Oroku Saki (2003 TV series)

The Shredder
Biographical information
Home	Japan
Aliases	The Shredder, The Dark One (by the Five Dragons), The Master (by the Foot Mystics)
Nicknames	Demon Shredder, Tengu Shredder, Mystic Shredder, The One True/Real/Shredder, Shredder
Date of death	May 4, 2008
Abilities	Telekinetic, dark magic, super strength, invulnerability, flight/levitation, dragon transformation
Weapon of choice	Gauntlets, sword, trident
Occupation	Evil Overlord
Affiliation	The Five Dragons (Oroku Saki betrayed the fellow Dragons becoming the Tengu Shredder) Tengu Foot Mystics (loyal minions)
Physical description
Species	Human, Tengu
Gender	Male
Height	6'0" (1.82 metres)
Weight	200 lbs (90 kg)
Ethnicity	Japanese
Eye color	Green (Tengu), Brown (Saki), Red
Hair color	Black
Out of universe information
Era(s)	Lost Season, Back to the Sewer
First appearance	Legend of the Five Dragons
Death	Enter the Dragons, Part 2
Created by	Danny Fingeroth
Voiced by	Scottie Ray
Teachers and Students
Student(s)	Foot Mystics

"What a pleasure it will be to hear the screams when I remake the world in my own image. " — The Shredder in New World Order, Part 1

Oroku Saki, better known as The Shredder and the Tengu Shredder (also known as the Demon Shredder, Mystic Shredder, Real Shredder, or The One True Shredder) was the Shredder before the Utrom Shredder, Ch'rell in the 2003 TV series.

The Tengu Shedder was made of two separate beings: an evil Tengu known as the Shredder and Oroku Saki (one of the Five Dragons).

Biography

Ninja Tribunal

According to the Ancient One, no one knew what level of the dark depths spawned him, but back in the year 300 AD in Hamato, Japan, the Shredder arose from some foul pit in the form of a Tengu, a demon that had but one goal: subjugate the world and turn it an empire full of agony and destruction. The demon spread his evil everywhere and seemed unstoppable until the five greatest warriors in Japan (Kon, Juto, Chikara, Hisomi, and Oroku Saki) summoned by the Emperor at the time to stop him. Armed with mystical armor, the five warriors battled against the Tengu Shredder, culminating to Oroku Saki delivering the final blow.

The five warriors returned to the Emperor, who declared them the Five Dragons and gave them the "Three-Toed Sign of the Dragon" as their symbol. Unknown to everyone however, on the moment Saki finished tge demon off, Shredder communicated with him on the astral plane, offering him power and the world in exchange for letting its essence inhabit his soul. Tempted by the offer and things he would be achieve if he accepted it, Saki willingly let the Tengu's spirit merge into his own and becoming the host to the greatest evil the world had ever known.

Saki's betrayal plunged Japan into an age of darkness, and the malevolence of the Shredder flowed within him and all around him. As the feared warlord known only as The Shredder, he inverted the symbol the Emperor originally bestowed to him and his comrade for his newly established empire.

The other Dragons went around the world to find a means of defeating their wayward number, having learned ancient arts from mystic masters from across the globe, until they returned as renewed versions of themselves; having all but transcended mortal boundaries. The four Dragons battled against their former partner, Saki / Shredder in a magical battle, manifesting their otherworldly avatars in a final bout. Ultimately, Shredder was defeated, but could not be destroyed, so the four Dragons sealed him in a coffin and hid his Helmet and Gauntlet to weaken his demonic power. The four Dragons kept watch over those objects, for if they were to be reunited with Saki, then the Demon Shredder would rise again. To help them prevent the enemie's revival, the four Dragons declared themselves the Ninja Tribunal and taught the secret arts they had learned to pure and worthy warriors as their Acolytes. Seven hundred years later, however, an Utrom criminal, Ch'rell, tried to impersonate the original Shredder as his own, having played on the legend it was based around to gain respect.

The Foot Mystics sent a Bone Demon, that was hidden by an amulet, to locate the Lap of the Gods and revive their fallen master. But a quartet of prepubescent Turtles, who were able to see through the cloaking spell, managed to hit the relic shrouding him, allowing for the minor demon to be defeated by the Ancient One and Master Splinter. The Ninja Tribunal then separated the objects.

