♫ This flame is a fragment of the moonlit night ♫

[derptacular]

Okay, blame it on me trying to get a thorough hold on Iori’s character for this. Once again, I apologize if I ramble too much, I love me some King of Fighters. ^^; Basically, this is another one of my famous TL;DRs on character personalities, specifically, of one Iori Yagami. In this essay, I’ll be explaining why he’s such a jackass, why I focus so much on his obsession with killing Kyo Kusanagi, the dynamics of the presence of Orochi blood in him, the basics and dynamics of the Riot of the Blood; and the duality in his personality.

To start off with, Iori’s past was no picnic. He was orphaned at a young age, his mother dying in childbirth and his father dying when he was still a small child. It’s speculated that would be because he was fighting Saisyu Kusanagi (Kyo’s father) at the time. He had to learn how to adapt and survive quickly, seeing as he had no surviving relatives otherwise. This forced him to grow up quickly as well, which can account for some of the reason why he is as socially awkward as he is. He didn’t really have much time for friends or having fun, since he had to do just about anything he could just to survive.

Also, from a young age, he knew what his destiny was. He knew that thanks to the Orochi blood in his veins, he would die at an early age despite the power he had. My personal speculation is that he found out from his father before he died or somehow spectated one of the fights between the older Yagami and Saisyu. The latter would probably help to explain why he knew exactly who he was going to fight later on as his blood rival. At first, besides finding out from his father, his blood was what called him to want to fight and kill Kyo Kusanagi, the newest heir to the Kusanagi bloodline.

However, after meeting and fighting Kyo for the first time at the King of Fighters tournament in ’95, Iori found himself loathing the guy. Bloodline had nothing to do with it. This would later be turned into practically an obsession of wanting to kill the other man.

This obsession with killing Kyo is a core part of Iori’s personality. He will do just about anything to get to Kyo. However, this doesn’t mean he doesn’t have some standards. As seen in the KoF: Kyo manga, he holds Kyo’s girlfriend Yuki hostage for a short period of time, only to let her go when Kyo mentions that he’s “not that kind of guy”. He usually won’t harm anyone as long as he can get a chance to fight Kyo, but if you get in his way, be prepared to be violently pushed aside or beaten for getting between him and Kyo.

Also because of this, he will not let anyone else kill Kyo; he has to be the one to do it. Prime examples are within every saga so far of KoF: Orochi in ’97, NESTS during ’99-’01, and more recently, Ash Crimson in ’03-XI. Iori also explicitly states in the OVA King of Fighters: Another Day to Kyo : “Don’t die on me before I get a chance to kill you.” He will fight alongside Kyo against a common enemy, if solely for the reason that he can go after Kyo once it’s all over with. Also, in the first couple paragraphs of his intro in KoF: Maximum Impact (Which is AU in storyline only, the characters are still themselves), it makes reference to the fact of Iori hating Kyo to be his main reason he still lives on today. He also states something similar to these sentiments in his ending with Kyo, when the other asks him what he’ll do when he finally kills him. Iori replies that he honestly has no idea. Personally, I think that if that ever happens, Iori will probably start drifting again until he dies, as his blood curse wouldn’t have been broken with Kyo’s death.

Also, despite the fact that he has the Orochi blood in him, Iori is in no way loyal to the snake-demon. Yes, he answers the urges to kill while in his Riot state, but other than that, he will never go along with whatever the demon’s planning. Prime example is the Orochi boss fight in KoF ’97 . Even though he was in the Riot state, he went directly against Orochi’s orders and grabbed him by the neck, allowing Kyo to finish him off and Chizuru to seal him again. He wants nothing to do with the Orochi, even though he’s directly involved because of his family’s betrayal. Honestly, he doesn’t ask to be in the Riot state, it’s more directly related to the state of the seal on Orochi. As it weakens, he is more prone to going into fits of rage for often little to no reason whatsoever. Earlier on, it might’ve been used as a defensive mechanism, but as time went along, Iori learned to control it until he had to deal with the weakening seal.

What’s especially noticeable about Iori in his Riot state is that he doesn’t seem to remember what he really did while in the Riot. Of course, he’s not stupid, he does realize that he was probably the one that killed all those people, but he will technically completely black out and wake up somewhere else with no idea what the hell just happened. The best way to describe it is that the Riot is like a berserk state for Iori. His strength is increased dramatically, but at the cost of his sanity.

Physical traits of him being in that particular state include glowing eyes, steam coming from his mouth (I AM NOT KIDDING.), the fact that he can’t speak outside of indiscriminate howling (and screaming Kyo’s name, but that’s only when he’s fighting Kyo specifically), and his posture being even more slumped than normal. He’s also even more violent in this mode than when he’s normally fighting, preferring to rip and tear apart his opponents. Really, the only way to get him out of the Riot is to knock him out or hold him down until he ends up wearing himself out. If you attempt the latter, I would recommend getting something to occupy yourself with for a while, since he’s even more tenacious than usual.

Now what people will have to watch out for ICly is if Iori becomes more standoffish than usual, overly aggressive, even. This usually means he knows something’s going to happen when it comes to his Orochi blood. The first symptom of him going into the Riot would be coughing up blood. His vision will become hazy after that, and he’ll get dizzy before falling over and blacking out. Sometimes, he will wake up in the Riot state, sometimes he won’t. It’s really up to chance for a while. If Iori realizes what’s going on beforehand, he usually can at least attempt to hold it off for a while, if not hold it back completely. But as time goes along, it will become harder and harder for him to contain it, and he will eventually go into the Riot state completely, probably rearing back and howling before proceeding to rip people a new one.

Now, then. Outside of this or when he’s not around Kyo, Iori’s…hard to describe normally, hence why I’m trying to elaborate on what I originally wrote for him in the application. He purposely distances himself from others, much like Squall did in Final Fantasy VIII. This is for almost the same exact reasons; it’s a defense mechanism to make sure he doesn’t get hurt. Plus the fact that he’s going to die soon anyway, what’s the point of making friends? Add to the fact that he’s always been emotionally awkward and you have the perfect recipe for someone who will try their damnedest to keep people away from him. Yes, he does have his nice moments, but they are rare. I already mentioned the kitten example from his application, but to further elaborate, there are two instances with Kyo’s girlfriend Yuki that show that Iori isn’t all that bad. First being the example I mentioned earlier in the KoF: Kyo manga, the other being in his prologue during the ’00 tournament. He saves her from being captured by NESTS goons, who were going to use her to lure Kyo out of hiding. Also what’s oddly dualistic about his personality is that even though he’s the kind of person that tries to distance himself, he technically performs in a band. (Proof’s in his profile: his hobby is listed as “Playing in Bands”.) But, for obvious reasons, he’s seen more as a private kind of man, although the occasional rumor does pop up about him.

However, there is also the side of Iori that more people know of: his aggressive side. If he’s threatened by someone, he will usually end up getting defensive and snappish. THIS IS FOR EVERYONE, NOT JUST KYO. He just has a tendency of getting aggressive right when he spots the Kusanagi heir. Once again, he loathes Kyo. When he’s fighting, he’s very oriented toward offensively rushing his opponent to beat them to a bloody pulp, yelling curses and death threats the entire way. [What he says during one of his super attacks: 遊び輪終わりだ！なけ、叫べ、そうして市ね！ This translates loosely to “Playtime’s over! Cry, scream, then you DIE!”] He will do whatever it takes to win, if only so he can survive to fight and kill Kyo.