Wuya
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Wuya is a fictional character on the animated television series Xiaolin Showdown. Wuya serves as one of the show's main antagonists and is one of the show's two recurring female characters. She is voiced by Susan Silo.
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[edit] Character history
As explained in the first episode, Wuya was a powerful and evil witch from the year 502 (1500 years ago). Reigining from her Citadel of Doom in China, she commanded a vast army of stone-giants using which to attempt a global take-over. Her plans however, came into conflict with a Xiaolin Monk. Grand Master Dashi. After a fierce battle between herself and Dashi, the latter used a mystical puzzle box in order to rid the world of her evil for as long as possible. The box transformed her into a ghost, and kept her contained for 1500 years. After receiving the puzzle box from his father, Jack Spicer solved and opened her magical prison, therefore releasing Wuya and throwing the world's energies off balance.
Intangible and unable to effectively battle the modern-day Xiaolin Monks, she needed a minion with which she could use to collect the Shen Gong Wu. So Wuya promptly employed Jack as her minion, promising him a place at her side as ruler of the world. Little did either know what they were getting themselves into. After many failures, Wuya grew increasingly irate at his buffoonish attempts in defeating the Xiaolin Warriors, and she had him replaced after the formation of Mala Mala Jong.
After Jong was defeated, Wuya was once again alone. Returning to Jack, she once again attempted to regain his favour. Jack was spiteful, and handily turned her down. Wuya then attempted to recruit the frustrated and impatient Raimundo, who had recently left the Xiaolin Monks, due to feeling underappreciated. Wuya took advantage of his self-centered and impatient nature, promising him quick fixes to his low self-esteem, in the form of video games, fame, and fortune. With this in mind, Raimundo helped her return to human form.
It was in this form that she managed to take over the world. Unfortunately for Wuya, Raimundo's fickleness cost her, her victory. He ultimately betrayed her, returning her to ghostly form.
Since then Wuya has gone back to Jack for a while, turned Raimundo into a giant Shen Gong Wu monster and possessed him, sided with the new villain, Chase Young (he was the second person to return her to her human form (without all of her powers)). During the second season she was with Chase Young most of the time and they had a rumored "love affair" (though the extent of this would obviously be limited due to Chase's lack of a soul, and Wuya's lust for power). Things turned sour quickly with the arrival of Hannibal Roy Bean. The small demon-like creature convinced her that her potential was being limited by serving under Chase Young (In a strange way, the same thing she convinced Raimundo of). As such, the two joined in an alliance. Though this only lasted for an episode or two. (It is unclear if they were allied in "The Treasure of the Blind Swordsman".) The two joined forces yet again in "Hannibal's Revenge". Wuya, not liking to get her hands dirty, would often use minions to get what she wants.
[edit] Character personality
In her ghost form, Wuya is often cranky, though the extent of this is different from season to season (in season 1 she was generally very calm and caniving except when Jack is doing something stupid, while in season 2 she just yelled at Jack and complained about things). In her human form, Wuya is much more calm and seductive.
[edit] Relationships
She seemed to act like a devil-conscience, or big sister to Raimundo while they were allied (it is interesting to note that this relationship is never specifically mentioned after Citadel of Doom.). She banters with the dragon (Dojo) at times, though generally seems to disregard his existence. She seems to have a sort of mutual respect with the ancient monk Dashi who imprisoned her, and she briefly comments that he was "a fool...a smart dresser... but a fool." (implying a more personal relationship). She does not seem to regard any of the other monks in any way, (though Kimiko appears to think of her as a rival). Wuya also served as a type of roommate and gun moll to Chase Young who both live together in Chase's citadel. Many rumors have been said to a relationship between Wuya and Chase, but evidence of this is interpretation at best. Wuya often uses her feminine wiles to try and get Shen Gong Wu from Chase. Wuya was often treated like a second-class citizen in Chase's citadel, resulting in some bad blood between the pair. The third season was when Wuya got payback on Jack for failing her all those times. Rather than pleading him or ordering him to help her. She would threaten Jack and beat him around to get him to do what she wanted him to do.
[edit] Appearance
In human form, Wuya bears a striking resemblance to her voice actress Susan Silo, mainly her auburn hair and mannerisms. She also resembles a crow (her fanning hair loosely resembles wings), which is what her name translates to. Wuya is very vampish in appearance and has some very animalistic features, including large claw-like hands, fang-like teeth, and pointed ears. While in the first episode, Wuya was seen with purple hair; in all of her later appearances, Wuya has red hair.
