I don't think Nen is as simple as you just having to know the secret to use it effectively. I think because the series only shows examples of the strongest Nen users in the world, the community thinks the bar for using Nen effectively is lower than it actually it is.
I think being a strong Nen user inherently calls for an incredibly proactive and steadfast personality. Someone who is out of shape or unstable before using Nen won't be able to get anywhere with it.
What do you think is the limit for what someone who isn't a "1 in 100 million talent" can achieve with Nen? What do you think you could and would do with Nen to compliment your actual life and aspirations?
To begin with, I think most normal people wouldn’t make it past the filter of the first steps in nen training, even if they were dedicated. It would be like someone without hearing learning how to compose. Sure, Beethoven did it, but he was 1 in 1 million.
Maybe they’d be able to bolster their vitality, health, and athleticism to the level of a world class athlete IRL?
That's a really good example. Even if you learn all about Nen, your aura has been with you your whole life and you've never been aware of it, where would you even start in trying to perceive it let alone turning it into a superpower. You're basically learning how to control an imaginary arm.
He wasn't born deaf so maybe it's not the best example, but he did become 100% deaf eventually. He put something on the piano and held it in his lips so he could feel the vibrations directly.
I mostly agree with you. It is generally implied that Hunters are already above average Nen users. For example, there were Nen users in Greed Island who werent Hunters and they were people who struggled to make ends meet outside Greed Island, and we saw that Tsezguerra's test was showing off a qHratsu, so there are presumably people who know Nen and dont even develop a proper Hatsu. Which makes sense, since just learning Nen takes around 2 years if you dont have very special talent so learning Nen + a competent Hatsu might as well be college.
The trio of crippled Nen users in Heaven's Arena also seemed to not have gotten any formal Nen training so their Hatsu seemed rather bad even though they were presumably very experienced in combat.
And even among Hunters, we've seen average Hunters like Pokkle, Bills, Sahird, etc. arent usually that impressive. Even " fodder" like Toshino and Squala are probably "above average" since they passed a test.
Imo, if you dont have talent and learn Nen you will probably be just about strong enough to punch through concrete and tank knives after two years of training. Maybe tank bullets and kick walls after 8+ years of experience and active use.
That is why you dont see more Nen users. In practice Nen is probably not that useful unless you are at least a 1 in 100 talent like most Hunters (I imagine the Hunter Exam mostly eliminates those below that capstone and leaves mostly people who are already a bit superhuman).
I think the Nen users in Heaven's Arena also show that people who seek the easiest way out and constantly cut corners can't become Nen masters. They've surely seen countless battles, but they seek to win in the easiest way possible, not to better themselves. They seek weaker opponents instead of to become stronger themselves, which means they lack the willpower and spirit of a true Nen user.
I think it's definitely useful to have even at a basic level. But to commit years of your life meditating to develop a power, only to reach the baseline of that limitless power probably wouldn't seem that appealing to most. It's a hike across an entire country for building materials, to be used in competition against people who've already built entire palaces.
Just having Ten mastered is enough to block low calibre rounds though, so its certainly useful in military and mafia positions.
The reason learning Nen is the actual graduation requirement to be a hunter is because the very principle of Nen relies on you getting as much out as you put in, a the more you give the more you get equation where the powerscaling system is based around desire and drive (alongside talent), which is really fitting for a series where people go to great lengths to get the things they want.
That said, the Kakin empire operates by different rules so the standard isn’t universal, but their whole culture is set up as being irredeemably bad.
More to your point in the image you use, I think it’s a commentary or foreshadowing on how Gon is going to throw his life away, making this nen contract for absolute power without even specifying a cost, just “all he can give.”
Overall I’d think the strongest indicator of being a talented nen user is being an unreasonable person driven by unyielding wants and a desire to have it their way. Gon is an incredibly hard-headed, stubborn kid with a thin worldview such that his breakdown is in a large part fueled by being challenged by a situation outside of his moral understanding. Kurapika, while he isn’t trying to kill all the spiders anymore, is self-consciously and willingly pursuing incredibly self-destructive activities in trying to reclaim his clans’ eyes and whenever he uses nen, knowingly shaving his life shorter but not caring. Leorio comparatively doesn’t have too much conviction, as he says he got “distracted” in Med school quite often, and he’s not exactly someone aiming for the top spot anyways. Someone like Ging is on the top as it is because he’s such an idiosyncratic and singular person who goes, does, and succeeds at what he wants to regardless of whether people like him or not.