By the 21st Century, the five Foot Mystics broke free of Karai and sought to free their daemon lord. When the artifacts were gathered together, they defeated the Ninja Tribunal and took the relics to New York, where they revived Saki / Shredder so that he would take revenge on Karai, who usurped his name & title, on their behalf. Shredder prowled his way through the Oroku Saki Memorial Library to get to her, but the pretender proved resilient with the magic-based weaponry that Dr. Chaplin developed. When his helmet fell off, the Shredder's face resembled his living self, which Ch'rell had taken on as his false identity, this caused Karai to hesitate, believing that she had struck her master. The Demon Shredder's face then changed to his undead form, having said that mortals were such fun to toy with, which clarified that he'd merely been toying with her. Shredder then turned Karai's sword into a massive python before having stripped her of her armor and decided that she would have made a fitting slave. But the Turtles' interference forced Shredder to summon his demonic and Undead Minions that he'd been gathering while in the Netherworld, turning the top of the memorial tower into a graveyard. Shredder's minions held Karai still, wherein he proceeded to strike her when Chaplin tried to defend his mistress. The Shredder could instantly see that he was in love with Karai, deciding then and there to cut it short, near fatally wounding his would-be replacement. The Turtles would attempt to battle the evil overlord, but his demonic power proved too strong for them to overcome. At the last moment, Shredder was dismayed to find the Turtles had summoned their dragon avatars to battle their adversaries, initially his minions were astonished to see four mighty beasts flaying overhead but their master soon retorted there was nothing to fear from such paltry manifestation. Right as he and his Five Mystics were blasted by their draconic energies, sending them plunging down to the bottom floor of the building. As the Turtles retreated, the Shredder looked at the modern world and announced his plans to modify it for his own ends.

After he captured the Mayor's Office, the Demon Shredder began to turn it into his citadel with an expanding dome which began to transform New York into a world of chaos, darkness and monsters. But as he required more energy to complete the transformation, the Five Mystics made sure that the city officials had created the Keystones in a triangle to amplify the spell. When the Turtles tried to reverse it by using the Keystones' power against Shredder, their enemy was angered find this out and even moreso livid at his Mystics whom didn't inform him immediately. He prevented the spell from being broken, and strengthened it to finish the transformation.

The Turtles, allied with their revived fellow Acolytes, the Purple Dragons, Earth Protection Force, Justice Force and the Foot Clan; would lead an attack on the Demon. Karai, having taken on the mantle of the Shredder, shared a link with him that enabled her to sap the original Shredders energies to weaken him so that they could separate his helmet and gauntlet. But as Shredder was rendered unconscious, Hun kicked him to make sure that he was dead, only for their presumably downed adversary woke up and threw him over yonder. Shredder then transported Splinter, the Ancient One and the Turtles outside, where he rode on a daemonic horse, having armed himself with a trident in preparation for the hunt. He struck down the latter and went to attack Splinter when Hamato Yoshi manifested from the Turtles' Medallions. Yoshi snatched the Shredder's Trident and slashed him with it, which caused precious energy to leak from his armor. To repair himself, the Shredder restored New York to normal before he transformed into his own dragon avatar. The Turtles also became dragons and battled against him, but the Shredder still proved too strong. Karai began to sap Shredder's energy again, so he went to destroy her. But the Turtles struck back as he was steadily being weakened further, forcing him to revert back to his human form. Out of desperation, Saki tried to charge against his foes, but the Turtles tossed him around, and separated his gauntlet, which was crushed in Michelangelo's jaws, while the helmet was stomped by Leonardo. When the Turtles returned to their normal forms, their acolyte amulets were destroyed, what came after that was the manifestation of Hamato Yoshi's spirit once again. Splinters former owner sliced the Shredder in half with his sword. In addition to the Oroku Saki's physical form being destroyed, his demon essence was also dissipated as well because Yoshi was summoned as a completely astral manifestation, a full projection of purity from the astral plane that could eradicate unearthly quintessence. Therefore, the one true Shredder was utterly vanquished forever.

Even after the death of the original Shredder, his influence remained with the exiled Ch'rell and his cyber engram.

