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During kill Bill, we learn that all the black mamba had to do to get Hanzo to build her a sword, was to mention Bill's name.

When black mamba meets Bill at the end, she tells him that all she did was mention his name. Bill responds with, "that'll do it!"

So what was it that Bill did to Hanzo to make him come out of retirement and make another weapon of death?

DustinDavis
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    When Honzo first hears this is a about Bill in his restaurant /studio, he walks to an old black and white photo right before he writes Bill with his finger on the glass. I wonder if that photo was of an old love or his parents. –  Jul 07 '16 at 03:57
  • well, hanzo takes a glimpes at the portrait of a girl before writing bill's name on the window, maybe that has something to do – user53005 Jun 25 '17 at 18:03

1 Answers1

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Well, what we know is that Bill was a former student of Hattori Hanzo. What actually happened between Bill and Hanzo is not clear from the movie. There is also no mention of it on Kill Bill Wikia. However we can assume that Bill learnt the art of swordsmanship from Hanzo and used it for evil. This must have infuriated Hanzo. This kind of stuff is a recurring theme in many movies where a disciple learns a skill from a master and turns again humanity to use those skills, hence infuriating the master.

So to me, this seems the possible reason for Hanzo's anger.

Ankit
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  • This is exactly what I have inferred but was hoping there was some kind of backstory to speak of. – DustinDavis Sep 02 '14 at 13:31
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    There are no sources available which could offer any backstory – Ankit Sep 02 '14 at 13:44
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    Kill Bill is a celebration of Asian action movies, and this is indeed one of the most common tropes in this genre. – System Down Sep 03 '14 at 17:20
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    It may well be that Hanzo knows of what he did to Beatrix, and felt it only right to help her get revenge. Many movies of this kind deal with honour and balance. – Polynomial Sep 18 '14 at 21:40
  • I think the above explanation is correct Hanzo gave up making instruments of death so he clearly would object to this behaviour from someone he has trained as an instrument of death. However, is BILL the only one who did this? So how did he know it was bill? Is he the only ex student in the USA ? Maybe nobody else would need a Hanzo sword to be eliminated? – John Brown Dec 29 '19 at 15:52
  • During the scene where the Bride calls Hanzo out about his "obligation", just before Hanzo writes Bill's name in the condensation on the window, there is a black and white photo in the shot. It is out of focus, but appears to be someone wielding a katana. Almost a decade after this answer, I don't think Tarantino has expanded on this meaningfully, but I always took it that Hanzo lost someone close to him to Bill (his former student). His wife, or his child, or both, we may never know. – GeoffAtkins Sep 08 '23 at 22:19