Nuidis Vulko

> The ocean is more than our life source, Arthur. It is who we are.
>
> Nuidis Vulko to Arthur Curry, Aquaman (film)

**Nuidis Vulko** is the chief counselor to the throne of Atlantis, and secretly the mentor to Aquaman. He helped Arthur Curry and guided him down a journey alongside Mera to locate the Trident of Atlan, which allowed Arthur to defeat his half-brother Orm and usurp the throne, becoming the new King of Atlantis, with Vulko feeling proud for his protege.

## Biography

### Guiding Arthur Curry

#### Training Arthur

 File:Vulko training Arthur - aquaman.png
Vulko taught young Arthur Curry much about Atlantis, such as his Atlantean heritage and trained him in martial arts. He promised Arthur he would be able to see his mother soon when he was ready, but Arthur became frustrated after years of passing tests and being presented with more.

#### Revealing the truth

After years of training, Vulko finally revealed to frustrated Arthur that Orvax, the previous king of Atlantis, had sentenced her to the Trench upon finding out she gave birth to Arthur with a Surface dweller which was considered high treason. Before her scheduled execution, she made her trusted confidant promise to always watch over and protect her son. After learning his mother's fate was kept secret from him for all his years, he angrily discarded his trident and threw it at Vulko, never seeing it again until years later.

#### Reminding him of his duty

 File:Vulko with Aquaman - zsjl.png
Decades later, after saving a Welsh fisherman, Arthur travelled to a particular place underwater containing a statue of the King Atlan. There, he was met by Vulko, who expressed his dissatisfaction with Arthur's continued refusal to take on his royal responsibilities. Vulko further remarked that Arthur never slept in the same place twice, but still continued to return to that particular place. Vulko then once more admonished Arthur, telling him that it was time to take up his mother's Trident especially given the circumstances of the disappearing Atlanteans and the brewing blame cast by King Orm on the surface. Arthur however gave his silent refusal, causing Vulko to lose his patience and throw down Atlanna's Trident and his armor. He then mentioned that Arthur could not keep running away from his duties, before leaving Arthur to his devices.

Later, when Arthur intervened in Steppenwolf's retrieval of the Atlantean Mother Box, Mera told Arthur that Vulko had informed her he might arrive.

When Steppenwolf started synchronizing the Mother Boxes, Vulko was with Mera and a few other Atlanteans as they started to notice the effects of the Invasion.

After the victory over Steppenwolf, Arthur met Mera and Vulko on the shores of Amnesty Bay and bade farewell, as he stated he would be going off to meet his father. Vulko's expression seemed to imply that he was proud of Arthur, and though Arthur still rejected making any commitments, he seemed to think Arthur had taken his first step to accepting his destiny.

### War for Atlantis

 File:Orm having Vulko arrested - aquaman.png
Vulko found an artifact that might lead them to the Trident of Atlan. Both he and Mera aided Arthur in secret while staying by the side of Orm openly. However, when Orm prepares to go to war, he reveals that he has always known of Vulko's treachery over the years and imprisons him, keeping Vulko by his side as he strove to unite all the kingdoms of Atlantis for his war on the surface world.

During the attack on the Kingdom of the Brine, the battle was interrupted by Aquaman, who arose from the Hidden Sea commanding the Karathen and wielding the Trident of Atlan. Vulko then smiled, remarking that the true king had risen. As the battle moved to the surface, Mera infiltrated Orm's flagship and dispatched Vulko's guard. Vulko denied Mera's request for him to take on Orm, knowing that for Arthur to fully be accepted as king by all of Atlanteans, he has to prove his superiority and defeat Orm by himself.

Vulko watched with growing pride as Aquaman started to gain the upper hand over Orm and smirked when Orm was finally defeated by Aquaman using the ultimate trident technique of Atlantis Vulko had taught him in his youth. Subsequently, Vulko was surprised when a very much alive Atlanna showed up and convinced Orm to surrender. Vulko subsequently led a squad of Atlantean soldiers to greet Atlanna before ordering Orm imprisoned but added the former king at least have a view as the Atlanteans proclaim Arthur their new king.

### Knightmare

In a dark potential future, Darkseid tracked down Aquaman and Vulko. He killed Aquaman before using his omega beams on Vulko, disintegrating and killing him as well.

