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This article is about the Goa'uld. For for Ra's First Prime, see Anubis (Human).

"You do not understand how bad Anubis is. He was banished by the System Lords because his crimes were unspeakable. Even to the Goa'uld."
Selmak[src]

Anubis is one of the most powerful and dangerous Goa'uld in history. Once a powerful System Lord who rose to be Emperor, Anubis was banished by Ra and the others because his actions were deemed unspeakable, even among the Goa'uld. He was believed to have been destroyed, but managed to escape and trick Oma Desala into helping him to ascend. The Ancients did not want Anubis to join them on the higher planes of existence after learning of his trickery, and forced him into a state between mortal existence and ascension.

Because of his knowledge of the Ancients, Anubis amassed unimaginable advanced technologies. He gathered strength for hundreds of years before returning to take his revenge upon the System Lords and dominate the Milky Way galaxy, before his permanent defeat in 2005.

Biography[]

Background information[]

Anubis

Anubis' symbol.

Long ago, Anubis first arose as a warlord in the service of Apep. His victories earned the praise and respect of Apep, but earned the envy of his fellow underlords. However, Anubis' ambition was even greater. Exposing Apep to the unstable effects of the Ancient healing device, Anubis learned of valuable Ancient weapons: the Eyes of the Goa'uld, six jewels used to power a planet destroying weapon. Eventually, he felt his position was so secure that he murdered Apep, removing the symbiote from his host and devouring Apep before the others, and declared himself Emperor of the Goa'uld.

Anubis, however, had seriously underestimated the followers of Apep and the power of the rival underlords. Ra was able to rally the others in Apep's name, and in a three hundred year civil war, defeated Anubis. Ra emerged as the new ruler of the Goa'uld Empire, and Anubis was banished. The superweapon was destroyed, and Ra redistributed the eyes among himself, Apophis, Osiris, Setesh, and Tiamat.

Thousands of years later, Anubis reemerged, and offered to destroy the Asgard in return for the leadership of the System Lords. A furious Ra waged another war against him, but Anubis was able to survive. (RPG: "Living Gods: Stargate System Lords")

Anubis ascended

Anubis in his partially ascended form.

"I know who you are, Daniel Jackson, but you know not who I am."
―Anubis to Daniel Jackson[src]

Following his final defeat at the hands of Ra, the System Lords attempted to murder Anubis. During this time, Anubis had found some Ancient research on ascension. Wanting to pursue ascension without having to worry about the System Lords, he allowed them to believe that he was finally dead.

Anubis traveled to Kheb and underwent the tests of the rogue Ancient Oma Desala. After Anubis passed the tests and deceived her, Oma concluded that Anubis was worthy of ascension. Only once she began the ascension process did she realize how truly evil he was. By then, it was too late, as Oma was unable to descend Anubis on her own. This forced the Others to do so, but they had become frustrated with Oma's repeated violation of the rule of non-interference, and chose to punish her by leaving Anubis partially ascended, able to use any knowledge he could have gained as a Goa'uld. They did take some of the knowledge he had obtained while ascended, such as the locations of Atlantis and of the Sangraal. Daniel also lacked this knowledge, so it is possible the Others hid a variety of things from any others who ascended as well.

After this, Anubis existed in an energy form, which he kept intact using a personal forcefield, probably to allow him to appear on the material plane without using any of his powers or taking a human host. He also wore a black cloak and hood to make himself even more visible. (SG1: "Last Stand", "Threads")

Sometime prior to his defeat at the Battle of Antarctica, Anubis attempted to create an advanced human with his own replicated pre-ascension DNA. The advanced human, called Khalek, possessed highly evolved powers and the genetic knowledge of Anubis, suggesting that he was meant to be a new form of soldier. It was also theorized that Anubis, resenting the half-ascended existence he was trapped in by the Others, sought to fully ascend Khalek through evolution, preventing the Others' interference and creating the first of an army of ascended beings to destroy the Ancients. Fortunately this was thwarted by SG1, and the laboratory planet was quarantined by a program Samantha Carter put in place within the Stargate. (SG1: "Prototype")

2001[]

