Main Characters | Demon Slayer Corps (Hashira) | Demons (Muzan Kibutsuji | Twelve Kizuki: Upper Ranks: Kokushibo | Hantengu) | Civilians | Demon Slayer Academy
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Demons
A race of formerly human turned to man-eating monsters created by Muzan Kibutsuji. The Demons (Oni in Japanese) are the titular primary antagonistic species of the series. Possessing inhuman strength and dark magics fueled by blood, demons are close to immortal, only dying if beheaded with special blades, poisoned with the essence of wisteria flowers or if exposed to sunlight, the latter being their greatest weakness. Their powers and behaviors are shown to be horrible exaggerations and perversions of aspects of their previous human lives, and their ranks are based on Might Makes Right, as well as on their obedience and usefulness to Muzan. Demons In General
- The Ageless: Demons don't suffer from aging or disease, and as result can live forever unless killed with one of their weaknesses. Muzan himself is roughly 1000 years old, while most of his forms look like relatively young people, while most Upper-moons have lived for centuries.
- Always Chaotic Evil: The Demons as a whole- save Nezuko, Yushiro and Tamayo- are all ravenous canniballistic predators. Many commit atrocites above and beyond basic man-eating. This is an enforced trait by Muzan, as Demons who aren't bloodthirsty or interested in gaining strength mean nothing to him and would thus be eliminated immediately. This is also Played With, as many demons have tragic or otherwise human reason for their evil.
- Asshole Victim: With a few notable exceptions, several of these demons (Especially Muzan) are sadistic, cruel, and evil man-eating monsters, who gladly takes the chance to hurt anyone to survive and to do whatever they want. As such, you won't feel pity for bastards like them.
- Ax-Crazy: As stated in Always Chaotic Evil above, demons are predators who pose great danger to any human unfortunate enough to cross paths with them or become their prey. It's extremely rare to find a demon who is not this.
- Blood Magic: All Demons who consume enough human flesh and grow strong enough will eventually develop their own Blood Demon Art (Kekkijutsu). A unique supernatural ability unique fueled by their own blood.
- Can't Catch Up: It was only given exposure for a brief moment but demons develop their strength at different rates and they seem to have a ceiling on how much stronger they can get; Kyogai being expelled from the Twelve Kizuki, losing his Lower-6 spot was due him simply not getting any stronger, no matter how many humans he seemed to eat; to add Muzan's blood isn't automatically compatible with any human or demon, surviving high quantities of it is a testament of a person gifted to be part of the top ranks in demonkind, in fact Muzan can actually use his blood to kill rather than just making new demons.
- Cannibalism Superpower: The more people they eat, the stronger they get.
- Curse: Every demon created by Muzan is also inflicted with a deadly curse which allows Muzan to harm and kill them at will. Most notably, if they call out divulge any information about him, most commonly by saying his last name "Kibutsuji" in the presence of Demon Slayers, the demon dies on the spot. Demons like Tamayo and Nezuko, however, have freed themselves from the curse, and Yushiro is the only demon ever created outside Muzan's influence.
- Curse That Cures: Demons are biologically immortal, meaning that, when a human turns into a demon, any illness are overidden. Muzan, Tamayo, and Rui all became demons to survive diseases that were killing them. And if Kokushibo is any indication, supernatural afflictions are also subjected to this, given that Kokushibo's demonification allowed him to survive the Mark's effects when otherwise he would have died by the age of 25.
- Decapitation Required: Decapitating demons with a Nichirin Blade is one of the few methods that can kill a demon, as the blade is made of an ore that absorbs sunlight. If a demon is decapitated through other means however, they can simply regenerate and reattach their head, with the only exception being when Muzan beheaded Wakuraba and negated his ability to regenerate. So far, the only demons immune to this method of killing are Muzan himself (since his regenerative abilities are so powerful that decapitating him proves ineffective), Akaza, Kokushibo (both of whom are able to overcome it with sheer willpower), and the demonized Tanjiro (who inherited Muzan's immunity).
- Demon of Human Origin: Demons are created by Muzan (and with his permission, his more powerful minions) giving their blood to humans. Muzan himself is the first of them all, being turned into one by a doctor who tried to cure him of his disease with Blue Spider Lily.
- Evil Is Visceral: Even separate from their Blood Demon Arts. Many Demons display strange disfigurations and mutations that symbolise their willing abandonment of humanity. Some have mouths on theirs hands or animal heads, others use weapons formed from their own flesh, and many of the strongest, more human-looking ones will gradually become more hideous and mutated as they’re pushed to their physical limits.
- Healing Factor: One of the reasons why they are so hard to kill since the sun, poison from wisteria flower, and decapitation by Nichirin Blades are the only things that they can't regenerate from. The most powerful demons can recover from the complete destruction of their heads in a matter of seconds.
- Horror Hunger: Demons experience this towards humans, making it incredibly difficult for those that don't want to hurt people. While it's never said if they can starve to death or not, they grow insane with hunger if they don't partake and can't grow more powerful.
- Lovecraftian Superpower: When demons of particularly high power get serious, they have a tendency to messily erupt into a slimy collection of muscular tentacles and razor-sharp insect-legs straight out of John Carpenter's "The Thing", often driving those they don't tear to pieces mad with fear on the spot.
- Name Amnesia: Several demons forget their human identities upon turning into a demon, either by living such a tragic life that they detached themselves from their past or because they just didn't care about that life at all; however, sometimes their human identities and names are given in the story proper or side-materials like Databooks, but there's still a few demons that have their humans names left completely unknown. There are a few cases where demons do remember their human names, but they seem to be the exception to the rule.
- Oni: The "demons" are actually referred to as "Oni" in Japanese. Though they have some differences from their mythological counterparts (from viewing early episodes, one might think they have more in common with vampires), they also share similarities such as having claws, fangs and horns, being very strong, having magic powers, and most importantly, while they are "infected" via blood, it's giving in to their darkest desires that turn them into monsters. Their vampiric traits are likely an allusion to how the Japanese term for "vampire" is kyūketsuki, which literally means "blood-sucking oni".
- Our Demons Are Different: These guys aren't western demons at all. They are Oni, a type of Japanese monster or Youkai; the word "oni" is translated here into English as "demon", which has also been done in other works, even though demons and oni have little in common.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Although the Japanese script actually calls the demons oni, they also have a lot of traits in common with vampires, likely because the Japanese term for "vampire" is kyūketsuki, which literally means "blood-sucking oni". Aside from demons eating human flesh instead of just sucking blood, they fit most criteria for being vampires; monstrous strength and speed, Healing Factor, weakness to sunlight and two out of three of the only sure ways to kill them (aside from their weakness to wisteria flowers) are via exposure to sunlight or decapitation. They also procreate by sharing their blood or in most cases the blood of Muzan with normal humans.
- Psychopathic Manchild: A Lot of them are this. It's common for demons to toy-&-taunt their victims before killing them and/or to have simplistic desires, often with a pretty immature demeanor. One key reason for this is that many demons transformed while they were in their child or teen years, before they reached adulthood. As such, they never properly matured mentally despite being centuries old in some cases. Coupled with the Ax-Crazy nature of simply being a demon, and you end up with a lot of deadly, dangerous beings who have less emotional maturity than the children they often prey on.
- The Sleepless: In a Fanbook trivia Gotouge comically reveals all demons are actually physically incapable of sleeping, detailing the scenario that during the day demons simply fight against boredom as they hide from sunlight since they cannot take a nap until night falls; this information also makes Nezuko even more special by making her the only demon in existence that can sleep in order to replace the need of preying on humans to sustain herself and become stronger.
- Supernatural Repellent: Wisteria flowers are this for the demons. Made into incense, it can prevent them from entering a dwelling or ward them away from a person carrying it in a satchel; mixing it into poisons makes the poison more effective and notably slows the demons' Healing Factor. Of course, more powerful demons, like the Twelve Kizuki, appear capable of resisting it to a degree, though a large enough dosage can still severely weaken them. It’s also used to create the cure that can turn demons back into humans.
- The Virus: Muzan's blood can turn any organism it’s injected into a demon so long as it’s not too strong a dosage (with anything higher causing the recipient to melt instead). Muzan being Muzan, he’s ensured that only his blood is capable of this. While the Kizuki can convert humans they take a liking as well, they can only do with his blessing; which causes their blood to somehow mutate into his own.
