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"It'll be years before you can stand in my way!"
―Ren attacking Ryo when they first meet without giving him Yuanda Zhu's location even though he paid him $500 for it. — Listen (file info)[src]

Wuying Ren (Hànzì: 刃武鷹, Pinyin: Rèn Wǔ Yīng, On'yomi: Ren Ūin), commonly known as Ren of Heavens (ヘヴンズのレン Hevunzu no Ren) or just Ren (レン Ren), is the leader of the notorious gang the Heavens that is based in Beverly Hills Wharf, Aberdeen. He is a greedy thief who is obsessed with money and cheats to succeed and get his way. He is also feared among the majority of people in Hong Kong and is considered to be very dangerous. Although first seen as an antagonist in Shenmue II, Ren develops into the tritagonist of the series throughout the second and third game and becomes less selfish and helps the main protagonist Ryo Hazuki on many occasions, despite trying to cheat him out of $500 when they first met. Wong, another member of the Heavens, looks up to Ren as an older brother, though they are not related.

Appearance[]

Ren is 175 cm (5'9") tall. He has long black hair that's in a ponytail and wears a white bandana. He wears a blue short-sleeve Chinese jacket with a design on the back of a red furred horse with light green wings above a bright yellow cloud and he wears no shirt under it. He also wears a beaded necklace, green baggy pants and long brown boots. He also wears a brown belt and has another black and silver belt over it which has a pouch to carry his knife.

Personality[]

Ren is charismatic and both his words and actions lead the way. He doesn't trust anyone, and is obsessed with money. He is quick-witted and good at gambling, largely due to his prowess at cheating. He is mischievous and has two coins, with one having heads on both sides while the other having tails on both sides, which he uses to get his way. Ren also hates being ordered around and gets angry at Ryo when he does that.

The majority of people in Hong Kong fear him and consider him to be very dangerous. Even Xiuying Hong, a martial arts master feels he is dangerous and urges Ryo to not meet him, most likely since she feels his martial arts skills aren't good enough yet. Even a small gang of two brothers in Aberdeen, the Poison Brothers fear Ren despite acting tough and mugging people all the time. They say that if they're poisonous snakes, then Ren would be a wolf. They fear Ren so much, that they politely refuse to take Ryo to the Heavens hideout.

Ren always carries his knife with him and uses it in combat and to threaten people. His surname "Ren" even means "blade", which Wong will tell Ryo if Ren successfully attacks him when they first meet. Although he is skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well and has proven to handle himself against black-suited Chi You Men members that are trained in martial arts no problem. He also defeated one of his henchmen Larry in an one-on-one fight, who used to act as a lone wolf and now works for him. He also seems to participate in street fights most likely to gamble for money, claiming he can handle Greg More, who is a professional wrestler calling him "slow". He also may bet money in street fights regularly since he loves money and gambling, as he bets for Ryo to lose against Greg.

Although Ren is really selfish and greedy especially during his first appearance, he does have a good side deep down. When he tries to get Hongji Huo to give him information on Yuan, he asks Ryo to give him a prize that he owns, but Ryo claims he doesn't have anything (even if he does). Ren is then forced to give away his Mini Afterburner prize to Hongji telling Ryo that he "owes him". Hongji is very happy, excited and jumping up and down and Ren smiles at his happiness, showing that it feels good for him to make others happy. Ren owning the prize also shows that he could be a good gamer and could have won it at the arcade. Or he could have stole it from someone, but his name actually does appear in the top ranking of Hang On, which could suggest that he is a good gamer.

Ren seems to be sexually attracted to women that are not "tough" since he says that Joy is "too tough" for him.

Ren is big rivals with Dou Niu, the leader of the Yellow Heads. Ren feels he is way superior than Dou Niu and has dubbed him "Stupid Dou Niu" due to him being easily fooled. Another big enemy of his is Yuan, who is Dou Niu's right-hand partner. Ren does seem to know that Yuan can be dangerous, since when he captures Shuqin Zhang, he says that it doesn't sound good that Yuan is the one that has him. Ren also feels that Yuan's very weird due to his odd traits such as collecting knives, drinking tea elegantly and being disgusted at filthy creatures. Ren also knew of Lan Di and the Chi You Men before he even met him and knows how nasty the organization is.

in Shenmue the Animation, Ren seems to really be obsessed with Ryo and is too nice to him even when they first meet. After he heard from his henchmen that he defeated them, he becomes really interested in him before they even meet, and even tries to look for him. In the games, he slowly develops into a better person and is very greedy and selfish at first, and clearly did not care about Ryo at all for a long time. He also doesn't really try to attack him with his knife when they first meet and simply puts the blade to his throat without doing any damage and Ryo did not move when he did that, so he clearly had the advantage.

Shenmue II[]

Ren QTE Fail 4

Ren attempting to attack Ryo after he pays him $500.