After the deaths of Apophis and Cronus, Anubis began to make his presence felt among the Goa'uld again. He brought in many underlords to serve him, such as discredited Goa'ulds like Osiris and Thoth, and newer Goa'ulds such as Zipacna and Tanith. He used his advanced shield technology to force the Tollans into providing a new Phase-shifting weapon for him so he could bomb Stargate Command. However, the Tollan Narim destroyed them, causing Anubis to devastate Tollana. (SG1: "Between Two Fires", "48 Hours")

2002[]

"I'm not such a bad guy, I just know what I like and I'm willing to kill everyone and everything to get it."
―Anubis in The Ascended Times[src]

When the High Council of System Lords met, Anubis sent Osiris to them as his emissary, demanding to be restored to his former position of System Lord. Over the objections of Lord Yu, Anubis was restored to the rank of System Lord after promising to destroy Earth with a Naquadah asteroid. At the same time, Anubis, in search of the Tok'ra symbiote poison, forcibly extracted the location of the Tok'ra base from an operative, and ordered his underlord Zipacna to launch an attack upon the base. This objective failed, but resulted in wiping out virtually all the Tok'ra on Revanna. (SG1: "Summit", "Last Stand", "Fail Safe")

Sometime after the Battle of Revanna, Anubis once again turned his attention to the Tau'ri by launching an Naquadah-enhanced asteroid to destroy Earth. SG-1 was able to discover the attack and advert it in time. (SG1: "Fail Safe")

"I think you'll find many things have changed, since my return."
―Anubis to Thor[src]

Finally, Anubis felt secure enough to challenge the Asgard, and he was able to fight them, using his shields and Staff cannon modifications, though only in strictly limited numbers, with the element of surprise. In this manner he captured Thor, the commander of the ship sent to stop him, and used a Mind probe on the captive Asgard to discover all their secrets.

SG-1 rescued Thor, and the arrival of three O'Neill-class ships forced Anubis to retreat, but not in time to stop him from gaining knowledge of Asgard transporter and hologram technology. (SG1: "Revelations")

"I am Anubis. Humans of the Tau'ri, your end of days finally approaches. There will be no mercy. You will bow to my awesome power. There is nothing that can stop the destruction I bring upon you. Prepare to meet your doom."
―Anubis' threat to the Humans at Stargate Command.[src]
Anubis' attack on the Stargate

Anubis demands the surrender of the Tau'ri.

Anubis thought he finally had reached a level of technology and understanding rivalling the Asgard, and with them occupied in another galaxy fighting the Replicators, he could focus his efforts on building his armies and expanding his territory. In order to deal with the growing threat of the Tau'ri, he used a Stargate destroyer in an attempt to destroy Earth, and with typical Goa'uld arrogance, appeared to Stargate Command as a hologram, pronouncing their imminent doom. But Colonel Jack O'Neill used the prototype X-302 hyperspace fighter to transport the Beta Gate into space, while Teal'c, Bra'tac, and Rya'c.simultaneously destroyed the attacking weapon. (SG1: "Redemption, Part 1", "Redemption, Part 2")

2003[]

"I know who you are, Daniel Jackson, but you do not know what I am."
―-Anubis, before revealing his partially ascended nature to Daniel Jackson.
Battle of Abydos

Anubis' mothership in battle

Anubis built a new mothership carrying a powerful superweapon, powered by the six Eyes, five of which were already in his possession. He traveled to Abydos to obtain the Eye of Ra, the last of the six, but SG-1 found the artifact before he could claim it. At the same time, Lord Yu had finally succeeded in convincing the other System Lords to rally against Anubis.

As the fleet of Ha'taks arrived to engage Anubis' ship, an Ascended Daniel Jackson bargained with Anubis for the Eye in exchange for Abydos' safety. Anubis agreed, but once he received his prize, destroyed the entire fleet with the combined powers of the Eyes, and then turned to annihilate Abydos. An angry, betrayed Jackson lashed out at Anubis with his powers, but Oma Desala stopped Daniel, who disappeared in a stream of light. Without resistance, Anubis destroyed the planet, but not before Oma helped the Abydonian population ascend. (SG1: "Full Circle")

Months later, SG-1, with the help of a mortal Dr. Daniel Jackson, plotted to destroy Anubis' mothership. Jackson and Jonas Quinn located a critical weakness while O'Neill and Carter used an X-302 hyperspace fighter to bypass the ship's shields and destroyed Anubis' superweapon. This allowed the System Lords a chance to destroy the

Anubis 1

Anubis speaking to one of his lieutenants about the progress of his superweapon and the Naquadria.

vessel, but only half of the plan was completed, as Yu, due to age-induced senility, became confused and called off the attack.

