Nazrilof

Nazrilof
by botanicaxu
Abilities	Worldhopper
Aliases	Nazh, the Haunted Man
Homeworld	Threnody
Universe	Cosmere
First Appeared	Words of Radiance

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“Politeness. That's not how I work. ”

—Nazh

Nazrilof, who goes by the nickname Nazh, is a mysterious worldhopper from Threnody who gathers documents and creates sketches from different planets in the cosmere on behalf of Khriss. He is also the man from The New Ascendancy broadsheet whose gun appears to shoot shades. Nazrilof is his surname; his given name is yet to be revealed.

Appearance and Personality

by paintweaver

With Khriss

For more images, see /Gallery.

“I prefer bloodstains to inkstains any day, so next time send me somewhere I'm more likely to die from wounds than from handcramps. ”

—Nazh to Khriss

Nazh is a lanky man with a narrow, pinched face, blonde hair and blue eyes. He tends to dress to fit in with the locals -- skaa on Scadrial, or an ardent on Roshar, even when not among the planet's people. When not blending in, he speaks with a faint, possibly Threnodite accent. He's rather skittish, and seems to have a hair-trigger temper, going from calm to annoyed in a moment. He is also very prone to swearing.

He dislikes being surprised and one-upped by others, and is highly suspicious of strangers. This being said, he seems to enjoy excitement, vastly preferring fighting for his life to quiet study and scholarship. He can still be incredibly patient, and does have the mind to be scholarly, at least for a while, but he dislikes people who speak in riddles and flowery language, preferring that people get to the point.

He's often frustrated with tasks he's given, but will always accomplish them to the best of his abilities, even if they appear impossible. Despite his frequent complaints, he seems to enjoy the worlds he visits, and finds the prospect of their destruction saddening. He can be condescending to others, especially people who aren't cosmere-aware, and gets annoyed when they're in the way of his missions. To those who know more about the cosmere, he can be snarky, sardonic and occasionally teasing. However, he doesn't lack empathy, and will help others if it is within his power. He seems fond of Khriss in particular, calling her "my friend" in almost every annotation he leaves her.

Nazh seems to enjoy drinking, and is familiar with various types of alcohol. He keeps track of what is owed to him fairly strictly. His favorite food is a fried eggplant-like plant native to Threnody.

Attributes and Abilities

by Ashley Coad

Nazh on Threnody

Nazh is a skilled artist, able to read and draw Rosharan glyphs from just seeing them on moving people. He's able to infiltrate the population of various planets without any apparent issues, and can find his way out of even the most inconvenient circumstances and sticky situations, though not always with his dignity intact. He's an accomplished thief, though he's also familiar with a variety of jails, enough to consider some pleasant. Perhaps related to that is his physical fitness -- he's able to outrun an axehound.

Like many worldhoppers, Nazh has some way to slow down or halt his aging. He seems to have some other powers as well, being able to dive to the bottom of the ocean to recover a bunch of drawings. He might have some sort of ability to either heal himself or withstand superhuman amounts of damage, as he's not afraid of jumping down over a hundred feet. He has some skills that make him a natural fit for the scouting and thievery he does for Khriss, but what those are and whether any of them are magical or supernatural are unknown.

He's seen with two weapons. Around the time of Preservation's death, he possesses a knife, long enough to almost be called a sword; he is not particularly attached to it, and gives it to Kelsier to aid him with his mission. Three hundred years later, he's seen using a gun that appears to be capable of firing shades as projectiles, causing anything it hits to wither and crumble away.

History

Early Worldhopping

Nazh is a native Threnodite. The respect with which he speaks of shades suggests he might've lived there prior to Evil's coming to the Homeland, but it is unknown when he left, and what prompted him to start worldhopping. His home town was named Cianalis.

At some point, he met Khriss, and told her as much as he knew about his homeworld, the shades, and Evil. The two began to travel together, following Khriss' interest in other planets; however, it seems that only Nazh actually traversed the other worlds in the Physical Realm, collecting documents and maps for Khriss. She would often leave him on his own, herself staying at places unknown, seemingly without much care for where she dropped him off.

One such situation occurred on Sel, where she abandoned him at a place where accessing any information was difficult. He still managed to find a map of Sycla and send it over to Khriss with his own annotations.

Death of Preservation

by Ben McSweeney

Kelsier meeting Nazh and Khriss

“It's a bad state you and yours are in, but I rather like this place. Damnable mists and all. ”

—Nazh to Kelsier

Nazh and Khriss arrived on Scadrial to witness Preservation's death. Nazh visited the planet's Physical Realm sometime around the Collapse and the Siege of Luthadel, collecting and annotating a map of the city. When on Scadrial, he pretended to be a skaa, and retained the clothes even when he left the planet. He managed to return back to Scadrial's subastral before Kelsier destroyed the Pits of Hathsin, which cut off the travel between the two Realms.

