Heidern

Heidern
The King of Fighters character
Heidern by Eisuke Ogura
First game	The King of Fighters '94 (1994)
Created by	Masanori Kuwasashi
Voiced by	Toshimitsu Arai, Haruo Yamagishi
In-universe information
Fighting style	Heidern style of assassination arts
Family	Leona Heidern (adopted daughter)

Heidern (Japanese: ハイデルン, Hepburn: Haiderun) is a character in the The King of Fighters fighting game series created by SNK. He is the master of his own brutal self-made martial art, involving cutting with the use of bladed gloves, which seem to conceal explosives and a form of energy generator. He appears in the series as the leader of Ikari Warriors Team (also called Team Brazil) overseeing criminals that might be involved in the series' tournaments, most notably the criminal Rugal Bernstein who killed his family.

Heidern was created by The King of Fighters '94 game director Masanori Kuwasashi who wanted to created a character who would fit with the Ikari Warriors, another SNK IP that appears in the series. The designer changed his mind about the character's portrayal to make him more likable than in scrapped plans. The character was well received for his portrayal in The King of Fighters series, having both a dark past that he is able to move on while helping his soldiers move on in the process. However, the character is absent for several installments of the series which led to criticism.

Appearances

In video games

Introduced in The King of Fighters '94, Heidern is the commander of the Ikari Warriors also called Brazil Team. Back in 1986 (eight years prior to the King of Fighters '94 tournament), Rugal Bernstein had kidnapped Heidern's wife, Sandra, and daughter, Clara, and challenged him to try and take them back from him. Heidern had no choice but to take the bait, and he and his men directly assaulted Rugal at his Blacknoah. Rugal killed all of Heidern's men by himself, saving Heidern for last. Before Rugal could finish him off, Heidern's family interveined, and sacrificed themselves to save him. The incident left Heidern alone, and missing an eye. After that, Heidern made it his mission to get revenge. After he had re-established his team, the Ikari Warriors, he went after Rugal to get his revenge. Heidern teams up with Ikari Warriors characters Clark Still and Ralf Jones, eventually making peace with his past once Rugal dies.

In The King of Fighters '96, he is replaced with his adoptive daughter Leona Heidern but returns in an elderly team in The King of Fighters '98. He is absent in the next games until The King of Fighters 2001, replacing the missing Whip, and is playable in the remake of The King of Fighters 2002: The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match. After being absent in the Ash saga, Heidern is playable as downloadable content in The King of Fighters XIV and once again appears playable in The King of Fighters XV as part of Team Rival with Isla and Dolores, exploring the powers the former has and how are they related with the new fighter Shun'ei.

In other media

In the manga The King of Fighters '94: Gaiden, Ralf and Clark try to avenge Heidern's family by killing Rugal but they are saved by Kyo after receiving several wounds. Heidern discovers Ralf and Clark's situation and makes them give up of the tournament. Heidern faces the England Team but is defeated by Mai Shiranui. When the fighters corner Rugal in his Black Noah ship, Heidern tries to take revenge after Kyo defeats the criminal but the group is forced to escape as Rugal selfdestructs his Black Noah. He also reappears in The King of Fighters Kyo manga as a gag chapter where he assigns Ralf, Clark and Leona for a mission resulting in a gag of the Ikari Warriors beliving if they are fit to become protagonists of a manga chapter.

Outside manga adaptations, Heidern also appears in another adaptation of The King of Fighters '94: the Chinese webseries The King of Fighters: Destiny. During a break of the tournament, Heidern learns that Rugal has been manipulating the participants of the tournament by using the cursed power of the demon Yamata no Orochi. In the aftermath, he summons the fighters who are still healthy and leads them to Rugal's location to defeat the criminal.

Creation

Richard Crenna's character Colonel Trautman was the model for Heidern.

For The King of Fighters '94, Heidern was created by director Masanori Kuwasashi. Since the video game is composed of teams that represents different SNK IPs, the Brazil Team was created with the aim of representing the Ikari Warriors games including Ralf Jones and Clark Still. Kuwasashi decided it would be interesting an original character who acts like a Colonel to his younger teammates leading to Heidern's creation. Kuwasashi named him after a popular anime he enjoyed. Heidern was based on Sam Trautman, a character from the Rambo film series portrayed by Richard Crenna, with references to Colonel Jackal from Fist of the North Star manga. His personality was conceived as coldblooded man but the character designer was against this and gave Heidern a more tragic backstory to identify with the Heidern. SNK compared his special moves with the one sorecers use in combat.

