Marshall Law

Marshall Law is an American fighter of Chinese descent, as well as a hero, who was introduced in the original Tekken game, and has returned as a playable character for all subsequent Tekken games, except Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament (where he was replaced by his son, Forest Law). He still appears as a non-playable character in Tekken 3. He is a very close friend of Paul Phoenix and is married to Mrs. Law, from which he had a son, Forest.
His battle grunts were provided by Katsuhiro Harada from 1 through 5. For dialogues, he was voiced by Julian Macfarlane in 4 and Robert Clotworthy in 5. He is fully voiced by David Vincent from 6 onwards.
==Biography==
===Concept===
Marshall Law is based off of martial arts legend, Bruce Lee, and even uses Bruce's iconic Jeet Kune Do fighting style. In the original Tekken, Law worked in a Chinatown restaurant in San Francisco, with dreams to open up his own martial arts school. He is a master of martial arts and took part in the first King of Iron Fist Tournament in order to win prize money, so that he could open his martial arts school, and also to become famous.
=== Fighting style ===
Law's fighting style is listed simply as "Martial Arts". The name of his fighting style was actually meant to be "Marshall" Arts, however the pun was lost in translation to English. His actual moveset, however, is heavily inspired by Bruce Lee's moves, so it's safe to assume that Law's actual fighting style is based on Jeet Kune Do. In Tekken 8, Marshall also uses nunchakus when fighting
==Story==
=== Tekken ===
Marshall Law is a talented martial artist who is the long-time friend and sparring partner of Paul Phoenix.
Prior to the first King of Iron Fist Tournament, Law was working in a Chinatown restaurant in San Francisco to support himself and his family. He dreamed of opening his own dojo, and entered the tournament with the goal of winning the prize money to realize his dream.
=== Tekken 2 ===
Though Marshall did not win the tournament, he was able to open his own dojo at some point in the two years that followed. Unfortunately, when Marshall was out one day, Baek Doo San attacked his dojo, wrecking it and injuring his students. Marshall learned that Baek was responsible and entered the second King of Iron Fist Tournament to avenge his students.
=== Tekken 3 ===
In the years following the second tournament, Marshall trained his son, Forest, in martial arts. Marshall was a protective father, and forbade his son from entering competitions outside of the dojo, even as an adult. Paul visited every few months during this time to spar with Marshall. One day, while Marshall was supervising the building of a new dojo, Paul drew Forest into training with him, and suggested that Forest enter the upcoming third King of Iron Fist Tournament. Forest decided to enter, despite Marshall's restrictions. Marshall was furious when he found out that Forest had left for the tournament. Forest did not win the tournament, and left home at some point during the two years that followed.
=== Tekken 4 ===
Though Marshall had successfully established not only his dojo but a nationwide fast food chain called Marshall China, he ended up losing a franchise war against a competing restaurant chain and had to declare bankruptcy. Unable to cope with his failure, he became depressed and spent his days at home in a drunken haze.
However, when Marshall received an invitation to the fourth King of Iron Fist Tournament, his fighting spirit renewed, and he trained intensely. Within a month, he was at top physical form, and entered the tournament.
=== Tekken 5 ===
Despite his efforts, Marshall did not win the tournament, and didn't even have the money to return to the USA. He had to take up work as a day laborer at a famous Chinese restaurant. To compound his woes, he received a phone call informing him that Forest had caused a serious accident while joyriding on Paul's motorbike. Marshall had no choice but to enter the fifth King of Iron Fist Tournament, aiming to cover the damages and hospital bills from Forest’s accident with the prize money. However, his illegal employment in Japan was detected during the tournament, and he was deported back to the USA.
=== Tekken 6 ===
With the due data for repaying the damages caused by Forest's accident rapidly approaching, Marshall found himself out of ideas – until Paul invited him to team up with him in the sixth King of Iron Fist Tournament. Figuring that he had never been successful alone, Marshall deciding that working as part of a team might be enough to win the tournament and the prize money. Realizing that bringing another person onto the team would increase their chances even further, Marshall invited the champion boxer Steve Fox to team up with them as well.
=== Tekken 7 ===
Unfortunately, their efforts did not win them the tournament. Ever preoccupied with paying off Forest's debts, Marshall did not realize that many of his students had quit his dojo. Needing someone to take over while he dealt with things, he asked Paul if he knew anyone who would be suitable to run his dojo. Paul offered to run it himself, but, certain that Paul would cause the dojo to go bust in half a day, Marshall politely refused.
