Rui (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba)
Rui is a male anime and manga character who features in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
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Biography
Rui (Japanese: 累るい, Hepburn: Rui?) was a male human born in ancient Japan where he had a weak and frail body that kept him confined to his bed. Trapped in his home, he was cared for by his mother and father who deeply loved and cherished their son despite his frailty that prevented him from walking or breathing easily. One night, Rui was approached by Muzan Kibutsuji who was seemingly touched by the boy's condition and offered to 'save' him. This saw him turning the boy into a demon where his body was transformed with him becoming stronger to the point that he could walk about freely. Seeing Rui able to walk brought great happiness to his parents but quickly his demonic nature manifested in a desire to eat humans in order to sustain himself. As a result, he ended up killing a man inside his home one day with the bloody scene being discovered by his parents who were horrified at their son's actions. On that night, his mother and father agreed that Rui needed to be stopped from killing again where they resolved to kill him in his sleep. They had intended to kill themselves to join their son in death as they worried for his soul after taking a life. Later that night, Rui awoke to his father raising a knife to kill him, while his mother sat by and sobbed. He mortally wounded both of them and sat outside, reflecting on his and their actions. He recalls hearing a story about a man who drowned to save his son, and how he was moved by the act of parental love. He reasoned that because his parents tried to kill him, they must have been imposters, refusing to believe they could even think to consider killing him. However, as his mother lay dying, Rui overheard her apologizing for not being able to give him a healthy body, which then caused him to remember his father's last words, promising that both he and his wife would follow Rui to the afterlife by killing themselves. He came to realize that his parents did indeed love him and simply tried to stop him from fully becoming a monster, throwing Rui further into emotional turmoil. Muzan appeared shortly afterwards and told the young demon that it was his parents' fault for refusing to accept his new form. Unable to bear the weight of his actions, Rui pushed Muzan's words as the truth and believed them.
As a demon, Rui lived primarily in the forests of Mount Natagumo. Over time, he grew to become a very powerful demon, armed with both a high concentration of Muzan's blood and an extremely lethal Blood Demon Art; durable, razor-sharp threads that he could unleash at will and with great proficiency. He attained the rank of Lower Five among the Twelve Kizuki but did not care for rising up in rank. He nonetheless continued to devour humans and was said to match even Lower Two and Lower One in strength by Muzan; he subsequently saw him as a favorite among his servants. Rui lived as a demon for a little less than 20 years. Despite being the one to sever their familial bond, Rui missed his parents dearly and spent the next several years trying to replicate their bond through demons. With Muzan's permission, he formed the Spider Family, locating demons he found on Mount Natagumo and taking them in with the promise of protection from the Demon Slayers. After gaining their trust, he took them to an abandoned house he designated as his home, gave them a drop of Muzan's blood to strengthen them and altered their appearance to match his. He then assigned them with a familial role, such as the father, mother or sibling. Rui portrayed himself as the youngest son of the family, to be protected by everyone else, in spite of being the most powerful member. Over time, various demons came to live with him and gain power. However, Rui's warped and toxic idea of a family caused conflict within much of the members. With the idea that the family must protect him as the youngest, Rui pushed very high expectations on the demons and responded to failures to do as he desired with severe consequences. One of the demons he found was a young girl, who he gave the role of being the mother of his family. Her recent transformation and human memories caused her to fall short of expectations on occasion, which he met with harsh reprimand. Mother developed an intense fear of him, even desiring death just to avoid him learning of her failure. Rui once came across a young demon as she was being pursued by several Demon Slayers. He offered her protection if she was willing to become a part of his family. When she quickly agreed to his wishes, Rui effortlessly dispatched the Demon Slayers and welcomed her in as a new sister. This demon in particular quickly found out his true views on what makes a family, his idea built on cruelty and fear.
Overview
Personality and attributes
He had the kanji of Lower Rank (下か弦げん Kagen?) and Five (伍ご Go?) engraved onto his left eye which signified his ranking of Lower Rank Five.
The disturbed Rui sought out close bonds of a family and looked to recreate one that would accompany him. Those 'chosen' to play the part of a family were expected to perform their assigned role. This included protecting Rui and following his instructions as well as provide a family environment for him. He was shown to punish those that failed in their duty where he badly injured them and in some cases he was known to kill them if they failed in their role. Typically, he was known to take other demons to play the role of his family and recruited them by various means where in some cases he offered them shelter from demon slayers in exchange for them to play his family. Upon acceptance, he surgically had their appearance altered through his abilities and had them maintain their new form or face punishment.
Well aware of his great power, he was incredibly authoritarian and cruel, having no qualms about abusing others or killing his "family" by stringing them up and leaving them to be burned by the sun when they go against his wishes. Because of his strength, he tended to act almighty and confident, although this arrogance, while hardly unfounded, did not blind him to potential threats to his life.
It was said that he was a favourite of Muzan Kibutsuji who out of sympathy transformed the young Rui into a demon. He was also said to had given the boy special permission that allowed him to form a family of demons to serve him.
Powers and abilities
Originally, Rui was born a human being but one in a frail and weak body that meant that he could barely get out from his bed. This was until he was approached by Muzan Kibutsuji who offered him his blood thus turning the boy into a demon. As one of the Twelve Kizuki, Rui was one of the strongest demons in existence. This strength easily surpassed that of other demons, since he was easily able to conquer and cohere numerous demons of Mount Natagumo and force them to work for him and become members of his family. Rui possessed a body that was incredibly durable and hard to cut, with it easily far surpassing the hardness of lesser demons. Rui even admitted that the durability of his skin far surpassed the durability of his own threads.
As a higher demon, he was capable of performing Blood Demon Art (血けっ鬼き術じゅつ Kekkijutsu?) allowing him to perform a range of different abilities. This manifested in the power to produce webbing similar to a spider with Rui able to create Steel Threads (鋼はがね糸いと Hagane Ito?).
Among the techniques known to him included:
- Cutting Thread Cage (刻こく糸し牢ろう Kokushirō?) : he created a web-shaped string around his opponent to cut them into pieces.
- Murderous Eye Basket (殺あや目め篭かご Ayame Kago?) : he created a cage from his web around the target, that continuously shrank until it cuts the target to pieces.
- Cutting Thread Rotation (刻こく糸し輪りん転てん Kokushi Rinten?) : he created a rotating wheel of threads, that upon reaching the opponent will cut them to pieces.
As a member of the Twelve Kizuki, he came to hold the position of Lower Rank 5 (下か弦げんの伍ご Kagen no Go?).
Notes
- Rui was created by Koyoharu Gotōge where he featured in the setting of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba universe.
In other media
Television
Video Games
Appearances
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba:
External Links
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