"My fangs and claws... I thought they were the center of the universe. Brandish them about, and I can end a creature's life. And satisfy my hunger. There was no greater bliss. But that wasn't so. There always was someone greater. And I didn't stand at the top of the food chain. I learned this at the cost of my life, but I grew stronger." — Leol in "Vs. Hagya's Squad: Part 4" |
Leol (レオル, Reoru) was a Chimera Ant that resembled an anthropomorphic lion. Before the death of the Chimera Ant Queen, he was known as Hagya (ハギャ, Hagya) and was one of the more particularly disloyal Squadron Leaders. However while he was alive, his own squad was fully loyal to him.[2]
Appearance
Leol resembled a very large male lion with burnt orange skin with tiger stripes and white mane. He was one of the few Chimera Ants that wore clothes: he wore sandals and a necklace adorned with a human skull, and he had a paw print mark where his eyebrows were supposed to be.
Personality
Leol, for the most part, was a very calm and collected Chimera Ant. He did, however, have a cruel side to him. He, like many Chimera Ants, enjoyed killing humans and even remarked that killing them had been highly addictive. Leol was also socially proficient, which was displayed through the tactics he employed to gain other people's Nen abilities. He was one of the few Chimera Ants, who were not particularly loyal Squadron Leaders, that would kill more humans than they brought to the Queen.[2] Leol also didn't want anyone to know about his Nen ability, although he did show it to Bloster, Welfin, Hina, and Flutter; however, he lied about how it actually worked. Aside from this, Leol could also be laid-back at times, as he did seem to genuinely enjoy listening to music. He also proclaimed himself to be an atheist before his fight against Morel.
Background
Not much is known about Leol's past, except that he remembered his past life as a lion.[3] It is unknown if he had memories from his human component. Before the Queen died giving birth to the King, Leol was one of her Squadron Leaders who deliberately kept humans for himself to eat. After witnessing the Queen's death, Leol, like many of the other Squadron Leaders, left the Chimera Ant colony and tried to start his own kingdom.[4]
Plot
Chimera Ant arc
Hagya with his two most loyal Officers
In a confession by Rammot, he discloses to his superior Colt that Hagya (the name Leol went by at the time) and Cheetu, despite both being Squadron Leaders, continuously hunt their prey and kill them. Accompanied by another Squadron Leader, Peggy, Colt confronts Hagya about his actions. Hagya claims killing the prey is fun and addicting. Colt asks Cheetu if it is the same for him, who responds Colt misunderstands that the both of them meet their quota and that they hunt in their spare time for enjoyment. Peggy intervenes arguing they're having fun with the Queen's vital food supply, but Hagya argues back that he and Cheetu are simply eliminating the garbage and asks if that's a problem. Dodging the question, Colt inquires if Hagya's aware of the "rare prey". Hagya responds that he is, but that he has never seen any himself, and that he will save them for the Queen, adding that Colt should say that to Rammot to calm him down. When Colt and Peggy leave, however, Hagya tells his two Officers he intends to hunt for rare prey and eat it himself.[2]
Tracking Squadron Leader Yunju's signal, Flutter informs Hagya that Yunju's signal has vanished and that he has probably been killed. Hagya remembers Yunju was stationed at the drug factory. Hagya tells his Officers that they'll track and hunt down the rare prey, much to Hirin (Hina's former name)'s excitement. Hagya then telepathically messages a group of Officers down in the field about the rares and orders them to capture them dead or alive. Flutter worries that the prey may annihilate the entire squadron, but Hagya assures him that they're tough and will manage. Hirin brings up they may not listen to one another, but Hagya claims they're only buying time until they arrive.[5] The three keep giving chase, unaware that Kite exterminated the Officers with Crazy Slots.[6]
