Summary
- Orochimaru initially serves as a dangerous and monstrous threat, effectively destabilizing the Hidden Leaf village.
- Orochimaru’s character arc in Naruto Shippuden sidelines him, turning him into a mere side character.
- Orochimaru’s eventual redemption as an ally is criticized for being forced and lacking development.
The Massively successful Naruto is often praised for its work on villains, many expertly written antagonists that challenge Naruto’s worldview as well as serve as monumental obstacles in his way and the safety and peace of the ninja world. Perhaps one of the most famous Naruto villains is Orochimaru, the snake-like ninja who betrayed the Hidden Leaf village. Orochimaru served as the primary antagonist for the entirety of part one of Naruto. His schemes caused the death of the Third Hokage, and he successfully turned Naruto’s best friend against him.
And still, in the latter portions of the story, fans felt increasingly more disappointed with the treatment that such an iconic antagonist received. Fans felt that not only did Orochimaru get put on the sidelines compared to other antagonists, but also that his development and completion of his arc felt out of character and forced him to follow the Naruto villain formula.
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Naruto: The Uncanny Similarities Between Kenjaku and Orochimaru
Kenjaku and Orochimaru are a lot more similar than some fans might realize. Here’s a closer look at their shared qualities.
Naruto’s Most Iconic Villain
The Snake That Lurks in the Shadows
During the early stages of Naruto Part One, Orochimaru is quickly established during the Forest Of Death mini-arc, as he disguises himself as another ninja who viciously attacks Naruto and Sasuke. And in that same encounter, he applied the cursed mark on Sasuke, changing his life and setting the course for the rest of the story. Orochimaru was talked about among the higher ranks of the Hidden Leaf as this betrayer of the village who became a monster that was no longer human.
They talked about his horrific human experiments and how he toys with human life. Many things about Orochimaru early on were outright horrific and terrifying, going in line with the atmosphere of the first stages of Naruto as back then, it was a much darker series. Orochimaru serves as this mad scientist who genuinely enjoys the suffering and torment of his victims. During the Chuunin exams, he was constantly scheming from the shadows to destroy the Hidden Leaf village, acting as a looming threat over the otherwise traditional event in the Hidden Leaf.
What nonsense! In the grand scheme of time, you’re nothing more than a trivial footnote in the brief history of a cluster of huts called “Konoha”! In time, the Hokage Stone Faces will crumble and be worn down to nothing…
By orchestrating an all-out attack on the Hidden Leaf village in collaboration and manipulation of the sand village, he, successfully destroyed a portion of the Hidden Leaf village and killed the Third Hokage, the leader of the Village. While Sarutobi was able to seal Orochimaru’s arms, preventing him from using Ninjutsu. Orochimaru remains successful in his attempt to completely destabilize the Hidden Leaf Village by taking out their beloved and respected leader. During his early outings, Orochimaru was very successful in destabilizing the status quo of the protagonist’s group as well as sinking the Hidden Leaf village into despair.
Very early on, Orochimaru cemented himself as a very dangerous threat, establishing the stakes in the journey of Naruto and the Hidden Leaf village in the story. With only a few episodes of screen time and development, Orochimaru was a very clear and monstrous antagonist and much more effective than usually seen in other series.
He is later successful in convincing Sasuke to leave the Hidden Leaf village by manipulating him into giving him power to defeat and kill his older brother Itachi. This caused what is perhaps the most lovingly remembered arc in Naruto The Sasuke Rescue arc. A story arc that, by all accounts, ends in defeat as Sasuke successfully leaves the village behind, leaving his friends devastated and hurt both mentally and physically.
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Naruto: How Orochimaru’s Characterization Went Downhill
Orochimaru tragically lost his initial place in the series’ villainous landscape, turning into a mere side-character with little to no profundity.
This event will eventually shape the entirety of the rest of the series. The conflict with Sasuke will be a central point throughout the entirety of Naruto Shippuden. And yet once Shippuden came along, Orochimaru slowly faded into the sidelines as other major antagonists appeared.
Orochimaru Falls into Obscurity
From the Shadows to the Light
Orochimaru was a central point in the first quarter of Shippuden as it involves Naruto and his new team infiltrating Orochimaru’s lair to rescue Sasuke, an endeavor that was once again unsuccessful. The next time we see Sasuke and Orochimaru, the boy has decided to also be free. He sees the snake man as beneath him and that he successfully surpassed him, and he is no longer of any use to him. This showcases Sasuke’s descent into darkness and evil but completely undermines Orochimaru’s as the actual dangerous threat he used to be. Sasuke effortlessly defeats Orochimaru and almost kills him, forcing the villain to retreat himself into Sasuke’s curse mark.
Sasuke then goes on his journey to form a new team to battle and defeat his brother, and once he finally does so, Itachi makes sure to destroy the remnants of Orochimaru’s inside Sasuke’s curse mark. Orochimaru always felt afraid and envious of the Uchiha clan, and now its two last members have made a fool of him with their power. Orochimaru is completely absent from the majority of the rest of Naruto Shippuden. The Akatsuki, the villain organization that hunts the tailed beast, rises in significance and popularity. Orochimaru is simply forgotten about or rather forcefully and humiliatingly pushed out of the story. What used to be the biggest threat to the main cast was simply a remnant of the past, and the nostalgia of early Naruto, as a much more powerful and colorful group of antagonists took the spotlight.
People change. It’s just a matter of whether they die before it happens. Although he died just the way he was.
Orochimaru eventually returned during the Fourth Great Ninja War arc when Sasuke was somehow able to extract him from Kabuto’s transformed body. And immediately at that point, Orochimaru was a completely different man. He opts to cooperate with Sasuke and his efforts rather than continue to be the sadistic and evil entity that he once was. After hundreds of episodes and chapters, what used to be the most monstrous and evil entity in this Naruto universe, was just another redeemed villain.
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Naruto: The Downfall Of Orochimaru As The Most Dangerous Villain
Here’s how Orochimaru stopped being seen as a threatening villain in Naruto.
Orochimaru simply became another loose ally, leaving his horrific, monstrous crimes behind. The series has a bad habit of completely redeeming most of its villains, something that has been widely criticized by fans. But Orochimaru’s case is by far the most egregious, as not only did Naruto have nothing to do with Orochimaru’s redemption, but this development happened completely off-screen. Orochimaru’s status as the big bad antagonist was discarded as he became simply a strange, obscure ally without any kind of repercussions for his horrific crimes and no substantial way to see his development into what he is now.
