The Emergence of Devils and the Birth of Fear

Devils have existed for as long as humanity has experienced fear — perhaps longer, as some devils represent fears that predate human consciousness itself. The Primordial Fears, such as the Darkness Devil and Falling Devil, embody terrors that existed before humanity evolved, drawing power from the fear responses of all sentient beings. The emergence of devils is thus not a historical event with a clear origin point but a fundamental aspect of reality itself — wherever there is fear, there are devils, and the relationship between fear and devil existence is as basic as the relationship between gravity and mass. This means devils are not invaders from another dimension but native products of the emotional and psychological ecosystem of conscious beings.

Human history and devil history are thus inseparably intertwined. Major events in human history that generated intense fear — wars, natural disasters, plagues, technological revolutions — directly shaped the devil ecosystem by creating or strengthening specific devils. Conversely, devil activity shaped human history by influencing which fears were dominant, which devils held power, and which concepts were allowed to exist. The Chainsaw Devil's unique ability to erase concepts by consuming their associated devils adds another layer to this interaction: the world of Chainsaw Man is not our world but a world where some fundamental concepts have been literally erased from reality, creating an alternate history where certain horrors — nuclear weapons, Nazis as a concept, and other erased entities — never existed or have been forgotten. This makes the world's history not just a record of events but a palimpsest written and rewritten by the actions of devils, with erased concepts leaving gaps in human understanding that no one even realizes exist.

The Chainsaw Devil's War in Hell

Before the events of the series, Pochita the Chainsaw Devil waged a devastating war in Hell that reshaped the entire devil dimension. Unlike most devils who are content to exist within their ecological niche, Pochita actively hunted and consumed other devils, erasing their concepts from reality and reducing the diversity of fear in the universe. The exact motivations for this campaign are unclear — Pochita's nature as the Chainsaw Devil may drive him to consume as an inherent aspect of his being, or there may be strategic reasons for targeting specific devils. What is known is that Pochita's rampage terrified the inhabitants of Hell so profoundly that devils from across all factions and territories formed unprecedented alliances specifically to defeat the Chainsaw Devil and drive him from their realm.

The war in Hell had cosmic significance that extends far beyond the immediate conflict. Devils consumed by Pochita during this period include the Nazi Devil, the Nuclear Weapons Devil, and several other concept-devils whose erasure has fundamentally altered human history. Without the Nuclear Weapons Devil, the concept of nuclear weapons was erased from human consciousness — weapons that should have existed in this world do not, and the arms race, Cold War, and nuclear terror that should have defined the late 20th century never occurred in the same way. The Chainsaw Devil's war in Hell is thus not just a backstory element but a world-defining event that explains the alternate history in which the series takes place, a history where nuclear weapons exist as physical objects — the War Devil seeks to restore them — but the fear and knowledge of them have been forgotten.

The Gun Devil Incident: 1984

The Gun Devil's global rampage in 1984 stands as the single most devastating event in recorded human history. In just five minutes, the Gun Devil moved across multiple continents, killing approximately 1.2 million people with extreme prejudice. Its method of attack was as terrifying as its body count: the Gun Devil manifested as a massive, flying amalgamation of firearms, appearing without warning in population centers and unleashing coordinated barrages of gunfire that obliterated everything in their path. Traditional military responses were useless — the Gun Devil was faster than any aircraft, more durable than any weapon could penetrate, and capable of being in multiple places in the same moment, making coordinated defense impossible.

The psychological and political impact of the Gun Devil incident cannot be overstated. In the aftermath, nations collectively agreed to end all conventional warfare, recognizing that armed conflict was meaningless in a world where a single devil could inflict more casualties in minutes than most wars inflict in years. This decision was not motivated by altruism or diplomacy but by stark terror — the fear of the Gun Devil and the recognition that human conflict only strengthened devils by generating more fear. The incident paradoxically created an era of global peace through shared terror, with nations redirecting their competitive energies from military confrontation to devil management and fragment acquisition. The Gun Devil incident is the pivot point of modern history in the Chainsaw Man world, the event that separated the old world of human conflict from the new world of human-devil coexistence, and its shadow continues to shape every aspect of global politics and devil management.

The Age of Devil Management: 1984-Present

The period following the Gun Devil incident has been defined by the institutionalization of devil management as a core function of governance. Nations developed dedicated devil-hunting organizations — Japan's Public Safety, America's military integration, the USSR's hybrid programs — to manage the ongoing threat of devil activity. International cooperation on devil management emerged alongside competition for devil resources, creating a complex geopolitical landscape where traditional alliances were reshaped by the new reality of supernatural threats. The Gun Devil's fragments became the most valuable strategic assets in the world, with nations competing aggressively for acquisition while simultaneously cooperating on research and containment protocols.

