List of The Keys To The Kingdom Characters - Denizens, Nithlings, and Misc. Beings - Nithlings

Nithlings

• New Nithlings: Often called "Newniths", these creatures appear initially in Sir Thursday. They are first unknowingly described by Colonel Nage, who says that the Nithlings coming through the gate, atypically of Nithlings, are organized and trained. This is dismissed due to disbelief. Many of the New Nithlings do not want to fight, but prefer to be farmers, despite their superior martial skills. They are the creations of the Piper, who created them from Nothing, intending them to be able to adapt like mortals rather than remain static as do Denizens.

• Fetchers: Dog-faced creatures wearing bowler hats, conjured from Nothing and employed by Monday in Mister Monday and by Saturday's Dusk in Lady Friday. Fetchers are like vampires in the fact that they cannot cross a threshold without being invited. They are considered dangerous, and Denizens are advised not to give them weapons, or wings. They can be defeated with weak magic, whereas silver and salt will melt them, returning them to Nothing. Fetchers are supposed to be durable, and apparently are not very intelligent. When they speak, their speech is said to resemble the barking of dogs. Their breath forms into a sickness, as shown in Mister Monday. On Earth, it is called the sleepy plague. Arthur cures the sleepy plague by activating a creature known as the Nightsweeper created by Monday's Noon. Since Fetchers are conjured from Nothing and not self-willed beings, they are not true Nithlings.

• Bibliophages: Snake-like Nithlings used by Mister Monday to defend his Dayroom from the first part of the Will. Bibliophages spit acid-like venom at anything with text or type on it. These Nithlings were especially lethal to the parts of the Will, as the Will was composed entirely of text. Aside from their venom, they appear to be harmless; the name "Bibliophage", which means "Book Eater", implies that the dissolution of text is the sole purpose for their creation. They almost destroy Mister Monday when Suzy writes on him, but are themselves destroyed by Arthur.

• Scouchers: A Scoucher is a particularly unpleasant type of Nithling that issues from the narrowest of cracks and fractures, resulting in its very thin shape. They may take a variety of shapes; however, they always have many limbs that end in very fine tentacles. These tentacles are lined with tiny but very sharp teeth. They have a weakness to silver, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum. One of them starts chasing Arthur in Grim Tuesday, but Arthur flees to Leaf's house for shelter. Leaf, after she gets cut by it, helps Arthur destroy it.

• Gore-Draken: A rare type of Nithling that is formed when a lost object in the Border Sea makes contact with Nothing. Feverfew has a Gore-Draken design on his transportation augury box, but no others have been mentioned.

• Soot: A large eyebrow with silver eyes. He used to be one of Grim Tuesday's eyebrows, before being blown off in an explosion and brought to life as a result of contact with Nothing. Soot has the ability to read Grim Tuesday's mind, and he is also capable of bringing objects into being from Nothing. He grows more powerful when he eats treasure, a trait reminiscent of Grim Tuesday's avarice. Soot helped Suzy and Arthur to break into Tuesday's Pyramid via the use of a special diamond created by him, and is now believed to have been destroyed by the Mariner under Tuesday's command.

• Grannow-Hoinch: A monstrous Nithling resembling a mass of Nothing held within a silver frame that gives it the shape of a combination of boar and unicorn. It attacks Arthur, Suzy, and Fred in the Middle House, but escapes swimming back to whatever master it had.

• Elephant: A nithling made by Arthur from Arthur's toy elephant, created while he was chained to the clock in Lord Sunday. As a nithling, it is extremely loyal and dedicated to Arthur, acting according to Arthur's wishes, even though it is willing to do more than Arthur asks of it. It helps retrieve the Fifth and Sixth Key for Arthur and is "killed" near the end of the book by touching the cage in the Elysium. It then turns back to its original small size. Arthur mourns it, realizing that Elephant has the been the last remnant allowing him to maintain his sense of humanity, and places it next to a spring in the Elysium.

• Sunday's Insects: The guards of Lord Sunday's demense, the Incomparable Gardens. They make up the majority of his forces in the assault by Saturday and the Piper. Some of these insects include guard stag beetles, giant ridden dragonfly and air force wasps.