The Nowhere King: A Flawed Show's Perfect Villain

All hail the Nowhere King! The Nowhere King backstory in The Last Lullaby rules! Who was he though? This Centaurworld video can tell you about his backstory and why he has so many perfect parallels to our flawed but heroic Horse.

Centaurworld is a really good show that has some problems with the second season, but this is still a sure sign that Netflix Futures is filling out the catalogue of exclusives with winners. I have more Centaurworld videos on the way, so don't miss out.

[satinizer]

many people joke about how Elktaur was animated in the "human style" only to "make him more hot and likeable", but i think it was to show how detatched he was from the Centaurworld and how he didn't want to be there, just like Horse at the beginning of the show.

[goldybays]

If you notice, the elktaurs voice at the very end before he dies is NOT one voice. It's two. The two halves that made him up were too separate to ever be whole again.

[Aexsion]

I just realized when the general was first introduced, his arm was in a sling. He immediately starts talking about his helmet and shows it being damaged with an arrow in it so you wouldn’t think much of it, he was wounded in battle. But now knowing the connection, that was right after the nowhere king was stabbed by the spear and the general is now recovering from that same wound.

[CesarTheKingVA]

Centaurs in Greek Mythology were typically used as a metaphor for learning to accept and control the animal and human parts of oneself. They were wise creatures who heroes would go to train with who had mastered both sides of their existence. The Nowhere King is the opposite of that, and rather than learning to accept both parts of him, rejects that union, becoming a monster in both the animal and human sense of the word. He's a true Tragic character, and I love it.

[LinguiniSoup]

Man, he may be a sympathetic villian, but the only character that truely has my legit sympathy is the mysertious woman. She had to deal with this entire situation herself, knowing the truth, being betrayed and instead of uniting the worlds, (tried to) separate it completely. I found it really cool that this hidden protagonist had a history with the nowhere king, but damn it was heartbreaking seeing her finally tying up her loose ends at the end. She looked so happy at the beginning of her back story. Glad she wasn't overused and still served a significant purpose at the end of the story. brilliant

[ohno]

Absolutely love how The Woman's first song is describing how terrible love is, and her final song is an acknowledgement that the way she was treated was never love, and that revelation is what gives her the strength to put the elktaur out of his misery and end the war.

[thecrownedprince]

The saddest part is that the woman loved the elktaur for who he was, both the beast and the human side of him, even calling his antlers "cute." If he had only loved himself, and accepted the elk side of him... heck, if he had only opened up to the woman about his esteem and allowed her to help him... they probably would've gotten married, and, as the woman WAS a princess, her marrying a centaur would probably secure complete peace between both realms. He could've brought peace to all the lands, but instead, he brought war, hatred, and misery... essentially everything he was feeling inside himself. And all with the excuse of "for love"

Another detail I found interesting was how out of place he was in Centaurworld. His animation mirrored the more anime-like animation and art style of the human world, and he even looked more human than the other centaurs, showing us how uncomfortable he really was in his elktaur skin.




Edit: Holy... I've never gotten this many likes on a comment before... MoM i'M fAmOuS-

[duskianfae]

Here's my take: The Nowhere King's story is basically The Little Mermaid gone (even more, if you consider the original tale) horribly wrong

[Roses]

It's amazing how I can...
Feel terrified of the Nowhere King
Feel disgusted by the General
Feel sorrow for the Elk
Feel disappointment in the Elktaur
All at once and not feel conflicted whatsoever. It's brilliant writing.

[perrywonderclub]

The general's battle song wasn't just to showcase the animation. The song and animation were intentionally punchy and heroic to frame him as virtuous and capable. It sets up the viewer so that we hold him in similar esteem as horse and rider to make the betrayal that horse feels, when she witnesses his cruelty in the following scene, personal to the viewer as well.

[LeSpeederus]

It's almost jarring how he ended. When Woman wanted to reunite them, it was the nowhere king who allowed it to happen, like his elkhalf wanted for all those years but the general would've objected. In his final moments, Elktaur seems deeply unhappy and doesn't object to his death, almost yearning for it. Up until his final moment, he was in conflict with himself.

