| エンキドゥ Enkidu | |
|---|---|
| Profile | |
| Name | Enkidu エンキドゥ Gaien Enkidou 円鬼堂 凱庵 |
| Gender | Male |
| Birthday | August 24th |
| Height | 214 cm (7'¼") |
| Weight | 94 kg (207 lbs) |
| Blood Type | A |
| Affiliations | |
| Alias | The Sin-slaying Beast 罪斬りの獣 The Maneater 羅刹 Enki (By Chaos) |
| Organization | Amnesia (prior to UNI2) Currently allied with Kuon |
| Fighting Style | |
| Ability | The EXS of Calamity: Maelstrom |
| Weapon | --- |
| Character Voice | |
| Japanese | Shunsuke Takeuchi |
| Appearances | |
| Games | UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH (Mentioned) UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late (Non-playable) UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Latest (Playable) UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late cl-r (Playable) UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes (Playable) |
"The power manifested within my body is weak.
Yes, no different from a mere mortal. Let us see
if you can smite me with that power of yours."
Gaien Enkidou (円鬼堂 凱庵)[1], otherwise known as just Enkidu (エンキドゥ), is an infamously skilled martial artist who prefers to use his regular abilities over EXS, hailing from a family of fighters. Enkidu fights to discover further strength through battle. He initially started out as a member of Amnesia who was scouted by Hilda. Until he left the group and eventually joined Kuon alongside Waldstein before the events of Sys:Celes.
Enkidu was first alluded to in the original version of UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH and made his first physical appearance in Exe:Late. He eventually made his playable debut in the console version of Exe:Late[st].
Background[]
Bringer of Calamity, the "Sin-slaying Beast"
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH
An unnamed fighter of ancient martial arts. So feared was he for his ferocity and strength that soon many erased his very existence from their minds. With no one left to face, he sought to test his mettle against those holding powers beyond mortals, the In-Births. He offers his arm to a Void, but his well-trained muscles prevent the fangs of the Void to penetrate fully, thereby leading to only a vague manifestation of power. Despite this, he continues to seek challengers under the Hollow Night, until one day, a woman appears in front of him and promises him the opponents he seeks. With those words, Enkidu's battle begins.[2]
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II [Sys:Celes]
Enkidu's tireless pursuit of martial arts perfection leads him to combat with ever-stronger opponents.
After tiring of fighting mere humans, he began challenging In-Births. Even given their supernatural prowess, only a handful of In-Births stood a chance against Enkidu; he even managed to defeat Paradox, who was considered the strongest of them all. Just when it seemed Enkidu had lost sight of his purpose, his gaze fell on a single target: the Re-Birth Kuon the Aeon. Then a man appeared before Enkidu and told him, ""If you join me, I can introduce you to the Aeon...""
Thus begins Enkidu's final battle.
Appearance[]
Enkidu is an incredibly large, muscular man with dark skin and white hair. He is most often seen with his eyes closed, but his match start animation has him opening one of them, revealing that he has purple eyes.
Enkidu is shirtless, the only thing covering up his upper half is a navy blue, long-sleeved kimono with grey, gold-studded lapels and similarly colored tassels. He wears a white juban underneath. In battle, Enkidu discards the kimono and juban, but outside of combat, he only partially wears it, leaving his right arm covered, but leaving his left arm bare, showing off the purple tattoo that travels from his breast down to his forearm - the Calamity Crest. He also wears a dark blue hakama that reaches down to his ankles, and dark grey boots that reach just below his knees. The kimono and hakama are held together with two dark grey belts with gold studs and gold buckles shaped like arrows. Enkidu also wears large, worn-down shackles on his wrists, with chains loosely hanging off of them. These shackles act as a limiter to his hidden power and will vanish when he unleashes it in full for a limited time before reappearing.
