FLAMES!!! a guide to khr’s really really fun magic/personality system by me, zephaniah grainjew
(this post contains spoilers to the very end of the manga. abridged, nonspoilery version available here)
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While reading Reborn! over the course of May, I fell very, very rapidly in love with the weather symbolism of the Guardians and everything that spirals out from there. This guide / meta post is the end result of that enthusiasm, and I hope you enjoy it!
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INTRODUCTION
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One of the things attracted me initially to this system was the fact that, unlike most sorting systems (for example, Hogwarts Houses), instead of looking at your personality or your individual impact on reality, the Reborn! system looks at how you operate in a group setting.
What that means for this guide is that none of the attributes are indicators of your personality — I’m a much, much friendlier Cloud than Hibari will ever be, and for a canon example, Reborn, Ryohei and Shoichi are all Suns. Instead, what I attempted to do here was isolate the commonalities between how each character possessing a certain attribute acted and related to the rest of their group, and also find the similarities between the powers of each Sky attribute and its equivalent Earth attribute.
Generally, these categories are meant to be guidelines at best. A way to have fun. Even the offensive/defensive leanings in the proficiency sections of the bios are leanings, not hard lines: just looking at Tsuna’s Guardians, Gokudera, Ryohei, Mukuro, and possibly Lambo all have a fighting style counter to their attribute’s proficiency leaning.
All that said, enjoy the meta, I like to think it all makes sense, and my ask and dms are always open for questions or if you want to talk!
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DIAGRAMS
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(diagram 1: almost entirely canon, minus a couple of the earth flame action words that I came up with based on context - specifically growth, compression, and mirage)
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(diagram 2: theoretical system that melds the sky and earth gemstones into one cohesive whole and forms the basic structure of this post)
To be frank, calling the shape the diagrams are based on a hexagon sounded a bit silly, so I made the executive decision to refer to it as the gemstone layout instead, because it kiiiiinda looks like a faceted gemstone, for example, the type one might find in an ostentatious old ring. You see where I’m going with this. (The Vongola rings is where I’m going with this.)
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STANDARD FLAMES
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REALITY
The reality axis of the gemstone deals in both actual and perceived reality, what is and what seems to be. Its component attributes are destruction, represented by Storm and Swamp, and creation, represented by Mist and Desert.
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DESTRUCTION
"to be the nucleus that attacks relentless, never resting. the raging tempest!!"
powerset: The nature of the destruction attribute is self-evident: it destroys. Through degeneration or fermentation, it breaks reality down into its component parts and in so doing creates something new and chaotic.
personality: In a group, a person with the destruction attribute is always in the middle of everything— not creating a harmonious whole like someone with the unification attribute, but fueling the group's activities, whether that be drama or conflict or speculation or a valiant effort at cohesion. They are the energy that follows after the attribute of organic replication’s original push and keeps it going; they create a hurricane of chaos and then stand in its eye, produce a bog for everyone to get stuck in and then participate in the scuffle to escape and become the loudest voice of panic. The attribute of destruction destroys the ordinary or the peaceful or the routine and then stands in the whirlwind and gives it their best.
proficiency: Offensive. The destruction attribute attacks directly, widely, and obviously. Don't get caught in the blast.
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CREATION
"within the illusions hide real illusions... from the real illusions, the illusions are created. within the truth hides the lie... within the lie hides the truth. this is the mist."
powerset: Where the destruction attribute deals mainly in physical reality, the creation attribute focuses primarily on the perceived reality and only on physical reality through that. Using construction and mirage, it creates illusions, some so powerful they can become real, and destroys the victim's perception of reality to replace it with its own.
personality: Because they deal in lies and deceit, people with the creation attribute are often disliked at some point in their relationships, although it is not an imperative and certainly not an inevitability, and while their trust is often difficult to gain, the fierce loyalty they share with the destruction attribute is certainly worth the trouble. They are often changeable, the image they present to the world as shifting and elusive as the sands of desert or the morning mists, but nonetheless based around an almost unexpectedly firm sense of self. Those masks are just that: masks, created things, and while they keep to themselves (although not to the extent of the attribute of inorganic replication), if you can earn their trust they will certainly welcome your company. The attribute of creation creates curtains and shields and illusions around themself and the group, and then challenges everyone else to see past them.
proficiency: Defensive. The creation attribute manipulates perspective and reality so that one cannot even approach to attack in the first place.
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REPLICATION
The replication axis of the gemstone deals in replication, reproduction, and generation of all sorts. Its component attributes are organic replication, represented by Sun and Forest, and inorganic replication, represented by Cloud and Glacier.
