Patch Tribe

The Patch Tribe are a group of Native American Shamans responsible for overseeing the Shaman Fights.

About
They are in charge of overseeing the smooth progress of the Shaman King and are in charge of various shamans e.g. Silva is in charge of Yoh Asakura. The Ten Priests are from the Patch tribe and their day is to sell Patch memorabilia and food items. It is revealed that each Priest has an area of field which he controls (mountains, valley, desert, water etc.). One Priest called Chrom was killed in book 4 by Tao Ren. However, it seems a replacement for him has been found since there is mention of 10 Priests. Radim is the host/referee of the Shaman Fight. Some of the Patch had already placed their biased opinions by throwing their support to Hao's purposes. Fearful of his power at the same time, feeling protected by his overwhelming strength, they do their best to lower the esteem of the other contestants in the Shaman Fight.

Once the Shaman King has been revealed, the Patch are now the protectors. Guarding both the new King of Spirits and Great Spirit as they merge into one.

Goldva

 * See More: Goldva

An elderly Patch tribe leader who is the organizer of the Shaman Fight. She is a God class shaman and remains completely neutral throughout the tournament. Her spirit is a Totembird named Big Chief, with her medium being Goldva herself.

Silva

 * See More: Silva

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 travels from the United States (The "Desert of the West" in the English anime) to Japan after being assigned to test Yoh Asakura. After some difficulty, Yoh lands a hit on Silva, passing the qualification test. Silva watches over Yoh after he defeats him in the qualification test, finding Yoh to have great potential and good will and must frequently refrain from directly interfering to aid Yoh. He often is seen as a street vendor, trying to sell traditional Native American crafts while in Japan. He spends the rest of his spare time watching soap operas. Silva has five familiars, who are luminous totems that have refined themselves for over 500 years: Silver Horn - an American Bison spirit, Silver Rod - a snake spirit, Silver Shield - a turtle spirit, Silver Tail - a coyote spirit, and Silver Wing - an eagle spirit. The five can combine to form a cannon used in the Totemic Soul Blast attack. His plant is most likely the forest.

Kalim

 * See More: Kalim

One of Silva's friends and organizers of the Shaman Fight, Kalim tested and deemed Horohoro to be qualified to take part in the Shaman Fight. His birthday is April 24, 1971. His spirit partner is a bull named BlackSickle, with his medium being a bull skull and leg bones allowing BlackSickle to merge with the lower half of his body. His plant is the plateau. He shares an apartment with Silva during the tournament in Tokyo, where the two constantly bicker over the heat (because they cannot afford an air conditioner and the summer is so warm and humid). Like Silva, Kalim sells handcrafted Patch goods to make somewhat of a living while in Tokyo. Kalim frequently provids a voice of reason to somewhat quell Silva's desire to interfere in the Shaman Tournament. Kalim is apparently hemaphobic. Following the trend of Patch priests being named after metals, Kalim's name derives from Kari (加里 or カリ), or Kariumu (カリウム) meaning potassium in Japanese (derived from the German language Kalium).

Nichrome

 * See More: Nichrome


 * Seiyu; Kentaro Ito

Is the 10th priest of the Patch tribe, in the Anime he first appears in episode 50. Nichrome became the 10th priest after his brother, Chrome the previous 10th priest, was killed by Ren. In the manga, Nichrome was able to kill Ren who was later revived by Iron Maiden Jeanne. Also (in the anime) Nichrome joins up with Hao. What has surprised most fans is Nichrome's age, since it has been stated that he was eight when he joined the Patch tribe. His spirit is a scorpion (which hasn't been named) with his medium being a scorpion's tail. His and his brother's plant is most likely the cave.

Magna

 * See More: Magna

He is an officiant of the Patch who takes Nichrome under his wing when the young boy becomes an officiant. He openly supports Hao, and like other officiants, takes pleasure in intimidating some of the remaining contestants in the tournament. His spirit is a great horned owl named MagneScope, with his medium being his arms. His plant is the volcano. Killed by Ren

Radim

 * See More: Radim

Radim is the officiant who is selected to the moderator of the tournament. Unlike most of the other officiants, he tries his best to remain neutral, but at times has openly agreed that he doesn't approve of Hao's shaman only kingdom (going so far as to get Hao's furyoku rating during the fight with X-III). His spirit is an Australian pelican named PlatinumSword, with his medium being his microphone. His plant is the lake.