- Tragic Monster: Most of the demons are rather tragic figures. Whether it's regret over eating a family member, some form of tragedy that made them accept the offer to become demons, or even treatment they've received from other stronger demons they are shown that even as cannibalistic monsters they can still think and feel as humans do. It makes the few that 'lack' any such motivations seem all the more monstrous.
- Was Once a Man: All of them were human once. Even Muzan himself.
- Weakened by the Light: Direct exposure to sunlight will fatally burn demons and reduce them to ash, which is why they hunt at night. Even Muzan is no exception to this, and his attempts to change that for a millennium ends up being an important plot point. Nezuko being the first to overcome this weakness immediately gains Muzan's attention and leads him to seek to devour her and gain this immunity for himself.
Demon-King Muzan Kibutsuji
Twelve Kizuki
Muzan's Other Followers
Yahaba and Susamaru
Yahaba voiced by: Jun Fukuyama (Japanese), Xander Mobus (English)Other VA
Susamaru voiced by: Mikako Komatsu (Japanese), Sarah Anne Williams (English)Other VA
Susamaru (above) and Yahaba (below)
A pair of Demons that aspired to join Muzan Kibutsuji's Twelve Kizuki. They use their abilities in tandem, which allows them to get the upper hand. Susamaru uses Temari balls for her weapon, while Yaiba screws with gravity with the arrows he creates with his eyes.
- Alas, Poor Villain: While Susamaru was an enemy, the circumstances behind her death make it impossible for Tanjiro and Tamayo to feel any sort of satisfaction towards their victory.
- All There in the Manual: The databook explore bit on Susamaru’s past. It states that Susamaru was a young girl who enjoyed playing handball before she was taken over by Muzan. He implanted her with the desire to become one of the Twelve Kizuki while killing his enemies using her handballs. Due to Muzan's guidance down this dark path, Susamaru is a carefree demon who desires to please her master while enjoying herself at the same time.
- And I Must Scream: Susamaru cannot do anything after she triggers the curse that Muzan inflicts upon her for uttering his name. She thus is unable to avoid being burned by the sun.
- Antagonist Abilities: Yahaba possesses the ability to project vector arrows by blinking the eyes on his palms. Who or whatever is hit by the arrows forced into the direction the arrows are pointing.
- Arc Villain: They both serve as this for the Asakusa Arc, being sent by Muzan to kill Tanjiro.
- Battle Strip: When Susamaru decides to fight more seriously, she takes off her out robe and inner kimono, showing a sports-bra-type chest cloth she grows her extra 4 arms from.
- Berserk Button: Yahaba's default mood is pleasantly nonplussed but finds dirt and dust disgusting. Being decapitated in such a way that his head lands in the dirt works him into a fury.
- Body Horror: Susamaru's demise after accidentally saying Muzan's name. Three massive arms sprout out of her torso and mouth, which then rip her body apart into nothing more than an arm and eye
- Brains and Brawn: Susamaru is the Brawn. She has a lot of brute strength and the ability to create projectiles from thin air. She gets up close and personal with enemies and is not the sharpest tool in the shed, being rather childish. Yahaba is the Brains. He is smarter than Susamaru, and usually remains in the back, guiding her temaris remotely. He is squishy for a demon and relies on maintaining a safe distance from his opponents using his vectors.
- Combination Attack: Yahaba uses his Vectors to manipulate Susamaru's temaris, allowing them to move like living creatures, avoiding attacks and striking enemies from odd angles. Their excellent coordination is particularly impressive when you take into account the fact that they have only been together for one day and that demons only rarely work together.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: After Susamaru accidentally revealed Muzan's name to Tamayo and Yushiro, Muzan's curse takes hold of her and three large arms came out from her mouth, chest, and stomach which then rip her to shreds, leaving her as nothing but an arm, an eye, and a pool of blood, with her getting finished off by being burned away in sunlight.
- Dark Action Girl: Susamaru is the first female demon Tanjiro faces in combat.
- Eyes Always Shut: Yahaba never opens his eyes and always relies on the eyes on the palm of his hands to see instead. The only time one of his eyes opens is when Tanjiro kills him.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: Yahaba has a pair of eyes on the palm of his hands to see.
- Gender-Blender Name: Susamaru is a girl even though "-maru" is usually used to denote historical Japanese male names.
- Giggling Villain / The Hyena: Susamaru chuckles a lot during their fights, emphasizing her enjoyment of playing with her prey.
- Hellish Pupils: Susamaru has slit pupils.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Moving Yahaba's vectors with physical force proves impossible, as they just push away objects that come in contact with them. However, Tanjiro manages to engulf them in the waves of flowing "watery" energy produced by one of his strikes. Instead of influencing the flow of Tanjiro's energy vortex, the streams of force are instead caught in it, and Tanjiro manages to "drag" them with his sword and bring their full force upon their own controller, decapitating him instantly.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Susamaru believes Muzan has no reason to be so petty. She's right, but he still is.
- Last Request: As Susamaru lays dying from Muzan's curse, she quietly asks for her temari ball back, which Tanjiro gives to her.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Susamaru is a Blood Knight while Yahada hates it when his clothes are dirty.
- Meaningful Name: Maru means "round" or "circle," referring to Susamaru's weapon being a round temari ball.
- Mind over Matter: Of an unusual sort. Instead of directly manipulating objects with telekinesis, Yahaba instead projects streams of force, manifesting as (normally invisible) arrows, which push things they impact. He can also attach them directly to an object (or a person) and drag them whichever way he wants, producing a semblance of telekinesis, though it's not as seamless as true telekinesis would be.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Susamaru can grow four more arms with a total of six arms. She grows an extra 3 out of her mouth, chest, and stomach when she dies from triggering Muzan's curse.
- Mysterious Past: While Susamaru's backstory would be revealed in the databooks, we never find out about Yahaba's past as a human.
- Neat Freak: Yahaba hates getting his clothing dirty, complaining whenever they get even a little filthy.
- Not So Stoic: Yahaba usually has a serene expression and seems calm and easygoing but getting his clothes dirty gets him irate greatly.
- Oh, Crap!: When Susamaru blurted Muzan's name out loud and thus triggered the curse, thanks to Tamayo's Magical Aroma of Daylight spell, she realizes that she is officially screwed.
- Odd Friendship: The setting states that demons don't normally work together and are very vindictive of other demons entering their turf. Even established groups under Muzan don't usually get along and are only there to follow orders. Other times a stronger demon is violently forcing demons weaker than them to go along with their whims. Susamaru and Yahaba, however, were unusually cooperative and not condescending of each other in any way, with the Manga extras even stating they had just met before Muzan requested their services to search and destroy, yet they got along well enough.
- Opposites Attract: Platonically. Yahaba is a calm and serious demon who takes great pains to remain clean and composed, Susamaru is a Psychopathic Manchild who cackles with delight and tackles things head-on. Despite having just met, they already get along extremely well.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Susamaru treats her fight with Tanjiro and Nezuko like a game. To drive it further home, her weapons are temari balls, which are normally toys. In her final moments, she was actually a young girl and just wants to play with her temari together with somebody.
- Red Herring: Tanjiro, as well as the audience, are led to believe that the two are members of the Twelve Kizuki, due to Susumaru claiming to be so and the group having been recently revealed as existing. However, following Susumaru's death, Tamayo reveals that they had been lying and that in reality, the 12 Kizuki had their rank engraved on their eyeballs, a feature found on neither of the two.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Tamayo and Tanjiro could not help but feel sorry for Susamaru when she is inflicted with Muzan's curse and is going to be disintegrated by the sunlight.
- Taking You with Me: After getting beheaded, Yahaba uses the last of his strength in an attempt to kill Tanjiro before he crumbles into nothing. However, his final attempt to kill him failed.
- This Is Unforgivable!: Yahaba declares Tanjiro unforgivable for beheading him. Infuriated, he uses the last of his powers to try and kill Tanjiro before he expires.
- Villain Team-Up: Both of them work great together, which is surprising given how Demons usually hate each other.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Yahaba criticizes Susamaru for being immature and Susamaru teases Yahaba for being uptight, but they get along extremely well and fight perfectly together.
- Weaponized Ball: Susamaru uses temari balls as her weapon of choice.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: They both set about their task with the self-professed aim of winning Muzan's praise.