Anubis, in spite of his loss, gained a new prize in the form of a captured Jonas. He used his mind probe on Jonas and learned the location of Langara and its Naquadria deposits. His ship hovering over the capital Kelownan city, Anubis took control of the planet and began to strip it for Naquadria to rebuild his weapon. But Naquadria proved too unstable for his Lieutenant to compensate, and although his Jaffa managed to locate some Data Crystals containing research on the mineral that would have allowed him to use the Naquadria, the information was retrieved by SG-1. At the same time, the United Alliance of System Lords, commanded by Ba'al, destroyed Anubis' ship, causing him to flee in his escape pod. (SG1: "Fallen", "Homecoming")

Kull armor 1

Jacob within a Kull armor being scanned by Thoth.

Sensing the threats of the Jaffa Rebellion, Anubis began researching a way to create a new foot-soldier. Using the technology of the Ancient healing device and Jonas Quinn's memories of Egeria, Anubis engineered an army of nearly unstoppable Kull warriors, possessed by blank slate Goa'uld symbiotes birthed from a queen aligned with Anubis. The Kull warriors were far superior to the Jaffa, nearly unstoppable and utterly loyal to Anubis. Thus, Anubis quickly regained much lost ground as he took down many minor Goa'uld, including Ramius and Tilgath, and absorbed their Jaffa armies into his own. However, SG-1 and Jacob Carter infiltrated the base on Tartarus, and killed his queen and Thoth, hindering the creation of more warriors. (SG1: "Evolution, Part 1", "Evolution, Part 2")

2004[]

Sometime after Stargate Command recovered an Ancient healing device of their own, they began to develop a weapon capable of neutralizing Anubis' Kull Warriors, working at Earth's Alpha Site in conjunction with the Tok'ra. Anubis learned of this weapon and launched an attack on the Alpha Site, but was unsuccessful in destroying it. (SG1: "Death Knell")

"Nooooooooo!!!"
―Anubis seconds before his ship is destroyed by the drone weapons.[src]

When he learned of an Ancients' Repository of knowledge on P3X-439, he sent a force to secure it. However, Colonel Jack O'Neill managed to download the knowledge into his mind before destroying the repository and escaping. As punishment, Anubis had two of his Kull warriors execute his Jaffa commander and the guards who had failed him.

Anubis

Anubis seconds before he and his ships are destroyed by the Ancient drones.

Believing the Tau'ri possessed Ancient technology and the location of the Lost City of the Ancients, he attacked Earth with his fleet. He appeared in the White House to the President Henry Hayes, demanding Earth's surrender and claiming that he was their god, but Hayes was not intimidated and promised a fight to the bitter end.

Anubis later tried to trick SG-1 into thinking he got to the Antarctic outpost first, but O'Neill, possessing the Ancient knowledge, easily saw through the illusion. Soon after, Anubis was apparently destroyed by the outpost's drone weapons. (SG1: "Lost City, Part 1", "Lost City, Part 2")

However, his formless essence survived the explosion of his mothership. Anubis once again returned and hitched a ride on the International Space Station, possessing the body of Cosmonaut Anatole Konstantinov and returning to Earth. He then left Konstantinov and entered Colonel Alexei Vaselov, who was leaving for Stargate Command. At the SGC, he attempted to convince Brigadier General Jack O'Neill to allow him to go through the Stargate but failed. He moved from Vaselov to Dr. Daniel Jackson , who was preparing to go off-world. He was stopped by O'Neill as they believed a contagion was responsible for Vaselov's illness. In Daniel, Anubis took a person hostage to force the SGC to open the gate. He was shot in the arm by O'Neill and with a Zat'nik'tel by Teal'c. While Daniel was in the infirmary, Anubis possessed Lt. Evans and Airman Malcolm McCaffrey. In McCaffrey he made another attempt to use the gate, but was again shot with a Zat. Anubis left McCaffrey and fled.

