#about hakudoshi

[shirokodomo]

2020 ends tomorrow and I have decided to place in here, by order of creation, all my Demon Slayer! Hakudoshi edits c: 

I can see the evolution in my edits and I can’t wait to do more of these.

[shirokodomo]

Kay yeah, I have no idea where my Post-Canon verse info went so I am making a new info post about Hakudoshi’s post-canon verse!

Name: Hakudoshi Nihongo: 白童子

Biographical Information

Birth: Resurrected by a demon named Kirimi through the use of demon flesh, human heart and Kirimi’s blood

Age: Late 20′s (Physical Appearance)

Status: Alive (Resurrected)

Occupation: Taijiya (Demon Slayer), currently Kohaku’s right arm in leading the new generation of Yokai Taijiya

Physical Information

Species: Artificial Kitsune Hanyo (Fox Half-Demon)

Gender: Male

Eye Color: Violet

Hair Color: Rose-White

Skin Color: Pale

Skills Information

Barrier creator

Accelerated Healing

Telepathy

Telekinesis

Weapon: Naginata, Wakizashi (short-sword)

Weaknesses Information

Demonic Blood: Although so far it has only happened once, Hakudoshi can now change into a full-fledged demon and quite similarly to Inuyasha’s demon form, Hakudoshi does not have much control over his body when it happens. The only time it happened was upon recovering his memories from his past, the new (and overall happy) memories he had created clashed with those of the past and his human heart gave into the turmoil, making Hakudoshi fall easily prey to Kirimi’s control. Under the control of the other demon, Hakudoshi’s appearance in his demon form changed slightly: his original pupiless violet eyes turned gold with a white pupil, his fangs grew, jagged violet marks appeared on the sides of his face as well on his forehead down to his nose, and he grew sharp purple colored claws which contain a highly poisonous substance (lethal in most cases if Hakudoshi scratches his target). Hakudoshi killed Kirimi and injured Kohaku with these claws.

Human Form: Very much like every hanyou, Hakudoshi loses his demonic power for a period of time; in his case he loses his demonic powers and form during each ninth (9th) day of the month and it lasts the whole day and night. Because of his artificial body, Hakudoshi’s human day is rather painful, aside from losing his powers this form weakens him considerably to the point where he is bedridden through most if not all day long.  In the first times it happened, his artificial body wouldn’t be able to sustain the loss of his demon powers and it would cause him to have fevers in several times of the day. As the years went by, this time of the month became easier to digest at least enough for Hakudoshi not need to stay in bed all day. In this time, Hakudoshi’s rose-white hair becomes black and his eyes change from violet to indigo.

Although it’s not really a weakness, if or when caught by surprise Hakudoshi can grow a white fox tail which he shamefully tries to hide every single time it appears.

Trivia

Hakudoshi is able to differentiate the edible food from that poisonous one such as mushrooms and berries

Upon being resurrected Hakudoshi had no memories of who he once was as a Naraku incarnation

He does not possess a keen nose like Inuyasha, Sesshomaru or Moroha however he does have a very good hearing as a part of his newfound kitsune bloodline

Hakudoshi is in charge of training the rookie demon slayers and is extremely harsh in his trainings. Sometimes Kohaku has to ask him to slow down before he kills the newbies

He hates wearing the taijiya armor

He is absolutely clueless about types of affection, therefore if someone tries to hug him chances are he will either ask the person what they are doing or if he is in a bad mood he will threaten and/or chase the person with his naginata

Differing from his scent when he was a Naraku incarnation, Hakudoshi’s current scent is a mix of petrichor (earthy scent after it rained) and of lilies. Can be a strange mix for those with a keen nose

[shirokodomo]

Been thinking all day how Hakudoshi's and Inuyasha's relationship (if Haku wasn't an incarnation/villain) would most likely be like Kyo's and Hiro's.

Snarky remarks all over the place, death glares, the classic fist bumping head of the shortest and the list goes on

[shirokodomo]

New Page for Muse & Main Verse

I have revamped my Google Docs page with info about Hakudoshi, his respective verses and headcanons:

About the Muse | Verses | Headcanons

And I would also like to point out that from now on my Rebirth / Post-Canon Verses are now my default main verses, if you would like an interaction with canon verse Hakudoshi just let me know please!

