my analysis on gon // a thread

I apologize if I word things poorly or if I miss some things, I'm bad at putting things into words sometimes

TW: many mentions of trauma and death

gon is a deeply misunderstood character, the first thing that you have to understand that gon is a child, and before you say "killua is a child too!", gon grew up on a sheltered island and although was aware of things like death, murder, malicious intents and just the general bad

parts of the world and understood the concept of them he wasn't really exposed to these things, he didnt have a full grasp and understanding of how terrible these things are, he grew up with a loving aunt and grandma and a kind community on whale island, as opposed to killua who

was exposed to terrible things at a very young age and even forced to do terrible things. Killua was forced to grow up too son, Gon wasn't, they are different.

gon left whale island as a normal, innocent kid with a good heart. Many people think that he is "unhinged" and "selfish" because throughout the series we see that he tends to view people as bad or good depending on how they treat him or his friends, the thing that you need to

understand here is that children in REAL LIFE, tend to be ego-centric. That doesn't make said children UNHINGED, that makes them CHILDREN. Gon isn't a bad person or actually selfish for seeing people this way, gon cares about people and his friends,

we can clearly see that in his heart he's a good kid with good intentions, he doesnt want to hurt people, he never wanted to hurt people once in his life.

and now that brings us to our main point, kite and the chimera ant arc, where gon is most misunderstood

now the 2011 anime really messed up this part but kite was the closest thing gon ever had to a father figure, kite was the reason he became a hunter, the reason he is who he is, the reason he met killua, leorio and kurapika, in the manga kite is shown to clearly be very important

to gon and someone that he trusts and admires

the events of the chimera arc are already stressful enough to begin with, gon is experiencing what helplessness truly feels like and the realities of war and tragedy firsthand at the age of 12-14 as a sheltered kid, put yourself in his shoes

and at least try to imagine how he feels

and with all of the shit that happened in the chimera arc the moment he finds out kite is dead is when things completely come down on him and just crush him

at this moment gon is facing the feeling of extreme grief for the first time in one of the hardest and scariest ways you can, in the middle of a war someone who was extremely important to him and the closest thing he has to a father figure is taken away from him,

literally murdered by a scary and powerful being who looks at him in that moment with no emotion or remorse.

imagine that, imagine being a 12-14 year old kid with a hopeful heart who was living on a sheltered island for most of his life having that thrown at you, he didnt know how to handle it, his mind literally wasnt able to handle it, gon was going through some of the worst trauma

you can imagine at this moment. The pain and grief he was experiencing is almost impossible to explain, you can only understand what I'm trying to say here.

so of course he reacts the way he did, how else really would he? what did you EXPECT him to do? gon was going through such an incredibly stressful, scary and traumatic moment in his life that its impossible to imagine. his reaction was realistic, it had depth,

it hurt him and hurt others in the process yes, but he isnt a monster, he isnt a bad person, he didnt want this, he didnt want any of this.

so no, gon isn't a monster, he isn't unhinged. He is a trauma victim who reacted like many of us would. Gon is just as complex and wonderfully written as any of the other hxh characters, yes he has flaws, yes I think that in some ways he needs to mature, but he is a human being,

his flaws are what make him a great character and he's growing and he's learning, and he also needs to heal. After the events of caa and killing pitou he most definitely has to live with trauma and some form of PTSD now and he needs to heal,

another thing I want to empathize is that gon is NOT DUMB. Yes he grew up sheltered and is a very positive, happy-go-lucky, loving kid but he is absolutely not dumb. Gon is smart and observant and he's going to learn and he's going to mature

as he gets older and experiences more things, just like any human being would. The situation in the chimera arc was messy and traumatizing for EVERYONE, and they all need to heal, I don't understand why gon is excluded from that, he absolutely should not be excluded from that.

no character in hxh is an angel who's done no wrong, literally not even a single one so why is gon any different? gon is not a monster, he is human, and its really as simple as that.

that brings me to the end of my analysis, please feel free to add stuff and I apologize again if I worded anything poorly, missed anything or misinterpreted something. I tried my best to analyze him with my best intentions in mind and I hope that I didn't mess anything up

// end of thread