Some time afterwards, at Preservation's suggestion, Kelsier, now a Cognitive Shadow, located Khriss and Nazh's camp in the Scadrian subastral. His surprise visit shocked Nazh, who remained fidgety and brash towards him throughout the meeting, resenting Kelsier both for surprising him and for briefly stealing his knife. As Kelsier and Khriss talked, Nazh tried -- and failed -- to intimidate the former, and when Kelsier asked to learn more about the greater cosmere, Nazh mocked him for it, suggesting he wasn't ready to learn the truth.

Khriss eventually decided against helping Kelsier, and declared that the two of them would leave the planet before Preservation died. Nazh initially went with her, leaving Kelsier behind; however, he eventually returned. Expressing his support for Kelsier's cause, he gifted the man his knife and pointed him towards the Ire base before departing once more. Kelsier would eventually use the knife to smash Ire's orb and ascend to Preservation. He lost it at some point between then and Ruin's death.

Roshar

“I had to spend hours watching the bridgemen to sketch their stupid forehead glyphs so you could have them, my friend. ”

—Nazh

Nazh travelled to Roshar prior to the year 1173. At some point, possibly before crossing over to the Physical Realm, he traversed quite extensively the region of Shadesmar known as the Sea of Lost Lights. Among others, he stole a map of the area from a creature named Smolderbrand, got himself locked up in a jail in Ravizadth for fishing for a spren to do a job for him, and travelled from Candlemore to Celebrant on a mandra. The latter was apparently the result of a bet he had with Khriss, and netted him some silver pieces.

He spent a longer while infiltrating the Calligraphers Guild, as Khriss wished to learn its secrets. Though he disliked the work, he eventually managed to find out the mystery, and discovered that the "deep, dark secret" of the guild was that the glyphs could be read phonetically. He ribbed Khriss about it, joking that she likely expected something more esoteric. He eventually stole a scroll explaining duelling stances from the Guild and fled, pursued by an axehound. Either before or after that happened, he found the time to experiment with Rosharan alcohols, getting so drunk on Horneater white, he ended up getting a tattoo of an embarrassing glyph.

He or Khriss seemed to have some interest in Shallan and her journey; he marked where she made landfall on the map of Frostlands, and dove to retrieve some of her old drawings from the bottom of the sea. He was also apparently interested in Kaladin on Khriss' behalf. In 1173, he was in the Alethi warcamps on the Shattered Plains, where he observed the recently-freed Bridge Four to sketch the glyphs tattooed on their foreheads, as well as their uniform insignia and Kaladin's slave brands. He also tried to enter a meeting of the bridgemen, posing as an ardent, but was escorted out.

While in the camps, he snatched Shallan's symmetrical map of the Plains, though he refused to provide Khriss with a detailed one showing every plateau, as he'd have to create it himself. He also gained access to Navani's journal and reproduced the ketek on its cover. He might've been present at Shallan and Adolin's wedding, as he also learned the ketek that Jasnah had composed for the occasion.

Nazh also travelled throughout the Sea of Souls, visiting locations including Perpetual Sobriety, Ageless Beauty, and Abiding Light. He again seemed to take an interest in Shallan, and marked the path of her and Adolin's voyage from Nohadon's Stairways to Nameless.

Nazh was sent to embed himself among the Stonewards, and found ways to look at the nature of Intent as it relates to Stoneshaping.

Time on Scadrial

The Ghastly Gondola incident

“I don't care if [this map]'s the Survivor's bathrobe! Just give it to me! ”

—Nazh to Nicelle Sauvage

by Ben McSweeney

fighting Nicelle on the gondola

Some three and a half hundred years after the Catacendre, and a few years after his trip to Roshar, Nazh returned to Scadrial, now equipped with a gun seemingly capable of firing shades and using them as weapons. He obtained and annotated a map of Elendel made by the Canton of Cartography, and passed it to Khriss. This time, both of them visited Scadrial's Physical Realm together for at least a short time, and put out an advertisement in The New Ascendancy newspaper asking that people hearing talking tools report it to "K and N".

Khriss either remained in or travelled to New Seran, eventually meeting Wax at a ball and questioning him about his abilities. Nazh, meanwhile, attempted to retrieve a map of New Seran inherited by Nicelle Sauvage. For this particular job, he dressed up in a mistcloak for unknown reasons. Nazh managed to acquire the map, but Nicelle pursued him onto a gondola of a cable train riding above the city. In return, Nazh opened fire from his shade gun, trying to make it seem as though he wanted to kill her so that she'd leave him alone.

Nicelle, however, managed to use her leecher abilities to disarm the gun, to Nazh's shock. He managed to reactivate it in a few moments, but Nicelle quickly kicked it out of the gondola altogether and went for the map. The two struggled for it, with Nazh yelling at Nicelle in frustration to let go and Nicelle insisting that one, the map was her inheritance, and two, Nazh could've been much more polite about trying to acquire it. Nazh eventually resolved the situation by slicing the map in half and jumping off the gondola. He himself retained the part showing the city, while Nicelle had the half with a hidden pocket. It's unknown which was of greater interest to Nazh, and whether he was even aware of the hidden pocket's existence.

