Aren

Language:

English

Ara's Brother

Full Name

Aren Haan

Race

Formerly Human

Cambion

Role

Ara's Brother

Location

Shadow Earl's Castle

Voice Actors

장민혁 Jang Min-Hyeok

“

But if you continue to steadily devote yourself to your training, there will certainly come a day when you can openly express yourself.

~ Aren

”

Description

Ara's step brother and the strongest warrior of the Haan family.

History

New Family

Before being possessed by the demon general Ran and invading Hamel, Aren Haan was a blood descendant of the famed Haan family of the Northern Empire Xin and the most respected son of the Haan family. He was loved by everybody in the clan. At some point, his mother died of unmentioned reasons and in time, his father had fallen in love with a new brave woman. Admiring her courage, Aren's father persisted her to marry until she accepted. Along with the woman was her daughter Ara. Whilst his new mother got along with his father perfectly fine, his siblings constantly teased her and Ara. Aren, however, chose not to partake in such actions and treated them much like family.

Even when Ara felt depressed, saddened, and not knowing what she should do, Aren was there to comfort her. He requested to spar with his sister. He easily dodged and deflected her early attacks. Knowing his sister was hesitant, he pushed her to become more serious. After she won with her spear right below his chin, Aren admitted defeat. He tells his sister that she should devote herself to her training and one day, she will be able to openly express herself.

The Festival

Sometime before the festival gathering, all of the powerful families of the Northern Empire arrived. Aren alongside his entire family went to the Northern Empire's capital to attend the festival and remain on good terms with the Emperor. During the festival, one of the main attractions was a sparring competition between the various families, but Aren injured his arm while riding horseback and could not participate. His fellow siblings compete but despite the Haan family's famed skills, they were defeated by members of the Jin family. The Jin family was disappointed that they were not able to fight the Haan family's best warrior but were happy that their family was victorious. However, Aren spoke up and mentioned that there was one more member of the Haan family which they had not fought yet, his step-sister Ara. Ara heard her brother's words and stepped forward. She competed against the Jin family's fighter and won the battle. Aren watched the battle and when it was over, he spoke confidently to his sister that he was right about her all along.

Warrior of Fahrmann

One day, Aren partook a post in Fahrmann's capital and left the village of Isshin. The demons came from the Demon World and attacked Fahrmann, starting with the capital. Unable to defend against the demon invasion forever, the capital fell and Aren's strong connection to the Moon El made him a prime target for the demons.

The Demon Commander

Losing the invasion, he came upon the demon Ran, who would take control of his body. Aren struggles under the control of the demon but his struggles are not enough to break free of his control. Under the control of Ran, he would partake in the demon invasion of Elrios. Despite being under Ran's control, Aren is still able to have a slight grip over his body and continues to try and fight off Ran.

Abandonment By Ran

After returning to the Demon Realm, Ran tasked his minions to mine Mystic Stones in an effort to inject its power into the Moon El to regain his strength. After regaining his strength, Ran separated from Aren's body. As a token of amicability, Ran left Aren to his own devices as he left on pursuit of the Abyss.

Ran, still full of guilt, was unable to move with his newfound freedom. Instead he decided to play the role of Ran in his absence. The Red-Demon Army had been dissolved and he was approached by Victoria who proposed a reformation of the remaining members. Aren agreed with her proposition and gave her title of Queen of the Dream Demons and autonomy to do as she wished with the remaining forces.

Chapter 53: Shadow Earl's Castle

When the El Search Party entered the Shadow Earl's Castle, Aren wished for them to leave and tried to avoid their presence. The group pursued who they believed was Ran until they confronted him, shadows beings appeared to impede their way but Ara initiated a fight while the others dealt with the shadows.

Ara and Aren dueled, each attack triggering a sense of familiarity within Ara, after a time, she realized that their fight felt identical to sparring with her brother, and realized that Ran was nowhere to be seen, that it was just her brother Aren. Ara probes why he was playing this part and he soon laments his guilt and weakness he's been hiding to his sister, that he's originally summoned Ran to see his home again and nothing more. He wishes to left alone, to wallow in his sorrow, but Ara could not accept this and wishes to return with her brother.

