Chimera Ants

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The Chimera Ant is a top-level quarantined creature due to its dangers to other species. They can copulate with a female of any species and endow her with the abilities of a Chimera Ant Queen: Anything a queen consumes will incorporate its DNA into the queen's offspring; she will then give birth to Mix-and-Match Critters of random things she's eaten. Such offspring will receive the best physical advantages of everything it's based on. For instance, a Chimera Ant that's part human will have human intelligence and the ability to speak.

Oh, and by the way, they're human-sized.

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In General

Alien Blood: They bleed dark blue.
Ant Assault: They are carnivorous invasive insects hailing from the Dark Continent, whose members are created from the DNA of whatever the Queen eats. They're typically very small, but a Queen somehow bigger than most humans manages to find itself in a nation filled with animals, going on to consume them and eventually most of the human population too, creating super-powerful ants that quickly take over. The human-hybrid ants are even stronger and smarter, eventually learning how to use Nen after encounters with users like Gon and Killua. Then there's the Royal Guards and the Chimera Ant King...
Assimilation Backfire: Though taking human DNA makes them stronger, smarter, and more powerful, it leads to their downfall by giving them a sense of individuality, which creates rivalries and ambitions that tear apart the army.
Big Bad Wannabe: A number of them chafe at following orders and express a desire to set out to carve empires of their own. They get their chance when Queen dies, but they're put down before they can really get started.
Big Creepy-Crawlies: It's noted that the Queen should have only been 10 cm, not over 2 m.
Bodyguarding a Badass: The Royal Guards are powerful, but it is clear that the King is much more powerful than them.
Bug War: What they trigger, a much more strategical and Shounen variant to the norm given how smart the "bugs" are.
Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": While some information about the Chimera Ants demonstrates some surprising depth of knowledge, most of the "ants" look nothing like insects in the least. A few will have a mammal's body and insect-like limbs, for example, while others will look like a combination of several non-insect animals, while another simply looks like a large cartoon penguin. Just a penguin.
- Then there’s the pink mafioso koala in a tuxedo, out, alone, in the middle of the forest. He has to verbalize his loyalty to the queen to know he’s related at-all to the ants.
- The series at least tries to justify this by adding the special factor that whatever a Chimera Ant Queen eats is 'assimilated' into their potential genetic chain, to the point that humans devoured can even regain their memories of their past life regardless of their new form.
- Combine the above issue with their human behavior, and there’s really nothing distinguishing the ‘ant threat’ from pretty much any human adversary.
Character Development: The King, Pitou and Youpi arguably go through more of this than even the protagonists, especially the King. Each one is more detailed in their respective folders. The ants themselves begin to evolve a sense of morality as soon as the first humans are consumed, and this theme permeates all of the development of the ants.
Darker and Edgier: Their arc is significantly the darkest of the series thus far. Previous arcs had body counts in the tens- this has it in the hundreds.
Even Evil Has Standards: Everyone present at Meruem's birth is horrified at how callously he kills off and even eats his fellow Ants.
Extreme Omnivore: At least of the types of life forms they eat, varying to small critters to Nen-infused humans, the latter being very troublesome as it grants newer Chimera Ants deadly intelligence, and later Nen powers.
Four-Fingered Hands: The most human-looking have these, while the most insect-looking only have three. Pouf is a rare exception, having five fingers.
From Nobody to Nightmare: From a mere species of habitat destroying insects to near deities that caused the biggest calamity to the Hunter's Association with the deaths of Gon's mentor Kite, as well as Netero, the then head of the Association.
Genetic Memory: A number of the Chimera Ants are able to remember their past lives before they were eaten and their genetic material was mixed. Some even remember up to the moment they were eaten alive by the queen herself.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: Meruem and the Royal Guards who experience character development seem poised to change for the better. The Hunters can't let them live, though, due to a mixture of political and deeply personal reasons.
Heel–Face Turn: A number of them abandon their predation of humanity after the Queen dies and more of them begin to recover their memories.
Hero Killer: To establish the Darker and Edgier nature of their titular arc, they're often shown killing established characters quickly, including Kite.
Hive Caste System: Divided into ranks, with soldiers of higher ranks usually, but not always, being stronger and more intelligent than their subordinates. The Royal Guards and the King take this concept up a notch, being born superior to anything else in the hive. Subverted in regards to the Queen, who shows no great fighting skills.
Horde of Alien Locusts: Played with. Despite their alien appearance, they originate born on the planet in which Hunter × Hunter is set, and they're also significantly more cunning than your usual alien swarm.
Humanity Is Infectious: Played for horror, as the assimilation of humans into the later Chimera Ants makes them not just smarter, but capable of actively malicious behavior that wasn't present in earlier drones.
Knight of Cerebus: Hisoka, the Phantom Troupe and the Bomber still had some restraints and weren't serious enough for the Hunter Organization to consider them a threat. The Ants on the other hand not only required the top brass in order to even fight with them, they kill off some of those brass like Kite and Netero with little effort. More importantly, the majority lack restraint to kill without wanton regard to others and some tend to kill very casually, as seen when a Leol\Hagya eats a reporter's head to prove a point that they were the real deal.
A Lizard Named "Liz": Many of them have names in reference to their primary animal features, probably because most of them named themselves (or renamed, if they still remember their past life). Notable exceptions are the Royal Guard and King, who were named by the Queen.
Losing Your Head: Kite emphasises the importance of destroying their heads, as they can survive a day after decapitation.
Masculine, Feminine, Androgyne Trio: Played with in regards to the Royal Guards. Despite having an Ambiguous Gender, Neferpitou is a cat person with curves, a bob haircut, and eyelashes (feminine); Menthuthuyoupi is a muscular brute (masculine); Shaiapouf, despite being referred as a male, is still a slender bishounen who dresses fancy and sports large, colorful butterfly wings (androgyne).
Mix-and-Match Critter: There's cats, butterflies, birds, armadillos, wolves, and whatever Youpi's supposed to be.
Only One Name: All of them.
Past-Life Memories: Some of the Chimera Ants retain or gain memories of their past lives as humans or other animals. These memories become important to their motivations or Heel–Face Turns.
Poor Communication Kills: The hierarchy between them (and their human character coupled with their ant instincts) complicates the communication between soldiers and higher level troops, leading to a huge disorganization in their ranks and ends up being their biggest weakness. Before the climax, Welfin guesses the approach of an infiltration but doesn't tell his "superiors" because he won't be credited for it, leading to the fall of the whole species.
Praetorian Guard: The Royal Guards are above the Squadron leaders and just below the Queen in authority. Once the King is born, they’ll ditch her to serve him. When Meruem violently emerged from his mother’s womb, leaving her guts spilling out, Pitou ignores Colt’s pleas to save her with Doctor Blythe because the Queen no longer matters to them.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: The King plus his royal guard are the strongest possible creatures produced by the Queen.
Reincarnation: Some develop memories of their past lives over time, which becomes a plot point.
Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: As the queen fed on more humans her new offspring became progressively more anthropomorphic, covering almost the entire scale over time:
- The first ones were, like herself, the Partially Civilized Animal type, with only vaguely humanoid bodies.
- The ones born after her first human meals were somewhat more humanlike, generally ranging from Civilized Animal to Beast Folk.
- The Royal Guards bordered on Little Bit Beastly.
- her final child Reina/Kite looks completely human apart from having a tail.
Snowballing Threat: The Chimera Ants do this across several different dimensions. First their colony naturally grows larger and larger over time, but each successive generation is also stronger than the last. Then Nen gets introduced and rapidly spreads across the colony. Finally once their King hatches, he himself does this by successively consuming other humans to absorb their intellect and Nen. All of the ants also naturally become more formidible and intelligent over time, which eventually starts causing more problems than it solves.
The Starscream: Thanks to their human genetics the ants slowly begin developing their own ambitions and chafe at being under the Queen's thumb sometimes disobeying orders to hunt down "rares" themselves. Once she dies most of them go their separate ways to try and become Kings in their own right. Even the ones that do return to the fold and serve the King have ambitions to overthrow him.
Strong Ants: Justified. They are giants (though technically not really gigantic, just human sized, which is considered huge for an insect). The human DNA of this generation also makes them faster and more agile than your average ant colony.
Super-Toughness: Meruem's Tail Slap, which easily smashes the heads of most humans and Chimera Ants unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end, is little more than a slap to the face for the Royal Guard. Meruem himself can take thousands of swats from Netero's Guanyin Bodhisattva before he even begins to feel a bit of pain.
Theme Naming: The Royal Guards' names can be split into two halves. The first half is a lesser-known Egyptian god (Nefertem, Shai, and Montu), and the second half is a character in the children's books Caroline et sus amis (Pitou, Pouf, and Youpi).
Was Once a Man: A lot of them.

Royal Family

Chimera Ant Queen

Voiced by: Masako Ikeda (Japanese), Cindy Robinson (English)

One day, a dying Chimera Ant Queen washed up on the shore of the country of Neo Green Life, a place with an agrarian culture and no weapons, off limits to everyone except those with special permission. She had enough strength to create a few offspring and made a small hive nearby. Said offspring was able to slaughter the locals and create havoc. However, the inhabitants of this country would rather stick with tradition than call for outside help, at least publicly. By the time an investigation team could enter Neo Green Life, the Queen had already consumed nen-powered humans and recovered from her injuries (but not completely), and the team had its hands full with her offspring. When it came time, the Queen gave birth to the King, who killed her immediately. Afterwards, some of the ant commanders left her now-massive hive and set up their own empires in other countries.

The Queen is not able to speak. Instead, she communicates telepathically with the other Chimera Ants, who all have this ability. In spite of being surrounded by powerful nen-powered ants, the Queen has no nen control and no fighting ability.

An Arm and a Leg: Her left arm fell off as she washed up on shore in a weakened state.
Arc Villain: She is the main villain of the first half of the Chimera Ant Arc until she gives birth to Meruem, which leads her to die fatally. After her death, Meruem takes the rest of the story arc as the true Big Bad.
Benevolent Boss: She doesn't mind the individuality in her soldiers brought on by consuming humans, and gives them permission to pick names for themselves, despite it being a foreign concept for her.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: She's literally a giant, sentient bug, and not even of human sentience. She sees eating humans not as a matter of superiority or conquering, but to create her hive and give birth to her children as a nutritious and highly effective food source; it's literally what she does, and what she was born to do, which she follows to the letter. Even being torn apart by Meruem's birth is not a negative effect for her, but rather proof that her lineage will continue once she learns of his strength. Her children, on the other hand, inherit the human spirit and mind of her meals, for all of its potential good, and all of its horrifically bad.
Death by Childbirth: Subverted. Her son forcibly birthed himself, causing wounds which nearly killed her. She fights to live for her son's sake, but the moment she hears of his strength, she happily lets go.
Insect Queen: Her hive is meant to collect food for her so she can produce offspring with the traits of what she eats. The inclusion of human material gradually produced less obedient soldiers. The Royal Guard serve her until she gives birth to the King.
Monster Is a Mommy: NOT an excuse this time, as the Queen commits some terrible acts all for the sake of her race, and ends up creating the circumstances that nearly risks killing all of humanity.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In hindsight, eating mostly humans led to the ruin of her hive. While eating humans did increased her offspring's intellect and strength, the sense of individuality and humanity and, in some cases, memories of their past lives made most of them go their separate ways and even aid the humans in defeating the other Chimera Ants.
Non-Action Big Bad: She's the primary antagonist of the first part of the arc, but never leaves the hive. She can sense nen, but cannot use it herself.
No Name Given: Justified since the Ants didn't have an understanding of the concept of names till her human-based offspring started learning it. While she would later name the Royal Guards and King, she never thought to give one to herself.
Power Copying: Technically, she spawns a Mix-and-Match Critter every time she eats something... when she starts on humans, they become intelligent, and when she eats someone with Nen abilities...
Telepathy: How she communicates with other Chimera Ants. It appears to be a bit painful for the receivers.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Feeding on humans created advanced Chimera Ants that would be extensively powerful to carry their race's legacy on — and promptly causes a borderline war that could've ended the world as we know it, with the Queen long dead before the shit really hits the fan. She just wanted her children, especially the King, to be strong, and massively accomplished that job without even realizing it.
The Voiceless: She and her early offspring only communicate via telepathic links, as she doesn't have the physiological features to allow for voice; only her children that came after she began consuming humans were able to achieve vocalization.
Wacky Cravings: Fish, centipedes, people...

Meruem

Voiced by: Kōki Uchiyama (Japanese), Max Mittelman (English)

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"Who am I? Why am I here? A king with no name. A borrowed castle. My subjects are mindless drones. If this is the mandate of Heaven I have been given... I fear... I fear nothing... except the tedium that it will bring!!!"

When a Chimera Ant Queen has gestated enough, she will give birth to the King—the strongest Ant possible, gifted with all of the best traits possible.

The Queen's masterpiece and crowning achievement, the King is by far the strongest Chimera Ant she created and was born with the best traits of everything she had ever consumed, including intelligence off the charts. He began as completely ruthless, splatting even fellow ants' heads if they did so much as hesitate when he gave an order. The King moved to the neighboring country of East Gorteau, a brutal dictatorship not unlike North Korea, and immediately took charge there. The King has the ability to, upon death of a nen-powered individual, absorb his or her nen into himself, though it manifests as raw power rather than Power Copying. Due to this, he has manipulated East Gorteau's entire population to be killed off except for those with nen control, whom he'll kill and consume himself.

