Dhalsim

"Enlightenment is still far away."

- Dhalsim

Dhalsim (ダルシム) is a video game character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games. He is born as a Sagittarius. In the story, he hails from Kerala, India. Dhalsim is famous throughout the Street Fighter series for his unique personality, his stretchy, lanky body and fire attacks. dalzim me gusta yoga fire! yoga fire! yoga fire!

Street Fighter Alpha 2
During Street Fighter Alpha 2, Dhalsim raises money to save his village, and gains the respect of villagers (some call him "Great Yoga Master Dhalsim" ). He questions what good could come from his damaging powers.

Street Fighter Alpha 3
In Street Fighter Alpha 3, he sets out to destroy the evil M. Bison. He travels around the world and meets Rose and Birdie, and uses his mind control powers to get his answers. He later confronts Bison and destroys the Shadoloo base, but this is not considered canon. The only significant part he played in the overall story of the series was making Cammy White self-aware.

Street Fighter II
Dhalsim enters the tournament to raise money for his village, but realizes that it contradicts his pacifist beliefs. Dhalsim retires from fighting after the second World Warrior tournament, and continues to roam the world helping those in need.

Street Fighter IV
Dhalsim makes his return in Street Fighter IV and its sequel this time to free the flow of water to his village after S.I.N. builds a dam upstream. His son, Datta, is a penpal of Amy, Guile's daughter. When Datta informs Dhalsim that his penpal's father is away on a mission, Dhalsim recognizes that the situation is even more serious than he thought since Guile is investigating it. He is reluctant to use his powers for self-serving purposes, but feels compelled to save his village.

Dhalsim goes to participate in the tournament S.I.N. was organizing. When the dam base is destroyed at the end of the game, the water returns to the village. Although Dhalsim believes that Shadaloo represents an evil in the heart of humanity that will never truly be defeated, he also recognizes that "the goodness in mankind's heart is also endless"

Alternate storylines
In the Street Fighter II V, the UDON comic book series, Dhalsim is a wise and powerful mystic who aids Ryu in his quest to become stronger in order to avange his master without being taking over by the Dark Hadou.

Family
Dhalsim has a wife, Sally, and a son named Datta. He comes from the Kerala region of Indıa.

Appearance
Dhalsim is often depicted with having pupil-less eyes. His build is that of a normal man who exercises and weight trains regularly except for his abdomen and waist which appear much out of proportion and emaciated. His arms are also quite extraordinary in length, and he uses this to create an advantage over his opponents during fights, usually opting to wear them down from the outside. He wears torn saffron shorts as his only clothing attire as well as saffron wristbands and anklebands. He has three colored stripes adorning his head, and in the Street Fighter Alpha series, he wears a turban that he removes before battle. The skulls he wears around his neck are those of village children that died during a plague. In palette swap renditions of Dhalsim, his skin is often dark blue or other unnatural colors, perhaps showing an ability to change colors.He is the oldest of the original World Warriors. Also, his name could be a pun on Taoism (Daoism-depending on the romanization scheme) as well as the Dhali Lama.

Personality
Dhalsim shares some character similarities towards Ryu, as he is equally stoic, serious, self-disciplined, humble and very stern when needed. Being a pacifist, he will never hurt more than necessary or kill an adversary, even the most evil ones such as M. Bison, his pacific beliefs also allow him to be a greatly loving father and husband towards his family, just like Guile. Being an extremely altruistic man, Dhalsim fights mostly for the poor and oppressed, as he constantly tries his best to raise money for his poverty-stricken people. In contrast with Ryu's youngster (but still serious and self-focused) type, Dhalsim has a more "mature" and less "enthusiastic" nature, as he regularly relies on his traditional yoga meditation rites to expand his spirituality and keep his inner neutrality off any emotional involvement that may prejudice his discipline.

Dhalsim always remains calm and serene. When he fights, he is always in a constant state of meditation so he can focus on the opponent. He rarely speaks to his opponents, and when he does, his words are riddles that leave the foe confused about his or her own being.