Marshall put the word out that strong fighters should try out for the job. Several challengers appeared, but none were up to Marshall's standard.
When Marshall learned of an excellent martial artist in rural China, Marshall set off to challenge him, hoping he might be a suitable dojo master.
=== Tekken 8 ===
Marshall was among those fighting to participate in the King of Iron Fist Tournament, and he ended up facing Paul in the finals of the North American Block A and being defeated. Nonetheless, Paul promised to split his prize money with Law once the tournament concluded. In spite of the tournament later being suspended due to an attack by both Yggdrasil and the United Nations against Kazuya, Marshall believed that Paul went against their deal and was scouted by Nina to be one of G Corporation's commanders in its attack on Yakushima.
Marshall faced Paul directly, claiming that Paul did not honor his promise despite Paul explaining that there was no prize money to be split to begin with. As the two come to blows, Paul leaves the fight to check on Kuma, who had accidentally shielded his rival from a bazooka fired from behind.
Unlike the other fighters that joined Kazuya's forces, Marshall only appears in the good ending's credits, where he, Paul, Steve, Kuma, and Panda are distributing free soup in New York.
== Personality ==
Marshall is first and foremost a man dedicated to his family and improving their lot in life. He has a strong sense of practicality and is not afraid to bend and break the rules to try and make his and his family's life easier. To this end, he often prioritises acquiring monetary means to try and alleviate his poverty, pay for his family's upkeep and hospital bills, as well as trying to keep his business running. Marshall is someone attracted to get-rich-quick schemes, and is unafraid of trying out risky endeavours. Often, these end in failure, but he is never deterred from trying just as hard again. Marshall's difficulties with poverty have resulted in a deep-seated frustration with those who flaunt their wealth, and do not seem to comprehend the plight of those without. This is especially the case as of Tekken 8, where Law will declare to any wealthy character he faces off against that "I hate rich people!".
Despite being attracted to high-risk-high-reward schemes, Marshall is also no stranger to hard work. He works tirelessly for his family, initially as a restaurant worker, and later, after being stranded in Japan, as a dishwasher. Marshall is a passionate man, who throws himself into his hobbies, new businesses, plans and plots. He loves being his own boss, and at times has successfully run both his own dojo and a restaurant. He is not only an impressive martial artist, but also a good teacher, with his top student being his son, Forest Law. He is dedicated to his students not only in teaching, but also in upholding the reputation of his dojo. Prior to Tekken 2, after his dojo was attacked, he sought out Baek Doo San in vengeance for the hurt done to his students.
Marshall is quick to anger and take offence, as illustrated in his Tekken 4 ending, when he starts a brawl with customers who dislike the food served at his restaurant. While Marshall matures over the games, prioritising his family's well-being and worrying over his son, his close friendship with Paul Phoenix is sometimes brought into tension by Paul's more idealistic and carefree approach to life and fighting. Nevertheless, the two maintain a good friendship throughout the series, displaying a humorous light-heartedness around one another, a willingness to sacrifice their own wins to help the other, and a good-natured mockery of one another. Marshall enjoys playing practical jokes on his friends, for example, in his Tekken 6 ending, Marshall puts laxatives in his "special-recipe" pizza, and feeds it to Paul and Steve. He also enjoys poking fun of Paul's inability to perform a somersault kick at times.
While often depicted as clumsy and foolish for priotizing wealth, Marshall none-the-less is a man dedicated to his ideals. His primary motivation in later games is to pay for his son's hospital bills, who was severely injured in a motorbike accident. He prioritizes caring for Forest above maintaining his beloved dojo, seeking out work over his teaching duties, resulting in the dojo's decline. He even forfeits his pride in being its teacher, seeking out a strong replacement to help his students while he tries to care for his son.
== Gallery ==
===Images===
File:Law (Tekken 5- DR).jpeg|Law in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection
File:Law (Tekken 6).jpeg|Law in Tekken 6
File:Law (SFxT).png|Law in Street Fighter X Tekken
File:Marshall Law TTT2 art.png|Law in Tekken Tag Tournament 2
File:Law T7.png|Law in Tekken 7.
===Videos===
LAW MOVE LIST - Tekken 1
==Trivia==
*Marshall seems to have financial troubles in almost every game, which serves as his motivation for joining the tournaments (winning the prize money).
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