Characters from sequel game Enderal go here.
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Player Character
The Orphan; ultimately the Shadow God
An orphan who lives in the village of Tirin Abbey, where they were raised after they survived the devastation of their hometown and the massacre of their family. The events of Nehrim begin with them receiving a Mysterious Note from The Order.- A God Is You: By the end of the main quest, the Orphan becomes the Shadow God of Nehrim.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: They often find themselves exploring dungeons, crypts and massive caves, either during the main quest (such as the Ruins of Treomar or the Crypt of Daromith) or during side quests.
- Character Customization: It's up to the player to choose their gender, race and appearance.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Applies to them after they become the Shadow God.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Subverted in both cases:
- They fight and kill four or five of the Light Born (depending on how turns their encounter with Tyr), but they aren't true physical gods, merely very powerful mages who aren't affected by time.
- Against Eliath and Sarantha. The former is an indestructible entity serving fate with reality warping powers, the latter is a personification of fate (and is the final boss). Getting rid of the Eliath requires a complicated plan involving being killed by the entity after striking it with the Soul Flayer. Sarantha is killed in a classical boss battle in an arena. The subversion of the trope is that, at this point of the game, they're no longer a mere mortal but a Shadow God.
- Doomed Hometown: The Orphan's hometown suffered such a fate when they were just a child. It is revived through a flashback during a sidequest about their past.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: You break the Siege of Cahbaet, liberate the Middle and South realms from tyranny, kill the Light Born, defeat Fate itself and ascend to godhood, but people won't have the slightest idea of who the hell you are.
- Happily Adopted: After the destruction of their hometown Ledur, the Oprhan spent the rest of their youth in the Tirin Abbey, educated by High Priest Aratornias. He considers them one of his best students.
- Heroic Mime: As in Oblivion, the player character isn't voiced aside from grunts and yells in battle.
- The Lancer: Subverted. They appear to be so compared to Narathzul, who's predestined to become the new Shadow God. Later however, Arkt reveals that Narathzul can't become the Shadow God and that it wasn't actually predestined for anyone, suggesting to the Orphan themselves to attempt to become it, as in fact happens.
- Randomly Gifted: They're one of the few people gifted with magic abilities, and that's the reason why Merzul tried to reclute them to the Order.
- Underestimating Badassery: After the fall of the Sanctum they're thrown, together with Melvin, in Erothin's dungeons by Barateon, who believes they no longer pose a threat. Big mistake.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite their crucial role in ending Baratheon's and the Temple's tyrannies in Nehrim, killing the Light-Born and Fate itself, not only they don't appear in Enderal, save for being mentioned only a couple of times, but their whereabouts are never explained.
The Order
Narathzul Arantheal
Voiced by: Martin Sabel
"The only enlighting thing about religion is a burning temple at night!"
The spiritual leader of the Order established by Merzul. After he lead a victorious rebellion against the Light-Born Erodan, God of Nehrim, killing him, the other Light-Born managed to capture him, taking him to the Mist Tower, where he was supposed to serve his punishment for the rest of his life.
- All for Nothing: Thousands of years of battles and sacrifices are revealed to have been completely pointless, once he finds out he's a half Light Born and, therefore, can't turn into the Shadow God.
- And I Must Scream: He was locked for centuries beneath a tower, until you free him during the main quest.
- Arc Words: "For the freedom of mankind".
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Narathzul's fate at the end of Nehrim; after he's killed his soul gets imprisoned in the Soul Flayer. Unlike the other souls stuck here, he's able to communicate with the Orphan and has serenely accepted his condition.
- Byronic Hero: Hotheaded, handsome, self-obsessed, incredibly powerful and gifted, morally ambigious, highly troubled, determined to change the world and live out his ideology at all costs, of high birth, it's all there.
- The Chosen One: He affirms to be predestined to become the Shadow God, defeat the Light Born and liberate Vyn from their tyranny. Subverted: in reality, anyone could become a Shadow God, while he specifically can't because of his Light Born heritage.