Unnamed Demons
Demon in the Temple
Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese), Ben Diskin (English)Other VA
The first Demon encountered by Tanjiro Kamado. The monster is first seen devouring some people in a temple and attacks Tanjiro and Nezuko when they interrupt him.
- Body Horror: Compared to some of the later monsters that Tanjiro encounters, it's almost tame, but as the first introduction to the villains of the work, this one's a doozy. His severed head grows a pair of arms and scuttles around like something out of The Thing (1982), while the decapitated body continues to fight separately. The head even uses its hair as Combat Tentacles to grab hold of Tanjiro's hatchet.
- Combat Tentacles: Upon being reduced to a head, the Demon in the Temple can use his hair as tentacles to grab Tanjiro's hatchet.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Is given an imposing baritone by Hikaru Midorikawa.
- Starter Villain: He's the first demon encountered by Tanjiro in the Final Selection Arc. And is defeated in the same arc.
- Super-Persistent Predator: Not even having his head kicked off is enough to stop him from trying to kill Tanjiro and Nezuko, as said head immediately grows a pair of arms, and even uses his hair for grappling.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He only appears in two chapters and gets killed off after being exposed to sunlight.
Teoni (Hand Demon)
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu, Aki Toyosaki (child) (Japanese), Kirk Thornton, Jessica DiCicco (child) (English)Other VA
Click here to see him as a human
Click here to see him as a younger demon
A notorious Demon that killed thirteen of Urokodaki Sakonji's apprentices on Mt. Fujikasane, including Sabito and Makomo. He has the ability to project multiple arms from his body, allowing him to reach for his target from a large distance.
- Alas, Poor Villain: He's the first demon who was sympathized with by Tanjiro Kamado after being slain by his blade. As shown in his backstory, he used to be a meek child who always wished to have his hand be held by his older brother, but then was turned into a demon and became a man-eating monster, with his own older brother being among his first victims. After regaining his human memories, when he remembered his brother who always comforted him by holding his hand, and how he was the one who killed him, expressing remorse over his deed at his last living moments, with Tanjiro obliging his Last Request to hold his hand, much like how his brother did, as he dies. Tanjiro even prays for the Hand Demon to not become a demon again for if he'll be reborn in the next life.
- Arch-Enemy: He arguably serves as this to Sakonji Urokodaki, as the Hand Demon was responsible for killing many of Urokodaki's previous disciples, including Sabito and Makomo. For the demon's case, he was captured and imprisoned at Mt. Fujikase by Urokodaki, which fueled the demon's hatred towards the former Water Hashira for robbing him of his Independence.
- Arc Villain: He serves as this for the Final Selection, Having survived 5 decades at Mt. Fujikase devoured many potential Demon Slayers, making him a formidable enemy to defeat.
- Body Horror: He used to have a very normal appearance for a demon with regular hair and clothes, but after he started eating humans he started growing in size. After a while he grew multiple arms, his mouth became huge with jagged teeth, and he stopped looking human and more like a monstrous ogre.
- Climax Boss: He is Tanjiro's toughest opponent in the very first arc, and is the last Demon slain by him before he officially becomes a Demon Slayer.
- Died Happily Ever After: He returned to his human self in death and reunited with his older brother's soul in the afterlife.
- Evil Is Bigger: One of the largest Demons in the series based on sheer size alone.
- Evil Is Hammy: Takehito Koyasu chews the scenery in true Dio-esque fashion portraying this character, especially during his angry rant at how much time has passed since he was imprisoned.
- Fat Bastard: Much like the Horned Demon who faced Inosuke Hashibira would be, this guy is very fat.
- Formerly Fit: He was fit after he become a demon, but after being trapped in the Fujikasaneyama prison, his body mutated and become overweight from excessively eating humans.
- Green Is Gross: He looks like a giant, dishevelled sack of slime, and is fittingly dark-green in color.
- Holding Hands: As a human, he always asked his older brother to hold his hand for comfort's sake. As he regained his human memories upon being slain, he non-verbally asked for Tanjiro to do the same, with Tanjiro obliging upon sensing the scent of sadness from the demon.
- It's Personal: He promised himself to kill all of Urokodaki's apprentices as payback for trapping him in the wisteria-riddled Fujikasaneyama.
- Last Request: After he was killed by Tanjiro, his last request was for someone to hold his hand before he crumbled into nothing. Tanjiro obliges.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: He has an almost endless supply of limbs which he uses both as grappling agents and as striking weapons.
- This Is Unforgivable!: After Tanjiro told him what era they are currently in, he wasn't happy about the year has already moved into a new era, Taishō. He cursed Urokodaki for being trapped in the wisteria-riddled Mt. Fujikasane for 47 years.
- Sibling Murder: Upon becoming a demon, one of the first people he killed and ate was his older brother. Because of the Identity Amnesia that comes with becoming a demon, he forgot both about the deed and about his brother. However, after having his head cut off, he remembered and expressed remorse over it in his last living moments.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Despite his role as a minor antagonist, the Hand Demon left a significant impact in the series, since it was revealed that killing Sabito caused one of his friends to develop a deep self-hate of himself due to his survivor guilt. Who was this friend of Sabito?: The Water Hashira, Giyu Tomioka.
- Translation Style Choices: For whatever reason the official English translation singles him out as the only demon with a descriptive title for a name, keeping it in Japanese, ''Teoni'' which simply means ''Hand Demon''.
- Would Hurt a Child: He doesn't care who he eats, but he especially relishes the opportunity to devour Urokodaki's apprentices.
Swamp Demon (AKA Demon in the Bog)
Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese), Sean Chiplock (English)Other VA
A Demon that went on a rash of kidnappings during Tanjiro's first mission for the Demon Slayer Corps. He was given the ability to split, dividing his personality into two duplicates that help him in his raids.
- Arc Villain: He is the main villain of the First Mission Arc.
- Casting a Shadow / Thinking Up Portals: His main gimmick; he has the ability to make shadows that lead to a vast underwater space, which he uses to maneuver around and launch ambushes on the fly.
- Creepy Souvenir: He has a collection of hair ornaments and other female accessories of the victims he and his other selves have eaten.
- Freudian Trio: Essentially the main demon is The Spock, the third demon is The Mccoy, and the second demon is The Kirk who, of note, lasts the longest of the three.
- Hate Sink: One of the few demons in the series that neither receives sympathy nor has a tragic backstory to boot. He captures 16-year-old girls just for the purpose of eating them and has stated that they should be thankful for being killed off before old age.
- Has a Type: Non-romantic example. He prefers to eat girls who are 16 years old.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: The horns on their heads. The main one who is calm has one horn, the other one who is much more volatile and can still speak has two, and the one that can only grind his teeth in anger has three.
- Killed Off for Real: He tries a final assault on Tanjiro, who easily evades his attack and decapitates him.
- Literal Split Personality: The Demon of the Bog can split himself into three selves, distinguished by their clothes and the number of horns on their heads.
- The main demon was calm, analytical and serene, gave advice to others and even suggested to his second body to calm down, which is why he was seen as the leader of the trio of demons.
- The second demon, despite having the same level of intelligence as the main body, was more violent, impulsive and emotional, it was even easy to alter it. It showed the emotions that the principal easily hid.
- The third demon had no visible emotions and acted more on instinct to the point of being similar to a hunting dog accompanying his hunting master, following both the main and the second. He couldn't even articulate a word.
- Sinister Scraping Sound: When he gets agitated, he rapidly grinds his fangs together like a rusty chainsaw. And when all three of them do it, the result is unsettling to put it nicely.
- Sssnake Talk: Draws out his "S" sounds in the localization of the manga.
- Translation Style Choices: Called the "Swamp Demon" as a boss enemy in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles, a direct translation from how he is called in Japanese (Numa no Oni), like one fan translation used it before the official Viz and Crunchyroll English translations went with "Demon in the Bog" instead.
- Villainous Breakdown: The second Tanjiro asks him about Muzan, the guy promptly loses it and says, "I can't!" repeatedly. Justified, since any Demon who so much as utters Muzan's name will trigger the curse and promptly become a bloody smear on the ground and will be stuck there until sunlight comes out.
Asakusa Demon
Husband voiced by: Yusuke Tonozaki (Japanese), Zeno Robinson (English)
Wife voiced by: Riho Sugiyama (Japanese), Ryan Bartley (English)
Asakusa couple.
