Nokris, Supplicant to Savathûn

Nokris, Herald of Xol
Biographical information
Other name(s):	Son of Oryx The Unfavored The Disowned Son The Cursed One The Child Breaker of Pacts Usurper of the Ordered Ways The High Priest
Species:	Hive
Faction:	Blood of Oryx (formerly) Grasp of Nokris (formerly) Savathûn's Hive
Rank:	Ultra
Class:	Wizard
Gender:	Male
Combat information
Mission:	Strange Terrain
Abilities:	Dying Star Darkness Smash Darkness Lift Crystal Shield Darkness Blast High Durability Shadow Vanish Teleportation Summon Hive Summon Ugul Gar Knight

"Hear me, o dreadful worm. We will raise an army. We will die and be reborn in your name, feed you the souls of our enemies."
"State your claim."
"We take Mars. "

— Nokris to Xol

Nokris, Herald of Xol is a Hive God, and the estranged son of Oryx, the Taken King and the herald of the Worm God, Xol, Will of the Thousands. Exiled by Oryx for his heresies, Nokris later traveled to Mars and was imprisoned in the polar ice by the Warmind Rasputin. Following Xol's abandonment of Nokris in favor of drawing power from deaths caused by The Guardian, Nokris pledged his allegiance to his aunt Savathûn, the Witch-Queen in a bid to end the Hive's reliance on the Worms and the Darkness. This bid also features the terrifying trade of Nokris willing to teach Savathûn Necromancy in exchange for "Sight in the Dreaming Mind's talent" - likely the ability to Take.

Biography

Pre-Golden Age

Brother of Crota, Nokris was disfavored by his father for his physical weakness. To make up for that weakness, Nokris instead honed his mind, learning magic and hoarding knowledge. He devised a plan to prove himself to Oryx by communing with the Worm Gods as he once did; however, while he succeeded, most of the worms rejected the disfavored son. Only Xol, Will of the Thousands remained to grant him an audience. Fearing an attack from Yul, the Honest Worm, Xol made a pact with the forgotten child. Nokris traded his heart for some of Xol's power and the secret of necromancy.

Oryx soon learned about his son's activities and was furious. Nokris's actions were sacrilege, and necromancy was considered a heretical violation of the Sword Logic, for it disrupts the means of survival of the fittest. For his crimes, the King of the Hive exiled him and removed all references of his disowned son from the World's Grave and the Books of Sorrow. Only a statue remained.

Nokris was unperturbed. In exile he saw freedom and opportunity. He informed Xol that he would conquer the planet Mars in his name. After arriving, the two were met with resistance from the Warmind Rasputin, trapping them within the ice of Hellas Basin.

The Taken and Red Wars

"The name is... Nokris."

— Ghost

The only reference to Nokris known to the Guardians prior to his awakening on Mars was a statue found in the Dreadnaught near the Altar of Oryx, beside similar statues of Crota and Oryx. The Guardian's Ghost infers it is a Hive god from the accompanying Hive glyphs but couldn't recognize the symbol. At Eris Morn's request, Asher Mir scoured his library for references to Nokris but found none..

War with The Warmind

After the deaths of Oryx and Crota, and the end of the Red War, Nokris and his master were awakened when their entrapping ice began to melt; an effect of the Traveler's waking. Together, they sought the destruction of the Warmind Rasputin for their imprisonment and engaged once more with the Warmind. However, interference came in the form of the Guardian working with Ana Bray. Nokris encountered the Guardian during their mission of using a small shard of the Traveler as bait to lure Xol out and destroy him. However, Nokris faced them instead and fought the Guardian in a fierce battle. Despite his power, Nokris was incinerated by the Guardian, having failed to protect Xol from its destruction.

False Idols

"My life is spent: servitude to those who cast me away. Our blood is all that remains of the old pact."

— Nokris to Savathûn

Nokris managed to evade permanent death following Xol’s defeat, only to be left abandoned within the crust of Mars. His attempts to reconnect with the Worm God were rebuffed, as it had already found more worth in his slayers. Dejected, Nokris sought entry into the Ascendant Plane, which was previously denied to him due to not following the Sword Logic, using a fragment of Xol’s remains to force open a gate. He lured fireteams of Guardians under the pretense of resurrecting Xol into slaughtering him and his revenant Hive, gaining enough power from their acts of violence to feed Xol's remains enough to use its power and pierce a hole into the Sea of Screams through which his soul could slip into.

