Nen (Hunter x Hunter)

Nen is a concept that features in Hunter x Hunter.

History

Nen (Japanese: 念, Translation: Mind Force) was the ability to control one's own life energy or aura, which was constantly emitted from them whether they knew it or not. This power was unknown to the public at large, with only a minority of persons being capable of using it or even being privy to its existence. Reports of incidents involving Nen are often misleading, in large part because ignorance of its existence necessarily leads to incorrect assumptions. Some non-users who hear of Nen believe it to be no more than a mental technique to gain a small boost in physical abilities by accessing the dormant power in one's body. For their part, Nen users tend to avoid attracting too much attention in order to prevent society from spiraling into chaos.

At some point, the Hunter Association had discovered the power of Nen and many Hunters made use of its power. Its existence was, however, largely kept hidden from the general public with many unaware of it.

In the NGL territories, the area became inhabited by the voracious and deadly Chimera Ants species that had arrived on the island which began to evolve after consuming the native creatures. This culminated in their evolution into intelligent humanoid forms as they began to prey on humans in the area. After an encounter with Hunters, the Chimera Ants began to target such humans due to their enormous life potential due to their Nen abilities that made them valuable prey to feed to their Queen. A further encounter led to a Chimera Ant surviving an Nen attack with this inadvertently opening the pores of the creature allowing them to make use of Nen after they recovered. It was theorised by the other Chimera Ants that this was as a result of exposure to a Nen attack. As a result, several Chimera Ants began to willingly succumb to Nen attacks to allow them to be able to use this power. During this time, the Chimera Ant Royal Guards were born who had a natural grasp over their great Nen abilities with a mass use of awakening these powers in the rest of their kind. From a captive Hunter, the Chimera Ants began to learn the nature of Nen and how to identify its use.

Overview

In appearance, Nen was a technique whereby a practitioner was able to manipulate energy to achieve various feats. Those able to do so were referred to as Nen users (能のう力りょく者しゃ, nōryokusha—lit. "ability person"). A key element for a Nen user was the manipulation of their Aura (オーラ, Ōra) that was the life energy produced by all living bodies. This was vital for survival and directly linked to the person's stamina. The points on the body from which aura flowed out were called aura nodes (精しょう孔こう, Shōkō). A person's was invisible to non-Nen users with it only being seen after the aura nodes in the eyes were opened. Nonetheless, sensitive individuals could feel its presence without being aware of its existence. This was related to the pores throughout the body with these normally being closed and preventing potential Nen users from utilising their power naturally. It was only through the opening of these pores that the individual could make use of Nen. Each individual developed their own unique Nen ability that matched their own respective personalities and played on their strengths. It was this reason why it was suggested that an individual did not attempt to copy the Nen of another user. The technique allowed a living user to manipulate their own life force aura to achieve different feats. Its use largely depended on the individual being able to control their life energy.

In normal conditions, the aura from all parts of the body tends to flow together, producing one mass of energy. This happens without the individual's awareness, typically resulting in aura slowly leaking away from the body constantly without exceedingly harmful consequences and stemming up and off the top of the head. On the other hand, if someone whose aura nodes were fully open did not attempt to close them or control the flow of their aura, they would soon grow so exhausted that they would be unable to stand or even lose consciousness. Learning to control one's aura nodes is the first step to becoming a Nen user.

A student learning Nen trained to manually open and close their aura nodes so that they can control the flow of their aura. One typically learns this process slowly and gradually through meditation. There was a second method, colloquially called Initiation (洗せん礼れい, Senrei—lit. "Baptism"), achieved by forcing the aura nodes to open via an influx of aura, such by having someone who is already able to control their aura channel a light burst of aura into your own body. Despite being much quicker, this method is typically frowned upon by Nen instructors due to the danger it poses to the student if the user is inexperienced or has malicious intent, and it was not considered a standard teaching method. To convey the taboo of it, it was referred to as an 'attack', which it might as well be, since non-users who awaken this way without having received an appropriate amount of training to control their aura nodes might suffer from exhaustion for a long time due to being unable to control the aura leakage, though the rarest of prodigies might be able to quickly get a grasp on controlling their aura. It was also possible that the recipient might take damage from the process itself, which could result in serious mutilation.

It was divided into the Four Major Principles that were:

• Ten (纏) : maintaining the aura in the body and strengthening it for defense.
• Zetsu (絕) : shutting down the flow of aura flow in order to conceal one's presence or relieving fatigue.
• Ren (練) : the production of more Nen.
• Hatsu (發) : the release of a Nen aura for a specific purpose.