When the SGC became aware of their foe's presence, and went into a three section lockdown to circumvent his escape attempts, Anubis entered Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter and wrote a program to unlock the blast doors and dial the Gate remotely. He released her, and taking possession of O'Neill, using him to order Major Kearney to help him arm the self-destruct. In O'Neill, Anubis made his way to the Embarkation room, but as he was about to leave, Vaselov attacked him and vowed to kill them both if Anubis did not take his body instead. Anubis took possession of Vaselov and left through the Stargate. Fortunately, before he went through, Carter was able to reprogram the dialing sequence and send him to KS7-535, instead, meeting his demise once again. (SG1: "Lockdown")

2005[]

"Well, you can't win."
"It won't matter, you won't be able to do anything but fight me back.
"
―Anubis and Oma Desala[src]
Battle of Dakara

The Battle of Dakara

Anubis somehow escaped from the frozen planet and returned once again, and was revealed to be the master behind Ba'al's rise to power. When the Replicators began their invasion of the Milky Way, Anubis ordered his fleet to attack them head on, allowing the Replicators to acquire materials. When the Rebel Jaffa took Dakara, Anubis ordered Ba'al to take the fleet and reclaim the planet at all costs.

Knowing that Anubis intended to use the superweapon on Dakara to destroy all life in the Milky Way galaxy, Ba'al worked with Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter and Jacob Carter to modify the weapon to destroy the Replicators while leaving other life-forms unharmed. Ba'al also provided a program that allowed them to dial every single Stargate address simultaneously. Undaunted, Anubis took the remaining Kull warriors in an attempt to carry out his plan.

Anubis Second host

Anubis' second host

Anubis devised a trap for the fleet assembled by the Free Jaffa Nation after the Battle of Dakara. Bra'tac and Teal'c proposed that they unify the Jaffa by attacking Tartarus, Anubis' stronghold and the planet where he was manufacturing the Kull warriors. However, Anubis had already abandoned that planet, and his army, which was led by Ba'al, began an assault on Dakara.

Anubis third host

Anubis' third host

When he entered the midpoint between ascension and human existence to mock Oma Desala, he found Dr. Daniel Jackson, also at the midway point following his near-death in his confrontation with Replicator Carter. He took the persona of Jim, a fat and abrasive patron in the Astral Diner, who mocked Oma and subtly pointed Jackson in the direction of Oma as the cause of Anubis' ascension. When Jackson realized that Jim was Anubis, he attempted to attack the System Lord, but was unable to do so as he had no actual powers. By this point, the Kull warriors had secured control of Dakara, and Anubis was in place to destroy all life in the Milky Way. Just then, Oma Desala, inspired by Daniel's actions and disgusted by how the Others had used Anubis to punish her, forced Anubis to complete his Ascension before engaging him in eternal battle.

Jim

"Jim" laughing in Daniel's face

Oma vs Anubis

Oma Desala engages Anubis.

Neither one could win, which prevented Oma from helping others to ascend. But Anubis was also forced to concentrate on fighting her, which prevented him from ever harming the galaxy again. The moment when Oma stood up to confront Anubis was the only time the Others reacted to anything happening in the Astral Diner. It is yet unclear if it was the working of the Others which stopped the SGC self-destruct countdown, or something else after Anubis' removal by Oma. (SG1: "Reckoning, Part 1", "Reckoning, Part 2", "Threads")

Alternate realities[]

Alternate timelines[]

  • Though Anubis never appeared in an alternate timeline, it can still be assumed that Ba'al somehow defeated him because he gained possession of Anubis' mothership and halted the latter's rise to power. One possible conclusion is that Ba'al, knowing the future events to come, found a way to kill Anubis before he could meet Oma Desala and ascend. (Stargate: Continuum)

Personality[]

Ruthless and unforgiving to the point that even other System Lords regarded his crimes as monstrous, Anubis was determined to gain control of the entire galaxy at any price. He expected very high loyalty and success from his warriors, ordering the execution of anyone who had failed him, including his own Jaffa troops, as a warning that failure would not be tolerated.

Unlike his fellow Goa'uld, Anubis was much quieter and more reserved. He was still prone to the usual Goa'uld megalomania, but took decisive action rather than flaunt his power and alleged godhood to intimidate his enemies. However, this trait greatly changed after he lost his form, as Anubis abandoned pretense and proclaimed himself to be a true god, and declared his power in dramatic speeches notable even among the melodramatic Goa'uld.

