#kalluto

February 5th Togashi tweet!!

bcs i wanna let yall see their lovely faces

hxh volume 12 cover X hxh volume 36 cover

And if you have any thoughts or other theories about this, I'd be happy to read them.(And I also really love receiving comments)

I would like to talk about Kikyo Zoldyck.(Art not mine)

First of all, let me say that I am in no way trying to justify Kikyo. I just want to try to look at it from a different perspective. And also the fact that since she, like the entire Zoldyck family(family itself and members as different personalities(Except Killua and Illumi)), is not revealed. So almost everything I write here is just my thoughts and assumptions based on what we know.

Kikyo is broken by the system she is in (Before she came into the family, she wasn't even a fully formed personality. Let me remind you, she gave birth to Illumi at 18). As we know, the Zoldyck family is absolutely patriarchal. But she, as a woman in a patriarchal family, has no influence. Especially if we look at Silva's behavior, we can conclude that he is a kind of dictator in his family. Also, as far as all we know about her past is that she's from Meteor City. We can conclude that it wasn't easy for her there. And when she married Silva, I'm sure it got even worse for her, because we all remember well what terrible things are considered the norm for the Zoldycks. Her tantrums are an attempt to create the illusion of influence that she never had. She gave birth to 5 children while being incredibly thin(47kg with height 170 cm), and pregnancy is a VERY complicated process. After Killua leaves Silva's room, we see that despite outwardly accepting his son's choice, he still believes he has power over him and is confident that he will return and become the next patriarch. I think the Zoldyck family broke her in a way.

A few more thoughts on her relationship with Silva. I think that over time she developed Stockholm syndrome towards him. I think so because there is no indication on her part that she secretly hates him or despises his methods. Now I will try to explain. As I mentioned, she gave birth at 18. 18 is the age of majority, yes, she was no longer a child. However, with the advent of adulthood, you only age by a year, and along with the status of "adult", you do not gain experience. So Kikyo didn't even have time to live a free life as an adult and, barely losing her "minor" status, got married and gave birth to a child. Early marriage is a problem in general and in any case traumatic. Especially in a family like Zoldyck's, which, in addition to being radically patriarchal, also raises murderers and trains children, beating them with all.

So we know that Illumi is very domineering in his relationship with Killua. I assume he might extend this controlling nature to Milluki and Kalluto, though possibly to a lesser degree. Speculations that he only "cares" about Killua but not the others is not true, I think. Illumi's priority is his family and naturally that includes them too—he pays extra attention to Killua because he is the heir, and a "rebel".

According to the scene where Illumi confronts Killua and Alluka in the hospital, he offers to reward their compliance with leniency.

I believe this also applies to Milluki and Kalluto. They let him boss them around, so in turn he isn't as "strict" with them as he is with Killua. And that's why they seem to have a fairly good relationship with Illumi.

But that still doesn't fully explain the lack of drama around Kalluto running off with a bunch of murderous thieves that Silva specifically warned his kids to avoid. Especially knowing Kalluto is pretty close to Kikyo, why was there at least no passing mention of her flipping out over this, considering it seems like a serious matter?

Could it be that Kalluto joining the troupe is a deliberate arrangement devised by none other than Illumi himself?

Between Milluki and Kalluto, I think Kalluto is the one who is more likely to be on the same wavelength as Illumi. His motivation is, in his own words, to "get [his] brother back".

If the brother in question is Killua, adding with the fact that Illumi seems to trust Kalluto enough to do risky work like distracting two members of the troupe during Yorknew arc, then it wouldn't be far-fetched for Illumi to concoct this kind of plan.

Alternatively, if we believe Kalluto has some sort of agency, he might have spoken this desire to someone—obviously not Silva, because he was the one who allowed Killua to go; and clearly not Kikyo, who probably would have reacted the way we thought she would if her closest (and seemingly second) favorite son told her he wanted to leave the house.

Therefore, that would leave him with either Illumi or Milluki. Children often turn to their older siblings when they feel like they can't rely on or talk to their parents directly.

Using Killua's point of view of their family chart here, we see that Milluki “obeys” Silva, so it seems unlikely he would suggest something like this to his father.

Illumi's relationship with Silva, on the other hand, is described as "give and take", which I think can be interpreted that they are (for the lack of better term) more or less equals. Illumi might not be the heir, but as the eldest adult son—and one that is very pro-Zoldyck at that—it is likely that Silva is somewhat inclined to trust/consider his judgement. Just like back then, when Illumi requested that he be given the task to pick the next butler to test Alluka's power.

Whether the plan was Illumi's or Kalluto's, I think Illumi was the one who proposed it to Silva and secured his approval. I know he is a very honest person, but he still keeps his own secrets (example: Hisoka) from the rest of the family, so he might have omitted some details when suggesting that Kalluto leave home temporarily (the reasons can vary from experiencing the outside world, pursuing different training, gaining strength through experience, or distancing himself from Kikyo’s influence, you name it—as long as it still aligns with the family's best interest).

What about Kikyo? I don't think it mattered much on what she might felt about the plan. We can think that she probably had faith in Illumi to handle Kalluto (after all, he was definitely trusted in raising/training Killua) enough to go along with the arrangement. Or she could have had objections about it. In this theory, though, Silva had agreed to the plan, thus any possible concerns of hers would be easily dismissed just like when Killua left home.

Now, back to Illumi's controlling nature. Despite trusting Kalluto, he likely wouldn’t want his youngest brother roaming freely without supervision. Illumi would have wanted to keep an eye on Kalluto even when he wasn't around. Given his unhinged thinking, he might have decided that rather than letting Kalluto run off alone, it was better to place him under the “charge” of someone he’s familiar with—enter Chrollo.

Yes, Illumi is not as close to Chrollo as he is to Hisoka, but they knew each other prior to the series—and seem to be on neutral grounds. He could have approached Chrollo and requested him to take Kalluto to fill in the currently empty spot in the troupe. This might explain how Kalluto secured it in the first place.