Hello everyone. Welcome again to another PE proposal. And this time, I'm choosing two villains who I'm very surprised that no one had proposed yet. Because seriously, they are without a doubt one of the worst and vile villains in the series, besides their master.
And good grief, this took me quite a while too. I had to do every possible research possible and re-watch/read the series over again (still love it by the way) to go through each and every single thing they have done. And boy, as tiring as it was, this was worth it.
So with that said, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present to you: The Infant and Hakudōshi.
What's the work?[]
InuYasha (or simply spelled Inuyasha) is one of the most popular Shōnen manga series of all time, written and created by Rumiko Takahashi. It eventually turns into a multi-media franchise with three anime TV series, several movies, video games, audio dramas, and even a light novel.
It tells the tale of a half-demon (half-youkai or hanyō in Japanese), Inuyasha and a human girl from the modern era Kagome Higurashi, who join together to collect the pieces of a powerful object known as the Shikon Jewel which grants immense power to boost a individual's spiritual power. Joining them on this journey are four companions: The lecherous but noble monk Miroku, the demon hunter Sango, the young fox demon Shippō, and Sango's Nekomata demon companion, Kirara. Together, Inuyasha and his group journey across the land of Feudal Japan to find all the pieces of the jewel.
However, their journey isn't without danger, as they battle against demons who stand in their way. While they do come across hostile demons who oppose them, there's one demon that they always dealt with and have immense hatred for, due to being the personal reason why their lives were ruined. This demon is known as Naraku, a mysterious but malevolent and sinister half-human spider demon with plans to take the jewel and become a powerful full-fledged demon. Of course, he doesn't do it alone and uses his Incarnations to do his dirty work. And for these Incarnations, we have two who embodies the worst of Naraku's villainy: The Infant and Hakudōshi.
Who are They? What Have They Done?[]
The Infant is one of Naraku's Incarnations (specifically being the seventh incarnation), created in the depth of Mt. Hakurei. He was the vessel of Naraku's heart, which granted the spider demon virtually immortality. Despite his appearance, the Infant is a very intelligent and psychotic manipulator who is capable of fooling people with his adorable appearance (Ew, that actually sounded terrible to say), which is best demonstrated when he possesses the ability to speak, telling Kagura that Kikyō was not hers to kill, something that shocks her completely.
Hakudōshi is also another of Naraku's incarnations (specifically being his eighth incarnation). He was originally a part of the Infant, but after a battle with the monk Shinsen, the Infant's two halves turn into a child that was named as Hakudōshi. Hakudōshi is comparable to the Infant in terms of intelligence and psychosis, but he may be worse than him, due to his cruel sadism.
The Birth of The Infant & Hakudōshi[]
Immediately after his creation, the Infant took control of an Okugata of a castle, manipulating her in ordering the soldiers of the castle to capture any suspicious travelers in the area; all part of his mission to find and take control of Kagome for her ability to find the jewels. To ensure Inuyasha wouldn't interfere, he orders Kagura to use her "Dance of the Dead" to make a dead priest give false information about Kikyō's whereabouts.
Once Kagome was captured, he tried to find darkness in her heart to control her, but much to the Infant's surprise, there was only purity in her heart, but the Infant was certain there must be some sort of negative feeling inside her. The Infant soon discovers the source of her negative feeling: her jealousy towards Kikyō. It worked for a short time, and the Infant attempted to place a defiled shard to permanently manipulate her, but to his shock, Kagome was still resisting his control and accepted that her jealousy towards Kikyō was proof that she loved Inuyasha. Inuyasha eventually came to her rescue, and the Infant was forced to retreat, but not before the Infant told Inuyasha that so long as he harbored feelings for Kikyō, Kagome could still be manipulated. After escaping, the Infant decides to rest due to using too much energy trying to manipulate Kagome.
Sometime later, Naraku then learned that the final jewel shard was located at the Border to the Afterlife. Inuyasha's group then discover reports of monks being murdered by a woman with a baby, and the group went to find Mushin, who they thought was in danger of dying. Kagura and The Infant, the two responsible, were apparently uninterested in him because he lacked sufficient power. It is later revealed that the Infant had been murdering and reading the minds of monks in order to find the Border to the Afterlife.
