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In episode 91 of Hunter X Hunter, he is born, the great king of chimera ants, Meruem. A powerful and unforgiving existence, the being that has superior attributes in all aspects; the being who killed his own mother for not wanting to wait for the his birth to end; the being who killed one of the same race for trying to teach him something; the being that killed a child just to eat its meat and say it is disgusting; the being who was superior to everything and everyone thanks to his attributes, the height of narcissism and self-centeredness, acting based on brute force; raw power is what makes the law of the strongest prevail. However, Meruem is not simply a character, but one of the pillars of the arch and one of the best built within his archetype that could easily be one-dimensional, but which Togashi uses exquisitely, cadencing and being subtle throughout the entire arc.
"Make your limited brains work and think. Did you ever spare the life of a pig or a cow when they begged for their lives?" - In Meruem's view, humans were just mere animals about to be slaughtered, they were a useless race and only served as food. To demonstrate his superiority, Meruem began to challenge professional players of each board game, defeating them just by reading the books with the rules of each game. This continues until he meets Komugi, a professional Gungi player (a game that was created by Togashi himself and does not exist in real life). He is fascinated by Komugi, as he cannot defeat her at all. Meruem could not understand why Komugi, a fragile and weak being, managed to overcome him in something. During the great sequence of games between the two, their bond grew more and more. With that he begins to learn that he is not superior in everything and everyone that exists and that there are several other different types of strength that must be valued apart from brute strength.
"Who am I? Why am I here? A nameless king. A stolen castle. My subordinates are objects. If this is the mandate of heaven that I have been given… I am not afraid… I am not afraid of anything… except for the boredom it will bring ”- From here begins a subversion of roles, the monster becomes increasingly empathic and, in contrast, our heroes are followed by fury and rancidity; Meruem begins to understand that his powers could be used as a way to protect others, and not just as an exclusive resource and means of violence. Komugi is hurt again, this time it is during the attack on the palace. His priority is not to obliterate the invading enemies or defend the palace, his concern is in Komugi who was mortally wounded. With that, Meruem learns that power is not only made to destroy, it is also made to protect the weak. “Because of Komugi, I learned that there are several different ways to use power, one of which is to protect the weak. I killed a child coming here, that child could have the power to be better than me at something ... I destroyed that seed for no reason. ” Netero and Zeno are petrified to see Meruem holding Komugi's fragile body because they expected to find a monster, not a "human". At that moment, another great scene takes place with great support and subtlety: the great king of ants passes by Netero and Zeno, calmly walking. He could have done both with just wagging his tail, but he prefers to respect the moment in a human way. He asks Pitou to heal Komugi and agrees to fight Netero.
Before the fight starts. Meruem does not want violence, he says he has changed his opinion of humans. The great king of ants, a powerful being who was created to reign above all, abdicated from fighting. In this scene, he demonstrates more humanity and rationality than humans, including Gon. Then subverting the hero's paradigm. "Do you struggle with the determination to lose? I can't understand. Do you fight for the human race? In that case, know that my actions are, in fact, for their benefit. For example, in human society, lands are divided across national borders , as well as territorial markings. On the right side of the border, children can starve to death. While on the left, the scum that does nothing has everything it needs. Absolute madness. I will crush that madness… and create such a fair world. that the concept of inequality will be forgotten. I admit that I will initially use power and terror to accomplish my goal, but I will only do so to the extent necessary to maintain order. I learned what power should be used for. To protect the weak who deserve to live. Power should not be used to torment the defeated. " These are the questions posed by politics, religion and philosophy and resonate with the restrictions of our world, Meruem forces us to face our own true cruelties, to evaluate the ethics of our actions and the hypocrisy they have, all of this in a social and Netero realizes how much Meruem has matured and he says he wants to finish this fast before his heart softens. Meruem doesn't want to fight and says the only way to convince him would be with words, so Netero weighs in on the human side of the king making him fight to know your name.
"Good night, Meruem."
