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Killua Zoldyck (キルア＝ゾルディック, Kirua Zorudikku) is the third child of Silva and Kikyo Zoldyck and the heir of the Zoldyck Family, until he runs away from home and becomes a Rookie Hunter. He is the best friend of Gon Freecss and is currently traveling with Alluka Zoldyck.

He has served as the deuteragonist for the series, having said role in the Heavens Arena, Greed Island, and Chimera Ant arcs. He was the main protagonist of the 13th Hunter Chairman Election arc. He also was the tritagonist of the Hunter Exam arc and the Yorknew City arc.

Killua has spiky silver hair, very pale skin, and blue eyes. His eyes change shape depending on the mood that he's in, narrowing and sharpening when he goes into assassination mode. Killua is fairly lean at the start of the series, due to constant physical conditioning and torture training he received when he was young. As time passes, he becomes more muscular and toned. In the Nippon Animation anime adaptation, Killua's eye color is changed to green during the OVAs. He is also often seen holding a green skateboard (turned yellow in the 2011 series).

Killua typically wears baggy clothing, with his usual attire consisting of long-sleeved and dark-colored shirts. Most of his clothes have a turtleneck. Killua wears long, baggy shorts in the manga and Madhouse animated adaptation, but Nippon Animation's character design shortened them to reach above his knees. Killua also wears purple boots, recolored brown and black in the Nippon Animation adaptation.

As a child, Killua's hair is longer, almost cascading to his shoulders. He wore a hoodie with his trademark blue coloring, grey pants, and shoes.

Personality

Killua's love for sweets

Initially, Killua is introduced as a character who appears similar to Gon: cheeky, cheerful, and full of mischievous ideas. However, contrasting Gon's politeness, Killua can be quite rude to others, mostly strangers and older people. He is most commonly known for having a sweet tooth; he loves everything sweet and spent almost 200 million on snacks when he was at the Heavens Arena. His favorite snack is chocolate, specifically Chocolate Balls and Chocolate Robots.

He is also one of the quickest-thinking characters and often analyzes a situation with great ease and accuracy. In spite of his young age, his way of thinking, knowledge, and pragmatism give him the attitude of an adult. He is initially very confident about his own abilities, going as far as questioning Gon's capability during the Hunter Exam, and compares his strength with other people. As time passed, Killua became humble about it and no longer touts his own abilities. Despite his advanced knowledge and level-headed nature, he is not very open in general and will become very embarrassed when Gon openly calls him his best friend or compliments him about their bond.

Despite his horrendous upbringing and the torturous training his family has put him under, Killua has managed to remain generally positive and does not seem too psychologically affected by the pain he's endured, demonstrating a noble, pure side of him. When showcasing his abilities and turning his Nen into electricity, both Netero and Biscuit have noted how truly tragic his childhood must have been, with the latter stating that it's a miracle Killua is even able to smile at all.

However, his ruthlessness and aptitude in killing show the other side of him—deadly, violent, and bloodthirsty. This side fades as he spends more time with Gon, although he is still unafraid to threaten or kill anyone who threatens or attacks him, his friends, Gon or Alluka. Conflicting with Killua's predisposal to kill is his unyielding loyalty to his friends and natural kindness. He claims Gon was his first friend, and he grows progressively more attached to him as time passes. Killua often suffers immensely in his attempts to help his friends without a single complaint. He puts others before himself without being concerned about his own health or even his life.

Until recently, Killua's greatest flaw was his fear of those seemingly more powerful than him (one of whom being his elder brother, Illumi). Killua had been trained as an assassin by his brother to be extremely cautious and to only engage in combat provided that victory is absolutely certain, and to run away if he has any disadvantage, however minimal it may be. This impeded him as a Hunter, as Biscuit stated more than once that victory is never certain, and that depending on the circumstances, a person has the potential to defeat a stronger opponent.[7]

Killua especially struggles with these dueling ideologies during the latter half of the series, as he begins to encounter stronger opponents. His brother's teachings remained firmly entrenched in his mind, to a point at which Biscuit prophesied that he would one day abandon Gon because of this. Finally, he had to face Biscuit's prophecy when he encountered a Chimera Ant while Gon (who could not use Nen at the time) was not far off and had no way to defend himself. At the last moment, Killua realized that Illumi had implanted a needle in his brain. This needle was responsible for forcing Killua to retreat and jailing himself in his comfort zone whenever any situation would potentially endanger his life. Upon extracting the needle, Killua was freed from this restraint and gained full control of his subconscious to make his own decision whether or not to flee whenever there is a need to fight stronger opponents.[8]

Killua's gambling problem

During the events of Greed Island, Killua has shown to be highly susceptible to gambling. Going as far as to be willing to gamble with his life to get a big reward in the slot machine and seem to show heavy gambling rush in his eyes causing Biscuit to neck chop him to make him stop.

A stark contrast to his best friend Gon, Killua is highly mature in both thinking and emotion in which he can keep his anger in check and maintain rationality better than Gon even when facing a terrifying experience like the death of Kite, while Gon gives in to his rage and loses his logical thinking.

Outside of his older brother, Killua does not seem to hate or fear any other Zoldyck, he respects both his father Silva and his grandfather Zeno, he only finds his mother Kikyo annoying, and despite constant death threats, he and Milluki seem to have a relatively "normal" brother relationship, as they can help each other in certain occasions. Killua later turns against his family after realizing they allowed Illumi to attempt to kill Alluka via a loophole in the intra-family mission rules.

