Peyote Diaz

Peyote Diaz (ペヨーテ・ディアス Peyōte Diasu, Ramiro in the English version of the anime series) is a fictional character in the manga and anime series of Shaman King. He is a shaman from Mexico and is one of Hao's followers.

Appearance
Peyote is usually seen wearing a green and orange colored Mexican serape. He is commonly hiding his face with a sombrero, jet goggles, a yellow scarf and a long black veil over his mouth decorated with three bones and a skull head. He wears a pair of black boots and black rubber gloves, each with knee and knuckle plates that have "Hao" written on them. When not used he constantly carries his guitarrón guitar on his back on a brown strap.

He sports long green hair on half of his head while the other half is clean bald. Later on in the manga series, he also grows a thin beard around his chin. When Bill Burton was first inducted into the group, his hair was braided and he had a full-grown beard.

Years after his resurrection, Peyote wears the same clothes as he did during the Shaman Fight (albeit now with bullet-holes following an encounter with the police). He has neglected all personal hygiene and self-care, becoming greatly emaciated and losing several of his teeth. His hair and beard have grown extremely long, except on the right side of his scalp, which bears a long scar. He has also acquired a number of new tattoos, including a half-sleeve image of Hao standing above the heavens on his left arm, a cat and what was intended to be the word “friend” (友だち, misspelled as 友ださ).

Personality
At first, he appears as a cruel and emotionless who will do anything to follow Asakura Hao's orders, without any question, even using the Boz brothers bodies as mediums for his over souls. He also believed that one should have a reason to fight otherwise one would die as the loser and the other one's story will be another story.

However, towards the end of the shaman tournament, he becomes sensitive and begins to question Hao's motives. He even cried in sorrow saying that because he loved Hao so much he was also the one who hated him the most.

After the Shaman Fight, he is shown to be incredibly lost and aimless, as his one goal, help Hao win the Shaman Fight, had already been completed. He also becomes suicidal, as he has admitted to attempting to take his own life just to be serving Hao again.

Abilities and Powers
Peyote is a guitar player and appears to be able to control his over souls with it. As it was explained by himself his powers allow him to play with the dead and he can make souls vibrate to his music.

Spirits

 * See More: Peyote's Mariachi Band | Santa Muerte

Peyote's guardian ghosts consist of his old Mariachi band that was killed during a meaningless bar fight. The spirits are Carlos, Juan (late friends of his), Antonio, Jose, Pancho, Miguel, and Zapata (all Mariachi players). Carlos and Juan were gunned down by angry salon client while Antonio, Jose, Pancho, Miguel, and Zapata have died in fights. He uses Calavera dolls and even his own two teammates, BoZ Brothers, as his medium for his over souls, giving him an offensive and defensive strategy.

He later uses a Giant Over Soul, which can move incredibly fast despite its giant size and can strike with deadly force.

After the Shaman Fight, Peyote is resurrected by Hao and given a new spirit, Santa Muerte, to protect him from his own suicidal nature, as well as be a guardian against anything she deems as a threat to him.

Past
Peyote is shaman originating from Oaxaca, Mexico and was also born on September 11, 1970, to his father was a Spanish exorcist and his mother was an Aztec priest. He was once he became a part of a Mariachi band considered the best in the whole country and famous for the bad brawls they started. Apparently two of them were owners of a saloon. They were best friends and all of them acted like true men, however, all the members except himself were killed in a dangerous fight or even worst gunned down to death because of an unhappy saloon customer.

From there he, at the age of 21, was found by child Asakura Hao, while sitting in a bar and was apparently surprised by the child. At first he decided to follow him out of curiosity of his remarkable shamanic powers, but unknown to him he was drawn to the darkness of Hao's heart and a desire to fix himself, even if it meant dying.

About five years before the Shaman Fight, when Bill Burton is inducted into Hao's group. As Bill begins to complain about their lifestyle, Peyote proclaims that it was comfy and a lot of space once Bill gets used to it, saying they aren't chained to society by not using money and being entirely self-sufficient, and notes that even the vase cactus he was holding was at ease.

Shaman Fight in Tokyo
Not much is known about his First Round experience but he did qualify to enter the Shaman Fight by landing a successful hit on a Patch Officiant and won at least two matches to get to the Second Round. He was first seen with Hao's other followers when they interrupted their master from playing around with Yoh and friends so that they wouldn't miss the Patch Plane that would take them to America. He would then sit among his allies on the plane, and later ride on the Spirit Of Fire with Hao and the others when the inhabitants of the plane were drop out of it.

Shaman Fight Second Round
He was first seen together with the rest of Hao's group as Chocolove McDonell talked about them in the Patch Village. His group, Team "Tsuchi-Gumi" which consisted of him and the BoZ brothers, Ryo Sugimoto and Zen Yoneda, were matched against Team "The Ren" in the first fight in the Second Round of the Shaman Fight. At first, Peyote stood back and allowed the BoZ brothers to do the fighting, however, they were swiftly defeated by Chocolove. Peyote cruelly kicked their unconscious bodies, to wake them up and attack Chocolove once again, this time using only their instruments as blunt weapons. It is then revealed by Ren that the BoZ brothers had been unconscious for some time and their bodies were now controlled like puppets by Peyote, something Peyote himself confirmed and introduced himself and his guardian ghosts Carlos and Juan. An angry Chocolove tried to attack Peyote, but a small Calavera doll appears from underneath Peyote's sombrero hat and punches Chocolove right in the face. Peyote explains that the doll is possessed by Antonio, who was the late leader of the Mariachi Band, and more dolls fall from Peyote's cloak and are possessed by the other mariachi players. Peyote then uses the BoZ brothers bodies and create cactus weapons on their arms to attack Chocolove. Not wanting to hurt or kill them, Chocolove struggled against his opponents, but eventually used his Ayers Rock technique to make their ghosts laugh, interrupting Peyote's O.S. With Chocolove losing too much Furyoku while passing out, Ren swiftly finishes a defenseless Peyote, wins the match and eliminates Peyote and his teammates from the competition.