That night, Hagya, Flutter, and Hirin come within seeing the distance of Kite, Gon, and Killua. Reminiscing about his past as a lion, Hagya reflects on how he was once on top of the food chain, until an even greater predator came along. That discovery cost him his life, but he was reborn stronger. Realizing the rares are too powerful, Hagya orders his two Officers to retreat, admitting in their current condition they're no match for them and notes that learning and adapting is their best weapon.[3] He presumably attends Neferpitou's "conferment ceremony", during which Rammot brutally awakens him to Nen.[7] With Netero, Morel, and Knov hunting the Chimera Ants surrounding the nest, it is revealed that Hagya is one of the fourteen Squadron Leaders to be left alive.[8]
Hagya witnesses the King's birth.[9] Supported by Zazan, he claims that even though the Queen is not dead yet, there is no reason for them not to go independent, as her wounds rendered her unable to procreate. Bihorn argues against it, but the majority of Squadron Leaders agree with Hagya, who claims it's evident which side has the majority.[4] Hagya thus leaves the nest,[10] setting off on a journey to find a land where to build his own kingdom.[11] Reaching Nebaska, Hagya is interviewed by a freelance reporter who puts up with his embarrassingly immature ideals of an imperial rule. When asked if he is real, Hagya proves it by biting off her upper body.[12]
He eventually heads to the Royal Palace of East Gorteau, where in return for swearing fealty to the King, he is granted a Nen ability from Shaiapouf after spending three days in a cocoon. Around that time he also changes his name to "Leol" and presumably met Grachan. When a certain someone was taking out manipulated soldiers, the Royal Guards are approached by Leol and his loyal Officers. He claims they are indebted to the group after they rescued them from the Hunters trailing them and taught them how to use Nen. The Royal Guard Neferpitou informs Leol about someone taking out his "dolls" and asks that they take care of the problem. Leol agrees to do it and is given a cell phone by Neferpitou since the Royal Guards cannot use telepathy. Leol and his subordinates then head out, while Menthuthuyoupi questions their loyalty. Neferpitou claims it doesn't care for as long as they're willing to risk their lives in order to complete their mission and on the chance they do betray them then they will be dealt with accordingly.[13]
Out on the field scouting the area from above, Flutter spots two suspicious humans: Knuckle Bine and Shoot McMahon. Flutter telepathically contacts Leol to inform him and enquire about how should he approach the situation. Leol orders Flutter to leave them be as they're not the primary target. Told they intended to approach Cheetu and that Flutter diverted him, Leol asks where he went. Neferpitou phones him and tells him to lay an ambush to the north, as they have a hunch their target will pass through there. Leol dispatches Flutter, then proceeds Cheetu as he is on his way to the capital, rejoicing that Cheetu is now in his debt. The former Squadron Leader thanks Leol for the tip. He wonders about A.P.R. and offers to remove it in return for Cheetu's help with the assignment given to him by the Royal Guards. Flutter reports that the target is northeast of Luonton, causing Leol to remark Neferpitou's intuition was correct. He commands Flutter to have his whole squad ready. He tells Cheetu they are probably fighting a Hunter. When Cheetu comments they are a tough breed to deal with, Leol responds he should get A.P.R. removed and receive a Nen ability from Shaiapouf. Cheetu understands the price will be his loyalty, causing Leol to smirk and comment it is a sweet deal. He then tells Cheetu to contact him once he reaches the castle, as he hopes his underling will have discovered the target's ability by then. The other Squadron Leader observes Leol always gets the best posts, to which he responds it is only natural as he used to be the king of the beasts.[14] After the Ortho Siblings seemingly finish off Killua, Flutter informs the siblings he'll report their efforts back to Leol and highly suggest they get promoted.[15]
