Johann Faust VIII

Faust VIII with ElizaJohann Faust VIII (ファウストVIII世 Fausuto hassei) is a fictional character of the anime and manga series Shaman King. Faust's seiyuu in the Japanese version is Takehito Koyasu. His English dub actor was originally Sam Regal, and then changed to Marc Thompson in the later episodes.

Character & Personality
Hailing from Germany, Johann Faust VIII is the eighth-generation descendant of the legendary Doctor Faustus. He was born on April 8, 1966 and his blood type is A. His ancestor is the main character of the renowned German tale, "The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus", as the man who was so consumed by lust for all the pleasures of the world, he made a deal with the devil to gain them. For with necromancy skills, the Devil (more commonly known as Mephistopheles in Faust literature) also granted Faustus youth and riches. In the end, Faustus died a terrible death when Mephistopheles came to claim his soul at the end of the seven year contract.

Faust is usually a very detailed and patient person who thinks scientifically unless the matter concerns his beloved Eliza. He does not tolerate interruptions while working (an example was having Eliza keep the X-Laws at bay, while he attempted to help Jeanne), and even less any criticism, insults or threats directed at Eliza.

Faust is the embodiment of dedication; he has given up everything for his wife and is willing to do anything, no matter the costs to protect and take care of her. It is this single-mindedness and selflessness that gives him his great strength in the Shaman Fight. Beyond all the mental instability, emotional suffering and somewhat gothic moods, his greatest strength comes from his pure heart; pure because he knows that he only lives to love and protect his dear Eliza.

Faust is an insane, but incredibly brilliant medical doctor who delights in saving lives. Naturally, his work reveals facets of his personality. He cures his opponents' son after their shaman fight, an illness that many doctors have given up on previously. Because Faust had devoted much of his time to seeking cures for illnesses, he is utterly devastated when he is unable to save Eliza and goes as far as attempting to resurrect her. When he treats Jeanne of the X-laws, he does so with zeal that nears madness. During the time in between matches, he is usually reading medical books, and feeds himself breakfast, lunch, and dinner through an I.V. line.

Appearance
Faust VIII has a number of traits in his physical appearance that makes him stand out from the other characters in Shaman King. For example, his discolored lips and permanent bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. They contribute to his intimidating and seemingly dark look. Another very noticeable trait is the different color skin coating his chest and torso. To Faust, this detail does nothing but benefit him in creating a "fear-factor" impression on his opponents, which goes along with his personality.

Faust also has blond hair and blue eyes. He is also extremely thin, due to lack of proper amounts of food each day. Since Eliza passed away, Faust barely ate. He just consumed enough to keep himself alive.

History
Faust, like his family, wanted nothing to do with his ancestor's black magic. He is a direct descendant of Johann Faust, traced back in his family line, who had practiced this art as his ancestor did, Faust the First. (Faustus) It was a dark secret, and Faust's family intended on keeping it hidden.

When he was young, he met a girl named Eliza who was a patient of his father's but had an incurable illness. Faust worked to his greatest potential to become a doctor and find a cure for Eliza. He succeeded, becoming a master of the medical field and Eliza was cured. They fell in love and were married, and ran their own medical clinic.

Faust got a beautiful mansion near the seaside, and it seemed that his life with Eliza could not be more perfect. Unfortunately, one day while Faust VIII was out in town, a burglar broke into his house where Eliza was home alone. The criminal shot her in the forehead, killing her. Faust arrived at home and saw this horrible scene, and tried all of his medical skills to save Eliza, to no effect.

He became obsessed with bringing her back to life, and thus delved into the ancient practice of necromancy. For eight years Faust worked in his arts, never sleeping at all, which is why he has dark shadows under his eyes and purple lips. He enters the Shaman Fight in order to become Shaman King and use the power to resurrect Eliza.

Eliza
Eliza is Faust's first, only, and one true love. She was ill with a fatal disease since her childhood. As the only woman to care for Faust VIII, he, in return, slaved over his studies to find a cure for her. After her recovery, they married and opened a clinic together. She and Faust were very happy living together... until their home was broken into and the burglar, armed with a gun, shot Eliza, who was the only one in the clinic at the time, dead. Now she serves as Faust's main spirit as he works to become Shaman King and revive her. As Faust grows stronger, she becomes more lifelike. Although he was unable to revive her yet, Anna was able to summon her spirit back to Earth allowing Faust to communicate and see her. Because of this Faust's power became even more stronger because of the fact that he now posess a real main human spirit. Also later in the anime series she was able to talk and say more lines than before.

She was born on June 29, 1963 and was 26 when she died. Her blood type is AB.

Story
Yoh Asakura and Faust VIII first meet in a cemetery of Yokohama where they are to be opponents for the Shaman Fight. Arguably one of the most dangerous shamans ever, stories hinting of Faust's power have already rippled throughout in the rumors of priests who have come to referee the ongoing Shaman Fights. One of the Shaman Fight Officiants, Silva, tries vainly to persuade Anna into making Yoh forfeit the match. He fears for Yoh's life, because Faust had proven himself merciless. He killed his first opponent and seriously injured the officiant who intervened to stop the match. This match's field, moreover, is obviously in any Necromancer's favor, for it is a graveyard. This is a great advantage to a shaman like Faust. However, Anna adamantly turns down Silva's request, insisting Yoh will fight well.

