Sesshomaru

Biodata

Power Progression

The novel generally measures ordinary demons by years of cultivation, with Greater Yokai as the next higher level. No numerical cultivation age is assigned to Sesshomaru, whose eventual advancement is confirmed after a separation of several decades from Mingye 1 123.

Mingye recalls that Sesshomaru became a Greater Yokai at approximately two hundred years old in the original course of events. The altered storyline later confirms his advancement separately, with his fully awakened talent and rivalry with Mingye accelerating his development 10 32 113 123.

Appearance

• Humanoid form: Youthful face, long silver hair, splendid white robes, and armor. His expression is usually cold and impassive 27.
• Eyes and facial marking: Golden eyes and a crescent moon on his brow 58 70 111.
• White fur: A fluffy white tail is draped over his shoulder 111.
• Demonic markings: Visible on the hand he uses to catch Qiulan’s lightning-powered punch 47.
• True form: An enormous, snow-white dog. His eyes turn blood-red as he transforms, and brilliant green light erupts from his body 48.
• Demonic power: Commonly manifests as dark green light, including his whip, blades, and defensive glow 46 47 49.
• Later equipment: After becoming a Greater Yokai, he carries both Tenseiga and Bakusaiga at his waist 123.

Personality

Sesshomaru is intensely proud and devoted to overwhelming strength. He considers his path one of supreme domination, rejecting protection and emotional attachment as obstacles rather than sources of power. Tōga distinguishes this fixation from genuine mastery: despite Sesshomaru’s flawless technical control, his father believes he lacks the mindset needed to wield greater power responsibly 20 33.

Mingye is the first contemporary shown to seriously threaten Sesshomaru’s confidence. Watching the younger demon wolf fight Tōga forces him to admit that Mingye’s displayed strength exceeds his own. Rather than reconsidering his approach, he becomes more determined to obtain Tessaiga and surpass him 31 33.

His rejection of family bonds is explicit. He regards Izayoi’s relationship with Tōga and his unborn younger brother’s existence as mistakes, showing no concern when their lives are threatened. He likewise dismisses Donglan’s devotion to her siblings as useless emotion 33 47.

Despite these views, Sesshomaru actively fights for the Dog Tribe. Once the Four Heavenly Kings escape, he turns his attention to the losing army and reverses the battle’s course 49.

His ruthlessness extends to governance. He exterminates tribes that refused the Dog Tribe’s wartime orders, believing that Tōga’s gentleness encouraged disloyalty and that an overlord should secure obedience through absolute might 57.

His emotional detachment is nevertheless incomplete. When Tōga asks whether he would kill him for Tessaiga and Sōunga, Sesshomaru refuses and regards the suggestion as an insult. Later, his instruction that his weakened father should not exert himself reveals a concern that Tōga recognizes beneath his cold manner 51 73.

Sesshomaru’s pride also manifests as an unyielding refusal to submit. Jingzhe’s promises of power fail to corrupt him, and he forcibly subdues its spirit instead. After his first defeat by Mingye, he acknowledges the result without rage or despair and treats it as a reason to become stronger 68 78.

He eventually recognizes that dependence on his father’s swords, and then on Jingzhe, has obstructed his development. Mingye’s guidance helps him distinguish his own path from Tōga’s legacy: rather than merely equal his father, he resolves to surpass Greater Yokai and become an Ancestor Demon 94 107 108.

Although reluctant to admit attachment, he retains Tenseiga as his father’s keepsake and acknowledges that he has grown attached to the blade. He also thanks Mingye for saving him and intervenes against the Northern Country to repay that debt, insisting on separating his own obligations from Tōga’s arrangements 94 104 107 112.

His rivalry with Mingye develops into a bond combining opposition and friendship. He later intervenes to prevent humans from defeating the King of the Underworld, believing that only he has the right to do so, and grieves when the king appears to die 137 140.

Abilities & Skills

Perfect Demonic-Power Control

An innate aptitude allows Sesshomaru to shape his demonic power with exceptional precision 4.

