A Daimon attacks Hotaru and Chibiusa in the manga
"Daimons" (ダイモーン, Daimoon) are the monsters that serve Professor Tomoe, Kaolinite, and the Witches 5.
Quick Answers
What role do Daimons play in the Sailor Moon series?
Who are the Witches 5 in relation to the Daimons?
How do Daimons take over the bodies of their hosts?
What happens to the host once a Daimon is killed?
What makes the Witches 5 considered as perfect Daimons?
Nomenclature & Etymology[]
Daimons was imagined to be a lesser deity or guiding spirit, as they were possibly seen as the souls of men of the golden age, tutelary deities, or the forces of fate in the Greek mythology.
Manga[]
In the manga, the Death Busters use living hosts for Daimon eggs. Eventually, the hosts will be unable to hold their original form and the Daimon will take over their body, transforming them into terrifying creatures. Once the Daimon is killed, most of the time, the host will revert to their original form, still alive. However, the Witches 5 themselves are considered perfect Daimons, having completely and willingly merged with the Daimon implanted in them. After Eudial and Tellu are severely damaged by the Guardians, they take on unique monstrous Daimon forms but are killed by the Sailor Guardians. Kaolinite and Professor Tomoe become terrifying Daimons when they confront the Sailor Guardians directly. Daimons can be planted into a host and remain there until the Death Busters activate them in order to assist in fighting the Sailor Guardians.
Anime[]
In the anime, their objective is to extract Pure Heart Crystals from people. In the CWi English dub, they are referred to as Heart Snatchers.
They start out as pod-like eggs created by Professor Tomoe and when infused with an item, it becomes a Daimon.
The creation process involves gathering enough culture fluid inside a beaker and Bunsen burner that surrounds a pink, pulsing gelatinous core - and when pressurized enough to a certain degree, the Daimon Egg finishes gestation, and matures enough to form into a sentient Daimon Egg.
Initially, the maturation process destroys the beakers they are gestated in, and the maturation of each Daimon is slow.
During the infusion process, Kaolinite guides the Daimon Egg to a particular object, whereupon the Egg will bury itself deep inside said object, surrounding itself with a gelatinous layer, and lays dormant. When the victim in question makes contact with the possessed item, the Heart Snatcher emerges and takes on a humanoid shape.
The later Daimons are pre-infused into the object via the Heart Snatcher Oven - sending the Egg through a tube to infuse the object, wherein it will lay sealed until the Witches 5 member vocally commands the Daimon to awaken, and then takes a humanoid shape.
Kaolinite's particular Heart Snatchers will immobilize their victims and extract the Pure Heart Crystal using a beam of energy fired from a black star tattooed somewhere on their bodies.
Once destroyed, the transformed object is restored to its inanimate self and the pod comes out of the object and breaks, releasing a black smoke with an evil face. It is implied that the smoke is the sentient, dark matter of the Daimon itself, and that they are merely banished rather than annihilated outright.
After Kaolinite is killed by Sailor Uranus, Eudial, the first of the Witches 5 takes over.
From this point forward, Daimons are created by Professor Tomoe with a Daimon pod and an object put in a machine called the Heart Snatcher Oven.
Unlike Kaolinite's Daimons, Eudial's Daimons are merely summoned to fight the Sailor Guardians whenever they try to fight her, who does the Heart Snatching herself with a gun.
Her Daimons are kept inside of a large metal box in her van.
Soon, Eudial is killed by Mimete, the second of the Witches 5, who also takes over. Like Kaolinite's Daimons, Mimete's Daimons do the heart snatching for her, except instead of using star symbols as Kaolinite's Daimons do, Mimete's Daimons kiss their victims to suck the Pure Hearts out of their mouth and eat them.
Her Daimons are kept inside of a briefcase she carries with her.
After the death of Mimete, the use of Daimons fall out of use to the remaining members of the Witches 5, Tellu, Viluy and Cyprine, who simply just use their own creations (with the exception of Cyprine, who teams up with Ptilol to fight the Sailor Guardians).
No more Daimons appear until Mistress 9 awakens, using all remaining Daimon pods (except one) to create Daimons in the form of gelatinous monsters which form a barrier around Mugen Academy and attack the Sailor Guardians.
