History Main / Orochi

** In the Nasuverse, Shuten-Douji is the Yamata-no-Orochi's (also known by the name of Ibuki Daimyojin) ''daughter'', which is the source of both her Dragon and Divine Traits. She's powerful enough to be considered one of Japan's Three Great Calamities, [[BrilliantButLazy but would much rather laze about and drink all day rather than actually do much destroying]] and has a very complicated relationship with Sakata Kintoki and rivalry with Minamoto-no-Raikou. Much like dear old dad, she died from [[OffWithHisHead getting her head chopped off]] after being tricked into getting blackout-drunk, though unlike him her severed head nearly managed to kill her enemies before it expired. Due to her connection with Orochi, she is capable of summoning a fascmile of him. [[spoiler:She also has a SuperPoweredEvilSide called "Ibuki-Douji", which taps directly into her connection with Orochi to make her a monster worthy of the title of one of Japan's Three Great Calamities, [[DeathOfPersonality but doing so warps her personality into something closer to her father's]], which is one of the few things she's legitimately afraid of. This version of her wields the {{Kusanagi}} that was originally inside of her father's corpse, and is also able to summon an Orochi, though unlike any other Orochi in-game, including the ones summoned by Chiyome and even Shuten, this one is ''even bigger'' and has unique [[LightIsNotGood white scales]], implying it's her [[SummonBiggerFish calling on dear old dad himself]].]]

** In the Nasuverse, Shuten-Douji is the Yamata-no-Orochi's (also known by the name of Ibuki Daimyojin) ''daughter'', which is the source of both her Dragon and Divine Traits. She's powerful enough to be considered one of Japan's Three Great Calamities, [[BrilliantButLazy but would much rather laze about and drink all day rather than actually do much destroying]] and has a very complicated relationship with Sakata Kintoki and rivalry with Minamoto-no-Raikou. Much like dear old dad, she died from [[OffWithHisHead getting her head chopped off]] after being tricked into getting blackout-drunk, though unlike him her severed head nearly managed to kill her enemies before it expired. Due to her connection with Orochi, she is capable of summoning a fascmile of him. [[spoiler:She also has a SuperPoweredEvilSide called "Ibuki-Douji", which taps directly into her connection with Orochi to make her a monster worthy of the title of one of Japan's Three Great Calamities, [[DeathOfPersonality but doing so warps her personality into something closer to her father's]], which is one of the few things she's legitimately afraid of.]]

** In the Nasuverse, Shuten-Douji is the Yamata-no-Orochi's (also known by the name of Ibuki Daimyojin) ''daughter'', which is the source of both her Dragon and Divine Traits. She's powerful enough to be considered one of Japan's Three Great Calamities, [[BrilliantButLazy but would much rather laze about and drink all day rather than actually do much destroying]] and has a very complicated relationship with Sakata Kintoki and rivalry with Minamoto-no-Raikou. Much like dear old dad, she died from [[OffWithHisHead getting her head chopped off]] after being tricked into getting blackout-drunk. [[spoiler:She also has a SuperPoweredEvilSide called "Ibuki-Douji", which taps directly into her connection with Orochi to make her a monster worthy of the title of one of Japan's Three Great Calamities, [[DeathOfPersonality but doing so warps her personality into something closer to her father's]], which is one of the few things she's legitimately afraid of.]]

** In the Nasuverse, Shuten-Douji is the Yamata-no-Orochi's ''daughter'', which is the source of both her Dragon and Divine Traits.
** Orochi appears as a boss-type enemy first in Shimousa, though mechanically it's a re-skin of the existing [[OurHydrasAreDifferent Hydra]] enemy with different skills. The Assassin of Paraíso [[spoiler:Mochizuki Chiyome]] has the ability to summon Orochis at will with her Noble Phantasm due to her cursed blood as a result of one of her ancestors being cursed directly by Yamata-no-Orochi. [[SinsOfOurFathers This has left her with a complex]], and for the enemy version of her in Shimousa it only gets worse when the Shuten-Douji on her side is ordered to excite her cursed blood into overdrive [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity for a power boost, at the cost of her sanity]].

* In ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'', the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Yato's]] devastated and abandoned home world Rakuyo is inhabited by a giant OneHundredAndEight-headed dragon known as the Orochi.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun: The Lost Age'' has Susa and Kushinada who fill similar roles. The party has to solve a puzzle involving mirror redirection before Susa's sake gambit can work, though. After the Orochi (here named Serpent, has only one head and looks like the standard Eastern dragon with wings on) dies, the party can return to where his body is, and retrieve the Ame-No-Murakumo, titled Cloudrender in the game.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'': The portion taking place in [[{{Wutai}} Zipangu]] is a loose retelling of the Orochi myth, with your party in the place of Susanoo.

