Shonen protagonist may be heroes but that doesn't mean that they'll necessarily know what's best for themselves. To become totally righteous and selfless heroes, many find themselves arguably sacrificing too much in their paths to either save themselves or, much more selfishly, get stronger. This is the woeful journey of Hunter x Hunter's own iconic, boy adventurer, Gon Freecss.
Raised on an isolated island and the son of who may be the world's greatest Hunter, Gon has shown time and again that he's willing to sacrifice anything, including his own body, to become good enough to meet his dad. This of course has taken Gon some very dark paths, making one question whether or not Gon is actually representing the best of the series or himself.
10 Not Listening To All Of Ging's Tape
Leading up to the Yorknew City and Greed Island Arcs, Gon and Killua stumble upon an old cassette recording that Ging left that can only be activated with Nen. This tape gave some clues as to how to find him but also seemed to share the identity of Gon's mom.
Gon quickly and confidently shuts off the tape by then, thinking that there doesn't seem to be anymore important information from there and that he doesn't need any other mom besides Mito. As sweet as this may have initially seemed, it's kind of important to know one's biological parents, whether it's for personal or, much more necessarily, medical purposes.
9 Going Into Zetsu Against Gido
Gon will give a mile to gain an inch. New fans will only ever be surprised by this once before they learn that this is just what Gon does in his efforts to become stronger. One of the earliest examples of this appears during his early training with Nen.
Having literally just learned about Nen, he decides to test his strength against a relatively masterful Nen user, Gido, who then proceeds to humble Gon in the most bone shattering way possible. To try and read Gido's moves, Gon even drops his defenses to sense Gido's attacks better, making his own body weaker and more susceptible to Gido's inevitable blows.
8 Challenging Hisoka Just To Return His Badge
Gido wouldn't be the only one to beat down Gon at Heavens Arena. When he discovers that Hisoka has returned to the tower to keep his membership updated, he takes the first chance he gets to challenge. He presses on even after Hisoka mutilates a guy with several more years of experience than him. Does Gon have any real beef with Hisoka? Does he want any revenge? Not really.
Because Hisoka got an easy punch on him during the Hunter Exams and arrogantly gave Gon his badge, Gon just wanted the chance to try and punch Hisoka once. At that point, he proudly gave Hisoka back his Hunter badge. In return, Hisoka nearly kills him.
7 Going On A Date With Palm Siberia
As soon as Knov's disciple, Palm Siberia, first took a shaky step in the series, the fans immediately knew that this was a vicious, unstable woman. Despite this, Gon still decides to go on a date with her. Age difference aside, Gon wanted to get Palm's blessing to train again after he and Killua were beaten time and again by Knuckle and Shoot (another calling card of bad decisions).
After he tries to work that in the two's date, Palm immediately goes into Grudge mode and forces Gon to write an apology over and over again in what appears to be a haunted house.
6 Letting Killua Get Hurt During The Dodgeball Match
Gon and Killua could've taken their time to learn about Razor's last challenge and make a game plan with as few casualties as possible. Instead, they threw their lives into it in the first chance they got at the final round. And, in a horrific change of pace, it wasn't necessarily Gon's life that was on the line.
To help Gon deflect Razor's balls, Killua was in charge of catching the lethal throws. While this would give Gon a chance to use his Jajanken to send the balls flying, this inevitably bruised and shredded Killua's hands to near shreds. Even after knowing that his best friend was getting hurt, Gon continued the game and his plan.
5 Fighting Knuckle Until He Passed Out
In another episode of "Gon Fights Valiantly But Stupidly," he puts his all again in a sparring match against Morel's own disciples, Shoot and Knuckle. To enlist in the teams fighting against the Chimera Ant, Gon and Killua had to defeat these two within a month. During these exchanges, Gon made it his business to challenge Knuckle.
Knuckle in this instance was not only a hard-hitting fighter but also had an ability that would literally restrict all of his opponent's Nen after a period of time. Despite having an entire month to watch and learn from his opponent and train, Gon decides to go all out even during the early fights, leaving Knuckle and his advanced abilities to beat him unto unconsciousness nearly every time.
4 Refusing To Concede To Hanzo
Gon's fight against Hanzo was a real calling card that the boy was willing to sacrifice anything for virtually nothing. While Gon was a strong kid with some relatively advanced speed, he was no match against a man who trained his body to be a hard weapon in the ninja arts. Hanzo was faster than Gon, stronger than him, and easily more skilled.
The only attacks that Gon could get in were cheap shots that Hanzo refused to let happen again. Things got so bad that Hanzo began breaking limbs, deafening his senses, and threatening to cut up his body. Despite having plenty more chances to fight again in the Hunter Exam, Gon still refused to concede.
3 Sacrificing His Arm To Fight Genthru
While Gon has exhausted and beaten himself in plenty of fights across the series, no injury has been as visually horrifying and apparent to the audience than the one he sustained during his fight with Greed Island's Bomber, Genthru. Genthru had apparently been killing players left and right to steal their cards.
As it would for most shonen protagonists, this upset Gon who hatched up a plan to thwart Genthru once he neared the end of the game. Fortunately for him, he was able to arrange the perfect plan to stop Genthru without minimal conflict. Unfortunately, that's not how Gon rolls. He decides to settle things with Genthru in a one-on-one fight that inevitably costs him his arm.
2 Fighting The Chimera Ants
Has anyone ever wondered by Gon and Killua were allowed to fight the Chimera Ants? It seemed like their only motivations were personal whereas the Chimera Ant problem was a sensitive, global concern. Why were two budding kids, inexperienced Hunters allowed to go on a dangerous mission that literally required the strongest Hunter to accomplish?
If it weren't for Gon, who believed that he could save Kite, even after seeing Kite's mangled body, Killua likely would've left NGL early on, if not, at least most of the mission to the literal professionals.
1 Using Vow To Kill Pitou
There are few instances in shonen stories where the main character enacts destructive revenge just for revenge. They either learn the error of their ways before delivering the final blow or continue fighting for a higher cause. That wasn't the case in the fight between Gon and Neferpitou.
After discovering that Kite's body couldn't be revived, Gon went into a dark trance that had him use "Vow" to unlock incredible power, the power that ultimately destroyed his body but would also destroy Pitou, a single ant, in the process. As cathartic as this scene was, it's hard not to think afterward how selfish and sadly destructive Gon became towards the end of this arc.