Trademark pose

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Barefoot with feet resting on tortoise and snake, which are his stomach and intestines respectively

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Weapons

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Sword and 3 Mountains Seal

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Personality

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Stern, yet sensitive

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Patron of

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Martial arts exponents

 

Origin story

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One of the highest-ranking deities in Taoism, Xuan Wu started out as a lowly butcher who killed without remorse.

 

In his later years, as his errant ways dawned on and tormented him, Xuan Wu left the slaughterhouse for a remote mountain to cultivate himself.

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Once, after helping a woman in labour, Xuan Wu was washing her clothes in a river when a vision appeared, informing him that the woman was actually a goddess.

 

Driven by guilt, Xuan Wu dug out his stomach and intestines (he was a butcher, remember) to wash them in the river in a fatal attempt to cleanse himself. Impressed with his sincerity, the Jade Emperor made him a deity.

 

Meanwhile, his stomach and intestines floated down the river and turned into a demonic tortoise and snake.

 

Seeing how his actions caused suffering to the people, Xuan Wu returned to subdue them, turning them into his mode of transport.