[shirokodomo]

[Headcanon] | Demon Slayer Uniform

Hakudoshi absolutely hates the Demon Slayer uniform, he finds it too tight and it restrains his movements, took him a very long time to get used to it and there were even times he refused to use it.

He only wears it on the missions that are bound to be really really difficult, he also only wears it on said missions because of Kohaku's constant nagging.

Regarding his hair, as the years go by he lets it grow more and more and he is rarely seen with it caught in a low or high ponytail when on missions -however, he does wear it up in a ponytail on the days off-mission especially on summer days-.

[shirokodomo]

Self-Knowledge Questionnaire

AMBITION

You have a strong sense of potential and an intense drive to accomplish difficult things. The core of this is your ability to hold together the big goals and the daily efforts. Where other people’s hopes collapse when they encounter the tedium of the journey, you keep coming back. Oddly, it is actually your ability to endure feeling unheroic that counts. You know the power of working away solidly on what’s in front of you.

RATIONALITY

You like clarity and intelligent simplicity and you get frustrated at messy thinking. This can make you seem unreasonably pushy to some, but it is actually a virtue: you are motivated by a horror at pointless effort and a longing for precision and insight into how things and people work. Your ability to synthesize and bring order is essential in producing thinking which is truly helpful.

AGGRESSION

One part of your character is anger in all its forms: frustration, outrage – and when anger is suppressed – bitterness, grumpiness, and bodily aches. Fundamentally, frustration comes from hope: you get upset because you expect your life will be more than a valley of tears. One way to deny aggression is to direct it inwards, as self-criticism. But you’re at your best when you acknowledge anger, and act it out clearly and in a focused way, with honor.

MISANTHROPY

You have seen the darker side of human nature, even in daily life. When you look beneath the surface everyone is pretty messed up; there’s more selfishness circulating that others admit. You are never surprised by the stupidity of others, even though it annoys you. Your streak of misanthropy is, in fact, a requirement of remaining sane. You’ve wisely come to terms with your need to sometimes confidently reject people.

[shirokodomo]

Differences between the anime and the manga and how it affects my portrayal [Hakudoshi]

As probably everyone who has been following me for a while knows, my Hakudoshi is canon-divergent and headcanon based while cherry-picking certain stuff from the anime and manga.

But today I was going around several manga chapters where he appears to make new manga icons and I have noticed, once again, how there are a couple of things -like every other adaptation- that differ from the source material and I decided to make a post about this so that my followers know what I take from either the anime or the manga, mostly I follow the anime but let's dwell on it (might be a rather big post)

The first differences come right after his "birth", while it doesn't directly affect Hakudoshi's character it does change the way he and Entei met.

In the anime Sunrise introduced a second demon, Rengokuki, that along with Entei had been sealed by the priest the Infant and Kagura killed, his death leads to the seal on both demons break and Rengokuki is the one who possesses the naginata that later becomes Hakudoshi's signature weapon:

In the manga, Rengokuki doesn't exist and Entei is immediately drawn to Hakudoshi choosing him as its new master/rider due to him having broken the seal. Thus their bond is not about Entei having seen Hakudoshi as a strong demon, worth ride on his back, but more as a returning favor, Hakudoshi even says so:

This makes Entei's and Hakudoshi's "bond" even more unreal, colder than in the anime, although in the anime Hakudoshi could care less about Entei when it died (much like in the manga), the anime added Entei backing up Hakudoshi's escape. While I like the way both anime and manga portrayed their bond and I understand that Hakudoshi is a character not meant to form any sort of bond, I tend to prefer the anime's version because I like the idea of Naraku's incarnations forming at least one bond with someone. I even have made headcanons about Hakudoshi's and Entei's bond and stuff they did together when literally no one was looking, not even Kagura. Thus this is my first canon divergent piece in my portrayal albeit not used in his main verse but rather in the other ones: Hakudoshi can and will form bonds with someone if he spends enough time around them, he will be cold, distant, rude, and very unfriendly at the beginning but eventually comes to see them in another light.

Another difference I noted between the manga and the anime was Hakudoshi's introduction, I am not sure how much that changes things, probably nothing at all and it's even more probable that it's just a case of different translations for the same topic. In the manga, Hakudoshi introduces himself as "the discarded white child of Naraku" whereas in the anime he introduces himself merely as a "Naraku incarnation". Doesn't affect my portrayal but I thought it would be interesting to note.

