Nil (term)

Nil is a power of nothingness in Final Fantasy Dimensions and a major element in the game serving a major plot component, but is not seen or known of until late in the game.

Profile
Nil is a power of nothingness within the Void that was obtained and used by Elgo to further his secret agenda to acquire immortality. It allowed Elgo to easily travel between worlds.

Contrary to other incarnations of the Void in the series, in which the Void is not malevolent in nature, the power of Nil is both sentient and malignant. It can create incredibly dangerous monsters of strength far beyond the regular monsters, known as the Armies of Nil. The strongest of them are known as the Blades of Nil and are composed of the monsters Suffering, Despair, Anguish and Misery whose sole duty is to bring as much evil as possible to any human settlement that was absorbed within the Void and have the ability to nullify or prevent positive human emotions such as Trust, Love amongst others. These monsters are also known to be sentient and perform their duties following the Nil's will.

Nil can also grant its user massive amounts of power, as Elgo acquired most of its powers from the Nil and he was also unharmed by the Nil for an extensive amount of time despite is malignant nature. As Elgo extracts more power from Nil, it gave him access to several powerful spells such as Pandora's Box.

It is also hinted but not exactly proven that the Divine Generals of the Avalonian Empire are holders of the power of Nil, although to an unknown extent as Shango after his defeat confessed that he was a human before, much to the shock of the warriors who could not believe the revelation. Cocytus after her defeat expressed surprise that "humans" could defeat her, hinting that despite her more human appearance, she is in fact a monster. The best example however lies within Imperio who possesses Holy powers and looks human, but becomes a shadowy monstrous figure when he transforms into Gehenna with his powers changing to Dark powers, during this time Gehenna's shape is similar in appearance to the extensions of Nil that invade the world.

Therefore it can be concluded that the power of Nil can vastly increase the power of a person but at the cost of turning them into monsters. The generals Asmodai, Baugauven and Styx were all resurrected and turned into monsters with their strength far surpassing their human selves, although it is never directly stated they were resurrected by the power of Nil, this is very likely as Elgo had gained control of Nil at the time and the generals were fought in sections of the Void where Nil resides. It should be noted however that the Divine Generals and Elgo were fully aware of their actions while holding the power of Nil, but the lower ranked Generals had lost all humanity.

When Elgo himself turned into a monster upon losing control, and was strong enough to almost defeat the Warriors of Light and Darkness.

Alsp despite being sentient, Nil itself has no shape or form because it is a force of nothingness, and as such it cannot be harmed or destroyed, unless it takes a proper shape such as taking a host.

Story
The power of Nil is not seen until near the end of the game after a Dimensional Shift occurs and remerges the Worlds of Light and Darkness into a single one. However the fusion is not perfect and causes several pieces of land to be missing, as well as creating several portals in the world known as Dark Flows that lead to the segments of the Void. The Warriors of Light and Darkness travel within these areas in order to acquire Dark Matter a source of power as strong as the crystals before the Avalonian Empire and the resurrected and now demonified Generals could.

After acquiring all pieces of Dark Matter, the barrier surrounding Castle Avalon was lifted, and the Sol suggested it was the chance to be on the offensive and defeat the Empire once and for all, a plan the warriors agreed and eventually assaulted the stronghold, battling and defeating the Divine Generals, Cocytus, Shango, Imperio and Gehenna in the process.

After defeating Gehenna the warriors confront the Emperor, only to find out it was an empty suit of armor, and before long a portal to the Void opens. The warriors venture and find towns absorbed by Nil into the Void and their human population devoid of positive emotions due to the Blades of Nil, the most powerful of the Armies of Nil, monsters born from Nil, which compose Despair, Anguish, Suffering and Misery. The warriors defeat the monsters and return the people their stolen emotions, while also causing a major concentration of nothingness within the Void. The warriors attempt to make their way but are unable to as Vata appears and reveals they cannot move forward because Nil is nothingness and as such it can't be harmed, but quickly reveals a way and makes himself a host for Nil in order to give the nothingness a form which the warriors can defeat. Reluctantly the warriors defeat Vata who passed on them his wish to defeat the Empire for destroying his town.

The warriors then venture into the World of Nil the deepest part of the Void and an area full of powerful monsters until reaching a castle-like setting in which they find a throne with a shadowy figure, which soon reveals himself to be Elgo. The warriors question if he's indeed Elgo which he confirms, but Diana and the Warriors of Darkness express their doubt as they had travelled with The Mask who was Elgo's other half that had requested to them to "take care of his other half". At this point Elgo reveals that The Mask was a part of him, a personification of his doubts and of what good remained of him, which he quickly called flaws, which the Warriors quickly deny as being the true kind Elgo.

Elgo at this point reveals he is the Emperor of the Avalonian Empire, and that he desired to use the Crystals to cheat death in order to rule for all eternity, he also reveals that he made a prophecy that the Crystal would break and was fully aware that the world would split and remerge but that everything was within his calculations for the power of Nil allowed him to freely travel between the worlds of Light and Dark while manipulating the journey of the warriors so they would get him the crystals, which he demands from the warriors by honoring them heroes of his "new era". The warriors quickly refute his ambitions and Elgo not surprised battles the warriors using the power of Nil claiming it to be absolute.

Upon the battle Elgo extracts more power from Nil which gives him greater strength and new spells, but the warriors hold their ground and force him to extract more power but at this time he loses control and is engulfed by Nil. The power of Nil then becomes out of control and starts a major manifestation in the world as several Dark Flows and monsters appear. While all hope seems lost, the many companions the warriors had on their journey communicate with them, encouraging them to not give up.

The Warriors then venture into the very core of Nil where they find Elgo transformed into Chaos Elgo an incredibly powerful monster with power over Light and Darkness. At first the warriors attempt to fight him, but as Chaos Elgo unleashes a Dark Flow on the warriors which almost defeats them, but Barbara, Gramps, Eduardo, Sigurd, Argy, Matoya, Jinnai, Gawain, The Mask and Sophia appear in spirit to help the warriors holding Chaos Elgo back while restoring the warriors to full strength. The warriors then battle once more and defeat the monstrosity once and for all.

However Nil is still unstable and the larges amount of light absorded are about to explode and they prepare to escape. The twins Alba, Dusk decide to stay and hold the explosion of light for the others to escape. Glaive also decides to stay trying to do something for his friends while also resigning himself that Diana will not love him back. However the spirits of their deceased allies, appear and teleport them away so they can live. Following this the world is returned to normal with Nil disappearing from the world.