Aku is the main antagonist of the 2001 animated series Samurai Jack. He is the Shogun of Sorrow, the Shapeshifting Master of Darkness, and the archenemy of the eponymous character who tore open a portal in time and flung the "foolish" samurai thousands of years into the future where his evil was law.
Actions and Characteristics[]
- Aku is the most heinous character in the setting. Upon becoming a sapient being when the Emperor unwittingly brought him to life through the arrow imbued with a magic elixir, Aku traps him and forces him to watch as he lays waste to his home. He resurfaces years later and forces the Emperor and his people into backbreaking work but it did not cease at that. Thousands of years in the future, Aku becomes the supreme ruler of the Earth who was in the process of extending his will to the rest of the known universe. Various acts of evil were encouraged such as slavery, mass murder, and backstabbing. By the time Jack arrives to the future, Aku has slaughtered billions of races throughout the years and those that survived were forced into severe slavery. Any dissenters to his rule were exterminated and his henchmen would either face destruction or be sentenced to the Pit of Hate. Throughout his immortal life, Aku had committed atrocities such as transforming a Viking warrior into the Lava Monster and burying him alive all to keep him from entering Valhalla. He also would make deals with people only to gleefully backstab them in the most heinous way possible.
- He is the most powerful character in the series with an array of powers at his disposal including but not limited to: shapeshifting; regeneration; the creation of time portals, etc. As mortal weapons are ineffective towards him, the only thing that can truly kill him is the magic sword bestowed to Jack by his father. Other holy objects are also capable of harming him, however.
- Aku has the most influence since he is the reason Samurai Jack was sent into the future and devotes the rest of the series finding a way to get back to undo the evil that is Aku. Once Aku is killed in the past, the future timeline is erased (or at the least in Battle Through Time implies that his future counterpart is trapped in an inescapable pocket universe since Ashi survives in the secret ending).
- Several antagonists and villains thrived in the future because Aku enabled several of the universe's worst monsters to come to the Earth to continue making the world into a cesspool of evil. Aku would even personally encourage their heinousness such as when he visited the Daughters of Aku and "blessed" them with his essence.
Statistics[]
Intelligence | 5 / 5 | |
---|---|---|
Skills | 5 / 5 | |
Speed | 5 / 5 | |
Stamina | 5 / 5 | |
Strength | 5 / 5 |
For information on stats, review the stats page.
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TV Shows Adventure Time Samurai Jack Adult Swim Fanon The Legend of Team Brunette |