Namari

 * See More: Namari

Namari is an official who first appeared when Yoh's friends attempting to stop Hao's followers from killing Lady Sati. He apparently had some sort of discontent or rivalry with Ryu, though also seemed to respect him. He was an open supporter of Hao, intimidating some of the remaining contestants in the tournament. Namari's spirit was a cobra named Red Rope with his medium (probably) having been snake skin. On their journey to get to the Star Sanctuary, Ryu fought with him first one-on-one in his area: the desert. After killing Ryu, he was in turn killed by Ren with the help of Horo Horo. Before he died he smiled, knowing he'd won by having his boastful opponents use a part of their furyoku to defeat him. This caused Ren to respect him afterwards. He was responsible for all Gandhara shaman.

Bron

 * See More: Bron

Bron was Lyserg's mentor throughout the shaman fight. Eventually though, these two fight each other in Bron's territory in his defense of the Shaman King.At this time Bron was extremely angry and trying to get revenge on his fallen comrade Namari, so that he didn't die for nothing. It showed in the fight that Bron was a very strong shaman (plus having the Song of the Patch and the Valley plant increase his powers did help). Bron's spirit was a spider named BlueNet. His medium is cuffs made out of spider hair. In the end he was killed by Lyserg by ferocious flames. His plant was the valley.

Renim

 * See More: Renim

Renim along with Bron was responsible for having Silva lose his heart and become more like his ancestor by implanting him with the true meaning of the Patch. Later, he comes to remind Silva to return to his post when Silva tries to kill Opacho and has a little fight with Yoh. Renim's spirit is a chameleon like lizard. His plant is most likely the ocean.

Talim

 * See More: Talim

A Patch member first seen working in the Patch Cafe, not much else about him is known yet. It is possible that due to name association he is Kalim's brother. His plant is probably the glacier.

Rutherfor

 * See More: Rutherfor

A Patch Priest who is only seen at the very end of the manga series, escorting Hao to the King's Shrine. He is a guardian of the Universe Plant and, having enormous black eyes on a naked head, he seems like an alien rather than human. However according to Hao his appearance is properly just an OverSoul. In a close up of his face one can see what looks like the outline of a human face inside the "alien head" perhaps hinting that he uses his body for his medium.

Chrom

 * See More: Chrom

Chrom was the first and only officiant to die in the prelims of the Shaman Fight. He was killed when he tested Tao Ren. Officially, Ren passed with one hit but when Chrom goaded him a little bit more, he went insane and killed him. Chrom's spirit is either a cricket or a locust that can shot energy beams of some sort. His medium is probably the armor like plates on his vest. His and his brothers plant are most likely the cave

Zinc

 * Note Zinc is an anime only Patch

Zinc is a shaman of the Patch tribe who along with Nichrome fights Kalim and Silva when they attempt to help Yoh. Due to the fact he is in the anime, he doesn't have a plant. Like Nichrome he is given a power boost by Hao yet at the same time he is given 9 other guardian ghosts to make himself a suit of spiritual armor like Silva. His guardian ghost (most likely the first one he oversouled) is a vulture or buzzard with his medium being the feather plates he wore.

Five Elemental Spirits
The Spirits of Earth, Wind, Rain, Thunder and Fire - the five greatest spirits to exist and owned by the Patch tribe. 500 years ago, Hao was reincarnated as one of the tribe members of the Patch tribe and stole the Spirit of Fire from them. He reincarnated together with the spirit to become the teenage twin of Asakura Yoh. The other four Spirits are apparently kept hidden by the Patch tribe to prevent others from stealing them away. Sathi of the Gandara has plans to take the four Spirits away and pass it Tao Ren, Yoh, Chocolove and Horo Horo. Once Hao combines with the G.S.*, the Spirit of Fire is theorised to be detached from him and from that point onwards would be claimed by Lyserg Diethel. She believes that with the help of the Five Great Spirits, the five children can defeat Hao even though he has become one with the G.S. - the Shaman King.

Trivia

 * A note on the Patch: All the Patch Tribe are named after elements on the Periodic Table of Elements (I haven't figured out what Lip and Rap stands for and Nichrom is named after an alloy).
 * Goldva = Gold
 * Silva = Silver
 * Karim = Potassium (Japanese)
 * Chrom = Chromium
 * Nichrom = Nichrome (a nickel/chromium alloy)
 * Magna = Magnesium
 * Renimu = Rhenium
 * Bron = Boron
 * Radim = Radium
 * Namari = Lead (Japanese)
 * Rutherfor = Rutherfordium