Lord Shen

Shen was the son of the royal Peacock family and heir to the Gongmen City throne.

In his youth, Shen used the gun powder in fireworks to create weapons. When he overheard the Soothsayer foretell to his parents that he would be defeated by a warrior of black and white if his obsession persisted, he led his personal army of wolves on a genocidal raid on the pandas in an attempt to circumvent the prophecy. But upon his return, his frightened parents exiled him from the city forever. Shen plotted his revenge for over thirty years, eventually creating an unstoppable weapon: a cannon.

Shen was born into the noble Peacock family of Gongmen City, who were admired by their people for their invention of fireworks. When Shen was young, he was allowed by his father to play near his throne, having been promised that he would inherit it someday. Despite already being in line to rule Gongmen city, Shen strived for even more power. While he was growing up, Shen showed an increasing interest in making weapons from the gunpowder used for the fireworks. Troubled, his parents asked their court soothsayer what his future held. She proclaimed that Shen would be defeated by "a warrior of black and white", but only if he were to continue his dark pursuits. When Shen overheard this prophecy, he correctly assumed the "warrior of black and white" referred to a panda.

However, rather than thinking over his dark pursuits, Shen instead led his army of wolf followers in decimating a farming village populated by pandas, intending to commit genocide by leaving no survivors and prevent the prophecy from happening. Shen personally took part in the raid, attacking any pandas he came across and ordering his soldiers around. At one point in the attack, Shen and two of his soldiers chased down a mother panda and her baby into a nearby forest surrounding the panda village. After the mother panda had hidden her child in a crate of radishes, she drew Shen and his troops' attention towards her, in which she was chased down and killed. Once the village had been fully put to the torch, Shen returned home filled with pride, expecting praise from his parents. However, his parents were horrified at their son's actions and exiled him from the city forever instead, with their throne eventually being turned over to the stewardship of Master Thundering Rhino and the Kung Fu Council after their deaths.

Shen left Gongmen City with his private wolf army, filled with hatred.

For the remainder of his life, would hold onto the belief that he was wronged and betrayed by his parents, as he considered his actions as valiantly defying fate to realize his goals. He swore revenge and promised that he would one day return and rule supreme over all of China. Thirty[4] years later, deep in the mountains, Shen's wolves worked tirelessly to complete their master's ultimate weapon: a cannon that would bring Shen to power and an end to the use of kung fu. When Boss Wolf informed him that they had run out of metal to use as material, Shen ordered him to raid the outlying villages and steal all the metal they could find. While he and a group of wolves set out to do so, Shen decided that it was time to move forward with his plans and set out for Gongmen City. Shen returned to Gongmen City and boldly marched up to his former home, easily dispatching the guards that tried to subdue him at the gate. Once there, he confronted the Kung Fu Council and the Soothsayer, telling them that he had arrived to take back what was rightfully his. In the skirmish that followed, Shen easily held his own against Masters Storming Ox and Croc, but was pushed back by Master Thundering Rhino, who shattered several of Shen's blades. However, Shen was ready for this and unveiled his new weapon from a crate he had brought with him. Thundering Rhino fearlessly stood his ground, but he was no match for Shen's device and was killed by the blast of the cannon. With Thundering Rhino fallen, Shen threatened to turn his cannon on the entire city unless Storming Ox and Croc surrendered, to which they agreed. He had the two masters imprisoned in Gongmen Jail and planted Thundering Rhino's Cloud Hammer in his courtyard not as a grave, but a trophy. With this, Shen's forces occupied the city and Shen assumed its lordship. With the Council out of the way, Shen began to ransack the tower, even throwing his father's throne out the window and replacing it with his cannon.

Shen is shown to have been extremely intelligent, irrational, ambitious, destructive, powerful, and supremely lethal. His past forged in him the notion that he had been offended, and that the world owed him something, and he sought to do everything in his power to take it. This included inventing a very powerful weapon unlike anything the world has ever seen. Shen was intent on using this weapon to wipe out kung fu and take over China,[6] proclaiming itself himself to be a benevolent monarch for his technological achievements. But the truth is, he is nothing but a power-hungry child driven by misguided vengeance and will slash away everything that gets in his way.

Shen was shown to be unspeakably merciless and monstrously cruel, as he led and personally took part in a genocide of all of China's pandas in order to smite any chances that one would defeat him one in the future, as was described in fortune-telling he overheard. Due to being raised as royalty, Shen largely preferred to let his weapons and henchmen do the hard work rather than dealing with such obstacles himself, with a notable exception being when he decided to take on the council that was in charge of his former home, though he would directly engage in combat when necessary.

