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- "I could not help overhearing your last question. I am immortal, and though I have not lived as long as Nicholas or Perenelle, I am now, and have always been, a warrior. And if that life has taught me anything, it is that in every war, both sides believe they are in the right."
- — Niten to Josh in The Necromancer
Niten the Swordsman (born Miyamoto Musashi) (c. 1584 – June 13, 1645) is a Buddhist Japanese swordsman and master artist. Niten is considered to be among the greatest humani warriors to have ever lived. He is the only humani to ever defeat Next Generation Scathach in single combat. He dies once to fight the Spartoi from invading San Fransisco. He marries Aoife, Scathach's sister, in the Epilogue of The Enchantress. He speaks English tinged with a strong Japanese accent.
He was known by immortals as quiet and unassuming, yet he had a reputation as a fearsome warrior and a man of honor.
Past[]
During the Enchantress, Niten noted that he had his first duel at the age of thirteen, and has long since fallen out of love with dueling.
Revealed in the Necromancer, he was made immortal around the end of the 16th century by Great Elder Benzaiten after he sliced an arrow shot by an Oni that was headed toward her out of the air. Ever since, he traveled the Earth and the nearby Shadowrealms in search of opponents to fight simply to hone his skills. Revealed in the Warlock, Niten once killed one of the most famous Nue, a chimeric creature from the darkest of Japanese lore. He had seen serpent folk over the centuries.
He met Aoife at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. He initially mistook her as Scathach, but their fight, his loss and the encounter made him gradually fall in love with her for over four hundred years. He was known amongst immortals to be at least the only one who knew where Aoife of the Shadows was.
Over two centuries after his "official" death, Niten knew Black Hawk from the Battle of the Greasy Grass of 1876. Niten stated it as "a day for warriors." They well acquainted to know Black Hawk's non-spicy sushi preference, remember their true names, and pair themselves at the party table. He also knew through Aoife the horse breeder immortal humani Khutulun, Aoife's pseudo adoptive daughter who fears flight. He kept contact with Khutulun at her 21st century home in Kentucky.
During the 19th century, he was rescued by Aoife from his kidnapping at the hands of the servants of the Shinigami of the Jigoku Shadowrealm. Aoife led a warpath through Jigoku to save him.
At an unknown time, he and Aoife's uncle Prometheus rescued her from a trouble with the Nagas on Krakatoa.
A hundred years before he met the Flamels and the Twins of Legend, Niten received a month late birthday present from Aoife. It was a first edition of The Professor by Charlotte Brontë. It included a line he had never forgotten: In the midst of life we are in death.
In the 21st century, he lives in San Fransisco, works at his martial arts dojo and since a few years ago, owns a traditional rectangular box green houseboat moored in the bay of Sausalito. The dock was slightly higher than the houseboat. He would most weekly work on his houseboat, and periodically peel and repaint his houseboat with a different shade of green. He did not know he was once within the surveillance of the Flamels, especially by the Sorceress. Sometimes, he visits Prometheus at Point Reyes in his Shadowrealm Hades or the teacher of the samurai's beloved Aoife, Tsagaglalal. He had encountered lizard creatures living in nearby San Fransisco Shadowrealms. He acknowledged his facing and fighting centuries of creatures, both human and inhuman.
Appearance[]
In the Witch of Endor's memories, Niten was dressed in the exotic armor of a samurai and fought against the three-eyed Japanese Oni who chased him to the edge of a sheer cliff that fell away to a raging sea. This encounter lead him to defend a nearby Benzaiten against an innocent shot arrow against her.
When he met Josh Newman, Niten's first attire was Aoife's driver for his black limousine. He was a young-looking slender dark hair Japanese man in a simple black suit, white shirt and narrow black tie. He had short hair and dark eyes. He smiled, yet it seemed more of a reflex than a voluntary gesture, on his normally impassive face. He can be assumed in his late teens or early twenties, with faint lines around his eyes and has thin lips. His wrists and knuckles were thick: the sure signs of a martial artist. When in the field, he would wear his two swords in their matched sheaths he wore strapped to his hip. Even the next day, he was a slender, impeccably dressed Japanese man in a black suit. He had delicate Japanese features. The Spartoi view him as small.
He had dark flesh, and the palms' skin were seamed and calloused from centuries of holding a sword.
When he prepared to fight, he would take off his black suit coat and strapped his two swords around his waist. He hung them over his left hip. For his fight with the Drakon (Spartoi), Niten strapped the two swords to his back.
Because of his aura overdraft, his hair slightly turned gray when he fed his aura to fish bait the Lotan and he aged rapidly into a frail elder during his desperate battle with the Spartoi. His resurrection restored his youthfulness.
He is physically smaller than Josh. His auric armor is a wood and lacquer samurai armor; ragged and frayed by the drastic drain of aura like Prometheus's.
