Shredder

* Human
* Demon

**Oroku Saki**, better known as the **Shredder**, is the leader of the Foot Clan and the overarching antagonist of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He is the father of Hamato Karai as well as being the archenemy of the Mad Dogs and Splinter. He is voiced by Hoon Lee.

## History

500 years ago, Saki was the leader of the Foot Clan. His clan was thriving and at peace until they were invaded by another clan that positively overwhelmed the Foot with its violence. Desperate to prevent the extinction of his clan, Saki made a deal with the Krang which forged an unstoppable mystic armor called the Kuroi Yōroi, which he used to defeat the rival clan without effort. However, the armor swallowed his soul and corrupted him, resulting in the emergence of the Shredder. Under his leadership, he turned the Foot into a clan that committed acts of terrorism and destruction across Japan. His daughter Karai then forged the Hamato Clan to fight against the tyranny of the demon and the Foot. The Shredder was defeated by the Hamato Clan due to Karai's use of the Hamato Clan's fighting technique called the Hamato Ninpō and a mystic blade as "no mortal weapon could harm the Shredder". Sealing them both in the Twilight Realm, forcing them both into unspeakable horrors while the armor was spread across the globe to prevent the Shredder from returning.

### Modern day

The Shredder was first mentioned in "Shadow of Evil", where it was revealed that Foot Lieutenant and Foot Brute had enlisted Baron Draxum to locate the pieces of the Kuroi Yōroi after approaching him earlier in "The Evil League of Mutants". As a fragment of the chest piece was placed onto the armor, a brief glimpse of the Shredder's face manifested.

The Shredder debuted in "End Game". After the Kuroi Yōroi was assembled to completion at the Shredder's shrine, Draxum donned the armor and Foot Brute and Foot Lieutenant addressed him as the Shredder, assuming that the transformation had transpired and that Draxum was no more, leaving the Shredder himself before them. However, it became apparent that due to a defect in the armor (the Turtles' Jupiter Jim action figure shoved in to cover a hole when the faceplate was used as a tea kettle), the transformation failed to complete. After Draxum was defeated by the Mad Dogs and cast out of the armor, it properly reassembled itself into the Shredder, having drained Draxum of his life force.

In "Many Unhappy Returns", it was revealed by Foot Lieutenant that the Foot was using Draxum to provide the armor the life force it needed to reawaken. The Shredder attacked his Foot soldiers when they began chanting encouragement for him to assault Splinter and the Mad Dogs. He effortlessly countered Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo's attack on him before turning his violence towards Leonardo, Splinter, and April and inexplicably teleporting elsewhere in the midst of it. The Shredder reappeared at Albearto's, destroying its animatronics before he was confronted by the Mad Dogs again, but he overpowered them and disappeared once more. He then manifested in several locations around New York, prevailing over the Mad Dogs with each encounter, before Leo and Splinter split from the team to seek out Big Mama. After observing the Shredder, Big Mama concluded that he was not secured to their dimension and was warping in and out of it uncontrollably as a result. Later, at a New York shipyard, the Shredder engaged Raph, Mikey, Donnie, and April. The Turtles, in an attempt to discover a weakness in the Shredder, attacked him and were able to briefly subdue him by exploiting his ticklishness. However, he escaped their grasp once he saw fireworks being launched from a nearby boat and furiously fought his way towards them with the intention to slaughter those onboard. He cut through shipping containers and a cargo ship thrown at him by Mikey, but was further confronted by Raph and Donnie. The Shredder was able to best the two of them, but he was suddenly hit with a shipping container suspended from a crane operated by April. He continued towards the fireworks, but disappeared before he was able to attack those on the boat. He later materialized for the final time on the streets of New York where Splinter and all of the Turtles, newly reunited, awaited him. The Shredder was fitted with a mystic collar by Leo, rendering him powerless, and Big Mama's assistant appeared alongside Big Mama to use a mystic device to confine him.

