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| The status of this page is provisional. Although the information presented here has been well established through many years of discussion and research on the parts of many Tenchi Muyo fans, I have not yet had time to track down and identify the necessary source materials. Accordingly, this version should be considered a very rough draft. Any corrections, citations, criticisms etc are welcome. |
The question of Ryoko's Gems (in the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OAV series) is one of the recurring issues that continues to perplex newcomers to the story. What's more, they're a central feature of the OAV series, and many events within it cannot be properly understood without a full appreciation of the gems and their role.
It's a fact of the OAV series that much information is not directly given to the viewer. Instead, it has to be worked out or researched through available background materials; this is not a show for the lazy viewer who wants the whole plot spoonfed to him. Unfortunately, most of the necessary materials are in Japanese and will never be made available in English language forms.
No less than five distinct kinds of gems can be found in the OAV series.
| Real gems | The 3 real gems are first seen in OAV episode 1, in which they are embedded in the pommel of the Tenchiken. Their origins are mysterious, but there is strong reason to believe that they were made by Washu more than 20,000 years ago, before she lost he memory. They cannot be copied, created, or destroyed by any means. In Ryoko's hands they grant various powers, including the ability to speak telepathically with Ryo-Ohki and to create and control monsters. They will always return to Ryoko unless some constraining force prevents them. It is believed that these gems harness power on cosmic levels, comparable to that generated by Tsunami. |
| Fake gems | A total of 3 fake gems are seen throughout the course of the series. Two of them were made by Ryoko while she was held captive in the cave. The third was made by Zero in OAV 11. Fake gems are inherently unstable and require a stabilising presence (Ryoko or Zero) to prevent them spontaneously exploding. They are believed to behave as storage batteries for small amounts of energy. |
| Duplicate gems | A duplicate gem is an attempt to make an exact copy of one of the real gems. Since this is impossible, duplicate gems spontaneously explode upon creation. There is no way to prevent the explosion. Only one duplicate gem is made during the series, by Zero in OAV 11. (Zero can consider herself lucky that Ryoko wasn't wearing a real gem on her ear, or her head would have been blown off.) |
| Ryo-Ohki's gems | Each of the 101 Ryo-Ohkis has a gem embedded in the center of her forehead. Although not much is said about them in the series, they appear to be connected in some way with Ryoko's real gems and act as the conduit for the telepathic connection between them. |
| Ornamental gems | Ryoko is also seen to have gem-like objects on the shoes of one of her battle suits (OAV 6). We don't know precisely how many of these she has (probably as many as she likes). They appear to have no functional value and may be nothing more than decoration, although it's possible that they're spare fake gems. |
The rest of this document will ignore Ryo-Ohki's gems and the ornamental ones, and will concentrate on the first three kinds, which play important roles in the series itself.
The gems are numbered serially in the order they appear, with prefix G for real gems, F for fakes, and D for the duplicate real gem.
| 18,000 B.C. | First known appearance of the three "real" gems (G1, G2, G3). They are believed to have been created by Washu at the time she chose to become "human", and may contain Washu's original goddess-like powers and her early memories. | G1, G2, G3: Washu |
| 3,040 B.C. | Creation of Ryoko. Washu gives the 3 gems to her. The gems may be a fundamental component of Ryoko: "The gem's real, so Ryoko must still be alive" - Washu, OAV 12. See Ryoko's Age. | G1, G2, G3: Ryoko (wrists & throat) |
| 1,287 A.D. (estimated) | Ryoko's assault on the royal palace of Jurai. Sasami is perhaps 3 years old at the time (OAV 9). The assault fails and Ryoko is chased to Earth by Yousho, who disables her by confiscating the 3 real gems (OAV 3), then imprisoning her in the cave. She is held in place by the power of the Jurai tree Funaho. She is cut off from all sources of energy; her life is sustained only by a trickle of energy supplied by Funaho. All 3 gems are now in the pommel of the Tenchiken, and G2 and G3 stay there for the rest of the series. | G1, G2, G3: Tenchiken |
| 1,292 A.D. | Aeka and Sasami enter suspended animation at the ages of 8 and 20 respectively. (Note: There is considerable doubt over the exact date, since it's based on a very literal interpration of documents which claim that Aeka is 720 years old, and assumes that Aeka and Sasami did not age at all while in deep-freeze. It may be that these are figures of convenience not meant to be taken too literally.) | |
| 1977 A.D. | Birth of Tenchi Masaki; Ryoko finds a new purpose in life and determines to escape from the cave. The date is based on the assumptions that (a) he was 15 years old in OAV 1; and (b) OAV 1 is set in 1992, the date of the episode's release. Note that this differs from the date given in Tenchi Muyo in Love, which is set in the TV universe. | |
