Knov

Knov (ノヴ, Novu) is a Hunter who participated in the Chimera Ant Extermination Mission.

Appearance


Knov is a bespectacled young man, who is typically seen wearing a black suit and blue tie, with a white button-down shirt. He is tall and lean. At the beginning of the Extermination Mission, he had short black hair, but near the day of the assault on the Chimera Ant King's palace, his hair turned white due to having a mental breakdown upon coming into contact with Shaiapouf's heinous En unprotected. When he entered the castle secretly to save Morel and Shoot, he was in a bad state, having almost no hair anymore. Eventually, he becomes bald and wears a flat cap to hide his head.

Personality


As an experienced Hunter, Knov is a serious individual, and very reflective. He shows a hint of arrogance upon meeting Killua for the first time, and calls him and Gon children. He is very cautious during missions, almost to the point of being paranoid. He also commands an air of confidence while handling his student, Palm. This confidence would later disappear, after he comes face-to-face with Shaiapouf's En when he was in the state of Zetsu. Knov then suffers from a brief mental breakdown that left him traumatized throughout the whole mission. However, despite the trauma, Knov still found the courage to return to the palace and help his friends. Later, during the elections for the next Hunter Chairman, he is back to his former personality.

Background
Knov is the master of Palm Siberia and the target of her affections. He and Morel are good comrades and both of them are members of the pro-Netero faction in the Hunters Association.

Chimera Ant arc


Knov makes his first appearance accompanying Chairman Netero and Morel Mackernasey heading for NGL. They meet a demoralized Killua and an unconscious Gon at a checkpoint on the border of NGL. Morel taunts Killua about his weakened confidence but Knov tells him to take it easy on the boy. When Killua says that he thinks the three elite Hunters will stand no chance against Neferpitou because of his aura, he tells him to quit and leave everything to them then advances into NGL with Netero and Morel. They estimate that the King won't be born in the next two months.

The exterminators' only target is the Queen, but because Pitou's En is so large that a surgical attack on him is unworkable. Knov says they should quietly and slowly take out the ants one by one. Morel then creates an army of bunny Smoke Troopers to find out how many enemies they will have to deal with. Later, using Deep Purple, he creates a thick fog that covers an entire forest near the Ant Queen's colony and continuously tricks various Chimera Ant divisions to a room conjured by Knov, where they are decimated by the Chairman. However, the Ants wise up, and by the end of the third week they no longer fall into Morel and Knov's trap. Knov wants to initiate their plan, but Netero tells him and Morel to wait for their disciples.



At the end of week four, an ant named Colt comes to them with the intention of surrendering, telling them about the premature birth of the King, the Queen's condition and the threat posed by the Division Commanders in case the Queen dies. This is even worse than their worst-case estimation so Morel decides to take Colt to the Chairman, whom quickly asks the Hunters Association to send Dr. Lee and his best surgeons and artificial organ specialists to the Queen's nest. Still, all they can do is to prolong the dying moment of the Queen for a few minutes. Ten days before their planned attack on the King, Knov, Morel, Knuckle, Shoot, Gon and Killua head for the Republic of East Gorteau; this is also the day the Hakoware Knuckle put on Gon expires and he can use Nen again. The Chairman sends Morel and Knov a message, telling them to break into three groups of two—Morel and Knov, Knuckle and Shoot, Gon and Killua—and separate the Royal Guards from the King.

Nine days prior to the planned attack, in the evening, Knov and Morel talk to Marcos, a military leader in Ming Jol-ik's government, persuading him to sign an agreement whereby he shall disclose all military information in exchange for the protection of him and his family in a third country. Morel tells Marcos to continue his regular daily routine before they leave. Later, in the night, the ants manipulate Ming Jol-ik's corpse to place all of East Gorteau under martial law. To prevent them from slaughtering the 5,000,000 citizens, Morel puts the capital city Peijin under siege using his Smoke Troopers.



Six days before the attack on the King, Morel encounters Cheetu, a division commander ant, while keeping Peijin under watch. He defeats Cheetu with little difficulty thanks to his superior intelligence and experience. Meanwhile, Knov spots Flutter, a dragonfly-like ant, in Peijin. He immediately deduces that this ant specializes in reconnaissance then goes on to kill it and meets up with Morel. When Neferpitou cancels all of his dolls in Peijin to treat Meruem's injury, they know something serious has happened in the Palace and decide to split up—Knov is going to infiltrate the Palace to create an Exit while Morel stays in Peijin. Knov manages to create some portals in the palace but he suffers a mental breakdown upon coming into contact with Shaiapouf's aura in Zetsu state. His hair turns completely white as a result, with his spirit seemingly destroyed, and he withdraws from the invasion team.



