Hamato Yoshi (2012 TV series)

"...I lost many things; my family... my home... my name... But I gained many things as well, like the four of you.
 * -Splinter, to Leonardo"

Hamato Yoshi (also known as Splinter) is a mutant Human/rat and the adoptive father and ninja master of the Turtles.

Personality
Splinter is a protective parent, stern disciplinarian, quirky master and Zen philosopher. Having lost a family once, he is determined to train and protect his new one at all costs, though he grudgingly realizes that they’re at an age where he will have to, at some point, give them the freedom to make their own mistakes. He is a ninja master at the height of his abilities, so in tune with the universe that he can literally feel its vibrations, allowing him to project and sense energy and the intentions of others.

Background
Originally a human named Hamato Yoshi, Splinter lived in Japan and studied ninjutsu alongside his friend Oroku Saki (also known as The Shredder). However, both men fell in love with the same woman, Tang Shen, which sparked a bitter rivalry between them. Eventually Tang Shen married Yoshi and gave birth to his daughter Miwa. One night, Saki, mad with jealousy and hate, attacked Yoshi in his home intending to kill him. During the battle, the house caught fire and Saki left Yoshi to die. While Yoshi survived the fire, Tang Shen did not, and his daughter Miwa was supposedly lost.

Devastated, he gave up his old name and left Japan. As Splinter, he came to live in New York City. One fateful day he bought four baby turtles at a pet store. As he was walking down the street, he bumped into a suspicious man whom he followed into an alley. As Splinter watched the first man exchanging a canister of ooze with another man, he stepped on a rat that gave away his position. A fight ensued, but while Splinter defeated the men, the canister was broken. Splinter and his pet turtles were all covered in ooze and mutated instantly. He became a giant rat, and the turtles became humanoid.

For the next fifteen years, Splinter and the Turtles lived in hiding under New York City in their sewer lair. Taking them as his sons and students, Splinter raised the Turtles and trained them in the ways of Ninjistu. When they turned fifteen, Splinter reluctantly allowed his sons to leave the lair for the first time.

In Rise of the Turtles, Part 1, Splinter is seen telling the story of his mutation to the turtles. He had also kept the canister of mutagen as a souvenir. As a celebration of the turtle's fifteenth birthday, Splinter approves of them exploring the streets of New York.

In Rise of the Turtles, Part 2, Splinter explains his rivalry with Shredder to a curious Leonardo, who wants to know if they can handle the outside world.

In Turtle Temper, Splinter explains to a grumpy Raphael that anger can jeopradize the people around you. Yet again, Splinter reveals his past. He explains that his temper against Shredder caused his own family to be killed.

In New Friend, Old Enemy, Splinter only briefly appears when he recognizes a farmiliar move used by Leonardo in a sparring match. They realize that Mikey's recently made friend Chris Bradford is one of Shredder's top students.

In I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman, He unexpectedly catches the turtles misbehaving and skateboarding in the lair. He grounds them for a week, but they sneak out against Splinter's will and encounter a lone man dressed in robotic armor named Stockman. At first they defeat him easily, but the fight turns into more than they expect.

In Metalhead, Splinter assures Donatello that ninja practice can sometimes outmatch robotic machines, when Donnie's creation Metalhead falls under control of The Kraang.

In Monkey Brains, Splinter becomes interested in April when he realizes that she has an ability to sense internal feelings. As a response, Splinter wants to teach her to be a kunoichi.

In Never Say Xever and 9, The Gauntlet, Splinter helps the turtles out in defeating The Foot Clan.

In  Panic In the Sewers, Splinter becomes worried about the turtles when they're barely able to defeat the newly mutated Chris Bradford.

In Mousers Attack!, Splinter warns the turtles that April O'Neil's missing phone isn't a major concern compared to the threat of Baxter Stockman's Mousers and The Foot Clan.

In It Came From The Depths, Splinter thinks he should help the aggrieved Leatherhead, but Splinter soon accuses Leatherhead for hurting The Turtles.

In I, Monster, Splinter falls under control of The Rat King.

In New Girl in Town, Splinter explains to Leonardo that leadership is about responsibility. Raph believes that being a leader is easy, but is proven wrong when he is put through the same stress that Leo was.