Out of boredom, he called in champion players of various board games, such as chess, shogi, and go. He kept playing against them until he defeated them, then killed them off. However, he met his match in a blind girl named Komugi, East Gorteau's gungi champion. No matter how much he plays her, she curbstomps him every time. Having such a brilliant mind and no way to fend for herself, the King starts to feel sorry for her and also begins respecting humans and other creatures.

The Ace: Good at everything, explain to him the rules of any game, he will learn them quickly and beat you, easily. The ego this gives him is rather large, but it's eventually deconstructed when he begins to realize there's Always Someone Better.
Affably Evil: Becomes a caring Well-Intentioned Extremist by the end of his arc, so much so that Netero tries to resist Meruem's charisma when he reveals his plan to take over the world so he may end inequality and misery in human society.
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Perhaps one of the most dignified examples. He comes very close to kneeling before Palm to ask for her help in finding Komugi before she stops him, her chimera half unable to bear the sight of the king brought so low.
All Your Powers Combined: After consuming Youpi and Pouf's bodies, Meruem gains more refined and powerful versions of their abilities. From Youpi's, side he gains the ability to grow wings which allow him to travel faster than his Royal Guard (it's stated that, from where they where, it would take 15 minutes to reach the palace. For Meruem, it only took 5) and a more controlled and concentrated version of his rage blast powers. From Pouf's, he gains his own version of Spiritual Message by dispersing his Aura which is so powerful it allows him to read people’s minds.
Always Save the Girl: He is always there to rescue Komugi.
Always Someone Better:
- Despite his immense pride, he takes this surprisingly well — his constant losses to Komugi make him more determined to beat her, and the constant challenge she provides him both entertains him and teaches him the worth of other creatures.
- A more terrifying version of this comes into play with the revelation of the existence of the Dark Continent, which the ants originally hail from. Apparently, in comparison to some of the disasters that emerge from there, the Chimera Ants including Meruem are only a "B-rank threat". This implies that their entire race is allegedly less dangerous than a single Dark Continent snake.
Always Second Best: In Gungi, he is always defeated by Komugi.
The Antichrist: He was born to rule the Chimera Ants as the strongest of them all and subjugate all of humanity, which eventually leads the Hunter Organization to intervene in stopping him before he becomes too powerful for them to handle after he takes over East Gorteau. Though a ton of Character Development evolves out of this, acknowledging humanity's worth and growing to love Komugi, his continued desire to rule the world and force humanity into reservations make him remain an Anti-Villain.
Anti-Villain: While in the beginning, he was a flat out sociopath, he eventually evolves into a very mentally complex Well-Intentioned Extremist. Compare his perspective of humans at the beginning and end of his character arc: as just worthless food at first, and into deep respect and awe by the end.
Arc Villain: Of the Chimera Ant arc. His status as the Big Bad is debatable however, as that title is better suited to Shaiapouf near the end and after his fight with Netero he loses all remaining traces of evil.
Art Evolution: Meruem is introduced with very pinprick pupils and an angular face, showing his villainous nature, but as the arc progresses, his pupils begin to grow larger with rounder shapes and his facial features become softer- showing his growing humanity. The anime goes through the same change more subtly with tiny pupils with sharpened, narrow eyes and angular features. As his relationship with Komugi evolves, it reflects in his eyes and facial features becoming more human-like with wider eyes with rounded irises/pupils with softer facial features.
Attack! Attack! Attack!: His strategy against Netero, to wear him down until he makes a mistake. It works.
Awesomeness by Analysis: The ultimate aim of the above strategy. He knows that he can't beat Netero's sheer speed, so he uses his attacks to continually force Netero to bring out all his best moves so that he can analyze them and ultimately build up a way to reach Netero by exploiting the minuscule bias in Netero's moves.
Badass Arm-Fold: Has a tendency to default to this when standing. Even while being flown around by his Royal Guard and later Zeno's dragon, he simply holds on with his tail so he can maintain the pose. And, can more than back the swagger up.
Badass Boast: At least three.
(To Netero) Defeat you without killing you? So like a bishop with a handicap. No matter, I'll checkmate you shortly.
Bad Boss: Annoy him in the slightest and he will whip you with his tail, and if you are not durable enough, you die. Eventually subverted. He doesn't punish Welfin or Pouf despite the former's explicit renouncement of him as his king and the latter's outright treachery, and near the end of his life and Character Development, he tells Komugi that he was unworthy of the Royal Guard's loyalty and that he would like to thank them in the afterlife.
Bald of Evil: Almost all the evolved Ants have hair, though Meruem is completely bald.
Bait the Dog: Meruem's games with Komugi bring out his more human side, with him developing some respect for the Gungi prodigy. He goes so far as to tear off one of his arms as an apology for a dirty tactic. One night, he gives a speech to the Royal Guards about how human beings can be strong in more than one way, and mentions a young child he killed and how he stifled the child's potential...only to say he regrets nothing and can do anything he wants thanks to his overwhelming physical might. He then goes into his castle to kill Komugi but shows doubt over discarding her so easily, ends up rescuing her from a hawk, and tells her she is an honored guest at his castle.
Battle Aura: His Nen is so powerful that when he first uses En it covers past the palace grounds, spreading at the speed of light.
Big Bad: Of the Chimera Ant arc, being the king of the Chimera Ants who plots to take over the world, requiring the Hunter Association to stop him.
Blind and the Beast: The Beast (the Chimera Ant King) to Komugi's Blind.
Blood Knight: Not as much as many but he is definitely one. He didn't really want to fight Netero at first but later he starts to enjoy the fight.
Born Winner: Despite being a newborn, Meruem is the most powerful Chimera Ant, and the most powerful character to be introduced in the series so far, as well as one of the most intelligent. Born as the ultimate biological weapon, his physical power is only matched by an unparalleled intellect. His overwhelming talent allows him to analyze and learn anything almost instantly, and hone his strategies to perfection.
Break the Badass: Managed to scare Netero and Zeno just by walking.
Bridal Carry: Does this to Komugi when she is severely injured, and later, asleep.
Came Back Strong: He's reduced to a charred, limbless, near-death state after getting hit by the Miniature Rose, but Pouf and Youpi feed him much of their cells to not only completely heal him, but give him their abilities and increase his aura to horrifying levels. Fortunately, Netero didn't make a Senseless Sacrifice after all; the bomb's radiation poisoning eventually kills all three of them.
Cannibalism Superpower: The more Nen based life forms he eats, the stronger he becomes. Note: he's already freakishly strong, so this is a really bad thing. After consuming Pouf and Youpi's bodies he transcends into the realm of a Physical God at least before his death.
Catchphrase: "Don't make me repeat myself." It becomes a Subverted Catchphrase through "I will repeat as often as necessary" to Palm near the end of the arc, showing how much he's changed. He's willing to admit his loss as many times as necessary if she'll let him see Komugi before he succumbs to radiation.
Character Development: He changes wildly throughout the arc. To go into detail: he begins as a sociopath, viewing all life (including his guards) as lower than him. After being with the Royal Guard for a while, he begins to appreciate their existence, and is respectful of them, but lets them know that they are replaceable in his eyes. After playing with Komugi, he begins to have an existential crisis about how everyone has potential to best him in any field, yet his raw strength trumps all- only for him to declare that this must mean he's better than everyone, because even if they beat him in a game he can still destroy them easily. It becomes clear, however, that this is just him convincing himself of his power, and he holds off of his original plan of killing Komugi because he wants to keep her around. After Komugi is injured, the King expresses incredible anger, and goes to fight Netero in an honorable duel. He states he now appreciates humanity as well, and despite still wanting to conquer the world he decides he will spare humanity for their efforts and their role in his creation. He also states he detests conflict, and will rule the world through diplomatic means- he even tries to negotiate with Netero. After he's caught in the Rose Bomb explosion, he loses his memory but keeps his Anti-Villain nature, respecting his Guard even more. After sparing Pouf (despite Pouf lying to him on multiple occasions) he realizes that he is poisoned, finds Komugi, and dies playing Gungi with her, finally content.
Code of Honor: He slowly begins to develop one over the course of the arc. His pride as a powerful individual influences his code early on as he couldn't stand weakness nor tolerate any instance where he himself seemed weak. This manifested as never being able to accept victory unless his opponent was at their best because he didn't want an unfair advantage. Later he ripped off his own arm as an apology for trying to use a petty tactic to manipulate Komugi into losing; "Petty" in his eyes as, while using psychology was fine to psych out opponents, Komugi proved to have more resolve willing to bet her life on the game and realized she had more resolve and was taking the game more seriously than he was. Toward the end his code of honor developed into one based on the admiration he felt towards other exceptional individuals and felt that if he went back on his word or acted in a dishonorable way he would, to use Youpi's own words, feel like he "lost to them" or was less than them (them being the people he admired and the strength they demonstrated).
Combo Platter Powers: After consuming Pouf and Youpi's bodies to survive the Rose Bomb he ends up having pseudo-precognition, lightspeed flash step, Youpi and Pouf's abilities in addition to his ability to grow stronger with devouring other Nen users and his flying brick set.
Composite Character: Everyone and their mother has compared Meruem to Cell, what with his green insectoid appearance, initially egotistic personality, and status as an Ultimate Lifeform, but he also takes some obvious inspiration from Raizen, an immeasurably powerful man-eating carnivore who experienced a major change of heart after spending time with a human woman.
- There are also similarities with Frieza and Majin Buu. Frieza being a sadistic conqueror with his own army of powerful enforcers, and Majin Buu who started as evil but grew empathy towards a small blind child.
Contamination Situation: Upon being subjected to the explosion of the Miniature Rose Netero kept inside himself, Meruem seems to recover relatively well thanks to the healing given to him by Youpi and Pouf. Unfortunately for him, one of the reasons nuclear devices are so deadly is radiation- Meruem dies from radiation poisoning not long after he returns to the palace, not realizing the deadliness of it. This also causes the deaths of Youpi, Pouf, and Komugi by proxy, as they all have prolonged contact with the king and are thus contaminated as well.
The Darkness Before Death: It is implied that his vision was fading in his final moments before succumbing to radiation poisoning, as he constantly calls out to check if Komugi is still present.
Dark Messiah: Starts off as The Antichrist, but becomes this with Komugi's influence. He still wants to take over the world through violence and fear, but has come to respect humanity enough, now no longer seeing them as just food but now wanting to possible co-exist with humans and eliminate inequality within their society.
Deadly Nosebleed: A sign of the Poor Man Rose fatally poisoning him is when he gets a nosebleed, dying not long after.
Defeat Means Friendship: He strikes up a friendship and eventual romance with Komugi after getting his ass kicked in Gungi. These repeated humble Meruem significantly, teaching him about human worth and growing to respect and even care about someone better than him at something.
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Has traits of this over time:
Meruem: Who am I? Why am I here? A king with no name. A borrowed castle. My subjects are mindless drones. If this is the mandate of Heaven I have been given...I fear...I fear nothing...except the tedium that it will bring!!!
Devour the Dragon: A rare non malicious version. After getting caught in the centre of Netero's Miniature Rose, Meruem is left on the verge of death. In order to save him, Pouf and Youpi willingly transform most of their bodies and Nen into energy and feed it to Meruem which restores him and gives him a boost to boot.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: In Komugi's arms. Who joined him immediately afterward by the very act of holding Meruem in her arms.
Don't Call Me "Sir": When he can finally tell Komugi his name, he objects to her adding the honorific "-sama" and makes her promise to stop if he beats her in Gungi. He never wins once, but she calls him just by his name as he dies.
Double Consciousness: Stuck between the Ant and the human being.
The Dreaded: The mere mention of his birth is what gets the leader of IGO to get back into fighting on the front lines. Then he briefly becomes a Physical God.
Enfante Terrible: Kills his mother after telling her to shut up by forcibly birthing himself, with the Chimera Ant Queen dying from her wounds.
Evil Counterpart: Begins as one to Gon despite the two never meeting. They possess many of the same base traits down to having green as their main color and sit in positions mirroring each other. Everything impulsive, prodigal, or animalistic in Gon is scaled up in Meruem to show how disasterous they can get.
Evil Laugh: FUHAHAHAHAHA.
Evil Overlord: Meruem is the villainous king of the Chimera Ants, and is the most powerful of them and plans on taking over the world. He devolves from this to a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
Evil Plan: To take over the world as its king. Over time, thanks to Komugi's influence and humanization of Meruem, it evolves from subjugating humanity as cattle to be eaten to wanting to get rid of inequality and suffering within humanity society. Regardless, his plan would still use terror and violence and force humans onto reservations, so Netero sees him as a threat to humanity that must be stopped.
Face Death with Dignity: Dying hardly seems to matter to him, so focused is he on reuniting with his veritable Love Interest, Komugi.
Fetus Terrible: Before his birth, everybody knew how dangerous he would be. As a fetus, he tells his mother to shut up when she screams that it's too soon for him to come out before forcibly ripping out of her body, leading to her death.
Fights Like a Normal: He beats Netero without using any Nen abilities.
Flying Brick: Initially lacked this, having to rely on Pouf for transport, but he later gains wings and teleportation after becoming a Physical God.
Foil: Chairman Netero as a representative of "humanity" as a whole, paralleling Meruem's representation of the Ants as a whole. Meruem did not want to fight Netero and would've preferred to negotiate a way to create a world that's an equal utopia, a proposition which Netero rejected. When Netero was defeated, Meruem explained that he is the apex of the entire Chimera Ant race and the culmination of their evolution, whereas Netero, while powerful, is ultimately just an individual. In response, Netero merely scoffed, and explained that he is not alone and that Meruem has no idea how far humanity's potential for evolution/malice can go. He was carrying inside him a crystallization of humanity's achievements: a horrifyingly cruel WMD, the past usage of which makes the Ants' atrocities look like child's play.
The Force Is Strong with This One: His aura, after his rebirth, is so strong that it envelopes the entire castle, giving a massive Oh, Crap! moment to all those that sensed it. Knuckle says that they would need the military might of an entire nation to handle him.
Gender-Blender Name: Meruem is an Arabic form of the female name "Mary".
Genius Bruiser: Meruem has extraordinary intelligence, being able to learn and master nearly anything he comes across, such as board games. He then can apply this knowledge in his battle against Netero and eventually succeeds by doing so.
The Gift: Born to be the strongest of the Chimera Ants and its greatest weapon as their king. He has innately incredible physical power, genius intellect, and as a newborn has extremely vast Nen that only further far surpassing the Royal Guards' which only increases as he eats more Nen users.
Graceful Loser:
- He really didn't take his first losses against Komugi well, but after some consideration and introspection, ended up accepting his defeats easily.
- Shortly before dying to the Miniature Rose radiation poisoning, he gracefully admits to Palm that humanity had won against the Chimera Ants and accepts his defeat, only wanting to spend his last moments with Komugi.
Green and Mean: His body is mostly various shades of green, and he's (initially) a selfish, ill-tempered tyrant.
Hair-Trigger Temper: At first, to the point of killing an Ant offering to clean his tail simply because he was ordering Colt to do it instead.
Humans Are Special: Comes to believe this after only thinking humans to be food at first. Komugi's mastery of Gungi and his failed, repeated attempts at trying to beat her teach Meruem that even a weak, blind girl like her is able to outskill even him, the Ultimate Life Form. His fight with Netero only furthers his belief in this, calling the Hunter Association Chairman magnificent for his mastery of nen honed over many years of training. He eventually comes to a compromise between his human emotions and animal instincts by coexisting with humanity by having them live in reservations.
Ignored Epiphany: Played straight and then subverted. Upon failing to beat Komugi at Gungi, he begins to question his own ideals of supremacy, pondering how many of the people he killed may have had the potential to surpass him in a certain field... before turning back on his heel and proudly proclaiming that brute force is the only meaningful type of power, and he could kill Komugi in a second if he wanted to. When he approached Komugi to do exactly that, however, he ends up saving her from an eagle pecking at her and calls her a "valuable guest", while utterly confused at what exactly his own motives are anymore.