• Forms a sharp, flexible dark green whip of light 46.
• Fires concentrated streams of power from his fingers 47.
• Creates a cutting blade that slices through Donglan’s Ice Shield 47.
• Surrounds himself with a nearly solid defensive glow against Thousand-Fathom Ice Calamity, though the attack still causes minor injuries 49.
• Uses his demonic aura to force aside Jingzhe’s evil energy and prevent it from invading his body or mind before directly subduing its spirit 68.
• Possesses demonic power of such purity and increasing potency that ordinary weapons cannot withstand it. Even Jingzhe becomes unable to support another full Azure Dragon Blast after his first duel with Mingye 69 78.
• Nurtures Bakusaiga within his body; once he understands his own path, he can consciously accelerate this process 112.

Poison Claw / Poison Flower Claw

His claws combine potent poison with demonic power, causing rapid bodily decay 46 47.

• Pierces Donglan’s thick ice wall and strikes Chunlan through the back 46.
• Nearly incapacitates Chunlan with one blow; the poison threatens to spread into her heart and lungs 47.
• Donglan’s ice power can suppress the poison’s effects long enough to stabilize Chunlan 47.
• Inflicts a severe poisoned wound on the Black Bear Chief, with the poison attempting to corrode his internal organs 57.

Giant Dog Transformation

Sesshomaru’s true form combines enormous size with speed, fangs, claws, and spreading poison gas 48.

• Remains fast enough to charge as a white blur despite his size 48.
• Overwhelms Donglan’s giant demon-cat form through repeated savage attacks, tearing flesh from her back with his fangs 48.
• Releases poison gas that corrodes enemy demons and eats away at ice barriers 48 49.
• Tramples and kills large numbers of soldiers while breaking the opposing armies’ formation 49.
• Donglan can temporarily contain the poison within ice walls, but maintaining them drains her power much faster than his 48 49.
• Blocks the Black Bear Tribe’s den with his enormous body and fills it with concentrated poison, preventing escape and overwhelming the inhabitants’ resistance 57.
• Gathers a dark green sphere of demonic power in his mouth and fires a piercing beam that kills the Black Bear Chief 57.
• Transformation does not restore exhausted reserves: after his prolonged defense of Dog Castle, even his true form cannot withstand Fūyō 90.

Speed and Close-Quarters Combat

His movement is repeatedly described as phantomlike or almost indistinguishable from teleportation 30 47.

• Moves across a treetop too slender to support an ordinary person 30.
• Outpaces Chunlan’s illusion before it can take effect 46.
• Evades coordinated fire and lightning attacks from Xialan and Qiulan 47.
• Catches Qiulan’s full-powered punch without moving, then uses him to intercept Xialan’s Firebird attack, leaving both siblings unable to continue fighting 47.
• Easily evades Inuyasha’s Iron Reaver Soul Stealer, shatters his combined Blood Blade Claws with one finger, and overwhelms him with punches and finger strikes 125.
• Restrains Inuyasha even after his Greater Yokai bloodline erupts, preventing him from breaking free 126.

Enhanced Senses

As a dog yokai, Sesshomaru possesses a sense of smell far keener than that of ordinary yokai 30.

• Identifies Mingye’s Demon Wolf Tribe scent while watching him pursue Tōga 30.
• Detects Tōga’s overwhelming pressure and recognizes the presence of three enemy Greater Yokai during the decisive battle 30 48.
• Recognizes Tōtōsai’s approach by scent and detects the change in Inuyasha’s bloodline scent during his uncontrolled transformation 99 126.
• Cannot detect the arriving Blood-Robed Man’s scent or demonic aura, despite recognizing the immense pressure associated with his Ancestor Demon status 141.

Swordsmanship and Sword Pressure

Sesshomaru uses weapons to project his demonic power as destructive sword pressure, including lightning-like energy that generates intense heat 69 77.

