Shalnark

Shalnark (シャルナーク, Sharunāku) was a member of the Phantom Troupe, an infamous gang of thieves with class A bounties. He was Troupe member #6 or #9 (the other one is Pakunoda), and his physical strength ranked tenth in the group. He was also a licensed Hunter.

Appearance
Shalnark had blond hair, bright green eyes, and wore a lavender outfit. In Nippon Animation's adaptation, Shalnark had brown hair, and his outfit was dark red. Shalnark's spider tattoo has yet to be revealed.

Personality
Shalnark is highly intelligent and thinks quickly on his feet. He is fond of electronics, and considers those he controls with his phone to be toys. He expresses a dislike for his autopilot mode not just because he cannot remember his actions in that mode and therefore cannot feel satisfaction for what he does while in autopilot.

In the 1999 adaptation, of all of the Phantom Troupe, he seems the most well-adjusted. In the manga, however, he is almost never shown not smiling, with notable exceptions of pouting when one of his "toys" (controlled victims) gets "broken" (dies), scowling when people handle electronics carelessly, and looking highly unsettled when walking in on Feitan reading a book by Trevor Brown next to a bloody corpse.



While Shalnark gets along with everyone in the group, he does not seem to become close to anyone, possible exceptions being Uvogin, Chrollo, and Pakunoda, and even then only to an extent. He seems to care more about practicality and analytical details than sentiments, as seen when the other Troupe members were discussing Uvogin and Nobunaga's friendship, and he steers them back to the job at hand, saying that there's no time for reminiscing. After Chrollo was captured, Shalnark sided with Feitan and Phinks in wanting to go after Pakunoda in order to kill the chain user, even at the risk of Chrollo's life. After Pakunoda's death, he and the other members could be seen in mourning, Shalnark seemed more interested in the game console that Feitan and Phinks brought to the base, and then spent the next few days researching everything about Greed Island.

He does not seem to put too much value on his own life either, as shown by his totally nonchalant reaction when Shizuku's fortune foretold that he might be one of the Troupe's dead members during the Yorknew Arc. Despite looking like the most innocent and cheerful member, it is possible that Shalnark is one of the more cold-hearted and less empathetic of the group, seeing his controlled victims as nothing more than "toys" who get "broken" when they are killed. He also appears to be one of the only ones to smile while killing, along with Hisoka and Uvogin. The above traits may explain, why he seems to be in harmony with the other brutal members of the group, such as Feitan and Phinks, despite their marked difference in personalities.

Nonetheless, Shalnark proves to be a very loyal member of the Troupe, using all in his power and resources to help the group's missions and agenda. He seems to value Shizuku and Pakunoda's lives over his own, as he sees their abilities as rare assets that the Troupe cannot afford to lose. He is polite and level-headed, often attempting to be a voice of reason to settle down the other members during tense situations. Later on it is shown that he can be shaken from his usual calm when Hisoka throws Kortopi's head at Shalnark the grief, shock, and concern on Shalnark's face is apparent and his distraction is enough for Hisoka to land a decisive blow.

Background


Not much is known about Shalnark's past except that he was already a member of the Phantom Troupe prior to the massacre of the Kurta Clan. At one point in his life, he took the Hunter Exam and became a licensed Hunter.

Yorknew City arc


Shalnark first appeared during their mission in Yorknew City. As he was one of the first to the meeting place of the Phantom Troupe, it is suspected that he and Phinks were the ones to travel with Chrollo, as the leader never travels alone. As he and the other members leaves the auction's place, they are ambushed by the mafia. Uvogin fights on his own, and Shalnark brings out cards, (which, in both animes, he does not seem to be good at), and leaves Uvogin to kill the rest as the other member watch and play.



He is the one to tell Uvogin about the leeches inside of him, and that he should urinate often while drinking lots of beer. But as soon as Uvogin is captured by the Chain Guy, the members track down the Guards of Neon Nostrade, who had Uvogin. Shalnark drove the car, stolen from the Mafia, but was told by Feitan to stand and watch when the Shadow Beasts arrived to kill them. He along with the other disguised themselves as Mafia heads, gaining access to Uvogin and freeing him. Shalnark accompanied and provided Uvogin the information about the Nostrade Family and bodyguards as the chain-user might be one of them.