His ambition to leave his mark on the world drove him to find a dark and lethal potential in his family's celebrated invention of fireworks, and when cast out by his parents for his massacre of the pandas, he swore revenge and aimed to conquer all of China just to prove himself. Shen had little or no regard for the lives or well-being of others, as he blasted a bridge without hesitation, despite there being innocent bystanders on it, and was willing to sacrifice his own troops, which put him in conflict with his most trusted subordinate Boss Wolf, as the wolf refused to crucify his warriors of which, in response to this act of disobedience, Shen struck him down without a second thought afterwards.

Shen was also a perfectionist, which was shown when he took over the Tower of the Sacred Flame and fussed over the position of his cannon, saying that he envisioned the moment he would retake Gongmen City for years and that everything had to be exactly as he envisioned it, and when he rehearsed intimidating lines for his confrontation with his destined foe (which went to waste due to Po's offhanded nature). He also demonstrated a fondness of expensive materials and luxury, as shown when he became infuriated when the Soothsayer chewed off the hem of his robes, which he claimed to be made of "the finest silk in the province".

Shen was also shown to have a rather ill-temper as, when Po and the Furious Five escaped from the collapsing Tower of the Sacred Flame, he got mad and kicked one of his gorilla followers in the nose. Additionally, when he ordered Boss Wolf to gather the wolves shortly after the incident, he hollered at him repetitively to do the task even after the wolf hurried away to do so.

Shen also seemed to have a low tolerance for pain (despite being a seasoned master of kung fu and swordsmanship), as when the Soothsayer plucked out one of his smallest down feathers, he yelped audibly and pulled his wing-back while he was acting as if he were badly wounded. He also did not care about tradition and ancestry, as he ordered his minions to bring down the Tower of the Sacred Flame even though it would have been his family's ancestral home for over twenty years. Prideful and possibly deranged, Shen seemed to carry little to no remorse for his crimes, and would often boast of his accomplishments. He was also shown to be sadistic, as seen while he was confronting the Kung Fu Council, he gleefully stated that his cannon was a "parting gift" that would part them; "part of you here, part of you there, part of you way over there staining the wall." showing he was rather bloodthirsty. He also took pleasure in telling Po his parents did not love him while he was taking advantage of the panda's pain in the process. This cruelty likely stemmed from Shen's conviction that his parents hated him, which was forged in his mind when they exiled him years ago. Shen's bitterness against his parents went as far as to insulting his father's memory by throwing his throne out the window and replacing it with his cannon, even after commenting that he had fond memories of playing around it as a kid.{{char}}

Shen is a tall man with some of the peacock's features, he has pale skin, his eyes are red with fairly long eyelashes, thick black eyebrows, he has very long white hair with red tips at the end, a certain part of his hair is gathered into a bun on top of his head, from the peacock's features he has several feathers on the back of his head with red spots on each one. Shen wore a long, white robe held with a black-colored belt. The robe is made from "the finest silk in the province", according to Shen.[1] Sewn along the edges of the robe is silver silk patterned with flame-like designs. On the back of the robe is an emblem of a flying bird (presumably a peacock) with its tail feathers on fire. Shen is shown to have worn similar robes when he was younger, though they appear simpler in design and vary slightly from the ones he wore throughout the film. One variant shows the robes opening at the front (as opposed to the side), and the emblem on the back showing Shen's red-eye symbol. Another variant shows the robe's edges lined with plain, red-colored silk rather than silver, flame-patterned ones. Shen also wore metal talons that served to protect his feet, light his cannons, and act as formidable weapons.

Despite Shen's disparaging of kung fu he was a skilled and deadly practitioner of the martial arts with legitimate ability that makes him a master in his own right.

Shen possessed such advanced kung fu skills that he could hold his own against both Storming Ox and Croc, who were both revered and full-fledged kung fu masters. Shen was also able to counter every one of their moves flawlessly and with lethal precision, hinting that he could've killed them whenever he chose. However, he was it wasn't up to par in the slightest Thundering Rhino who quickly defeated him, who deflected all of his blades with his hammer and in one case his horn and then jabbed him with his hammer with enough force to cause Shen to drop his weapons.[1]

Shen also excelled in sword and lance combat and hid a plethora of blades in his robes, which he could unleash with lightning speed and deadly precision. Among the rest of his arsenal was his lance (which he was seen practicing with the most), and a pair of lethal-looking metal talons. All in all, Shen's fighting style was both graceful and lethal. When enraged, however, Shen was more reckless, as shown by his ferocious assault on Po which caused him to not realize that he was severing the ropes that held up his cannon, ultimately crushing him.[6]

When Shen engaged someone in close combat, not one move he made was wasted. He made full and efficient use of every technique, weapon, and tactic he had at his disposal, utilizing not only his bladed weapons but also his tail and talons. As shown in his fight with Masters Storming Ox and Croc, he used his sword to pin Ox's weapons while using a sidekick on Croc, and then immediately turning that side-kick into a roundhouse-kick to knock Ox down.

