Crafting Hikan

If you're reading this, a special thank you! This is a special analysis of Hikan's character and I'm very happy that some of you find his character intriguing enough to read it. This analysis will take you through my thoughts as Hikan's creator and help you see why he's a good antagonist for Naruto among other things.

The idea

The seeds were planted for an original character to enter the universe when I created the alliance between the Rain and the Sound. I knew that Orochimaru would be the leader of the Sound, but the Rain also needed a leader. I wanted to create an antagonist to lead the Rain because I'd always thought it would be fun to create a villain. As a result, I had already watched a lot of videos that talked about how to create a good villain/antagonist. During this story, I revisited those videos frequently.

Question 1: Which villains inspired Hikan?

Hikan was not inspired by any villain in particular. I created him from scratch with no particular villain in mind. Let me explain. When creating Hikan, I did some research into how to create a good villain. Mostly through Youtube videos. It became clear that the protagonist (Naruto) and the antagonist (Hikan) need to come into conflict throughout the story. The question is how will they come into conflict. From a storytelling perspective, there are three ways that I considered using to bring Naruto and Hikan into conflict.

1) The protagonist has a goal and the antagonist gets in the way of that goal. For example, Thanos in Avengers Infinity War has a goal. He wants to kill half of the universe's population because he believes that the universe needs correction. He is an unusual protagonist, but he is still a protagonist because the story follows his quest. Avengers Infinity War is not about the Avengers, it's about Thanos. Thanos' actions in Infinity War are based on a comic called Thanos Quest (Which would've been a more accurate title for the movie). In this case, the protagonist has a personal stake while the antagonist doesn't necessarily have one.

2) The antagonist has a goal and the protagonist gets in the way of that goal. Any antagonist that wants something generically evil fits this description. For example, Dr. Eggman wants to take over the world and build his Eggman empire. However, he cannot do that because of Sonic's constant interference. There are many other examples of villains having protagonists in their way. This happens in Avengers Endgame because instead of following Thanos' story, the movie follows the actions of the Avengers. In other words, the Avengers become the protagonists and Thanos becomes the antagonist. In this case, the antagonist has a personal stake while the protagonist doesn't necessarily have one. Because the events of Endgame are so unusual and complex, the Avengers also have a personal stake in this case, so they begin to compete for the same goal. They want to restore and save the universe while Thanos wants to destroy it and rebuild.

3) The protagonist and the antagonist are competing for the same goal. This is the most complex relationship and breeds the most conflict. This is the relationship between the Batman and the Joker in The Dark Knight. Both of them are competing for the soul of Gotham. Batman wants to create a Gotham with Law and Order because he wants to see Gotham rise from its terrible state. Joker wants to create a Gotham with Chaos because he believes that deep down everyone is like him. In this case, both the protagonist and the antagonist have a very personal stake in the conflict.

I decided to go with the third option because I thought it would be the most compelling and interesting. Because of this choice, I asked myself, "What is Naruto's goal?" Of course he wants to become Hokage, but what does he want to do as Hokage? After thinking about it for a while, I noticed that Naruto wants to do something he's already in the process of doing now. He wants to create a world where there is peace and understanding between all shinobi. After targeting Naruto's goal, I was able to give Hikan a goal that competed with Naruto's goal. This is why Hikan wants the exact opposite - Anarchy. And it is precisely this fact that makes him a great antagonist for Naruto. He is the polar thematic opposite of Naruto. While Naruto wants to see a peaceful shinobi world, Hikan wants to see the shinobi world in a state of anarchy. This breeds MAJOR conflict throughout the story.

As I started examining the relationship between the Naruto and Hikan, I noticed that Naruto was turning out to be like Batman and Hikan was turning out to be like the Joker. Upon further examination, I noticed that this actually made sense. Batman wants to see a better Gotham and Naruto wants to see a better shinobi world. Since Naruto and Batman have similar things that they want to do, if the villains are created with the protagonists goal in mind, they will be similar.

Question 2: Why is Hikan the right villain for Naruto?

