Silva

Silva(シルバ Shiruba, Shilva) is a fictional character from the anime and manga Shaman King. He is the patch officiant responsible for overlooking Asakura Yoh and "Wooden Sword" Ryu. Unlike most of the Patch Priest who just oversee the fights, to make sure they are followed to the rules, Silva believes that the Patch Priest should intervene more in the fights, to avoid the massive death count fights leads to.

Appearance
Like all the other members of the Patch Tribe he wears Native American robes with a red headband. He has nine silver rings on his right hand each shaped as one of his five totem spirits. He is a very muscular man and during his first appearance, because the headband constantly shaded his eyes, he appeared very cruel. However once his fight with Yoh was over he appears as a very gentle person.

When not working with his duties as a Patch Priest he wears an American style leather shirt and sunglasses.

His battle clothing consists of black pants, leather shoes, and a blue shirt tied together with strings at his chest. He wears bracelets on his wrists used to hold the mediums for two of his spirits.

Personality
He is a very calm person. During his qualification match with Yoh he appears quite supportive to Yoh constantly remarking his strength and hints what he should do. He believes the Shaman King should be an intuitive and flexible person capable of getting ideas in an instant and out of nothing. However he has his own way of dealing with the Shaman Fight, saying that the Ten Officiant Priests should interfere more and prevent the blood spatter that is apparently the will of the great spirit.

After trying to steal the four remaining great spirits he is captured and brainwashed using the Patch Song. Because of this he becomes very cruel and does not hesitate to kill people. He has also made himself good friends with Kalim the official responsible for Horohoro and even lives together with him during the Shaman Fights in Tokyo City.

Abilities and Powers


Silva has trained with the patch tribe for a long time and are therefore a strong shaman with enough Furyoku to materialize five elemental spirits at the same time. At the end of the tournament when Yoh and the others invade the Plants, Silva appears and stops them in their way. During this time he reveals an enormous strength having materialized his five totems on a higher plane and making them fare stronger. It was later revealed by Bron that they had "taught" him the true way of the Patch and that his devotion is what had made him stronger. Later on Bron revealed that his powers also come from the Patch Song, that gives more Furyoku and also focuses one mind.

Spirits

 * See More: Silver Arms

Silva has five familiars, who are luminous totems. They are originally five animal spirits that have trained and refined themselves for over five hundred years eventually becoming elemental spirits.


 * Silver Horn - An American Bison spirit. He rarely talks, and stutters a lot.
 * Silver Rod - A snake spirit. In the anime it is revealed she is a female.
 * Silver Shield - A turtle spirit. He is often seen talking reason.
 * Silver Tail - A coyote spirit. He usually just agrees with the other spirits.
 * Silver Wing - An eagle spirit. Appears rather arrogant. Says that human spirits cannot be oversouled because of their large ego.

The five animal spirits can become mechanical/robotic and combine to form a totem pole. This totem pole can then change into a cannon that can fire a ball of concentrated Furyoku.

The Spirits are usually seen gathered around or on Silva discussing things. When Silva is to oversee a mach they appear very analytic.

History
Silva is a Native American of the Patch Tribe and a member of the Shaman Fight Selection Committee. He was born on September 16, 1971, and his blood type is B. He is also the decedent of Patch Hao

Shaman Fights in Tokyo
After seeing the "Destiny Star" he is assigned to travel from the United States (The "Desert of the West" in the English anime) to Japan to find, test and qualify the Shamans there. During this time in Tokyo he meets with Yoh Asakura and decided to test him, telling him to land one hit on him to become qualified for the Shaman Fights. After some difficulty, Yoh learns how to use OverSoul and lands a hit on Silva, passing the qualification test.

Silva watches over Yoh after he defeats him in the qualification test. During this time Silva makes friends with Kalim, the man assigned to Horohoro (Trey Racer).