| 1977-1992 A.D. | Ryoko constructs the first two fake gems (F4, F5), one on her right wrist and one hanging from her ear. They are believed to be storage batteries which she intends to use in her escape attempt. She redirects some of the tiny trickle of Funaho's energy into the gems. Because the remaining energy is insufficient, her physical body decays. | G1, G2, G3: Tenchiken F4: Ryokos' right wrist F5: Ryoko's left ear |
| 1992 A.D. (OAV 1) | Tenchi opens the cave; Funaho withdraws her roots; Ryoko is freed. In the ensuing fight, Ryoko's right hand is cut off. Released from her stabilising presence, the fake gem detonates. | G1, G2, G3: Tenchiken F4: destroyed F5: Ryoko's left ear |
| 1992 A.D. (OAV 2) | Ryoko summons Ryo-Ohki from the lake. To do this, she needs one of the real gems - her remaining fake doesn't cut it. She begs one off Tenchi. | G1: Ryoko's left wrist G2, G3: Tenchiken F4: destroyed F5: Ryoko's left ear |
| 1992 A.D. (OAV 4) | Ryoko shows off by conjuring a monster using her one real gem, then realises that she's screwed up - she needs a real gem on her right wrist to control it. Once again, it seems that the fake gem doesn't cut it. | |
| 1993 A.D. (OAV 5) | Kagato arrives. In the ensuing battle, Ryoko's left hand - and the real gem attached to it - are cut off, breaking Kagato's hold over her. Apparently, he couldn't control her through the remaining fake gem. Note that the real gem falls but doesn't explode - the real gems are indistructible. | G1: on the ground G2, G3: Tenchiken F4: destroyed F5: Ryoko's ear |
| 1993 A.D. (OAV 5) | Tenchi "killed"; Ryoko's emotions explode and she escapes from Kagato. Her left hand has regenerated, and the real gem G1 has returned to her wrist as can be seen by freeze-framing the "space search" sequence. | G1: Ryoko's left wrist G2, G3: Tenchiken F4: destroyed F5: Ryoko's left ear |
| 1993 A.D. (OAV 6) | In the assault on the Souja to kill Kagato, Ryoko uses the remaining fake gem. | G1: Ryoko's left wrist G2, G3: Tenchiken F4: destroyed F5: Ryoko's right wrist. |
| 1993 A.D. (OAV 7) | The fake is seen to be back at Ryoko's ear. (It may possibly be a new fake - it has been speculated that she used all of F5's energy during episode 6. However, we never see it being created, and there's certainly no gem on her right wrist in OAV 7.) | G1: Ryoko's left wrist G2, G3: Tenchiken G4: destroyed G5: Ryoko's left ear |
| 1994 A.D. (OAV 11) | Ryoko is kidnapped; Zero steals her form and memories and takes her place. In the process of doing so, she duplicates Ryoko's two gems, creating the third fake gem (F6) and the only duplicate gem in the series (D7). | G1: Ryoko's left wrist G2, G3: Tenchiken F4: destroyed F5: Ryoko's left ear F6: Zero's left ear D7: Zero's left wrist |
| 1994 A.D. (OAV 11) | The duplicate gem - by its nature - explodes, taking Zero's hand with it. Clay is astounded since that should have been impossible; he can call upon the powers of a goddess, and should be able to duplicate anything. Consequently, we can deduce that G1 is of supernatural origin (in the context of this story, supernatural may mean simply "from beyond our universe"). Zero steals the real gem from Ryoko to take its place. Note that shortly after this, in Washu's laboratory, we briefly see the other two real gems still firmly in the pommel of the Tenchiken. | G1: Zero's left wrist G2, G3: Tenchiken G4: destroyed F5: Ryoko's left ear F6: Zero's left ear D7: destroyed |
| 1994 A.D. (OAV 12) | Assimilation of Zero into Ryoko. It's pretty clear that this is when G1 is returned to Ryoko, but what about F5 and F6? Apparently they were merged into a single gem. | G1: Zero-Ryoko's left wrist G2, G3: Tenchiken F4: destroyed F5-6: Zero-Ryoko's left ear D7: destroyed |
| 1995 A.D. (OAV 13) | Yosho tells his mother (Funaho) that his life - and the power of his tree, Funaho - were sustained through the centuries by the power of Ryoko's gems, and therefore the power they generate is similar in nature to Jurai's power. He had expected the tree Funaho to lose its power once rooted. ("No, this tree has taken root and lost its power" - Aeka, OAV 3). |
By the end of the series, we've definitely seen 7 distinct gems, 2 of which have been destroyed and a third being of uncertain fate. There may have been more, but there's no definite sign of any.
I don't recall what the 101 says about a gem at her throat.
In addition to these abilities, a single real gem anywhere allows her to telepathically communicate with Ryo-Ohki (OAV 1).
With 3 gems in place, it is believed that Ryoko would be able to generate Light Hawk Wings. As noted, Yousho has indicated that the power generated by the Jurai trees is similar to that of the gems.
It's been suggested that the power is inherent in Ryoko and the gems only act as focussing devices. While it seems difficult or impossible to conclusively disprove the theory, it does suffer from some problems:
However, the "Light Hawk Wings" picture clearly shows a gem embedded in
her throat, a 3-dot Emblem of Power on her forehead, and Light Hawk
Wings emanating all around.
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