Komugi is the World Gungi Champion and the love interest of Meruem, the King of the Chimera Ants and main antagonist in the Chimera Ant arc of the Hunter x Hunter series.
Romance[]
Komugi meets Meruem for the first time after he has taken over East Gorteau and installed himself in the Royal Palace. He then demands to his Royal Guards to find various types of board game champions as he has the intent to distract himself. Being a genius in a super human level of intelligence, the King defeats his board game opponents one by one and then kills them. This changes when he meets the champion of the region, Komugi, that is master of a board game named Gungi.
Komugi at a first glance just seems like a frail, blind and clumsy woman, not impressing the King at all. However, to his surprise he is not able to beat her on Gungi as she herself is a genius in the game, always creating new strategies and evolving as she confronts a good opponent. Thus, even with Meruem being a genius and also evolving as they play, Komugi has more experience and growns much faster.
At first, after facing multiple defeats, the King gets frustated that he can't beat Komugi, but then he also starts to realize that he is enjoying spending time playing with her. During their games and interactions, Komugi tells him about her poor origins and how Gungi is important to her. To Komugi losing a Gungi game is the same as her life becoming worthless since according to her Gungi is the only thing she is good at. Her determination of betting her own life on the game without hesitation, is totally unexpected and truly touches the King. This makes Komugi earn his respect, which is something that at this point he almost never had shown to anyone before. He even goes as far as ripping his own arm off as an act of apology for having underestimated the strength of her resolve. This would lead to very important events later, as the Hunter Association is only able to inflitrate the Palace for the first time because his Royal Guard Pitou is not able to use her Nen ability to heal his arm simultaneously with her En to scan the terriotories for intruders.
As a consequence of them bonding while playing, they both get attached one to the other. Komugi respects the King as the leader of her nation, unaware that he is a monstrous creature from another species or about all the atrocities he had committed at that point. She is impressed with his genius performance in the game that is great to make him a challenge to her even if he never wins. Meanwhile, the King as much as he just tries to think of her as just a distraction, can't help on starting to caring for her. Because of Komugi's influence the King starts to have doubts about his goal and beliefs on his birthright to be the ruler of all living creatures.
Meruem saves Komugi.
Meruem gets worried when he sees Komugi hurt.
Meruem confused about his feelings after seeing Komugi injured.
The moment Komugi finally asks for his real name and the King realizes he doesn't know because his mother died before she could tell him, his doubts turn into an existencial crisis. In an atempt to end his internal conflict once and for all, the King reaffirms himself discussing with his Royal Guards and goes confront Komugi with the intent to dispose of her. However, upon arriving in her room, he finds her being attacked by an eagle and without thinking twice, he kills the bird that is harming her. He then approaches Komugi visibily worried about her wounds and her fragility as a human being. He feels his internal struggle again because he had gone there intending to cut ties with her but at the same time, for a reason he still can't explain, he realizes that he is not able to kill Komugi. Touched by his demonstration of kindness in protecting and caring about her, Komugi becomes emotional and cries since it is the first time someone has treated her so gently. After this incident, Meruem seems to have accepted his affection and attachment towards her because he summons Pitou and orders her to be vigilant about Komugi's surroundings besides his own.
As the relationship between Komugi and the King develops, the Royal Guards also are paying attention on how her influence is changing Meruem's personality, turning him into an individual with more human caracteristics and less monstrous ones than when he was first born as the Chimera Ant King. He tells his Guards that playing with her showed him that strength is not only just physical and that humans like Komugi may be frail in body but also might have potential in beating him on something else. This realization makes him reflect and reevaluate his perspective on humans as weak and worthless creatures. Later, he starts to think that weak humans are worth of protection and that is the duty of the ones with physical strength like him. Of all the three Royal Guards, Pitou is the one more accepting of the King's personality changes, Youpi at this point is indifferent and Pouf is completely terrified. Pouf was the first one to notice the changes while they were still developing, and had already thought about killing Komugi because she was making Meruem deviate from the ideal path he thinks his King should follow.
Meruem holds Komugi after she was wounded during the Hunters' attack.
Meruem gently carries Komugi.
Meruem checks Komugi's wounds, showing affection for her.
When the Hunter Association finally attacks the Royal Palace, there is chaos because of the sudden arrival of the hunters, and Zeno's Dragon Dive ability showers the whole place with aura shards. During this attack, Pitou and Pouf rush to the Palace looking for the King. Pitou finds him in Komugi's room holding her in his arms as she was gravely injured by the aura shard attack and is bleeding out. Zeno, the one responsible for the attack that injured Komugi, and Netero are already in the room but unmoving in completely shock while looking at the hideous creature carefully holding a young human. They are surprised that the King seems completely different from the horrendous predator they heard about and came to eliminate. Thus, as a sign of respect of the loving act playing out in front of them, they just stand and watch when Meruem gently carries and lays down Komugi, checking her wounds and then he asks Pitou to heal her. The King proposes to the hunters that they carry out the confrontation somewhere else as he doesn't want to risk Komugi getting hurt any more than she already is.
