- For the character from the original game, see Lo Wang (Classic).
- "Who wants some Wang?"
- —Lo Wang's iconic quote in the series.
Lo Wang is the main protagonist and player controlled character in the Shadow Warrior reboot series.
History[]
Shadow Warrior[]
- Main article: Shadow Warrior (2013)
Lo Wang is an assassin who works for the powerful Japanese industrial magnate, Orochi Zilla. He is sent to purchase an ancient katana, the Nobitsura Kage, from a collector named Mizayaki for 2 million dollars. Mizayaki refuses the offer and Lo Wang tries to take the sword by force, killing his men in the process. Lo Wang is captured when Mizayaki reveals his bond with a demon named Hoji, and is caged, but escapes when 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, as the sword is called, 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.
Through the course of the game, Lo Wang comes across "Whisperers": magical golems which contain a memory (in place of a heart) that one of the Ancients, the immortals that rule the demons, chose to sequester away. By slaying these golems, Wang absorbs their memories and learns of the game's back-story. In the Shadow Realm, the home realm of the demons, the rain is fueled by the weeping of Ameonna, the sister of Hoji and the other Ancients. 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. 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. Enra later saw that only the sacrifice of an Ancient could revive Ameonna and save the Shadow Realm, and thus sought the Nobitsura Kage, the only thing in existence which can kill an Ancient. Enra brokered a deal with the mortal Zilla to find and assemble the sword, promising a cure for his paraplegia and the assistance of demons to conquer the Earth.
On his quest for the third piece of the sword, Lo Wang, who originally sought the Nobitsura Kage to deliver to Zilla, turns against his boss, betraying the Kyokagami twins, fellow assassins who also work for Zilla, in order to help Hoji retrieve the final piece of the weapon. It's discovered that Zilla was holding a Whisperer hostage the whole time, and is in possession of the third piece of the sword. Lo Wang tracks down Zilla, in hopes of gaining the last piece. Enra, knowing of Wang's betrayal, warns Zilla and heal his paraplegia, giving him demonic powers. Cured Zilla fights with Lo Wang over the piece but Wang gets the upper hand and Zilla flees.
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. Upon their return to earth, Lo Wang confronts Zilla, and cuts off his sword arm. As Lo Wang reassembles the Nobitsura Kage to its full Ancient-killing power, Zilla escapes with the help of the Kyokagami twins.
With the full Nobitsura Kage in his hands, Lo Wang returns to the Shadow Realm with Hoji to confront Enra. 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. Lo Wang corners Enra after a tense battle with Xing's headless body, Enra allows Lo Wang to slay him, since he is the only sacrificial candidate left. Ameonna awakens, and upon seeing the dead body of Hoji, she weeps, bringing rain back to the Shadow Realm.
Shadow Warrior 2[]
- Main article: Shadow Warrior 2
Lo Wang gets a task from the Yakuza to retrieve an ancient trinket from the Temple of Longing. Wang accepts the task and travels to the temple where he retrieves the artifact. After speaking to Mamushi Heika, the second in command of the Yakuza, he gets a new task to rescue Kamiko, the Yakuza's leader's daughter from Zilla's labs. He finds Kamiko tied to a table with the Kyokagami Twins inside the room and Zilla watching her through a monitor. The Twins inject Kamiko with compound 61 and she begins to hallucinate. Wang then reveals his presence and the Twins run off to catch him while huge forces of ZillaCorps soldiers attack. Eventually, Wang reaches Kamiko and brings her to Smith Masamune. Smith decides to transfer Kamiko's soul into Wang's body until he figures how to heal her body. Lo Wang then retrieves the ingredients needed to make the cure for Smith.
In the meantime, Mamushi Heika tasks Lo Wang with finding the source of black ooze that is spreading in the wildlands. She gives Wang the coordinates to the location of the supposed source.The source for the black ooze turns out to be the Outer Gates with Mezu's armor holding them locked. Wang finds Mezu still guarding the gates as before. Wang is then contacted by Master Smith asking him to go back to the mountain as ZillaCorps have attacked it.
