We will discuss Hantengu’s backstory in this blog post. Hantengu was the former Upper Moon Rank Four Demon among the Twelve Kizukis. His unique blood demon art lets him create clones of himself based on the emotions he experienced in life.
Going by personality, Hantengu looks like a coward in his primary form. He was quickly scared by the things that happened around him. Even he had signs of paranoia, fear, and delusion. He always cried out in fear, even over small things.
Hantengu Backstory as a Human
As a person, Hantengu was known to have done a lot of bad things. He stole from many good people and killed them in different towns and cities, but he always said he was innocent. As a human, Hantengu wasn’t afraid to commit such crimes.
He would say that he didn’t do the crimes; they were all the fault of his “Hands.” He thought that by saying these things, he would get away from all his crimes, and people won’t take him accountable.
There is even a possibility that Hantengu didn’t control his actions, and even though he didn’t want to steal and kill people, his alternate personalities made him do it.
But, to others, this made it sound like he was mentally unstable and had false beliefs. They obviously didn’t believe a single word that he said. People around the city were fed up with him and wanted to get rid of him.
Hantengu Sentenced to Death
Eventually, he was caught by a high-ranking magistrate and sentenced to death by beheading, even though he made ludicrous claims that he was innocent. Hantengu didn’t even know what crimes he had committed as he didn’t realize that he was committed them.
But everyone else in the court knew that Hantengu committed these crimes and wanted to punish him for his actions. They didn’t want to listen to his claims that Hantengu didn’t realize what he was doing.
His claims were put to an end when the magistrate threatened to cut off his “sinful” hands instead. Along with it, Hantengu would eventually die.
Hantengu Backstory as a Demon
While he was in jail and waiting to be killed, Muzan Kibutsuji came up to him and offered to “help” him because he felt sorry for him. Muzan even had a personal benefit from it. He was making his army of Twelve Kizuki at the time.
Muzan then gave him some of his blood, which made him a demon.
After he changed, he got out of prison and killed the judge who had sentenced him to death. With his last breath, the judge told him that it didn’t matter if he killed him because he would be punished for his past sins and actions no matter what he did.
Becoming The Upper Moon Rank Four
Later, Hantengu became powerful enough to climb the rank of Upper Moon Rank Four. His Blood Demon Art allowed him to turn his feelings into powerful copies of himself that look, act, and have all their own skills.
These clones represented an emotion Hantengu had felt in the past, and they mostly showed that emotion.
Each one has a kanji tattoo on their tongue that says what their primary emotion is. Hantengu has complete control over these clones, but he usually lets them do what they want.
Hantengu’s blood demon art is a personification of his human life. He had multiple personalities that committed crimes, killed people, and stole from them. Later with his Blood Demon Art, he could separate all the emotions and personalities he faced.
Meeting of the Upper Moon Ranks
During the Entertainment Arc District, after Daki and Gyutaro were killed, Muzan called an Upper Moon Rank meeting.
In the meeting, Hantengu told Gyokko that it had been 113 years since they had last seen each other. This number made Hantengu feel uncomfortable.
He listened as Muzan told everyone about Gyutaro’s death and told them how useless they were. This made the Upper Rank beg for forgiveness. Once Muzan confirmed his new lead, Hantengu quickly agreed to Muzan’s order for him and Gyokko to go to a place they didn’t know.
Final Thoughts – Hantengu Backstory
Even though it is sad, Hantengu’s backstory is not as tragic as Doma’s and Akaza’s backstories. Hantengu committed various crimes and was simply punished for them. There must have multiple cases similar to Hantengu where the person committing crimes was punished by death.
The tragic thing here is that Hantengu didn’t realize the crimes he committed. It was his alternate personality that made him do things.
