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Nidalee
Nidalee (Universe)Nidalee (Universe)
Nidalee (League of Legends)Nidalee (League of Legends)
Nidalee (Esports)Nidalee (Esports)
Nidalee (Teamfight Tactics)Nidalee (Teamfight Tactics)
Nidalee (Legends of Runeterra)Nidalee (Legends of Runeterra)
Nidalee (Development)Nidalee (Development)
Nidalee (Trivia)Nidalee (Trivia)

Raised in the deepest jungle, Nidalee Nidalee is a master tracker who can shapeshift into a ferocious pakaa at will. Neither wholly woman nor beast, she viciously defends her territory from any and all trespassers, with carefully placed traps and deft spear throws. She cripples her quarry before pouncing on them in feline form—the lucky few who survive tell tales of a wild woman with razor-sharp instincts, and even sharper claws...


NidaleeSquare"The untamed know no fear."  Nidalee
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Background[]

Early Life[]

As a cub, Nidalee was left abandoned in the heart of the eastern jungles that border both Ixtal Crest icon Ixtal and Shurima Crest icon Shurima. Though her true origins and how she got to the jungle remains unknown, she was eventually found by the mystical pakaa; cougar-like wildcats native to the jungles. The mother of this pack, roaming with her cubs, sensed a mysterious yet familiar scent on Nidalee and accepted her without hesitation, bringing her back to her den.

The Pakaa[]

Raised in the pakaa pack and treated as one of their own, Nidalee learned to hunt with her teeth and claws, becoming a capable huntress an honorary member of the pack. As she grew up, Nidalee would randomly enter strange moments of temporary half-transformation as her form shifted into a vaguely humanlike appearance. One night, Nidalee underwent a transformation that caused her to get a fever. Wandering out of the den and delirious, she followed hazy visions of two mysterious figures whispering comforting words to her before fading away. Though she learned from her pakaa siblings to beware outsiders, she felt a sense of comfort from these mysterious figures despite their outsider appearances.

At the height of the summer rains, a group of vastayan Kiilash hunters stalked the jungle in search of prestigious beasts to slay and trophies to collect. Angered by the invasive outsiders on their territory, Nidalee's packmother attempted to chase them away but became wounded by the hunters' blades and spears. Before they could deal the killing blow, Nidalee lunged from the undergrowth and pounced on the Kiilash, howling with rage as she tore into them with her claws. Suddenly, she felt the spirit of another heritage rise within her, completely transforming her pakaa body into that of a humanoid figure. Cornered by the hunters and stuck in a strange new body, Nidalee quickly grasped one of the hunters' javelin spears javelin spears and used the weapon agaisnt them. Angered by her interruption of their hunt, the Kiilash spat out curses in their vastayan language, which Nidalee found she could inexplicably understand partialy.

After the Kiilash fled, Nidalee held her dying adoptive mother in her arms and grieved. Her fellow pakaa siblings surrounded her, wary of her new form but calmed by the comforting scent Nidalee carried. With their packmother now dead, the pakaa willingly accepted the mysterious shapeshifting Nidalee as their new leader.

Modern History[]

As packmother, Nidalee vowed to protect the jungles from hunters that threatened her pack and her home. Overtime, she learned to better control her mysterious shapeshifting powers, learning to shift between both forms instantaneously. Nidalee also began to grow more adept with her strange humanoid form, learning how to take advantage of the environment to craft new tools, traps traps and even healing salves healing salves completely unknown to the pakaa. Though she still considers the pakaa as her family, she secretly yearned to discover her true origins and learn more about her shapeshifting abilities, hoping to one day find another being similar to her.

Meeting Neeko[]

When the Oovi-Kat Neeko Neeko infiltrated Nidalee's pack by curiously taking the shape of a fellow pakaa and leaping across the jungle with them, Nidalee noticed the strange impostor and shifted into her humanoid form. After a tense standoff between the two, Nidalee introduced herself and reluctantly accepted Neeko into her pack.

Neeko lived with Nidalee's pack for months, allowing the two to develop a strong and loving relationship with one another. The two felt a kinship unlike anything before, as Neeko felt a strong connection to Nidalee's vastayan heritage. Nidalee often mentored her new companion on the ways of surviving the jungle, while Neeko shared stories and culture of her Oovi-Kat tribe. The two were inseparable, often exploring the jungle together and enjoying its many wonders. At some point Neeko began to feel strong, romantic feelings for Nidalee, which went mostly unrequited for a time. However, Nidalee still shared a deep love for Neeko that she herself cannot fully understand, possibly blossoming into something more for their relationship.