The Shredder's victories in the Battle Nexus as Shadow Fiend and status as Big Mama's new Battle Nexus champion were broadcasted at her auction house in "The Hidden City Job".

The Shredder reappeared in "Battle Nexus: New York" as Shadow Fiend, his identity hidden under a cloak. The Shredder was summoned to tip the situation back into Big Mama's favor after Raph suddenly appeared at the Grand Nexus Hotel alongside the other Turtles trying to possess Big Mama's orb that held the New York City population within it. Under Big Mama's control via her mystic ring, the Shredder battled against the Mad Dogs, Splinter, Draxum, and Foot Recruit to take the orb. He shrugged off the barrage of attacks from the Mad Dogs, Splinter, and Foot Recruit and was ordered by Big Mama to prioritize Draxum as he was attempting to release the New York City citizens while he fled from him. The Shredder followed Draxum into the Grand Nexus Hotel and the air pressure from his punch forced him through every floor of the hotel. He quickly met Draxum at the top floor, but he was stopped from attacking him due to Splinter and the Mad Dogs using their Mystic Hot Soup Hibernator technique to eject him from the hotel. The Shredder returned to the hotel after Foot Recruit utilized the ring to order him to kill everyone else. He destroyed the Grand Nexus Hotel under Foot Recruit's command and then returned with her to the Foot Shack.

The Shredder was unable to move at all as he was still a mindless, feral beast and was under the control of the mystic collar he still wore in "Finale Part 1: E-Turtle Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". After Splinter, Draxum, and the Mad Dogs managed to obtain the information involving the required means to defeat the Shredder through Splinter's memories, they went to the Twilight Realm to retrieve the weapon mentioned. The removal of the weapon, which was revealed to be Karai herself, released the Shredder's sentient spirit that was sealed in the realm which returned to his empty vessel, allowing him to speak and overcome the collar's control with his full power finally restored.

The Shredder, desiring both revenge on Karai for defeating him in the past and invincibility by stealing her essence, left the Foot Shack to immediately besiege the lair where she was located in "Finale Part 2: Shreddy or Not". He ordered Foot Lieutenant, Brute, and Recruit to eliminate any opposition and then attempted to attack Karai, but was bound by Mikey's mystic kusari-fundō before he reached her. Angered by his intervention, he temporarily set aside Karai to combat the Turtles. The Shredder destroyed each of their mystic weapons and when he was moments away from killing Raph after destroying his protective mystic construct, Karai confronted him with her Hamato Ninpō and a battle between them ensued. The Shredder eventually managed to restrain her, but in an attempt to overwhelm the Shredder's body with her Ninpō, Karai projected a large surge into him, causing his chest cavity to fracture open and leave Saki's soul exposed. In retaliation, he inflicted a fatal wound upon her by impaling Karai's chest with a sharp projection from his armor. He then abandoned her in pursuit of the Turtles once they retreated to the garage where Splinter, Draxum, and the Foot were. The Turtles escaped the ravaged lair with Todd Capybara in the Turtle Tank and he met Splinter and Draxum in a clash, resulting in the Shredder's victory.

The Shredder held Splinter and Draxum captive in "Finale Part 3: Anatawa Hitorijanai" and was displeased at the realization that his power hadn't been amplified by Karai's defeat. He was then informed by Foot Lieutenant and Foot Brute that the ability to extract another's essence required Empyrean and he decided to extract Splinter's essence in Karai's stead. Draxum then offered to give the Shredder his supposed store of Empyrean so he left the lair and traveled to Draxum's laboratory along with the remaining members of the Foot. Upon their arrival, he expected to receive Draxum's Empyrean, but Draxum instead proclaimed that the Shredder was the true threat that was described in the Yōkai prophecy that troubled him so and attempted to attack him using his golem, but the Shredder immediately shut down his efforts and prevented him and Splinter from fleeing. Threatening to crush Splinter in his grip, he forced Draxum to honestly lead him to the substance.

