Gon is a fictional character from the manga Hunter X Hunter. His character was written exceptionally well and breaks a lot of the stereotypes I’ve see in other adventure manga. Most of them are lawful good and seen as heroes. This makes him stand out, and much more interesting.

His character is much more darker and deep than what meets the eye compared to most protagonists in the same genre. Nobody fully understands him.

Gon is a 12 year old boy from Whale Island. He sets off on an adventure to become a Hunter and to find his dad. Gon claims that he wants to learn about why his dad abandoned him as a child to become a Hunter.

His curiosity about his dad makes a significant part of what makes Gon who he is. He is curious about his dad, but he didn’t truly want to find him for the reasons most people would. For example, Kite asked Gon if he wanted to know where his dad was at the moment.

Gon said no.

He wanted to find him “on his own”. Gon wanted to prove to himself he can do it. He wanted the challenge and he is willing to go any lengths to accomplish his quest. It wasn’t exactly about finding his dad, but it was to prove himself that he could find his dad. Although Gon is warm and kind, he is also selfish. He puts himself before others.

Gon has layers to his personality, like most people in real life. He has a simple way of handling things, he either considers you a friend or an obstacle to test his strength.

Gon is very nice and not mean spirited. He does whatever it takes to protect his friends and reacts to things in an innocent way. It’s adorable how he considers his guardian Mito, his mother.

However, he is by no means “good”. He is also very selfish. He must prove himself to be in the strongest in combat situations. He will abandon what his friends and do what he wants to do.

Gon also hates being humiliated in the face of a stronger opponent. For example during the Hunter exam, Hisoka punched him in the face. Gon was too weak to stop him. He sat there that night, reflecting on his loss and strove to become stronger. Gon will test his abilities against strong opponents just to defeat them.

He must be the strongest to satisfy his own ego.

The second time his strength is tested in the Chimera Ant arc which actually happens a few times.

The very first time it happens in this part of the story was when Knuckle defeated Gon. He couldn’t use Nen for a certain period of time.

The second time was when he witnessed Kite get his arm cut off by Pitou. Out of anger, he was about to challenge the Chimera Ant to combat and endanger his life, but Killua saved him.

In an instant and without warning, Gon was placed in a position where he faced a superior enemy who pose a threat to someone he cared about. Without thinking, he was going to fight Pitou despite being an even bigger nuisance to Kite should he have stayed.

Gon was acting on impulse, he was acting like a child.

Gon’s temper got to his head and he had to prove he can handle a clearly superior threat. He has done this throughout the series, but this time it was different. Gon was having inner conflict. He felt powerless against a stronger enemy, and his friend Kite, who he left behind and died.

This Gon to delve deeper inside himself for power and found himself in a dark place.

Gon was without mercy or remorse at this point. He almost killed Morel with his punch, threatened to show Malloreon no mercy if he was lying and threatened to kill Komugi should Pitou lie to him.

Gon completely lost himself and almost died at this point.

Conclusion:

There isn’t a real “good vs evil” trope in the series but Gon is very interesting as the protagonist. I’ve heard some he is chaotic good, but to me he is more.

Gon is not evil, but is prone to relying on darkness for strength against much stronger opponents.