Personality[]
Most of the time, Enkidu tends to keep to himself and won't speak unless he feels like it is necessary. He is a stoic, calm individual who is completely and utterly diligent when it comes to fighting, if at times stubborn. Despite that, Enkidu can be very humble and gets along well with his fellow comrades, especially Roger, Gordeau and Chaos, the latter being a good friend of his. Enkidu can also be somewhat witty and likes to poke fun at both Hilda and apparently Gordeau from time to time. Despite all this, Enkidu still feels some strong emotions, internally expressing his grief over Roger's passing, as well as his frustration in regards to Hilda's comments about his lifestyle.
Enkidu has also stated to be uncomfortable with social gatherings, believing that he stands out too much, and comparing it to "Inviting a clown to a funeral".
When fighting, Enkidu becomes a lot louder and excitable; treating the art of combat incredibly seriously. He has nothing but the utmost respect to those who show resolve in combat and will react gracefully even when losing. He keeps his eyes closed as a sign of his confidence in battle and rarely opens them, when he does, it's usually as a sign of him going all out, or as a sign of respect towards a worthy opponent.
Story[]
Pre-Story:
Enkidu comes from a family which practices the ancient martial arts. In his youth, Enkidu taught under the guidance of a well respected master. One day however, Enkidu's master fell sick and eventually died. Consumed by grief, Enkidu resolved to become as strong as possible and discover further knowledge through combat in honor of his late master.
During this, Enkidu sought out and fought as many others as he could. Soon, many feared him as the infamous Maneater (羅刹). Enkidu became so infamous that people actively avoided him out of fear. With no-one else left to fight, Enkidu gained a desire to fight those who went beyond even humanity, a desire that made him discover the Hollow Night and everything it entails.
From then, Enkidu immediately sought out the supposed "strongest In-Birth" in Kanzakai. In order to fight this person, Enkidu actively searched for a Void in the hopes to obtain the powers needed to fight this In-Birth. Enkidu soon found a Void and offered his arm to it. However, his battle hardened body keeps the Void from biting deep, leaving Enkidu with only a small amount of EXS at his disposal. Despite that, Enkidu kept fighting under the Night using nothing but the martial arts he has practiced his whole life. Upon hearing of an In-Birth who fought without EXS, a woman by the name of Hilda sought out Enkidu and offered him to join her organization, Amnesia, under the promise that he would be able to fight as many strong opponents as he desires.
Episode: Amnesia vs Bankikai (『忘却の螺旋』ｖｓ『万鬼会』)
At Hilda's request, Enkidu arrives at the ground for the upcoming turf war between Amnesia and their rival faction, the Bankikai, where he is introduced to Chaos, Roger, and Gordeau, the In-Birth he initially sought out. Whilst together, Chaos devises a plan and tasks him and Hilda to confront their leader, Ogre directly and then attempt to seize the Abyss if they have the chance. Enkidu and Roger, who was tasked with keeping watch on the surrounding area to make sure no one interferes, decide to stay on the sidelines and watch the fight between Hilda and Ogre, but Enkidu is eventually left on his lonesome after Roger goes to investigate a strange figure entering a nearby corridor. Eventually, Gordeau reunites with the group just as Hilda defeats Ogre, and it is there that they encounter a now turned Roger, who had transformed into a Void after succumbing to the Abyss. Enkidu volunteers to put down Roger in an act of mercy, but Ogre, knowing that he will not survive the confrontation, steps up to the task, asking Enkidu to take Hilda and Gordeau to safety, as well as to do the same with Strix and Zohar should he come across them as well. Enkidu fulfills Ogre's final request, and tells Gordeau to face the reality that Roger is now a dead man walking after the latter chooses to stay behind.
Episode: Festival Flames (祭りの後火)
Enkidu participates in Amnesia's operations for the first time during their conflict with the Demon Society, about a six months before the actual story. Afterwards, during their victory party however, Roger’s downfall into a fallen Void and beheaded by Litch Kreis’ Crimson knight in that battle impacts the all core members of Amnesia, even its strongest In-Birth Gordeau ended up leaving the organization because of his self-guilt behind his friend’s downfall. After every Amnesia members agrees with Chaos’s new rules to avoid Roger’s incident, Chaos takes time with Enkidu and asks him to tell about himself.
