The Demon Characters In ‘Demon Slayer,’ Ranked By How Evil They Are (2024)

Muzan Kibutsuji

Who Are They?:Muzan is the originator of all of demonkind. His goal is to become fully immortal, which means being invulnerable to the sun. He hopes to do this either by finding the Blue Spider Lily or by creating more demons who might hold the key to his goals.

Their Evil Deeds:Without Muzan, demons wouldn’t exist, which means that he’s indirectly responsible for every single death caused by them - and he’s directly responsible for scores of them too. But he isn’t just a danger to humans. He also doesn’t hesitate to annihilate other demons, including his own subordinates, if they displease him in even the mildest of ways.

Are They Sympathetic?:Muzan’s initial motivation is somewhat understandable. He was suffering from a terminal illness that made him incredibly weak and vulnerable. When he became a demon, his primary motivation involved never being that weak ever again. That said, there are plenty of other characters with similar backstories who never become megalomaniacs who commit mass murder, so that initial motivation only goes so far. If Muzan could have just been like Yushiro, everybody’s lives would have been a whole lot better.

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Doma

Who Are They?:As Upper Moon Two, Doma is ridiculously powerful. He acts kind and approachable, but the reality is far darker. In addition to working under Muzan, he also led the Eternal Paradise Faith, a cult that was initially created by his parents but which he now uses for his own nefarious purposes.

Their Evil Deeds:The cult he runs is a ruse to collect humans so that he can devour them. In addition to scores of nameless victims, he’s also responsible for the deaths of Inosuke’s mother and Kanae Kocho. Both of these are brutal, but what he did to Kotoha Hashibira is especially awful. He essentially forced her to throw her baby off of a cliff in the hopes that he would survive, and then devoured her.

Are They Sympathetic?:Doma was born into a cult and then tasked with running said cult even though he didn’t believe in it whatsoever. That kind of experience could warp a personality, but given the magnitude of Doma’s crimes, it’s hard to have much sympathy for him. The fact that he sees everyone else he encounters as beneath him and obviously delights in causing them pain doesn’t help much either.

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Who Are They?:Before being annihilated during the Swordsmith Village Arc, Gyokko held the position of Upper Moon Five. But he’s less interested in the goals of the organization than he is in his corpse-based “art.”

Their Evil Deeds:Gyokko doesn’t just take lives because being a demon requires it, he does it with pleasure. He kidnaps random people, puts them in his pot, and then mangles their bodies and rearranges them into horrifying statues that he calls his art. As a human child, he destroyed another kid for mocking him because of his corpse art. During the Swordsmith Village Arc, he would have ended everyone there if he had the chance.

Are They Sympathetic?:Gyokko’s fascination with corpses began when he saw his own parents’ bodies after they drowned at sea. Anybody who has to see something like that as a kid could be forgiven for taking some serious damage to their mental health… but Gyokko takes things way too far by ending a kid for making fun of him. When he became a demon, he decided he hated all living things and would dedicate his existence to turning them into his immensely creepy “art.”

Who Are They?:Hantengu holds the rank of Upper Moon Four. His pitiful appearance and cowardly behavior makes this slightly difficult to believe, but his ability to split into much stronger beings, each representing a different emotion, makes his status clear enough.

Their Evil Deeds:Whether he was a demon or a human, his whole life has been devoted to harming those who he decided wronged him in some way. He even went so far as to kill his own wife and children, and then get remarried and do the same thing dozens of times. During the Swordsmith Village Arc, he tries his best to destroy Tanjiro, Nezuko, Genya, and Mitsuri, but he is unsuccessful.

Are They Sympathetic?:Hantengu certainly wants people to believe that he’s sympathetic, and he may even see himself that way. That said, he’s one of the least sympathetic characters on this list. He spent his entire life as a human hurting others. Not once did he ever take responsibility for his actions - everything was always someone else’s fault in his eyes. As a demon, he doesn’t improve in the slightest.

Who Are They?:As Lower Moon One, Enmu is a relatively powerful demon. His abilities involve trapping his targets inside of dreams and destroying them through that process, which is what he tried to do during the Mugen Train Arc.

Their Evil Deeds:Enmu did some terrible things as both a human and as a demon. As a human, he passed himself off as a doctor and handed out false and occasionally dangerous treatments to his patients. This either directly harmed them or delayed actual treatment… though to be fair, not a lot of effective treatment would have been available at the time. As a demon, he trapped countless people inside of their dreams and made sure that they never woke up from them.

Are They Sympathetic?:It’s hard to say how responsible Enmu really is for his behavior. As a human, he seemed to have an extremely poor grasp on reality. While he did some awful things, it’s not clear whether he understood that he was doing anything wrong. But despite potentially qualifying for an insanity defense, he shows so much glee when hurting people that it’s kind of hard to sympathize with him.

Who Are They?:As Upper Moon One, Kokushibo is the most powerful member in Muzan’s organization barring Muzan himself. He’s also Yoruichi’s twin brother. Before he became a demon, he slayed demons alongside his brother.

Their Evil Deeds:Like most demons, Kokushibo routinely annihilates humans for his own consumption. But he’s in it for more than just survival. He specifically wants to wipe out anyone who uses the Sun Breathing technique that his brother used. He also tried to kill his brother, and probably did hasten his demise - Yoruichi passed away from old age during their fight, but it’s likely that this wouldn’t have happened at that exact moment if not for the stress Kokushibo created.

Are They Sympathetic?:Kokushibo spent his entire life dealing with a complex about his brother Yoruichi. Originally, it was decided that his brother would be sent away to become a monk because their parents thought of twins as bad omens and would not keep them both. It seemed like Kokushibo was the “superior” twin, but when Yoruichi displayed immense fighting capabilities and a brilliant mind, Kokushibo’s identity began to crumble. He would eventually get married and have children, only to have them slain by demons. For a while, he worked with his brother as a demon slayer, but ultimately he separated from him and became a demon himself.

After a life like that, you can kind of understand why he’d want the power that comes with being a demon, but “sympathetic” might be a stretch.