Psyche of a Flying Shadow: A Hiei analysis

By Kuune 

Hiei and Friends

Hiei is clearly the most changed character throughout the series. In the beginning he was ruthless, arrogant, and nasty. As bad as any bad guy out there, but by the end of the series, or even the middle if you haven't gotten that far yet, he's almost a whole different person. Sure, he's still ruthless and nasty if you get on his bad side, but he's also reserved, and most importantly, he now has something care for and fight for. After the Hall of Betrayal, the room in the Saint Beasts lair where the roof fell down, he was forced to realize that working with a team wasn't a weakness. Of course, he would never admit it. When Hiei met up with Yusuke and Kurama, it was the first time he actually had friends, as in people he could trust, not just work with. When Hiei was just born, he was unwanted and thrown out of his land. (More about this later.) He grew up among thieves who really only took him in to try to take his Tear Gem (Hiroseki). When Hiei got stronger, the theives began to fear him and they wouldn't talk to him or let him in on their plans. In the Makai, there were no suchs things as friendships and bonds; it was the strong kill the weak. Eventually, Hiei got sick of the group always avoiding him and looking at him as if he was some monster, and he left. No goodbye, no farewell, he just walked away and never returned. After that, we don't know much about his life, but years later, he meets Kurama. When he first met Kurama, they fought and had already been Hiei hurt. Kurama didn't know and ended up further wounding Hiei, who fell unconscious. Hiei had probably expected to die and was therefore very surprised when he woke up in Kurama's room, bandaged and healed. This was the first time he had experienced kindness and caring. Also, this was the first time he had been trusted. Kurama trusted Hiei to not wake up and kill him. ((This info is all in Two shots, a mini story in volume 7 of the manga.)) The second time Hiei experience this friendship was when he teamed up with Yusuke in Maze Castle. The scene when the ceiling of the hallway comes crashing down and Yusuke trusts Hiei with not only his own life, but Kuwabara's and Kurama's life. Hiei's complicated sense of honor would not allow him to betray someone who would put so much trust on him. As Kurama quotes, "Hiei is going through a complicated change."

So now, not only has Hiei finally accepted friends not "only as a crutch for the weak," but he is fiercely loyal to those he has pledged his allegiance to. An example would be Hiei's show of sympathy when Seiryuu killed the wounded Byako. Hiei was mostly pissed off that a teammate would kill another teammate who came asking for help. Seiryu has said "I understood you to be like us- ruthless to the core." And Kurama says to Yusuke and Kuwa, "I've never seen Hiei like this before. He's just as seiryu described...or was. Yet he seems truly upset by what Seiryu's done. Self-interest is not what moves him now, and it bewilders him..." After he awesomely slices up Seiryu into 16 pieces, Yusuke exclaims that if they had a rematch, Hiei would win for sure, and instead of a haughty comment, Hiei just says, "Maybe..." It shows that Hiei is admitting to himself the importance of loyalty and friendship, and that Yusuke isn't such a bad guy to work with after all. A second example would be at the Dark Tournament, right after he first used the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. Kuwabara was scared that Hiei would turn on them with the attack, but Hiei replied; "Don't worry fool, we've entered into an alliance and I'm not the type to break it. Of course, after we win the tournament I can't guarantee anything." Hiei does have trouble expressing his emotions and unlike Yusuke, he would never make the first move to friendship, or even show it openly. At the beginning of the Sensui saga, Hiei actually left the group for quite a while. (The most depressing 5-6 episodes of the entire series.) When he heard that the Makai portal was being opened that his probation was almost over, his demonic side resurfaced. The idea of returning to the cold and callous Makai was enough to make him think twice about friendship again. Through that period, Hiei probably went through a bit of self struggling to decide whether he would help the Tentai or not against Sensui. He had every right to just leave them, but could he really just leave his friends behind? Could he really just abandon them after all they had done for him, after having saved his life at the risk of their own? Obviously not. When Yusuke was in the most trouble, Hiei returned in a dramatic re-entrance to save his friend. When Yusuke was being chased by the massive oil tanker under Sniper's territory, Yusuke had to chance to lose it off his trail, and he couldn't stop for long enough to destroy it, and Sniper himself was no where in view. Quickly running out of energy, Yusuke was left with very few choices. Before the fight between Yusuke and Sniper, there had been a mysterious rustle in the woods and a flash of black shoes and cloak were seen. Hiei was watching. Like (very cheesy simile but deal with it) a guadian angel, Hiei watches over his friends silently, ready and willing to jump in and save their lives. At the very last moment, Hiei blew up the tanker and retrieved Yusuke and carried him out of the blast. He quickly and easily took care of Sniper and saved Yusuke's life. After this episode, Hiei realizes he can't make himself abandon his friends in this time of need. He rejoins the group, and it seems Kurama had suspected it too.
Final line, Hiei is a powerful and loyal friend to have on your side, though he most likely won't admit it.