Enkidu tells that he once had a Master which he really respected. However, that master passed away because of an sudden illness. Enkidu describes that he felt powerless against it all, and that inspired him to train even harder.
Chaos asks where does his name "Enkidu" come from. There are different interpretations about what the Enkidu in myth was... Some say he was a man who cut away the sinners, while the others think he was trying to cut away his own sins... Enkidu answers that he chose that name because of the both meanings. He says that it's difficult to put into words why exactly he fights, but he still intends to continue pursuing the strong ones to further increase his own strength.
Arcade Mode (アーケードモード)
In his arcade path, Enkidu challenges various In-Birth, but sees doubt in their eyes and cannot find a true challenge. He heads to where Hilda is and finds Waldstein there. The two of them battle, but Enkidu is once again disappointed. He says that Waldstein has lingering feelings towards Linne, which is why Wald cannot go all-out and fight to the death. Enkidu let's Waldstein leave the place alive hoping that one day, they can have a real battle.
In the end, Enkidu decides that he has helped around Amnesia for long enough. He thinks it's best for him to go solo. He is already looking forward to fighting the members of Amnesia as enemies.
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II: Sys:Celes
Abilities[]
Enkidu's ability is the EXS of Calamity: Maelstrom (罪渦のEXS 「メイルストルム」). This ability binds Enkidu to an incredibly powerful vortex that he can channel throughout his body to empower his strikes or to harm his opponent through negative status effects. However, due to the small Void bite he received, Enkidu is only able to use a fraction of this power; The best he can do with his abilities is create small balls of energy of about the same size of his own fists. Despite that, Enkidu has been shown to unleash devastating bursts of power by breaking his shackles for a limited amount of time, at the cost of leaving him weak for a brief moment, only for the shackles to appear on his wrists afterwards.
Enkidu doesn't use any weapons, but instead fights using his own body and the martial arts he has learned throughout his lifetime. His skill in these martial arts has been shown to be extraordinary and with them, he is able to fight the likes of Waldstein without the use of his EXS.
More information about Enkidu's powers are revealed during Sys:Celes, alluding that Enkidu's body seems to house some sort of demonic entity inside it, which provides him with extra power. However, the demon inside him is shown to be capable of taking control of Enkidu if he is not careful. As such, Enkidu keeps the demon sealed through the shackles on his wrists, only releasing them as a last resort.
Musical Theme[]
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Extreme Stream | Enkidu's theme |
| The Fierce Darkness | Enkidu's ending theme |
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Stream Extreme | Enkidu's theme |
Composer Commentary[]
Extreme Stream
I worried over about whether to drop the tempo and use lower sounds to express his aura of "stoic" and "fighting artisan", or going with moderate tempo and guitar riffs to express the technical nature of his fighting style. In the end, I went with the latter.
Simply put, I think it gives of a better feeling when the number of notes in the musical composition is around same amount as the number of hits the character deals. On that note, Enkidu can do quite many hits, but the guitar riffs express that while the bamboo flute brings out the "fighting artisan"-likeness.
I think I managed to express his "stoic" nature quite nicely with the way second verse calms down before the refrain. Special thanks to sho-san for his ad-libbed guitar solo at the ends. It was great.[3]
Extreme Stream
「ストイック」「格闘の匠」みたいな雰囲気を表現するのにテンポを落として重みを出すか、テンポは程よくリフでテクニカルさを出すかで結構悩みましたが、最終的に後者に落ち着きました。
シンプルな話、楽曲の音符の数とキャラクターの攻撃の手数って合わせたほうがしっくり来ると思うのです。その点でいうとエンキドゥは手数もあるから、そこはギターリフで表現しつつも「格闘の匠」らしさは尺八に任せました。
Bメロで一旦落としてからのサビは、うまくストイックさも出せたかなと思います。特にサビ終わりのshoさんのギターアドリブは最高ですね。Introduction Text[]
He suffers. Both what he seeks and the path he takes are born of desperation. His body
shows no change as he searches for worthy adversaries, treading the path to creatures
of far greater power. His well-trained fists smite darkness and in his name resounds
calamity. All for the sake of fulfilling his promise to a long-lost driend.
