"STOP IT. THIS IS NOT OKIE-DOKIE." Niles is a highly controversial character among the SMG4 fanbase. Reason: His actions forced Melony to kill Axol in order to save their universe and misinformation causing everyone to believe that he was SMG0. |
“ |
I am not a FAILURE!! WE are the REAL Meme Guardians! We are so close to creating the PERFECT universe! The power of the God Box... IS SUPPOSED TO BE OURS!!!!! |
” | —Niles telling SMG0 his reasons and why he feels justified for his insane actions, SMG4 Movie: REVELATIONS | ||
Niles, mistakenly referred to as "SMG0" and "Zero", the Virus, even as Eldritch SMG0 and Eldritch Ax0l, is the overarching antagonist of the SMG4 series, serving as the main antagonist of The SMG4 Cosmology Lore and the posthumous overaching antagonist for the rest of the series.
For most of the series, Niles was falsely presumed to be SuperMemeGuardian0, until it was discovered at the end of the Revelations Arc that he was actually masquerading as his partner guardian and best friend, SMG0, having forcibly assimilated him after he accidentally killed their avatar due to Niles having become corrupted by the influence of his creator, the God Box, in order to become a virus powerful enough to convert another universe into what he believed to be the "perfect universe". This proves that Niles himself is the consciousness behind the mutated forms of SMG0, Axol and even Melony's Fierce Deity form. Ultimately, Niles' actions under the influence of the God Box, have resulted in the tragic demise of many, including Spudnick, Axol, Terrance and even his own avatar, Fred.
He is the result of SMG0 praying to the God Box for a way to save his universe after the memes became corrupted due to the meme life cycle having not yet existed and because Zero didn't have a partner to use his powers with. In order to solve this issue, the God Box created an artificial Super Meme Guardian based on SMG0 as a negative incarnation: Niles. Despite not being a perfected meme guardian, Niles was able to help SMG0 create the Internet Graveyard in order to turn things back to normal but unfortunately, the God Box began to influence its creation and this would ultimately result in Niles misusing its power and accidentally killing Fred, destroying their universe.
Upon returning, Niles was confronted by his partner who was shocked to see Fred having died but Niles reassured him that they could fix things together as SMG0 noticed the God Box looking down at him from the rift Niles created as the latter took him by surprise held his partner in place and ignored his pleas to stop as the God Box used its power to allow Niles to use his virus powers to assimilate SMG0's form and mutate it into a god-like being powerful enough to convert another universe into the "perfect" universe: Eldritch SMG0.
Ultimately, after being forced out of SMG0 by Melony during SMG4: War Of The Fat Italians 2021 after she killed Axol, Niles hid inside of her and plotted to find SMG0 again and resume his progress. Six months later, Niles succeeding in finding SMG0 inside of the God Box during the events of the Revelations Arc and once again assimilated into him so he could become a virus again and attempted to capture Mario but failed due to Melony's new fierce deity powers and the meme energy bomb created by SMG1 and SMG2 to destroy the God Box.
In their final moments, Niles tried to drag Melony, SMG3, SMG4 and Mario to their deaths but SMG0 was the one to get in the way and finally succeeding in getting through to Niles that he had gone too far. Realizing the futility of his efforts, Niles broke down and claimed that he and SMG0 were supposed to be together in their new universe. However, SMG0 told him that just being together was enough and as Eldritch SMG0 was destroyed in the explosion, SMG0 convinced Niles to come with him and find Fred again in the next life which put Niles at ease and frees him from the corruption of the God Box, ending its threat once and for all.
Appearance[]
Even though Niles is a Super Meme Guardian, he doesn't look anything like Fred, he has a much more detailed appearance to reference his role of being an artificially created SMG, unlike the rest of his kind. He has gray skin with black shoes and red laces. He wears black pants and a purple-gray hoodie with grey stripes. He has a red hat with white hair that fades to lilac at the bottom, covering part of his face. He also appears to have bandages on his arms.
In SMG4: Absolute Betrayal, his true form is shown to be a cyclops, seeing that he has no left eye, thus explaining why it has always been covered up by his fringe. His true eye is also the same as his fused form, only that the pupil is much thinner. However, inn the SMG4 Movie: REVELATIONS, his appearance remains the same, albeit with his eye being positioned back to the right and his fringe once again covering his face's left side. In some shots, his eye turns into his Zer0 eye.
