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Player Information
Name: Jaz
Age: 25+
Contact: poisonparfait
Other Characters: none

Character Information
Name: Gon Freecss
Canon: Hunter x Hunter
Canon Point: After chapter 345/episode 148
Age: ~14/15 (spoke with mod team about why character is qualified for the setting despite being a year under the cap!)
History: World and character.

Personality: 

 

Gon grew up in a tiny fishing port island known as Whale Island. It's population is so small that there weren't really any children his age around, and a lot of the traffic on the island itself is transient folks, such as sailors and merchants. Because of this, in his own way, Gon grew up quite sheltered, and he spent most of his time in the nature surrounding his modest house. As a result, Gon is unusually gifted with animals, seeming to be able to commune with them by mutual instincts; he even easily befriends aggressive, feral creatures. For similar reasons, Gon's also quite adept at identifying different plant life, foraging, etc.

 

Gon had always demonstrated remarkable talents like this, and we're shown some feats of unnatural strength, endurance and perception from Gon, even at a very young age. He has a bit of a reputation for it on Whale Island, and because of that increasingly began to feel like a big fish in a small pond; this eventually lends to an extremely confident, reckless personality.

 

Despite that, Gon’s aunt Mito describes him as being very agreeable,  having never asked for anything until the day that he asked for her blessing to become a Hunter, which is essentially fighter/finder/problem-solver, elusive and invaluable. It was a venture she felt helpless to contest against, assuming he'd inherited his will from his headstrong, absent father. 

 

Although his aunt always told him his parents died in an accident, when he was about 6 years old, Gon encountered a man named Kite, who told him he’d come to Whale Island in search of Gon’s father -- who was still alive as a world-class Hunter.  Kite displayed remarkable strength and compassion that shook Gon. Although he kept it a secret that he knew about his father, Gon spent years growing up influenced by this knowledge, eventually unable to stifle his curiosity and his drive  to find his father. 

 

Once off the island and out in the world, Gon demonstrates a ravenous exuberance to consume it. His primary motivation is to see what was so amazing about being a Hunter that it would lead a father to willingly abandon his own family in favor of pursuing that career and lifestyle instead. But this is a motivation apparently unmarred by any sort of feelings of familial trauma. Gon is, of course, curious and eager to meet his father, but he doesn't pursue this with a chip on his shoulder, any resentment, or angst; instead, it's a curiosity that continuously feeds and inspires him, keeping his eyes bright as he fearlessly navigates the unfamiliar, ruthless world around him. 

 

Gon is charming and energetic, but also proud and remarkably stubborn. Though he didn't necessarily show these qualities much while on the island he grew up on, these traits are expressed outward in full, aggressive force as soon as he embarks on his journey to become a Hunter. The Hunter lifestyle and career attracts all sorts of eccentric, powerful adults, many of whom are immediately quite taken with Gon. First of all, it's rare (almost unheard of), that a child is capable enough to undergo the trials that earn a Hunter their license, even at the pre-preliminary stage, so he garnered attention for that—but many were also won over by his determination, sunny disposition, and unconventional ways of thinking. 

 

The first real friend that Gon ever makes is a boy named Killua—the two click immediately because they're both the same age and the only two kids in this insanely dangerous circumstance. Killua, unlike Gon, is in it for the sheer fun of it, and Gon is immediately awed. Their backgrounds are very different as well, as Killua is a runaway assassin. 

 

Although Gon values life, his morals are very grey and complex. While Gon doesn't flinch too much when people around him fall to murder or disaster, he does value all life; he can simply compartmentalize, and has a naturalist view on life and death. He does not fault Killua for his assassin background, and this allows Killua to relax around him and for them to truly become friends. For example, Gon holds no ill will even toward the explicitly predatory and bloodthirsty Hisoka, another Hunter who explicitly threatens Gon. Instead, Gon simply admires Hisoka's strength, and is even shown to be excited at the prospect of testing his mettle against the older Hunter someday.

 

On the subject of unusual thinking, Gon is frequently misunderstood by others as simple-minded. Part of this is due to his sheltered upbringing; there is a lot he simply doesn't know and hasn't experienced. He struggles with math, and can't handle digesting a lot of information at once before he becomes overwhelmed, and his brain just sort of shorts out. He's more content to just throw his hands up and say that he'll just learn it with practice. It's more accurate to say that Gon is actually very intelligent, but simply learns differently than others. He is very receptive to hands-on learning. He also excels at improvisational and unconventional problem-solving, which shocks and leaves an impression on those who read him as dimwitted.

 

Gon is patient and calm while others panic, allowing him to get through difficult situations with his inventive thinking. An example of this is when Gon's companions were fighting amongst one another during one of the Hunter trials.  The last stage of that trial was that there were 5 people left, and two possible paths. One would allow all of them to pass, but would make them run out of time. The other was short but only allowed three of the five to pass. So, displeased with the options while his teammates are arguing, Gon decides to simply break through the wall to allow all of them through. This is a very straight-forward approach, but was also thinking outside the box.  