As Chrollo gives orders to go berserk in the city, Shalnark kills several Mafia guards bare handed and sticks some of his antennas on others. When one of his victims is killed in battle, he appears to be pouting about having to find another machine, showing his feelings towards those who aren't part of the Troupe. Kortopi creates fakes corpses, one of them for Shalnark, into making the Mafia believe he was killed.



Soon after, Chrollo tells everyone their fortune, including Shalnark's which indicate he will die weeks after Shizuku, when "The Death-Bringer" shall call him one in three times he answers his phone. The leader gives him orders to stay in their hideout while others go chase the Chain Guy. He arrives soon after Chrollo gets kidnapped, and goes with the rest of the team to decide what to do. When the troupe is fighting over what to do, Franklin asks Shalnark what the worst case scenario is, showing the Troupe's trust in his judgment.



When Pakunoda shoots her memories into the original members, she chooses Shalnark as one of them. After Pakunoda's death and realizing what Kurapika did, he deduced Chrollo's prophecy from Neon and formed of a conclusion that their leader might be in Greed Island.

Greed Island arc


After Feitan and Phinks departure to Greed Island, he asks Kortopi and Shizuku's help for a special mission. The three leave soon into the game and start studying the game's system. As soon as Shalnark sees that Shizuku's Blinky couldn't inhalate special items in the game nor Kortopi cannot copy them either, he realizes that they were made from Nen. On the other side, both abilities would work just fine in common inanimate items.



Knowing this, he tells the rest of the Phantom Troupe that Greed Island is in fact a real place somewhere in the world, a secret that only few people know, and they should go find their leader and an exorcist. They all part to find the place but soon as they arrive illegally to Greed island, Razor quickly uses the Eliminate (G.I card) and sends them off the island.

Chimera Ant arc


After a stray Chimera Ant named Zazan takes over a palace in Meteor City, Shalnark appears with some other members of the Phantom Troupe in order to eradicate the threat to their hometown. They go separate ways and soon he finds himself fighting Pell.



At first he was fighting a giant Chimera Ant like Beetle which proves to be a difficult opponent since thanks to his hardened skin, he couldn't put one of his antennas in his body. He deduces a way to do it and sticks one right into his articulation's right arm, near the neck. Confident in his win and control, he let his guard down but is caught by the beetle and couldn't move but his fingers and left leg. Shalnark realizes that this ant was already being controlled and Boki appears and tries to subvert Shalnark to their side. He explains, grinning all the while, that he likes Chrollo and working for him, and he that he doesn't much like the ants, and he would rather die than work for someone he doesn't like.



He puts one of his antennas into his leg entering Autopilot, and in a second, quickly frees himself and destroys the two Chimera Ants without problems.He starts suffering the pain from entering that mode and says he doesn't like to do it since he doesn't realize anything he did and neither enjoys it, but also ends up with muscular pain. He later arrives at Feitan's fight against Zazan and amuses himself talking to the other members present at the battle. After the battle, he receives a call from Nobunaga, asking for help with what is suspected to be more Chimera Ants, and is chased by Phinks for teasing his impatience on Chrollo's return, along with Feitan, despite their injuries.

Dark Continent Expedition Arc


Chrollo uses Black Voice in his fight against Hisoka, implying Shalnark has met him at some point after Zazan's defeat. Some time later after meeting with Machi and Kortopi, Shalnark confirms Hisoka's death at the Heaven's Arena. Unbeknownst to Shalnark or Kortopi, Hisoka revives himself and starts hunting the Phantom Troupe. Shalnark has a phone conversation with Chrollo, where they discuss about the prospect of going to the New Continent with the Kakin Empire, although their real intention is stealing the valuable items from the Royal Princes. Chrollo asks whether Shalnark needed his ability back, to which the latter replies that he currently does not need it. After hanging up the phone, Shalnark looks happy that the troupe will be gathered again after a long time. He then ponders what is taking Kortopi so long. He receives a phone call, but sees Hisoka walk out from the public toilet. Shocked at this, Shalnark drops the ringing phone and runs towards Hisoka, but the magician disappears from his sight and throws something at him, which Shalnark recognizes as Kortopi's head. While he is distracted, Hisoka delivers an extremely powerful strike to his head, killing Shalnark. Shalnark's heavily mangled body is later seen sitting on the park swing, both of his hands tangled on its rope, and Kortopi's head lying on the ground in front of him, with crows gathering around their corpses.

