CANON BLURBS/LONG ESSAY
CANON
• Kokuyou arc, Varia arc
• The Future Arc is currently still going on and I am not entirely trusting that any characterization we get from the Future Arc will end up being in line with what will happen if they do end up changing the past. Also, present day!Mukuro, which is the one I play, hasn't shown up in the Future Arc. :|b
Kokuyou arc Target 62: RAID
Targe 62 marks a pretty big shift in Reborn!'s atmosphere and we're given Ken and Chikusa terrorizing some dude and then the plot of this arc unfolds as "really bad dude is ripping out people's teeth to send a message to you, Tsuna, go kick his ass."
• Mukuro's first appearance is when Hibari goes to Kokuyou to confront and attempt to beat up Mukuro. They talk a bit and Mukuro says: "Next, we'll bring a new order to your town." and "Since I'm taking over, we don't need you." Mukuro's personality is pretty strongly represented here. There is his patronizing tone ("I was just worried about you, that's all.") as well as the fact that he meets Hibari sitting down. He has a bit ( :p ) of an ego as well ("I have seen many equal to your level in skill, and every time, I've buried them." ). On the other hand, this is probably not an over-exaggeration, as he is both powerful and skilled, wanted and a major criminal. Then, not only does he defeat Hibari, but he proceeds to break his bones, but not kill Hibari. Later within the arc it is revealed that they were going to go down the list of strongest and rip out teeth for the message -- it's interesting here that he doesn't break the pattern here. He doesn't even rip out Hibari's teeth and then just keep him around until they get to number one. This is in line with how Chikusa leaves the battle with Gokudera when Yamamoto shows up because Yamamoto is Ken's prey. This isn't a terribly logical thing to do, when if the end result is the same it shouldn't necessarily matter what order people are offed in. Mukuro seems fond of a kind of ritual, however, and this is also evidenced in the Kokuyou novel. (And really, maybe just a bit skewed because you'd think he could have come up with a better message than teeth).
• Mukuro has a great reputation ( "Two weeks ago there was a jailbreak at a high security prison reserved only for the most terrible of mafia criminals who have committed the most heinous of crimes. The escaped convicts killed several of the wardens and other prisoners." ).
• Reborn says: "How many times has that man driven the mafia and police alike into desperate and dangerous situations? Furthermore, this time, he's killed people to evade the law. The jailbreak happened on the eve of his execution too." However, we know that the Rokudou Mukuro that Reborn talks about here is actually Lancia. So on the eve of Lancia's execution, they break out of jail. There is no time period for how long they were in jail, and there's no real idea of what Mukuro was doing while his bitches were in jail. I assume that Mukuro did not necessarily have to leave them there, but he didn't feel pressured to move until the execution (unless that was done simply for irony or some other hilarious factor). There are some advantages to this, as within the jail are the people he recruits later -- however, on the same note there is some indication that these people are criminals Mukuro has worked with before (Birds: "Damn, but Mr. Rokudou's missions are always so hard.", and M.M. mentions that Mukuro pays the best).
• Kokuyou Centre is their hideout. (Used to be an entertainment resort but then it got hit by like, a mudslideThe dorky sort of useless submissive persona seems to be one he favors (seen both in the novel and in the future arc). However, here, he has relative impatience with Tsuna, and pries a bit harder than is advised if he was using the guise to trick someone effectively. Part of this could be because of the urgency of the situation (Arcobaleno is there, the Vongola are at his doorstep, etc) but most of it, I think, is due to the fact that Mukuro isn't getting what he wants so he is discarding the facade. He uses what is within reach and tosses it when it is either obsolete or less effective than some other item -- and directly after this scene Chikusa says that Mukuro looks pleased. He seems to be pleased by the aspect of challenge (this is shown again in the fight with Tsuna when Mukuro uses the Fifth Realm) but it's a little skewed kind of pleased, really.
• Mukuro is mist -- which we learn later -- and his caution and trickery is indicative of this. However, Mukuro seems to have a mix of caution, paranoid planning and almost reckless abandon (which is echoed in the Varia arc as well).
• Mukuro has never had his picture taken. He is truly unknown in a way, while still being infamous.
