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N'Kari is a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh, and a major antagonist in Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40k. Called the Eternal Taster^[1] Flesh-Tempter, Bejewelled One, Herald of Dismay, Lord of a Thousand Songs, and the Arch-Tempter, he is the finest of Slaanesh's Keepers of Secrets.^[2] An ancient daemon, N'Kari was present at the earliest days of history when Chaos first tainted the world. While he is the scourge of all that is decent and pure, he has a particular hatred for elves, especially those of Aenarion's bloodline and vowed to destroy all those elves and almost succeeded in doing so. Only Tyrion, Teclis, and Malekith survive N'Kari's vengeance.^[3]

N'kari is voiced by Emma Tate in Total War: Warhammer III.^[4] Emma has also voiced characters such as Baba Yaga from Hellboy (2019).

Personality[]

N'kari is a sadist, described as an elegant brute.^[5] He glories and feeds off of fear and pain, seeking to create or exacerbate both for his own enjoyment. Like most daemons, N'kari hungers for souls and like all Slaaneshi, he harbors a desire to spoil and ruin any purity he finds. As a Keeper of Secrets, N'kari is more partial to bloodshed and violence to achieve this goal, while his smaller siblings might tend towards subtler manipulations. The Arch-Tempter weilds violence with some degree of discernment. To enemies, he terrifies and revels in the most debauched of torments, but to his minions and allies he shows restraint, preferring instead to lure with honeyed promises rather than coerce with threats. N'kari can sense desires and taste emotions as well as read thoughts; this makes him very adept at being persuasive. However, if temptations fail, he has no compunctions about using violence.^[6] Even if he does end up granting the wishes of a mortal or ally, he often does so in such a way that his 'gift' ends up destroying the desirer in the end. This is as N'kari prefers it, for he enjoys watching mortals destroy themselves.^[7]

In addition to being sadistic and violent, N'kari is also lascivious, jealous, and vain. Often is there intent and innuendo lurking in the things he says and sometimes these are stated outright. His violent nature and interest in carnal behaviors are frequently married to one another. A Warband led by N'kari, notably, rolled through the elven settlement of Tor Ann during his revenge upon the High Elves of Ulthuan. Those who discovered the aftermath of the carnage could not tell if it had taken the form of a cannibalistic slaughter or a wild orgy. Allies are not spared this treatment in full, though N'kari's intentions towards them are notably less violent. All the same, the desire remains to provoke desire all around him.^[8][9]

N'kari is arrogant, given to dramatic speeches and displays of his power before his underlings. He can become quite preturbed and vengeful if these displays are interrupted or if his game fails to show the proper "sportsmanship" about their impending demise. The Keeper is cruel, prefering to toy with his enemies and play with his food, bringing them to the heights of their terror to the depths of their despair before finally losing interest in the game and killing them. He is especially spiteful and vengeful when significantly thwarted. After being defeated by Aenarion, the daemon made it his mission to destroy all of that elves' bloodline. He very nearly succeeded, fixating forever after on the three survivors of his wrath: Malekith, Tyrion, and Teclis.

The daemon is intelligent, able to make well-considered and split-second judgements without and under pressure, particularly when he determines his well-being to be in genuine jeopardy. However, once N'kari determines there is no danger, his arrogance returns and in this lies his weakness. It was underestimating his foes and desiring to prolong their fear and suffering as long as possible that ultimately led to two of N'kari's demises, first at the hands of the twins, then at the blade of the Witch King Malekith.^[10]

As a Slaaneshi daemon, he has no compunctions. Everything from innocent frolicking to the desecration of the deceased are within the perview of this ancient and powerful greater daemon.^[11][12]

Appearance[]

N'Kari is a shapeshifter and has occupied various forms through his appearances in Warhammer Fantasy.

Total War: Warhammer III[]

N'Kari is a massive, vaguely humanoid monster with an amalgam of traits, some similar to a man and some similar to various animals. He is bipedal with purple skin, though his chest, belly and throat are a lighter mottling of that color. Standing far in excess of a man's height, the Keeper of Secrets towers over mortals at around thirty feet tall. This does not include his long, curling black horns, which are the most impressive of his kind. They resemble an ibex, their ends capped in gold. N'Kari is a lithe, six-limbed being; two of his arms are similar to a man's, each finger tipped with long claws. Two of his arms end in massive pincers, again the largest and most impressive of the Keepers of Secrets. Distinct from other Keepers, N'Kari does not have a nose or ears; rather, several tendrils sprout from his back, arms, and head. He has a vicious set of needle-like teeth, not unlike an angler-fish, and lips that only partially shield them from view. This gives the affect of him always baring his teeth. N'Kari has glowing, jewel-like eyes that are pearl-white in color.

