Four Heavenly Kings

The Four Heavenly Kings (四天王, Shiten'nou)^?, also called the Four Devas, in the Megami Tensei universe primarily refer to the 4 tutelary icons from the Buddhist mythology.


Bishamonten	Jikokuten	Zouchouten	Koumokuten
in their latest depictions in the series.

History[]

In the Buddhist faith, the Four Heavenly Kings, also known as the Four Devas are four guardian gods, each of whom watches over one cardinal direction of the world. They reside in the Cāturmahārājika heaven on the lower slopes of Mount Sumeru, which is the lowest of the six worlds of the devas of the Kāmadhātu. They are the protectors of the world and fighters of evil, each able to command a legion of supernatural creatures to protect the Dharma.

Each of Four Heavenly Kings guards a cardinal direction; they are:

Bishamonten (north)
Jikokuten (east)
Zouchouten (south)
Koumokuten (west)

Appearances[]

Profile[]

Shin Megami Tensei[]

The Four Heavenly Kings are either fought or recruited, depending on alignment, after reaching the Basilica. Each one is in a mansion in the outskirts of Tokyo, directed there by Masakado to create and hold a barrier around the city. Their removal from their respective mansions allows God to flood Tokyo, leaving only the Basilica above water. After the flood, if the protagonist is Neutral and has received Masakado's Katana, one piece of Masakado's armor can be retrieved from each of the Four Heavenly Kings' mansions.

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne[]

The Four Heavenly Kings are all optional bosses. Bishamonten is found in the Northern Temple, and defeating him grants the Gundari Magatama. Afterward, after obtaining all of the Magatama, they can all be fought in Bandou Shrine after getting the Lord's Sword from Mido.

Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey[]

The Four Heavenly Kings are members of the Chaos faction stationed in Eridanus opposite of Kazfiel and Aniel. They will fight the protagonist to prove his worth in EX Missions. The last mission requires the protagonist to be Chaos aligned.

Shin Megami Tensei IV[]

The Heavenly Kings must be defeated in the Neutral only Challenge Quest Tokyo Cosmos. They must each be defeated separately in the four directions of Tokyo and then defeated as a group.

Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse[]

The Heavenly Kings are now members of the Divine Powers, guarding the Tokugawa Mandala for Maitreya.

Shin Megami Tensei V / Vengeance[]

After acquiring the Lord's Sword from Arahabaki during the Subquest "The Ancient Guardian", Arahabaki implores the Nahobino to travel across the four areas Da'at to find the Four Heavenly Kings. The Nahobino does so and finds them initially dormant until the sword glows with a bright light, awakening them. Seeing the sword in their hands, they challenge the protagonist to see if they are worthy of it, with each fight being its own Quest. Each one is defeated in the ensuing fight, and seeing that they are worthy, give him a Large Glory Crystal and their essence to aid him in his goals.

Each of the Four Heavenly Kings prior to this are punishing demons with levels that scale with their respective region, but during their respective Quest fights, they are all scaled to Lv. 65. If they are defeated prior to obtaining the Lord's Sword, they simply respawn and stand in their respective placements.

In Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance's Canon of Creation, Wargod Masakado is available to be fought after the Four Heavenly Kings are bested. In the Canon of Vengeance, only three of the Four Heavenly Kings can be fought, as Chiyoda, the area that Jikokuten manages, being replaced by Shinjuku, and Jikokuten is not present at all in this route, diminishing the Heavenly Kings' role to punishing bosses.

Devil Survivor[]

The Four Heavenly Kings act as a barrier that keeps the Demon World and the earth from merging. The death of Jikokuten at the hands of Jezebel while possessing Amane Kuzuryu lead to the barrier weakening and for demon summoning to become possible. As demons are summoned the barrier they uphold weakens more and more. On the Messiah, Overlord, and Atsuro routes the remaining three must be beaten before Babel can appear.

In Yuzu's 8th Day the three seek to restore the barrier using Take-Mikazuchi. If the events are not done for this optional quest then the bad ending will be obtained. If he succeeds in replacing Jikokuten then Take-Mikazuchi will join the Four Heavenly Kings as a keeper of the worlds barrier and stop the merging of worlds.

Design[]

Besides the more cartoonish depiction in the Demikids series, designs of the Four Heavenly Kings originated from Shin Megami Tensei, while were faithful to their Buddhist origin, did not directly borrow any external source. Only Bishamonten received a revamp in Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner and Soul Hackers as he is the only Heavenly King appears in these games.

Starting from Devil Survivor, Kazuma Kaneko changed the designs of the Four Heavenly Kings to be almost identical to the clay sculptures in Tōdai-ji, these new designs eventually were made into 3D models and first appeared in Persona 5. Also worth noting that Kaneko's renditions of Bishamonten and Koumokuten share similar fierce expressions with the other two deities, the actual statues in Tōdai-ji have the former two wearing more relaxing expressions.[1]

Gallery[]

Shin Megami Tensei
Playable Characters	Protagonist - Heroine - Law Hero - Chaos Hero - Pascal
Non-Playable Characters	Stephen - Ozawa - Yuriko - Old Man - Gotou - Ambassador Thorman - En no Ozuno - Louis Cyphre - Soul Diver
Locations	Tokyo - Kichijoji - Shinjuku - Ichigaya - Diamond Realm - Shibuya - Roppongi - Ginza Underpass - Ginza - Tokyo Tower - Shinagawa - Ikebukuro - Ueno - Tokyo Destinyland - Basilica - River Styx
Terminology	Terminal - Alignment - Ring of Gaea - Order of Messiah - Great Cataclysm - Sword fusion - Four Heavenly Kings
Soundtracks	Shin Megami Tensei Sound Collection
Archives	Demons - Bosses - Skills - Items
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