AKU 悪

Okay, although I many times discussed about many aspects of Aku and the place of his birth (the fallen fragment aka the black lake aka the bowels of hate etc), there's still something what I manage to notice during rewatching.

Plus, in this post I kinda will discuss some conclusions that probably were widely accepted. At least, back in 2016 (I guess) I heard some of these theories. I never cared about fan-theories, but I heard about them and was confused.

My personal thoughts I already mentioned here, here, here, for example, and explained some "unusual" elements from basic biology perspective, but in summary — the large black creature was killed by three gods, its the almost-dead fragment fell on Earth and lived in the one specific area, and it hated intruders (humans, of course), so it drowned and devoured them (if they don't run away from its territory), also using large spikes as a defensive tool against these intruders, and after Emperor used to "destroy the evil" some unexplained poison, it instead gave the life to Aku. And his behavior after birth and awakening (and also the fact that he has no idea about the three alien gods and their weapons that killed Aku's ancestor, and Aku never mentions that he fought them in the past etc — and these aspects debunk the overcomplicated bullsh*t like "Aku is a reborn version of the black entity or he was this black entity, the arrow just gave to him the form/face/personality" that was never even hinted in the show at all) confirm that Aku is the new creature, the accidental creation of Emperor. Some people can argue like "But he said that the poisoned arrow sat him free!". Well, from what I know, the line "to set free" also often can be used in metaphorical way (in this case "to give the life and freedom").

Plus, if Aku allegedly "was released" from some "prison", what was holding him back in the black lake? It was literally the fragment, the part of the large black entity, so where's the logic? The fragment simply fell on Earth and... just existed in one specific area, it didn't grow and didn't devour the planet. The three alien gods don't mention that "the evil became free" or whatever (and if the alien gods killed the large black creature, why they would ever imprison its tiny shred instead of killing? or why would they ever imprison this thing on Earth instead of some deep areas of space, how it happened with Cronus?).

Plus, if Aku allegedly was imprisoned all this time, why he was able to create big spikes (also what's the point to create this defensive "spiky forest", if "nothing can harm him"?) and to dry out everything around him (and even far from him) instead of being harmless small black puddle or tree?

Same thing with the three gods' words "The Evil has ressurrected in your world" or whatever — if it was dead previously all this time, why it was able to create spikes? And why the solar eclipses, that clearly happened million times during these centuries, had absolutely no effect on him? They simply don't consider Aku as a separate living being, only as a "shred of evil/darkness". And if Aku existed all this time and allegedly was imprisoned, what's the point to kill Emperor's army, if "nothing can harm him", so Aku still could kill them all easy after jumping out of the black lake? Or why he never tried to speak with humans and to ask them to help him to become free from this? Like, he could simply "write" on the ground or with using spikes something like "I'm sorry for the ruined lawn, help me please, and I'll remove these scary thorns! I'm a human/kind forest spirit, who was trapped here! Help me!". Plus, if the black lake had goal exactly to eat everything — more sense to hide spikes and all "creepy" traits and to pretend to be something more or less harmless. Like, just to hide under the ground or grass, waiting the prey (humans), and to drown and to devour them all of them during the night, again hiding under the grass and the ground. That's also why I think that the black lake simply wanted to be left alone and hated stubborn humans, which still wanted to live near this dangerous thing on its territory. The thing that caused this post is the one specific shot in 5 season. Although "Birth of Evil" dilogy and 1 episode 1 season demonstrated rivers near Jack's kingdom,

5 season makes the huge blooper — for some reason the river goes toward the wasteland with the black lake. For some reason... Not to mention that the design of the castle in Jack's flashback in 9 episode of 5 season is actually the design of the castle in "The Birth of Evil", i.e. in 1 episode of 1 season the castle had different design...

But this aspect gave me some thoughts. Since there is a river here, and since people lived here, they also obviously made wells to get drinking water.

The fragment created both these defensive spikes, and in the cracks it created there was also liquid blackness (which dried up and burned everything in its path in the canon of the classic seasons, as well as Aku himself is deadly poisonous creature with petroleum-acidic blood in the classic seasons) — that means that blackness could get into both the river and drinking wells. Of course, it didn't, but let's assume and imagine the possibility of this. First of all, if Aku allegedly existed before the poisoned arrow and just tried to free himself, then… it would be beneficial for him then to ensure that his tiny black parts from the black lake got into the water in the river and wells, and some human drank the black blood and became infected with Aku's blood and was completely consumed by Aku's blood — that's your long-awaited freedom! The tiny part has been freed and will soon be able to free the rest of the black lake.

No problems and restrictions! Only sharp mind! And second, certain aspects also debunk the bullsh*t from 5 season such as the cult or "a female human birthed hybrids from demonic blood" or "a human drank the demonic blood, somehow survived after this and got its power". If you want to read, how I roast and destroy this bullsh*t from 5 season, read here and here, now I'll mention the new aspects. If we keep in mind the idea of "the black essense could go into rivers or wells during these centuries", then by the logic of 5 season, even before Aku was born, this whole area would be teeming with hybrid mutants, born of mortals (animals and women), who accidentally drank this stuff from rivers or wells, or they would just be people with demonic power, whom the black lake would not perceive as a threat that needs to be eliminated — or the black lake even would controll all of them. So, yeah, that's how 5 season breaks the logic and the canon of the classic seasons.

I don't think Aku was capable of intelligent thought before then. He was more like a destructive force stuck inside the earth feeding off of living organisms and life on the surface. This is tied into his shapeshifting abilities -- absorbing so many living things allowed him to mimic their different shapes and behaviors. The earth has also sort of become a part of him as well. After being attacked a lot, he feels most comfortable shifting into small earth creatures like frogs. I do still feel like the "black tar" was capable of reacting to threats against it. It definitely seemed to understand it was under attack when the Emperor rode into the forest with his army to kill it.

I'd say it was semi-intelligent, enough to sense when it was being threatened and to fight back, but not intelligent enough to ask for help or even know what the concept of help meant or how to ask for it. Honestly, the spikes could have been some kind of cry for help but obviously not an effective one. When you're a destructive being, everything you do is going to be destructive even if it isn't intentional, especially when dealing with something as fragile as living things.

Aku most likely did not have memory from when he was attacked by the gods (or if he did, it was fuzzy and vague) but I bet he did still have "trauma" from it. He seemed to still hate the gods and anything divine and had debilitating fears of being destroyed. The traumatic event isn't always remembered but the aftermath is still there.

PARTS OF A TREE

Powerpunk/Viletown Aku, the hero Akio!

When talking fails, it's olé time.

He can manage a hell of a lot with that cape.

If the cape fails he will throw hands, which are not hands you want to catch, generally speaking

my headcanon is that they have an annual dinner for her bday or something where he gives her cards that say things like "I hope your day of birth is grand. Your mortal life is disturbingly short."