Spirit of Fire - Supporting Characters - Johann Faust VIII

Johann Faust VIII

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Sam Riegel, Marc Thompson (English)

Hailing from Germany, Johann Faust VIII (ファウストVIII世, Fausuto Hassei?) is the eighth-generation descendant of the legendary Doctor Faustus, who made a deal with the devil Mephistopheles for his necromancy skills along with youth and riches for seven years in exchange for his immortal soul. Faustus's descendants, including Faust VIII, distanced themselves from their ancestor's legacy, turning to the profession of medicine and regarding Faustus as a taboo within the family.

Following family tradition, Faust VIII studied medicine and fell deeply in love with a young woman named Eliza, who had an incurable disease. Faust's perseverance eventually paid off and he found a cure for her illness, allowing them to marry and live happily together. Faust delighted in saving lives while Eliza faithfully worked as his assistant. However, when Eliza was shot by a robber and died, Faust is driven insane and turns to his ancestor's forbidden legacy to resurrect her with necromancy. Using Eliza's skeleton as a medium, he is able to conjure an image of her using his furyoku, though when he meets Yoh he is still unable to fully summon Eliza's spirit. His motivation to become Shaman King is in hopes of fully resurrecting Eliza and is utterly single-minded about achieving his goal.

Yoh is defeated by Faust in the Shaman Fight's second fight. Because he is self-taught, Anna recognizes that Faust is remarkably talented and forces Yoh to accept him as the third member of Team Funbari Onsen after she summons Eliza's ghost; her ulterior motive is apparently to have Faust eventually become the doctor for Funbari Onsen. Reunited with his beloved Eliza, Faust becomes dedicated to Yoh and Anna out of sincere gratitude, utilizing his shamanic and medical skills to support Yoh and becomes powerful enough to resurrect the dead after training with the Ultra Senji Ryakketsu. Despite appearing as the weakest member of Yoh's team, Faust is highly ingenious; in battle he replaces his missing legs with that of his dog, Frankenstiney, to regain his mobility and during the invasion of the Plants, he composes the "Funbari Poem" song to distract himself from the mind-warping effect of the officiants' Patch Song.

The embodiment of complete dedication, Faust's greatest strengths are his selflessness and pure-hearted spirit; like Yoh, he will not hesitate to save his enemies if he can. Beyond his emotional instability, particularly when Eliza is insulted or threatened, he is completely rational and will not tolerate interruptions while working. At the conclusion of the series, Faust is killed during the invasion of the Plants while fighting the officiant Radim, but his spirit continues to accompany and support Yoh, who integrates with his spirit to utilize Faust's shamanic healing abilities. Though he is initially resurrected after the conclusion of the final battle, he collapses soon afterward from exhaustion. He elects not to be revived in order to remain with Eliza in the Great Spirit. To honour his memory, his "Funbari Poem" jingle is used as the theme song for the inn and the Funbari Onsen staff place his portrait in their family shrine.