Demon of the Shikon no Tama (四魂の玉を生み出した合体妖怪, Shikon'notama o umidashita gattai yōkai, "Combined yōkai spawned by the Shikon no Tama") is an incredibly powerful dragon yōkai residing inside the Shikon no Tama, and from his soul was born the absolute evil called Magatsuhi, who of course was only loyal to him as an extension of his mind.[1] On top of that, soon after Naraku's death, he becomes essentially the final enemy of Inuyasha inside the jewel, with Magatsuhi replaced by Naraku's darkness itself as pure hatred for Inuyasha.
History[]
Origins[]
He was the unnamed and monstrous dragon demon who fought and died with his hateful nemesis, the ancient human priestess Midoriko, five hundred years before the events of the series, during the Heian period[2][3], a time when the court nobility were still in control of Japan.[4] There were piles of people who had died in war and hunger. As the corpses and exhausted humans were eaten, in no time, the numbers of yōkai increased. All sort of buddhist priests and generals exterminated the yōkai it appears.
In the original manga, but not in the anime version, he was created as a Kodoku spell, when countless numbers of minor yōkai (dragons, ground-spiders, oni, and so on) possessed a mortal man who secretly loved Midoriko and formed into one demon with a boundless power only in order to kill her, similar to how Onigumo loved Kikyō and made a pact with various demons, which created Naraku.
However, unlike Naraku, he was not an hanyō but a full-fledged demon devoid of human feelings. In fact, while Onigumo's body was completely devoured and his evil soul used as the yōkai's adhesive for their new body as a composite of all their souls, the man in question was killed and, avoiding a fusion with his human mind, forcibly incorporated on the base of the dragon's neck, where only the head and right hand of his dead body were visible, but of course not inside the jewel since there was only the yōkai's soul with massive evil, and his personality was dead.
Midoriko killing the demon.
The battle lasted for seven days and nights and eventually he captured Midoriko in his jaws. Midoriko, in one final attempt to defeat him, pulled his soul into her body, fusing it with her own soul, and then expelled them both simultaneously along with her heart. Both the demon and Midoriko died, but their souls combined to give birth to the Shikon no Tama.
Midoriko and he remained imprisoned within the jewel and continued their endless battle. However, as seen in the final scene, unlike Midoriko, who is the jewel's bright light and can freely move even in the darkness, he can't do the same thing in the goodness, since he would be instantly purified as not longer protected by the darkness born from his soul.
During the story[]
The mummified corpse inside the cave.
The legendary demon was first seen in the mummified corpse of an unnamed but massive demon in Midoriko's cave. The souls of the demons that formed him appear from the Shikon Jewel when a fragment of it gets near his stone body, attempting to escape and revive. Kirara transformed to fight them, but he was wrapped by his tail around Kirara and attempted to kill her before Inuyasha fought him off, whom appearance looked like Midoriko's soul to Myōga. He remained inside the jewel for the time being.[5]
Final battle[]
Midoriko vs. the demons.
During the final battle, after Magatsuhi was destroyed by Sesshōmaru thanks to Inuyasha and Naraku's soul purified forever from the material world by Kagome, he was still connected to the Sacred Jewel, and his soul was still in combat with Midoriko inside the jewel.
Inuyasha inadvertently dived into the jewel to save Kagome and encountered the giant dragon-like demon. Inuyasha sliced him immediately with the Wind Scar, and he was split into the many minor demons that formed him, because he is protected by the jewel's evil, that was replaced by Naraku's darkness itself after Magatsuhi escaped it.
The demons informed Inuyasha that he didn't need to keep searching for Kagome as she would be imprisoned inside the jewel also soon enough. They also state that if Kagome was to make a single selfish wish upon the Shikon Jewel, she would replace Midoriko as the soul trapped inside of the jewel stuck in eternal combat with the evil presence as Naraku switches places with them, so they can revive in the material world.