• A casual swing of Jingzhe releases Blue Sword Pressure, splitting the earth and throwing lava several dozen feet into the air 69.
• Exchanges rapid aerial sword strikes with Mingye, with their clashes fracturing the surrounding terrain 77.
• Uses sweeping sword pressure to kill surrounding yokai and clear space for exhausted Dog Demons to retreat 88 89.
• After becoming a Greater Yokai, exchanges nearly a hundred slashes in an instant with the King of the Underworld. Their violent collision ruptures space 124.
• Kills an attacking human army with a single slash of Bakusaiga 137.

Lightning Power / Azure Dragon Blast

Lightning is Sesshomaru’s second developed demonic-power attribute, alongside poison. He refines it into a personal mystic art through his harmony with Jingzhe 70.

• Azure Dragon Blast: Pours his demonic power into the blade, darkening the sky and drawing down lightning that condenses into an azure thunder dragon dozens of meters long 77 78.
• Initial limitation: The newly developed technique loses to Mingye’s Ice Dragon Blast, and its use pushes Jingzhe close to breaking 78.
• Battlefield use: At Dog Castle, the thunder dragon turns countless attacking yokai to ash and badly weakens Purgatory Demon, Bull Demon, and Orochimaru despite their combined resistance 89.
• Azure Dragon Shattering Blast: His strongest displayed mystic art after manifesting Bakusaiga. It combines his demonic power with the sword’s full destructive strength in an enormous azure dragon 124.

Meidō Zangetsuha

Tōtōsai unseals the Netherworld Path’s power within Tenseiga in accordance with Tōga’s final wishes. Sesshomaru can then release a black crescent that draws its targets into the Underworld 99.

• Swallows a mountain peak during his first test, generating suction strong enough to threaten Jaken’s footing 99.
• Sends the Northern Country’s Leopard King to the Underworld while saving Raiga 104.
• Kills the Ice Demon King and Ice Bear King with another Netherworld Path slash 104.
• Recognizes that the inherited technique is not his own ultimate path. Mingye and Tōtōsai explain that Tōga intended him to perfect it for Inuyasha’s eventual use; its transfer is not shown as completed in the supplied chapters 107 108 111 126.

Bakusaiga’s Destructive Power

Bakusaiga is Sesshomaru’s innate divine weapon, nurtured within his body since birth. It emerges only after he understands his own path and reaches Greater Yokai level 111 112 123.

• Its awakening causes other weapons to tremble, repeating a phenomenon first witnessed at Sesshomaru’s birth 111.
• Its defining ability is an extreme force of explosive destruction, described as surpassing the power of Kir inmaru’s Starburst Sword as previously witnessed 124.
• Perfectly matches Sesshomaru’s demonic power, allowing both his innate energy and the blade’s shattering force to be fully expressed 124.
• Releases vast blades of light capable of intercepting Diamond Spear Strike and destroying an Ice Dragon Blast during his duel with the King of the Underworld 124.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• White robes and armor — His depicted attire in humanoid form 27.
• Sōunga, requested but denied — Offers to fight Flying Moth with it. Tōga refuses because Sesshomaru cannot control the sword’s power and risks possession by its ancient evil spirit. Later requests are also refused; Tōga states that its power is tens or hundreds of times greater than Jingzhe’s and tells him to ask again after becoming a true Greater Yokai 27 51 72 73.
• Tessaiga, requested but denied — Repeatedly seeks the blade, particularly after witnessing Mingye’s swordsmanship. Tōga makes understanding protection a condition of receiving it. When finally allowed to attempt wielding it, Sesshomaru forcibly breaks its barrier but cannot awaken its power. He then rejects the sword’s protective purpose and relinquishes his pursuit of it 27 31 33 72 73.
• Jingzhe — An Evil Sword forged by the Northern Country’s Evil Sword Smith from yokai materials, including bodies collected during Sesshomaru’s punitive campaign. The Ice Wolf Royal Lineage secretly supplies materials in an attempt to make him a Sword Slave, but he subdues the sword instead. He names it Jingzhe in connection with his developing lightning mystic art 58 68 69 70.
  • Projects Blue Sword Pressure and serves as the initial medium for Azure Dragon Blast 69 78.
  • Proves insufficient to withstand his growing power. After first requesting an upgrade, Sesshomaru ultimately shatters and discards it to abandon dependence on an inadequate external weapon 78 93 94.
• Tenseiga — Given to him by Tōga after the blade expresses its desire to accompany and protect him. It protects him during his defeat by Mingye, and Tōtōsai later unseals Meidō Zangetsuha within it. Sesshomaru retains it after learning of Tōga’s plans, accepting it as both a useful protector and his father’s keepsake 73 78 99 112.
• Bakusaiga — His personal innate divine weapon, present within him from birth and consciously nurtured after he learns its identity. It has emerged by the time his Greater Yokai advancement is confirmed and becomes his principal offensive sword 111 112 123 124.