Ryo first comes into contact with Ren after being told to find him by Shuqin Zhang, because he may know where Yuanda Zhu is located at due to his rivalry with Dou Niu, the leader of the Yellow Heads, who is looking for Zhu. He warned Ryo that Ren is a very dangerous man. After paying Ren $500, he agrees to meet with Ryo, although attempts to attack him with his knife. Ren will successfully attack him depending on if the Command QTE is failed or not.

If failed, Ryo will be attacked by Ren, then his henchmen kick him while he's down on the ground. After this, Wong will bring an injured Ryo to his boat and warn him to be more careful. Ryo will then heal from his beating, while he counts the stars.

If succeeded, Ryo will dodge all his attacks and then he agrees to take him to Zhu, seeing that he is serious. Ren will then lead him to one of the warehouses in Fortune's Pier, the F Warehouse where a deal is being made. However, Ren interrupts the deal by turning off the lights and stealing the money, leaving Ryo to fight the men, which are members of the Yellow Head gang with the high-ranking executive of the gang Yuan.

Ren then goes to Pigeon Park to meet up with Sam, Larry, and Cool Z but is quickly tracked down by Ryo again. Ren agrees to reveal where Zhu is this time, but only if he can catch him and runs off. Ryo follows Ren into Lucky Plaza, a building under construction on Queen's Street. Ren is chased all the way to the roof despite his many attempts to slow Ryo down. At the end of the chase, Ryo adds weight by jumping on the scaffolding that Ren was on, causing the scaffolding to collapse, sending them both onto the back of a covered van. On here, while they catch their breath, Ren spots the Phoenix Mirror that fell out of Ryo's pocket while they fell. After hearing his story about how he is after the Lan Di for revenge, who Ren recognizes as a member of the Chi You Men, he becomes a lot more interested in helping him out, thinking there must be a large amount of money involved in whatever is going on. He leaves revealing to Ryo that Zhu is in Kowloon and to meet him there.

Ren, along with Cool Z on lookout, arrive in Kowloon before Ryo does, waiting for him at his hideout on Dragon Street. They head out to visit Yang at Great View Herbs, who Ren says worked for Yuanda Zhu before. Once they arrive, Yang arranges a meeting for them with Zhu in the Dancing Dragon Building. However, the meeting was a set-up and the two are lead to the Yellow Head gang leader Dou Niu. Unable to escape, they are handcuffed together and locked up inside a small room.

Shenmue-04-19-18-9

Ren and Ryo hiding from Yellow Heads.

Two days pass and they take their action to escape. Ryo fakes an illness to get the guard to open the door, allowing them to knock him out and make a run. The building is full of guards, so they are forced to stay on the roof until the morning. The next morning they attempt to escape, however they are stopped by Yuan who is armed with a knife. After they stop him, Dou Niu arrives and is enraged at them for hurting his right-hand partner and chases them forcing the two into a dead-end with their only way of escaping being jumping off the broken fire-escape onto the roof of the near building. Having no other option, they make the jump and get away without a problem and head back to the hideout. Being both handcuffed together they ask for Wong who is especially skilled at picking locks. Once Wong arrives he separates the two, also during this time Joy also arrived in Kowloon to check up on them, and yell at Ryo for not saying goodbye.

Shen2 We've been followed

Ren and Ryo find Zhu and are confronted by Yuan.

Next they head back to Yang's place to interrogate him about what happened, but there were not any useful clues. They eventually find a lead with Yuan. In Yuan's room, they rescue Zhang, and then find Yuanda Zhu hiding in the Ghost Hall Building. Unfortunately, Zhu is captured by Yuan and Dou Niu.

Knowing that the Yellow Heads are involved somehow they check out the Yellow Head Building but there's no way to enter due to there being guards at every entrance. With little other leads, Ryo uses the Chawan Sign to make contact with associates of Yuanda Zhu and get a new lead. Ren sits this out and waits for Ryo to learn some new information.

Doing this leads them to a secret entrance to the Yellow Head Building through a network of sewer tunnels. Ryo and Ren enter the building and work their way up, trying to avoid being caught. This only holds out for so long as their presence is discovered, causing the two to run. Eventually after stopping Yuan, they learn where Zhu is being held, on the 40th floor. Ren then tells Ryo to head there while he holds back the Yellow Head gang members that have been chasing them.

Later on, Ren meets up with Ryo, Joy and Wong who are all on the roof where Dou Niu is trying to hand Zhu over to Lan Di through his helicopter. This does not go according to plan, with Ryo dealing with Dou Niu, while Ren fights off the various Chi You Men members.

With Dou Niu defeated and Yuanda Zhu rescued, they all head back to Ren's Hideout where Zhu explains all that he knows about Lan Di, Iwao Hazuki and the Phoenix and Dragon mirrors. Ryo then heads to Guilin, while Ren stays behind at his hideout. Ren indirectly gives Ryo his coins as a gift.

