Character Profile: Hiei

Note: In Episode 26: Toguro Returns (and volume 6, page 115 of the graphic novel), Hiei states that he and Yukina have different mothers, thus indicating they are half-siblings. However, in episodes 99 and 100 Hiei discloses his past, which reveals that Hina gave birth to twins, one which was a boy. I believe the direct quote was "Did you hear, Hina gave birth to twins... and one of them's a boy." This caused the village elder and another woman to figure that Hina violated their rules of complete isolation and conceived Hiei with a man. I'm then told that in the manga, Hiei explains his reason for lying was so Yusuke wouldn't feel the need to tell anyone.

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Hiei is the offspring of a mating between a Koorime (Hina) and an unknown fire demon. Hina is born a Koorime, a race of self-reproductive ice demons who are all female. She fell in love with a fire demon and bore his son. However, this kind of action is considered a crime in the Island of the Koorimes, which floats above the Makai. Thus because of this and the fact that he was a male, he was given the title, "The Forbidden Child", and as an infant was thrown overboard by Rui, Hina's best friend. Before she did, however, she told the infant that if he must, he should come back and take revenge upon the Koorimes. Hina shed two tears which turned into gems, one for Hiei and one for his sister, Yukina, who is full fledged Koorime. Then he was thrown off.

A band of thieves picked up Hiei in the forests of the Makai and took him in as one of their own. He learned survival skills, thievery and such. As he grew more and more powerful, the thieves finally left him. He carries his katana (sword) everywhere as means of weaponry. His only pursuit was strength. Hiei wanted to find his homeland and his tear gem, which he lost during a fight when the chain was broken, causing it to fall into a rushing river. Once he succeeded, though, he learned about his long lost sister, Yukina, and he began to search for her.

As Hiei is retelling the story of his past, he speaks of how he used the Tear as a lure to draw other demons to battle him so he could kill them and grow stronger. During one particular battle, the Tear was cut from his neck and lost in the valley below while he continued the duel on the cliff and killed his foe. Afterwards, he rushed to the floor and hunted for it, but it couldn't be found.

When he learned that Yukina had left the island (which was destructing) to search for him, he went to a demon named Shigure. He told Shigure his story and asked for a 'jagan,' a third eye to be implanted. Unsure that Hiei would be able to bear the pain, Shigure had Hiei stab himself to prove how painful the surgery would be, and if Hiei could bear it, he would implant the eye. Reassured by Hiei's endurance, Shigure made Hiei promise never to tell Yukina that he is her big brother, in exchange for the surgery.

So Shigure implanted the jagan eye, and Hiei's power sunk, making him no longer an A class demon. Hiei gained back his power when he learned the jagan's techniques, such as the Kokuryuha (the Black Dragon Wave) and what we call Majin Hiei, which is his transformation process where his skin turns green and numerous eyes appear all over his body. Shigure had a thing for irony, and demanded that his price would be that Hiei could never tell his sister he was her brother, because hunting for her was the purpose of the Jagan Eye. But then, Hiei may have wanted to protect her from the truth of what he really is, anyway.

Hiei returned to the Island of the Koorimes, where he found Rui by Hina's grave. She told him Yukina had left to find him. She said he could kill her because Hina had committed suicide due to the loss of her son. Hiei didn't do a thing, but disappeared.

Hiei was not able to find Yukina in the Makai, so he left for the Nigenkai (Human World). There he met a boy named Kurama. Kurama was walking with a girl named Maya, who confessed to Kurama that she loved him dearly. Hiei attacked Kurama, thinking he was a spy of a demon Hiei was hunting. Hiei was injured during the fight, and Kurama took him home and nursed him. Kurama asked for his name, and reluctantly he replied.

Hiei believed that Kurama held information about a demon known as Eight-Hands and his relation to an ice maiden. Hiei did not know for sure that Eight-Hands had Yukina. The only information he had was that Eight-hands supposedly had eaten an ice maiden and therefore Hiei went after him thinking that he would find information about Yukina. Although after battling in alliance with Kurama against Eight-Hands (Kurama thought that Eight-Hands might've gotten hold of Maya), just before killing him Eight-Hands revealed that he never consumed an ice maiden, leaving Hiei to have followed a dead end.

A year or two later, they met again when Hiei asked Kurama to steal three Reikai artifacts with another demon named Gouki. Hiei stole the Shadow Sword, which can turn a person into a mindless demon if cut with it. Hiei tried this with Keiko, someone Yusuke cares deeply for, in an attempt to get the other two artifacts, the Orb of Baast and the Forlorn Hope. In the handle of the sword is the antidote to it's power, which cured Keiko. Gouki was killed by Yusuke, while Hiei and Kurama's punishment was to join Yusuke on his missions. Another human named Kuwabara also joined the team. Hiei had no choice, for if he kills a human, he will be severely punished or suffer death, as killing humans in forbidden by all means in the Reikai (Spirit World).