 

Like many shounen protagonists, Gon is extremely stubborn. However, the narrative spin leaves the audience squeamishly hoping that Gon will just give up.  An example of this was when in the final stage of the Hunter Exam a room full of adults watched Gon fight a deadly trained ninja named Hanzo. Hanzo broke Gon's arm, and beat him until he was vomiting blood and bile. 

 

Although the arena floor was smeared with Gon's blood (...and other things), Gon kept standing, making Hanzo and their onlookers increasingly uncomfortable as some pleaded for Gon to throw in the towel. When Hanzo realized that Gon wouldn't back down, he forfeited the match—which made Gon furious. When Gon’s desires and intentions are denied, he can actually be downright bratty. Gon was not content to win this way, and he argued to continue or find some other way he could win by his own merit. Gon  was straight- up knocked unconscious to put an end to it.  This behavior continues for most of the series. Gon wants things to go his way, and he’s happy to die trying.

 

Gon’s stubbornness is continually rewarded. When Killua’s family forces him to go home,  Gon is so furious, he confronts and threatens Killua’s older brother, a man who is terrifyingly powerful and sadistic. Once Gon gets the information he wants, he relentlessly  pursues  Killua and rescues him from his family so they can journey together. Gon is extremely loyal to those he forms bonds with. He is adamant to put his life on the line for them. The nature of this bond is also very forgiving and flexible. It seems impossible to truly damage this bond., 

 

After this point, Gon learns to use his canon’s brand of fight magic. Quickly, he learns it like a prodigy, only fueling his confidence and need to accumulate power.

 

Gon understands that he will be underestimated by the adults around him, but he’s the type of kid who demands to be taken as seriously as adults are.  He quite literally strong-arms himself into getting his way with that, too. In the Hunter x Hunter universe, might makes right and morality falls by the wayside. 

 

Gon’s personality experiences a serious shift when Kite, the man who told him about his father, comes back into the story. As the journey continues, Gon and Killua decide to accompany his father’s old friend (if we use the term nebulously) on a mission to contain and eradicate a dangerous foreign creature called the Chimera Ant. Chimera Ants are sentient and evolve rapidly with each generation. Even with Kite, one of the most powerful Hunters in the Hunter’s Association accompanying, they are absolutely not ready for this. Despite attempts at dissuading them, Gon and Killua insist on going with Kite.

 

 The ants become so powerful so quickly that the Hunter Association does not have anyone who is strong enough to beat them. 

 

One of the ants, named Neferpitou, targets Kite to test its abilities. Because Kite is distracted with the kids, the ant gets the jump on him and rips off his arm. Gon immediately flies into a blind rage to try to save Kite, even though Kite is a much more powerful Hunter. Gon once again has to be knocked out cold to prevent him from acting impulsively and forfeiting his life. When he comes to, his only goal is to get stronger in this too-short period of time to go save Kite.  

 

The stress and horror of losing Kite and watching this war between people and ants traumatizes Gon. Between learning that Kite has died and finding his zombified body, Gon shuts even Killua out emotionally, deciding he must avenge Kite by himself. 

 

Before this point in the series, Gon had never really experienced the violent death of someone he cared about. Previously, Gon had been mostly unshaken by death or gory violence to himself or others. This time, it causes him to become colder, hyper-focused, distant and more humorless.. The adults notice that Gon is not doing well, even when engaged in play or relaxing.  

 

All of this plays on Gon’s biggest fear and frustration of being too physically weak to accomplish his goals or protect his loved ones. This is one of his main motivations to become stronger. In Gon's eyes, everything that has happened to Kite is his fault. He decides he was just too weak to fight off the ant that attacked Kite and that the only way he can redeem himself is to restore Kite somehow, even if it costs him his own life.

 

Gon becomes obsessed with vengeance and achieving penance, and it leads him into spiralling self-destruction. 

 

Though he and Killua have been through everything together and risked one another’s lives for each other, Gon decides that he must seek revenge alone.  He does not change his mind even though it hurts Killua deeply, and he ordinarily cares about Killua above everything else.

 

Gon eventually finds Neferpitou, the ant responsible for making Kite an "undead" (see: totally dead) puppet. However, at that time, the ant is busily operating on a severely weak and wounded girl.  Gon wants this ant to come fix Kite, but is told that it will be hours before the operation is finished. He is so beside himself with indignant fury that he must now wait when this ant destroyed Kite's life on a whim that, he straight up threatens to kill the girl the ant is operating on so he can get what he wants immediately. This is new from him, the ordinarily incredibly patient boy who can sit still for hours to capture his quarry. The ant manages to compromise with Gon, talking him down from his threat of cold-blooded murder. This very scene is framed as a disturbing contrast to his character. 