I Just Want to Be Normal: Before he dies, he professes that he wishes he was born a human. A far cry from the King who initially thought himself to be superior to all life.
I'm a Humanitarian: To him, all creatures are prey. He would have also eaten Welfin if he had lied to him.
Interspecies Romance: He (a chimera ant) and Komugi (a human).
Jerkass: He told his mother to shut up moments before he was born. Not a minute after, he Tail Slaps the heads off two of his subjects. The first was Peggy, who ran past him when he demanded food and then the other because he offered to clean Peggy's blood off Meruem's tail... which Meruem demanded Colt specifically to do first. Thank god he Took a Level in Kindness.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: After Netero explodes on him, he temporarily loses his memories, but he immediately remembers others by seeing them or even just hearing the name. Pouf tries to get rid of Komugi while carefully avoiding anything that could trigger his memories of her, only for Welfin to utter her name in an act of desperation.
Lightning Bruiser: He's virtually unstoppable on the attack, fast enough that Netero needs his highest-level technique just to stay a step ahead, and durable enough to simply tank Netero's attack over and over and over (etc) again until he finds its weakness.
Love Redeems: A major part of his Character Development is him admitting his respect of other creatures, and the experience of having someone care for him as an equal, not a superior. Komugi's interactions with Meruem slowly changed his mentality about being a king and made him a better and humbler person. In the last moments of his life, Meruem calmly accepted his fate, realized his foolishness as a king, and chose to spend his last few hours playing gungi with Komugi.
Made of Iron: This saves him when fighting Netero, since at first he could not block and barely avoid Netero's attacks.
Major Injury Underreaction: He ripped off his own arm without batting an eye.
Meaningful Name:
- His name resembles the Arabic name "مريوم", which can be romanized as either "Maryam", and is equivalent to the English name "Mary", which means "beloved". The crux of his Character Arc is his relationship with Komugi and how she not only humanizes him but she also grows to love him as well, with the two spending their final moments together.
- According to the Queen, Meruem means "Light that illuminates everything". After his near death and revival, he learns how to convert his En to photons so it appears as a huge flash of light.
Missed Him by That Much: He and Gon never meet.
The Napoleon: Shorter than all three of his guards and with a personality to match.
Near-Death Experience: He just barely survived the Miniature Rose's explosion, but came out heavily scorched with all his limbs blown off. He admits that the period where Pouf and Youpi fed him their own flesh to restore his vitality felt like a dream, and he wasn't even aware that he was eating them until afterward. He also had a vision of his mother naming him Meruem while he was still inside her.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By killing Peggy, he ended up causing Meleoreon to switch sides and perform a Heel–Face Turn
Nigh-Invulnerable: He only just started to notice dull amounts of pain after getting hit a bunch of times by Netero. He was also able to take on Netero's most powerful move, the Zero Hand, which launches Netero's entire aura upon his opponent (aura so strong that simply being in the presence of it can feel like needles on the skin) and he only received cuts and bruises. It took a fucking atomic bomb to bring him to near death. Near!
Noble Demon: He starts out as a monster who only lives to eat, kill and conquer, and doesn't feel a sliver of care for anyone except for himself. After bonding with Komugi, he starts respecting his guards and accepting the value of other lifeforms.
No Name Given: He does, but he left his mother to die before finding out, and honestly probably would not have cared at that point anyway. Once his Character Development kicks in, this bothers him a great deal, to the point that Netero is able to goad Meruem into fighting by telling the king he knows his true name.
Oh, Crap!: After seeing Netero's smilling face right before he set off the Miniature Rose, the King- as per the narrator's words- experiences fear for the first time in his life.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After telling Pitou to heal Komugi, he calmly adds "I'm counting on you", which is a massive departure from his usual manner of barking demands at his underlings. Pitou was reduced to tears in response and treated healing Komugi as the most important task in their life.
One-Man Army: Especially after becoming a Physical God.
Physical God: After Netero's supposedly failed attempt to kill him via nuclear bomb, Meruem's power ascended to near omnipotent levels, being able to zoom in onto a location kilometers away in seconds.
Picky People Eater: His meal of choice is the brain of a Nen user.
Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Chairman Netero and Chimera Ant King Mereum's follows this dynamic. Mereum is nothing but accommodating, offering to take their fight to a place of Netero's choosing, commending him on his incredible strength, and when they've reached the spot for the battle refuses to fight and tries to convince him to join his side through debate. Netero takes his politeness as an insult, does everything in his power to goad him into a fight and ultimately succeeds, loses despite having set the rules for the confrontation, and activates a nuclear device to kill him. In fairness to Netero, Mereum was working to kill the population of an entire country and planned to force the rest of humanity onto reservations.
Pride: Has a large ego fitting of a Physical God, he tries to later use that ego for well-intentioned purposes after some significant Character Development.
Psychic Link: With Pouf and Youpi, after his fight against Netero. Pouf continues to forget about it, and this brings about his downfall as Pouf attempts to plot against his wishes.
Psychotic Smirk: Smiles like that from time to time, but he mellows out of it.
Puny Humans: His initial thought about them, seeing them only as cattle for him to eat, but Komugi and Netero change his view on them. Komugi being able to always defeating him in Gungi teaches Meruem to begrudgingly respect and gradually care for her. Netero's incredible ability in Nen leads Meruem to see him as magnificent. The two teach Meruem about the human ability to transcend their limits and instead of farming them like cattle selectively choosing them through quality with humanity in reservations.
Purple Is Powerful: His head, arms, and legs are partially purple in color and his eyes and nen aura are purple, fitting for the most powerful character in the series.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: For a moment in episode 132 as well as a few in several episodes prior.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Technically it's an insect hierarchy term, but he fulfills the requirements, especially with the Physical God traits.
Secondary Color Nemesis: The main antagonist of the Chimera Ant Arc whose body is mostly various shades of green with purple on the shell on his head, arms, and legs.
Self-Harm: Rips off his own arm as an apology to Komugi for trying to use a "petty tactic" to unnerve her.
Self-Made Orphan: He kills his own mother when he forcibly rips himself out of her sac after she had screamed that it's too soon, only for him to tell her to shut up. The Queen Ant dies from her internal injuries.
Smart People Play Chess: Played for horror. Meruem has just taken over a country with minimal effort, and to pass the time and to demonstrate his superior intellect over humans, he brings in the country's national champions for chess and its counterparts to play them. To the utter shock and terror of the chess, shogi, and go champions, it takes only a few hours for the King to go from playing for the first time to overtaking them at their own game, upon which the King kills them for no longer being amusing to him—or, in the case of the go champion, he hangs himself. The only one able to keep up with the King is Komugi in gungi, a chess-like game, and even then the repeated matches between the two of them accelerate the metagame at least a hundredfold.
Smug Smiler: The master of this and one of his first expressions.
Smug Super: Even with his Well-Intentioned Extremist goals, he still viewed his power highly.
Social Darwinist: He believes that the strong should rule the weak. When Shaiapouf tells him that in human society individuals without intelligence and talent can nonetheless be in positions of power due to bloodline and connections, he is truly perplexed and says that it defies logic.
Spanner in the Works: He is this for himself. His failed attempts to manipulate Komugi results in him ripping off his own arm, causing Neferpitou to drop their shield while they repair him, allowing Knov to infiltrate the palace and giving the Hunters easy access.
Spell My Name With An S: In Volume 21 , Viz translates the name the Chimera Ant Queen gives him as "Meryem". Viz fixes this to be "Meruem" from their translations of Volume 28 and onwards.
Spider-Sense: After all his losses against Komugi, he developed these.
Stay with Me Until I Die: To Komugi. And by doing this, she joins him shortly afterward.
The Stoic: You could count off the number of things that could make him visibly react with five fingers. Before you do, ripping off his own arm isn't one of them.
Story-Breaker Power: Photon. He transforms his own En into light, which allows him to not only sense others within his vicinity, but also teleport to their location instantly. And it just so happens that Meruem has vast En, meaning he can blanket an entire city and possibly even well beyond that with his aura, locate a target in an instant, and attack them without warning. Had he survived, he could have easily conquered the entire 'known' world with this power alone.
Superpower Lottery: The most powerful character in the series by far. He is born as the ultimate biological weapon, able to increase his own aura by eating other nen users, giving him vast amounts of nen. After eating Pouf and Youpi's bodies, his aura reserves are so great that even the Royal Guards admit the he seems invincible.
Super-Speed: He can move at extremely fast speed when fighting Netero, despite Netero landing multiple strikes upon him (he could travel at speeds approaching mach 1). After absorbing Menthuthuyoupi and Shaiapouf, he gained the ability to fly, allowing him to move at super-sonic speed in mere seconds.
Super-Strength: Meruem's physical strength is inconceivable as he was able to use only one powerful strike with his tail to kill several other Chimera Ants. He also was able to rip off Netero's left arm and right leg easily. He even injured all three of the Royal Guards with his tail strikes, however they weren't serious injuries (However it should be noted that he didn't use anywhere near his full strength).
Tail Slap: Really fond of doing this when one of his subordinates make him angry. Anyone less durable than the Royal Guard will have their head go splat.
Take Over the World: Born to stand at the top of this world. But after meeting Komugi, he goes from planning to make humans cattle to eat to wanting to change human society and eliminate inequality, using terror initially to achieve his goal.
A Taste of Defeat: His first loss against Komugi. In spite of his huge ego, he takes his loss surprisingly well and his constant losses to her make Meruem more determined to beat her, with the challenge Komugi provides him despite being a blind, meek girl entertaining and teaching him the worth of humanity.
Together in Death: With Komugi, playing Gungi with her as they die from radiation poisoning.
Took a Level in Kindness: Meruem started off as a callous, sociopathic jerk who was a Bad Boss to his minions and regarded everyone beneath him as tools or food. When he rescues Komugi from a hawk, her sheer helplessness, talent, and gratitude shake Meruem to his core. His first conscious act of kindness is to make Komugi his honored guest, and from there, his respect for others grows and extends to humanity itself.
Too Powerful to Live: At the point before his death, he was the strongest character in existence, and since there wasn't any convincible way for him to be defeated, he died from radiation poisoning.
Tranquil Fury: When Netero and Zeno (accidentally) hurt Komugi. He was not happy at all.
Travel Transformation: His ability, Photon which allows him to turn his En into light and move instantly to any spot it covers.
Ultimate Life Form: The ultimate Chimera Ant. He considers himself to be this, and he's got a point given his immense physical power, intellect, and ability to take the Nen abilities of any Nen user he eats. Once he gets a power boost from Netero's failed (or thought to have failed) attempt to kill him, it raises him to Physical God levels of power, and was at that moment, the strongest character in the series. Unfortunately for Meruem, his myriad abilities do not include immunity to radiation poisoning.
"I was born as the King of Ants, the crowning glory of life. All of your kind evolved solely to produce me. I am the culmination of generations of their unhesitating service. You are one of many, and no king. I hold in my hands the future of my species. Of course you could never win!! The ecology of the Chimera Ant is focused on the endpoint of all evolution... on me. Humanity, with its messy diversity... its individuals... never had a chance."
Unskilled, but Strong: At least when it comes to fighting and using nen. While he is a genius and can use all of the basics of nen, he never went through any kind of conditioning or formal training nor did he have extensive experience using nen. In the one real fight he ever had against an experienced nen user (Netero who was once considered the strongest in the world no less) he had to resort to "let him hit me until I find an opening" because he couldn't keep up with Netero's speed at all. If he wasn't such a physical monster or had Super-Toughness as one of his powers, he would have stood no chance against Netero.
Utopia Justifies the Means: After observing some of humanity's structural flaws (pigs being in positions of power while innocent children starve to death) and after interacting with Komugi, he adjusts his ambitions from a hostile takeover of humanity to creating a utopia where "the concept of inequality doesn't exist" and humans could coexist with Chimera Ants to some extent. He admits that he will at first use terror to achieve that goal, but the end result will be a far better world to live in for both humans and Ants. Netero was not fully convinced, and he wasn't about to give up his mission either way.
Victory Is Boring: Which is why he found playing with Komugi so refreshing.
Villain Has a Point: Meruem may be a merciless sociopath at first who would kill anyone without first thought. But even he thinks that human societal concepts like people becoming rulers because of their bloodline is absurd and defies natural logic. On the other side, he believes that only those who have power like himself are the ones who deserve to rule.
Villain of Another Story: With regards to Gon; despite the two of them being the Chimera Ant arc's central characters and being involved with the same general conflict, their storylines are kept separate and they never so much as interact with one another (there's one scene where they're within eyeshot of each other, but neither cares to acknowledge the other's presence). Meruem doesn't care about the Invasion Squad members save for (eventually) Netero, whereas Gon's beef lies squarely with Neferpitou.
Villain Protagonist: Once he's introduced, most of the Chimera Ant arc seems to focus on him and his Royal Guard. Gon and the other Hunters become less and less prominent in the story's trajectory and seem more like supporting characters of his personal story.
Villain Respect: If you can survive his strength and mind, you are maybe not an equal, but worthy of him showing actual praise and emotion for your being. Komugi managed to ascend beyond mere respect into a true admiring of her spirit.
Visionary Villain: What Meruem becomes after oodles of Character Development throughout the Chimera Ant arc. His goal becomes to take over the world so that he may erase inequality and notions such as the divine right of kings from human society so that children don't starve and pigs don't stay in power, by using violence and intimidation to conquer the world and force humanity onto reservations. Even then, Netero notes just how charismatic Meruem is when he explains to him his ideals that it takes his willpower to not be convinced by the king.
Visual Development: As Komugi opened his heart, he noticeably became more human and gentler in appearance.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: After meeting Komugi, Meruem's motivations change from, "turn humanity into mindless livestock for me to devour" into "protect the weak and abolish inequality". He actually brings up several good points in his argument which are so effective Netero has to steel himself lest he be turned over to the King's side.
What Is This Feeling?: At first, he didn't understand the reason he felt the urge to protect something weak like Komugi, nor why he was enjoying their Gungi matches despite constantly losing.
When He Smiles: When he finds Komugi after getting his memories back.
Would Hurt a Child: Kills a little girl and her family with no hesitation. They are just food to him, after all.
World's Strongest Man: He was literally born to be the strongest Chimera Ant of all. Meruem is able to shatter walls and kill both humans and other Chimera Ants in a single blow. During his battle with Netero, Meruem was able to fight him on even grounds and overpower him by ripping his leg and arm, as well as surviving Netero’s Zero Hand blast. He becomes more powerful and ascends to a Physical God status after Netero’s Poor Man’s Rose nuclear bomb fails to kill him. For a while.
Worthy Opponent:
- While waiting for his plans to proceed, Meruem entertains himself by challenging the country's best board game champions and defeats them all on his first try, only needing to read the rules before he bests them at their own game. But not once over dozens of games of gungi does Meruem ever defeat Komugi. In time, he comes to admire, and eventually fall for her, not just for her skill, but for her spirit- the commitment to play each game as if her life depended on it.
- During their battle, he also comes to respect Netero as a truly worthy human for his incredible Nen abilities and martial arts, constantly praising him throughout their battle and calling him the pinnacle of human potential.
Your Days Are Numbered: Because of The Rose's poison. After regaining his memory and learning about his impending death, he spends his last moments playing Gungi with Komugi.

