Chrollo Lucilfer

Chrollo Lucilfer (クロロ=ルシルフル Kuroro Rushirufuru) is a character in the manga Hunter × Hunter written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi. He is the leader of the Phantom Troupe. Recently he has left the Troupe in search of an Exorcist to remove Kurapika's Judgment Chain that is tied around his heart.

Background
Very little is known about Chrollo's past except that he originated from Meteor City, a junkyard city inhabited by outcasts. People who live there do not exist in any official records and the existence of the city itself is known to a very few people. Sometime in the past, he formed the Phantom Troupe with six other Meteor City residents and left the city. Later, the group was joined by more members, in accordance with Chrollo's idea of a group comprising of exactly 13 members, including himself.

Appearance
Two of Chrollo's 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 trench coat with an inverted cross symbol embroidered on the back. Prior to the foundation of the Phantom Troupe, Chrollo never wore his trademark coach, 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 a calm and handsome young man 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 them up, and well versed in strategies.

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.

Yorknew City Arc, Part 1
Chrollo is first seen in a group meeting of the Phantom Troupe in an abandoned area of the city on the 31st of August. He orders the Troupe to steal all the auction items of the Mafia's underground auction and to eliminate anyone who gets in their way.

In the evening of September 1st, he, Phinks, Kortopi, Bonolenov, Pakunoda and Hisoka stay in their hideout while the other 7 members sneak in the Cemetery Building where the auction is being held and kill all the mafiosi and the guests there, only to find an empty vault because the items were already relocated to somewhere else just a few hours before their arrival. On the way back on a hot-air balloon, Uvogin calls Chrollo by phone, saying he suspects there is a traitor in the Troupe. Chrollo reasons with him that an informant exists but this person is not among themselves. He then tells Uvogin and others to cause a big disturbance to lure out the Shadow Beasts, one of whom, the Owl, removed the auction items.

Following the order, Uvogin massacres the Mafia and four Shadow Beasts in the Goldo Desert but he is captured by Kurapika shortly afterwards. Five other members of the group immediately give chase until they are stopped on the way by the remaining Shadow Beasts. They kill all of these men excluding the Owl, who they capture and successfully get the items from. Near midnight, they find where Uvogin is being held captive and free him after killing Dalzollene. Uvogin, however, insists on finding the chain user--Kurapika--alone to get revenge, which leads to his demise at the hands of Kurapika in the Goldo Desert in the early hours of September 2nd.

September 3rd, thanks to a picture of Neon Nostrade just uploaded on the Hunter website Chrollo finds and approaches her, who has slipped away from her bodyguards to attend the rescheduled underground auction against her farther's will. After helping her to get into the Cemetery Building, he asks her to tell his fortune, which she gladly does. Upon reading the prophecy he cries because it mentions Uvogin's death. Near the start of the auction, he knocks out Neon with a swift blow to the back of her neck and uses her as an excuse to get to the upper floors. He then kills some hired assassins with ease while his other comrades massacre the 2,000 mafiosi guarding the building.

As the Phantom Troupe's retaliatory attack goes on, Chrollo is cornered in the basement of the building by two elite assassins, Zeno and Silva Zoldyck. Noticing that Zeno is an incredible fighter, Chrollo fights them with the intention of stealing his abilities. However, Zeno sees through him and has him pinned against the wall while Silva throws two huge aura spheres at them, causing a large explosion that causes everything around them to collapse. Right before the Zoldycks can finish him, however, Illumi Zoldyck calls and tells them that the Ten Dons have been eliminated in a mission whose client is Chrollo. As their clients are dead, they spare him and leave.

Chrollo then calls other members, telling them not to touch the ambulance that is carrying Neon to the hospital and to continue with the plan, according to which they make use of Kortopi's ability to fool the Mafia with fake corpses of five members, take the real items and sell their copies in the rescheduled underground auction held on the 10th floor of the building. After that, Chrollo and the other members return to their hideout and celebrate their victory.

