A NOT SO ORIGINAL NIBBLY ANALYSIS -- RESEARCH PAPER (what's wrong with me)
When we refer to the Lords in Black, the first ones that catch our eye are either Wiggog Y'wrath or Pokotho, and for good reason. Both serve as open threats not only to the small town of Hatchetfield, but to the whole world. The same can’t be said either for Bliklotep (who targets people that attend Watcher World) or T'noy Karaxis (who tricks whoever the hell he wants). For Nibbly, however, or better yet Nibblenephim, it’s a completely different story.
In this analysis, we’ll cover Nibblenephim’s name, origin, abilities, forms he’s taken, and overall his character’s place in Starkid. We’ll reference parts of Honey Queen (Nightmare Time 2, episode 1) as well. Hence, spoilers for Honey Queen will be spoilered.
To begin, a simple glance at Nibblenephim’s wiki(4) will tell you the basic etymology of his name. Nibble (as in ‘biting something gently and repeatedly’) and nephim “a word that sounds very similar to nephilim”. That’s where we’ll leave the wiki and go to the actual Wikipedia page of Nephilim. (2) There’s been many interpretations of the word ‘nephilim’, which vary to ‘giants’ (which is largely influenced by a greek translation, ‘gigades’, which was used to interpret the meaning of the word to the greek audience, rather than a fateful, direct translation to nephilim) and to ‘the fallen ones’ (a meaning derived from the Hebrew root n-p-l meaning ‘to fall’. Specifically, those who fall in battle.). However, these are all technicalities, because the actual biblical story behind the name is more akin to Nibbly himself.
According to the ‘Book of Enoch’, in Chapter 6, which is the first section of the piece of writing known also with the name of ‘Book of the Watchers’ (sound familiar?) We are introduced to the Watchers, the name of the angels that will fall. (11) The story goes as follows: The Watchers wish to ‘defile’ themselves with the mortal women on the Earth; they are told not to – but end up going anyway and bearing children with them. Those children are referred to as ‘giants’ (Nephilim). They are described as ‘whose height was three thousand ells’. These giants were voracious; they consumed all the crops of men, and when that wasn’t enough, they turned to “birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood”. Both the Watchers and Nephilim were punished under the divine law; the story is a moral lesson to respect such law. (12)
Now this is all fun trivia knowledge, right? The Watchers are a name that Blinky has adopted (The Watcher with a Thousand Eyes) and Nibbly (a giant with insatiable hunger who ends up turning to flesh to satisfy his appetite). The former (Blinky) who is much older than the latter (Nibbly). This is based on the assumption that the fact that the Lords in Black’s names are always in the same order is due to age rather than importance (“When the Lords In Black are named, they are almost always named in the same order: Pokotho, Bliklotep, T'noy Karaxis, Nibblenephim, Wiggog Y'wrath. This occurs in Jane's A Car, Daddy, and Nerdy Prudes Must Die. It is also the order that Willabella Muckwab pulls the dolls out of her bag in "The Witch In The Web” 13). However, we can use this knowledge to explain Nibbly’s part in Honey Queen. A giant who needs to feed once every year if given the flesh to be summoned, to not consume the whole of Hatchetfield, Michigan (and perhaps the world? But that might be a stretch). If fed, he can grant you whatever you desire most. This is the bare bones explanation.
Abilities
We do know that Nibbly is powerful enough to not only use a vessel which he’s made himself using foreign materials aka the pigs’ carcasses (Pokey uses Otho who was made by Charles, Blinky a mascot which was made by his people, Wiggly using the dolls which were manufactured. None of the above make their vessels independently), but also be able to appear in Hatchetfield once every year without issue (while granting riches and power to those who help him). And for all of that, what does he want? He wants to feed. But why?
The riddle behind Nibbly’s primal motivation is answered in the song ‘The Nibbly Ditty’ sung by Curt Mega, James Tolbert and Dylan Saunders in the roles of the Snigglets. The song describes Nibbly’s main traits: he’s a pig, blind, giant, dangerous, hungry. Most importantly, “he’s an animal at heart,” meaning he cannot be reasoned with. (8) This is confirmed further by the simple fact that Nibbly is the only one of the Lords in Black that doesn’t talk, taunt, or even converse with his victims. The only times we hear him talk are with exclamations of ‘Yum Yum’ or in NPMD in the song ‘The Summoning’. Of which he only speaks of his own wants: ‘Swallow his soul. I wanna lick it!’, “Something tasty”. And nothing too articulate (9). To bring this all to a circle, one lyric answers the question posed above.