Personality[]
Niles appeared to be coolheaded and rebellious, given how he often ends up in detention and enjoys picking on others, especially Melony due to her naivety and goody two-shoes personality, but is also sarcastic and obnoxious as he makes jokes about politics (making him an absolute anarchist) and has no problem giving openly rude opinions to others when he feels like it, such as when he tells Mario his speech in the cafeteria was terrible despite being the only one to cheer.
Despite this, he is also interested in teaching Melony about her powers due to her belief that her class isn't helping by attempting to get her mad and telling her to focus on her rage to help others, which is strangely in contrast with his usually disinterested and callous opinion of others.
However, it was later revealed that he was only helping Melony so she could properly control her powers enough to open a portal leading to the God Box and possessed her after revealing his true identity.
It was later revealed in SMG4 Movie: REVELATIONS that he was created by the God Box to aid the real SMG0 in saving his universe. However he felt something wrong as the God Box's influence worked its way into his mind and when he went to the box to try and fix the problem, it further corrupted him with its power, making him willing to harm other universes just to save his and SMG0's own and in the process also made him become incredibly cataclysmic, heinous, serious and malevolent. He also shows signs of mental instability, as shown when he is heard laughing madly as he and SMG0 merge with each other via the God Box. He is manipulative yet intelligent, able to turn almost any situation into a plan to further his goals, such as when he got Axol instead of Mario, he decided to use the opportunity to get close to Mario without suspicion and wait until everyone's guard was down before executing his plan of dragging Mario, SMG4 and SMG3 into the Backrooms through the toilets and then trick them with a facade of Axol to get them into SMG3's Guardian Pod. He also displays multiple signs of sadism due to his hate for the other SMGs, seeing them as wannabees since he believes only himself and SMG0 are the true meme guardians. These are displayed with his attempts on SMG1 and SMG2's lives for the trouble they have caused him and laughing when he attempted to crush them to death or when he claimed "perfect" in response to SMG4 saying that "Axol" was hurting him.
When angered, Niles can prove extremely destructive as he enchained all of the SMGs and SMG4's Gang when trying to split him from Axol and turned the sky red from his rage. Another example is him summoning legions of corrupted memes and taking to killing SMG3 and SMG4 himself after they freed Mario from his grasp. His anger is more accurately defined when Niles manages to rejoin with SMG0 inside the God Box, claiming Melony's challenge to him "pathetic" and brutally assaulting her. He also goes to the extreme when forced to his breaking point in anger, such as throwing a broken universe piece at SMG4's spaceship in rage when they were escaping from his grasp, despite the fact that it could have killed Mario. When he realized that Melony, Mario, SMG3 and SMG4 would escape from the God Box, the true extent of Niles/Zero's psychopathy is revealed as he does everything in his power to drag them down with him if it meant he couldn't have his perfect universe.
When his plan proved futile, he lost all hope of having the new universe he wanted for himself and SMG0, but his partner assured him it wasn't hopeless if they were simply together, freeing Niles of the box's corruption and journeyed with SMG0 into the beyond to find Fred again in the next life.
In the end, Niles was an individual with a good goal, but he went too far in trying to accomplish this. He truly did care about SMG0 and his universe, as shown in Revelations when he said he was building the "perfect universe just for them". Niles only cared about creating the perfect universe, not caring about the destruction of other universes in the process of creating it. SMG0 was able to show him that the only thing that mattered was that they were together.
Criminal Record[]
Being a highly destructive and dangerous being, Niles has committed countless, horrible crimes over his journey to create a new universe which resulted in destruction of a lot of universes whilst fused with SMG0 and Axol.
- Mass Omnicide: Has destroyed and corrupted other universes in the past, likely resulting in the deaths of trillions.
- Mass Brainwashing: Forcefully turned the Mario Recolors into mindless zombies and turned Axol into his vessel in order to find and convert Mario, also brainwashed Melony to get the God Box and refuse with SMG0 again in the Revelations Arc.
- Psychological Torture: Placed Mario, SMG4 and SMG3 within a mind torture simulation and tortured Melony with warped apparitions of her friends while possessing her.
- Grand Theft Animarum: Stole the souls of countless Mario recolors.
- Kidnapping: He has done this on multiple occasions:
- He kidnapped many Mario recolors, SMG3, SMG4, and even the real Mario.
- He trapped Mario, SMG3 and SMG4 into The Backrooms, and immediately afterwards trapped them inside of SMG3's Guardian Pod.
- He captured the unconscious Mario and countless memes to create his new universe.
- Attempted Murder: Despite his goal of finding a new avatar, Niles has attempted homicide on multiple occasions, especially on the Super Meme Guardians due to seeing them as "wannabe SMGs".