Silva often is seen as a street vendor, trying to sell traditional Native American crafts while in Japan. When not working as a Patch or sealing crafts he lives in an small apartment with Kalim.

The terrible Doctor Faust VIII
After the the fight between Horohoro and Yoh he is seen together with Kalim, selling handmade Native American crafts and saying the reason they aren't selling anything was because Kalim was scaring people away. However Kalim was also there to warn Silva about Yoh's next opponent. Kalim explains that Faust VIII killed his last opponent, and severely injured t the Patch Officiant who tried to stop it.

Silva was the one who officiated the match between Yoh and Faust. He shows up late due to not being able to pay a restaurant bill. The silver arms try to rush in to stop the fight but Silva tells them to back off due to the fight rules. Anna appears and explains why Yoh is so lonely. Silva understands and watches Yoh cripple Eliza and lose the match. Faust uses a twenty two ton skeletal giant and is ready kill yoh. Silva rushes in and Ren defeats Faust.

Last Fight of the First Round. Asakura Yoh VS Tao Ren
Silva and Kalim are taking time off from the officiating duties for a while. Goldva calls saying Tao Ren has no officiant and Sivla must do it until one is found. The fight starts later and Sivla is the one who judges it.

Silva watches the fight and explains the furyoku thing. Silva watches Ren and Yoh tie and announces both of them are in the second rounds. Silva is seen next to Goldva at the opening ceremony.

Patch Plane
Silva is next seen selling food to the shamans at the military base. He wonders why Ren and Yoh are so friendly but he says something else is coming and to get ready for it.

Silva drops down with the rest of the officiants when the plane disappears. Silva returns to the village and prepares for the next round.

Shaman Fights Second Round
Silva is first one Yoh sees when he wakes up from the vision from the great spirit as he is assigned to rouse the shamans that enter the village. Silva shows Yoh the great spirit and he catches yoh before he can faint again offering him soup for some relief. He is assigned next to sell things to raise money. He was then seen getting Hao's book from Anna. When the fights begin Silva is stuck with transportation and announcing duty. When Hao decimates X-3 the recording of the fight is in Radim's hands silva takes it from him.

When Hao wins the Shaman fight Silva follows Goldva to the Plants for the the crowning ceremony. He is stationed at the Plants entrance on guard duty.

Protecting the Plants
Yoh, Opacho, Ren, Ryu, Horohoro, Jeanne, Marco, and Lyserg decide to go to the Patch plants and stop hao from becoming king. They find the Patch Plant entrance and encounter Silva. Sivla is already under the power of the Patch song and he oversouls increasing his power. Silva strikes so fast with silver horn The gang only sees Yoh flying and Silva having his leg raised.

Horohoro attacks but is easily blocked by Silva's new Silver Shield oversoul. Lyserg tries his luck in attacking but is stopped too and is caught by Silver Rod. Yoh decides enough is enough and he will fight Silva alone.

Yoh oversouls revealing his new Armor Oversoul and they fight. They are evenly matched for awhile but Yoh unleashes his Plane of no Existence (something he just learned). Sivla is hit but shrugs off the damage because the damage is pretty light considering. Silva attacks Opacho but Yoh blocks.

The officiants appear and chastise Silva for being out of his role of his plant. Yoh knows that Silva was hesitating for some reason. Silva leaves to go to his plant.

Anime/Manga Difference
In the anime he and Kalim spends the rest of their spare time watching soap operas. Also in the anime he appears to be more interested in interfering with the Shaman Fights, than he does in the manga. During the fight to stop Hao in the anime silva fights Zinc and Nichchrome winning the fight and killing them. Once the entire Shaman Fight ends with no winner he goes back to Toyko and does the same he was doing before by selling Native American trinkets with better results. When the star returns silva goes back to being a Patch officiant but this time he now has made peace with his past.

Trivia

 * Like the other Patch Priests his name is derived from an element from the Periodic Table of Elements, his name(Silva) being derived from Silver