Chainsaw Man: Devils, Fiends & Hybrids Explained!

The world of Chainsaw Man is filled with scary, grotesque creatures, namely Devils, fiends, and hybrids.

If you have recently watched the anime or read the manga, the concept of these three being different entities can seem overwhelming at times.

This is especially the case for Fiends and Hyrbids, with only a thin line in the sand between the two!

Still, it is fairly easy to distinguish the three. In this article, we’re going to take a deep look into the Devils, Fiends, and Hybrids!

Devils:

Devils are supernatural entities that are created from humanity’s collective fear of an object or concept, or living being.

A Devil’s ability and identifiable features are similar to the fear that they have manifested from. For example, the Gun Devil has tons of Guns and ammo making up a major chunk of his body.

Devils are extremely common, and they exist in a parallel world, “Hell”.

The power level of a devil depends on how much people fear them. This embodies humanity’s primal fears.

Due to this, it is impossible to erase a devil’s existence completely. Angel Devil explained this to Aki in chapter 53 of the manga.

He said, “Even if they die and turn to ash.. as long as people fear their name, they’ll come back to life in another form.”

After their death, they are reborn in the parallel world of Hell. When they die in hell, they return back to Earth. This endless cycle continues forever until the fear is eradicated and their memory is wiped again and again.

While eradicating a devil is a daunting task, they can be controlled. When the Gun Devil appeared for the first time, it killed millions around the world, creating mass fear.

However, when strict Gun Laws were adopted by all the nations and the coverage of violent crimes involving guns were restricted, the spread of fear decreased. This in turn led to the weakening of the Gun Devil.

Devils can consume the blood of any living creature to heal any injury. They can also grow stronger by consuming blood.

At the start of the manga, Denji offered some of his blood to an injured Pochita to heal its injuries.

Devils can also form contracts with humans. Through a contract, devils lend some of their powers to humans in exchange for something valuable.

Devils usually demand body parts or even loved ones for a contract. For example, Himeno sacrificed her right eye to form a contract with the Ghost Devil.

When a devil merges or possesses a human in some form without a contract, they turn into fiends and hybrids.

Fiends:

Simply put, a fiend is a devil taking over a human corpse. Fiends are also known as “devil possession”, “devilman”, or “human devil”.

When a devil takes over a corpse, some of its features are reflected on the human body, mainly on the head.

Aki explains this to Denji in chapter 4 of the manga.

Generally, fiends lack higher levels of intelligence, which is reflected in the level of change in their facial structure.

Power, the Blood fiend is one of the most human-looking fiends. Yet, she has horns, meaning that even with higher intelligence, fiends will have some shape to identify them.

Other examples of fiends are Beam, the Shark Fiend, who had the features of a shark on his face, Long (part of Quanxi’s group of fiends), and Pingsti.

As for their personality, a fiend will generally display the personality of the devil that possesses them. This also makes them hostile toward humans.

However, there are exceptions. Violence fiend was actually a peace lover, and remembered a few details of his past life as well.

As for their abilities, Kishibe explains that fiends have the same body structure as humans, but are harder to kill.

For humans, there is practically zero difference between a devil and fiends.

Unlike devils, fiends cannot form contracts, and are generally weaker than their devil counterparts.

A transformation into a fiend is also permanent, meaning they cannot go to hell and relive.

However, they can recover from injuries by drinking human blood.

Why Would A Devil Become A Fiend?

While becoming a fiend has its fair share of disadvantages, it has a major plus point: a second chance with all of their memories.

As we know, devils lose all of their memory after they reach hell or the human world.

To some devils, this can seem to be extremely disadvantageous, hence justifying the transition.

Hybrids:

In certain situations, a human and a devil may merge together. Here, both the human and devil are alive inside the same body, hence creating a hybrid.

Generally, the human is in a more dominant position in the case of hybrids.

Denji, and the Katana man are the most prominent examples of hybrids.

Hybrids can be created through contracts (like Denji-Pochita) or by implanting a part of a devil into a human.

Reze had a part of the Bomb devil placed inside her, turning her into a hybrid.

Most hybrids have a “trigger” to turn into their devil counterparts, like Denji’s chainsaw cord, the pin on Reze’s neck, etc.

When using their devil’s powers, hybrids undergo a partial transformation, showing devil-like features.

Blood is of major importance to a hybrid as well, because when they will revert to their human form when they run out of blood.

This pretty much sums up Devils, Fiends, and Hybrids!