The King is taken by the Hunter Association chairman Netero to a place far away and isolated from the Palace. But as a consequence of Komugi's influence that caused a drastic personality change on him, the King has no intention to fight Netero, in an atempt to stop killing humans unnecessarily. But Netero was hired to eliminated the King, and tries to convince him to confront him several times and only suceededs when he tells the King that he knows the name his mother has given him just before dying. Therefore, the King is convinced to beat Netero in order to know his real name as a reward, being finally able to answer Komugi and solving one of his biggest doubts. However, the fight is a trap because Netero was planning to poison the King with an atomic bomb he had implanted inside himself.
Meruem remembers Komugi.
Meruem's vision of himself and Komugi.
The King momentarily dies from the bomb and when he is brought back with the help of his Royal Guards, he has no memories, and has completely forgotten Komugi. Pouf sees this as a great opportunity to maintain Meruem's old brutal and dark personality. Helped by Youpi, Pouf tries to get rid of any evidence of Komugi from the Palace. But this fails when the King finds a piece of Gungi left overlooked on the ground, and then Meruem knows something is missing and that he is not being able to remember something important. Later, when one of his Squadron Ant Leaders utters Komugi's name, the King has a vision of what it was missing to him: he sees Komugi and himself playing Gungi in a huge camp of flowers, representing his feelings of peace when plays Gungi with her and all his affection for Komugi herself. Horrified by the shared vision he had with the King, Pouf finally realizes that he didn't stand a chance in trying to stop the King's growing feelings for Komugi because they were much deeper and stronger than he had imagined. Meruem then forgives Pouf for trying to hide Komugi from him and leaves determined to find her, giving up completely on the conflict between the ants and humans.
Meruem bows down to Palm and asks her to let him see Komugi.
Meruem finds out that Komugi is being guarded by Palm. He politely requests to Palm to let him see Komugi one last time as he knows that the atomic bomb has poisoned him and his only current wish is to spend his final moments with her. Palm is initially shocked and in denial that the King of the Chimera Ants would have feelings for a human. But when Meruem insists and bows down to her, begging to see Komugi, Palm realizes the depth of his feelings and that he is being honest. She tells the King where Komugi is hidden, and when Meruem finds her sleeping and murmuring while dreaming about Gungi, he smiles and wakes her up so they can play in real life.
Meruem and Komugi play their last Gungi match.
Meruem asks Komugi to hold his hand.
Komugi and Meruem hold hands as they die.
A long time after their deaths, they are still holding hands.
Komugi becomes very happy upon seeing the King and being able to play with him again. The King finally tells her his name and they start to play, but during their game, Komugi suddenly begins to cry. When Meruem asks why she is crying, she replies that she is overwhelmed with joy and that she doesn't know if she is worthy of such happiness. Then, Meruem decides to tell her the truth about him being poisoned and that he is dying. He reveals that his final wish is to spend the remaining of his time playing with her, but because the poison is contagious, she will soon need to leave him or she will die as well. However, Komugi surprises Meruem by asking to stay with him. She says that even if she is not worthy, she wishes to join him. Komugi tells Meruem that she believes that this moment is the reason why she was born and the King has the same feeling: that he lived his life just to be with her in the end.
"I'm a little tired. I need to take a short nap. Will you... hold my hand? Komugi? Komugi, are you there?"
"I can hear you. I understand. Like this?"
"I will wake up shortly. Will you stay by my side until I wake?"
"I've never left your side. I'll always be here."
"Komugi?"
"Yes, yes? What is it?"
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"Will you call me..."
"Yes?"
"...by my name one last time?"
"Good night, Meruem... I'll be joining you... soon."
- Meruem and Komugi last moments
They continue to play Gungi and the King still is not able to win even after several matches. He finally admits that he'll never be able to beat her, but Komugi encourages him to play more matches and try again. They keep playing, and Meruem seems to become physically weaker. At a certain point, it is implied that the poison affects his sight because he starts to ask from time to time if Komugi is still there. Komugi assures him that she will never leave his side and that she will stay with him forever. When Meruem becomes so weak that he is unable to stay awake, he asks Komugi to lay down on her lap and to hold his hand, which she gladly does. Meruem's final request is that he wishes to hear her say his name one last time. Komugi affectionately says his name and that she will soon join him where he is going. They both die peacefully together, and a long time after their deaths, it is revealed that they are still in the same place holding hands.
Meruem and Komugi in the Chimera Ants arc ending "Hyori Ittai" ("Two Sides of the Same Coin")
Gallery[]
Videos[]
HxH Chimera Ants arc ending
OST - Understanding => Music theme of Meruem and Komugi final moments
Komugi meets the King
Komugi and Meruem moments
Meruem holds Komugi after the Hunter's attack
Post nuke, Meruem starts to remember Komugi
Meruem bows down to Palm for her to reveal Komugi's location
Meruem and Komugi final moments
Meruem and Komugi final moments 2