Kuroro Lucilfer, often spelled Chrollo Lucilfer, is the founder and leader of the Phantom Troupe, a notorious gang of A-class criminals featured in Hunter x Hunter. His background is largely shrouded in mystery. He originates from Meteor City, a vast, lawless garbage dump of a city where residents are considered non‑citizens without official identities. It was there, in his youth, that he met the core members of what would become the Troupe, including Feitan, Phinks, Uvogin, Nobunaga, Machi, Franklin, Pakunoda, and Shalnark. They created the Spider, with Kuroro as its head, as a way to give purpose and family to those who had nothing.

Personality wise, Kuroro is calm, collected, and exceptionally intelligent, often appearing detached or even emotionless. He displays a deep curiosity about people’s motives, skills, and convictions, and he holds a strong fascination with death, destruction, and the value of human life, which he treats as an abstract concept rather than something sacred. Despite his ruthless reputation as a mass murderer and thief, he shows genuine care for his fellow Troupe members, referring to them as his family and flying into cold, calculating rage when one of them is killed. He is not driven by greed for wealth or power in a conventional sense; instead, he seeks to satisfy his own intellectual and emotional whims, often stealing valuable items simply because he finds them interesting.

Kuroro’s motivations are complex. On the surface, his goal is to keep the Phantom Troupe alive and functional, with the Spider’s limbs (the members) being expendable as long as the head (himself) survives. However, his deeper drive is to confront and overcome his own mortality and meaninglessness, a theme rooted in his upbringing in Meteor City. He is constantly seeking challenges and artifacts that test his abilities, and he has a particular obsession with exorcising a Nen curse placed on him by Kurapika. In the Yorknew City arc, his primary motivation shifts to first recovering a lost Troupe member (Uvogin), then seeking revenge against Kurapika and the chain user, and finally regaining his Nen after being forced into a state of Zetsu.

In the story, Kuroro serves as the primary antagonist of the Yorknew City arc, directly opposing Kurapika and, by extension, Gon and Killua. He is a symbol of the Phantom Troupe’s collective strength and philosophy: to take whatever they want and destroy whatever threatens the Spider. His role expands in later arcs. In the Greed Island arc, he searches for a Nen exorcist to remove Kurapika’s Judgement Chain. In the Chimera Ant arc, he is absent for most of the story but remains a background figure, as the Troupe acts without him. In the Succession Contest arc on the Black Whale, he becomes an active player again, seeking to steal treasures from the Kakin Empire and to locate Hisoka, who has declared war on the Troupe.

Key relationships define much of Kuroro’s character. His bond with Kurapika is adversarial and built on mutual hatred: Kurapika seeks to avenge his slaughtered clan, the Kurta, whose scarlet eyes the Troupe stole and sold. Kuroro views Kurapika as a dangerous, fascinating enemy, and their confrontation in Yorknew City forces him into a vulnerable position for the first time. His relationship with Hisoka is a twisted game of cat and mouse; Hisoka joined the Troupe with the sole goal of fighting Kuroro to the death, and Kuroro is both wary and intrigued by Hisoka’s deceitful nature. They eventually fight in the Heavens Arena arc, where Kuroro emerges victorious. Within the Troupe, his closest relationships are with Pakunoda, whose death deeply affects him, and with the original members from Meteor City, who show him unwavering loyalty. He also has a respectful rivalry with Silva and Zeno Zoldyck, elite assassins he fought in Yorknew City.

Kuroro undergoes notable but subtle development. Initially presented as a nearly untouchable, charismatic villain, the Yorknew City arc forces him to experience powerlessness and guilt. After Pakunoda sacrifices herself to save him, he is visibly shaken and begins to reconsider the Spider’s rule that the head is everything. By the Succession Contest arc, he appears more ruthless and proactive, having fully recovered his abilities and sharpened his resolve to eliminate threats like Hisoka permanently. He also shows a more strategic and patient side, using the Troupe’s collective strength rather than solely his own.

Kuroro’s notable abilities are extensive. He is a master of Nen, specializing in the conjuration category but freely using abilities from all types thanks to his unique skill, Skill Hunter: Bandit’s Secret. This ability allows him to conjure a book; by fulfilling specific conditions (seeing an ability in use, hearing the user explain it, and touching the user’s handprint in the book), he can steal another person’s Nen ability for his own use. The stolen abilities vanish if the original user dies or if Kuroro dies. Known stolen abilities include Teleportation (from an unnamed teleporter), Indoor Fish (conjured fish that only eat people in enclosed spaces), The Sun and Moon (a biding explosive mark), Double Face (allowing him to use an ability without holding the book open), and Convert Hands (which swaps the appearance of his hands and face with another person). He is also an expert strategist, hand‑to‑hand combatant, and knife fighter. In his fight against the Zoldycks, he showed proficiency in using a large dagger and controlling miniaturized antennae for manipulation Nen. His physical strength and speed are elite, though slightly below the very top fighters like Silva Zoldyck or Mereum.