When Anna and Silva arrive to watch the match, they are stunned to find out the fight has already begun. Faust has summoned an army of skeletons to attack Yoh. Faust partially dissects Manta, leaving him in intense pain. Faust's actions trigger Yoh's rage. The younger shaman tries to break free of Faust's skeleton army, and succeeds, although doing so, along with destroying skeleton after skeleton, has depleted his furyoku (mana) greatly.

Throughout the fight, as the horrific truth is revealed, Faust used less than one percent of his furyoku/mana on each skeleton. The reason given by Silva is that Faust uses very little energy to animate the skeletons. While Faust is still in mint condition for the match, Yoh has become extremely battle-weary, his energy used up, and his mana burning down to just a small flame of energy above the hilt of his sword. To finish Yoh off, Faust's true spirit ally finally emerges as he transfers his attention to creating Eliza's form on her skeleton. Eliza, while far from being the strongest foe Yoh has ever faced, becomes formidable now that his energy is almost gone. Yoh enrages Faust by calling Eliza a 'doll' because she has no will of her own. This enrages Faust to a horrific level so that he appears an insane man. He starts to recklessly expend energy, leaving him weakened. Yoh focuses his remaining mana at the tip of his sword, Harusame, and cuts the legs off of Eliza's skeleton. While this attack leaves Eliza useless in combat, it depletes the rest of Yoh's mana. Amidamaru falls out of Harusame, and Yoh loses the match. Yoh breaks down crying at nearly losing his friend, his life, and his dream. Amidamaru tells Yoh that his philosophy of letting things work themselves out and not worrying about the outcome of events is as much a form of courage as any other.

Tao Ren arrives to prevent Faust VIII from killing Yoh out of pure, blind rage with his bone yard giant, a 20 ton "calcium giant" made completely out of skeletons.

Faust VIII does not appear again until right before the opening ceremony of the Shaman Fight, where it is revealed that he gave his legs to Eliza. He is later shown at the Patch Village looking for teammates for the second event of the Shaman Fight. While Ryu and Yoh initially reject his offer to help in favor of Lyserg Diethel's, Anna explains that she has never met Lyserg, but has seen Faust's immense power and superhuman determination firsthand. She theorizes that if she uses her itako powers to resurrect Eliza with "true necromancy," Faust will allow her to develop his powers even further and give her his loyalty, ultimately hoping that Faust will be the doctor at the resort she hopes to run. Since it would also be beneficial to have a doctor on their team, Anna gets Faust to join Team Funbari Hot Springs along with Yoh and Ryu. Later, he christens his big oversoul "Mephisto E" ("E" from the initial of Eliza's name), a reference to the original Faust legend. However, he does apologize to Eliza every time he must put her in harm's way.

Abilities & Powers
Perhaps the most important trait of his power. Faust's necromantic arts enable him to merely animate human remains, but a complete resurrection is beyond him. He could not by any means (arcane or scientific) bring back the dead.

It should be noted that during the later chapters of the manga, Faust does indeed master the art of resurrection, allowing him to actually revive the dead(as long as their body is not too badly damaged).

To animate the remains (typically skeletons), he uses the skill Bone Dead Reborn. It calls nearby spirits to inhabit buried skeletons. The skeletons are then raised by the Necromancer to become a powerful host of demons, that which he can fully command. Because Faust specializes in the study of the undead (Necromancy), he can do this with only minimal furyoku.

Possessing the stoutness of bones, his skeletons have a powerful vice-like grip. Even his opponent Asakura Yoh cannot break free of the grip until a surge of pure desperation gives him barely enough strength to escape.

In addition to his Necromancy, Faust can use the traditional Oversoul technique that all shamans know. That is, joining forces with a familiar that draws furyoku from the shaman themselves. As if emphasizing Faust's embodiment of death, his familiar is none other than the skeleton of his deceased wife. Here, Skeleton-formed Eliza is neither more powerful nor weaker than other shaman spirits, although Silva hints that Faust's chosen familiar is weaker than Yoh's Amidamaru.

In the manga, one of the things Faust can do with his power is cage his shaman opponent in a bone cage. He can also create a giant skeleton that he calls "A 20-Ton Calcium Giant".

In the manga, Faust as a master of the medical arts allows himself to patch up the damages his opponent inflicts on his body. He can do (often painful) things no normal doctor can do to themselves due to the fact he is a heavy user of morphine. Before every fight, he pumps enough morphine into his system to make him feel completely numb for a few hours, so for any damage done to him, he will be able to repair them without the hindrance of pain. One instance of this was when Yoh broke his leg during their fight, and instead of letting the bone heal on its own, Faust tore the broken bone right out of his leg and had Eliza bring him another similar in size. Afterwards, Faust replaced his missing bone, able to stand within minutes. A second instance was when the shamans were dropped out of a plane to be tested on how they would survive the great fall. Faust passed by Horohoro, just laughing that he was so injected with morphine, he would not die from the impact. He would just let himself fall, stitch himself back up, and be on his merry way. The use of morphine for pain nullification is not mentioned in the American anime.

In the manga, Yoh managed to cut through Eliza's knees. From the knee down, the bones were rendered useless. In an act that shows just how devoted he is, Faust actually replaces the missing portions of Eliza's legs with his own, confining him into a wheelchair. After teaming up with Yoh and Ryu for the Funbari Onsen team and before fighting with them against the Icemen in the Shaman tournament battles, Faust learns to oversoul his fallen dog Frankensteiny into new legs. In the anime, both of his legs are perfectly fine as well as Eliza's, and Frankensteiny does not make an appearance. Also in the manga, Faust, Eliza, and Frankensteiny are able to create an armor oversoul. His furyoku is 12,500 (as seen in chapter 276)