Back to People

Tobun

A wandering hero from the Waning Period of the Wandering Age - probably the third most well-known such hero after the Cardboard Tube Samurai and Wangdok. Tobun was tall and deceptively thin with a narrow face and wide eyes. He initially wore scarlet robes, but these would later fade, and his weapon was a sharp and serviceable samurai sword which he called the "Edge of Oblivion". Tobun adventured for many years and was the most widely-known name in the entire Wang Kingdom at around the time when the Cardboard Tube Samurai first came onto the scene.

Tobun's life story

Tobun was born in 3,410 in the village of Koniuru in the western part of the Wang Kingdom, the illicit son of a rice farmer and a married noblewoman. He had an older half-brother, Iro, who had left home before he was born and joined a roaming pack of bandits.

In 3,420 Tobun's mother (now living hundreds of miles away) confessed what had happened to her husband, a powerful feudal lord. He in turn sent men to Koniuri, where they killed Tobun's father and burned their farm to the ground. Iro heard of this and persuaded his clan to return to Koniuri so he could bury his father. There Iro met his younger half-brother and brought him into the clan.

Tobun had already learned much of honour, justice and the struggle of good against evil from his idealistic father, and was an avid fan of the increasingly dazzling stories of Wangdok and the other heroes who were adventuring at the time of his childhood. But in the bandit clan, Iro and other bandits brought Tobun new ideas - he learned about power, glory, and The Shadow Lord, who was the ultimate master of the group, controlling it through messages delivered to their leader. He also learned swordsmanship, combat skills and thievery.

Tobun worked with the bandits for many years, but became increasingly uneasy with their methods, motivations and disrespect for human life. When he was 21 the internal struggle between the two major influences in his life was won, and he left the bandits and his brother. He earned a place in the pages of history in 3,431 with his first and most famous feat: breaking into the mansion of his mother's vengeful husband in order to steal his samurai sword, a priceless family heirloom. He named the sword "Edge of Oblivion" and struck out on his own to fight evil as a wandering hero, righting wrongs wherever he saw them. His adventures were wild, dangerous and numerous.

The Last Rites

In 3,458 Tobun met the Cardboard Tube Samurai for the first time and they adventured together for some time. But by fall of 3,460 Tobun had decided he had become too old to continue his adventures. After their victory at Golden Pillar, he left the fight against evil in the more-than-capable hands of the Samurai, returning to his home town of Koniuru.

When he arrived there he found a sword waiting for him. It appeared to be a gift from a grateful party; in fact it was cursed, and immediately posessed him, using him to commit terrible atrocities while constantly forcing him to watch. In a brief moment of freedom he drove a dagger into his own right eye hoping - perhaps - to gouge the horrifying images out of his mind, but the sword refused to let him die, and he continued on his path of destruction with the dagger still lodged in his eye socket.

Eventually the Cardboard Tube Samurai heard of what had happened to his friend. Towards the end of winter of that year he tracked Tobun down for their second and final encounter. Implored to do so by the endlessly suffering Tobun, the Samurai slew him quickly and mercifully.

Works featuring Tobun

Tobun's first appearance was in Oriental Tales of the Wang Kingdom, Volume 4, "Good Things, Many Devils". He is the subject of a single-chapter story entitled "Famine-of-Winter and the Last Rites" which details the events listed under "The Last Rites" above.

Like so many characters in the Oriental Tales, his personal history was a mystery. Unlike many, however, he proved popular enough for the Tales's writer, Takanawa Watzanami, to construct a back story for. This was told in Volume 5 of the Oriental Tales, "Edge of Oblivion".

Tobun's character

Tobun is the favourite character of a small but devoted group of Oriental Tales fans. Many consider him to be a more interesting character than the Samurai because while the Samurai was unquestionably purely good, Tobun had a distinctly dangerous streak of evil running through him, having been educated and trained by bandits for many years. In his adventures he sometimes showed himself to have flexible morals (stealing money or food from time to time), and at other times proved to be more violent than necessary to right the wrongs he righted. Some view this as evidence that the internal struggle which begun in Tobun's heart at the age of 10 was still ongoing even has he adventured as a wandering hero, and while the majority of fans insist that Tobun remained righteous and good-hearted through the Last Rites and beyond, some consider the enchanted sword's successful enslavement of Tobun to be symbolic of the fact that evil, ultimately, won over him.

Others still suggest that his final words, "Before this moment, did I ever see the world?" may indicate that in his final moments, freed from the evil sword's will, he had a revelation that there is a necessary balance between good and evil.

The word "dichotomy" comes up a lot in discussions of Tobun.