Zanik


 * This is the article about the NPC. For the item of the same name, see Zanik (item).

Zanik is an adventurous and bold cave goblin of the Dorgeshuun tribe who was chosen by Bandos to be his Chosen Commander puppet. Like all Dorgeshuun, she lives in Dorgesh-Kaan, the tribe's subterranean city beneath Misthalin, in the north-eastern part, between the nursery and the Dorgeshuun Council's meeting room. On the top floor are two chests, which can be picked with a lockpick if a player has Thieving level 52. The chests can be opened once every two to three minutes.

Zanik is very skilled with a bone crossbow and has moderate experience with a bone dagger. However, she seems to be unable to perform magic, having failed to learn Wind Strike at the Wizards' Tower. She is a member of the Champions' Guild and a national hero of Dorgesh-Kaan for her indispensable aid in the defeat of Bandos in 169 of the Fifth Age.

Early life
Zanik was born to two cave goblins in the late Fifth Age. Like all infants, she was raised away from her parents, whom she would never know, in the communal nursery, where many nursemaids took care of her. Mernik, the nursery's strict but caring overseer, became a mother-figure to her. When old enough, Zanik went to school, attending the goblin scribe's classes with boredom. Only the lessons of the scientist Oldak would she find more enjoyable. Nevertheless, her favourite activity would become exploring the caves and tunnels around the city, which Dorgeshuun children were taught to be the entirety of the world. At some point, she gained a romantic interest in Dorgan, one of her classmates and friends, with whom she would often go adventuring. In contrast to her fairly timid and prudent friend, Zanik was ruthless and did not step back from a dangerous situation.

Encountering Juna
In her youth, Zanik took Dorgan to explore the quartz crystal cave with beautifully shimmering lights. While looking at the cave's ceiling, Dorgan gave her a necklace as a token of affection and she kissed him. At that moment, however, an underground earthquake suddenly took place, causing Zanik to be buried and trapped by debris as the pair was escaping out of the cave. While Dorgan left to call for help, Zanik reached the end of the tunnel she was trapped in and began to explore. She soon noticed moving creatures of light above a deep chasm before encountering the guardian of the Tears of Guthix, Juna, who warned Zanik not to come closer. The bold goblin became curious of the cave behind Juna and attempted to jump over the snake into the cavern but was easily blocked and nearly swept into the chasm, with Juna remarking that another attempt would end with death.

Even though Zanik was afraid, she pretended not to be and remained until Juna spoke again, intrigued by the fact that Zanik had not left, unlike previous Dorgeshuun explorers. She explained that she was a Guardian of Guthix, guarding the Tears of Guthix for the god of balance. Naturally, Zanik expressed only disbelief, clinging onto the story of how the gods are a legend used to scare the Dorgeshuun children. This upset Juna, who deemed it an act worse than blasphemy for a tribe to not only having defied their god - Bandos - but also deny their existence completely. Juna attempted to made amends, but the snake ordered her to leave, which she did. She was later retrieved by Dorgeshuun guards in the Lumbridge Swamp Caves and taken back to Dorgesh-Kaan, where Mernik and Dorgan were relieved to see her alive, although she lost all romantic interest in the latter when he expressed concern at her wellbeing and asked her to promise never to walk off again, which she refused. Zanik, now curious, wanted to learn more about Juna and the cave behind her. She spoke to the city scribe after class, who gave a brief explanation of how an exploratory division under Ur-golt found Juna, the cave, and the living creatures of light that glide aimlessly around the cavern before being threatened by her and sealing the tunnel, to Zanik's great dismay. The scribe told Zanik not to worry about it, to which she angrily stormed off. Zanik returned to Juna later. Wanting to enter the cave, she proved her worth to Juna as a 'flying Dorgeshuun' by riding a light creature around the cavern after attracting it using the blue gem from Dorgan's necklace and a lantern (in a similar fashion to the exploratory division) and collecting a strange rock sample from a cliff. Juna, impressed by the act, allowed Zanik to access the Tears of Guthix cavern and explained that she would require all future visitors to perform the act, and gave instructions on what to do when collecting tears. The tears were collected and drunk by Zanik, which made her more steady and assured of herself. She also gained an intuitive understanding of where she was.

On her way back to Dorgesh-Kaan, Zanik confronted Ur-lesh, the very old headwoman of the Council, and Oldak, the city's Council-sponsored wizard. Filled with anger, she demanded to know why they had lied to the Dorgeshuun and why they did not want to go return to the surface. Ur-lesh and Oldak told Zanik that there was a great war happening on the surface and wanted to protect their people by remaining underground. The councillor explained that children were denied the truth for their own protection and confirmed Juna's story that the gods were real rather than 'fairy-tale villains'.

Later, Zanik and Juna became friends and exchanged stories and knowledge with each other. Juna's stories of the surface, about the end of the God Wars, and about Guthix inspired Zanik to one day explore the surface and see the vast incredible landscape different from her own. Meanwhile, the Council refused to take the risk of exploring the surface, fearing the wars to still be raging.