The Royal Guards later have Leol deal with the enemies encircling the capital. When Cheetu confronts Morel Mackernasey sometime after being exorcised from Knuckle's A.P.R., Leol anxiously spectates the confrontation from a distance.[16] Right after Cheetu activates his Nen ability, Leol contemplates that now that Cheetu's Nen ability has been activated it'll be 8 hours until he returns. Flutter then reports sighting a bespectacled intruder. Leol asks if there is anyone else, to which the Officer replies there are only people in white uniform, which Leol reckons are mere foot soldiers. Unwilling to let anyone see his ability, and with Hirin unable to leave the palace after exorcising Cheetu, he contacts Neferpitou to have former Squadron Leaders Welfin and Bloster sent over as back up. The Royal Guard complies, admonishing him that he'd better eliminate the target quickly as the King himself may wish to head out soon.[17] Before they arrive, Flutter informs him that the bespectacled intruder has managed to use hand to hand combat techniques to take out the surrounding soldiers. Leol orders him to immediately report back when the intruder uses his Nen ability and figures he'll let Bloster and Welfin take care of him, which will also give him the chance to observing their abilities.[18]
Sometime after meeting up with Bloster and Welfin, Leol tries to contact Flutter, to no avail. Frustrated and alarmed by Bloster's impatience and Welfin's desire to reevaluate the situation, Leol conceives a sneaky plan in order to not lose face with Neferpitou. He activates his Nen ability Rental Pod. When Welfin enquires about its function, Leol lies, claiming it has a search function and that he is willing to use it in front of them because he trusts them, asking them to keep it a secret. Seeing Flutter is still among his contacts, he deduces his underling is still alive and either knocked out or out of the communicative range. Bloster then proclaims that he and Welfin will keep the white soldiers busy while Leol confronts the man in the black suit. He claims it is fine with him, as he does not want them to run any risks while thinking to himself he really does not want them to discover his ability. He prints out a ticket from his Rental Pod and discreetly shreds it to activate Flutter's Satellitonbo ("Satellite Dragonflies") while thinking he'll continue being loyal to the King until the day comes when he owes him a favor.[19]
Leol facing off against Morel
The "Satellite Dragonflies" soon locate the intruder in the black suit and the pipe user Cheetu targeted, which leads Leol to speculate Cheetu failed. Leol informs the two that their target has changed from the former to the latter.[20] He learns from Cheetu that Morel can create objects out of his smoke[21] and dismisses Welfin and Bloster so he can hog all the glory.[22] Leol apparently chases Morel around Peijin and into a large and spacious underground church. Within the church, Leol mocks Morel, while he, in turn, analyzes his lion foe and then starts to surrounds the floor around him with his Nen ability Deep Purple. Leol comments on how he learned from Cheetu about his Nen ability so, in turn, shows off his Rental Pod and then puts his earphones on and plugs them into his Rental Pod. Leol then talks about the band Black Planet, whose second album is, in his opinion, the best. This makes Morel feel uneasy as he reluctantly admits he enjoys listening to the band as well.[21]
Leol goes for the attack
Leol activates Rental Pod and, through it, Inamura, conjuring a surfboard and a harpoon while water floods the church and submerges Morel. He swipes the harpoon at the Hunter, who manages to deflect it but sustains a bloody gash to his chest from the board's edge. Exhilarated, Leol taunts Morel, while a livid Morel proclaims the ability Leol is using is not his own. He then creates a boat made of smoke for himself and takes a swipe with his pipe at Leol, but misses. Leol then entraps Morel by creating a vortex with Tornave, which he claims to be one of his original moves. Taking advantage of the situation Leol was going to finish off Morel with his harpoon but loses sight of him. The man in question appears behind Leol and when asked how he did it, he claims he exhaled to project himself safely out of the maelstrom and that his turn has come.[21] Leol retorts that Morel does not get any and that he will only get tossed around by his waves. Morel declares that during the fight he has noticed three critical details: first that Leol can use other people's abilities, second that he either wears his earphones as a charm or to receive orders. He makes a pause to determine if Leol is restricting his hearing to increase the power of his ability, and when Leol enquires about the third observation, Morel replies he will kill him for stealing his friend Grachan's ability.[22]