InThe Alien Agenda, Splinter is upset with Leo's decision of befriending Karai.

In The Pulverizer, Splinter tells Donatello to train The Pulverizer.

In TCRI, Splinter is only seen helping April and the turtles investigate The Kraang Headquarters.

In Baxter's Gambit, Splinter assists April in finding a suitable weapon for her. At first she cannot use the weapons, until Splinter offers a katana-like tessen that Splinter intended to pass on to his daughter Miwa. This likely indicates that Splinter sees April as his closest daughter-figure.

In Karai's Vendetta, Splinter teaches the turtles and April that you can do anything to defend yourself in a desperate situation. He uses Raph as an example, who he licks in order to get him off. Shredder sends Karai to capture April in order to lure out the turtles, but April is able to apply her Ninjutsu knowledge to flee the situation. Back in the lair, the turtles congratulate April. Splinter, who is skeptical, tells April that she still may be unsafe due to threats from Shredder and The Kraang, advising that April should not leave the lair. April, unable to cope with this circumstance is eager to get started on stopping the enemy.

In Pulverizer Returns!, Splinter realizes that the turtles have grown complacent using their signiature weapons, and that they will have to adapt to using varied weapons.

In Booyaka-Showdown, Part 1 and Part 2, When the Turtles are forced to confront the Kraang and rescue April, Shredder uses April's abduction to trick Splinter into confronting him. Although initially amused at the discovery of Hamato Yoshi being mutated into a rat, Shredder quickly engages him in battle, angrily proclaiming that Hamato stole everything from him as Splinter counters that Tang Shen was never Shredder's. Initially evenly matched, Splinter gains an advantage when he starts to rely on his abilities as a rat, grabbing one of Shredder's blades in his teeth and running on all fours to evade his attacks, but is knocked off-balance emotionally when he realizes that Karai is his daughter, Miwa, raised to hate him and believe that he was responsible for her mother's death. Unwilling to fight his daughter, Splinter retreats despite the Shredder's injuries, declining to tell his sons what he has discovered, in favor of allowing the Turtles to celebrate their victory over the Kraang.

Abilities
Splinter seems to be very adept in the mind. For example when Rat King attempted to hypnotize him, Splinter was able to defend himself from Rat King in his dreams. Splinter has perhaps trained for all of his life which makes him very methodical in physical situations, and able to act easily in difficult situations that require thought. Even though his internal fight with Rat King was strenuous, he still easily defeated Rat King with the turtles help, symbolizing that he had to combine his thoughts with his physical power which ultimately lead him to nearly kill The Rat King. Splinter's feelings for his family and his determination to hold onto that bond gives him the abilities he has today. He can also apparently read his opponents thoughts and predict their next move, possibly indicating that he can sense the projections of others. This seemed to be evident during his fight with Shredder, during which Splinter also demonstrated his ingenuity by using his natural abilities as a rat in the fight- something that he had never shown before as he focused on training the Turtles in more human skills, such as grabbing Shredder's blade in his teeth and running on all fours. Despite The Shredder taunting him about his daughter, Splinter nearly defeated him until Karai made her intervention.

Family
Leonardo - The oldest of Splinter's four adpoted sons and the leader of his 3 younger brothers. Splinter seems to share most of his knowledge with him, however, it is just in hopes of embracing Leo's role as the leader, and making him more tactful and clever.

Raphael- The second oldest of Splinter's four adopted sons and the most aggressive out of his brothers. Him and Splinter are shown to have similarities in their temperament, such as when Splinter retaliated on The Shredder, which resulted in the tragic death of his own wife. Later, when an arrogant man caught the turtles on video with an I-Phone, Raph sought to break it. However, the knowledge that Splinter had acquired during his encounter with Shredder told him that he must maintain his temper, in order to get the best of the situation.

Donatello- The second youngest of Splinter's four adopted sons and the most technological of his brothers.

Michelangelo- The youngest of Splinter's four adopted sons and the wildest of his brothers. Splinter says that Michelangelo can fight easily without thinking. Despite Mikey's dimwittedness, Splinter claims that he shows great potential (most likely in agility).