- After failing to convert Spudnick, he made an attempt on SMG2's life twice.
- He threatened to choke SMG3 and SMG4 to death if they didn't hand over Mario.
- After mutating Axol further, he tried to crush SMG1 and SMG2 to death, only for SMG3 and SMG4 to intervene.
- While possessing Melony, he attempted to kill SMG3 and SMG4 with her sword.
Powers[]
True form[]
In physical form, Niles displays great power regardless of not having SMG0's power combined with his own:
- Meme Energy Manipulation: Despite being an artificial Super Meme Guardian created by the God Box, he still possesses the same powers as the other meme guardians and he was able to use SMG0's Guardian Pod to travel to the God Box alone, proving his status as a meme guardian.
- Dimensional Creation: With help from SMG0, Niles was able to create the Internet Graveyard and begin the meme life cycle.
- Assimilation: With the power of the God Box, he can possess others such as SMG0 or Axol to become Eldritch SMG0/Ax0l, an extremely powerful virus capable of destroying entire universes.
Apparition form[]
Niles originally debuted in his true form as an apparition to Melony, after latching onto her following the destruction of Eldritch Ax0l. He claimed to have great power as he "dabbled in some power training", however this was proven false as he could only make Melony do things for him while inside her mind. Even as an apparition, he is still able to use certain abilities due to existing in Melony's mindscape:
- Possession: In SMG4: War of the Fat Italians 2021, after being separated from SMG0, he immediately latched onto Melony to plot his return. He posed as a college student to earn her trust and was manipulating her actions unconsciously, making fight Swag and Chris without realizing it and made her sleepwalk to the Box Club Leader to make him believe Melony is his "messiah". However, unlike Axol, she was not mutated by his possession - likely due to Niles having lost SMG0's power.
- Intangibility: When existing inside Melony's mind, he is capable of walking through physical obstructions such as iron cage bars.
- Invisibility: As an apparition, he is completely non-existent to everyone besides Melony, allowing him to freely taunt anyone without consequence and passing the blame onto Melony if he feels like it.
- Illusions: While Niles isn't seen performing them, it is implied that he did so to Melony by making her think he was fighting against Swag and Chris in detention when he is possessing her body. This extends to his actions, speech, and interactions with her, making it look like Melony is reacting to nothing and doing things by herself to other people's point of view. His interactions with food, objects, and tools are implied to be created by him to keep his cover within Melony's sight or not.
Eldritch forms[]
Niles, when merging his meme guardian powers with SMG0 to become Eldritch SMG0, is one of the most powerful characters, if not the most powerful character in the series. He is the most imposing of all the villains that SMG4's Gang has ever faced, far surpassing Waluigi and SMG3 who both gained superpowers during their own arcs while causing more destruction than the rest of the villains combined. Niles meme powers combined with SMG0 and the power of the God Box is so immense that SMG3 and SMG4 both considered him to be a god due to his corruptive power:
- Zombification: Even with just Eldritch SMG0's arm, Niles can turn the Mario Recolors into mindless zombified husks and control them.
- Retrocognition: Unlike SMG4 and SMG3, Niles does remember his past and can even show Mario his backstory with SMG0 upon utterance of the word "W I T N E S S".
- Independent limb control: Niles is able to control the arm of his eldritch form even if it's been cut off from the main body and can still use all of his corruptive powers while inhabiting it.
- Meme Corruption: Using the power of the God Box, Eldritch SMG0 can corrupt memes at will and force them to do his bidding.
- Assimilation: With a simple touch, Niles is able to assimilate into anyone he touches akin to a parasite, which causes his virus power to inhabit the body of the one he assimilates, allowing Niles to take complete control of them as he did with Axol in SMG4: The Day HE Arrived. He is also capable of assimilating more than one person due to the real SMG0 also being trapped somewhere in the eldritch mindscape along with Axol.
- Teleportation: Niles was able to teleport Mario, SMG4 and SMG3 back to the Dark Web in SMG4: Mario and The Backrooms, even though SMG3 was in an entirely different dimension.
- Mind Torture Simulation: He can put people inside of simulation to psychologically torture them using a Guardian Pod.
- Telekinesis: Niles is capable of controlling objects without physically touching them as well as choking people by lifting them into the air.
- Avatar Conversion: In his eldritch forms, Niles has the power to convert an avatar into the new avatar for himself and SMG0, but this requires the power of the Guardian Pods to ensure the avatar's safety as his raw power is too corruptive and can kill the avatar if not controlled properly, as shown when he accidentally killed Spudnick in SMG4: The Other Universe.
