The Sin Series: Greed as Appetite Without End Hisoka Morow in Hunter × Hunter

Greed is often mistaken for the love of money. In its deeper theological sense, though, greed is the refusal to be satisfied, an appetite that expands the moment it is fed. In literature and religion, greed is not about possession, it is about consumption as identity.

The first character I wanted to explore this sin with is Hisoka Morow.

Hisoka does not hoard wealth. He hoards potential. He collects people the way others collect treasures. Strength, growth, violence, anticipation, these are his currencies. Across the anime, the manga, and even the stylized backstory drawn by Sui Ishida, Hisoka’s defining trait remains consistent as an insatiable hunger for stimulation.

His greed is aesthetic, erotic, and existential.

Greed as Aesthetic Hunger

Hisoka’s Nen ability, Bungee Gum, reflects him perfectly, elastic, adhesive, playful. It binds and stretches, but never fully releases tension. That tension is his fuel. He doesn’t want quick victories, he wants delayed gratification. Like a connoisseur of violence, he cultivates future pleasures.

In Aristotelian thought, virtue lies in moderation. Hisoka lives entirely in excess. But unlike crude gluttony, his greed is refined. It is curated. He nurtures potential so that its eventual harvest will be sweeter.

This is clearest in his relationship with Gon.

Gon: The Investment

Gon Freecss is not prey to Hisoka. He is a long-term investment.

During the Hunter Exam, Hisoka spares Gon repeatedly. Not out of mercy, but anticipation. Gon’s growth excites him. He wants Gon to mature, to sharpen, to one day become worthy of killing him or being killed by him.

Greed, in this form, becomes patience. Hisoka denies himself immediate pleasure for future ecstasy. The forest scene during the exam arc makes this painfully clear, he is aroused not by dominance, but by the promise of greater struggle.

Hisoka does not simply want Gon’s strength. He wants Gon’s peak.

Illumi: Transactional Hunger

His relationship with Illumi Zoldyck is colder, more strategic. Illumi is not cultivated like Gon. He is already dangerous, already formed.

With Illumi, greed becomes alliance. They recognize each other’s utility. Hisoka enjoys Illumi’s lethality, but not as something to nurture, rather, as something to potentially consume later.

Their dynamic is built on mutual understanding:

• Neither believes in loyalty.
• Both believe in opportunity.

Hisoka’s greed here is about positioning. He places himself near powerful individuals not out of affection, but proximity to eventual satisfaction.

Chrollo: The Ultimate Prize

If Gon is a future harvest, Chrollo Lucilfer is the holy grail.

Hisoka’s obsession with Chrollo is pure greed crystallized. Chrollo’s intellect, Nen versatility, and composure represent the highest form of prey. When Chrollo temporarily loses his Nen, Hisoka loses interest because the fight would not be perfect.

Greed here is perfectionism.

The long-awaited Heaven’s Arena battle in the manga becomes the culmination of this hunger. Hisoka allows Chrollo preparation time. He wants the optimal version. And when he loses, brutally, his greed does not die.

It mutates.

After resurrection, Hisoka abandons patience. The refined gourmand becomes ravenous. He begins systematically hunting Phantom Troupe members. The aesthetic restraint is gone. His greed, denied satisfaction, turns vindictive.

It is no longer about pleasure. It is about reclaiming control over appetite.

The Sui Ishida Backstory: Born Hungry

In the special Hisoka one-shot drawn by Sui Ishida (creator of Tokyo Ghoul), Hisoka is depicted less as a man who became greedy and more as someone who always was.

The backstory frames him as a child performer, already aware of spectacle and deception. Performance becomes a way of life. Violence becomes stagecraft. His hunger is innate. What changes is merely the scale of stimulation required.

This interpretation deepens his greed, it is not compensation for trauma. It is temperament. Hisoka is a being who feels most alive at the brink of annihilation.

Philosophical Greed: Nietzsche and the Will to Intensity

If we step into philosophy, Hisoka resembles a twisted Nietzschean figure. Nietzsche admired life-affirmation, the embrace of intensity and struggle. Hisoka embodies this, but stripped of ethical grounding.

He seeks intensity for its own sake. He rejects stability. He rejects ordinary happiness.

His greed is not materialistic, it is experiential. He consumes moments of extremity. The stronger the opponent, the richer the flavour.

Yet unlike Nietzsche’s ideal of self-overcoming, Hisoka does not evolve. He cycles. Hunger → stimulation → temporary satisfaction → greater hunger.

Why Hisoka Is the Perfect Sin of Greed

Greed is not merely wanting more. It is being unable to rest.

Hisoka cannot exist in peace. A world without powerful opponents would be a world without oxygen. Relationships are secondary to stimulation. Even companionship is filtered through utility.

With Gon, he nurtures. With Illumi, he positions. With Chrollo, he worships through combat.

But he never loves. He never builds. He never preserves.

He consumes.

And after resurrection, we see the final stage of greed, when the feast disappoints, burn the table.

Final Thought

Hisoka is terrifying because he is consistent. He does not pretend to want anything else. He is greed distilled into personality, a man who sees human potential as fruit, ripening under the sun, waiting for harvest.

The tragedy is not that he desires too much.

It is that nothing will ever be enough.