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"Hey man, Life and death are bestowed equally on everyone...I'm a mirror that reflects people. The death you ultimately face is entirely up to you."

— Tezca to Justin Law in "Chapter 69".

Tezca Tlipoca (テスカ・トリポカ, Tesuka Toripoka), introduced as Mysterious Bear (?) (謎のクマ, Nazo no Kuma), is the Death Scythe in charge of South America.[4]

Personality[]

Tezca is very easily amused, as he constantly bursts into fits of laughter at the majority of the jokes his meister Enrique cracks. He has also displayed some narcissistic tendencies that are reflective of his mirror form, such as wishing that through the use of his abilities he could successfully replicate another version of himself; also, he has been shown to despise being ignored during conversations.

Despite some of these prominent character flaws; Tezca is an adamant believer in both friendship and redemption, even going so far as to deceive the entirety of those he knew at a considerable personal risk, just so he could present an opportunity for Justin Law to atone for his numerous misdeeds.

Appearance[]

Initial | Ghostly

Tezca's full appearance (bear mask)

Tezca's initial appearance.

Tezca's initial appearance consists of both a dark suit—trousers and jacket—with a light-colored polo shirt. Tezca's most noticeable feature is his animal mask, initially that of a bear. The mask is decorated in plaid. With his mask, few of Tezca's actual facial features are visible. This mask results in his initial nickname upon his introduction.[5] After his significant deception which involved faking his own death, Tezca exchanges the large bear mask of his typical attire with a similar one that is instead themed around a mouse with the intention of disguising himself.[6] Continuing with this method of concealment, Tezca alters the style of his mask numerous times over the course of his pursuit before eventually settling upon one that resembles a black panther.[7] [8]

After his body is destroyed by Justin Law, Tezca returns in a strange form: disfigured, ghostly, and torn. His clothes are ripped, his animal form is exaggerated, and perhaps most surprising, his bones are exposed. From what can be seen from the many rips in Tezca's clothes, it appears that Tezca's actual body has reduced to bones; his spine can be seen extending from his waist to his head. Existing only within mirrors, Tezca is now intangible, no longer physically present. Initially it seems that Tezca has added more than a head to his costume, as his arms and legs appear less human and more animalistic. Additionally, both hands and feet are bare and consist of only three digits, and a long tail emerges from Tezca. Whether this appearance is costumed or, as he exists in a mirror, a literal transformation of human into animal is not yet fully supported.

Tezca's new animal head has a more profound and jutting mouth with longer sharp teeth. The eyes lack pupils, instead containing multiple layers of circles that make Tezca appear mad. Although Tezca's animal head remains in its original location to revert to his initial ursine theme, exaggerated aspects of his appearance are seemingly not like those of a bear: his feet and hands are clawed, and he has a long tail. Therefore, while still resembling a bear, these details are more reminiscent of a jaguar in his new mirror form. Tezca's fabric pattern also changes from plaid to a mixture pattern of numerous woven flowers and butterflies. Tezca's new attire consists of a pair of black pants, ripped to knee-length, and a relatively normal looking belt. While retaining his previous plaid shirt and jacket, they are ripped to elbow-length.

Power[]

As a Death Scythe, Tezca is one of the most powerful Demon Weapon types in the world.[4]

Special Abilities[]

Soul Eater Chapter 60 - Enrique and Tezca

The Demon Mirror.

Demon Mirror (魔鏡, Makyō): Tezca has the ability to transform into the Demon Mirror, being an incredible powerful Death Scythe in his own right, often using his reflective abilities to his own advantage. The Demon Mirror takes the form of a small circular mirror that can be tied to the knee of the Meister through the use of a long length of patterned fabric. This dark material contrasts with and further accents the numerous protrusions that surround the mirror's exterior frame.[2]

  • Reflect (映す, Utsusu): Tezca also has the powerful ability to "reflect one's heart", forcibly revealing their guilts. Not only has this worked on Justin Law, suggesting that his defection from Death was at least partly due to The Clown's persuasion, but also had an effect on Medusa Gorgon, who abused her child Crona.[9]
  • Reflection (映し, Utsushi): By reflecting one's soul onto his mirror, Tezca can track any individual. This effect remains despite any distance made between him and the target.[10]
Solar Ray beam

Solar Ray's beam.

