The Royal Guards are the secondary antagonists of the Chimera Ant arc of the anime/manga series Hunter × Hunter. They are the high-ranking members of the Chimera Ants born in serving their King, Meruem. Besides their king, they are the strongest beings among the Chimera Ants race.
History[]
Like the other Chimera Ants, the Royal Guards are born through Phagogenesis, but they were more genetically stronger due to their position in the hierarchy. All Royal Guards are made to serve and protect their King. The Chimera Ant Queen devoured numerous humans, including those with Nen, thus giving them tremendous powers, more so than the other Chimera Ants below the ranks. At the NGL, Chimera Ant Queen demands to deliver 50 humans per day to her, the Queen also decided to give them names by herself.
The first one to be born was Neferpitou, who was a Chimera Ant resembling a humanoid cat. They spot Pokkle hiding underneath the pile of human skeletons with their lingering aura, thus causing Rammot to capture him. They probe Pokkle's brain to extract the information regarding Nen, the Ants want to learn more about Nen due to Rammot being the first one to have awakened his powers. Under the supervision of Pitou, Rammot takes the "Water Divination" test, he learns that he is an Enhancer-type while Pitou was a Specialist-type. During the Extermination Team's arrival on the nest, the second Royal Guard introduces himself as "Shaiapouf", telling to Pitou that the third one will be born soon. Soonafter, Menthuthuyoupi was born.
Later on, the Queen writhes in severe pain as the King is forcing itself to be born. As the King makes it way out of his mother's womb, Colt and the other Ants run into the Queen who is near death. After the newborn King kills some of the Ants, the Royal Guards introduce themselves to the King as his servants. Colt begs Pitou to heal the Queen, but they refused the plea as they are now serving the King and had no reason for the Queen any longer. Later on, they decided to take their base of operations in the East Gorteau's palace, usurping Ming Jol-ik in the process and taking over the palace. Pitou later then manipulates his corpse into making the citizens rally into the front of the palace. A week later before the selection process, Pitou detects that someone has been disposing of their puppets, Pouf suggested not to engage the intruders as it may be a diversion to lure them. He suggested instead to let others take care of them, thus they gave the order to Leol's squad. Although they question first about trusting Leol, Pitou replies that they want to know first if Leol could be trustworthy before finding the opportunity to stab them in the back.
The King starts to defeat the numerous champions of board games while Menthuthuyoupi drags them into playing with the King. While the King gains an undefeated streak until Komugi arrives and defeats him in every Gungi matches. Although Shaiapouf is concerned about the two's interactions, nonetheless he ignores them as of now. In the later round, the King asks Komugi that he will grant her any wish but will take her life if she loses. However, Komugi offers her own life because of how meaningless she is to her own family if she loses to Gungi. The King then rips his arm off after showing imprudence, Pouf immediately becomes concerned at it and asks the King to tend his wounds, but Meruem simply hits him for being stubborn and wanted to continue in playing Gungi. The King instead summons Neferpitou to use Doctor Blythe on his severed arm. Shaiapouf would later think that Komugi might become a threat to their goals in the future. He then stops himself into thinking that should he attempted to kill her, then the King will never win against her anymore. After a day later of being scolded by the King, Shaiapouf joins with Menthuthuyoupi, expressing his concerns about the King's losses, Youpi then assures that there's nothing to worry about. Neferpitou then soon realizes that the intruders have been using a smoke puppet to to disable their puppets.
When Komugi takes a break, the King then asks for her name which she answers. As Komugi asks the same question, the King became confused, not knowing what his name is. He then summons his Royal Guards to ask about his all, all of them which fails to provide an answer to the question. Youpi and Pouf expresses their concerns about the King's change in mind. As much to Pouf's relief, Youpi then suggested that if she poses too much problems, they can outright kill her. On the next day, the citizens were given orders to gather in the front of the palace at 3 PM, as the Royal Guards overlook the fields, Pitou detects new enemies, and concluded that the most dangerous part of the selection was during the sorting. The Royal Guards decided that someone should stay on the King's side who is gonna personally participate, despite the latter's annoyance of their presence. Despite his annoyance, Youpi follows him, causing him to be smacked by the King in the face as well. Pitou then remarks that all three of them have been hit by the King once. Youpi then told them that their En is irritating the King, changing plans by using En on the first floor to respect the King's privacy. As Pitou looks up in the sky, they notice a dragon descending from the sky. Excited to face the battle, their plan however, backfires as the dragon splits into smaller forms, raining down the palace. They leap into the air to face Netero, who uses his 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva to send Pitou flying from several miles away. Pitou then uses Doctor Blythe to stop themself in flying away further due to Doctor Blythe's restriction. As the Extermination Team enters the palace, they encounter Menthuthuyoupi instead. Youpi transforms to counter the unprecented threat however, Knuckle who was concealed by Meleoron's ability managed to hit Youpi, thus activating Hakoware, thus he is left in facing Knuckle and Shoot McMahon.
