Herb's Persona

As difficult as it is to pin down Herb's past, his personality is even harder. On first glance, he's that hot headed, merciless, arrogant bad boy, who lives by the rule "it's my way or the high way". On the other hand, he's also cool and collected, an honorable fighter with a keen mind and great right hook. So, in an effort to explain his character a bit better, here's a look at his psych.

 

Arrogant and Cold-hearted?

Arrogant and cold, that's Herb at a glance. When he's pissed you'd better run for the nearest bomb shelter, or he'll launch you into orbit with one of his chi blasts. Herb has little patience with idiocy, or those he considers 'beneath him'. His opinion of himself is rather high; not enough to be considered egotistical mind you, but he clearly acknowledges himself as a force to be reckoned with and has total confidence that he can dispatch any opponent with ease. Pride, Herb has a lot of pride. Most people are nothing more then insects to Herb. He's a Prince after all, royally born and with the blood of dragons to boot; who else can compare?

Well, actually, some can; proving that Herb isn't a total block of ice after all. In fact, it could be argued that despite his arrogance and cool appearance, he really does care about those around him. His interaction with Lime and Mint is prime example of this; no matter how much they annoy him, these two have been with him since childhood, and in the end he's happy to have them. Take his attentiveness to their displeasure after he returned male. After finishing off Ranma (or so he thinks) Herb turns to see the disheartened appearance of Lime and Mint. "What's with the sad faces?" isn't something a tyrant asks to his subjects. Of course, Herb later pummels them after they point out their displeasure is with his "lack of breasts", but hey, he's from Ranma 1/2, and entitled to giving a pounding to his close kin. ^_^

 

Herb vs Respect

Despite his arrogance, Herb is also very respectful. However respect with Herb isn't a given- those who wish to be treated as such must prove they're worthy of such. Herb doesn't care for the ordinary man on the street, but if that man can defeat a hundred men, he might be worth something. When he first belted Ranma-chan in male form with his Ryu Sei Hisho, Herb was actually impressed by Ranma's endurance, and was willing to hear Ranma out. Unfortunately, Ranma-chan soon lost this respect when she showed Herb her bare breasts. Herb pretty much thought Ranma a low life tramp after that. Nonetheless, with Ranma saving his life at the crumbling of Horaisan, Ranma did seem to enter Herb's good graces again. As the prince considers while sailing home to China "Ranma Saotome, maybe you were a man to be reckoned with." No final promises of vengeance, no anger, simply respect for a fellow fighter as he, Lime and Mint sail off into the sunset.

 

The Honorable Killer

Herb is a killer. No, I'm not even going to try to deny this statement; he claims he's prepared to kill Ranma several times during their encounters, and came pretty darn close each time, his deathblow always stopped short by outside intervention, or Ranma-chan lifting up her shirt.

Herb also doesn't play around in a fight. Unlike the infamous Pantyhose Tarou, who takes delight in having fun with Ranma while they battle, Herb goes right for the knockout as early as he can. This doesn't mean he goes all out in every battle,but he's definitely taking his fights seriously. As he points to Ranma with their final encounter- "This one will be for real."

Yet, despite his 'killer instinct' Herb also holds a fair amount of integrity and is fairly close to an honorable fighter. For starters, Herb doesn't agree with using cheep/dirty tricks in a fight; nope, not a one. Controversially, Herb was appalled that Ranma would stoop to such methods. He clearly wasn't impressed when Ranma-chan started lifting up her shirt and attacking while Herb was caught like a deer in the headlights. You might also note that Herb doesn't use outsider help in battle or make threats to bystanders. Twice, during his fight with Ranma, Mousse and Ryoga intervened; the second time with Mousse wrapping his weapons around Herb's arm and interfering with his aim. What did Herb do about this? Not a blessed thing! Nope, no hits, no blasts, best as can be seen, Mousse is walking fine in the next scene. So either Herb is a lot more tolerant then first appearances indicate (much, much more tolerant, better then most Ranma regulars actually), or there's something else holding him back.

As for help in battle- yes, I know, "what about Mint and Lime"? Well they are his hired help, but not in battle. Lime and Mint do Herb's odd-jobs: cooking, cleaning, running errands ect.- all those demeaning domestic chores that a prince like Herb wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. They're fighters to be sure, it's definitely what they do best, however this is more likely due to their status as members of a warrior society, not because Herb needs them to fight his battles. At no point, during any of their encounters with Ranma, did these two ever make a move to help Herb fight. Nope, they're both pretty much bystanders during the whole dual on Mt.Horaisan; keeping to the sides with the occasional scuffle between Ryoga or Mousse. I suppose if it was a battle royal then these two would both be at their prince's side, but then, they'd still be fighting Ryoga and Mousse, leaving Ranma to Herb. They're there, they can fight, but Herb doesn't use them to outnumber his opponents.

 

Modesty

Here he is girls! Gorgeous, strong, capable and... modest! Well, being stuck as a woman surrounded by men has definitely made Herb a little more sensitive in that department. Currently, Herb can't stand the sight of bare breasts out in the open, and will take the first opportunity to cover up when it's given. Most of this is due to how he gained his curse, but it does seem to run deeper then that; between the two Nanninchan-cursed individuals, this reaction is rather unique to Herb. While some (Ranma) will think nothing of walking around without a shirt in either form, Herb's not that kind of gal ;-).

 

Keeping cool with and explosive temper

*Most* of the time, Herb is a rather calm individual. He's relaxed and calculative; as long as everything's going his way, there's no reason to be upset. A very reserved individual who calmly strides into a former battle scene, picks up his companions and moves on.

When he *is* angered however, Herb's temper is nothing to be laughed at. If he's sincerely angry, opponents would be wise to duck and cover, or they'll be feeling a world of pain. Herb may not be a total sadist, but his policy of "if I suffer, you suffer" has no doubt left more then one enemy dead (or in relatively large amounts of pain) at his feet. Those that get the worst of it are likely to have provoked him with his fear/hatred of the female form- either commenting on his breasts or showing him more skin then he needed to see.

 

Overall:

Herb embodies many qualities of the "tough dragon" and "high prince" that he is- with an air of coolness, a touch of arrogance, lots of pride and the occasional merciless streak. However, as prince and person he's worth a good deal of respect- he looks out for his people, shows remarkably good integrity, and can even be a little modest at times.