Rama

“	Only through the strength of the human spirit and the virtue of human righteousness can this evil be vanquished.	”
—Rama to The Emperor

Rama
Information
Gender	Male ♂
Species	God
Allies	Odin Ra
Enemies	The Black Mass Aku
Voiced Actor	Daran Norris

Rama is an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He made his first appearance in Episode XXXVII: The Birth of Evil, Part 1.

Character Outline

Rama (/ˈrɑːmə/; Sanskrit: राम, IAST: Rāma), also known as Ramachandra, is a major deity of Hinduism. He is the seventh avatar of the god Vishnu, one of his most popular incarnations along with Krishna. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being.

History

Rama appeared in Episode XXXVII: The Birth of Evil, Part 1. He, Odin, and Ra were battling an evil entity in space. Unfortunately, a small fragment of the entity managed to escape from the scene, unnoticed by the gods. For countless eons, the fragment floated in space until it crashed into the prehistoric Earth, causing Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. The fragment then became a pool of black tar-like substance and a black forest soon appeared around it.

For untold numbers of periods, the black forest devour any living creatures by drowning them into the tar or impaling them from the ground. The forest grew at an alarming rate that it started to destroy settlements and its people. The Emperor of Japan, Jack's father decided to destroy the evil at its source. With a magical elixir given by a Buddhist monk, the Emperor and his cavalry charged into the forest, only to have his entire army slain by trees that suddenly sprang out from the ground and impaled them. Continuing his journey to the black pool, he recited a chant, dip his arrow into the elixir and then fired it towards the sun to ignite it. When the arrow plunged into the pool, it seemed that the elixir worked when the trees that grow from the pool, only to give it a humanoid form. Thus, Aku came into existence, and declared that he is the new master.

The Emperor attempted to slay Aku with arrows and katana, only to find them useless. Aku then have the Emperor tied to a gargantuan tree from the pool and proceeded to destroy his kingdom, much to his horror. The gods then send Sleipnir to rescue the Emperor and brought him to a temple on a mountaintop. From the purity of his spirit, they crafted a katana for him to destroy Aku. After he successfully defeated Aku, the Emperor sealed the demon into the earth. An evil-looking tree then emerged from the ground. Knowing that Aku will return one day, the Emperor then told his wife that he will have a plan to prepare for this.

In Episode XCVIII, Rama made his return along with Ra and Odin to help Jack be reunited with his Katana after he had passed the test by vanquishing the angry consciousness inside.

Powers and Equipment

Vishnu with Sharanga.

Rama is an incredibly powerful deity. His power was so great that he was able to harm Aku; something only fellow deities, or those who could wield the mystical sword could accomplish.

• Bow and Arrows: In his fight against the creature, Vishnu used his bow, Sharanga and arrows glowing with divine energy. Due to having three pairs of arms, Vishnu could fire three arrows at a time.
• Speed and Accuracy: Vishnu's speed at firing and reloading was fast enough to let him fire several shots in just a few moments. His accuracy was just as high as he never missed a shot in the battle.
• Eye beams: Vishnu, along with Ra and Odin use this ability to extract the strength and purity of the Emperor's spirit to forge his katana. They also extracted purity and strength of Jack's own spirit and then infused it to his katana, making it more powerful than before.
• Shapeshifting: As a God, Vishnu are able to change his form and appearance at will, e.g. a Buddhist monk.
• Omniscience: He is aware of Aku's rise on Earth. He assumes the form of a Buddhist monk and forges the Emperor's essence of virtue into a katana, showing that he is knowledgeable of Japanese culture and Buddhism, and his respect of them. It is worth to notice that Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism that Jack and his people follow, is one of the avatars of Vishnu.
• Immortality: As a god, Vishnu is immortal.
• Astral projection: During the forging scene, he is capable of projecting his spirit in a form of a Buddhist monk to forge the katana, while his main body is seen behind, glowing in blue.
• Transmutation: He and His fellow gods transmuted the Emperor's virtues into a steel katana.

Quotes

• "But be warned, this evil is not of the human world. It has magic beyond your understanding. Trust not what you see, but what you feel."
• "You are worthy."

Trivia

• Rama is the only of the three gods that Jack has not interacted with for four seasons, directly (summoning Ra for aid) or indirectly (sending a Viking to Odin's hall) as of the latest episode.
  • He is also the only god not seen in the series prior to Birth of Evil.
  • It should be noted that he is the only god whose civilization (India) Jack wasn't shown to visit in order to receive training or study of any sort (Jack has studied in Egypt and went to Scandinavia to study seafaring under a Viking captain).
  • He finally appears in person in Episode XCVIII and grants Jack his sword alongside the other two gods.
• Rama rides an elephant during the battle against the Ultimate Evil. In mythology, he rides Garuda.
• Vishnu mostly appears in his seventh avatar, Rama in both episodes. In mythology, Vishnu in his Rama avatar has a pair of arms, while in his true form he has two pairs of arms instead of three in the Samurai Jack universe.