A civilian couple who presumably live in Asakusa, Tokyo. The husband is attacked by Muzan Kibutsuji as Tanjiro confronts the Demon Lord on the busy streets of Asakusa.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: The man gets turned into a demon by Muzan and proceeds to attack his wife after his transformation.
- Find the Cure!: He becomes a test subject for Tamayo to find a cure for demonism. The cure is a success. It's later revealed by a letter from Tamayo that the man had returned to his human self again.
- Forced into Evil: In this case forced into becoming a demon.
- Horror Hunger: Right after being turned into a demon, he attacks his wife. Luckily, he was stopped by Tanjiro, saving the wife's life.
- Innocent Bystander: He was minding his own business, happily chatting with his wife when Muzan attacked him.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Subverted. Tanjiro still refers to the recently transformed demon as a person. It catches the attention of Tamayo and Yushiro knowing that Tanjiro still wants to save the man even after he turned.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Muzan turned the man into a demon in order to escape Tanjiro. This move would later bite him in the ass as the Asakusa demon possesses a blood-demon technique that can allow him to produce small orbs that can turn into ever-extending spikes. Tamayo would later used this blood-demon technique to ensnare Muzan while he is busy recovering from the explosion at Ubuyashiki mansion, giving Tamayo the chance she needed to inject Muzan with the medicine that will become his bane in the final battle.
- Small Role, Big Impact: If he didn't get attacked by Muzan, then Tanjiro wouldn't have met Tamayo and Yushiro, who turn out to be instrumental in defeating Muzan and curing Nezuko. It is later revealed in the Databook that the reason Tanjiro was sent to Asakusa was due to intel about a demon being there, who turned out to be Tamayo. Tanjiro would have targeted her had he not encountered Muzan, prompting the demon lord to attack a random civilian to get away.
- Tears of Joy: A letter from Tamayo tells Tanjiro that the husband had fully recovered and returned to his human self. The manga shows the couple together again. The husband is shown with happy tears while hugging his wife.
- Turning Back Human: The main goal for Tamayo is to find a cure. it's revealed by a letter from Tamayo near the end of sword village arc in the letter had informed Tanjiro that the man who was turned into demon had been successfully turned back into a human.
- Would Hit a Girl: After becoming a demon, the husband immediately attacks his wife. Luckily, Tanjiro stops him before he could kill her.
Tongue Demon
Voiced by: Tarusuke Shingaki (Japanese), Matthew Mercer (English)Other VA
One of the demons that lived in the Drum House.
- Extra Eyes: On the top, he has red eyes and, on the bottom, he has green eyes of his face.
- Maniac Tongue: match the demon’s nature and way demon stick out his tongue.
- Multipurpose Tongue: His main attack against his target enemies.
- Oh, Crap!: His reaction after being killed by Zenitsu in his unconscious state.
- Running on All Fours: He walks on all fours instead of walking normally.
- Sadist: The demon starts gloating about how the demon going kill both Shoichi and Zenitsu. To point it caused Zenitsu to fall unconscious.
- Tongue Trauma: The demon’s tongue had been cut by Zenitsu Twice.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: the demon is seen wearing only the bottom half of a patterned knee-length yukata.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: The demon may first appear before only being killed by Zenitsu.
- Would Hurt a Child: The first thing that the demon does when first appears is to start chasing both Shoichi and Zenitsu to try to kill them.
- Underestimating Badassery: The demon is thought to be easy to kill once Zenitsu has fallen unconscious and Shoichi is left unprotected. Unfortunately for the demon, Zenitsu is still able to fight against the demon in an unconscious state.
Horned Demon
Voiced by: Yoshihisa Kawahara (Japanese), Matthew Mercer (English)Other VA
One of the demons that lived in the Drum House.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: He gets his arms cut off and decapitated by Inosuke. Averted in the video game, which sees him attack as a boss.
- Fat Bastard: He's a rather portly demon.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In flashbacks while fighting both Kyogai and tongue demon to be first to eat Kiyoshi.It revealed while the three demons were fighting each other, the horned demon was one responsible knock one Kyogai’s drum that was located on his back.This allowed Kiyoshi to save himself from three demons and leading all their downfall.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: To match the demon’s cruel nature.
- Underestimating Badassery: He thoughts be easy to kill when encounters Inosuke. However, the demon was killed in a matter of seconds easily.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He only appears in one chapter and gets killed easily by Inosuke.
The Slasher
Voiced by: Kentarō Itō (Japanese), Jarred Kjack (English)
An anime original demon used for distraction killings by the wayside while Enmu enacts his own moves on the Mugen Train.
- Bald of Evil: The demon appears as a middle-aged bald man.
- Canon Foreigner: The Slasher is an anime original demon that is fought before Rengoku boards the Mugen Train.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: The demon brags in front of the Flame Hashira about how he tortured an innocent woman the previous night and left her for death because he got bored of slashing her body. He even tortures Tatsu as a human shield while he shows off his abilities, mentioning said event of the woman from the previous night and attempting to tear apart the boy in front of the Flame Hashira. Luckily, Rengoku cuts off both hands before he can further harm the young boy.
- Death by Irony: The Slasher openly brags about his super speed. It is fitting that the demon is killed by the single technique that was so fast, he couldn’t react.
- Didn't See That Coming: Rengoku is able to cut off the Slasher’s head so fast that the demon couldn’t react. Ironically, the Slasher's ability is his super speed and Rengoku states that the demon was being too slow.
- Didn't Think This Through: The Slasher wants to brag during his speech and at the same time gets on the Flame pillar’s nerves by trying to kill one of the bento vendors as a means to challenge him. However, he's already outmatched since Rengoku, one of the best demon slayers, catches up with the demon easily and is able to save the lives of the bento vendors on time.
- Establishing Character Moment: In the demon's introduction, he was a mysterious figure with a huge slasher smile before he killed the hapless train conductor. To make matters worse, the Slasher attacks helpless individuals and leaves their bodies behind. It showcases the demon's sadistic behavior when it comes to those he views as not worthy to devour, whom he instead tortured until he gets bored. When the demon first meets the Rengoku in person, he uses a young boy as a human shield while torturing the young boy by digging his fingers deep into the young boy's skin and face. It also showcases the demon’s cruelty to human lives which he views as a tool for his gain, as well as his intelligence for knowing the demon slayer won’t harm the innocent.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: The demon claims that human food is disgusting to him now as a demon. However, Rengoku calls out the demon's action for stepping on one of the bento boxes after smelling the food. Rengoku commented that one made the Bento boxes are done with hard work and love to earn a living.
- Fatal Flaw: His cockiness and pride in his demon blood art. Even Rengoku has warned him not to be too cocky. The demon has a huge ego for his ability, especially his speed. However, Rengoku proves him wrong twice, which greatly shocks the demon. The first time it happens, Rengoku does acknowledge his speed but also informs him that the woman who was tortured the previous night did survive and was currently in a hiding place far away from him, so he would never be able to find her again. The second time, the demon is surprised when Rengoku is able to catch up with him despite the Hashira's earlier warning. Fittingly, this would lead to the demon's downfall.
- Hate Sink: The Slasher is able to gain hate for good reasons. The demon enjoys torturing victims with certain blood types that he views as not worthy of devouring; instead, he would leave behind their dead bodies to cause more chaos among civilians. In fact, it causes a huge panic in the village and causes most small businesses and civilians to be afraid to go out at night. The demon also has no standards since he enjoys tormenting his victims no matter their age as he even uses the young worker Tatsu as a human shield against Rengoku in their first meeting while taunting Rengoku by claiming he wouldn't kill the demon without injuring the boy. Worst of all, the Slasher gloats about how he tortured the innocent woman from the previous night, and after being informed by Rengoku that the woman did survive and is sent into hiding, he decides to challenge the Hashira by targeting the bento vendors to piss off the guy and test his heroics. Luckily, Rengoku saves the lives of the innocent woman, Tatsu, as well as the bento vendors and ends the demon's night of terror.
- It's Personal: Attempts to get the Flame Pillar to test his heroism by announcing that he will attack the bento vendors as his next target because Rengoku had informed him that the surviving woman has been sent into custody, which makes it impossible for the Slasher to find her again.
- Logical Weakness: Technically, demons can’t physically devour human food. It's revealed that when demons ingest human food, they just throw it back up. It would explain why the Slasher demon found any human food (even the smells of it) disgusting after becoming a demon.