Shen2 Ren throws blade on Guilin map

Ren throws his knife to the Guilin location on the map.

After hearing about the treasures in Guilin from Zhu during his explanation, Ren becomes very interested in them and throws his knife to the Guilin location on the map on his wall. He then says that "Things are getting interesting." hinting that he will head to Guilin.

Shenmue III[]

Shenmue-III-Ryo-and-Ren

Ren decides to help Ryo.

Ryo meets Ren again by chance, who has come to Niaowu in search of treasure. Ryo has Ren help him try to fight the Red Snakes leader, Longqi Ge, but the two are unsuccessful.

When Ryo and Ren plan on fighting Longqi again, they find a woman, Feng Li, alone in their warehouse hideout. Ryo and Ren ask where the Red Snakes went. She vaguely tells them that the land belongs to her, so she had them leave. She tells them that the gang are in the old castle and abducted Shenhua Ling. When Ryo and Ren return to Hotel Niaowu, they find a letter from Feng saying that if Ryo wants to save his "little girlfriend", he should come to the old castle and bring the Phoenix Mirror with him. Later, Ren shows Ryo a fake Phoenix Mirror he found by chance at a local store, which could serve helpful in rescuing Shenhua.

Ryo takes a boat to the old castle with Ren and some others. Ryo and Ren find Niao Sun waiting for them. Ryo realizes Niao is a disguise of Feng Li. Knowing that if Niao realizes the mirror is a counterfeit that Shenhua could die, Ryo trades Niao the real Phoenix Mirror in exchange for Shenhua's life.

Ryo and Ren fight their way to the top of the castle, defeating Longqi. Ryo confronts Lan Di, intending to complete his revenge, but Lan Di proves too powerful for Ryo. Niao has her bodyguards burn the headquarters, and Ryo and Ren are forced to flee. The group leaves Niaowu by boat. Ryo, Shenhua and Ren are last seen walking along the Great Wall of China.

Extra / Alternate Scenes[]

Extra information or alternate actions are given by Ren, if Ryo performs certain commands.

  • The Command QTE battle with Ren has three different failure outcomes depending on how much of the QTE is inputted correctly. If the player inputs nothing correctly, Ren will attack Ryo with his knife, then knee him in the gut and throw him down to the ground. If the player inputs one of three commands correctly, Ryo dodges an attack, then Ren attacks him with the knife and kicks him down to the ground. If the player inputs two of three commands correctly, Ryo dodges two attacks, then Ren puts his hand in the air distracting him then elbows him down to the ground. [1]
  • When at Yang's place Great View Herbs, Ren asks Ryo to ring the bell to get Yang to come out. If Ryo waits a long time, Ren will ring the bell instead of Ryo, triggering Yang to come out. [2]
  • When Ren and Ryo break out the cell handcuffed together in the Dancing Dragon Building and Ryo fails the second QTE run four times in a row; he and Ren will be put back into the cell. They wait in the cell for three days and on the third day, Ren tells Lu Zhang as he is walking by that they'll him about Yuanda Zhu. Once he opens the door, Ryo punches him, pushes him to the ground and Ren kicks him knocking him out. They then leave to retry the run.
  • When Ren and Ryo are walking to Great View Herbs after Yang betrayed them, Ryo can converse with Ren and they will talk about Ren's relationship with Joy.
  • While looking for Yuan, two extra cutscenes with Ren can trigger.
    • The first one will show Ren going to sleep at his hideout and is basically the setup cutscene for the scene that follows after. To trigger this, gather some information about Yuan but don't go to the bird shop or the Moon Child Orphanage. Simply let the time pass and go back to the hideout after 9:00 pm and go to sleep. It's essential not to go there any earlier. It also works when you get teleported to the hideout automatically at 11:00 pm. [3]
    • To trigger the other extra cutscene where Ryo will wake Ren up, you will have to go to the knife shops while asking around for Yuan and find out he has a talking bird or go to the bird shop where he will be during nighttime, so you will be unable to trigger following Yuan until the next night. Then go back to the hideout and go to sleep. The next morning you'll randomly get a cutscene of Ryo waking up Ren instead of Cool Z waking up Ryo with his boombox. [4]

Shenmue the Animation[]

Ren Anime

Ren as he appears in the anime.

Ren appears as a main character in Shenmue the Animation. At the end of Episode 6, Wong and the gang report to Ren about Ryo who takes an interest in him. In Episode 7, Ren asks Joy about Ryo, and tries to find him, but isn't able to.

Ryo vs Ren anime

Ren puts a knife to Ryo's throat.

