Devil Gene
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The Devil Gene (デビルの血 Debiru no Chi, lit. Devil's Blood, "Devil Cell", Devil Factor or Devil's Consanguinity) - although referred to as the Devil's Power (デビルの力 Debiru no Chikara) in the Tekken 6 Scenario Campaign - is a genetical abnormality isolated in the people of the Mishima bloodline.
While the exact specifications of this gene are never truly explained, it is generally assumed that the gene allows for a person to have a symbiosis or a parasite/host type relationship with a malignant spirit refered to as a "devil" as well as having it (the gene) control the transformations of one to the other. The exact requirements for these transformations are never fully revealed. The spirits can possess the person at any given time during the persons lifespan, even while still in their mother's womb or (apparently) just after death.
The people that currently possess the Devil Gene are, in the order in which it was "revealed", Kazuya Mishima, Jin Kazama, and Azazel. Heihachi Mishima doesn't seem to possess the Devil Gene like the other members of his family. It was previously believed for a long time that Jinpachi Mishima also possessed the Devil Gene due to his appearance, dialogues and his ending in Tekken 5, but it was revealed by Tekken director, Katsuhiro Harada, twitter page that the tekken project team dared to mislead fans. He also said that tekken story in progresses in parallel, and that tekken only have one canon (story setting) and if tekken only have one canon story there, it will be boring.
It is however important to understand that the concept of the Devil Gene was not thought of until Tekken 4, which then somewhat retconned the previous three canonical games. Prior to this, the concepts of Devil was entirely spiritual. The original concept, before the coming of a "Devil Gene", was not entirely scrapped though, and has in some cases been incorperated into the new continuity.
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The Devil "Possession" Timeline
Kazuya had his encounter with the devil, later to be known as Devil by name, when he was about 5 years old. Heihachi, sickened by his weak and emotionally soft son, threw him over a cliff so that he could climb back up. However, the injuries nearly killed Kazuya, but because of the devil gene kazuya survive the fall and was able to climb back up.
After the events of Tekken 2, Heihachi throws Kazuya's body into a volcano. This inadvertantly caused Devil's soul to be split into two parts, one that stayed with Kazuya and another that went in search of Kazuya's yet unborn son, Jin Kazama. When it finally found the unborn Jin, it was warded off by his mother, Jun Kazama, and was unsuccesfull in possessing Jin. However, 15 years later, it returned, branded Jin's left arm with a mark and (possibly) possessing him (as seen in the Tekken 3 opening).
The Common Denominator
Interestingly enough, while Heihachi does not seem to possess the Devil Gene, he has been the catalyst whose actions have resulted in the devil possession of the other Mishimas.
Heihachi staged a coup d'etat against Jinpachi, and locked him away under Hon-Maru, which resulted in Jinpachi being possessed by the "monster" (though this demonic possession is unrelated to the Devil Gene). It was also he, who threw Kazuya over the cliff when Kazuya was a child, almost killing him, causing the Devil gene to surface within kazuya. Several years later, after the events of the second tournament, Heihachi threw Kazuya into a volcano, thus releasing part of Devil, which then searched for and try to manage to possess Jin Kazama, though initially unsuccessful. Heihachi and his Tekken Force soldiers fatally shot Jin Kazama near his death after the conclusion of Tekken 3, causing the Devil gene to awaken within him and partially transform Jin into his Devil self.
Activation of the Devil Gene
It is not explained how the Devil Gene is activated, but evidence within the games seem to suggest that it can be activated consciously, subconsciously, or based on external stimuli. Regardless of which, the effects seem rather clear; the devil side of the person becomes more dominant, to the point of changing the physical appearence of their host, who in turn become more powerful.
- Conscious activation: Kazuya performs a conscious activation of his Devil Gene between the events of Tekken 4 and Tekken 5, during the attack of Hon-Maru by the Jack robots. Jin Kazama seems to have become able to activate his Devil Gene consciously by the time of the events in Tekken 6.
- Subconscious activation: Jin's first transformation into Devil Jin at the end of the events of the third tournament was arguably a subconscious activation of his Devil Gene, likely in part of the anger he felt for Heihachi's betrayal and the fear of death. Jin also transformed again in Tekken 5 likely because of anger over the loss to Hwoarang When Kazuya was thrown down the mountain by Heihachi, he was in a near death exprience, anger by his father's betrayal the devil gene begin to activate giving Devil access to Kazuya's subconscious mind and thus gaining gain ultimate power to exact vegance.
- Activation by external stimuli: Jin partially transforms at the end of the events of the fourth tournament due to Devil trying to force him to transform, as seen in Jin's Tekken 4 ending. Perhaps no more than half an hour later, when Jinpachi is freed from under the Hon-Maru does Jin completely transform because of his reaction to Jinpachi's devil.