Wuya in her human form generally wears a black female monks uniform with a purple outline and a red sash with no footwear. Briefly, in "Days Past," Wuya wore the outfit of Penelope Pitstop, a ditzy female cartoon character from the 60's who drove a red sports car, just like the one Wuya created for Raimundo. In "Treasure of the Blind Swordsman" Wuya wore a flairy black cowgirl outfit and hat. In Raimundo's dream sequence in "The Dream Stalker," she was wearing a pink kimono almost identical to the one Kimiko had been wearing prior. The 'Good Wuya' featured in The Life and Times of Hannibal Roy Bean wears a white robe instead of a black one, and in Time after Time for a brief moment she is seen dressed as a cheerleader.
Wuya's ghost form looks very similar to an octopus; a disembodied floating head with many tentacles that resemble hair. She also is constantly masked in this form. She flashes and sparks when a Shen Gong Wu is located or when she is emotional.
In "The Journey of a Thousand Miles" Wuya's ghost-form is slightly different from the way it appears during the rest of the series. For one thing, her mask cannot move while in later appearance it seems to animate as if it were her face (this was likely for animating purposes, to show Wuya's emotions more effectively). She is also significantly larger.
Wuya is commonly referred to as an old hag due to her age and appearance as a spirit. While still referred to as a hag, in her human form Wuya is actually youthful and very attractive. As she has not physically aged in the episode Time After Time (which takes place 80 years into the future) it can be assumed that she is essentially immortal. It is unknown how she managed this, but it is likely due to her ethereal and mystical nature.
[edit] Voice
Susan Silo has done the voice of Wuya for the character's entire existence. While in her spirit form, Susan Silo uses a deeper more raspy voice along with an echo effect to make the character seem more frightening. However, in human form, Susan uses a much more sensual and alluring voice to make the character appear more stimulating.
[edit] Name translation
Wuya's name translates into "crow" in Mandarin Chinese, which matches her personality and character design quite well.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Wuya has several forms, each of them with different levels of power. Her original ghost form can pass through anything, and while intangible, can still somehow smell, be blown away, and be splashed by water (although this is largely for comedic effect). Her ghost form can detect when Shen Gong Wu have been activated, can create extensive illusions and can enter people's minds to read them. In the episode The Last Temptation of Raimundo, through circumstances in the episode, Wuya was able to possess Raimundo's body. It is unknown if she can do this outside of the terms established in that particular episode, but it is presumed that she cannot. Her human form normally has many abilities, she is largely invulnerable and can cast green energy bolts. She is also able to summon large pillars of stone, including giant rock monsters. Her current form no longer has these powers. Instead, she has super-strength, super-speed, and she is capable of transforming her kisses into energy projectiles. As seen in "Oil in the Family" her human form is still able to detect Shen Gong Wu when she located the Rio Reverso. It is seen twice that she is invulnerable to the effects of Shen Gong Wu, as seen in "The Life and Times of Hannibal Roy Bean" when Raimundo attacked her with the Sword of the Storm, and in "Days Past" when Omi, Kimiko and Clay attempted to attack her with the Orb of Tornami, Star Hanabi and Third Arm Sash. A different ability is shown in "The Life and Times of Hannibal Roy Bean" that she has the ability to stop Shen Gong Wu as seen when Raimundo attacked her with the Sword of the Storm.
Arguably, Wuya's greatest power however, is her "female willies," (as Omi refers to them). It is through her own guile that she convinced many of her allies to join her (namely Chase Young and Raimundo). She also uses these 'abilities' to lull enemies into a false sense of security (Clay in "The Life and Times of Hannibal Roy Bean"), or cause them to become enraged and careless. (Kimiko in the same episode).
In the episode "Time After Time," Wuya has vastly different powers and potential from what has been seen before. The fully-powered Wuya seen at the beginning of the episode appears to no longer be able to fly, and cannot fire the energy projectiles that were seen in "Citadel of Doom." Where as the Wuya seen later in the episode is far more powerful than she had been for the rest of Season 3. These powers include flight, the ability to bring statues to life and immense strength. It is likely that these powers were a result of the alternate timeline. In which Master Monk Guan restored her to physical form, as opposed to Chase Young.
[edit] References
- Official Site for Xiaolin Showdown
- Official Site for Xiaolin Showdown TCG (licensed by Wizards of the Coast)
- Xiaolin Showdown at TV.com
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| Characters |
| Omi | Raimundo | Kimiko | Clay | Dojo | Dashi Jack Spicer | Wuya | Chase Young | Hannibal Roy Bean |
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| Shen Gong Wu |
| Season One | Season Two | Season Three |
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| List of episodes Trading Card Game | Video game |
