History Characters / NinjaGaiden

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Though she treats Ryu with respect in the first reboot title, her words and actions later in the game incline that she still has her royalties to Murai [[spoiler:and ends up making a subtle FriendOrIdol decision to let Ryu go on to save the world from Murai.]] Perhaps because no similar situation appears in the series or ''Dead or Alive'' ever again, Ayane never once doubts him again, besides the non-canon Ninja Dog difficulty hijinks.

* SavedByCanon: Ayane is severely injured in the Hayabusa village slaughter of the first reboot game, but considering she's one of the main faces of the ''Dead or Alive'' franchise which takes place after these games, it's pretty obvious nothing is going to happen to her compared to nearly everyone else being killed or driven to hiding.

* TheComicallySerious: The world around Ryu is batshit insane, and he approaches it with a no-nonsense mindset. Go figure several characters point out that he himself is a bit of an absurdity as a literal {{Ninja}} in a [[SleevesAreForWimps sleeveless]] take of a SpyCatsuit tearing through everything in his path [[HighlyVisibleNinja in plain sight]]. Rare moments of his inner commentary also leak through with certain environmental examinations, like thinking a broken window was so poorly repaired that it must be an insult to ninjas.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: He muses about the pursuit of power when he learns that Joe is still off training in the wilderness, before expressing that it's a shame that the Dark Dragon Sword, the explicitly evil artifact with dark powers that are a danger to the world, must remain sealed and its power unused. Lo and behold, he sought the sword the entire time [[spoiler:and effectively utilized Ryu's RoaringRampageOfRevenge as a conduit for empowering the blade further to his own ends.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: He muses about the pursuit of power when he learns that Joe is still off training in the wilderness, before expressing that it's a shame that the Dark Dragon Sword, the explicitly evil artifact with dark powers that are a danger to the world, must remain sealed and its power unused. Lo and behold, he sought the sword the entire time [[spoiler:and effectively utilized Ryu's RoaringRampageOfRevenge as a conduit for empowering the blade further to his own ends.]

The leader of the "Shadow Clan Ninja" and Ryu's maternal uncle, Murai is a former member of the Dragon Ninja Clan who went rogue and [[StartMyOwn formed his own ninja clan]], while prefering to stay away from the Dragon Ninja Clan's affairs. Murai still wanted to keep a good relationship with the Hayabusa Clan, thus aids his nephew by opening the Shadow Clan Fortress for Ryu's training routine. Murai is open about his extreme philosophy of the ever-increasing need for power a true {{Ninja}} must possess, no matter the cost, so he tries to push some of it to Ryu by trying to make him accept the Dark Dragon Blade.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Given her insults and mocking treatment of Ryu, Canna, and Mizuki, Lovelace is easily the least sympathetic of Ryu's enemies throughout the ''Ninja Gaiden'' series]].
* ForcedTransformation: [[spoiler:Lovelace is pushed into her own experiment by the Regent of the Mask, transforming her into a monster that Ryu has to defeat]].

* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler:Thrown into her alchemic, genetic vat, transformed into a monster, has her arms cut off several times, decapitated and finally has her head cut in two vertically]].

* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Lovelace appears at the start of Day 4 and dies at the end of it]].

* KickTheDog: The first thing players see the Regent do is brutally kill the British Prime Minister (it's implied the other hostages didn't get away alive, either). Near the end of Day 3, [[spoiler:he pushes Lovelace into a genetic vat, transforming her into a monster when [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness she's no longer of use to him]]]].

* KickTheDog: The first thing players see the Regent do is brutally kill the British Prime Minister (it's implied the other hostages didn't get away alive, either). Near the end of Day 3, [[spoiler:he pushes Lovelace into a genetic vat, transforming her into a monster when [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness she's no longer of use to him]] (though given Lovelace proved herself to be a bitch, this counts more as a KickTheSonOfABitch)]].

* CharClone: The Regent is an EnigmaticMinion who wears a [[WhiteMaskOfDoom white mask]] and red robe. [[spoiler:He is also shown to have blonde hair when unmasked]].

* FanServicePack: A notable small, red tattoo above her cleavage, wearing a SpyCatsuit showing off plenty of skin and a body figure comparable to the women of ''Dead or Alive''.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Players can make Ryu shoot an arrow against Sonia, while she is on view and caged in the Underworld, during the boss fight against Alexei. Doing so prompts Sonia to let out a death cry and [[NonstandardGameOver an instant game over]].

* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler:Thrown into her a alchemic, genetic vat, transformed into a monster, has her arms cut off several times, decapitated and finally has her head cut in two vertically]].

The characters in ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' introduced during the UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem trilogy and the modern series.

* CanonImmigrant: Like Rachel, Momiji finally appears in the UpdatedRerelease of ''Dead or Alive 5'', including the Creator/{{Nintendo}} UsefulNotes/WiiU UpdatedRerelease of ''[[VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi Warriors Orochi 3]]''.

