This article is about the Manga version of the Demons. For alternate pages referred to by this name, please click any of the icons above.
This species of unknown classification, called Demons by the children, Man-Eaters by Yugo, Monsters by the Goldy Pond Resistance and simply referred to as Them by Sister Krone, is comprised of tall humanoids with monstrous appearances and appear as the main antagonists in the cattle children's eyes. They are the dominant species in the "Demon World" and run the Factory Farms and Premium Farms.
History
It is currently unknown how the "Demons" got to Earth or if they even originated there. Norman theorizes that they originally resembled bacteria, and began to eat and take on the traits of animals and eventually humans.[1] The Demon species has evolved to take on the appearance and intelligence of whatever creature they consume. They want to be as smart as possible so they choose to eat human meat to be as smart as humans. However, they must eat it often or risk degenerating back into a mindless Wild Demon.
According to Sonju, as the "Demons" preyed on ancient humans, some of the humans began to fight back. After countless deaths and wars, a pact known as the "Promise" was formed between the "Demons" and the Ratri Clan. Per the agreement, the human and Demon worlds were split in two, where neither was allowed to cross nor hunt each other. The Ratri Clan left an unknown amount of humans in the Demon World, stranded with no way to escape, to become livestock for the demons in order to maintain peace in the Human World. Thus the farm system was formed via a loophole, as the demons were not hunting them.
The wealthy and high ranking Demons are served the highest quality human meat from the Premium Farms which results in them gaining the high intelligence of the humans from those farms. On the other hand, Demon civilians are served low quality human meat from the Factory Farms which results in them gaining the low intelligence of the humans from those farms. The wealthy and high ranking Demons take advantage of this and use the civilians lower intelligence to control them and thus rely heavily on the farm system to keep their power and control over everyone else.
Hierarchy
Rank | Status | Members |
---|---|---|
Top | Deities and the Royal Family | Gods, King, Queen, Princes, Princesses, etc. |
Second | Aristocrats | Nobles, Poachers, Five Regent Families, Some Heathens, etc. |
Third | Commoners | Residents of Demon Villages/Civilians, Farm Demons, Tame Demons, Most Heathens, etc. |
Bottom | Those below that | Wild Demons, Demon Animals, etc.[2] |
Types of Demons
Village Demons
Village Demons are small to large sized beings with human appearances and features. Some have degenerated due to human meat being too expensive and scarce. They wear standard civilian clothes and basic gray masks covering their faces to protect their middle eye from harm. They have a human-like physique, walk on two legs and know languages, but have rather low intelligence due to only being able to consume human meat from the Factory Farms.
Farm Demons
Farm Demons are the demons who work at the Premium Farms and Factory Farms raising human livestock for other demons to consume. Working at a farm is a prestigious job for demons as it pays extremely well. Their income depends on the farm they work for, with the highest grade farms paying the most and the Factory Farms paying the least. However, Factory Farm jobs still have a higher salary and authority than other jobs.[3]
The Farm Demons are all tall beings that have long, pointy faces with dozens of eyes. Like all intelligent demons, they also wear masks to protect their middle eye from harm. They have a mouth with sharp canines and a long tongue. They have long arms, six elongated fingers, and long sharp nails. They each have four limbs and walk on two legs. Some of these demons have been seen wearing a set of tubes connected to their masks. It is currently unknown what purpose this is for, if it serves any purpose at all. All farm demons so far have been seen wearing black cloaks.
Tame Demons
Tame demons appear to be demons which bear the most resemblance to the Wild Demons (with the exception of having four legs instead of six legs). However, unlike the wild demons, tame demon are not feral and are intelligent enough to have jobs and learn languages. They wear masks with two long horns on the forehead to protect their middle eye from harm, but do not wear clothes. They have very muscular upper bodies with slender lower bodies, hunched backs and walk on their hands and feet similar to gorillas. They are also extremely large and tower over adult humans. They can even fit an adult human in the palm of their hand.
Heathens
Due to possessing the "Evil Blood", the Heathens do not need to eat human meat in order to maintain their human-like form and intelligence. They are also not affected by the new things they eat. As a result, the Heathens appear to have the most human-like looks compared to the other types of demons— they each have four limbs and walk on two legs. They wear clothes mainly consisting of cloaks, capes, pants, dresses and robes. They can also be seen wielding weapons such as spears. Just like the farm Demons and Poachers, the Heathens are polydactyly-like, with six fingers on each hand. Like all intelligent demons, they also wear masks to protect their middle eye from harm consisting of two vertically place eye holes for them to see through.
