Chrollo Lucilfer

"I believe that we have a soul. So I want to fulfill my dead friend's wish... to wreak havoc."

- Chrollo Lucilfer

Chrollo Lucilfer is a major antagonist in the anime/manga series Hunter X Hunter. He is the leader of the Phantom Troupe and the main antagonist of the Yorknew City arc. After attempting a raid at an auction, he falls victim to Kurapika's Judgement Chain, which prohibits him from using Nen or speaking to the other members of the Troupe. This forces him to search for an Exorcist who can remove the chain.

He is voiced by Yoshikazu Nagano in the Japanese version of the 1999 anime and Richard Meen in the English version. In the 2011 anime, he is voiced by Mamoru Miyano, who also voices Light Yagami.

Appearance
Chrollo is a handsome young man with dark hair and grey eyes. Two of his distinguishing features are his cross-shaped tattoo on his forehead and a pair of orb-shaped earrings. He is usually seen wearing a fur-collared leather and fur trench coat that is unbuttoned, revealing his muscular body, the coat is imprinted with the golden St. Peter's Crosson the back. Prior to the foundation of the Phantom Troupe, Chrollo never wore his trademark coat, nor did he comb his hair backwards. When approaching Neon Nostrade in order to steal her Nen ability, he wears a blue blazer, with his hair hanging down naturally and the cross tattoo hidden behind a bandage wrapped around his forehead. His spider tattoo is located on his right arm in the 1999 anime series.

Personality
Chrollo Lucilfer is calm, and comes across as intelligent and charismatic. He seems to be a born leader, able to hold the Phantom Troupe together despite the volatile personalities that make it up, and is a very capable strategist. He always has at least two people with him, which is why Hisoka was unable to fight him. After he has admired the objects that he targeted and acquired, Chrollo sells everything. It is also stated that Chrollo likes antique books.

The only people Chrollo seems to care about are his fellow members in the Phantom Troupe. When Chrollo reads Neon's prophecy which contains Uvogin's death, he cries for him. Later on he orchestrates a massacre of Mafia members as a requiem to his fallen comrade. Besides that, he shows no fear of his own death, even anticipating it. Melody has stated that his heartbeat sounded as if he was happy living alongside death. To Chrollo, the Phantom Troupe is more important than his own life. He once stressed in a group meeting that the survival of the group comes before the well-being of the leader. To paraphrase him, the head of the spider is just another limb that can be sacrificed for the survival of the Spider.

Despite that, he is cold-blooded and not above inhuman mass murder, as he and all of his Troupe members (with possible exception of Bonolenov) casually and remorselessly commit those crimes, the best example being the massacre of the Kurta clan, where not only did he and the Troupe kill people regardless of age or gender, but only did so to acquire their Scarlet Eyes, and his usage of his Indoor Fish ability on a helpless assassin reflects his sadistic nature. There is also an implied hostility between Chrollo and Silva Zoldyck, most likely rooting from their previous encounter after Silva's killing of a Troupe member.

Abilities
Due to Chrollo being born in Meteor City, his existence is not recorded in any database, which makes obtaining information about him nearly impossible. As the leader of the Phantom Troupe, his orders are considered of absolute priority by his underlings; however, as Chrollo himself stated, he is not their top priority: they should not take actions that could threaten the whole Spider even if this means letting him die. Chrollo is an exceptional fighter, being the leader of the Phantom Troupe and recognized as the strongest member by most of them. He was able to fight against Silva and Zeno Zoldyck, both extremely proficient assassins, simultaneously, without leaving any openings for the former to exploit, though he was unable to cause significant damage to either of them. In the past, he survived a confrontation with the first assassin, whilst in the present his abilities rival Zeno's. His fighting style is probably freestyle and combines speed with deadly precision. His high level of intelligence aids him, rendering him able to exploit the enemy's weak points. He is able to kill skilled warriors with just a pen, sometimes even remaining concealed with Zetsu, thus being precluded to him the use of Nen. When put in a tight spot he fights using a poisoned blade, whose 0.1 mg of toxin can paralyze a whale. However, he tends to hold back if his opponent owns an ability that interests him, so that he can steal it. Zeno stated that Chrollo would lose to him, but the outcome could be different if Chrollo was serious in his attempt to kill him. Chrollo is also endowed with an astounding strength of mind and willpower, even by the standards of the Troupe. Due to Kurapika's Judgement Chain, he is currently unable to use Nen.

Enhanced Strength: Chrollo was placed 7th in an arm-wrestling competition the Troupe had. However, his rank is excellent, since Specialists are the weakest in employing Enhancer skills. He is nonetheless able to decapitate a normal human with a hand chop and to pierce through skulls with an ordinary pen.

Immense Speed and Reflexes: Chrollo was able to fight Zeno and Silva at the same time, avoiding or shielding against their powerful attacks pretty well. In the 2011 anime, he disappeared and struck mortally one of the assassins hired by the Mafia without the latter noticing. He landed a hand chop on the neck of Neon Nostrade that was so fast that neither the people in the hall or people watching through the cameras could detect his movement. As shown in the 2011 anime, Chrollo can easily catch thrown knives mid-flight.