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ORGANIC REPLICATION
"destroying the misfortune that attacks the family with their own body, they become the sun that shines brightly upon an area."
powerset: The attribute of organic replication affects the living and the natural: using the concepts of activation and growth, and thus activating natural processes of growth and reproduction, it can cause plants to grow, wounds to heal, and cells to divide, instigating vitality in all that lives.
personality: People who embody organic replication are the people who provide that initial push towards activity. Whether they are warm and bright or cold and calculating, they are the ultimate defense against inertia, the instigators of action, whatever that action is and whether they are consciously catalyzing it in the group or simply in themself with the expectation that the rest will follow. Like the sun shining bright through canopied leaves, they illuminate what must be done, and like a tree's life-force pushing its seedling out of the forest floor, they provide the motivation to embark on what has been illuminated. The attribute of organic replication catalyzes change, creates motivation, shines a light in their chosen direction, and in so doing provides strength and energy to the people who surround them.
proficiency: Defensive. The organic replication attribute heals broken bodies and broken wills, strengthening the group both literally and metaphorically.
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INORGANIC REPLICATION
"to be the aloof, drifting cloud who protects the family from an independent standpoint, and whom nothing can ever bind"
powerset: The strength of the attribute of inorganic replication lies in unnatural or non-living replication through propagation and calcification. In its grasp resides such processes as the multiplication of objects, the expansion of glaciers, the replication of DNA, and the enlargement of items.
personality: People with the attribute of inorganic replication are loners. Though nominally part of a group, they often act independent and separate from it for whatever reason, and do not appreciate being roped in with the rest of the members, nor do they tend to make friends easily or of their own volition. Make no mistake, however: like cirrus wisping themselves across the dome of the sky or glacial ice flowing relentless over new-frozen earth, they are bound in their own way to those they love and respect, and will step in should they feel themselves needed. The attribute of inorganic replication keeps to themself, a solitary presence with their own thoughts and goals and motivations, but nonetheless an integral part of the whole.
proficiency: Offensive. The inorganic replication attribute is territorial, not here for idle chitchit, and ready to evict you.
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REACTION
The reaction axis of the gemstone deals in response, to conflict and to threat. Its component attributes are solidity, represented by Lightning and Mountain, and flow, represented by Rain and an unknown Earth flame.
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SOLIDITY
"he must not only take the lightning, but also the damage to the family, like a lightning rod"
powerset: The attribute of solidity creates shields and walls and impediments through its abilities of hardening and compression. Its ability to sharpen and create projectiles is a notable secondary effect but primarily it can call up cliffs of rock and turn even a single sheet of paper into an impenetrable shield.
personality: When a person with the solidity attribute sees a conflict approaching, their first instinct is to put a wall — physical, metaphorical, or otherwise — between it and them. Their second instinct is to put themself behind the wall and in front of the people they love. Sometimes the solidity attribute can seem demanding or selfish: they know what they want and they do not show weakness or lower their walls easily, similar to the creation attribute. However, just as much as they protect, they also invite protection, and often prefer to act from a distance, through proxies and created things. Like the branching-stretching-spreading of a lightning strike they can be fickle and difficult to touch, and yet like the deep foundation of the mountain they are a stubborn wall in the face of trouble — or simply because they wish to be. The attribute of solidity is a contradictory presence, at once protective and protected, defensive and demanding, and yet an essential element of the foundation of the group.
proficiency: Defensive. The solidity attribute puts up defenses and takes the damage, becoming a solid barrier that their own can rely on.
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FLOW
"squaring the accounts of battle, washing away the blood spilled: the requiem rain"
powerset: Calming like the sound of a stream, the flow attribute’s tranquility slows things down and pulls them to a stop, be those things movement or tides or the cycle of life or simply another person’s heartbeat.
personality: A person who typifies the flow attribute is someone who arrives to a situation and leaves with that situation changed. Because of the way they ripple into conflict and smooth it into a different shape, they often take the role of mediators, whether consciously or unconsciously, through action or distraction. They provide levity when things are serious, calmness when things are chaotic, and a gentle hand when things are rough: but do not mistake them for soft. The rain can patter down in a gentle, refreshing shower, touch softly in a manner almost as light as mist, or pound in a ferocious downpour, but always it washes away the stifling heat and transforms the air into something new. The attribute of flow is thus a force of transformation and renewal, sweeping through a moment or a dynamic and providing it the water to blossom.
proficiency: Offensive. The flow attribute strikes hard and fast and heavy like a driving downpour, defusing conflict through amiable words or spilled blood.
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UNIFICATION
As the centerpiece of the gemstone, and that which is colored by the outer attributes and embraces them in turn, the unification attribute deals in connection, attraction, integrity, and concord. It is represented by Sky and Earth.