The second CanonImmigrant from the ''Dead or Alive'' series, Kasumi debuts in the UpdatedRerelease for the Wii U ''Razor's Edge'' as a free DownloadableContent character (unlockable character in the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 and UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 versions). However, she previously appeared in a brief cameo in ''Sigma II'', but only as TheFaceless.

* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Subverted. Ryu did train intensively to reach the level of Master Ninja, but his clan is actually descended from the same Dragon Dieties that birthed the Fiends, which gives him strength and power above normal humans. This explains why Doku nearly succeeded in turning him into a Fiend. He can also wield a massive battle axe, an [[DropTheHammer enormous warhammer]], a [[{{BFS}} great sword]] explicitly said to be 100 pounds in weight, and a [[SinisterScythe gigantic scythe]] stolen from a Greater Fiend twice his height.

* DropTheHammer: {{Zigzagged}} - the "War Hammer" in the first game looks more like an axe, while the "Inferno Hammer" in ''Sigma II'' does resemble an actual hammer this time around.

* FinishingStomp: Her version of the [[SpinningPiledriver Izuna Drop]], which is a variation of one of her grapples from the ''Dead or Alive'' series. She stomps her victim's head again and again in mid-air until she finally crushes it to the ground.
** SpectacularSpinning: The "XXX>Y" variant has her grabbing her enemies and spinning backwards before crushing them, similarly to Ayane's drop.

** LightningBruiser: She can potentially be one of the best characters in the game in the hands of advanced players. While she doesn't have Ryu's ease-of-use nor his defense, she has deadlier techniques, though they're trickier to pull off. Futhermore, Kasumi's the second fastest character after Ayane.

* StupidEvil: You're looking at a guy who wants to wipe out humanity because he thinks he's not getting the recognition he deserves. It never even seems to occur to him that the way to win people over is to commit good deeds, not the total opposite, and that his plan to repopulate the world with otherworldly creatures from god knows where won't actually give him what he craves, only further isolation or worse.

* StupidEvil: You're looking at a guy who wants to wipe out humanity because he thinks he's not getting the recognition he deserves. It never even seems to occur to him that the way to win people over is to commit good deeds, not the total opposite, and that his plan to replace people with otherworldly creatures from god knows where won't actually give him what he craves, only further isolation or worse.

* StupidEvil: You're looking at a guy who decided that all of humanity needs to die just because he wasn't being given the affection and recognition he felt he deserved. It never even seemed to occur to him that the way to win people over is to commit good deeds, not the total opposite, and that his plan to replace people with otherworldly creatures from god knows where won't actually give him what he craves, only further isolation or worse.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Cliff first meets Ryu and extends his hand in friendship but Ryu doesn't return the gesture, he noticeably looks dejected, and a few minutes later, can be seen looking on with subtle envy as Ryu shakes hands with Canna. This is the earliest hint of Cliff's GreenEyedMonster status, and how deeply he resents feeling overlooked while other members of his family form bonds rather quickly.

* StupidEvil: You're looking at a guy who suddenly decided to cause a worldwide genocide all because he felt he wasn't being given the affection and recognition he felt he deserved. It never even seemed to occur to him that the way to win people over is to commit good deeds, not the total opposite, and that his plan to replace humankind with otherworldly creatures from god knows where won't actually give him what he craves, only further isolation or worse.

* DistressedDamsel: After Doku captures her, Rachel spends the rest of the story like this.

* EatenAlive: In one of the instances of her being a DistressedDamsel, a boss fight starts with her being devoured whole by a massive, sea anemone-like fiend. She escapes after Ryu defeats the creature.

* DistressedDamsel: When captured by Black Spider Ninjas in the first chapter, then handed over to Elizébet; this occurs again with Alexei.

* FauxActionGirl: Despite fighting countless Black Spider and tactical ninja {{Mook}}s offscreen on the Daedalus, Sonia still falls prety to this quickly when stronger foes are involved; see DistressedDamsel.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Sonia, a CIA agent tasked to work with Ryu, who frequently straddles FauxActionGirl and DistressedDamsel in the modern series replaces Irene Lew, another CIA agent with similar status situations in the NES trilogy. This is because Sonia ''is'' Irene Lew, or at least a modernized reimagination of her, as revealed in ''Dead or Alive: Dimensions''.

* DistressedDamsel: She gets captured twice

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Cliff first meets Ryu and extends his hand in friendship but Ryu doesn't return the gesture, he noticeably looks dejected, and a few minutes later, can be seen looking on with subtle envy as Ryu shakes hands with Canna. This is the earliest hint of Cliff's true nature as a GreenEyedMonster, and how deeply he resents being overlooked while others form bonds rather quickly.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Cliff first meets Ryu and extends his hand in friendship but Ryu doesn't return the gesture, he noticeably looks dejected, and a few minutes later, can be seen looking on with subtle envy as Ryu shakes hands with Canna. This is the earliest hint of Cliff's true nature as a GreenEyedMonter, and how deeply he resents being overlooked while others form bonds rather quickly.