- Oh, Crap!: Before he could harm the young girl Fuku, Rengoku suddenly shows up at flaming speed. Even the demon tries to escape, but luckily Rengoku wounds the demon’s ankle which slows him down.
- Picky People Eater: This guy is one of the few demons who shows preference towards tasting only certain people, sharing his picky traits with Kyogai. He comments about how certain types of blood aren't tasty to him, not elaborating if he has a preference towards Marechi blood only or not.
- Power Tattoo: The tattoos of the Slasher cover both of his arms and the back of his head. When he activates his Blood Demon Art, his dark blue tattoos glow, giving the demon super speed. In this state, he goes so fast that he leaves behind blue trails.
- Sadist: One of the few demons in the series who loves to kill humans for pleasure, other than sustenance.
- Super-Speed: Uses his great speeding abilities as his main offensive and evasive assets.
- Slasher Smile: The Slasher demon enjoys torturing his victims that he views as not worthy of eating. As the image shows above, the demon delivers this before he could harm Fuku (the young bento vendor girl).
- Threat Backfire: The Slasher demon tries to threaten Rengoku by trying to kill the woman that survived the previous night again. However, Rengoku informs him that the woman is secretly hiding away. So, the demon decides to go after the bento vendors instead.
- Villain of Another Story: The Slasher has gained fear ever since he began terrorizing a village and attacking several people. It causes many individuals to stop going to work at night. The demon also attacked an innocent woman to near death and even killed an innocent, hapless train conductor.
- Villain Has a Point: After discovering that the woman he left for dead last night did survive, the demon comments even if the woman can survive and her physical wounds will heal, she'll suffer mentally from the event. But Rengoku disagrees with the demon, as the demon slayer corps will help women to heal both physically and mentally, no matter how long it would take for the woman to fully recover.
- Weaksauce Weakness: The Slasher was temporarily stopped from attacking Fuku by her grandmother throwing a Bento box from behind. The smell of the box distracts the demon, which allows enough time for Fuku to escape.
- Would Harm a Senior: The wounded Slasher tries to kill Fuku’s grandmother, Tomi, for throwing bento boxes at him. Luckily, Rengoku arrives and kills the Slasher demon before he could harm Tomi.
- Would Hurt a Child: He has no problem with hurting and killing children. First, he uses Tatsu as a human shield from Rengoku during the first meeting. He even tries to kill off the boy, but luckily Rengoku was able to cut off his arms before he could tear apart the young boy. Second, he almost strangles Fuku, who would die if Rengoku didn't make it in time to save her.
Two-Face Demon
The first demon encountered on the Mugen Train.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: In the anime, this demon attacked and devoured an innocent individual inside the Mugen Train.
- Body Horror: The demon has two faces, horns on its shoulders and many eyes on each face.
- Evil Is Bigger: When standing up, the demon is much taller than an average human.
- "Pop!" Goes the Human: In this case, a demon. This was the demon’s fate after being defeated by Rengoku.
- Two-Faced: In a literal way, the demon have two faces.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Little is known about the demon since it was quickly dispatched by Kyojuro Rengoku.
Long-Arm Demon
The second demon encountered on the Mugen Train.
- Canon Foreigner: The existence of a second demon on the Mugen Train is never mentioned in the manga.
- Creepily Long Arms: The demon’s arms and legs are longer than his body.
- Extendable Arms: The demon can grow another set of arms, which are used to attack the demon slayers.
- Extra Eyes: The demon has four eyes in total.
- Monster Mouth: The demon has an insect-like mouth.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: The demon’s ability to grow more arms.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Little is known about the demon since it was quickly dispatched by Kyojuro Rengoku.
- White Hair, Black Heart: The demon have white hair and show no problem attacking an innocent person.
Shrine Demon
Voiced by: Haruki Ishiya (Japanese), Steve Staley (English)
An original anime demon encountered during Tanjiro and Nezuko's solo mission.
- Body Horror: The demon has spider-like limbs located on both his arms and four more on his back.
- Canon Foreigner: The manga only stated that Tanjiro just returned from his solo mission, while the anime gives us a closer look at Tanjiro’s mission in a local mountain shrine. It also showcases Tanjiro had improved his skills, and now Nezuko is recognized as a member of the demon slayer corps.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Tanjiro feels pity for the demon when facing him at the shed and after his defeat; however, the demon responds that he shouldn't dare to show pity at him.
- Flat Character: He's just another demon for Tanjiro and Nezuko to easily take down in an extra mission, showcasing how much the Kamado siblings have grown in terms of skill and power.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: In a rewatch, the demon can already be seen inside the temple shrine room posing as a shrine statue and standing still before trying to attack Tanjiro.
- Gross-Up Close-Up: While the demon is hiding to recover from his injuries, there is a gross close-up on one of his spider-like limbs regrowing.
- Hypocrite: While hiding in someone’s tool shed, he comments that Tanjiro shouldn’t have tried to go against demons. It's ironic that the demon is the one to start the battle and try to attack Tanjiro, unaware that Tanjiro is a demon slayer and has Nezuko as a backup. Basically, the demon is the one who shouldn’t go against demon slayers in first place.
- Icy Blue Eyes: The demon has this type of eye color and also has a pretty nasty side.
- Oh, Crap!: His reaction as he is overpowered by both Nezuko and Tanjiro working together.
- Lean and Mean: The demon is skinny with spider-like limbs and shows no problem attacking anyone.
- Mook: At this point, he's nothing more than this, as Tanjiro (and Nezuko to an extent) are leagues ahead in their training and skill since the start of the series (not to mention, coming off of a mission where the former beheaded Lower Rank 1 of the Twelve Kizuki). It's no surprise both Kamado siblings easily take him down.
- Mugging the Monster: The demon tries to attack a disguised Tanjiro from above. Unknownst to him, Tanjiro is a member of the Demon Slayer Corps and is carrying Nezuko with him.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: As the demon is overwhelmed by both Nezuko and Tanjiro's combined fighting, he flees the scene and hides in a nearby village’s home storage room to recovery.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: The demon is shown to be shirtless.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Little is known about this demon, which makes sense as he is an anime original character.
- Would Hurt a Child: It’s evident that the demon tries to attack Tanjiro as he believes there are civilians at the mountain shrine. If Tanjiro hadn't found and killed the demon moment later, he would have attacked an innocent boy for checking the room where the demon was recovering.
Woodland Demon
Voiced by: Kentaro Kumagai (Japanese), Bill Butts (English)
A demon enters Tokito’s household responsible for cutting off Yuichiro’s arm, leading to his death. However, the demon got killed by Muichiro the future mist Hashira.
- Absurdly Sharp Claws: The demon has sharp black claws as for hands. It is so sharp he can cut off Yuichiro’s left arm in a single slash.
- An Arm and a Leg: During Muichiro's rampage, he is able to cut off both the legs and right claws of the demon.
- Create Your Own Hero: In this case Hashira. Muichiro attacked the demon in an Unstoppable Rage as a response for harming his brother. This happens off-screen while Muichiro battles the demon which causes the young boy to discover his inner rage and power when attacks the demon.
- Death by Irony: The demon claims the lives of children of woodcutters have no value and are worthless. The demon was killed by Muichiro, an eleven-year-old son of a woodcutter able to overwhelm the demon and pin it down the demon until sunrise arrived.
- Evil Gloating: After the demon had cut off Yuichiro’s left arm to protect Muichiro. The demon only taunts the terrified Tokito siblings.''“Be quiet! Stop your fussing! Poor Woodcutter like you have no value anyway! Whether you live or die nothing will change! Your lives are worthless.”
- Hate Sink: The demon is the main source of Muichiro’s memory loss in the first place. To the point, the demon continued to taunt two terrified Tokito sibling into a corner and claimed their lives were worthless and had no value.
- Head Crushing: The demon’s head was crushed by a huge rock and was still alive.
- Ironic Echo: The demon taunts saying toward the Tokito siblings that being a child of a woodcutter has no value and won’t change anything. Not only the demon got brutally pinned down by the child of a woodcutter. Not to mention Muichiro had become powerful Hashira at age 14.
- Posthumous Character: The demon was killed by Muichiro before the story started.
