Puppets

Ketsume's Puppets (ケツメ の 人形,  Ketsume no ningyō ), or simply Puppets (人形, Ningyō ) are Ketsume's primary Nen ability, and currently residents in his hideout.

Appearance
All the puppets are made of a mannequin-like body produced by Ketsume himself, that mimics their appearance when they were human. The shape or looks of a puppet's body is not what determines its voice and memories, as only the eyes they are currently wearing does that; that means that a puppet can look like a certain person and have the memories of another one. Puppets have a hollow and empty space inside of them, possessing no such thing such as organs or blood, and due to the material they are made of, if they are hit with enough force, their body can crack or break easily.

It is easy to tell a puppet apart from a person because of their eyes, which always look dead and dark in puppets.

Overview
For Ketsume to create a puppet, first he needs the eyes of a person or animal, and then a vessel to support those eyes. Once he has both, all he needs to do is insert the eyes on the vessel and the puppet will immediately be created. They will still hold faded memories from their previous life, which can either be forgotten or stimulated; being their creator, the great majority of the puppets is loyal to Ketsume and serves him blindly.

Due to their anatomy, puppets cannot feel pain, breathe, sleep, get sick, or tired. They are physically weak, but can resist to many things that would get humans killed if analyzed properly. The easiest and most assured way to kill a puppet is removing its eyes: this will cause the puppet to go blind and agonize until it shuts down, it being the only way to cause a puppet to feel pain. The amount of time a puppet stays alive after having its eyes removed can range from an immediate death to even 30 minutes of intense pain (though both are extremely rare, and most puppets last from 30 seconds to 3 minutes).

If the eyes are still intact after a puppet has them removed, Ketsume can simply put them on again and revive the puppet, though it will be completely reset, and will not have any memory from the events that happened on its first life as a puppet, acting as though this were their first life as one. However, it is possible, but rare, for a puppet to remember their previous life as a puppet if remarkable events are recreated. A puppet can live with only one eye only if the other one was removed while it was already living, not being able to be brought to life with only one from the start. An one-eyes puppet is practically useless, though, as it will have difficulty seeing, moving and talking, being prone to fainting, and will not live long. The only known way to exterminate a puppet for good is destroying their eyes.

Another way, though less efficient, to kill puppets is damaging their body. If hit on the head hard enough, to the point where it is broken a lot, a puppet will shut down, even if both eyes are present and intact on their body. Damaging or destroying other parts of their body may cripple them, though they will not die from that. Decapitating a puppet also has a high chance to kill them, and even if they survive, they will be pretty much harmless, as they can only use their head and not their body.

Behavior
Due to still having some of their memories from their time as a human, most puppets retain their original personality and mannerism, with an added trait: lust for eyes. This obsession of theirs makes them bloodthirsty most of the time, with several puppets becoming aggressive and going onto a frenzy when seeing human eyes, to the point where they steal those. This is not always the case, however, as Calanthe is an example of a kind and peaceful puppet who merely likes admiring eyes and would never hurt anyone.

Most, if not all puppets are terrified of the idea of dying; as the majority of them were killed as humans, this might be a traumatic reaction.

Puppets and Nen
Puppets are able to use Nen, though it works differently for them. Even if a puppet possesses the eyes of someone who could use Nen as a human, they will have to go through a long process to learn it again. Learning Nen takes much more time and effort in a puppet than in a human. A puppet's Nen type is the same Nen type they had as a human, and they can also create abilities, whether it is the one(s) they already had, or new ones, and can basically use any other properties of Nen.

If a puppet that has awakened Nen dies and is later brought back, they will still have their Nen, even if they forget they do. Any abilities they had will also remain usable.