Nina Williams

Origin

Nina Williams is an Irish assassin, characterized by her mysteriousness and cold-blooded attitude. She is ruthlessly efficient when she needs to be, but also has a strong moral and ethical center guiding her actions. She was born and raised in Ireland, alongside her sister Anna Williams, whom she grew to have a fierce and aggressive sibling rivalry with. Both Nina and Anna were introduced to the world of martial arts and fighting from an early age, their father Richard Williams training and teaching them young in various forms of martial arts based around assassination and lethality. Their mother helped them to develop Aikido. Nina’s cold stoic personality was further fostered during an incident where she was drugged and abducted by an underground and mysterious group and conditioned to become the perfect assassin. This was also during their youth.

Nina and Anna’s competitive rivalry grew and developed as both sisters did and vying for their father’s respect and approval was a reoccurring theme. Their profession and occupations also meant that invariably both would find opposition with each other in the workplace as well, with occasions where Nina would be hired to assassinate the very person that Anna would be hired to keep safe and alive, Kazuya Mishima being one such example. However sometime before both women participated in the second King of the Iron Fist tournament, their father passed away, leaving somewhat of a gap in both fighter’s lives.

Furthermore, after the events of the second Iron Fist tournament unfolded, both Nina and her sister were put into Cryogenic Sleep, headed up by the brilliant Dr. Boskonovich. In an odd twist, although Nina’s part in the experimental freezing process was involuntary, her sister Anna volunteered her services under the condition that she be awoken when her sister would be.

Both sisters were put into stasis for 15 years while the outside world around them continued to grow and change, but when an ancient and powerful fighting god Ogre made his presence known on Earth both sisters were awoken. Nina experiencing amnesia as a side effect from the cryogenic sleep.

Nina made her first appearance in the Tekken game series and has appeared in every game since. Nina has a fighting style that consists of kick combos, grapples and holds. She has been in her own spin off game Death by Degrees. Nina is portrayed as being cold, emotionless and focused on her missions. She does not smile very often but is humorous when it comes to teasing her sister, Anna. Her cold and stoic personalty could be due to her having a traumatic life, witnessing the murder of her father as a child and the “cryosleep” procedure that made her lose all her memories of her past.

Creation

The character of Nina Williams is first introduced in the popular fighting video game franchise Tekken. Nina debuting in the first incarnation of the game, Tekken released in 1994.

She is a very popular character within the Tekken mythos and is represented in the majority of their Tekken related products, video games and comic books alike. The character of Nina is of irish descent, her own name being an acronym for ‘No Irish Need Apply’ which alludes to anti Irish sentimentality.

Major Story Arcs

Tekken Tatakai No Kanatani

She made an appearance in a 1999 manga comic, which was based on the evens that happened between Tekken 2 and 3. She was shown to be handcuffed in front of Kazuya Mishima and Anna. Anna and Nina then engaged in battle from which Anna seemed to be victorious.

Tekken Saga #1

Nina made a brief cameo in this 1997 comic.

Tekken Forever

Nina made an appearance in this 2001 comic, which was based on the events that happened between Tekken 3 and 4. She appeared in the first issue, before the series was cancelled.

Skills and Abilities

Nina Williams is a gifted and skilled hand to hand fighter. Taught at a very early age a number of martial arts, as she grew, she refined her abilities to best suit her purpose. She mainly utilizes a personalized modified style based in and from the martial art styles Aikido and Koppo.

She is also a trained and seasoned assassin and as such has expertise in various ways of assassination. Her mother was a champion Akido fighter. Nina is also adept at using a wide range of weapons, ranging from guns, combat knives, explosives, swords, and additional weapons.

Characteristics

• Full Name: Nina Williams
• Fighting Style: Assassination Arts based on Aikido and Koppojutsu
• Origin: Ireland
• Height: 5′ 3″
• Weight: 108 lbs
• Hair: Blonde
• Eyes: Blue
• Species: Human
• Age: 20 (TK1) 22 (TK2) 41 (physically 22) (TK3) 43 (physically 24) (TK4-TK7)
• Occupation: Assassin Chief position at the Mishima Zaibatsu (formerly)
• Hobby: Traveling (TK1-TK2) [1] Retracing memories (TK3)
• Family: Richard Williams (Father) Mrs. Williams (Mother) Anna Williams (Sister) Steve Fox (Son)
• Alignment: Neutral/Good Unwillingly Evil (TK3)

Other Media

Video Games

Tekken

Nina entered the King of Iron Fist Tournament 1 to fight Heihachi Mishima, whom she was hired to kill. Nina’s sister also entered the tournament and became a distraction to Nina, due to their sibling rivalry. This resulted in her failing her mission to kill Heihachi and instead he got thrown down a cliff by his son, Kazuya.