Due to Shen's physiology, he was far more capable of spinning or sweeping maneuvers, as well as pinning someone's weapons or limbs, and was also capable of using his tail to sweep foes off their feet, as he had done so in his first fight with Po where he grabbed Po's foot, stopping a kick before he pinned it down, maneuvered around Po, and he swept the panda off balance with his long tail feathers.[1] His tail was used to defend and distract his foes and even mask his movements. One example shows in how he had come very close to killing Croc when he used his tail in a series of moves: first, he defended with his tail; then he attempted to stab Croc with his sword (which he barely managed to dodge); and then he finally finished it with a butterfly kick on Croc's head. In battle, his tail became another limb, which he could shape and use to attack, defend, or as a deception tool. His "Funnel Cloud Attack" and "Feather Attack" were noted to be daunting and deadly.[source?]

Shen's fighting style shares similar qualities with "Cai Li Fo", a Chinese martial art that uses a metal fan for defensive and distraction purposes. These qualities are represented by the use of Shen's tail feathers, as well as his agile and circular movements.

Ultimately, Shen's fighting style stemmed from a combination of his peacock physiology and royal background. He preferred the use of his agility, speed, bladed weaponry, knowledge of gunpowder and army of followers to outmaneuver and overpower his adversaries.

Shen was a master of blades with lethal skill in swordsmanship and knife-throwing. Among his arsenal were:

Guan dao — A curved blade with extending shaft resembling a European flamberge, allowing Shen to use it as either a sword or lance. Throwing knives — Uniquely-shaped knives which Shen hid among the sleeves in his robes; these were most likely custom-built, as they appear to be forged into the shape of feathers, likely so Shen could hide them among his feathers in the folds of his robe. Iron claws — A metal attachment to his talons; used for armor, combat, and as means to create sparks and light the fuses on cannons. Rope dart — Seen being used only once, when Shen throws the rope dart with enough accuracy to ensnare Storming Ox's horn so that he could pull him to the ground. Jian — Shen used a jian sword with wavy edges against Storming Ox and Croc, later throwing it at Thundering Rhino. In addition to his mastery of the sword, the deadliest weapon in Shen's arsenal were his cannons. Built from re-forged metal and powered by his lifelong knowledge of gunpowder, Shen's cannons were used to terrible effect throughout the film, but would ironically prove to be his undoing.

Gongmen City is a vast, peaceful metropolis located somewhere along the southern coast of China. Once under the rule of the Peacocks, it was left under the protection of the Kung Fu Council after the banishment of the city throne's single heir, Shen. He had the city placed under strict control with the aid of his new weapon and army, but it was later liberated by Po and his kung fu allies.[1]

Within the city lies the Peacocks' ancestral palace, a jail once used as a training school, a factory for the manufacturing of fireworks, and a harbor. Gongmen City is seen surrounded by a rather rocky but green nature. The city itself lies on different levels. For example, the Tower of the Sacred Flame is in a ground level but "unnamed palace" lies highest in the city.

For generations, the Peacock family ruled over Gongmen City, bringing joy and prosperity to the city's inhabitants in the form of fireworks. However, Shen, next in line to rule the city, sought to weaponize his family's invention. His troubled parents consulted the court soothsayer, who foresaw that if Shen continued his dark pursuits, he will be defeated by a "warrior of black and white". Shen overheard the prophecy and believed it referred to the pandas living in the nearby Panda Village. In an attempt to change his fate, Shen led an army of wolves to exterminate them all. When he returned home, his horrified parents stripped him of his birthright and banished him from Gongmen City, never to return. Feeling betrayed by his own family, Shen vowed that he would return to have his revenge, and that all of China would bow before him.

Sometime after Shen's banishment, his parents passed away out of grief for banishing their son. Without another heir to take the throne, stewardship of the city was passed over to the Kung Fu Council, headed by Masters Thundering Rhino, Storming Ox and Croc. Over twenty years later, Shen returned to reclaim Gongmen City. Though the Council was confident that their kung fu was sufficient enough to defeat the arrogant peacock and his wolves, Shen unveiled a cannon, which he used to kill Thundering Rhino. He then forced Storming Ox and Croc to surrender by threatening to turn his weapon on the city. The takeover of Gongmen City was swift. Shen's wolves were given free rein to harass the innocents of the city, as well as to collect any metal needed to construct more cannons.