On the day of the assault on the palace, despite Knov's retirement, Morel still decides to continue with the plan. Knov takes the invasion team to the portals leading into the palace that he created. As the battles go on, Shoot and Morel are severely injured by Youpi. Using his Hide and Seek ability, Knov secretly returns to the palace in spite of his mental trauma, and because of it he appears to be in a terrible state with almost no hair on his head. Upon locating the injured Shoot and Morel, he consecutively takes them to his 4th dimension mansion, where they would receive medical treatment.

13th Hunter Chairman Election arc


After the death of Meruem is confirmed, Knov is seen again in the hospital where Gon, Morel, and Shoot are being treated, along with the other members of the invasion team. When a senior doctor tells him and Knuckle that Gon is in an extremely dangerous state, Knov says he will do everything to save his life, even if it means having to rebuild the entire hospital. He then tells Killua that he will use Hide and Seek to bring all the necessary people and equipment to the hospital. In the First Election for the 13th Hunter Chairman he places in 19th place with Loupe Highland, while in the Second Election for the 13th Hunter Chairman and Third Election for the 13th Hunter Chairman he places in 16th place with Kanzai. Later, after Morel reaches an agreement with Gotoh on the conditions for saving Gon, he calls Knov and tells him to prepare an isolated windowless room with nothing but Gon. In the Fourth Election for the 13th Hunter Chairman Knov places in 18th along with Kite and Gon and is eliminated from the from the election for not making the top 16. Later he and Morel are seen sharing a drink and having a few laughs. They place a full bottle of liquor in front of a picture of the late chairman.

Dark Continent Expedition arc
Morel has agreed to participate in the expedition, but he will not go any farther than the borders of the New Continent, as announced by Ginta.

Abilities & Powers
Knov has all the benefits granted by his status as a Hunter. He rarely engages in combat, favoring stealth and scheming over direct confrontation. He mainly works as a support, but is fairly skilled in infiltration and gathering information. His abilities are kept in high regard by Ginta, one of the Zodiacs, who commented on how it would be hard to find a replacement with Knov's skill level. Since he managed to take down Flutter, despite the Chimera Ant's Super Eye and ability to fly, it can be inferred that he is at least strong enough to battle a squad officer without suffering injuries. He was also shown to one-hit some of Neferpitou's puppets with his bare hands. Knov is also gifted with bright and quick wit, but they are unfortunately invalidated after he'd run into Shaiapouf's En while stealthily infiltrating the Ant's castle alone in the state of Zetsu, which led to his temporary mental breakdown and retiring him from the rest of the operation. From that point on, he was unable to enter the Ant's castle unless the king and the Royal Guards were gone (and even so, he only managed to stay around for a very short while). Nevertheless, he's mentally strong enough to make a full recovery from that intense mental trauma shortly after the Chimera Ant extermination operation.

Enhanced Speed: Knov can cover long distances in a short time and dodge a gatling gun's bullets. When he ran into Taragette, he carried out a lethal attack before it could raise the alarm.

Enhanced Agility: He can run on rooftops and jump from one another, while avoiding bullets at the same time.

High Intelligence: Knov is good at concocting schemes and organizing actions. He can also predict the course of action of some people, as seen when he wagered that Knuckle, Shoot, Gon and Killua would all come to NGL.

Master of Stealth: Knov has shown himself to be able to sneak deep inside the castle that served as the Chimera Ants' nest and plant his portals totally undetected. He can take advantage of the low visibility granted by the rain and camouflage himself with twigs.

Nen
Knov is a professional Hunter, thus he is well versed in the usage of Nen. Netero, who in the past was considered the best Nen user in the world, said Knov was on the same level of skill as him, although Knov denied it. His Hide and Seek was crucial to the team both to watch and penetrate the King's residence. His abilities caused him to be praised by the Zodiacs. Despite being a Conjurer, Knov may also be able to use Emission, the type opposite to his, to a certain degree, as his portals are made out of pure aura detached from his body.

Trivia

 * Knov's name is probably based upon the idea of the door knob, since his ability allows him to create portal/doors into his own dimension.
 * Knov taunted Killua after hearing of his reaction to Neferpitou's aura; ironically, he had a mental breakdown just by seeing the En of another guard, Shaiapouf, albeit he had encountered it in the state of Zetsu.
 * Knov read the book "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
 * According to the "Hunter × Hunter Manual" section found in the Yu ☆ Yu ☆ Hakusho official character book (Shueisha Jump remix), Knov's stats are:

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