Are Illumi and Hisoka Married in Hunter X Hunter?

Although not as popular as other mainstream long-running shounen, ‘Hunter X Hunter’ is among the top-rated anime of the last decade. Created by Madhouse Studio, the anime was initially dismissed by many because of its childish outward bearing. However, with each passing arc, ‘Hunter X Hunter’ proved to be one of the most well-written shounen anime of our time. In its hefty runtime of 148 episodes, the anime walks you through everything from thrilling mysteries, quintessential tournament arcs to themes surrounding war, politics, and survival. Its subtle pace, strong dialogues, and easy tonal shifts make its character development a lot more intriguing, and within no time, you find yourself feeling attached to almost all of them, regardless of whether they’re on the good or bad side of the spectrum.

Speaking of the characters, the show also undermines most conventional storytelling methods and shounen tropes through the relationships between the characters. One of these happens to be the relationship between two of the most badass characters of the series, Illumi and Hisoka. Considering the vast roster of characters ‘Hunter X Hunter’ introduces throughout its runtime, Illumi and Hisoka are more like secondary characters compared to the main protagonists. Even so, their relationship has been the talk of the town for quite some time now. So if you happen to be one of the many fans of the series and you’re still wondering what was going between Illumi and Hisoka, here’s everything you need to know.

Are Illumi and Hisoka married?

Whether they are married or not is still a mystery. However, Yoshihiro Togashi, the creator of ‘Hunter X Hunter,’ made their relationship canon in Volume 36, Chapter 377 of the manga. The mangaka revealed that the two have a very unconventional relationship going on. As mentioned in the manga, it’s more of a “give-and-take” setup that offers mutual benefits to them.

Chapter 377 marks the return of the highly feared  Phantom Troupe (Gen’ei Ryodan / 幻影旅団), a group that consists of some of the most notorious characters of the series. With Chrollo at the group’s fore and almost all the remaining members back together, they set out to find Hisoka, their former member. Realizing that finding the magician wouldn’t be easy, Chrollo invites Illumi Zoldyck, knowing that he is the closest person to Hisoka.

When Illumi first appears in front of the troupe, he casually introduces himself by saying that he has a “pre-marriage” agreement with Hisoka, according to which Illumi gets rewarded even if Hisoka gets killed. They formed this contract because despite having a very mutually beneficial relationship early on in the series, Illumi believed that either one of them would end up killing the other.

Now, as you can see in the manga clipping above, Illumi specifically uses the words “engagement ring” and “pre-nuptial.” Due to this, it’s fair to assume that they could actually be married. However, it is also possible that it’s just Illumi’s way of cryptically revealing that he and the magician have a sinister secret contract going on where he’ll get rewarded no matter what happens to Hisoka. Well, regardless of what the truth of the matter maybe if you’re shipping “Hisoillu,” you should certainly check out some fan-made art promoting their relationship:

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