Enki Ankarian

Enki Ankarian is a playable character and a potential party member in Fear & Hunger. A dark priest that bears no burden on such things as morality and ethics, Enki has an edge in blood magic. However, devoting himself to magic has left his physical body weak.

Lore
"'One of the more notorious dark priests of the modern age. We would not be surprised if he was to rise and become the new enlightened one.' - New Gods when asked about Enki."

The Dark Priest, known as Enki in-game, was raised in a temple (or in a dark well, depending on his entry). He leaves this place to pursue studies in alchemy, magic, and the older Gods, becoming well-known for his contributions. Enki decides to sacrifice himself at some point, but when he's on the sacrificial statue, he sees a vision of a man that convinces him to come to the dungeons. He's looking for the artefact and to take some of the knowledge and power of the dungeon for himself.

Enki is found reading each time he's encountered: in the level 1 library, in the chamber by the level 7 ritual circle, and when he leaves the party to read in the grand library in the ancient city. He affirms the value of this place as a source of knowledge and power when spoken to, and generally arrogant and dismissive of the player for not knowing.

Recruiting
Note that after you reach the grand library, he will leave your party to read but he will return after you solve the mannequin's puzzle before the fight with Valteil.
 * 1) Find him reading in the library and proceed to talk a little to him (emphasis on "little", Enki will get angered if the player continues to talk).
 * 2) Obtain the Eclipse Talisman.
 * 3) Continue your journey until you reach the library in Le'garde's level.
 * 4) Talk to him and refuse to give him the talisman.
 * 5) Accept his services.

If not recruited after getting the talisman Enki can be found at level 7 ritual circle as The Abominable Marriage. (Supposedly fused with two Ghouls) He can be fought but due to a bug he instantly dies upon entering battle.

Attributes
Enki starts the game with a short sword (+10 Attack) and high priest's robe (+5 Defense) equipped. He has the enlightened soul and starts with the Counter-magic spell, which can disrupt various types of lesser magic. He can later learn Greater Blood Magic'', which allows him to use some upgraded versions of blood magic spells.

Every character can learn magic, but Enki's introduction allows him to start with several different powerful spells. The player's reaction to Enki's ceremonial duel in the introduction determines what spells he starts with.
 * "Strike your dagger to her spine while she walks away": You learn Necromancy trick. This spell allows him to raise skeletons and ghouls from the dead.

The choice to accept defeat then gives Enki another set of choices: Regardless of which option the player chose for the duel, the player then selects one of the four deities with whom they will have maximum affinity from the start: "You decided to stock up before your travels": He has access to very powerful magic, but sub-par melee ability; they start with relatively poor equipment, and cannot wield two-handed weapons.
 * "Accept your defeat": You learn Mastery over insects.
 * "Set the temple on fire and leave": The player chooses to lash out at the temple, and you learn Pyromancy Trick, a powerful magical attack spell.
 * "Quietly leave and run away without revenge": You get Alchemilia vol. 1. This option enables you to learn the Dash skill when you later choose to "Rush straight after him.".
 * "Pray to Gro-goroth"
 * "Pray to Sylvian"
 * "Pray to All-merr"
 * "Pray to God of the Depths"
 * "Stock up on magical items": Soul stone
 * "Stock up on intoxicants": Pipe and Opium powder
 * "Stock up on healing items": Blue vial and 2 Cloth fragments
 * "Rush straight after him": You learn Dash. However, this option is disabled if you choose to "Set the temple on fire and leave." instead learning Pyromancy Trick.

Using a Book of Forgotten Memories will teach him the Greater Blood Magic or the Blood Sacrifice spell.