• However, as Reborn says: It's easier to defend the base if he narrows down all possible attack routes, right? On the other hand he's cut off all other escape routes for himself. He must be very confident of winning. It is a dead end battleground. Mukuro is someone who is capable of planning with escapes, and even though he completely misjudged the Vongola it is a really odd set up. He has channeled the Vongola, but at the same time he has Ken and Chikusa to help herd the Vongola and he's been stalking Tsuna/observing him enough to probably be able to at least partially predict him well ( and he did, pretty well). Whatever happens, everything is meant to end here (I assume this with how he pulls out all the stops as well during the fight)
• Mukuro's view of humanity is pretty set in this arc. It's not very positive either.
• Tsuna asks him what people are to him and he says toys. This could be an exaggeration, as Mukuro is hardly the truthful type, but it's probably pretty close to the truth. In the flashback you can see his full disregard for people -- and this probably serves a double as making Tsuna angry.
• Mukuro seems to know a fair amount about the mafia (I assume their technology, given a comment about Xanxus's Gola Mosca plan later in the Varia arc). Mukuro and Reborn have an interesting conversation:
Mukuro: "My body has already been through all six paths to Hades in my previous lives, and it has all been carved into my memory. The six journeys through Hades have gained me six fighting skills."
Reborn: "If that's really true, then you are a monster."
Mukuro: "You're in no position to talk, cursed baby of the Arcobaleno."
• He seems pretty interested in Reborn and Tsuna's relationship. This could be because he is unsure if Reborn is going to intervene, but I think there's also a piece of genuine curiosity.
•Mukuro would like to observe the two of them more
• Mukuro offers Reborn several opportunities to engage int he fight as well:
Mukuro: "However, is the teacher not going to fight? I don't mind even if I have to fight the two of you at once."
Reborn: "It's against the rules."
Mukuro: "Oh? Now, that's the reply of a true, traditional mafia member."
• Mukuro also calls it "Oho. What a beautiful trusting relationship. Interesting. That's fine with me."
• Is this because Reborn is an Arcobaleno specifically? Or. . . idk. Probably at least partially.
• I just always find the pages where Hibari beats the crap out of Mukuro and Mukuro is just like " :o oh." hilarious okay. It also shows a high pain tolerance.
• Possession bullet is FORBIDDEN!!1
• Reborn: "The possession bullet, as its name implies, is a bullet which allows someone to possess another person's body and control it with his will. It's said that this special bullet was discovered by the Estraneo family. To handle it well requires not just a very strong spirit, but also a virtuous affinity with the bullet. But, the use of it was so inhumane that the mafia world declared it forbidden, and destroyed its manufacturing instructions."
Reborn: "You were able to ensnare a man like Lancia because of this bullet too. Why do you have this thing?"
Mukuro: "Because it belongs to me. . . that's enough talking."
• This is just really interesting too. Rather, the "Because it belongs to me" part. Mukuro has both will and affinity with the bullet (I wonder if that means mist energy or another kind of affinity, to be honest). Another possibility is the tie into his various lives -- but it isn't one of his six skills.
• HE IS IN THIS SHINDIG FOR VENGEANCE.
• But the first has got to be the mafia...the annihilation of the mafia." One might say he has a deep grudge. Maybe :p But after he reveals this he also says "Oh, I don't plan to talk any further."
• Ken gives us the exposition that they were human experiments, and the flashback!Mukuro says something about the world not being worth it. But we can say that revenge is his primary goal, and then apparently a secondary goal is to just get rid of everyone. This is pretty different from ruling the world, or changing it. He just wants it -gone-.
• Mukuro says "Because I hate this world..." I hate this skill (State of Humans). and then goes on to say "The state of humans is truly the ugliest state."
• I assume this is his world view at the time.
• As he says "Then I'll control them and change this ugly world into a pure and beautiful sea of blood."
• Mukuro has some. Mental special things. I mean, it is clear that his world view is both skewed and stylized and narrow. He views the world as dirty, something to get rid of, ugly, probably painful, and the mafia is the very top of this horrible shit pile. He's probably crazy, even with his pretty logical taking of the world.
• He talks to himself when possessing multiple bodies. ("You got him with the bombs.")
• And here is when he says that he meant to draw out Tsuna's abilities. This could be true, and then that means his predicative ability and knowledge of Tsuna is pretty high... or he could be delusional. I lean towards the delusional side, considering some of the 180s in attitude he takes (like: Here he goes from annoyed to laughing pretty quickly). He's pretty off balance once he gets started on the Fifth Realm thing. I've always played/assumed that he's more honest/closer to his 'true' self when he uses the fifth realm, but I think that's just because I enjoy the idea.