Inuyasha vs. the demons.
Inuyasha refused to believe him, and proceeded to attack the demons that formed him in an attempt to reach Kagome in the Meidō outside the jewel and save her. After Midoriko's final death in the manga, then as soon as the light dies when Naraku's wish dissolved forever her soul in order to prepare the new place for Kagome, Inuyasha became her true successor in the ancient fight against the demon.
With nearly the same level of cunning as Naraku, or an even more powerful version of him, the hidden demon whom the Skinon Jewel contains is an adversary not to be taken lightly. His strong combination of survival skills and protection from the jewel seriously gives Inuyasha, his new arch-nemesis, a hard time.
In the original manga, although it is not directly explained, it's obvious that he was destroyed forever by Inuyasha when he cut the point of light in the darkness inside the Shikon Jewel with Meidō Zangetsuha, which was the key to destroy the jewel's evil. In fact, with Inuyasha's attack at that point, finally reappeared thanks to Kagome's positive words who believed in Inuyasha, the purity of the jewel called Naohi annihilated the evil corrupting presence within forever and cease to exist, so the shimmering light that emanated from it and the voice projecting out of the jewel ended.[6] So, although of course he couldn't destroy the jewel forever in any way, Inuyasha caused the demon's soul sealed within it to cease existing, preventing it from even going to the afterlife.
The demons' redemption (anime only).
Instead, in the anime version, when Kagome finally made the right wish, all the demons that form him were enveloped in light and free to go their resting place.
Personality[]
He was a fierce and intelligent demon who viewed every other single being, living or not, as inferior to him. He maintained his pride and despised both Inuyasha and Naraku as half-demons. In a sense, when at most he was a powerful ally of Naraku, his infinite malice sealed inside the jewel was the true mastermind of its corruption, manipulating the hearts and minds of those influenced by the jewel. However, that boast of being invincible and his general arrogance ultimately proved to be the cause of his downfall against an half-demon, Inuyasha.
Physical description[]
As an amalgamation of countless yōkai, he had an oriental sort of gigantic dragon-like body with long beard-like tentacles, ogre's heads, spider limbs and other various appendages randomly jutting around. He had a dragon-like upper jaw, but a radial mouth instead of a lower jaw. In his true form, he spoke with voices of the demons that formed him.
Powers and abilities[]
The darkness' power.
- Corruption: His malevolent influence was a constant threat, as he seeked to sow chaos and despair by exploiting the weaknesses and desires of those who came into contact with the jewel, as he continued to battle against Midoriko.
- Immortality: As being the demon soul residing within the Shikon Jewel, he was virtually immune to all forms of physical damage. This only sent him back into the jewel's evil, not even close to Inuyasha's high-ranking level without it, despite his overwhelmingly large size.
- High-speed regeneration: Protected by the jewel's evil, he was able to regenerate the wound within a matter of seconds, or became the several weak demons that he used to be, as demonstrated when Inuyasha attacked him with the Wind Scar in the final battle. However, if he had been still alive with his old physical body in the material world, he would be easily destroyed by Inuyasha with a single attack of Tessaiga, proving with his yōkai sword to be even stronger than Midoriko's immense spiritual power itself, as she fought so many demons physically superior to a human for an entire week instead.
Weaknesses[]
- Lightening:
Quotes[]
- "There's no need to search. The priestess will be here shortly."
- ―Demon of the Shikon no Tama
- Demon of the Shikon no Tama: "That is the priestess who created the Shikon Jewel."
- Inuyasha: "So that was Midoriko?"
- Demon of the Shikon no Tama: "She has been locked in battle with us for hundreds of years, ever since the jewel was born. And Kagome will suffer the same fate."
- ―Demon of the Shikon no Tama and Inuyasha about Midoriko.[src]
- Inuyasha: "Naraku? You're still alive?"