In the manga, also regarding his weapon, Hakudoshi obtains his naginata by having Entei kill a boar demon that had that weapon. He took it from Rengokuki after he killed him with the naginata in the anime. Fun fact, in the anime a boar demon named Chokyukai had exactly the same design as the boar demon Entei killed in the manga, he even appears in the episode following Hakudoshi's introduction with a naginata exactly like Hakudoshi's with the exception that it has a sapphire in it instead of a ruby. Again, doesn't affect my portrayal but I thought it would be interesting to mention.

The following change is related to Hakudoshi's abilities, most of his abilities are kept on par between the manga and the anime (barrier creator, miasma production, regeneration, and teleportation), however, episode 144 gave two more abilities on the very same scene above: telepathy, he already somewhat possessed this ability in the manga as well as he is able to read other's minds by touching them much like his counterpart (I feel like the minimal difference between Hakudoshi and the Infant is that Hakudoshi reads minds while the Infant reads the hearts), however, the anime adds more to it and he is capable of reading other's minds without touching them. Regarding this ability, I have decided to keep it in both ways though he will not be using the non-touching mind reading one unless it's necessary or if he feels like it. This means that it works essentially like a switch button that he can control at will and helps me explain why he didn't hear or even comment further on Kagura's thoughts about killing him/betraying Naraku or even when Kohaku was right next to him thinking about Sango as his sister and about his plan to get closer to the Infant after the Zushi Nezumi incident.

The second ability introduced is 100% anime-only and it's telekinesis which means he can move objects using his mind. I am also keeping this ability of his, however, with some restrictions. In the scene above we see Hakudoshi throwing several small rocks at Kagura, more with the intention of annoying and giving her a warning. Now, those small rocks don't have big weight and thus are easy to manipulate and control. This is where my headcanon and second canon divergent happens in my portrayal: Hakudoshi is not able to use telekinesis on objects that weigh more than him, in my post-canon verse this changes as he trains harder to be able to lift heavier weights but in his main verse he cannot do it. He would not be able to, for example, levitate Tessaiga in its transformed form considering it's much heavier than himself but he would be able to use the telekinesis to move his own weapon in case, for some reason, it was driven away from him.

The third difference between the anime and the manga is, for me, one of the most important scenes considering that it shows more of Hakudoshi's methodical and strategical side. Once more this scene is anime-only, possibly more to fill in the content of the episode than anything else but I still find it interesting.

This scene makes it Hakudoshi's second direct interaction with Inuyasha (and his group, although in this specific scene it's only Inuyasha) set in between Inuyasha visiting Totosai and learning about Hosenki and Inuyasha actually finding Hosenki. In the manga such scene never happened, it was immediately shown Inuyasha finding Hosenki's lake. In the anime, they added that Hakudoshi was spying on the group through Samiyosho thus leading to the scenario above where Hakudoshi shows that he is always a step ahead. Not only that but he reveals that he knows about Hosenki's existence and even that Hosenki I is already dead (it's even implied at first that he had something to do with it only to be debunked by Hosenki's son).

Of course with the manga not having this scene they couldn't really change the plot behind it, however, I still find this scene interesting because not only shows Hakudoshi's childish behavior where he sees all this as a game (like a chess game) and Inuyasha's group are mere pawns in it but also that he could have easily killed Hosenki II, leaving Inuyasha's group without that resource and also, at the very least, injure Inuyasha seeing that he caught him by surprise but simply choose not to. He chooses not to kill his number one enemy with the mere exchange to see how Inuyasha would work around the problem, I think this is where it shows the differences between Naraku and Hakudoshi, while they are extremely similar in many ways and Naraku himself has been shown to be able to manipulate the odds in his favor, I feel like Naraku wouldn't have missed the chance to try and kill Inuyasha had he been this close to him like Hakudoshi was. This is yet another change the anime made that I keep within my portrayal of Hakudoshi, not only it gave more interactions between Inuyasha and Hakudoshi but also showed more to Hakudoshi's strategic side.

The following scene is not different in either the manga or the anime however it's something I would still like to point out as it's one of my headcanons regarding Hakudoshi's betrayal plot towards Naraku.