Heathens are specifically known for their religious beliefs of not eating humans. As a result, they are ostracized from Demon societies and are wanted by the Queen. Thus, the "Heathens" live life on the run, hiding wherever possible and never staying in one place for too long. The "Heathens" also seek to help starving and less fortunate Demons by offering their blood to anyone who wants or needs it.
Poachers
Poachers are among the wealthiest kind of demons with all of them being either Royals or Nobles. Due to their high-ranking status, they have very prestigious attires. Like all intelligent demons, the Poachers also wear masks to protect their middle eye from harm. Poachers appear to have three long fingers on each hand, dozens of eyes underneath their masks, tall slender bodies and quick reflexes. They also seem to be really fast, showing this with their exceptional abilities and skills.
These demons buy or steal humans from the Premium Farms and hunt them in the secret reserve Goldy Pond. Aristocrat Bayon hunts for fun while Grand Duke Leuvis hunts for excitement. After each hunt, the Poachers return to their homes and eat the meat of the children they just killed, with the meat nicely chopped into pieces shaped like steak.[4]
Wild Demons
Being the least human-like than their other counterparts, the Wild Demons, also called Man-Eaters or Wildlings, crawl on six legs, have numerous eyes and are completely unclothed. They are the most uncivilized demons and behave in a ferocious and violent way. Wild Demons live in forests and will attack, kill and eating anything they can. Other than Demon Animals, they are the only type of demons that do not wear masks. They move in packs and also appear to be the largest of the species. A Wild Demon can be killed quite easily if a human is an experienced demon killer like Emma, Ray and Yugo, for example, making Wild Demons weaker then their tamed counterparts. They are also the least intelligent demons due to never being able to regularly consume meat of any kind. Wild Demons do not have jobs or speak languages, although they can let out an ear-piercing scream to signal to its surrounding allies. Wild Demons rank at the bottom of the social hierarchy along with the Demon Animals.
Royal and Noble Demons
Just like the Poachers and Heathens, demons who are members of nobility or royalty have a rather human-like physique and very tall stature. Being the wealthiest kind of demons, they wear very prestigious and exquisite clothes and masks to protect their middle eye from harm made of expensive materials and jewelry. They are also the most intelligent and human-like demons due to being able to regularly consume human meat from the Premium Farms.
Demon Animals
Because Demons have evolved to take on the characteristics and intelligence of whatever meat they consume, there are many Demons that resemble animals, both in appearance and intelligence. Demons who eat a variety of different meats take on a variety of different characteristics from different animals. Some of the most common Demon Animals have characteristics and appearances similar to horses, insects, birds, fish, monkeys, rodents, reptiles and arachnids. It can be assumed that Demon Animals do not regularly consume human meat as they do not usually have human-like characteristics and they tend to have relatively low intelligence compared to other Demons. Much like the Wild Demons, Demon Animals do not wears clothes or masks. They also do not speak languages or have jobs. Some of them are kept as pets by more intelligent Demons. Due to all of this, Demon Animals rank at the bottom of the social hierarchy along with the Wild Demons.
Deities
Demons have several religions and worship multiple Gods. However, the only deities they worship that are confirmed to be real are and the Cuvitidala Dragon. Currently, little is known about their history and origin, but they are known to reside in a special dimension which is parallel to the Demon World. Being deities, and the Cuvitidala Dragon are known to possess God-like powers and abilities. is also the absolute ruler of all demons and is shown to be willing to make deals with humans (known as "Promises") which can radically change the world, but requires a specific payment in return, consisting of the thing that is most important to them. Every year the demons offer their best human livestock from the Premium Farms, to as tribute during a holiday called Tifari.
Powers and Abilities
Anthropomorphism: For anthropomorphic demons, similar to humans, they can walk on two legs and speak the human language. Several anthropomorphic demons are often seen equipped with weapons, such as spears and daggers, which they use to hunt humans and even their own kind.
Language: The demons have their own native language and alphabet which is pronounceable by humans. However, the demon language is rarely spoken by demons anymore as most demons choose to speak human languages instead. This is because the demon language was originally connected to the "primitive faith". Since the abolishment of the "primitive faith" most demons want their language to be separate from it. Another reason for the decline of the demon language is because the general intelligence of demons has fallen.[3] The demons automatically acquire human languages by eating humans and taking a human-like form, so they do not even have to study human languages to learn them.[5]
Ear-piercing Scream: A Wild Demon can let out an ear-piercing scream to signal to its surrounding allies.
