I haven’t really talked about Hanzo’s Quest much on here because it’s less like a single coherent story and more like a series of loosely connected scenes and stories. Whenever I try to piece it together, I usually look like this:
Some of you might remember a few of my OCs and my headcanoned origin of the armour. They all feature somewhere on the timeline.
Anyone could point to any sketch or fanart here and I can tell them the story behind it. Please feel free to send me an ask if anything catches your curiosity, haha.
I have decided to answer the latter half of this ask on my personal Tumblr, ineedarealitycheck, because it has content which doesn’t necessarily belong to my art Tumblr.
If you (and anybody else) would like to ask similar questions of me in the future, I strongly encourage you to send it to my personal Tumblr instead. realitycheckmyart is designed to be a space for me as an artist and my art. It’s not a space for in-depth discussion of film and animation. Last month, I answered some asks that weren’t on brand with the kind of content I wanted to post on here. I truly do enjoy answering asks about film and animation but I would prefer not to post that kind of content on my art Tumblr anymore. I hope you understand.
I’ve only answered your first question here because it involves my OCs and I mention headcanons I have already posted about on here.
Do you have any theories on the Moon King or Hanzo?
But since you specifically said “theories”, I’m leaving pure headcanons out for now. The following are also headcanons - but they were based on some research I’ve done on the samurai, Shintoism and Japanese legends.
Buckle in. This is going to be a bit of a long ride.
Headcanons on the Moon King
The Moon King and Tsukiyomi
Hoshizukiyo, my Moon Queen OC, is probably one of my most favourite headcanoned pieces of lore I’ve created for the Moon King. She was created while I was researching Japanese legends and Shintoism. In the end, she kind of parodies existing mythology.
Laika’s Moon King was based on Tsukiyomi, the Moon god in Shintoism. He was once married to his sister (ew, gross), the Sun goddess Amaterasu but they split up (and inadvertently created day and night) after he killed the Food goddess. Amaterasu has hated him ever since.
Similarly in my headcanoned lore, the Moon King killed Hoshizukiyo. Her death is what triggers a war against the Moon King and the creation of the armour. Amaterasu also hates him ever since he killed Hoshizukiyo. You can read about it as a (hastily written) fanfiction here.
The Moon King’s Immediate Family
If you want to consider Shintoism as a proxy for unofficial Kubo and the Two Strings lore, then that means that the Moon King is the middle child of three whose father is Izanagi, the Creation god of Japan. His older sister is the Sun Queen, Amaterasu and his younger brother is Susanoo, King of Storms and Seas. In the early days of the Kubo fandom, there was quite a bit of discussion about this.
Japanese Legends about Rabbits and the Moon
It is my personal headcanon that the Moon King and his daughters love rabbits. Sounds weird, I know. But there is a reason for that (other than my personal love for rabbits)!
There are a few Japanese legends that associate rabbits with the moon. One is about an old man from the moon who comes down to visit earth. A rabbit he happens to meet is the only creature who shows him kindness, so in return the old man takes the rabbit with him back to the moon. Another is about how when a rabbit dies, it said “to have gone to the moon” instead. There’s also the legend about a rabbit that makes mochi on the moon.
Headcanons on Hanzo
Samurai Naming Customs and Hanzo Hattori
Naming customs among the samurai at the height of their time had a particular pattern. Males were given two names when they were officially recognised as an adult: a four syllable name and a birth order name.
‘Hanzo’ only has two syllables and it’s certainly not a birth order name. So where does it fit in?
The real historical Hanzo Hattori was not one man. ‘Hanzo’ was a name that was passed down from father to son within the Hattori family (in addition to giving a man his other two names). The Hattori family seems to be an exception to the norm. I don’t know if other samurai families practiced a similar naming custom. I also don’t know why or how the name ‘Hanzo’ became inheritable in the Hattori family.
It’s safe to assume that Laika’s Hanzo’s name was also similarly inherited from his father. But that’s really just a headcanon as we know nothing about Hanzo’s family. Also, Laika probably wasn’t aware of samurai naming customs - Hanzo’s name was only chosen because of its historical significance in modern Japanese culture.
