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| “ | We're not fighting for a cause, M.K., we're fighting for a man! And when we stop being useful weapons he will get rid of us, just like Castor. | „ |
| ~ Nix |
Nix is a major character in the AMC series Into the Badlands.
She is a Dark One who follows the false messiah Pilgrim, known as one of his "Dear Ones" who kills in his name, alongside Castor. She wishes to help Pilgrim build a new Azra, a utopian kingdom where people like her will be safe. However, after Castor is killed by Pilgrim, Nix begins to doubt his mission, and eventually turns against him and joins the warriors of the Badlands.
She was portrayed by Ella-Rae Smith.
Personality[]
Nix is initially shown to be fiercely loyal to Pilgrim and his cause, happily killing his enemies when using her Gift. Her and Castor have no qualms with killing, but are not sadistic in any way, with Nix being particularly desensitized to violence under Pilgrim's teachings. Nix is shown to care deeply for Castor, with them having grown up together and possibly being in a romantic relationship. Nix also quickly becomes friends with M.K. once he joins Pilgrim's followers, displaying that she can be very sociable with newcomers. After Castor is killed by Pilgrim, Nix's entire worldview becomes shaken, and she eventually abandons Pilgrim to join the warriors of the Badlands after realizing that he has become psychotic and dangerous. Nix is also quite fearless, fighting Pilgrim knowing that she couldn't win to buy time for her allies to escape, and defiantly telling him his Azra will be a wasteland, shortly before he kills her.
Biography[]
Journey to find Azra[]
As a child, Nix was found alongside Castor by Pilgrim and Cressida, a false messiah and high priestess who want to bring back the mythical city of Azra, a safe haven for those with the Gift. Due to Nix and Castor both having the Gift, they were raised by Pilgrim and followed him for years, acting as the primary enforcers for him and his followers. Nix's Gift was quite powerful, as in comparison to Castor's she was able to use it for long periods of time without suffering ill effects. Nix and Castor are brought by Pilgrim to a checkpoint of Baron Chau on the edge of the Badlands, where Pilgrim begins to preach his message and the harbinger of Azra, and asks that Chau's Clippers lay down their weapons and join him. The Clippers begin to fire crossbows at the three of them, at which point Nix and Castor cut themselves and slaughter all of the Clippers at the checkpoint except for one. Pilgrim approaches the lone surviving Clipper and tells him to go back to his territory and tell everyone what he saw, with the message that those in the Badlands must join Pilgrim or die. Their reason for pushing this message is that Pilgrim recently received a radio signal which told him and his followers of the first temple of Azra, which contains the origins of the Gift. Nix becomes extremely worried for Castor after he begins to exhibit signs of his body breaking down, a result of his volatile Gift being used too often. Pilgrim assures the two of them that he understands how intense of a burden the Gift is, and that he is always proud of them and what they have accomplished. Pilgrim and his followers finally reach the first temple of Azra, feeling great joy that their long journey has finally come to an end. They sail to the island that the temple rests on, and find that it is an abandoned 21st century museum. Pilgrim tells his followers to explore, and see the relics of the old world. Nix and Castor happily look around at the different objects that are remnants of a different time, feeling deep satisfaction that they have finally reached the origins of Azra.
Conflict arises within Pilgrim's followers, as they are disappointed that their long journey has only resulted in this museum, and not the kingdom that Pilgrim promised. Pilgrim states that should they doubt his faith, they may strike him down. Nix and Castor initially step forward to fight the doubters, but Pilgrim assures them that he will handle it. Pilgrim proceeds to kill all but one of the followers while blindfolded, displaying his immense combat ability to all who follow him. The last doubter begs forgiveness, and is granted it by Pilgrim, his faith renewed. Nix and Castor later explore the museum's abandoned gift shop, and examine the different post cards which display images of the old world. They discuss what may have happened to the people of the old world, and Nix states that Pilgrim told her of how the old world ignored the signs of their destruction, and thus were all killed. The two eventually find a View-Master which contains more images, including one of the original city of Azra, which the two of them are very happy to see. Nix then notices Castor bleeding from his ear, a sign that his Gift is killing him, but he begs Nix not to tell Pilgrim, as he doesn't want to be halted from fighting for him. Nix is later present in the main hall of the temple, where they witness Pilgrim and Cressida perform a blood ritual in order to see into the future. Pilgrim later meets with the Widow to discuss the issue of him recruiting on her land, but are interrupted by assassins that have been sent by Chau to kill Pilgrim as revenge for him attacking her checkpoint. Pilgrim and the Widow's forces defeat the assassins, and Pilgrim cuts off their heads to present them to Chau. Pilgrim then takes Nix and Castor to confront Chau with the severed heads, telling her that she is now at the mercy of him and his Dark Ones for trying to have him killed. He requests that she send him workers to pay the debt, as he needs them in order to dig in the area around the temple, which she agrees to.
