Ranmaru Mori

Ranmaru Mori (森 蘭丸, Mori Ranmaru) is a character who first appears in Samurai Warriors. He is Yoshinari Mori's third son and is Nobunaga's famous page. He is best known for dying at a young age along side his master at Honnōji, allegedly fighting until his last in various tales.

In the first Samurai Warriors, he is 19 years old. His height in the series is 178 cm (5'10").

Samurai Warriors
Ranmaru is a young man who believes in his lord. He is Mitsuhide's pupil and they both begin their services in the Saitō clan. Losing faith in their leader, however, both men decide to prove their worth against the Oda at Inabayama Castle. Their capable defense drives the Oda back momentarily and impress Nobunaga. Therefore, they have their wish granted and soon cause the end of the Saitō family. Following his mentor to Ise-Nagashima, Ranmaru partakes in the massacre of the peasant army. Sympathizing with his mentor's retreat from the field, he stands against Mitsuhide's betrayal undaunted at Honnōji. Ranmaru bravely defends the southern gate of the temple to defend Nobunaga's escape with Noh and Oichi. Although Noh defects and dies, both Nobunaga and Oichi escape safely due to Ranmaru drawing the entire Akechi army to his position. Mitsuhide flees from his defeat and allies with Ieyasu at Anegawa. Additionally, Masamune, Magoichi and Keiji utilize the chaos around them to strike against Nobunaga. Strengthening his resolve to defend his lord, Ranmaru simultaneously struggles to consider his mentor as his enemy and wonders if he should kill him.

If Ranmaru chooses to slay his mentor, Mitsuhide reveals that he betrayed Nobunaga due to him being envious of Nobunaga's power. Entrusting his pupil to continue believing in their lord in his place, Mitsuhide dies in Ranmaru's arms. Though in anguish for losing his mentor and hating the ugliness of war, Ranmaru continues to fight to honor Mitsuhide's wishes. When assassins threaten Nobunaga's rise to power, he hunts them down in Azuchi Castle and slays them. Reaching the top floor, Ranmaru draws his blade against Nobunaga and questions if his lord will bear the burden of the souls he had killed for him. Nobunaga promises he will only if Ranmaru continues to be by his side.

Sparing Mitsuhide at Anegawa will instead have his mentor retreat to Gifu Castle. Ranmaru, wanting to hear his mentor's reasons for betrayal before Nobunaga unites the land, infiltrates the castle by himself to meet Mitsuhide. Slaying Magoichi and Hanzō, he also routs Kunoichi and Keiji while on his way towards his mentor. Mitsuhide explains that the land is better without Nobunaga and asks his pupil to join him. Ranmaru stays true to his belief for Nobunaga and strikes Mitsuhide down. Before his mentor dies, Ranmaru tries to explain that he still likes and admires his mentor. Mitsuhide passes away while uttering his wish to someday meet his pupil again, which Ranmaru tearfully swears to fulfill.

Ranmaru is a hidden character for Samurai Warriors 2 that can be unlocked by doing the first two "Ranmaru's Request" and "Mitsuhide's Request" jobs in Survival Mode. Like Okuni, he doesn't have a personal Story Mode, and his past history with Mitsuhide is abandoned. However, in Survival Mode, he stars in a special request scenario. He asks the player to help him investigate the nature of Nobunaga's assassin. He wonders if Mitsuhide truly killed their lord. If the player continues to follow these chain of stories, Mitsuhide is falsely accused of the crime due to a look alike set up by Ieyasu. The real Nobunaga is also unharmed since the assailants only killed his body double. Ranmaru and Keiji punish Ieyasu together.

During other characters' scenarios in the game, he is usually found trying to avenge his father's death while facing the Azai forces or defending Nobunaga in various campaigns. He also humorously appears in the beauty competition for No and Oichi's dream stages where he intends to stop the two girls' fight and to "tell Nobunaga" on both of them.

Again without a personal story in the third title, Ranmaru continues to be seen in Nobunaga's ranks during Odani Castle, Nagashino, and Kizugawaguchi. He expresses his concern with Mitsuhide's friendship for Motochika, not completely trusting the latter. During Honnōji, he tries to keep the Akechi army at bay in the north and pleads his lord to escape through the southern exit. He will also inform the players' original character of the situation during the Sengoku History mode. If his life depletes during the battle, he will die wishing for his lord's safety.