While I believe that Hakudoshi and the Infant had already been plotting for a while (if not from the beginning) their plan to eventually overthrow Naraku I mostly think that this scene above might have triggered it to start working, this and also once Naraku gave the Infant the Fuyoheki which kept hidden the Infant's demonic aura. Back to this specific scene, however, until then Hakudoshi had always been relying on the fact his heart (and Naraku's) was somewhere else as his "lucky charm", he could not be killed and could be doing whatever he wanted. He even hid behind Naraku's "protection" when it came to Kagura as he would punish her. This also made Hakudoshi extremely cocky regarding his status as a superior incarnation of Naraku, made him believe he was not a tool like Kagura was.

This specific moment, however, I headcanon it finally clicked in Hakudoshi's mind that he was not that different from the other incarnations, at least not to Naraku (in his mind he still was it) as he would use him as a shield just like he did with the other incarnations without hesitation, this made him realize that he is a tool just like Kagura and he absolutely refused to be it.

This would also lead to his state of rage, craziness, and denial we see in the moments before he dies.

The major change comes next, this time it was cut from the anime and I actually would have liked to have seen this animated. Unlike in episode 165 where Hakudoshi tested the newly created Moryomaru on Inuyasha, he actually tests it on both Inuyasha and Koga. This was the first and only direct interaction that Hakudoshi has with another enemy of his (and Naraku's) aside from those in Inuyasha's group.

Therefor while until now I've mostly maintained what the anime added to Hakudoshi's role, this time it's the other way around and I will be keeping this manga scene in my portrayal. It helps me give a better sight in how Hakudoshi would act around other enemies of his that are not Inuyasha and his group or around Naraku and Kagura. The anime pretty much reduced Hakudoshi's interactions to these three and I don't like it, just like I didn't like that pretty much all of Hakudoshi's personality traits in the entire series (both manga and anime) were being evil and a brat.

From here on until the parts that were animated in the original anime are pretty much all on par with the manga. Which brings the next big change to the first episode of the Final Act (and Hakudoshi's only appearance in the 2010 anime since he dies right in the first one).

His first appearance in the new anime remains the same as in the manga, meaning he goes to the dungeons to speak to Kagura who is in charge of watching the revived Goryomaru, however the major change is in his speech towards Kagura:

" Yes, freedom. If you truly desire liberation from Naraku you have no choice but to kill him." followed by " How about it Kagura? When the time comes I can retrieve your heart before I obliterate Naraku. "

In the anime, Hakudoshi attempts to make a deal with Kagura, tries to make her join forces with him, Goryomaru/Moryomaru and the Infant even tempts her with her so desired freedom and with the chance of retrieving Naraku. I confess when I first saw this I was confused, even when I hadn't read the manga yet, because until this point Hakudoshi has not once shown to care about Kagura's desire for freedom (something that to an extent he also desires but with another kind of end) nor had he ever tried to make a deal with her since he had always looked down on her. Granted this could very well just be a manipulation, most likely was, but still didn't explain his sudden need for her help when he never minded getting his hands dirty.

However, in the manga the speech goes extremely different, there is no temptation, there is no attempt to make a deal, he just plants a seed of doubt in Kagura:

" You want to know...just who Goryomaru is, don't you Kagura...? I'll tell you one thing. Even if you follow Naraku's orders...and protect Goryomarum, it won't benefit you. "

Still a manipulation however far different from that of the anime, he literally plants a seed of doubt in her, doesn't tempt her with a pact, he lets her make the decision on whether she should betray Naraku or not. And above all doesn't make such a promise to retrieve her heart.

In all honesty, I love both versions a lot, the anime's version fits a little better with my first point of canon divergent in which I wrote Hakudoshi is capable of creating a bond even if it takes a lot of time (and again not in his main verse, I refer this part to the post-canon verse and AU verses). It also gives me food for thought for an eventual AU where he actually succeeded in overthrowing Naraku (granted I never truly understood how he and the Infant intended to do so aside from absorbing Naraku into Moryomaru's body).

The manga's version is far more consistent with his relationship until now with Kagura: indifference, mutual despise, etc. But again, I did mention I didn't like how being evil and a brat was basically Hakudoshi's canon personality traits, I prefer to build my Muse with several character layers.