High pain tolerance: Demons appear to have a rather high tolerance to pain. This is shown when Leuvis is electrocuted and shot several times, but he did not appear to be in much (if any) pain. Other demons have been known to lose their limbs or sustain other injuries and seemingly feel no pain from it, possibly due to their quick ability to heal and regenerate.
Long lifespan: Demons are capable of living for over 1,000 years.
Invulnerability: Wild demons are shown to be rather invulnerable to physical attacks unless they are aimed at their eyes, which is considered their weak spot. Similarly, during the fight, Emma, Ray, Nigel and Violet had with Leuvis, the team successfully shot and broke Leuvis' mask, but the demon himself remained unhurt.
Regeneration: Demons can quickly heal any of their wounds, injuries or amputated body parts, except for their middle eye. Regeneration usually happens very quickly, but it has a limit and the more often it is done, the slower it becomes.
Assimilation: Demons can be consumed by other demons, resulting in the two minds of the demons merging and acting like one.[6]
Height: Many demons are extremely tall with some being over 540cm (17.7ft). The height of a demon often corresponds with their status, with the wealthy and high ranking demons being the tallest and most village demons being about as tall as an adult human. However, this is not always the case, as tame demons and farm demons are also known to be extremely tall.
Enhanced Strength: Demons have been known to posses superhuman strength. This is shown when Leuvis is able to break through a wall at Goldy Pond and tear a house down with nothing but his bare hands.
Enhanced Speed & Reflexes: Many demons have been known to posses superhuman speed and reflexes. This is shown when Leuvis was able to catch the axe that Emma threw at high velocity before it stabbed his comrade's eye in the nick of time. Later when Emma ambushed Leuvis by firing dozens of bullets at him from different angles, not a single bullet impaled Leuvis as he managed to dodge and catch them all. Wild demons are also shown to be physically adept (and possibly more so than their civilized counterparts) as they are capable of running, pouncing onto their prey, and climbing up trees at great speed.
Evolution: Demons are capable of rapidly evolving by obtaining the characteristics of whatever meat they consume, which is how many have gained sapience.[7]
Evil Blood: Demons who have this blood can retain the characteristics and sapience of humans without needing to consume them. Some demons are born with this blood, but other demons can acquire it by ingesting the blood of someone who already has it.
Cores: In order for a Demon to be killed, their "core" must broken which is what ends their life. However, some Demons are born with a special ability that allows them to have two "cores" meaning that once they die they are essentially resurrected via their second "core" and once their first "core" is broken, their second "core" takes over, which is the resurrected one. This is an extremely rare ability that is only known to occasionally occur in members of the Demon Royal Family. The only known Demons to have two "cores" are Legravalima and Leuvis.
High Intelligence: The wealthy and high ranking Demons are served the highest quality human meat from the Premium Farms which results in them gaining the high intelligence of the humans from those farms.
Weaknesses
Middle Eye: The middle eye leads to a demons' "core" and thus is their only known lethal vulnerability. The anthropomorphic demons always wear protective masks that largely conceal their faces with the exception of an eye-hole on their mask's top and bottom, respectively. However, their mask protectively hides their middle eye because once this eye is destroyed the demon dies. Though there are some exceptions in the Royal Family; Both Legravalima and Leuvis are known to possess an extraordinarily rare secondary "core" separate from their central eye that allows them to survive after the destruction of their first "core".
Devolution: Demons must continue to eat meat in order to retain their current characteristics, abilities and intelligence. If they go too long without eating certain meats, they will lose the characteristics, abilities and intelligence of the creatures they are no longer eating. If they go too long without eating meat of any kind they will degenerate back into mindless, wild demons. As a result of consuming low-quality factory farm meat for 1000 years, the ability to maintain a human-like form has deteriorated for inferior demons, and even a period of six months without eating meat could cause them to lose their characteristics and intelligence and return to the wild.[8] Degeneration is extremely feared and abhorred by demon society and is often viewed as a fate worse than death. Demons can be made immune to this weakness by ingesting the "Evil Blood".[9]
Low Intelligence: Demon civilians are served low quality human meat from the Factory Farms which results in them gaining the low intelligence of the humans from those farms. The wealthy and high ranking Demons take advantage of this and use the civilians lower intelligence to control them and thus rely heavily on the farm system to keep their power and control over everyone else.