Relationships

• Tōga — Father and leader of the Dog Tribe. Recognizes Sesshomaru’s talent as exceeding his own at the same age, but repeatedly refuses his demands for powerful swords 20 27 33.
  • Despite rejecting his father’s philosophy, Sesshomaru refuses to kill him for power and later expresses concern over his deteriorating health 51 73.
  • Tōga gives him Tenseiga for protection and leaves a trial intended to push him beyond dependence on paternal power. Sesshomaru resents the arrangement surrounding Meidō Zangetsuha but ultimately retains Tenseiga as a keepsake 73 108 111 112.
• Mingye — Rival whose strength unsettles him. Sesshomaru initially believes obtaining Tessaiga will allow him to surpass the demon wolf 31 33.
  • Regards Mingye as the only worthy rival of his generation and formally challenges him, suffering his first defeat 52 77 78.
  • Mingye later saves him from Fūyō and helps him recognize the limitations of dependence on borrowed weapons. Sesshomaru thanks him and repays the rescue by aiding the Demon Wolf Tribe against Northern Country forces 90 91 94 99 104.
  • Learns from Mingye that he remembers a previous life as a human. Their subsequent conversation helps Sesshomaru clarify his ambition to surpass Tōga and become an Ancestor Demon 108.
• King of the Underworld — Mingye’s clone, whom Sesshomaru mistakes for Mingye during their later duel. Defeats Sesshomaru even after his advancement and acquisition of Bakusaiga. Their relationship continues the mixture of rivalry and friendship; Sesshomaru later comes to defend him against human attackers and grieves over his apparent death 123 124 125 137 140.
• Inuyasha — Younger brother, born during the war. Before the birth, Sesshomaru regards his existence as a mistake 33 46.
  • Resents learning that Tōga intended him to perfect Meidō Zangetsuha for Inuyasha’s benefit 108 111.
  • Later brutally tests Inuyasha’s worthiness to possess Tessaiga. After triggering his uncontrolled bloodline transformation, Sesshomaru realizes the sword suppresses his demon blood and returns it to his hand, then leaves him alive with a challenge to become stronger 125 126.
• Izayoi — Tōga’s human wife and Inuyasha’s mother. Sesshomaru disapproves of her relationship with his father and is indifferent to the danger facing her 33.
• Red Evil Ogre — His father’s subordinate, who initially judges Sesshomaru stronger than Mingye but revises that assessment after witnessing Mingye’s victories 20 25.
• Donglan — Battlefield opponent and leader of the Four Heavenly Kings. Their conflict contrasts her determination to protect her siblings with his rejection of emotional bonds 47 49.
• Chunlan, Xialan, and Qiulan — Donglan’s younger siblings and fellow Heavenly Kings. Sesshomaru severely wounds all three during their coordinated assault 46 47.
• Jaken — Devoted follower who submits after witnessing Sesshomaru’s slaughter of hostile yokai. Sesshomaru accepts his service and assigns him practical duties, including supervision of collected corpses. Jaken admires him intensely and fears being displaced by the Evil Sword Smith 57 58 113.
• Evil Sword Smith — Northern Country swordsmith who initially attempts to corrupt him through Jingzhe. After the plot fails, Sesshomaru spares him for his forging skills, and he becomes a traveling subordinate who gathers useful materials and seeks to improve Sesshomaru’s weapons 58 68 69 70 78 99.
• Tōtōsai — His father’s swordsmith. Initially avoids him, but later unseals Tenseiga’s Meidō Zangetsuha, confirms Tōga’s intentions, and explains Bakusaiga’s nature and requirements for emergence 58 99 111 112.
• A-Un — Traveling mount ridden by Jaken while accompanying Sesshomaru’s party 113.
• Fūyō — The Northern Country White Tiger’s God of War. Defeats the exhausted Sesshomaru outside Dog Castle before Mingye intervenes 89 90 91 99.
• Raiga — Saved by Sesshomaru from the Northern Country’s Leopard King as part of his repayment to Mingye 104.
• Shinigami Oni — Enemy who attacks him with a perfectly formed Netherworld Path to avenge his earlier defeat by Tōga 140.