Turning against Pilgrim[]
While waiting for Chau's debt to be paid, Castor condition appears to be worsening. Nix is sent into the woods around the temple with the news that there is another Dark One lurking there. Nix finds the Dark One, a boy named M.K., who is injured and unconscious, and she takes him back to the temple to recover. When he wakes up, he at first wishes to leave, revealing that he can use the Gift whenever he wants and without cutting himself. Pilgrim uses his own abilities to deactivate M.K.'s Gift, with the two being impressed with each other's powers. M.K. is told of their mission to bring back Azra, something that he was once searching for as well, and is told that he may leave if he wishes, but that he could be a great asset to the revival of Azra with his Gift. He eventually decides to stay, but this decision angers Castor greatly, as he believes M.K. is here to be his replacement due to his Gift killing him. Nix shows M.K. the View-Master showcasing images of Azra, and the two seem to bond. Castor interrupts them and angrily tells M.K. to stay away from Nix, but she is adamant that it's not what he thinks. He hurls comments at them, questioning if they will start sleeping together, at which point M.K. and him nearly start fighting, but are stopped by Nix getting between them, prompting Castor to storm off. Castor is later sent to help Chau's forces collect workers for Pilgrim, and is captured by the Widow, who is Chau's main enemy. Castor is brought back to Pilgrim by the Widow to prevent a war, and is shown to be on the verge of death, as he used his Gift one last time during the battle between Chau and the Widow's forces. Nix tends to Castor, but he tells her that Pilgrim lied to them when he said they would get to see Azra. M.K. enters the room, and Castor attempts to attack him, but his anger is quelled by the arrival of Pilgrim, who requests Nix and M.K. to leave. Pilgrim then kills Castor to prevent his anger from sewing doubt among his followers, but he tells everyone that Castor simply succumbed to his Gift. Nix is heartbroken at the loss of her closest companion, and is visibly in tears during his funeral, where his body is burned alongside the View-Master he loved to use.
Nix examined Castor's body before he was burned and found bruises on his neck, making her suspect that Pilgrim killed him. She questions Pilgrim about this, to which he essentially admits that he did kill Castor without saying it outright, horrifying her. M.K. comforts her over the loss of Castor, and tells her that he would never try to replace Castor, but he thinks that he can help her to control her Gift in the same way he does. M.K. explains that he activates his Gift without cutting by focusing on a memory that is more painful than any cut ever could be. She begins focusing on the idea of Pilgrim killing Castor, which is painful enough to allow her to use her Gift without cutting herself anymore. Pilgrim eventually finds the Meridian Chamber using the workers that Chau provided him with, which contains the machinery that originally created the Gift. After the arrival of Sunny and Bajie, who have come to Pilgrim in order to help cure Sunny's son Henry of the Gift, Pilgrim reveals that he and Sunny are two lost children of Azra, and together they can activate the Meridian Chamber. Bajie attempts to stop Sunny from doing this as it will give Pilgrim an army of Dark Ones, but Sunny won't listen to him due to wanting to save his son, and Bajie is imprisoned. Pilgrim transfers Henry's Gift to himself, and then gives it so a group of his followers. Nix guards Bajie's cell, where he questions her over the fact that now she is no longer the only Dark One in his service, meaning she isn't special anymore and could be expendable. She tries to rebuff him, saying she knows that he's just trying to get in her head and make her doubt Pilgrim. Bajie points out that he doesn't need to do that, as the doubt is already there. With his son cured, Sunny frees Bajie and tells him to get Henry to safety while he tries to destroy the chamber, but is stopped by M.K. and brought before Pilgrim. The two fight and Sunny is thrown from the temple into the nearby lake, where he is presumed dead. Several of Pilgrim's followers are sent to find Sunny's body to confirm his death, but fail to do so. Pilgrim nearly kills one of them in anger, but is stopped by Nix using her newly controlled Gift, shocking both him and Cressida at the fact that she no longer needs to cut herself.
War for the Badlands[]
Nix and M.K. are sent with the other newly created Dark Ones to find Sunny, as the non-Gifted followers failure to do so suggests he is still alive and killed whichever follower discovered him. While searching, Nix and M.K. get into an argument over the fact that Sunny was once M.K.'s mentor, but he now wishes to kill him. M.K. explains that he recently found out Sunny killed his mother when he was a Clipper for Baron Quinn, but Nix points out that she and Castor killed several mothers under Pilgrim's command, and that shouldn't be any different from what Sunny did. Two of Pilgrim's new Dark One followers find Sunny in an abandoned clothing store, but Nix arrives and saves him from being killed by them. M.K. arrives and attacks her, saying she is a traitor for turning against Pilgrim's mission to bring back Azra. M.K. overpowers and nearly kills her with his Gift, as it is still much stronger than hers, but is stabbed in the back with a metal rod by Sunny, turning off his Gift and trapping him in place. Sunny and Nix can't bring themselves to kill him, and depart. Sunny explains to Nix that there is a woman named Ankara who is a master of the Gift, and she is the one who led him to Pilgrim, so she may know a way to stop him. They travel to Ankara's home in the mountains where they find her badly injured, having been attacked by the Black Lotus, a cult that hunts down and kills Dark Ones. Ankara killed the members who came after her, but she explains that the Black Lotus never stops hunting you after their first attack, and she needs to get out of the Badlands. She promises to tell them how to defeat Pilgrim if they help her escape, which they agree to. While traveling, the Master, another person with complete control of the Gift uses it to probe Ankara's mind and find her location, showing she is searching for her as well. Nix expresses shock at the Gift being able to do this, but Ankara explains that in the hands of a master the Gift can do almost anything. They reach a marketplace where they are met by the Widow and Bajie, who have been sent by the Master, who has sent them to track Ankara down. Ankara uses her powerful Gift against the group, but she is incapacitated by a special syringe that the Master gave to the Widow and Bajie so they could incapacitate her.
