Digimon Emperor

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As his efforts in life were always overshadowed by those of his older brother, Sam, Ken Ichijouji wished for Sam to just go away so that he could be the favourite with his parents... but Ken didn't realise that he was going to get his wish. Sam was killed in a car accident, and Ken, overcome with guilt and grief, was determined to become as good as Sam, to fill the void the boy's death had left in his parents lives. Ken's memories of the DigiWorld, which he had visited a few years prior (see Ken's own entry for details) , had been repressed... but then, he received a mysterious e-mail - an e-mail from Oikawa, who told him of DigiWorld, and how it held the challenges for him that the human world did not.
Using the Digivice that had emerged from Sam's computer those few years before, Ken returned to the DigiWorld, but on the way, he was sidetracked to the World of Darkness. There, he dipped his Digivice into the ocean, and it was transformed into the Dark D-3. Ken continued on his way to the DigiWorld, where he was reunited with his Digimon, Wormmon. But this was not the same Ken Wormmon had once known. When Ken had dipped his Digivice into the Dark Ocean, it activated the Dark Spore which had infected him during his first trip to the DigiWorld, before Sam's death. With the power of the Spore (which he knew nothing about) Ken's task to become like Sam was an easier one than he thought - it fulfilled his desire, making him physically and mentally perfect - a star athlete, as well as a child prodigy. However, with his new abilities, Ken grew apathetic towards society - he did not believe that the rest of humankind was worthy of his time, and set his sights on the world which could challenge him - the DigiWorld. Ken now had a goal. And that goal was to completely and utterly conquer the digital world. 
Ken designed himself a costume, and constructed what he called Dark Rings - hoops that when attached to a Digimon, would subvert their free will, making them his slaves. Using his slaves, he constructed a fortress, and powered it using both the Digi-Egg of Miracles and a reactor core which was, unbeknownst to him, a doorway to the World of Darkness . To broadcast power to the Dark Rings, he created Control Spires - huge black towers which acted like electricity pylons, powering the rings. In addition, he was able to broadcast the powers of his Dark D-3 to the Control Spires, which created an energy field rendering Digimon unable to Digivolve. Ken began to call himself the Digimon Emperor, but he did not realise that the DigiWorld was actually real, and that the Digimon were living creatures - to him, it was just a giant video game.
As the Emperor, Ken wears a costume that many have compared to a disco suit. He wears a set of purple-tinted shades, which are actually control devices, which send commands directly from Ken's brain, through the Dark Rings, to the brain of the Digimon wearing the ring. He carries a retractable whip. Due to the Spore filling his desire to be more like Sam, he physically resembles his brother more as the Emperor.
The Digimon were powerless before the Emperor, and Agumon called on Tai to come to the DigiWorld to help. Tai arrived and was filled in on the situation by Agumon and Gatomon. Tai then found the Digi-Egg of Courage, which released three new D-3 Digivices when he touched it. The D-3s were sent to the real world where they were received by Davis, Yolei and Cody - those who had been chosen to be the new DigiDestined. Davis came to the DigiWorld with T.K. and Kari, and met his Digimon, Veemon, who was able to Armour Digivolve using the Digi-Egg of Courage, into Flamedramon, to defeat the Monochromon the Emperor sent against them. Intrigued by these new children's abilities, the Emperor himself captured Davis and Veemon, but they were saved by Yolei and Cody, and their Armour Digimon, Halsemon and Digmon. In the ensuing battle, the Emperor defeated Gatomon, and escaped.
The Emperor then confronted the new DigiDestined again when they grew near to one of his slave combat pits, setting a contingent of Tyrannomon against them. He then conquered a small village named Santa Caria, and set up a Control Spire there, which was the first spire the DigiDestined acknowledged and destroyed.
The Emperor then travelled to the frozen north of the DigiWorld, to supervise the construction of another Control Spire. He set Ebidramon and Shellmon on the DigiDestined, but the spire was destroyed. Likewise was the spire in the freshly-conquered Night Forest, despite the efforts of the enslaved Roachmon Brothers. When Kari was trapped in the city of the Gardromon, the Emperor dispatchedAndromon to destroy her, T.K. and Davis. However, the Dark Ring was not powerful enough to control Andromon, and a combination of his own memories and Kari's D-3 freed him.
