Summary
- Muzan’s cowardice stems from his fear of death due to childhood struggles, leading to hiding among humans.
- Muzan employs disguise, telepathy, and curses to control demons and avoid confrontation.
- Muzan’s control methods reveal his insecurity and fear, relying on demons for his bidding.
Kibutsuji Muzan has displayed nothing but cowardice throughout the popular hit series Demon Slayer. Although Muzan is most certainly a formidable foe as the progenitor of demons, he consistently uses his underlings to do his bidding whilst hiding in the shadows.
Although many leaders have taken a backseat to battles, Muzan is utterly fearful of dying. This is likely due to his struggles as a child, which led to him becoming a demon. However, after a close call with Tsugikuni Yoriichi, Muzan chose a life in the shadows. He hides himself among humans in various forms while he commands his subordinates. Though subtle, Muzan employs multiple methods to systematically hide himself while revealing his cowardice. What are they?
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Muzan’s Personality at Its Core
Selfish to His Core, Muzan Puts His Needs Above Others
When first introduced to Kibutsuji Muzan, it was not in a secret lair or a confrontational battle. Instead, we meet Muzan at night during the Asakusa arc while he is blending into the nighttime society with his wife and daughter. Muzan is a master in disguise, with knowledge of effectively blending into human society without anyone suspecting him of being the progenitor of demons. This works well in Muzan’s case, as few people know about demons’ existence.
Muzan is fundamentally a perfectionist and knowledgeable individual who frequently employs fear and intimidation to dominate his followers. Despite his perfectionist nature, he possesses several flaws, particularly his insecurity about seamlessly integrating into society. With an unnaturally pale complexion that many associate with illness, Muzan struggles with his appearance. Although he can alter his looks, he cannot change his pale skin tone, leading to furious reactions when it is mentioned, as illustrated in Chapter 14.
That man is but a coward. He’s always afraid.
Muzan deems himself a “perfect creature” who is close to perfection, illustrating his perfectionist nature. However, although Muzan deems himself perfect, he is riddled with fear and cowardice, choosing to hide among humans and creating demons that would act as a decoy for the Demon Slayer Corps. As Muzan has numerous demons in various parts of the country, the Demon Slayer Corps works tirelessly to prevent the death of humans while Muzan hides in densely populated areas.
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Throughout his life, Muzan has constantly faced death itself. As a fetus, his heart stopped multiple times within his mother’s womb, and he was considered a stillborn as he had no pulse and was not breathing. For the duration of his life, all Muzan has wished for is to live. He had prevented himself from being cremated, and although he turned into a demon, he would outlive his disease; however, now he faced death if he were to walk into the sunlight.
Muzan’s body was frail and had limitations, and he was diagnosed with a disease that would kill him before he reached 20. All Muzan had ever wished for was to live, which is likely why he was so afraid to reveal himself. Muzan’s cowardice is the result of his longing to live. However, he soon becomes greedy, wanting to become a perfect creature.
How Muzan’s Cowardice Reveals Itself
Utilizing Various Methods, Muzan Protects Himself from the Corps
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First Appearance |
Asakusa arc |
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Season 1 |
Episode 7 |
There are several ways in which Muzan’s cowardice reveals itself. Before meeting Tsugikuni Yoriichi, Muzan believed he was unstoppable and often appeared walking together with Tamayo when she was still under his command. However, that changed when he met Yoriichi, who utilized Sun Breathing and possessed a Demon Slayer mark. After this fated meeting, Muzan decided to never reveal himself again out of fear of being killed.
When I calmed the flustered girl, she spoke to me in a rush about the man. And… She said that Kibutsuji Muzan, the progenitor of the demons… would probably never reveal himself to me again.
As mentioned above, Muzan utilized numerous methods to blend into society. Muzan has primarily shown himself in his male appearance, as that is the form in which he was born and married several women to blend into society. However, Muzan also had a child and a woman form, which he would use. In Chapter 51, Muzan revealed his woman form to the Lower Moon demons, to which many were confused and in awe of the demon before them. As stated by Lower Moon Six, Muzan’s female form was a “terrifyingly accurate camouflage,” and even the demons were unaware of Muzan’s presence until he revealed himself to them.
As seen above, Muzan has gone to lengths to protect his identity by physically changing his appearance and blending into human society. However, this is not the only way Muzan reveals his cowardice. As the progenitor of all demons, Muzan has lived an astonishingly long life and has since developed numerous techniques and abilities that help him control his underlings.
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One mechanism by which Muzan exerts control over the demons is a curse. Should any demon utter his name, this curse will be activated. Upon activation, the demons will cease to regenerate, and the cells of Muzan that reside within them will terminate their existence. Consequently, many demons address him as “Lord” or “Master,” further inflating his ego.
- The Infinity Castle, a Blood Demon Art of Nakime, serves as a lair for Muzan as it exists in an alternate realm that Demon Slayers cannot access.
- Muzan uses telepathy to read the minds of his underlings and communicate.
- He uses his demons to do all his bidding, never wanting to engage in battle himself.
As Muzan distributes his blood to the demons, he has no qualms about killing them if they no longer serve a purpose. However, Muzan loves flattery as it likely boosts his ego of being a creature that is close to perfection. As the creator of all demons, Muzan has systematically created abilities that serve to protect him, and his demon manipulation is a fact of that. Although his control over the demons is limited, fear and intimidation are the primary methods that give him the results he’s looking for.
As mentioned above, Muzan often uses telepathy to gauge what the demons are thinking, and those who are insubordinate are swiftly killed, and their demonic power and regeneration are canceled. Muzan uses this ability for two reasons: to ensure that his followers are loyal to his cause and to gauge their location. However, the further they are from him, the harder this ability is to use. Only Nezuko and Tamayo, who have escaped his control, have no fear of this ability.
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This, too, proves Muzan’s inability to trust his own underlings, as some of them, including Kaigaku and Kokushibo, have previously been Demon Slayers who have defected. Throughout this time, Muzan has remained in the shadows, living as a coward, using his demons to find the Blue Spider Lily and defeat the Demon Slayer Corps, who work under the Ubuyashiki family. However, it was only after Nezuko’s ability to walk in the sun that he no longer feared the Demon Slayers and attempted to retrieve Nezuko himself.
Demon Slayer is now available to stream on Crunchyroll.