 

Eventually, the ant leads Gon somewhere far away to put some distance between him and the girl. Only then does Neferpitou admits that there is no way to reverse what's been done to Kite. This shocks Gon to his absolute core.  He goes through deeply wounded disbelief, then an unbearable, calm fury. 

 

In this moment, Gon is unable to cope with the sense of singular responsibility that he has burdened himself with. Though vengeful, Gon now feels that he must atone with his life. 

 

Gon certainly intends to kill Neferpitou, and he does this using his universe's nonsense shounen magic stuff (called nen). Using nen, Gon culminates the entirety of his lifetime’s potential for one instance in order to defeat Neferpitou. It deforms his body, causing him to grow to the size of a large adult, and he violently kills Neferpitou, unflinchingly losing his arm in the process. In a trance, he continues to annihilate the dead body. Killua finds him at the last minute before Gon obliterates himself. Seeing his dear friend brings him back to his senses, and Gon stops. 

 

Unfortunately, the damage is done—both to his body, and potentially, to some extent, to his friendship with Killua. This expenditure of magic leaves Gon’s body shriveled, bleeding, and dying in a hospital. Gon is eventually saved by Killua’s actions, through some insane one-time magic. When Gon comes to, Killua is gone. Sobered by the overwhelmingly strong emotions he'd experienced in the moment, Gon is faced with heavy remorse for his callous attitude towards Killua, compounded with feeling responsible for Kite's death.

 

 Additionally, because he used all of his potential with nen for one battle, Gon can no longer use it, making him both weaker than all other Hunters and unable to continue his Hunter career.  Gon expresses his feelings of shame to a friend, and when he finally meets his father, Gon tearfully (and kind of incoherently) expresses his regret to him as well. It's clear that he feels horribly guilty. For the first time in his life, Gon's childish tendency to push for having things his way has a terrible, traumatic consequence, and Gon recognizes it with major impact. Though we don't have enough canon material after the last time we see Gon to tell, it's hopeful that he'll be more careful in the future, especially without the ability to use nen. All essentially a hard lesson learned in growing up.

 

Gon and Killua split up for an indefinite period, Killua deciding he wants to travel with his recently-rescued little sister, and Gon finally meets with his father, Ging, to speak privately and openly with him for the first time. Ging isn't a super active presence in Gon's life, but they seem to have a good relationship, and are shown talking on the phone.

 

It’s not all bad on the Kite front. Kite manages to reincarnate through his own nen nonsense and meets up with Gon. Gon finally has the chance to apologize to him in person, which also ends up going very well, and their bond deepens. Gon seems more spirited after these two positive developments. 

 

Gon and Killua keep in touch via text and the occasional video call. Gon catches up on his studies at home (he'd promised Mito he'd return home after finding his father), and is shown to occasionally travel with Kite  and his group for nature-related hunting tasks. So while Gon probably still carries a heavy head of remorse, and had indeed expressed some hesitation in parting with Killua, he's not letting his trauma and mistakes impede pursuing what he can.

 

 

Abilities & Skills:

- Very skilled fisherman
- Thinks quick on his feet
- Can easily discern what wild flora/fauna is or isn't edible
- Unusually perceptive to the characters of other people
- Can hold his breath for 9 minutes?? Does that count

Gon has been canonically nerfed, so he's out of magical shounen powers to make parallel in this world. But he's still got:
- An absurdly (see: abnormal) sharp sense of smell, hearing, taste, and vision, in that order.
- Abnormal physical strength.
- An extremely well trained body; insane agility and endurance, is quite muscular, etc
- A knack for healing very quickly
- Excellent stealth/ability to track/hunt

Inventory/Companions:
- Clothes on his back
- Fishing rod
- Cellphone (which he'll probably just let die tbh)
- Backpack, which contains: gauze, bandaids, antibacterial ointment, alcohol wipes, spare fishing cord/lures, a journal (personal entries mostly consisting of nature findings), a couple of pens/pencils, and a photo of himself, Killua and Alluka.

Choice: Faun
Reason: In general, I'm selecting a monster over a witch for Gon because after the events of the chimera ant arc, Gon will struggle with feeling like a monster if he goes feral, reminiscent to some of his shame for essentially berserking out of control in his canon. So hopefully, the transformation will keep him mindful of his hubris. For faun, Gon already fits a lot of the criteria; he loves nature, has a powerful nose, and is a bit of a (non-promiscuous) hedonist—he's shameless, and chases his own whims for the sake of satisfying curiosity and seeking pleasure. Plus, it'll be fun to give him weak lower legs, when he's so used to being so sturdy to the point where he's over-confident, even nerfed.

Sample: ahoyahoy, and hoy