- Divine Parentage: Unbeknownst to him, his mother is the Light-Born Irlanda, goddess of Arazeal.
- Evil Former Friend: He used to be a paladin in the service of the Light-Born, until he decided to betray them during his mission to retrieve the Soul Flayer.
- Heroic BSoD: Has one once he discovers to be a half Light-Born, which prevents him from becoming the Shadow God.
- If I Can't Have You…: He killed his beloved Zelara after he discovered her affair with Arkt.
- Long-Lived: Being a Half-Aeterna, he lived definitely longer than most normal human being, but being half Light-Born, his life span has been longer even than Aeterna standards.
- Manipulative Bastard: A very downplayed example, but he intentionally lied about being predestined to become the Shadow God. Everyone can assume its power, and he hid it to the Orphan, as he was afraid they could have taken the chance before him.
- My God, What Have I Done?: A non-distressed example: within the Soul Flayer, Nararthzul finally reflects on the mistakes he committed to reach his goals, realises how wrong he was to let himself drive by emotions, and serenely asks for forgiveness to the Orphan, for having manipulated them.
- Rebel Leader: Against the Light-Born first and, after being freed from his prison, also against the reign of Barateon in the Middlerealm and the reign of the Temple in the Southrealm.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: He's confident that freeing humanity from what he considers to be the Light-Born tyranny would lead to a new era of freedom and prosperity for mankind.
Merzul
Voiced by: Andi Krösing
The powerful mage who established the Order, at the time when the liberation of the people from the Light-Born began.
- But Thou Must!: You aren't allowed to refuse the offer to join the Order that Merzul gives near the end of the prologue, because he would have to kill you for being aware of its existence.
- Dead Guy on Display: After the fall of the Arcane Sanctum and their capture, his and Melvin's hanged corpses are exposed on gallows above Erothin marketplace.
- Mr. Exposition: He introduces the Orphan to the Order, explaining its true purpose, the story of Narathzul and his fight against the Light-Born, and how Barateon rose to power.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He thought Shadow Song Mine would have been a safe place where to gather the candidates, but it reveals to be completely infested by trolls; the Orphan is the only one to makes it out alive.
- Rebel Leader: He enstablished the Order to resist the tyranny of Barateon and keep on the fight against the Light Born started by Narathzul.
- Sacrificial Lion: He's killed unspectacularly by Barateon after a long confrontation.
- You Cannot Kill an Idea: When the Sanctum is surrounded by Barateon's troops, he gives a speech about how, even after his death, his followers shouldn't abandon the fight against the tyranny of the Light-Born.
Melvin
Voiced by: Arndt Schmöle
- Dead Guy on Display: After the fall of the Arcane Sanctum and their capture, his and Melzul's hanged corpses are exposed on gallows above Erothin marketplace.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: During the escape from the prison of Erothin, a gallery collapses and buries him under the rocks. He realises to be hopeless and urges the Orphan to keep going without him.
- Token Black Friend: In a certain way; he's one of the few characters of Korinthian race, the counterpart to Elder Scrolls's Redguards in Arktwend and Nehrim. This race is unavailable for the player to choose.
General Acorias
Voiced by: Roman Ewert
- Quest Giver: He tasks the Orphan with finding the two remaining candidates who didn't answer Merzul's letters: Kim and the city guard Reman.
- Sacrificial Lion: He provokes Barateon when his armies storm the Arcane Sanctum, only to be killed unceremoniously.
Vanmiria
Voiced by: Tanja Niehoff
- Dropped a Bridge on Her: By the time the Orphan returns to the Sanctum to repel the chancellor's attack, she's already dead.
- Miss Exposition: She greets the Orphan once they arrive to the Sanctum, explaining how it's organised, and leads them to the initiation rite.
- Quest Giver: She's the only one in the Order who tasks you with side quests not related to the main quest.
