Himiko

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Sun Queen Himiko
Himiko 2.png
Died 2013
Yamatai
Nationality Japanese
Occupation The Sun Queen and ruler of Yamatai
Game(s) Tomb Raider (2013)
Voice Arden Cho[1]

Himiko (also Sun Queen) is a character in Tomb Raider (2013)

She was a Japanese shaman queen. A temple on the mysterious island Yamatai, where Lara Croft and the crew of the Endurance get stranded on in the Tomb Raider Reboot, was built in her name.[2]

Life

Himiko is the first and the last Sun Queen[3] and the ruler of Yamatai. The origins of the very first Sun Queen are not revealed.

Forever Living Soul

The secret of Himiko is that by choosing certain Priestesses of the Sun to her court, she lives and rules Yamatai forever. As Himiko grows old, she chooses one of the Priestesses of the Sun to become her successor, or actually the next vessel of her soul. The chosen Priestess of the Sun is escorted to the Chamber of the Sun and she will emerge Himiko in the Ritual, where Himiko's soul transfers from her old body to the one of a Priestess of the Sun. This Priestess of the Sun then becomes the next Sun Queen.[4][5]

The Ritual and Hoshi

A girl named Hoshi is once chosen to become a Priestess of the Sun. Years pass and she becomes Himiko's "precious first daughter", which scares Hoshi because she doesn't want to become the next Sun Queen.[6] As Hoshi's fate comes closer and closer when Himiko grows old, Hoshi learns the truth about what it truly means to become the next Sun Queen. Hoshi defys her fate for the sake of all Priestesses of the Sun that would follow her and also for the sake of Yamatai. She steals a dagger from Stormguard General and kills herself at the Chamber of the Sun, as it was the only thing that could save her.[7]

From this moment Himiko's soul rages in the storms as she lives a half-life. Her soul is trapped in a decaying body and the storms will stop when her soul is no longer trapped.[8]

Himiko and Mathias

Many years after the corrupt Ritual, in June 1982, due to the raging storms a plane crahes to Yamatai, which brings Mathias to the island. Determined to escape Yamatai on some day, he desperately starts to look for the secret of the island as he sees learning what has happened there as a key for escaping. A couple of months pass and Mathias learns that somehow everything started with Himiko. To be able to fully control the island and move forward with his plans, Mathias cretes a cult, the Solarii.[9]

Being stranded on Yamatai for years, Mathias starts to somehow believe that Himiko is showing him the way - she always has shown him the way on the island. He discovers what, or actually who is the key to escaping the island and he is sure that he will find her, even if it takes years. Mathias starts to hear Himiko whispering in his sleep as the important event of the Endurance shipwrecking to Yamatai comes closer.[10] He believes that if he is able to bring Himiko back, everything he wants to escape from will vanish in an instant "and like the sun rising anew, she will bathe all the land and seas with her light, burning away everything." Mathias would then "emerge from this scorched earth... reborn and pure".[11]

Endurance's Shipwreck to Yamatai (2013)

As the Endurance shipwrecks to Yamatai, the event brings new survivors to the island. Most importantly it brings Samantha Nishimura there, to the land of her ancestors. Mathias realizes almost instantly when he meets her, that she is the one he has been looking for all those years he has been on Yamatai. Samantha is the kidnapped by Mathias as he intends to fullfill the Ritual that was corrupted ages ago.

Ultimate Death

Lara finds the place where the remains of the Stormguard General are, and she removes the sword that the Stormguard General had struck to himself. She finds a secret compartment from the handle of the sword that contained a note saying the following:

I have failed my queen. The ritual was corrupted. The priestess knew only death could save her and took her own life. Now the first and last Queen lives a half-life, a soul in a decaying body. Her rage became the storms and would not stop while her soul is tied to this earth. My Stormguard are sworn to protect her. They must continue, but I cannot.
In-game information[12]

The note makes Lara realize that in order to stop the storms she needs to destroy Himiko's body in the ritual chamber. She sets out to yet again save her friend Samantha Nishimura, and after fighting Mathias, Lara interrupts the transferring of Himiko's soul by hitting the decaying body of Himiko with a lit torch. Himiko's body starts to burn and, as her body is destroyed, the horrid screams of Himiko are heard.

