Nihilego (Pokémon) - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Nihilego (Japanese: ウツロイド Uturoid) is a dual-type Rock/Poison Ultra Beast introduced in Generation VII.

It is not known to evolve into or from any other Pokémon.

It is code named UB-01 Symbiont (Japanese: ＵＢ０１　Ｐａｒａｓｉｔｅ).

Biology

Nihilego attaches itself to the cranium of a host, causing abnormal behavior from them

Nihilego is an Ultra Beast that resembles a jellyfish. The bell is semi-translucent and encircled with several white, star-shaped markings. The wavy rim of the bell flares outward and is bright blue. Its tentacles appear gelatinous and give it a vaguely humanoid shape. Several tentacles mesh together forming the appearance of a cape or long hair, while four shorter tentacles resemble shorter hair and arms. Two long tentacles make up the legs of the human shape. According to its concept art, Nihilego's body is made of various types of glass.

Nihilego was the first Ultra Beast to be discovered by Professor Mohn of the Aether Foundation. He was also the one who coined Nihilego's name. Nihilego live in another world named Ultra Deep Sea. Although its exact levels of intelligence are unknown, it is believed to act upon a self-preservation instinct^[1]. However, in addition to its human-like shape, it is sometimes seen acting like a young girl. According to Wicke from the Aether Foundation, Nihilego's most distinctive feature is its parasitic capability. When Nihilego latches on to a host's head, it does not manipulate its actions directly. Instead it awakens the host's own capabilities and boosts them to an extreme extent in order to protect itself. It injects the host with a sort of neurotoxin to achieve this effect. This neurotoxin of Nihilego's is incredibly stimulating and inspires feelings of extreme excitement and a lack of inhibition in its host. Anything or anyone that Nihilego latches on to will have its native skills forcibly activated to their fullest extent and will then act as it naturally desires to.

Wicke also claims that like all Ultra Beasts, Nihilego stores the same energy possessed by Totem Pokémon within its body, which takes the form of a red, flaring aura^[2]. This energy is called Z-Power. As seen in the games and in The Homecoming Crown!, Nihilego are capable of creating illusions, such as making itself and its allies vanish and are even capable of seeing the memories of humans. That same episode also showed that Nihilego can demonstrate emotions other than self-preservation and the ability to heal people.

As shown with Lusamine, Nihilego is capable of physically merging with a host. In this "merged" state, the bell loses its stars, developing several iridescent spots across its surface. The host's body is visible within the bell with their legs dangling beneath it. Its eight tentacles become long and flattened and have numerous deep black spots with various colored diamond-shapes inside. Four of the tentacles are connected to the bell via frilly white structures; these tentacles have four spines protruding from them that can be used similarly to hands. The remaining four tentacles each terminate in a single larger spine.

The toxins produced by Nihilego may remain in the host's body, even after Nihilego has left their body. This can leave the former host to remain ill for unspecified amounts of time and treatment may be necessary. Nihilego leaving a host's body can also cause unconsciousness, as is the case with Lusamine, however it unknown whether or not this is because of Nihilego's toxins, the stress of fusion or the overwhelming amount of Z-Power within her body. As depicted in 10,000,000 Reasons to Fight!, its lower tentacles inject its toxins into the ground while sharp rocks grow below. While the same episode shows that Nihilego can willingly end this merger and it may be disrupted in other ways as well, the lingering toxins and the shock of the separation can leave the host in critical condition, both physically and psychologically. The same episode also shows Nihilego forming a barrier with its own mass to prevent its host from undoing the fusion.

• 

  Nihilego preys on both human and Pokémon

• 

  Both Nihilego and Lusamine's bodies look different while fused

	Spoilers end here.

Game data

Pokédex entries

Game locations

In side games

Held items

Stats

Base stats

Type effectiveness

Learnset

Nihilego is available in Sword and Shield Version 1.3.0+.

By leveling up

By TM/TR

By breeding

By tutoring

By transfer from another generation

Side game data

Pokémon Rumble Rush Walking Speed: 1.5 seconds Base HP: 61 Base Attack: 83 Base Defense: 57 Base Speed: 70

Evolution data

Sprites

In the anime

Nihilego fused with Lusamine in the anime Shiny Nihilego in the anime

Main series

Major appearances

Nihilego (anime)

In Faba's Revenge!, Faba managed to summon a Nihilego from an Ultra Wormhole. Lusamine, Gladion, and Ash briefly battled the Ultra Beast before it took Lusamine into the Ultra Wormhole and disappeared. They were given the proper name Nihilego in The Professors' New Adventure!.

In The Homecoming Crown!, a Shiny Nihilego, nicknamed Lillie, was revealed to have rescued Mohn after he had disappeared into an Ultra Wormhole and made him see it as Lillie after he developed amnesia. Once Mohn's memory of his real family was restored, Nihilego was invited into the family and caught by Gladion.

