#7. Hattori

Lore

Demon Bride

The night is freezing
I sense the spear-bearer nearing.
It gets colder still.

– Verse 761 of Sokan's One Thousand Verses on the Demon Hattori


"A half-demon ninja who sold her soul to the devil? Well that's one, frankly rather negative, way of looking at it."

– Hattori

As the story goes...

Young Hattori was so gifted with the sword that the emperor offered a prize of one thousand horses to anyone who could defeat her. For years, new warriors came to court every day only to be defeated. But on the day the Demon Kagima arrived to challenge her, Hattori sensed his malevolent power and fled. Enraged, the Demon kidnapped Hattori's three sisters and carried them away to his island kingdom.

Horrified by the consequences of her actions, Hattori built a boat out of reeds and pursued the Demon. She was lost at sea until a stork lord showed her the passages between the twilight and the night to the Demon's realm. There Hattori found a bizarre world of talking stones and eight-armed ferrymen. In the City of the Onyx Castle, she met Kagima's own brother, who offered to give Hattori his strength to defeat his brother, in return for her hand in marriage.

True to his word, the Demon exchanged his own blood with Hattori's, and Hattori slew Kagima and freed her sisters. She became Queen of the Island Kingdom, but the demon blood burned in her. It drove Hattori to wander the twilight passages until she discovered Valhalla. Through the eternal tournament, Hattori slakes the lust for battle that threatens to consume her.

Connections

• Azoth asks her to take care of his cat, Dander, whenever he is gone from Valhalla
• Fait's vision of Zothkhan (Azoth) retrieving his beloved cat from its demon caretaker (Hattori) helped her defeat him
• Her demon husband (Kagima's brother) was slain by Koji
• One of few legends deemed worthy of direct address with Lord Vraxx

Context

Hattori seems to be modeled after the "ninja" archetype. Believe it or not, Hattori was named after a real ninja warrior: Hattori Hanzo! This historical figure has been portrayed in popular culture several times, and has even been reimagined as a female character! Huh. Did not expect that!

Ninja warriors are specifically from feudal Japan (also, two of Hattori's skins are inspired by Kill Bill films and kabuki theater, both associated with Japan as well). Historical ninjas existed in the 15th century, well within the time period of feudal Japan (about 1185 to 1868 AD).

Modern culture often uses the word shinobi for male ninjas, and kunoichi for female ninjas. However, any sources that reference the Bansenshukai (considered to be the definitive, historical record on ninja training and tactics) point out that kunoichi technically refers to any spy (male or female, but usually female) who used deception and intimacy to gain information about or from a certain target. Hattori is clearly not a kunoichi in this sense. Many people (Japanese included) still tend to use the word to mean female ninja, even if it is technically incorrect. Some sources even suggest that female ninja warriors (or female warriors in general) were quite rare at the time. If this is true, it would make sense for the emperor (who was possibly her father, since suitors had to approach the court to fight her) to offer such a large prize to any man who could best her in combat (possibly subduing her into domestic life?).

Ninja warriors and spies didn't typically dress in the black garb we usually associate with them. They would often dress as innocuous farmers when they needed someone to observe, or have men and women dress as servants and maidens for espionage missions. All black would make sense for stealthy travel, however.

The ninja of feudal Japan used both swords and spears. They usually used swords called ninjato, and spears called yari. Because Hattori clearly demonstrates proficiency in both weapons, she is clearly a master of both ninjutsu (ninja fighting style) and sojutsu (fighting with a yari).