Tekken 2

In the second tournament, Nina was hired to kill Kazuya Mishima, but Anna stopped her from completing her mission yet again. Due to her failing her mission, she was captured by Heihaci and was used as a test subject in the “cryosleep” project by Dr. Boskonavitch.

Anna also volunteered to be put in cryosleep, and wanted to be awoke the same time as Nina. Her reasons for this is unknown, but it is believed that she wanted to stay youthful, like her sister and be ready to fight her once awakened.

Tekken 3

19 years after the second tournament, Nina was awoken by Ogre, with no memory of her life before the experiment. During this tournament, Nina was mind controlled by Ogre into killing Jin Kazama, who was Heihachi’s grandson. Anna was also woken from her cryosleep, but regained all her memories, unlike Nina. She worked with Dr. Boskonavitch to help Nina regain her memories but was unsuccessful. However, after taking Nina to her father’s grave, all her hatred for her sister came flooding back. After realising this, Nina removed all contact with Anna.

Tekken 4

Two years later, Nina’s experiments to regain her memory had been finished, and she regained her role as an assassin as it was the only thing she could recall from her previous life. The Mafia Syndicate contracted her to kill Steve Fox, a boxer. As she participated in the tournament, she found out the the person she was sent to kill was her own son, produced by in-vitro fertilisation while she was in cryosleep. At the last moment, Nina abandoned her mission and the police detective, Lei Wulong brought down the syndicate.

Tekken 5

Nina decided that she needed to find out her lost memories, and the only person who could help her was her sister. She meets up with her sister after, but Anna attacks her, and they engage in a gun battle that lasted four days. The two of them decided to meet in the fifth tournament to finish their battle once and for all. They engaged in combat and Nina beat Anna but did not kill her as the fight was not good enough.

Tekken 6

Nina was approached by Jin Kazama, and was asked to become his bodyguard. Nina accepted and entered the sixth tournament to eliminate any threats to Jin Kazama. Anna also entered the tournament and became Kazuya Mishima bodyguard, knowing that she will face Nina in the tournament.

Death By Degrees

Nina starred in her own spin-off game in 2005. In the game, she was on a mission that is a joined operation between the CIA and M16. The team she assigned with contained two “sneakers” who were Alan Smithee and John Doe and a “sweeper” which was herself.

They sneak into the Amphtrite and Nina is assigned to enter the fighting tournament on the ship. In the game, there is a back story of Anna and Nina which shows that their father was killed when they were children, which is where their rivalry stemmed from. Nina meets Anna in the game, and she is the final boss that Nina must face.

Street Fighter X Tekken

Nina appears in the cross collaboration gaming projecting, pitting characters from the Street Fighter game franchise against those from the Tekken fighting game franchise. Despite a colored history with Kazuya Mishima, Nina having attempted to assassinate him, the two cold individuals put their differences aside to team up to unlock the secrets of Pandora’s box. Nina always one to keep things professional combined with her cold and indifferent personality and attitude means she has no qualms being hired as an assassin and bodyguard by Kazuya. Nina and Kazuya’s in game rivals are Ken Masters and Ryu from Street Fighter.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (2012)

Nina appears in the non-canonical sequel to Tekken Tag Tournament.

Movies

Animated

Tekken: The Motion Picture (1998)

Tekken The Motion Picture is an animated movie released in 1998. Nina features in the movie in an important role. Nina is hired Lee Chaolan to assassinate Kazuya Mishima, but her first assassination is less than successful.

Kayuza escapes with his life and Nina’s second assassination attempt on him was thwarted by Jun Kazama. Nina has encounters with her usual nemesis and sister Anna during the movie, having several violent physical encounters with her. Nina is voiced by Ellie McBride.

Live Action

Tekken (2010)

Nina appears in the 2010 movie Tekken and is played by Candice Hillebrand. Unlike the games, she is no relation to Steve Fox and is on good terms with her sister. Her and her sister Anna work as assassins hired by Kazuya in order to eliminate his son Jin Kazama.

Nina is defeated by Christie Monteiro in the later stages of the tournament after Christie learns that it was Nina and her sister Anna that attempted to assassinate Jin.

Tekken: Blood Vengeance (2011)

Tekken Blood Vengeance released in 2011 is a computer animated movie, featuring a number of iconic Tekken characters in a battle for the M Gene. Nina Williams works for Mishima Zaibatsu headed up by Jin Kazama, her usual nemesis her sister Anna Williams works for G Corporation headed by Kazuya Mishma.

Anna has set a trap for Nina, and the two engage in a physical battle. The two make sporadic appearances throughout the movie both trying to aid their benefactors. Nina is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka in the movie’s Japanese release and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in the English version.