• A body is a body. Whatever resided it in is not the physical thing itself, and he can own them like he would an object. It's like owning a pair of shoes ("Incorrect. Since I've possessed him, this body is mine. I can break or kill this body at my whim.".)
• One of the interesting things is that he didn't immediately assume to use Gokudera and Bianchi's bodies against Tsuna as hostages. He comes to it later in the fight.
• And in the end Mukuro's dark aura has been purified which implies that there is a ... contaminant to Mukuro. Something that can be cleaned away.
• http://onemanga.com/Katekyo_Hitman_Reborn/81/05/ - THE BEGINNING OF KENXPOSITION
"We were guinea pigs for human testing by our own family.
(on the possession bullet) Forbidden? You guys just labeled it like that for your own convenience.
http://onemanga.com/Katekyo_Hitman_Reborn/81/06/
Thanks to that, our family members were labeled as brutes and were horribly persecuted by other mafia. As soon as we stepped outside, guns were pointed at us and we were killed like bugs. That just stimulated the adults of the family even more in continuing the experiments to invent special weapons.
Our friends died one by one. Every day was hell.
(Mafia dude: The invention of the special weapon is a stepping stone for us to get our fallen glory back. Think of it as an honor to die by being part of the development.")
http://onemanga.com/Katekyo_Hitman_Reborn/81/07/
No matter how much we struggled, there was no way for us to live. But he... all by himself, he destroyed that miserable life.
http://onemanga.com/Katekyo_Hitman_Reborn/81/08/
He was quiet and not the kind who stands out. I think that was the first time I heard his voice.
"Just as I thought, this world isn't worth it. Let's erase it all... Shall we go together?"
For the first time since birth there was a place to go for us."
• And there is Reborn's weird comment to the child Mukuro had possessed: Being alone seems so lonely. We'll play with you again sometime..
• Doubly interesting considering that it's Reborn who tells Tsuna to remember that Mukuro has done atrocious things in the Varia arc.
• Also hilarious because Reborn is pulling so many strings.
Varia Arc
• Rather this is when he goes to stalk Hibari. This seems to be Mukuro's hobby. Stalking. ("It's been a long time. You've become stronger again, it seems.")
• Mukuro has a lot of random abilities, besides his six skills. Possession is one, and he seems to have a similar set of "psychic" abilities to go along with Mammon's (or it's a mist thing, whatever). These aren't really defined, but when Mammon tries his sticky paper to read ... information I guess, he confuses that ability.
• I bet he thought that was funny.
• On Mukuro and Chrome: Reborn: "You cannot consider Chrome and Mukuro as separate beings. Because there is Chrome, Mukuro can exist. Because there is Mukuro, Chrome can live."
• This makes me wonder what happens when Chrome is able to live on her own, and/or if Amano ever plans on getting Mukuro out of his jar prison.
• Markings! I can't quite tell what they are. He had to have illusioned them in the Kokuyou arc, or he gained them from the Vindice. Either way, the Varia arc is when he starts wearing gloves.
• Tricking Chikusa and Ken. This could be seen as selfless in a way, but it also isn't nearly the inconvenience to him as it would be to others. I am not sure how long ago that is, and how it lines up with other events, but it is conveniently ... well. Convenient and manages to control the damage of the situation, in a way.
• HOWEVER, the deal he cuts with Iemitsu is that he will be the mist guardian if Iemitsu takes guardianship of Ken and Chikusa. They have to be pretty important to him. One of the other factors in this is that their usefulness, while high, is not as high as it necessarily could be. Mukuro is a person who casts things aside when they get inconvenient or lose some of their usefulness (at least, in the Kokuyou arc) but we see him doing things slightly differently here -- even if he claims that he has other motives.
• Check out his blue eye in that scene. It becomes slit pupil, like when he uses the Fifth Realm.
• Mukuro seems to be aware of or at least retends he is, Xanxus's plan.
• Reborn is surprised by it later, however.
• He says he is "not such a nice human being" which is just funny. But also comes after he majorly helps out. It isn't like anyone is doubting his not-so-nice nature either. Is this some sort of bizarre personal affirmation? Or just for the lolz.