- Universal Creation: Due to his eldritch power of being able to convert an avatar into his own, Niles can use this in order to create a new universe in his own image, as he intended to use Spudnick and later, Mario, to recreate Mage as a "perfect" version of itself for himself and SMG0. However, obtaining a new avatar isn't enough and also requires draining another universe of all its meme energy to constitute the new one.
Weaknesses[]
True form[]
- The God Box: Being a creation of the God Box, Niles is far more suseptible to its corruptive effect than the other Super Meme Guardians as the box shares a psychic link to Niles and is capable of asserting its influence over him even if he isn't in its presence. It did this by invading his mind and filling it with thoughts of needing to "perfect" his universe, which set him on his path of creating the perfect universe.
Eldritch forms[]
- Guardian Pods: Due to the source of his corruptive power coming from the God Box, Niles' eldritch forms are vulnerable to the power of the Guardian Pods since they each contain an anti-virus. Unfortunately, since the Guardian Pods all have a limited subscription, he will eventually break free but in a weakened state.
- Host dependence: If the host he's possessing is killed, he and SMG0 will separate back into their true forms, as shown when Melony killed Axol.
- Meme Manipulation: While meme energy can't damage him in his eldritch forms, it can push him back.
- Power of another God: The Fierce Deity seems to be the only thing powerful enough to rival Niles in his eldritch forms. With it, Melony can oppose his corruptive power and is capable of causing actual damage to him, enough that it allowed SMG0 to break free from Niles' prison inside of his mindscape while she unable to do the same for Axol due to possessing only a fraction of her true power. Despite this, Niles is still more powerful than Melony even at her full potential due to her being unable to truly destroy him and could've dragged her down to her demise inside of the God Box had it not been for the interference of SMG0.
Trivia[]
- He is voiced by Michael Kovach who also voices N in Murder Drones & Jax In The Amazing Digital Circus.
- This makes him the first voice actor from Murder Drones to voice act in SMG4, discounting archives from Nola Klop heard in SMG4: If Mario Was In... Poppy Playtime.
- Coincidentally, his name starts with an "N." Michael also voices another character named "N".
- His body shape and size almost resemble that of Axol, alongside outfits (save Niles' beanie). It's likely why he saw the latter as a suitable host.
- Before his name was revealed, many assumed that he was originally Kaizo Koorumaniru but this was proven false by FM/Cube.
- In SMG4: Mario's Bus Trip, his name was revealed to be Niles.
- In SMG4: All Mario Wants Is Absolute 𝓟 𝓞 𝓦 𝓔 𝓡 he said: "No vote for me! I have zero experience!", which could be interpreted as criticism towards politicians in general.
- Some fans interpreted him saying zero in the sentence above as a reference to SMG0, which later proved true.
- He's apparently fine with eating whatever comes out of the trash, as he's perfectly happy to eat an old boot that came into his tray. This makes him similar to SMG1 and SMG2 as they all have very poor standards for food as the latter two considered eating out of the dumpster as a "buffet".
- Niles is easily the darkest villain in the series, due to the fact that unlike Francis, he possesses very few comedic moments and also commits far more heinous crimes in multiple omnicides, a length which only Ztar managed to get even slightly close to and even then Ztar has comedic moments as well. He had his first comedic moment in SMG4: MARIOS OKAY MARIOS OKAY MARIOS OKAY MARIOS OKAY MARIOS OKAY MARIOS OKAY MARIOS OKAY, where he first shared the comedic moment while the main characters are mind-controlled, and that he was slowly corrupted into a power-hungry maniac.
- At first, he's only consistently had direct interactions with Melony, as the other characters don't acknowledge his presence.
- This has led some to theorize that he is only in Melony's imagination, as he has never been acknowledged as existing by other characters, and there is only one time so far (when Niles blames Melony to Swagmaster) where someone other than Melony may have noticed his presence, although some people still think that it was actually just Melony throwing things at Swag absentmindedly. This theory along with Niles being related to "0" were both proven true in SMG4: Absolute Betrayal as it was revealed that Niles was in fact only visible to Melony, He also removed the hair on his face revealing him to only have one eye that became a red eye with a 0 shaped pupil.
- However, in SMG4 Movie: REVELATIONS when he separated from Melony, he was visible to everyone else.
