Ultraman Tiga's History
Ultraman Tiga is the eponymous Ultra Hero of the Ultraman Tiga series. He is notable for being the first Ultraman in the franchise to be able to change forms.
Tiga was once one of the Ultra-Ancient Giants of Light who came to the Earth as light, from a certain nebula far away. He and his race fought against monsters such as Golza to protect the Ultra-Ancient Civilization on R'lyeh 30 million years ago, but eventually Tiga and a few others found the power of "darkness", and gained a great power, becoming evil Giants of Darkness of which Tiga was the strongest at the time. A civil war broke out between the Ultras, and the ancient civilization they once protected became a battlefield and graveyard for many of them. Eventually, Yuzare somehow convinced Tiga to follow the path of light again. Tiga defeated Darramb, Hudra, and his former lover Camearra and took their powers, gaining his Type Changes. He also sealed them as stone statues in the R'lyeh ruins.
Tiga and his companions saved the civilization from countless catastrophes, but then Gijera arose, using its addictive pollen on all of humanity as they entered a stupor, hallucinating of a happier world and awaited destruction rather than face the harshness of the reality they were going through. Tiga and his companions could do nothing more for the humans, embedding their "power to become light" into the genes of great warriors and their descendants, passed down through the ages. The ancient giants left their bodies, now turned to stone, in a pyramid, and returned to the nebula they came from as their natural form of light.
An ancient legend of a village stated that long ago, the village was attacked by a terrible monster but saved by a giant. After that battle the giant returned to the mountain and disappeared with the people of the village worshiping his memory, the Giant of Light.
Years later, a wandering monster hunter stumbled upon the legendary Sparklence beside a monster she had just killed. Not knowing what it was, she kept it but when she approached a village under attack by another monster the Sparklence started to shiver. The village's wooden defenses were no match for the monster and the village was heavily damaged with the defenders of the village trying to confront it with spears. It turned out the monster was 'summoned' to that time by a sorcerer who wanted to prevent the revival of Tiga by destroying the golden pyramid in which his remains lay petrified.
When Tsubasa Madoka, the son of Daigo Madoka and Rena Yanase, was sent into the past by the sorcerer, he saw the Sparklence which fell out the monster hunter's bag. He instantly noticed it resembled the one his father used to transform into Tiga. He grabbed it away before the monster hunter could object and transformed into Tiga. The monster was defeated easily but at the end Tiga disappears as Tsubasa was not destined to truly wield his power, even if he had the right genetics, and the whole village was devastated. Later Amui; a country boy who befriended Tsubasa, tells the village he saw the giant of light, but nobody believed him until the defenders stated they saw Tiga as well. Hearing this one of the seers in the village claimed the prophecy was coming true and soon someone in their village would be the one to awaken Tiga. Though Tiga defeated the sorcerer's first monster, he sent his strongest monster and his two acolytes to try and destroy the pyramid again. The villagers, with help from another village's elites, and the monster hunter fought the two acolytes but Tsubasa failed to defeat the monster Dogouf who defeated Tiga easily.
Tsubasa reverted to human form exhausted and the ancient Sparklence was almost trampled by Dogouf but Amui saved it and turned out to be the one who would fulfill the prophecy. He used the device to transform into Tiga, ultimately stopping Dogouf. Tsubasa then fixed his jet and returned to the future with Tiga watching over the village ever since. Though the village disappeared in time, the land came to be known as Tiga, a vital clue that allowed GUTS to find the pyramid in the first place.
Tiga's body laid petrified in the golden pyramid and was discovered when the TPC's expert team GUTS was dispatched to search for the pyramid spoken of in a holographic message from the ancient civilization. They intended to find Tiga in a last ditch effort to stop the two beasts that had appeared; Melba and Golza. However, the two beasts destroyed the pyramid and began to destroy the petrified Ultra beings. Before Tiga could be destroyed, he was rejuvenated when he merged with the GUTS pilot Daigo Madoka who had turned into light, and quickly destroyed Melba, while Golza fled.
Tiga would continue to serve Earth, albeit without his Ultra comrades. Later on the holographic message told Daigo that he and Tiga were one and the same, implying that he was once Tiga in a past life. As time passes, Tiga would face powerful opponents such as Gagi, Gobnu, Kyrieloid, Weaponizer, Evil Tiga, Zoiger, and other enemies sometimes with or without the aid of GUTS.
As Tiga's time on Earth began to draw to a close, the servants of Darkness began to attack. The first of these was Gijera a servant of the darkness itself that threatened to drown humanity in a dreamlike euphoria. Whereas the Tiga of the past could do nothing to stop Gijera because the humans at the time would rather accept it and their coming destruction rather than live their difficult human lives, the Tiga of the present was, as Yuzare said, "a human and the light", which Daigo interpreted as the ability to forge a path of his own despite being Tiga, and defeated Gijera. Nook and Terra note that the is the first giant of light to have interfered with the humans' decisions, but thanks him for it. The final servant of darkness was Zoiger, who Tiga destroyed with great difficulty, almost faced with defeat. Tiga's final battle took place upon the appearance of Gatanothor; the master of all darkness which Gijera and Zoiger bowed to. Tiga was defeated by the evil lord and was petrified once again, but he was later revived by the hopes of the children of the world which transformed them into beings of light to merge with the Titan. This rejuvenation allowed Tiga to transform into his Glitter form with tremendous power and destroy the evil god. However, Tiga's victory came at a cost: Daigo lost his power and couldn't transform to Ultraman Tiga anymore as the Sparklence disintegrated into dust. However, Daigo tells Rena he believes that every human could also become light with their own power.
Two years after Tiga defeated Gatanothor, Daigo and Rena had become engaged with the date of their marriage fast approaching. However, due to TPC's attempt to harness the power of Ultraman like Keigo Masaki once did with Evil Tiga, they released the Giants of Darkness from their seal in the ruins of R'lyeh that arose with Gatanothor. Upon the intervention of Camearra, Tiga's former comrade, Daigo began having visions and nightmares until he was beaten by the human forms of the three Dark Ultras. He was given another Sparklence and told to go to R'lyeh where Camearra and her loyal partners waited. The spirit of Yuzare explained to Tiga what became of the giant's civilization; Camearra, Tiga, and the other two dark giants won a civil war amongst the Earthbound Ultras, with only a few giants surviving. She explained Camearra's plan, the three were trapped behind a barrier on R'lyeh that would hold for a century but if he were to use the power of darkness the barrier would shatter. Daigo decided to deal with his past life's unfinished business and set out for R'lyeh Island with GUTS and his wife arriving shortly after him.
Once there Daigo used the Black Sparklence, transforming into Tiga but due to the Black Sparklence's power he transformed into Tiga's original form; Tiga Dark, a warrior of Darkness. This transformation broke the pyramid of Light that bound the Giants of Darkness to the island, but before they enjoyed their freedom, they were pitted against their former friend. Tiga fought against his two past partners, Hudra and Darramb. Refusing their offer to join them, Tiga fought them both, one at a time, and barely managed to defeat them both. After absorbing their dark energy, he was able to dispel portions of the the darkness inside him and achieve purer forms of himself.
After finishing off his former comrade, Tiga finally fought Camearra herself, who did not hold back against her old lover. GUTS arrived on the island to investigate shortly before and Rena, using GUTS Wing 1, entered the battlefield attracting Camearra's attention. Camearra was about to destroy the jet, but Tiga shielded Rena with his own body. This act of benevolence dispelled the last of his darkness completely and he was returned to his normal form, but the battle wasn't over.
Enraged that her former lover had found a new beloved, Camearra awakened the Darkness from the depths of the island, and merged with it, becoming her ultimate form; Demonthor. The gaseous beast attacked Tiga, who was unable to fight back. After a short battle, Tiga was killed by Demonthor, and Camearra was ready to destroy the world. But the souls of the fallen warriors of R'lyeh Island gave their remaining power to Tiga, reviving and transforming him once again into his Glitter form. This time Demonthor could not harm him so she grabbed him and absorbed him into herself where his Light was unleashed. Ultraman Tiga destroyed the beast, from the inside, and Camearra with it with the Zerades Beam. Later after Daigo had returned to human form he found the dying body of Camearra, who confessed that she once wished for the power of light as well. Daigo held her hand as the darkness's grip on her was relinquished and she died a pure soul. This was Daigo's final battle as Tiga, and the legacy of mankind's protector was passed onto Tiga's successor, Ultraman Dyna, to defend the Earth in Tiga's place.
Prior to the Ultraman Ginga TV series, Ultraman Tiga participated in the Dark Spark War with other Ultras that came from other universes against the forces of evil. In the war, Ultraman Tiga faced Golza but in their midst battle, Dark Lugiel appeared and turned every Ultra alongside their allies, monsters and aliens into Spark Dolls. With the war over, an unknown warrior appeared and faced Dark Lugiel but like the others he was also turned into a Spark Doll but he was kept within his Spark Device and fell alongside other Spark Dolls to Earth. It was revealed that Tiga was part of Dark Lugiel's collection.
Dark Lugiel used the Dark Dummy Spark to corrupt Tiga's Spark Doll and turn him into his dark past self: Tiga Dark. Tiga Dark attacked Jean-Killer and severely damaged him so much that it made him revert back to his Human Host, Tomoya. At the moment Hikaru discovered that Tomoya was the one controlling the gargantuan robot, but while wondering who attacked him, Tiga Dark appeared before them. Taro told them it was Ultraman Tiga, while Alien Valky tried to correct him, saying it was his "cooler" form Tiga Dark, but his speech fell on deaf ears, as he said it too far away from them.
Tiga Dark attacked the trio with a Hand Slash, but Ultraman Taro managed to use Ultra Psychokinesis to deflect the attack, which fell on Valky knocking him out. Ultraman Taro told the duo to run as quickly as possible but as they argued and did not take notice when Tiga fired another Light Bullet. This time, Taro noted was too strong to deflect. As such Taro teleported the three away to safety.
Tiga Dark was not seen again until after the rematch between Jean-Killer and Ginga, a battle Ginga won by destroying Tomoya's Dummy Spark, rendering Jean-Killer immobile. Tiga appeared and began to fight Ginga, who was able to barely match him. To uneven the odds, Tiga transformed Valky into a giant to do battle with him. Together they began to overpower Ginga, until Tomoya reactivated Jean-Killer as Jean-Nine. Ginga and Jean-Nine eventually overpowered the two, defeating with their finishers and returning them to Spark Doll form. Tiga fell in his purified form.
Hikaru Ultlives into Ultraman Tiga after witnessing Alien Icarus Darkliving several monsters and himself into the powerful Kaiju Tyrant. Tiga begins to fight with the monster avoiding being cut by Tyrant's mace and tail. He then uses the Zeperion Beam, but only for Tyrant to use his Bemstar gorge to absorb it all until he couldn't do it anymore, his timer also started to flash. Then Jean-Nine comes and rushes Tyrant and aids in helping Tiga. When Jean-Nine's cannon was caught by the monster, he slashed at Tyrant's Barabba Whip and cuts it off, knocking him off balance. The robot then handed Tiga the hook which he then turned into energy and threw it at Tyrant's chest. Weakened Jean-Nine used the Jean Stardust and launched it at Tyrant. Tyrant was then defeated and the Spark Dolls returned.
Kenta Ultlived into Tiga along with Seiichiro and Chigusa, who Ultlived into Seven and Ultraman to assist Jean-Nine in restraining Super Grand King so Hikaru could get through to Misuzu. Despite their efforts, Super Grand King ultimately defeated them.
After Ginga defeated Dark Lugiel, Tiga is assumed to have returned to normal and went back to his universe in the form of a ball of light like the other Spark Dolls.
Tiga returned when Kenta and Chigusa sought a way to stop Alien Magma, who had Darklived Zetton. With Kenta as his host once more he fought together with Ultraman on the moon. Despite their best efforts, both monsters easily overpowered them. Moreover, both Tiga and Ultraman's Color Timers began to blink. Fortunately, Ginga appeared in the nick of time and defeated both Alien Magma and Zetton. Ginga then transported Tiga and Ultraman back to Earth before they reverted back to Kenta and Chigusa.
Tiga was among the Heisei Ultras imprisoned by Etelgar and Arena in the Evil Mirror. After being freed by UPG, he and the Heisei Ultras teamed up with Ultraman Ginga and Victory. He regroups with Ultraman Dyna and Gaia, facing an Eteldummy of the chimeric monster Five King that manifested from the combined form of their traumas against past monsters (in Tiga's case, Golza and Melba). Tiga turned into Power Type with Dyna in his Miracle Type and Gaia in his Supreme Version. Eventually, the three managed to defeat the ferocious monster with their combined attacks of Tiga's Deracium Beam Torrent, Dyna's Revolium Wave Attack Type, and Gaia's Photon Stream.