Meanwhile, Pitou uses their En in order to locate the King's whereabouts, but they also realize that there are two other enemies also using En to locate the King, although they are regretful after they felt his negative aura. Pitou then rushes to the King who was holding Komugi's wounded body. As they work in healing Komugi, Meruem then suggested Netero and Zeno Zoldyck to put this fight elsewhere, which Netero agrees as he enlisted Zeno. Pitou's activation of their aura then momentarily distracts the two, allowing the King to swiftly move past them. During the confrontation later on, Gon and Killua meets Pitou, while Morel faces Pouf, and Knuckle against Youpi. As an enraged Gon demands Pitou to heal Kite, Pitou then broke their own arm and beg for them to fix Komugi before fixing Kite. Unconvinced, Gon prepares to use his Jajanken, but Killua stops him, explaining to them that if Pitou is dead, then Kite cannot be fixed. With Knuckle and Youpi, he was demanding about Knuckle's A.P.R. but only for Knuckle to escape on him. Afterwards, he stops chasing after them and returns on his original spot where he finds Knuckle waiting for him there, wanting to avenge Shoot. Finally maturing and learning the nature of his true powers, as his sheer strength causes destruction over the entire building. Knuckle then uses Youpi's rage as an opportunity to land a hit on him. However, realizing that Youpi was feigning his rage in order to caught him off-guard, Youpi attempts to land a powerful blow on him, but he was stunned by Killua's Thunderbolt, allowing Knuckle to take the advantage and score a hit on his face before performing a flurry of punches and runs away. As Killua uses his electricity to stun him, Youpi was unable to counteract. Killua then escapes with the help of Meleoron.
Meanwhile, Shaiapouf disperses himself into microscopic bugs, allowing him to escape Morel's Smoky Jail. As much to Pouf's doubt that he will destroy his coccoon, Morel still does it and deactivates his Smoky Jail. He notices Pouf waiting outside, explaining that his lack of reaction made Morel realize he wasn't inside the coccoon at all. Afterwards, Pouf transforms into tiny versions of himself via Beelzebub, as Morel uses his Deep Purple to attack the tiny clones, Pouf reappears from behind and steals his pipe, knocking him out before flying away (he simply discards his pipe into a nearby river). As he and Knuckle face Youpi, Morel uses his smoke to create clone versions of Knuckle to attack Youpi, which Youpi retaliates by summoning tentacles to attack the clones. Later on, Youpi gives his admiration and respect to Knuckle for letting him learn of his true nature. As he attempts to kill Morel, he disappears again via Meleoron's ability but managed to track him due to his blood trail. Knuckles then garners his attention, demanding to let go of Morel and Meleoron. Youpi then refuses as it's unfair. Facing the consequences to save his life, Knuckle decides to deactivate Hakoware, knowing that defeating Menthuthuyoupi is impossible as of now. Knuckle then demands for a fight, but Youpi denies and suggested to send Morel for urgent care.
Meanwhile, as the King claims victory over his battle against Netero and finally learning that the King's name is Meruem, Netero then pierced his own heart to activate Miniature Rose as a last resort. The bomb detonates, causing a powerful explosion that leaves a molten ground. The two Royal Guards watch its detonation and later rushed at the detonation site. Finding the King's mortally wounded body, they offer their body to the King. The King regenerated his body and becoming more powerful, however Youpi and Pouf shrinks in size. Meruem then persuades them to call him "Meruem" as of now as the Queen gave him that name. Inside the palace, Gon senses that Pitou is done in healing Komugi, asking them to stand up. Komugi regains consciousness, wondering what's going on. As Pitou speaks out, Gon threatens to kill Komugi. As they leave, their path is blocked by Killua, Knuckle, and Palm who suggested to use Hakoware on Pitou, however Gon declines as he entrusted Pitou. Gon then puts Komugi hostage as much as to Pitou's fears. The two then proceeds to Peijin to heal Kite.
