Did Iwao let Lan Di kill him?

Today I will write about the point of view of if Iwao let Lan Di kill him or not. I reflected a lot about this and I feel that this is an interesting subject to cover.

THIS POST WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE GAMES

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At the beginning of the first game Lan Di wanted revenge and also the Dragon Mirror.
Lan Di wanted revenge
because he thought that Iwao killed his father.

We see Iwao and Lan Di fighting and Lan Di manages to knock him down. Lan Di asks Iwao where the mirror is and that he would kill Ryo. Iwao tells Lan Di that the Dragon Mirror is buried under the cherry tree.

After this Lan Di asks Iwao if he remembers Sunming Zhao, and Lan Di says that Sunming Zhao is the man that Iwao killed in Meng Cun. Iwao gets up and says... "It can't be... you." Iwao tries to attack but Lan Di makes a powerful move. Then after a short conversation with Ryo, Iwao dies.


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In Shenmue III Master Feng said that he knows better than anyone that Iwao was not a man capable of murder, so if this is true
Iwao would never kill anyone, especially his friend Sunming Zhao and the son of his friend aswell.

During the games we see that characters like Shozo Mizuki have a lot of respect for Iwao, for everything Iwao taught about martial arts. Iwao created the style Hazuki-ryū jūjutsu that is revered by many, Iwao is respected
within the community because of martial arts.



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In my opinion we can say that Iwao had a master status about martial arts, so was Lan Di really stronger than him?

Did Iwao let Lan Di kill him? It is really hard to answer this question, but I do like this point of
view.

In Iwao's Room Ryo found a letter that his father wrote for him.

This is the letter that Iwao wrote to Ryo.

"Dear Ryo... Those who follow the path of a warrior must be ready to die, in order to stand by their convictions. Live for one's convictions, die for one's convictions. That is how I lived my life. Ryo, it is up to you to discover your path, and follow it through."

in this letter we can clearly see that Iwao knew that something bad was gonna happen with him. Maybe Iwao felt that Lan Di was coming so Iwao decided to write a final message for Ryo. Maybe before everything happened Iwao decided that he would die this way. Maybe when he wrote the letter he made the choice to die standing by his convictions, standing by what he thought is the right thing in life.


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We don't know what happened in Meng Cun between Iwao Hazuki and Sunming Zhao so to me this theory that Iwao let Lan Di kill him is really interesting, but maybe Lan Di really was stronger than Iwao in that fight?

Maybe Iwao really killed Sunming Zhao because there was no other choice. Maybe Sunming Zhao was possessed by the power of the mirrors and Iwao had to kill Sunming Zhao? Maybe Iwao felt that he didn't have
any other choice to save the world, but at the same time he felt guilty for what he did, killing a friend.

Maybe this is one of the reasons why Iwao said to Ryo "keep friends, those you love... close to you." Because maybe Iwao couldn't save his friend Sunming Zhao, so maybe if Iwao was close enough to Sunming Zhao the tragedy wouldn't have happened. Maybe Iwao blamed himself for everything that happened in Meng Cun, so it’s possible that Iwao said this to Ryo because he didn’t want him to make the same mistake that he did.

All I know is that a lot of things in the story will become clearer for us when we get the revelations about what happened in Meng Cun. A lot of things can change for Ryo and for Lan Di after these revelations about
what really happened in Meng Cun happen. Did Iwao really killed Sunming Zhao or not?

I will make another post soon sharing in detail my thoughts about what i think it happened in Meng Cun that day.

Did Iwao let Lan Di kill him or was Lan Di really stronger than Iwao?

Before everything happened, did Iwao decide
to die this way?

What is your opinion about all of this?

Tell me your opinions in the comments below please, thank you all for reading and remember to keep friends... those you love... close to you.

See all in my next blog
post! Bye bye.



 

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This is exactly what I thought too. Basically a man’s past catching up with him. It was inevitable. Very stoic, living for years with the guilt and shame of what he’s done. Lan Di could also be expecting something similar of Ryo, which would make their final confrontation very interesting.
 
Great post Hiki! I personally don’t believe that Iwao would have murdered Sunming Zhao, they were clearly friends from the photograph. It’s like Ryo killing one of his friends in a photograph, just doesn’t seem likely, although obviously we still don’t know the full context of the situation that happened back then. It looks bad for Iwao in that he took the mirrors essentially from Suming, but we can see that he clearly did this to hide them from the Chi You Men. The fact that he hid them shows that Iwao did not have bad intentions, and no plans to use them.

As for letting Lan Di defeat him, I think because Iwao was in Bailu Village he is aware of the prophecy and how that links to Ryo. Since it was Ryo’s birthday, unfortunately on the day his father died, he just so happened to have turned 18 which Iwao knew that when the Hauzki heirs turn that age, he is old enough for the sword handguard and thus the mysteries that unfold!

Looking forward to your next post about Meng Cun! :)
 
Excellent discussion. Ever since we learned Iwao trained in Bailu Village with Lan Di's father, I felt strongly there is no way he would've lost in two moves to Lan Di. I think he felt responsible for Sunming Zhao's death, whatever the circumstances, that they were like brothers, and he refused to kill his son, Longsun Zhao, thereby wiping out the Zhao family line. Furthermore, he wanted to teach Ryo to also be incapable of murder. It's a subtle distinction, but the anime did a tremendous job adding to Ryo's quest for revenge the major factor of also proving his father wasn't a killer. It's entirely probable given Iwao's revered reputation no matter how deep Ryo goes that he absolutely pulled an Obi-Wan back in Yokosuka.