Tips & strategy
Enki has the potential to become very powerful using magic, but he begins with very little melee ability. is starting magic can help increase his survivability in two ways:
 * 1) Necromancy: More allies. Necromancy allows you to raise ghouls and skeletons to fight for you. Ghouls are relatively weak and can't wear equipment, but skeletons can use weapons and armor just as well as you. Their attacks can't be controlled, but they're still effective in combat.
 * 2) *Undead are disposable. They can be sacrificed to Gro-goroth, create a Marriage to make Enki physically stronger/increase affinity with Sylvian, and take heavy damage without too much worry. This is even more true for you because of Counter-magic; you can defeat ghouls and unruly skeletons using counter-magic, taking the risk of physical harm out of the equation.
 * 3) Pyromancy trick: This spell, like most offence spells, can attack any part of the body with the same accuracy. That means that for 5 Mind, you can deal 170-200 damage directly to the head and kill most of the enemies in the basic dungeon within the first turn.

These starting magic's should make you powerful enough to progress through the dungeon, where you can find soul stones to increase your magical power as well as human allies that can be controlled in combat and carry two-handed weapons. The upper tier of magical power provides greater, but also more unique benefits:
 * Blood magic will provide you with increasingly powerful damage-dealing spells. Greater blood magic will increase the efficiency and power of multiple lower-level blood magic: Greater Hurting costs less, Greater Necromancy will never fail to work, and Great Blood Golem will be a much stronger ally.
 * Sylvian's magic will allow you to heal your party, which can be difficult to accomplish otherwise. You can also create a Demon Kid, a weak but controllable ally with similar power to the human child.

God affinities
It's not enough to use lesser souls to gain more powerful spells; each of the spells belongs to a different old god, and you must raise your affinity with them through prayer or acts done in their name to get access to their magic.

The dungeon provides multiple easy opportunities to increase the player's affinity with the three old gods. A player who choose Dark Priest can take advantage of their starting abilities to completely max out affinity with all three Gods, as well as the God of the Depths, at no cost to themselves. They can take advantage of the following opportunities to accomplish this:
 * Your introduction allows you to select a god to study, maxing out your affinity with them. God of the Depths is ideal for this because he has three tier of affinity, but one cannot max out affinity with God of the Depths as a Dark Priest, since one of his tasks involves killing the Dark Priest to make a home for insects.
 * Sex in the bunny meadow will increase affinity with Sylvian in addition to healing your character. It can be done once risk-free, and will rely on a coin flip afterwards to avoid being stuck there.
 * Feasting on human flesh in the sixth floor of the mines will increase affinity with Gro-goroth in addition to removing your character's hunger. It can be done once risk-free, as above.
 * The inner hall on the first floor features a human sacrifice on a statue, surrounded by priests. You can kill the sacrifice to gain maximum (one) affinity with Alll-mer.
 * Praying to a single God in three separate locations will increase your affinity, and can some-times grant you magic from their domain. Prayer circles work for this purpose, as do statues in the meadow and cavern. You can pray to Sylvian to gain the second and final level of affinity with them.
 * Mastery over Insects, if selected, will allow you to speak to an insect in the thicket who will tell you how to get to the Cockroach king. Submitting to the Cockroach king and slaying the butterfly-like creature in the courtyard above as he asks will grant you affinity with the God of the Depths.
 * You can still reach the king without Mastery over Insects, but this will be pointless, as he cannot speak to you to give you the tasks.
 * The second task is to kill the Dark Priest, which cannot be done as him. To get full affinity with God of the Depths, you must either study him in the introduction or pick another character and use an empty scroll to learn Mastery over Insects.

Etymology
Enki's name is derived from the Sumerian God, Enki. Enki is the Sumerian god of water, knowledge, mischief, crafts, and creation, and is one of the Anunnaki. The exact meaning of the name Enki is unknown but is often translated as 'Lord of the Earth'.

Trivia

 * Enki's last name is revealed in Fear & Hunger: Termina with it being shown in several books he authored.
 * Enki is implied to have become similar to Nosramus, in that he has extended life, as seen in his Ending S, as his books have made an appearance in Fear & Hunger: Termina.