- Rasputinian Death: Muichiro mentioned that once his rampage ended end, the demon was still alive and continued to twitch in agony. The only sunrise is what finally ends the demon's suffering.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The demon only appeared in flashback and main reason why Muichiro had memory loss in the first place. The demon was responsible death of Yuichiro and by accident created the future Mist Hashira Muichiro.
- Slasher Smile: Muichiro only remembers the demon’s Slasher Smile.
- The Faceless: Both anime and manga never showcased the demon’s eyes.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The demon got brutally butchered by Muichiro. The aftermath of the battle is brutal since the demon is shown to have been stabbed with several gardening tools and pinned with wooden stakes and stones. Both demon legs and hands are cut off and his head is crushed by huge rock.
- Underestimating Badassery: Big time, while demon taunts terrify Muichiro while holding his injured brother into a corner, and by calm they're worthless. Only the demon got brutally pinned down by Muichiro until the sun rose.
- Undignified Death: The demon gets brutally butchered and pinned down with wooden stakes and stones by an eleven-year-old child. The demon was still alive even when his head was crushed under a huge rock until the sun rose to burn away the demon for good.
- Would Hurt a Child: The demon didn’t hesitate to attack Tokito's siblings and continue taunting them who view their lives as worthless.
Snake Demon
A Demon that was worshiped by Obanai Iguro's family.
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: She has no visible nipples despite being topless.
- Creepy Souvenir: She had a collection of human skulls she had already eaten.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: She was sliced into pieces by the active Flame Hashira of the time, Shinjuro Rengoku, while pursuing the escaped Obanai.
- Eats Babies: She enjoys eating newborn babies, which the Iguro family offered to her as sacrifices. The only reason she didn't immediately eat Obanai when he was born was because she found his eyes interesting.
- Hate Sink: Despite her small appearance, the snake demon manages to become one of the most despicable demons in the entire series, mainly for what she did to Obanai during his youth and being one of the few demons to eat children, let alone, BABIES.
- Nightmare Face: She had a face of a snake instead of normal one.
- Overly-Long Tongue: As a snake-like demon, she had a very long tongue.
- Posthumous Character: She was killed before the start of the series.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Despite her small role in the series, she left a devastating impact on Obanai Iguro.
- Snake People: She was a snake demon with a snake's tail as her lower body.
Flute Demon
A demon encountered by a pre-teen Kyojuro Rengoku during his first mission. He was responsible for the deaths of a small group of Demon Slayers and innocent civilians.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Long thick eyebrows.
- Evil Gloating: As he had killed many of the slayers sent to him, and Rengoku appears to have been defeated by him, he gloats about how undefeatable he is. We all see how that turns out.
- Evil Old Folks: Old (a given, because he's an immortal demon), but he also looks elderly unlike most demons, who still present themselves as youthful or young adults. As for the evil part, at one point we are treated to the delightful sight of him sucking out children's internal organs. There is the need to eat humans to stay alive, and then there is just plain torture.
- Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: As Rengoku is knocked down by the Flute Demon's Blood Demon Art, he gets an explanation on how exactly it works, with the demon gloating all the while about how he'll never escape.“So if you try to move your foot, your head will moved! And if you try to move your hand, your foot will moved!”
- Faux Affably Evil: The Flute Demon talks calmly when he sees young Rengoku as reinforcement. He talks about how he killed the children, and even gloats about what his wolves are going to do to the young demon slayer.
- Near-Villain Victory: The demon had already killed nine demon slayers, killed four out five children and was able to corner Rengoku. He would have won if it hadn’t been for the secret sign language message by the fallen demon slayer which warned Rengoku about the demon’s ability, allowing Rengoku to rupture his eardrums to avoid being affected by the demon’s music.
- Musical Assassin: His weapon of choice is a small flute, which is a part of his Blood Demon Art and can destroy a person's nervous system if they hear his music.
- Oh, Crap!: The Flute Demon's reaction when young Rengoku was able to defeat his wolves and cut off his head without being affected by his music.
- Posthumous Character: The demon got killed by young Kyojuro Rengoku during his first solo mission before the start of the story.
- Retirony: He was killed by young Rengoku before he could join the Twelve Kizuki.
- Sadist: The Flute Demon enjoys torturing his victims. He is joyous at how he killed nine demon slayers, sucked the innards of four children and gloats about his wolves tearing apart young Rengoku.
- Savage Wolves: His flute had the ability to summon huge wolves to attack their target.
- This Cannot Be!: His reaction after young Rengoku was able to defeat him by cutting off the heads of the wolves and later the demon's own without being affected by his flute.“How? He should’ve heard my flute even with his ears covered!”
- Villainous Breakdown: His reaction after his defeat by the one single person who is not affected by his flute, in addition to the fact that he has come close to becoming a member of the Twelve Kizuki.
- Would Hurt a Child: The demon has no problem with harming children, even going so far as to explain how he killed the four children by sucking their innards, as well as torturing nine demon slayers and almost killing preteen Rengoku. Luckily the demon had missed one child due to a slayer's heroic sacrifice.
Goat-Eye Demon
Demon was shortly killed by Giyu at the start of Giyu Tomioka Gaiden 1.
- Animal Eyes: The demon has unique eyes that are similar to goat eyes.
- Bait-and-Switch: As readers it causes us to believe the demon is a woman who is holding. Only to reveal the man is a demon and women is holding is already dead.
- Human Disguise: the demon is shown able to disguise itself as human.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: When the demon got killed by Giyu as attempted to attack the water Hashira.''“Eat people Any-“
- Villains Want Mercy: It revealed that the demon beg the Water Hashira mercy. Unfortunately for the demon, Giyu already lampshades the demon that begging for his life is pointless.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: The demon got killed by Giyu at the start of Gaiden stories before he was sent to next mission.
Spider Family
As a Group
When he was young, Rui was frail and abnormally weak. His condition was noticed by Muzan, who turned him into a demon, but this forced Rui to sustain his life by killing and devouring humans. His parents wanted to kill him to end their child's condition, but that only caused him to take their lives in order to preserve his own. This led him to forge a new family of his own, which he abused with his tyrany.
- Adaptation Expansion: The Anime includes other demons who were brought to be Rui's other brother and sisters.
- Animal Motifs: Spiders. The spider represents mystery, growth, and power, just like the seal spirit animal. It symbolizes the shadow of yourself, or the dark aspect of your personality.
- Animal-Themed Superbeing: They all use spider-related powers, with each demon demonstrating and utilizing one aspect of the arachnid skill set.
- Rui: Webs (in the form of Razor Floss).
- Mother: Webs (in the form of strings that allow her to entangle people and manipulate their bodies).
- Father: The physical strength of a tarantula, and the ability to molt to become even bigger and stronger. Notably the only member of the Family with zero access to any form of webbing, reinforcing the connection to tarantulas.
- Older Brother: Venom, and hordes of spawn. Also capable of weaving webs, but not for offensive purposes.
- Sister: Imprisoning prey in cocoons and external digestion.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: As Eldest Sister reveals to Older Sister, they were all weak demons that wanted companions and thus they took Rui's offer. This gave them everything they wanted, but in an unhealthy abusive form.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: Due to their need to play their role in the "family" all of them end up in a chain of abuse, especially when they fail Rui. Only Older Sister managed to get by without being punished by him until the extermination of their "family", where her fear let her slip up once.
- Gender-Equal Ensemble: In the anime, it was originally six men and six women.
- Light Is Not Good: All of them have white hair, with Rui, the Mother and the Sister even wearing white kimonos. But obviously, they are definitely not your average friendly family.
- Magical Barefooter: Most of the Spider Family except the Older Sister don't wears shoes or footwear.
- Not Blood Siblings: The family aren't blood related to each other and were forced to change their appearances to fit their family roles given by Rui. Rui also splits his demon powers and forces them into the others in order to give them similar appearances and powers as him.
- No Name Given: The Mother, Father, Older Brother, Sister and the other sibling's names are never revealed before their deaths. Thanks to Rui's abuse, they might not have even been able to remember them.
- Painful Transformation: In the anime, when the demons drink a drop of Rui's blood, they undergo a painful transformation to look similar to him. It was first seen in the "older sister's" flashback after she drank his blood.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: Their main purpose is to "protect" Rui by killing any Demon Slayer daring to enter Mount Natagumo, with Tanjiro's group getting to fight each one except the Daughter. If a Slayer manages to reach Rui's location, even if he doesn't consider them a threat, the family gets brutally punished for not upliving to his standards.