Fighting Style & Gameplay
Dhalsim is the original long-range fighter of fighting games, since his intense training has given him the ability to contort and extend his limbs into forms physically impossible for a normal human. He can project his arms and legs outward in order to deliver attacks that would be out of the range of normal limbs.

Dhalsim also has the ability to breathe fire; In earlier releases, Capcom USA claimed that Dhalsim's ability breathe fire stemmed from his consumption of curry, but Capcom of Japan changed this to a blessing from Agni, Hindu god of fire. (In Super Street Fighter IV, however, Gouken theorises that it might be a ki-based ability instead.) In the comics, Dhalsim says that his fire is actually an illusion that won't hurt a person if they believe that they won't be burned; he proves it via engulfing Adon in flames, and as he recoils and notices he's not getting burned, taking advantage of Adon's confusion to knock him out.

Dhalsim's fighting style involves keeping the opponent at bay with distance attacks and projectiles, and optimally, only getting close to strike with a surprise aerial attack or sliding kick. This is because to his reach advantage, Dhalsim has both very low offense and defense, making it vital for him to avoid sustaining too many blows from a strong fighter.

Dhalsim's sprite, while standing, is actually quite a small target, due to the total number of pixels it occupies while not attacking; he becomes a much larger target while attacking. As of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, the player can make Dhalsim perform only short range attacks by holding back on the joystick.

Stage Theme
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Trivia

 * In episode 9 of Yu Yu Hakusho, a Dhalsim-like man is clearly standing in the background.
 * In episode 37 of Ghost Sweeper Mikami, a man identical to Dhalsim can be seem, and he attacks by spitting fire. His attack is stopped by shutting his mouth, making the fire go out by his nose and ears and set him on fire.
 * His Yoga fighting style is based off of Kalarippayattu, one of the very first developed martial arts in recorded history.
 * Oddly enough, the manuals for the SNES and Genesis versions of Street Fighter II identified Dhalsim's fighting style as Kabaddi, which is actually an Indian sport.
 * Despite having the same rival as he did in Street Fighter IV, Dhalsim's rival fight stage has been changed in Super Street Fighter IV. It was the Crowded Downtown stage before, but then got changed to the Exciting Street Scene stage. This was due to the fact that the Exciting Street Scene stage is located in India (which is Dhalsim's home country), and thus suits him better.
 * Dhalsim has long believed that all his unique abilities are derived from religous devotion combined with training. Gouken, however, informs him that they are ki techniques, much like the ones he teach. This may also explain Seth's ability to use some of Dhalsim's moves, though it is just as likely that he is able to copy non-ki abilities as well.
 * Dhalsim makes a cameo appereance in the manga/anime "Ghost Sweeper Mikami", where he attacks one of the main characters with a Yoga-Flame.
 * In the anime "Shinryaku! Ika Musume", the main character Ika Musume plays a video game called "Super Stocking Fighters IV" (an obvious spoof of Super Street Fighter IV), where she plays as "Mr. Yoga", who strongly resembles Dhalsim in one of his alternate outfits.
 * The 1975 Kung Fu movie "Master of the Flying Guillotine" also involves a Yoga master with arms that extend and retract.
 * The South-Korean pop/rock duo Norazo refers to one of Dhalsim's fire-based moves (Yoga Fire) in the lyrics of their song Curry, because of Dhalsim's Indian nationality.
 * Based on the information off of SFII, Dhalsim was born on November 22, 1952 (He is 59 years old). It should be noticed, however, that newer games don't include the birthdays of the cast anymore, probably to avert time-related dissonances.
 * Dhalsim makes a small cameo at the end of Sakura Ganbaru along with his wife and Rolento, complaining about their lack of appearance. Rolento and Dhalsim were the only members of the cast of SFA2 to not appear at all in the Street Fighter Alpha manga or Sakura Ganbaru.
 * In the last chapters of the manga "Yakitate!! Japan", Kyosuke Kawachi eats Kazuma Azuma's final bread, and turns into Dhalsim, who uses his Yoga Power to lift all the landmasses of the Earth in order to prevent global warming. He then gets beaten up by a Shoryuuken from both Ken and Ryu.