Vision: Despite being able to quickly regenerate most other parts of their body, Leuvis states that demons' ocular nerves are highly sensitive and difficult to regenerate. Because of this, if a demon's eyes are damaged, such as with a flash bomb, they take a very long time to recover their vision.[10]
Diet
The Demons will eat pretty much anything that they can scavenge or kill. Wealthy and high ranking Demons eat high quality human livestock from the Premium Farms, while poor Demons and Demon civilians eat the low quality human livestock from the Factory Farms. While the Demons largely consume human meat, they also eat a variety of other foods most of which is fantastical and exclusively found in the Demon World.
Demons also eat a multitude of things familiar to humans including: chicken, nuts, jarred preservatives, sausage, grains, grapes, apples, pears, oranges, peaches, papaya, pumpkin, mangoes, bananas, bread, wine, blood, flowers, fish, birds, monkeys, horses, rodents, reptiles, cats and large insects and arachnids.[11][12][13] Many of these animals, fruits and vegetables were most likely left behind by humans when the world was split into two, allowing Demons to cultivate them. In the over 1,000 years since the "Promise" was enacted, some of these plants and animals have evolved or been mutated to become slightly different such as being larger in size.
Every year, the Demons offer the highest premium-quality human meat to during a celebration called Tifari.[14]
It is later revealed that Demons eat humans not simply because they enjoy it, but because they need to. Demons take on the characteristics and intelligence of whatever animals they consume, which is why they vary widely in appearance, size, intelligence, and abilities. This explains why some are more like predatory animals, and others are sentient humanoids. If a Demon goes too long without eating humans, it gradually loses its human-like sentience as well as re-assuming more animistic forms. Demons only take on the characteristics of the meat they eat. They are unaffected by the plants they eat. They are also unaffected by what they drink (unless it's blood).
It is also common for Demons to eat other Demons. The wild Demons do this because of their animalistic tendency to eat anything. The intelligent Demons do it to help them maintain their intelligence and appearance. Despite possessing the "Evil Blood", the Royal Family and the Five Regent Families still choose to eat humans because they enjoy the taste and to keep up appearances around other Demons who are unaware that they possess it.
Fashion
Not all demons wear clothes, but those who do tend to wear long robes with baggy sleeves and high collars, hooded cloaks that obscure most of their bodies, loincloths, pants with belts, dresses, furs, ponchos with tassels, scarfs and capes. Very few demons wear shoes or hats. The wealthy and high-ranking demons wear very extravagant clothes made of expensive materials, chains, feathers and jewelry to reflect their wealth and status.
All intelligent demons wear masks to protect their middle eye. Most demon civilians wear a gray mask with two vertically placed eye holes and one small horn on each side of the forehead. Although, some wear a mask with a single small horn in the middle of the forehead instead. The wealthy and high-ranking demons wear complex, exquisite and heavy masks with long horns and multiple eye holes. None of the wild demons wear clothes or masks.
Religion
There are several religions that demons practice, although many of the specifics and creeds to these religions are unclear. There are numerous priests and religious Temples throughout the Demon World and faith is apart of many demon's everyday lives.
The religion that the Heathens follow is known as the "primitive faith" and is over 1000 years old. Followers of this faith worship several Gods and believe all life, including the lives of humans, is sacred and created by the Gods. They also believe it is morally wrong to eat farmed humans, but that it is acceptable to eat humans that were born in the wild. The Gupna ritual also originates from this faith as it is believed that if the Vida blooms after killing its victim, the Gods have accepted the meal and only then can the Demons proceed on eating it. It is also traditional for followers of this faith to pray before eating and thank the Gods for their food.
The "primitive faith" from 1000 years ago has since been abolished and many of the sacred Temples for it have long since been abandoned, which is why it is now called the "primitive faith". In the 1000 years since then, the faith began to evolve and became recognized differently among the Royals, Aristocrats, and the civilians (such as adopting the belief that 'it's not okay to eat farmed humans'), but some remnants of the old faith still remain and some parts of it are still practiced such as the Gupna ritual. This is also why the many Temples all look similar, because they originally came from the "primitive faith".[3] The Temple where the great priests were enshrined was for the "primitive faith".
