Raidou

Raidou (雷道, Raidō) is a Runaway Shinobi from the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan, and the final boss of the first Dead or Alive. He is the older brother of Shiden and paternal uncle to Hayate and Kasumi.

A power-hungry being, he raped Shiden's wife, Ayame, which ended with her giving birth to Ayane, making the latter his daughter. He was later killed by Kasumi during the first Dead or Alive Tournament in revenge for Hayate.

History
Raidou was a member of the Mugen Tenshin Clan's head family. He was apparently filled with rage over the fact he would always be one step behind his younger brother Shiden, so Raidou dedicated himself to becoming the world's strongest Shinobi in order to achieve greatness beyond what Shiden possessed.

Somewhere along the line, he developed an ability that allowed him to almost instantly "copy" any techniques he saw, and use it as his own. With it, he traveled and "stole" various techniques, soon surpassing the rest of his clan in strength. Raidou always had a lustful eye for Ayame, so while Shiden was away, Raidou easily overpowered Ayame and raped her. This vicious crime ended in the birth of Ayane, and Raidou being exiled from the clan.

About sixteen years later, Raidou returned to the village once more, launching an assault in order to gain the clan's special technique: the Torn Sky Blast. Easily overpowering Ayane and Hayate at normal hand-to-hand combat, Hayate tried to use the Torn Sky Blast against him, despite Ayane's pleas against it. Raidou succeeded in copying the technique from Hayate, and after a short "energy duel", Raidou overpowered Hayate with it, making him crash into a tree and crippling his spine, making him slip into a coma.



Dead or Alive
After injuring Hayate and gaining the Torn Sky Blast, Raidou left the village once more and continued to travel the world, defeating fighters and stealing techniques; it is not known if he offically entered the Dead or Alive Tournament, but he could have in order to steal techniques from the greatest fighters in the world.

Eventually, he was found by Kasumi, who had been looking for the person who crippled her brother, and was killed by her own hand as an honour killing for Hayate.

Appearance
Also see: Raidou's Outfit Catalogues

Raidou is a broad, well-built man with defined muscles, a squared jaw, and tanned skin. His hair has grayed, and his hairline is receding due to old age, but it's long enough to be pulled back into a ponytail. He also possesses facial hair shaped into sideburns, meeting into a moustache, leaving the chin bare. His clothing tends to be frayed and torn, possibly due to damage in fights or from living in rough conditions.

Despite being human, Raidou has had a more demonic appearance at times, as seen in Dead or Alive and Dead or Alive: Dimensions: his skin and hair become much darker, and his eyes gain a red glow. In Dimensions, he also becomes clouded in red energy. It's unclear why this transformation occurrs, but it may be due to the uncontrollable amount of power he gains, turning him into an inhuman creature. It is also possible that his craving for power was so immense that he was willing to subject himself to the DOATEC scientist, Victor Donovan's Superhuman experimentation.

Personality
Raidou has an insatiable lust for power, as well as the overwhelming desire to control everything. He wants to be able to control all forms of martial arts techniques; be they physical, mental, or mystical. His desire is to be the strongest fighter, thus being able to dominate anyone and everyone, and remake the concept of martial arts into his own image. In addition to his desire for control, Raidou is obsessed with finding and gathering techniques of mystical power and adding them to his repertoire. This includes a wide variety of ninja techniques as well as other martial arts.

Finally, Raidou's desire for power and his megalomania have made him into a brutal sadist. He enjoys manipulating others and likes the idea of being able to control a person's every move. By crushing the spirit and will of those weaker than himself, his mastery is confirmed.

Etymology
Raidou's name in kanji (雷道), means "Thunder Road."

Shiden
Raidou and Shiden were always competing with each other during the reign of their father Burai, the 16th Master of the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan. Because of his unstable rage, he was seen as unfit to lead the clan, the honor instead going to Shiden, and Raidou has hated his brother ever since.

Ayame
Raidou always had a lustful eye on Ayame, Shiden's wife. He wanted to make her his, but she loved Shiden and that infuriated him further. So he caught her off guard during a stormy night and raped her. This attrocity lead to his disownment, and Ayame has hated Raidou for his crimes against her to this day.

Ayane
Biologically, they are father and daughter. But Raidou has no qualms about hurting Ayane in any way. To Ayane, Raidou is a disgrace to her, their clan, and all she stands for. When he left Hayate in a half-dead state, she swore vengeance on him.

Hayate
Hayate was the next heir to the Tenjin throne, and Raidou knew how much his brother loved his nephew. To him this was the perfect chance to not only make Shiden suffer but to steal the ultimate secret art of the clan, which is passed from one master to the next. So he attacked him during a stormy night. Seeing him as weak and unfit to be the Master, Raidou challenged him and beat him easily, leaving the Wind Ninja comatose.

Kasumi
Raidou hates all of Shiden's offspring, so he did everything he could in the tournament to kill her. But thanks to help from the Dragon Ninja, Ryu Hayabusa, Kasumi, filled with anger and rage over what Raidou did to Hayate, killed him using the very Ninpo he stole from their clan.

Fame Douglas
During the events of the first Dead or Alive Combat Championship Tournament, Raidou served as a bodyguard for Fame Douglas. This professional relationship is further shown when Raidou sensed Bayman's murderous intent, and stepped in front of Fame to keep him safe. He knows nothing of Raidou's attack on the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Village, so it can be implied that Raidou acted on his own.

Gameplay
Raidou's fighting style is similar to the  character Dural, in that his command list consists of copied attacks from other characters; even the damage percentage is identical.

This repertoire of attacks makes Raidou a very effective character, with attacks such as the Triple Strike (Kasumi), the Zansui (Gen Fu), and the Ti Kau Tron (Zack). Additionally, the command list is simplistic, and his execution time is above-average. However, Raidou's weakness is that of the other Dead or Alive ninjas; he does not excel in any one area of gameplay.

Raidou is capable of using the Torn Sky Blast in gameplay in Dead or Alive Dimensions, being one of three characters with access to a projectile. His throws and offensive holds are very damaging, but his most powerful ones are extremely tricky to pull off, with his unbreakable multi-part throw being on par with Hayate's Raijin from DOA4 and his two part offensive hold doing over 100 points of damage and being similarly difficult.

Dead or Alive Series

 * Dead or Alive (Unlockable character, 1996 - 1998)
 * Dead or Alive Ultimate (Unlockable character, 2004 - 2005)
 * Dead or Alive: Dimensions (2011)

Musical Themes

 * Dead or Alive - Dead or Alive (Ultimate 1) and Dead or Alive: Dimensions

Trivia

 * Raidou has some traits from Akuma, a character from the Street Fighter series, as they both had power and injured somebody, Raidou injured Hayate while Akuma injured Gouken, but was thought to be dead until he appeared in Street Fighter 4.