Leol uses Inamura's Big Wall
Leol objects that Morel is one-sided and wrong since he was defending himself and he is only borrowing the ability. Faced with Morel's skepticism, he remarks it does not matter if he does not believe him while thinking to himself that even though he wants his ability, defeating him is more important. He thus activates Big Wall, which submerges Morel deep into the water. Confident that he has won the match, Leol notices a bubbling water pool near him and when he goes to strike it another appears until he is surrounded by the bubbling pools. Contemplating on the matter, Leol first infers Morel has formed his smoke into hoses to prevent him from knowing where he will resurface but then concludes they are a diversion so he can swim out of the church, a feat his lung capacity would make possible. Suddenly, he feels dizzy and pain in his chest. He wonders if he is being poisoned, then the board disappears from under him; however, the water does not recede since they are underground. As he sinks, he contemplates that he ended up being cornered and fears he will die there. In his final moments, he sees that Morel is using the smoke extending from his pipe to act like multiple hoses and wonders how Morel was able to poison him. It is revealed Morel killed him with CO2.[22]
Morel kills Leol with CO2
Leol is briefly mentioned by Ikalgo inhabiting Flutter's corpse after he and the Chimera Ant Extermination Team invade the palace. Welfin, Bloster, and Cheetu though they recognize Flutter they all become suspicious of him when he calls Leol by his former name Hagya.[23] Bloster later confronts Ikalgo in the secret underground tunnel beneath the palace and when he mentions Hagya's name he notes that Leol hates being called by his previous name and destroys Flutter's body.[24] Leol is mentioned one last time, by Welfin when he questions Hina's loyalty to Leol, but she claims ignorance to those names and doesn't care for the dead.[25]
Abilities & Powers
Being a Chimera Ant, Leol is stronger than an average human and can communicate with other members of his species through telepathy. As one of the former Squadron Leaders, he had authority over his underlings,[5] which he also retained after the death of the Queen.[14] He seems to have been a particularly charismatic leader since even after his defection he boasted a great number of underlings,[26] far more than any known Squadron Leader. Even prior to acquiring Nen abilities, Leol managed to escape from Grachan[13] and have the Hunter owe him a favor,[19] although the circumstances of their fight are unknown.
Enhanced Strength: Due to his lion genes, Leol has strong jaws, capable of tearing off a grown woman's upper body with one bite.[12] According to him, he is capable of throwing his harpoon at sonic speed, which would allow it to pierce a whale swimming deep in the sea,[21] hinting that he has both great physical strength and accuracy.
Keen Intellect: Leol is adept at conspiring and scheming, moving other Chimera Ants from the shadows to achieve his goals. Cheetu praised his ability to always make the most of a situation.[13] Nonetheless, many of the targets he attempted to manipulate were aware of his duplicity.[13][14][18]
Nen
Leol is a Specialist*.[1] His Nen ability was bestowed on him by Shaiapouf after he spent three days in a cocoon, which caused him to claim he was slow.[14] He also received further instructions from the Royal Guard.[13] He is able to adapt very quickly to his borrowed abilities, identifying their main strengths efficiently and selecting the most suited to the situation;[21] however, he is not as skilled when it comes to recognizing their downsides, since he did not know that the water summoned through Inamura would not recede after disengaging the technique because he was underground.[22]
He also had Cheetu's ability borrowed, but never used it as a favor for helping Cheetu gain the ability in the first place. It is unknown exactly how many abilities like this one he had pocketed and unused before his death.