Royal Guards

Neferpitou

Voiced by: Ayumi Fujimura (Japanese), Sarah Anne Williams (English)

The first of the Royal Guards to be introduced, direct assistant to the king and an incredible fighter in their own right. Neferpitou, called Pitou for short, is an extremely feminine cat person. Like a cat, they love to toy with their victims and is somewhat psychotic.

Neferpitou is a Specialist. Their Nen ability comes in two varieties: "Doctor Blythe", a strange, horrific-looking nurse with the ability to heal injuries, and a clown-shaped puppetmaster that turns people into People Puppets. Said puppets can use their nen abilities, if they had them. During their fight with Gon, Pitou displays a third ability, "Terpsichora", a deranged-looking puppeteer ballerina who can enhance their physical abilities.

Ambiguous Gender: Pitou's gender isn't confirmed. They use "boku", a masculine pronoun in the manga, while feminine pronouns in the anime, contrasted with a curvy body that is especially feminine in the anime. Given the presence of transgender and gender-nonconforming characters elsewhere in the series, speculation as to where Pitou falls between "male" and "Bokukko" is going to remain speculation. Additional Material and Games go for either male or female Depending on the Writer, further adding to the confusion. Even though the narration in the Chimera Ant arc is extremely detailed, Pitou is never referred to by any pronoun, only ever their full name, but Pitou is referred with female pronouns in official accounts, such as Crunchyroll.
Apologetic Attacker: Apologizes to Gon before they explain they have to kill him for the King's sake.
Arch-Enemy: Gon considers Pitou to be his.
Art Evolution: Pitou starts off in the manga with an Ax-Crazy yet blank look in their eyes for a more realistic face, and a rather large sash across their standard clothes, somewhat resembling a violent and crazed feline in a Humanoid Abomination form. As the Chimera Ant arc goes on, however, Pitou's design ditches the sash post-Kite, gradually becomes more cute, wide-eyed, leaner and shorter, and falls more in line with the series' feminine designs to fit their Character Development. The anime opted to use the later design from the start for more consistency, and with no sash in sight, but still has their facial and eye expressions shift for a broader emotional spectrum with time to match the same general idea.
Awesomeness by Analysis: In the anime, they learn how to operate a brain by reading books.
Ax-Crazy: Though they have a relatively small on-panel body count, they control a large number of corpses and describe killing with glee (saying they wanted to kill Kite over and over).
Badass Adorable: Admit it. Even being horrible can be adorable, because cat.
Badass Bookworm: Teaching yourself advanced neurobiology to then incorporate it into a powerful attack-defense mechanism with Nen? Yeah: this counts.
Blood Knight: Very much loves a good fight. Poor Kite.
Born Winner: Born with an Nen mastery and an aura stronger than Netero, they even kill Kite with no training or special ability. It's valid for all the Royal Guards and even more for The King.
Breakout Villain: Since their appearance, they've easily become one of the most popular characters in the series, appearing in fan arts and other media.
Character Catchphrase: "Now I understand", though it could also be translated as "Meow I understand", due to them making a cat pun in the original Japanese whenever they say it. The dub runs with the pun.
Cat Girl: Basically Pitou looks like a human cat with cat ears, a tail, and bestial hands. Their gender is officially unknown, but Pitou appears more feminine in their anime adaption with a consistent bust, differing from their slightly ambiguous manga appearance.
Cats Are Mean: Played with. They were very loyal to the king and were always ready to give their life for him, but against humans and lesser Chimeras, they are merciless.
Character Development: Goes from a murderous lunatic to a protective figure for Komugi. Despite being easily able to kill Gon where they stand (even with Gon and Killua's Training from Hell), they actually honor Gon's wishes and breaks the news to him about Kite face to face out of respect. They even seem to sympathize with him, but by then it's too little, too late.
Climax Boss: Pitou is this for Gon in the Chimera Ant arc, since Gon and Meruem never meet, and he only cares about his revenge on them.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: It's even lampshaded by Pouf.
Co-Dragons: With Pouf and Youpi to Meruem.
Combat Medic: Played with, since they can't fight while using their healing ability.
Creepy Ballet: Terpsichora evokes this, as they appear like a deranged yet graceful puppeteer-ballerina whom Pitou commands to make them "dance past [their] limits".
Cruel and Unusual Death: Punched incredibly high into the sky with a hit that breaks almost all of their bones and mulches their internal organs, is then hit with a second one that completely caves in their skull, and is finally put down when Gon smashes their head into nothingness. They come back as a zombie, only to be blown into oblivion by Gon's Super Mode self-destructing.
Determinator: Continues fighting even after Gon destroys their head.
Dead Guy Puppet: Terpsichora can be used to manipulate corpses, including their own headless body.
Death by Irony: Pitou is the first character to take Meruem's Tail Slap without getting their head splattered, earning Meruem's praise for their durability. Gon's Roaring Rampage of Revenge ages him up to his peak, where Pitou observes that he's on par with Meruem, and they end up dying from... getting their head pulverized.
Death by Pragmatism: Pitou fully acknowledges that Gon is such a serious threat that, should his potential get the opportunity to grow, he might even be a threat to Mereum. With some exploitation by Pouf to stir Pitou into killing Gon, this choice of action would've been easy enough - had Gon not been so broken that he willingly sacrificed all of that potential just to kill Pitou. Thus the Ant's pragmatism ended up causing their own demise.
Death Glare: In their first meeting with Gon and Killua.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: Pitou's speech to Kite's corpse about how much fun fighting was sounds quite a bit like Pitou is describing something else...
The Dragon: To the king. Out of all the royal guard members, Pitou is the most loyal and strongest of the royal guard, and the best to ensure his security because of their colossal En who covers the entire palace.
Dramatically Missing the Point: Even after undergoing his Deadly Transformation and screaming about how he's going to kill Pitou, Pitou's concern with Gon lies purely with how this turn of events may affect Meruem, despite the fact that Gon could not care any less about Meruem and is motivated exclusively by his rage against Pitou.
The Dreaded: Has an insanely malicious aura that can paralyze even experienced Hunters in their tracks. Killua described it as being even worse than Hisoka or Illumi's auras, and the invasion squad could feel it even when Pitou was blown away from the palace by Netero.
Even Evil Has Standards: Once Pitou hits their Character Development and follows Meruem's orders to protect Komugi at any cost, the early sadism Pitou demonstrated is replaced by only doing what is absolutely necessary to protect their King and Komugi. Early Pitou would've killed Gon without hesitation for kicks, but with the threat of Komugi having been taken hostage, the later Pitou refuses to do anything underhanded despite contemplating it and plays fair the entire time. Even when they prepare to kill Gon, having thought Komugi was rescued because of lies by Shaiapouf, Pitou even explicitly apologizes for the matter and for being unable to restore Kite.
Evil Puppeteer: One of the major antagonists throughout the Chimera Ant arc, Pitou displays the ability to create People Puppets out of humans the Ants capture.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: The thief to Pouf's mage and Youpi's fighter.
Foreshadowing: The scene where the King asks the Royal Guard what his name is alludes to each of the Royal Guards' behavior during the palace invasion. Pitou's answer was that he should choose a name which he likes, characterizing Pitou as a loyal servant who genuinely wants what is best for Meruem; their loyalty is to Meruem and not his status as the King of the Chimera Ants, which is why they did not hesitate to heal Komugi upon being requested to and in fact felt a sense of enormous responsibility to do so, despite noticing how much Komugi was inadvertently humanizing him.
Game Face: This◊.
Hero Killer: Personally offs Kite, and interrogates (read: lobotomizes) Pokkle before disposing of him. The former sets off Gon personally, while no one learns about the latter because Pokkle's entire squad also bit the dust to Soldier Ants.
I'm Crying, but I Don't Know Why: They didn't understand why they were crying after Meruem finally offered them his trust, but they were truthfully happy.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: On top of every thing else they endure after having their head caved in Gon proceeds to impale Pitou's reanimated course with his severed arm before smashing them point blank with his most powerful Jajanken to finish them off.
In a Single Bound: While Pitou lacks wings like Pouf or Yopui, their legs are incredibly powerful, able to cover very long distance in one leap after swelling up their thigh muscles. They made a huge leap to slice Kite's arm and to attack Netero.
In Love with Your Carnage: After killing Kite, Pitou kept his body and mentions how much fun they had fighting him describing it as a "dream like moment." In fact, the entire reason Pitou develops their People Puppets ability is so they can bring Kite back and experience that moment over and over again.
In-Series Nickname: Pitou.
Irony: As the one that killed Kite, personally setting off Gon on being hellbent for vengeance as well as being considered potentially strong enough to beat even Netero, much of the planning to kill the King focuses on separating Pitou from Meruem with everyone absolutely paranoid of dealing with them on any level; indeed, Pitou could've killed Gon and Killua effortlessly in each of their encounters. In the end, Pitou trying to save Komugi's life from a wound inflicted in the initial crossfire means they are completely removed from the rest of the main battle without a fight.
- Initially Pitou is portrayed as the psychotic member who is motivated mostly by their psychotic whims and Pouf is the sole rational member who is motivated by his duties to the king alone before the battle with Youpi being just the brute who does what he's told- being superficially the most humane. As the battle goes on, the roles are inverted as Pitou becomes the only one of the Royal Guard to continuously act composed and sensible of the trio- is concerned with what Meruem truly wants by protecting Komugi while Pouf in his zealous obedience of his ideal of the King causing him to lose his initial stoicism entirely in favor of insanity becomes consumed with the murderous desire Komugi for "corrupting" his ideal trying to do so behind his back- putting his whims above the Kings, with Youpi becoming nobler through his fight with the Hunters- with Pouf becoming the most monstrous of the trio morally by the end.
Karmic Death: Pitou is seen early on nursing Kite's severed head and literally picking Pokkle's brain for information. They get decapitated by Gon at the climax of the Chimera Ant arc.
Killed Off for Real: They made a promise to go with Gon to Peijin to restore Kite, but once they reached the area, Pitou affirms that the task is impossible and subsequently prepares to kill Gon. In a rage, Gon forcibly ages his body by expending nearly all of his natural potential and kills Pitou with the temporary Nen-boost. Postmortem, Pitou's corpse is manipulated by the remnants of their Nen ability until it is destroyed by Gon.
Killer Rabbit: Neferpitou being a cute human-cat hybrid makes easy to forget they're a powerful fighter who mixes their feline instincts with the cold-blooded sadism of a Torture Technician.
Knight of Cerebus: The show always had a dark side, but none of it sent Gon off the edge before Pitou came along, essentially ending his Nen potential to defeat him and in the following arcs, a lot more prominent characters start dying.
Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: When Pitou was on the ends of a downright grisly No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Gon, it knocked off one of his shoes at some point, then the other, leaving them with just a pair of socks covered in their own blood.
Mad Scientist: Has a lair filled with equipment and works with Pouf to revive and turn Palm into a Super-Soldier Half-Human Hybrid.
The Medic: Their "Doctor Blythe" (a giant doll), that can used to surgically treat damaged areas of the body. It is equipped with countless medical tools that can be used to provide first aid as well as perform major surgeries.
Muscles Are Meaningless: Skinny as a twig, they can rip off human limbs and heads without strain and with just one hand.
The Nose Knows: Neferpitou was able to smell Pokkle while the latter was hiding in a massive pile of bones.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Drops their "playful catgirl" attitude upon being hit by Netero's attack and realizing that the invasion squad might be an actual threat to the King and that Komugi's life is in danger. They stay that way until the end of the arc.
Off with His Head!: A particularly scary example in which Pitou's head is not cut off, per se, but beaten so badly that it is pulped away until it is outright GONE.
Oh, Crap!: Has a spectacularly terrified reaction that realizes just how screwed they are once Gon gives in to his rage and enters his Super Mode. Further bolstered when he immediately demonstrates that he outspeeds Pitou with no effort.
People Puppets: After emitting their aura in the shape of a clownesque puppeteer, Neferpitou can attach it to a body (alive or dead) to exercise complete control over the body in question. The body can not only move it, but also make it speak and even have it use Nen regardless of whether the owner of the body was a Nen user. If the corpse is indeed that of a Nen user, Neferpitou can have it use its Nen abilities. The number of bodies Neferpitou can control at the same time is unknown.
- They can use this power even on themselves. Their Terpsichora takes the form of a monstrous ballerina with strings connecting its fingertips to Neferpitou's body like a marionette. It is a combat-oriented ability that manipulates Neferpitou. Even when Neferpitou's head was crushed, the ability remained active out of their loyalty to the King, becoming stronger after death, enabling them to mutilate Gon's arm.
Only Sane Man: While normally, the psychotic member in normal circumstances, Pitou becomes the sole member to remain composed and actually doing what the King wants while the other two undergo Sanity Slippage as their obsession with their ideal of the King and their dealings with the enemies cause them to go behind his back and go against what he truly wishes.
Perpetual Smiler: Has various smiles to use, but rarely manages any other expression. Though this trait pretty much disappears once the drama with Komugi and Gon starts.
Pronoun Trouble: Not as much a problem in Japanese, but definitely plagues English translations.
Rasputinian Death: Gon beats Pitou so badly that their head is destroyed, then the rest of them gets smashed to bits while reanimated by the force of their own Nen.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: In the anime, their eyes are usually depicted as a maroonish red in the dark parts of the iris and gold in the light parts, for a "red" look overall, but in some shots from a sharp angle are all gold or all maroon/red. It might be an attempt at representing iridescence on a limited animation budget.
The Reliable One: In spite of not quite looking the part and being a cold-blooded killer and torturer, Pitou is both the most reliable and resourceful of the Royal Guards, and is the only one of the three that actually adheres to their Kings wishes behind his back and has no restraints about it.
Riddle for the Ages: Pitou's gender being a mystery is likely an intentional writing choice given Togashi's recorded love of LGBT themes and gender ambiguity. Not only are they never gendered in the original Japanese narration, but even the official English subtitles for the 2011 anime go out of their way to avoid addressing Pitou with gendered pronouns, usually going for "they" or sometimes "it" or "that thing". Side material outside the series itself as well as alternative translations, besides being dubiously canon, often fluctuate between referring to Pitou as male or female Depending on the Writer.
Scarf of Asskicking: Had one during their first appearance in the manga.
Self-Harm: They break their own left arm, then invites Gon to break their other three limbs, if that will prove that they'll comply with him and pose no threat after they finish healing Komugi.
Shoot the Medic First: Unintentional on Gon's part, as he manages to kill the sole Royal Guard who could've cured the Chimera Ant elites of their lethal radiation poisoning.
A Storm Is Coming: Said this before the Palace Invasion.
Super Mode: By conjuring an eerie Nen creature to control them. According to the narrator, "Puppet Master's Serenity" is their strongest ability, though Gon promptly defeats it with his Dangerous Forbidden Technique.
Super-Senses: Their sense are over-developed. Pitou was able to spot Kite, Gon and Killua, who were around more than half a kilometer away with their sight. And was also able to hear cell phone that was on low volume with their extremely accurate hearing, while Gon, who has a similar ability, could not hear anything.
Super-Speed: Perhaps the fastest character behind only Meruem (and maybe Godspeed Killua), Pitou is immensely fast.
Super-Strength: Pitou, being a Royal Guard, is one of the physically strongest characters in the series with immense brute strength, capable of jumping kilometers away with their legs.
Super-Toughness: Pitou is also ridiculously durable, she was able to survive an attack from Meruem, who was trying to kill them with that attack. It also took multiple hits from Gon (in his adult form) to kill her.
Torture Technician: Lobotomizes Pokkle to learn the basics of Nen. Knov's greatest fear in getting caught while setting up portals in the palace is not simply death, but Pitou torturing out all the info he has.
Undying Loyalty: Unlike Pouf, they never even consider questioning the King's judgment and will follow his orders to the letter. Their loyalty even inadvertently humanizes the King the most. It takes a disturbing turn during their final fight with Gon: their loyalty is so strong that their nen can activate on its own after their death, to treat their own corpse as a puppet that will fight to protect the King.
Verbal Tic: "Nyah". Drops it when things start getting serious, though.
Vocal Evolution: Fujimura uses higher pitched, playful tone until the Palace invasion, where a more mature tone comes with healing Komugi, recognizing her as the King's Morality Pet, and trying to pacify a vengeful Gon.
Worthy Opponent: They appear to develop a genuine respect for Gon after he keeps his word to allow them to heal Komugi, to the extent that they apologize for being forced to kill him. Their final thought before being killed is being glad that Gon is singling them out as the one to kill with his Super Mode born from the cost of throwing away all of his future potential, as that means he has no desire to kill their king.