- Temporary Bulk Change: Most of the "siblings'" transformation after they drank Rui's blood are not permanent since the "mother" and "older sister" temporarily revert back into their original appearances.
Rui
Spider Demon (Mother)
Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu (Japanese), Allegra Clark (English)Other VA
Click here to see her original form
A Demon who played the role of mother from the Spider Family.
- Absurdly Youthful Mother: She's actually a little girl transformed to look like an adult woman and forced to play the role of Rui's "mother."
- Alas, Poor Villain: Considering she's actually a little girl who was transformed to look like an adult and forced to play the role as Rui's "mother", often suffering abuse from him and the Father Spider Demon, her death is bound to make fans shed tears for her. Tanjiro, despite his rage, seeing she is awaiting her death, decides to kill her peacefully and painlessly with his Water Breathing Fifth Form, Blessed Rain. As thanks for a peaceful death, she warns Tanjiro of Rui, who's an member of the Twelve Kizuki.
- Almost Dead Guy: Manages to confirm Tanjiro's suspicions that there's a member of the Twelve Kizuki on the mountain before she dies.
- Exotic Eye Designs: In her real demon form, seen briefly when she de-transforms from the form Rui gave to her, she has x-shaped pupils.
- Evil Puppeteer: She controls people who are alive or dead with spider threads against their will to fight her battles for her.
- Face Death with Dignity: When she sees Tanjiro coming to behead her, she realizes that death will free her from being controlled by Rui, and so releases her threads and spreads her arms wide. Seeing this, Tanjiro opts to kill her painlessly with Water Breathing Fifth Form, Blessed Rain.
- Forced into Evil: Well, she's already a demon so she's not exactly a Token Good Teammate. However, it's pretty explicit that she abhors Rui and the "family" and only participates out of fear.
- I Die Free: She lets Tanjiro kill her so she can finally die in peace and be freed from Rui and "Father's" abuses.
- Kimono Fanservice: She has an elegant white kimono open, which she wears open, showing a lot of her cleavage.
- Master of Threads: She uses her threads to control people.
- Ms. Fanservice: The Mother is very beautiful, and wears an outfit that shows off her curvaceous body. Becomes Fan Disservice once it's revealed that she's a child, a very scared one at that.
- Neck Snap: She kills her puppets by turning their heads until their necks break.
- Pet the Dog: As Tanjiro gives her a painless end, she warns him that a member of the Twelve Kizuki is on the mountain and tells him to be careful with her last breath.
- Psychopathic Womanchild: The moment the demon slayers begin to overpower her, she throws tantrum and finally kills her puppets by breaking their necks. Justified since she was actually a young demon girl prior to joining Rui's "family", and Rui forces her to assume an adult woman's appearance to fulfil the role of the family's "mother".
- Replacement Goldfish: For Rui's human mother, who loved him very much, but tried to kill him when he started eating people after becoming a demon, and ended up being killed by him instead.
- Riddle for the Ages: The identity of the man in her dying vision. Given her true age, he could've been her elder brother or even father.
- Sneaky Spider: A spider demon who hides deep in the forest and uses her literal webs to manipulate people she traps.
- Tears of Fear: She does this when "Father" abused her for being weak and not following the role Rui gave her.
- Vague Age: She appears to be a little girl, but it's extremely unclear whether or not demons age. Either way, this means she was turned by Lord Muzan when she was just a child.
- You Have Failed Me: She's terrified of Rui and "Father" doing this to her. After Tanjiro and Inosuke cause some of her puppets to be tangled in the tree branches, she declares them useless and uses her threads to twist their necks until they break.
- Younger Than They Look: According to flashbacks, she's not as old as her appearance makes her look, since she's actually a child forced to take on an adult woman's appearance.
Spider Demon (Elder Brother)
Voiced by: Showtaro Morikubo (Japanese), Derek Stephen Prince (English)Other VA
A Demon who played the role of older brother from the Spider Family.
- Abusive Offspring: When the Spider Mother was being abused by the Spider Father, he would just laugh and say, "Mom's in trouble with Dad again!"
- Beast with a Human Face: He has the body of a spider with a human head. He commands other, smaller spiders with human heads as minions, though unlike him they're completely mindless thanks to his poison.
- Body Horror: He's just a giant spider with a human head where the spider's head should be. He can inflict the same fate on his victims, by poisoning them so that they gradually become his mindless spider minions.
- The Comically Serious: Although he's an unrepentant demon who enjoys killing humans and/or turning them into mindless spider slaves of his, even he was completely confused by Zenitsu's way too over-the-top whininess and cowardice, his expression being, amusingly, the look of pure bewilderment when he sees Zenitsu in his extreme panic."Huh? I don't understand this guy at all. Isn't he a Demon Slayer who came here to kill our family? But he fainted. How spineless can you get? He's gonna fall on his head and die. What the hell?"
- Even Evil Has Standards: Played for Laughs too! He's sinister to the boot, but even he's bewildered by Zenitsu being way too over-the-top with his emotions.
- Evil Smells Bad: As a demon, he has a really bad smell. According to Zenitsu, Tanjiro would die in an instant if he smelled the bastard.
- Mind Control: He has ability to control his victims after he poisons them and turns them into obedient spiders.
- The Minion Master: He commands an army of spiders with human heads, whose bite carries his venom. The more bites, the faster the victim's transformation into a mindless spider.
- No Ontological Inertia: Downplayed. When the Brother is killed by Zenitsu, the watch he had been using to monitor the latter's progression into a mindless spider shatters, giving a viewer the symbolic impression that killing the demon stops the poison's progression. It doesn't actually stop it, but does slow it down - Zenitsu only emerged relatively unscathed thanks to being able to slow down his breathing and Shinobu showing up with an antidote.
- Poison Is Corrosive: While he prefers relying on his poison to make minions, in self-defense, he can also spit a glob of acid that is seen corroding a tree on impact.
- Poison Is Evil: The "Older Brother's" poison doesn't kill people, but rather turns his victims into spiders in 30 minutes. According to him, the stages of turning into spiders are limb numbness, dizziness, the body shrinking and loss of consciousness. The poison also causes his victims to lose their hair which he never mentions to Zenitsu.
- Sadist: He enjoys seeing "Mother" getting abused and tortured by "Father". He even loves to see his victims painfully transform into spiders after he poisoned them.
- This Cannot Be!: The "Older Brother"'s reaction after Zenitsu kills him with the enhanced Thunder "First Style: Thunderclap and Flash"."But that's absurd! By a guy who can barely move his arms and legs?"
- Token Evil Teammate: None of the Spider family are particularly pleasant, but the Brother demon is the only member with no Freudian Excuse like his younger "siblings" and "Mother", or a mental handicap like his "Father".
- To the Pain: He tells Zenitsu about how the poison coursing through him will affect him, and eventually turn him into a spider.
Spider Demon (Daughter)
Voiced by: Ryōko Shiraishi (Japanese), Erica Lindbeck (English)Other VA
Click here to see her original form
A member who played the role of daughter from the Spider Family.
- Accomplice by Inaction: While she didn't directly take part in abusing the Spider Mother with Rui and Spider Father, nor did she laugh at her suffering like Spider Elder Brother did, she didn't do anything to help the Spider Mother either, instead simply watching on, with the cold look that showed zero empathy for Mother's predicament.
- Adaptation Expansion: The anime expands on how she met Rui and what her life was like in the Spider Family.
- All Webbed Up: She has ability to entangling her target in a web-cocoon filled with acid fluids where the acid will then dissolve the clothes of the victim. The acid will next move on to the targets flesh and begin to make their body soft and ready for her to consume.
- Asshole Victim: Her death by the hands of Shinobu was brutal, yes, but considering that she was a lying, treacherous coward who also took pleasure in hurting others despite claiming she was following Rui's orders, she won't have anyone weeping her death. In fact, some will actually enjoy her getting a taste of her own medicine.
- Bad Liar: She tries to save herself by lying to Shinobu that she only killed five people under Rui's orders, but Shinobu sees right through her, revealing that she already saw more cocooned victims than the Daughter claimed to have killed.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The anime expands on her past, showing that she betrayed the "elder sister" by letting Rui know about her desire to escape in order to survive.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: She gets poisoned and died a painful death after being stabbed through her head, neck and body by Shinobu. Not like she didn't deserve it, though.
