History

Nyx was the goddess of night in both Greek and Roman mythology. Her name is synonymous with the Night itself. Nyx was also a primordial deity in Greek mythology and preceded the ancient Titans and the Olympians. Nyx was herself worshiped as the personification of the night. She was the daughter of Chaos, out of which all creation originated, and the sister of Erebus, Gaea and Tartarus. She was married to Erebus and had a number of children with him. Nyx had most children by herself however, but she is also said to have also consorted with Uranus. Her children go as follows have been including Hypnos (sleep), Geras (old age), Thanatos (death), Eris (strife), Nemesis (retribution), Hemera (Day), Lyssa (Madness), and finally Charon (the ferryman of souls of the dead to the gates of the underworld). According to Hesiod, Nyx's home was in Tartarus, along with her children Hypnos and Thanatos.

Nyx has also been named Nox and her worship would go on to be part of the mythology of the Romans. It is stated that the lord of the Olympian Gods Zeus himself never wanted to upset Night. She was one of the most powerful Olympian goddesses to be described about in Greek mythology.

The stories in ancient mythologies about Nyx vary greatly. One such story states that Nyx had laid an egg in the bosom of Erebus which was the Darkness of the Underworld. After unknown ages the golden winged god Eros would spring into birth. But others have said that Nyx is actually the daughter of Eros. it has also been stated that both Nyx and Eros were the children of Chaos.

Nyx has been an inspiration in several comic titles throughout the years and each character published with her name has taken her aspects of the goddess of the night from ancient history. Here are a few of the characters which have been developed as a representation of Nyx in a few publishing companies.

Nyx In Dark Horse Comics

Nyx is the goddess of Night in the House of Night Series which was published by Dark Horse Comics. She is the personification of Night. In the series it is featured that Nyx has been worshiped by all vampires as the goddess of Night since ancient times. The Vampire society live in a matriarchal society, where women are the ruling class. The males are still treated with honor and are the guardians and companions of the females. Ancient rituals such as the Full Moon Ritual, held in her honor each full moon are practiced by the Vampires. There are temples dedicated to her in every House of Night. The main character in the House of Night series is Zoey Redbird who is struggling to understand her connection to the vampire goddess Nyx.

Marvel Comics

Initially, Nyx appeared in Marvel Comics as Nox, the Roman equivalent. However this was later amended during the event No Road Home, shifting the character from a mystical Fear Lord to the more accurate primordial Greek origins.

Nox, unlike the other Fear Lords, does not require fear to live in any way, she revels in the fears of mortals. She was one of the first to be called to the Halls of Fear by the Dweller In Darkness to assist him in taking over Earth. There she revealed her past. She revealed that once she had disguised herself as the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, and made love to the god of war, Ares. She did this in order to bare two extremely powerful sons; Deimos and Phobos. Like the Dweller, Nox has been the inspiration to many villains, such as Psycho-Man. Though Nox is near invulnerable to physical damage, she has often been stopped by Dr. Strange by bright light and the mystic Eye of Agamotto.

Shattered Heroes

The Fear Lords convene to discuss the activities and actions of the older brother of Odin Cul. The Asgardian otherwise known as the Serpent has returned to Earth after a long exile at the hands of his brother Odin and has inflicted a state of terror and fear on the Earth, and feeding off that generated negativity. He has deputized the Worthy and set about creating mass havoc. Dweller in Darkness, D'Spayre, Kkallakku, Straw-Man, Lurking Unknown, are among those gathered with Nox to discuss the Serpent. Nightmare is however not present. Later the Fear Lords learn that the reason their peer Nightmare was absent was as he had been scheming of ways to increase his fortunate and power, in the wake of the Serpent. Creating a Nightmare Crown that would greatly amplify not only his powers, but thereby standing among Fear Lords. Such a concept not entirely fond to the other Fear Lords including Nox, they turn on Nightmare.

Retcon - No Road Home

The entity masquerading as said goddess of night was in actuality a pretender to the name. In reality, the authentic Nyx was in fact a primordial entity whose long seeded dominion over the ancient dark had been disturbed by the spark of creation. Filling the void, the Olympian Gods set in and came to rule over the newly formed planet Earth as one of its premier pantheons. She once integrated herself into their family of divinity, but soon found herself being shoved aside by the other Olympians. Becoming outcast as they're influence over the ever burgeoning Earth and the evolution of mortality deepened while her presence in myths were ones correspondent to fear of the dark.

This caused her to develop a deep resentment of the pageantries she was and was not truly apart of. But she would cast these ire's aside when she saw how her fellow deities bore kin of their own which seemed to appease them greatly. Seeking to mimic their practice; Nyx would conceive her firstborn from the silent stillness of the Night. That being Hypnos, god of sleep & dreams, this did not abate her growing enmity however as the humans still felt fear in the dark and to soothe their unease. They relegated the demi-god children of their divine forebearers as mighty heroes whom often braved the frightening unknown, which only served to broaden the influence other Olympians had upon the world and further diminish her presence in reality. Something which only deepened rage towards those whom had her as one of their number. Thus in her mindset driven by feelings of betrayal, Nyx would soon give rise to a twin divinity of deceit & betrayal respectively; Apate & Dolos the gods of Deceit & Trickery. Soon tensions would rise between her and the other Greek Gods, inevitably resulting in a grand battle between Nyx's faction and the other supremacies.

