Chrollo Lucilfer, the leader of the Phantom Troupe, is one of the most complex and interesting characters in Hunter x Hunter. His abilities and personality make him one of the most intriguing characters to follow on the show, so let’s continue with a complete overview of this wonderful character.
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Chrollo’s Personality
“How to verbally express our motives… I’m not fond of it, but oddly enough… or perhaps it’s not that odd. Is that the key to understanding myself?”
Chrollo Lucilfer
Chrollo is smart, introverted, and ruthless. He usually stays calm and shows little emotion, even in fights. Despite being a terrible assassin, Chrollo is very loyal to the Phantom Troupe and cares about its members. He often protects them, even if it puts him in danger. This selective empathy is a key part of his character and makes him very interesting.
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Chrollo’s Nen Abilities
Chrollo is an exceptional combatant. He has one of the most varied sets of Nen abilities in Hunter x Hunter, and with his sharp mind, he certainly takes a lot of advantage from this.
Skill Hunter
Chrollo Lucilfer, as a Specialist, has exceptional talent in using Nen. His main ability, Skill Hunter, also known as “Bandit’s Secret,” allows him to steal the Nen abilities of others and use them as his own. However, this powerful ability comes with strict conditions.
- Chrollo must witness the Nen ability in action with his own eyes.
- He needs to ask the victim questions about their Nen ability and receive answers.
- The victim must touch the handprint on the cover of “Bandit’s Secret” with their palm.
- All these conditions must be met within one hour.
Once Chrollo has successfully stolen an ability, he uses it by conjuring “Bandit’s Secret” and turning to the page of the desired ability. However, the book must remain open in his right hand, so he can only use one ability at a time.
Interestingly, an ability will disappear from “Bandit’s Secret” if the original owner dies, that was the case with neon’s nen ability “Lovely Ghostwriter”. However, Chrollo can still use the ability if post-mortem Nen is involved.
Shalnark’s black voice
Black Voice, which lets Chrollo manipulate other people by inserting a needle into their body. Using his “puppet,” he may use them for any action commanded while holding a special cellular phone on his will. He can even control them precisely in complicated movements or actions dictated by Shalnark himself. It is important to note that the controlled individual remains conscious, but it is impossible for them to disobey the manipulator.
Double Face
This ability is one of the most crucial Chrollo has ever acquired because it addresses one of his biggest challenges in combat, which is having to hold his book to use the stolen abilities. Double Face allows Chrollo to maintain access to any ability on the page of his book where a conjured bookmark is placed, even if the book is closed. This ability lets him use two stolen abilities simultaneously, significantly boosting his combat versatility. Although it’s a low-cost, high-benefit ability, it comes with drawbacks. Chrollo hints at this when he mentions, “Now I have more annoying conditions to deal with.”
Indoor Fish
These carnivorous Nen Beasts can only survive in a completely sealed room. They attack Chrollo’s opponents, keeping them conscious and free from pain despite their injuries until the fish disappear. Chrollo first uses this ability against a mafia member in Yorknew City.
Fun Fun Cloth
Originally owned by Owl of the Shadow Beasts, this ability allows Chrollo to shrink objects and people without causing harm, making them easy to transport and conceal. This ability is quite powerful, being able to shrink an entire car. Chrollo even used it against Silva and Zeno Zoldyck.
The Sun and Moon
Using this ability, Chrollo conjures a seal in each hand. In his left hand, he summons the seal of the waning moon with a minus sign, and in his right hand, the seal of the sun with a plus sign. When Chrollo touches someone with one or both hands, the corresponding symbol is transferred to the exact spot where contact is made.
When the two seals come into contact, they trigger an explosion. As Chrollo explained when using this ability against Hisoka, to maximize the explosion’s power, the seals must stay in contact for 3 to 5 seconds.
Order Stamp
This ability lets Chrollo control “puppets” by putting a stamp on them. The puppets must have a head and be lifeless. Chrollo can control many puppets at once. He used this ability in his fight against Hisoka. By smartly combining it with Sun and Moon, he ended up victorious.
Convert Hands
Chrollo uses this ability to switch appearances and bodies with others. When he makes contact with someone using his right hand, marked with an upward arrow, he transfers his appearance to that person. If he uses his left hand, which has a downward arrow, Chrollo takes on the appearance of the person he touched. If Chrollo uses both hands simultaneously, they swap bodies. After the swap, each person retains their own abilities, memories, and personality.
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Curiosities about Chrollo Lucilfer
- Even as a child, Chrollo was proficient in at least three languages, which shows how smart he is.