  • Solar Ray (ソーラーレイ, Sorā Rei): One of Tezca's most dangerous abilities is only possible in the daytime, when he can utilize the gathered light from the Sun. Transforming his legs into mirror panels to gather sunlight at an exceedingly high rate, he can fire off a powerful ray of solar energy at his opponents. It proved powerful enough to scar half of Justin Law's face in a inferno.[11]
  • Illusion: Using the reflective properties of his mirrors, he can cast an illusion and reflect an individual.[9] His illusions have been proven to be very realistic, able to fool even the likes of Franken Stein and Justin Law.

Athleticism: Tezca seems to possess some level of athleticism. During his altercation with Medusa Gorgon, he was easily able to dodge some of her Vector Arrows, despite being distracted by Enrique's jokes at the time.[12]

Stealth: Tezca is proficient in the art of stealth, having followed the entirety of Team Maka as well as some of Team Kilik and Medusa's Army, having evaded any detection from Arachnophobia throughout Operation: Capture Baba Yaga. He was only picked up via Soul Perception by Maka and Kid, who had prior knowledge of his and Enrique's presence.[13]

Primate Communication: Though seemingly not related to his weapon form, Tezca appears to possess the unusual ability to communicate with his meister, Enrique, as he apparently understands all of what the ape says.[14]

Spiritual Flexibility: Tezca has been seen to have the incredible ability of surviving without a physical body and being able to move his soul into a Mirror, manifesting as a Disembodied Living Soul. He is able to move between mirrors in his more ghostly form.

Synopsis[]

Introduction arc[]

Tezca appears briefly when Tsugumi Harudori, Anya Hepburn, and Meme Tatane are lost in DWMA. After an encounter with Justin Law, they discuss the other 'mysteries' of the school, the Death Scythes. When they begin to talk about Tezca, he appears in a nearby mirror. The frightened trio run off. Tezca meekly apologises before commenting to himself about how the NOT students refer to the Death Scythes as 'mysteries' and how he cannot blame them for being scared.

Later, Tezca appears with the other Death Scythes, Death, and Death the Kid to confront Shaula Gorgon and witnesses her death at the hands of Tsugumi, Anya, and Meme Tatane.

Operation: Capture Baba Yaga Castle arc[]

Although briefly mentioned when Sid was tasked by Death to gather the Death Scythes, his first actual appearance occurs as both he and his partner are following the group of DWMA students and Medusa Gorgon as they proceed towards Baba Yaga's castle. It is revealed that he is there to support the operation and keep an eye on Medusa, but after his initial appearance, he does not appear for numerous chapters.[15]

He only appears again, with Enrique, after Medusa obtains Arachne's body. Enrique individually manages to hold off many of Medusa's attacks in her new form and in doing so prevents Maka from being killed. Tezca accomplishes very little during this time, as he is too busy laughing at Enrique's supposedly rude and funny comments. When he finally does come round and transforms into his weapon form in preparation to attack, he strangely offers Medusa the chance to leave insisting that it would be best to, as DWMA's forces are storming the castle. Before there is a chance for anything further to occur, Medusa takes him up on the offer and retreats.[16]

Business Lunch arc[]

During an intense battle between one another, Justin Law and Medusa are abruptly interrupted by the appearance of a seeming replica of each of the two combatants. In actual fact, this strange figure is only a single individual who instead mirrors the person who observes them, so to Justin they look exactly like Justin and to Medusa they look exactly like Medusa. Both onlookers are clearly shocked by this strange progression in their conflict.[17]

Eventually, Justin comes to the realization that the doppelganger is none other than Tezca, who now starts to converse about how "life and death are bestowed equally on everyone...I [Tezca] am a mirror that reflects people...the death you ultimately face is entirely up to you." Proceeding this, Tezca begins to recount the many times that he and Justin spent together communing about their lives as Death Scythes but he freaks out in a fit of tears when he hears that, because of the bear mask he persistently wears, Justin was never able to read his lips and therefore never understood a word that was said. Concluding this prolonged outburst he screams, "somebody... can't somebody please bring me a mirror to reflect me?" With this, Medusa leaves and Justin repeats the action shortly after, now that the situation has apparently become dull. Tezca assumes his human form and standing next to Enrique states, "I got a mirror reflection of Justin's soul... we're going after him".[18]

Salvage arc[]

