Hiruko (Deity)

Hiruko
Affiliation(s)	Kunitsukami Amatsukami Masakado
Race(s)	OniDevil Children White Book

Hiruko is a character and Demon in the Megami Tensei franchise.

Profile

Origin

Hiruko is the first child of Izanagi and Izanami who was born with a deformity, and thus Hiruko was put on a small boat and cast out into the sea by his parents. Since the Muromachi period, he became identified as Ebisu, a deity of fishing and one of the Seven Lucky Gods, due to Ebisu being a term for things that drift in the water (as Hiruko did on the small boat).

Game Appearances

Shin Megami Tensei II

This section contains spoilers. (Skip Section)

Prior to the events of the story, Hiruko and the Kunitsukami had become restless and unhappy with the superiority the Amatsukami had over them, and so when the Great Cataclysm occurred, they viewed it as the perfect opportunity to ally with foreign demons and overthrow the heavenly gods, sealing them in the earth to take back the authority they felt rightly belonged to them.

The demons belonging to the forces of Law and Chaos were manipulating the Kunitsukami the entire time however, and when the Amatsukami had been taken care of, they tore Masakado's body into 6 pieces and then betrayed the Kunitsukami, with the forces of Law then sealing them away in shrines around Tokyo so that no one could get in the way of constructing their Millennium Kingdom. Realizing their mistake, the Kunitsukami secretly collected pieces of Masakado's body in the hope of one day being freed and redeeming themselves.

When Aleph visits the Underground, he is asked by Hiruko, who had managed to escape the Center's grasp, to retrieve the six pieces so that Masakado may be revived. After visiting each shrine and collecting the pieces from the freed Kunitsukami, the pieces are taken to the Cathedral of Shadows to fuse the pieces together, and then the fused but soulless body is taken to Hiruko, who then infuses Masakado's soul into the body, fully resurrecting him. Masakado thanks Aleph and heads towards Sealed Iwato along with Hiruko, to which then Masakado opens the entrance, allowing Aleph passage inside so that he may free the Amatsukami from their imprisonment. After freeing the Amatsukami, Amaterasu reconciles with Hiruko and takes him to the Diamond Realm so that they can heal their wounded bodies.

After beating the game, Hiruko can be found in the Diamond Realm, where he once again thanks Aleph for his help.

Visionaries

Hiruko is featured in one Visionary cutscenes in the Game Boy Advance and iOS versions of the game.

In "Yasakani no Magatama", while not physically present, he is mentioned by the Metatron that is leading the incursion on the Yamato shrine, saying that they used his familiarity with the shrine as guidance for their invasion, to which Amaterasu sadly repeats Hiruko's name before she is sealed by the angel.

In "Reed Leaf Boat", Hiruko is fleeing from the Center in the aftermath of their betrayal. He hopelessly tells himself it is only a matter of time until he is found, to which right after he is, but by Mutants instead of the Center. Discovering he is being chased, they take him to their leader, who allows him to live amongst them so that he can remain hidden from the Center.

End of spoilers.

Giten Megami Tensei: Tokyo Revelation

Hiruko rules over at Ariake with gods from the Kunitsukami family and mutans living together at the Ariake Colosseum.

This section contains spoilers. (Skip Section)

Once Ayato Katsuragi is called by Hiruko to go to Ariake, he fights Take-Minakata to prove his worth to Hiruko and after he defeats him he goes to see Hiruko, who then proceeds to say Katsuragi has a good reason to come here and that if we have anything for him Katsuragi is free to tell him. So Katsuragi tells him about the Yasaka Magatama and then gives it to Katsuragi since it's useless to him now, but suddenly the demon Decarabia appears and says he's here to do an attack to Hiruko, since he is now only a shadow of what he once was, so Decarabia launches a bomb to Hiruko and Katsuragi can or not jump in front of the bomb to try and save Hiruko, but if he does they both die.

Hiruko now at the Yomi shows his true form to Katsuragi and tells him not to worry, that he'll be back but that it'll take some time and says that Katsuragi's work is not done yet, so he sents Katsuragi back to Tokyo, but upon waking he sees that the Rainbow Bridge is now destroyed, so now no one can go to Ariake. A mutant suddenly appears and asks Katsuragi about Hiruko, he says that Hiruko will be back soon and so the mutant is happy and goes to tell the rest at Ariake.

End of spoilers.

Trivia

• In Aeon Genesis's english translation patch for Shin Megami Tensei II, Hiruko says that it was only the forces of Law that manipulated the Kunitsukami into betraying the Amatsukami, which is not accurate to the original script; both the forces of Law and Chaos are blamed for leading the Kunitsukami astray, Aeon Genesis simply excluded the latter's involvement to make them look better.

Nomenclature

Names in Other Languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ヒルコ	Hiruko

Gallery

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  Hiruko's sprite in Shin Megami Tensei II (Playstation).

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  Hiruko's sprite in Giten Megami Tensei: Tokyo Revelation (PC-98).

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  Hiruko's CG of his true form in Giten Megami Tensei: Tokyo Revelation (PC-98).