Apep

Apep is the Dendro Dragon and one of the ancient Seven Sovereigns, who ruled over Sumeru before the arrival of the Heavenly Principles. 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 one of the original Seven Sovereigns, 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.^[7] 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.^[8] 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.^[7]

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.^[7] 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.^[8]

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 divine nail caused the desertification of Sumeru and Apep adapted to the new environment.

Quests and Events[]

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, which eventually culminated in Apep and the elemental lifeforms' corruption via forbidden knowledge.^[7][1]

When the Heavenly Principles arrived on Teyvat, it stole a portion of the Seven Sovereigns' elemental Authorities^[9] and remade the world.^[10] The Sovereigns attempted to take back the world, and the Dragon King Nibelung brought forbidden knowledge to this world as a countermeasure for the Heavenly Principles' abilities.^[8] While they succeeded in gravely wounding the usurper,^[11] they still failed to overthrow it and its new order.^[8][10] Apep's immense adaptability allowed her to survive the war and its aftermath;^[7] to suppress forbidden knowledge, the Heavenly Principles cast down the divine 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.^[7] Apep and her children, including the Wenut, adapted to their environment to survive.^[12]

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,^[13][14] absorbing Deshret's elemental power only served to spread Deshret's forbidden knowledge contamination to Apep herself, and 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.^[8]

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.^[7] 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.^[8]

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.^[15] 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.^[7]

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.^[8]

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[]