According to a wide assortment of {{anime}} and video game series, the Orochi is alive and well and at large in present-day Japan. Sometimes it's literally Orochi, or anything from a MonsterOfTheWeek to a BigBad with snake-themed powers. The trope holds pretty strong and is different than simply being associated with snakes; if your anime or manga story has a CrystalDragonJesus, chances are that Orochi will be its [[{{Satan}} Devil]].

* ''Film/ThrillingSword'', a Taiwanese fantasy movie, had a nine-headed sea serpent summoned by the main villain, Lord Xia, to terrorise the kingdom.

** The ''[='95=]'' to ''[='97=]'' [[StoryArc arc]] has the literal Orochi. (He's technically [[NoBiologicalSex sexless]] but is referred to as a "he" due to plot developments and for convenience's sake.) In this series, he's a [[WellIntentionedExtremist fanatical servant]] ([[AllMythsAreTrue and offspring of]]) of [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Gaia]], who believes that HumansAreTheRealMonsters and [[LawfulStupid considers the very beings that Gaia made a threat]]. Similar to the myth, he is defeated by the Kusanagi, Yasakani, and Yata clans, who [[SealedEvilInACan sealed him away]]. (A scant amount of official artwork and ''The King of Fighters: Kyo'' actually depicts Orochi [[AttractiveBentGender as a woman]] during this period, implying he reincarnated into a female host back then.) Unfortunately his influence spread to the Yasakani and after a time, they [[DealWithTheDevil made a contract with him to gain power]]. This caused a [[KillEmAll civil war]] with their former allies, much to Orochi's glee. He's also got a [[ReligionOfEvil cult]] of servants known as the Hakkesshu, who in the present are made up of [[NotSoHarmlessVillain a musical band]] (Chris, Yashiro, Shermie), a SinisterMinister (Goenitz), two [[SexySecretary sexy secretaries]] (Mature and Vice), [[AxCrazy a homicidal maniac]] (Ryuji Yamazaki), and the father (Gaidel) of a hot soldier girl (Leona) who was killed by the SinisterMinister because [[DefectorFromDecadence he decided to bow out on Orochi's plan]], and his plan is to gather enough energy so it can be fully revived and destroy humanity (alongside a backup plan consisting on the HumanSacrifice of a GirlNextDoor who happens to be the reincarnation/descendant of Princess Kushinada). He doesn't make an actual appearance until ''[='97=]'', where he [[DemonicPossession possesses]] [[CreepyChild Chris]] to act as the FinalBoss (an AntiClimaxBoss, given his [[SNKBoss predecessors]]). In the end, he is defeated by the Three Sacred Treasures (Chizuru, Kyo and Iori). In a last-ditch effort, he tries to turn [[TheRival Iori]] against [[TheProtagonist Kyo]] and [[TeamMom Chizuru]] by [[VillainOverride stirring up Iori's half-Orochi blood and turning him into]] [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity Orochi Iori]]. This fails, as [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Orochi Iori ensnares Orochi long enough for Kyo to deliver the deathblow]] (under approval of the spirit of Iori's ancestors, who regret what they've done), thus letting Kushinada's current incarnation/descendant Yuki (who also ''happened'' [[LadyAndKnight to be Kyo's girlfriend]]) escape her destiny ''and'' giving [[BarrierMaiden Chizuru]] the chance to [[HistoryRepeats seal him away again]] and prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Orochi, on his death throes, [[HumanityOnTrial decides to wait and observe humanity to see if they're truly deserving of his "judgment."]]

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Wano arc villain Kurozumi Orochi has an Orochi motif to him, up to and including [[spoiler:his having eaten the Mythical Zoan fruit Hebi Hebi no Mi, Model: Yamata no Orochi]].

** In the Nasuverse, Shuten-Douji the Yamata-no-Orochi's ''daughter'', which is the source of both her Dragon and Divine Traits.

