University of Panels

10: Pain

(Nagato Uzumaki)

 

I'm kind of cheating with these next two characters as they are both from a manga rather than an american comic. However, since I'm a diehard fan of the NARUTO series, leaving these characters off the list was not an option. First up is the leader of the Akatsuki known only as Pain.

 

The Akatsuki is a group of nine S-Class criminal ninja (top of the most wanted list) that wear black cloaks with a red cloud pattern. Each member has defected from their native shinobi village, possess incredible prowess with a particular forbidden jutsu. The ultimate ambition of the Akatsuki is to gather all of the tailed-beasts (chakra monsters including the Nine-Tails inside Naruto), and use them to take over the world. For a large portion of the series, the organization's leader was only shown in the form of a silhouetted hologram, with his only defining characteristics being purple eyes with a ripple pattern. This mysterious leader is eventually revealed to be Pain, a ninja who has conquered his own native nation, The Village Hidden in the Rain. In actuality, Pain's true identity is Nagato Uzumaki, who was once a young boy orphaned by the Second Great Ninja War, which laid waste to the Rain Village. He and two other orphans (Yahiko and Konan) were eventually discovered by Jiriya, one of the legendary Sannin of the Leaf Village, who took them in and taught them to use ninjutsu to protect themselves. Jiriya was particularly focused on Nagato, as he was revealed to have possessed the Rinnegan, an occular jutsu that was believed to have originated with the Sage of Six Paths (the first of all ninja), and would only appear when the world was engulfed in conflict and hatred. Because of the loss of his parents and a desire to keep his friends safe, Nagato made it his goal to bring an end to the cycle of war and hatred that dominated his homeland. This eventually led to him Yahiko, and Konan forming the Akatsuki, which started out as a group that was focused on bringing about peace to the Rain Village. However, a series of events led to the death of Yahiko, causing Nagato to believe that the only way that peace could be obtained by teaching the world pain. Now taking on the alias of Pain, Nagato overthrew the Rain Village's government, and redirected the Akatsuki's goals towards gathering the tailed-beasts. Pain's ultimate ambiton was to use the tailed beasts to create ultimate forbidden chakra weapons that held enough power to obliterate entire nations. He would then sell these weapons to warring nations, causing them to kill each other off, and the survivors would be united by the pain they shared. Only those who knew another's pain could truly understand one another, which is the only way that true peace can be obtained. His actions result in the death of his former mentor Jiriya, the destruction of the Hidden Leaf Village, and his battle with Naruto (which is one of the most epic fights in the series), who ends up convincing him that pain is not the way to break the cycle of hatred in the ninja world. 

 

To me, Pain is one of those villains who commits henious crimes to carry out his goals, but at heart is not truly evil. He truly desires peace, and wants to overcome pain and live in a world where people can truly understand one another. What makes him a villain however, is that the methods that he uses to carry out his plan are misguided, as he is willing to sacrifice innocent lives in order to obtain peace. These types of villains are the most complex and developed in my eyes, as they convey how evil can be a result of wanting to do good, but taking the wrong direction to achieve said good. It shows that no one is inherently evil, but that evil is a result of the actions that we choose to take in life.