‘Demon Slayer’: Why Did Nezuko Remain a Child After Being Turned into a Demon?

Nezuko Kamado is one of the most important characters from the Demon Slayer manga. Tanjiro’s little sister, Nezuko was the only survivor of Muzan’s brutal attack on the Kamado family (Tanjiro was not present, so he also survived). In turn, she was transformed into a demon. But, Nezuko was no ordinary demon. Not only was she able to resist her demonic urges and accept Urokodaki’s conditioning, but she was also able to “conquer the Sun” at one point, and it was theorized why and how Nezuko was so special. In this article, we are going to explain exactly that, as you are going to find out why and how Nezuko remained a child even after being turned into a demon.

In her letter to Tanjiro, Tamayo suggested that Nezuko will be able to “conquer the Sun” quite soon, which she guessed right, and that she has still remained a child, despite Muzan’s blood altering her own quite a lot in a short period of time, because she prioritizes something else. This is also why she was able to fight off her demonic urges, but because she wants to protect Tanjiro, she still has to remain a demon before regaining her consciousness.

The rest of this article will focus on Nezuko Kamado and her dual nature, that of a human and that of a Demon. You are going to find out why Nezuko was able to fight off her demonic urges while, at the same time, not regaining her human consciousness – there is a reason, as we have explained, and we shall expand on that explanation in this text. Nezuko Kamado is a uniquely special character in the Demon Slayer manga, so she deserves a standalone article, although we have to warn you that a lot of spoilers will be present, so be careful how you approach the text.

Tamayo speculated that Nezuko wanted to protect Tanjiro and that that is the reason why she still kept her demonic powers and abilities

Every fan of Demon Slayer, and a lot of non-fans as well, knows that Nezuko was turned into a demon at the very beginning of the story, and her transformation remained one of the main plot elements of the Demon Slayer manga and anime.

Now, Tanjiro managed to cope with the tragedy that had struck him as well as he could and decided to keep Nezuko safe until he found a way to revert her back to normal. Does he do it? He does, with substantial help from the demon Tamayo, who had agreed to help him early in the story after seeing that he has an honest intention of defeating Muzan. In this section, we are going to revise the details surrounding Nezuko’s transformation into a demon and the consequences of that event.

As we’ve said, Nezuko was a truly special demon in more ways than one. First of all, she was, despite Muzan’s powerful blood, able to resist her demonic urges and retain part of her humanity, as even in the beginning, she wanted to protect Tanjiro.

She also wanted to eat him, but after being conditioned by Sakonji Urokodaki, the former Water Hashira, Nezuko was ultimately taught not to eat humans and to consider demons as her enemies and humans as her allies; she proved the former when she successfully restrained herself from consuming Sanemi’s blood even after he hurt and tempted her.

The latter, she has been demonstrating over the course of the series from episode to episode. On top of that, just as Tamayo suspected later on, she was also able to “conquer the Sun,” all because she was a truly special Demon.

Sadly, though, an official reason for a lot of Nezuko’s powers and feats has never been provided, and a lot of elements from Demon Slayer simply remained as facts we have to take for granted. Some of them were explained (e.g., her not consuming human flesh and siding against the demons was explained by Urokodaki’s conditioning), but most of the important elements of Nezuko’s story were just served to us as facts, and we simply had to accept them as that. No one really cared whether we wanted more – we had what we had, and that was about it.

But, after the defeat of both Hantengu and Gyokko in the Swordsmith Village, we had the opportunity to read one of Tamayo’s letters to Tanjiro, words from which echoed as the final scenes of the arc played out. In the letter, we found some interesting things about Tamayo’s work and some of her thoughts and opinions on Nezuko.

She commented how Nezuko’s blood changed rapidly and how she evolved as a demon, but as everyone knows, Nezuko still retained her child form, and while her control over her consciousness did improve (she began talking, she “conquered the Sun”), she still couldn’t fully regain her humanity (as one of Tamayo’s test subjects did) at that point. Why? She was certainly capable in theory, but while Tamayo was not certain of the answer, she had her own theory about it.

Namely, as Tamayo said in the letter – and she emphasized that it was only a theory of hers and nothing more – Nezuko retained her demonic features and did not become a full human again because she, deep inside herself, prioritized something over becoming a human once again. What? Tamayo did not say what it was specifically, but from the panels and the whole context, it can easily be deduced what Tamayo was referring to.

Namely, we know how much Nezuko cared for Tanjiro and how she came to love his friends and his allies from the Demon Slayer Corps (especially Mitsuri, whom she liked very much, as we’ve had the opportunity of seeing during the Swordsmith Village Arc). And while she did want to become a human once again, Nezuko was aware of the dangers that her dears were facing, and she also knew that she would be useless as a normal girl while – as a demon – she was exceptionally useful. In every battle she participated in, Nezuko actually helped a lot.

So, knowing that her demonic form is something that made her more useful, Nezuko decided to prioritize his brother and help him, as well as the others, while she put her own re-humanization in second place. And this is quite probably what Tamayo meant when she talked about Nezuko’s priorities and why she opted to remain a child and a demon while refusing to accept her humanity at this point in the narrative. It is a fact that this theory fits quite well, knowing both Nezuko’s personality and the circumstances surrounding Tamayo’s remarks.

Also, Tamayo was right about practically everything; the woman was actually quite wise, which was great. This suggests that Tamayo could actually be right about Nezuko as well in this case and that her theory about Nezuko’s state is correct. Since we think that such an explanation is plausible, we can agree with Tamayo and her insights, which have, once again, proven to be a valuable source of information.