- This has led some to theorize that he is only in Melony's imagination, as he has never been acknowledged as existing by other characters, and there is only one time so far (when Niles blames Melony to Swagmaster) where someone other than Melony may have noticed his presence, although some people still think that it was actually just Melony throwing things at Swag absentmindedly. This theory along with Niles being related to "0" were both proven true in SMG4: Absolute Betrayal as it was revealed that Niles was in fact only visible to Melony, He also removed the hair on his face revealing him to only have one eye that became a red eye with a 0 shaped pupil.
- Strangely, Niles shares a few similarities with SMG0 (leading to many fans theorizing that he is related to SMG0 in some way). Similarities and interesting trivia include:
- His hands have three digits, similar to the hands of SMG0.
- The first part of "Niles" is "nil", which is a synonym for zero.
- Only one eye is visible as his hair covers the area where his left eye should be.
- Nothing was known about his backstory or motivations, and he had only interacted with Melony - the one who defeated Eldritch Ax0l.
- He somehow knows much about Melony and her powers, despite her being a new student at Omnia Academy.
- He also knows about SMG3 and that he is an idiot, which seemingly makes little sense as he should not know about SMG3.
- He also knows about Axol and that he was Melony's boyfriend, which also makes little sense.
- Given that he did encounter SMG4's gang, Melony and SMG3 a few times and did possess Axol whilst as Eldritch SMG0, it would make sense as to how he knew them.
- It was revealed in SMG4 Movie: REVELATIONS that Niles is the God Box's creation and a negative counterpart to the real SMG0.
- He is the third OC to have his name originally hidden and later revealed. The first two were SMG1 and SMG2 as two hobos.
- He is the second character to not appear in a thumbnail, the first was Francis.
- However, he technically does appear in the thumbnail of SMG4 Movie: REVELATIONS if his possessd form of SMG0 counts.
- He is inspired by Agent Smith from The Matrix franchise. He also appears to take inspiration of Volo from Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Cyrus from Pokémon Diamond, Pokémon Pearl, their Switch remakes, and Pokémon Platinum, due to their desires to create a perfect and better universe.
- In SMG4 Movie: REVELATIONS, he's revealed to be an artificial Super Meme Guardian created by the God Box at the request of SMG0, making him the only SMG to not have a number in his name. Although his name is a pun on the term "Nil" which a synonym for the number zero, representing how Niles is a negative counterpart to SMG0.
- Niles is the sixteenth character who’s death was taken seriously, after King Bob-omb, his son, Pete, Clone Mario, Desti, Francis, New Super Duper Mario Plus Ultra, Greg The Alien, Wario's Mother, Spudnick, Axol, Box Club Leader, Fred, Terrance and SMG0.
- He is also the fourth major antagonist in the Glitch Productions brand to die at the end of the story, being preceded by Francis, Derek Lucks, and Benedict Cumbersnatch, and succeeded by James Sheridan.
- In his concept art, a note detailing his eye shifting towards the centre of his face reads "eye changing to SMG0," a nod to the false foreshadowing suggesting that he is SMG0.
- His model was made public on April 19th, 2022.
- The file name of his model, "fakezero_pm", is a reference to his role in tricking the audience into thinking he is SMG0, which of course garnered controversy.
Appearances[]
2021
- SMG4 Movie: 10 Year Anniversary Special debut/as Eldritch SMG0
- SMG4: SMG4 Goes Insane
- SMG4: Into the Dark Web
- SMG4: The Other Universe
- SMG4: The Day HE Arrived.
- SMG4: Doomsday but Mario is Okay
- SMG4: Mario and The Backrooms
- SMG4: MARIOS OKAY
- SMG4: The Final Piece
- SMG4: War Of The Fat Italians 2021
- SMG4: Mario Suffers Infinite Detention True form debut
- SMG4 Christmas Special 2021 Cameo
2022
- SMG4: All Mario Wants Is Absolute 𝓟 𝓞 𝓦 𝓔 𝓡 minor
- SMG4: Mario's Bus Trip
- SMG4: Mario and The God Box
- SMG4: Absolute Betrayal
- SMG4 Movie: REVELATIONS Final appearance and death
- SMG4: Goodbye, SMG4 mentioned
- SMG4: War Of The Fat Italians 2022 Cameo/as Eldritch SMG0; posthumous
2023
- SMG4: Mario Steals The Constitution Cameo/flashback
- SMG4 Movie: IT'S GOTTA BE PERFECT mentioned/By Tari
- SMG4 Movie: WESTERN SPAGHETTI flashback
GMOD models[]
Before his Official model release, A fan made recreation of Niles was created and published onto the Steam workshop