The ''Yamata no Orochi'' is an [[MultipleHeadCase eight-headed]], [[MultipleTailedBeast eight-tailed]] serpentine monster in Myth/JapaneseMythology, similar in appearance to the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Lernaean Hydra]], give or take a head or two. According to Shinto legend, the Orochi was defeated by the storm god Susano-o, who while WalkingTheEarth after getting booted out of Heaven, answered a request for aid by two earthly deities who were forced by the Orochi to hand over one of their daughters every year to be devoured by the beast, and were now down to their eighth and last one, [[BarrierMaiden Princess Kushinada]]. Just to distinguish the tale from Western dragon slaying myths, Susano-o first [[AttractiveBentGender lured]] the Orochi out by [[WholesomeCrossdresser disguising himself as Kushinada]] (with the real one [[ShapeShifting disguised as a comb]] in his hair), and then killed it by setting out a bowl of strong sake for each head, letting it drink itself into a stupor (as it only had ''one'' stomach), ''then'' lopping them off. Inside Orochi's body, Susano-o [[RandomDrop found]] the sword ''[[NamedWeapons Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi]]'' ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusanagi "Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven"]]) that was later re-named "{{Kusanagi}}" ("Grass Cutter"), and is one of [[TheImperialRegalia Japan's Three Sacred Treasures]].

** The ''[='95=]'' to ''[='97=]'' [[StoryArc arc]] has the literal Orochi. (He's technically [[NoBiologicalSex sexless]] but is referred to as a "he" due to plot developments and for convenience's sake.) In this series, he's a [[WellIntentionedExtremist fanatical servant]] of [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Gaia]], who believes that HumansAreTheRealMonsters and [[LawfulStupid considers the very beings that Gaia made a threat]]. Similarly to the myth, he is defeated by the Kusanagi, Yasakani, and Yata clans, who sealed him away (a scant amount of official artwork and ''The King of Fighters: Kyo'' actually depicts Orochi [[AttractiveBentGender as a woman]] during this period, implying he reincarnated into a female host back then). Unfortunately his influence spread to the Yasakani and after a time, they [[DealWithTheDevil made a contract with him to gain power]]. This caused a [[KillEmAll civil war]] with their former allies, much to Orochi's glee. He's also got a [[ReligionOfEvil cult]] of servants known as the Hakkesshu, who in the present are made up of a [[NotSoHarmlessVillain musical]] (Chris, Yashiro, Shermie), a SinisterMinister (Goenitz), two [[SexySecretary sexy secretaries]] (Mature and Vice), a [[AxCrazy homicidal]] maniac (Ryuji Yamazaki), and the father (Gaidel) of a hot soldier girl (Leona) who was killed by the SinisterMinister because [[DefectorFromDecadence he decided to bow out on Orochi's plan]], and his plan is to gather enough energy so it can be fully revived and destroy humanity (alongside a back-up plan consisting on the HumanSacrifice of a GirlNextDoor who happens to be the reincarnation/descendant of Princess Kushinada). He doesn't make an actual appearance until ''[='97=]'', where he [[DemonicPossession possesses]] [[CreepyChild Chris]] to act as the FinalBoss (an AntiClimaxBoss, given his [[SNKBoss predecessors]]). In the end, he is defeated by the Three Sacred Treasures (Chizuru, Kyo and Iori). In a last-ditch effort, he tries to turn [[TheRival Iori]] against [[TheProtagonist Kyo]] and [[TeamMom Chizuru]] by [[VillainOverride stirring up Iori's half-Orochi blood and turning him into]] [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity Orochi Iori]]. This fails, as [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Orochi Iori ensnares Orochi long enough for Kyo to deliver the deathblow]] (under approval of the spirit of Iori's ancestors, who regret what they've done), thus letting Kushinada's current incarnation/descendant Yuki (who also ''happened'' [[LadyAndKnight to be Kyo's girlfriend]]) escape her destiny ''and'' giving [[BarrierMaiden Chizuru]] the chance to [[SealedEvilInACan seal him away again]] and prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Orochi, on his death throes, [[HumanityOnTrial decides to wait and observe humanity to see if they're truly deserving of his "judgment."]]
** The second ''KOF'' saga (The [[NebulousEvilOrganization NESTS]] Chronicles) had a plot that resembled a bad sci-fi movie, the third and current saga (The Tales of [[CreatorsPet Ash]], which started in ''2003'') seems to be sticking closer to the original Orochi Saga. Not only is there a NebulousEvilOrganization known as "Those From the Past" trying to undo the seal on Orochi [[spoiler:(and they've partially succeeded, thanks to their [[{{Brainwashed}} hold]] over [[BarrierMaiden Chizuru]] in ''2003'')]], but the VillainProtagonist of the saga, [[MagnificentBastard Ash]] [[ManipulativeBastard Crimson]], is going around with the [[ObfuscatingStupidity facade of a weak and unassuming fighter]], only to pop up and [[BroughtDownToNormal steal the powers]] of Chizuru and Iori (as ''[[SuperpoweredEvilSide Orochi Iori]]'', no less) at the end of ''2003'' and ''XI'', leaving Kyo as the only remaining non-depowered descendant of the three clans that sealed Orochi. Of course, Ash has singled out Kyo as his final target.
** In ''XIII'', it turns out that [[spoiler: Ash is a mix of FakeDefector, WellIntentionedExtremist and GuileHero whose actions have been one long BatmanGambit to counteract the ambitions of his {{time travel}}ing [[IdenticalGrandson identical]] [[UncannyFamilyResemblance ancestor]] Saiki, the leader of Those From the Past. In an unforeseen HeroicSacrifice, Ash attempts to take Saiki's own powers, and when Saiki performs a GrandTheftMe on Ash (the infamous SNKBoss Evil Ash), Ash regains control and stays in the future, creating a TemporalParadox: as Saiki is stuck in the present, [[RetGone Ash will be erased from history]], [[TakingYouWithMe with Saiki in tow]]. All to protect the LadyOfWar who was supposed to battle Those of the Past instead, Elisabeth Blanctorche, who doubled as Ash's OnlyFriend and CoolBigSis. This causes a ''massive'' CosmicRetcon, which reverts everything back to the way it was before ''2003'' and the story proceeded like normal, only with the exception that there's no Ash, and Those From The Past's involvement becomes so minor they cannot gather enough power to do the rest of their plots. End of story? Orochi's still sealed away. [[AlasPoorScrappy And Ash became a post-mortem hero for at least half the fandom]].]]

