History
Taj Nital was a member of Quincy Harker's group of vampire hunters. He left his family after an attack by Vampires led by Vlad Dracula. Even though he was saved by the intervention of Rachel Van Helsing, the attack left him with his throat mutilated and mute, his wife Jyota in a wheelchair and his son Adri infected with vampirism.[1] After five years of absence, his wife wrote him a letter, calling him back to Jaipur,[2] because the local villagers were afraid of their son and wanted to kill him.[3] He reconciled with his wife, but was unable to stop a mob of angry villagers from killing Adri.[4] He then wrote Rachel a farewell letter, leaving their group.[5]
Attributes
Powers
Vampirism: Taj Nital is a vampire and possesses all of the various superhuman attributes commonly associated with vampires:
- Superhuman Strength: Like all vampires, Taj Nital is superhumanly strong and possesses about 10 times the strength he possessed as a human, allowing him to lift about 1 ton.
- Superhuman Speed: Taj Nital can run and move at speeds that are beyond the physical limits of the finest human athlete.
- Superhuman Stamina: Taj Nital's musculature produces less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of a normal human. He can physically exert himself at peak capacity for a period of several hours before the build up of fatigue toxins in his blood begins to impair him.
- Superhuman Agility: Taj Nital's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.
- Superhumanly Acute Senses: Taj Nital's senses of sight, smell, and hearing are enhanced to superhuman levels. Taj Nital, like all vampires, has exceptional night vision and can see with perfect clarity in near-total darkness. He can also detect sounds that ordinary humans can't, even at great distances. His sense of smell is also acute enough to detect the scent of blood in the air, which he can use to track and injured opponent if necessary.
- Regenerative Healing Factor: Like all vampires, Taj Nital can rapidly regenerate damaged or destroyed bodily tissues faster and more efficiently than an ordinary human. Taj Nital can regenerate from multiple bullet wounds, knife wounds, or severe body wide burns within a matter of hours. However, he isn't able to regenerate missing limbs or organs.
- Immortality: Though Taj Nital isn't technically alive, he is functionally immortal for all intents and purposes. Since he isn't alive, he is immune to the effects of all known Earthly diseases and infections. As long as he feeds on fresh blood on a regular basis, King's aging process is completely halted as well.
- Shapeshifting: Taj Nital, like all vampires, possesses a limited shapeshifting ability and can transform into a bat, a wolf, or as a gaseous mist. He retains his full intelligence in these forms and typically uses them for the purpose of traveling faster than he can while in his human form.
- Weather Manipulation: Taj Nital, like all vampires, possess the ability to greatly manipulate the weather over a limited area, such as creating immensely powerful thunderstorms. However, manipulating the weather in such a way leaves him physically and mentally drained for an extended period of time.
- Hypnotism and Mind Control: Like all vampires, Taj Nital has the ability to hypnotise most beings just by making eye contact with them for a few seconds. While under his influence, he can force people to do his bidding, though beings of great will power can resist him. Taj Nital can also mentally control other vampires that he himself has created, or rather he could if he ever did sire other vampires.
Abilities
Taj Nital was highly trained in hand-to-hand as well as weapons combat.
Weaknesses
Taj Nital possesses all of the typical vulnerabilities common to vampires:
- Blood: The most basic and well known weakness of Taj Nital, or any other vampire, is the need to regularly ingest blood in order to maintain physical vitality and a youthful appearance. However, Jamal Afari restricts himself by refusing to feed upon the living. If he were go to for a long period of time without feeding, Taj Nital will steadily weaken until he eventually suffers a kind of second death.
- Religious Icons: Taj Nital can be affected by being exposed to religious icons, such as a Christian crucifix or the Jewish Star of David. The size of the icons is irrelevant, but the faith of the one holding the icon that can cause extreme levels of fear. If he is touched by one of these icons, he will suffer severe burns that will take much longer to heal than ordinary burns.
- Wooden Stake: Taj Nital can also be killed by having a wooden stake driven through his heart. For some unknown reason, the stake prevents the various mystical energies that empower a vampire from circulating through his body. However, removal of the stake from Taj Nital will result in his immediate return to life.
- Silver: Like all vampires, Taj Nital is particularly vulnerable to objects or weaponry composed of silver. If he is stabbed through the heart with a silver stake or blade, he will die in much the same way as if he were stabbed with a wooden stake. If he sustains injury from a silver weapon or object, his recovery time from the injury will be much longer than healing from an injury sustained from a weapon composed of more conventional materials.
- Sunlight: During the daylight hours, Taj Nital falls into a dormant, comatose, death-like state and will remain that way until sunset. However, if he were to be exposed to direct sunlight, his body will be incinerated within a matter of seconds
- Native Soil: Taj Nital, like all vampires, must line his coffin or sleeping area with soil taken from the land of his birth. Otherwise, he isn't able to travel more than 100 miles from the place of his birth.
See Also
- 25 appearance(s) of Taj Nital (Earth-616)
- 2 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Taj Nital (Earth-616)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Taj Nital (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) of Taj Nital (Earth-616)
- 4 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Taj Nital (Earth-616)
- 5 image(s) of Taj Nital (Earth-616)