. In French, it says "Tu n'as vraiment aucun style" which actually means "You don't have any style".
- Lee can be customized to resemble Raphael Sorel from Namco's Soul Calibur series of weapon-based fighting games. His Item Move is a rapier and his movements with it are also similar to Raphael's.
- Lee can again be customized to look like his alter-ego Violet and he can be customized to resemble Might Guy from the Naruto series.
- Lee's Item Move is a flower. He throws the flower and stabs the enemy's head.
- In the Scenario Campaign mode, Lee becomes an ally of his adoptive younger brother, Lars and helps him take down Kazuya, the G Corporation, Jin and the Mishima Zaibatsu. In the end, Lee owes Lars a debt for helping him and promises to fix Alisa Bosconovitch's body.
- It is the first Tekken game where Lee meets his adoptive nephew, Jin.
- In Scenario Campaign, Lee is the boss of Violet Systems.
- He appears in Anna's ending as the bartender of the billiard hall who thumbs up with the Williams' sisters.
- Lee's nickname, the "Silver-haired Demon", is brought up in the Abyss Gate stage of Scenario Campaign, where the spectators and Steve Fox refer to him using this name.
- Lee Chaolan's picture avatar is used for the Trophy/Achievement, "Night at the Movies".
- Lee Chaolan recieves a new winpose in this game. He spins around, kicks the air with both legs and puts his arms to the right.
- His alter-ago Violet makes a return in the Fight Lab mode. He is also introduced as a DLC character.
- Most of Violet's dialogue is provided by Ryōtarō Okiayu, except his intro quotes and ending where he is voiced by Kaiji Tang.
- Lee Chaolan can be customized to wear his 2P outfit from Tekken 5, Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion and his 2P outfit from Tekken 4.
- He has an Item Move that lets him use a Magic Wand and it will make a rose appear in their opponent's mouth.
- Lee's DLC swimsuit is based on his Tekken 5 ending.
- Lee is portrayed by Anthony Pho in the live-action short film.
- During the climax of his reveal trailer, Lee executes his Rage Attack at Kazuya rather than his Rage Art while others who unveiled as both new and returning playable characters, they execute their Rage Art during climax.
- His new main outfit is based on his anime appearance in Tekken: The Motion Picture but with minor changes.
- His true official character render does not appear on the trailer for some reason involving a render timing on his P3/P4 Violet costume.
- Lee/Violet is the second character to have new voice lines for his Rage Art after Miguel.
Other:
- In Soul Calibur V, it is possible to create a character that resembles Lee's appearance in Tekken 2 along with Violet in Tekken 4.[3]