Chrollo Lucilfer (クロロ=ルシルフル ,Kuroro Rushirufuru)

Chrollo Lucilfer is a calm, handsome young man, coming across as intelligent and charismatic. He seems to be a born leader, able to hold the Phantom Troupe together despite the volatile personalities that make up the group, and well versed in strategies.

During his time in Yorknew City, he uses his calm presence and communication abilities to assume another personality in order to gain Neon Nostrade's trust.

The only people Chrollo seems to care about are his fellow members in the Phantom Troupe. When Chrollo reads Neon's prophecy which contained Uvogin's death, he cries for him. Later on he orchestrates a massacre of Mafia members as a requiem to his fallen comrade. Besides that, he shows no fear of his own death, even anticipating it. Another Hunter, Melody, states that, his heartbeat sounded as if he was living with death, and apparently appears sadistically happy with it. To Chrollo, the Phantom Troupe are more important than his own life. In a group meeting, Chrollo stresses that the importance of a leader only extends to issuing commands, but the survival of the group comes before the well-being of the leader. To paraphrase him, the head of the spider is just another limb that can be sacrificed for the survival of the spider.

By the end of the Phantom Troupe Story Arc, Chrollo's heart is bound by the Stake of Retribution on Kurapika's Judgment Chain. This will pierce through Chrollo's heart and kill him immediately under either of the following conditions:

1. He tries to use his Nen
2. He communicates directly with any member of the Phantom Troupe. (Chrollo is able to talk to Hisoka after Hisoka removed the fake spider tattoo on his back, proving that he had been deceiving the Phantom Troupe all along. He was never a true member.)

Instead of killing Chrollo, Kurapika renders him powerless in order to contain the Phantom Troupe. Chrollo sets off to the east in order to fulfill the prophecy given him by Neon. The destination to the east in the prophecy is later revealed to be Greed Island, the likely place to find a Nen-remover to neutralize Kurapika's chain. Chrollo obtains the game and recruits Hisoka to enter it for him since the game requires the ability to use Nen. Hisoka happily complies for the chance to fight Chrollo once his power is restored.

Talents

Chrollo is a quick thinker and very able-bodied. His ability to fend off the attacks of the two most powerful members of the Zoldyck family of assassins at once is proof of his fighting skill and strength. Zeno states that he would undoubtedly defeat Chrollo in a one-versus-one fight, but remarks that it would be a different matter if Chrollo were truly trying to kill him, instead of trying to steal his abilities. His vast book of abilities also gives him great insight into the abilities of others in combat and strategy (such as when he deduced Kurapika having the ability to impose rules on others with his Judgment Chain).

Nen Ability

Chrollo's Nen Ability is called "Skill Hunter". It allows him to steal the Nen Abilities of other people to use them as his own using a book known as the "Bandit's Secret." The theft victim, of course, no longer has access to his ability. The theft happens under strict conditions:

1. He must witness the nen ability in action with his eyes.
2. He must ask about the ability and be answered by the victim.
3. His victim's palm must touch the handprint on the cover of Bandit's Secret.
4. All of the above must be done within an hour.

To use one of the stolen abilities, he first conjures Bandit's Secret and turns to the page of the wanted ability. While using an ability, Chrollo must turn to the page with the ability on it and the book must remain opened in his right hand. Additionally, an ability vanishes from the book when its former owner dies.

Known Nen Abilities in the Book

Teleportation

The ability to teleport a person back and forth from one place to another, without that person's consent. He uses it on Nobunaga when he is about to attack Hisoka, as quarrels inside the Troupe are supposed to be either solved verbally or, if no solution can be found, by coin flipping.

Indoor Fish

A conjured fish that can only survive in a completely sealed room. The fish looks like a skeleton and feeds on human flesh. While the person is being fed on, they neither feel pain or lose blood, and will stay conscious despite being mortally wounded. Once the fish disappears, the usual effects of the wounds manifest, often killing the victim.

Fun Fun Cloth

An ability owned by the Owl, a member of Shadow Beasts. This cloth is conjured, and can increase and decrease in size according to the user's will. Whatever is covered in the cloth decreases in size until it fits in the palm of a hand. The user can make it go back to its original size by letting it out of the bag. People can also be shrunk this way, without being injured.

Chrollo obtains this ability while the Troupe tortured the Owl after they captured him to find out how he hid the auction pieces they intended to steal.

Lovely Ghost Writer

An ability stolen from Neon Nostrade. It creates accurate predictions of future events. The user cannot predict their own future. The ability requires:

1. A Person's Full Name (and, only if she sees the person, a photo would also do.)
2. Their Date of Birth
3. Their Blood Type

The target person writes the required information on a piece of paper, then hands it to the abilities user, who then calls the "Lovely Ghost Writer", a sort of green monster that attaches to the users arm and moves his pen. The user does not know what he writes, being in a trance-like state.

The prophecies take the form of poetry, composed of 4 or 5 quatrains each corresponding to every week of the month. The first stanza is always about something that has already happened.

Neon refuses to read her own predictions, feeling it would spoil her ability, but Chrollo has his predictions read out by the addressees. So this seems not to be an ability restriction, but rather a matter of personal style.