Other

Nihilego debuted in a flashback in A Masked Warning!, where Gladion revealed to Ash that Lillie was once attacked by one when she was younger, resulting in her present fear of touching Pokémon. It reappeared in a flashback in Mission: Total Recall! and The Homecoming Crown!.

Multiple Nihilego appeared in Rescuing the Unwilling! in Ultra Deep Sea. They reappeared in a flashback in The Professors' New Adventure!.

Minor appearances

GOTCHA!

A Nihilego briefly appeared as a silhouette in GOTCHA!.

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

Nihilego debuted as a silhouette in The Final Match and a Surprising Finale!.

Nihilego physically debuted in Truth and the Mastermind Behind Team Skull. It was one of the Ultra Beasts summoned to Po Town by Guzma via an Ultra Wormhole. It proceeded to kidnap Guzma and drag him into a wormhole with it. Nihilego reappeared in a flashback in An Urgent Task and the Capture of an Ultra Beast. It was later captured by Lusamine.

Multiple Nihilego appeared in the Ultra Deep Sea in Summon the Emissaries of the Moon and the Sun.

In the TCG

Main article: Nihilego (TCG)

Other appearances

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Nihilego appears as a Spirit.

Trivia

Origin

Nihilego is inspired by jellyfish, with its body made of glass to contrast the soft bodies of real jellyfish.^[3] It being Rock-type may be inspired by the fact that artificial glass is usually made out of sand. The specific species of jellyfish it is based on may be the Aurelia aurita or the Phyllorhiza punctata; the Ultra Beasts have been stated to be based on invasive species,^[4] and the Phyllorhiza punctata is an invasive species in the waters surrounding Hawaii. It may also draw inspiration from Myxozoa, a class of microscopic parasites in the phylum Cnidaria (which includes jellyfish). In particular, the Myxobolus cerebralis is known to cause the infectious "whirling disease" in various fish species. The disease causes the fish to develop bone and neurological abnormalities that cause them to swim in a corkscrew-like "whirling" motion.

Nihilego may have also been inspired by Lillie and vice-versa. Throughout the games, Lillie mentions how her Ultra Beast-obsessed mother, Lusamine, chooses what clothes she wears and how she wears them, with both characters mentioning dress-up and outfits throughout the game. This implies that, in-universe, Lusamine has intentionally dressed her daughter up to resemble the Pokémon. Lillie's white sunhat resembles Nihilego's bell, with each of Nihilego's tentacles resembling Lillie's hair, legs, sundress, braids, and arms. Nihilego's white coloring with a blue accent is reminiscent of both of Lillie's outfits seen in the games. Furthermore, Nihilego's shiny coloration has a yellow hue, making it resemble Lillie's long blonde hair. Nihilego's Pokédex entry in Pokémon Moon states that "sometimes it can be observed behaving like a young girl." The anime episode The Homecoming Crown! notes the similarities between a shiny Nihilego and Lillie.

Name origin

Nihilego may be a combination of nihil (Latin for indefinite nothing) and ego (Latin for I), which together roughly translates to "I am nothing" or "I have nothing". Ego may also refer to the part of the psychic apparatus that governs rational decision-making, and together with nihil reflects how the creature may have no ego, and only have an id (the survival and instinctual part of the psyche). The former may reflect its victims' lack of will outside their focus on Nihilego, while the latter may represent Nihilego's role in dominating the desires of its victims.

Uturoid may be a combination of 虚ろ utsuro (void) and void. It might also involve asteroid or meteoroid, 鬱 utsu (depression), 移ろい utsuroi (transience), the suffix -oid (meaning "of similar form"), and id.

In other languages

Language Title Meaning Japanese ウツロイド Uturoid From 虚ろ utsuro, asteroid, meteoroid, void, id, and possibly the suffix -oid (meaning "of similar form") French Zéroïd From zéro, id, and suffix -oïde Spanish Nihilego Same as English name German Anego From ἀν- an- (ancient Greek prefix indicating "not" or "without") and ego Italian Nihilego Same as English name Korean 텅비드 Teongbid From 텅빈 teongbin and id Mandarin Chinese 虛吾伊德 / 虚吾伊德 Xūwúyīdé From 虛無 / 虚无 xūwú , 吾 wú, and possibly 佛洛伊德 Fóluòyīdé / 弗洛伊德 Fúluòyīdé Cantonese Chinese 虛吾伊德 Hēui'nghyīdāk From 虛無 hēuimòuh, 吾 ngh, and possibly 佛洛伊德 Fahtlokyīdāk

More languages Hindi निर्वाइड Nirwide From निर्वात nirvāt and wide Russian Нихилего Nikhilego Transcription of English name Thai อุทซึรอยด์ Utsueroi Transcription of Japanese name

UB-01 Symbiont

Related articles

References

External links