| “ | You will be immortal. You will be infinite. | „ |
| ~ The Moon King |
Raiden the Moon King (also known as The Moon King or Raiden) is the main antagonist of Laika's 4th full-length animated feature film, Kubo and the Two Strings.
He is the ruler of the night and the father of The Sisters and Kubo's mother. After defeating Hanzo, he seeks to kill Kubo's mother for betraying his family and to blind Kubo in order to make his grandson live with him.
He was voiced by Academy Award nominated actor, Ralph Fiennes, who also played Lord Voldemort, Hades, Victor Quartermaine, Rameses, Amon Goeth, and Francis Dolarhyde.
Biography
The Moon King became angry when he found out that his daughter was in love with Hanzo, a swordsman and eloped before she gave birth to his grandson Kubo, The Moon King cursed Hanzo into a beetle-like hybrid and his daughter passed away and reincarnated as Monkey.
Role in the film
Although he is not seen till the climax of the movie, he drives most of the plot forward. At the film's climax, he greets Kubo He wants to take Kubo's other eye in order to join his "family" and make him immortal like him. Kubo refuses and an angered Raiden transforms into a monstrous dragon-like creature known as the "Moon Beast" and attacks. Despite landing several blows, Kubo is beaten and thrown into the village cemetery where the Moon Beast corners both him and the villagers. Kubo sheds the armor and re-strings his shamisen, using his mother's hair, his father's bowstring, and a strand of his own hair. He uses its magic to recruit the spirits of the deceased villagers, showing to his grandfather that memories are the strongest magic of all and can never be destroyed. Kubo uses the spirits to shield himself and the villagers from the Moon Beast and then engulfs him in their magic. The Moon King is defeated and becomes mortal, and in his human form has no recollection of who or what he was. The villagers show compassion and forgiveness and tell him that he was a man of many positive traits, thus convincing him that he was a good man.
Personality
On the surface, the Moon King presents himself as a wise, composed, and imperturbable elder with nothing but his family's own good in mind. Even Satiaru, who has been on the run from him and his other daughters, claim that they do not hate her and her son, and that they simply want to do what is best for him. This displays a moral complication to his character.
Despite this however, the Moon King is shown to be much crueler and authoritarian than he lets on, this nature slipping occasionally as he talks to Kubo. He seems to have no remorse for all three of his daughters, all of whom died, and seems to view his daughters and grandson not as actual family to cherish, but as possessions for him to have. When Kubo denies him, he turns into a Moon Beast with the intent of slowly and painfully killing him.
The Moon King's opinion of the mortal realm and the people that dwell in it is very low, even describing it as being like "Hell" for the various flaws and horrors that dwell in it (despite being directly responsible for many of these horrors). He is metaphorically blind to humanity's goodness, something he wishes to make Kubo by taking his eyes, and was known to directly antagonized any human that questioned his rule (like Hanzo).
After his defeat, the Moon King was left with no memory of who he was, lost and confused of where and who he was. The villagers then go on to explain how he was a kind man, a standard that he himself now lives by with his grandson.
Powers and Abilities
The Moon King acts as standing ruler of the Heavens, and thus holds authority over both the Heavens and the Earth, though how far this authority reaches is never seen in full detail.
As his name suggests, the Moon King has powers relegated to the night. He was able to locate his daughter and grandson when Kubo accidentally stayed out after sunset, and was able to project his form through the moonlight. He was able to curse Hanzo into the form of an anthropomorphic beetle with the loss of his memories, and he was able to communicate with his grandson through his dreams. It can even be assumed that he was responsible for the creation of the Gashadokuro and the Garden of Eyes used to guard Hanzo's armor, and was even able to turn into a monster himself. Despite being physically blind, the Moon King is fully capable of physical sight. Given the dark nature of his daughter's powers, it can be assumed that he is capable of all of the various forms of magic that Sariatu and the Sisters are capable of.
Despite all of this immense power, he does have his limits. The Moon King is vulnerable to the power of Hanzo's magical armor, the Sword Unbreakable managing to permanently blind him in his right eye. With the help of the townspeople and the memories of their loved ones, Kubo was able to defeat the Moon King, turning him human with no memories of who he was.
Trivia
- The Moon King is the second male main antagonist of the Laika and Focus Features film, the first being Archibald Snatcher from The Boxtrolls.
- He is also the second main antagonist of a Laika and Focus Features movie who redeems himself, after Aggie Prenderghast in Paranorman.
- The Moon King has since beat The Beldam, the main villain of Laika and Focus Features's first film, Coraline. as being both their oldest and most powerful villain, essentially qualifying as ruler of the Heavens and the gods that dwell there, as opposed to the Other Mother's dominion over a small pocket dimension.
- He is also the first Laika and Focus Features main villain who doesn't die at the end of his movie.
- His voice actor, Ralph Finnes also played many other villains, mainly Victor Quartermaine from Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of The Were-Rabbit and Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter franchise.
- He is similar to Professor Pericles from Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. Both of them did unforgiveable acts that would easily qualify them to be complete monsters, however, near their defeat, their memory of their evil sides are erased forever and they redeem themselves.