Lo Wang is transported to wildlands and tries to reach Dragon Mountain, encountering huge forces of ZillaCorps. When Wang reaches Smith who was gravely injured during battle, he reveals that he has finished the cure. In his last dying moments, Smith puts his soul in a Soul Well. As Wang goes to administer the cure to Kamiko's body, the body attacks him being now horribly mutated. After a tough fight, the corrupted body escapes. Suddenly, Ameonna contacts him and urges Wang to meet her in Shadow Hills. He meets Gozu guarding the entrance to the temple, which let's him in. When Wang meets Ameonna he asks her to reverse the soul binding, but first must retrieve Kamiko's body and return it to its original form.
In order to perform soul joining ritual Ameonna needs Ancestral Chi, that can be found in a weapon that belonged to Kamiko's father. Kamiko reveals that Mamushi Heika carries around a wakizashi given by her father. With this information, Wang seeks out Mamushi. After a brief talk, Mamushi takes her own life and Wang brings the ceremonial dagger to Ameonna.
Gozu informs Lo Wang that they have located Kamiko's body and marks the last known whereabouts. Wang travels to the top of Devil Mountain, where the body has been feeding on Black Rain and has mutated even more. After a tough fight, the body tries to escape, but is captured by ZillaCorps. Wang then returns to Gozu informing about the situation.
Ameonna reveals that Kamiko's father should be in the vicinity of Outer Gates. Lo Wang travels there and finds Mezu. Mezu reveals to be the Oyabun, leader of the Yakuza and father of Kamiko. He then travels to Mamushi's former office, while Wang returns to Ameonna. Ameonna reveals to have known about Oyabun's identity and was setting everything up so Kamiko would die. She then orders Gozu to kill Wang, but the former evades the attack and must then fight Acolytes. During the fight Gozu and Ameonna escape. He returns to Dragon Mountain and speaks with Mezu. Mezu says that he wanted to use Kamiko to seal back the Outer Gates and Wang reveals that her soul is inside his body. They together form a temporary alliance
Mezu says that Xing will help them to locate Kamiko's body, but Lo Wang must meet him in person. After Wang reaches Xing, he reveals the story behind the Outer Gates. Eons ago, Ancients raged war with chaos, Eventually, demon armies led by Xing managed to push the chaos into the void. Hoji then constructed a set of gates to keep them out of the Shadow Realm, while Mezu used Ameonna's soul to seal the gates. Unfortunately, they still needed the power that derived from chaos, so they used Ameonna to channel it, through her tears. For centuries, Enra, Mezu and Hoji used the power for their own desires and then isolated her as to protect the flow of energy. Loneliness and sorrow slowly drove Ameonna mad. Enra's and Hoji's deaths were the last straws for her sanity, hence the behavior. Xing then gives the location of Kamiko's body.
With the location of Kamiko's body, Lo Wang breaks into Zilla's HQ. Wang then confronts Zilla, After a brief chat Zilla gets inside a mech and attacks Wang. Wang manages to get the upper hand in the fight and defeats Zilla. Suddenly, Ameonna appears and steals the body. Zilla gives Wang a weapon and they make a temporary alliance in order to stop Ameonna.
Lo Wang meets with Mezu, which reveals that Gozu has already transferred Ameonna's soul into Kamiko's body. This caused the body to mutate even more. Wang then faces off Ameonna, knocks her out and uses Smith's antidote on the body. Mezu comes, but before he can extract Ameonna's soul, Lo Wang kills her. Seconds later, Xing and Zilla come to scene. Kamiko decides to seal the Outer Gates open using her living soul and rectify the two worlds. She then flies to the gates, shattering them. Out of the gates, a giant dragon emerges, and then swallows Lo Wang.
Shadow Warrior 3[]
- Main article: Shadow Warrior 3
Some time after Lo Wang released an ancient dragon by accident, global civilization has been almost wiped out due to the presence of the dragon and the demonic beings that overrun the world. Wang himself has become a recluse, wallowing in depression due to his failure to defeat the dragon. Wang's former nemesis, Orochi Zilla, convinces him to continue fighting. The two of them seek out Motoko, a witch who knows of a way to defeat the dragon using the residual energy in Hoji's mask.