He is tortured. The path he takes. What he wants. All because of his desperation.
Seeking for a strong opponent with his imperishable body.
His refined fist. Where it's heading. The hammer to defeat darkness.
Earns a reputation as a disaster. To redeem a pledge with his lost friend.
Creation & Development[]
Visual art of Enkidu was first shown during the "NPC Showcase" livestream back in early 2013. The producer Narita pondered about how to make Enkidu visually more appealing and whether drawing muscles all day was too much a struggle for the sprite artists.
Enkidu was then seen next time in the console version of Exe:Late where he made an appearance in Hilda's alternative Arcade Mode ending. Enkidu's outfit had gone through some redesigning and his appearance was finalized.
In the concept art from Exe:Late[cl-r], we can see that at some point FRENCH-BREAD were thinking of making Enkidu even more of an old man with beard an everything. However, those were scrapped in the end. Here's a transcripted text from the concept art:
Enkidu
The EXS of Helix
Adds "twist" into his martial arts.
Effect is spinning helix-shape
"Original Idea"
Since his young days, he's frequented the Hollow Night enough to be called the "Landlord" of Hollow Night. But since then, he has returned to spending his retirement days in the real world. Lately, he has sensed restless movements from the Hollow Night and heads to check it out. Has competed with Yuzuriha's father about which of them is stronger
"Cursed Crest"
He has scars left from his younger days when he was reckless, got his EXS go berserk and nearly had his body devoured. At the time, he was "Quell down, my right hand!" type of a person.
エンキドゥ
螺旋のＥＸＳ
体術に「捻れ」を付与
エフェクトは螺子巻き状に
設定原案
若いころは虚ろの夜の主人とも呼べるほど入り浸っていたが、
今は隠居気味で現実での生活に戻っている
最近、何か不穏な動きを察知し、虚ろの夜に出向く
ユズリハの父とは腕を競い合った仲
呪紋
若いころに無茶をして、ＥＸＳが暴走し体を食らわれそうになった時の跡
当時は「静まれ俺の右腕！」的な人だった
His Calamity Crest was originally Cursed Crest. His ability of "dark whirlpool" has remained the same, although it has changed its name somewhat. Enkidu was also supposed to have been "chuunibyou" who had grown old, but the final character is much more serious. His connection with Yuzuriha's family was also removed.
Trivia[]
- Enkidu is a figure in the "Epic of Gilgamesh". He was a person which the goddess of creation Aruru created from saliva and clay. Enkidu was Gilgamesh's companion who inspired him to pursue immortality.
- His title of "Maneater" also read as "Rasetsu", the Japanese name for "Rakshasa". In Hindu/Buddhist mythology, Rakshasa were also maneaters as well.
- He was originally the only known playable character who fights without any types of weapons (whether it be magic, powered suit or physical-based), until he is accompanied by Ogre.
References[]
- ↑ Real name confirmed on French-Bread Twitch broadcast on August 31st 2017
- ↑ Introduction on the official site
- ↑ Raito's Youtube Channel
[]
| Playable Characters | Hyde · Linne · Waldstein · Carmine · Orie · Gordeau · Merkava · Vatista · Seth · Yuzuriha · Hilda · Chaos · Nanase · Byakuya · Phonon · Mika · Wagner · Enkidu · Londrekia · Tsurugi · Kaguya · Kuon · Uzuki · Ogre · Izumi |
|---|---|
| Guest Characters | Eltnum · Akatsuki |
| Non-Playable Characters | Adelheid · Azel · Azhi Dahaka · Chiharu · Chitose · Elefee · Higan · Hiroha · Hollow God · J.J. · Joker · Komatsu · Kuu · Lex Bartholomeus · Muniel · Murayama · Radiata · Reflecta · Roger · Sakaki · Sakurai · Silvaria · Strix · Tempest · Tomomi · Tsukuyomi · Zohar |