Template:Leol/Nen ability
Battles
| Battles |
|---|
Quotes
- (To Colt) "Why? Because it's fun. Duh. With humans, you can tell what they're thinking the instant they die. Once you have had a taste, you can't get enough."[2]
- (To Hina and Flutter) "As if. Idiot. Let's find these rares and eat them ourselves."[2]
- (To Hina and Flutter) "The new weapon we have is the ability to learn."[2]
- (To Bihorn) "The Queen can't maintain her kingdom... So then each of us could possibly become King."[4]
- (To Bihorn) "Do you get it now? You're in the minority here."[4]
- (To Cheetu) "I used to be the king of beasts, after all."[14]
- "No matter who wins... I'll reap the benefits in the end!!"[16]
- "I can't waste time here. Not until I make the King owe me one!!"[19]
- (To Morel) "Your turn? You don't get any turns. You'll only get swallowed by my waves."[22]
- (To Morel) "Can you even come up?! Which will it be?! Your head split in two by my board?! Or being gored by my harpoon?! Either way, the next time you show your stupid face will be your last!!"[22]
- "It was only supposed to seem like I was the cornered one... He was supposed to be the one cornered... But was it actually... me?!"[22]
Trivia
- It should be noted that Rental Pod allows Leol to use all Nen abilities that are based off a stolen ability. This is confirmed by his stealing Inamura, but also being able to use Big Wall, which can be used only when Inamura is active;[22] the same is true for Super Eye,[20] which he can access while using Satellitonbo, the ability saved in his dispenser.[19]
- The names of Leol's water-based abilities were changed in the Viz translation: Inamura (ＴＵＢＥ) became '"TUBE": Surf's Up', Tornave (渦波 Maelstrom) became '"Vortex": Maelstrom',[21] and Big Wall (大波 Giant Wave) became '"Tsunami": Heavy Pounder'.[22]
- According to the "Hunter × Hunter Manual" section found in the Yu ☆ Yu ☆ Hakusho official character book (Shueisha Jump remix),* Leol's stats are:
| Story Arcs | Mind | Skill | Body | Nen | Ingenuity | Intelligence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chimera Ant arc: NGL | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| 4/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | |
| Chimera Ant arc: Palace Invasion | 4/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
Intertextuality and References
- Inamura is likely named after Inamura Point, a popular location for surfing in Japan.
Translations around the World
| Language | Name | |
|---|---|---|
 Arabic
|
ليول (Liul) | |
 French
|
Leoru | |
 Russian
|
Леор (Leor) Хагья (Khag'ya) | |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Yu ★ Yu ★ Hakusho Official Characters Book Reikaishinshiroku, Hunter × Hunter Manual (section)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Hunter × Hunter - Volume 19, Chapter 192
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hunter × Hunter - Volume 19, Chapter 197
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Hunter × Hunter - Volume 21, Chapter 214
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hunter × Hunter - Volume 19, Chapter 194
- ↑ Hunter × Hunter - Volume 19, Chapter 196
- ↑ Hunter × Hunter - Volume 19, Chapter 198
- ↑ Hunter × Hunter - Volume 21, Chapter 206
- ↑ Hunter × Hunter - Volume 21, Chapter 213
- ↑ Hunter × Hunter - Volume 21, Chapter 215
- ↑ Hunter × Hunter - Volume 21, Chapter 216
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Hunter × Hunter - Volume 22, Chapter 224
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Hunter × Hunter - Volume 22, Chapter 234
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 Hunter × Hunter - Volume 22, Chapter 235
- ↑ Hunter × Hunter - Volume 23, Chapter 240
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Hunter × Hunter - Volume 23, Chapter 244
- ↑ Hunter × Hunter - Volume 23, Chapter 245
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Hunter × Hunter - Volume 23, Chapter 246
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Hunter × Hunter - Volume 24, Chapter 248
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Hunter × Hunter - Volume 24, Chapter 249
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 Hunter × Hunter - Volume 24, Chapter 253
- ↑ 22.00 22.01 22.02 22.03 22.04 22.05 22.06 22.07 22.08 22.09 22.10 Hunter × Hunter - Volume 24, Chapter 254
- ↑ Hunter × Hunter - Volume 26, Chapter 271
- ↑ Hunter × Hunter - Volume 26, Chapter 276
- ↑ Hunter × Hunter - Volume 30, Chapter 315
- ↑ Hunter × Hunter - Volume 23, Chapter 236
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