With the return of Yoshihiro Togashi's Hunter x Hunter after a long wait of four years, fans are more than excited for the story to continue from where it left off in the Succession Contest arc. Fans have been waiting patiently for Togashi to continue his work on the story and, by the looks of it, Hunter x Hunter is all set for a return later this summer with a new volume that will consist of the standard 10 new chapters.
While the story is currently tackling the Succession Contest arc, at the same time, the series had also introduced other intriguing concepts in the recent chapters, such as the Dark Continent. Shortly after the Chimera Ant arc, fans were left utterly shocked by Yoshihiro Togashi when he, through Ging Freecss, introduced the concept of this mysterious place. So far, everything that the main characters have explored in the story has been nowhere near as dangerous as what the Dark Continent has to offer and for that reason, the introduction of this mysterious land is only going to raise the excitement among the fans in Hunter x Hunter.
What Is The Dark Continent?
The Dark Continent, as mentioned earlier, is quite possibly the most intriguing place in the world of Hunter x Hunter to have been introduced in the story so far. First mentioned by Ging, the Dark Continent was said to be the possible place of origin of the Chimera Ants, specifically the Queen Ant who ended up giving birth to King Meruem. Ging explained to the fans that the place where they live is known as the Known World and it is nestled inside Lake Mobius, a treacherous sea, which surrounds the place on all sides.Across the lake is where the Dark Continent lies as a massive land that is wild, vast, and unexplored for the most part. It is believed that the ancestors of the human race who today live in the Known World migrated from the Dark Continent. While it is unknown how and why they migrated from the Dark Continent to the Known World, it could likely be because the place was deemed too dangerous for humanity to survive among the many dangers that exist there.
The Dark Continent's dangers are such that humanity has always been in fear of it. According to the ancient artifacts, every time a human tried to set sail on a voyage to the Dark Continent and step foot on the land, major disasters soon followed, which is certainly not an exaggeration given the creatures that inhabit the place. As such, any expeditions for the continent were officially forbidden by the V5 nearly 200 years ago through the Inviolability Treaty.
That said, human curiosity always gets the better of them and Togashi has shown that on several occasions throughout the story. With the Dark Continent, it was no different as nearly 149 attempted voyages were made in recent years to find out more about this huge mass of wilderness. As already established before, danger runs high in this place, meaning the majority of those who stepped foot on the island ended up dying, and only five of the expeditions were deemed successful, with a survival rate of 0.04%, which just goes to highlight the perils of this place even more.
What Lies On The Dark Continent?
​​​​​​Not just anyone can travel to the perilous land that is the Dark Continent. In fact, without a Guide, it is impossible for anyone to navigate past the waters that surround the Known World. The Guide can only be brought forth by the Gatekeeper, who then makes it possible for people to travel the Dark Continent. According to what the author has shown so far, there is no other way to get to the Dark Continent aside from making use of a Gatekeeper and a Guide.
The Dark Continent itself is incredibly vast and cannot be fully explored by anyone, at least not in a single lifetime, by the looks of it. However, over the years, some people, such as Isaac Netero, Linne, Zigg Zoldyck, and even Beyond Netero have been to the place. Thus, humanity has a fair idea of some of the species that exist on the Dark Continent. The Chimera Ants that fans witnessed to be an incredibly dangerous life form aren't even close to being the most dangerous ones here.
The Five Threats that exist on the Dark Continent are proof that this place is too wild and dangerous for anyone to conquer. The mentioned threats are specimens that were obtained from the continent itself via five unofficial voyages that humanity made to the continent. One of them is Brion, a botanical weapon that is said to be even more dangerous than Chimera Ants. A snake with two tails, called Hellbell, is said to be strong enough to infect prey with the desire to kill. In the past, Hellbell managed to annihilate 99% of the humans it came up against. There is also the gaseous lifeform known as Ai that is capable of killing humans as well. Once again, its threat levels are even higher than that of the Chimera Ants, which just goes to show that it is terrifying indeed.
Pap, another one of the Five Threats is capable of making pets out of humans and finally, there exists the Zobae Disease. This disease kills nearly everyone it contracts and so far, has only seen one survivor. Surprisingly, the person who survived became immune to death but also lost any sense of semblance, which is nothing short of staggering. So far, no cure for the Zobae Disease exists. With just five lifeforms great enough to show how out of their depth humans are compared to them, it is quite easy to see that the Dark Continent is, undoubtedly, too perilous. In the future, fans will likely see their favorite heroes travel to this place and possibly even conquer it.