Equipment
Antennae: Shalnark always carries two antennae on his person. They are shaped after bats, with wide, cyclamen wings and a stylized bat head of the same color at the top. The tip is sharpened to allow him to stick the antenna into a target. They serve as the medium of both his Hatsu abilities and are connected to his cellphone.

Cellphone: Shalnark uses a special bat-shaped purple cellphone to activate his ability.

Abilities & Powers
Due to Shalnark being born in Meteor City, his existence is not recorded in any database, which makes obtaining information about him nearly impossible. Shalnark ranks tenth in physical power among the Troupe, and is well capable enough to defend himself in hand to hand combat. He is also smart enough to hack into computers and provide information to the Troupe. He also appears to be a strong fighter, as he has obtained a Hunter License, being the only Hunter in the Troupe. Still, he was easily killed by Hisoka soon after the latter revived.

Enhanced Strength: Although not yet indicatively shown, Shalnark has superhuman-like strength, as hinted by his ranking in arm-wrestling. When on Autopilot, this attribute increases exponentially.

Enhanced Agility: During his fight against Pell, Shalnark showcased amazing movements, dodging effectively many attacks of the creature.

Advanced Speed: Shalnark is quite fast, as he was able to avoid most of Pell's attacks and to stick his antenna within a very short gap of time. When on autopilot, this attribute increases exponentially.

Genius-Level Intellect: Shalnark is among the smartest member of the Troupe, as well as seemingly the most knowledgeable. He can calculate accurate odds in the midst of a fight and in mere seconds and his predictions are usually exact. He is adept at finding an enemy's weak spots and exploit them. Furthermore, he is a valuable source of information to the Troupe, being a licensed Pro Hunter. Shalnark is extremely proficient in informatics, as he managed to uncover Greed Island's secret. Additionally, he has great control over his emotions.

Nen
Shalnark is a Manipulator. By implanting an antenna into a target, he can control them completely. If he sticks the antenna into himself, he can enhance his own physical attributes greatly. His abilities can only be used through his bat-shaped phone. Shalnark gave his Hatsu abilities, phone, and antennae to Chrollo in preparation for the latter's match against Hisoka; as a consequence, he is currently unable to use any of them.

Trivia

 * In the official databook, his name is "Syarnorkl". The volume 34 extras changed it to "Syarnorke" and revealed his surname, "Ryuseih".

Anime and Manga Differences

 * Shalnark was stated to be the number 6 member of the Phantom Troupe in episode 54 of the 2011 anime series. In the manga, it was only said that his and Pakunoda's numbers are #6 and #9, but which number was specifically his was unknown.
 * When the Phantom Troupe was introduced in the 2011 Anime, Shalnark seemed to know Pakunoda well.

Intertextuality and References

 * Shalnark's name could be a reference to Siarnaq, one of Saturn's moons and a character from Mega Man ZX Advent. Both names transliterate into Japanese very similarly "Sharunaaku" (シャルナーク) and "Sharunaku" (シャルナク).
 * Shalnark's golden aura and floating hair in his Autopilot mode may be a nod to the Super Saiyan transformation from the Dragon Ball franchise.

Miscellaneous

 * In the second character popularity poll for Hunter × Hunter, Shalnark took 17th place with 84 votes.
 * In the third character popularity poll for Hunter × Hunter, Shalnark took 15th place with 187 votes.
 * Shalnark's voice actress in the 2011 anime, Noriko Hidaka, voiced Kurapika in the Hunter × Hunter Pilot OVA.
 * Shalnark is played by Kuniyoshi Ichikawa in the Hunter × Hunter stage play Hunter × Hunter: Real Stage.

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