Shaiapouf

Voiced by: Wataru Hatano (Japanese), Chris Niosi (English)

A bishounen man who is mostly human and butterfly and the second of the Royal Guards to be introduced. Called Pouf for short. His defining characteristic is his obsession with making sure the King is safe and to follow his every order. Shaiapouf becomes incredibly anxious if he's separated from the King or becomes unable to finish a command from him. He cries waterfalls and plays the violin to relieve this frustration, making him something of a comic relief of the bunch.

Shaipouf mainly uses his Nen in two ways: Spiritual Message, in which he uses his scales to assess someone's aura and mental condition, and Beelzebub, where he breaks his body up into Fun Size versions of him that can act as spies or form clones. He also displays the ability to create human-Chimera Ant hybrids, and control his face and voice to look like someone he's met.

Amazing Technicolor Population: His skin has a faint lavender shade.
Ax-Crazy: His Yandere obsession with the King and killing Komugi makes him the most unstable of the Royal Guard, despite being the most rational in normal circumstances.
Badass Cape: When his wings are not deployed they look like a cape.
Bastard Understudy: He is very loyal to the King, but it's only to the ideal that the King should be- causing him to go behind his King's wishes to eliminate what the King truly desires in favor of manipulating him into being what he wants.
Blind Obedience: His major flaw is that he isn't loyal to Mereum as the person with his own desires, but rather the ideal that Mereum represents as well as obeying his instincts as a drone to protect the King from perceived threats. To this end, he is willing to kill Komugi, which he sees as being a threat to the King's purpose and go behind his back in order to manipulate hin.
Beastman: A butterfly man.
Broken Tears: He constantly cries, and eventually he manages to get Youpi crying.
Catchphrase: "Sore dake no koto" which means "that's all there is to it".
Character Development: Started out as one of the more rational members of the Royal Guards but by the end of the Chimera Ants arc, he ended up being the most unstable one of them all.
Co-Dragons: With Pitou and Youpi to Meruem.
Crazy Jealous Guy: When he and Youpi feed their cells to Meruem to restore his body from the Miniature Rose, he's visibly upset that Meruem praises Youpi's taste and not just his own. And that's not even getting into Komugi, particularly his shock at just how much Meruem cares about her after regaining his memories.
Cultured Badass: Exudes this and can back it up in a number of ways — he's a well-dressed violinist with an operatic "cape" (actually his wings). However... there's an emotional thug inside the violin player.
Despair Event Horizon: A particularly unsympathetic example. After witnessing Meruem remember Komugi and realizing through their mental link just how much he cares for her, Pouf loses all hope and asks Meruem to execute him right then and there. To his further dismay, Meruem refuses. As the final twist of the knife, when Pouf is lying down in a Pose of Supplication, he overhears Meruem telling Welfin that he "wishes he can live as a human" and winces at the phrase. Devastated beyond repair, Pouf remains at that exact spot until his poison-induced death puts him out of his misery.
Dragon-in-Chief: He becomes in charge of the Chimera Ants when the king lost his memories.
Drama Queen: There are parade and runway queens who drama less.
The Dreaded: Just looking at his aura is enough to terrify even the most experienced Hunters. Knov got caught in it during a scouting mission, mistaking it for Pitou's aura, and it was enough to turn his hair white and horrify him into a Heroic BSoD.
Elegant Classical Musician: Violin in his case.
The Empath: In his fight against Morel he uses his nen ability Spiritual Message this way.
Evil Genius: When he uses his energy for plotting rather than sheer melodrama, he's scarily good.
Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Despite being Bishōnen, he's easily the most amoral of the Royal Guard, and especially since his more moral associates are an Ax-Crazy Cat Boy.. Girl... and a Hair-Trigger Temper brute. One particular facial expression he makes is particularly notable, as it fully illustrates that his human appearance is a mask that barely hides what he really is on the inside - a vicious, ugly beast.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: The mage to Youpi's fighter and Pitou's thief.
Foreshadowing: The scene where the King asks the Royal Guard what his name is alludes to each of the Royal's Guard behavior during the palace invasion. Pouf answers that he needs no name, as he is the King— nothing more and nothing less. This characterizes Pouf as being loyal to Meruem as the King of the Chimera Ants and not as an individual in his own right, and thus he felt it justified to scheme behind his back in order to "set him back on the right track" upon sensing that Komugi was separating him from the ideals of the Chimera Ant race too much for his liking.
Glamor Failure: While normally Bishōnen, when the King was badly wounded, one of his clones reveals his true hideous nature for a moment.◊
Green-Eyed Monster: Let's just say that a lot of King/Komugi shippers have it out for him. To say nothing of how many pages Togashi devotes to him gushing over the king.
Hate Sink: Unlike Meruem, Pitou, and Youpi, he is presented in a very negative light as a Yandere who is deadset on killing the King's Morality Pet.
Flight: Naturally.
In-Series Nickname: Pouf.
Irony: Pouf is normally the most logical and physically human of the three prior to the final battle with Pitou being the obvious selfish, psychopath and Youpi the stereotypical violent brute. As the final battle progresses, Pitou becomes the sole one to remain calm and focused on what the King truly desires- being surprisingly selfless and Youpi develops a sense of martial pride/honor from his fights with the Hunters. In sharp contrasts, Pouf's obsession with the King causes him to become completely insane in enforcing his ideal on the King while going behind his back and defying his King's wishes, being truly selfish deep down- and morally being the most monstrous of the trio deep down.
- While Pouf looks the most human physically- being more humanoid than either of the other two, he is simultaneously the closest to being an actually ant via his normal butterfly traits and his Glamour Failure causing him to briefly morph half of his face into an ant.
"It" Is Dehumanizing: While Meruem can't remember Komugi, he becomes dead-set on killing "that", viewing "it" as a burden on the King.
Kick the Dog: He ended up suggesting a Brainwashed and Crazy Palm to kill Killua when the ex-assassin was in the middle of an emotional breakdown.
Lean and Mean: He has the lankiest figure among the Royal Guard, and gradually proves to be the most devious.
Manipulative Bastard: To the king and everyone.
Me's a Crowd: Pouf's Nen ability Beelzebub allows him to split his body into tiny sized pieces that allow him to scatter into multiple areas and scout ahead. The downside is that these smaller forms are much weaker then when he is complete and, if destroyed, Pouf loses a portion of his body and power.
Mind Control: One of his Nen abilities, Spiritual Message, which allows Pouf to hypnotize anyone who is hit by his scales. He uses this to put the inhabitants of East Gorteau into a trance in so that they won't run away from being feed/converted into ants.
Murder the Hypotenuse: Makes it very clear he intends to kill Komugi, because she's his Morality Chain, seeing her as an obstacle in the king's path to greatness.
- And once the King gets Easy Amnesia, he immediately tries to jump at the idea of killing her while he's unable to remember anything.
Mood-Swinger: Goes from cold-hearted plotting to insane laughter to Inelegant Blubbering in the span of minutes.
Never My Fault: He did nothing wrong. It was all for the sake of The King!
Nightmare Face: This.◊
- When he manages to get the better of Morel, his normally slant eyes become briefly abnormally large with glee, making him appear like a deranged fairy.
Nonstandard Character Design: Chibi-Pouf. His ability to strategize is not lessened at all, still making him a threat despite his adorable appearance. He looks like APR!
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: While his desire to kill Komugi, a heinous action on an innocent girl had some rationale due to her influence interfering with their directive, his internal monologue and envy of Mereum praising Youpi imply this is a cover to hide the fact that he wants the King on his vision of what the King should be- a pawn he can manipulate and is motivated to kill Komugi because of jealous spite.
One to Million to One: His Beelzebub technique can split himself into multiple tiny, adorable clones, with one serving as the main body. The clones can become microscopic, but the main body can't get any smaller than a bee, and is just as vulnerable as one in this state. He can maintain his outward appearance with only one-seventh of his cells.
Only Sane Man: Subverted. He thinks he is by focusing on his loyalty to the King rather than indulging in selfishness, but he's easily the most monstrous of the Royal Guard in terms of amorality specifically because his obsessive loyalty causes him to act selfishly in pursuing his vision of the King over the actual person- make him the most disloyal of the trio, going behind his back and being motivated by selfishness.
Pretty Butterfly: Subverted to hell and back. He's a butterfly man who may look pretty, but his personality is anything but.
Psychic Link: With Meruem and Youpi.
"Psycho" Strings: Easily the most pretentious yet unhinged of the Royal Guard; Pouf is usually seen playing the violin and his theme contains a lot of frantic strings.
Psycho Supporter Becoming more Yandere towards the King as time goes on.
Psychotic Smirk: Once he starts going off the deep end, he starts making facial expressions that would make Light Yagami proud.
The Reliable One: When Pitou and Youpi don't know what to do they always listen to him. But when Komugi is involved, this is heavily subverted as his loyalty causes him to act irrationally while Pitou ironically became the reliable one instead.
Say My Name: Your majesty!. This is not a name but it counts.
Self-Deprecation His extreme loyalty causes him to cry buckets and play the violin whenever he feels like he betrayed the king, which is often.
Super-Empowering: Spiritual Message permits him to give a Nen ability that will suit perfectly to anyone. He can also completely change their ability.
Super-Speed: Pouf uses his aura to increase his immense speed while flying, more notably, he was capable of completely blitzing Morel.
Super-Strength: Although it may not seem like it, Pouf has immense brute strength, being a Royal Guard, Gon even admitted that Pouf was about to kill him while he was sneaking up on him.
Super-Toughness: Pouf is also ridiculously durable, he survived an attack from Meruem, which only slightly bruised him, however, his clones are significantly less durable, one particular clone was almost burned by Killua.
Superpower Lottery: Able to manipulate an entire population of people to do his bidding and clone himself endlessly.
Tears of Joy: After being complimented by Meruem while feeding him.
Token Evil Teammate: Easily the most amoral royal guard of the three.
Undignified Death: Collapses from the Miniature Rose poisoning in the middle of the brainwashed crowds he personally subdued, and Dies Wide Shut with an expression of despair. Unlike Youpi, whose death is recounted in detail by Welfin as a horrifying reveal for the effects of the poison, Pouf's is off-screen and not even given the dignity of a final speech or dramatic scene. Arguably a deserving fate for one of the most genuinely antagonistic characters in the whole arc.
Undying Loyalty: Deconstructed very much as his loyalty to the King seems to be out Blind Obedience to the system of the Chimera Ants' hierarchy than true loyalty of his colleagues, which gives him the justification to Murder the Hypotenuse in order to get things back on track despite realizing how much this would make the king hate him.
Unknown Rival: Rightly views Komugi as an impediment to the King taking his place at the atop of the planet's food chain and desires nothing more than to kill her. Komugi's completely oblivious to all of this.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In his plans to kill Komugi, Pouf intentionally tricks Pitou into thinking that she had been rescued from the Hunter attack team when she very much wasn't. This results in Pitou trying to fight Gon after they realize Kite was dead, and Gon pulling out a Super Mode that gets Pitou maimed and slaughtered for their troubles. Though to be fair to Pouf, he fully expected the opposite result, and while he considers it as a possibility, he never learns the result.
Yandere: Is fanatically devoted to his ideal of what the King should be to the point of trying to change the King as he sees fit by lying and trying to kill Komugi, though the King obviously cares for her.