Eventually, Neeko began to get mysterious visions of her ancestors and sought to follow them. Feeling drawn to the cities and towns of the outsiders that Nidalee despised, she sought to form a new tribe of her own and urged Nidalee to join her. Unfortunately, Nidalee could not be persuaded and the two departed as Neeko sought her own destiny beyond the jungles while Nidalee continued her duty of protecting the untouched wilderness of her home.[1]

The Kashdaji Queen[]

Continuing her protection of the jungles, Nidalee became infamous within the villages and communities of civilized outsiders that she despised. Because of her reputation for leaving very few alive whenever they trespass in her territory, stories about Nidalee began to circulate, describing her as a frightening, shapeshifting beast woman known as the Kashdaji Queen.

While patrolling the jungles one day, Nidalee found a reptilian vastaya caught in a trap laid by a hunter named Percy. Distracting Percy with her human-like appearance, she shifted into a pakaa cougar and pounced on him, threatening Percy to leave the jungles or die. Percy, now injured with a wound from Nidalee's spear, quickly fled the scene alive, frightened by the beast woman he encountered.

Nidalee Human Blood

Nidalee tending to Kuulcan's Kuulcan's wounds after freeing him from a hunter's trap.

Nidalee proceeded to free the vastaya from the trap and heal his injuries, bandaging his tail and shoulder. The vastayan, introducing himself as Kuulcan Kuulcan, began to question Nidalee's heritage despite her insistence of being a fellow vastaya. Kuulcan however was not convinced, stating that he has never met a vastaya that resembled her before, which Nidalee brushed off and ignored before inviting Kuulcan to accompany her and her pack for a hunt.

That night, Nidalee and her pack followed Percy to his camp, where he told stories of his encounter to the rest of his colleagues. His fellow hunters however did not believe Percy's accounts of this 'beast woman' and instead pranced around singing lude songs about her. Out of the darkness, Nidalee and her pack quickly killed the rest of the hunters because of their unwillingness to leave her territory before Nidalee herself confronted Percy in pakaa form, stating again that she already warned him to leave before viciously killing him.[2]

The Gentle Flame[]

Milio's Super-Special Adventure Reports 02

A drawing made by Milio Milio as part of his letter back, writing back to his family about how he met Nidalee and joined her pack for a time.

Nidalee made another friend with an outsider when she found one of the pakaa cubs taking a nap with a young Ixtali boy under a sunspot. Though initially distrustful of the boy for being a human outsider, she quickly warmed up to him when its revealed that he actually healed the cub with his magic. Learning the boy's name as Milio Milio, she allowed him to travel with the pack on his journey to Ixaocan, quickly befriending him and considering him another honorary cub of the pack. Nidalee accompanied Milio until he reached a nearby village, where he departed from the rest of the pakaa and continued on his journey. [3]

Recent Events[]

Piltovan Poachers[]

After Neeko got captured by a band of Piltover Crest icon Piltovan poachers led by Captain Rowain Captain Rowain, she was quickly freed by the scientist Anura Anura and found herself reunited with Nidalee and the rest of her pack.[4] Having already encountered the poachers, Neeko warned Nidalee about them, stating that they were scouring the land for rare beasts to capture and hunt.

Wishing to protect her home and the wildlife, Nidalee gathered Neeko and the rest of the pack to plan an ambush on the the poachers' camp. When it turned night, Nidalee and her pack ambushed the camp, killing most of the poachers and freeing the captured wildlife to help them in the battle, such as the mighty towering LoR Non-Champion Non-Spell Indicator6 pairofants.[5]

Appearance[]

Nidalee is a dark-skinned woman with black hair, emerald green eyes, white tribal markings on her body and a green gem on her forehead. She often wears a pair of earrings fashioned from sharp animal teeth, a necklace adorned with teeth and usually wields a spear with markings on its tip adorned with four animal teeth and a rope on the back. Her usual appearance depicts her with her hair tied into a ponytail, a belt fashioned from animal teeth tied together, revealing clothing made from animal hide and thick fur boots.