Described as a youth who served Nobunaga since his early days in Samurai Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends, Ranmaru is instilled with the principle to always exhaust every inch of his strength for his master. Thus, he feels he has no other need or desire but to kill for his master's vision. He performs his duties without question at Anegawa and Nagashino. Charged with additionally protecting Mitsuhide for his strategies, Ranmaru meets Gracia during his second battle. She wants to cheer up Ranmaru and calls him her friend. Giving him a hair accessory as a keepsake for his safety, she wants Ranmaru to learn how to treasure himself and his life. In return, she promises to come to his rescue whenever he needs it. Although she forces it on him, Ranmaru accepts and swears to protect Gracia and Mitsuhide.

When he fights through the carnage at Kizugawaguchi, Nobunaga subjects the Saika to merciless brutality. Had Ranmaru seen his lord's act before, he would have accepted it naturally. With Gracia's reaction, however, he comes to experiences doubt for the first time. Somehow pushing onwards to slay Motonari, Ranmaru feels he has forgotten his true duty to Nobunaga. To discard what he feels is unnecessary, he returns Gracia's keepsake and resumes his role as an unthinking killer. Accompanying Mitsuhide to Tedorigawa, Ranmaru supports their plan to rescue Katsuie, Toshiie and other Oda vassals from the Uesugi. While Ranmaru rescues their allies, Mitsuhide and Motochika discuss whether he agrees with Nobunaga's methods. Motochika requests for Ranmaru to open a escape path for Mitsuhide, letting him escape the Uesugi's defeat from Nobunaga's fire attack.

Ranmaru is confused when Mitsuhide no longer seeks reconciliation but swears to throw away his own life for Nobunaga and Nō's safety at Honnōji. He accuses Motochika of convincing Mitsuhide's defection, even if he himself doesn't completely understand Mitsuhide's change of heart. Gracia, who wants to live up to her promise of protecting her friend, appears during the battle to try to stop Ranmaru from rushing to his death. Cutting her down as well for Nobunaga's escape, he slays Mitsuhide to end the upstart. With Nobunaga safe, he grants his page the permission to leave as he sees fit. Ranmaru runs back to the burning temple to fetch Gracia from the flames, expressing his amazement that she came for him. Although she pleads to leave her behind to save himself, he carries them both to safety as his way of staying true to their promise.

Warriors Orochi
In Orochi's scenario he attacks the main camp before the storehouses are opened his forces were confused due to the sudden arrival of the reptilian generals and is defeated.

In Warriors Orochi, Ranmaru joins Ma Chao to oppose the Orochi forces. The leader of the attack at the time was Sun Ce. Once he is defeated, Ranmaru is captured and ready to accept a bitter fate. Instead, Sun Ce releases him and tells him to do whatever the boy likes. Admiring his kindness, Ranmaru decides to follow Sun Ce. He often has a hard time relating with the Little Conqueror, often questioning his fickle methods.

He continues to loyally serve Wu in Warriors Orochi 2, where he also became close friends with Yoshitsune Minamoto. Ironically in his dream mode, it was stated that Ranmaru still protects Nobunaga, despite his new life in Wu.

Kessen
Ranmaru appears as a playable unit in Kessen III. He is much more masculine than his Samurai Warriors counterpart and even sports a topknot hairstyle. As another contrast to his Samurai Warriors persona, he dislikes being in an army formed with Mitsuhide and their attack power will suffer. Ranmaru is first seen tearfully reporting his father's death to Nobunaga. He gladly replaces his father and will have a special quote with his father's killer, Tatsuoki. He inevitably dies while assisting his lord's escape from Honnoji. His older brother replaces him after this incident.

Nobunaga's Ambition
Throughout the series, Ranmaru is usually a short lived warrior who appears late in Nobunaga's career. He has average stats for war and rarely has any noteworthy troop proficiencies aside from rifle arms. Ranmaru better serves players in politics and domestic affairs with an above average intelligence and charisma ratings. His contributions to the series' dramatic events are few, briefly appearing for Honnōji's cinematic in most titles.

Development
Ranmaru's appeal in his design is that his sword should look longer and bigger than his body. To make this visual clearer to the audience, they envisioned Ranmaru as having a line drawn across the back of his body. His body shape was slimmed down to make an attractive silhouette for this concept. The result made him look effeminate, younger, and "cuter" than some developers originally planned. His second design kept these concepts and accented his outfit with white to express his inner spirit. His charm point is his clothed leg guards, which were made to look like loose socks.

