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| “ | The cephalopod that reigns supreme over the Oilwell Basin's ecosystem. A vision of hell, it attacks with tentacles and ignited oilsilt. | „ |
| ~ Nu Udra's entry in the Hunters' Notes |
Nu Udra, also known as The Black Flame and Nu Yaya in its larval form, is a monster introduced in Monster Hunter Wilds. The first Cephalopod introduced to the series, it rules over the Oilwell Basin with an iron clutch, dispatching whatever prey it can find with its powerful tentacles and mastery over fire. Emerging during the Firespring inclemency when its power peaks, it is greatly feared for its might and status as apex predator.
Why aren't they heroic or villainous?[]
While real world octopi are generally considered sapient to a degree, they don't possess a moral compass or at least, one similar to humans. As such, Nu Udra is very similar to them in this way, operating on survival instincts without malice or benevolence.
Physiology[]
Nu Udra is a gigantic octopus that, thanks to the twisted horn-like appendages on its eyes, resembles a mimic octopus. Its body is covered in a greenish-black hide, with a blue and green striped pattern covering its whole body and a yellowish tint on its horns and tentacles. However, as it's almost always covered in black oilsilt, these colours are seldom seen. Nu Udra possesses eight arms: two reduced ones shielding its face and six larger ones utilised for combat. Said six arms are covered in two rows sharp white spines on their tops and bottoms. Nu Udra's eyes are a bright blue with horizontal pupils, being framed by several eyelash-like protrusions. However, as its vision is poor to the point of functional blindness, its eyes remain shut most of the time. Instead, Nu Udra utilises oculi on the tips of its tentacles to detect prey, which glow bright blue and are framed by several spikes. Unlike real octopi, the Nu Udra's beak isn't located on its underside but rather between its two front ones, allowing it to feed more easily on its terrestrial prey.
When enraged, Nu Udra will open its eyes and begin to bioluminesce from both its eyes, tentacles, and mantle, emitting an eerie blue glow. Furthermore, it will ignite the oilsilt covering it, wreathing it in orange flames that occasionally have a black tinge, hence its title.
The larvae of Nu Udra are called Nu Yaya and resemble tiny octopus paralarvae. They are light blue in colour and possess yellow blotches on their horns and arms. As their eyes are still developing, they possess yellow spiral patterns over where they should be. Their bodies are also covered in swirly, fingerprint like patterns which glow.
Abilities[]
As an apex predator, Nu Udra is an exceptionally powerful monster, possessing superhuman levels of strength, durability and stamina. It is powerful enough to manhandle an Ajarakan, picking one up in each arm, and can easily send hunters flying with one swing of its arms. These attacks are made even more devastating by the spines lining its tentacles. As a cephalopod, Nu Udra has no bones or large, inflexible structures, allowing it to slide and slip through gaps inaccessible to most other monsters.
Nu Udra also possesses the capability to expel flames from its siphon, covering large areas in a scorching inferno. This behaviour is complemented by the flammable oilsilt that covers its body almost all the time, which it can ignite when enraged. When in flames, Nu Udra is nearly untouchable to most creatures, setting foes ablaze with any of its attacks. Even monsters that normally utilise fire or live near it are scorched by Nu Udra’s flames. Nu Udra will also coat rocks in its flaming oil to further deny area to its foes. When threatened, Nu Udra unleashes its most powerful move: it will send fireballs of oilsilt hurtling from its body in a rain of fire, damaging anything in its vicinity. However, this move exhausts Nu Udra's supply of oilsilt so it must recover the oil on its body. Interestingly, Nu Udra can apparently "consume" fire to boost its own power, making it immune to fire-based attacks.
Nu Udra doesn't appear to have particularly good hearing, as evidenced by its immunity to sonic bombs, and apparently "sees" through its arms. Thus, as it can still locate the hunter with all of its limbs severed, it's likely that Nu Udra has some other sense it relies on to hunt prey.
