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| Introduction |
Nile (ナイル, Nairu) is a supporting character of the Nanbaka Web Manga series. He is an inmate of building 12, and a togabito capable of controlling people through shadows.
Appearance[]
Nile's Appearance
Nile is young teen with dark skin. He has black hair that goes slightly past his shoulders. Bandages are loosely wrapped around his body, especially over his forearms, neck, ribcage, and ankles. There are even a few looped into his hair. His eyes have black sclera, aqua irises, and gold eyelashes. When activating Vision Sharing, his eyes take on a blue glow. He also wears a white skirt, with additional yellow and blue striped fabric on top of it, invoking the pattern of a Nemes Headdress.
His black inmate plate is kept on a chain around his neck, and has gold bands on his biceps and on his neck. He also appears to have a green belly button piercing.
Personality[]
Nile is shown to be extremely proud, referring to himself as a king and calling the others lower than cattle. He also has extremely violent tendencies and a penchant for bloodlust, looking forward to killing.
Background[]
Nile is a descendant of a royal family from long ago, that used to have their servants kill each other as a form of entertainment. This was especially strange because no servant ever resisted against the order.[1] According to Fuji-san, Nile has killed over 20 people in Nanba prison, earning a black number plate, meaning Nile will never be allowed to be released released from Nanba and is a death row inmate.[1]
Some comments he makes, such as "Killing thrills the heart no matter the era,"[2] implies he is not as young as he appears, and is supremely old.
Plot[]
Part Four - New Year's Butoukai Arc[]
In the beginning of the Tournament, the Building 12 inmate representative is introduced as Mummy. He went through the first event without catching much attention.
Event 2: Rampaging Kusudama Splitting Game[]
During the second block of Event 2, confusion breaks out as the competitors D, Aki, Koisuke Kyuubi, and Tatsumi Jubaco suddenly find themselves incapable of moving under their own strength.[3] Initially, Scara B Khepri was suspected of the body control, but Uno is able to deduce that it was in fact the inmate that was responsible. Upon his goading, Nile bursts out of Mummy, revealing the other inmate to have only been a facade.[1]
While Khepri shielded Nile from other attacks, Nile was free to use the inmates he had taken control of to attack the remaining ones and pick them off one by one. Building 5's participants, Samon Gokuu and Ruka Gojou, were initially cautious about confronting Nile, as he was a death row inmate. But then, Nile brought up Enki Gokuu, calling him a murderer and a criminal. This provoked the two into attacking outright.[2]
Ruka attacked first, standing on the tip of the pyramid-shaped forcefield defense created by Khepri and generating a violent windstorm. While this attack did little against the forcefield, it lessened Nile's line of sight (an important factor in maintaining control of others' bodies). Ruka was unable to keep this up forever, though, and as the force of his winds weakened, Nile saw an opening to make inmate Aki throw a specially engineered ball to attack Ruka with.
In reality, Ruka had specifically calculated the weak point so that the ball would be thrown in such a way that it would plow through the ground and break into Khepri's barrier from beneath their feet. The ball struck Nile, and then - given the indestructible nature of the barrier - bounced off the walls, rapidly gaining speed and striking Nile several times over.[4]
Once the forcefield was taken down, Nile collapsed, and his control was released. He quickly recovered, and summoned humanoid creatures from his shadow. These creatures, upon making contact with others' shadows, can take control of the person's body. However, if Nile has a weapon in his hand, the creatures also receive that weapon, and can physically harm another person. Nile tried to do this with Ruka, but is stopped by Aki.[5] Nile continued to fight, but was stopped by Shin intervening and disqualifying Building 12 from the New Year's Butoukai.[6] Nile is confirmed to be a togabito, and is never seen again.
The New Year's Butoukai is structured in such a way as to have togabito unwittingly reveal themselves and then separate the togabito from the regular inmates. The main way this scheme is put in practice is on the pretense of said togabito being taken away for medical care[6]. Given this information, and also the fact that Nile is heavily injured after his fight, it is likely he was carted away in this manner, too. What was done with the segregated togabito is unclear, though them being dead is highly likely.
Skills & Abilities[]
Body Control[]
Nile is a togabito with the ability to control people using their shadows. Once under his control, the victims can no longer control their movements, but retain ability to talk and think on their own.[3] There are some hard limits to this ability, in that Nile cannot move while it is active, and that only four people at a time can be taken control of. There is also the stipulation that the victims must be in Nile's line of sight, though that has an extraneous reason.
Nile's Shadow Servants
Shadow Servants[]
From his shadow, Nile can call forth figures that take the vague silhouette of himself. They can exist out of sight, but can also rise up into the human plane, where they can make physical contact with the people themselves. When these creatures make contact with a victim's shadow, control over them is given to Nile.[5]
True to the four-person limit of control victims, Nile can also only summon four shadow servants at a time. Each figure has to be controlled by Nile, as they don't have minds of their own and are merely extensions of his will. This is why he requires his victims to be in his line of sight; he needs to see where to direct the figures.
Armed Shadow Servants[]
As an extension of the concept of these figures being created out of his own shadow, if Nile takes out a weapon, all of the shadow servants gain that weapon, and can use it to enact actual harm on the victims.[5]
Nile's Vision Sharing
Vision Sharing[]
An extension of his control over people, Nile can also see what they see if he focuses. When he does this, his eyes take on an ethereal blue glow, emanating from his pupils.[4]
Trivia[]
- Nile's name is in reference to the River Nile, in Egypt.
- While Nile is not outright stated to be Egyptian, his design takes aesthetics of Ancient Egyptian royalty and mummification practices, and the recounting of his family history shows stereotypical hieroglyphs and Egyptian iconography.[1]
- Given the epithet conventions of the togabito in the series, it is possible that Nile's epithet would be togabito of shadows.
- Nile's abilities shares similarities with Hakushaku (a togabito inmate from Building 6) in that both of them are descended from aristocracy, and (when they are active) both make references to being extremely old[7][2].
- They differ in that Hakushaku's abilities turn off when he has properly rested, and it seems more akin to possession[8]. Nile has shown no such double side to himself.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Nanbaka Web Manga: Chapter 380
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Nanbaka Web Manga: 381
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Nanbaka Web Manga: 377
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Nanbaka Web Manga: Chapter 382
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Nanbaka Web Manga: Chapter 383
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Nanbaka Web Manga: Chapter 384
- ↑ Nanbaka Web Manga: Chapter 311
- ↑ Nanbaka Web Manga: Building 6 Arc