There were additional advanced Nen techniques as well beyond those of the four principles. These included;

• Gyo (凝, Focus) : which was where a large amount of Nen was stored in a single part of the body typically the eyes allowing the user to see hidden Nen objects or techniques.
• In (隱, Conceal) : that was more advanced than Zetsu as it did not involve the shutting down of aura but rather concealment of it allowing Nen techniques to be masked from hiding which made it possible to set hidden Nen-based traps against an enemy that could only be seen with Gyo.
• En (圓, Circle) : it involved extending the aura around the user to its limit whereupon Ten was used to give shape to it which was typically in the form of a sphere with the user being able to sense anything that came within that space of aura.

Nen types.

Upon mastering the principles, a user then looked towards developing their own unique talents of their aura. This led to them falling under the six Nen types each specialising in different traits. These included:

• Conjuration (具現化 Gugenkakei) : conjurers had the ability to create independent, material object out of one's aura that manifest at a moments notice though these items were typically not as powerful as real physical ones.
• Emitter (放出系 Hōshutsukei) : emitters had the power to control the deployment of their aura when it separated it from their body allowing them to potentially shape it into projectiles that could be shot out at targets.
• Enhancement (強化系 Kyōkakei) : enhancers had the ability to use their Nen to increase the natural abilities of either an object or their own bodies thus improving it. It was described as the most balanced of the various Nen types with it capable of being used equally well for offense or defense.
• Manipulation (操作系 Sōsakei) : manipulators were users that had the ability to control living or non-living things in a certain way by manipulating their Nen to achieve a certain level of direction over their targets actions.
• Transmutation (変化系 Henkakei) : transmuters had the ability change the properties of their aura to mimic something else allowing the user to make it either elastic or electric or impart some other trait to the aura that was normally invisible to others.
• Specialization : (特質系 Tokushitsukei) : specialists were Nen users that had abilities that did not fit in the other categories

Users could master more than a single Nen type but it was said that they could only do so to a related part in the tree diagram. It was said that a user could only truly master their own Nen type to its maximum potential though they could learn the others but never achieve full control over them. As such, a Nen user could develop mastery of their born type and learn the others to varying degrees with the exception of specialists that were truly unique to a person.

The type of Nen could be determined through a Water Divination (心源流 lit. Shingen style) ceremony whereby a leaf was placed in a glass of water. At that point, the user emitted their Nen into the glass which went through various different kinds of outcomes that determined the users type. A theory made by Hisoka indicated that one could determine an individuals Nen type by their personality. This was not described as a 100% accurate method but tended to be correct. According to this method, each Nen type had a specific personality model that included:

• Enhancers were said to be determined and simple who were straightforward in their thinking with them tending to never lie or hide.
• Transmuters were noted for being whimsical and prone to deceit with them hiding their true nature and being unpredictable tricksters.
• Conjureres were normally highly strung or serious individuals that were often on guard who tended to analyse situations calmly in a deliberate, practical and logical manner
• Emitters were patient, impulsive and quick to react in a volatile manner with them often being quick tempered and hot blooded.
• Manipulators : logical individuals that advanced at their own pace who kept family and loved ones safe but did not heed the advice of others when seeking their own goals
• Specialists : said to be individualistic and charismatic individuals that drew others to them and were surrounded by people

It was said that opposing Nen types attracted one another leading to the individuals either becoming allies or enemies. In battles between Nen users, it was said that victory was not determined by the one with the bigger aura but rather in tactics with even the smallest mistakes being used by an opponent to achieve victory.

Nen users could further enhance their powers by entering into a Contract (制約 Seiyaku) whereby pledging to follow certain Limitations (誓約 Seiyaku) in exchange for increased strength in relation to how strictly they followed the restrictions placed on their talent. The greater the restriction then the more power was available to the individual but they had to swear to follow it with a breaking of that rule leading to the Nen users death.

Nen could also be imbued into objects allowing some to create locks that could only be activated by another Nen user.

Users

• Isaac Netero :
• Ging Freecss :
• Kite :
• Gon Freecss :
• Killua Zoldyck :
• Hisoka Morow : developed his into Bungee Gum that took the form of a durable and flexible substance akin to bubble gum.

Notes

• Nen was created by Yoshihiro Togashi where it featured in the setting of the Hunter x Hunter universe.

Appearances

• Hunter x Hunter:

External Links

• Hunterpedia Entry

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