Behaviour[]
Like most other apex monsters, Nu Udra is a voracious and territorial monster, preying on anything that dares to venture into its domain. Normally it spends time sleeping in its nest, but when active it showcases an exceptional ruthlessness, barraging foes with strikes of its numerous tentacles. Nu Udra displays a cautious attitude in battle, preferring to hide its main body while extending its arms as much as possible. As an octopus, Nu Udra is remarkably intelligent, tripping up opponents with combos of powerful tentacle strikes and hurling globs of oil to mess up positioning. It is also capable of tool use, coating rocks nearby it in burning oil before hurling them at hunters, bludgeoning them and lighting them aflame.
Furthermore, Nu Udra might showcase a sadistic streak as during its grab attack, it stares the hunter dead in the eye before blasting them with flame. This behaviour is pure speculation however, seeing as Nu Udra wouldn't be able to look its victim in the eye anyways and this may just be sheer coincidence. As it frequently feeds on Ajarakan and attacks them with a similar flame bath in its turf war, Nu Udra may have simply mistaken the hunter for a particularly small individual and is thus, inspecting them with its limited vision. Nu Udra also seems to be rather passive towards humans compared to other monsters: during the Firespring festival, it simply abducts the three Ajarakan to eat while ignoring all the humans, and in the past it apparently consumed the Everforge's fire without leaving any casualties.
Nu Udra are known to lay their eggs during the Firespring inclemency, which hatch during the season of Plenty. These young, known as Nu Yaya, can often be found near the nests of their adult counterparts, implying that Nu Udra may care for their young, though as they're seen year round it's unlikely that Nu Udra die after their eggs hatch, unlike real life octopi. As sightings of Nu Udra are almost non-existent while Nu Yaya are spotted on occasion, this implies that Nu Yaya mortality rates are fairly high, with very few reaching adulthood.
Habitat[]
As the apex predator of the Oilwell Basin, Nu Udra has only been sighted there, inhabiting the lower levels where volcanic activity is most prevalent. It's most active during the Firespring inclemency, where the flames heighten its strength to its peak. It makes its nest right below the Everforge, hanging up its eggs on the pipes that supply the machine with energy. During the Plenty, Nu Yaya can be found wandering off from their birthplace, eventually reaching the open air portions of the Basin.
Trivia[]
- Nu Udra is the first cephalopod or cephalopod-like monster not considered an Elder Dragon.
- Nu Udra's name is an anglicised version of its Japanese name Nu Egudora, which combines Nu, the name of the Egyptian god of the abyss, with "goudron", the French word for tar.
- Just like a real octopus, Nu Udra’s severed arms will move about for a while before stopping and rotting, implying that they have their own individual nerve centres.
- The Nu Udra's mouth is a weak point that can be focus struck when exposed, though finding windows for this opportunity are difficult. It is also extra vulnerable to elemental damage, particularly Water damage.
- Nu Udra has turf wars with Ajarakan and Arkveld, winning the former and losing the latter.
- Nu Udra is the only apex to have an additional title aside from its classification and theme name. Interestingly, it was introduced under the title the “Black Flame” instead of its actual name, unlike other apexes.
- The weapons in Nu Udra's set are all named after the words for octopus in different languages:
- The suffix used for the names of Nu Udra's charge blade, Pweza, is Swahili.
- The suffix used for Nu Udra's switch axe, Zhangyu, is Mandarin.
- The suffix used for Nu Udra's greatsword, Krake, is German, additionally being the word stem for the word "Kraken": a mythological sea monster frequently depicted as a colossal cephalopod.
- The suffix used for Nu Udra's hammer, Pulpo, is Italian.
- The suffix used for Nu Udra's lance, Osminog, is Azerbaijani.
- The suffix used for Nu Udra's heavy bowgun, Muneo, is Korean.
- The suffix used for Nu Udra's light bowgun, Chobotnice, is Czech.
- As Nu Yaya only appear after the appearance of a Tempered Nu Udra, it can be assumed that a majority of Tempered Nu Udra are females, achieving a Tempered state from a desire to protect their unborn young.