Kim
Voiced by: Rubina Kuraoka (female)/David Riedel (male)
Female Kim
Male Kim
An Aeterna slave gifted with magic powers, freed by the Orphan and recruited to the Order.- Abusive Parents: When they were young, Kim would be beaten by their father if they couldn't remember the details of the Gods properly.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: To the player character, two times. The first time, they are both trapped in the black after the collapsing of a ceiling, and Kim begins to declare their love to the player character... then stops after finding a lever which frees them. Much later, in the end of the main quest, when being killed by Sarantha, Kim's last words to the player character are "I love you".
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Once you reach the titular Fate's Edge, Sarantha brings their corpse at your feet, bragging about how she had fun killing them.
- The Paralyzer: They often use magic to paralyse their foes.
- Schrödinger's Gun: Kim's gender isn't fixed but is the opposing gender of the player character's own gender.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: They flee the Order after realising that Narathzul is seriously planning to kill the Light Born "gods".
Callisto
Voiced by: Gerd Naumann
- Grumpy Old Man: He's very short-tempered and rude, especially against Kim.
- Hollywood Atheist: His favourite saying:"Religion is true for common men, false for the wise and useful for rulers."
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Nicci tries to distract the Templars in outside Ostian, he just curses and rushes against them, leaving Nicci to be killed immediately. This leads to a What the Hell, Hero? reaction by Kim.
- Older Sidekick: To the Orphan and Kim during Act IV, in the Southrealm, as he directly takes part in combat and infiltration missions.
- Recurring Character: Callisto was the Big Good in Arktwend, and he's one of the few characters who appeared in multiple installments of the series.
- Sacrificial Lion: He tries to surprise Jagal when he corners the Orphan and Kim, but once he reveals himself, he's killed effortlessly.
Rulers
Barateon
Voiced by: Andreas W. Schmidt
- And I Must Scream: His soul gets absorbed by the Soul Flayer, where he serves his punishment in a prison cell.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: When confronted by the player character and Narathzul, he prefers to throw himself off the Palace tower, and gets impaled by a spike below.
- Evil Chancellor: Chancellor of the Middlerealm and first antagonist introduced in Nehrim.
- Evil Former Friend: He used to be one of Narathzul's commander during his rebellion against the Light-Born, until he chose to betray his cause after his capture.
- Defiant to the End: He repeadetly mocks the Orphan and Narathzul during their last confrontation. He insists that he tried to protect Nehrim from Narathzul's madness, that his rise to power will only lead to chaos and that betraying him was the right thing to do.
- Fantastic Racism: Against magic-users, and against Aeterna for their natural predisposition to magic.
- Hypocrite: Despite the persecution of magic-users all over the Middlerealm, Barateon himself is actually a very skilled magician, and he allows a small corp of battlemages to operate under his command.
- Outside-Context Problem: In the bigger picture of the war against the Light-Born, Barateon is a treacherous former follower of Narathzul who betrayed the insurrection and took control of the Middlerealm, with his ultimate goal being only to dominate all over Nehrim as a tyrant.
- Propaganda Hero: Erothin is full of propaganda posters with his face until his defeat, when they are covered by other posters celebrating the end of his reign and the rise of Narathzul Arantheal.
- Starter Villain: He's the first antagonist to be presented in the game, and remains one until the end of Act III.
Taranor
Voiced by: Dominik Schott
- Enemy Mine: Taranor isn't a big admirer of the Order, and the latter considers him to be too full of himself and proud. Still, they're willing to ally according to "My enemy's enemy is my friend".
- Evil Former Friend: To Barateon. Taranor used to be his land administrator, to the point Barateon entrusted him with the key to the tower where Narathzul Arantheal was held captive. This proved to be a fatal mistake since Taranor managed to keep the key after he revolted, and handed it to the hero.