Hiei, Yukina and Mukuro

From the series

The second big event that changed his life was finding Yukina. Yukina is a part of Hiei. It's said that twins share a special bond, and these two twins are like parts of a whole. Yukina is passive, loving, kind and caring and wouldn't hurt a fly while Hiei is aggressive, violent and tempermetal. They're like two ends of the extreme and together, they even each other out. Yukina brings out Hiei's mercy and Hiei gives Yukina courage. Yukina also gives Hiei a reason to live. Though I don't believe Hiei's suicidal as some people have claimed, he certainly isn't afraid of death and he probably wouldn't try to escape it either if he felt it would be a worthy death. For example, in One Shot, Hiei was looking for Yukina and he was attacked. I'm not totally sure of the details since I've only read a couple of fan translations, but Hiei was badly wounded. However, he was up and raring to go, despite his injuries because he was looking for Yukina. Throughout the series, Hiei faces death many times and escapes death because he doesn't yet want to die. SPOILER! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! Before Hiei returns to the Makai later, he speaks with Yukina and he doesn't reveal to her who he is, but he comes to realize Yukina's finally safe and happy in the Ningenkai. He never wants her to know he's her brother and he says that after he saw Yukina's warm smile,he was finally ready to die. That's why in his fight with Shigure, he was willing to give up his life easily. He could have used the DOTDF on Shigure, but instead he practiacally ran straight into Shigure's blade. Mukuro then comes and finally gives him his second gem, the one he had lost before and she says "You're not afraid to die, so why are you afraid to live?" This shows Hiei's views on life. Which I'll discuss later so other's can read it too.

From Eizou Hakusho

Recently, I was able to download a clip of Eizou Hakusho (a million thanks to Michiru!) which opened a whole new field to analyze. In the clip, we have Hiei jumping off a tall building and fending off energy balls which are attacking him. This part was pretty obvious, showing his lifestyle of fighting. When he lands on the ground, he sees an older Yukina surrounded by ice and golden chains. I had to dig a little deeper to find the meaning in this. More literally, its a image that connects to when she was kidnapped by Torukenai (I have no idea how to spell his name) and she was confined with all those talism, literally keeping her away from Hiei. More figuratively, I believe it's Hiei's view of Yukina and how he loves her, yet she's kept away from him because she doesn't know he's her brother. He wants to be near her to protect her since she's really the only family he has, and of course because they're twins and twins share that special bond. But, even if he wanted to tell her, he can't because Shigure had made Hiei swear that if would not tell her. But more important than that is Hiei not wanting to tell her because he's doesn't want to hurt her. He'll sacrifice his own happiness to protect hers. He said that he doesn't want to tell her because it would break her heart if she found out that her long lost brother was a thief and murder. Even though I'm sure Yukina would still love him despite that, Hiei is so sensitive and he doesn't believe that anyone could really love him. What happens next is that Hiei slashes his sword and breaks the chains and the ice and the older Yukina flies towards him with huge, white wings. This leads me to believe that deep in his heart, Hiei really wants to tell Yukina. He wants her to love him and care for him, to be happy and live the life they were both denied. As Yukina flies towards him, Hiei reaches out his arm to her. They nearly make it and they even touch, but suddenly, Yukina turns into Mukuro. But his Mukuro is uninjured, she's got her eye and the rest of her face, fully flesh and quite beautiful. In fact, the only way I could really tell it was her was her orange hair, and the fact that there was no one else it could be. But when Yukina turns into Mukuro, the wings turn into a tainted white, almost like a kakai brown, and she flies up and away from Hiei. Hiei still has his arm out, reaching for her, but she continues higher and higher into the sky and towards the sun until she dissapears in the glare and Hiei is left standing alone. He slowly lowers his arm and reaches for his tear gem. (It was so sad, I was nearly crying, I really was.) This part was by far the most confusing since we know so little about Mukuro and she's only in the last few episodes, it's hard to decode her. It follows the storyline in that right after the well known "Brother, no, not brother" conversation Hiei has with Yukina where Yukina gives him her gem, Hiei goes to Mukuro. In that conversation, it seemed that Yukina had sensed her connection to Hiei, maybe she's even guessed he's her brother. Why would she choose to give Hiei her gem? She's obviously closer to Kuwabara, or even Yusuke, but she chooses Hiei. She even calls him brother on accident. (By the way, I have the Japanese audio clip for his conversation if you want to hear them talking. Even if you don't understand all of it, it's so touching.) And now back to Mukuro, she draws Hiei back into the Makai life which is really where he belongs, whereas Yukina, being gentle and fragile would be better off living in the Human world with Genkai and Keiko. They are being separated, by Mukuro in a sense. Another way of looking at it is how Mukuro and Yukina are the two parts that represent himself. Yukina, the sensitive part and Mukuro, the angst part. Both sides make Hiei the complicated character he is. This would explain why Yukina turns into Mukuro when she touches Hiei. The last scene when Hiei makes a fist before him shows that for these two people, he will fight to protect them. He closes his eyes and walks in the rain into the grey Makai city.

