Editing Nokris, Supplicant to Savathûn

|name= Nokris, Supplicant to Savathûn

|othernames= Herald of Xol (formerly)<br>Son of Oryx<br>The Unfavored<br>The Disowned Son<br>The Cursed One<br>The Child<br/>Breaker of Pacts<br/>Usurper of the Ordered Way <br> The High Priest

|faction= [[Blood of Oryx]] {{c|formerly}} <br> [[Grasp of Nokris]] <br> [[Savathûn's Brood]]

|rank= [[Ultra]]

|mission= [[Strange Terrain]]<br>[[Interference]]

|height=  

|mass=  

|weapon=  

|ability= Dying Star <br> Darkness Smash <br> Darkness Lift <br> Crystal Shield <br> Darkness Blast <br> Grasp of Darkness <br> High Durability <br> Shadow Vanish <br> Teleportation <br> Summon Hive <br> Summon [[Ugul Gar Knight]]

'''Nokris, Supplicant to Savathûn''', previously known as '''Nokris, Herald of Xol''', is a [[Hive]] God<ref name="GhostScan">'''Bungie (2015/9/15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]] Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Ghost]]: [http://www.ishtar-collective.net/transcripts/ghost-scan-nokris Ishtar Collective - Ghost Scan: Nokris]''</ref><ref>'''Bungie (2015/9/15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]] Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard''</ref>, the estranged second son of [[Oryx, the Taken King]]<ref name="NarPre">[https://www.bungie.net/en/News/Article/46779 '''Bungie''' - ''Destiny 2 Narrative Preview'']</ref> and the former 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]]. <ref>[https://www.destinythegame.com/expansion2 '''Destiny the Game''' - ''Expansion Pass 2'']</ref> Following Xol abandoning Nokris in favor of the [[Guardian]]s, the former herald 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]]. He served as the final antagonist of the [[Season of Arrivals]], working for Savathûn to subvert the [[Black Fleet]]'s [[Interference|messages]] until he met his potential end by the [[Guardian]]s.

[[File:OryxThroneRoom.png|thumb|right|300px|Statue of Nokris (left) in the Altar of Oryx]]

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 and stories as a different form of Sword Logic to feed his Worm. 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. <ref>'''Bungie (2018/8/5)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Warmind (expansion)|Warmind]] Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Wormhusk Crown]]''</ref><ref>'''Bungie (2018/8/5)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Warmind (expansion)|Warmind]] Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Wormgod Caress]]''</ref><ref name="NarPre"/>

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]].<ref name = "Verity's Brow">'''Bungie (2018/8/5)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Warmind (expansion)|Warmind]] Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Verity's Brow]]''</ref><ref name="GhostScan"/> 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]].<ref name = "Verity's Brow" />

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]]<ref>'''Bungie (2015/9/15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]] Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Regicide]]''</ref>, beside similar statues of [[Crota, Son of Oryx|Crota]] and [[Oryx, the Taken King|Oryx]]. [[The Guardian]]'s [[Ghost]] infers it is a Hive god from the accompanying Hive glyphs but couldn't recognize the symbol.<ref name="GhostScan"/> At [[Eris Morn]]'s request, [[Asher Mir]] scoured his library for references to Nokris but found none.<ref>'''Bungie (2017/8/9)''', ''[[Destiny]]: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [http://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/gensym-knight Gensym Knight]''</ref>.

[[File:Nokris.gif|thumb|right|300px|Son of Oryx, Nokris]]

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.

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 [[Whisper of the Worm|his slayers]]. Dejected, Nokris sought entry into the [[Ascendant Plane]], which was previously denied to him due to his rejection of 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 it to pierce a tiny hole into the Sea of Screams through which his soul could slip into.

However, the trickery he used attracted the attention of his [[Savathûn, the Witch-Queen|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 her whole being was tethered to by the Sword Logic, she desired Nokris’s knowledge of Necromancy. In exchange for his secrets, she would grant him access to [[Quria, Blade Transform|the Dreaming Mind]] so that he could learn how to [[Taken|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 Guardians.<ref name="FALSE IDOLS"/>

[[File:Nokris_Supplicant_To_Savathun.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Nokris in the Court of Savathûn]]

{{Quote|Whispered gifts are promised blades that twist. A liar's game.|Nokris}}

Two years after his initial defeat on Mars, Nokris would resurface as the Supplicant to the Witch-Queen herself, playing his role as a catalyst to intervene with the [[Pyramids]]' messages at the [[Tree of Silver Wings]] on [[Io]]. Armed with massive [[Shrieker]]s belonging to Savathûn, called: [[Savathûn's Witness]]es, the Supplicant would shroud the [[Cradle]] with the Witch Queen's interference and even lay a trap out for [[Eris Morn]] and the [[Guardian]]; threatening the life of the former and pulling the latter into the Witch Queen's [[High Coven|court]] within the [[Ascendant Plane]]. Eris barely survives her encounter and had saved the Guardian in tow from the full force of the Witness [[Shrieker]]s.<ref>'''Bungie (2020/6/9)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Season of Arrivals]], [https://www.ishtar-collective.net/transcripts/a-shadow-overhead A Shadow Overhead]''</ref>

