Meryem (メルエム, Meruemu) is the most powerful offspring of the Chimera Ant Queen, and the King of the Chimera Ants. He is the main antagonist of the Chimera Ant Arc in the Japanese manga series Hunter × Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi.
Background
Meryem was the next to last ant born to the Queen, and is the King of all Chimera ants. He was born prematurely, fatally injuring the Queen at moment of his birth. 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 ant queen. Soon after he was born, Meryem left the original nest and NGL with his royal guards in search of a place to start his kingdom.
Personality
Meryem, for the most part, has been described as a cruel and very violent leader. His initial personality, at the time of his birth, was that of arrogance. The Queen's intention to give birth to a perfect offspring was reflected in Meryem's mentality. He considered himself superior to all other forms of life and felt no concern for his dying mother after his birth and stopped the other ants from giving her medical treatment. Meryem was also merciless, instantly killing any chimera ant he considered disrespectful. Meryem even killed and ate other chimera ants, something no other chimera ant had ever done.
As the story progressed, Meryem started to grudgingly respect Komugi, a seemingly dimwitted blind human girl; eventually showing concern for her well-being. In one instance he ripped his left arm off as an apology to Komugi for asking her to bet her left arm on a game. In another instance, Meryem momentarily concluded that his power of "violence" was the greatest type of strength and Komugi's abilities in Gungi were meaningless. Yet, moments after this conclusion, when he found Komugi being attacked by a large bird of prey, he couldn't help but protect her. Ultimately, he couldn't understand his own emotions towards Komugi. This left Meryem in a contemplative state in which he pondered on the purpose of his existence in the world.
Meryem subsequently developed a desire to remake the world so that everyone would be so equal that the term "equality" would become obsolete. He even wanted to avoid fighting Netero, so he too could be part of his plan for equality. Netero realized that Meryem was caught between his Ant instincts and his humanity, to which either facet of his psyche could win out. But after losing some of his memories in his battle with Netero, he seemingly returned to his old self. He became a bit angered, when he vaguely started to remember that he could never beat Komugi in Gungi.
Appearance
Meryem appears to be rather humanoid for an ant. His appearance resembles that of another manga antagonist, written and drawn by Akira Toriyama, named Cell, from Dragon Ball Z. Meryem is fairly muscular, despite his relatively small frame as compared to his ant servants. He has two long sideburns on his face, and a large shell-like armor over his head that resembles a helmet. There are black-colored areas on his arms, legs and head. Meryem is always seen being barefooted. He also posses a powerful tail equipped with a stinger that serves as his weapon as well as a tool for travel. The only clothes he has been seen wearing is a strange looking vest.
Plot
Chimera Ant Arc
The Chimera Ant King, Meryem, is the most powerful offspring of the Chimera Ant Queen. Shortly after his birth, Meryem 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. Meryem then uses Jol-ik's corpse as a puppet to order East Gorteau's entire population 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 Meryem, composed of the Hunters Netero, Morel, Knov, Knuckle, Shoot, Palm, Killua, and Gon.
Meryem takes an interest in various board games, and gathered various champion-level players to his palace. Simply by reading the rule books, he was able to master any game in under ten matches, simultaneously learning from his opponents while disrupting the "flow" of their play styles. After defeating the best player for each game, Meryem proceeds to kill them, as they are of no further use to him. The final game Meryem learns is Gungi, a fictional shogi-like board game invented by East Gorteau. The world champion for the game is Komugi, a seemingly dimwitted blind girl. However, as Meryem plays against her, he finds himself unable to disrupt her
Meryem playing against Komugi in Gungi.
flow, while at the same time, the challenge of playing against Meryem causes Komugi's skills to increase.
Much to the shock of the royal guards, Meryem even starts show respect for Komugi and concern for her well-being. In one instance he rips his left arm off, as an apology to Komugi for asking her to bet her left arm on a game, to which she replies that she always bet her life. In another instance, after watching Komugi's Nen suddenly awaken, and realizing she would grow exponentially stronger, but only in terms of Gungi, Meryem momentarily concludes that his power of "violence" is the strongest type of strength, and Komugi's abilities are meaningless. Yet, moments after this conclusion, when Meryem finds Komugi being attacked by a large bird of prey, he can't help but protect her. Being unable to understand his own emotions toward Komugi leaves Meryem in a contemplative state in which he ponders on the purpose of his existence in the world.
During the Hunters' assault on the palace, Komugi is gravely injured by Zeno's Dragon Dive technique, which was meant to cause confusion within the palace. Meryem orders Neferpitou to save her life then goes with Netero to a remote weapons testing site to minimize the damage of their battle. During his confrontation with Netero, Meryem reveals that he has finally realized that he should use his power to create a perfect world, and save certain humans that are "worth saving," but only a special few. Netero retorts that his statement is a contradiction, since he only wants to save the special few who need protection from the king himself. Recognizing that the king is caught in between his Ant instincts and emerging humanity, Netero decides to destroy him quickly, but is ultimately no match for his powers and intelligence. Having admitted defeat, Netero commits suicide to detonate the Miniature Rose in his body as a final attack.
Meryem is horribly injured by the bomb but manages to recover after his guards offer to feed him chucks of their own flesh. With this, they win his unconditional love and trust while he, in turn, gains their abilities and becomes even stronger. He recovers quickly, but loses his memory of recent events due to the explosion and seemingly reverts to his original arrogant self, losing his humanity. He then begins to display Menthuthuyoupi's abilities as well as Shaiapouf's ability to read emotions. He has a higher degree of skill and control than them and can use these powers freely, "as if he had them all along." Once he returns to the palace he uses his "En" to find the remaining members of the extermination team; promptly taking out Knuckle and Meleoron first because of their close proximity. Fearing that the king might regain his humanity once he finds Komugi, Shaiapouf delays Meryem's search by proposing a competition on who will find the remaining intruders, while secretly plotting to erase her existence.
Meryem accepts the engagement on condition that if he wins, he wants to know all of Shaiapouf and Menthuthuyoupi secrets. After the death of Youpi and finding a Gungi piece, Meryem decides to find them himself. Using his "En" a second time, he finds Welfin and begins to interrogate him. He eventually regains his memories after learning of Komugi's name from Welfin, and tells Welfin to live as a human if possible and wishes for him to meet with Gyro someday. He later finds Palm in the Underground Hanger and persuad
es her to reveals Komug's location for him, knowing that the Rose's poison is destroying from the inside. Coming to terms with his mortality despite his great power, he goes off to search for Komugi to enjoy a final game with her.
The two spend the remainder of their lives playing Gungi. Meryem comes to terms with the nature of his existence, concluding that he was born to be with Komugi before his death. In his final moments, he dies by Komugi's side. And Komugi says: "I'm going to join you very soon, as well."
Nen Ability
With each Nen user Meryem eats, he grows in potential and their aura is added to his own aura. So far no special moves of his own have been revealed. Due to his constant Gungi matches against Komugi which he could not defeat, he developed an ability akin to "Precognition" which he uses to overcame Netereo's superior speed. After absorbing large parts of Shaiapouf and Menthuthuyoupi he has shown the ability to use Menthuthuyoupi's ability to transform, saying that he feels as if he has done it all along. He has been shown growing wings to fly and firing a "Rage" beam that can blow up a hill. He can also deploy a wide range "En" in a flash then instantly go to anyone caught in it then bring them back to his original location in mere seconds on his first try. When he uses "En" for the second time, he could sense even non-living objects (i.e Youpi's corpse) or on his own words "everything" He also has Shaiapouf's Spiritual Message added to his "En" allowing him to see clearly on someone hearts just by looking at them.