Enhanced Agility: Chrollo can run on the sides of buildings, and easily jump horizontally from one to another. He also deftly dodged many of Zeno's long-distance attacks while never losing sight of Silva. and quickly recovered his balance the few times he was hit.

Genius-Level Intellect: Despite his young age, Chrollo is the leader of the class A bounty Phantom Troupe. His plans usually go smoothly, and he has shown himself to be both knowledgeable and intuitive. He was able to trick the whole Yorknew City's Mafia into thinking that he, along with many comrades of his, had died. He managed to predict part of the "Chain user's" strategy of vengeance, though he was outsmarted by both Kurapika and Hisoka. He has complete dominion over his emotions, as demonstrated when captured by Kurapika. In the fight against the Zoldycks, he focused on stealing Zeno's ability in the midst of combat and left no openings for Silva to exploit, proving himself to be an efficient multitasker and quick-thinker.

Mastery of Hand to Hand Combat: Chrollo's defense is top-class: he managed to put up a good fight against the two Zoldyck assassins, using his skills at unarmed combat almost exclusively to block and dodge. He managed to confront Zeno and avoid his attacks at the last second in order to prevent Silva exploiting his openings, keeping an eye on him the whole time. While he was mainly forced on the defensive on that occasion, he has also shown incredible offensive abilities when he knocked Neon out. In fact, his chop was so fast it would have beheaded her if not for his perfect control of his movement.

Proficient Weapon Specialism: Chrollo defeated and killed a few skilled Nen users wielding just a normal pen. He was able to injure Silva's arm with a Ben's knife (the sole injury he could inflict in the triple confrontation), demonstrating his skills with this type of weapon.

Nen
Chrollo is a Specialist; his Nen type is a combination of the other five, but in a way that no normal Nen user can utilize. Despite his Nen category being the least compatible with Enhancement skills, Chrollo ranks seventh in arm wrestling in the Phantom Troupe, even above an Enhancer like Nobunaga. Furthermore, his defensive usage of aura is so great that, despite fighting against both Silva and Zeno at the same time and taking powerful blows without managing to block them with any part of his body, he took only relatively minor damage, which did not impair his ability in combat. His talent for Nen is judged prodigious not only for his age, but even by the standards of masters in the discipline. Chrollo is also very analytical, easily understanding he would be unable to guard against Zeno's superior Ryu. His Zetsu borders on perfection, and he is generally very proficient in any of the basics of Nen. Due to Kurapika's Judgement Chain, he is unable to use Nen, lest he is killed on the spot. However, due to the fact that the Phantom Troupe hired an Exorcist and that Phinks was expecting a call from him (which would violate Kurapika's rule), it can be assumed that the curse was lifted. Furthermore, Illumi told Hisoka that many things are happening while the latter are "playing tag" with Chrollo.

Trivia
Kuroro Lucifer -1999 Anime #62-Manga #101-2011 Anime #53
 * The Hunter × Hunter Character and World Data book spell his name as his name is "Quwrof Wrlccywrlir".
 * Chrollo ranked 4th in the Second character popularity poll, then 8th in the Third character popularity poll conducted by Weekly Shōnen Jump.
 * The predictions Chrollo made using "Lovely Ghostwriter" might have also hinted at Hisoka's defection: in fact, while there are twelve months, there were twelve members of the Troupe alive plus Uvogin, who was counted as a month, at the time the prophecies were written.
 * Chrollo shares similarities with Shinobu Sensui, a villain in Togashi's previous series YuYu Hakusho.
 * Both are the leaders of their gang.
 * Both are the smartest and most polite of their gang.
 * Both have religious references. Sensui is known as the Dark Angel, Chrollo has a cross on his forehead and an inverted cross on his coat. Also the fact Chrollo last name "Lucilfer" is only one letter more of "Lucifer".
 * Chrollo's stealing abilities make him similar to Rando from YuYu Hakusho, though the conditions they need to fulfill are opposite: Rando needs to kill his targets to steal his powers, while Chrollo needs to keep his victims alive, lest he cannot use these abilities.
 * Just like Rando, Chrollo stole an ability that allows him to shrink people (and objects).
 * Both can summon carnivorous fish to fight.
 * Suzaku, a character from Yoshihiro Togashi's YuYu Hakusho, made a cameo appearance as one of the victims listed in his book in the 2011 anime adaptation.
 * Chrollo's coat, hairstyle and earrings closely resemble those worn by Sir Crocodile from the One Piece franchise.
 * The Hunter × Hunter OST (2011) refers to Chrollo as "The Man of the Reversed Cross".
 * In the 1999 anime series, Chrollo has the spider tattoo, without a number inside, in his right arm. In the manga and the 2011 anime series, however, he doesn't have the tattoo.
 * Chrollo is portrayed by Ryosei Konishi in the Hunter × Hunter stage play Hunter × Hunter: Real Stage.