N'Kari, like most Slaaneshi daemons, is masculine on one side, feminine on the other, and not truly one sex or the other. He wears a corset and long, somewhat ragged stockings that stop at his hooves. His hooves too are decorated, cloven and lavished in golden, swirling designs. He has a worm-like tail. Several baubles, jewels, and piercings litter his body, giving him the the title of "Bejeweled One" among others. Finally, he has a long, neat braid that curls around his shoulders. Though it appears to originate from top of his head, it actually starts from the back. The top of N'Kari's head is chitinous, as is the skin of his back and the shoulders of his pincer-arms.

High Elf Trilogy (BoA, SoC, BoM)[]

N'Kari is described as a monstrous, androgynous being with a beautiful woman's laugh contrasting his disturbing appearance. He has four arms like a typical Keeper of Secrets. One arm ends in a pincer claw, but the other three are humanoid. One of his humanoid arms is decorated with finery and oddly delicate; it was with this arm that N'Kari brandished a massive great sword. With his remaining two arms, he wove potent spells. N'Kari was said to have a bestial, malformed head (specified to be equine-like in Sword of Caledor) and massive fangs in it's jaws. Instead of hooves, he bore talons and in all his shapeshifted forms, he maintained a pair of curling black goat horns.^[13]

Despite this, the Keeper bore an odd sort of beauty, not so much in it's form, but rather it's movements. Lithe and sinuous, N'Kari moved with the grace of a dancer and beckoned like a high-class courtesan: obscene, but also fascinating. It was this fascination, partially the effect of the daemon's aura, that ensnared mortals, allowing N'Kari to tear them to pieces while they could only stare, bewitched by the monster before them.^[14]

Age of Reckoning[]

N'kari appears in Age of Reckoning as a pale skinned, lithe daemon. Like all of his previous iteractions, he is massive, towering over most mortals. Two of his limbs end in much more slender blades rather than pincers, though he still has the twin pair of humanoid hands. One arm bears a blade, the other is cloaked in a long, sleeve-like glove; both bear long, sharp talons. He has claws rather than hooves in this iteration and several long strands of hair. N'kari has four horns, tipped in gold. He has six breast, three aligned on either side of his torso. One is covered in a spiked plate, the rest are open to the air. Instead of nipples, they end in mouths. N'kari wears a single, spiked stocking on his right-most leg. He has a long, purple loincloth keeping him decent.^[15]

Other Sources[]

N'kari has been described as having a bovine aspect, described as being bull-headed with massive horns.^[16]

Biography[]

The Coming of Chaos[]

N'Kari was present at the Coming of Chaos, when the fell powers of the warp first spilled into the world of mortals. While Nurgle, Khorne, and Tzeentch focused their attentions on the Lizardmen and Dwarven folk, Slaanesh and his legions were drawn to the Elves of Ulthuan. Slaaneshi daemons feed on emotion and sensation and no mortal race feels either as keenly as the elves do, thus they are the choicest of prey for the spawn of Slaanesh. N'Kari called upon not only his master's legions, but those lesser daemons of the other gods as well to ruin the idyllic kingdom of the elves. Causing death and terror wherever he tread, the Keeper drank in the scent and feeling of horror and rejoiced.^[17]

It would be decades before the elves produced a response to N'Kari's destruction, that being the Pheonix King, Aenarion. Weilding the Sword of Khaine, the Murder God of the Elves, N'Kari and several other Greater Daemons, was destroyed at last. Not merely banished, N'Kari was trapped in the Great Vortex created by the elves to leech most of the magic from the world. In doing this, they would stop the endless waves of daemons, depriving them of the energy to manifest.^[18]

N'kari would also slay Astarielle, first wife of Aenarion the Defender. It was said that her fate was so gruesome that the elves dare not speak of it.^[19]

N'Kari's Revenge[]

For six thousand years, N'Kari was trapped within the Great Vortex, his defeat reducing him to the barest nub of sentience. However, the Vortex was made of magic, as are Chaos Daemons, so it was only matter of waiting and biding his time until the opportunity to escape presented itself. Long after Aenerion's death was N'Kari finally reborn into the world, immediately setting about the task of revenge. With Aenerion dead, however, he could only visit terror upon the late elf's descendants and kin. Gathering together Cultists, Beastmen, Lesser Daemons, and other servants and slaves, N'Kari began a campaign against the elves once more called "The Rape of Ulthuan". However, he was once again defeated by Aenarion's bloodline, cast into the sea by the joint effort of Tyrion and Teclis. However, the destruction the daemon left behind was vast and like any chaos daemon, he was not truly dead, just momentarily banished.

