#keeney

THREE EXAMPLES OF SIBLINGS LOVE

It’s not the first time that we have a couple of siblings who have a power based on mutual cooperation:

The Ortho siblings’ power worked that way as well. Whereas the sister was the one who had to conjure and to attach the tag on a target, the brother was the one who used the darts to kill them. The essence of their ability was trust:

However, this apparent invincible bond was quick to be broken once things didn’t got the way the siblings wanted:

In short, the Ortho siblings are a deconstruction of a perfect fraternal love. Their power may seem to represent the trust between the two characters and it might be that way to an extent, but at the same time it was born out of the two siblings’ flaws. The brother likes to be admired and praised for his abilities, whereas the sister finds convenient to leave all the work to her brother.

There is at least another fraternal love who, despite having healthy and wonderful elements, may turn out to be limiting for the characters if some aspects of it aren’t addressed and it is the one between Alluka and Killua.

It has been theorized that Nanika might be an Ai which is also known as the Desire of Codependency:

As I wrote in this meta the description fits Nanika. What is more Killua himself is a character who struggles with codependency as his relationship with Gon establishes:

The two siblings’ personalities might make them prone to become co-dependent if they (and especially Killua) don’t pay attention to it:

Right now, Killua is the only one who can use Nanika’s power and he can do it without being worried about Nanika’s requests. It is obvious that such a situation might lead him to become too dependent on his sister’s incredible powers exactly like Alluka and Nanika depend on him to be protected and to be taken care of. Luckily it seems that Killua isn’t that eager to use Nanika’s powers for now:

So, we have two examples of siblings whose powers and personalities are complementary and for both this complementarity is both a strength and a limitation.

Let’s now consider Kachou and Fugetsu’s case and let’s compare them to the two couples of siblings above.

First of all, let’s consider that, differently from the Ortho siblings, Kachou and Fugetsu’s powers aren’t abilities they chose, but are a representation of their subconscious. This means that, whereas the Ortho siblings chose their power in order to compensate each other and to avoid facing their flaws, Kachou and Fugetsu didn’t choose theirs and their abilities are a representation of the deepest parts of the twins’ personalities.

Considering this, there is an aspect of Kachou and Fugetsu’s nen beasts which becomes interesting:

Fugetsu’s nen beast is a worm-hole, whereas Kachou’s one is shapeless. In short, despite being “beasts” their two guardians don’t resemble any kind of animal or even any kind of living creature for that matter.

This is important, especially because (not counting Woble) Kachou and Fugetsu are the only princes whose nen beasts don’t appear as proper guardians which stay next to the respective prince.

This has probably to do with the fact that both Kachou and Fugetsu’s identities are strictly intertwined with each other to the point that they can’t define themselves without the other.

This is why Fugetsu’s nen beast is a passage which leads her to her sister and this is why Kachou’s one assumes a specific form based on what happens not to her specifically, but to both twins.

So, whereas the Ortho siblings’ power is symbolic of a bond which is strong, but superficial and partly utilitaristic (let’s consider that the siblings’ power has a specific goal which is to kill an enemy), Kachou and Fugetsu’s powers are representative of a bond which is so strong that it defines the two sisters to the point that it becomes a disadvantage. For example Fugetsu’s ability would have been more advantagious if the ability to open a second door didn’t depend from Kachou because in this way she could have gone back to her room without being discovered by Mizaistom.

At the same time Kachou’s nen beast’s ability doesn’t seem a particularly useful ability in a battle like the Succession War is.

This is also a point of contrast with Nanika’s ability which turns out to be extremely convenient for Killua who gets to basically have infinite wishes for free.

At the same time, though, in Killua and Alluka/Nanika’s dynamic there is a specific hierarchy in the sense that it is mostly Alluka/Nanika who defines herself through Killua and not the other way around. Here, however, both twins define themselves through the other even if they do so in slightly different ways. These two ways are also representative of each twin’s flaw.

FUGETSU AND ESCAPISM

Fugetsu’s nen beast takes the form of a game Fugetsu used to play with her sister when they were children:

It being a childhood game is indicative of the fact that Fugetsu’s personality is a childish one, as it is said by Mizaistom as well:

Let’s compare the scene above with the following one:

In both scenes Kachou and Fugetsu’s ways of thinking are portried as child-like. It is obvious that both twins are to an extent finding relief in the world of their happy childhood. This is also symbolized through the choice Kachou does of using her Mosquitone Device in order to communicate with Senritsu:

Said device can only be heard by people under a certain age and strengthens the idea of the twins as two children who distrust adults. However, whereas Senritsu praises Kachou for her strong will and recognizes that, despite being a child, she has thought things through, Mizaistom dismisses Fugetsu’s attitude as simplicistic.

