Exorcist abilities in Nen, explained

Key things

• Nen Exorcism is a rare, unique ability in Hunter x Hunter and is highly sought after due to Nen's curses.
• Nen curses vary in type and effect, with exorcism transferring the curse into the exorcist's aura.
• Only a few experienced Nen exorcists can master the Post Mortem Curses, making exorcism a challenging feat in the series.

As most fans of the medium will agree, Nen is one of the most unique energy systems in anime and manga history. Its mixture of various aspects such as types of nenu (enhancement, transmutation, emission, conjuration, manipulation and specialization), four main principles of nenu (ten, zetsu, Ren, Hatsu) and advanced techniques of nenu (gyo, in, en, Sho, Ko , Ken, Ryu), all combined to create a detailed and interesting energy system.

One of the many detailed aspects of Nen is Nen Exorcism. Nen Exorcism is a specialized aspect of using Nen, making it a rare and unique ability Hunter x Hunter world. The downside of the Nen Exorcist is that it lacks versatility, but regardless, Nen Exorcists are in high demand due to Nen Curses.

Nen Curse And Exorcism

The reason for the high demand for exorcists Nen

Nen curses are a unique application of Nen that is used to cause distress to individuals. The type and effect of Nen curses varies from individual to individual, as does the condition required to break the Nen curse. Most of the Nen curses that were present Hunter x Hunter they are the result of incantations, as seen in the case of Kurapik's Judgment Chain and Emission in the case of Knuckle's Hakoware.

Exorcising Nen is not as simple as deactivating or removing the curse. Due to the nature of Nen, the Nen curse not only ceases to exist after the exorcism, but instead the curse is imposed on the exorcist as the aura and curse take on a new form rather than the original bearer of the curse. The form of the aura and curse depends on the type of Exorcist Nen. Even if the original bearer of the Nen curse is freed, Nen exorcists are forced to live with the curse unless one of these three conditions is met. The first is for Exorcist Nen to fulfill the condition originally imposed by the caster. The second is for the death of the person that was caused by the curse. The last way to get rid of the Nen curse is the death of the caster. However, this is not the case with the Post Mortem Nen curse because, as the name suggests, the effects of the curse begin after the caster's death.

The case of a Post Mortem curse is completely different and the most difficult type of Nen curse to exorcise because the caster of the Nen curse died before the exorcism took place. The Nen used completely outnumbers the living Nen users, with only a few exorcists able to exorcise this curse once the victim has been inflicted. It has been stated that there are less than 10 exorcists in the world Hunter x Hunter capable of such performance. Only four Nen Exorcists have appeared in the story so far, and only two of them have shown how their exorcism works.

Abengane's exorcism, explained

The first exorcist to debut in the series

Abengane was the first exorcist introduced in Hunter x Hunter story. He debuted in the Greed Island arc in chapter 125 of the manga and episode 60 of the 2011 anime adaptation. Along with Gon and Killua, Abengane was one of 20 Nen users who passed Tsezguer's test and were able to enter the game on Greed Island in Batter's mansion. After revealing himself as a traitor and explaining how he activated his countdown ability on all the alliance members, Genthru asked for all of their spell cards and 90 specified slot cards before using the Leave card to flee the scene. Realizing that Genthra had cursed him, Abengane tried to exorcise his curse himself.

Abengane is a wizard and his exorcism allows him to remove the effects of the Nen curse. Due to his Nen type, his aura takes the form of a Nen beast. The appearance and size of the Nene beast depends on the strength of the curse.

Abengane's exorcism requires him to light a campfire in the forest, then hold a wooden effigy and begin chanting a series of prayers to the forest spirits. Using a branch of leaves, he decorates a wooden effigy, which he then throws into the campfire. The campfire burns irregularly and the aura of the flora and fauna of the forest, working with Abengane's aura, conjures a Nene beast that wraps itself around Abengane.

This Nene beast was around Abungane until the condition to break the curse placed on Genthru was met – which was to touch Genthru and say:

I caught the assassin.

The disadvantage of the Abungan exorcism is its inability to estimate the strength of the Nen curse until the exorcism ritual begins. Part of the Greed Island arc focused on members of the Phantom Troupe searching for an exorcist to break Kurapika's chain of judgment placed on Chrollo. Abengane was located using Kalluty's ability and Hisoka negotiated with him to help remove Chroll's curse. Although the exorcism was not seen, it succeeded as Chrollo reappeared in the follow-up arc without the effects of the curse. However, due to the nature of Kurapika's curse, which has no condition to break it, Abengane is most likely stuck with the large Nene beast created from this exorcism with no hope of meeting the condition to break it.

Hina's exorcism seems to be a bit more advanced

A hidden gem of Chimera Ants

Hina, formerly known as Hirin, is a chimera ant introduced in the Chimera Ant arc in chapter 192 and episode 81. She was a former squad captain in Leo's squad and one of the few chimera ants to look almost completely human.

Hina's physical abilities such as strength and speed are barely above that of a normal human, but her Nen ability stands out.

Hina is a specialist, so her exorcism takes a different shape and approach than Abengane. The true extent of her abilities was shown when she helped Cheetu, another chimera ant, exorcise the curse placed on him by Knuckles.

Hina's exorcism did not require an extensive ritual like Abengane's, as she simply removed the curse from Cheet and deposited the aura into her abdomen, causing it to swell. The size of her belly reflects the size of the curse and in this case she looked like a pregnant woman after the exorcism was complete.

Only two other exorcists were seen in the entire story. the first is a nameless Hunter Association exorcist who tried to help Gon at the end of the Chimera Ant Arc, but found the curse too strong, claiming that no other exorcist in the world could exorcise the curse Gon had placed on himself. The second exorcist is Umanma, who was introduced in the Succession War arc. He is the private guard of the other prince, Camilla. The fact that these four are the only Nen exorcists we've met, with the abilities of two of them being complete mysteries after 400 chapters. Hunter x Hunter effectively portraying how skilled and rare they are.

Hunter x Hunter is available to watch on Crunchyroll.