Hakuryuu Ren

Hakuryuu Ren (練白龍, Ren Hakuryuu) is a character from Magi. He is a Prince of the Kou Empire. He is one of the central characters of the story, yet a divisive character in fandom.
==Canon==
Hakuryuu Ren was born as the fourth child of the Emperor of the Kou Empire. He has a happy child and a momma's boy who loved his older brothers. However, when he was six, his father was assassinated and his brothers died in a fire. Hakuryuu himself got a scar over one half of his body and face from the fire, but survived. He found out that his mother had been the one behind the incidents, and vowed to kill her in revenge. He grew up pretending to be a dutiful student under the new emperor, his uncle. He didn't trust anyone and wanted to do everything on his own, so he managed to get permission to go study abroad, but his real aim was to gain allies and hopefully a djinn for himself. This way, he met the main characters and Sinbad. However, even after gaining a djinn he was not strong enough to defeat his mother on his own, so he ended up teaming up with Judar in order to kill her, fueled with rage and lust for revenge. He started a civil war in the country against his cousins and became the new emperor, but the help he got from Sinbad came with a price, and Hakuryuu had to go into hiding from him after a year. Two years later he returned to reunite with all of his friends, and to help the empire against Sinbad's influence. Come the final battles of the story, Hakuryuu has grown to understand the value of cooperation and accepts that he was not the most suitable person for the role he was trying to put himself into.
==Fandom==
Hakuryuu's tag is the third largest out of Magi characters on AO3. Art wise on Pixiv, he has a fair amount of art but it is less than the main trio or the fan favourites.
===Tropes===
Hakuryuu's character can be divided into "stages" in the manga itself as well as in fanwork. The works depicting child Hakuryuu from before the fire are cute, and works depicting teenager (~16) Hakuryuu tend to also portray a Hakuryuu that is shy and quick to tears and being flustered; though of course having his canon seriousness and weakness in jokes. However, Hakuryuu from his revenge story arc (18 years old) is confident, assertive, enjoying his depravity, dead set on his goals. This version of Hakuryuu has black rukh, unlike the others. Hakuryuu from the end of the manga is calmer and more mature and responsible. He can be sarcastic or sassy too.
===Conversation===
Hakuryuu is an incredibly divisive character in the fandom. Many people either love him or hate him. During the latter half of the publication of the manga, weekly chapter discussions on various websites would include users arguing over if Hakuryuu's actions are justified or not, and if he or Alibaba is better. There is a certain section of the fandom that can be divided into two kinds of people: Hakuryuu fans who hate Alibaba, and Alibaba fans who hate Hakuryuu.Not sure how I feel about the whole Alibaba/Hakuryuu reunion tbh by chefdangerdagger.Hakuryuu is the worst character ever by VegetableDamage.What problems did people have with Hakuryuu? *possible spoilers* by thegiggling1. Most fans are not in these extremes, however. Some dislike Hakuryuu based on their opinion that he did not get a harsh enough "punishment" for his actions. There are those who think his development was phenomenal and those who found it disappointing.
Due to his scar and lust for revenge, Hakuryuu has been associated with characters such as Zuko and Sasuke. In 2016, when the term "cuck" had become a common meme word, there were bashers calling Hakuryuu "Cuckuryuu" after he ended up the loser in the Alibaba-Morgiana-Hakuryuu love triangle."Cuckuryuu" search on wakarimasen.moe 4chan archive.
===Ships===
The most relevant Hakuryuu ships are Juhaku, Alihaku and Hakumor, the first two being slash ships and the third a het ship.
Hakumor (Hakuryuu/Morgiana) has its basis in canon: Hakuryuu has unrequited love towards Morgiana. This has caused a bit of a love triangle in the story and a bit of a ship war in the fandom. There were people hoping Hakumor would happen all the way until the final arc. In terms of artwork, Hakumor has a medium amount within the fandom. It does not make into the top ten Magi ships on AO3, the support for it existing less in fanfic and more in forum posts.
Alihaku (Alibaba/Hakuryuu) was popular especially on the early half of the series, gaining the ship a fair amount of doujinshi and other artwork. It is the largest Hakuryuu ship in terms of fanwork on Pixiv. On AO3, it ranks fifth in the number of fanfics. Its momentum slowed down a bit as the manga moved towards its final arc.
Juhaku (Judar/Hakuryuu) became more popular on the latter half of the manga. It has a fair share of doujinshi as well as fanwork on Pixiv, having become the most active Hakuryuu ship. On AO3, it became the largest Magi ship tag in late 2018.
==Example Fanworks==
===Fanart===
*俺が俺が俺が by につい (2011): An example of a 16-year-old Hakuryuu in art.
*what if the dragon on his hanfu…. actually manifested by nawrust (2020): An example of a 18-year-old confident Hakuryuu.
===Fanvids===
*【マギ謝肉宴】白龍でa.l.i.c.e【手描きマギ】 by smalld (2013)
*【マギ】赤と白と黒の運命　AK姉＆くま＆Ya-ma【替え歌】 by たまき。 (2017)
*【うごメモ】命ばっかり【マギ】 by むちまろ (2018)
==Archives and Communities==
*Ren Hakuryuu on Archive of Our Own
*Hakuryuu Ren on Fanfiction.net
*練白龍 on Pixiv
==References==
Category:Magi