Apep

Apep is the Dendro Dragon of the ancient Seven Sovereigns, and ruled over Sumeru before the arrival of the Heavenly Principles.^[8] She survived the conflicts of old and is still alive in present day, and appears during the climax of Nahida's Story Quest, Sapientia Oromasdis Chapter: Act II - Homecoming.

Profile

As the Dendro Dragon Sovereign,^[8] Apep is a powerful elemental dragon who contains an entire world inside herself, within which she birthed and protected the first and most ancient elemental lifeforms of Teyvat.^[9] However, Apep's attempt to accumulate forbidden knowledge to fight against the Heavenly Principles led her to become contaminated by the very power she sought, which in turn corrupted her source of power — the Heart of Oasis — and the elemental lifeforms dwelling within her.^[10] Not only did this cause immense suffering for all of them, it also had repercussions for Sumeru's ecosystem — Tumors of The Withering are the form Apep's elemental lifeforms take at the end of their lifespans due to the torment of forbidden knowledge.^[9]

Lesser Lord Kusanali purges forbidden knowledge during Archon Quest Chapter III, unintentionally leaving a gaping void within Apep and causing the elemental creatures to lose some of their memories.^[9] In their quest to bring the elemental creatures back to their home, Lesser Lord Kusanali and the Traveler learn more about Apep's condition and vow to restore the Heart of Oasis. They eventually succeed and Apep is freed from her millennia of suffering. She decides to rest and recover for the time being, forgoing her previous plans of revenge to observe how Lesser Lord Kusanali and humanity will develop.^[10]

Appearance

Apep's true appearance is never seen in its entirety, but her silhouette appears as a massive serpentine dragon with large, bright eyes overflowing with Dendro, and covered in numerous branch-like or root-like appendages. Her body also has two glowing streaks that shine with the same light as her eyes, extending across the length of her body.

Apep's body was originally emerald green in color, but it changed to sand-gray yellow when the Celestial Nail caused the desertification of Sumeru and Apep adapted to the new environment.

Quests and Events

Archon Quests

• Song of the Welkin Moon
  • Act IX: As All Falls to Emptiness
    • A Divergence Leading to Oneself
  • Act X: Truth Amongst the Pages of Purana
    • Darkness Looming

Story Quests

• Sapientia Oromasdis Chapter (Nahida)
  • Act II: Homecoming
    • What Shape Does the Self Hold

Story

History

In the old world, Apep claimed the entirety of Sumeru as her domain and her Heart of Oasis, the source of her power, was an entire world in itself. Elemental lifeforms were born and nurtured in this space, and Apep planned to release her "children" into the world after they matured. However, these dreams never came to fruition due to the arrival of the Heavenly Principles, who warred and won against the Seven Sovereigns, stole a portion of their elemental Authorities^[11] and remade the world of Teyvat after their own designs.^[12]

Sometime prior to the Heavenly Principles' invasion when the dragons still ruled, Apep sent her own "finest physicians" to the dragon base atop the Frost Moon in order to aid researcher Maagees-Geti's deteriorating condition, however they were unable to accomplish anything due to the extreme nature of Maagees' "erosion of the soul."^[13]

Eventually, the Dragon King Nibelung returned to Teyvat and rallied the Seven Sovereigns to retake the world from the Heavenly Principles, starting the war of funerary flame. Nibelung brought forbidden knowledge from the Abyss to Teyvat as a countermeasure for the Heavenly Principles' abilities.^[10] While they succeeded in gravely wounding the usurper,^[14] they still failed to overthrow it and its new order.^[10][12] To suppress the abyssal corruption, the Heavenly Principles cast down the Celestial Nails throughout Teyvat, which wreaked havoc on the ecosystems and living beings who lived in the areas where they fell. One fell over what is now Mt. Damavand, transforming the once-lush forests into the Great Red Sand.^[9] Apep's and her children's immense adaptability allowed them to survive the both the war and the desertification of Sumeru in its aftermath^[9][15] at the cost of mutating into forms far more ignoble than their original splendour.