In Episode 9, Ryo meets an associate with Yuanda Zhu, Zhang and he suggests the Ryo meet Ren since he knows where Zhu is located at, but warns him that he is dangerous. Once Ryo heads to Ren's gang's hideout, one of his henchman hit him in the head with a steel pipe, knocking him unconscious and Wong takes him to his boat. He gives him his Heavens Zippo, and tells him that if he brings it to the gate and says "I come to bring Ren cash", they'll take him to meet him as Ren is obsessed with money. Once Ryo meets Ren, he agrees to take him to Zhu, but then puts a knife to his throat. Ryo remains calm when this happens, and then Ren says he'll take him to Zhu. Instead however, he takes him to a warehouse where Yuan is a making a deal with Gangfang Lin, and turns off the lights, steals the money and runs off with it, leaving Ryo to deal with Yuan and his men. Once Ryo finds Ren, he chases him throughout Aberdeen. Once he finally catches up with him, he keeps his promise and tells him that Zhu is located in Kowloon. He then says that he'll come with him since he senses that money is involved.

Quotes[]

  • "May the gods be with you..." (Ren about to try to attack Ryo when they first meet.)
  • "Take a look! Great view! Well time to say goodbye!" (Ren about to jump off a building to get away from Ryo when he was chasing him.)
  • "Damn kid. You're in no position to keep me waiting."
  • "I can smell the money involved!"
  • "You're the one that'll be taken care of, Dou Niu!"
  • "He is so damn weird... He likes to collect knives." (Ren after he sees that Yuan enjoys collecting knives.)
  • "Serves you right! Stupid Dou Niu!" (Ren after tricking Dou Niu.)

Trivia[]

  • In Ren's profile on the official Japanese Shenmue I & II website, it says that he may actually be Mongolian and from the Mongolian Horse Tribe and that no one in the Heavens knows his true identity. This is also further suggested by old concept artwork of Ren riding a horse. When Yu Suzuki was asked about this, he said that it may be a possible spoiler and can't say since he's not sure exactly how secret he has to keep the information and didn't want to give something away.[5]
  • In the Battle Rally DLC for Shenmue III, Ren is playable along with Zhen Wei, and Chobu Chan is an unlockable playable character for the DLC. This makes them the only playable characters in the series besides Ryo.
  • Ren's zodiac sign is Sagittarius and he has a AB blood type.
  • Initially Ren was going to be called "Ryu" or "Fei". However, the Shenmue team found out that those names often appeared in other companies' games.
  • Ren's name appears on the very top ranking for the Hang On arcade game in Shenmue and Shenmue II.
  • Ren appears as a character in the mobile game SEGA Heroes.
    • In SEGA Heroes, Ren is a Green Epic Striker hero that can be unlocked after 50/10 Shards are collected and was added in July 2019. He can be playable in Campaign, Arena, Events and Survival.
    • His Max skill is Called Shot which requires 14 mana. Each other ally launches am attack for damage(of that allies type). Then each downed ally gains 10 mana.
    • His Star skill is Rigged Coin Toss which you have to match a Green Star tile/Super Green Star tile and the ally with the Most health gain Taunt/Defense Up for 3 turns. If all of his allies are defeated, then Ren gains Defense Up for 3 turns and deals physical damage.
    • His Passive skill is In It for the Money where Ren takes less damage from enemies that are above 50% health and Ren's matches/skills deal bonus damage to enemies that are below 50% health.
    • His Traits:
    • Campaign
    • Striker
    • Classic
    • Rebel
    • Scoundrel
    • City
  • As seen in the beta screenshots for the series, there was initially going to be a scene where Ren fights Ryo physically hand-to-hand, but it was cut. Although there may be a chance the scene may appear in future titles of the series, it was most likely planned for Shenmue II.
  • Ren's original Japanese voice actor in Shenmue II Takumi Hagiwara would dress up as Ren during press events and commercials for the first two games, along with Masaya Matsukaze as Ryo and Hazuki Ishigaki as Shenhua. Hagiwara did not reprise his role as Ren in Shenmue III most likely due to his inactivity, and he was replaced by Osamu Taira. Taira's voice sounds almost identical to the original.
  • Ren's original English voice actor in Shenmue II, Eric Kelso is also the original English voice actor for Guizhang Chen and Masayuki Fukuhara. Kelso did not reprise his roles as Ren, Guizhang and Fuku-san in Shenmue III, and the role of Ren was given to Greg Chun instead. Kelso said he wanted to reprise his roles, but was never asked to do them.
    • Fans have made a mod for the PC version of the game to replace Ren, Guizhang, and Fuku-san's voices with Kelso's voice. They were able to get Kelso to re-record the lines, as well as Paul Lucas to reprise his role as Lan Di since he did not return as well.[6]

References[]

Gallery[]

PMirror Shenmue Wiki has a gallery for Wuying Ren. DMirror
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