Pariston Hill

"I have a proposal. I'm announcing my candidacy as chairman. So how about we skip the election?"

- Pariston, to the Zodiacs

Pariston Hill (パリストン=ヒル, Parisuton Hiru) is a Triple Star Hunter and a former Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Hunters Association. He is also a former member of the Zodiacs with the codename “Rat.”

Appearance
Pariston has a medium length hairstyle. He wears a striped suit. He is one of the only two members of the Zodiacs that has not changed his appearance to look like the animal that he represents.

Personality
According to Ging, Pariston's personality is just like Netero's and his own personality. Pariston only likes to play around and enjoy himself. However the other Zodiacs show a strong dislike for him and his methods.

Background
Long before Netero's demise, Pariston has already attempted to take over the Hunter Association. Pariston was Vice-Chairman for 3 years and during this time, 18 hunters mysteriously disappeared.

13th Hunter Chairman Election arc


Pariston first appears during the meeting of the Zodiacs to decide who will be the new chairman, during which he announces his candidacy for chairman and proposes to skip the election. During the meeting, Mizaistom says that during the 3 years he's been vice-chairman, 18 hunters have gone missing. Before, the yearly average was 0.6 meaning it's 10 times now. Pariston answers with: "It's an unfortunate number. It pains my heart, but I'm sure if I become president that number will decrease." Mazaistom becomes angry and attacks Pariston, but stops when he hears Ging announce his candidacy for chairman. Pariston tells Ging that Gon is in a critical near death condition and that maybe he should go visit him at the hospital, but shouldn't because it would be a waste of time if he went and Gon died. Ging then confidently tells Pariston, "Go, he (Gon) won't die."

Pariston then decides that there should be a systematic way to choose the rules for the election in which Cheadle suggests to use a lot drawing where each member of the Zodiacs write the rules they think are best for the election and the one that is chosen will be the set of rules that will be followed. They then decide that the person to draw the lots is Bean. After Bean draws Ging's set of rules and reads them aloud, Pariston says that he only concedes to rules 1-4.

In the 1st election for the 13th chairman, Pariston receives 249 votes, coming in 1st place but because the conditions haven't been met, a new election has to be done.

In the 2nd election, Pariston receives 251 votes gaining 2 more votes and coming in 1st once more but due to the voting turnout being less than 95%, a new election is held.

Based on these two elections, the Zodiacs have meetings regarding the invalid votes and the Hunters who abstained to vote, Pariston suggests that Bean's check every sheet before the voting to avoid invalid votes and the licenses for those who abstain from voting should be confiscated. Kanzai believes that people are voting incorrectly or not voting because they don't want Pariston to be Chairman. Pariston responds by saying "then perhaps we should have someone else take the job, surely there's someone other than me who's qualified. Though, it would seem the vast majority of voters don't think so."

When Kanzai hears this, he attacks Pariston but is stopped by several members of the Zodiac. After the brief confrontation the Zodiacs agree to Pariston suggestions, but before they vote on it Cheadle comments to Pariston that she hopes he doesn't come up with some ridiculous logic like "Hunters who have their licenses confiscated are for that period not recognized as Pro Hunters." Pariston denies this and says that he would never try to manipulate the voter turnout and that confiscated just means confiscated and says the record should specify that even during the electoral process even if someone loses their license they will not lose their right to vote.

In the 3rd election, Pariston receives 258 votes, but since there's an increase in absentees. It's decided that these Hunters will have their licenses confiscated for breaking the rules.



Seeing this, Pariston wonders if its truly enough to just confiscate the Hunter Licenses, so he makes a suggestion that the Zodiacs hold a lecture with all the Hunters to show them how important the election is. As Pariston is making his speech to all the hunters trying to convince them to vote, asking that if anyone has anything on their mind to stand and speak their mind and that minority groups will not be looked down upon, at this time Leorio picks up a microphone and speaks his mind.

In the 4th election, Pariston receives once again 258 votes.

In the 5th election, Pariston receives 274 votes. He then receives a call regarding the joining of a number of Temp Hunters joining Teradin's group in the hunt for the needle humans and Illumi, to which he agrees to and has no problems with. After he hangs up the phone, he starts to laugh and says that Teradein, Ambitious, and Lupe are a fine trio, and are easy to understand them signifying that he is probably aware of their plan of just using the Temp Hunters as bait and getting them killed so his votes would drop.

In the 6th election, Pariston receives 272 votes.

In the 7th election, Pariston receives 293 votes the highest he has received so far, during this time Teradein Neutral is killed by Hisoka.



It is revealed by Ging that Pariston has no intention of winning or losing the Chairman Election and that Pariston only wants to play with the Hybrid Cocoons the Chimera Ants had left around, and an area to play with them in. As the 8th election starts, the last 4 candidates are given a chance to explain to everyone why they want to become chairman. When it is Cheadle's turn she asks everyone to vote for Leorio to which Pariston is surprised and loses his trademark smirk.

After Leorio finishes his speech which gives him a large applause, Pariston stands to give his speech. He says that once the election is over he will also do everything in his power to help Gon, but he says that out of the four remaining candidates the one most fit to become Chairman is Mizaistom, to the surprise of everyone. After the 8th election is over, he comes in 2nd place leaving him, and Leorio to face each other for the title of Chairman.

Pariston is voted President of the Hunters Association. He decides to make Cheadle Vice-Chairman and he then abdicates, thus making Cheadle Chairman. When confronted by Cheadle, he confesses he had no intention of becoming Chairman, and warns Cheadle to change the 10 Hunter Commandments, or he will 'play for real'.

