Special Ability of Childs?

I recently re-watched the Mai-Hime series after many years and I noticed a few things I didn't before. Mainly I noticed how Natsuki's realization about the power of a Child can't possibly apply to any of the other Hime. That made me think that it's possible each Child has a different ability that the Hime may not even know about. I'm not talking about a special move or anything like that but something that is in the very nature of that Child.

Based on the Natsuki no Prelude, Duran/Yafusa fought Natsuki before accepting eachother. Duran even spoke to Natsuki and based on Nagi's reaction it was against the rules. That is in a direct contrast to Mai and Kagutsuchi in which Kagu saved Mai before he was even accepted and awoken. Also based on Akane's flashback, Hari saved her from an Orphan.

Since Duran is a wolf and Natsuki had to fight him before they accepted eachother, it would make sense if Duran's strength is based on the strength of his pack leader (Natsuki). When Natsuki couldn't summon Duran it wasn't because she had lost her powers but instead she had lost her will to fight, her strength, so in turn Duran also lost his strength. Once Natsuki regained her will/strength and came to the realization that she did in fact have a most important person and people that she wanted to protect then Duran also grew stronger. This led me to believe that the ability to change size/strength based on the Hime's love is a ability exclusive to Duran. Similar to how Kagutsuchi's ability to revive is exclusive to himself.

Excellent point. I'd possibly also add Shiho's ability to astrally-project herself may be associated with Yatagarasu, and the really odd set-up that is Mikoto-Miroku-Reito-ObsidianLord.

Also, some of the specific abilities of certain CHILDs, such as Diana's proficiency in espionage (mirrored perhaps by Haruka's position & paranoid fury at Shizuru more than Yukino) and Vlas' ability to create vivid hallucinatory experiences, could also fall into this category.

Great idea for a thread!

Break String SpinElf wrote:Excellent point. I'd possibly also add Shiho's ability to astrally-project herself may be associated with Yatagarasu, and the really odd set-up that is Mikoto-Miroku-Reito-ObsidianLord.

Also, some of the specific abilities of certain CHILDs, such as Diana's proficiency in espionage (mirrored perhaps by Haruka's position & paranoid fury at Shizuru more than Yukino) and Vlas' ability to create vivid hallucinatory experiences, could also fall into this category.

Great idea for a thread!

Very true, I think those would count as special abilities as well. I just remembered that Akira summons Gennai differently and Gennai has a lot of Ninja qualities like disappearing in smoke so that could be his special ability. Also Fumi's Mashiro/Doll/Child thing is very unique. I think the only three that I can't think of a special ability is Kiyohime, Julia and Gakutenou.

This is super interesting to think about! ヾ(°ｏ°)≡☆ Maybe Julia's could have something to do with how easily she can convince people? She seems to trick her classmates and teachers without much effort, which you could interpret as part of her personality, but it'd make sense for Julia to enhance that, especially given the stereotypes that spiders and spider-associated women tend to have in fiction.

Gakuten-Ou is spelt 「愕天王」, which roughly means "A King to Shock Heaven", so maybe it's something to do with her dynamism and how easily she can command a situation (even when blind drunk)... Or maybe I'm conflating compatability between CHILD and HiME with a special ability here.

This thread has made me think a lot about the connection between a HiME and their CHILD. We know the CHILDs are drawn to the HiME they feel the strongest connection to and vice versa, but are their abilities determined by that, too? And how can we separate the "abilities" that CHILDs have regularly, like the cartridges that Duran uses, with these special types? (〃º～º)ゞ

Really wish there was some in-depth booklet about all this stuff... Maybe there'll be something in the artbooks that I overlooked.