Eventually, the two came across a monk named Shinsen,who appeared to be more powerful than the others due to detecting his and Kagura's arrival. The Infant succeeded in fatally wounding him, and when he looked into the priest's soul, he saw a land shrouded in white mist; however, he was split in two by the priest's final act of power. The Infant survived the attack, and Kagura took his two halves to Kanna, who took the left half. The Infant regrew his right half while the original right half of his body grew into a young boy who was named Hakudōshi. After this point, The Infant became less prominent in Naraku's schemes and went into hiding under the care of Kohaku. To ensure he would not be discovered, he was taken to a castle where a lady had just had a stillborn child; Kanna sucked out the souls of all the attendants to make the claim that the Infant was her child more credible. He slept the majority of the time, effectively preventing the ruse from being discovered.
After his birth, Hakudōshi ordered Kagura to bring him a new set of clothing since he had grown out of his old ones. He also managed to gain the youkai horse Entei, choosing him as his master (In the anime version, Entei was originally a companion of a youkai named Rengokuki, but abandoned him after witnessing Hakudōshi's power, choosing him as his new owner).
Shortly after this, he encountered Inuyasha's group for the first time in his new form. He confirmed that Naraku was indeed searching for a way to travel to the world between the living and the dead and also revealed to them that the last Shikon shard was there, something the group did not know. When Kagura asked him about this, Hakudōshi merely said that he did not think it was necessary to keep it a secret. When Inuyasha tried to kill him with the Kaze no Kizu Hakudōshi put up a barrier and then left with Kagura and Entei.
Believing that the human monks and priests were not strong enough to find and provide him with the location to the world between the living and the afterlife, he decides to use the demons as the key to the location. He accomplishes this by severing the heads of any demons he encounters in order to search their minds for the path to the next world. After decapitating many yōkai, Hakudōshi finally discovered the location of the next world. He then ordered Kagura to tell Inuyasha and his friends about the location of a gate that led to the world between the living and dead. His reasoning was that he could use them to battle the gatekeepers and Kagura to determine whether the gate was safe. Kagura confronted Hakudōshi about using her, which he admitted to doing, causing an enraged Kagura to attack him, only to discover that like Naraku, he could simply regenerate. Because of his connection to Naraku, he warns Kagura that attacking him would only result in Naraku squeezing her heart as retribution.
The Nether World[]
After Naraku forms an alliance with Princess Abi, Hakudōshi aids the bird demon and her clan in collecting the blood of humans. He briefly battled Inuyasha, but despite using the Red Tessaiga, Inuyasha was unable to overcome his barrier. Hakudōshi's barrier was broken by the purifying arrow to his surprise; this allowed Inuyasha to cut him with the Wind Scar. Hakudōshi began to regenerate, but Entei was killed by Inuyasha, with the former not caring about his companion's death and instead retreats, along with Kagura.
While regenerating in a hideout, Kagura noticed that Hakudōshi did not have a heart and deduced that his heart was the Infant. Hakudōshi acted as Naraku's connection to the living world when he traveled to the world between the living and the dead. When Kagome shot Naraku with one of Kikyō's arrows, it followed Naraku back to the living world, striking Hakudōshi down; however, since the Infant was the one who possessed their shared heart, neither Naraku or Hakudōshi was killed by the arrow.
In the castle the Infant was occupied in, it was being attacked by an enraged Abi and her clan, and correctly guess the castle was connected to Naraku. The staff of the castle and his foster mother provided him with protection, but Kohaku killed them at Naraku's command in order to get him back, with Kanna sucking out the Lady's soul and taking him back. After that, he and Kanna hid in a cave.
Eventually Hakudōshi and Kohaku received new orders from Naraku to lure Kikyō. In order to accomplish this, Hakudōshi kills the rat demon Zushinezumi, seizes control of his shrine, and opens it to let loose a swarm of rat demons that eat entire villages as their numbers rapidly grow, endangering the entire land as they spread further and further. When a disgusted Kohaku questions if this would lure out Kikyō, Hakudōshi proudly admits it will since no one could ignore the rats. Eventually the demon rat infestation was stopped by the combined efforts of Inuyasha, his group, and Kikyō, forcing Hakudōshi and Kohaku to retreat, but not before warning Inuyasha and the others that Naraku will allow more destructive acts unless Kikyō comes out of hiding.
Creating Mōryōmaru[]
Later on in the series, Naraku had Kohaku kill Kikyō's two Shikigamis. This was done to divert Kikyō's attention for a short while before he fled when Inuyasha and the group arrived. He later gave the Fuyōheki to the Infant, having stolen it from the mountain demon Gakusanjin in order to hide his presence from their enemies. Meanwhile, Hakudōshi and Kohaku killed a demon that had devoured Haku, the power that moves the bodies of all living beings, which Hakudōshi takes to use for his experiments.