Suppression of the Devil Gene
Aside from the suppression of the Devil Gene through sheer force of will, as is implied by the method of conscious, and to some extent subconscious, activation, there are also several external factors that can suppress the Devil Gene as well. The 'exact' nature of these things are however not well explain, often not at all, so it is unknown exactly -how- they supress the Devil Gene, it is only known that they -are- able to do so.
Kazama Bloodline
Before the concept of a Devil Gene was created, and the concept was instead strictly spiritual, Jun Kazama seemed able to suppress the Devil inside Kazuya. It was explained as having been because of Jun's serene and pure being. However, when the Devil history was retconned and the Devil Gene concept created, the influence of the Kazamas became genetic as well; their bloodline, rather than Jun specifically having been a special case.
At the conclusion of Tekken 4 the effect of the bloodline is shown as Devil tries to transform jin into his devil form by using his anger he has for his mishima family, but fails and theorizes that it is due to the Kazama blood running in Jin's veins.
Asuka Kazama, in her Tekken 5 ending, was also able to suppress the Devil Gene of Jin, however, the ending was non-canon and it is thus unknown how strong an effect she has on the Devil Gene.
Materials
While it isn't known how, the Mishima Zaibatsu were successfully able to create chains of an unknown material that was able to specifically suppress the Devil Gene.
Angel
Before the concept of the Devil Gene, Angel, was able to suppress the devil side of him. However, since the creation of the Devil Gene concept, Angel has all but vanished from the Tekken storyline and it is unknown whether or not she is still able to do suppress Devil or if she even still exists.
GENOCELL
In Tekken 4 When G corporation discovered Kazuya's body, they discorvered strange malignant cells within Kazuya's body that they refer to as the devil cells. With this knowledge they use kazuya to further they research and creating a project known as the (Devil-Human) Intergration Program. Using Kazuya's DNA of the devil cells they attempt to combine the devil and human, creating a half human half devil organism using human test subjects. but when trying to combine the two, the devil cells destroy the human cells, making it impossible to create a "devil human", a viable life form similiar to kazuya's genectical make up. G coporation used Julia Chang's GENOCELL Program and discovered that the GENOCELL can suppress the devil cell allowing the human cells to combine with the devil cells. In other media such as the Online Tekken Comic the GENOCELL is also smiliar or can be refered to as G Coporation's 'Anti Devil Factor' it is also reveal in the comic that Kazuya and Jin use the 'Anti Devil Factor' to supress the influence of the 'Devil', in Kazuya's case it allows him to also control the power of the 'Devil'/Gene without the conscious influence of it consuming his mind.
Powers / Abilities
While the powers of each of the "Devils" are different, the "Devils" all fight using a form of Mishima Style Fighting Karate except Azazel. This can however simply be attributed to the fact that they use the martial art known by the possessed person.
Devil
Devil's fighting style was initially the exact same as Kazuya Mishima's fighting style, since Devil was merely a pallette swap for Kazuya. In Tekken 2, Devil gained wings and with them, the power of flight (though this is sparringly used in his moveset). In the same game, Devil also gained a third eye on his forehead, from which he could fire a laser beam. These moves were the first to seperate Devil and Kazuya in terms of gameplay, along with the back throw Atomic Drop. In Tekken Tag Tournament, Devil had several moves that that Kazuya did not have (such as "Devil Fist" (f,F+2), a move where Devil punches his opponent and goes right through them so that he is behind his opponent), and even the moves they did share would sometimes have different properties or ranges, still, the majority of Devil's moves are shared with Kazuya, and he has a very limited moveset, with less than 30 moves in Tekken Tag Tournament, making him the most basic character in the series. Devil can also use telekinesis (this is not one of his moves, and it was only seen in Kazuya's Tekken 4 epilogue).
Devil Jin
Devil Jin, like Devil, can also fly and fire lasers from the third eye on his forehead, however, their fighting style are rather different. Devil Jin's fighting style is the mixture of Mishima Fighting Style Karate and Kazama Style Self Defense that Jin used in Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament. Devil Jin also uses some of the unique moves used by Devil and Angel (such as "Heaven's Door" (f,N,d,d/f+1,u/f), a move that involves performing a strong uppercut, followed by flying high into the air with the opponent, and finally, slamming the opponent's body into the ground). Devil Jin can also use telekinesis, which was first demonstrated in Hwoarang's Tekken 5 epilogue, where Devil Jin uses telekinesis to make Hwoarang's motorcycle explode. This ability is also seen in one of Devil Jin's Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection win animations, where Devil Jin holds the opponent up in the air
Azazel
Azazel appears to have the abilities to summon boulders from the ground to attack the opponent, as well as to keep them away from it, and summoning numerous scarabs made of ice to attack the opponent. Azazel also has some moves that are similar to other bosses in the Tekken series, such as a stun (similar to Jinpachi Mishima's stun attack) and the ability to fire lasers (similar to Devil, Angel, and Devil Jin's laser attacks). Azazel also has the ability to curl up into a ball and roll towards the opponent to attack. He also possess a tail sweep attack resembling Roger Jr.'s, however, he whips it twice in a row.