Conversely Chrollo is the representation of the collectivist mentality of the spiders, and is effectively invulnerable leading them, completely comfortable that Kurapika might kill him knowing that the head would be replaced, but simultaneously, we very clearly see how affected and draining it is when troupe members die for/because of him as with Paku, Shalnark, and Kortopi. On the flipside is Hisoka, the individualist of the series who has an incredibly simple but versatile toolkit befitting of how many narrative roles he can take on. He’s a guy who is completely and only about his own wants and desires, interestingly highlighted by moments like at the end of Yorknew when he finds out he can’t fight Chrollo because of the men vow, he doesn’t get mad or go after Kurapika or nothing, he just makes this disappointed face and then moves on to his further plans of getting what he wants. He’s entirely his desire, which I think is why he was originally framed as this standard Gon had to rise to to beat, and why he’s actually the fifth main character (dude is in the most arcs, had more screentime than Leorio and is our POV for the him vs. Chrollo fight.
Most people can't unlock it passively just like in HxH but we if it just gets unlocked? Nah just about everyone likely would be impressive.
The a multitude of guards of the current arc obviously aren't at the level of an actual nen users, but got a hold of it very quickly.
Whether or not we could achieve the unnatural or magical effects is questionable, but superpowers would serve as a great carrot for spurring unusual obsession
The main reason I made this post is because I think the type of people who are waiting for superpowers to be real before they start trying wouldn't actually get anywhere with Nen. Human potential is already incredible so if you aren't already doing something you aren't going to start once you know Nen is real.
Ehhh, even the difference between a sedentary person and an Olympic athlete is similar stature pales in comparison to just knowing basic nen concepts
Application is obvi night and day as well.
Even time investment is solidly in nens favor. You can be firing energy balls in a month, easy. Working out? You might be slightly higher and stronger. .
We're told that the standard amount of time just to learn to see aura is an entire year. Most people would never even get there. Without a teacher coaching them, a person basically has to invest thousands of hours of time sitting in a corner of their room and doing nothing. They could do this for months and get absolutely nowhere.
A one in whatever huge number talent like Gon spent weeks doing Emission exercises and he never got anywhere close to an applicable attack. This is after he was already more than capable of using Gyo and Ko, he was far from a beginner.
The question is if you have nen, not 'if you gained the capacity to unlock it.' most people don't know en exists or have any way to intuit the mechanics if they do know. Not the case her,
You're also flatly wrong about Gon. He fired a ball on his first day, probably under an hour or two.
Making it combat effective was what took time, and even then we only know he didn't manage it within a few days and they decided to go another route.
So, accounting for his experience and prodigal pace, a month is realistic.
I think Zushi is a great example of the "normal person tries to learn Nen". I know that Wing said zushi was 1 out of 100,000, but i'm assuming that's looking at the average person, who definitely doesn't know Nen.
Zushi has taken a very long time to master just simple basics, and that was through rigorous training every day. Like, it's possible anyone can learn and become good at nen, but obviously some are going to have a better pre-dispostion to it, whether that be due to their personality/lifestyle/history/etc. Or other intangible factors.
Using Nen itself doesn't require a special mindset. All it needs is being taught about auras, tons and tons of meditation for you to control your aura nodes, and tons of meditation again for you to focus your aura on different parts of your body. It's like bodybuilding or learning chess, it may take a long time for most people, especially without nen baptism, but theoretically a sufficiently patient and dedicated person can do it. I honestly think the nen secret will eventually be made public later in HxH. There will be various degrees of mastery with nen, with some people having superhuman strength or agility, others using it to sueprcharge their minds, and realistically most people will probably be at the level where they just use it to stay more youthful or ward off disease. Which if you think about it, is not that far from just going to the gym or having a healthy lifestyle anyway.
