Tao Yúan is the father of Tao Ren and Tao Jun. In the English anime, he's listed as their uncle instead. He was born November 30, 1956 with blood type A.
He's a powerful shaman who commands an army of jiang-shi, and when he first shows up properly in the series—during Ren's fight with Yoh Asakura for the final Shaman Fight spot—he comes across as a sadistic, towering figure. Before that, he'd only appeared in shadowy flashback sequences. Fans note that both Ren and Jun's childhoods were defined by his cruelty: constant exposure to violence and bloodshed, plus brutal physical abuse.
When Jun dares to question him about Ren and asks him to let her brother go, Yúan laughs it off and throws her in a dungeon for ten days as punishment. He greets Ren's return by raising an army of jiang-shi from fresh corpses, though Ren destroys them pretty easily. Their actual fight goes differently—Ren can't land a real hit, even with his Golden Vorpal Dance. Yúan beats him down and locks both siblings in the dungeon together.
Ren's friends show up and manage to literally tear Yúan apart. But here's where it gets interesting: his massive appearance was just an Oversoul illusion. His real form is an older man with a huge mustache, actually resembling Ren pretty closely. He reveals he's been obsessed with the family doctrine because he carries the weight of two thousand years of Tao ancestors in a mortuary tablet armor. His second Oversoul is an oriental dragon. Ren defeats him, and as Yúan dies, he passes down the Thunder Sword (Houraiken).
After that, he shows up as a genuinely enthusiastic dad—he even travels to the Patch village to cheer Ren on during a match, much to his embarrassed son's mortification.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