He also had a habit of double-crossing his enemies, and going back on his word at his own pleasure. This is seen in his promising Daniel Jackson that he would spare Abydos in exchange for the Eye of Ra, but once Anubis had his prize, he destroyed the planet anyway

He was highly intelligent and manipulative, as he was able to deceive Oma Desala into believing that he was worthy of Ascension. Even after being forced down from the Ascended plane, he was capable of using and understanding incredibly advanced technology, including that of the Ancients and Asgard. However, this may have been partly due to his access to Ancient knowledge.

Powers and abilities[]

While Anubis apparently always was a Goa'uld of unparalleled evil and malice, even among his maniacal kin, his brush with Ascension left him with a number of powerful advantages over normal Goa'uld, or other flesh-and-blood beings for that matter. These include:

  • Cosmic knowledge (partial): Anubis clearly possesses at least a part of the universal knowledge held by full ascended beings. It is implied that much of this wealth of information lies in understanding the knowledge, and it is debatable to what extent Anubis understands the "mysteries of the cosmos" that Ascension brings. His half-ascended status or active intervention by the Others might limit his knowledge significantly, and his evil nature might well render him unable to appreciate much of the universal insight typically exhibited by the Ascended. Furthermore, as part of the Others' terms, Anubis is prohibited from using any Ascended knowledge that would be inaccessible to a normal Goa'uld, Nevertheless, he still shows knowledge of obscure locations, events, etc. that was likely gleaned from the "universal pool" of information accessible to Ascended beings.
  • Advanced technology mastery: As part of the Ascended knowledge he possessed Anubis can create, recreate, or at least operate technologies significantly more advanced than those commonly used by the Goa'uld, sometimes rivalling Asgard technology. Many of these technologies appear to have originated with the Ancients prior to their Ascension (e.g. Anubis' copy of the Telchak device, his knowledge of the Dakara device, the Ancient gate destroyer, the Eyes of the Goa'uld superweapon, how to use Stargates fpr system-wide simultaneous dialling, etc.). However, Anubis does not seem to have full access to even the Ancients' pre-Ascension technology, to say nothing of the hyper-advanced technologies available to Ascended beings, as he does not seem capable of recreating the Stargate Destroyer after Rya'c destroys the original, and he apparently needed to probe Thor's mind for the Asgard long-range hologram technology.
  • Indestructibility: While the Mask of Anubis, the physical shell that confines Anubis' incorporeal form, can evidently be destroyed, like any other piece of technology, and while any human hosts he takes do not exhibit any enhanced durability (in fact, they waste away quickly due to possession by Anubis' unstable energy form), his immaterial essence does not seem susceptible to physical damage. He survives the destruction of his mothership and being deep-frozen in a seriously damaged host body with little ill effect. Even Oma's full Ascended powers are apparently not enough to decohere Anubis' energy-based semi-ascended form.
  • Energy projection (constrained): In principle, Anubis possesses at least a share of the energy projection and manipulation abilities common to Ascended beings; however, he is strictly forbidden, on pain of the Others' reprisal, from using any of these powers. There seem to be a small number of exceptions: when the then-ascended Daniel Jackson attacked Anubis (after Anubis reneged on the agreement to spare the planet Abydos in exchange for the Eye of Ra) using some sort of energy projection, Anubis appeared at least partially able to deflect his attack, until Oma Desala intervened against Jackson. Of course, it is possible Anubis was permitted limited use of such powers against other Ascended beings, since both belligerents would be ascended or partly so, and their battle would not count as interference on the lower planes. He also later used what was presumably the full extent of his energy projection powers to fight Oma after she engages him in eternal battle. However, by this time, he was fully ascended and the earlier terms of his existence were superseded by Oma's initiation of perpetual combat.

Equipment[]

This section requires expansion

Weapons[]

Other equipment[]

Vehicles[]

Appearances[]

Appearances for Anubis

In chronological order:

Notable actions[]

  • Anubis is the only major Goa'uld not to be shown using a Kara kesh.
  • He is the only major antagonist not to be killed other than Adria; both were ascended beings. Oma Desala states that Anubis' half-ascended essence cannot be destroyed, even by a full ascended being. It is unknown whether the collective power of the Others could destroy Anubis (or the ascended Adria, or another individual ascended being). It is also unknown whether Anubis in his unclear state of partial ascension would be vulnerable to the Sangraal, but in any case it seems that the Sangraal's effects impact an area of the size of a galaxy. Therefore, Anubis would likely be safe from it so long as he remained in the Milky Way, or any other galaxy where other ascended beings are present.