This period also saw the development of the hybrid programs, the refinement of devil contract systems, and the emergence of a professional devil-hunting class. Devils themselves adapted to the new reality, with some seeking stable contracts with human organizations while others continued to operate independently. The balance between human management and devil agency shifted constantly, with each major devil incident — Panic at the Nuclear Power Plant, the rise of new powerful devils, the activities of the International Assassins — causing recalibrations of strategy and resource allocation. The present day of the series represents the culmination of this period of institutional development, with devil management having matured into a sophisticated system of containment, contract, and coexistence that, while far from perfect, has proven capable of maintaining functional society in the face of existential supernatural threats.

A World Without War: The War Devil's Weakening

The end of global warfare after the Gun Devil incident had an unexpected consequence: the weakening of the War Devil. Yoru, the War Devil, draws power from humanity's fear of war and armed conflict. When nations stopped fighting, that fear diminished, and Yoru's power correspondingly declined. This direct connection between human behavior and devil power levels is one of the most important dynamics in the Chainsaw Man cosmology: devils are not independent entities but reflections of human consciousness, and changes in human society directly affect the balance of supernatural power. The War Devil's weakening demonstrates that humanity is not powerless against devils — by controlling our own fears and behaviors, we can influence which devils thrive and which struggle for existence.

Yoru's response to her weakened state drives much of the plot of Part 2. The War Devil's quest to reclaim the nuclear weapons erased by the Chainsaw Devil is fundamentally an attempt to restore her power source — if nuclear weapons are restored to human consciousness, the fear of war (and specifically nuclear war) would surge, strengthening Yoru immensely. This quest reveals the stakes of the ongoing conflict over the Chainsaw Devil's power: control of erasure and restoration means control over which concepts exist and which fears dominate human consciousness. The War Devil's goal is not just personal power but a fundamental reshaping of reality toward a more fearful and conflict-ridden state, making her opposition to Denji not just a personal conflict but a cosmic battle over the nature of human existence itself.

The Horsemen Era: Shaping the Future

The Four Horsemen — Control (Makima/Nayuta), War (Yoru), Famine, and Death — represent the next evolution of devil influence on human history. These are not ordinary devils but entities of such power and conceptual significance that they can shape human civilization on a global scale. The Control Devil manipulated Japan's devil hunting establishment from within. The War Devil seeks to restore nuclear weapons and reignite global conflict. Famine operates through more subtle means, influencing human desire and consumption. Death, the final Horseman, has not yet appeared in the series but is foreshadowed as the ultimate threat that will emerge when the other Horsemen's plans reach their conclusion.

The Horsemen era represents a new phase in human-devil history where the most powerful devils no longer operate from Hell but embed themselves directly in human society, pursuing their agendas through influence, manipulation, and direct action. This phase is characterized by increasing blurring of the line between human and devil, as hybrids and devil-adjacent humans become more common and more powerful. The future of world history in Chainsaw Man will be determined by the outcome of the Horsemen's conflicts — whether the War Devil succeeds in restoring nuclear weapons, whether the Control Devil can break her cycle of abuse, whether Famine's subtle manipulations can be countered, and what happens when Death finally arrives. The series' world history is still being written, and its direction will be determined by the choices of characters who must navigate a world where fear has power, where erased concepts can be restored, and where the boundary between human and devil has never been less certain.

The Impact of Devil Erasure on Human History

The Chainsaw Devil's ability to erase devils and their associated concepts has fundamentally altered human history in ways that most people do not even recognize. When Pochita consumed the Nazi Devil, the Holocaust and World War II as we know them were erased from memory — what remains is a fragmented understanding of events that once had entirely different contexts. The erasure of the Nuclear Weapons Devil means that humanity no longer remembers creating the most destructive weapons in history, though the physical remnants still exist. This selective erasure creates a world where history itself is unreliable, with entire categories of human experience forgotten.

The implications of devil erasure extend beyond memory loss to fundamental questions about reality and identity. If concepts can be erased and restored, what does it mean for something to exist? The War Devil's quest to restore erased concepts threatens to reintroduce horrors that humanity has been blissfully unaware of. This narrative device allows Chainsaw Man to explore philosophical questions about whether ignorance is preferable to knowledge and whether some things should remain forgotten.

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