** The very premise of ''Warriors Orochi'' is that Orochi himself essentially got bored and squished Japan's UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod and China's UsefulNotes/{{Three Kingdoms|ShuWeiWu}} era together (represented by characters and areas from the ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors'' and ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' series) in order to fight history's greatest warriors. Predictably, he's the final boss of every story mode but his own in the first two games and and is rather difficult to beat. Although it takes a fair amount to unlock Orochi in the first game, you're able to play him right off the bat in the second. And in both he's still about as absurdly powerful when you're in command of the giant snake man with the funny hat as he is as a boss.
** The third game has for its Big Bad the more familiar form of Orochi called Hydra (lit. "demon snake"/Youja in Japanese), which is stated to be the actual Orochi's power running so wild after his defeat in the previous games that the heroes have to employ time travel shenanigans against it, but such is its power that its mere existence created a space-time rift that's preventing time travellers from just going to a time before its birth and further assimilating France's [[UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar Hundred Years War]] and Greece's [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar Trojan War]] (respectively represented by characters and areas from ''VideoGame/BladestormTheHundredYearsWar'' and ''VideoGame/WarriorsLegendsOfTroy'') as well as the universes of ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden''[=/=]''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'', ''VideoGame/TrinitySoulsOfZillOll'', ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soulcalibur]]'' and Arland of the ''VideoGame/{{Atelier}}'' multiverse in addition to the Sengoku and Three Kingdoms periods. The ''Ultimate'' expansion expanded Orochi's origin further: [[spoiler:Instead of a demon out of nowhere, it turns out he used to a mythological ''Chinese'' Dragon, Yinglong, who rebelled against the Celestial Emperor because he saw the Emperor enslaving demons via a magic mirror and thinks that's terrible. Breaking the mirror to give the demons free will corrupted him into Orochi. [[MST3KMantra Don't mind how doing such thing can change one's nationality.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': The Black Beast bears a heavy resemblance to Orochi in its appearance. It was created from the Murakumo Unit (ν-13), and defeated by the wielder of The Susanoo Unit (Hakumen). [[spoiler:It was a failed attempt to create the Kusanagi Unit, and destroy the Master Unit Amaterasu.]]
** ''Phase 0'' reveals that [[spoiler: Celica A. Mercury]] was engineered to be a sacrifice to the Black Beast to temporarily halt its rampage through the use of Kushinada's Lynchpin. Oddly enough, the one who rescued her from this fate is ''not'' the Susanoo figure. The original Bloodedge fought against the Black Beast to ensure that her sacrifice would not be necessary.
** Hazama / Terumi [[spoiler: who helped make the Black Beast]] also invokes Orochi imagery; one of his attacks involve creating a swarm of snake heads behind him and he has a few attacks that, with Japanese language settings, namedrop the serpent. To make things even odder [[spoiler: he used to be in the Susanoo Unit, and is actually the ''real'' [[AllMythsAreTrue god Susanoo]].]]