Despite the dragons' defeat, Apep refused to give up on achieving what Nibelung could not. Believing forbidden knowledge to be the dragons' only hope in defeating the Heavenly Principles, she made an agreement with King Deshret — who, despite being a god of the Human Realm, also harbored a dream of breaking free from the Heavenly Principles' rules. In exchange for allowing King Deshret to build a grand civilization in her domain, Apep would gain all the knowledge he accumulated, as well as his elemental power, after his death. While this eventually came to pass after Deshret sacrificed himself to stop the spread of the forbidden knowledge he accidentally consumed,^[16][17] absorbing Deshret's elemental power only served to spread Deshret's forbidden knowledge contamination to Apep herself. She spent the next few thousand years managing the pain and was unable to analyze any of the knowledge she expected to gain from the venture.^[10]

Apep's corruption by forbidden knowledge also took its toll on the primordial elemental lifeforms that resided within her, forcing them to adapt in order to survive. Most morphed into grotesque Proliferating Organisms, driven only by the instinct to consume in order to survive, but a few lucky ones managed to escape with their intelligence intact. Seeking a way to stop what they called the "apocalypse," they spent time adapting to the outside world and took the form of fungi — but as forbidden knowledge took its toll on them, they would eventually transform into Tumors of The Withering as they neared the end of their lives.^[9] At some point before the cataclysm, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata took pity on their suffering and promised to bring them salvation one day, allowing them to return "home," and worked with some elemental lifeforms to create the Fire Seed, which would one day be used to restore the Heart of Oasis.^[10]

Present Day

Apep is briefly mentioned during the World Quest The Temple Where Sand Flows Like Tears in Series The Dirge of Bilqis, in which Liloupar, a Jinni who lived through King Deshret's era, refers to the Wenut as the "children of Apep."

During the events of Sumeru's Archon Quests, Nahida (Lesser Lord Kusanali) eliminates the forbidden knowledge from Irminsul per the wishes of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.^[18] This also purges the forbidden knowledge incorporated into Apep but leaves a large void in its wake, which can only be fixed if primordial elemental energy takes its place. If left alone, the void would cause Apep's massive Dendro elemental power to destabilize and disperse all over Sumeru, causing the rainforest to overgrow and irreversibly disrupt the balance of life.^[9]

To avoid such a disaster, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata had created a backup-plan for saving Apep by concentrating a portion of her elemental energy into the Fire Seed, intending for her successor to use it to restore Apep after the cataclysm was dealt with. While Nahida's intervention with Irminsul causes her to temporarily forget about saving Apep, she remembers after investigating the elemental fungi with the Traveler. After learning about the purpose of the Fire Seed, which Nahida had found in the Sanctuary of Surasthana, the party goes to the sandstorm in the middle of the Desert of Hadramaveth to locate Apep.

Apep is initially hostile towards Nahida's offer of help due to her hatred of the gods being amplified by the pain inflicted by forbidden knowledge, but eventually relents after hearing Nahida's heartfelt pleas on behalf of all life, including Apep's own wayward children. Despite her animosity, Apep allows the party to enter the Oasis, but they are separated in the process. When the Fire Seed's elemental energy proves insufficient to restore Apep, Nahida is about to sacrifice herself when the elemental fungi take her place, reverting to their original elemental forms and returning to Apep. Once Nahida and the Traveler subdue the Warden of the Oasis, Apep calms down and reasons that destroying The Seven and humanity serves no purpose. While she still loathes the Heavenly Principles and has no intention of having any further dealings with the gods, Apep tells her story to Nahida and the Traveler and declares her intention to merely observe the world for the time being, then expels them from her body.^[10]

The Traveler later visits Apep after Nahida fell ill due to Irminsul being warped by Dottore. Apep is humored to find that humanity failed to protect the very gift that the Heavenly Principles gave them. She agrees to help them only because she was compelled to do so to maintain her dignity, since Nahida had saved her. Bringing them into the Heart of the Oasis, Apep gave a small amount of her life force to reinvigorate Nahida. She also reveals that she sensed the Hydro Dragon regained his Authority, and believed that he too would also plot revenge, unaware of his amicable relationship with the Traveler. Sometime after they left, Nahida regained consciousness and Apep told her to resolve the situation, warning her that she would deal with her personally if any changes would cause her to suffer, with the prospect being grim. She then flew her to the Mausoleum of King Deshret, warning the Traveler and Nahida not to disturb her unless absolutely necessary and departed.

Gallery

Apep

Apep silhouette in her oasis

Trivia

• Apep is primarily referred to as "it" (Chinese: 它). However, in the World Quest The Last Day of Remuria in Series Canticles of Harmony: Second Movement - Prisoner in Shackles, Paimon uses "she" to refer to Apep:

Etymology

• Apep (Egyptian: ꜥꜣpp) was the ancient Egyptian deity who embodied chaos (Egyptian: ı͗zft). He appears in Egyptian art as a giant serpent.

Other Languages

Change History

References