His suit was burned apart by John Dee then he replaced it at Aunt Agnes's home. His new suit was shredded to fight the Spartoi to the death.
Personality[]
Niten travels and wanders the Shadowrealms since the late 16th century.
Niten is a calm, quiet, and restrained honorable warrior and Buddhist. He honors his promises, such as to rescue Aoife. He acknowledges verbal oaths between immortal humani. He would not gossip about others, but reveal his knowledge when out of consideration, such as reporting to Aoife only when she learned of Joan of Arc's and Comte de Saint-Germain's marriage centuries later. He did not reveal the marriage out of foreknowledge Aoife's disgust with Joan the "Frenchman". His consideration is to the degree of befriending and consulting Aoife's relatives to better know her while simultaneously decrease his inner inferiority complex towards his beloved vampire. He did not have a good impression of the Witch of Endor, for she herself feared him for his association with Aoife. He communicates in Japanese with Aoife in private.
He has a habit of cleaning his katana or wakizashi when he is free. He has a hobby of collecting classic cars, which Aoife learned about in the year of the Twins of Legend. He would use his aura to induce smoke from a nearby fire to hide his sad tears. He would allow young guys to try his cars, such as Josh driving the black limousine.
Due to the Sorceress's reminder at their first meeting, Niten realized he developed warrior defects over the century: a creature habit, routine and lesser vigilance towards being watched. After knowing his sloven mistakes, he respectively bowed back to thank the Sorceress and then admitted with confidence he would not be surveillance again.
For battle preparation, he would unsheath his two swords to act when needed. He would have his right hand a wakizashi in a black lacquered case that rested on his lap when driving with his left hand.
Before his certain doom battle with the Spartoi, he complained to Prometheus how the last few years were uneventful due to Aoife's staggering reputation that made others to not challenge her and Niten. Both were ignored and isolated by the inhabitants when the two travel into the deadliest Shadowrealms. Out of boredom, Niten spent a lot of time painting a houseboat in Sausalito green, but could never get the exact green shade of Aoife's eyes right.
As a teenager, Niten experienced the genuine beauty of a quiet moment before a fight. From then, he enjoyed each moment he could repeat this artistic time. His experience with war made him long fallen out of love with battle. To him, there was no honor in war, less in killing and none in dying. But there was true dignity in how men comported themselves in battle. And there was always honor to be found in standing for a just cause and defending the defenseless. He believed everything and everyone will have their end, just when.
Abilities[]
- Immortality: Niten gained Immortality from his Elder master at his late teens or early twenties, and therefore does not age (though he is vulnerable to injury and poison). Unless his master chooses to take his immortality away, Niten may live for thousands or millions of years.
- Aura Manipulation: Niten has learned to control his aura to a certain extent. He is able to shape the aura around his body, and uses it to power his magic.
He is capable of mystically manipulating his aura to form an armor. He can use his aura to calm down others and heal his physical wounds. Before a decisive battle, he sometimes molds a small ball of it into origami, such as kame, the turtle.
- The Arts: Niten's perspective of a warrior was adaptive versatility, and not just strength to win, therefore studied various arts to hone his combat skills.
- Martial Arts: Niten was an extremely talented top combatant of the humani, being the only of his race to able to defeat the infamous Warrior Maid.
- Swordsmanship: Niten was historically remembered for his dual swordsmanship of a katana and wakizashi, one sword longer than the other. He hung them over his left hip. The katana was known as unbreakable.
- Close-Combat: Niten fought with lightning fast fists and feet.
- Blind-Fight: Niten trained against swords and arrows in his youth. His hearing could anticipate them within range.
- Painting: Niten was a master artist of the brush style whose works were valued by even the immortal humani, Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel.
- Sculpting: Niten was a master sculptor.
- Writing: Niten was a top writer. He treasured a first edition of The Professor by Charlotte Brontë.
- Teamaking: Niten served his fragrant olive green tea, just like the smell of his aura, to his guests.
- Cookery: Niten was skilled in cooking, especially Japanese cuisine with a specialty in sashimi and sushi. He developed his cooking initially for himself and later Aoife.
- Strategy: Niten was consulted for war strategy by the Flamels during the Defense Battle of San Fransisco. Previously at Tsagaglalal's current home, Mars Ultor criticized many of Niten's thoughts and his book Book of Five Rings. He can analyze the natural environment for mortal traps. He carries a cellphone, intentionally unharmed, for communication.
- Stealth: Niten practiced stealth techniques for Shadowrealms' travels, covert operations and survival. He can easily sneak upon the Flamels without sound. He can also move untouched by people as he moved effortlessly around a pack of tourists and onlookers.
- Paper Folding (Origami): Niten is a master of the Japanese art of paper folding. Before any decisive battle, he would fold one from a ball of little blue aura. He folded a kame, the turtle and its symbol of wisdom and longevity, before his doomed fight against the Spartoi.
