Hello and welcome, today I'm going to be talking about the animated film The Sword of the Stranger. If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend you do so before reading any further, as this is going to cover some major speculations on certain characters within the film. This is not a review, and thus my telling you to watch the movie is actually just a regular recommendation, as it's actually a really good movie in almost every single aspect, including the English dub.
The Sword of the Stranger was a lot better than I was expecting it to be. When I first heard about it, I thought it was going to be a 12 episode series where you just watch some really good looking fight scenes with a basic plot to give context to the action. Instead, it's actually a two hour movie and, to be honest, that's a good thing because I feel like, if it were a 12 episode series, it would've dragged on a lot longer than it should have. That's not even to say that the story was bad, because it wasn't, it was a nice little adventure for a young boy, his dog, and a mysterious swordsman but the story it was trying to tell would've been rife with filler and crap that we don't care about if it were extended into a twelve episode series, that's just the kind of story it was telling.
During the movie, we are introduced to three main characters. Technically four, but I'm not counting the dog since he's just there to move the plot along. We have Kentaro, the young boy who was going to be sacrificed by a Chinese Lord so he can gain immortality and who we also won't be discussing today. No, this actual post is about the other two main characters, The Nameless Swordsman who, in the dub, is referred to as No-Name, and Luo-Lang, the Chinese Lord's strongest fighter with a mysterious background.
Both of these characters are shrouded in mystery. Sure, we get bits and pieces of No-Name's story but not enough to suggest a whole lot, and nothing other than a few behavioral lines are given at all about Luo-Lang. Or are they? Today, I'm going to be speculating about these characters because I do actually find their motivations quite interesting and their backgrounds seem to lend to their motivations quite a bit.
The first one I want to talk about is Luo-Lang because I feel like we can get past him a lot quicker than if I try to dissect No-Name first. Don't worry, this won't take long.
For as much as people show aggression or impatience with Luo-Lang, very few actually say anything about him. That said, though, the most telling thing is what the Chinese Lord calls him: Barbarian. Of course the Japanese Samurai also refer to Luo-Lang as a Barbarian but there's a difference: namely, that the Samurai seem to be using Barbarian as a pejorative term for the Chinese in general, whereas the Lord only ever uses the term to describe Luo-Lang in particular. It's also worth noting that nobody else within his clan refers to him by that insult, everybody else just calls him Luo-Lang. And here's where we can start to speculate.
Back in the day, many countries had insults that they would use to refer to foreigners. Of course, there were insults specific to countries within the same continent, like for example the English referred to the French as "Cowards." However, outside your own continent during those times, you had a general insult to refer to everyone within the continent outside your own. That's why so many stereotypes made by those of European descent put Black People or Asians all into their own general categories, because those derogatory terms don't care for the differences, and every continent of people was like this.
In particular, the Chinese would refer to white people as "Barbarians" because of their romanticizing of battle and how they just fight rather than do what the Chinese or Japanese did, and turn fighting into an art. Namely, the Chinese referred to White people as Barbarians to signify that White people are unrefined or uncultured.
Of course, I could be completely off base and the old man may just look down on those that work for him but it's all aimed at Luo-Lang, never anybody else, who also happens to be, even if not white, then at least Blond. Of course, everyone in the clan was a fighter except the nobles but Luo-Lang was the strongest of them, and they all knew that. All this hints that the insults aimed at him are a race or nationality thing rather than a behavioral.
So then, that begs the question, where is Luo-Lang from? Well, that's hard to say. The fact that he is referred to as Luo-Lang throughout the movie suggests that that is his real name. Some have speculated he might be a globe-trotting swordsman. However, I don't find that likely. Namely because, if he were a globe trotting swordsman, his role in the clan would be as a mercenary for this one job and, given how comfortable his clan is with him, that idea seems shot in the knee. However, what's also telling is that Luo-Lang is a name of Chinese descent. If he were a globe trotting swordsman, he would have a name that better fits his descent, as he doesn't seem like the type of person who would hide his identity just to fit in with a clan, especially considering the Mercenary implication that I told you about.
His memory may have been wiped clean at one point but, if that were the case, the Nobles more than likely would've had him killed for being foreign, and given that most types of amnesia tend to start with a comatose state, they'd probably have killed him then.
The only conclusion I can think of is that he was born and raised in China with one parent as European, and the other as Chinese. This seems a lot more likely to me because that would still allow him to face racism while still also being able to learn Chinese Martial Arts. Luo-Lang may also have learned Fencing from that European Parent when he was younger, since his fighting style makes use of some of the principles, and of course, he's also just a prodigy in general, given that he's able to do a blade grab without harming himself and he states at the end of the movie as he's dying that he's never felt pain before, suggesting that he's probably never even been injured.
That covers Luo-Lang. Not really much more can be said about him just because so little is said or shown about him or his history. However, much more is said about No-Name, or Nanashi I guess.
Nanashi is revealed within the movie to be a ronin. For those of you who don't speak Japanese or have any idea of this stuff, a Ronin is a Samurai without a Lord to serve. No one ever starts out as a Ronin, usually a child is given to a Lord to serve as a Samurai and, if that lord is killed, then that Samurai becomes a Ronin. As a result, Ronin are often looked down upon for being cowards who avoid danger or defy their lords, depending on how the Lord actually dies.
Nanashi also has red hair. This is a key point about his character but we're not given a whole lot of detail about what it represents. He states that he keeps his red hair hidden under black dye because it's easier on him but, while Kentaro initially suspects he may be a foreigner, that doesn't seem likely, as he is so accustomed to Japanese way of living and knows enough about it that he can fit in. Also the fact that one of the samurai in the movie states something about a previous swordsman he used to know.
After that fight he had with Luo-Lang and his wife is helping mend his injury, he states that he's only ever seen one other person fight that well, a red haired samurai who, while very skilled, was a coward. Now, those of you who can put two and two together and not make seventeen or something may have already realized that he was referring to Nanashi.
Even if we assume the bi-racial thing that Luo-Lang has, there seems to be more about his history that indicates why he would keep his hair hidden. Now, remember that that Samurai called him a coward? Well, he didn't call him that because he avoided danger. He called him that because he didn't like to kill and, more to the point, didn't like to kill children. We even see this in a flashback where his former lord tells him to kill two children, and he hesitates but finally kills them when one of them calls him a coward. He then regretted it and ran from his lord.
Hiding his hair may be him hiding his shame, although it's also possible that he's an enemy of the state because he ran away from active duty when he had a job to do. He just decided keeping his hair hidden would keep him out of unnecessary fights.
However, that is not to say that he does not kill when he needs to. Unlike Kenshin Himura, our other resident Red-Haired Swordsman, who gave up killing, Nanashi will kill if it means another life can be saved, particularly that of a child. This is why he ends up fighting Luo-Lang. Although Luo-Lang may have lost interest in the child completely, Nanashi probably wouldn't be able to take that at face value and fight anyway so Kentaro could escape.
That's all I have to say. Thanks for reading and I hope I'll see you next time.
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