You know he gots to eat/
To move his piggy feet/
In the black and white
Nibbly draws his power from eating. I stated above that Nibbly can be summoned to grant those that give him sacrifices whatever they desire. This is confirmed by Roman himself in Honey Queen, as he explains to Linda about the ritual. Of which he states that Nibbly, if given a form to use, will appear. This tells us one thing. It’s not a must for him to be summoned; the cult members choose to do so. This leads me down one road. The relationship between the cult and Nibbly is a transactional one. This is the sick part. The cult chooses to sacrifice a woman every year since 1945 so they can get something out of it. And in turn, Nibbly gets power to do his bidding in the Black and White. Roman even calls it a ‘tradition’!
This means it wouldn’t be a stretch to think that Hatchetfield used Nibbly to flourish their land for the Honey Festival to exist at first. And Nibbly, as a neutral, malevolent cosmic entity, requests a sacrifice to make such a thing happen. With time, it became a way to get power and wealth.
-To what extent did Nibbly affect Linda and Zoey?
According to Roman Murray, the sacrifices reserved for Nibbly have one requirement – they have to have the utmost desire to do what they wish. Even if that means turning to violence to achieve it. From that account, it tells us that it’d make little sense for Nibbly to have a direct hand in manipulating his candidate’s determination. Why would he? That would spoil his meal after all! This leaves the implication that Linda’s and Zoey’s actions were purely their choices. Another reason that makes me believe it is so is the fact that “Originally, the episode was supposed to pit Becky and Linda against each other, but the Langs decided Becky would be too nice to match Linda's competitive spirit” (14). If it all boiled down to Nibbly having a direct hand in their behaviours, it’d make little sense to pick Linda’s opponent based on whether their character would align with the actions Zoey takes in Honey Queen.
However, there is room for doubt that Nibbly was completely passive throughout the events of Honey Queen. That’s where I’d like us to look at the music video and the lyrics of Queen B sung by Linda Monroe, who was played by the wonderful Lauren Lopez (7).
Let’s start with the visuals of Queen B’s music video. There are three sets that the song cuts to clips of throughout the song. A black and white backdrop with Linda wearing a crown, a pink backdrop with neon pink guns arranged behind her circularly with Linda wearing baby blue to contrast the pink, and a crimson couch with plants behind it with Linda wearing a fur coat, a black hat, and tinted sunglasses. (I swear this is relevant).
The obvious nod that hints that the Lords in Black are watching Linda (or even having a slight influence on her) is the black and white backdrop, which references, of course, the Black and White, the realm in which the Lords in Black reign (15). This, in turn, is with the crown that shows the power Linda wishes she had – much like Wiggly, who had a fake crown on his head in his human form in NPMD. In addition, you’d notice the pink guns are made to be interpreted either as a spotlight, a sun – or for me, I’d call it a halo. Linda’s sense of importance is heightened, and her leaning onto violence with literal guns across the whole scene only makes it more obvious that her sense of self is being corrupted. Perhaps by a little voice in her head that doesn’t belong to her? I think that’s the case. Let me explain.
Let’s talk lyrics. These phrases jump out to me:
queen of all the chaos/You thirsty? No mercy/Ruler of the Earth and its core
These key phrases summarise the whole song; it’s basically Linda establishing herself as the only possible candidate as Honey Queen. She’s unrelenting in her plans, thirsty to succeed, and most of all the ultimate queen. By the lyrics, you can connect Nibbly to the sheer ‘hunger’ Linda expresses in the song (6). However, my theory stems from the music and vocals of ‘Queen B’ rather than the lyrics themselves, which could be interpreted as Linda’s character rather than Nibbly being present.
!CAUTION THAT THIS SEGMENT IS FULLY MY OPINION AND THEORIES (aka there's always the technical explanation of the song needing back vocals that’s obv the case, but it’s fine to nitpick KAY?)!
The lyrics in bold are the ones that I picked up on having a male backup singer (who is, of course, Jeff Blim, the songwriter of Queen b).
The music mainly in the chorus slows down as we get a glimpse of Linda’s overall mindset, of her convincing herself that she’s, key word, deserving. This accounts for her narcissism, which we see in Black Friday in the song Adore Me, which is also referenced in the lyrics “Queen of all you love and adore,” where she insists she deserves adoration and recognition.
