Hwoarang

Story

Hwoarang, one of the most recognizable characters in the Tekken franchise, is a Taekwondo student of Baek Doo San and Jin Kazama's main rival. He was first introduced in Tekken 3 and then appeared in every mainline game of the franchise.

Before the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, Hwoarang used to be a prolific Taekwondo student of Baek Doo San and a leader of a street fraud gang who picked fights and cheating wagers to bet against them, only for Hwoarang to step in at the right moment and win vast sums of money for them. One day, he encountered Mishima Zaibatsu representatives, with Jin Kazama among them, and convinced him into a match. The fight ended in a draw, and this was the first time Hwoarang failed to take down his opponent. Later, Hwoarang's master Baek Doo San was presumably killed by Ogre and his student entered the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 to avenge his master and possibly have a remach with Jin.

After the tournament, Hwoarang returned to his homeland, South Korea, where he was drafted into the military and served in the Special Operations unit. Despite several successful operations, Hwoarang deserted from the service to take part in the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4. However, during the tournament, he was caught by the military and taken into custody for his crime. While serving time, Hwoarang received a message from his master, Baek Doo San, who survived Ogre's attack, where he told him to return to the military and complete his service.

After finishing his military service, Hwoarang entered the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 alongside his master. He was finally matched against Jin Kazama and was able to defeat him, but Jin's body was overtaken by his Devil form, which attacked Hwoarang and nearly killed him. After receiving the necessary treatment, Hwoarang asked his master to put him through the most extensive and extreme training to become as strong as possible.

Later, Hwoarang became the leader of the rebellion group called The Resistance, who fought against Mishima Zaibatsu. He met Lars Alexandesson and Alisa Bosconovitch during this time and Alisa noted that personal desire for revenge against Jin Kazama, who was the head of Mishima Zaibatsu at the time, might compromise The Resistance and their struggle against the conglomerate.

When Jin Kzama disappeared, Hwoarang suspected there was more to it than met the eye and followed the lead to the Middle East. There, he encountered Jin in his Devil form again but defeated him this time and forced Jin back into his human form. After the fight, the United Nations forces arrived to pursue Jin. Hwoarang pushed Jin out of the grenade's blast radius so he would be able to flee, but Hwoarang himself suffered an injury to his right eye and collapsed, unable to pursue his rival further.

Personality

Hwoarang is an arrogant, impulsive, and hot-headed individual who values his fighting prowess above everything else and knows only one way to settle a debate. The only person he truly respects is his master, Baek Doo San. After his first match against Jin Kazama, Hwoarang's main determination is to fight Jin again and prevail, though he already managed to do it a couple of times. Despite some impressive achievements, Hwoarang is hardly pleased with them and struggles hard to find meaning in ordinary daily life.

Fighting style

Being a Taekwondo student, Hwoarang's arsenal is full of powerful kicks and pokes. Due to multiple combat stances available to him, Hwoarang's movelist is massive, full of excellent offensive options to apply constant pressure on the opponent. Hwoarang also has a decent amount of throwing techniques despite not being a grappler, which only extends his offensive capabilities. His gameplan revolves around being on the offensive as much as possible due to quite poor defensive performance.  

Appearance

Hwoarang is a tall young man with dyed orange hair tied in a top knot. He wears a white Taekwondo dobok with a black collar, rolled-up sleeves, and a black belt. He also wears black dobok pants, shoes, and black fingerless gloves.