In Shaman King, his descendant; Faust VIII, has inherited both Faustus’s power and insanity. Faust VIII had an isolated childhood and studied to become a doctor in order to save his only childhood companion Eliza from a deadly disease. He found a cure and she recovered, and the couple then opened a clinic and lived a happy life until Eliza was murdered. Devastated by the loss, he was driven to the verge of insanity and began to study necromancy, the same black magic Faust I had used, in order to have at least a form of her to be with. He competes in the Shaman King tournament in hopes of fully reviving her. He defeats Yoh in the preliminary fights (as well as both his other opponents), and later joins Yoh and Ryu on the team Funbari Onsen.
He also has a skeleton chained to his arm that is the skeleton of Eliza. He charges her with furyoku in order to allow her to fight.
Personality
He is usually a very detailed and patient person with a scientific mind, but when it comes to Eliza all that goes out the window. He does not tolerate interuptions while working, and tolerates even less any criticism, insults or threats directed at Eliza.
Faust is the embodiment of dedication; he has given up everything for his wife and is willing to do anything, no matter the costs to protect and take care of her. It’s this single-mindedness and selflessness that gives him his great strength in the Shaman Fight. Beyond all the mental instability, emotional suffering and somewhat gothic moods, his greatest strength comes from his pure heart; pure because he knows that he only lives to love and protect his dear Eliza.
Faust is an insane but brilliant medical doctor who delights in saving lives. Naturally, his work reveals facets of his personality. He cures his opponents’ son after their shaman fight, an illness that many doctors have given up on previously. This is because Faust devoted much of his time to seeking cures for illnesses when he tried to bring Eliza back to life. He treats Jeanne of the X-laws with a zeal that nears madness. Even Manta is terrified of Faust after he treats him.
History
Faust, like his family, wanted nothing to do with his ancestor’s black magic. When he was young, he met a girl named Eliza who was a patient of his father’s but had an incurable illness. Faust worked to his greatest potential to become a doctor and find a cure for Eliza. He succeeded, becoming a master of the medical field and Eliza was cured. They fell in love and were married, and ran their own medical clinic.
Faust got a beautiful mansion near the seaside, and it seemed that his life with Eliza could not be more perfect. Unfortunately, one day while Faust VIII was out in town, a burglar broke into his house where Eliza was home alone. The criminal shot her in the forehead, instantly killing her. Faust arrived at home and saw this horrible scene, and tried all of his medical skills to save Eliza, to no effect.
He became obsessed with bringing her back to life, and thus delved into the ancient practice of necromancy (boneyard sorcery in the English dub). For eight years Faust worked in his arts, never sleeping at all, which is why he has dark shadows under his eyes and purple lips. He enters the Shaman Fight in order to become Shaman King and use the power to resurrect Eliza.
Eliza
Eliza is Faust’s first, only, and one true love. She was ill with a fatal disease since her childhood. As the only woman to care for Faust VIII he in return slaved over his studies to find a cure for her. After her recovery, they married and opened a clinic. She and Faust were very happy living together… until their house was broken into and the burglar, armed with a gun, shot Eliza dead. Now she serves as Faust’s main spirit as he works to become Shaman King and revive her. As Faust grows stronger, she becomes more lifelike. Though she has only one line in the anime, (‘I will fight with you to the ends of the earth, my love’), she obviously loves and cares for Faust with all her heart.
Story
Yoh Asakura and Faust VIII first meet in a cemetery of Chocohama where they are to be opponents for the Shaman Fight. Arguably one of the most dangerous shamans ever, stories hinting of Faust’s power has already rippled throughout the ears of priests who referee the Shaman Fights. A priest, Silva, tries vainly to persuade Anna into make Yoh forfeit the match, fearing for Yoh’s life. Faust had killed his first opponent and had seriously injured the priest who stepped in to stop the match. This match’s field, moreover, is in Faust’s favour, for it is a graveyard. A great advantage to a powerful necromancer like Faust. Anna adamently refuses Silva’s request, insisting Yoh will fight well.
When Anna and priest Silva arrive to watch the match, the fight has already begun prematurely. Faust, using a relic, has summoned an army of skeletons to attack his enemy Yoh. In addition he has chained Manta to a cross and carried out scientific experiments on Manta (in the manga, Faust actually cuts Manta open and conducts experiments on him). Faust concentrates spiritual power around his hands and gropes around inside Manta’s torso, claiming to be “experimenting”. Both events trigger Yoh’s rage. The younger shaman tries to break free of Faust’s skeleton army, although doing so depletes his furyoku (mana) greatly.
Throughout the fight, as it turns out, Faust had used less than one percent of his furyoku/mana. The reason is given that Faust uses very little energy to animate the skeletons. However, his true chosen spirit emerges as Faust transfers his attention to creating Eliza’s form on her skeleton. During the match, Yoh gets Faust VIII enraged by mocking Faust’s plan to resurrect Eliza, calling her a ‘doll’ because she has no will of her own. Enraged, Faust makes Eliza beat Yoh relentlessly. A weary Yoh has little energy left to hold his ground against Eliza’s slashing scythe and when three of his ribs break, Yoh can not fight any more and is eventually defeated.
Tao Ren (Len) arrives to prevent Faust VIII from killing Yoh out of blind rage with his boneyard giant.
Faust VIII does not appear again until he is shown at the airport appealing for Anna’s help (after terrorizing Manta). As a traditional itako, Anna has the ability to call a spirit from any other place in the world to her presence, even if the spirit has reincarnated or is in heaven. Anna agrees to help Faust completely revive Eliza and in return, Faust gave his loyalty to Anna and Yoh. He joined team Funbari Onsen along with Yoh and Ryu. Later, he christened his big oversoul “Mephisto E” (“E” from the initial of Eliza’s name), a reference to the original Faust legend.
Abilities/Techniques
To animate the corpses, he uses the skill Bone Dead Reborn to make nearby spirits inhabit the buried skeletons, which he will raise. The animated skeletons then become a formidable host of monsters that listen to his commands. Because Faust specializes in the study of the undead (Necromancy), he can do this with only minimal furyoku.
Possessing the stoutness of bones, his skeletons have a powerful grip. Even his Shaman Fight opponent Asakura Yoh cannot break free of the grip until a surge of pure desperation gives him strength enough to escape.
In addition, Faust can also use the normal Oversoul technique all shamans use — joining forces with a familiar that draws furyoku from the shaman themselves. Faust’s familiar is his deceased wife’s, Eliza’s, skeleton. Eliza is neither more powerful nor weaker than other shaman spirits, although Silva hints that Faust’s chosen familiar is weaker than Amidamaru.
In the manga, one of the things Faust can do with his power is cage his shaman opponent in a bone cage. He can also create a giant skeleton that he called, “A 2-Ton Calcium Giant”.
Trivia
- When Eliza was killed, the family dog was killed as well. After turning to necromancy, Faust went to revive his dog along with Eliza, affectionately naming it Frankenstiney.
- Amidamaru once said Faust reeked of death.
- In the manga, Yoh managed to cut through Eliza’s knees. From the knee down, the bones were rendered useless. As an act of extreme devotion, Faust actually replaces the missing portions of Eliza’s legs with his own, confining him into a wheelchair. After teaming up with Yoh and Ryu for the Funbari Onsen team and before fighting with them against the Icemen in the Shaman tournament battles, Faust learns to oversoul Frankensteiny into new legs.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Faust VIII“.