Khan Maykr

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The Khan Maykr.

The Khan Maykr, or the Supreme Maker, is the leader of the Maykrs, a race of angelic beings. The Khan Maykr serves as the main antagonist in Doom Eternal, having ordered the Hell priests to organize the invasion of Earth as part of an ongoing plot to keep her world of Urdak alive.

"For millennia, we have survived. Made others sacrifice in the name of our prosperity, so that they may in turn find redemption. Who are you—a human, once a mortal—to defy our traditions?"
― Khan Maykr to the Doom Slayer

Appearance[edit]

The Khan Maykr towers above the Doom Slayer.

The Khan Maykr stands at an enormous height, with porcelain-white armor that makes her appear regal and angelic, and her face almost human. However, with her armor removed, she looks vile and demonic. She appears most often in the form of holograms projected to the Doom Slayer during various points in the game, attempting to coerce him into joining her side.

Tactical analysis[edit]

The Khan Maykr's shield protects her from all damage, but sustained weapon fire can temporarily disrupt the shield. The shield regenerates over time, so the player must not allow too much time to pass between attacks. The Rocket Launcher's Lock-On is an effective countermeasure, as she does not dodge frequently enough to avoid a full three-rocket burst.

However, even after the shield is down normal attacks will not harm her - only a blood punch can inflict damage. As she will still be in the air, the meathook is ideal for pulling the player close enough to the Khan Maykr for the blood punch to connect. When her shield integrity is low, grappling her with the meathook, blasting her with the super shotgun, and then blood punching her is an easy way to end a phase.

She has two main forms of ranged attack - a string of slanted yellow projectiles that move quickly, and a large purple orb that travels slowly but deals heavy damage. She can also call down a giant pillar of light from the sky, which will follow the player and leaves a trail of fire as it moves. When her health is low, she will also start generating damaging areas on the floor to limit the player's mobility.

Special red-armored Maykr drones will be summoned throughout the battle. While they can be irritating in large numbers, they can be a helpful source of ammo and health if slain with headshots.

Lore[edit]

Spoiler Warning: Plot details follow.

Under normal circumstances, a new Khan Maykr is birthed from the Singularity, the collective consciousness from which all Maykrs originate, and to which they return upon death, once every 10000 years, evolving each time. This process is said to have functioned flawlessly since the creation of Urdak, until the time of the newest Khan Maykr. The disappearance of the Father from Urdak left the Maykrs unable to create a successor, giving the current Khan an indefinite claim to leadership. It is believed that no Maykr can oppose the Khan's will due to her direct dominance over the neural link between all Maykrs, with the exception of the Seraphim, who served the Father alone.

Due to fear of a painful life cycle event known as the Transfiguration, which occurs before a Maykr dies, the Maykrs sought some means to extend their own lifespan. As part of this effort, the Khan Maykr began to investigate Hell and its energy after making contact with the future Doom Slayer at Sentinel Prime and the demonic invasion that occurred soon after his arrival. She was eventually able to parley with the demons, and the end result was the Nekravol, a massive tower of the damned built in secrecy in Hell through an agreement with the Dark Lord, the Nameless One. This would find Hell, Urdak, and the Argenta Order of the Deag cooperating in an unholy union of Heaven and Hell to refine the souls of Hell's victims into Argent energy on a vast scale. The use of Argent energy solved the Maykrs' lifespan issue, allowing them to become effectively immortal as long as the energy continues to flow.

It is implied that the Khan Maykr previously arranged the demonic invasion of Argent D'Nur, as well as countless other worlds across the Orion–Cygnus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy, where similar religious ideals promoting the divinity and supremacy of beings resembling the Maykrs have been recorded.

After the Doom Slayer destroyed the Well, a powerful source of Argent energy built from the souls of the Elemental Wraiths, the Khan Maykr sought to renew the supply of souls by attacking Earth. As with Argent D'Nur before it, she promised a "cleansing" of the planet, with the few survivors who became believers in the Maykrs being left to live a corrupted life in service of them. When the Doom Slayer stops this plan by destroying the three Hell priests, the Khan continues her plot by resurrecting the Icon of Sin and rescinds her offer to allow a portion of humankind to survive. She attempts to trap the Doom Slayer on the Fortress of Doom by sapping its power, but the Slayer is able to restore operations by using the demonic Crucible.

Rather than submit, the Doom Slayer invades the Nekravol in Hell and rides the beam of Argent energy into Urdak. Destroying the Icon of Sin's heart and interrupting the Maykrs' ritual to control it, the Icon goes out of control, corrupting many Maykr drones and seriously damaging portions of Urdak before taking the portal to Earth. Determined to stop the Slayer and allow the Icon to consume the Earth, the Khan Maykr engages the Slayer in battle before he can leave Urdak.

Upon her defeat, the dying Khan Maykr warns that she believes the Slayer has doomed all of creation to destruction by breaking the holy seal on Urdak, which has allowed the demons to invade it. The life sphere held in her chest then rises into the air and disperses, while an unknown "mysterious voice" (later changed in Update 3 to refer to the Dark Lord but then reverted again in Update 5) screams "No!" The Slayer leaves Urdak in haste, leaving the final fate of the Maykrs and Urdak itself uncertain.

Literary interpretation[edit]

The Khan Maykr's status as the highest-ranking (though not necessarily most powerful) of the Father's servants but with the fatal flaw of pride and a disdain for the human race paints her as a traditional Lucifer-esque villain. With the release of The Ancient Gods, Part One the Khan stands in contrast with the Nameless One, another of the Father's most powerful paragons who also fell to corruption, as well as Samur Maykr's role of a more positive, Luciferian character who uses his subversions to serve the Father's true intentions.

Spoilers end here.

Pre-release[edit]

In the "Gift of Argent Power" lithograph included in the limited edition of Doom Eternal the Khan Maykr is seen exchanging Argent energy with the king of the Night Sentinels. A version of this graphic also occurs in-game, as a mural in Sentinel Prime.

Trivia[edit]

  • Without her mask, it can be seen that the Khan Maykr strongly resembles the MARBFAC2 texture from the classic Doom and Doom II, which according to John Romero was also a design reference for the original arch-vile.
  • With her elongated face, her two pairs of arms, and her lack of legs as she travels by levitation, she also resemble the Mother Demon from Doom 64. Her ability to resurrect the Icon of Sin and give it a suit of armor also echoes the Resurrector's ability to resurrect dead demons in a modified form, stronger than before.
  • The attacks of the Khan Maykr have colors which match those of the Demon Keys. These colors also occur elsewhere throughout the environments of Urdak.
  • Some of her traits, such as a large head, long three-fingered arms and her levitation seem to be based on the urban legend of the Flatwoods monster.
  • In Urdak, there is a massive Maykr body submerged in purple fluid that may be a past Khan Maykr, or perhaps what would have been a future one that was never completed. Hugo Martin eventually confirmed it to be a previous Khan which has undergone Transfiguration.[1]
  • She is voiced by Nika Futterman, who previously played as the voices of Asajj Ventress from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Zagara from StarCraft II.

Gallery[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Bethesda Softworks (26 March 2021). "DOOM Eternal: Hugo Martin's Game Director Playthrough - Ch.10 Urdak + Final Sin." YouTube. Retrieved 4 August 2024.