He later released his experimented demons, having them run around and kill many humans and demons alike, drawing the attention of both Inuyasha's group and Kōga and his demon wolf clan, who killed all of the demons they encounter. Eventually, Kōga confronts Hakudōshi, who is seen with another demented demon who looks a bit humane. Hakudōshi describes how he transformed human Haku into a new form of life and eliminated the more repulsive ones because he had to let them change because a demon with a human shape is easier to manage when working with human Haku. His best example is the demon next to him, whom he named Mōryōmaru.
Hakudōshi decided to test his creation by having him fight Kōga while also attempting to steal the wolf demon's two Shikon shards. Mōryōmaru had the upper hand, until Inuyasha intervened and unleashed the Kaze no Kizu, forcing Hakudōshi to protect him with a barrier. Despite Inuyasha joining the fight, Mōryōmaru was able to hold his own while Hakudōshi observed. The two groups then collaborated to create an opening for Inuyasha to use his new technique, Kongōsōha. However, Hakudōshi protected Mōryōmaru and took the attack himself, under the orders of the Infant, who wanted to use Mōryōmaru as his new shield. Before leaving, Hakudōshi stole the yōki crystal from Miroku, preventing them from finding the Infant.
After retreating, Hakudōshi gave Mōryōmaru to the Infant and Kanna, and left, telling the baby to use Mōryōmaru any way he sees fit. Wanting to strengthen his new shield, the Infant sent Mōryōmaru to attack the priest Goryōmaru so he could absorb him and take his strength. However, Goryōmaru defeats and seals Mōryōmaru as a replacement for his right arm, forcing the Infant and Kanna to wait until he retrieves back Mōryōmaru.
Naraku then orders for Hakudōshi to head to Goryōmaru's temple and to bring Kagura with him. Before leaving, Hakudōshi questions Naraku's decision to keep Kagura alive despite her clear intentions to betray him. Naraku responds that he could end Kagura's life at any time because he has her heart and needs her for one final job. Afterwards, Hakudōshi comes to retrieve Kagura and head to the temple.
When confronted by the priest, he ordered Kagura to deal with the children. Hakudōshi slashed Goryōmaru across the neck, causing him to stumble backwards in shock. After Goryōmaru rallied and fired his arm-cannon, Hakudōshi used his barrier to deflect the attack and launched another attack, killing the priest. Hakudōshi then ordered Kagura to deal with Inuyasha's group before retrieving Kanna and the infant and departing with them. After Naraku tricked Inuyasha's group into a giant oni, he and Hakudōshi came out in front of Kagura and mocked her unsuccessful attempt to tell Inuyasha and his companions where the baby was.
The Plot to Betray Naraku[]
Naraku revealed to Kagura that her job (her final job) was to guard Goryōmaru who was revealed to be alive. When Hakudōshi appeared in front of Kagura, she asked why she was protecting him. He asks Kagura if she wants to know how to release Goryōmaru, and tries to convince her to do so despite Naraku's orders to guard him. He appeared to have his own motives for wanting to free Goryōmaru. It is later revealed why on he wants Goryōmaru released: Apparently, the Infant came to see that Naraku was nothing more than an empty shell without his heart, believing himself and Hakudōshi to be the originals. Because of this, he sought to take Naraku's place, and Hakudōshi came to support the plot to betray their master. It is also revealed Goryōmaru is in fact Mōryōmaru, who is harboring the Infant.
The Death of Hakudōshi[]
Hakudōshi then confronted Kagura, as she tells Kohaku to run. He stated that Kagura was untrustworthy, since she did betrayed both Naraku and Mōryōmaru, to which Kagura calls him out for, since he is plotting to betray Naraku, to which he doesn't deny. As they battle, Inuyasha and the group arrive to witness Kagura and Hakuōshi. Although confused, Inuyasha and his group join forces with Kagura, and eventually, Hakudōshi took Kagura hostage and revealed his true intentions to Inuyasha and the group of his and the Infant's intentions to betray Naraku and take his place of being the originals.
