Shiro Tagachi
From Guild Wars Wiki
| Shiro Tagachi | |
|---|---|
| |
| Affiliation | Not specified |
| Types | Human Demon |
| Profession |  Assassin
|
| Level(s) | 31 (33) |
| Campaigns | Factions Nightfall |
| Image(s) | |
 "The harbinger of the deceiver, the mark of the wicked, the guild symbol of Shiro Tagachi." | |
 In-game screenshot of Shiro's guild emblem in Zen Daijun | |
 Concept art by Kekai Kotaki. | |
 A wallpaper featuring Shiro. | |
“No one but Shiro Tagachi knows what made this sacred imperial bodyguard—the emperor's most trusted servant—turn on his master on the Day of the Jade Wind. Did Shiro plan to sever the unbroken imperial bloodline and crown himself emperor? Was it revenge he sought, for some perceived wrong the emperor had done to Shiro or the Tagachi family? Could Shiro have been seeking some form of power that historians can no longer comprehend?
Whatever his motive, Shiro's act has been literally carved in stone. On the last day of the Harvest Festival, the emperor's favored bodyguard arrived at the Harvest Temple and was waiting when the emperor reached the pinnacle of the temple's tower. Shiro cut down the emperor of Cantha where he knelt on the holy floor, staining it forever with the monarch's blood. Shiro himself was slain only moments later, but his revenge on those who killed him was the most significant event in Canthan history since Kaineng founded the empire. In Shiro's final moments, he drew on all of his ill-gotten power to drain the emperor's very soul away. Seething with magic but mortally wounded, the treacherous bodyguard screamed, and his voice washed over an area hundreds of miles across. Shiro's death wail became the Jade Wind, a cataclysmic wave of energy that turned trees, animals, people, and open water into stone and crystal.
In the wake of Shiro's fall, the empire carried on. But Shiro's legacy on the continent is undeniable and permanent. Today, many signs point to Shiro's return after two centuries in the border realms of the afterlife. A spectral force driven by rage, a thirst for power, and a special kind of madness, he corrupts everything in his wake. The Canthan people know nothing of this, and suspect that the hideous results of "the Affliction" are some kind of monstrous plague. But even those who know that Shiro stalks the shadows have no idea of the power seething within him— or what he might do with it.
Originally a loyal if ambitious guardsman and descendant of Kaineng Tah, Shiro Tagachi was noticed by Emperor Angsiyan due to his prowess with weapons and thus invited to join the Imperial Guard as the emperor's favored bodyguard. However, a demon sent by Abaddon had disguised itself as a Fortune Teller and told Shiro he would be killed by the emperor during the Harvest Festival.
Fearing for his life and confused by Emperor Angsiyan's odd behavior during the festival, Shiro slew his master in the middle of the Harvest ritual, while a ritualist sounded the alarm, summoning the guards posted outside the temple. Tagachi killed most of the soldiers, and may have defeated the two remaining warriors, the Luxon champion Archemorus and the Kurzick Saint Viktor, if not for the intercession of the assassin Vizu, who crippled Shiro and allowed the two champions to deliver the killing blow.
Shiro's death triggered the Jade Wind, by releasing the energies of the Harvest Ritual. After his death, the Oracle of the Mists sought to turn Shiro into an Envoy as punishment, but he refused, and since then they have been attempting to bring him into their fold to ferry the newly dead through the Mists. For two hundred years after his demise, he had been content to lurk at the fringes of the netherworld. However, Shiro eventually accepted the task of becoming an Envoy and somehow learned to use his new power in the creation of an army, unleashing first the Afflicted and later the Shiro'ken upon Cantha, as the former guardsman sought a way to return to life. After slaying Master Togo, Shiro's plan was successful, and he returned to life, but was eventually defeated again by the player characters. After his second death, the other Envoys took Shiro's soul to the worst prison in the afterlife.
It was discovered that he was taken to the Realm of Torment, which had been overrun by Abaddon and his demonic servants. Shiro became one of Abaddon's generals and was defeated in the Temple of the Six Gods. The fate of his soul is currently unknown.
[edit] Missions
- Kaineng City
- Imperial Sanctum
- Nahpui Quarter (only during end cinematic)
- Raisu Palace
- Sunjiang District
- Vizunah Square (only during end cinematic)
[edit] Skills
- Raisu Palace and Sunjiang District
- Imperial Sanctum
Battle Scars (monster skill)
Echoing Banishment (monster skill)
Impossible Odds (monster skill)
Meditation of the Reaper (monster skill)
Riposting Shadows (monster skill)
- Gate of Madness
- Battle Scars (monster skill)
- Impossible Odds (monster skill)
- Riposting Shadows (monster skill)
[edit] Armor ratings
| Armor ratings | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 103 (103) | 
| 103 (103) | 
| 103 (103) | |||||
| 103 (103) | 
| 103 (103) | 
| 103 (103) | 
| 103 (103) | |||
[edit] Quotes
[edit] Factions
- "I have returned!"
- "Weaklings!"
- "You will do nicely!"
- "Is that all you got!"
- "Fear my power"
- "Die!"
- "<character name>, banished!" (when using Echoing Banishment)
[edit] Nightfall
- "Taste my twin blades of torment!"
- "My blades hunger for your flesh!"
- "I must have Revenge!
[edit] Notes
- For tips on defeating Shiro, see Imperial Sanctum and/or Gate of Madness
[edit] Trivia
- Shiro does not use either Shiro's Swords or Shiro's Blades.
- Shiro has a miniature version.
- Shiro has a tonic form.
- Shiro uses warrior animations.
- Shiro's betrayal is the theme of the Guild Wars Factions cinematic.
- Shiro is on the cover of the Factions manuscripts.
- If Shiro is killed by a party of eight Assassin players in Imperial Sanctum, he will bow before dying.
