This article covers the major characters of Clamp's manga RG Veda and its respective anime adaptation. The story features elements of Vedic mythology and is named after the Rigveda.
Characters
Ashura
The protagonist of the series and the last living member of the Ashura clan, Ashura was born after Taishakuten had killed his father and seized the throne. His mother, Shashi, at the same time gave birth to Taishakuten's son Ten-ō, and tried to kill Ashura, who she believed would stand in her way to rule Heaven at Taishakuten's side. However, Ashura's powers protected him and enclosed him in a cocoon where he slept undisturbed for three hundred years, until Yasha-ō awoke him. Upon being freed from his cocoon, Ashura first appears as a baby, but grows rapidly to a child of maybe eight years. At first outgoing and friendly, he soon becomes aware of his cruel destiny, as Taishakuten has almost everyone with whom he has associated killed. Feeling guilty for their deaths, he vows to become strong enough to defeat Taishakuten himself. However, Ashura has another side: He is, in fact, the "true Ashura", the merciless god of war whose wish is the total destruction of Heaven, Earth and Hell. This side was suppressed by several seals, one of which is the distribution of his true power among the Six Stars, but is freed upon their meeting. Only his love for Yasha-ō, his adoptive father, finally triumphs over his lust for destruction. As a punishment for his father's sin, Ashura was born genderless so he cannot continue the royal line of Ashura, which Ashura-ō so desperately wished to preserve that he tried to defy destiny. Languages which do not have a gender-neutral pronoun usually refer to him by either the male or the female pronoun; the choice of either is often a source of much contention. He has appeared in both all-male and all-female CLAMP illustrations, and when animated, is generally voiced by slightly boyish sounding females to preserve the gender ambiguity. Ashura is also a crossover character in another CLAMP manga, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, where he appears under the name Ashura-ō as the king of Shura Country, hosting Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona during their stay in this world. His clan is at constant war with the Yasha clan over possession of a mysterious castle in the sky, which is said to fulfill its master's wish. It turns out that he was in love with Yasha-ō, who returned his feelings, and wished to resurrect him from the dead. He dies as the castle, unable to fulfill this impossible wish, crashes down around him.
The Six Stars
Head of the Yasha clan and one of the strongest warriors in Tenkai, Yasha-ō serves as the bushinshō of the north. Wanting to fulfil the prophecy of his friend Kuy-ō the stargazer, he woke Ashura and became his protector even though she had also predicted that Ashura would kill him and knowing that this act of rebellion would anger Taishakuten. As a result of his not giving Ashura over to Taishakuten, his entire clan was declared renegade and slaughtered by Bishamonten. When Yasha-ō was still a child, Ashura-ō (knowing that Yasha was the one who would awaken Ashura) asked him what he would do if the most important person in the world to him was fated to bring him disaster. Yasha replied that he would "protect him". Ashura-ō then told him to become strong so in future he will be able to protect the person that he treasures above all others. His real name is Yama, having taken the name of Yasha-ō when he became the leader of his tribe. He has a younger brother named Rasetsu who was later killed by Koumoku-ten. Another incarnation of Yasha-ō also appears in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle as the king of the Yama clan who war with the Shura clan. He fell in love with King Ashura but was killed by a deadly disease. One of Sakura's feathers resurrected him until Ashura found the courage to return it to her.
The young king of the dragon tribe of the west, Ryū-ō reluctantly inherited the throne since his grandfather was too sick to continue ruling. He joined Yasha-ō, Ashura, and Sōma after they accidentally ended up in his kingdom, in the hopes of getting a chance to fight against Yasha-ō, the strongest warrior in Heaven. Ryū-ō wields the Ryū clan's king's sword Ryūga-tō (Dragon Fang sword) that controls water and can smash rocks despite being entirely blunt. When revealed to be one of the Six Stars, he decides to stick with the others despite the risk to his clan, even though he is the only one not holding a personal grudge against Taishaku-ten. He is killed by the true Ashura right after the latter awakens. His real name is Naga, having taken on the name of Ryū-ō when he became the leader of his tribe. In Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, two alternate versions of Ryū-ō appear: as an Oni hunter partnering Sōma in the world of Outo and also as a racer in Piffle World. In the anime, he becomes good friends with the main character Syaoran in both versions.
Queen of the Kendappa tribe in the east, Kendappa-ō is the royal musician. Despite her favoured position at Taishaku-ten's court, she hid Sōma in her flying castle after her tribe was wiped out and also helped Yasha-ō and Ashura when they passed through her kingdom. However, she does not believe that the Six Stars can triumph over Taishaku-ten, who she says is the strongest person in Heaven. Instead of allying herself with her friends, she reveals herself to be one of Taishakuten's shitennō, Jikokuten, the shitennō and bushinshō of the East – a position her father had held before being killed by Taishaku-ten. Impressed with Taishakuten's strength, the only trait which she admires, she swore herself to his service when she was just a small child. Her harp, her constant companion, serves also as the hiding place for her sword. Unable to go back on her word, believing that all of the Six Stars will be killed anyway, she decides to kill Sōma, whom she is in love with, herself. She commits suicide right after, saying there is no point in living in Heaven without her. An alternate version of Kendappa-ō appears in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, where she is the Empress of Japan and older sister of Princess Tomoyo.