Next, the Emperor tortured Davis, by making him think that he was going to feed the DigiDestined to Deltamon, but in a scuffle, Davis uncovered the Emperor's true identity. The Emperor escaped on anAirdramon. Enraged, and also miserable, Ken decided he wanted nothing more to do with the human world, and ran away from home, living in the DigiWorld and becoming the Digimon Emperor completely. His first act was to capture Greymon with a Dark Ring, and to attempt to Digivolve him into MetalGreymon - but instead, he became SkullGreymon! When he reverted, the Emperor captured him again, and took him to his fortress. The Emperor realised that Dark Rings were not powerful enough to control Ultimate Digimon, and so he developed the Dark Spiral, planning to use it on Agumon. However,Wormmon freed Agumon, hoping that Ken would pay him some attention and experiment on him instead, but the Emperor simply tracked Agumon down, captured him with the spiral, and Dark Digivolvedhim into a viral version of MetalGreymon.
Using MetalGreymon and his Airdramon force, Ken began conquering areas in the DigiWorld at a faster pace - but then he became embroiled in battle with the DigiDestined again, and Raidramon destroyed the Dark Spiral, freeing Agumon from it's control. The Emperor proceeded to go into seclusion, working on a secret project.
The first result of his secret work was a more powerful version of the Dark Spiral, which he used on multiple Digimon, including Digitamamon and Ninjamon. He set up a Control Spire inShogunGekomon's area, and then returned to work on his master plan - genetically engineering his own powerful new Digimon. When the DigiDestined discovered his base, he emerged briefly to preventTentomon from Digivolving, but then returned to his work. His base rose from the ground, and began moving, through the ocean, towards a power source the Emperor had detected - the Dark Whirlpool. The Emperor voyaged into the pool inside a Mekanorimon, where he came across Devimon, who gave him a warning - "Beware the darkness." Laughing, the Emperor harvested Devimon's data, and integrated it into his own Digimon - Kimeramon - which he then sent to attack the DigiDestined, while he had a fist fight with T.K. - which he promptly lost.
The Emperor cut a swathe of destruction across the DigiWorld with his base and Kimeramon, setting up Control Spires in his wake. However, he should have heeded Devimon's warnings, as, little by little, he began to lose his hold over Kimeramon, unable to control the powers of darkness that had become part of the Digimon as a result of the use of Devimon's data. He refused to acknowledge any weakness on his part, however, and sent Kimeramon into battle with the DigiDestined again. However, Kimeramon simply flew away. Wormmon, determined to show the Emperor the error of his ways, led Davis to the Digi-Egg of Miracles, which Davis used on Veemon to Armour Digivolve him into Magnamon. Magnamon battled Kimeramon as the Emperor looked on, all the while believing he was in control. Wormmon sacrificed the last of his energy to power up Magnamon, who destroyed Kimeramon with his Magna Explosion attack.
Enraged at his defeat, thinking himself cheated, the Emperor resolved to "reset the digital world." The DigiDestined explained to him that the DigiWorld was not simply a computer game that you could reset - it was a completely real place. Stunned, the reality of what he had done sunk into the Emperor's mind - how he had horrendously mistreated living creatures. Tearfully proclaiming himself a monster, the Emperor threw off his gauntlets, shades and cape, and the rest of his suit deleted around him, returning him to his normal self. Ken eventually gained the trust of the DigiDestined, and joined their team.
The Digimon Emperor appeared briefly once more, much later, when the kids were being subjected to illusions by MaloMyotismon. Subconsciously, Ken believed that he should be punished for the evil things he did as the Emperor, and MaloMyotismon fulfilled his wish, showing him a dreamscape of himself, in his Emperor costume, tied to a rock, being beaten and bludgeoned by various Digimon, until his body deleted. Then, an image of Sam appeared, and told Ken that he could help him if he stayed with him. Wormmon appeared, telling Ken it was only an illusion, and then, the other DigiDestined arrived, and helped Ken to reconcile his feelings. Together they went on to battle MaloMyotismon.
The Digimon Emperor first appears in "Enter Flamedramon." His true identity is revealed in "Ken's Secret." He is transformed back into Ken in "The Crest of Kindness." More is divulged about his origin in "Genesis of Evil," and the Dark Spores are first revealed to be involved in "Invasion of the Daemon Corps" and "Dark Sun, Dark Spore." His voice is supplied by Derek Stephen Prince.Name: In the Japanese version, the Digimon Emperor was named "the Digimon Kaizer." However, this was changed by the US dubbers - Kaizer is a German term, and the US Digimon writers always seek to avoid damaging any sensibilities, so it was changed to the safe, neutral term, "Emperor."
Category:Digimon character
Category:Villain
Category:Antagonists