One of my favourite books troupes (expect to hear more on those later) is having a main character who has magical powers that they can’t control, or having another self that is linked to their powers who they cannot control. And they have to learn how to control this magical power or this other self, otherwise it could threaten to overtake them and cause harm to the ones they love.
There are loads of shonen anime where this troupe is pulled off really well – Blue Exorcist is a great example and one that I am going to look into more detail in this post. As ever, I am going to go into spoiler territory here, so I would stop reading if you are not up to speed with the English release of the series.
For those of you who are unaware of what Blue Exorcist is about, the series follows teenager Rin, who discovers in volume one that he is the son of Satan, the ruler of the demon world, and therefore is a half demon. When we first meet Rin we learn that he has always had a quick temper and he also has more strength than the average human. But he is also an absolute sweetheart and a massive dork. So we love him and feel for him when he learns of his true identity.
Rin learns of his true identity after his adoptive father – a priest and an exorcist – is overtaken by Satan, and Rin has to draw a sword in order to banish Satan – a sword in which his demon half is sealed. Breaking the seal causes Rin’s body to change – pointed ears, sharp teeth and a tail – and gives him the ability to control a certain type of blue fire. When the sword is sheathed, Rin’s body reverts to almost how it was before – or rather his new bodily characteristics are less pronounced than they were before he broke the seal – but when he draws his sword blue fire erupts around him and his demon characteristics are exaggerated – his ears grow longer, his nails longer and sharper, and his body is surrounded by blue fire. When he keeps the sword drawn for too longer, his demon side starts to take over and Rin becomes feral – a rampaging, violent creature that is at odds with the kind and goofy person he really is.
There’s a great moment in volume 4, when Rin finally reveals his demon self in front of his classmates when they are all in danger. He draws his sword in order to defeat the boss they are confronted with, but by the time Rin has defeated the boss he has lost control of himself and attacks his classmates. By the time someone helps sheath the sword and allows Rin to recover himself, his classmates are afraid of him and Rin realises he has to learn how to control this other side of himself so he can use his powers without putting those he cares about in danger.
Another shonen manga that does this overcoming the monster troupe really well is Naruto. The main character in this series, Naruto, has a fox demon sealed inside him, which sometimes comes to the surface when he gets angry. Like Rin, Naruto has physical characteristics that he has been given as a result of having his demon inside him – whiskers and his eyes also change when the fox demon start to take over. Naruto’s situation is a little different to Rin’s – he does have a seal on the majority of the fox’s powers, but unlike Rin doesn’t have a sword he can use as a switch in order to turn the power on or off. As he grows older and starts to use the fox’s powers more, Naruto allows more of it into himself – and is almost taken over by it a few times. Once almost completely.
One of the parts of Naruto that is my favourite, is how Naruto’s powers level up and change. Naruto works hard to develop his powers, trying not to default to the fox’s powers when he is in danger, but instead relies on himself, learning new powers in order to control the fox. In the end, Naruto does learn how to use the fox’s powers and eventually befriends it so he can use its powers without hinderance.
This overcoming the internal monster troupe is something I’ve tried dabbling with in my own writing a couple of times, but I’ve been having a think about what sort of stages Rin and Naruto go through in order to overcome their own monster (I mean, technically, Rin is still overcoming his in the manga which is not complete, but he’s done most of the hard work, so I can still use him as an example).
Here are the stages that I’ve come up with:
Discovery
This is the moment the character discovers they have this thing in them. Rin discovers this when Satan overtakes his adoptive father’s body, forcing him to draw the sword and unleash his demon side. Naruto discovers he has the fox demon sealed inside him when an enemy ninja tricks him into stealing a scroll and tries to kill him. Both of these characters were aware there was something different about them before the moment of discovery – Rin is aware of his temper and unusual strength, and Naruto is aware he has always been shunned by everyone else in the village who knew his secret when he didn’t.
First moment when things go wrong
This is the moment when the character uses their powers and discover they are more than they can deal with. This happens to Rin when he fights another demon and ends up attacking his classmates, which happens pretty early on in the manga. For Naruto, this doesn’t happen until later. Naruto pulls on the fox’s powers early on, but he doesn’t lose control of himself until later when he starts pulling on more and more power, manifesting more of the fox in himself. There are two occasions for Naruto when things go wrong – one when he attacks Jiraiya off screen, but isn’t told that he did it, and another when he attacks Orochimaru and then ends up attacking Sakura afterwards. I think this is the moment when Naruto realises he needs to learn how to control himself, otherwise he will end up hurting his loved ones.
Training stage
After the first mess up, the character starts to work on getting a grip on their powers. During the train stages they almost fall prey to the monster inside them, or lose control of their powers, but they are able to maintain control, often with the help of someone else. Rin spends time with Shura learning to control his flame lighting candles, and Naruto spends time with Kakashi and Yamato learning new techniques to help him overcome the fox’s influence.
Success when it seems like they have learnt control
There are times during the training stage where it seems like the character has learnt to control their powers. Rin has a couple of successful moments when he is able to use his flame without falling prey to his demon side, and Naruto is able to pull on the fox’s powers without letting it overtake him. These moments make you feel like the character has succeed in their goal and is in complete control. Haha. You wish.
Big mess up
After you think the character has learnt control, a big boss turns up and pushes the character to the limit in the way that makes them pull more on their forbidden powers and almost lose themselves in the process. For Rin, during his fight with Yukio, his sword is destroyed and his full demon self takes him over. His hair changes colour to white, his demon heart manifests itself outside his chest and his whole body is overtaken by blue flame. His demon self is no longer a rampaging monster, but fully manifested and is a cold intelligent monster. Naruto’s big slip up is in his fight with Pain – Naruto sees his village destroyed, and then sees Hinata get stabbed after she tries to protect him. His anger goes out of control and he lets the fox take over so he can destroy his enemy. Thankfully, both Naruto and Rin get control of their powers with the help of others.
Final moment of overcoming
This moment happens after a bit more training, or often a moment of self realisation. The monster within the main character is often linked to some sort of trauma inside themselves – Rin’s demon self is only put to rest after he goes on a journey to the past to see how he and his brother were born. Seeing how much his mum wanted him and his brother to live – after he’s been questioning if he and Yukio should have been allowed to have been born considering the amount of pain and death they have caused – allows him to move on and accept his demon side. Naruto’s moment is helped along by meeting his parents and talking to them about his situation and their past. At last, he is able to put a seal on the fox to stop it taking over him. Then he befriends the fox, allowing him to use its powers whenever he wishes and without worrying about it biting back.
These stages are of course not exhaustive and you can tweak them to suit your own story – and perhaps end your character’s journey at the stage where they get overtaken by their monster and don’t find a way back! – but I think they offer a good arc you can use in order to plot your character’s journey as they deal with their inner conflicts.
Bookworm Scribe 