I don’t have much of a musical ear, so I can’t really claim what the instrumental conveys (someone who can, I’d love to hear it). But the way the music ‘drags’ and loops feels sort of like time itself is being slowed down; it unsettles in a way that feels foreign (It reminds me a tiny bit of the instrumental at the start of ‘The Summoning’ and just a bit of ‘Time Bastard ’, though less so). My little theory is that when the music slows down, we see the effect of Nibbly on Linda, and perhaps the voice in her head that is amplifying her ego in order for her to turn to violence. Linda usually just paid people off to get what she wanted; the violence she resorts to should be out of character, shouldn’t it? Let’s see the bolded lyrics:
You thirsty? No mercy
I'm the
Deserving, unforgiving
I'm the
Succeeding, unrelenting
I'm the
Queen biatch, queen of all the chaos
Queen of all you love and adore
Top monarch, OG oligarch
Ruler of the Earth and its core, yeah
You thirsty? No Mercy
I'm the
Deserving, unforgiving
I'm the
Succeeding, unrelenting
I'm the
Upper class bee you've been looking for
Too much buzz around to ignore
I'm the
Queen biatch, queen of all the chaos
Queen of all you love and adore
Top monarch, OG oligarch
Ruler of the Earth and its core
Queen biatch, queen of all the chaos
Queen of all you love and adore
Top monarch, OG oligarch
Ruler of the Earth
Ruler of the Earth
Notice that the words that the male voice is singing along with Linda are the phrases and adjectives that raise her sense of self-importance? Much like Wilbur did in his little speech on Linda deserving adoration to convince her to join Wiggly. The references to her being a queen and ruler are repeated as well. Queen of chaos and ruler of the earth and its core. Could this also reference the Black and White? I think so. Notice also that the male voice drowns out in the instrumental, almost as if we’re not meant to hear him. We need to believe that Linda is saying all of these purely out of her own narcissism. No one can deny that these are her actual thoughts, but the voice is also trying to amplify her frustration that she’s being ‘bested’. And it’s working.
Let’s finish this analysis of Nibbly by discussing the forms in which he chooses to appear.
NIBBLY’S FORMS
In both his doll form and true form, Nibbly has a wide mouth with human teeth, whilst being a pig (doll form), or a collection of pigs’ carcasses (true form). And a blind one at that. Why?
The simple explanation is that Nibbly is the personification of gluttony, and so who is stereotypically known for eating whatever rubbish they can get their grubby hands on? Pigs. The plus is that pigs are also used in grotesque ways in horror, ex. the pig mask in Saw, pig’s blood thrown on Carrie. Or generally depicted with an emphasis on their ability to eat human flesh (*16, p.182). These depictions may be rooted in the uncanny similarities between man and pig. Both are intelligent, omnivorous and notably ‘early cannibals noted that pig flesh tastes similar to human flesh’ (*16, p.149) Lastly, pigs and men are anthropologically close, which we can see from how in medieval times medical schools would learn anatomy by dissecting pigs since it was forbidden to do so on human corpses by the Church (10).
This all could lead to pigs being thought of as ‘creepy’ and ‘unsettling’, with the result being pigs being used more in horror fiction than other farm animals (except for goats, which could be the main topic of a separate discussion). This also means that pigs are more dehumanised than other farm animals (If you’d like to read more upon this fact I recommend taking a look at *16. It’s fascinating.)
Though I think it also has to do with how pigs are historically recognised as ‘unholy’. Specifically, in medieval times, Christianity rejected the pig, due to its main attributes being “its black color (in the Middle Ages, pigs had not yet been crossed with the pink race from Asia); its open mouth, like the abyss of hell; and its poor visual acuity, which did not allow it to see God, who is light.” (10) That last phrase I find interesting because, notably, Nibbly is blind. We could interpret it through a religious lens, which is possible. For me, though, I’d like us to consider that this attribute more so supports the themes that surround Nibbly’s character. To summarise, raw hunger to do something makes the person blind to the consequences of their actions. Making Nibbly blind might be an homage to that fact. The personification of desire is physically unable to see. Which is why Nibbly cannot be reasoned with. Usually when one comes face to face with their actions, it pulls at their heartstrings, and they may stop. But if someone literally is unable to do so, how would they?