Menthuthuyoupi

Voiced by: Fumihiko Tachiki (Japanese), Joshua Tomar (English)

The third and last of the Royal Guards to be introduced, Menthuthuyoupi, or Youpi for short, is a mix of Magical Beasts with no human material. He is the Dumb Muscle of the bunch and considerably less intelligent than Pitou or Pouf. Nevertheless, the sheer force of his attacks more than makes up for his ineptitude at strategization.

Youpi displays two main Nen abilities: shapeshifting, and rage-induced strength. The more frustrated and exasperated at his foes he becomes, the stronger and bulkier he gets. He gets so big and bulky that he unintentionally shifts forms once more into a centaur-like creature with his face on the side.

Amazing Technicolor Population: He has red skin in the 2011 anime.
Angst Nuke: His Rage Blast.
Art Evolution: He had a far more bestial visage when his face was first shown shortly after the King's birth, including a prominent brow and nose with a larger toothier jaw. Later on, his face looks fairly humanoid. The anime goes for the latter depiction from the start. He was also wearing a cape during his face reveal that is never seen again.
The Berserker: Youpi harnesses his pure rage in battle to power himself up and transform his body into grotesque shapes to make himself stronger. Eventually he hones his rage and becomes able to fight while keeping a clear head thus averting this trope.
Body Horror: He can transform his body, but what he does transform into isn't pretty
Born Winner: Since he gets Voluntary Shapeshifting based on Unstoppable Rage, he's the physical strongest aside from the King.
Borrowed Catchphrase: Lampshaded by him upon borrowing Pitou's.
The Brute: Relies on brute strength, but gets smarter with Character Development.
Character Development: Goes from The Brute full of Hair-Trigger Temper to a Genius Bruiser who prioritizes the King's safety over a fight. A lot of this development happens over the course of one battle.
Co-Dragons: With Pitou and Pouf to Meruem.
Combat Tentacles: One of his transformations.
Deadly Nosebleed: While dying from the Red rose.
Dumb Muscle: Until the raid on the palace, Youpi acts as muscle for the Ants and leaves the thinking to Pitou and Pouf. It is later shown that he wasn't really dumb at all, but rather had never met an opponent he couldn't easily beat into oblivion.
Evolution Power-Up: When he calms down, he becomes a centaurian being.
Eyes Do Not Belong There: In one of his transformations, he sprouts eyes all over his body to keep track of his foes.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: The fighter to Pouf's mage and Pitou's thief.
Foreshadowing: The scene where the King asks the Royal Guard what his name is alludes to each of the Royal's Guard behavior during the palace invasion. In Youpi's case, he simply responded that he is not equipped to answer this sort of question, characterizing him as lacking a firm set of ideals unlike Pouf and Pitou, as he sees himself as mostly just a bodyguard for the King. He begins to develop a sense of individuality and understanding of his own nature only as he is fighting the invasion squad, and is rather easily coaxed into joining Pouf's scheme to kill Komugi despite being mostly neutral to her presence up until that point.
Fun Size: After feeding his body to the King in order to revive him, Youpi shrinks to a winged chibi form only a bit bigger than Pouf's clones.
Game Face: Abandons his humanoid form in favor of one more suited to intense combat when he battles the Extermination Team.
Hair-Trigger Temper: He gets stronger the angrier he gets, but eventually masters it.
Half-Human Hybrid: Averted unlike most of the ants Youpi doesn't have any human DNA in his system instead being a hybrid of various Magical Beasts. The narration notes that this means he's not concerned by his own existential identity and can just fight with raw animal instinct.
Ignored Epiphany: After his fight with Morel and Knuckle, Youpi's opinions on humans begins to turn around and he finds himself respecting them for their tenacity. But then Meruem almost dies in the Miniature Rose explosion and Youpi rejects humanity once more.
Incurable Cough of Death: He coughed frequently and died after saving Meruem. It's because he was caught in the radiation of the Rose.
In-Series Nickname: Youpi.
Lovecraftian Superpower: He can transform his body into very eldritch shapes.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: One of his transformations has him grow another two pair of arms, mold them into whip-like shapes with blades and just swinging wildly in all directions like the aliens of Parasyte.
Noble Demon: Spares Knuckle, Morel, Meleoron and Shoot because he respects them as fighters.
Nonhuman Humanoid Hybrid: Even though he looks quite a bit like a human being, he hasn't got a trace of human DNA inside him.
Only Sane Man: Surprisingly, he turned out to be the sanest Royal Guard.
Our Centaurs Are Different: Becomes this once he calms down enough to master his rage.
Person of Mass Destruction: Especially his Rage Mode which causes a huge explosion with each hit.
Pragmatic Villainy: Youpi agrees with Pouf that Komugi could potentially be a problem for the King and eventually goes along with Pouf's plan to murder her when Meruem loses his memories. However unlike Pouf who is Driven by Envy, Youpi does so because he genuinely believes that Komugi could potentially weaken Meruem if they don't do something about it.
Power Degeneration: He willfully gives some parts of his body to Meruem in order to heal him.
Psychic Link: With Meruem and Pouf.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Once the Invasion Squad breaks into the palace Youpi stops thinking and switches into animalistic attacking which is represented by his eyes turning red.
Rubber Man: Another extension of his shape-shifting abilities.
Screaming Warrior: Prior to his Character Development.
Sleep-Mode Size: After feeding most of himself to the king.
Super-Speed: Even though Youpi is the slowest Royal Guard, he is still immensely fast, and his speed was later even increased with his Centaure form.
Super-Strength: Youpi is without a doubt the physically strongest character in the whole series, second only to Meruem. With just one punch on the ground he completely destroyed the entrance to the palace, breaking Shoot's leg in the process, and Shoot wasn't even hit directly by the Royal Guard.
Super-Toughness: Youpi is also absurdly durable, being able to survive an attack from Meruem and casually entering scorching lava from a nuclear explosion, coming out of the heat just a little burned.
Tentacled Terror: One of his methods of attack.
Tranquil Fury: The culminant point of his Character Development.
Undignified Death: Collapses from exposure to the Miniature Rose poisoning, right when he was about to tear Welfin a new one. His Sleep-Mode Size corpse is promptly left there, and while Pouf and Meruem question Welfin about it, he's forgotten fairly quickly as anything other than a warning for what's soon to come for Pouf and Meruem.
Undying Loyalty: To the King, which he realizes is much important than lashing out angrily all the time.
Unskilled, but Strong: He doesn't know how Nen works but he is still able to beat Knuckle, Shoot and Morel without problem.
Unstoppable Rage: Weaponized.
Vocal Dissonance: Youpi continues to speak in his gruff deep voice even after being reduced into Sleep-Mode Size.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: His Nen power.
Worthy Opponent: Considers Knuckle and Morel to be this and refrains from killing them because of it.
You Shall Not Pass!: "I am a shield. I protect the King with my body".

Squadron Leaders

Meleoron / Jail

Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (Japanese), Bill Rogers (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hxh_meleoron.png

A human-chameleon hybrid and one of the former commanders. He served loyally under the Queen but dislikes the King and decides to join up with Gon and the others to help bring him down.

He has little combat ability on his own, but his Nen ability allows him and anyone he's touching to turn invisible. Not just visibly either, but from all five senses, plus total undetectable Nen cloaking. However, he can only do this while holding his breath. He helps his allies gather information about the King and the Royal Guards, then helps Knuckle and Killua fight Menthuthuyoupi by making the two of them appear to teleport around.

Defector from Decadence: From the Chimera King forces.
Half-Human Hybrid: A half chameleon, half human hybrid. He even has the power that comes with being one.
Heel–Face Turn: After seeing Gon's power, he decides its better to side with him than to be his enemy.
Invisibility: Since he is a chameleon, he can turn invisible.
The Nondescript: He uses this as an example to explain his ability to Gon. His power is this in an exaggerated manner.
Only Sane Man: He is shocked that Gon isn't the least distrusting of him, for understandable reasons.
Perception Filter: His second Nen ability lets him erase himself from all of the senses of other people, including Nen sensing.
The Power of Trust: Reveals his powers only to those he trusts, and since his secondary power is a potential Story-Breaker Power, that's not very many.
Satellite Character: His existence in the story is basically an excuse to not give Knuckle an invisibility power out of nowhere in the final battle. And also foreshadowing for the final power-up of Gon.
Shout-Out: His pseudonym is believed to be a reference to Chameleon Jail, the first manga worked on by Slam Dunk mangaka Takehiko Inoue and a peer of Togashi's.
Squishy Wizard: Knows without his Invisibility power, he has no way to defend himself. Good luck finding him though.
You Killed My Father: Part of his motive for turning against the king was because Peggy, one of the Chimera Ants the king killed shortly after being born was Meleoron's foster father when they were both human.