## Personality

Vulko taught a young Arthur Curry about his Atlantean heritage and trained him in secret in preparation for his return to Atlantis. As Vizier of Atlantis, he is the voice of reason in Orm's court, and works behind his back to stop a genocidal war. In general, he is a good-hearted man with a strong sense of justice who cares about protecting Atlantis and its people.

## Powers and abilities

### Powers

* **Atlantean physiology**: As an Atlantean High-Born, Vulko naturally possesses incredible superhuman abilities above most Atlanteans. Notably, despite his relatively advanced age, his abilities do not seem to have diminished.
	+ **Superhuman strength:** As an Atlantean High-Born, Vulko wields tremendous physical strength, greater than most Atlanteans, easily able to match, harm and overpower Arthur Curry as he was growing into his powers during their training sessions. Mera even asked him to take on Orm, suggesting that she believed he was more powerful than Orm and capable of overpowering him.
	+ **Superhuman durability**: Vulko has incredible durability, able to withstand the immense pressures of the sea.
	+ **Superhuman speed**: While underwater, Vulko can swim at supersonic speeds. On land, Vulko is also superhumanly fast, as he was able to easily outpace Arthur during their training sessions.
	+ **Superhuman senses**: Vulko withholds same enhanced senses all Atlanteans posses to better navigate underwater.
		- **Enhanced vision**: Vulko's vision is better enhanced to help see in the darker regions of the sea.
	+ **Aquatic respiration**: As an Atlantean High-Born, not only is Vulko able to breathe underwater, but he can also breathe air without the complications that plague most other Atlanteans.
* **Hydrokinesis**: Vulko demonstrated a limited ability to conjure and manipulate seawater using his staff while in combat training with a young Arthur. He later showed a proficiency in creating an air bubble around him and Arthur, allowing the two to speak as if they were on dry land.

### Abilities

* **Master combatant**: Vulko is universally adept in all forms of personal defense, acting as Arthur's protector and mentor throughout their tenure together. Having taught the future mariner hero everything he knows about CQC and polearm utilization from an early age while they trained on dry land and in the sea. Mera held his skills in very high regard to the point where she would ask him to take on Orm after he had defeated Arthur in combat, indicating his skills could rival, if not, surpass that of Orm.
	+ **Polweapon mastery**: Vulko most likely tutored Atlanna in use of the trident and basic lancer skills. Having been apt enough to utilize his polearm with such efficiency and coordination that he could perform Atlantis's ultimate offensive/defensive battle technique while training his future king. All while using his polearm techniques in conjunction with his hydromancy as he taught Arthur in his youth.
* **Master swimmer**: Vulko, like all Atlanteans, can masterfully coordinate himself while underwater, having spent his whole life in water.
* **Historian**: Vulko is incredibly knowledgeable of the hidden secrets of Atlantis. Having garnered and studied scores upon scores of lost information detailing both the rise and fall of its surface borne ancestry. Such as bearing insight to maps leading in search of the Trident of Atlan.
* **Multilingualism**: As his teacher, Vulko often taught Arthur a great many things about the world. It comes to reason that the later learned how to speak Russian, Italian and other such languages from his mentor.

## Equipment

* **Historical records**: Vulko keeps a sunken ship in which he stored and studied countless tales of the civilizations lost and forgotten culture.
* **Atlantean lance**: Vulko often made use of an Atlantean Steel spear with which he could channel his water shifting abilities through like he had demonstrated while training Arthur in his youth.

## Relationships

Allies* Arthur Curry/Aquaman - protégé, former pupil and king
* Mera - confidant
* Atlanna - confidant and queen
* Nereus
	+ Xebelian soldiers
* Topo
* Atlantean soldiers
* Kingdom of the Fishermen
	+ Rina
	+ Scales
* Kingdom of the Brine
	+ Brine King
* Karathen
* David Kane/Black Manta

## Behind the scenes

* Anthony Rinna was a stunt double for Willem Dafoe in the role of Nuidis Vulko.

## References

1. ↑ *Aquaman: Arthur's Guide to Atlantis*
Beall, Will, Wan, James, Johns, Geoff (writers) & Wan, James (director) (December 21, 2018). *Aquaman*.
Terrio, Chris, Beall, Will (writers) & Snyder, Zack (writer and director) (March 18, 2021). *Zack Snyder's Justice League*.

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## External links

The ***DC Extended Universe Wiki** has a collection of images and media related to* **Nuidis Vulko***.*

* File:Favicon.png Nuidis Vulko on DC Database
* File:WP favicon.png Nuidis Vulko on Wikipedia

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