* In ''VideoGame/LenEn'', there are siblings Adagumo no Yaorochi and Saragimaru who're youkai born from Yamata no Orochi's corpse. Yaorochi wants to restore the {{Kusanagi}} sword and provokes the incident. [[AmbiguousGender They]] are not evil whatsoever, it's just that they feel a connection with the sword because they were born from Orochi's arm.

* In ''Film/GodzillaMothraKingGhidorahGiantMonstersAllOutAttack'', King Ghidorah is alluded to be an immature Orochi-- having only grown 3 of his fated 8 heads. WordOfGod states Ghidorah was based on Orochi as well as other multi-headed monsters like the Hydra.

** Renji's reforged Bankai, ''Souou Zabimaru'', also has a serrated blade, represented by its new half: ''Orochiou''.

* A Nine-headed Chinese dragon shows up in the SoBadItsGood fantasy action film, ''Invincible Dragon''. The protagonist claims he encounters this dragon as a child, which somehow inspires him to grow up to be a martial artist and fighter who calls himself "Jiu-long" (Nine Dragon), even though most of the characters of the film thought he was bluffing, or he was merely hallucinating a childhood memory. The movie even toys with the notion that the dragon encountered by the protagonist is AllJustADream or a hallucination. At the end of the film, [[spoiler: the Nine-headed dragon personally appears in the climax to save him and devour the BigBad, revealing the childhood memory to be RealAfterAll]].

* A Nine-headed Chinese dragon shows up in the SoBadItsGood fantasy action film, ''Invincible Dragon''. The protagonist claims he encounters this dragon as a child, which somehow inspires him to grow up to be a martial artist and fighter who calls himself "Jiu-long" (Nine Dragon), even though most of the characters of the film thought he was bluffing, or he was merely hallucinating a childhood memory. The movie even toys with the notion that the dragon encountered by the protagonist is AllJustADream or a hallucination. At the end of the film, [[spoiler: the Nine-headed dragon personally appears in the climax to save him and devour the BigBad, revealing the childhood memory to be RealAllAlong]].

* In ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'', the true form of [[spoiler: Gohma Vlitra]] is an eight-headed Orochi made of rock and lava, and is probably the biggest depiction of an Orochi ever, literally having his heads so big they cover the entire circumference of planet earth. It makes the ''Manga/{{Yaiba}}'' version above seem tiny by comparison.

* ''Manga/HoozukiNoReitetsu'': Yamata no Orochi works in the Screaming Hell, the part of hell where drunkards are punished.

The ''Yamata no Orochi'' is an [[MultipleHeadCase eight-headed]], [[MultipleTailedBeast eight-tailed]] serpentine monster in Myth/JapaneseMythology, similar in appearance to the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Lernaean Hydra]], give or take a head or two. According to Shinto legend, the Orochi was defeated by the storm god Susano-o, who while WalkingTheEarth after getting booted out of Heaven, answered a request for aid by two earthly deities who were forced by the Orochi to hand over one of their daughters every year to be devoured by the beast, and were now down to their eighth and last one, [[BarrierMaiden Princess Kushinada]]. Just to distinguish the tale from Western dragon slaying myths, Susano-o first [[AttractiveBentGender lured]] the Orochi out by [[WholesomeCrossdresser disguising himself as Kushinada]] (with the real one [[ShapeShifting disguised as a comb]] in his hair), and then killed it by setting out a bowl of strong sake for each head, letting it drink itself into a stupor(as it only had ''one'' stomach), ''then'' lopping them off. Inside Orochi's body, Susano-o [[RandomDrop found]] the sword ''[[NamedWeapons Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi]]'' ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusanagi "Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven"]]) that was later re-named "{{Kusanagi}}" ("Grass Cutter"), and is one of [[TheImperialRegalia Japan's Three Sacred Treasures]].

* In ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'', [[spoiler:in order to stop Mikoto's [[SuperPoweredEvilSide out-of-control Level 6 Shift]], Touma tries to use his [[AntiMagic Imagine Breaker]] and ends up losing his right arm. In response, a dragon head emerges from the stump of his arm (something that previously happened in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''). Then seven other dragons emerge as well and all of them join efforts to bite and seal away Mikoto's power]].