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neferp1t0u:

Something I love about Hunter X Hunter is that Gon’s determination is NOT portrayed as his best feature. It’s his flaw.

In most shonen, the protagonist never gives up and that’s how he wins (along with the power of friendship). It’s seen as admirable, something that viewers should strive for.

But in HxH, that refusal to give up is terrifying. Gon goes past his limits and hurts himself and others in the process. It gets to a point where you don’t want him to win anymore, if this is what winning means. You take one look at Gon, and you think, “He needs to stop. This isn’t healthy.” And even when he does win, it’s bittersweet. You aren’t left with the high of a power fantasy. You’re left with concern for this small child who is continually destroying himself, over and over.

In chapter 337, Kite says to Koala that he’ll always be making up for what he had done. Does it mean he really should suffer every day or is it not so litteral? Do you think the idea of their whole conversation might apply to troupe, Illumi, Hisoka (if they get redemption)?

I don’t know whether or not it’s entirely literal. I don’t think so, but I think it does get the vital importance of connection that HxH seems to be trying to convey. Because she isn’t saying suffer so much as instead stay with me.

Kite’s worldview was framed as a bit dodgy in his human life, notably here:

The problem is, of course, a strong fellowship is what dooms the ants and also points out the flaws of the Hunters trying to exterminate them–because there was absolutely no need to do it. It was a futile effort that only brought hurt to both the Hunters and the ants.

At the same time, connection comes with pain. We see that in Killua and Gon’s relationship; as beautiful as it is, it’s also flawed like all relationships, and they suffer for caring about each other. Komugi dies because she connected with Meruem and chose to spend the rest of her life playing Gungi with him, because that connection (which her descriptions of her family tell us she didn’t really have elsewhere) was the most important thing in her life.

To suffer continually I think would be to repeat this cycle that Koala describes here:

The “I shot her to protect myself” I think gets at the heart of what is going on with Gon when he attacked Pitou, when Kurapika is seeking revenge on the Troupe and going after the eyes, when Illumi is trying to control Killua and Alluka, when Chrollo is stealing, when Hisoka is being Hisoka. It’s about them. They’re seeking to protect their own sense of worth. Gon in fighting, because his father taught him fighting=you can earn the right to meet me. Killua in protecting Gon=I have a purpose and something to do. Kurapika seeking to honor his heritage (where his worth comes from), Illumi in seeking to control the family that abused him, Hisoka in seeking near-death experiences and pleasure, Chrollo in trying to find out who he is (since he currently defines himself by the Spiders).

You can’t ever erase what you’ve done, especially if you’ve taken a life. Which at this point all our characters pretty much have except, like, Leorio. But I think for HxH, redemption is really just genuine connection. I’ve written a bit before about how redemption is different in different stories. Like Meruem and Pitou never showed remorse for the children they killed, but I think most people would consider them kind of redeemed–because they formed genuine connections. Pitou with Meruem, and Meruem with Komugi.

So, should there be any redemption for those characters, it would rely on their ability to make connections. Kurapika’s connections to his friend and to Oito and Woble are likely to save him from his spiral. Chrollo is connected to his troupe, but also equally attached to to his troupe’s ideology, which is why I expect him to choose at some point, and his choice will decide his fate. Illumi’s connection to his family is twisted and obsessive and objectifying in nature but he does have those connections, so it remains to be seen if he can learn how to not objectify his brothers (perhaps through realizing his parents have objectified him, if that were to happen, but that’s me guessing). Hisoka however does not have direct connections, and that’s kind of a calling card of his character… but he is, at this point, kind of connected to Illumi, so we’ll see how this plays out.

(I’m genuinely not worried about any of the narrative six characters dying until like, the very end of the series, and then I have no idea.)

Thanks for clarifying. I suppose I’ve always looked at Gon as someone who would never readily indulge in violence and revenge.

No worries! I agree, I don’t think Gon deliberately seeks out that kind of violence or revenge (a la Hisoka). I think Killua pointed out during the invasion that Gon was kind of beyond reason in that arc (he’d been through wayyyyy too much at that point, none of which was his fault). Every person has their breaking point and I think that was his breaking point, like I think this arc is Kurapika’s.

Gon’s anger when he encounters Pitou again does not come from his need to view them as a monster, but rather the unfairness of what’s happened and what’s happening.

I definitely don’t disagree with you that
his frustration being related to unfairness! The ideas are not mutually
exclusive; I believe another layer to that unfairness is that part of
the reason he thinks it’s unfair is he does view Pitou(understandably!
Completely understandably) as a monster. You don’t have to agree of
course, but do you mind if I explain why I said that?

The struggle of
humans and ants to empathize with each other instead of categorizing
each other as monsters to be eradicated or cattle to be eaten was a
recurring theme. I don’t think Gon was concerned overmuch with the fate
of humanity, but Kite did warn him about this tendency of his here:

Gon did not want Pitou to be a creature who was capable of camaraderie, which Pitou’s actions with Komugi proved they were. I think that indicates that Gon did view Pitou as a lesser, eviler being, but was certainly frustrated when that was proved not the case. However, you are entitled to disagree!