Queen of the Karura tribe, she has supported Yasha's mission from the beginning but was unable to join him because she wanted to stay with her weak younger sister until she died. But when Taishakuten kidnapped Karyoubinga and made her sing till she died, Karura vowed revenge and joined Yasha in his quest to take down Taishakuten. She is one of the Six Stars. She uses her bird, Garuda, and her magic to fight. She is killed by Taishakuten in a one-on-one fight. She dies sorry that she couldn't avenge her sister's murder but is glad to go be with her again. She briefly appears in the CLAMP manga Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle as a racer in Piffle world.
Sole remaining member of the Sōma tribe, she watched her entire tribe massacred right in front of her. She was found by Kendappa-ō, who hid her with Kisshōten. She joins Yasha to avenge her tribe. She is one of the Six Stars. Her weapons are her twin moon blades that she throws with deadly accuracy. She is killed by Kendappa-ō stabbing her in the chest with her sword. Kendappa-ō then slits her own throat to go with her. Sōma tries to revive her with her blood, which can give immortality to one person, but is stopped by Taishakuten. She is a crossover character in the CLAMP manga Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. She is the guard for Princess Tomoyo and is a ninja with Kurogane. She is also with Ryū in Outo world as an Oni hunter.
The Imperial Family
Taishakuten is the villain of RG Veda. In Vedic mythology and religion, Taishakuten is a prominent deity known in Sanskrit as Indra, or Śakra, from the earlier Proto-Indo-Iranian religion via Proto-Indo-Iranian *Índras. A strong-minded man and a fearsome warrior who gained the title of "thunder god", he is in love with Ashura-ō and "will do anything to get what I want". Therefore, Taishakuten made a deal with Ashura-ō: he could have the Ashura king, but had to fulfill his wish of preventing Ashura's son from becoming a God of Destruction. This leads to the painful act of him eating Ashura-ō later, as Ashura-ō said this is the only way for him to have strength to rebel against the Emperor. Taishakuten then successfully killed the Emperor and got the title himself, becoming a tyrant just to fulfill one wish of the man he loved. According to Taishakuten, living alone without your loved one is extremely painful, as he had always suffered being without Ashura-ō.
Shashi is a human being and twin sister of Kaara. Along with Kaara, she is allowed to live with the Gods and share their power as they are mikos. Unlike the other one, Shashi is smart yet wicked and has ambition to be the Empress. Though married to Ashura-ō, she committed adultery with Taishakuten and helped him slaughter the Ashura clan, her own clan, as she knew it "just like her face". When Taishakuten got the title of Emperor, she became the Empress. It is later revealed that Taishakuten wanted her close to keep a watch on the sword Shurato, of which she has a seal on her forehead. She gave birth to the twin Tenou and Ashura, which she killed off the later because he's of Ashura's bloodline. She denied her own son Ashura till the very end, which led to Ashura killing her in his rage becoming the God of Destruction.
Twin sister of Shashi. Unlike her sister, Kaara is very gentle and has a kind heart. When the great war happened, she was found lying by Kumara, Lord of the beautiful capital Kusumabaura, which had just been destroyed by Taishakuten's army. Therefore he kept the sword Shurato at the crumble city in order to lure Ashura, for he believed that the city could prosper again if Ashura dies. Kaara is in love with him, but since she's already dead she couldn't bear him a child. She truly died together with Kumara after releasing the seal for her "young master".
Tenou is son of Shashi and Taishakuten; therefore he is the "Crown Prince". Quite handsome, strong and has a kind heart, Tenou is different from both his mother and father. He loves the maestro Kendappa-ō deeply without realizing that she is the last warrior general of his Emperor father. His love is unrequited because Kendappa-ō loved Sōma already, but he only found out about this at the end of the manga, when she revealed her true nature. When Ashura awoke as a God of Destruction, he somehow didn't kill Tenou, stating that he wants Tenou to witness all the terrible carnage he would do.
Ashura-ō
Ashura-ō is first introduced as the god of war and guardian of Heaven under the former Emperor, who died defending his lord against Taishakuten and is revered as a hero. However, it turns out at the end of the manga that he had, in fact, engineered Taishakuten's rebellion himself: Knowing through Kuy-oh's prophecy and his own visions of his future son's true nature as the "true Ashura", he nonetheless wished for his son to be born. To change destiny and prevent Ashura's awakening, he asked for Taishakuten's help, which Taishakuten promised in return for his body. Ashura-ō married Shashi so she, one of the priestesses bearing one of Ashura's seals on her forehead, would be his mother, whom Ashura presumably would not wish to kill. He had Taishakuten seize the throne and rule cruelly, to prevent the Six Stars from gathering. As a last safeguard, should Ashura still awaken, he asked Taishakuten to kill him and eat his body, so he might become strong enough to kill Ashura.