Arriving at Kite's lifeless body, Pitou then apologizes that they cannot heal Kite before stating that they are going to kill Gon in service for the King. An enraged Gon, calls them a liar before a surge of aura lingers through his body. As Pitou summons Terpsichora, they attempted to attack the newly powered Gon, but he simply disappears. Heading outside the building, Pitou finds Gon waiting by the door, inviting them to fight somewhere else. They sense that Gon has transformed into an age where his strength rivals that of Meruem. As Pitou attacks Gon, he easily dodges the attack and lands a powerful blow at Pitou. Near death, Pitou remarks that they are relieved at Gon sacrificed to never be able to achieve this power again. As Killua catches up on Peijin to see blinding lights at the distance, he arrives and sees Gon ruthlessly beating Neferpitou's already headless body. Pitou's lifeless corpse is then manipulated by Terpsichora and severs Gon's right arm. Gon then uses his severed arm to stab Pitou's chest and summons an another aura, causing an explosion on the forest despite Killua's pleas to stop.
In the palace, the two remaining Royal Guards agreed to themselves to disallow the King into meeting Komugi. Pouf then asks permission to hypnotize the humans again while Youpi asks if he can search for Pitou. As he remembers Pitou being his Royal Guards, he orders Youpi to search for them while he hunts down the remaining enemies. As Pouf insists to be with the King, Meruem demands if any of them could defeat him. Meruem uses En to detect his enemies, which he uses his tremendous speed to knock down Knuckle and Meleoron before they could even react at all. Meruem then drags their unconscious bodies for interrogation in the throne room. As Meruem senses two more people react to his En, Pouf concerns that it could be Komugi. To buy some time, Pouf insists on a game for the King: the two will look for Pitou while the King searches for the remaining enemies. Meruem agrees to his proposal, telling to the Royal Guards that he will grant them their wish if they won, but he will demand what are they hiding from him if they lose. However, the two Royal Guards including Meruem began experiencing the side effects of the Miniature Rose's toxin. Shaiapouf is later then seen succumbing to the toxin and dying alone. As the King finds Komugi, he spends his final moments with her by playing Komugi, knowing that he would soon die to the toxin as well. As he reminisces his Royal Guards, Meruem then succumbs to the toxin along with Komugi, who told him that she will follow him soon.
At the end of the Chimera Ant crisis with Meruem and the Royal Guards dead, the Republic of East Gorteau and NGL have been under the control of international peacekeepers, thus causing the nations to be dismantled and the millions of residents eventually became refugees. In the Chapter 318 of the manga, it is stated that Shaiapouf's hypnosis had caused the deaths of 46,613 civilians while a death total of 478,594 civilians and 12,905 soldiers were caused by Neferpitou during the Sorting process.
Members[]
| Image | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
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Neferpitou | Neferpitou is the first among the Royal Guards to be born. They resemble an anthromorphic cat. Pitou is a rather playful individual, usually loving to toy with their prey like an agile cat. Unlike the other two, Pitou doesn't seem to mind about Meruem's relationship with Komugi and has shown to be willing in protecting her life, even risking their own for the sake of the King. |
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Shaiapouf | Shaiapouf is the second Royal Guard, he resembles a mutated human with butterfly wings and antennae. Compared to the other two, Shaiapouf is more evil and cunning, he loathes Komugi and willing to kill her, due to the latter changing Meruem's perception over humanity and his goals for world domination. Despite this, he is the most laid-back and rational among the Royal Guards at some times, but situations such as his overwhelming loyalty to the King often cloud his judgment. In the end, he only became loyal to his own "version" of Meruem, not Meruem himself. |
  |
Menthuthuyoupi | Menthuthuyoupi is the last Royal Guard to be born resembling a tall humanoid, and being the least human among the three thus he lacks an ego and self-concern due to his lack of human genetic material. He is the most simple-minded and straightforward among the Royal Guards, showing numerous times of selflessness and priority over their goals. While he appears to be a wrathful individual at his first confrontation with the Extermination Team, he slowly matures as the story progress, even thanking the Extermination Team for allowing him to achieve his "form" and letting them live. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Each of the Royal Guards are named after gods of Ancient Egypt while the end of their names are derived from characters of a French children's book known as Caroline et ses Amis (Caroline and her Friends).
- According to Neferpitou, all Royal Guards have been slapped for at least once by the King.
- Neferpitou is the only Royal Guard to not die of the Miniature Rose's lethal toxin, as they were murdered by Gon Freecss for the latter avenging Kite's death.
External Links[]
- Royal Guards on the Hunter x Hunter Wiki
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 Villains
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Zoldyck Family Phantom Troupe Greed Island Trick Tower Prisoners Kakin Empire Royal Family Kakin Empire Mafia Families Dark Continent Calamities Republic of East Gorteau Neutral/Others | ||