The Compass of Spirits

Over the following six years Nicelle's and Nazh's paths crossed many time until eventually Nicki began to count him as one of her adventuring companions. During this time they each made a promise to the other that they would explore the Cosmere together as their relationship took on a romantic tension.

During one adventure they were on a quest to find an item Nicelle called 'The Compass of Spirits' which she claimed sent the bearer to the 'ghostly dimension', supposedly Shadesmar, Nicelle seemed convinced that the fate of Scadrial depended on their quest's success. Eventually the pair managed to collect the Compass of Spirits along with the key needed to open it up only for Vila Mecant to steal the compass off them, panicked Nicelle told Nazh to run away with the key before Vila could take it as well whilst she went to retrieve the Compass. Nicelle ultimately proved successful in her task and reunited with Nazh, then Nazh moved as if to kiss her but instead pickpocketed the Compass and used it to escape to the ghostly dimension himself, apologizing whilst doing so. Nicelle was devastated with this development and considered her mission failed until the two Kandra alongside her informed her that there existed another means to enter the ghostly dimension.

Relationships

by Elisgardor

Nazh carrying Khriss's things

Khriss

Nazh works for Khriss; their exact relation is unclear, but he doesn't protest when called her manservant. The two have shared interests, but above all, he's fiercely loyal to her for unknown reasons. He travels to the various corners of the cosmere and visits different places to acquire information -- mostly maps -- for her. He can be caustic and occasionally make fun of her, but he clearly likes her a lot, and always refers to her per "my friend". She, in turn, seems to have a bad habit of abandoning him in inconvenient places, which he doesn't seem to mind too much beyond how it affects his work.

Though Nazh follows Khriss' commands, he is not blindly obedient; the two get into arguments fairly often. When he disagrees with something she does, he will do his own thing, such as giving his knife and information to Kelsier after Khriss refused to assist the Cognitive Shadow. He's also not above demanding that she compensate him for his losses, or pay him what he's owed from the bets between the two of them, and can sometimes make mild fun of her and her pursuit of secrets.

Nicelle Sauvage

“"You are entirely disagreeable!"
"Then you're starting to figure me out." ”

—Conversation between Nazh and Nicelle

Nazh and Nicelle Sauvage, known better under the pen name Nicki Savage, meet when the former tries to steal a map of New Seran that Nicelle has inherited. The map contains a hidden pocket with information from Nicelle's father, which is why she pursues Nazh and the two end up fighting over it (though, Nazh seems to be under the impression that this is just a regular, if very good map). Though angry with him for his theft and mystified by his odd weapon, Nicelle seems to find Nazh very attractive; she calls the timbre of his voice very enjoyable, and has apparently memorized his exact appearance.

“You silly man. You'll never get rid of me that easily, it's you and me exploring the Cosmere together forever. Just like we promised.”

—Nicki talking to Nazh.

Nicelle later dramatizes the story for publishing it in The New Ascendancy, a New Seran broadsheet. Over the following six years Nicki and Nazh's paths crossed many times until Nicki began to consider him a companion in her group and they made a promise to each other that they would explore the Cosmere together. Over time their dynamic took on a romantic tension. Ultimately however Nazh was forced to betray Nicki and steal the 'Compass of Spirits' for himself by tricking her into thinking they were about to kiss.

Development

“Maybe [Khriss] has somebody who goes and gets the maps and labels them for her with pertinent information. (...) That allowed us to develop a character around that. Brandon said, “Why don’t we have Nazh do this?” to which I agreed, and Brandon said, “Isaac, welcome to the Cosmere.” ”

—Isaac Stewart

Nazh was created by Isaac Stewart; as such, he owns the rights to the character. He came about accidentally during the writing of The Rithmatist. When discussing the book, Isaac kept mispronouncing Nalizar as "Nazrilof". Brandon joked that the two were separate characters, with the latter being an alter-ego for Isaac himself, which became an inside joke in the writing group for a while. When the time came to create a map of Elendel for The Alloy of Law, however, Brandon and Isaac returned to the idea seriously, and decided to make Nazh Khriss' map-collecting sidekick.

There are some plans to create more stories featuring Nazh, including a telling his backstory; so far, the only known detail is that his home town is called Cianalis, or some variation on the spelling thereof. When Khriss and Nazh met, and when Nazh left Threnody, has so far been left ambiguous so that Brandon has more liberty with plotting out the potential Threnody sequel tentatively titled The Night Brigade. On the other hand, the how of Khriss and Nazh meeting will be partially revealed in the sequel to White Sand, if it's ever created. Isaac has also expressed the desire to write a novella focusing on Nicelle Sauvage, featuring Nazh as a major character.

Trivia

• Nazh is not the person writing the Ars Arcana (it is in fact Khriss), or the tattooist who gave the bridgemen of Bridge Four their tattoos.
• Brandon has compared Nazh to a "grumpy James Bond". Isaac, meanwhile, says he's "basically a young Peter Capaldi", and looks like him as well.
• Nazh's accent is meant to sound Scottish.
• Nazh is Isaac's second favorite character in the cosmere, after Dalinar.
• He likes fried eggplants since they remind him of a similar vegetable from Threnody.

Notes

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