- Martial Arts: Niten was an extremely talented top combatant of the humani, being the only of his race to able to defeat the infamous Warrior Maid.
- Buddhism: Niten was raised as a Buddhist before he obtained Immortality. His widely known name for centuries was Niten.
- Driving: Niten was entrusted to be Aoife's chauffeur when she visited San Fransisco during the year of the Twins of Legend (Twins 15.5 years old). He preferred to drive less conspicuous vehicles. His black town car limousine had a tin of two years expired mints in the glove compartment and a collection of CDs by composers: Isao Tomita, Kodo and Kitaro. He also had an eyesight and knowledge about cars. He borrowed Tsagaglalal's to reach the Lotan area.
The Necromancer[]
Niten is first introduced as a companion of Aoife. They are looking for clues to Scathach's disappearance. He current lives in San Fransisco and has his engine-less green-shade houseboat docked at Sausalito's bay. He first meets the Twins of Legend outside their Aunt Agnes's home on the corner of Sacramento Street, down Scott Street and pass Jackson Street in Pacific Heights. His limousine's tire is secretly magic punctured by Sophie, causing him to manual jack it.
He follows Aoife to take Sophie Newman to his houseboat. Niten is calm of temperament and acts as a sort of cooling influence on Aoife. He accompanies Aoife, the Flamels, and the twins to Prometheus's Shadowrealm and later pursues the hypnotized Josh to Dee's Coit Tower office in Telegraph Hill, San Francisco. During the drive, he gently shows his affections to Aoife. During the resulting battle, Niten attempts to kill Dee, but his swords shatter upon contact with the Magician's chest. He witnesses Aoife forcing Coatlicue back with herself and become trapped in the latter's Shadowrealm.
The Warlock[]
Niten restrains Sophie at Enoch Enterprises from irrational choices while he tearfully confesses his love between Aoife and him. He is seen at the barbecue with a huge assortment of Elders and Immortals, himself providing fresh sushi and sashimi to Tsagaglalal's guests, where he receives an Emerald Jade tablet from Abraham the Mage, telling him his destiny. Using their aura enhanced fishing rods, he and Prometheus act as bait when the Lotan attacks the city from the bay at Embarcadero-Pier 14. However, as the dragon drains his aura, Nicholas Flamel uses alchemy to transmute it back into an egg.
The Enchantress[]
His main and final role in the series was to stop the Drakon from reaching San Francisco and demolishing the city and the people within it. He felt flattered for Prometheus to had read his Book of the Five Rings.
The Flamels separated from the Swordsman and the Firelord to deal with Alcatraz and awaken Areop-Enap. He confessed to only Prometheus his regret to not have the courage to successfully propose marriage after a couple of previous cowardice. In that battle he was brought down by dozens of Spartoi who attacked him at once, killing at least more than one. Prometheus's created daughter Tsagaglalal arrived just in time to see Niten and Prometheus collapse. She screamed her rage and revived Prometheus, who convinced her to resurrect Niten instead.
Before Prometheus dies, he says to his daughter, "Tell Niten to find Aoife and ask the question. Tell him... she will say yes."
In January, months after the fulfilled Prophecy and the month before the 10th of Imbolc, Niten and Aoife married in Tir Na nOg with Scathach as the bridesmaid and Marethyu's attendance.
Notes[]
- Niten is famous among immortals for defeating Scathach as a younger humani.
- He lost to Aoife in their first combat confrontation in 1600, and never more from then on. They have been combat-adventure companions since then, gradually growing affection for each other.
- Himself and his legendary swords are worth the prize amongst the supernatural. In his fights against Dr. John Dee and Spartoi, the two swords were destroyed once each, but mysteriously repaired before he fought the Lotan. The fight with the Spartoi destroyed 75% of the katana.
- His 21st century combat dress style was similar to the modern yakuza.
- He holds a special ceremony before each of his decisive and likely fatal battles: sitting, meditation and blue aura origami.
- One of Niten's regrets is if he is unable to die in his beloved Japan. He had made Aoife promise that if he fell in some foreign country or Shadowrealm, she would bring his corpse back to Reigandō in the southwest of his country.
- In the Epilogue, in Marethyu's letter, he wrote: "P.P.S. Niten and Aoife got married. Scathach was the bridesmaid. Everyone cried." The later reprints wrote: "P.P.S. We were at Aoife and Niten's wedding last month, Scathach was her bridesmaid. Everyone cried."
- Niten was abbreviated from his Buddhist name Niten Dōraku, or his swordsmanship style Niten Ichi-ryū.
- Niten's height is unknown, but his recorded Miyamoto Musashi was historically 6 shaku (~6 feet). His appearance is vague, but historically influenced by eczema.