• He tries so hard to give certain impressions. Which are completely lost on Tsuna: "It's good to be so vigilant. But, I have no intention of colluding with the mafia either. The only reason I have become your mist guardian is to set myself in a better position to possess your body, Sawada Tsunayoshi." (Tsuna: He's lying... it's not just about that.)
• In that scene he's also shown "giving advice" twice.
• Reborn says that he has really put himself out there. This is interesting because it's another Dead End Fight.
• Also because Mammon left himself with a way out.
Things of Interest
• Mukuro wears gloves in this spread, but he doesn't all throughout the Kokuyou arc.
• But he does start wearing gloves in the Varia arc
• He has earrings!
• He is totally the kind of guy to get a belly button ring.
• He can't use a body once it reaches its breaking point.
• No one but Tsuna has been able to tell when he is possessing people based on a look alone. (Assumed that based on behaviour they might be able to). "This is a first. No human has ever been able to sense with one look, when I am possessing another. You truly are absolutely fascinating."
• So the marks on people's face and the red eye must... not be visible!
• The Mist's role: "Creating something from nothing, and nothing from something; thus bewildering the enemy. Rendering the family's true form intangible with visions of deceit. That is the role of the guardian of mist."
• The 4th realm has him moving really really fast. Bullet time fast? Who knows. (Reborn: "He unleashed a terrible onslaught of strikes in the instant he passed by you.")
• He claims he got his powers from Hell to Mammon.
• Mammon also says that Illusionists don't use hand-combat. (Mammon: "Muu! An illusionist who resorts to hand-combat is heresy! I denounce you and your reincarnation cycle rubbish! Humans will repeat the same life many times in infinite cycles. That's why I must keep hoarding my money!")
HEADCANON
• Mukuro isn't a sociopath, this is important!
• He's a neurotic under Karen Horney's theory of neurosis, which is not the personality trait of neuroticism, but a disorder that is caused by negative experiences in childhood and adolescence.
[SOCIOPATHY/PSYCHOPATHY] -------------- [NEUROTICISM] ------------------------------------------------------------------- [WELL-ADJUSTED]
• The neurotics in Horney's theory are on the scale as shown above. Neurotics can fall into a large scale, some tending more towards highly narcissistic and destructive and others moving towards more well-adjusted. Mukuro falls pretty far left on the scale, very close to the psychopath side but not quite.
• The main reason I put him on this side of the scale is because I also play Dietrich, to be honest. Dietrich is my sociopath, I judge all other possible sociopaths against him.
• Wikipedia says: The psychopath is defined by a psychological gratification in criminal, sexual, or aggressive impulses and the inability to learn from past mistakes. Individuals with this disorder gain satisfaction through their antisocial behavior and lack remorse for their actions.
• Mukuro doesn't behave the way he does because it psychologically gratifies him. Sometimes he does do things because they're funny, amusing, or further his goal, but they don't give him pleasure. (Though the line is pretty thin).
• He's not a born sadist either. I assume he doesn't torture or kill animals. He'll kill the if they get in the way, probably, but not for fun.
• His tormenting of people isn't without the physical side, but most of his indulgences are mindfuck (admittedly the physical can easily help this).
• His dominance isn't about breaking people necessarily, but an assertion of just that, dominance.
• Basically a neurotic feels three conflicting emotions about people:
1 - Need for approval
2 - Need for mastery
3 - Need for detachment
• The neurotic primarily will operate under one of these impulses, but will often experience all three to at least some degree.
• A neurotic also seems themselves as one way (... which is DEFINITELY not how the rest of the world sees them) and when how they see themselves comes into conflict with how the world sees them this tension leads to anxiety or some other rise in internal conflict and an external reaction (such as anger, further withdrawl etc).
• The neurotic with need for approval doesn't just want to be liked, but needs to be liked. This personality type is willing to please to an insane level.
• (This seems to be the path Mukuro often takes when he is playing at being a good person. I think he partially does it because it is funny to him, but also because of the "normal" responses people has, that is the one he can relate to easiest).
• The neurotic with need for mastery ... well. It's pretty self explanatory. But these personality types often use sarcasm, or some other way of speaking which constantly makes those who are speaking to them feel embarrassed, humiliated, angry, etc.
• There is a need to crush others, bend their wills and assert dominance over them.
• And then there is the need for detachment, which is what Mukuro operates in most.
