| This article is about the transformed butterflies. You may be looking for the supervillains or the superpower. |
| “ | Fly away, my evil/little Akuma, and evilize him/her/them. | ” |
An akuma is a magic butterfly responsible for transforming people into supervillains. An army of akumas is created and led by Hawk Moth, while Ladybug and Cat Noir are tasked with capturing and purifying them.[1]
Appearance
Before it is turned into an akuma by the Butterfly Miraculous owner, the butterfly is pure white.
However, once the butterfly becomes an akuma, it turns black with translucent purple highlights.
In "Catalyst", when infused with extra power by Scarlet Moth, the akumas are crimson with bright red edges and white markings.
Creation and abilities
Users of the Butterfly Miraculous don't have an endless supply of akumas, so when they start to run out, the users can grow their own over time. Hawk Moth creates an akuma by charging a butterfly with magical energy.
An akuma is to possess an important object of a person who feels strong negative emotions, forming a telepathic connection between the person and Hawk Moth.
Akumas have their own telepathic link to the Butterfly Miraculous owner, but if the akuma goes too far away, the link is disconnected. They can squeeze through impossibly small spaces, even being able to move through the seal of a windowpane.
Once the deal is made, the person is enveloped in a magical dark-purple ether, stemming from the object containing the akuma, that transforms the person into a superpowered champion.
A non-purified Akuma in the act of multiplying.
If an akuma is removed from one's object but goes uncaptured and unpurified, it will multiply before returning to the Butterfly Miraculous owner and entering the cane. The copies of the akuma will subsequently fly around and indiscriminately seek out other people. Any person that makes contact with the akuma clones will turn into exact physical copies of the original host's superpowered form and be frozen like statues in this state. Should the akuma's former host manage to regain the intense emotions that transformed them to begin with, the original akuma will leave the Cane and return to transform them once again, and the aforementioned duplicates will awaken and be under the full control of the original, becoming a massive clone army.
When multiple akumas are in existence, they can be controlled by the Butterfly Miraculous owner, to the point of forming a giant swarm shaped like their head, which they can speak through.
Weaknesses
There are several ways to de-spell, reject or avoid the akuma and Akumatization:
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- As shown in "Ladybug & Cat Noir" the Akumatized object can be damaged, causing the akuma to flee and the target will return to normal.
- As shown in "Despair Bear", "Gigantitan", "Chameleon" and "Ikari Gozen", if the emotions of the intended target weaken, an akuma will wait and/or be attracted to the person in the area whose emotions are the strongest.
- As shown is "Riposte" and "Gigantitan", an akuma can be seen before reaching its target and possibly stopped and purified beforehand.
- As shown in "Zombizou", the akuma can be intercepted by another person, who is then possibly akumatized instead.
- As shown in "Catalyst", "Heart Hunter" and "Miraculous New York", the akuma can be called back by the holder of the Butterfly Miraculous.
- As shown in "Catalyst", the Butterfly Miraculous owner is limited to releasing only one akuma at a time. The sole exception to this rule is if the Butterfly Miraculous owner creates an akumatized champion with the power to enhance other people's powers.
- As shown in "Chameleon", an akuma can be taken and be used even without strong negative emotions.
- As shown in "Miraculer", the target can reject and expel the akuma if they are strong willed enough.
- As shown in "Furious Fu", the Order of the Guardians' monks are taught a chant to repel akumas.
- As shown in "Furious Fu", the Ladybug Miraculous holder can create magical charms which repel akumas and protect those who wear it.
- As shown in "Gang of Secrets", the target can resist the akuma, breaking the transformation.
Fate
The Butterfly Miraculous owner can revoke the akuma, taking away their champion's powers and turning the akuma back into a normal butterfly.
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Ladybug releasing a former Akuma that was reverted back into a butterfly.
An akuma will leave the object it inhabits after the object is broken. From there, the owner of the Ladybug Miraculous can catch it with the yo-yo in order to "de-evilize" it by removing the Butterfly Miraculous energy from it. Afterwards, once the akuma reverts back to being a normal butterfly, the Ladybug Miraculous owner releases it, and the butterfly is free, possibly returning to the countryside rather than to Hawk Moth's lair.[2]
If an akuma is released from a broken object without being purified, it will multiply into countless akumas and possess any people they come across, turning them into physical duplicates of the akumatized champion. When the original is defeated and purified, its duplicates will vanish, returning the original champion and the other people affected back to normal.
Sightings
Episodes
Specials
Comics and books
Other
Trivia
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The butterfly's chibi design as seen in "The Chase".
- In Japanese, "akuma" (悪魔) means "demon" or "devil".
- In most Asian lore, butterflies symbolize change. However, they are a sign of bad luck when in large numbers.
- In some animistic beliefs, the sight of butterflies or moths approaching or entering one's house means that an unexpected guest or intruder will arrive in the near future.
- Akumas aren't evil by nature. The black color just means they're charged with power.[3]
- The word "evilize" was created by Thomas Astruc. [4]
- In "Party Crasher", it is shown that Akumas are produced by butterfly farming from Hawk Moth’s repository.
- As of this episode, an Akuma is yet to be seen in its larvae stage, and it is also unknown what they eat when in that stage. Since they grow into white butterflies, it could be possible that they start out as white caterpillars.
- Akumas are similar to Kwamis, both being able to inhabit an object and transform a person into a super-being.
- In the Korean dub, they're simply called "Black Butterflies".
- Ironically, they are still called that in their scarlet forms, too.
- Whilst under Hawk Moth's power, they are similar in appearance and function to the Jigokuchō from Bleach.
- "Mayura" is the first (and currently only) episode in which a regular black and purple akuma does not make an appearance.
- When Cataclysm is used on an Akuma, it will be destroyed like everything else, as seen in "Cat Blanc".
- While being powerful because they could create superhumans and even create a superhuman who could give the holder the power to make more akumas, the Butterfly Miraculous offers no protection to its holder.
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
References