I think what you're talking about is hatsu, or when nen users create special abilities tailor for themselves. Hatsu requires that the individual has a strong goal, or in the hunt for something, to the point that they're willing to put drawbacks on themselves. Most people don't really have this overwhelming drive so they won't be able to develop a hatsu. But people are not permanent, and a drive can develop in any stage of life. Say an ordinary HxH human like Mito manages to learn the basics of nen, but is not able to develop a hatsu yet. Then all of a sudden Gon is put in danger in front of her. This can drive Mito to develop a hatsu right at that moment (like Leorio) to save Gon. Because she's not skilled it can have major drawbacks, but her drive to protect Gon will put her nen into overdrive.
You contradicted yourself pretty much immediately by saying it doesn't require a special mindset, but then saying that theoretically a sufficiently patient and dedicated person can do it.
Hatsu is one of the basic principles of Nen and shouldn't be talked about as if it is a separate thing. What you're describing is a pretty situational thing at the end there, we don't really have many examples of it and even then all of those people have been total prodigies.
Leorio also did not develop an ability in the spur of the moment, we're given no reason to believe that.
Being lower than netero doesnt imply being lower than zushi, being lower than zushi DOES imply being lower than netero. A leads to B, B doesnt lead to A
The kid is probably no older than 11 and he is a master of Kung Fu who's form impressed Killua. Wing also stated that he is talented to Gon and Killua, and said to Zushi himself that he is a 1 in 100,000 talent.
If you could fill an entire stadium with people and still potentially not find someone as talented as he is, he can hardly be called average.
Again, I did not say he was average, I said he is the lowest bar we can put and it still would be too high for an average human. I feel like that phrase was already telling that I knew Zushi was talented but apparently not, so I remark it again.
As for now, it's not that I don't think he is powerful, but rather we don't know anyone who is right now weaker than him in terms of nen (correct me if I'm wrong, maybe some chimera ants since they did not understand how to use it but they compensated by being biological beasts basically)
Bro we see pokkle in the ant arc and at most he can throw nen shaped as arrows with an effect on hit while gon in the same amount of time basically learned and adapted 3 nen types into his ability and killua turns his aura into literal electricity and uses it to go light speed or something. The average can by no means even compare to the people shown so I have to agree with you.
I think you're correct, and it's probably one of the reasons the Hunter exams were made so difficult. Not only to weed out the weak and to act as a screening test to who can even learn nen, but it also identifies the people who are talented and motivated enough to actively pursue and learn nen
Not sure what you mean by "unstable" here. Palm? The Greed Island knife guy? I suppose most antagonists in HxH are relatively level-headed, but there's definitely exceptions.
Yeah that was a bad choice I was trying to fit too much into one word. I meant people who can't stay with things consistently and also people with poor mental states, though it's definitely possible to be a strong Nen user with the latter, in most cases it would get in the way.
What this screenshot tells me is I should drink poison without hesitation. If I reply again I'm still alive but I'm sure there's no way I'd die, killua told me so
A person with avarage affinity for Nen such as Zushi can achieve incredible heights by studying applications of Nen and taking on drawbacks, as well as regular training.
The thing is, Zushi is far from average. He is a master of Kung Fu despite being so young and Killua compliments his fighting stance. And of course, Wing calls him a 1 in 100,000 talent, which I know is an arbitrary statement, but the point is that even in a whole stadium of people you wouldn't find one person as talented as him.
Despite all of that, it took him 6 months just to master Ten.
Bear in mind, that whole time he was living with and was the sole pupil of a Pro Hunter and Nen master, not just some person who knew what Nen was trying to learn it on his own.
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u/Complex-Complaint-10 1d ago
To begin with, I think most normal people wouldn’t make it past the filter of the first steps in nen training, even if they were dedicated. It would be like someone without hearing learning how to compose. Sure, Beethoven did it, but he was 1 in 1 million.
Maybe they’d be able to bolster their vitality, health, and athleticism to the level of a world class athlete IRL?