However, the trickery he used attracted the attention of his aunt. Although expecting to be used as nothing more than a simple pawn, Nokris struck a bargain with her after Savathûn offered him a place in her Court and acknowledged his value in being able to overturn the Sword Logic and those bound by it. As Savathûn sought to elevate herself from the Darkness, which she was chained to by the Sword Logic, she desired Nokris’s knowledge of Necromancy. In exchange for his secrets, she would grant him access to the Dreaming Mind so that he could learn how to Take. Savathûn also foresaw the arrival of the Pyramids in Sol and so she instructed him to interfere in any of their attempts to communicate with the Guardian.

Reckoning

In Tier I of the Reckoning, and even in Gambit Prime, the Guardian faces the Likeness of Nokris, which is a Taken made in the form of Nokris, Herald of Xol.

The Pyramids' Arrival

"Whispered gifts are promised blades that twist. A liar's game."

— Nokris.

Two years after his initial defeat on Mars, Nokris would resurface as an agent of the Witch-Queen herself, playing his role in intervening with the Pyramids's messages to Eris Morn and the Guardian at the Cradle on Io. He was even responsible for pulling the Guardian into the Witch Queen's court at the Ascendant Plane, mocking them in whispers and even insulting their Ghost as nothing but a Worm.

Gameplay

Nokris is the boss of the Strange Terrain mission and is encountered at Xol's feeding grounds. He fights primarily by firing Solar blasts at the player and occasionally summoning Hive to assist him. Every third part of his health, Nokris will break two of the pillars in the arena and retreat to the gate at the front of the battlefield. Nokris will proceed to shield himself in an immune shield. To break the shield, the player must find the large green rock that came out of one of the two pillars Nokris broke, find the recently resurrected Ugul Gar Knights, kill them, and throw the dropped relic at one of the pillars and then the next to stun Nokris and take down his shield. During the first immunity phase, he will stand still while summoning Hive, during his second phase, he will begin firing darkness blasts at rapid succession, and at his last phase, he will begin moving around the arena, using his Dying Star ability.

Quotes

Interference

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• "You are abandoned."
• "Is malice not enough?"
• "Does Xol's clutch hold you now, as it once did me?"
• "Give and be Given. Take and be Taken."
• "Whispered gifts are promised blades that twist. A liar's game."
• "The Taken Queen saves. Freedom for Bondage."
• "Cast off your Worm. Your tiny bulb of sickness. Your tethered anchor that drags to the sky."
• "An agent of violence. What more must you cull?"
• "The sky is vast, but shallow. The deep is boundless, but suffocating. There is another way."
• "You will learn that wrath shall only bring forth ruin. You’ve made a mistake deciding to exist."

Gallery

• 

  The Statue of Nokris.

• 

  Nokris reveals himself.

• 

  Nokris' Face.

• 

  Nokris render at an angle

• 

  Nokris from behind

• 

  The front of Nokris

• 

  Nokris at a slightly different angle.

• 

  The Likeness of Nokris, a Taken Echo bearing the image of Norkis.

Trivia

• The word "Nokris" might be derived from "Noctuidae", which is a family of moth, the wing patterns of which resemble the Shroud of Flies Hunter Cloak pattern. Similarly, "Nokri" is a Hebrew word for "alien" or "adulteress". Relatedly, the prefix "Nok" could be a derivation of "Noc", or "Nocturnal", the Greek Goddess of the night; similarly, the Roman translation is "Nox".
• Nokris is the very first wizard to be a male.
• Nokris bears a stronger resemblance to his father Oryx than Crota, who barely resembles him.
• Nokris's initial Solar attack bears a resemblance to the Acolyte's grenade attack.
• To date, Nokris and his sect are the only known Hive which have been permanently expunged from the rest of their kin.
  • This may no longer be the case since he now pledged his allegiance to Savathûn.
• Nokris is the fourth Hive to speak English in-game, after Ecthar, Sword of Oryx, Oryx, and Crota.
• Nokris is likely to be a secondary antagonist in the 2021 expansion, The Witch Queen.

List of appearances

• Destiny: The Taken King (First mentioned)
• Destiny 2 (Mentioned only)
  • Warmind (First appearance)
• Forsaken (Mentioned only)
• Shadowkeep (Mentioned only)
  • Season of Arrivals

References

12.Weblore: False Idols (https://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/News/49185)