Nihilego (Pokémon)


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

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

It is one of the Ultra Beasts and is known by the code name UB-01 Symbiont (Japanese: ).

Biology
Nihilego is an Ultra Beast which resembles a jellyfish. It is mostly white and has tentacles shaped like the hair, dress, and legs of a human girl. The top of its head is a bell that resembles a sun hat. The bell is transparent save for six pointed stars around the crown, and the brim has a blue edge. The ends of the "hair" fly out, resembling arms, and the outer tentacles of the "dress" have two bubbles inside.

Nihilego is a parasitic organism and, by latching onto one's head, is capable of injecting a neurotoxin that subtly alters the thoughts and actions of any human or Pokémon that becomes its host. This neurotoxin stimulates intense feelings of excitement while causing a loss of inhibitions, which acts to forcibly bring out any latent potential within the host while wearing away at their minds.

Nihilego's exact levels of intelligence are unknown, but according to the Aether Foundation's research it seems to act mainly on a self-preservation instinct. It has been observed behaving like a young girl, though the exact reasons for why it does so are unknown. In its home dimension, the anime shows that Nihilego can control its environment.

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 in appearance, and what appear to be eyeballs with colored diamond-shaped "pupils" cover their surface, along with smaller multi-colored dots. Four of the tentacles are connected to the "hat" 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 smaller spine. While the anime 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.

In Faba's Revenge!, Faba managed to summon a Nihilego from an Ultra Wormhole. Lusamine,, and 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!.

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

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

In the Pokémon Adventures manga
Nihilego debuted in PASM19. It was one of the Ultra Beasts summoned to Po Town by Guzma via an Ultra Wormhole. It then proceeded to kidnap Guzma and drag him into a wormhole with it.

Multiple Nihilego appeared in the Ultra Deep Sea in the.

Pokédex entries

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Game locations

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In side games

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Side game data

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Trivia

 * In Pokémon Sun and Moon, Nihilego has a base experience yield of 114.
 * No other Pokémon has the same type combination as Nihilego.
 * Nihilego is the only Pokémon that cannot learn.

Origin
Nihilego may be inspired by a, especially . It may also draw inspiration from, a class of microscopic Cnidarian parasites, particularly the  that are 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. Visually, and due to its status as an Ultra Beast, it may derive inspiration from , an invasive species in the waters surrounding Hawaii.

The merged form of Lusamine and Nihilego may be based on , a species of jellyfish that is biologically immortal and can revert to a young, immature state if it is too old or stressed.

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".  may also refer to the part of the 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), void, and . It also might refer to 鬱 utsu, 移ろい utsuroi (the act of moving from host to host), and android or the suffix  (meaning "of similar form").

In other languages
UB-01 Symbiont

Related articles

 * Ultra Beast