In her cougar form cougar form, Nidalee retains the green eyes, markings and forehead gem shared with her human form, but instead wears a leather collar adored with animal teeth on her neck.

Personality[]

Nidalee is a fearsome huntress who embraces the nature of the wild and takes enjoyment from hunting prey. She is protective towards her pakaa and the jungle they live in, being distrustful towards outsiders who trespass into her tribe's homeland. She usually tries to intimidate them and chase them away, but won't hesitate to kill should they ignore her warnings.

Abilities[]

  • Vastayan Heritage: Though Nidalee's true species and nature is unknown even to her, she is aware that she has some form of vastayan heritage. Because of this, she is granted animalistic features akin to the pakaa cats she grew up with and some shapeshifting abilities. Along with that, her heritage allowed her to inexplicably know the language of the vastaya after her first encounter with a group of Kiilash hunters.
    • Shapeshifting Shapeshifting: Because of her vastayan heritage, Nidalee has the ability to shapeshift and alter her form completely. She can utilize this to shift minor changes in her appearance, such as pieces of fur clothing and animal features like cat ears, but she most notably uses this ability to shift between the body of a humanoid woman and a mighty pakaa. She can shift between her two forms with ease, mastering how to utilize her transformations and the skills that come with each form.
  • Pakaa Cougar Physiology Pakaa Cougar Physiology: Nidalee can take the form of a pakaa, a jungle cat cougar native to Ixtal Crest icon Ixtal. As a pakaa, Nidalee gains intense agility and the ability to quickly leap great distances leap great distances thanks to her new jungle cat physiology as well as feroicious teeth and claws claws to strike with.
  • Javelin Proficiency Javelin Proficiency: In her humanoid form, Nidalee uses a javelin spear as her primary weapon. She can easily toss the large spear with precision at her opponents with intense strength and from long distances.
  • Survival Mastery Survival Mastery: Having lived her whole life in the jungles, Nidalee has learned a multitude of unique survival skills thanks to her humanoid form. Nidalee has learned how to build traps traps and weapons out of natural materials, craft healing salves healing salves out of honeyfruit honeyfruit and how to generally utilize the land's seeds and flowers to protect and illuminate her territory.

Relations[]

Pakaa[]

Nidalee was adopted by a pakaa packmother when she was abandoned as an infant in the jungles. Though her origins are an enigma, she was accepted by the pack as one of their own and she grew up deeply loving the other pakaa as her siblings, or kupakaa. After her mother was killed by a party of Kiilash hunters, Nidalee became the pakaa's new packmother, having vowed to protect her family and her home from outside invaders.

Vastaya[]

Though Nidalee is unsure of what her true nature is, she knows that she has some connection to the vastaya, identifying as such whenever people ask what she is. When she first underwent a complete transformation, Nidalee inexplicably understood the natural vastayan language and retains her shapeshifting abilities from this heritage.

Kiilash[]

A hunting party of Kiilash were responsible for the death of Nidalee's packmother, ultimately causing her first full transformation and allowing Nidalee to take up the mantle of packmother. The Kiilash, angered for their hunt being interrupted, cursed at Nidalee in their vastayan language before running away.

Since then, Nidalee has developed a disdain towards the Kiilash, such as Rengar Rengar, seeking vengeance for the death of her adoptive mother.

Neeko Neeko[]

When Neeko temporarily joined Nidalee's pack, the two became inseparable and formed an intensely loving friendship with one another. Nidalee gladly taught Neeko many survival skills and the two reveled in the many wondrous sights of the wilderness. When Neeko sought to fulfill her own journey, she urged Nidalee to follow but was unable to persuade her, causing them to depart as Neeko traveled outside of the jungles. When Neeko became freed from being captured by a band of Piltovan poachers, she reunited with Nidalee and the two ambushed the poachers under the cover of night.

Neeko shared, and possibly still shares, immense romantic feelings towards Nidalee, but these feelings went largely unrequited for a while as Nidalee remains unsure of what her feelings truly mean. Though she's not sure what her relationship with Neeko could blossom into, she's absolutely certain that she deeply cares for Neeko exclusively in a way she has never felt for anyone else. With them reunited, new feelings are beginning to arise as the two share an even deeper bond.