- Glory Seeker: He's considered extremely conceited. Callisto refers to him as an "egomaniac" and Narathzul openly points out his lack of humility; Taranor acknowledges this but doesn't see a problem with it."A little fuss and pretension here and there won't hurt my reign."
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: Or Gratuitous Conlang: Taranor employs some expressions and terms of the Northrealm language when talking to the Orphan.
- Rebel Leader: Of the Northrealm rebellion against Barateon.
The Star King
Voiced by: Gerhard Acktun
- Affectionate Nickname: He mistakes the Orphan for a "bringer of joy", that is someone who brings the Star People beer from the surface, especially from Cahbaet.
- Cloudcuckoolander: When he talks, he constantly digresses, changes quickly subject for no reason, describes obvious thoughts with lenghty reasonings, and uses definitely unusual expressions."Blimy!"
- No Name Given: He's simply referred to as the Star King...
- Overly Long Name: ...because his real name is longer than the complete name of the Star People city Anku (that is Ankumedrotikepmasodestriwo), so his guard Haimon simply skips it.
- Plucky Comic Relief: After the fall of the Sanctum, the siege on the Mountain Monastery and the enormous Crypt of Daromith, he finally provides a light-hearted moment for the game, before returning to the main quest.
Jagal
Voiced by: Lutz Harder
- Arc Villain: The main antagonist during Act IV.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: His raspy voice definitely fits his sadistic threats.
- Humans Are Insects: He delivers a short speech about how the "Almighty Creator" is right in considering humans just as corrupt creatures.
- High Priest: Of the Temple governing the Southrealm.
- Magic Staff: His weapon is an electric magic staff.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Jagal always wears a horned mask and his true face is never shownote .
- Sadist: When he confronts the Orphan and Kim, he "promises" to keep them alive as long as possible to torture them for longer.
- Unusable Enemy Equipment: With the exception of his Arcane Staff, nothing can be looted from his body, including his armour.
- The Worf Effect: He kills Callisto with little effort when the latter tried to protect the Orphan and Kim from him.
Arkt
Arkt, Shadow God of Arktwend
Voiced by: Andreas Denk
- But Thou Must!: Not because of him: if you tell him you aren't sure you want to become the Shadow God, he'll warn you that the death of the Light-Born brought an imbalance to the world; should you choose not to take on the power of the Shadow God, the predestination of fate itself will correct this imbalance by killing you.
- Call to Agriculture: When the main quest ends, Arkt decides to leave behind his life as Shadow God and retires in a small hut west of Erothin and near Zelara's grave.
- Good All Along: You could expect him to be an antagonist, since he's introduced as an enemy of Narathzul; later on, he takes over Narathzul's role as Big Good.
- Dark Is Not Evil: He's a Shadow God and, as mentioned above, becomes the Big Good during the endgame.
- Evil Former Friend: He used to be the Light-Born war marshal, until he betrayed them during the battle of Xarmonar.
- I Should Write a Book About This: At the end of the main quest, he gives you, as a parting gift, a book about yourself and your deeds: The History of Vyn and the Shadow God... or my story....
- Mercy Kill: He believes to have brought one to Narathzul, hoping that he may finally find peace in death after his tormented life.
- Mr. Exposition: Endgame, he reveals the true nature of the Shadow God and of Fate, revealing how it instigates perpetually war between the Light-Born and the Shadow God, as a part of an eternal game for ensuring the balance between light and darkness.
- No Mouth: It's scarcely visible, as it's constantly covered by a strip of cloth.
- Recurring Character: He was the Big Bad in Arktwend. Like Callisto, he's one of the characters to appear in multiple installments of the series.
- The Rival: To Narathzul. He's interested just as him in taking down the Light-Born, but he wants to prevent Narathzul from becoming the Shadow God.
- Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: Inverted: Arkt was one of the main antagonists of Arktwend, the prequel of Nehrim; here he's presented apparently as an evil character, but he actually isn't.
- Unexplained Recovery: He was apparently killed at the end of Arktwend; how he managed to recover is never explained.