Back to the Sewer

At some point in the future, the Utrom Shredder, the Original Demon Shredder and the Cyber Shredder were seen engaging in battle with each other, while members of the Foot Clan who were loyal to the Utrom Shredder and those loyal to the Cyber Shredder were seemingly at war with each other. It's not explained how the Tengu Shredder returned or why none of his Undead Foot Soldiers were present. However, it could be assumed that the Shredder had wished to fight at maximum power instead of diverting some power to summon his undead minions. It was worthy to note that this future did not occur because the principles of time travel suggested that this was an alternate future. Raphael commented on how that was a twisted future with three Shredders. It was a possible future, but it did not occur.

Personality

The Original Shredder was a being of pure evil: His goal was nothing short of total conquest, and he destroyed everything in his path on his way to achieve that aim. The Demon Shredder had a sadistic sense of humor, saw everything as a game, and toyed with his foes by using a mere fraction of his incredible power — however, he became much more serious if he came upon adversaries who threatened his power. This contrasted to Ch'rell, his similarly malevolent Utrom successor/imposter, who deals those who oppose him more seriously and bereft of sense of humor.

Another condemning difference between Original Shredder and Ch'rell is how they treat their subordinates which they perceived as expendables. Original Shredder doesn't bother to form any meaningful ties with them hence his tendency to be dismissive toward them. Ch'rell by contrast, willing to establish relationships with his despite mostly valued their usefulness.

It should also be noted that even though Oroku Saki had allowed the Shredder Tengu to consume him, his personality remained dominant in their new form, although he was clearly influenced by the demon's soul. According to Ancient One, Oroku Saki is the most ambitious of Five Dragons, a trait which unfortunately led him down a dark path hence willingness to merge with Tengu Shredder.

Powers

The Original Shredder with the Utrom Shredder and the Cyber Shredder

The Demon Shredder was one of the most powerful beings in the TMNT Universe, with the ability to remake the entire Earth in his own image. Shredder mostly relied on his dark magic in battle, which became even stronger as more of the world's mystical energies fell to his demonic influence. He could fire very powerful dark energy blasts, move objects remotely, control and manipulate the elements, regenerate from injury, summon armies of Tengu (including demons, undead, and assorted monsters), transfigure items, communicate on a mental plane, possess people by manipulating and controlling the darkness inside their hearts (which was how he corrupted Oroku Saki), grow in size, teleport, shapeshift, absorb dark energy and essentially rewrite the fabric of reality.

The Shredder was shown to have a very high degree of superhuman strength, as he was able to catch a full power punch from Silver Sentry and tossed him into orbit with ease. Shredder was described as the most skilled warrior in the land before he betrayed the Ninja Tribunal. He could also transform into a dragon, which had massively increased physical strength, incredible durability, flight-capable wings, as well as a powerful dark energy breath attack.

It was noted that the Demon Shredder formed a spiritual link with anyone who took the name and mantle of "The Shredder" for themselves. That link was believed to be why all subsequent Shredders tended to pattern their armor (and, in the case of Ch'rell, their human disguise) after the original appearance of Oroku Saki. In the final battle against him, Karai was able to use that link against the Demon Shredder and drained his powers, confirming the reason the Four Dragons unable to destroy him at the time was because they had no other Shredder who could weaken Tengu Shredder on their behalf all along.

Due to Shredder's incredible powers, he saw everything as a game and did not fully utilize his power unless he felt threatened. Because of that, the full extent of the Demon Shredder's power was unclear - his arrogance caused him to be weakened and stripped of his power by the Turtles and their allies before he could unleash his full potential. Even so, the sheer numbers and powers brought against Shredder (a massive alliance of heroes and villains, the Ninja Tribunal, the turtles summoning their dragon spirits, Karai's ability to drain his energy through their shared link, and the spirit of Hamato Yoshi) was a testament to the threat that he posed to the world.

Trivia

• The Tengu Shredder is technically made of two different entities, the original Tengu demon known as the Shredder, which emerged from some foul pit in 300 A.D. in Hamoto, and Oroku Saki.
• This is one of few incarnations of Oroku Saki starting off as a hero and end up becoming a villain.
• Tengu Shredder's type of an undead monster is a lich

Gallery

• Oroku Saki (2003 TV series)/Gallery