To put it simply, Hikan is a great antagonist for Naruto because he pushes him to become better. Note that although Hikan is not physically stronger than Naruto, he is still a serious threat. In most cases, your villain should have more power than your hero, BUT the key to remember here is that their power doesn't necessarily have to be physical. If you continue to create villains with more and more physical power, you risk becoming Dragon Ball. And if that's what you're going for, that's fine. But if you do this, you risk losing some of the substance in your work (Which is what some fans complained about at the end of Shippuden). It's not a problem to give your villain a great amount of physical power, but you don't have to limit them to only having physical power. Hikan has physical power, but the reason he is able to remain a threat throughout the story isn't because of that physical power. It's because he has other types of power. In other words, his power is not only physical. He has an incredible understanding of the human mind which gives him a very high level of power on the mental battlefield. This is why he is able to get into Naruto's head when they first meet, and it is why he is able to throw the shinobi world into a panic. He also has political power. Naruto may be the hero of the war, but Hikan framing Orochimaru then stepping up as the leader of Amegakure gives him a great deal of political power. These other types of power force Naruto to deal with Hikan in a way that he's never had to deal with a villain before. For example, Naruto has to try to use his political power to get answers.

Hikan forces Naruto to improve because he's a problem that Naruto can't solve with his fists. Naruto has to figure out how to solve the problem of Hikan by improving other aspects of his character. Throughout the story, he is forced to grow as a character. For example, he is forced to strengthen his mind after Hikan attacks it so that he is ready if Hikan tries to play more mind games. Another example is when, near the end of the story, he makes Sasuke stay in Konoha to protect it from any surprise attacks. He does this because Hikan exposes a major weakness by attacking while Konoha's heavy hitters are absent. In other words, Hikan forces Naruto to become smarter.

Similarities and differences between Hikan and other villains:

1) The Joker from the Dark Knight - Hikan very closely shares the Joker's ideology; however, he is more direct in his approach. He directly tells Naruto that they're different sides of the same coin. He does not hide his ideology at all. His relationship with Naruto is also a little different from the Joker's relationship with Batman. By the end of the story, Hikan sees Naruto as an opposite. He still wants to prove him wrong, but his attitude towards him changes. Instead of pure hostility, he views Naruto as his extreme opposite and a worthy adversary. This is why he says that they have been improving each other and that he believes they will push each other to be great in their own way.

2) Smallville's Lex Luthor – Hikan's overall demeanor is similar to Lex's in Smallville. He has shown a twisted sense of humor and does occasionally make sarcastic or biting remarks. He is also similar in that he shows an extremely high planning capacity, which both Lex and Joker also have. However, he is different from Lex and Joker. This is because Lex and Joker both try to hide the fact that they control things from behind the scenes. Lex tries to hide his plans behind pure secrecy and subterfuge. Joker tries to hide the fact that he is a master planner by trying to make you believe he does things at random. Hikan is openly a planner and only hides behind being Amegakure's leader to put a wall between him and those who are trying to take him down (Because he lacks physical power). He is confident in his planning abilities and shows a certain cockiness by not caring if you know he's a planner. At the end of the story, this cockiness is his undoing.

3) Naruto's greatest villains (Pain, Madara, Orochimaru, etc.) – I took a look at some of Naruto's most loved villains and tried to put small hints of them in Hikan. If I asked you which Naruto villain you liked the most, you would probably say one of the three villains I stated above. If you think of why these villains were so good, they all have distinct qualities. They all had a high coolness factor (Especially Madara), they all have clear goals (Especially Pain), and they all show some level of cunning (Especially Orochimaru). I tried to incorporate pieces of these qualities into Hikan's character throughout the story.

Question 3: Why is Hikan such an effective villain and why is he entertaining, compelling, fascinating, etc.?

Hikan is able to be all of the things stated above and much more because of one simple fact. That simple fact is that he actually wins. First, he apparently kills Orochimaru. Secondly, he completely outsmarts everyone in Konoha and ends up leaving 50 dead (Permanently). Thirdly, he bombs the Stone killing over 200 people (Permanently). By the time we're at the finale, Hikan has shown that he must be taken seriously. When your villain doesn't do anything significant throughout the story, it's hard for the audience to take him/her seriously. You have to be willing to let your antagonist/villain win sometimes. Hikan wins so often in the story that when you get to the finale, you wonder if he'll win again. By the end of the story, you're thinking, "Maybe the Hot Water or the Sound will turn on each other...or maybe he'll actually succeed in killing Sakura..." And those were very real possibilities. These tense moments are only possible if Hikan is a REAL THREAT.

Please note that the finale wasn't some world-ending event. This is not a requirement to write a finale. When you create a finale where the tension revolves around whether the world will end or not, the audience already knows it's probably not going to end (although it could be an interesting twist if it did lol). Keeping things in a state where the villain or the hero could realistically win creates real suspense. In my story, Hikan could've made the Hot Water or the Sound turn on each other and the world would've kept on spinning. He also could've killed Sakura and the world would've kept on spinning. Hikan's overall ability to seriously threaten the world gives him a certain presence and helps him be a villain that you'll never forget.

