Behelits in Ranma 1/2

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

First of all, I only know of Berserk from the anime, which opens with the first Black Swordsman story and then covers the Golden Age, so forgive me if I get details completely wrong.

In Berserk, Behelits are basically "demon eggs"; a person who has hit an emotional low, a zenith of despair, activates the Behelit and is given the chance to become an immortal and powerful demon (or "Apostle", as they are known in the series lingo) in exchange for sacrificing their most precious person/belonging/dream. Because of the utter low that they've hit when they reach this state, and the fact refusing means the Behelit drags the user to hell instead, none ever refuse. Anyway, I was wondering: what characters of Ranma 1/2 could possibly fall into the state where they could activate a Behelit? And what sort of 'push' would be needed to reach that state?

Secondly, Apostles seem to have some control over the appearance of the form they assume after they "ascend" -see Rhine, or whatever her name is, the girl who sacrificed her parents to become a "Fairy Queen" and became a female elf/luna moth hybrid- so if a given Ranma 1/2 character did become an Apostle, what would they look like in their demonic form?

[pspinler]

Being unfamiliar with the series, I guess I don't understand how that would work. From a naive perspective, the premise sounds unlikely.

After all, isn't there a pretty good chance that you've fallen into despair precisely because you've lost that which is most precious to you?

If you still have something or someone precious to you, then almost by definition you could be even more despairing for having lost that thing. Ergo, you're not at a zenith of despair.

-- Pat

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

I may not have worded how they're activated quite right. In the series, Griffith (who has the Crimson Behelit, which turns the wielder into a member of the Demon Lord-like Godhand) activated his Behelit when, having finally achieved a position as a nobleman and the leader of the White Hawks ("White" being a title applied to the most powerful army in the kingdom and charged with the direct defense of the royalty), he first lost his most trusted warrior, Guts, then he was captured and spent a year in the dungeons for sleeping with the Princess, during which his tongue was ripped out, his tendons were cut and he was basically reduced to a helpless shell of skin and bone through constant torment. When he was finally rescued, he found the vast majority of his soldiers had either deserted or been killed, he would never be able to lead again, and his former most faithful commander, who had been in love with him, had fallen in love with Guts instead. The Behelit screamed for him, and the Godhand offered him resurrection as their leader in exchange for the lives of the surviving White Hawks.

A less complicated example would be the Apostle known only as The Count. This was a fanatical follower of the 'true faith' of Midland who devoted his life to hunting and slaying pagans. One day, he returned to his castle and discovered to his horror that his wife, who he had loved like no other, was a devout pagan- to the extent that she was holding, and not for the first time, a pagan orgy within his own castle. In exchange for her life, he became a monstrous slug-like demon.

[Frog]

Anyway, I was wondering: what characters of Ranma 1/2 could possibly fall into the state where they could activate a Behelit? And what sort of 'push' would be needed to reach that state?

The truly terrifying thing about behelits is that anyone, absolutely anyone, can activate one if pushed hard enough. It's not a mater of "what character in 'XY' could activate a behelit?" and more a matter of your second question: why?

I'm too lazy to come up with a 'why' for every single Ranma character, but I can think of one pretty easily for Ranma. Remember how depressed he got over the "lose your strength pressure point"? When he can't fight or defend himself he's at his lowest. So push him beyond his lowest and he would have what it takes to activate a behelit.

Cripple him. To the point where he can't do anything by himself, not even lash out in anger. If you've watched Ga-Rei Zero, Yomi's fate might give you some indication of the sort of trauma you'd have to put Ranma through to have him activate a behelit.

Secondly, Apostles seem to have some control over the appearance of the form they assume after they "ascend" -see Rhine, or whatever her name is, the girl who sacrificed her parents to become a "Fairy Queen" and became a female elf/luna moth hybrid- so if a given Ranma 1/2 character did become an Apostle, what would they look like in their demonic form?

I rreally just thought that Apostles were monsters with way too many mouths, eyes, limbs, faces and mouths. During the Eclipse you can't even tell where one ends and another begins.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Yes, the nameless ones during the Eclipse were just a mobile tide of darkness, but there is usually reason behind their grotesquity, when the story explores them. Take Rosine for example; she wanted to be a fairy more than a human. When her innocent musings resulted in her father beating her almost to death, she fed both him and her mother to the other Apostles to become the elf/moth thing that appears in episode 22.

I agree that crippling Ranma would be one way to push him towards Apostledom -see how he breaks down when Akane confronts him after the chart is apparently shredded- but I think that there might be another. In canon, Ranma goes nuts when locked into cursed form, though admittedly s/he quickly recovers and devotes himself fanatically to the pursuit of a cure. But what if it were proven, right after he was locked into female form, that there was no cure and he would be forced to be female forever? Wouldn't that push him low enough to surrender his soul in exchange for becoming a man (well, "male") again?

Ryoga... given his pessimistic, melancholic nature and penchant for overdramatics, you'd think he'd be the easiest one to change. However, doesn't he canonically tend to shift gears from deep depression to deep rage quickly after his mood sinks? I think the thing that could push him would be something to do with Akane. Hearing from her own lips that she's voluntarily marrying Ranma might do it... perhaps more likely would be her revealing that she's always known Ryoga was both P-chan and in love with her, and she tolerated these both to make Ranma jealous, but now Ranma has "gotten away" from her and so Ryoga has proved himself utterly worthless in her eyes?

Akane... she does sulk on occasion, but Akane tends to get mad more readily than she gets sad. Perhaps some extremely bitter breakup between herself and Ranma could do the job? Ranma bluntly telling her that he's breaking things off to marry some other girl, and that (part of) the reason is because he thinks she's a whiny, talentless, brutish, useless nuisance?

I can't think of what would make the others that heartbroken.

[FriendlyEL]

To make the charachters in Ranma 1/2 depressed to the point that they simply give up?

Ryoga - Probably the easiest to cause to feel hopeless considering his less than optimistic personality. I figure if there's anything that would set him off to being truly miserable, it would probably be if he could get Akane to truly loathe him and do something incredibly hurtful or dishonest to him. The most likely situation I could see one of these happening is where Akane discovers his secret about Pchan and makes sure to hurt him to the point of near death or at least permanent injury or for the dishonesty again dating him to spite Ranma then Akane loosing it with him and telling him afterwards that she wants nothing to do with him if he does something stupid with him, except in a way much harsher than she did during the magical soap arc. Either that or the date does go well then he later in the day sees her and Ranma being intimate.

Another possiblity is if Ryoga breaks up with Akari simply because he cannot forget about Akane and comes back to Nerinma to find out she's been married to Ranma.

For Shampoo or Ukyo I would say having Ranma get married to Akane and have him make... it really... clear to them that he is doing so because he likes her and not because he's forced to, since they would be more likely to be angry. After enough days of Ranma shunning them, I could see either one being depressed.

I guess another way a behlit level of depression could come for Ukyo would be if she was banned from ever being a chef, especially if she had just been told off by Ranma beforehand.

Ranma - Like someone else mentioned, the closest thing Ranma has ever gotten to genuine depression was when he lost his strength. Now if he was crippled, like to the point Griffith was with his tendons torn and no tounge, etc., to the point that he is unable to do anything by himself, this situation is probably the most depressed you would see him. That being said though, I do think Ranma is among the most difficult to destroy as far as willpower.