NILS Statue



The NILS Statue is a giant weaponized statue. It has a distinctly human form, despite humanity having been wiped out thousand of years before Splatoon's events take place.

Commander Tartar, an AI construct created 12,000 years ago by a human professor, attempts to use the statue as a weapon to destroy Inkopolis, Inkling civilization, and life across the world.

Octo Expansion
The NILS Statue is the location of Turf War, the final mission of the Octo Expansion. Agent 8 must completely cover the statue in ink using Marina's hyperbombs to prevent it from charging a large cannon in its mouth. When they succeed, the cannon fires anyway, and Pearl uses the Princess Cannon to intercept its beam and destroy the statue, sinking it. If Agent 8 fails to ink the entire surface or falls into the ocean at any time during the mission, the NILS Statue destroys Inkopolis and players are given the choice to try again or skip the mission.

Shifty Station
The NILS Statue appears in the background of MC.Princess Diaries, the final Shifty Station used for Chaos vs. Order. Here, it is revealed that the statue, now lacking its ink, has partially sunk into the sea, where various jellyfish study it and its destroyed cannon.

Splatoon 3
A destroyed NILS Statue can be seen from Hammerhead Bridge, still partially submerged. However, the researching jellyfish who once were there are now gone.

Trivia

 * The cannon in the mouth of the NILS Statue includes several blenders that resemble the one created by the thangs that Agent 8 and Cap'n Cuttlefish stepped inside.
 * The NILS Statue may be based on depictions of the Greek god Hermes.
 * With its extremely large size and location off the coast of a major city, it may also be a reference to the Statue of Liberty, despite having different facial features and being made of marble rather than copper. If so, it parallels the use of the Statue of Liberty as a representation of a past human civilization seen in the film Planet of the Apes.
 * The NILS Statue might also be a reference to the Greek god of the Sun, Helios.
 * The statue absorbs sunlight, which is the domain of Helios.
 * The Colossus at Rhodes, which the Statue of Liberty is based on, was a depiction of Helios.
 * The cover of Floral Shoppe, the vaporwave album which might have inspired the NILS Statue, features the bust of Helios.
 * The statue may have been included as an element of vaporwave to which the Octo Expansion heavily alludes.
 * If one looks through the glass on the base of the weapon, an Octoball can be seen floating around inside. They can also be seen flying out of the Statue once the Princess Cannon strikes it.
 * It is unclear what "NILS" means or refers to.
 * The term "nil" means zero. This is likely a reference to Tartar's goal to destroy all life.
 * As an acronym, "NILS" may be a reference to the National Institute for Longevity Sciences, a real life institute in Japan that has since been closed down and superceded by the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology.
 * When the NILS statue is defeated, the bar measuring ink coverage reads 888.8 percent, likely nodding to Agent 8 and Octopus in general.
 * There are 8 helicopters hovering around the statue, another reference.