The Shredder appeared at the Empyrean's location, the Crying Titan, in "Finale Part 4: Rise", having deserted Foot Lieutenant and Foot Brute to free their bodies from laboratory rubble on their own and made Foot Recruit his new general. He ordered her to create the ritual that would drain the essence from Splinter while he accessed the Empyrean. The ritual then activated, drawing out more and more of Splinter's Hamato energy from his body, but the Shredder was met with the arrival of the Mad Dogs, their abilities now significantly magnified by their Hamato Ninpō. He instructed Foot Recruit to guard Splinter from them and he faced the Mad Dogs in a battle, recovering from the powerful blow delivered from Donnie's drill and forcing the Mad Dogs away from Splinter with a blast of flame. The ritual having reached completion, the Shredder began to siphon Splinter's energy, but he was suddenly stopped by Foot Recruit. She broke one of the chains that bound Splinter's essence and the Shredder was struck by it before he could harm her. Infuriated with the sabotage of the ritual, he met Draxum, Splinter, Foot Recruit, Karai, and the Mad Dogs in a final confrontation, evolving into an advanced form to steadily overpower their mystic spear. However, his advantage diminished once the previous Hamato generations joined the struggle and the Shredder was unable to withstand their power. However, he still managed to fight the Mad Dogs, and might have won if the Hamato Clan had not regathered. The Kuroi Yōroi was then destroyed, ending the Shredder's life and reuniting Saki's liberated spirit with Karai and the Hamato Clan.

## Personality

The Shredder is perpetually enraged and incredibly belligerent upon his revival, acting more like a feral beast than a disciplined fighter, oftentimes snarling and running on all fours. He operates on instinct, devoid of complex thought, and is indiscriminately hostile, shown when he attacks members of his own clan immediately upon being resurrected in “Many Unhappy Returns”. The Shredder is easily thrown into frenzied rages by stimuli such as loud voices and the sight of fire. Consequently, he can become distracted relatively easily in pursuit of his latest offense.

When the Shredder is remade into Shadow Fiend as a Battle Nexus competitor, he gains a degree of composure and approaches combat in a more conventional manner, delivering punches instead of animalistically swiping and lunging at opponents. However, the Shredder has very little autonomy as Shadow Fiend as he is under the control of Big Mama’s mystic collar and ring, forced to mindlessly obey the wearer’s commands.

The Shredder’s demeanor, though his ruthlessness and proclivity for violence remain, is far more human-like once he regains his full power in “Shreddy or Not”. He becomes capable of speech and is concise when speaking. The Shredder is unwaveringly focused on achieving invincibility no matter the brutality he must enact on others to obtain it, even against his closest family. He disposes of his allies once they no longer benefit him shown when he abandons Foot Lieutenant and Foot Brute after they are trapped beneath rubble he dislodges in “Rise” and demands absolute submission from others, enraged by Foot Recruit's defiance.

## Trivia

* The Shredder has a weak spot behind his right knee, where he is ticklish.
* Given his mystic/demonic origins, this version of the Shredder is similar to the Tengu Shredder from the 2003 TV series, as well as the Dark Devil Shredder from *Super Turtles 1: Seinaru Myuta-seki no Nazo* and is the third incarnation of the demon Shredder.
* The Shredder is voiced by Hoon Lee, the same actor who voiced Hamato Yoshi (a.k.a. Splinter) in the 2012 TV series. Lee also previously voiced the Hamato Clan's Mystic Aura earlier in *Rise of the TMNT*.
* The Shredder's super form in "Rise" is reminiscent of the Anti-Spirals from *Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann*.
* This is the first incarnation of the Shredder who is biologically related to Splinter and the Turtles.
	+ However, this is not the first Shredder incarnation to be family to Splinter and the Turtles in general, as the Shredder from the 2012 TV series is Splinter's adoptive brother and, by extension, the Turtles' adoptive uncle.