Hunter X Hunter: Chrollo Lucilfer (INTP)

Ti:

“Perhaps because they’ve nothing to do with us. No, on second thought, it’s not that simple. My motives are unimportant now. I don’t like speaking of them, but surprisingly enough, or as I expected, the reason’s the key to understanding myself.”

“They say Judas sold Jesus over for 30 silver coins. How much would this traitor sell us out for? Think about it. What would he gain by selling us to the Mafia? Money? Fame? Status? Would that really gratify any one of us.”

“And that’s not all that doesn’t add up.”

Chrollo appears to be a Ti dominant. Many people believe him to be an INFJ, but his default mode seems to be Ti, rather than Ni. Chrollo is constantly analyzing everything going on around him, in an attempt to fully understand so he can use the information to strategize. He is quick to see when something doesn’t make sense, and immediately begins to work out why that might be. He doesn’t seem focused on a long term plan, ideal or singular goal, although he does rally his team around individual goals and missions.

Chrollo often shares this reasoning with others so that they can follow what’s going on as well. This partially ties in to Ne and will be discussed in that section, but the urge to explain one’s reasoning and decisions often ties back to Ti rather than Te. The extent to which he does this seems to indicate high Ti. His logical process is extremely thorough; he’s not shown making great leaps, but rather the path to every conclusion and the way it all logically ties together is well-defined.

Chrollo has the stereotypical blank and emotionless appearance of a Ti dominant. He speaks in a sort of monotone way by default, and doesn’t typically relay any kind of feeling in the presence of others. He breaks out of this slightly to act more personable with Neon Nostrade, but he has a more detached approach with his team, in spite of the fact he seems to genuinely care about them. Overall, his focus is on the logical structure that he has created (the spider), in which he ensures the group as a whole will always survive if certain rules are followed. The members themselves are replaceable, which shows a logical approach rather than an emotional. He doesn’t prioritize their individual safety, nor is their “sacrifice” being attributed to the pursuit of an ideal or value. He simply wants his construct to survive.

Ne:

“Hisoka, I have some questions for you.”

“Is that the chain you used to kill Uvo? What did he say to you before he died?”

The biggest giveaway that Chrollo is a high Ne user is the fact that he can’t seem to stop asking questions, or expressing what he’s thinking out loud. This is shown a lot with the other spiders. While I explained this as Ti in the Ti section, it is also Ne because he’s sharing his thought process as he’s thinking it, versus processing it all internally and then sharing it. Ne users often process and rationalize out loud, on the spot, and generally tend to verbalize their thoughts.

His Ne is actually displayed quite prominently when he’s been captured by Kurapika. He spends the entire time talking with his captor, but not in a high Fe way (which would likely involve an attempt to gain favor/sympathy or relay some group value). Rather, he asks several questions, and explains how what Kurapika is doing is pointless. This also demonstrates his Ti as well, since what he is sharing is his personal logic and reasoning. While HunterxHunter as a series tends to be very expository, Chrollo does seem legitimately prone to explaining things above and beyond what’s necessary, indicating that he is a high Ne user. This is supported by a crack Hisoka makes during their fight in Heaven’s Arena (in the manga), where he says “I take it the lecture is over then?”

Chrollo also collects a wide variety of skills and abilities with his book, which he uses in battle against others. This could potentially be seen as an Ne approach, due to the broad range rather than a narrowed and refined focus. In addition, in the manga, when he fights Hisoka in Heaven’s Arena, Chrollo’s strategy appears to be based around barraging him with a constant stream of different or unique attacks, so that Hisoka can’t predict what’s coming next.

Si:

Chrollo’s Si can be seen in the in-depth, detailed nature of his explanations. For instance, he fully explains his Nen fish ability to his victim, prior to the man’s death. He goes into how it works, how the man won’t die until they disappear, and etc. While this was touched on in the Ne section, it can be hard to distinguish a function from the other one in its pair. Generally speaking, those on the Ne/Si axis tend toward providing detailed information, due to Si, while those on the Ni/Se axis tend toward being vaguer.

Chrollo also tends to get caught on details, like when Uvo references Judas as a way to say that they probably have a traitor in their midst. Chrollo feels to the need to correct him, and explain that he doesn’t see Judas as a traitor, rather than focusing on the essence of what Uvo was saying.

Fe:

“Unlike Order Stamp’s owner, the elder thought there wasn’t much difference between humans and puppets. I tend to agree.”

“Humans… are so very… interesting.”

Chrollo appears to be an inferior Fe user. Chrollo does express Fe sentiments, such as “So, what’s key is survival of the whole, not the individual. Never forget that.” He’s loyal to his group, cares about them, and expresses group sentiments as a result. However, his actual Fe use appears weak. For instance, while he explains the logic to them for surviving as a group, he doesn’t appeal to them emotionally, nor does he realize that they’re not emotionally invested in what he’s saying. Many of the members are far too emotionally invested in him personally, but he fails to recognize this because his ability to understand and read others in this way is lacking. So, when he’s kidnapped by Kurapika, Chrollo possesses a false confidence, believing wholeheartedly that his spiders won’t value him above anyone else in the group.

Chrollo also has a generally detached or impersonal way that he looks at people in general. At one point, he likens them to being no more than puppets. This tends to fall more line with inferior Fe.