With this said, I made the decision to keep both versions in my portrayal and it will vary according to the kind of thread I am making.

A lot more was changed with the content of the following manga chapters when they were turned into anime but I won't dwell on it since they don't affect my portrayal of Hakudoshi. Until his death though, all the rest is much the same and in his main verse, it remains so.

But this brings me to my Post-Canon Verses which serve for interactions post-Kagome's return to the Feudal Era in which Hakudoshi is brought back to life in a similar way to Kikyo except that instead of a body made of clay, it's a body made of yokai flesh (fox yokai) with a human heart thus making Hakudoshi a half-demon.

Upon being brought back to life, however, Hakudoshi has no memory of who he used to be. Forcing him to start over in an attempt to both move forward with his (new) life and at the same time try to discover who he used to be (when it happens though, it will cause heavy conflict in his now human heart). He will also deal with human night every 9th day of the month.

I made these post canon verses with the idea of creating new interactions with other Inuyasha characters outside the whole "evil incarnation kid" (it gets repetitive and tiring to me to only use his main verse in every thread, I guess) and it also helps me build a more solid personality for Hakudoshi like other characters have.

The post became much bigger than I thought but I think I pretty much wrote down everything I wanted to write about the differences between the anime and the manga regarding Hakudoshi and how I use these interpretations in my threads.

[shirokodomo]

Character Interview

WHAT THEY SMELL LIKE.

As a Naraku incarnation, Hakudoshi’s scent held the scent of cave soil, more particularly cave soil of Onigumo’s cave, along with the vanishing scent of the pink Anemone flower, the same flower that was seen at the bottom of Mount Hakurei in which The Infant was born. Fun fact: the Anemone flower, in general, can symbolize many things and among them are: “ Protection against evil and ill wishes “ as well “ Bad luck or ill omens “, both meanings tying to the events of Mount Hakurei. In particular, the pink Anemone symbolizes “ death or forsaken love “.

After being reborn, given that a new body was given to him, Hakudoshi’s scent changed to petrichor (scent of earth after rain) and the scent of a spider lily.

HOW THEY SLEEP 

Most of the time Hakudoshi sleeps in the called “soldier” position meaning that he sleeps on his back with his arms down, sometimes he placed his hands on his chest.

WHAT MUSIC THEY ENJOY.

Classic

HOW MUCH TIME THEY SPEND EVERY MORNING GETTING READY. 

Not too much as his mind is more focused on getting a mission done rather than his appearance. Hakudoshi gives a quick comb to his hair, makes sure the clothes are not wrinkled but that is it.

FAVORITE THING TO COLLECT.  

As a Naraku incarnation, Hakudoshi never showed interest in collecting anything, the only thing that could be seen as close to “collecting something” would be the time he gathered all the demon heads while searching for the border between this world and the next. After being reborn, Hakudoshi takes an interest in collecting teeth from different types of demons; he does this so that he can study the different weapons that said teeth could be turned into.

LEFT OR RIGHT HANDED.

Right handed.

FAVORITE SPORT(S).

None within the Inuyasha world. In Modern verses, Hakudoshi’s favorite sport is horsemanship.

FAVORITE TOURISTY THING TO DO WHEN TRAVELING.

Modern verses only; it would probably be taking photographs of the places he has visited and later place it within an album.

FAVORITE KIND OF WEATHER.

Medium weather. Hakudoshi doesn’t like the extreme cold or extreme hot weather. He doesn’t mind rain.

WEIRD / OBSCURE FEAR THEY HAVE.

Despite it being hard to believe, Hakudoshi’s biggest fear was always to actually die. He knew that, logically, by dying that would mean Naraku’s death as well and thus that brought him some sort of relief but at the same time it cooked up a cockiness that he was invincible, that nobody could ever kill him. That fear buried deep within many layers allowed Hakudoshi to do whatever he pleased, when he wanted and as he wanted. This is why when Naraku left him to die, he adamantly denied that he would not die, that he could not die. His fear had returned and worse of all, it was really happening. 

Tagged by @eveningmuses​ (ty!)

Tagging: @crimsonacrosstime​ @senpujin​ @thecursedpriestess​ @slayerled​ @amethyst-noroi​ & whoever else wants to do this!