Behind the scenes[]

  • David Palffy previously played Sokar in the Stargate SG-1 episodes "Jolinar's Memories" and "The Devil You Know". This led to some confusion among fans when Palffy's name appeared in the credits for "Revelations".
  • Like Marduk before him, it's unknown what Anubis originally looked like (or rather, what his host looked like, if he had a long-term host like most other System Lords) before his ascension.

References[]

Links and navigation[]

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Goa'uld
Goa'uld AmaterasuAnkerAnnaAnubisAnubis' AshrakAnubis' Goa'uld LieutenantApophisAresAthenaBa'alBastetBelusBynarrCamulusCronusDemonEdrekhAdrian Conrad's Goa'uldKianna Cyr's Goa'uldSteven Caldwell's Goa'uldHeru'urImhotepJa'dinKaliKlorelMardukMolocMorriganMotNefertumNerusNirrtiNutOlokunOsirisPelopsQeteshRaRamiusRuaxSeteshSokarSvarogTanithTelchakThothTiamatTilgathWepwawetYu-huang Shang TiZipacnaZirstyr
Goa'uld queens AmaunetAnatAnubis' queenAsherahBadbCleo (Goa'uld)Cronus' QueenDanuEgeriaEphadriaGoa'uld Queen (Core Rulebook)HathorIsisMarasisMatMorgauseMorriganNutPamchadraTaweretXiwangmuZarpani
Goa'uld hosts AdriaApophis' hostAziruSteven CaldwellCanonRuslan ChernovshevAdrian ConradCrossKianna CyrSeth FargoughRichard FlemmingSarah GardnerHebronDaniel JacksonK'tanoCharles KawalskyKendraAnatole KonstantinovLiandraVala Mal DoranCharlotte MayfieldMalcolm McCaffreyRa (Human)Ruax's Unas HostSha'reFrank SimmonsSingerSkaaraSergei VallarinAlexi Vaselov
Goa'uld outposts AbydosAkkadAnubis' WorldApophis' training planetArgosArkhan's worldAsdadChodawwaChulakCo'rakDakaraDelmakDenderaDendredErebusEskalHankaHasara space stationJebannaJunaKhonsu's WorldLangaraMalkshurMedieval planetMemphisNasyaNetuNirrti's planetP2C-257P2X-338P2X-887P3X-042P3X-367P3X-584P4A-771P4S-237P5S-117P6Y-325P8X-412P8X-873PangarParavalPraxyonPX9-757Ra's planetRamius' homeworldTartarus
Goa'uld technology Al'keshArk bombAerial Zat'nik'tel PlatformAnubis' mothershipAnubis' superweaponArchaic Tel'takBattleshipGoa'uld bodiceBreathing filtration systemCanon's ringCheops class warshipCloakCryogenic storage deviceDeath GliderDeath Glider communication systemDeath Glider propulsion systemGoa'uld control consoleGoa'uld GDOGoa'uld force fieldGoa'uld hologramGoa'uld hyperdriveGoa'uld recording deviceGoa'uld sensorGoa'uld shieldGoa'uld grenadeHa'takHara'keshGoa'uld healing deviceGoa'uld homing deviceIncomplete Goa'uld spacecraftIntarInvisibility screenKara keshKor mak braceletKull armorLight Matrix HologramLong range visual communication deviceMa'Tok staffMask of AnubisMind probeNaniteNaquadah bombNeedle ThreaderPage turning devicePlasma chargePlasma repeaterGoa'uld remote controlRecall deviceReconnaissance probeRing remoteRod of AnguishGoa'uld scanning deviceSarcophagusScarab miniature naquadah bombGoa'uld shield generatorShort range communicatorSolar radiation shieldStaff cannonStargate dialerStasis jarTacluchnatagamuntoronTel'takTransphase Eradication RodTransportation ringsTroopshipVo'cume projectorZat'nik'tel
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