Hiei and his Height

Okay, a totally spur of the moment comment I HAD to add somewhere, I just didn't know where. We all know Hiei's short, okay, I admit that with great difficulty. BUT, there's hope for all of us tall people! Hiei grows during the series. Proof? In the last fight between Hiei and Mukuro, Hiei's as tall as Mukuro. It's not a skewered perspective or anything. It's a shot from the side where they're standing facing each other, and Hiei is as tall as Mukuro! And Mukuro is not short. I'll have to watch a couple more series to compare her height, but still, that means Hiei gets taller! Maybe he's even reached 5 feet!

Hiei and his Past?

I'll warn you now this part will probably contain the most spoilers so read at your own risk.

So where does Hiei come from? We really don't know until very late in the series, around episode 90. With all the others, even the demon Kurama, we know their pasts, why there're here, and what they're goals are. Hiei is shrouded in mystery, joining up with Yusuke only to get out of jail time. The only thing we know is his deep relationship with his sister, Yukina. But Yukina is an ice demon, and Hiei is fire. In the Dark Tournament saga, when Yukina returns, she mentions that she came from the land of ice. This was probably the first real clue to Hiei's past. The Land of the Koorime, a frozen island that hung high in the Makai sky was an isolated land where only the Koorimes lived. Koorimes are ice maidens, beautiful girls and women with spiky blue hair and red eyes that had the ability to control ice. Another ability they were known for were their Hiroseki, or Tear Gems. The tears of a Koorime would turn into perfect, glistening jewels that were very rare and highly sought after. As mentioned before, the Koorime were all women. They reproduced once every one hundred years be cloning themselves. The relationship between a man and a woman was forbidden by Koorime law. However, one Koorime, Hina, disobeyed this law and was impregnated by a fire demon, Hiei's father. We don't know who this fire demon was or where he came from, but we know that Hina returned to the island in the sky and was obviously soon found out when she gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy. The elder of the island condemned Hina of this breach in law and banished the male child. Because the other twin was a girl, she was given leniency and allowed to live on the island as one of them. The male however, was ordered to be thrown off the island to die, or to fend for himself. Ignoring Hina's cries, the elder ordered Rui, a friend of Hina's, to throw the child off the cliff. Before she did though, she gave Hiei a tear gem that his mother had cried. Another gem was given to Yukina. Holding the warded cocoon Hiei had been wrapped in, Rui told Hiei to grow up and return one day to kill them all. As Hina's friend, Rui knew that what they were doing was wrong, no child should have to be abandonned and tossed away, no matter what kind of child they were. With Hina's crying in the background, Hiei was dropped off the cliff and his cocoon fell through the clouds and to the harsh world below. Hiei says later that even though he was only a few days old, he understood everything the Koorime had been saying about him. From the day he was born, he understood that he was a Forbidden Child, a product of Sin. With this trauma imbedded into his mind, Hiei's mind was set to be a heartless, careless, wandering demon.

And more to come!
Next: Hina and Hiei's past.
Mukuro and Hiei, more in depth
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