Kuulcan Kuulcan[]

Nidalee met Kuulcan when he was trapped by a hunter named Percy. After freeing him and scaring the hunter into fleeing, the two conversed as Kuulcan questioned Nidalee's heritage, unconvinced that she is a simple vastaya and noting her unique nature. That same night, Nidalee invited Kuulcan to join her and her pack on a hunt, following Percy back to his camp and killing the rest of the hunters for not leaving her territory.

Humans[]

Nidalee dislikes almost all outsiders and 'civilized' peoples, most notably humans. Though her appearance is most similar to that of a human, she holds a disdain for them because of their constant hunting and poaching in her territory and actively denies any claims that she herself is just a human.

Piltover Crest icon Piltovans[]

Because of the Piltovans' continuous hunt for resources in the jungles, they constantly expand and intrude onto Nidalee's territory, poaching the sacred wildlife for profit. Referring to them as brass-bones, Nidalee makes an effort to chase them out of her territory, willing to even kill to do so.

Captain Rowain Captain Rowain[]

Most recently, Nidalee has faced off against a band of poachers led by LoR Non-Champion Non-Spell Indicator7 Captain Rowain, having a vicious hatred for one another as Rowain sees Nidalee as an obstacle in his quest to monopolize the beasts of the jungle. These poachers began capturing and hunting down many creatures in Nidalee's territory, which she only learned of after LoR Non-Champion Non-Spell Indicator3 Anura freed a captured Neeko from their captivity and allowed her to alert Nidalee of the poachers. That night, Nidalee and her pack ambushed the poachers at their camp.

Percy[]

Percy is the hunter that Nidalee caught trying to capture Kuulcan, tossing a javelin into his shoulder and threatening him to leave. When he returned to his camp of hunters, they mocked him for his story about a mythical 'beast-woman' in the jungles, eventually leading to them getting ambushed by the pakaa and getting killed.

Milio Milio[]

Nidalee first found Milio resting under a sunspot with one of the pakaa cubs. Though she was initially distrustful of the young human outsider, she instantly warmed up to him when she learned that he actually saved the cub by healing her with his magic. The boy accompanied Nidalee and her pack during his journey to the city of Ixaocan, quickly befriending the pack and Nidalee. Eventually, Milio made it to his next stop at the nearest town and had to depart from the pack.

Milio was aware of Nidalee from stories calling her the fearsome 'Kashdaji Queen,' but was ultimately surprised by how loving she truly is once you get to know her. Milio states in his journals that, because of Nidalee's strong personality, she reminds him of his own grandmother in a way. To Milio, Nidalee expresses a softer personality not normally seen by others, considering him an 'honorary pakiti' and even nicknaming him 'Little Fire-Bug.'

Read More

Biography

Nidalee OriginalCentered
EditImageReference

Ixtal Crest icon

Biography

The Bestial Huntress

By Michael Luo

Starring Champion

Nidalee Human Blood 01
EditImageReference

Ixtal Crest icon

Short Story

Human Blood

By Meaghan Bowe

A loud crack. The stench of grease, smoke, and powder.

Mentioned Champion

Milio's Super-Special Adventure Reports 01
EditImageReference

Ixtal Crest icon

Short Story

Milio's Super-Special Adventure Reports

By Elyse Lemoine

Greetings, family! It is I, Milio, with my first official Adventure Report!

Neeko OriginalCentered
EditImageReference

Ixtal Crest icon

Biography

The Curious Chameleon

By Matthew Dunn

Alternate Universes

Worlds Worlds Collide
EditImageReference

Runeterra Crest icon

Music Video

Worlds Collide

By Numerous creators

Two teams have risen above their peers. Ten warriors have laid claim to the Summoner’s Cup. Five champions will etch their names in history.

Trivia[]

  • Nidalee's true species is unknown, but she has diluted vastayan heritage that gives her shapeshifting abilities.[6]
  • Nidalee's pack are the pakaa, a species of cougar in Runeterra Crest icon Runeterra, while the word 'pakiti' refers to the kittens.[7]
    • Packmates and siblings within Nidalee's pack are referred as 'kupakaa.'[8]
  • The Ixtal Crest icon Ixtali and other outsiders call Nidalee's pack the 'kashdaji,' which is seen as somewhat as an insult to the pakaa. The word is akin to referring to a wildcat as a regular house cat.[9] When Nidalee became packmother, outsiders began to refer to her as the 'Kashdaji Queen.'

Change log[]

Character blurb
Added.

References[]

See also[]

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