After being defeated, Peyote lies in bed at the Patch's Medical Center and has a conversation about Hao with Mohamed Tabarsi. Peyote expresses his belief that Hao must be disappointed with him. Believing otherwise, Momamed mentions that despite him also failing to perform a task ordered by him, Hao greeted him warmly when he returned to report his failure. Questioning if Momamed was worried, he refutes this, simply saying Hao must not have any care into the world.

Later, he goes with Hang Zang-Ching and Mohamed to kill Team "The Ren". After Horohoro recognizes him as the one they defeated earlier, Peyote mentions that since he was eliminated he didn't have anything to do, which is why he accepted this mission. While fighting with them, Mohamed reveals that Nichrom is the young brother of Chrom the Patch Officiant whom Ren killed in the preliminary round of the Shaman Fight. Nichrom tells Ren that he doesn't really aim to get revenge on him, as his brother was a weak loser. Hearing this, Ren is surprised and Peyote takes highly advantage of it by attacking him suddenly with his Giant O.S. "Grande Fantasma" and killing him by impaling him with its sword. Asakura Yoh eventually arrives saving the others and defeats Peyote, Hang Zang-Ching and Mohamed with a single blow. As a furious Nichrom order them to kill Yoh, Peyote and the others refuse, saying that they don't have enough Furyoku to do so, eventually retreating with Nichrom once Ryu and Faust arrive.

Later after Lyserg brought an injured Horohoro to the hospital to rest with Yoh and the others, Peyotes O.S., the Grande Fantasma suddenly appeared and attacked the building, with the intent to kill them all. However, Ryu was able to stop Peyote from killing anyone, by restraining the giant's arm with the appendages from his Yamata no Orochi. As Mohamed used his Beam attack and destroyed the building, he and Peyote eventually cornered Ryu who stayed behind to allow his friends to escape. Mocking Ryu by claiming his friends abandoned him, Mohamed says it wouldn't have mattered either way as Peyote reveals Zang-Ching had hidden in the building to attack them without them knowing. As Peyote and Turbine fought and mortally wounded Ryu, Lady Sati and the Gandhara arrived and attacked Peyote, as well as subsequently reviving Ryu. Being frustrated by this, Peyote is ordered to stand down by Mohamed, who believes that the Gandhara are not the opponents they can defeat. With their job is done with the Gandhara prepare to leave, with Mohamed and Peyote decide to retreat as well.

While the group was ordered to deal with a fleet of human warships they begin to wonder if they are doing the right thing and when Matilda Matisse says that Hao was working to create a better world, However Peyote remarks that they cannot be sure of this. He acknowledges that they had failed at every single task, but they are not the only ones to be blamed as it was also Hao's fault and Peyote wonders if Hao really was fighting for such a noble cause. Mohamed reveals that he too has had the same thoughts. The two men face each other on the beach and Mohamed warns Peyote about his next words. Peyote defends himself and says that he only wanted to give them some thoughts on the subject and did not intend to start a huge argument. When Hang Zang-Ching ask them to stop because they were scaring him he is suddenly killed by Peyote's O.S. "Grande Fantasma". Peyote tells them to calm down as he only wants to make them stronger by dying, and impales Bill and reveals that he was only kidding. Mohamed then starts to yell out at Peyote, but is shot in the forehead by Tamurazaki Midori.

Peyote then proceeds to severely wound Brocken Meyer by skewering him with his Over Soul. When team "Hana-Gumi" appears behind Peyote prepared to kill him with a curse, Tamurazaki shoots them down with a handheld rail gun. The three girls survive and rush Midori only to be stopped by Peyote himself who reveals Hao's ability to read minds to them and that he somehow finally understands him. Screaming out loud that he loved Hao the most, yet that he is therefore also the one who hated him the most, he then takes his own life as well as the lives of Kanna, Matilda, and Marion, by crushing them all with his gigantic Over Soul.

It is later revealed by "Big Guy" Bill Burton, in a conversation with Anahol Pokki, that because his and Mohamed's bodies took too much damage, they were the only ones from the slaughter who were unable to be revived.

Invading The Plants
After Hao becomes the Shaman King, Peyote's spirit is seen standing with Turbine in one of the cars aboard the Soul Train inside the Great Spirit, hesitating before agreeing with Turbine's claim that despite what Luchist said they all would rather stay there with Hao.

Anime/Manga Difference
In the 2001 anime series, he and the BoZ Brothers didn't fight Team "The Ren" in the tournament and instead attacked them before they arrived at the Patch Village. Peyote also Over Souled the brothers from the very start of the fight. He never betrayed Hao and would remain on Hao's side throughout the whole anime series. In the final assault, he nearly killed Tao Ren but was later defeated by Lyserg.

In the 4Kids version, he was given a Mexican accent and his name was changed into "Ramiro".

Trivia

 * "Peyote" is the name of a small spineless cactus native to Mexico and the Southern United States of which a hallucinogenic drug is produced, highly appreciated and used in traditional indigenous ceremonies and shamanic rituals.
 * Peyote's surname "Diaz" means "Son of Diego" in Spanish.
 * Peyote's epithet, "Tecolote", is Mexican Spanish for "owl", from the Nahuatl word for "Tecolotl"; in several Native American cultures, including the Aztec, owls are believed to be a symbol of death.