With subtle mannerisms, a captivating aura, and deathly powers – Muzan has everything a fan could ask for in their antagonist. From what we know, he has one goal: finding the Blue Spider Lily.
Muzan is an intriguing character, to say the least. And not just because of his uncanny resemblance to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. He’s a formidable foe to the demon slayers.
For a person as calm and calculated as Muzan to be madly searching for a flower – that ticked my investigator bug. So, I did what any sane person would do. I read the Demon Slayer manga last weekend.
If you’re in a hurry, here’s a quick answer:
Blue Spider Lily is a rare flower that Kibutsuji Muzan is searching for to complete the medication left by his ex-doctor, who tried to cure Muzan’s terminal illness. The half-baked medicine cured his illness but rendered him a demon. Now, Muzan wants to complete the cure and embrace his immortality.
What is Blue Spider Lily in Demon Slayer?
I know you’re not as dumb as me, but if you’re confused, it’s not the flower found at the Demon Slayer HQ mansion. That’s Wisteria.
The Blue Spider Lily is a rare flower in the Demon Slayer universe that’s almost impossible to find. It only blooms under sunlight, that too only 2-3 times every year. And that posed a challenge for Muzan as demons can’t roam around in the sunlight.
With an incomplete medication, it gave rise to the Original Demon – Muzan – and, if perhaps administered to its full dosage, can help spawn demons with the perfect immortal body resistant to the sun.
At the end of the story, nearly 100 years after Muzan dies, Aoba Hashibira, a botanist-researcher, locates the evasive flowers. Still, they all wither and die due to a mistake during an experiment.
As a consequence, the demon race is abrogated. So, the actual properties of the Blue Spider Lily will always remain a mystery.
Why does Muzan want the Blue Spider Lily?
To do so, I need to first explain his terminal illness.
Muzan is searching for the Blue Spider Lily to gain freedom during the day. While the Demon King is immortal, he can’t go out in the sun. Therefore, he’s looking for Blue Spider Lily and a sun-resistant demon body (preferably from Yoriichi lineage).
In chapter 127 of the manga, Muzan’s backstory reveals that he needs the Blue Spider Lily to conquer his weakness or a demon who can resist the sun so he can absorb their power.
In the Heian Period, Muzan was a mere mortal before he was turned into a demon. Muzan had been told he would die at 20 due to an unknown disease.
A kind, munificent doctor takes him in and treats him with an experimental medication derived from the mysterious Blue Spider Lily.
But the drug, being a prototype, is slow to show its effects. Angered by his declining condition, he kills the doctor who had saved his life.
After the doctor is slain, Muzan realizes the medicine has been working. But since he hadn’t completed the entire dosage, Muzan’s treatment is incomplete.
He realizes he is helpless and vulnerable in sunlight, and merely stepping out in the afternoon could disintegrate his body.
The doctor had been the only person who knew the whereabouts of the Blue Spider Lily. Muzan makes it his life’s aim to look for it to gain total immortality and immunity against the sun.
Does Muzan find the Blue Spider Lily?
Muzan never finds the Blue Spider Lily. He is left fearing the sun and fearing death, the Blue Spider Lily forever out of his grasp.
The flower only blooms during daylight, 2-3 days a year. With Muzan only able to roam the earth in the dark of night, he can never find it.
This only goes to show what a tragedy Muzan’s character is. Had he not given in to rage and desperation, he would have completed the treatment the doctor offered him and become the ultimate demon.
Subsequently, if Muzan were perhaps less impulsive and more patient, he could have devised a way for a human to get the Blue Spider Lily for him since demons cannot bear being under broad sunlight.
About Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotoge. Its publication in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump began in February 2016 and ended in May 2020 with 23 collected tankōbon volumes.
In a world filled with demons and demon slayers, Kimetsu no Yaiba follows the lives of two siblings Tanjiro and Nezuko Kamado after— the murder of their family at the hands of a demon. Their hardship does not end there, as Nezuko’s life is spared only for her to live as a demon.
As the oldest sibling, Tanjiro vows to protect and cure his sister. The story traces the bond of this brother-sister or better yet, demon slayer and demon combo against the odds of an arch antagonist and the society.
No Comments on Why is Muzan looking for the Blue Spider Lily in Demon Slayer?