His super move Final Bringer particularly stood out as something the staff compared to aliens. His backstory was written to give Rugal a sense of coldblooded as the villain would tease the death of Heidern's family as a casuality for being in the wrong place and at the same time. As a result, artist Shinkiro often drew Heidern in a intimidating fashion to symbolize his vendetta with Rugal something he shares with Kyo Kusanagi; Kyo's father is killed in the game by the same criminal. Despite this antagonistic portrayal, SNK clarified that he is meant to be goodnatured individual who happens to have multiple villain-like traits. His design stayed consitent in his two first appearances, there is a sense of stylish in his outfit. For The King of Fighters '98, Heidern's design remained the same with the exception of his uniform's color and would act in a more comical fashion as a result of teaming up with Kyo's father Saisyu and another elder, Takuma Sakazaki.

In The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match, the most significant change for Heidern is that the command inputs for his special moves "Moon Slasher," "Cross Cutter," and "Neck Rolling" have been switched to the "charge" type inputs used in the series' early days. While The King of Fighters 2001 serves as the base, SNK decided to switch to charge inputs this time after considering the character's established image and intended playstyle. Other adjustments include changing "Neck Rolling" from a strike to a throw to increase its utility, as well as reducing the invincibility duration and extending the recovery time for the "Strong Moon Slasher".

The staff would keep drawing Heidern in following games despite him not being playable as a result of being replaced by Leona and Whip. The former would be heavily influenced by Heidern's character in terms of mannerism. SNK noted there were multiple conceptions that Leona's complete name is Leona Heidern as a result of being under Heidern's care but they stated that it was only a codename and her only name is Leona. His appearance in The King of Fighters XIV showcases a modernized tactical look compared to his classic flak jacket and military trousers look, drawing comparisons to tactical espionage styles.

Heidern was first voiced by Toshimitsu Niwa who felt his dark past made him a charming character besides already being cool and sophisticated. Ever since The King of Fighters XIV, Heidern was voiced by Haruo Yamagishi.

Critical response

Heidern's character was well receieved initially due to his role and characterization in The King of Fighters '94 based on his tragic past as his family was killed by the villain Rugal Bernstein with GamerSky commenting he is overshadowed by Kyo Kusanagi who kills the antagonist instead, avenging his father Saisyu Kusanagi in place of Heidern's revenge. Den of Geek still appreciated how in following installments Heidern gets over his tragic story and characterization gets more fleshed out even when he is not playable as he commands the Ikari Team Team and makes a friendship with Rugal's son Adehlheid during the Ash saga installments of the series. GamerSky also enjoyed his gameplay, comparing it to the charge type of fighting game characters more famous seen in Chun-li and Guile from Street Fighter. TheGamer writer Ash Bates regarded Heidern as a character who deserves his own spin-off game into a potential XCOM by SNK with Heidern's experience when dealing with multiple antagonistic forces serving as a major reason for it. His role in The King of Fighters XV particularly gave Bates that idea thanks to Heidern's role in the narrative.

When Heidern returned as DLC in The King of Fighters XIV, Chris Moyse from Destructoid said the character has imposing abilities, most notably his high speed when fighting but some of his unique techniques were also succedded by Leona, comparing the two as father and daughter. Catrina Dennis from ComicBook.com shared similar views about his techniques and remarked on how he still has Leona and other Ikari Warriors soldiers as close underlings despite having lost his family. GameKult called him Leona’s adoptive father and a major veteran within the Ikari Warriors despite Heidern originiating from The King of Fighters '94 unlike Ralf and Clark who come from older SNK IPs. They praised his inclusion as playable character in The King of Fighters XIV, saying he is often absent since The King of Fighters 2002 with early XIV material leaving his story in mystery and hoped he would team up with Blue Mary. With his canonical return in The King of Fighters XV, GameKult said the character was absent for a decade but was confused about where would he fit as the Ikari Warriors Team was already completed with Leona, Clark and Ralf and wondered if SNK was going to create another elderly team like in The King of Figthters '98 which had Heidern with Saisyu and Takuma Sakazaki. Siliconera said that while Heirdern's appearance in The King of Fighters XV is similar to XIV, he appears to have a more developed built and also wondered who he would team up with.

Some critics have commented on Leona's traits and movements and their relations to Heidern. Hardcore Gaming 101 regarded Leona as one of the most suitable additions to the franchise in KOF '96 due to the way she mimics Heidern's techniques but at the same form is overpowered. Gamer Magazine said while most of Leona's moves are inherited from Heidern, simple yet powerful, also possess unique expressiveness. Gamest compared Leona's plain military uniform to Heidern's. In regards to their relationship m Heidern sees his own daughter in him, raising her to be a warrior is terrible, which the thought at first, but I can see hidden feelings such as "I want her to be able to protect herself with her own strength no matter what situation she finds herself in."