Tatsunaga

Dragon Quest monster Tatsunaga

Art by Akira Toriyama Japanese 人食い火竜 Romaji Hito-gui kairyū First appearance Dragon Quest XI Old localization None

Story

Warning: Spoilers!
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According to the people of Hotto, Tatsunaga was recently battled by a young man named Ryu. Ryu successfully slew the dragon, but lost his life in the process. He was the son of Miko, the effective leader of the village. This story does not come into play until the second act of Dragon Quest XI, when the Hero and party investigate rumors of a monster at the nearby volcano and encounter the siblings Atsuo and Atsuko. The young brother and sister reveal that Miko plans to sacrifice their mother as part of a rite. Atsuo asks the party to help him investigate why Miko would order such a horrible thing, and they explore Mount Huji. They soon finds Tatsunaga asleep in the caverns. Atsuo draws the conclusion that Miko lied about Ryu slaying the dragon and now wants to feed her own people to it, and he and the party quietly escape before the dragon wakes up.

The party returns to Hotto, where Atsuo confronts Miko and exposes her deception in front of the villagers. However, before Miko is able to explain or to defend herself, Tatsunaga suddenly flies into Hotto. Miko runs down to the dragon, interposing herself between it and the shocked villagers, and says that the dragon is only "a boy." She turns to face Tatsunaga, which eats her in a single bite, terrifying the people of Hotto. The Hero and his companions rush to the dragon and fight it to protect the villagers. However, just as they are about to land the finishing blow, Tatsunaga flies off and retreats to its lair.

Then, the party and Atsuo find Miko's diary, which reveals the shocking truth about Tatsunaga. Ryu did indeed slay the dragon, but it breathed a strange smoke on him just before dying. A curse took hold, and Ryu transformed into the dragon he had only just defeated. Miko did all she could to break the curse, but could not find a method of doing so. Ryu/Tatsunaga then started to hunger for humans, and Miko ended up prioritizing her son over the people of Hotto, and planned a sacrifice to satiate the dragon's hunger. The Hero and company also learn that Miko had almost found a cure, but Tatsunaga had eaten it with her. They decide that, sadly, Ryu has lost all of his humanity by now and must be defeated.

The Hero and his party members enter Mount Huji once again and confront Tatsunaga in a second, more difficult battle. This time, they defeat him for good.

Appearances

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Tatsunaga (first fight) (人食い火竜)

Sprite	HP	MP	Attack
	2,400	240	193
Defense	Agility	Experience	Gold
192	113	8,400	None

Bestiary no.	#368
Family	Dragon & floating
In-game description	A ferocious red dragon feared for its penchant for eating people. It was originally attracted to Mount Huji by the heat and the smell of humans.
Spell(s)	None
Skill(s)	Acts twice per turn Battering Slam Becomes pepped up Ferocious Roar Infernorb (2D mode only) Spits a barrage of high speed fireballs at random targets (3D mode only)
Location(s)	Hotto
Item(s) dropped	None

Evasion	Fire Resistance *	Ice Resistance *	Wind Resistance *
N/A	25%	-125%	0%
Rock Resistance *	Light Resistance *	Dark Resistance *	Zap Resistance *
25%	-110%	0%	-110%
Drain Magic Resistance	Whack Resistance *	Poof Resistance	Poison Resistance *
0%	100%	100%	0%
Paralysis Resistance *	Fuddle Resistance *	Snooze Resistance *	Dazzle Resistance *
100%	75%	75%	50%
Sap Resistance *	Blunt Resistance	Deceleratle Resistance	Spooky Aura Anathematise Resistance
0%	0%	0%	0%
Fizzle Resistance *	Stun Resistance *	Stumble Resistance *	Charm Resistance *
100%	99%	100%	100%
Beguile Resistance *	Double Down Resistance *	Elemental Resistance *
100%	0%	0%

Tatsunaga (rematch) (人食い火竜)

Sprite	HP	MP	Attack
	4,800	240	193
Defense	Agility	Experience	Gold
192	193	21,000	9,600

Bestiary no.	#368
Family	Dragon & floating
In-game description	A ferocious red dragon feared for its penchant for eating people. It was originally attracted to Mount Huji by the heat and the smell of humans.
Spell(s)	None
Skill(s)	Acts thrice per turn Battering Slam Becomes pepped up Ferocious Roar Infernorb (2D mode only) Spits a barrage of high speed fireballs at random targets (3D mode only)
Location(s)	Mount Huji
Item(s) dropped	None

Evasion	Fire Resistance *	Ice Resistance *	Wind Resistance *
N/A	25%	-125%	0%
Rock Resistance *	Light Resistance *	Dark Resistance *	Zap Resistance *
25%	-110%	0%	-110%
Drain Magic Resistance	Whack Resistance *	Poof Resistance	Poison Resistance *
0%	100%	100%	0%
Paralysis Resistance *	Fuddle Resistance *	Snooze Resistance *	Dazzle Resistance *
100%	75%	75%	50%
Sap Resistance *	Blunt Resistance	Deceleratle Resistance	Spooky Aura Anathematise Resistance
0%	0%	0%	0%
Fizzle Resistance *	Stun Resistance *	Stumble Resistance *	Charm Resistance *
100%	99%	100%	100%
Beguile Resistance *	Double Down Resistance *	Elemental Resistance *
100%	0%	0%

Etymology

• Tatsunaga roughly translates to "chief dragon".
• The kanji for "fire dragon" is meant to be read as kairyu instead of hiryu. The confusion arises due to the lack of furigana pronunciation guides in the 3D versions of XI.

Trivia

• The plotline connected to Tatsunaga bears many similarities to the plot events in Jipang, which is a similar location to Hotto in Dragon Quest III. Orochi, the boss fought in Jipang, has an appetite for humans and a close (and surprising) connection to the prickly female leader of the village. Both Orochi and Tatsunaga are also battled twice, with one of the battles taking place in a volcanic lair and the other in the village itself (although in Dragon Quest III, the first battle takes place in the volcano, while the second battle takes place there in Dragon Quest XI).

Related monsters

• Chihuawyrm
• Labradrake
• Spitzfire

Gallery

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  XI polygon model