Tezca's Death

Tezca's apparent death

As the young members of Spartoi continue their courageous infiltration into the sinful depths of the Book of Eibon, the DWMA Elite arrives at the enigmatic church that houses both the traitorous Justin Law and his current leader, Noah. Amongst their numbers is Tezca, who, after confirming that they have indeed arrived where their adversaries presently reside, proceeds to enter the obscured structure before him. Almost immediately however, upon entrance, a substantial portion of Tezca's torso is violently torn from him and consumed by one of Noah's monstrous worms, killing him instantly before his bloodied corpse even reaches the ground.[19]

Mad Blood arc[]

At an undisclosed location, just as DWMA unravels the perplexing details behind his elaborate deception, a decidedly remorseful Tezca contemplates the reasoning that led to his decision to fake his own death, paying particular note to his regret in having to deceive his meister, Enrique. However, after realizing that Justin was already well aware of his capabilities to locate the souls of those he has reflected, Tezca resolved that he had little choice in replacing his own corpse with a dummy so as to follow Justin covertly, even if it meant he had to go alone and, in the process, disregard Shinigami's orders. Tezca then resolves that he must not been seen from this point onward and so, in order to better disguise himself, he dons a rather large squirrel mask.[20]

Tezca Deformed

The duplicates of Tezca re-form in a single deformed body

Approaching the exterior of the enormous spherical vessel caused by Crona's Black Blood in Ukraine, Tezca emerges from a dense tree line and announces his presence to Justin, who he has been persistently pursuing. However, due to his target's hearing being impaired by the sound of his earphones, the entirety of the conversation must be communicated through a nearby Clown, including Tezca's astonishment that Justin was able to see through his disguise. Tezca then remarks that Justin always preferred solitude, even in their youth, surprised now that he would allow the company of the Clown. Hearing Justin's explanation of his tracking ability and conclusion that Tezca had become aware of the whereabouts of Asura, Tezca reveals that he did in fact lose Justin's soul in a strange location, meaning he could likely ascertain its general position. With Justin removing his earphones in preparation for combat, Tezca asks once again for him to stop and not add further to his sins, but this is quickly rebutted by a guillotine to the chest. Naturally, Tezca was merely mirroring his body and instead creates multiple clones of himself, which Justin dismembers with similar ease. However, the fragments of these projections soon reform into a single and disturbingly deformed version of Tezca.[21]

Accused of being nothing more than a mere monster in light of his new form, Tezca declares that his accuser, though hypocritical, has yet to descend to the rank of true abomination. Offering Justin his last opportunity at redemption and affirming that in spite of the chaotic circumstances, the information he has procured would surely lead to a reduction in his inevitable penance. Tezca pleads with him to make his return to the DWMA. Questioned about his insistent clinginess, he admits that although just a monkey, Enrique had always been a true companion with whom he shared both his thoughts and everyday life. Asserting that this is a relationship Justin could never comprehend, Tezca continues by explaining that because of his preoccupation with worshiping Shinigami, a god whose position meant that he could not reward him with the connection he truly desired, Justin became deaf to the voices around him. According to Tezca, this inevitably led to his betrayal because, as far as Justin was concerned, as long as he had belief to direct him, any god would do regardless of their doctrines. Calling such a raison d'être lower than that of a monkey, Tezca refutes the perplexed Justin's claims that one can live happily by embracing the god that is most convenient, suggesting instead that it could be found through the friendship he is currently offering.[22]

Tezca's Second Death

Tezca is killed for the second time

Leaping towards his prospective companion in an inexplicable manner, Tezca receives a blade to the face in place of the embrace he so desired, as Justin proclaims that it is incomprehensible to become friends with one he cannot understand. Suggesting that he remove his earphones to remedy the issue, Tezca begins concentrating the sunlight with his mirror in preparation for an attack, before unleashing an incinerating beam that narrowly grazes Justin. Accused of still holding back in spite of the considerable possibility of fatal injury, Justin states that Tezca will find such an action regrettable, as the heat radiating from his true body makes it easy to discern. Refusing to neither run nor hide, Tezca is restrained and sentenced to death in light of his transgressions. He argues his belief that such judgment belongs within the domain of gods and not human beings. Unconvincingly appealing to his executioner to stop, Tezca utters his final words "STOP!! JUSTIN!!", just before his head is severed from the remainder of his body. Clutching the dismembered skull, Justin confirms the annihilation of the victim's soul and their identity.[23]

War on the Moon arc[]

After his death, Tezca returns to Death to tell him that he believes that the Kishin is on The Moon. He appears in Shinigami's mirror in a ghostly, mangled form and explains that his physical form was destroyed by Justin Law. He then goes on to further explain that all that remained of him was his soul, and he escaped to Shinigami. As Maka runs in to confirm the presence of Asura's Wavelength on The Moon, he silently waits from within the mirror, and disappears after the meeting is over.