Another religion that the demons follow worships and the Cuvitidala Dragon as deities. Not much is known about this faith other than that Cuvitidala was originally constructed as a sacred shrine where demons would come to worship Him, but the site has long since been abandoned and fallen into ruins. Cuvitidala was originally built in the shape of the dragon's eye because it was believed that the dragon's eye saw everything. Ancient demons used to visit Cuvitidala to make shrines and leave offerings to Him, and in return, He would give them a vision of anything they wanted to see.[15] One aspect of this faith that still remains is the annual Tifari celebration, in which the demons offer their best human livestock from the Premium Farms, to Him as tribute.
Anime and Manga Differences
Live Action and Manga Differences
Known Demons
Name | Title | Type | Status |
Him | Demon "God" | Alive | |
Mujika | Queen | Heathen/Royalty | Alive |
Sonju | Lord | Heathen/Royalty | Alive |
Leuvis | Grand Duke | Poacher/Royalty | Alive |
Palvus | None | Poacher/Monkey | Alive |
Legravalima | Queen | Royalty | Deceased |
The Former King | King | Royalty | Deceased |
Bayon | Lord | Poacher/Noble | Deceased |
Nous | None | Poacher/Noble | Deceased |
Nouma | None | Poacher/Noble | Deceased |
Luce | None | Poacher/Noble | Deceased |
Geelan | Lord | Noble | Deceased |
Dozza | Aristocrat | Five Regent Families | Deceased |
Bayon II | Lord | Five Regent Families | Deceased |
Yverk | Duke | Five Regent Families | Deceased |
Noum | Aristocrat | Five Regent Families | Deceased |
Pupo | Aristocrat | Five Regent Families | Deceased |
Former Lord Noum | Lord | Five Regent Families | Deceased |
Lady Bayon | Lady | Five Regent Families | Deceased |
Bayon II's child | Aristocrat | Five Regent Families/Child | Deceased |
Bayon II's baby | Aristocrat | Five Regent Families/Child | Deceased |
Luce's servants | None | Demon Civilians | Deceased |
Bayon's servants | None | Demon Civilians | Deceased |
Geelan's Clan | None | Nobles/Demon Civilians | Deceased |
The Noum Clan | Aristocrats | Nobles | Deceased |
Grace Field Boss Demon | Boss | Demon Civilian/Farm Demon | Alive |
Ayshe's father | None | Demon Civilian/Farm Demon | Deceased |
The Pursuer | None | Demon Civilian/Farm Demon | Deceased |
Cuvitidala Dragon | None | Dragon/Deity | Alive |
Mawla | None | Demon Civilian/Child | Alive |
Awla | None | Demon Civilian/Child | Alive |
Mawla and Awla's mother | None | Demon Civilian | Deceased |
Mawla and Awla's father | None | Demon Civilian | Deceased |
The High Priest | None | Demon Civilian | Alive |
The Four Sages | None | Demon Civilians | Alive |
Vylk | None | Demon Civilian | Alive |
Emma (Demon) | None | Demon Civilian/Child | Alive |
Gallery
Trivia
- A demon's mask is indicative of their status/wealth with the wealthy and high ranking demons having heavier, more exquisite mask designs.
- According to Shirai, there are demons who do not care at all that young children are being killed at the farms, but there are some who do, somewhere in their heart.[13]
- When eating meat, demons eat the entire animal, including the bones.[16]
- The following are some unnamed Demon's rankings in The Promised Neverland's official popularity polls.
- In Shounen Jump's popularity poll results announced in Chapter 88, wild demons/man-eaters are in 20th place.
- In Shounen Jump's 2nd popularity poll results announced in Chapter 102, wild demons/man-eaters is in 30th place.
- Demons still use the same weapons that they used 1000 years ago. This is because they do not really need to have weapons anymore. Naturally, Royals would eat the better food and become stronger, and others would be killed even if they wielded weapons.[3]
References
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga: Chapter 120, pages 3-5
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga: Chapter 126
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 The Promised Neverland Fanbook
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga: Chapter 68, pages 16-17
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga: Chapter 120
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga: Chapter 80, page 5
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga: Chapter 120, pages 4-5
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga: Chapter 120, page 9
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga:: Chapter 127, page 5
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga: Chapter 91 page 15
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga: Chapter 6, page 1
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga: Chapter 102
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 The Promised Neverland Fanbook
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga: Chapter 7, page 19
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga: Chapter 101
- ↑ The Promised Neverland Manga: Volume 6 extra page