This has probably to do with the fact that Fugetsu tends to depend on Kachou:

And because of this she tends to be more naive than her sister. Fugetsu herself is aware of this to an extent:

She knows that Kachou is always ready to protect and to help her. It is obvious that Fugetsu is perfectly able to see through her sister’s lies:

However, she was never shown to directly address them and this leads us to what her beast’s power is i.e. a teleportation ability. A teleportation ability can be seen as an excellent metaphor for escapism i.e. a person’s tendency not to face certain situations head on.

Given this premise and Fugetsu’d personality it is not really surprising that she and her sister try to avoid facing the Succession War by escaping. However, the narrative isn’t going to let them do so:

They have accepted to take part in the War and so they can’t escape from that. They have to face it.

In short, Fugetsu’s nen beast represents her tendency to escape in a happy world of her creation and not to face problems by depending on Kachou. We can see how it was Kachou’s tendency to protect her sister through lies which contributed into strenghtening Fugetsu’s flaw:

The current situation perfectly represents this dysfunctional dynamic. Kachou has already died, but Fugetsu keeps finding comfort in Kachou’s lie and in this way doesn’t have to face such a loss.

By this point, I think there can be two possible endings to Fugetsu’s arc. Either she survives and in this case she will have to face and accept Kachou’s death or she dies because she isn’t able to let go of the illusion Kachou created.

KACHOU AND LIES

Let’s consider this:

And let’s compare it to this:

Senritsu comments on the fact that Kachou’s whole self is a lie and right now “Kachou” herself has become nothing more than an illusion.

Kachou exactly like Fugetsu tends to find comfort in her relationship with her sister. However, (as @hamliet said in a conversation we had) Kachou is active whereas Fugetsu is passive. Fugetsu accepts her sister’s lies, but Kachou is the one actively lying and creating illusions.

Her nen beast’s power is indicative of this. As a matter of fact, even if this power is right now being used to trick Fugetsu, it could have been easily used to trick Kachou as well in a reverse situation.

This is because Kachou lies both to others and to herself and her beast represents this.

Let’s also consider Keeney’s subplot in the last chapter.

His story comments the twins’ one in two different ways.

On one hand Keeney is a person who was never able to overcome his loved ones’ death:

On the other hand he dies sure that his sacrifice will help Kachou and Fugetsu to live:

However, he is wrong since Kachou dies immediately after.

I think it is obvious that his whole subplot is used as a warning to the twins’ one. Kachou is sure that everything will go well as long as she and Fugetsu are together:

And this is why her nen beast takes her place in order to stay next to Fugetsu until death:

It is true that Kachou’s nen beast may be useful to Fugetsu, especially because it was able to open Fugetsu’s door and so it is possible it might be able to use Fugetsu’s door like Kachou did.

However, it doesn’t matter how much helpful or how much a relief it might prove to be for Fugetsu, Keeney’s story warns us that in the end this way of facing the loss of a loved one is detrimental and will surely lead a person to their death.

THE TROLLEY PROBLEM

Nasubi has already explained that what the siblings are facing is a version of the trolley problem.

Halkenburg has chosen his country and as I wrote here he will probably progressively become more and more similar to the tyrants he wants to stop. In short, I don’t think Halkenburg’s choice is the correct one.

However, Kachou and Fugetsu’s one isn’t correct either. They chose each other and disreguarded all the others. They didn’t try to save their other siblings and didn’t show any interest in their country. This is of course understandable and sympathetic given the fact that they are two children and that they are in a horrible situation.

That said, if this arc is going to explore how the public sphere and the private sphere are linked and influence each other, it may be possible that the answer to stop the Succession War isn’t one which takes into consideration only one aspect and completely ignores the other.

If this theory is true, then Kachou and Fugetsu’s attempt can be seen as an attempt which is at the same time similar and opposite to the one Halkenburg did.

Halkenburg too tried to avoid the succession war by killing his father, but was stopped by his and Nasubi’s nen beasts. Moreover, after this failure he decided to embrace the Succession War.

Kachou and Fugetsu tried to avoid the war by escaping, but the ritual they accepted to perform stopped them. At the same time, they, in contrast with Halkenburg, chose their siblings love over their country.

Thank you for reading!

If you are interested in other analysys of HxH characters through their nen abilities here is a list of the ones I wrote up until now:

-Nanika

-Kurapika and Chrollo

-Killua and Illumi

-Gon and Hisoka

-Meruem and Komugi

-Palm Siberia

-Neon Nostrade