Exploring the surface
In 169, a treaty of peace was established between Duke Horacio of Lumbridge and Ur-tag, Ur-lesh's successor as head of the Council, when a cave goblin miner accidentally tunnelled into the basement of Lumbridge Castle and an adventurer helped foil a plot orchestrated by Horacio's advisor Sigmund, a member of the racist, anti-goblin Humans Against Monsters organisation, who was subsequently fired. Zanik's adventurous nature had earnt her a reputation in Dorgesh-Kaan, and as such she was chosen to be the first Dorgeshuun to properly explore the surface as ambassador for the Council of Dorgesh-Kaan, who feared another H.A.M. attack. Around the same time the Dorgeshuun made contact with the surface, Zanik visited Juna and drank from the tears. It was at this point that Bandos himself made use of the opportunity to reclaim the Dorgeshuun for himself by making Zanik his 'Chosen Commander'. This was a goblin whom he had falsely promised to lead the goblins to victory over the world to stop the Battle of the Plain of Mud in the Fourth Age. He manipulated the tears to brand his symbol onto Zanik's forehead, which Juna falsely interpreted as a sign from Guthix, informing Zanik she had a destiny to fulfill, much to the goblin's uncomfort. Later, she met with the adventurer to travel upwards.

Zanik accompanied the adventurer to the surface and the two explored Lumbridge, where Zanik saw the sun for the first time and met the warlike and fairly unintelligent surface goblins as well as humans, not all of whom were as friendly to her as the Duke. During their trip, the two would grow to become good friends. Eventually, she expressed desire to visit the H.A.M. Hideout, located underneath the forest west of the castle, to see the people who had tried to invoke war between Lumbridge and Dorgesh-Kaan. To this end, the adventurer and Zanik disguised themselves as H.A.M. members and infiltrated their base.

The pair broke into the cellar and subdued all the patrolling guards before proceeding to eavesdrop behind the meeting room's door. There, they overheard Sigmund discussing his latest plot with H.A.M.'s leader, Johanhus Ulsbrecht, the deacon, and another high-ranked member. They discovered that Sigmund had made a deal with the dwarves to be supplied with equipment to construct a large drill, which he planned to use to drill upwards from the basement of Seth Groats' farm, thus allowing the River Lum to flood the caves beneath Lumbridge and thus Dorgesh-Kaan itself, annihilating the Dorgeshuun. As Zanik and her companion were about to leave, they were spotted by H.A.M. members. While the human adventurer was merely kicked out of the base, Zanik was beaten to death and her body unceremoniously dumped outside.

Discovering her destiny
When the shocked adventurer discovered Zanik's dead body, they noticed the mark on her forehead was glowing, and as such took her to Juna. The snake was stupefied to hear of Zanik's premature death, stating that her destiny hsd not been fulfilled. She proceeded to medidate, allegedly communicating with Guthix, unaware of the fact she was being manipulated by Bandos. She concluded from the war god's words that Zanik's death would be reversed and allowed the adventurer to collect tears for her. Upon being exposed to the tears, Bandos resurrected his Chosen Commander and Zanik's life was returned to her. She then revealed Sigmund's plot to her friend, who had not been able to hear it properly, and the two headed to the watermill.

Abduction by Bandos
In the Land of the Goblins quest, Grubfoot speaks of "Goblin legend. Hopespear, long ago goblin, he have dream. He say some day Chosen Commander come, lead all goblins to new age. Most goblins, they think Chosen Commander lead goblins to war and fight other races. But I think maybe not. I have dreams that Zanik is Chosen Commander. Before you visit Goblin Village I dream about Zanik. And now, last night I have new dream. I have dream of far-off land. It like no land I ever see, but somehow I know it. It cool and wet. Ground is soft, big plants everywhere, red water bubbling. I see goblins, many goblins. Goblins of all tribes, but they not fight. They have no weapons. They live in peace. Then I see Chosen Commander. She stand at entrance to new land. She show way in. She lead all goblins on long journey to new land. I never see land before. I see it only in dream. But somehow I know what it is. It Yu'biusk, Land of the Goblins." She travels to Yu'biusk, the abandoned home plane of the goblins, through a fairy ring. However, she is absorbed by a strange box while exploring, and is stuck there due to the portal's closure. If the player uses the Fairy Ring system to return to Yu'biusk, the box is shut and cannot be opened.

Possession and defiance
Zanik escapes from Bandos' throne room in Yu'biusk where she was taken by the strange box, with the help of Bandos' pendant, and arrives back in Dorgesh-Kaan just in time to help the player take down a H.A.M. spy who has been poisoning the goblin children. Zanik storms out of a council meeting when they decide not to execute the spy. She shoots the spy with her crossbow, killing him, as the spy is being escorted back to the surface, and runs away into the caves. After a little heart-to-heart with the player she is convinced to go back to Dorgesh-Kaan, and is sentenced to exile.