Story Role / Major Arcs

War Against the Leopard Cat Tribe

• Sesshomaru fights the Four Heavenly Kings before Mingye’s arrival at the Dog Tribe base. His battlefield reputation earns him the title Trembling Noble, though one fighter is insufficient to compensate for the Dog Tribe’s wider disadvantages 20 25.
• Before Tōga’s battle at Heavenly Lake, Sesshomaru demands Sōunga and then Tessaiga. Both requests are refused 27.

Witnessing Mingye’s Duel

• Interrupts his cultivation after sensing Tōga’s aura and follows him and Mingye into a mountain valley 30.
• Recognizes danger in Mingye’s Iaijutsu strike and becomes increasingly disturbed by his swordsmanship and combat experience 30 31.
• Retreats when Ice Dragon Blast collides with Wind Scar, narrowly avoiding the destructive aftermath 31.
• Demands Tessaiga again to surpass Mingye, but Tōga refuses after Sesshomaru insists that he needs no one to protect 33.

Defeat of the Four Heavenly Kings

• Initially occupied by the siblings’ coordinated attacks while the Dog Tribe army suffers heavy losses 46.
• Poisons Chunlan, overpowers Xialan and Qiulan, and forces Donglan to reveal her giant demon-cat form 46 47.
• Transforms after sensing three Greater Yokai fighting his father, intending to finish his own battle quickly 48.
• Brutally defeats Donglan, but her final Thousand-Fathom Ice Calamity injures him slightly and allows all four siblings to escape 48 49.

Routing the Allied Armies

• Chooses to aid the Dog Tribe army rather than pursue the fleeing Heavenly Kings 49.
• His giant dog form and poison gas restore allied morale and force the Eastern Country’s demon tribes to flee 49.
• Kills the retreating Leopard Cat and Moth Demon commanders, breaking their armies. The victory comes after more than half the Dog Tribe’s soldiers and most of its weaker protected tribes have perished 49.

Confronting Tōga and Punishing Defiant Tribes

• Witnesses the overwhelming power of Tōga’s Hell Dragon Explosive Flow Break and again demands Tessaiga and Sōunga. When asked whether he would kill his father for them, he answers that he would not 51.
• After news arrives of an attack on Dog Castle, Tōga returns with his forces. Sesshomaru instead seeks out tribes that stood aside during the war, aiming both to punish their defiance and strengthen himself for a future duel with Mingye 51 52.
• Exterminates the Black Bear Tribe with poison and a mouth-fired demonic-power beam. The tribe is one of several destroyed during his campaign 57.
• Accepts Jaken’s service and has the bodies of slain yokai collected by Mountain Ogre as potential sword-forging materials 57 58.