- In an official Hunter x Hunter databook, Chrollo’s name in English is “Quwrof Wrlccywrlir.” It’s clear that whoever wrote this doesn’t know much about English, or even Japanese. This is just one of the many funny names you can find in the databooks.
- It’s officially known that Chrollo is the seventh strongest Phantom Troupe member in arm wrestling. This might seem odd since he is the strongest and the leader of the Phantom Troupe. However, this is a significant feat because enhancement is the opposite affinity on the Nen chart to specialization, which is Chrollo’s Nen affinity.
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Participation in Arcs
Chrollo is one of the three most recurring antagonists in Hunter x Hunter. His importance to the story should not be underestimated, as he impressively has more influence on it than the protagonist, Gon. Let’s take a look at Chrollo’s role in each arc where he appears.
Yorknew City Arc
In this arc, Chrollo Lucilfer, Hisoka, and the Phantom Troupe plan to steal everything from the Underground Auction, an event organized by the Mafia that takes place every year in Yorknew City.
The Phantom Troupe successfully deals with the mafia but discovers the safe is empty. Their heist was anticipated due to Neon’s ability, which predicts events a week in advance through a poem. After this failure, the Troupe retreats, but the Mafia sends a group of Nen users called the Shadow Beasts to deal with them. The Shadow Beasts fail, and Uvogin easily defeats all of them. Kurapika, whom the Troupe calls the “Chain User,” captures Uvogin and takes him to a secure location. However, the other members of the Phantom Troupe soon find Uvogin and rescue him. Once free, Uvogin seeks revenge against the Chain User. Eventually, they fight, and Uvogin is defeated and killed.
After a while, the Phantom Troupe starts considering the possibility of Uvogin’s death. It’s confirmed when Chrollo finds Neon Nostrade and asks her to tell his fortune for the next week in the form of a poem using her power. He cries upon seeing Uvogin’s death mentioned. Then he kills multiple members of the Mafia as a requiem for Uvogin while the Troupe massacres the auction security force.
Some moments later, Silva and Zeno Zoldyck corner Chrollo, hired by the Mafia to kill him. When Silva is about to kill him with aura spheres, Illumi informs Silva that the Ten Dons who recruited them are dead and that Chrollo hired him to do that. Silva and Zeno, hired by the Ten Dons, leave Chrollo alone since the Dons are dead. Despite this, the Troupe fools the Mafia with fake corpses made by Kortopi’s ability. They also use Kortopi to make copies of the auction items. The auction sells these copies, and the Troupe successfully steals all the real items.
Chrollo and Kurapika
Chrollo figures out that Kurapika works for the Nostrade Family. He sends Kortopi, Machi, Nobunaga, Pakunoda, and Shizuku to their hotel, where they capture Gon and Killua again. After capturing and killing Squala, they learn Kurapika’s name and face. They take Gon and Killua to the hotel, but a power outage allows the boys to try to escape. However, they are recaptured, and Shizuku notices Chrollo is missing.
Meanwhile, Chrollo is captured by Kurapika, who meets Pakunoda for a negotiation to exchange their hostages. He uses his Judgment Chain on her and Chrollo, setting conditions for each. Pakunoda agrees and returns to the troupe hideout.
The condition Kurapika set for Chrollo using his Judgment Chain is that Chrollo can’t use Nen and can’t contact any member of the Phantom Troupe.
Chimera Ant Arc
Although Chrollo is not directly involved in the Chimera Ant arc, the Phantom Troupe’s presence and actions are significant. They fight against the Chimera Ants to free Meteor City from Zazan.
Succession War Arc
Chrollo fights Hisoka at Heaven’s Arena, using Shalnark’s ability to control the referee and other stolen powers. Chrollo’s extensive preparation leads to his victory over Hisoka. Despite Hisoka’s best efforts, he can’t counter Chrollo’s explosive marks and cunning tactics. However, after this victory, the clown uses post-mortem Nen to survive and now seeks to hunt down every member of the Troupe.
With Hisoka becoming an even more serious threat to the Phantom Troupe, Chrollo’s primary objective shifts to eliminating him once again. To achieve this, Chrollo recruits Illumi Zoldyck, a top-tier assassin, into the Troupe, knowing Illumi’s skills and mindset align with the ruthlessness required for the job.
At the same time, Chrollo navigates the complex power dynamics in the ongoing Succession War. Understanding the importance of playing factions against each other, he forms temporary alliances with key players like the Heil-Ly Family and the Xi-Yu Family. These alliances aren’t based on trust but on mutual convenience, as Chrollo uses their resources, influence, and information networks to get closer to his goals.