- Walking Spoiler: Arkt remains a cryptic character for most of the game, and knowing his intentions beforehand would spoil a good part of Nehrim's plot.
The Light-Born
As a whole
- Democracy Is Bad: They believe that mankind is unable to truly governs itself through a fair and democratic rule and, when a power vacuum is left, those people filling it will become inevitably part of that power they desperately tried so hard to fight against.
- Flat Character: With the partial exception of Tyr and Irlanda, the other Light-Born's characterisation doesn't go beyond "powerful mages who pose as Gods and think Democracy Is Bad".
- God-Emperor: They are not actual Gods, but very powerful arcanists who ruled all over Vyn or centuries, and are worshipped as deities.
- God Guise: They know they're not actual Gods, but let humanity believe so.
- Light Is Not Good: The Light-Born are the main antagonists for most of the game, but it's ultimately subverted when, at the end, they turn out to be (whether you agree or not you agree with their notion of Democracy Is Bad) fundamentally benevolent individuals. They sincerely believe their rule was necessary to protect Vyn from chaos and wars, and Tyr tries to persuade you of his own motives peacefully, even after you killed all the other Light-Born. Nonetheless, it is possible to play the trope straight, if the Orphan insists that a fair democracy will rise after the Light-Born's demise, and that they were simply wrong.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Downplayed in that they are aware their rule isn't completely faultless, but still believe it's the best alternative for mankind.
Tyr, the Creator
Tyr, The Creator, God of Tirmatral/Arktwend
Voiced by: Alexander Grimm
- BFS: His personal weapon is a large two-handed sword, aptly named "Tyr's Soul Cleaver".
- Big Bad: Being the Top God of the Light-Born, is not surprising. But this is ultimately zig-zagged : you may choose to spare his life, thus subverting the trope altogether, or kill him; either way, it's Fate that turns out to be the Greater-Scope Villain.
- I Did What I Had to Do: The Light-Born rule wasn't really "fair" as he acknowledges, but he believes it was necessary to mankind.
- Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: When confronted by the Orphan, he surrenders and allows them to choose to kill him right away, and become the Shadow God, or spare him, and having him granting them willingly the power of the Shadow God anyway.
- Top God: The most powerful and important of the Light-Born; not surprisingly, he's referred to as the Creator.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Even if the player chooses not to kill him, Tyr decides to flee from the continent of Vyn, abandoning it to its fate.
- The Unfought: He becomes this if the player chooses to walk away and not to fight him. Should the player choose otherwise, he won't oppose any resistance and he will be a One-Hit Kill.
Irlanda
Irlanda, Goddess of Arazeal
Voiced by: Karen Schulz-Vobach
- Driven to Suicide: After witnessing the death of Narathzul by Arkt's hand, she commits suicide in Inodan.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: She is Narathzul's mother and reveals it to him when he attacks the Light-Born in Stormwend with the Orphan, in the vain hope that this reveal would stop him.
- The Unfought: When the Orphan and Narathzul approaches her and Tyr, she begs Narathzul to surrender, revealing to be his mother, and Arkt appears in that very moment to kill Narathzul, forcing the two Light-Born to flee. After that, she commits suicide and the Orphan won't have a chance to fight her.
Erodan
Erodan, God of Nehrim
- Ancient Tomb: His own is located in the crypt of Erothin, and contains his personal enchanted shield, several Soul Gems and Teleport Runes.
- Egopolis: The city of Erothin is named after him.
- And I Must Scream: His soul is stuck in a prison cell inside the Soul Flayer, unable to do anything.
- Posthumous Character: He was killed already before the events of Nehrim, by Narathzul Arantheal's hand.
Esara
Esara, Goddess of Inodan
Voiced by: Kristine Mauersberger
- An Ice Person: She employs Frost magic, is immune by it and less resistant to Fire magic.
- Enemy Summoner: She summons four Seraphim Warriors to aid her in the battle.
