Meruem

Meruem was the most powerful offspring of the Chimera Ant Queen. He was known as the King of the Chimera Ants. And serves as the main antagonist of the Chimera Ant arc Meruem appears to be rather humanoid for an ant. Meruem is muscular and toned, despite his relatively small frame as compared to his ant servants. He has two long antennae on his ears, and a large shell-like armor over his head that resembles a helmet. There are dark pigmented areas on his arms, legs, chest, and head. Meruem is always barefoot. He also possesses a powerful tail equipped with a stinger that serves as his weapon. It is worth noting that both his hands and feet have only four fingers each.

Meruem is initially seen as a cruel and violent leader. The Queen's intention to give birth to a perfect offspring is reflected in Meruem's mentality, with the Ant being haughty towards all. He speaks in an eloquent manner and has refined tastes for one of his species. He considers himself superior to all other forms of life and feels no concern for his dying mother after his birth. Meruem is also merciless, killing and cannibalizing any Chimera Ant he deems as disrespectful, although he still holds respect towards the strong, complimenting Neferpitou for surviving an attack that had killed many without much damage at all. He shows no empathy towards humans and views them as nothing other than a food source, killing and devouring a child not long after his birth and subsequent departure from the Chimera Ant castle, only to spit out their flesh and call them disgusting compared to the sensations he occasionally experienced while in his mothers womb. As the story progresses however, Meruem starts to grudgingly respect Komugi, a human girl. He eventually grows to even care for her. From there on, Meruem begins to question the differences between the Ants and mankind. He battles with his identity as a half-human and half-insect, questioning the nature of violence and strength as true power. Most of all, Meruem's defining trait is his pride. From the time of his birth to the moments of his death Meruem exhibited a strong confidence in himself and conviction in his actions. Because of his pride and confidence in his abilities he displays a code of honor as when he tried to defeat Komugi by shaking her resolve. Believing that all humans would succumb to fear or desire he challenged her with the conditions that should she win he would give her anything in his power but her failure would mean one of her limbs cut off. Contrary to his assumptions she displayed neither fear nor greed, even asking that if she was to fail, instead of losing a limb, to take her head; and as an apology for thinking so low of her, he tears off his own arm and keeps his word when Komugi tells him to allow for his arm to be treated by not killing her outright and instead letting the game decide her fate.

He is quite adept and learns things at an astonishing rate, being capable of mastering any form seen of board games in just ten matches and defeat world champions with ease. After a brief loss of memory he seems to become much more respectful and closer to his subordinates after being fed a part of them when he was dying, as he can feel things they can feel, and tell easily if they are hiding something or not from him, but at the same time he can sense their loyalty to him, causing him to put their loyalty to the test before considering to punish them, even more so if they answer truthfully despite doing so may inquire admitting to a miscalculation. Meruem was the next to the last ant born of the Queen and held the title of Chimera Ant King. He was born prematurely, forcibly birthed through rupturing through her abdomen. According to the sociology of Chimera Ants, upon the birth of the King, the Royal Guards will solely follow his commands and he will leave the nest to find various creatures to mate with and impregnate in order to create the next Chimera Ant Queen. Soon after he was born, Meruem left his original nest in NGL with his Royal Guards in search of a place to start his kingdom at. His name means "the light that shines on everything." The Chimera Ant King, Meruem, is the most powerful offspring of the Chimera Ant Queen. While still within the egg of his mother, Meruem was prematurely born. Meruem was so eager to be born that he forcibly ripped himself out of his sack. By doing so, he caused severe internal injuries to the Queen Ant, however, Meruem didn't care about his mother at all; his greatest concern was food. When Peggy, along with the other Chimera ant squadron leaders saw their Queen in such a state, Peggy tried to help her; Meruem decapitated him with the mere whip of his tail. Meruem then told Colt to wipe off the blood off his tail and Turtle tried to be thoughtful for the newborn Ant King, but Meruem decapitated Turtle as well. Still hungry, Meruem tried to taste Peggy and Turtle, but he finds them distasteful. Afterwards, his royal guards arrived to escort and guide Meruem around. Hungry for power and food, Meruem leaves the hive and NGL with his royal guards in search of a place to start his kingdom. He descends on the Republic of East Gorteau and takes over the country by killing its dictator, Ming Jol-ik, and having his Royal Guardsman Neferpitou manipulate his soldiers. Meruem then has Neferpitou use Jol-ik's corpse as a puppet to place East Gorteau under martial law. The nation's entire population is then ordered to gather simultaneously in the capital city for a national rally, in order to create a situation in which entire towns and villages could be secretly abducted for a "selection": the forcible awakening of Nen in order to create an army of super soldiers to conquer the world. The Hunters Association mobilizes an extermination team in response in order to raid the East Gorteau kingdom and assassinate Meruem, composed of the Hunters Netero, Morel, Knov, Knuckle, Shoot, Palm, Killua, and Gon; the Chimera Ants Ikalgo and Meleoron join them later on.