Honestly, if you're only watching the Hunter x Hunter anime, you're missing out on the most terrifying character Togashi has ever written. Forget Meruem or Chrollo for a second. We need to talk about Halkenburg Hui Guo Rou.
Most fans remember him as the "good prince." The one who went to college at 15, won a silver medal in archery, and wanted to turn Kakin into a democracy. He was the golden boy. But the current Succession Contest arc in the manga has turned him into something much darker.
The Moral Collapse of a Pacifist
Halkenburg started this voyage on the Black Whale 1 with a simple goal: withdraw. He went to King Nasubi and basically said, "I’m not playing your sick game."
It didn't work.
The Seed Urn ritual is a closed loop. You can’t just opt-out. When Halkenburg saw his own Guardian Spirit Beast for the first time—and realized it was basically a parasitic monster feeding on his aura—something in him snapped. He tried to kill himself to stop the war. His Spirit Beast literally caught the bullet.
That’s the moment everything changed. He realized that to change the system, he had to become the system’s peak predator. He’s not a pacifist anymore; he’s a man with "extreme resolve." In the world of Hunter x Hunter, resolve is the ultimate currency.
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How Halkenburg's Nen Ability Actually Works
People get confused by Halkenburg's power because it’s a weird mix of his own Nen and his Spirit Beast. Let's break it down simply.
His Guardian Spirit Beast is an Enhancer. Its main job is "fellowship." It marks his followers with a feather (a pinion) on their hand. If they are truly loyal, they get a massive aura boost. When Halkenburg and his men are together, their collective aura is so loud that even Kurapika—one of the best Nen users we know—admitted he felt completely powerless against it.
Then there’s his personal Hatsu: Grimmel the Dissonance (The Boy Who Shoots the Arrow).
This is essentially a one-hit-kill move. Halkenburg transmutes his aura into a bow. He "loads" the soul of one of his loyal followers into an arrow and fires.
- It is unblockable. Benjamin’s top guards confirmed that no amount of Ken or Gyo can stop it.
- It is undodgeable. The speed is too high.
- The result? The arrow hits the target, and the follower's soul takes over the target's body. The target's original consciousness is "put to sleep" indefinitely.
Basically, he’s not killing people; he’s overwriting them.
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The Balsamilco Body Swap (What Just Happened?)
If you're caught up to Chapter 400+, you know things just got weird.
Halkenburg was recently "detained" by the 1st Prince Benjamin’s faction. They used a biological weapon called TSK-17 to poison him. It’s a slow-acting toxin that kills in about 12 hours.
But Halkenburg isn't stupid. He used his arrow to swap his own consciousness into Balsamilco, Benjamin’s most trusted advisor and strategist.
Think about how insane that is. As of the most recent chapters, the "Halkenburg" sitting in the jail cell is actually a guard or a shell. The real Halkenburg is currently standing right next to Prince Benjamin, disguised as his best friend. He is literally a Trojan Horse inside the enemy’s inner circle.
Why He’s More Dangerous Than Tserriednich
Everyone is scared of the 4th Prince, Tserriednich, because he’s a sociopath who can see the future. But Tserriednich is an individualist. He’s a lone wolf.
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Halkenburg is a collectivist.
His power scales with the number of people who believe in him. He has 12 loyal bodyguards, but he’s also popular with the common people on the lower decks of the ship. If he manages to mark more followers, his aura output could potentially surpass even the Royal Guards from the Chimera Ant arc.
He’s also the only prince who is playing the long game. While Benjamin is trying to brute-force everyone and Tserriednich is obsessed with his own genius, Halkenburg is infiltrating, body-swapping, and sacrificing his own humanity to "win" the throne so he can dismantle it.
What Most People Get Wrong
There’s a common theory that Halkenburg is "turning evil." I don't think that's quite right.
He’s becoming utilitarian. He’s decided that the lives of his 12 guards are a fair price to pay to save the millions of citizens in Kakin. To a guy like Kurapika, that kind of math is horrifying. It makes Halkenburg a dark reflection of what a "hero" looks like when they stop caring about the cost of victory.
Key Details to Watch For:
- The Funeral Procession: Halkenburg has requested a massive public funeral for his "death" (the body that’s poisoned). This is likely a trap to mark hundreds of new followers at once.
- The TSK-17 Timer: He only has a few hours left in Balsamilco’s body before his original body dies. If his original body dies, is he stuck as Balsamilco forever?
- The Tserriednich Connection: They used to be friends. A confrontation between the man who sees the future and the man who overwrites the present is inevitable.
If you want to stay ahead of the Succession Contest, pay close attention to the markings on the hands of the secondary characters. Any guard who suddenly seems "too loyal" or "too competent" might actually be Halkenburg in disguise. The 9th Prince isn't just a contestant anymore; he's the ship's most dangerous ghost.