User blog:Meruemgungiplayer/A Case Against the emitted Nen Beast.

First off I want to apologise to anyone who may have read my Reddit post where I laid out my anger at the information held within the wiki and felt insulted by what I said. Needless to say, I was a massive arsehole. I most certainly did not give enough credit to the people involved within the creation of the wiki for their use of phrasing and efforts made to clarify when something is of uncertain canonicity. I let myself forget that real people spend their time, energy and care into this site for fans to reference and enjoy, and let my obnoxious annoyance get ahead of me. So I apologize for that. Though I still would like to lay out my case in a particular aspect of nen if anyone is willing to read it. Hopefully in a slightly more intelligent, nuanced and thoughtful way then I did on my Reddit post.

A Case Against the Emitted Nen Beast
So, I guess that I should preface this by saying that this isn't so much a case against emitted Nen beasts as it is a case against there being sufficient evidence to reliably say, Nen beasts can be created through emission. While hypothesising that conjuration is a more reliable explanation in most cases where it is not outright stated what categories are being used. I am going to outline where I believe Nen Beasts that are commonly thought of as being created through emission, is more reliably explained through conjuration. Also, I want to highlight common arguments for the existence of emitted beasts and why I believe the evidence isn't sufficient to prove the point.

I am solely using the Viz translation. I cannot read/speak Japanese and have no access to the original raws. Though if anything I state here is contradicted by an error, mistranslation or lack of clarity on the part of Viz, I am more than glad to take that on board. Or for that matter anything I say myself.

Guardian Spirit Beasts
Now, this may be a little contentious as GSBs are often thought as being created through emission by both by fans and on the Wiki itself. Now I am going to argue that they are officially stated within the manga as having been conjured. I am going to be using chapter 171 as my source of evidence. The double page spread of Kurapika and Bill explaining to Shimano why she could see the conjured snakes but can't see the GSBs.

Based on how Nen has been described, I think we can reliably say that it is only conjurers that can produce objects visible to normal humans. Given the fact that the GSBs are not visible to normal humans but visible to Nen users as Kurapika explains, this would suggest that they are in fact not created through conjuration. This would be true if Bill and Kurapika were not to go onto qualify exactly what they meant. Bill describes the conjured snake users approach as being a dangerous one because it is visible to everyone, and more powerful because of that. Kurapika explains in the next panel how the parasitic beasts work differently from the visible snakes, and he describes it as

A parasite that only nen users can see uses a lot of energy to be 'invisible to normal people'

Now given that only conjurers can produce objects that are visible to normal humans, doesn't this sentence have to mean GSBs are in fact conjured. As were they to be produced through emission then they would automatically both be invisible to normal humans and visible to Nen users without the use of Gyo and would require no energy to do so. Therefore it doesn't make sense for them to be produced through emission.

I understand that how In has been described to the audience may provide a counter to this. That the fact that they are visible to normal humans but visible to Nen users without having to use Gyo, implies they have to be made through emission. However, Kurapika provides the counter to this by the fact he is saying that the parasites are using energy to specifically become invisible to normal humans. So I think we can infer there is some kind of variation of In, which hasn't clearly been defined that makes it possible to hide objects specifically from normal humans.

So for me, I have to read their conversation as confirmation the GSBs are made through conjuration. This, of course, does not prove that all Nen beasts are created this way though, but I think it is worth noting that neither Bill nor Kurapika brought up the possibility that they could be.

Other instances of Nen beasts officially stated as being conjured
Kastro's doppelganger

Now I don't need to go into greater detail about this because we are all fans and are going to know that Wing describes this ability as being created through conjuration and manipulation. Now I have heard people call into question of whether or not doppelganger can be considered a Nen beast. Though I have to call this into question due to the fact of it having all the characteristics of a Nen beast. As in a complex lifelike form, which can have teeth, clothing and eyes etc. So I think there is every reason to believe the exact same process is involved in making other nen beasts and doppelganger should be considered one.

Abengane's Nen Beast

The Nen beast created is said to

'Ultise the power of the forest spirits and combines it with his Conjurative ability.'

Now there are other cases where the use of the word 'conjure' within Viz has been called into question and suggested to be far more vague in the original Japanese. As is in the case for Goreinu's Nen beasts. So I cannot completely rely on this unless a translator can clarify if the translation is accurate.

Rihan's Predator

Stated as being a 'Conjurative' ability. Again I guess translation dependant.

So I see these as four cases where nen beasts are specifically stated as canon through the use of conjuration. I am not sure if there are any others of the top of my head.