Karai- Splinter's supposedly dead daughter, Miwa, who was kidnapped by Oroku Saki after the events of their final battle and raised as his own daughter. Splinter only found this out, upon being forced to duel with the Shredder after April O'Neil's abduction. Even though Miwa is out of Splinter's life in one sense, he still has one place that he holds her—his heart.

Tang Shen - Master Splinter's wife, who died a long time ago. It seems that Shredder loved her too.

Friends/Allies
April- A teenage girl who met Splinter and the turtles after being kidnapped by the Kraang. Since he lost his true daughter many years ago, he has come to view April as his surrogate daughter, and he even supplied her with the weapon that he intended to give to Miwa.

Leatherhead - More of an ally of the turtles.

Enemies
Shredder- Splinter's old friend and current arch-nemesis. They fought over Tang Shen after Saki was consumed with jealousy, which resulted in Splinter's house catching ablaze and collapsing on Shen, killing her. Up until this day, Splinter has never forgotten about that moment. However, unbeknownst to Splinter, Shredder stole his daughter, Miwa, during the night of the massacre and raised her as his own. He began teaching her the ways of the ninja, and later convinced her that Splinter was responsible for her mother's death. Recently, Shredder has organized an army of ninja called the Foot Clan, whom he deploys to locate Splinter and his disciples after learning of his whereabouts. Eventually, Splinter and Saki duel once more, during which Splinter discovers the truth— that Karai is his own daughter, raised to hate him and the turtles. This infuriates Splinter even more, after discovering that his daughter has been dealt with in the wrong hands.

Chris Bradford- Has only battled with him once upon confronting the Shredder. Splinter is much more skilled in fighting than Bradford.

Xever- Has only battled with him once upon confronting the Shredder. Splinter is much more skilled in fighting than Xever.

Dr. Victor Falco- Has attempted to (and succeeded at) taking over Splinter's mind, while under the alias of 'the Rat King' by using deceptive tactics based upon their similarities.

Quotes
"Raphael, there is no monster more dangerous than a lack of compassion." (sees Leatherhead) "My mistake..." -It Came From the Depths

"Of course. I am compassionate, not insane." -It Came From The Depths

"That's the choice I made. What choice will you make?" -Turtle Temper

"I hope you have learned, turtles, that truth is not the only thing that hurts!" -I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman

"The first rule of being a ninja is do no harm. Unless you need to do harm, then do lots of harm!" -I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman

"You were all very lucky. (Raphael responds) Few have ever faced the Shredder and survived. (dialogue) Perhaps. But that no longer matters. It is clear now that the Shredder is a problem that will not go away. So prepare yourselves, my sons... because as of this moment... we are at war...!" -The Gauntlet

"Yes, because you will stay down here until you are ready! No patrol, no games, no rest! There is only training! Starting now!" -Panic in the Sewers

"If I were the Shredder, none of you would be breathing right now. Understand!?" -Panic in the Sewers

"No, I am a man...! I am Hamato Yoshi!" -I, Monster

"My place... is with my sons!" -I, Monster

"Oh, the Olympics?" -TCRI

"You fool...! Do you have ANY idea what you've done!?" -Booyaka-Showdown, Part 1

"Look closely at this face, Shredder. For it is the last thing you will ever see!" -Booyaka-Showdown, Part 1

"You took everything that I loved. Everything! And still you hunt me down! So... I fight you now... to end this!" -Booyaka-Showdown, Part 2

"You never had anything but your hatred! And if you defeat me, you will have NOTHING!" -Booyaka-Showdown, Part 2

"... Miwa?" -Booyaka-Showdown, Part 2

"I lost many things... My family, my home... my name... But I gained many things as well, like the four of you." -Rise Of The Turtles, Part 2

Gallery
See: Splinter (2012 TV series) / Gallery

Trivia

 * Splinter's given, "Yoshi", (喜), translates as "like, love, enjoy", or "joyful thing". Splinter's surname "Hamato" (濱戸), translates as "beach/sea coast/river bank door/family". If written purely in hiragana, "Hamato Yoshi", (はまとよし), means "Alright still".
 * So far Splinter has appeared in every episode of the series except for two: "Cockroach Terminator" and "Parasitica".
 * He has faced Shredder in the Season 1 finale, winning the battle physically but losing it emotionally.
 * In the season one finale, Splinter found out that his daughter, Hamato Miwa, is still alive.