Colt / Kurt

Voiced by: Hirofumi Nojima (Japanese), Zach Aguilar (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hxh_colt.png

A hybrid of unclear animals who was once one of the top commanders of the Queen, serving one rank under the royal guards. He was the first Chimera Ant born from the consumption of human DNA, and as a result the first to possess the ability to speak. Thus, he was the first one the Queen designated as a commander. Colt is one of the commanders who fled the hive in Neo Green Life after the King was born and decided to directly seek help from the extermination squad. He knows a lot of inside information about how the hive works, as well as the Royal Guards and their abilities. He has chosen to stay far away from the battle sites and thus hasn't been seen for some time. His nen ability is unknown.

Big Brother Instinct: Very much so. It's his identity's bedrock and the key to his human memories.
Decoy Protagonist: In a sense. Colt starts off as the Chimera Ant that gets the most focus of the arc and was something of a Token Good Teammate to the ants. That left the impression that he would have a more important role in the grand scheme of things, but then he gets pushed to the background After the Ant Queen dies, and Colt defects with her final child.
Declaration of Protection: Towards the Ant Queen's last baby who turns out to be Kite reborn.
Defector from Decadence: After witnessing just how little the King values his subject's lives, he leaves the hive to warn the hunters about Meruem's birth.
Doting Parent: Many, many toys can be seen in Kite's room.
My Greatest Failure: He blames himself twice for not saving the lifes of his human sister Reina and the Chimera Ant Queen.
Noble Demon: Originally, but makes a Heel–Face Turn after the Queen is killed.
Promotion to Parent: Takes one peek at the Queen's second, mostly unnoticed, attempt at a royal child... and promotes himself from "Brave Big Bro" to "Doting Daddy" on the spot; no second thoughts, no questions.
- It's very easy to put this simply down to Chimera Ant programming plus whatever bird instincts provided the wings, but... he skips right past "Obsessive Royal Guard" or "feed the chick" and gets right to working on 1) surviving and 2) organizing a legal way to earn money to live alongside Hunters and humans so he can raise a kid (not just "the princess") in a relatively safe and stable environment. This is 100% Kurt/Colt, character growth included.
Punny Name: His name Colt is a phononym to Kurt.
The Reliable One: It's easy to forget that this level-headed organizer and practical-minded problem-solver with the air of a stern-but-kind headmaster... isn't even a teen — even when putting both lives together back-to-back.
Winged Humanoid: He has a pair of white feathered wings.

Peggy

Voiced by: Issei Futamata (Japanese), Cam Clarke (English)

Bookworm: Constantly seen with a book at his side. It was apparently a trait he also had when human.
Cool Old Guy: He is not really old but his appearance invokes this.
Luke, I Am Your Father: It's revealed that he was Meleoron's foster parent when they were once humans.
Mauve Shirt: An important character who helps his fellow Ants understand human society, only to be killed in one stroke.
Off with His Head!: Meruem's second kill.
The Smart Guy: Of the squad leaders, as he often helps explain human concepts like names to the other ants.

Hagya / Leol

Voiced by: Jiro Saito (Japanese), Jamieson Price (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hxh_leol.png

One of the commanders and the direct superior of Hina and Flutter, among others. Part lion, part human, he has remained in service to whoever is the current monarch of the Chimera Ants though always with treacherous intentions. He is somewhat annoyed at his subordinates' ditsiness and wishes they'd think things through.

Leol's nen ability takes the form of an iPod-like device. Leol must perform a good deed for a nen-powered individual and then let that individual know that he or she owes him. For the next 24 hours, Leol can then select that ability for use as if it were a song on the device.

Animal Eye Spy: Borrowed Flutter's ability.
Catchphrase: "I was once the king of the jungle."
Cool Board: Can use a surf board made of Nen called Inamura as a part of his borrowing ability.
Conditional Powers: To borrow an ability he must have seen it or know its name. He must also help the designated person and they have to express their gratitude.
Do Not Call Me "Paul": He changes his name to Leol and he doesn't like it when he's called Hagya.
- It becomes a plot point when Ikalgo uses Flutter's corpse and spies in the chimera ant base. Because Ikalgo never knew his new name, Bloster and Welfin notice he is suspicious and later try to assault him.
Flat-Earth Atheist: Due to being a lion prior his transformation into a Chimera Ant, he has no concept of God.
Giant Wall of Watery Doom: BIG WALL.
Good Samaritan: Weaponized.
Half-Human Hybrid: Lion-man.
Hoist by His Own Petard: When fighting Morel, Leol uses the ability of a hunter he stole from. This Hunter turns out to be one of Morel's old friends, so Morel is fully aware of the flaws behind the ability and uses it to his advantage.
Making a Splash: Technically not his power, but it's the only one we ever see used on offense.
Powers as Programs: Leol can borrow powers from people who owe him a favor.
The Starscream: Leol is among the most treacherous and power hungry of the Ants and was notable for his bad behavior and lack of loyalty under the Queen. When he went under the employ of the King it was explicitly to overthrow him eventually and take his power for himself.
Tornado Move: Tornave.

Cheetu

Voiced by: Motoki Takagi (Japanese), Cedric L. Williams (English)

An arrogant chimera ant with a serious attention deficit problem and a massive ego. He's also by far the fastest Ant of them all, able to sprint at incredibly high speeds.

Amazing Technicolor Population: Has yellow skin in the anime.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: When he finally gets a Nen ability, it requires him to keep his opponent busy for eight hours for it to finally take effect. Except that, as his opponent notes, it's impossible for him to keep focused for that long and he quickly becomes bored and sloppy when said opponent refuses to play along.
Attention Whore:
- He likes being the center of attention, which made his first Nen ability, which requires both patience and subtlety in order to not get caught, rather ironic.
- When he gets another ability, he brags about it, but no one cares. He's even killed before showing it.
Awesome, but Impractical: His first ability traps his victim within a dimensional space, and if they don't catch him within eight hours, something (he never clarifies what) will happen to them. Since there's no Required Secondary Powers that forces the enemy to actually chase him, it's useless. Made even more so when catching him also means he can never use that ability again. And that's not even getting into his Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He may be an idiot, but he still managed to give Morel and Knuckle trouble in his first fight.
Didn't Think This Through: Cheetu never thinks things through, and as a result his powerful Nen abilites end up being totally worthless.
- He traps Moral in a dimensional space that can't be undone unless Moral catches him — except he made the time limit far too long and never set any rules that he had to be chased.
- Once Moral's stratagy has Cheetu cornered, his desperation creates a crossbow with claws. His opponent points out how stupid that was, since the bolts from a crossbow move much slower than he does.
Dodge the Bullet: When policemen attacked him.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Or a "Silva", in this case.
Evil Red Head: In the 2011 anime.
Epic Fail: During his fight with Morel, Cheetu develops a new ability spontaneously out of desperation, which is a crossbow with claws. As Morel points out, there's no point in a weapon that shoots projectiles that are slower than the user.
Fun Personified: He'd rather play around with his enemies than strategize how to defeat them, which led to his humiliating defeat by Morel.
Harmless Villain: He poorly uses his Nen abilities and is more interested in running around and showing off rather than being an actual threat.
His Own Worst Enemy: Morel calls Cheetu this for his short-attention span, impatience, and inability to figure out how to use his Nen abilities effectively.
Humiliation Conga: Cheetu gets pretty much zero respect. His first Nen ability is casually beaten (including a secondary ability he conjures up at the spur of the moment). Afterwards he's given a different ability that he really wants to talk about to anyone will listen, but nobody cares. He's eventually killed in one hit before we ever see it.
Irony: His first Nen power, "Tag," traps his opponent in a dimensional space and gives them eight hours to dispel it by touching him. There's nothing saying the opponent has to chase him, however, which turns it into a waiting game requiring immense patience; something cheetahs aren't known for, especially ones with Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!
It Only Works Once: His "Tag" ability is so powerful because he set the limitation that if he gets caught, he can never use it again. Morel catches him.
Manchild: Technically an adult, and all he cares about is having fun and running around.
Motor Mouth: Along with his short attention span, he chatters on endlessly, causing others to find him unbearable.
Mugging the Monster: Cheetu meets his end after trying to pick a fight with Zeno Zolydck. Ironically, it was actually Silva who kills him completely at random, but Zeno snarks that the result would have been the same even if he dodged Silva's attack.
Panthera Awesome: He's a cheetah Chimera Ant.
Power Stereotype Flip: Played with and Deconstructed. Cheetu has a one-use only power to take an opponent with him into a Nen-space enclosure with the only means of escape being to catch Cheetu within eight hours. Cheetu is extremely fast, so the the power appears to work in his favour, but as Morel points out, it actually relies on patience and a long attention span, both of which Cheetu lack. Cheetu also gives Morel no incentive to play his game both because he refuses to tell him what happens if he fails to touch him within the time limit and because he didn't impose a rule that says Morel has to chase him. Morel defeats Cheetu by simply refusing to play, waiting until he loses the Chimera Ant's interest and giving him the opportunity to use his own power to ensnare Cheetu without a struggle. Notably, Cheetu is a rare example where this trope makes someone an unfit user of their powers.
Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Due to his speed, his punches are really fast. Unfortunately, this tactic doesn't work on his far more cunning enemies.
Shout-Out: His last Nen ability was called Monroe Walk. It's all we ever find out about it.
Small Name, Big Ego: He brags about being really strong, when in fact, he can't even figure out how to use his own Nen abilities effectively due to his short term attention span.
Stupid Evil: Morel points out he's Too Dumb to Live to come up with a complex plan.
Super-Speed: He is very fast and likes to remind others of that. It's also a Fatal Flaw as he can't comprehend anything faster than him, even if it's his own abilities.
Unknown Rival: Played with. Morel acknowledged him but pretended the contrary.
Unskilled, but Strong: While he is able to learn them with ease, Cheetu never bothers to actually test the limitations of his abilities before trying to use them in combat.

Welfin / Zaikahal

Voiced by: Daiki Nakamura (Japanese), Xander Mobus (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hxh_welfin.png

A skeptical and suspicious chimera ant that tries to manipulate the events at the castle in order to give him an edge in life. It's later revealed he's the reincarnation of an NGL Underground member.

Abusive Parents: After he recovers his human memories, he recalls being strangled by his father and ignored by his mother.
Awesome, but Impractical: Welfin's ability, Missileman, allows Welfin to coerce its target to follow his orders or answer his questions. However, it requires several handicapping conditions to be used (he must "charge" the missile with a question, make a summation to his target, and the target must refuse to cooperate), it is not guaranteed to hit and, if it hits, does not prevent Welfin's enemy to either counterattack or force him to cancel his Nen.
Dirty Coward: For all of his violent posturing and threatening disposition, Welfin's ability is made for tracking down targets to force Cold-Blooded Torture and information gathering, not for direct combat. The one time it manages to successfully land on its target is when he catches Ikalgo off-guard in the middle of his Heroic BSoD - and he shoots Welfin anyway as the latter starts screaming in pain and shriveling in fear from Ikalgo being Not Afraid to Die.
Disease Bleach: The fear of being killed by Meruem, coupled with sensing his immense aura, causes Welfin to shrivel up and lose his hair. The narration notes that in the second after realizing what Meruem was planning on doing to him it appeared as if he had aged one hundred years.
Half-Human Hybrid: Wolf-man.
Heel–Face Turn: After regaining his human memories and being spared by Ikalgo, he realizes that the chimera ants are humanity's enemy.
Homing Projectile: His Nen allows him to fire Nen-tracking missiles, albeit the missile is not harmful in itself. The brain-eating caterpillars inside the missile are what makes it dangerous.
Only Friend: To Gyro, in their human life.
Properly Paranoid: His obscene amounts of paranoia and being on edge around even his own comrades turns out to be the correct guess after Ikalgo's infiltration.
Smug Snake: He makes some noise about wanting to be the King behind the King and after Youpi dies in front of him he actually thinks he can take on Meruem. Both times his ambition gets shot down and he almost ends up killed.
Spanner in the Works: He saves the day (and humanity) with a single word.
Super-Persistent Missile: Missileman homes in on the target and is allegedly undodgeable, as he puts it; their persistence even lasts after they explode, embedding black centipedes of nen within the target to torture them so he can interrogate on his own terms. But given the Awesome, but Impractical conditions above, and the fact that one of his targets can go invisible and completely fool the attack, he only manages to hit one person with them. And they're willing to pull a Taking You with Me, rendering the persistence of the attack completely pointless.
Thong of Shielding: Codpiece thong. For double protection?
Undying Loyalty: To Gyro.

Bloster / Brovada

Voiced by: Yuya Murakami (Japanese), Chris Cason (English, 1st Half of Chimera Ant Arc), Joe Zieja (English, 2nd Half of Chimera Ant Arc)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hxh_brovada.PNG

A brusque chimera ant, armed with guns in his claws.

Energy Ball: As an Emitter, his Nen ability takes the form of this.
Gentle Giant: He promises Shidore/Layna to stay with her and he helps her to reunite her with her human mother.
Giant Enemy Crab: Well, he's more like a crawfish...
Heel–Face Turn: After being spared by Ikalgo and regaining some of his human memories, he stays together with Shidore/Layna and becomes a member of her village.
More Dakka: From his claws.
Super-Powered Shrimp: Bloster is a lobster, but the way he's a crustacean that shoots bullets out of his claws is reminiscent of the pistol shrimp.
Tears of Joy: After he reunites Layna and her mother, he first refuses to eat with the villagers, but when Layna begs him to join, he shed tears because of the warmth of the village.

Zazan

Voiced by: Azusa Nakao (Japanese), Allegra Clark (English)

A selfish and conceited Chimera ant that attempts to form her own kingdom after the NGL base is destroyed, setting up shop in Meteor City, the home of the Phantom Troupe.