Both brothers suspected it would not be the last they saw of N'Kari.^[20]

The Sword of Caledor[]

Over a century later, N'kari is summoned to the plane of mortals by Malekith, the Witch King. Normally, he destroys any mortal presumptious enough to summon him, but Malekith was blood to Aenarion and this the daemon could feel. Curious, he extrudes himself through Malekith's summoning portal. He converses with the Dark Elf, proving defiant until the Witch King reveals he has N'kari essentially trapped for good should the Greater Daemon not comply with his demands. Daemons cannot summon vessels to the material world if one is already present; Malekith could bind N'kari forever should it be his wish to. Raging ineffectively against his bonds, the Greater Daemon finally acquiesces to the Dark Elf. However, secretly he plotted to turn the tables on Malekith, the moment the opportunity presented itself. However, the elf bound N'kari further with bracelets and chains containing incredibly strong wards.^[21]

Malekith's scheme was to take over Ulthuan and anywhere else Elves held sway, as well as the world. In this, he planned to use N'kari and all the while the daemon hated him, though kept it checked always beneath a veneer of civility. However, N'kari's hatred was palpable, curdling the musky, erotic vapors surrounding his form at all times. Where it could not attack Malekith physically, it sought to provoke, implying that not only was Malekith a half-daemon bastard but also revealing he and the Witch King's mother had coupled, many times.^[22]

Later, N'kari uses intricate spells to further Malekith's plan as he began the War against Tyrion, using waystones and his unique ability to portal entire armies to and fro. When left with Malekith's druchii soldiers, he drinks in the scent of their fear and enjoys the sensation of their hatred. Despite hating them in turn, especially the Witch King, the Keeper of Secrets also desperately desired the sundering of Ulthuan and so did not interfere with the Naggarothi King's plans. However, this obedience and complacency was partially woven into the spell. It was enjoyable, even, and this N'kari despised to his core. After transporting the final army, N'kari returns to Malekith's side, musing on how to escape.^[23]

Total War: Warhammer III[]

N'Kari was one of the Lords interested in the fate of the God-Bear, Ursun, who lay dying in the Forge of Souls, kept prisoner by the First Daemon Prince Be'lakor. Originally uninterested in the tale the Advisor spins for him, the Keeper is finally tempted at the prospect of distilling and savoring the sorrow of the god for all eternity.

He musters an army from his abode, The Palace of Ruin, and sets off against the other factions for Ursun's body. N'Kari's faction is called the Seducers of Slaanesh; they are the rival to the Exiles of Khorne, led by Skarbrand, in the "Realm of Chaos" campaign in Total War: Warhammer III. Upon braving the four Realms of Chaos and finally defeating Be'lakor, N'Kari hoards both Ursun's sorrow as well as the sorrow of his followers to selfishly savor for millenniums to come.

The End Times[]

N'kari was present at The End Times, but was defeated for a third and final time by the twins, Tyrion and Teclis. This time, it was Tyrion who cleaved the monster's head from it's shoulders.^[24]

Warhammer 40,000[]

N'kari is a character from Warhammer 40k. He is a Daemon and one of the foremost servants of Slaanesh.^[25] He is also the intimate companion of Daemon Primarch Fulgrim.^[26]

The Keeper of Secrets was once sweet on a mortal, now risen to a Daemon Prince called the Mistress of Spite.^[27] However, shortly after her apotheosis, he lost interest in her and abandoned her for another plaything. The Daemon Prince tried to get his attention again, pursuing the depths of emotions and supping from them, but nothing she did ever caught his attention again.^[28]

N'kari and a band of daemonettes assailed the recently Tyranid-scoured world of Malan'tai, seeking eldar Spirit Stones to devour. The Daemon had swelled to ten times it's already impressive power after consuming just a fraction of the stones on the entire planet. However, the Grey Knights and other parties interrupt to daemon's feast, eventually cornering him Dome of Crystal Seers. Though inebriated by the potent souls within the stones, N'kari fights with fury and dispatches several Purifiers, striking down Captain Pelenas. He also kills the captain, but the remaining Purifiers complete a ritual that robs him of his stolen power and renders him vulnerable once more.^[29]

N'kari is occasionally referred to as a Daemon Prince rather than a Keeper of Secrets.^[30]

Quotes[]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

• N'Kari has no official tabletop model. His design is an amalgam from the Age of Sigmar standard Keeper of Secrets and his appearance in the 7th Edition Daemons of Chaos source book.
• In the game Total War: Warhammer III, he breaks the fourth wall, threatening the player: "You think you're safe up there?"
• The Advisor is one of the very few who has managed to survive the presence of N'Kari. the old man was soon to fall into the Keeper's powerful aura of temptation only to persuade the Great Daemon about his plans regarding Ursuns. N'Kari became interested in the dying bear god and spared the Advisor's life.

References[]