Demon Slayer: Is Haganezuka Dead? What Happened to Him?

The third season of Demon Slayer has finally arrived, and the new episodes are providing us with more details about Tanjirō’s adventures in the Swordsmith Village. The season has also introduced us to some new characters and brought back some old ones connected to the Swordsmith Village. One of the latter is a well-known character named Hotaru Haganezuka, who has a history with Tanjirō and diligently works to restore Yoriichi’s blade for him. In this article, we will tell you what happened to Hotaru Haganezuka and whether he is alive or dead in Demon Slayer.

Hotaru Haganezuka survived the events of the Swordsmith Village Arc. He was in a lot of trouble during the Swordsmith Village Arc, especially when Gyokko attacked him while working, but he survived these events and did not die in Demon Slayer. Of course, he was dead at the time of the epilogue, but the epilogue was set around a century after, so this only makes sense.

The rest of this article will focus on Hotaru Haganezuka and his fate in the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba series. Hotaru Haganezuka was one of the most interesting additions to the Demon Slayer lore, and it only makes sense that the fans want to know what happened to this guy, so we have composed this article. This article will contain some spoilers from the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga, so be careful how you approach it.

Hotaru was assaulted by Gyokko, but he managed to survive

Hotaru Haganezuka was introduced very early in the story as he was assigned to Tanjirō as his swordsmith. When Tanjirō passed the Final Selection and became a Demon Slayer, Hotaru Haganezuka was sent to him – who was, at the time, living with Sakonji Urokodaki – to deliver his katana to him. Things soon escalated between them, though.

Although Tanjirō invited him inside, Hotaru refused to enter the house and simply remained outside, describing the “masterful” blade he had created. When he finally decided to enter to hand Tanjirō the blade, he was excited as he expected the blade to turn bright red, which would have made him very proud. But, the blade turned pitch black, and Hotaru was disappointed and angry at Tanjirō because the young Demon Slayer did not meet his expectations.

This is how their tale began, but things quickly got out of hand. Tanjirō fractured his sword after the events on Mount Natagumo, and Hotaru visited him while he was receiving treatment at the Butterfly Mansion. While Tanjirō regretted breaking the blade, Hotaru did not appear to care. Instead, he grabbed a knife and began following Tanjirō around, furious that the youngster had damaged his weapon. He gave Tanjirō his brand-new Nichirin Blade after he had collected himself. This was the first instance of its kind.

However, Tanjirō shattered his sword again during the Mugen Train Arc. Thus, it wasn’t the last time. The young Demon Slayer encountered an enraged Hotaru when he returned from the Rengoku household. This time, Hotaru was upset since the youngster had broken his blade twice. But once more, once he had collected himself, he gave Tanjirō his brand-new Nichirin Blade. However, even this was not the end of it, as you might have expected.

As everyone who’s read the manga knows, Tanjirō again shattered his blade during the Entertainment District Arc. He managed to escape a direct confrontation with Hotaru, thanks to the fact that he had to rest for a total of two months due to his extreme exhaustion.

And even though it would be reasonable to anticipate that Hotaru would create a new blade in two months, all Tanjirō got from Kiyo when he inquired about it was a note from Hotaru. As you can anticipate, the message was rather gloomy and included threats from Hotaru and his intense rage toward Tanjirō. He also made it clear that he wouldn’t make him a new blade.

In order to calm Haganezuka down and get a new blade, Tanjirō made his way to the Swordsmith Village via the secret path that the Corps maintained to keep the village a secret from the outer world.

And while Tanjirō expected to meet and discuss the situation with Hotaru, he was surprised to discover that Hotaru had disappeared and that no one in the village knew his actual whereabouts; now, knowing Haganezuka’s temper, this wasn’t all that strange, but it still came as a shock and as a surprise to Tanjirō. In a conversation with the village chief, Tanjirō is informed that the village is searching for Hotaru and hopes to have him found when Tanjirō heals completely; if not, he will be assigned a new swordsmith. Left with almost no choice, Tanjirō decided to rest in the village and explore, which is how he found the Yoriichi Type Zero doll.

After training with the doll, Tanjirō managed to break it and discover the prize hidden inside it, a centuries-old rusted katana that was, in that state, sadly useless, which is why the young Kotetsu, who had been guarding the training doll kept apologizing to Tanjirō.

But, at that very moment, a new surprise! From out of the woods, a muscular and almost unrecognizable Hotaru Haganezuka appeared and took the blade from Tanjirō by force, not explaining his motives, simply stating that he would take care of it. Kozo Kanamori then appeared and tickled Hotaru, who went limp and unconscious for a short time, revealing that it was a secret weapon against Haganezuka that could immediately bring him down.

Kozo then explained that Hotaru had been training in isolation so he could make an unbreakable blade for Tanjirō (which Tanjirō deemed very considerate of him) and that he was happy that Tanjirō kept asking Hotaru for more blades, as Hotaru drove away a lot of his client due to his personality.

Hotaru would soon woke up, and he tried to take the blade again by force, but he was once again tickled into oblivion. The third time did the trick, and Haganezuka finally explained normally what he wanted to do with the blade and why he was waking it from Tanjirō’s hands. This is when Tanjirō happily agreed to give Haganezuka the blade, who immediately went to work on it, being as diligent as one would expect from him.

And while Tanjirō has a history of breaking his katana, there is a very specific reason why this blade never broke, despite being roughly 300 years old. Namely, as Hotaru noticed during the restoration process, the blade was indeed special. It was a black Nichirin Blade that was both powerful and beautiful, seemingly reflecting the skills and abilities of its former owner, who was none other than Yoriichi Tsugikuni.

After taking it, Hotaru put a lot of effort into restoring the blade while praising its brilliance. He was so focused, in fact, that he nearly totally disregarded Gyokko and Hantengu’s onslaught on the settlement. He was, in particular, targeted by Gyokko, and both Kotetsu and Kozo Kanamori, after Muichirō Tokitō saved them from Gyokko’s fish demons, directed the Mist Hashira towards Haganezuka’s workshop, where he had been working hard on the blade.

After Gyokko imprisoned Muichirō in his Water Prison, Gyokko focused on Haganezuka; Kozo tried to shield him, but Gyokko simply sliced him and continued towards Hanagezuka, who was so focused on the work that he simply ignored Gyokko. Gyokko bothered him constantly and even assaulted him, seriously injuring him. Still, Hotaru persisted in his work on the sword until he could give it to Tanjirō despite having his mask destroyed, his body hurt, and losing one of his eyes. Given that this blade did not break, it was his masterpiece and Tanjirō’s final blade.

Gyokko tried every method here, he even broke Haganezuka’s mask and cost him his eye, but the swordsmith did not move until he finished his work; Gyokko was so furious and jealous that he wanted to destroy Haganezuka, but he soon had to face Muichirō once again, as the Mist Hashira managed to escape his prison with Kotetsu’s help.

What ultimately happened to Haganezuka? Well, he survived. Gyokko severely injured him, but he managed to recover, although he lost an eye in the process; he is also the only swordsmith whose face we’ve seen, as Gyokko broke his mask while he was working. As we’ve said, he managed to deliver Yoriichi’s blade to young Tanjirō, and the latter did not break this blade like he did the others, which made both of them quite proud (on top of that, the blade provided Tanjirō with a significant power boost).

We know that he died sometime later of old age, but he survived the main plot of Demon Slayer and remained one of the series’ best-written side characters with a great development arc throughout.