Amazing Technicolor Population: Has pink skin in the anime.
Berserk Button: Don't hurt her face.
Blood Knight: Happily joins in on fights, even after declaring herself queen.
Catchphrase: "Mother's greatest failure was XXX"
Expy: Of Zarbon. They share an obsession with outward appearances, preferring a beautiful appearance over a stronger form. After shedding their respective shells, they both become significantly more muscular, but also more hideous, with reptile-like qualities. In exchange, their power increases drastically.
Faux Affably Evil: Once she matures, she goes from crude to very elegant in speech, even though she's still a control freak.
The Fighting Narcissist: Considering she is an expy of Zarbon it's not really surprising.
Half-Human Hybrid: Scorpion-woman, also some alligator as well.
Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Subverted. Feitan destroyed her channel skirt.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: She is a self-proclaimed queen, though.
She Is All Grown Up: She managed to mature into a more adult form once she became a queen, becoming even more beautiful than she already was.
The Smurfette Principle: The only female Squadron Leader, though she's still very dangerous.
Stripperiffic: She wore nothing but a crop top and underwear at first, and she got even skimpier as a self-proclaimed queen.
Super Mode: When she removes her stinger, she turns into a giant, grotesque alligator like behemoth.
Super-Toughness: Even a Ko attack wasn't enough to hurt her.

Bihorn

A Squadron Leader who remained loyal to the Queen until she died.

The Brute: The strongest Squadron Leader physically.
Informed Ability: His Super-Strength factor.

Officers

Ikalgo

Voiced by: Kenyū Horiuchi (Japanese), Greg Chun (English)

An octopus and a former commander of the Chimera Ants, though he served under the King and prefers to call himself a squid. In charge of an underwater unit, he took on Killua using a set of nen abilities: He can see his immediate surroundings as a set of coordinates to snipe with, and he shoots fleas that drain the subject of their nen. If enough nen gets drained, the subject is depowered momentarily. Ikalgo is also able to climb into the body of a dead person and move them around as if he were that person, though his rifle will appear as a sniper-shaped growth. Inspired by Killua's bravery, he decides to join up with Gon and the others. He makes his way to the East Gorteau palace and sneaks into a basement area to try to rescue Palm.

Abnormal Ammo: Fires flea-bullets in his first appearance.
Bad Powers, Good People: Ikalgo can use dead bodies as disguises and infect enemies with flea-bullets, but he's extremely loyal to those who gain his respect and can't even bring himself to kill his fellow Ants.
Because You Were Nice to Me: He joined the Invasion Squad because Killua spared his life and called him "cool".
Body Snatcher: Only if it's a dead body.
Cold Sniper: Subverted. He may be a sniper, but he has strong moral fiber.
Combat Tentacles: Well, he is an octopus.
Cowardly Lion: He has trouble hiding how his opponents scare him, but he fights them anyway.
Dead Person Impersonation: How he uses ability during the palace invasion.
Defeat Equals Friendship: On both the giving and receiving end of this trope. After being defeated and spared by Killua Ikalgo becomes so moved by him that he decided to help him take down the King. Afterwards, him sparing Bloster and Welfin's lives leads the two of them to have a Heel–Face Turn themselves.
Defector from Decadence: After Killua tells him that he considers the two of them to be friends he defects from the ants and helps the Invasion Squad take on the King and his Royal Guards.
Funnel-Mouthed Cephalopod: He has actual lips, but their shape and position makes them resemble an octopus' siphon.
Funny Animal: An Octopus. Not that he likes being called one...
Heel–Face Turn: Goes from fighting the Invasion Squad to joining them.
I Just Want to Be Badass: And to be a badass you must be a squid.
Insistent Terminology: Insists on being called a squid, though he's obviously an octopus.
Nonstandard Character Design: He more closely resembles something out of a Butch Hartman cartoon.
People Puppets: He can get inside of corpses and use the body as if it were his own, including any Nen abilities that his host had in life. It crosses into Squick territory when he uses Flutter's body, which is already decomposing and stinks horribly.
Smug Snake: At least prior his Heel–Face Turn.
Thou Shall Not Kill: Despite having both Welfin and Bloster dead to rights Ikalgo ultimately can't go through with killing them. In the long haul this ultimately turned out to be the right decision.
Undying Loyalty: Double subverted. He was ready to die for his superiors but became a traitor to help the Invasion Squad... risking his life on several occasions while doing so.
You Are What You Hate: Literally. He is an octopus.

Rammot

Voiced by: Shinya Hamazoe (Japanese), Tony Oliver (English)

A huge Jerkass Chimera ant with a bone to pick with everyone around him. Surprisingly, he's the first to learn Nen after Gon and Killua knock him silly.

Always a Bigger Fish: He developed a desire for becoming the king himself while on a power high. He subsequently lost it after sensing Pitou.
Break the Haughty: Pitou instantly broke his spirit after he awakened his Nen abilities and experienced a Power High.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: His reaction to Killua's tears is fidgety and extremely nervous as if he's desperately trying to back on a high.
Killer Rabbit: His design invokes this, but he's more of a subversion as his design is meant to be creepy rather than cute.
Jerkass: He's not very pleasant, and got worse after achieving Nen. He becomes much more subservient after being completely dwarfed by Pitou, but still engages in sadism when it's someone who can't fight back well enough.
Off with His Head!: How he dies.
Power High: Very briefly when he awoke his Nen abilities.
Sadist: As seen with his treatment with Killua. He's an unorthodox example as his sadism is portrayed as an unhealthy addiction that he desperately needs to fulfill with his face briefly becoming fidgety and nervous as if he's coming off of a high he wants back on rather than the usual sense of euphoria sadism usually brings.
The Star Scream: At first with Colt and later planned to become King, but Pitou easily breaks it out of his spirit.
Winged Humanoid: More like wings for arms humanoid, as he can't actually fly using them.

Hina

Voiced by: Azusa Kataoka (Japanese), Kimberley Anne Campbell (English)

One of Leol's officers. A nen exorcist.

Anti-Villain: She's not exactly sympathetic towards the human plight whatsoever, but her abilities don't really work for trying to kill anyone at all given her support role, which lets her avoid most of the battle altogether, making her less antagonistic to the heroes. It's thanks to this that she survives the arc, albeit as one of the refugee Ants that have no overarching goals or intent to rule.
Balloon Belly: Her Nen exorcist ability to remove curses causes them to go directly to her belly causing her belly to inflate like a balloon, the stronger the curse the bigger she gets which can immobilize her. This gives Hina the appearance of a heavily pregnant woman much to Hina's worry that it'll ruin her figure, which is why she rarely uses her power.
Bath Tub Scene: In chapter 260.
Cute Monster Girl: The most humanoid ant besides Shaiapouf. But she doesn't have five fingers or toes.
Dumb Blonde: In the anime.
Power Nullifier: She is an exorcist.

Flutter

Voiced by: Kyousei Tsukui (Japanese), Mark Whitten (English)

Another officer of Leol, specializing in recon.

Animal Eye Spy: He can do this with his Satellite Dragonflies, which makes him an excellent recon.
The Dragon: To Leol, as his spying abilities give him the informations needed to copy others' powers.

Pike

Voiced by: Masahiro Yamanaka (Japanese), Paul St. Peter (English)

One of Zazan's officers, who uses his web as a means of attack. Somewhat effeminate.

Abhorrent Admirer: To Zazan.
Arrow Catch: Caught Pokkle's arrow.
Camp Straight: Despite being very effeminate, he's very devoted to Zazan.
The Dragon: To Zazan, being the architect of her fortress and her main bodyguard when she becomes Queen.
Giant Spider: Spider Chimera Ant.
Luminescent Blush: Whenever around Zazan.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: As a mixture of human and spiders, he can use his multiple arms at his advantage, as Pokkle discovers the hard way.
Too Dumb to Live: Shizuku points out that he could have used webbing to cover his open wounds after she kills him by sucking him dry of all his blood. She admits she's not much better though since she only realized this after the fact.

Ortho Siblings

Voiced by: Masaki Aizawa (Brother); Makiko Ohmoto (Sister) (Japanese) Martin Billany (Brother); Xanthe Huynh (Sister) (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hxh_ortho_b.png

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hxh_ortho_s.png

Bald of Evil: The brother is balding and admits proudly being a Sadist towards his victims.
Big Brother Worship: The sister to her brother.
Brother–Sister Team: Extends to their Nen ability.
Decision Darts: Weaponized. And the last shot decides the outcome of the battle.
Off with His Head!: They don't die from it though as of yet.
The Power of Trust: It apparently is the source of their Nen ability. Though they're quick to patronizing each other when they fail.

Gun-toting Ant

Voiced by: Takahiko Sakaguma (Japanese), Frank Todaro (English)

Asshole Victim: Gets crushed to death at the hands of Bonolenov.
Ax-Crazy: Spends his first appearance laughing as he kills and mutilates his victims.
Break the Haughty: Immediately panics and retreats after fighting Bonolenov.
Hate Sink: His most infamous moment killing Ponzu definitely makes him despised in the fandom.
Laser-Guided Karma: Crushed to death. A fitting end for a bug.
Sadist: Enjoys killing humans far too much.
Spree Killer: Spends his introduction shooting NGL soldiers.
Underestimating Badassery: Clearly underestimated Bonolenov’s power.

Soldiers

Gyro

The previous ruler of NGL behind the scenes. Gyro lives to cause misery and death, spawned from his absolutely atrocious upbringing and the mistreatment from his father. After being eaten, it's revealed he's somehow reincarnated into an Ant with all of his memories intact, and is now roaming the land, looking to rebuild his kingdom.

Abusive Parents: His father beat him up for the slightest irritation and rejected him at every turn, but it initially seemed to be an intended lesson of humility of not being a bother to others in order to be of use to his father. However, in actuality, he didn't actually want to have to be bothered raising him so he made him as isolated as possible so the father himself could live without being responsible for him.
Break the Cutie: He believed his father only wanted to keep him out of trouble to protect him, and it turns out he only didn't want to have to bother taking care of him.
Catchphrase: Don't die until you die.
Chekhov's Gunman: Most likely set up to be this; the manga outright says that Gon and Gyro haven't met each other, but they will eventually.
Determinator: The reason why he didn't become a soldier ant, a loyal one anyway.
Diabolical Mastermind: Managed to create a drug empire disguised as a luddite society.
Dystopia Justifies the Means: After realizing his father didn't care about him and by extension, the world wouldn't be concerned about him if he died, Gyro made it his life's goal to rule and make everyone suffer despair and misery for the sake of it.
Evil Counterpart: Based on his backstory, he's being set up as this for Gon. Gon had an absent father who left Gon in someone's care (who made a much better parent) and who Gon had to go through extreme lengths to meet, but who nonetheless does care about Gon. Gyro, on the other hand, had a father who was always around, but who was extremely abusive and didn't care about Gyro at all. And while Gon searched for (and eventually met) his dad, Gyro made sure his dad wouldn't be around...
Freudian Excuse: He became how he is because of his father.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Especially noteworthy since this happened before he became a Chimera Ant.
Minor Major Character: The way his backstory is told, you'd think he'd be a Big Bad, but so far he's only been referenced twice in the series thus far.
Only Friend: As humans, Welfin and Gyro were such direct comrades since childhood that Welfin served as his personal bodyguard at the NGL. Welfin even refers to him as a brother unrelated by blood.
Pet the Dog: Welfin and Gyro were close friends in their former life to the point that Gyro saved Welfin when they were kids - likely because Welfin's abusive father trying to murder him reminded Gyro of his very own problems. Whether there was an ulterior motive is unknown so far as we only know this from Welfin's perspective.
Reincarnation: And unlike the others, he immediately left the colony to reestablish his empire.
Self-Made Orphan: Not that the father didn't deserve it, being a complete and utter Hate Sink.
Small Role, Big Impact: He's barely on-screen while he was human before he summarily dies in seconds, and doesn't show up as an Ant in person. But his decisions as the drug lord tyrant of NGL helps isolate it enough for the Chimera Ants to take over rather easily with only the Hunter Association aware by chance, a past friendship defines the path that Welfin ultimately chooses for himself which ultimately saved humanity, and the narration makes Gyro out to be a major future antagonist in the works.
Street Urchin: After killing his father.
Tragic Villain: He grew up thinking he was only being rejected by his father in order to build humility towards others, but it later turns out he only said that in order to not have to be bothered by his existence. This event broke the poor boy's heart, driving him to want to create despair in everyone.
Used to Be a Sweet Child: Till daddy was revealed to never have given a care about him.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: His father abused his childhood and didn't love him in the slightest. Now he wants to spread evil throughout the world.

Koala

Voiced by: Kenyū Horiuchi (Japanese), Kaiji Tang (English)

The Atoner: He is now protecting Kite to redeem himself.
Badass in a Nice Suit: Where'd he get it?
Better to Die than Be Killed: Invokes this on a small child, who he killed rather than let her be captured and tortured by the sadistic Chimera Ants chasing her. He regrets this, though, and later admits he should have done the opposite and killed the Chimera Ants and let the girl run free.
Heel–Faith Turn: Was originally an atheist with no belief in the spiritual and lived without concern for his violent actions. His rebirth as a chimera ant changed his entire outlook on life and pushed him to atone for his actions.
Hidden Depths: Surprisingly philosophical and scientific for a koala-like bug man who was a hitman in his previous life.
Hitman with a Heart: See Better to Die than Be Killed and The Atoner.
Improbable Weapon User: A gourd.
Professional Killer: What he did when he was human.
Super Spit: He kills with it.

Characters / Hunter × Hunter: Chimera Ants

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