Madarao
An immortal who keeps the balance of the world without ever taking a side, and is about to find out what happens to the balance when he leaves.
What they want
To keep the balance, which has been his job for so long that he no longer thinks of it as wanting anything. When a mortal boy with a scythe reaches his summit, what he wants is to talk.
What they need
To trust someone. He does, exactly once, at the end. It's the bravest thing he's done in centuries, and it may also be a mistake.
Voice
Talks like someone who stopped needing to be believed a long time ago. The fight is the least important part of his only episode, and he knows it before anyone else does.
The arc
For most of the season Madarao is a destination: the legendary Tengu on the mountain above Furumi, and the name the whole season climbs toward. In this world every mountain in Japan has a long-nosed Tengu of its own, an immortal responsible for shepherding souls into and out of the world and for all the life on its slopes, with lesser crow-tengu working among the humans on its behalf. The Tengu keep the balance without intervening and without passing judgement, and when one of them disappears, the balance tips until someone worthy ascends to take their place.
When the team reaches the summit, Madarao doesn't seem interested in fighting them. He wants to discuss the balance of the world and his own place in it, and he gives Kabu riddles and chance after chance to show what he's learned this season about what a hero is. Kabu fights him anyway, because he still believes being good means destroying what's bad, and Madarao lets him win. He goes willingly. His place on the mountain is left empty, and the balance with it.
Relationships
Crow Witch
He chose her out of the trees when she was an ordinary crow and made her one of his karasu-tengu, and she has been doing his work among the humans ever since without once being promoted. Whether he thinks about her at all is a fair question; the mountain does not keep track of its helpers.
Kabu
The first mortal to reach his summit in a very long time, and a boy who believes demons should be killed. Madarao offers him every chance to choose differently, and when Kabu doesn't, he lets the blow land. The fight ends the season's last battle and breaks Kabu's worldview in the same stroke.
Kinoko
The man who tried to become a Tengu by breaking the balance, and was cursed for it. Madarao's presence on the mountain is part of what has kept Kinoko at the bottom of it. When Madarao falls, that changes.
Episodes Featuring Madarao
2 episodes across the season