Question 4: Why is Hikan irritating and annoying among other things, and why do you at some times just hate his guts?

Hikan is at a lot of times unlikable for one major reason. The reason why he has this effect is because he constantly bests the hero we know and love, Naruto. Throughout the story, Hikan is always one step ahead of everybody, especially Naruto. Since we all love Naruto, seeing him outsmarted constantly is annoying. In general, people want to see those that they love succeed in what they're doing. Hikan constantly defeats Naruto throughout the story which makes us hate his guts at times. This is closely related to why some Naruto fans disliked Boruto at first (and some still dislike him now). After watching Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, fans formed an attachment to the characters in those shows, especially Naruto. Boruto disrespects Naruto, which is why some people still don't like him to this day. Hikan takes this to a different level by constantly antagonizing Naruto throughout the story. He causes Naruto emotional pain throughout the story, and as the story progresses, he does it to an even higher degree. However, the fact that Hikan loses at the end and Naruto wins so greatly makes it worth all the trouble it took to get there.

And that concludes this short analysis! I really enjoyed making it so I hope you all enjoy it as well! Hopefully, it gave you all a look into the method behind Hikan's madness. I really enjoyed creating him as a character and had a lot of fun incorporating him into the story. If you ever plan on doing a story, I hope this helps if you have a villain in mind. I've left his character bio below for reference if anyone is interested.

Hikan Anaki – Character Bio

Character:

Hikan is an extreme pessimist who borders on nihilism. He views the world in an extremely negative light and lives with no rules. He has no morals and will do whatever he needs to do to accomplish his goals and prove that his ideals are correct. He will lie, harm and kill without a second thought, especially if it furthers his cause. He believes that, at their core, all people are like him and enjoys trying to prove this. He enjoys placing people in situations filled with pressure in attempts to reveal something to them or others, usually something related to their true character. He is strongly opposed to Naruto's positive view of the world and constantly tries to prove him wrong. In his vision of what the shinobi world should be, everyone has realized their true state and the world is in a state of anarchy. Because of how he views the world and people, he believes that real peace can never be achieved.

He is acutely aware that Naruto is more powerful than him and enjoys creating situations where his power is worthless.

He also has an incredible understanding of the human mind, which allows him to manipulate people relatively easily.

His past is unknown, although it is implied that it played a great part in making him who he is today. His clan has its roots in Amegakure; however, it is not known what became of his clan, or if any of them are still alive. He never speaks of his past or his clan. As a result, a lot of people who know him, think of him as someone who's come out of nowhere.

Character design:

Clan - Anaki Clan

Hikan wears combat armor and has never been seen in anything else. His combat armor is usually all or mostly black in color. The symbol on his back is the emblem for the Anaki clan.

Inside the author's mind:

When creating Hikan, I gave him a name that directly points to his ideology. His first name (Hikan) is taken from the Japanese word that translates to pessimism and his last name (Anaki) is taken from the first part of the Japanese word that translates to Anarchist, alluding to his vision of the shinobi world.

Hikan's clan emblem was also designed with his ideology in mind. If you look closely, you will see that it is an upside down house, alluding to his general desire for disorder.

Abilities:

Classification – Sensory Type

Hikan has unusually high chakra reserves. They aren't on the same level as Naruto's, but they are sizable compared to most shinobi.

Hikan's Sharingan has all of the basic abilities of the Sharingan. He has used it to learn many jutsu and continues to do so.

His Rinnegan has all of the basic abilities of a Rinnegan. He has grown accustomed to it and has shown a proficiency for using it in battle.

His high chakra reserves allow him to leave both of his eyes open without him being too exhausted by them. It would save him a sizable amount of chakra if he covered at least one of them, but he prefers not to cover them because he's found that people are intimidated by them, a fact that he fully takes advantage of.

A special ability of his Rinnegan allows him to push his astral form out of his body. He can travel to wherever he wants while his body remains in a sleeplike state. While in his astral form, he can fly and his speed is drastically increased since he has no physical body. If at any point he wishes to return to his body, his return is instantaneous. He can sense when his body is in danger and will immediately return to defend himself. This technique is a severe chakra drain and will result in the temporary loss of his ability to use his Rinnegan.

Hikan can also push other people's astral forms out of their body. Using this ability on an ordinary shinobi will only have a temporary effect. The affected shinobi will return to their body within a few seconds. However, if he uses this technique with all of his might, he could kill someone by pushing them so hard that they are permanently separated from their body, effectively killing them. This technique is not as draining as pushing his own astral form out of his body, but he does lose a significant amount of chakra whenever he uses it.