Personality
Ranmaru is a naturally a naive and selfless person where he only thinks of his Lord's safety and nothing else. His persona is thought to reflect on his incredibly effeminate appearance, as he is usually mistaken for a woman by some characters in the game. Although teased for that, he is nonetheless a passionately loyal retainer to Nobunaga and will ultimately die for him. His talents are highly valued by Nobunaga and the two share a close relationship with Ranmaru standing vigilant at his lord's side. He is often flustered when mistaken for a girl and can be at times entirely oblivious to his own "beauty".

Character Symbolism
He's symbolized by the character "honesty" (誠) and "morality" (義) in the Samurai Warriors series.

The original name for his third weapon -second in the second title- is Fudō Yukimitsu, a short sword crafted by the swordsmith, Tōsaburō Yukimitsu, during the Kamakura Period. The sword is named after Fudō Myōoh, whose image is engraved within the blade itself. Fudō Yukimitsu at one time belonged to Nobunaga. He is fabled to brag about the blade whilst drunk, slapping his knee whist he sang, "Fudō Yukimitsu, Tsukumogami, and Gorōza: all are mine!" Tsukomogami is an alternative name for a famous chaire -instrument used to make thick teas- once owned by the third Ashikaga shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. According to legend, Nobunaga held a contest with his pages for Fudō Yukimitsu by challenging them to guess the precise number of indentions on the blade's scabbard. Out of all the pages, Naritoshi was the one who guessed correctly based on his sharp observations. Amused, Nobunaga gave his treasured sword to him. Although the wooden sections of the blade were burnt, stories claim that it was recovered after Honnōji and seen floating from house to house during the Edo Period. The Ishii clan in Shizuoka Prefecture allegedly possess the original today.

Ranmaru's fourth weapon -third in the second game and Normal in the third game- is named after a swordsmith within the Bizen region, Tomonari. Supposedly born sometime during the Heian period, he forged various swords that were used in wars and housed as treasures with several families. One of his swords is said to have fallen into Taira no Shigemori's possession. Fascinated with the blade's structure, he kept it as a treasure and asked for his family to use the sword type as their sword of choice. If one is to believe the following tales, Tomonari's blades were used in the Genpei War as arms for the Heike troops. Other blades forged by Tomonari were later given to Motonari and Hideyoshi. Ranmaru's variations of his third weapon continue to be named after swordsmiths from Bizen, Yoshikuni (Power) and Sadatsugu (Speed).

Kamudo no Tsurugi, also known as Ōhakari, is the namesake for Ranmaru's fifth weapon in the first title, fourth in the second game, and Unique in the third. The English name for his fifth sword in the second title strives to be much fancier than its Asian counterpart. Its original name is simply Dhammapala shinai; its appearance is somewhat faithful to its namesake. Dhammapala is somewhat related to the namesake for his sixth weapon, Dharmapala. In this case, the particular dharmapala mentioned in Ranmaru's weapon is known for having a child or infant-like figure in Japan. In spite of its size, it's a demon entity who is fiercely dedicated to protecting Buddha.

His personal item in the Asian ports of Warriors Orochi is Zenrin Kokuhōki, known as the first book of Japan's diplomatic history. Believed to have been authored by a monk of Rinzai teachings, Zuikei Shuhō, the book roughly covers international affairs with China and Korea during the late fourteenth century through fifteenth century. It also includes basic measures for diplomacy during the Muromachi shogunate. For centuries, the text was the source for a negative albeit untrue image for Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's political judgments.

Voice Actors

 * Tony Oliver - Samurai Warriors (English)
 * Wendi Jewers - Samurai Warriors 2, Nobunaga's Ambition: Rise to Power (English)
 * Tara Platt - Warriors Orochi series, Samurai Warriors 3 (English)
 * Terrence Stone - Kessen III (English)
 * Naomi Shindō - Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi series (Japanese)
 * Masakazu Morita - Kessen III (Japanese)
 * Bin Shimada - Nobunaga's Ambition Online (Japanese)