- Dies Wide Open: She died with her eyes open after being poisoned by Shinobu.
- Dirty Coward: This is her defining characteristic. She will screw over and kill anyone who poses a threat to her survival, all while claiming to be the victim.
- Dragon Their Feet: She's the final surviving member of the spider family, and is killed a few minutes after Rui.
- The Farmer and the Viper: In the anime, "Elder Sister" treated her with kindness and offered to escape Rui's "family" with her, so how does the "Daughter" repay her? By selling her out to Rui for her own survival and getting her killed in the process.
- Hate Sink: Possibly even more so than the Father and Brother Spider Demons. The "Daughter" was shown to be a Dirty Coward who also took a lot of pleasure in hurting a lot of people, despite her claims of simply obeying Rui's orders. The anime further fuels the hatred towards her, since she would betray the "Elder Sister", who offer to help her escape Rui's "family", showing that she's willing to screw anyone over just for her own survival. Because of her nasty personality, many would take great pleasure in seeing her finally biting the dust by the hands of Shinobu.
- Just Following Orders: To survive when cornered by Shinobu, she claims that while she killed humans, she only did so because Rui commanded her to do so. While this is technically true, the amount of satisfaction she took in their deaths, not to mention that she lied about her true victim count to make herself look more innocent, caused Shinobu to show her no mercy.
- Losing Your Head: When most of the Spider Family has been taken out, she asks Rui what they should do, and he non-lethally beheads her for failing to keep the Demon Slayers from coming up the mountain and tells her to go take them out. She runs away to perform her task, carrying her head in her arms.
- Lost in Translation: The official English translation pits her as just the "Daughter" Spider Demon, while the Japanese original is clear about her role being that of the "Big Sister".
- The One Who Wears Shoes: She's the only members of the Spider Family who wears shoes.
- Only Sane Man: She's the only sane demon in the Spider Family. That doesn't make her any more moral than the rest of them.
- Slasher Smile: To serve as a reminder that she isn't as innocent as she seems at first glance, after cocooning Murata, she sports a vicious smile
◊ as she proceeds to gleefully describe to him how he'll be dissolved by her cocoon's acid before she'll feed on his remains. - Tear Off Your Face: During her painful transformation to become a Spider Demon like Rui, he tears her old face off and gives her the one she sports in the present.
- Tempting Fate: After Shinobu slashes her with the Butterfly Dance technique, the Daughter realizes the Hashira isn't strong enough to behead her, and thinks "There's someone I can still defeat!" A few seconds later, she falls over dead from the poison on Shinobu's blade.
Spider Demon (Father)
Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (Japanese), Kellen Goff (English)Other VA
A Demon who played the role of father from the Spider Family.
- Butterface: Male example, his body is rather muscular and attractive, but he has a monstrous spider-like visage. Subverted when he sheds his skin and becomes even more monstrous.
- Disc-One Final Boss: The Spider Demon Family is structured with him as a figurehead of sorts, a role imposed on him, and Tanjiro at first wonders if he is a Twelve Kizuki member, until he dies; Rui, the one who imposed that role on him, is revealed to be the true leader of the pack thereby taking the stage as the true main villain of the Natagumo Mountain Arc.
- Domestic Abuse: He often abused and hurt "Mother" when she got on his bad side for not following the role she was given.
- Dumb Muscle: He's a hulking giant with extremely tough skin, but he also has an extremely simple and barbaric personality that it's implied that Rui lobotomized him.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In a way. When "Father" is attacking Tanjiro and Inosuke, he often shouts at the two to "stay away from [his] family" when "Daughter" calls out to him.
- Full-Frontal Assault: After "Father" received damages from Inosuke, he began to shed off his skin to become bigger, tougher and deadlier leaving him completely naked with no clothes, but no genitalia.
- The Juggernaut: Nothing from either Tanjiro or Inosuke phases him in the slightest. He just continues rampaging in his attempt to kill them. Even when Inosuke finds a technique to cut off one of his arms, he just grows it and Turns Red. Inosuke breaks his swords when he tries again.
- Nightmare Face: Before his proper introduction his face was always covered by his long hair and had a humanoid, sculpted body which implied a human face like the rest of his family. Instead, when he raises his face in front of Tanjiro and Inosuke, he reveals a monstrous spider-like face with multiple eyes, pincers and a perennially-gaping mouth with Scary Teeth.
- Non-Human Head: He has a scary spider head instead of a normal head.
- Red Herring: As the seemingly strongest Demon on the mountain, Tanjiro, Inosuke and the audience are led to believe that "Father" is the Kizuki. Not only is he not an Upper Moon, or even a Lower Moon, Giyu considers him so weak that he pokes fun at Inosuke for thinking that he was.
- Replacement Goldfish: For Rui's human father, who loved him very much, but tried to kill him when he started eating people after becoming a demon, and ended up being killed by him instead.
- Super-Toughness: He has extremely tough skin, to the point that Tanjiro wasn't able to cut off his arm. After he shed his skin off, it becomes even tougher and breaks Inosuke's swords.
- Turns Red: After Inosuke manages to cut off his arm off he shed off his skin to become bigger, tougher and deadlier.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: Like Rui, he's an opponent that's completely out of Tanjiro and Inosuke's league, and only loses to Giyu, one of the Hashira.
- The Worf Effect: Completely overwhelms Inosuke, and so convinces Tanijro that he is the Twelve Kizuki "Mother" that the Spider Mother warned him of. Then he gets easily taken out by Giyu as a demonstration of what a Hashira is capable of.
Spider Demons (Other Siblings)
Elder Sister voiced by: Kanae Itō (Japanese), Jennie Kwan (English)Other VA
Top: Eldest Sister.
Below: the other three unnamed spider demon siblings.
Below: the other three unnamed spider demon siblings.
The unseen Demons who played the older and younger siblings from the Spider Family.
- Alas, Poor Villain: It is unclear how bad "eldest sister" was, although, as a demon, she most likely have killed and eaten people in the past. However, her ultimate fate is still portrayed tragically, as in her sole onscreen appearance, she simply wanted to help the one person she truly regarded as a younger sister, only for said "sister" to sell her out to Rui. As Rui strung her up to be burned by sunlight, she could only shed a Single Tear, likely due to being heartbroken by her "sister"'s betrayal, before she burned to ash.
- Ambiguously Evil: It is unknown how much malevolence they possessed back in the day when they were still a part of Rui's family, which is especially emphasized with the "eldest sister"'s sole onscreen appearance. As demons, let alone "relatives" of the Lower Rank 5, they must have killed a plenty of humans, whether it be under his orders or otherwise, yet in the flashback, the "eldest sister" was depicted as one of the kindest among their kin (although it's not too high of a bar to reach), showing genuine compassion to the "older sister" demon and offering to run away from Rui's abuse together with her, only to be betrayed in turn.
- Canon Foreigner: This expanded family is introduced in the anime to better show Rui's desire to mimic a family and its members and also to dive deeper into his inherent cruelty to those who try to get away from his fabricated reality.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: This is how the "eldest sister" meets her end after being tortured and burnt to death via being exposed to sunlight. It's implied the other three unnamed "siblings" seen in the "older sister's" flashback share the same fate as her at some point.
- The Ghost: The other spider demons were only mentioned by "older sister" and had a small cameo in Rui's flashback in the manga. However, they are given a proper appearance in the anime adaption.
- Like Brother and Sister: According to the "eldest sister", she sees the "older sister" she befriended as her true family before the "older sister" betrayed her.
- Nice Girl: The "eldest sister" was the only kind demon who didn't abuse her "older sister." She offered her to escape with her.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The "eldest sister" displayed a genuine kindness demons almost never show to others by offering the "older sister" to escape with her so that the two could live free of Rui's abuse. How was she rewarded for that? The "sister" she wanted to save betrayed her, sold her out to Rui, and the "eldest sister" ended up meeting her end by being burned on the sunlight.
- Single Tear: The "eldest sister" shed a single tear before she burnt to death after being exposed to sunlight.
- The Speechless: The other three unnamed siblings seen in the "older sister"'s flashback never talked.
- Token Good Teammate: Eldest Sister had a very large heart for a demon, considering that she wanted to take the newly inducted "elder sister" and escape from Rui to go off and live freely together.
The Final Opponent
The True King of Demons (Unmarked Spoilers)