In exile, now under full control of the Pendant, she goes to the Goblin Temple under the Plain of Mud. Many of the goblins, including their High Priest, gather around her, seeing that she is the Chosen Commander of Bandos. They march on a base the militant wing of H.A.M. have set up in the basement of a windmill north of Ardougne. There she meets the player breaking Grubfoot out of the base. She chops off Sigmund's hand so his Ring of Life can't save him and kills him mercilessly with what looks like a poisoned Bone dagger. She then attacks the player, having stated that all humans must die, and is defeated repeatedly. Every time she reaches zero life points the power of the pendant regenerates her to full life. Eventually the player convinces her to remove the pendant. The High Priest, the sole survivor from the H.A.M. vs Goblin battle below, picks up the pendant. Bandos takes over him and he flees, shattering the teleblock glyphs placed in the base.

Zanik and the player then teleport together using a Dorgesh-kaan sphere, but it malfunctions and they find themselves in an odd cave. Escaping from the cave, they find themselves in Juna's presence. Juna tells Zanik to fulfil her destiny and not to defy the gods. After deciding she controls her own destiny and hearing about the great danger Dorgesh-Kaan is in, the pair head back to the city.

Upon their arrival, Zanik and the player learn that Bandos Avatar stormed through the city and left a large obelisk in the middle of the market. The markings on the obelisk are translated by the Goblin scribe. It warns them that Bandos is enraged with the cave goblins and intends to wipe them out unless they become his followers.

After the player runs a few errands for a few goblins in need Oldak modifies Zanik's Crossbow to have a Special Attack that can disrupt magic from the gods. Zanik and the player step into the portal to Bandos' throne room.

After weakening the avatar the first time Zanik tries to shoot it with her crossbow special attack, but it is knocked out of her hands, Oldak's modifications breaking off. The player has to leave her to fight the avatar on her own to retrieve the crossbow. Zanik is knocked unconscious by the avatar, but the player eventually defeats it, using the crossbow to stop it regenerating.

Zanik wakes up and it is then revealed that the mark of Bandos on her forehead has vanished. She smashes the pendant on the floor and they return through the portal to Dorgesh-Kaan. Zanik is now free to forge her own destiny, and the Dorgesh-Kaan council build a statue to honour the player and Zanik for their bravery.

After the Goblin quests
After The Chosen Commander, Zanik can be found in various locations around RuneScape, including:
 * Oo'glog
 * Draynor Village (In the Wise Old Man's house).
 * Champion's Guild
 * Gamers' Grotto
 * Ranging Guild
 * TzHaar City
 * Wizard's Tower
 * Her home in Dorgesh-Kaan
 * Oldak's lab in Dorgesh-Kaan
 * Ice Mountain
 * Goblin Village

Postbag from the Hedge
In Postbag from the Hedge issue 40, Zanik wrote about her adventures at sea, pirates and seeing a strange "sea monster". A few days later, the quest Hunt for Red Raktuber was released, and it is assumed that the "sea monster" that Zanik saw was in fact the periscope of the penguin's Submarine, the Red Raktuber.

Examines

 * She has a mark on her head.
 * A goblin adventurer.
 * An eager cave goblin on her first trip to the surface.
 * Hopefully she'll pass as a short, hunched HAM member.
 * Alas, poor Zanik.
 * She's kicking HAM butt!
 * A goblin fighting for her city.
 * A heroic cave goblin joining you for another adventure!
 * The Chosen Commander?
 * Putting up a fight!
 * Zanik is tied up on the train tracks.
 * Hero of the cave goblins.
 * Her footing looks unstable.
 * Back from the dead... again?
 * A cave-goblin sniper!
 * She looks badly hurt.
 * The Chosen Commander.
 * No longer the chosen commander.
 * A cave-goblin adventurer.
 * The famous cave-goblin adventurer.

Trivia

 * Zanik has the highest amount of examine phrases of anything in the game, with a total of at least 19.
 * In the ninth Postbag from the Hedge, the Chaos Elemental states: "she is reborn, the chosen one!", possibly referring to when Zanik is revived in the quest Death to the Dorgeshuun.
 * If you examined Zanik while fighting Sigmund and his guards, the text was "She's kicking HAM ass!". This was odd considering 'ass' was filtered out at the time. Now, ass is not filtered, but the examine text has been changed to "A goblin fighting for her city."
 * The word Zanik has various meanings in different languages.
 * In Dutch her name means nag (with the infinitive being zaniken).
 * In Polish it means atrophy and/or disappearance.
 * In Czech it means death, destruction and/or extinction. Arguably more fitting translations that the former, although it is not clear if this was intended by Mod John A.
 * Mod John A stated in a Q&A on 23 July 2010 what the inspiration behind Zanik was:
 * "One was the character Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica (the new version, where Starbuck is a girl)."
 * "Another is the song 'Us' by Regina Spektor--that's always how I've imagined Zanik's voice to sound, even though obviously you never hear it in-game."
 * "There are lots and lots of other things that inspired the character, though, and a lot of the creative process is subconscious so I don't even know myself."
 * Zanik was first mentioned, although not by name, in the fourth Postbag from the Hedge, where Ur-tag says "There are only a few cave goblins who have ever interested [Juna], and only one who is living now, but she has expressed interest in visiting the surface so perhaps someday you will meet her."
 * Zanik's TzHaar name is "JaYlt-Xil-Zanik", which means that she's a hunter or fighter.