Jingzhe and Tenseiga

• Accepts the Evil Sword Smith’s offer to forge him a weapon, disregarding Jaken’s suspicions because the smith’s skill may help him defeat Mingye 58.
• Subdues the completed Evil Sword despite its attempt to seize his mind and make him a Sword Slave. The corruption scheme secretly involves materials supplied by the Ice Wolf Royal Lineage 68 69.
• Spares the smith, names the sword Jingzhe, and develops a lightning mystic art through harmonizing his demonic power with it 70.
• Returns to Dog Castle and is permitted to try Tessaiga. Although he overpowers its barrier, the sword refuses to transform or release its strength for him 72.
• Dismisses Tessaiga as incompatible with his path, unsuccessfully requests Sōunga, and expresses concern about Tōga’s failing vitality. Before he leaves, his father gives him Tenseiga 73.

First Duel with Mingye

• Arrives intending to kill Hyōrinmaru but changes his objective after encountering Mingye, whom he formally challenges as his only worthy contemporary rival 77.
• Declares that he has never lost in hundreds of battles and exchanges rapid sword strikes with Mingye before proposing a single decisive clash 77.
• Unleashes Azure Dragon Blast, but Mingye’s Ice Dragon Blast freezes and shatters the thunder dragon, injuring and encasing him in ice. Tenseiga protects him while Mingye refrains from attacking again 78.
• Breaks free, accepts his first defeat, vows to win their next encounter, and orders the Evil Sword Smith to strengthen Jingzhe 78.
• News of his defeat further enhances Mingye’s reputation because Sesshomaru’s talent and previously unbeaten record are widely known 80.

Defense of Dog Castle

• As Tōga’s life nears its end, Sesshomaru continues killing hostile yokai but remains unable to suppress all threats because he has not yet become a Greater Yokai 85.
• Defends Dog Castle against a massed assault, fighting Purgatory Demon, Bull Demon, Orochimaru, and numerous lesser yokai 88 89.
• Orders exhausted Dog Demons back inside the castle and unleashes Azure Dragon Blast, annihilating countless attackers and badly weakening the three powerful opponents 89.
• Fights Fūyō while depleted, loses Jingzhe from his grasp, and is defeated even after transforming. Mingye arrives before Fūyō can finish the attack 90 91.
• After Mingye criticizes Jingzhe’s inadequacy, Sesshomaru shatters it himself, thanks him for the rescue, and leaves to find his own path while declaring that he will reclaim supremacy in the Western Country 93 94.

Netherworld Power and the Northern Country War

• Receives Tōtōsai’s visit and has Meidō Zangetsuha unsealed within Tenseiga. His first test swallows a mountain peak 99.
• Permits the Evil Sword Smith to compete with Tōtōsai in sword forging, then sets out with Jaken to confront Northern Country demons and repay Mingye for saving him 99.
• Saves Raiga from the Leopard King and sends the attacker to the Underworld. He then kills the Ice Demon King and Ice Bear King, followed by the leaders’ offspring on the armies’ battlefield 104.
• His intervention breaks the Northern Country army’s morale, allowing the Demon Wolf Army to pursue its retreat 104.
• After witnessing Mingye’s victory over Fūzetsuga, asks whether he is an Ancestor Demon reincarnated. Mingye instead reveals that he remembers a past life as a human 107 108.

Finding His Path and Awakening Bakusaiga

• Learns from Mingye that Tōga intended him to perfect Meidō Zangetsuha so its power could eventually strengthen Inuyasha’s Tessaiga. Although angered, he recognizes that inherited power is not his own true path 108.
• Resolves to surpass Tōga, become an Ancestor Demon, and defeat Mingye 108.
• Confronts Tōtōsai, confirms the plan concerning Inuyasha, and learns that the mysterious presence within his body is his innate demon sword, Bakusaiga 111.
• Tōtōsai explains that his body has nurtured the sword since birth and that it can emerge only when he becomes a Greater Yokai. His conscious understanding of it fully releases his innate potential 112.
• Keeps Tenseiga as his father’s keepsake and continues traveling with Jaken, A-Un, and the Evil Sword Smith 112 113.
• Witnesses Mingye’s Greater Yokai breakthrough, declares that he is not far behind, and redoubles his determination as Bakusaiga nears completion 113.

