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The Great Tengu is a flying type of demon encountered in Ōkami. It belongs to the Greater Goblins category of demons.

Description[]

The Great Tengu is first encountered in Wawku Shrine, near the Blizzard machine before its deactivation. True to its name, the Great Tengu is a large flying tengu demon with an extremely long nose on a large face that is impervious to damage, bird wings and talons and a hat that seem like a tall court hat. When struck with Inferno or Fireburst, the Great Tengu reveals its true form in Chaos Mode: its large mask is removed and shows its body with a vague human-like posture, wearing a white hakama and a black robe with short sleeves and extensions to partially cover its wings, which are now on its back, its mask carried on its left arm as a shield and the long nose is removed from the mask to become a fan that conjures devastating whirlwinds.

Background[]

This demon was once a human who cloistered himself in the mountains for training, who focused on working with water and ice to become stronger.

Bestiary entry[]

"Formerly one who cloistered himself in the mountains for training,
this fearsome creature is a tough foe.
The tengu-masked bird often hides itself and should be stopped before showing its true form.
It trains with water and ice to grow strong."

I designed this goblin first. The source materials had these two as the highest-ranking flying demons, and I thought it would be neat if we could combine them to do various things. The Great Tengu in the Image Scrolls came together very well in the end, and I am very proud of them.
Great Tengu has such a simplistic name; I really like him. I remember getting shivers from seeing him remove his nose and have it turn into a kind of "peacock fan lightsaber". That's just too cool.

Sawaki

Strategy[]

Great Tengu concept art 2

A Great Tengu in Chaos Mode.

The Great Tengu is far more aggressive and powerful than the Blue Cyclops. It can injure Amaterasu by spewing out puddles of acid and creating whirlwinds. As well as its regular attacks, the Great Tengu can also enter Chaos Mode when struck with Inferno or Fireburst. While in this state, it becomes invulnerable and its attacks has greatly magnified damage, especially the whirlwind conjuration attack, which deals damage even if Amaterasu has Godhood or when she is using the String of Beads. If a Great Tengu is stuck with Inferno, immediately cool it down with Waterspout (Deluge) or Blizzard (Icestorm). As long as it doesn't enter Chaos Mode, it can be fairly easy to dispatch. When the Great Tengu descends low enough (close to ground level), immediately use Golden Fury, Brown Rage and the Thief's Glove to farm it. Using Rosaries as both Main and Sub one of the safest way to battle the Great Tengu. Keeping distance will help in regular defense, but also gives more reaction time to a number of its attacks. Sub-Reflectors are fine for defense, although the Sub-Reflector counterattack will not be executed when an attack is successfully intercepted. When the Great Tengu is killed, use Blizzard or Icestorm as its Floral Finisher for 5 Demon Fangs.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • The Great Tengu is based on the Tengu, a widely known mythical creature in Japanese folklore, and specifically its incarnation of the daitengu, the more powerful leaders of tengu society. Tengu were believed to practice various arts and magic such as swordplay and learning to control the winds in their homes deep within the mountains, and some legends speak of humans training with them to learn of their powerful ways. Its incarnation within Ōkami however implies more darker symbolism, representative of its symbolism as a proud and conceited individual that seeks goals for the wrong reason, and is twisted into a perverse path.
    • Their ability to harm Amaterasu even when she has the String of Beads equipped is in reference to how tengu also have represented humility and defiance against even the heavens, with tales telling of tengu punishing ill behaving monks and priesthood.
  • The Great Tengu's weakness references a long standing belief in that a tengu training under melting ice or falling water would grant mystical abilities.

References[]


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