After Himiko has been destroyed, the storms calm down and the remaining survivor's of the Endurance, Jonah Maiava, Joslin Reyes, Samantha Nishimura and Lara are able to leave Yamatai for good.

Characterization

Himiko of Yamatai is the kind of ruler who is both feared and prayed for.[13] A Chinese Ambassador describes Himiko in the following way:

She is unlike any woman I have ever encountered. Beautiful, yet inscrutable; calculating, even. - - When I met her alone, I came to realize that she is not at all what she seems. I was sent by my lord to spy on her... to assess the strenght of her armies. But now I feel she is the one assessing me. - - I cannot deny a powerful feeling that the Sun Queen should not be trifled with.
In-game information[14]


Hoshi tells how the Sun Queen is like a mother to the Priestesses of the Sun, warm, attentive and loving,[15] but eventually she learns the truth about the Sun Queen: "A twisted evil beyond imagining lives within the Sun Queen. An evil that hungers for more than just the land and seas of Yamatai."[16]

Family

Himiko doesn't have a family, but she surrounds herself with the Priestesses of the Sun, who she calls her daughters or Daughters of the Sun. Hoshi becomes Himiko's "precious first daughter".[17]

An important figure in Himiko's court is the Stormguard General, who pledged his very life to serving Himiko.[18] After the corrupt Ritual, the Stormguard General saw no other option but to commit suicide as he felt he had failed her queen.[19]

Historical Precedent

Himiko or Pimiko was the obscure shaman queen of the kingdom of Yamatai-koku in ancient Japan. She supposedly ruled some time around 170-250 CE. Her Name is mentioned in historical Chinese documents, so it is possible she was a historical figure. She supposedly ended a time of warfare among the people and united them under her rule using some kind of magic. After her death the realm fell back into chaos.[20]

See Also

One of the Priestesses of the Sun, who was chosen to become the next vessel of Himiko's soul
Group of maidens who surround Himiko and are chosen by her
The General of Himiko's Stormguard, committed suicide after the Ritual was corrupted
Man who is stranded to Yamatai, finds out the secret of Himiko
Gets kidnapped by Mathias, and is then about to become the next Sun Queen. Must have some sort of relation to either Himiko, Hoshi or other Priestesses of the Sun.

Gallery

  • Character model of Himiko

  • Face of Himiko

References

  1. ↑ Tomb Raider (2013) end credits
  2. ↑ play3 Germany Issue 69
  3. ↑ In-game document General: Failure of Duty
  4. ↑ In-game document Hoshi: In Her Image
  5. ↑ In-game document Hoshi: An End
  6. ↑ In-game document Hoshi: In Her Image
  7. ↑ In-game documents Hoshi: Answering the Call, Hoshi: In Her Image, General: Failure of Duty and Hoshi: An End
  8. ↑ In-game document General: Failure of Duty
  9. ↑ In-game documents Stranded, Alone, Research and The Solarii
  10. ↑ In-game documents Belief, Obsession and Lost
  11. ↑ In-game document Lost
  12. ↑ In-game cutscene
  13. ↑ In-game document titled Ambassador: Discoveries
  14. ↑ In-game document titled Ambassador: First Impressions
  15. ↑ In-game document Hoshi: At Her Side
  16. ↑ In-game document titled Hoshi: An End
  17. ↑ In-game document Hoshi: In Her Image
  18. ↑ In-game document General: The Oath
  19. ↑ In-game document General: Failure of Duty
  20. ↑ Wikipedia article on Himiko Retrieved on Jan 1st 2013.
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