Lord Hebi

**Lord Hebi** is an anthropomorphic snake and the ruthless chamberlain to Lord Hikiji; he is incredibly loyal to his master and usually directs Hikiji's plots in his frequent absence. While Hikiji is the overarching antagonist of the series, Hebi is the face of his treachery and executor of schemes. Despite never meeting Usagi, Hebi is one of his enemies, as the ronin has often inserted himself into Hebi's schemes, whether he intended to or not. Despite the number of times Usagi has thwarted his schemes, Hebi has always remained untouchable and always has another plot to carry out. He often relies on the Neko ninja or other ninja clans to carry out his plans.

## Personality

Hebi is a master of plots, his mind constantly devising new schemes and strategies to either strengthen his lord's position or eliminate his enemies.

As expected of Lord Hikiji's chamberlain, Hebi is cunning, ruthless, callous, and has very little patience for the excuses or ineptitude of others. He also has no compunction or remorse for who his plots may harm. As a noble, the lives of peasants and other lower born people are meaningless to him. While he never forgets to greatly reward those who've shown loyalty to Lord Hikiji, Hebi will just as quickly discard the same people should they fail or become an inconvenience.

Unlike other servants of villains in the series, who have been shown to be cowardly, incompetent, or sycophants, Lord Hebi is cunning, strong-willed, and loyal to his master with no other ulterior motives other than to serve. As the right hand of a powerful Daimyo, Hebi commands great authority and respect, yet never hesitates to remind his underlings of their place through intimidation. Despite his own ruthless nature, Hebi is still a consummate politician and knows when to imply courtly etiquette or when to show respect to others. Although Hebi isn't a warrior by profession, when faced with violence, he is no coward and will fight viciously to the death.

## History

Hebi was first introduced in the Fantagraphics Comic *Usagi Yojimbo* #1, when he explained to Lord Hikiji how their plot to assassinate Lord Noriyuki on his way towards Edo to be recognized as a Daimyo failed. He also told his lord how it was a single Ronin, by the name of Usagi Yojimbo, who foiled their plot. Later, Lord Nerai, one of the conspirators against Lord Noriyuki, signed a confession implicating Lord Hikiji as the man responsible for the assassination attempt. Thanks to Hebi's well placed sources in the Shogun's court, this confessions was intercepted and replaced with a forgery.

During the *Dragon Bellows Conspiracy* Arc, Hebi sent the neko ninja Shingen to spy on Lord Tamakuro, suspecting him of treachery against Lord Hikiji. He charged the ninja with finding any evidence of these suspicions. In the aftermath of the conspiracy, Hebi treated with Lord Noriyuki on behalf of his master, congratulating him for stopping Tamakuro's plot, but mostly to ensure that Lord Hikiji has absolutely nothing to do with the Neko Ninja clan, and that all rumors that implied otherwise were false. The meeting between the two was courteous and respectful, as it was the only instance in which the lords were not enemies.

Since then, Lord Hebi has been behind one plot after another to either expand Hikiji's power or remove lords who could be a possible threat to him. Hebi will either use corrupt lords or various ninja clans to carry out his plots. He was directly involved in the ninja Chizu being cast out of her own clan, when he met with her clan rival, Kagemaru, convinced that her recent failures were, in fact, actions of disloyalty against Lord Hikji and was already taking steps to convince Lord Hikiji to replace her. Later, while traveling to meet with Lord Hikiji on the matter, Hebi's entourage was attacked by bandits. Hebi fought fiercely, but Kagemaru and his ninjas arrived just in time to kill the bandits. This action assured Hebi's support for Kagemaru as Chizu's replacement, though he did have lingering suspicions that the ambush was arranged by Kagemaru himself. Later, Hebi called for a meeting with Chizu to confront her about her recent string of failures, convinced that they were proof of incompetence or treason, and was therefore made her unfit to lead her clan. Hebi then declared his decision to make Kagemaru the new Kashira (chief) of the Neko Ninja Clan, and ordered him to kill Chizu as his first act as chief. Kagemaru and his men failed, with Chizu managing to escape. Hebi still allowed Kagemaru to act as Chief of the Neko Ninjas, but made it clear that so long as Chizu was alive, Kagemaru would not be officially recognized, nor he would not suffer anymore failures.

In Part 2 of the issue "Tatami", in which the Neko Ninja, led by Kagemaru, were tasked with destroying a set of prized tatami mats in order to prevent a lord from gifting them to the Shogun, Chizu had involved herself in trying to stop them. Though Kagemaru succeeded in his task to destroy the tatami mats, he failed Hebi's longstanding order to kill Chizu, otherwise he'll never be totally recognized as Kashira. Later, Hebi met with Kagemaru and served him rice wine that was laced with the body and venom of a poisonous snake as a veiled threat, and reminded the neko ninja to never fail him.

Even when Hebi is not shown, any plot that happens or that Usagi encounters more than likely first came from him. Whether it's making shady deals with criminals or conspiracy to shame or frame a lord, there's no scheme that Hebi will not resort to for the sake of his lord quest for power.

## Senso

In the "Senso" storyline, Hebi continued his service as advisor to Lord Hikiji in his battle against Lord Noriyuki Geishu. When the aliens crash landed on the battlefield and took Lord Hikiji, Hebi was the only one of Hikiji's men who stayed and ordered that they go save their lord while everyone else retreated. Later, when the alien tripods were destroying the countryside, Lord Hebi ordered the remaining garrison to defend Black Sun Castle at all costs, and refused to surrender to the aliens.

Hebi was shocked when one of the tripods came to the castle and brought back Lord Hikiji. His shock quickly turned into horror, when his master told him that he made a deal with the aliens to help them conquer the world in exchange for letting Hikiji himself rule the planet in their name. Outraged that his master would not only betray all his men who laid their lives down for him, but would betray his own world for his own lust for power, Hebi's loyalty turned to into disgust, and then grabbed the Lord of the Black Sun in his jaws and mauled him to death, stating that Hikiji should have been killed years ago. Ironically, Hikji's most loyal servant became his killer.

In the final moments before his own demise, Hebi noted the rain and how their land would need it to recover from all this destruction. He was then vaporized by the laser canon from the alien tripod, but never flinched from his death.

## Fighting Style

While not a warrior and despite his lack of limbs, Hebi has proven to be extremely dangerous in combat and not to be underestimated. Being a snake several times the size of any other character in the series, he uses his whole body to crush his enemies to death, and can whip his tail with powerful force or strangle an enemy with it. Hebi's massive size gives him tremendous strength, and he can grab a person in his teeth and crush them to death with his powerful jaws.

Aside from his immense size and strength, Hebi is also an ardent practitioner of meditation. His powers of awareness are so strong that he was not only able to sense when Kagemare had snuck into a room to meet with him, but Hebi could also sense that Kagemaru was thinking of treachery. It's most likely thanks his practice of meditation and clarity of mind that Hebi is such a capable plotter or strategist.

## Other Appearances

* Lord Hebi appeared in the 2003 TMNT cartoon, in episodes "The Real World, Part 1" and "Samurai Tourist", voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas.