Tekken: Bloodline was recently released on Netflix, and it has proven to be one of the best attempts at an adaptation of the popular fighting game franchise for its interesting animation choices, story and combat. As one of the most faithful adaptations of Tekken yet, the miniseries has set itself up for a possible continuation due to its ending.
One thing that may not have been translated very well between game and anime is the ending sequence in the final episode. After being betrayed by his grandfather, Jin succumbs to the Devil Gene and transforms, pummeling Heihachi before flying off into the night. Before departing; however, Jin destroys the large mountain carved in Heihachi's likeness – but why?
Lore
Tekken: Bloodlineappealed to core fans of the franchise more so than it tried to establish total coherence in the narrative. As such, certain aspects seemed lacking in context due to some choices made in keeping some narrative elements over others. At first, the series is set somewhere in the time between Tekken 2 and Tekken 3, which is evident due to the focus on Jin Kazama and his relationship with his mother, and how it is contrasted by the relationship he has with Heihachi. The anime builds Jin as a character and tries to have a story that follows the original games closely enough while still having a unique perspective.
Ogre is an entity that feeds off the energy that is concentrated when people, especially strong martial artists, engage in combat. The King of Iron Fist Tournament is Heihachi's means of creating this energy and concentrating it in an arena of his choosing so that he may capture the creature. With the amulet in his possession in the final bout of the tournament between himself and Jin, the Ogre appears when Jin defeats Heihachi, his next opponent being the monster itself. However, the tell-tale red glow that would appear in Jin's eyes from time to time also makes an appearance, indicating that something within Jin is also reacting to the energy that accumulates in combat.
Demonic Possession
Heihachi makes the observation that his grandson possesses the Devil Gene, which, in Tekken lore, is one of the central aspects to the dysfunction within the Mishima family. For Heihachi, Ogre's emergence after his fight with Jin is conformation of his grandson's possession of the so-called "cursed blood" that flows through Kazuya, and thus, the return of Devil. Jin's mother had fought against the apparition after Kazuya's defeat in the previous tournament, but after her death, Devil was free to possess Jin as its new host. After Jin defeats True Ogre, the monster's grotesque final form, Heihachi describes himself as a Mishima, and Jin, an abomination. Heihachi brandishes a revolver and fires at point-blank range, seemingly killing Jin in front of the other contestants. However, while Jin's life flashes before his eyes, and he recalls the sacrifice his mother made to protect him from Ogre, the Devil Gene is triggered, instantly healing his wounds and bringing forth the dark power that had only been alluded to throughout the series.
Devil Jin completely overwhelms Heihachi, beating him within an inch of his life in front of the other contestants; however, he stops midway to remove the pendant from Heihachi's possession. Having seemingly gained some semblance of control over the transformation, Jin turns to face his friends who had been trying to snap him out of his violent rage in what appears to be some kind of acknowledgement, before flying off towards the mountain overlooking the arena, which is carved in Heihachi's image.
Symbolic Destruction
Devil Jin destroys the Heihachi face carved in the mountainside before flying off, an act which, together with his apparent refusal to kill Heihachi, can be seen as symbolic of Jin's rejection of his grandfather and his values. However, because of the discrepancies between the sequence of events, as well as their location in the anime, the true value of this action is hidden. In Tekken 3, after Jin defeats Ogre, the monster disappears in a blinding flash of light. The arena where the final battle happens is seemingly within a mountain temple, and is thus not moonlit as it is in the anime. Jin is gunned down by a Tekken Force operative before Heihachi delivers the final bullet to Jin's head and walks away, leaving the Tekken Force to deal with the body.
As Heihachi's back is turned, a body zooms past him and crashes into the ancient throne a few paces ahead of him. He turns to see Jin's red eyes and facial markings, and just like in the anime, he's handled head first, pushed through the temple wall and sent tumbling to the ground below. Devil Jin sprouts his wings and careens feet first onto Heihachi, before launching himself into sky, with a similar shot of his flying silhouette against the light of the full moon. Heihachi shakes off the impact and watches his grandson disappear into the night. The destruction of the temple in the in-game epilogue was dramatic, but not quite as extensive as it is in the anime.
Composite Story
The anime attempts to recreate not just the ending to Tekken 3, but also features some canon from Tekken 4, meaning that the events of Tekken: Bloodline borrow from three different iterations in the franchise. In Tekken 4, Jin is meant to face his father in Round 7 of the tournament, but he is ambushed by Heihachi's Tekken Force and taken to Honmaru, a temple deep within the Mishima compound. The final round of the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 pits Heihachi against Kazuya, where the former defeats the latter and leads Kazuya to the same place he took Jin: the top floor of Honmaru.
Jin's mind is plagued by visions of his father (visions similar to the opening sequence seen in each episode) taunting him in an attempt to have him give in to his anger and hatred. Heihachi dispatches Kazuya before being defeated by Jin, who transforms during the altercation. As he is about to deliver the final blow, Jin sees a vision of his mother and regains some control over himself, telling Heihachi to thank Jun Kazama before bursting through the temple ceiling, black feathers scattered across the floor accompanied by one peerless white feather.
Jinpachi Mishima
The moonlight peering through the hole Jin breaks through the ceiling at the end of Tekken 4 becomes the opening image of the intro cinematic of Tekken 5, where Heihachi and Kazuya regain consciousness before being ambushed by scores of JACK-4 robots. In this cinematic, they fight together briefly before Kazuya literally throws his father to the JACKs, which then set off a time-bomb, destroying Honmaru and a large part of the Mishima estate. As fans are aware, when the Devil Gene takes over Jin Kazama... Jinpachi was able to escape captivity as Honmaru fell, triggering the evil that had been building up inside Jin. Jinpachi is mentioned briefly by Heihachi during Jin's training, and while seemingly disconnected in the anime, Devil Jin's destruction of the mountain could be analogous to the explosion that supposedly kills Heihachi in the beginning of Tekken 5, destroying Honmaru in the process and releasing Jinpachi to the world once more.
Triple-Threat
Since this final episode melds together the lore of three different games and different moments in Tekken history, it has a somewhat confused approach to the story but still attempts a rather faithful adaptation of the subtext.
The destruction of the mountain in Tekken: Bloodline is therefore the anime's answer to showing Jin's rejection of the Mishima bloodline after Heihachi's betrayal (indicated in-game by Jin's adoption of traditional Karate over Mishima-ryu), the memory of Jun triggering the return of Jin's reason, and finally, the destruction of Honmaru and subsequent unleashing of Jinpachi after what should have been a three-way bout between Jin, Heihachi and Kazuya at the end of the fourth tournament.