For a period of eighteen weeks, Nokris commanded his aunt's [[Savathûn's Brood|brood]] and the [[Taken]] to swarm the Tree and shroud it in Savathûn's influence with one of her Witnesses, barring the Black Fleet's communications directly with Eris and the Guardians. Each week, the [[Guardian]]s would face one of the massive Shriekers at the Cradle before they are summoned back to the Ascendant Plane, to which Nokris mocks them in whispers and even insult their [[Ghost]] at one point, drawing comparisons to a [[Worm]]. Nonetheless, the Guardian's efforts wore proven successful at destroying the massive Shriekers and allowing Eris to briefly interpret the Pyramids' messages with the [[Seed of Silver Wings]].<ref>'''Bungie (2020/6/9)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Season of Arrivals]], [https://www.ishtar-collective.net/transcripts/quest-interference-means-to-an-end-week-1#interference Interference, Means to an End]''</ref>

On the final week, Eris had successfully identified Nokris as the source of the interference just as the Supplicant would summon the Guardian into a new area of the Court, where he would face them directly once more near the backdrop of a massive Taken [[Blight]] the size of a star. Throughout the fight, Nokris addresses them as a mere pawn tied to the everlasting struggle between [[Light]] and [[Darkness]], to which he offered to have them free of in eternal [[Taken|servitude]] to Savathûn. However, the Hive heretic's offers would only fall on deaf ears as the Guardian destroyed him for seemingly a final time, diminishing the Witch-Queen's influence considerably and allowing the Pyramids' final message to reach the Guardian. <ref>'''Bungie (2020/10/6)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Season of Arrivals]], [https://www.ishtar-collective.net/transcripts/quest-interference-means-to-an-end-final-week#interference Interference, Means to an End (Final Week)]''</ref>

[[File:NokrisClose.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Nokris, Herald of Xol]]

Nokris is the boss of the [[Strange Terrain]] mission and is encountered at [[Xol, Will of the Thousands|Xol's]] feeding grounds. He fights primarily by firing Solar blasts at the player and occasionally summoning Hive to assist him. For very third of his health depleted, 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 immunity shield. To break the shield, the player must find the large green crystal that came out of one of the two pillars Nokris broke, find the recently resurrected [[Ugul Gar Knight]]s, kill them, and throw the dropped relic at one of the crystals and then the next to stun Nokris and take down his shield. In the [[strike]] version of the mission, two crystals will spawn every phase. 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.

*''"Does Xol's clutch [[Whisper of the Worm|hold you now]], as it once did me?"''

*''"Cast off your [[Ghost|Worm]]. Your tiny bulb of sickness. Your tethered anchor that drags to the sky."''

*''"You will learn that wrath shall only bring forth ruin. You’ve made a mistake deciding to exist."''

Nokris early concept.jpg|Very early concept art of Norkis.<ref>[https://www.artstation.com/artwork/oOA50q Dave E. Phillips, ''Destiny 2: Warmind, High-Level Exploration'']</ref>

*The word "Nokris" might be derived from "Noctuidae", which is a [https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Noctuidae family] of moth, the wing patterns of which resemble the [[Shroud of Flies]] [[Hunter]] Cloak pattern.<ref>'''Bungie (2014/12/9)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Dark Below]] Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Item Description, [https://www.bungie.net/en/armory/Detail?type=item&item=4253790216&itemname=Shroud%20of%20Flies Shroud of Flies]''</ref> Similarly, "Nokri" is a Hebrew word for "alien" or "adulteress".<ref>'''Bible Hub''', ''[http://biblehub.com/hebrew/5237.htm Strong's Hebrew: 5237. נָכְרִי (nokri) -- foreign, alien]''</ref> 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]].  

*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.

*Nokris is the fourth Hive to speak English in-game, after Crota, [[Ecthar, Sword of Oryx|Ecthar]], and Oryx.

*Whispers from Nokris can be heard throughout the various interference weekly missions, where he taunts the player.

**However during his battles in [[Season of Arrivals]], he tempts the player to leave the [[Light]].

***This is consistent with his attempts to contact the hive after retreating from the loss of Xol, illustrating desperation and a departure from his previous isolation.

*During the strike "[[Strange Terrain]]", players have a short period immediately after summoning Nokris to instantly kill him, avoiding the tedious 3 damage cycles that normally occur. The most effective way to do this with any given strike modifier is with the [[Exotic]] [[Rocket launcher]] "[[The Wardcliff Coil]]".

***''[[Season of Arrivals]]''

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