Quotes

 * "I shall serve with unwavering devotion!"
 * "I grow stronger with every victory!"
 * "I've mastered the way of samurai!"
 * "This is one battle where I refuse to admit defeat!"
 * "This body is a sword, and this place a burial ground. Those who wish to die, come forth!"
 * "The cool steel of my blade hungers for warm blood."
 * "I am as dangerous as I am manly!"
 * "I'm... not a girl... really..."
 * "Stop it! I'm gonna tell Lord Nobunaga on you!"
 * "No! Looking at you helps me understand how Lady Nō feels. You're already too beautiful as it is. You're making us women look bad!"
 * "Hmph. If you refuse to listen to me... Then I will just have to claim the title of the most beautiful woman for myself."
 * Ranmaru and Oichi; Samurai Warriors 2


 * "I think I've just found the most beautiful girl in all Japan! You won't get away from me, pretty lady!"
 * "Stop it! I'm a man! Why can't you see that?"
 * "A man...? Uh... Are you sure about that?"
 * Magoichi and Ranmaru; Samurai Warriors 2: Empires


 * "The side which controls information controls it's enemy. Therefore, I will put on a disguise and slip into enemy territory."
 * "I would advise against it, Ranmaru. You've failed at playing dress-up before, remember, when you once attempted to pass for a monk."
 * "I still don't understand how the enemy spotted me that time... They said something like 'There are no girls in the priesthood.' What could that possibly mean?"
 * Ranmaru and Kanetsugu; Samurai Warriors 2: Empires


 * "Ran, you have a great imagination. Enjoy it while you can."
 * Nobunaga's reply regarding Ranmaru's concern; Kessen III

Ground Moveset

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 * ,,,,,,,: Ranmaru does several diagonal slashes followed by several horizontal ones.


 * ,: A downward strike from the air.
 * ,undefined: Ranmaru runs his sword in the ground making a little shockwave.
 * Ranmaru slashes in wide arcs in a small circular area around him.

Mounted Moveset

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Samurai Warriors 2
Loses some of the ending charge finishes of his original moveset, alternating his ground moveset slightly. Mounted moveset remains the same excluding his horse musou, which changes into a powerful stampede like the rest of the cast.

Ground Moveset

 * undefined,(undefined,undefined):Ranmaru charges his sword and cut the air in front of him making a wave of energy. The more he charges the bigger the wave, and it will break his opponents guard.
 * ,undefined,(undefined):Ranmaru stabs the enemy and tosses them in the air. He then runs past them with his blade striking them back into the air, and runs back before they hit the ground.
 * ,,undefined,(undefined): Ranmaru does a quick down slash. He then does a slash from right to left, and another from left to right knocking them back. He then runs forward with a shockwave trailing from his blade and lets it loose as he meets them.
 * ,,,undefined,(undefined): Ranmaru does a powerful falling diagonal strike, followed by a rising strike to send them flying. He then turn around and makes a huge slash cutting a wave in the air in front of him.


 * Same execution as before. His level 3 musou imbues his attacks with the element on the weapon he has currently equipped.


 * R1+:Ranmaru does an extremely fast forward strike that leaves a doppelganger behind for a second.
 * R1+undefined: Ranmaru assumes a stance to up his attack but lowers his defense.
 * Personal Skill : (Facility) Evade while performing a charge attack.

Ranmaru's moveset remains the same except he loses many of his Samurai Warriors 2 additions. He also has a new R1 ability.
 * Warriors Orochi
 * R1: Ranmaru slashes the ground making several shockwaves cleave in front of him.

Fighting Style
Ranmaru's main strength is crowd clearing as his attacks have huge range and area of attack due to his nodachi. Coupled with his prominent attack stat and his projectiles, he can kill crowds with ease. Ranmaru's strength also makes him good against generals, but his lack of guard breaks prevents him from being from being in the top tier. Ranmaru's main two weakness are his speed and defense, leaving Ranmaru an easy target and vulnerable to attacks. Players must be careful and to try to not be in the middle of a crowd when facing a general and stay towards the edges of a crowd.

His C1 can be charged and used if a large group is headed towards Ranmaru to break them up. The C2 will damage a general and weaken the crowds around him. His C3 can help to separate generals from a crowd. His C4 is an all purpose attack that can damage generals greatly and crowds. His Musou absolutely rips up crowds with great power, speed, range and area, and is fairly damaging to generals too. His R1+ is a mainly used against generals as it hits hard and fast. His R1+undefined is for quickly dealing with a group or general, but should not be used if Ranmaru is overwhelmed as it weakens his defense further.