For more information on samurai naming customs, I recommend these two online reads:
Samurai Names from Samurai Archives.com
Japanese Names by Anthony J. Bryant
Hanzo’s Immediate Family
I’ve used the above two sources to build a headcanoned family tree for Hanzo. It goes back two generations. I’ve never found a good name for his grandmother though, hahaha.
Anyone remember my OCs, Hayato and Kumiko? (I’ve posted once about them one or two years ago, so I doubt it, haha). They’ve been renamed as Hayatake and Kumi for historical accuracy. But I tend to use their old and new names interchangeably since I’ve gotten too used to their old names. *facepalms*
I decided to merge these two prompts because they have that one subject matter (other than my OTP) that I am obsessed about: the origin story of the armour. There is no canon lore for us to refer to. Which is why a prequel might be a good idea. But we do have Japanese Shintoism.
My best guess is that it was created by Amaterasu, the Shinto sun goddess. She would be the Sun Queen in Kubo’s world. Day and night can’t meet so if any conflict should arise, Amaterasu would need a proxy warrior to fight the Moon King for her. Hence, she created the armour. But she couldn’t just give it to any samurai. She needed the best of the best to fight her war. So, she created a series of tests and hid the armour away, hoping that eventually a worthy samurai would come forth.
A quick sketch of my Susanoo OC. I’m trying to redesign him to resemble traditional depictions of him in art. But I also still want him look like “the rebellious hobo god with a dragon sword” he seems to be.
Part 3 of the sketch dump. The sketches in the second row are quite likely to be redrawn and completed. I really liked them. Also if you remember me rambling about the Sailor Moon opening theme song months ago … Yeah, I was drawing that.
One night, the Moon King saw a shooting star fly across the night sky. It’s silver light was so bright and so pure; he had never seen anything like it before. He thought it was beautiful. The Moon King reached out his hand to touch that silver light … and found his fingers trailing through long, silver hair. It was the hair of the shooting star.
Her name was Hoshizukiyo. She was a long-traveled star from the darkest reaches of the night sky.
Once in a time so long ago that even the stars have forgotten, the Moon King was kind. He was gentle and patient and once saw the world with clear eyes. Every night, he would guard mankind from darkness with his moonlight. It was a peaceful time. It was a wonderful time.
One night, the Moon King saw a shooting star fly across the night sky. It’s silver light was so bright and so pure; he had never seen anything like it before. He thought it was beautiful. The Moon King reached out his hand to touch that silver light … and found his fingers trailing through long, silver hair. It was the hair of the shooting star.
Her name was Hoshizukiyo. She was a long-traveled star from the darkest reaches of the night sky.
“Who are you to touch my hair?” she asked.
“I am sorry,” apologised the Moon King. “I only wished to admire your silver light. But as I have caused you great offence, please allow me to make it up for you. I am the Moon King. I rule the night sky and guard the earth below.”
“I have never seen the earth before,” said Hoshizukiyo. “Please show it to me.”
The Moon King led her to the edge of the Heavens where the earth could be seen. Hoshizukiyo was instantly intrigued by the mortal world. She had never imagined it be so full of life and colour. In all her travels, it was nothing like she had ever seen before. She thought it was beautiful.
When the dawn finally rose and the earth turned away from the night sky, Hoshizukiyo could not help but feel disappointed. She said, “I wish I could have watched the earth forever.”
“The night doesn’t last long,” said the Moon King. “But if you stayed, you could watch the earth for as many nights as you like.”
And so, Hoshizukiyo decided to stay. She watched the earth with the Moon King every night since and became the brightest star in the night sky. Together, they guarded mankind from the darkness of night. Sailors looked to Hoshizukiyo as their guide back home; and children slept peacefully under her gentle gaze.
Soon enough, the world came to know Hoshizukiyo as the Moon Queen. And that really, was the very least of it.