Only for her and her children to be defeated resulting in their imprisonment, the goddess in question having the lion share of her stripped from her and crystalized into a trinity of black diamonds that represented parts of her deified soul known as the Night Shards. Nyx and her insurgents were cast into a void of perpetual darkness with their confinement determinant upon the sun's shine being forever cast upon the globe their pantheon inhabits. In the millennia that passed during their incarceration, Nyx sired a final child borne of her immense hatred of the hateful divinity whom detained her. The most powerful amongst them given the name Oizys; Goddess of Misery.

For untold eons their cage maintained their bindings until something strange occurred. The Earth had been pulled out of its orbit around Sol when two cosmic beings initiated their celestian challenge. When the conditions of their accursed lock-up had been breeched, Nyx reached deep down for newfound strength within herself and corralled her own kin in order to break Olympus's grip on their freedom. Seeing all of creation as a soiled by the presence of mankind, the deities and the universe as a whole in the eternity of its occupancy; The goddess of night would move to remake all of creation in her own image by regaining the missing pieces of her core being in order to reduce all that is back to its cosmic default. That of devoid, absolute darkness. But first on her agenda was the decimation of the despised Olympian Gods whom she felt betrayed by, her return to the cosmos brought a totality wide blackout which plunged all within it into perpetual night.

Before which however, Nyx breached into the home of the Olympian Gods and had her own little pantheon massacre the children of Zeus before probing his mind for the whereabout of her soul fragments. In the moment she set towards dispatching her former contemporary; the fallen king of the gods warned her of the mightiest heroes of the modern age would come upon her in fury for what she'd done. Unimpressed, Nyx twisted the failed father's neck and left his cadaver to rot with the rest of the detritus before taking the throne of her former home as her own.

The Wheel Turns

Following his encounter with the Elder God Toranos, All-Father Thor pays visit to Greece and his brother-in-myth Hercules who seeks his aid. When asked of the Goddess of Night, Thor connects Nyx to the Norse concept of Nott - the un-light - born of the abyss. Hercules reminds Thor that, while it is true that Vision managed to banish Nyx within the House of Ideas, darkness acts as a compass for her return. Between the symbiote darkness of Knull's attack and the Darkforce Dimension coating the Earth during Varnae's Blood Hunt Nyx has restored her strength, though not fully due to these endless nights being supernatural in cause, rather than pure natural darkness.

To bring her fully into this plane of existence, Loki suggests they travel to the darkest part of Midgard during midsummer: the Antarctic. There, the trio discover Nyx has already returned to Earth and was laying in wait, amassing power from the endless nights to resurrect her children. The Brood of Nyx ambush the blindsided gods, but the three turn the tables of fate and quickly outmanoeuvre her children, resulting in the death of Dolos. An enraged Nyx attempts to kill Loki, who has shifted into True Skald form and transports all to another plane of darkness to pass their test of endurance.

The realm of dark in which they are now displaced is the same place the Guardians of the Galaxy banished the corrupt Sky Father Zeus. Zeus, in a fit of rage, challenges the "squall-god" Thor before turning his attention to Nyx, the goddess who caused his end. Nyx retorts in kind, showcasing her primordial power by summoning a moon from the aether and colliding it with the tainted Sky God. The two rage war across the sunless sky while Thor & Hercules attempt to solve the rune riddle their foils Loki & Athena offer them, however the quartet are interrupted by a united Night Mother and Sky-Father.

The two all-powerful deities have reached an accord, as the new Zeus sees in Nyx a dark mirror to be aligned with, as opposed the old Zeus' fear against the primordial goddess. Zeus makes an official proposal to Nyx, and in doing so wishes to sire a new race of deathless deities, however the two beings are nonetheless contained within the realm by the power of Loki's rune. Nyx accepts Zeus' proposal on the proviso that he free her from this realm. Zeus once more challenges Thor, and the Sky-Father and All-Father battle. While Thor struggles against the Thunder of Zeus, Hercules challenges Nyx's allegiance and motivation. He forgives Nyx for her butchering of the Olympians and setting his father on this dark path and, when Nyx protests that Hercules and his allies have trapped her here, he reminds her where else would she claim power but in a realm of darkness?

With this perspective Nyx looks at the realm of dark with possibility, quieting her need for vengeance. When Oizys and Apate protest, Nyx banishes them from the realm and appoints Hypnos - her Dreamer - to act as her representative on Earth. Meanwhile, Thor "solves" Loki & Athena's riddle of endurance by siphoning the Thunder from Zeus, feeding on the Sky-Father's corrupt essence. As he struggles to control the corrupt power of Zeus, Hercules pleads of Nyx to absorb some of the power herself. Nyx refuses, reiterating that in this realm she has all she needs. Her son Hypnos is charged with mortal affairs now, and with that Nyx returns to the primordial darkness of her new dominium.

Powers and Abilities

Nox possesses the power to generate, manipulate, rearrange and construct darkness. She can use this power to various effect, projecting darkness, generating darkness then constructing weapons such as swords out of it, constructing tendrils that can capture and ensnare foes, bind or slash. Many of her constructs of darkness can be used to absorb energy. Nox is especially thrilled and delighted seeing others in fear and terror states.

Nyx, the true Night Queen; has an even greater hold over the primordial darkness than the pretender to her name. So much so that the Lord of Olympus had to break her soul into several fragments just to limit her powers. She could materialize other deities into existence to serve her, disintegrate anything caught within her shadow, blot out all forms of light within the known universe or simply isolating and binding people within the darkness she generates; even at her weakest ebb.

Physical Characteristics

Height: 5'7"

Weight: 270 lbs

Hair: Black

Eyes: Black

Other Media

Games

Marvel: War of Heroes

Nox appears in several cards in the mobile card game Marvel: War of Heroes. Her cards are:

• [Mother of Terror] Nox