• There is an intense need for independency and self-sufficiency, absolute perfection and life practices are restricted to prevent conflicts with the perceived self.
• These neurotics often see themselves as morally superior to others and are disgusted by them
• Neurotics are unable to have true affection.
• They see relationships as either something to please, something to crush or something they are above.
• Neurotics are also driven by compulsions.
• The neurotic with the need for mastery doesn't necessarily go through life saying "I'm going to crush everyone I interact with" (though this is certainly a possibility) but they are compelled to act this way. It's an unconscious drive.
Now for me, this pretty much pulled everything together and I had an "AHA!" moment. Mukuro does a lot of weird things, like. A lot. And I admit that some of these are because I play him that way and they aren't necessarily canon based. But for someone like him who was as driven as he was for revenge, he seems to take the long way to get there. He's not as ruthless as he could be, and the line he says when he murders his family is "Just as I thought, this world isn't worth it" (or the equivalent). Which is a detached statement, not at all the "I should destroy it because it hurt me". It's a defense mechanism, the distance he approaches the world with. And he is extremely distant.
On the other hand he's a little different from Horney's neurotics. One of which being that the self he perceives himself as isn't an "ideal" self in the same way that she meant it. He seems himself in a relatively negative light (negative but also not negative in a way which invoked self-loathing, but rather in a pragmatically cynical irredeemable way... but not self-loathing.) and this is the thing that comes into conflict with other people's views of him. This mainly happens in camp, but the way he presents himself in canon seems to suggest this as well.
Basically this does boil down to "childhood trauma -> bad behavior" on a very simple level. However, Mukuro is alsy very aware of what is "right" and he can at least intellectualize people's desires and emotions, if not approximate and partially understand them. I play him as someone who can readily understand half of the spectrum of emotions, and thinks he can the second half. But of course, he can't.
This is where I come from when I play Mukuro, now this has lead to some really... interesting changes in camp. I guess interesting is the word. Neurotics do best when they are forced to see that their perceived self is not the self other people see, and when they can be given sort of... positive affection along with this forced truth since neurosis is usually the result of perceived rejection from parental figures.
One of the other things that neurotics (especially those with need for detachment) want is company. Except they also really don't. Because people suck. Except sometimes they crave it. Now, Mukuro is cheating. He has Ken and Chikusa, but he also doesn't deem them as people. He has Lancia and he has Chrome, who are his other selves as well as company if he wants, but he is completely able to tune them out when he wants too.
I should probably talk a little about his psychotic tendencies here, but I don't feel like it. So there.
BASICALLY Camp has really been ... good? In a way, but bad in a way because it's very deviant from canon. Mukuro doesn't get the same support or positive regard he can here, and there are lots of other factors and pressures in canon that he doesn't have in camp. Good if you believe moving towards "well adjusted" is good. It is a bit divergent from canon, however, because he doesn't have that much movement in canon (even though he has some of it). Not only that but he is not someone who will ever fully get away from his jackass compulsions, and will never be a good person, really. In away it's like. . . an avocado. There's a pit in the middle, and it's not rotten or anything, but it's surrounded by all that other shit and IN REAL LIFE you will never actually be able to just see the good part (the pit), so hypothetical goodness doesn't really matter. This is however in contrast to Dietrich who is like an avocado without a pit, you get tot he middle and there is nothing there but rot and empty space. This is bad because the internal conflict makes him cranky (in his own Mukuro way) and he acts out in ways he might not have.
Mukuro is someone who needs a challenge. He needs to be doing something. It's much like. . . ah. Well, Mukuro needs human interactions, both positive and negative -- as much as he says he doesn't. He is really well suited to the mafia, because he can do horrible things and have positive interaction as well. If only he didn't hate the mafia, hm. He has such an aversion to the mafia. Even if he is Tsuna's guardian and even if he gets over more of it in the future he will probably still have a base "lulz the mafia, what disgusting fuckers" feeling.
I believe his brain is really compartmentalized and the different parts can work together but don't necessarily communicate. Like when he dissociates a little and possesses multiple bodies. And he is aware of these little holes in how he thinks, I think. I believe on some level Mukuro knows himself very well, but on another he specializes in lying to himself to balance the different impulses within him.
So, I guess. TL;DR Mukuro is a psychological mess but not entirely psychotic? . . . yay me.
QUESTIONS? STFU?