They are destroyed by the Silence brought on by Pharaoh 90.
After his death, only one Daimon pod remains, combining with the Heart Snatcher oven to turn into a Daimon named Rangy, who extracts Pure Heart Crystals from people until Sailor Moon kills her, causing the Heart Snatcher oven to explode.
When a Daimon is killed by Moon Spiral Heart Attack, it says "Lovely!" and when they are killed by Rainbow Moon Heartache, they say "Love-Lovely!"
With two exceptions, all of them are killed by Sailor Moon using Moon Spiral Heart Attack (and later, following the death of Eudial, Rainbow Moon Heartache). Rangy is killed by Moon Spiral Heart Attack like those working for Kaolinite and Eudial. Mikuuji is killed by Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, and Daruma is killed by Sailor Jupiter's Sparkling Wide Pressure.
Overall, the Daimons are sentient creatures made of dark matter, and while serving the Death Busters' interests - are actually capable of intelligence and empathy, possessing a wide range of emotions, including sadness, joy, laughter, silliness and fear, beyond the typical sadism expected of the minions the Sailor Guardians fight.
They also tend to be formidable opponents, being innately aware of their abilities when fighting the Sailor Guardians, and often gaining the upper hand against them.
However, the ability of Sailor Saturn is often enough to weaken or paralyze their bodies long enough for Sailor Moon and company to kill them.
The Daimons are capable of empathy, with U-Ndokai caring for Hotaru's well-being when the appearance of Sailor Saturn's consciousness causes the latter to have a panic attack. In U-Ikasaman and Doorknobder's case, they are pacifists, or at least disinterested in the mission, or violence. U-Tomodachi is only interested in friendship.
Whether or not the empathy is limited to the theme of the object they inhabit (and animate), that influences that particular Daimon Egg, remains to be seen.
Kaolinite[]
Kaolinite personally implants these eggs in the object contacted by the victim.
Eudial[]
Eudial's Daimons are kept inside a large metal box in the back of her van.
Mimete[]
Mimete's Daimons are carried by her in a briefcase.
Miscellaneous[]
Video Games[]
- The Daimons appear in the video game Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon: Another Story. Mikuuji, Steering, Octave, Dovlin, Taiyan, Cenicienta, Chagama, Daruma, Doorknobder, U-Henshuu, U-Bara, U-Ndokai, U-Ikasaman, and Uchoten appear as common enemies. One Cenicienta that is referred to as "Persian Cut" is the first boss of the game where it attacks OSA-P.
- A game-exclusive Daimon named Quiz appears in Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Super Kuizu Taiketsu! Seeraa Pawaa Kesshuu.
Musicals[]
A Daimon called "Gondola" appears in "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Super ~ Usagi - The Path to Become the Soldier of Love."
Crystal[]
Like the original anime, Daimons originate in a Daimon egg that needs to be planted into a host in order to emerge. However, the eggs are planted into a living being, where the host is enveloped into the Daimon when it hatches and takes form. A Daimon egg can be planted in a host, but not hatch until called upon by a member of the Death Busters to fight for them. Daimons take on mostly similar generic forms, however, there is one instance where a cat is possessed by a Daimon and takes on feline features that differ from other Daimons. Usually, after the Daimon is killed, it vanishes, leaving the host unharmed and the egg is ejected and disintegrates. However, Daimons, like the Witches 5, have perfectly merged with their host so once killed, there is no trace left behind.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the anime, the Daimons appear as monstrous humanoid women, while in the manga and in Crystal, they have grotesque giant worm-like appearances with skull faces.
- A Daimon that appears in a flashback in episode 106 closely resembles all the generic Daimons in the manga.
- All of Mimete's Daimons have a cormorant motif.
- The "U" at the beginning of their names come from the Japanese word 鵜飼い (ukai; cormorant fishing).
- The way they steal Pure Hearts is similar to how cormorants catch fish.
- Whenever they are defeated by Super Sailor Moon's Rainbow Moon Heartache, their Daimon pods break, releasing a shadow in the shape of the bird.
- Mimete's briefcase has a cormorant logo.
