Hmm...that's an interesting idea. I don't usually think of Sesshoumaru's Mother as a dog demon, more like a demi-god, kinda like what MontiK said. She always seemed so...divine and very wise. Maybe. But I think Sesshoumaru is a dog demon. Rumiko Takahashi listed his race as dog demon in his mini-biography, in the Inuyasha Profiles book.

At least, that's how I'll always think of him, even if his mother was a hamster and his father smelled of elderberries.

I think ya'll hit it on the nail and that's exactly what I was wondering but what my therory was fisr of all on Inu no Taisho's tomb was yes there were clouds and such but I don't recall if I ever read that actually being the part of the Netherworld or just a plane in between the Netherworld, the living world, and heaven. (i.e Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory) So with that being said I always thought that Inu no Taisho's grave was in a world inbetween the worlds (if that makes sense to ya'll...sometimes I have a very confusing thought process)

As for Sesshomaru's mother I also kinda havethe thoery that she's some kind of kami because she does have that goddess feel and look about her in the manga and her castle was in the clouds. Plus with th toe thing and the fact that her history isn't mentioned as much as Inu no Taisho's I just assumed she was a kami or a rare and very special kind of youkai.

Wouldn't it be interesting if Sesshoumaru's mother was a hellhound?

(By the way, I think her three-toedness is due to Takahashi wishing to design her to look more feminine or petite. Shippou is often drawn with only three toes on his foot paws.)

That is an interesting theory and I think it's plausible. Though when RT illustrated the going into the netherworld for inupapa's tomb multiple times she did make it pretty clear they weren't 'on earth' per say anymore so if inumama is not on earth the reference to it is pretty vague even for RT's style.

Ive seen alot of reference to Sesshoumaru as a 'perfect demon' so I often wondered if maybe his mother wasn't youkai but maybe a sort of demigod? Sesshouherc xD

This discussion came about between me and r0o in chat one night talking about plot holes and characterization in the manga...

We started out talking about Sesshomaru and this morphed. Looking some things up on the web I came across someone's hypothesis that Sesshomaru is not a full-blooded dog demon. Like any good Sesshomaru fan, I scoffed at this until we talked it out.

Looking it up, r0o and I found that no where in the manga does it say Sesshomaru is a full-blooded inu, just that he is a full-blooded youkai. Inupapa is said to be a full-blooded dog demon but not Sesshomaru. Also, along with that, no where does it say what Sesshomama is. In looking at pages from the manga, where she is shown in her dog form, we noticed something else. While Sesshomaru's beastie form has the correct number of toes for a dog Sesshomama does not, she only has three (see pictures below of the manga for that). No dog out there that r0o and I have ever heard of has three toes. Since it is not said anywhere that she is an inu that made us both wonder if she is some other kind of youkai. If that is the case, then Sesshomaru would not be a full-blooded inuyoukai. Interesting...

Along with that, the discussion turned to Sesshomama since so little is known about here. One of the things I read long ago when I started writing in this fandom was that Sesshomama was dead and that her palace was in hell (that is a reference now I can't find, sorry). When I mention this to people i get scoffed at and the manga where she shows up is pointed out. Discussing this with r0o, we were scratching our heads about it. Though, it doesn't seem to make sense at first, the more we talked about it the more it did. Case in point with this is that what most of us think of when we say hell comes from a different religious teaching than the one covered in the manga and series (we are not going to go there so don't panic mods). Also, people point out that when they see her palace there are clouds and such, making it seem as though it is on the earth. But, talking about it, you have to remember that when they went into Inupapa's tomb there were clouds, trees, mountains and all that and most assuredly that was in the netherworld. If she is a youkai like Sesshomaru then she can pass back and forth to hell without a problem, like Sesshomaru did.

What do you think? Are we off-base or does this make sense? What are your thoughts on the matter?

Reading through the initial post and it's subsequent replies, an interesting idea occurred to me. Say, Sesshoumaru's mother is some sort of demi-god, despite Sesshoumaru being listed as a dog-demon in RT's book. However, what if the dog-demon status works like a surname? If his father is a dog-demon, that makes him one...or at least classified as one, no matter what is mother is. Just an odd thought x3.

Also, I completely agree with the concept that she was given three toes to accentuate a feminine appeal. That being said, if she is a demi-god, she can likely shift into several different forms. Perhaps one of those is that of a dog-demon?

In the one story of mine where she actually showed up, she was a kami. I have read lots of references to her palace in the sky, so that was my interpretation. She had a lot to do with the moon, since the mark on Sessy's forehead was not seen on his father's head. I think that he is a full blooded inuyoukai. In my story, she fell in love with Inupapa and took the form that he was...therefore, she was turned into Inuyoukai. I know lots of people have different views of her, and give her different personalities (usually not a nice personality), but I had her with a noble and loving personality. I love the fact that on fanfiction, you can do anything you want. That is the joy, right?


By the way, anyone I was supposed to beta for, I am sorry! I just got a new laptop, because my old one died. Asus rocks!