Dark Continent Expedition arc
Pariston is seen in the room with Beyond Netero and his nine other followers. In the Zodiac's meeting, Cheadle announces that he asked to withdraw from the Zodiacs, along with Ging, and that she approved. Ging Freecss himself later arrives in the lair of Beyond's expedition team. Pariston asks him if he will join, Ging orders him to send in 5,000 Chimera. However, Pariston is only confident that Ging will join him. He explains that Cheadle means to separate the Hunter Exam from the organization, which he rejects. Ging and Pariston are then seen arguing about whether Netero would have done the same as Cheadle concerning the Hunter Exam, which Pariston denies. He says the former chairman would have gone to the Dark Continent without the approvation of the V5 and hunt his son down once he got there. Pariston then wonders if that isn't what the Hunter Association used to be, but Ging merely replies with a question, asking why Pariston would want to destroy the organization despite feeling a sort of attachment to it. The former Rat invites Ging to explain what he has understood about his plans, and the latter starts by saying that the Hunter Association has become too boring for Pariston's tastes, so he is letting the Chimera loose in the world to find new amusing targets, while keeping tabs on the expedition to the Dark Continent. Since he could not abandon the organization, he came in for the final blow. The one thing Ging does not understand is Pariston's attitude towards the Hunter Exams. Pariston comments how similar they are, as they both always think outside the box. However, Ging spats back those are just the foundations and insults him. Seemingly affected, Pariston begins to explain he feels the need to have others hate him and hurt the things he loves, asking if it is normal. Gon's father replies that, in his case, it is past normality. Pariston just watches as Ging is confronted by two memers of the expedition party, speaking only when the latter asks aloud who is the number 2 of the group, pointing at himself. When Ging states physical strength was not part of the criteria, Pariston feels underestimated. Ging says that if Pariston was just some musclehead, he'd just defeat him in a fight, but he knows that he needs to outsmarts Pariston. When one of he expedition team members challenge Ging, Pariston interrupts and confirms that he is ranked number two in the team. Ging dismisses it and declares that he will be number two henceforth.

Ging declares that he is not planning on making any changes to the party's plans, nor he will give any orders, he just wants the nominal authority of the number two. He then states he will double the money Beyond has promised them and pay upfront. As the party members consider his offer, Pariston admites he is happy that Ging is number two. However, since Pariston is not being paid by Beyond, Ging will not give him any money. After a moment of tension, Pariston agrees. He listens in silence as Ging explains about the five great calamities the two guides of the Dark Continent written by Don Freecss.

While Ging is talking to Gon on the phone, the members of the party split in two groups: Those who are willing to take his money, and those who don't want to, with Pariston siding with the first faction. Ging tells them he is well aware that they are not just Temp Hunters, but specialists who were hired by Beyond due to their abilities. As he goes on explaining that Pariston used to be vice.chairman of the Hunter Association to restrain Netero's authority while gaining power, Pariston is irritated by how similar their way of thinking are, and wonders inwardly if he will really hate someone for the first tme in his life, admitting he looks forward to it. He complies with Ging's request to inform everyone in the team about his presence.

One month later, Pariston tells Ging that all the assassins they sent to hinder the Hunter Exam failed, apparently thanks to his replacement in the Zodiacs. One of the assassins, Muhel, reports that he can allegedly read minds. Pariston introduces him to Ging, but the two already know each other. Muhel would not be surprised if Kurapika had found out about their escape plan, but Pariston smiles and replies that there is no plan to free Beyond: He must escape all by himself once n the Dark Continent and then meet up with them. Muhel questions Ging's motives to join their team, suspecting he might double-cross them, and the Hunter says he is closer to Beyond because he wants to do anything he wants during the journey. Furthermore, he reveals he intends to prevent Pariston from completing his destructive plans while supporting Beyond. The assassins refuse to accept his prsence and demands that Ging and Pariston choose which of them will leave the team. However, Ging offers them a third alternative, and Pariston a fourth, commenting how irked he is that he is being disrupted on one of the few occasions he and Ging get along. Ging's alternative is that the assassins leave, Pariston's that they die.

Abilities & Powers
Pariston's abilities are yet to be revealed, but having been chosen as part of the Zodiacs, Vice-Chairman of the Hunters Association and a Triple Star Hunter, plus having joined Beyond Netero's party, he must be a capable and most likely a powerful Nen user. Despite often commenting on how weak he is, he actually has enough confidence in his strength to covertly threaten Cheadle, menacing he would seriously "make fun of her" if she were to create a boring Hunter Association. Furthermore, Ging speculated that he wanted to make the area still filled with Chimera Ants his own "playground". However, in Ging's opinion, he is not the most powerful, at least according to physical strength, among Beyond's followers, although Pariston commented on how he was being belittled. He is also charismatic and can manage an audience proficiently. He is known to be tricky and very proficient in sucking people in his pace. Furthermore, he claimed to be a skilled mediator.

Genius-level intellect: Pariston is arguably one of the most intelligent character of the series. He managed to rank first in every round of the election and eventually win the chairmanship, calculating every step from the very beginning. All of his predictions are accurate, even the one regarding Gon healing before the end of the election, although the odds were greatly against him: he based his moves since Leorio's appearance on a simple hint uttered by Ging. He outsmarted Cheadle, who he himself deems superior in terms of procedural skills, and surprised even Ging with his sudden abdication of the presidency. He is known to be tricky and very proficient in sucking people in his pace. Furthermore, he claimed to be a skilled mediator.

Quotes

 * (To Cheadle) "I just wanted to hinder the Chairman... Netero-san, you see, thought I was amusing and would tease me, and it really bothered me to see how happy it made him.... I just wanted to play with the President more...."

Trivia



 * Pariston Hill is an anagram of Paris Hilton.
 * There's a running gag where Pariston's surroundings always sparkles when he smiles.

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Pariston Hill