[EDIT] ^ Right, and good point, James. Iwao knew about the prophecy business, which adds another dimension to all of his decisions.
 
Mmmpfrr please don't... MJajajaja
Iwao will turn out to be like Samuel L. Jackson in Unbreakable, except the complete opposite - he cannot die and needs to find someone suitable to kill him AND sees his lazy ass son turning into a mediocre martial artist. Two birds with one stone. Put his son on a journey, and force him to make an impossible decision at the end. I must say, Iwao is pretty clever.
 
I still treasure FFVIII Laguna's segments. And the optional event displays system (icr the name, quick something) from FFIX. Those two implemented to uncover playable Iwao and Sunmin past, would be better than standalone spinoff for me.
Standalone would be a cool straight forward game.
But as one of Shenmue 4 & 5 features makes it far more epic.
I want it classic and full of extras and secrets. And very well hidden, like discovering things 15 years later.
Oh call me mellow but picture a young goofy, horny (it was 1950) Iwao flirting with Ryo's mother, as Julia and Laguna. Beautiful imo.
 
Great post, Hiki! My personal hunch on what happened between Iwao and Sunming is that Iwao didn't actually kill him, but he feels responsible for his death somehow. Also touching on what @Your Boy Leroy said, I like to think Lan Di began to see himself in Ryo during the ending of S2 and (especially) S3.
How sure are we that Iwao is dead? We didn't see any funeral or hear any reference to one, or did we?
This stupid thought has crossed my mind a thousand times and I don't know why.
 
I feel if Iwao did kill him, it had to be a good reason like self-defense, or maybe Lan Di's father was truly evil or turning evil. But considering how big filial piety is in countries like China, the circumstances probably don't matter to Lan Di. Maybe he's aware that his father had something planned and wants to go through with it. There is so much we don't know.

I don't think he exactly threw the fight against Lan Di. He probably knew how strong Lan Di was but still wanted to give it everything he got. If Iwao were let's say 10 or 15 years younger, would he have stood a better chance? That's hard to say. If Iwao did kill Lan Di's father in let's say a fight, I'm pretty sure it was a long dragged-out fight that probably gave Iwao some injuries that wouldn't heal.

But as they say in Brazilian Jiujitsu, "there's black belt, and then there is black belt," and I think that's the case between Lan Di and Iwao (and in turn with Ryo).
 
About Sunming's death:
The warm and kindhearted Iwao seems to us uncapable of even hurting anyone without:
- Potential risk of his own safety or related people.
- The other part starts the aggression. I really believe he would resort to verbal descalate any mild tense situation.
My heart tells me Iwao just dissapeared (by his own desire or kidnaped, we don't really know what he went through) after Sunming's death and his character got caught into gossip. Iwao surely spent lot of time with Sunming, probably was one of the last persons to be seen with Sunming alive. And he was a japanese, who initially came with his foreigner "occupation" fight style... Iwao was trying to stole our secrets, he is spy! He killed Sunming!"
Iwao gettin animosity because his procedence sounds at least historically accurate but...
Why then we don't get to see Iwao denying it to adult Lan Di?
"I didn't killed him. What really happened was..." it makes pops:
- Because he really killed him.
- Didn't have any prove and it was clearly futile to go on just words with Lan Di and company.
So my last thought about it is that somehow Sunming acted as a risk to Iwao or someone loved (beware love triangles, and, what part could've played Ryo's mother on this event?) with a chance of being controlled by a supernatural entity and Iwao did indeed killed him.

About Iwao vs. Lan Di:
Very much in your line @RyoHazuki84
I started pointing what requirements should be met to trigger Iwao using violence and, call me picky but home invasion with family getting hurt apply. He is geared to kill Lan Di, without allowing defeat (better dead, bushido) but first he is superior by fit and skills, undermining Iwao's spirit and when the revelation is made "Do you remember...?" Something happens that clearly deeply affects Iwao. He really let go at that moment. Iwao's last punch hints some guilt and a sense of seppuku. The punch lacks any intention or target, its just:
- I'll let you die like a warrior.
- C'mon, do it quick.

Ah, also its important to mention: I think is implied, and can be another explanation, if Iwao rejects Lan Di's execution then he and his two robots probably killed his family in front on him and then killed him anyway without honor.
 
In my opinion Iwao killed Zhao, but because he had no other choice due to the negative power of the mirrors. Perhaps even was Zao the one that ask Iwao to kill him.
There is something interesting about this in the anime: Xiu Ying says to Ryo: "What if you father kill him on accident?" Or something like that.
 
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In my opinion Iwao killed Zhao, but because he had no other choice due to the negative power of the mirrors. Perhaps even was Zao the one that ask Iwao to kill him.
There is something interesting about this in the anime: Xiu Ying says to Ryo: "What if you father kill him on accident?" Or something like that.
Ah yes, the classic 'oh, did your back fall on my knife?' situation.;)
 
If we leave out presumptions and stick to what we see, like or not, the person to actually go toned down is Lan Di. He doesn't just defeat him is a total breaking: mind and physical.
He gets into almost one inch distance with hands on back and literally dance around Iwao.
Its a sad moment but also the spark of our epic journey.
So olé, my Lan Di, olé olé for murdering Iwao and starting my favourite series. Very well murdered.
 
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