Nibbly’s characterisation is further supported in his depiction in NPMD.
NPMD
Nibbly makes an appearance in Nerdy Prudes Must Die (NPMD) in the song ‘The Summoning’ where he sings along with the other Lords in Black. He’s portrayed by Kim Whalen. The character is dressed rather femininely, with a pink overall dress, knee-high socks, furry arm warmers (to reference Nibbly’s usual pig form), a light pink tennis hat and pigtails. He’s also holding a comically large lollipop. If they could somehow shrink Kim’s size, I’m sure they would because I'm pretty sure the point for Nibbly’s form is to resemble a toddler. This aligns with the themes that Nibbly’s character represents. Greed and gluttony.
We’ve all seen in cartoons toddlers being depicted with giant lollipops screaming to get what they want. I’d like to think this portrayal is supposed to emphasize Nibbly’s immatureness. A trait that all the Lords in Black share (Wiggly’s petty ‘well, Webby’s a bitch’, Pokey’s stubbornness that only his voice should prevail, Blinky’s mean desire to watch violence and have people fear him, Tinky’s trickiness, and of course Nibbly’s hunger. All the Lords in black are immature in their own way, some less than others.)
To summarize, based on Nibblenephim’s name, we learned that Blinky is closely related to Nibbly compared to the other brothers. And that Nibbly resembles a cannibalistic giant. His cult chooses to summon him every year for their wishes to be granted, and in turn he demands a sacrifice so he can gain his power to rule in the Black and White. It doesn’t benefit him to dictate Linda’s behaviour, but it’s not impossible that he’s amplifying and feeding her what she wants to hear. He’s not intelligent and cannot be reasoned with due to that fact. He chooses the forms of a pig and a toddler because they both share the hunger and stubbornness he possesses. Last but not least, he’s blind to emphasize the fact that desire is blind to the harm it causes to achieve what it wants. However, it doesn’t negate the fact that he’s very much powerful, maybe even more so than some of his brothers. But that’s up for debate.
And with that, this is the end of my analysis on Nibbly. Which comes down to 3.000 words, damn. The initial plan had been for me to analyse Honey Queen as a whole (having gathered sources and figured out what I’ll be discussing). But, I decided I’ll only do that if I find the energy to do so lmao (or if some want to hear me rant again).
END DISCUSSION:
This analysis was plenty of fun, but it also took me a week to finish (three of those in which my laptop literally broke apart and was sent off to be repaired, wtf Nibbly?) Anyhow, I have a little bibliography of my sources.
Notably, 1* was not used in my essay since I found nowhere I could fit it in. However, I recommend you read it since Hatchetfield lore is heavily inspired by Lovecraft and the paper discusses real life cults that referenced his fictional books. A topic which I find fascinating.
Thanks for reading! (if you have. who the hell will read this, it's literally ten pages long. I mostly did it for myself tbh, but I decided to upload it to tumblr anyway. if you actually finished this you deserve a reward *insert golden medal*) Feel free to discuss thoughts and prove me wrong lol.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Engle, J. (2014). Cults of Lovecraft: The Impact of H.P. Lovecraft’s Fiction on Contemporary Occult Practices. Mythlore, 33(1 (125)), 85–98. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26815942
Nephilim, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephilim
Watcher, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watcher_(angel)
https://starkid.fandom.com/wiki/Nibbly#Honey_Queen
https://starkid.fandom.com/wiki/The_Church_of_the_Starry_Children
https://genius.com/Original-starkid-cast-of-nightmare-time-2-honey-queen-lyrics
https://genius.com/Original-starkid-cast-of-nightmare-time-2-queen-b-lyrics
https://genius.com/Original-starkid-cast-of-nightmare-time-2-the-nibbly-ditty-lyrics
https://genius.com/Team-starkid-the-summoning-lyrics
Pigs and religion, why so much hatred? (2023, September 13). archive.is. https://archive.is/6vGsm
https://www.pseudepigrapha.com/pseudepigrapha/enoch1b.htm
https://www.leapaheadapp.com/en/library/books/the-book-of-enoch
https://starkid.fandom.com/wiki/Lords_in_Black
https://starkid.fandom.com/wiki/Honey_Queen
https://starkid.fandom.com/wiki/The_Black_and_White
https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/788f5a38-7249-48bd-98c6-28f195791ca1/content