Chapter 54: Ominous Red Demon Territory

In the aftermath, Aren tell the El Search Party what he knew, though his memories during Ran's possession were not entirely lucid. He was able to divulge that many things had gone awry after the failure of the Demon Invasion and Ran has regained his power and separated using ore and the shell of the Moon El.

Ara later confronts her brother, alone the two talk about the secrets they've been hiding and Ara demonstrates her new convictions to her brother. Her words resonate with Aren and help his move beyond the stupor he found himself in as they kept talking.

Later that night, when most had gone to sleep, Aren decided that after seeing his sister again, and seeing that she was safe with her new friends, he needed to set off on his own journey. But before he could leave, he ran into Chung on night watch. He reveals to Chung that he stayed in the castle for so long, because he thought Ran would return, but now that he can't afford to just throw his life away, there is something new he must seek out. Chung asks the whereabouts of his father, which Aren recalls Helputt having left some time ago alongside a young demon. Aren gives Chung his farewells for Ara before departing.

Chapter 58-1: Gathered Again

Scouring the Red Demon Territory, Aren came across the remnants of a decayed mutated human being and recognized the wounds as Ran's doing. Before he could take a closer look, he sensed someone approaching and hid. A unknown female appeared before the corpse and appeared to analyze it, she concludes the assailant took the corpse's possession and decides to track the assailant. Aren suspects a connection between Henir's Order, Ran, and Sir Helputt and decides to trail the unknown female.

Chapter 59: King of Abyss

Aren's investigation lead him to the Abyss where he ran into the Dream Demons and was briefed on the situation below. Traveling down, he meets up with the El Search Party at the Birth of Origin. With them, he devises a plan to destroy the Abyss's Heart Core. Aren helps distract Ran, who is surprised to see his vessel again after setting him free. Ran reveals that Aren's body had become to compatible with Ran's soul and had adapted into something Ran called a Cambion. Aren distracts Ran enough for the El Search Party to destroy the Abyss's Heart Core and distracted, Ara managed to land a finishing blow of Ran's Seed of Life.

Chapter 60: Collapsing Abyss

With Ran becoming unstable and the Abyss beginning to collapse, Aren decides to remain behind to hold Ran off, which Ara deciding to stick by her brother's side as the rest clear a path ahead. Aren and Ara collapse the way behind Ran, slowing his progress as they make their way up the Abyss. The two are the last to make it out, but they succeed as the Abyss Whorshipers swarm the unstable Ran and drag him back to the bottom.

Chapter 61: Suspicious Invite

While the El Search Party recuperated from their exposure to the Abyss, Ran remained in Tirnog and helped the Dream Demons check the stability of the remains of the Abyss. During this time, Aren also informed the El Search Party that he was too knowledgeable about Henir's Order and was aware they'd been active for longer than the El Search Party had originally suspected, noting strange incidents while he was still the Royal Guard Captain in Northern Empire, relaying suspicions that they may have had a hand in initiating the Demon Invasion in some way.

Gallery

Aren at Shadow Earl's Castle.
Aren (with face armor) at Shadow Earl's Castle.
Ara, Aren, Eun, and Ran.
Aren Haan

Trivia

When humans turn into half-demons, it is shown that their hair turns white and, over time given enough demonic energy, horns may grow on their head. Aren's hair was originally black.
- It should be noted that unlike Ciel's demon conversion, Aren was instead being possessed against his will by a separate entity, the demon general Ran.
- After Ran leaves Aren's body, his skin can be seen fading back to a normal, although very pale, human coloration, implying Ran himself is what caused the skin change, rather than it being caused by Aren's half-demon transformation. On top of that, due to lacking much of the demonic energy supplied by Ran, his horns have disappeared.
- As shown in the anime and Ara's backstory and webtoon, Aren was very aware of what was happening while being possessed, unable to act in most cases, but being able to assert some control over his body whenever Ara was threatened.
Strangely, Aren's still demonic-looking right eye has black sclera, while Ran's real form has white ones. His sclera were sometimes depicted as white while still possessed as well, making it unclear what they are canonically supposed to look like.
Aren Haan wrote the skill notes Whale Hunter and Wobbly.