Yorknew City Arc, Part 2
Near the end of the Southernpiece Auction in Yorknew City, Chrollo's heart is bound by the Stake of Retribution on Kurapika's Judgment Chain. This will pierce through his heart and kill him immediately under either of the following conditions: Instead of killing him, Kurapika renders him powerless in order to contain the Phantom Troupe. He sets off to the east in order to fulfill the prophecy given him by Neon. The destination to the east in the prophecy is later revealed to be Greed Island, the likely place to find a Nen Exorcist to neutralize Kurapika's chain. Chrollo obtains the game and recruits Hisoka to enter it for him since the game requires the ability to use Nen. Hisoka happily complies for the chance to fight Chrollo once his power is restored. An Exorcist is found and recruited by the members of the Phantom Troupe. It has not yet been shown whether or not Kurapika's Judgment Chain has removed from his heart.
 * 1) He tries to use his Nen
 * 2) He communicates directly with any member of the Phantom Troupe. (Chrollo is able to talk to Hisoka after Hisoka removed the fake spider tattoo on his back, proving that he had been deceiving the Phantom Troupe all along. He was never a true member.)

Nen Ability
Chrollo is a Specialist, it is a combination of the other five types, but in a way that no normal Nen-user can use. Chrollo's Nen Ability is called Skill Hunter (スキルハンター - "盗賊の極意"). It allows him to steal the Nen Abilities of other people to use them as his own using a book known as the "Bandit's Secret." The theft victim, of course, no longer has access to his ability. The theft happens under strict conditions: To use one of the stolen abilities, he first conjures Bandit's Secret and turns to the page of the wanted ability. While using an ability, Chrollo must turn to the page with the ability on it and the book must remain opened in his right hand; this means he could only have access to one chosen ability at a time. Additionally, an ability vanishes from the book if its former owner dies.
 * 1) He must witness the Nen ability in action with his eyes.
 * 2) He must ask about the ability and be answered by the victim.
 * 3) His victim's palm must touch the handprint on the cover of Bandit's Secret.
 * 4) All of the above must be done within an hour.Kuroro2.jpg

Stolen Abilities

 * Teleportation:


 * The ability to teleport a person back and forth from one place to another, without that person's consent. He uses it on Nobunaga when he is about to attack Hisoka, as quarrels inside the Troupe are supposed to be either solved verbally or, if no solution can be found, by coin flipping.


 * Indoor Fish:
 * A conjured fish that can only survive in a completely sealed room. The fish looks like a skeleton and feeds on human flesh. While the person is being fed on, they neither feel pain or lose blood, and will stay conscious despite being mortally wounded. Once the fish disappears, the usual effects of the wounds manifest, often killing the victim. First used when fighting an assassin hired by Renji.


 * Fun Fun Cloth:
 * An ability owned by the Owl, a member of the Shadow Beasts. This cloth is conjured, and can increase and decrease in size according to the user's will. Whatever is covered in the cloth decreases in size until it fits in the palm of a hand. The user can make it go back to its original size by letting it out of the bag. People can also be shrunk this way, without being injured. Chrollo obtains this ability while the Troupe tortured the Owl after they captured him to find out how he hid the auction pieces they intended to steal.


 * Lovely Ghostwriter (ラブリーゴーストライター 「天使の自動筆記」), lit. Automatic Writing Angel:
 * Chrollo-prophecy.jpg ability stolen from Neon Nostrade. It creates accurate predictions of future events. The user cannot predict their own future. The ability requires:


 * 1) A Person's Full Name
 * 2) Their Date of Birth
 * 3) Their Blood Type


 * The target person writes the required information on a piece of paper, then hands it to the abilities user, who then calls the "Lovely Ghostwriter", a sort of green monster that attaches to the user's arm and moves his pen. The user does not know what he writes, being in a trance-like state.
 * The prophecies take the form of poetry, composed of 4 or 5 quatrains each corresponding to every week of the month. The first stanza is always about something that has already happened.
 * Neon refuses to read her own predictions, feeling it would spoil her ability, but Chrollo
 * has his predictions read out by the addressees, but some of them proved to be inaccurate.

Trivia

 * Chrollo ranked fourth in the Second character popularity poll then eighth in the Third character popularity poll conducted by Weekly Shōnen Jump.