Malphas
Malphas, God of Enderal and former God of Mervyn
Voiced by: Stefan Naas
- Eyepatch of Power: He wears a blindfold covering only his left eye.
- Immortality Inducer: When he appears, he summons nine energy wells with healing powers that make him invulnerable. The player character has to remove the energy stone from each well, before dealing with Malphas.
Morala
Morala, Goddess of the Belt of Kilé
- Death Ray: When she appears, a device upon the battlefield constantly storms the place with One-Hit Kill lightnings.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Although she fights with a regular silver sword, her enchanted "Moralas Dream Catcher" shield provides several stat boosts.
- The Voiceless: She's the only Light-Born who doesn't deliver a single line of speech.
Saldrin
Saldrin, God of Qyra
Voiced by: Tino Kießling
- Dual Wielding: He wields two Silver Long Swords, even though one of them is actually a "Silver Blocking Sword", AKA a fancy looking shield, by gameplay purposes.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: When he manifests himself, he threatens Narathzul in a very raspy and rather sadistic tone.
- Fire Is Red: He possesses Fire power and his armour is fiery red.
- Playing with Fire: He employs Fire magic, is immune by it and less resistant to Frost magic.
Fate
Fate
Sarantha
Voiced by: Daniela Brabetz-Thuar
- Chekhov's Gunman: She appears in the intro, and later during the Order's initiation rite; she forcibly summons the Orphan before her, giving them an incomprehensible lecture about how the Light-Born the disrupted world balance, and asks the Orphan not to ask the meaning of this, as he wouldn't understand.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Which pushes once again the Shadow Gods towards those goddamned Spikes of Doom, resulting, if the player isn't careful enough, in a Taking You with Me.
- Greater-Scope Villain: She's the true responsible for the events of Nehrim: she repeatedly instigated the fight between the Light-Born and the Shadow God, as part of an eternal game to ensure the balance between light and Darkness, and she killed Narathzul, Kim and all the others because they dared to defy her will.
- Final Boss: Of Nehrim.
- Immortality Inducer: The book of Predestination is what makes her invincible; with it destroyed, she becomes mortal and can finally be killed by the Shadow Gods.
- Mirror Match: To aid herself in the final fight, she creates a copy of the Shadow God!Orphan.
- Self-Duplication: She summons illusory copies of herself, capable of damaging the Shadow Gods, who are killed with a single hit.
- Spikes of Doom: Her arena is full of these; she will try sometimes to magically push the Shadow Gods to them, causing an One-Hit Kill.
- Walking Spoiler: Since she's the Greater-Scope Villain, and the way she influenced the events of Nehrim isn't revealed until endgame.
Others
Gabor Gaboff
Voiced by: Sebastian Liebich
- Demolitions Expert: He dedicates his life to experimenting with explosives.
- Gratuitous Russian: He speaks with a strong Russian accent.
- The Hermit: Gabor lives in a hut in the desert, west of Ostian, attempting to live free from the Temple's control.
- Insistent Terminology: He refers to himself as an "artist":"Explosives are my paintbrush and explosions my canvas."
- I Should Write a Book About This: A book found all over Nehrim, called Gabor, is very likely about him.
- Just in Time: As soon as you enter his house, you'll find him stuck in his burning cellar, and you'll have too free him before the fire hits his explosive barrels. Of course, as long as the player doesn't enter the cellar, he'll remain stuck there with a fire that never spreads.
- Seriously Scruffy: Gabor has an incredibly thick beard, long hair and his house is a complete mess.
Zelara
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Her soul still inhabits the Soul Flayer, but she's free to wander around its astral world, unlike the souls of Erodan or Barateon
- Elective Mute: Within the Soul Flayer, she can't be interacted with and Narathzul affirms that she won't even talk to him.
- Love Triangle: Zelara was Narathzul's companion, but had a secret relationship with Arkt.
- Posthumous Character: She was killed by Narathzul before the events of Nehrim.