Greater Yokai and Renewed Defeat

• Reappears several decades later as a Greater Yokai carrying the manifested Bakusaiga. The King of the Underworld congratulates him on his advancement 123.
• Challenges the king, unaware that he is Mingye’s clone. Bakusaiga allows him to counter Diamond Spear Strike and an Ice Dragon Blast, and their increasingly violent exchange ruptures space 124 125.
• Uses Azure Dragon Shattering Blast at full strength but loses again, ending with the king’s blade at his throat. He leaves determined to return stronger rather than surrender to despair 124.

Testing Inuyasha

• Encounters Inuyasha shortly after his renewed defeat and demands that he draw Tessaiga to prove his worthiness to wield it 125.
• Easily overwhelms his younger brother’s claw techniques and nearly kills him by choking him after Inuyasha invokes Tōga’s decision to leave him Tessaiga 125 126.
• Observes Inuyasha’s uncontrolled demon-blood awakening and finally understands Tessaiga’s role in suppressing it 126.
• Sends Tessaiga into Inuyasha’s hand to restore his control, releases him, and leaves after telling him to become stronger. The encounter gives Inuyasha a personal goal of defeating Sesshomaru 126.

Human–Yokai Conflict and the Ancestor Demon’s Arrival

• Kills an attacking human army with a single slash of Bakusaiga, then heads toward the Wolf Tribe to prevent anyone else from defeating the King of the Underworld 137.
• Arrives during the wider battle and is attacked by Shinigami Oni, who seeks revenge for Tōga’s earlier victory over him and unleashes a perfectly formed Netherworld Path 140.
• Survives the king’s Ice Age, which freezes the battlefield. Believing the king has died, Sesshomaru grieves and attacks the escaping Blood Eyes 140.
• Witnesses a Blood-Robed Man kill Blood Eyes and identify himself as an Ancestor Demon. Sesshomaru recognizes the legendary level of the newcomer while realizing that even his keen senses failed to detect the man’s arrival or aura 140 141.

Original-Course References

These events are recalled by Mingye from the original storyline and should be distinguished from developments independently shown in the altered storyline.

• Tenseiga: Its protection saved Sesshomaru several times in the original course; the altered storyline later depicts him receiving the sword and being protected during his first defeat by Mingye 10 73 78.
• Meidō Zangetsuha: Tōga placed its power in Tenseiga so Sesshomaru could perfect it before its eventual transfer to Inuyasha. Mingye later explains this intention directly to Sesshomaru in the altered storyline, but the transfer itself has not been shown 28 108.
• Underworld trial: Sesshomaru used the Netherworld Stone’s guidance and slew a being called the Lord of the Underworld to complete Meidō Zangetsuha’s full-moon form. Mingye suspects that being was an impostor or contender rather than the realm’s actual sovereign 29 45.
• Tōkijin: The evil sword commissioned from Hairinbō eventually proved unable to withstand Sesshomaru’s demonic power. This is contrasted with his similar difficulty finding a suitable weapon in the altered storyline 69.
• Bakusaiga’s emergence: In the original course, bringing forth Bakusaiga took several hundred years. In the altered storyline, his released potential and rivalry with Mingye allow him to manifest it much earlier 113 123.

Notable Quotes

“Father, please give me Tessaiga. With it, I will be stronger than Demon Wolf Mingye!” 33

“Emotions? Hah! Emotions are the most useless things in this world!” 47

“Too weak. How can someone as weak as you protect them? Protection? Affection? Before absolute strength, they cannot withstand a single blow!” 49

“I will not kill you, Father.” 51

“Say another word, and I will destroy you!” 68

“I will handle what comes next. Don't exert yourself!” 73

“Next time, I will defeat you!” 78

“My path... is to surpass my father, become as powerful as the legendary ancestor demons, and defeat Mingye!” 108