Hakudōshi mocked Kagura by claiming that Naraku was aware of her treachery and would murder her, and that her only options were to be absorbed by Mōryōmaru or killed by Naraku. Kagura attacked him, but, like always, his body regenerated. However, to his confusion, his barrier was disabled by Naraku, who was watching them via Kanna's mirror. With Kagura out of harm's way, Inuyasha attacked him with the Wind Scar, but Hakudōshi simply continued to regenerate. Miroku threatened to suck him in the Kazaana, but he pointed out that Miroku would also suck up the poisonous insects, thus killing him. He arrogantly remarked to himself that no one, including Naraku, could kill him. But as soon as Naraku summoned the Saimyōshō away, Hakudōshi was shocked to learn that Naraku had deserted him because of his treachery, with Kagura mocking him for Naraku's actions, comparing their situations.
On the defensive, Hakudōshi informed her that since he was real, his circumstances differed from hers. As a last resort, Hakudōshi made a cloud of shōki to shield himself while he tried to kill Kagura, telling himself that he was not a tool to Naraku like Kagura was. However, Kagome cleansed the cloud, and Miroku used his wind tunnel to finally kill Hakudōshi.
Strengthening his armor[]
When the Infant discovers the death of Hakudōshi, he shows no sign of grief for him and was now on his own, since he lost both him and Kagura. With no offensive abilities of his own, the Infant is forced to rely solely on increasing Mōryōmaru's strength as he continues his plot to take Naraku's place. In order to accomplish this, the Infant sends out fragments of Mōryōmaru in search of demons possessing skills that could potentially strengthen Mōryōmaru. After consuming a portion of Mōryōmaru's flesh, a poisonous demon grew larger and more powerful, but Inuyasha killed it before Mōryōmaru could absorb it.
Mōryōmaru's arm consumed snake demons and ingested their venom. In order to increase Mōryōmaru's ability to withstand attacks, the Infant brings the aquatic demon Meiōjū back to life. This gives him the opportunity to reclaim the piece of armor that is the hardest among demons, restoring it to its full strength. Additionally, he lures the Diamond Spears away from Tessaiga by using Meiōjū as bait. After obtaining all of these components, the Infant changes Mōryōmaru into a considerably more potent form. He then proceeds to taunt Sesshōmaru, who uses Tōkijin to break Meiōjū's shell, breaking the sword in the process.
He is later discovered by Kanna, who says he defected from Naraku. The Infant, taken aback by this assertion from Naraku's emotionless servant, chooses to read her purported "heart" to determine whether or not she is telling the truth.She informs him that Meiōjū's shell can be strengthened by the blood of twin demons, Kinka and Ginka. Although the Infant manages to capture Ginka, which gives Mōryōmaru a stronger shell, Tessaiga absorbs Kinka and becomes capable of resonating the twins' powers, shattering the shell. The Infant, furious at being revealed to his adversaries, emitted a miasma to keep Inuyasha at bay. The Infant made his escape, most likely having Mōryōmaru expel Ginka to avoid future repeats. In addition, he took a Shikon no Tama shard from the young wolf demon Kai and made Mōryōmaru consume a moth demon that Naraku's last incarnation, Byakuya of the Dreams, had sent out.
The Death of The Infant[]
When the Infant has perfected his armor, he has Mōryōmaru battle Naraku in order to steal the Shikon Jewel. Naraku, unfazed by the Infant's power, made fun of him for growing into a fat king inside his "castle"—Mōryōmaru—and disclosed why he was a baby. Naraku used scraps of flesh to cover Mōryōmaru, attempting to swallow both it and the Infant within himself. To Naraku's surprise, though, the Infant triumphed over his creator by having Mōryōmaru pierce and swallow Naraku. He then engaged Inuyasha and Kōga in combat, eventually capturing Kōga.
However, the tides were getting turned against him as Inuyasha was pushing back, much to his confusion. The Infant wondered why his armor had not gotten any stronger since the battle was not going as well for him as he had hoped. The Infant learned, much to his dismay, that Naraku was still alive and was consuming his armor from the inside out. In his final moments, the Infant tried to abandon Mōryōmaru so he could die than become a part of Naraku again. However, Naraku kept the Infant trapped with Yōmeiju's vines and lost the Fuyōheki due to Miroku's Wind Tunnel. In the end, Naraku fully absorbed both The Infant and Mōryōmaru, putting an end to Naraku's vile incarnations.
Freudian Excuse? Mitigating Factors?[]
Cue the J. Jonah Jameson's laugh!