Six-year-old Killua playing

Killua was born in the Republic of Padokea*[3] and is the middle child of a family of known assassins, the Zoldycks. Showing great promise from birth, Killua followed the traditional Zoldyck training, which was imparted to him by Silva, Kikyo and Illumi.[11] He had already mastered many killing techniques at a tender age and was set to be one of the best assassins the family had ever produced.[12] At the age of three, he started training in tailing that routinely put his life at risk.[13]

At a young age, he fulfilled three of Alluka's requests, causing Nanika to take over. He asked her how to revert the change, and it explained its powers to him. He decided to keep it a secret from their parents, who were however informed by Mitsuba after she witnessed one episode. Silva and Kikyo questioned him about it, and he relayed what Nanika told him, adding that refusing four demands resulted in death only after Mitsuba is killed.[14]

At the age of six, he was forced by Silva to battle in the martial arts tournament at the Heavens Arena until he reached the 200th floor, after which he was allowed to return home.[15] It took him two months to reach the 150th floor,[16] and a total of two years to get to the 200th.[15]

Killua meeting Canary

When he was six or seven, he mastered the game of darts as part of basic training.[17] Around the age of nine, he met and attempted to befriend the newly hired Canary. She thanked him for the thought, but, due to their different status, she declined his offer to be friends.[12]

At an unknown point in his life, his family determined he lacked the mindset of a real assassin and had Illumi implant a special needle in his head to subliminally remodel his character through fear,[18] as well as to prevent him from freeing Alluka from her playroom.[14]

About three years before the events of the Yorknew City arc, Killua and his brothers were summoned by their father, who, having just assassinated member #8 of the Phantom Troupe for a price deemed not worthy of the job (the highest compliment he ever gives a target), admonished them to stay away from the Troupe.[19]

Sick of killing, at the age of 11 he rebelled against his family, injuring his mother and older brother, and ran away from home to take the Hunter Exam for fun.[20] By that time, he had already assassinated more people than the Bomber(s) combined.[21]

Plot

Hunter Exam arc

First Phase

Killua asks for more laxative juice

Killua is one of the few rookies who make it to Zaban Tunnel. He meets Tonpa, and accepts the drink offered to him, despite suspecting the drink contained some chemicals. He later asks for four more cans, baffling Tonpa, but Killua reveals to him that he has built a resistance against poisons and would not be killed by them. Satotz then arrives to announce the start of the 287th Hunter Exam, in which the applicants would have to follow him to the next examination site. Killua uses his skateboard and passes by Gon Freecss, Kurapika, and Leorio Paradinight. Leorio berates him for using a skateboard in an endurance test, but Gon points out that Satotz only told them to follow him. Killua asks Gon's age and finds out both of them are almost 12 years old. He decides to run alongside the group and asks for Leorio's age, calling him "pops". Insulted, Leorio reveals he is not even 20 yet, to the two boys' shock.[2]

Gon and Killua shocked at Leorio's age

60 kilometers later, Leorio becomes extremely exhausted. Killua is convinced that he is dropping out and tells Gon to leave him behind. Leorio finds the motivation to continue running and Gon picks up Leorio's suitcase with his fishing pole. An impressed Killua wants to try it, while Gon wants to try his skateboard.[2] Halfway up the stairs, Gon and Killua reach the front of the group, with Killua claiming the reason is the slow pace. Gon enquires why Killua wants to be a Hunter. Killua answers that he doesn't, only that he is interested in taking the exam because it has been described as really tough, although for the time being, he finds it tedious and boring. He returns the question to Gon, who explains that his father is a Hunter and that he wants to follow in his footsteps. Laughing, Killua comments he is weird for not knowing how he is. Moments later, the applicants emerge in the wetlands.[22]

Killua senses that Hisoka will kill again

After the failed attempt of two Man-faced Apes to trick them, Satotz leads the applicants across the Milsy Wetlands and warns them not to fall to the numerous wild animals living in the swamp. Killua invites Gon to get in the front of the group, as he thinks it would get them away from Hisoka Morow, who would use the fog as cover to kill someone. He explains that he could feel it because he is like him. When the applicants behind them start falling prey to the endemic flora and fauna, Killua warns Gon to remain focused on the runners in front of him, as it would be easy to fall into the animals' traps if they are separated. When he hears Leorio scream, however, Gon rushes to him against Killua's advice, leaving him to continue the run alone.[23]

Second Phase

Killua kills a Great Stamp

Killua makes it to the Visca Forest Preserve, the site of the second trial, which the applicants reach five minutes before noon. He is pleasantly surprised to see that Gon got there, and stumped by his declaration that he followed his friend's cologne. The rumbling sounds come from inside the building cause Killua to assume there is some kind of beast inside, but, when the doors open, it turns out to be Buhara's stomach. The examinees meet Gourmet Hunters and proctors Menchi and Buhara, who reveal the Second Phase entails cooking. Buhara requests a whole roast pig from each applicant, but the only one in the preserve is the world's most dangerous pig. Nonetheless, Killua and Gon's friends easily complete the task[24] along with 66 other applicants. However, Menchi baffles the examinees when she requests they make sushi, as none of them knows what it is. He almost fails the trial,[25] but passes the amended phase when Chairman Netero intervenes. The test is taken to Split Mountain where examinees hunt for Spider Eagle eggs. At the end of this stage, there are 42 applicants left, among whom is Killua.[26]

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