Once Zilla and Huge Wang set out to find Motoko, she tries to teleport them to her by using Hoji's mask as a conduit. But the spell misfires, causing Zilla to be teleported to Kumo Brotherhood's gates. Soon after yokai attack the gates and Wang makes haste in order to save Zilla. After saving Zilla and accidentally destroying the gates, Motoko materializes in front of them. She's not amused by Lo Wang destroying the gates and his remarks about her hair. Realizing, that is too dangerous to leave the mask in Lo Wang's hands, she summons her spirit familiar, the Tanuki in order to separate Wang from Hoji's mask.
As Tanuki grabs the mask and runs away with it, Lo Wang chases after it. Eventually, Tanuki reaches his master's lair, Motoko's Thunderdome. Soon after, the yokai besiege the Thunderdome, forcing Motoko and Lo Wang to work alongside each other to repel the attack.
After repelling the yokai attack, the Tanuki brings Hoji's mask to Motoko. Amidst Motoko's ritual, Hoji is revived, prompting Wang to disrupt the ritual to save his friend. Hoji first asks Wang to help restore his physical body, then guides him toward a contraption called a "Chi cannon", which supposedly has enough power to destroy the dragon. Unbeknownst to Wang, Hoji intends to use the cannon to drain the dragon's power and make it his, in order to become an all-powerful God. However, Hoji makes a miscalculation, and the dragon swallows the cannon.
After confronting Hoji on his treachery, the two of them agree to work with Zilla and Motoko to defeat the dragon. Wang sends Motoko's familiar, a tanuki, toward the dragon, intending to use it as an explosive bait, but it fails to kill the dragon. Seeing no other options, Wang decides to jump into the dragon's mouth himself, where he activates Hoji's Chi cannon from the inside. Wang successfully kills the dragon with the cannon, and manages to escape death with Hoji and Zilla's help. They later celebrate their victory over a meal with Motoko and the ghost of the tanuki.
Personality[]
Much like the original Lo Wang, the reboot's Lo Wang is fearless and headstrong, though he is somewhat less perverse. Through the course of the game, Wang grows in character, even admitting to being an asshole towards others. He develops a tight bond with demon Hoji and shows great pain and anger, when he sacrifices his life for Wang.
Throughout Shadow Warrior 2 he continues these traits.
At the start of Shadow Warrior 3, Wang falls into depression after failing to kill the Evildoing Dragon. He lives by himself and only talks to Hoji's mask as all the people he ever knew were killed by the dragon, according to him. Because of this, he believes to have lost his "mojo". It takes Zilla to convince Wang, that he still can save the world and kill the dragon. Over the course of the game, Lo Wang returns to his immature and headstrong personality.
Design[]
Shadow Warrior[]
In the reboot, Lo Wang is much younger looking. He's in his mid 20s. He initially wears a black dress shirt with sunglasses, but changes into a suit of armor shortly after the start of the game. He has short black hair which he later shaves and a goatee.
Shadow Warrior 2[]
In Shadow Warrior 2, Lo Wang now is in his 30s. His armor now includes a black jacket and numerous belts. He is bald and wears his sunglasses from the start of the first game.
Shadow Warrior 3[]
In Shadow Warrior 3, Lo Wang wears a red leather jacket, leg guards, and running shoes. He has grown his hair back out and wears what appears to be Hoji's mask. He also has Flying Wild Hog pins on his jacket and a necklace with the classic Shadow Warrior logo.
Trivia[]
- The name "Wang" is the source of many jokes at Lo's expense (many made by himself), as "Wang" is slang for male genitalia.
- The name "Lo Wang" can be understood as "老王", which translates word for word as "Old Wang". In Chinese, you can add a "Lo" in front of some one's surname to show that you are familiar with him. There are also internet memes of this particular name. For example, "隔壁老王" (in Pinyin: Ge Bi Lao Wang, or Lao Wang next door) in nowaday Chinese is a common expression for a man who has an affair with his neighbor's wife.
- Lo Wang likes to collect comic books.
- In Shadow Warrior 2, Lo Wang reveals that his mother died before his fourth birthday and that he hasn't seen his family since he was five.
- Lo Wang has also appeared in Oh...Sir! The Insult Simulator as a unlockable character alongside Serious Sam and the Postal Dude.
Videos[]
Gallery[]
Shadow Warrior[]
Shadow Warrior 2[]
Shadow Warrior 3[]
Promotional[]