To say these two have redeeming qualities is honestly laughable. They are the worst of Naraku's incarnations. Unlike Kanna, Kagura, and Byakuya, they don't have any redeeming qualities whatsoever. While one could say Hakudōshi treats Entei well, it's clearly pragmatic and Hakudōshi doesn't even bother to show grief for his companion's demise.
They both also want to usurp Naraku, but it's more because of their hatred towards him and not out of moral standards. And while they do work together and Hakudōshi does seem to speak fondly of the Infant, nothing suggests that these two will stay loyal to each other, especially since Hakudoshi's only loyalty is to himself, clearly implying he would betray the Infant too. It doesn't help that the Infant couldn't care less about the death of his other self, not bothering to show grief for Hakudōshi's death.
So yeah. No redeeming qualities.
Heinous Standards[]
When it comes to Inuyasha, the heinous standards in this series are absolutely high as hell, and we have plenty of villains who do much with the heinous standards . I mean, look at Naraku himself. The guy is without a doubt the biggest villain with a lot of heinous standards, with most of them being personal: Ruining our main characters' lives? Check. Mass Murder? Check. Manipulating and psychologically touring others? Check. The list goes on and on and on. And some of these actions he did, it was mainly because he personally enjoys it. So yeah, it's no wonder why Naraku is pure evil in the whole series.
But of course, we do also have some other vile villains in this series, such as The Band of Seven, a group of murderous mercenaries who have killed many people in their lives, simply cause they wanted to do so. One of their members Mukotsu is arguably the worst among them as he attempted to forcefully marry Kagome against her will. In the manga, he even attempted to rape her! In both version, this would definitely count as sexual assault (although in the anime's case, more of sexual harassment, but you get the idea). And then there's Gatenmaru, the moth demon who delights in devouring women by sucking them dry and slaughtering down a village, with his men (who are humans) following him being quite eager in helping him out. Despite a small role, his actions got Inuyasha deeply enraged and he went full on crazy, killing him and all of his men (not like they didn't deserve it) and showing him exactly why being a demon isn't really worth it.
But honestly, the Infant and Hakudōshi fit the bill big time here for many reasons. While they meet the basic heinous stands of attempting to kill Inuyasha and his friends and allies, as well as tormenting them both mentally and emotionally, they also have their own unique heinous sheet.
The Infant is a master manipulator who uses his defenseless appearance to fool others, and even manages to conduct a mass execution of many innocents, all just so he could draw out Kagome so he could possess her so he could use her to find the pieces of the jewels. Along with unleashing demons on numerous innocent people, he also given bandits Goryōmaru's urns of killing light so they could destroy villages and cause incalculable casualties, and even attempted to kill Kōga's friends in front of him.
And then there's Hakudōshi, a sadistic demon who had murdered many other demons to examine their minds to discover the secrets behind the netherworld, allied with Princess Abi to oversee the mass blood-draining of countless villagers, unleashed a swarm of demons rats to devour the entire villages, and even planned to unleash them through all of Japan just to draw out Kikyō, even sadistically bragging that he would repeat his similar schemes and endanger more lives, showing how much of a cruel sadist he is. Hakudōshi also torments and abuses Kagura a lot of times for sadistic pleasure, even using her as a human shield one time.
The Infant and Hakudōshi experimented and killed demons to create Moryōmaru. The Infant took control of Moryōmaru, while Hakudōshi let his failed experiments run wild, killing both humans and demons alike. Hakudōshi later tried to kill the heroes once again, as well as Kagura and Kohaku, before he revealed his and the Infant's intentions to betray Naraku. Eventually, after Naraku discovers their betrayal, he abandons Hakudōshi, with the child making one final attempt to finish off Kagura and escape, but he was finally killed by Miroku. The Infant (now using Moryōmaru) kills and absorbs numerous demons into his armor, all so he could strengthen himself, attempts to kill Naraku, Inuyasha, and Kōga, and even mocks Inyuasha and his group about Kagura's death (something he also did to Sesshōmaru). After discovering Naraku was absorbing him from the inside, the Infant tried to make an escape attempt, willing to abandon Moryōmaru, so he wouldn't become a part of Naraku again, but unfortunately for him, he failed.
So yeah, mass murder, horrible torture and experiments, and destruction of numerous villages, as well as their personal villainy towards our heroes? All of these horrible acts should tell you how incredibly monstrous they truly are. If anything, the one thing that they succeed Naraku for is showing that they are just as vile as him.
Final Verdict[]
A big yes to these two. They are definitely the biggest examples of being just as bad as the one who created them in the first place.