[sandi]

The fact that there was no redemption arc for The Nowhere King was honestly so refreshing and satisfactory. Almost every other show would have let him off the hook, considering he has all the traits that would make his redemption be desired by the audience : tragic backstory, having a "loved one", being a nerdy tumblr sexyman etc. But Centaurworld doesn't pull any punches and has him being punished accordingly to his crimes, even when he is no longer a threat, because he conciously made every bad decision that affected him and the world and someone has to bear responsibility for the crimes he and his army commited in both worlds. Because there are things after which redemption is simply impossible and punishment is due, which is a less comfortable message than "everyone can be salvaged". So kudos to Centaurworld for not going the easy path, amd being a bit more mature in this regard than most of the other animated shows.

[sparxstreak]

One thing about Horse’s physical transformation I would’ve liked to be tweaked was her being able to find & choose a form SHE felt comfortable in rather than being forced to adapt to the Centaurworld form that proved irreversible (shown further with Stabby & Rider after they also spent prolonged periods in Centaurworld)
And yes I know it was meant to represent her inner transformation but a blend of both forms would’ve been able to show her accepting every side of herself (like still having the muscular physique she loved but also keep the white nose blaze, rainbow tears & her magic)

[newblackpaladin]

For a show that initially comes off as extremely childish (mainly centaurs and the crazy world), it has a surprisingly powerful warning about self-hatred. I mean people at any age can watch this and reflect on their own views towards themselves. Heck, I know I did. At times I feel worthless and am not comfortable with who I am or how I look. Learning about the Nowhere King's story definitely gave me a wake-up call about needing to learn to love and accept myself even if I'm not perfect.

[lilytoa]

I think the name "Nowhere King" also has a different meaning. Since his entire existence is based on Elktour's completely internalized self-hatred with no healthy outlet that leads on to create the abominable creature that is the Nowhere King, I think he called that because he gets *Nowhere* with that unnecessary self-conflict he has with himself, and using an entire war to excuse his actions and impulses fits that type of inexcusable behavior. And it's not _just_ that, but also the fact that he created a convoluted solution to a problem that could easily be fixed if he just let go of his pride. What's worse is that even when his problem got "solved, he was still unsatisfied and wasted every good opportunity to *be* himself, regardless of being elk or human. The greatest irony I also see in the name the "Nowhere King" is that he is the both the human King of an empire that is responsible for so many lives, but he is also the monster responsible for ending so many of them at the same time, an endless, neverending cycle, going *Nowhere*. The elk and human is a physical representation of what he wants and doesn't want, but he wouldn't be himself if those two aren't together. In the end, even if he were both the king and monster, both holding great power, he is _still_ the greatest loser of them all, just because he didn't want to save himself.

[dashiethebunny]

"Flawed doesn't mean bad"

THANK YOU. SO MUCH. I don't like how terms like "cliche", "flawed" or "weak" seem to automatically mean "bad". More often then not, flawed or weak stories can have legitimately better content then shows universally considered "perfect".

Centaurworld is easily one of my favorite shows in the past 15 years. Hell, it might even be in the top 10. And the Nowhere King was the moment this show went from great to fantastic.

[TindraSan]

the last reprie of his lullaby made me cry so hard. we didn't see alot of Elktaur and Mystery Woman's relationship, but the everything from the acting to the animation sold that they could've had something beautiful, and tearfully singing him a lullaby before he closes his eyes for the last time has such a gentle and fragile feeling it just makes me cry as well

[Sosotora]

When Elktaur saw the princess his thoughts weren´t necessarily "she is the love of my life" but rather "this is my excuse to become prince charming" .

[Nyghtking]

I've never watched the show, but one of the reasons he may be in pain, is it distinctly feels like he's an unnatural entity that reality itself is trying to reject.
In that scene with the void it feels like the only place and time he is comfortable is when he's literally nowhere.

[FizzleFX]

He doesn't 'inflict' pain and suffering. He IS - he shares - his pain and suffering.