Tamayo (珠たま世よ Tamayo?) is an important supporting character in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. She is a demon, a skilled doctor, and a close ally of Tanjiro Kamado.
During the final confrontation between humans and demons, Tamayo, along with Yushiro, teams up with the Demon Slayer Corps to develop a drug that would aid in defeating Muzan Kibutsuji.
Appearance
Tamayo is a small young woman with long dark brown hair, parted in the middle and braided back into a large low bun, held in place by a floral tama-kanzashi hairpin. She has large, kind eyes that initially have no pupils, only a lavender mist that fades to a dark purple as it goes up, and notably red lips contrasting with her pale complexion. She is known to have an attractive appearance to both Tanjiro and Yushiro.
Tamayo wore a dark purple hōmongi kimono of medium length decorated with light purple tree branches and red flowers, and a cream-colored taiko musubi obi to tie it around her waist, as well as plain white socks and violet zōri sandals.
During the confrontation between the Demon Slayer Corps and Muzan, Tamayo’s eyes show cat-like black pupils and Yushiro’s talisman scattered on her kimono.
In the past, Tamayo wore her hair tied in a low ponytail.
Personality
Tamayo is a gentle, wise, and incredibly intelligent individual. Having dedicated most of her life to researching demons and the transformation of humans into one, she was one of the most knowledgeable people shown. Despite the generally antagonistic and virulent relationship between humans and demons, she shows much kindness towards humans. She made it part of her mission to help injured or sick individuals with her extensive medical knowledge – Tanjiro Kamado being one of them.
Tamayo had a strong aversion to violence: instead of killing humans for their blood, she chose to buy blood from consenting donors to survive. She was adamant in teaching her assistant, Yushiro, against violence and would often reprimand him for his habit of hitting others. She was one of the few demons who, after becoming one, was able to regain and retain her human emotions.
However, despite her usual gentle and caring personality, Tamayo exhibited a more cruel personality when confronting Muzan. This was seen when she gleefully boasted of successfully creating a human transformation drug and managed to inject it into him, and later, when being devoured and consumed, reduced to mere cells inside his body, Tamayo again showed her cruel side as she revealed the real effects of her drugs. Muzan hinted that this cruel personality was Tamayo’s original personality in her early years as a demon, although her antagonistic association with him makes this doubtful. It is possible that Tamayo’s radical behavior change is only triggered when she is with Muzan due to the intense hatred she felt towards him.
During her time as a servant of Muzan and before meeting Yoriichi Tsugikuni, Tamayo demonstrated a more docile personality, likely as a result of her realizing how impossible it was to defeat Muzan with her power to avenge her family. However, this changed when she witnessed Yoriichi’s strength and how close he was to killing Muzan, as Yoriichi noted that he saw a glimmer of hope in her once expressionless eyes when she realized he almost killed her former master, showing that upon seeing Yoriichi’s power, Tamayo’s decision to avenge her family was reignited.
Tamayo hated her identity as a demon: when she was first found by Tanjiro and he deduced that it was her Blood Demon Art that helped him, she mentioned that she could still be called human. Upon learning that Nezuko recognized her as human and embraced her after helping defeat Susamaru, Tamayo pulled her closer and thanked Nezuko in tears. During her fight with Muzan to inject her drug into him, Tamayo declared that she had no intentions of being a demon and simply wanted to survive her illness and be with her family, showing that Muzan deceived her into undergoing a transformation without mentioning the consequences.
Abilities
General Abilities
As one of the oldest demons to exist, predating entirely the Twelve Kizuki and armed with unparalleled knowledge of demon science and physiology, Tamayo is a very powerful oni. She was able to enchant and distract a squadron of policemen, preventing them from seeing herself, Yushiro, and Tanjiro in plain sight, and later easily managed to calm Susamaru into accidentally saying Muzan’s name, despite the extreme fear that nearly all demons have of him, through the use of her Blood Demon Art. However, her greatest weapon is her vast knowledge of medicine and the internal workings of demons. She was able to reverse the transformation of a demon, something that was previously considered entirely impossible, and played a crucial role in the eventual death of the Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji by developing a potent drug that drastically diminished his once unparalleled physical abilities.
Medical and Pharmaceutical Abilities: What Tamayo lacks in combat prowess, she more than makes up for with extremely enhanced skills in the areas of medicine and pharmaceuticals, possessing the ability to alter her own body so that she could survive on just a small amount of human blood. She was also able to turn the terminally ill Yushiro into a demon without Muzan’s blood. Before the final battle, she also turned Chachamaru into a demon. Later, she managed to free the Asakusa Demon from Muzan’s influence and restore his consciousness using Nezuko Kamado’s blood. To further showcase her pharmaceutical ability, Tamayo was also able to help the Insect Hashira Shinobu Kocho saturate her body with the deadly poison of Wisteria, without it causing her the slightest illness; a tactic that the Hashira would later use effectively against the Upper Moon Two, Doma.
Anti-Demon Blood Coagulant: Tamayo created this medication to prevent a demon’s Blood Demon Art from progressing. Yushiro used this medication to cure Zenitsu Agatsuma after his battle with Kaigaku.
Anti-Kibutsuji Drug: It was later revealed that, by teaming up with Yushiro and Shinobu, Tamayo successfully created an extremely potent four-stage drug that could severely weaken Muzan. Once administered to him, its effects would be strong enough to significantly impair him, despite his immense resistances and physical abilities. The first stage of the drug consisted of the same human conversion stage included in the medication given to Nezuko.
Combat Style
Blood Demon Art
Blood Spell (惑わく血ち Wakuchi?): Tamayo’s Blood Demon Art revolves around drawing her own blood and casting various support spells using the scent of that blood.
Techniques
Illusory Smell, Visual Dream (視し覺かく夢む幻げんの香こう Shikaku Mugen no Kō?) – An illusion that hinders the vision of those affected by creating beautiful floral patterns around them.
Magical Aroma of Daylight (白はく日じつの魔ま香こう Hakujitsu no Makō?) – A spell that acts as a truth serum, causing the brain function to decrease and will make the recipient confess their lies and not keep their secrets.