”sun, lightning, storm, rain, mist, cloud. he influences all of them. he understands and accepts all of them. that is the sky's mission."
powerset: Using its natural gravity and operating under the principle of harmony, the unification attribute draws objects and people towards itself or a certain point and transforms things into other things, making the world right as the user feels it ought to be.
personality: What people with the unification attribute do best is gather. It may begin slowly — they may need that push provided by the attribute of organic replication — but ultimately they will become the glue that binds together a disparate collection of people, the center that even the destruction attribute orbits around and paints itself on. Just as the sky is accented by the weather that sweeps across its face and the earth is adorned by its natural features, a person with the unification attribute’s own personality — be it angry, timid, nonchalant, mysterious, enthusiastic — is complemented and completed by the people who surround them. The attribute of unification attracts and accepts and embraces, drawing people into their gravity and giving them every reason to stay.
proficiency: Neutral. The unification attributes defends and attacks as needed to keep the balance of the group.
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UNUSUAL AND NON-STANDARD FLAMES
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THE FLAME OF WRATH
The Flame of Wrath, being the result of a person possessing a perfect balance of the sky and storm attributes and a very intense Will, is famed for its destructive potential. Presumably this is because with harmony to convert something into something else more easily destroyed, and degeneration to speed up the process, very little can escape unscathed. However, I do not consider it its own Flame-type, but rather a fancy name given to a particular rare manifestation of the storm and sky attributes. Face it, the Vongola bosses are absolutely that pretentious.
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THE OATH FLAME
The Oath Flame is not so much a new phenomenon as the ultimate expression of the attribute of unification. By uniting the central flames of Sky and Earth through the mechanism of the Vongola and Shimon rings and an ancient promise of eternal friendship, the Vongola user of the Oath Flame gains access to the Earth’s gravity by way of the Sky’s harmony, thus unifying the opposite sides of the unification attributes to encompass not just the dome of the Sky or the bowl of the Earth but the world as a whole, and all that is contained within it.
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THE FLAME OF NIGHT
The Flame of Night is, obviously, a special case. Created by Bermuda von Veckenschtein out of sheer vindictive rage after his flames and Arcobaleno status were taken by Kawahira, it grants the ability to create warps, possibly to live forever, and definitely to look very ominous. The only known users are Bermuda (along with the Vindice, through Bermuda), and Daemon Spade. However, I believe that Daemon doesn't count as a real user of the Flame of Night: the way Bermuda distributes the Flame to the rest of the Vindice proves that it can be transferred between individuals, and Daemon was around a whole bunch of Night-powered Vindice when he escaped from Vendicare with Mukuro's body. And really, it's Daemon Spade. His whole fighting style is stealing other people's stuff. Of course he would steal the Flame of Night.
And besides his predilection towards ability (and identity) thievery, there is another reason why Spade could not have developed the Flame of Night naturally: he was still possessed of his natural flames.
There are two conditions needed to activate the Flame of Night: a will for revenge so intense and strong and hating that it defies death itself, and the artificial absence of one's flames. The first condition is, while not exactly commonplace, relatively understandable. It could happen to anyone! Betrayal is kind of terrible like that, and life sure can deal some shit turns to a person. It's the second condition that makes the Flame of Night as absurdly rare as it is. Everyone in the Reborn! universe has at least the potential to wield flames. It's part of being an alive sentient person: if you're those three things then you have flames, no matter what. Honestly you can even remove the alive part, if Giotto and Daemon have anything to say about this nonsense.
However, when Kawahira retires a generation of Arcobaleno, he removes their flames. Usually, this causes death, although not immediately. However it also creates an opening for the Flame of Night, which can only appear in the absence of natural flames, which is by definition an artificial state. Normally, without Will, a person would die, but Bermuda was so deeply invested in his revenge, his will towards vengeance so strong, that the Dying Will Flame of Night surged up to fill the space left by his natural flame and grant him the ability to keep living and see his vengeance fulfilled.
All that said, a profile:
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VENGEANCE
The vengeance attribute appears only in the absence of any other attribute, and deals in hatred, discord, and retribution. It is represented by Night.
powerset: The attribute of vengeance provides opportunity and space for action through the principle of obfuscation. It upends the balance of reality and allows instant transportation between points as well as the ability to continue on living forever without a natural flame, in violation of natural law.
personality: Absolutely ready and willing to do a murder. Pretty much not a team player unless the hypothetical team is also absolutely ready and willing to do the same murder.
proficiency: Neutral. The vengeance attribute can flee from a scene and burst forth to attack with equal ease.