Later on, when Eruka meets Free again, Enrique is seen carrying an odd-shaped mirror with Tezca's face on the inset. He declares that, now that everyone is here, they should return to the Death Room. It is unclear if this is a new body that he has somehow obtained or he is simply reflecting his soul through an ordinary mirror.

Dark Side of the Moon arc[]

Still in a mirror held by Azusa Yumi, Tezca attends the ceremony welcoming Kid as the new Lord Death and declaring a truce between the DWMA and the witches.

Trivia[]

  • Tezca Tlipoca's name comes from the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca, a deity associated with the night, storm winds, and other dark and destructive forces, as well as with temptation and sorcery. He is often depicted in Aztec sources with a black stripe across his face and wearing a smoking obsidian mirror (according to myth, the mirror's smoke has the power to kill people). The name itself has a disputed etymology, but is generally agreed among Aztec linguist and historians that the tezcatl is the Nahautl word for "mirror" and the poca element is related to popoca ("to emit smoke"). Hence, something like "The Smoking Mirror" is usually given as the translation of the god's name.[24]
  • It was originally believed that Tezca was the meister from South America and that his partner was instead a Death Scythe. However, this was later revealed to be the other way around, with Tezca being the weapon and his partner the meister.
  • Tezca is a smoker of cigarettes whose mirror powers allow him to burn so brightly that his mirror gives off smoke. As well, his final attack on Justin leaves the defected Death Scythe burnt and smoking along the left side of his face and his left shoulder for his remaining appearance in the manga. This fits him; the diety he is named after wears an obsidian, smoking mirror.
  • Tezca's latest costume could be a jaguar thanks to the numerous symbols on his "skin" resembling the spots of said feline (also, the long tail). Since the jaguar is one of the most important figures in Aztec mythology, it would go along with Tezca's theme. In addition, the deity Tezca is based off of, Tezcatlipoca, is symbolized by jaguars.
  • Tezca does not appear in the anime version of Soul Eater and is only indirectly mentioned in Episode 25. In the episode, when Death asks Sid about the four absent Death Scythes, Sid states that he was not able to hear Tezca over the growling and barking.  
    Soul Eater Episode 9 - Tezca Tlipoca cameo

    Tezca's covert cameo in Soul Eater NOT!

  • While Tezca Tlipoca does not appear in character in the anime Soul Eater NOT! one of the souvenirs that Meme Tatane procures in Episode 9 is a sharp-toothed bear's head, which looks much like Tezca—and may be a dark reference to Justin Law beheading Tezca in the manga.
  • According to Soul Eater creator, Tezca's mask is gray.

References[]

  1. Soul Eater Manga: Chapter 47
  2. 2.0 2.1 Soul Eater Manga: Chapter 60
  3. Ohkubo's Tweet about Tezca's age
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Soul Eater Volume 7; Chapter 23, page 9 ; Volume 12 Chapter 47, page 99 - Chapter 23 confirms that the Death Scythe and Meister whom appeared later in 47 were the ones from South America due to Enrique being an ape and being unable to be understood for Sid.
  5. Soul Eater Chapter 47, page 3
  6. Soul Eater Chapter 82, page 20
  7. Soul Eater Chapter 85, page 7
  8. Soul Eater Chapter 86, page 8
  9. 9.0 9.1 Soul Eater Manga: Chapter 69
  10. Soul Eater Manga: Chapter 79
  11. Soul Eater Manga: Chapter 86
  12. Soul Eater Volume 15; Chapter 60, page 100
  13. Soul Eater Volume 12; Chapter 47, page 98-99, Chapter 61
  14. Soul Eater Volume 12; Chapter 47, page 96
  15. Soul Eater Chapter 47, pages 2-3
  16. Soul Eater Chapter 60, pages 20-24
  17. Soul Eater Chapter 69, page 16
  18. Soul Eater Chapter 69, pages 21-27
  19. Soul Eater Chapter 79, pages 12-18
  20. Soul Eater Chapter 82, pages 19-20
  21. Soul Eater Chapter 85, pages 5-18
  22. Soul Eater Chapter 86, pages 5-9
  23. Soul Eater Chapter 86, pages 9-17
  24. Soul Eater Volume 15: Yen Press English translation, page 190

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