The group stops at an abandoned Abbot storage house where they find a set of acupuncture needles that the use on Ankara to keep her Gift from activating even after she wakes up. Ankara explains to the Widow that despite her being needled she can still search the world using the Gift, and that Chau has taken the Widow's adoptive daughter Tilda and lover Gaius Chau captive, and after the Widow takes the needles out Ankara shows the Widow visions of them being tortured. The Widow says she has to go save them, and Nix goes with her to ensure the mission is a success. The two of them invade Chau's hideout, where the Widow kills Chau and Nix helps get Tilda and Gaius to safety. Nix tends to Tilda's injuries, and the two seem to become friends. The Widow takes all of her allies back to her sanctuary and prepare for the oncoming war with Pilgrim. Cressida eventually meets with the Widow to discuss a potential treaty, but is instead captured by them to try and lure Pilgrim to them. He leads an army of Dark Ones alongside M.K. in order to get Cressida back, leading to a brutal and bloody war on the Widow's territory where hundreds are left dead. Pilgrim breaks into the Widow's mansion in order to kill her, but Nix tells her to leave, saying she will face him to buy time for the others. Nix draws her blades and says she is fighting to avenge Castor. The two of them engage in a battle without using their Gift's, as Nix knows that Pilgrim could deactivate her Gift if she turned it on first, and he knows that if he turned his on first he may lose since her Gift is more refined and controlled compared to his. Despite her having weapons and him being unarmed, Pilgrim is able to overpower her due to his superior fighting ability, and he stabs both of her blades into her stomach. He knocks her over the staircase rail in front of them, and then drags her towards him with the intent to kill her. She defiantly tells him that his Azra will be nothing but a wasteland, and he tells her that it is time to join Castor, before breaking her neck and ripping her head off. Her severed head is later found by Sunny and Bajie, who mourn her death due to the fact that she once saved the formers life.
Powers & Abilities[]
- The Gift: Nix is initially shown to be quite proficient when using her Gift in combat, while she does need to cut herself in order to activate it, like Castor she is capable of controlling it to a certain degree, as she never attacks him or Pilgrim when it active. After the death of Castor, M.K. tells Nix to focus on a feeling that hurts worse than any cut in order to activate her Gift, prompting her to focus on the idea of Pilgrim killing Castor, thus enabling her to use it whenever she wants.
- Martial Arts/Swordsmanship: Nix is an incredibly skilled combatant, and when fighting alongside Castor they are able to take down large groups of Chau's Clippers at once with ease. The Widow also implies that when using her Gift Nix would be able to defeat Chau herself, one of the most dangerous and skilled Barons in the Badlands. After becoming able to use her Gift at will, she was able to briefly hold her own against much higher skilled opponents, such as M.K. and even Pilgrim.
Quotes[]
| “ | Castor: What do you think happened to these people? Nix: Pilgrim says they ignored the signs of their destruction, so fate decided to punish them. |
„ |
| ~ Nix and Castor discussing the old world. |
| “ | Cressida: Since when have you been able to access your Gift without cutting? Nix: M.K. told me to think of something that cuts deeper than a knife. |
„ |
| ~ Nix and Cressida. |
| “ | How many mothers and fathers do you think Castor and I killed? | „ |
| ~ Nix rebuffing M.K. for his hatred of Sunny. |
| “ | It was so easy letting someone else choose my life for me. | „ |
| ~ Nix after abandoning Pilgrim. |
| “ | Your Azra will be a wasteland, just like you soul. | „ |
| ~ Nix's final words. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Despite being one of the few combatants in the series to wear armor, Nix's armor stops at her shoulders and thus leaves her arms exposed, likely due to her initially cutting her arms to activate her Gift, in contrast to Castor who cuts his face. After M.K. teaches her how to use her Gift without cutting herself, she begins wearing arm coverings.
External Links[]
- Nix on the Heroes Wiki
- Nix on the Into the Badlands Wiki
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 Villains
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Armadillo Territory Butterfly Territory Fox Territory Pickaxe Territory Other Territories Dark Ones The Black Lotus Other | ||