Common evidence for Emitted Nen Beasts
Now it is often said that the difference between Emitted and conjured beasts is one is made out of the pure aura and the other made out of physical matter. This would, of course, be true, but is there sufficient evidence to make the claim that any of the Nen beasts within the series are created through emission? Unlike with conjured beasts, there are no officially stated emitted ones. This is generally accepted, though I would like to go through some common arguments and why I think it is not strong enough and relies too heavily on conjecture. The fact we have to prove is can emitters create complex lifelike forms with teeth, eyes clothes etc and I am not sure we can.

Shachmono Tocino

This ability is often thought of as proof that emitters can create complex shapes and therefore nen beasts. However, as seen, https://mangabeast.com/manga/Hunter-X-Hunter/0068-009.png and https://mangabeast.com/manga/Hunter-X-Hunter/0068-010.png we can see that the black cloaks are not created by himself. They are real objects as they do not dissipate once his power is released. They lie on the floor completely deflated. Therefore can we not reliably assume that they are cloak which is filled with his emission aura and then manipulated, and thus can't be used as evidence for an emitted nen beast, as it works more like Morels. And Morel's power is never thought of as a Nen beast.

Razor and Goreinu 

Now I am going to ignore the information gained from the HxH guide book, as I personally find them to be an unreliable source for canon given its questionable authorship. I hope people find this acceptable.

This I find to be the strongest case for emission beasts. As Razor displays an ability which seems it would be emission. Seen when Razor destroys the Phantom Tropes boat and when he kills Bopobo with a Nen orb. It is also seen in Goreinu's Nen beasts that he can use a teleportation ability which is suggested to be an ability of emitters. Even though you could infer that due to these circumstances that emission beasts are plausible. I would argue this relies on an assumption on both their Nen types. Does Razor use of an emitter attack prove he is, therefore, an emitter himself? Given the nature on nen could it not be plausibly argued that he is a conjurer who used a 40% nen affinity emitter attack? Or a transmuter who transmuted his aura and emitted it, like is hypothesised with Silva Zoldyck. Personally, I read Zoldyck as an emitter, but that is beside the point. In the case of Goreinu is it ever stated that only emitters can create transportation abilities? Killua works out Pirates Nen type as an emitter because his power uses teleportation, would suggest that it is. Though Goreinu's power is slightly different in the fact he can switch places with his Nen beast, rather than create some sort of portal. So couldn't the beast, therefore, be conjured and have some conditions involved to give supernatural properties as seen with other conjuration abilities?

Another point I'll like to add is the argument that these beasts in question are made from pure aura rather than physically manifested. But how do we know this? We know that an easy way to tell the difference would be if a normal nen user could see them or not. Given that they are in Greed Island then everyone witnessing the ability in use is a Nen user, we can't tell because no normal humans see them. And I would argue it is too vague to rely on a personal interpretation of the panels themselves, as it is far too vague.

Given the questionable nature of the emission reading of their abilities, is this enough to go on to then extrapolate other Nen Beast abilities work this way? I don't believe it is. As it relies too much on conjecture and assumptions.

Neferpitou
Pitou is stated as being a specialist. Now I am a little confused really how exactly specialists work in comparison to other Nen types. Do they use other areas of Nen? or do they rely on Specialisation to create their abilities? I find it rather undefined within the manga. Like how exactly do specialists nen affinity work? As stated by Izunavi specialists are only in the position on the Nen chart because manipulators and conjurers are most likely to become one. So is it the case their Nen affinity is always at 80% for its neighbouring categories or is their affinity specific to each specialist themselves? I think we just can't tell. Chrollo's book is referred to as conjured but it might be worth having a translator check if this is accurate.

This section I am unsure of, so if anyone believes they have a greater understanding of specialisation please do say.

Let's just say Pitous powers are using other areas of Nen. Now Pitou creates nen puppets which are not visible to normal people. Now one would think this means it would have to be through Emission. But given that Kurapika states that a Nen user can choose to hide conjured objects specifically from normal humans can it not work exactly the same as Guardian Spirit Beasts do.

Given that we know officially that Nen beasts can be created through conjuration and we know that conjured object can be hidden specifically from normal humans, is it not safer to assume this ability is created through Conjuration? As the idea that is created through emission is mostly conjectured considering the unreliability of Razor and Goreinu as examples. I would say the same argument for Knuckles A.P.R.

Conclusion
So based on the manga I believe we can reliably say that conjuration is the only Nen type confirmed to be able to create Nen beasts. As the argument for emitted Nen beasts is reliant on interpretation and conjecture, I believe it is far safer to assume that all Nen beasts within the series are created through conjuration. So all cases of nen beasts I believe should be defined as Conjuration types unless we are given more information to go on, for the opposite argument.

Thank you to anyone who has read this and I would love to hear any criticisms, contradictions and inaccuracies within my argument that you may have noticed.