- Demon of the Shikon no Tama: "He's dead, but soon, he shall come back to life, when Kagome gives into her fear of the darkness and falls prey to her trap set by the jewel. Naraku will awaken, and a new battle of the souls will begin within the Shikon Jewel, a battle that will continue forever from the very moment that the Shikon Jewel was first transported through time to the Feudal Era. From the beginning, this has been Kagome's fate."
- Inuyasha: "So that's why the Shikon Jewel brought Kagome and Naraku here? It wants their souls to fight each other for all eternity?"
- Demon of the Shikon no Tama: "Kagome was born to become part of the jewel and fight within it, that is the point of her existence."
- ―Demon of the Shikon no Tama claims that Kagome was destined to battle within the Shikon Jewel for eternity.[src]
Trivia[]
The face on the dragon's neck.
- If the Jewel of Four Souls is tainted by being held by an evil/greedy human or yōkai it turns a lurid black-violet, represented by Magatsuhi/Evil within the jewel, which means the powerful yōkai is winning over Midoriko and Naohi/Good.
- Interestingly, a face can be seen underneath the dragon's jaw in the final battle, despite his human component being unmentioned in the anime.
Media appearances[]
Manga
- Chapter 89 (First appearance) (corpse)
- Chapter 94 (corpse)
- Chapter 375 (corpse)
- Chapter 376 (corpse)
- Chapter 377 (Appears in a flashback) (corpse)
- Chapter 380 (Appears in a flashback) (corpse)
- Chapter 555 (spirit)
- Chapter 556 (spirit)
- Chapter 557 (spirit)
Anime
- Episode 26 (First appearance) (corpse)
- Episode 94 (corpse)
- Episode 147 (corpse)
- Episode 169 (Appears in a flashback) (corpse)
- Episode 192 (spirit)
- Episode 193 (spirit)
Notes[]
- ↑ In the manga only.
References[]
- ↑ Magatsuhi
- ↑ Zusetsutaizan Ōgikaiden, page 179, "The cycle of the Shikon Jewel's arrival".
- ↑ Shikon no Tama
- ↑ Several hundred years before the then 'Sengoku jidai' (Age of Wars), there was a strong central government in Japan. However, for various reasons, the government weakened and lost control, and all the local lords started fighting with each other for control, thus beginning the Sengoku jidai.
- ↑ InuYasha anime; Episode 26
- ↑ Chapter 557, pages 13-16. When Inuyasha jumps into the Meidō, a light in the darkness is making Naraku's web disappear. Furthermore, there are some lights also in the darkness outside.
| Naraku | |
|---|---|
| Incarnations | Kanna • Kagura • Goshinki • Kagerōmaru • Jūrōmaru • Musō • Infant • Hakudōshi • Byakuya • Akagane |
| Rejected parts | Unnamed incarnation • Hair monster • Eye monster • Onigumo (reabsorbed) • Kugutsu • Kodoku |
| Allies | Saimyōshō • Tsubo Tsukai • Sesshōmaru (formerly) • Jaken (formerly) • Ryūkotsusei • Tsubaki • Hakushin • Shichinintai • Salamander • Entei • Abi • Tekkei • Mōryōmaru (formerly) • Gorai • Mirror demon • Magatsuhi • Demon of the Shikon no Tama |
| Enemies | Inuyasha • Kagome Higurashi • Kikyō • Miyatsu • Miroku's father • Miroku • Sango • Kirara • Kohaku • Kōga • Ginta • Hakkaku • Kai • Shinta • Sesshōmaru (currently) • Kaguya • Mōryōmaru (currently) • Hōsenki I • Hitomiko • Kansuke • Kaede • Midoriko • Shippō • Jaken (currently) • Rin • A-Un • Janis |
| Locations | Onigumo's cave • Naraku's castle • Mount Hakurei • Naraku's cave |
| Miscellaneous | Shikon no Tama • Kazaana • Onigumo's cave • Naraku's castle • Mount Hakurei |