One of the biggest Yu Yu Hakusho events is the Ankoku Bujutsukai, a tournament on Hanging Neck Island in Ningenkai, where the reward is any wish granted. Hiei's team, the Urameshi team, won. Yusuke wished for Genkai to be resurrected (after Toguro Ototo killed Genkai, he told Koenma to keep her body and resurrect her if Yusuke wins). Soon after, another tournament arose. This time, it was with the three overlords of the Makai, the three most powerful demons. Their names were Yomi, Raizen, and Mukuro. It turns out Raizen was Yusuke's ancestor, and for survival he needs to feed on humans. Raizen refuses to do it, and soon after his death Yusuke took his place. Kurama joined Yomi, and Hiei became the heir of Mukuro. Before he left the Nigenkai, he was given a tear gem from Yukina. She indirectly called him "brother," and explained that it was because he would probably be what her brother would be like. He strings the gem into a pendant and left for the Makai.

There he met Shigure who challenged him to battle, pitted by Mukuro. The masked Mukuro said that he will reveal his true identity to whoever wins. Shigure said that if Hiei wins, he could tell Yukina who he is. Shigure knocked Hiei into a coma-like state of unconsciousness, but not before Hiei sliced through Shigure's forehead. Hiei had no problem with death, as he already had achieved all he wanted in life. Mukuro wanted to keep Hiei around, so she put him in a rejuvenation chamber where he slept until he regained his arm and his midriff wound was healed. She showed him her identity: a female whose body is half gone and replaced by metal and machinery. Hiei stayed around with Mukuro and whatever happened afterwards is a mystery. Hiei's story is perhaps the saddest one in Yu Yu Hakusho, where his life and soul was constantly challenged by betrayal, angst, and his disturbing past.

Hiei's Age

Someone claimed that one of the DVDs indicates that Hiei is over 500 years old. Apparently this is in the episode before Hiei's fight with Shigure, where Mukuro states "Hiei's had over 500 years of combat experience". It is my belief that Mukuro was not indicating Hiei's age, but rather indicating that after all Hiei has been through he has the equivalent of 500 years of experience.

In the episode where it recapped on Hiei's life, it mentioned that the koorimes give birth once every 100 years. I believe the direct quote was "Every one-hundred years, to each woman a girl is born." But Yukina (a koorime) is Hiei's twin sister (which was also revealed in the episode, even though this contradicts Hiei's statement in episode 26 that they have different mothers), and she has no children, thus indicating that they are both less than 100 years old... or actually, less than 98 years old, because the series takes place over two years. Someone else pointed out, however, that this may also be misleading, because Yukina could have had children and never mentioned them (which I find extremely unlikely), or their heritage from their father could have altered their reproduction. Then someone else pointed out that Yukina simply may not yet be at the age for which conception starts taking place. The quote did say "to each woman", but we don't know at what age they change from a child into a woman.

Another possible clue to age may come from Hiei's tear gem. The one who found it was Mukuro, who was a slave, and after finding Hiei's tear gem she became one of the rulers of Makai. (She says that it was given to her as a tribute from one of the lands she defeated.) In one episode, one of Mukuro's subordinates had told her Hiei had killed all of the A class demons she called for. She then asked him how long he had been serving under her, and he said 250 years. Since she had ruled Makai ever since after she found Hiei's tear gem, that would indicate Hiei is least 250 years old.

I have been told by someone else that in one episode Tarukane states that after the first 2 years that he had captured Yukina, she hadn't cried from physical pain, and that it had been like that for the past 5 years. This would make her at least 7 years old. I'm told by someone who has apparently seen every episode and read every manga that their ages are never revealed, thus all we can do is go on these clues, which indicate that Hiei and Yukina could be anywhere from 7 to over 250 years old.

Hiei was born of the Ice Maiden, Hina [Biura], along with his sister, Yukina. Hiei, however, was born through the union of man and woman which is forbidden in Ice World. Hiei was a male, full of demon power at birth, and therefore the elder considered him a curse. He was thrown off Ice World (which is in the sky) when only a few days old. He understood everything that was said already. He was found and raised by a band of thieves. In a very short time, he was a better fighter than they were, and they feared him. He left and wandered for years, finally meeting Kurama and Yusuke.

During the Demon Tournament saga, Hiei meets Mukuro, one of the three rulers of Demon World. She is a woman who also had a rough childhood, and is as cold and hard as Hiei. Through their past, she and Hiei find a common ground. At the end of the series Hiei is in charge of the path to the human world and instead of killing the humans who come to Demon World, he rescues them, using his Jagan eye to erase their memories. He is finally at peace and seems content. He is working directly with Mukuro and may be romantically involved with her (he walks uninvited into her bedroom), but this is not clarified. At least he does have a relationship with her and both of them have healed because of their relationship.

Editor’s Note:

If Yukina was conceived "through immaculate means", and Hiei was conceived through the union of a man and woman, then it seems to me like Hiei and Yukina would actually be half-sibling twins. I know that sounds just plain weird, but it is quite similar to superfecundation, a rare form of twins in which fraternal twins have different fathers.