Nkima is a fictional character in

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

novels, and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly comics. His name comes from either the word N'kima ('monkey' in the

Mbugu Maʼa is a Bantu language of Tanzania. The Mbugu people speak two divergent register (sociolinguistics), registers, which have been treated as separate languages by some authorities (e.g. Tucker and Bryan): Mbugu or "Normal Mbugu" (autonym kiM ...

language, a regional dialect of Swahili), or, after the

Meru language Meru is a Bantu language spoken by the Meru people (''Ameru'') who live on the Eastern and Northern slopes of Mount Kenya and on the Nyambene ranges. They settled in this area after centuries of migration from the north. The Meru people are a ...

nickname for

Ugali Ugali or Posho or sima (for others, see ) is a type of maize meal made from maize or corn flour in several countries in Africa. Sima is sometimes made from other flours, such as millet or sorghum flour, and is sometimes mixed with cassava flour. ...

, a dish popular in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

made from maize flour (if the latter, it would be similar to a European giving a child the nickname 'donut' -- a playful, condescending-yet-benevolent

term of endearment A term of endearment is a word or phrase used to address or describe a person, animal or inanimate object for which the speaker feels love or affection. Terms of endearment are used for a variety of reasons, such as parents addressing their ch ...

Character

An African

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

, Nkima serves as a companion and servile assistant to Tarzan; provides comic relief in storylines; covertly conveys messages between Tarzan and his allies (rarely targeted by adversaries, who underestimate and overlook him); and, even occasionally leads Tarzan's Waziri warrior and/or animal friends to the ape-man's rescue. Overall, Nkima's role in the novels is somewhat similar to that of

Cheeta Cheeta (sometimes billed as Cheetah, Cheta, and Chita) is a chimpanzee character that appeared in numerous Hollywood Tarzan films of the 1930s–1960s, as well as the 1966–1968 television series, as the ape sidekick of the title character, Tarza ...

the chimpanzee in the Tarzan movies. He is portrayed as being especially close to

Jad-bal-ja Jad-bal-ja, the Golden Lion is a fictional character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan novels, and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly comics. Character Jad-bal-ja serves as a companion to Tarzan, to whom he is attached as a dog ...

, the lion who served as Tarzan's other primary animal companion. In personality, Nkima is fearful and paranoid when alone, miserably certain that all other jungle creatures view him as prey. When with Tarzan he is emboldened, becoming proud, boastful, and bloodthirsty, constantly urging his protector to kill any strange animal they encounter. However, he is also fiercely loyal, often providing valuable assistance to the ape-man at great personal risk. In ''

Tarzan's Quest ''Tarzan's Quest'' is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the nineteenth in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. Originally serialized in six parts, as ''Tarzan and the Immortal Men'', in ''The Blue Book ...

,'' Nkima's merit was recognized when he was given an immortality treatment along with the novel's human protagonists.

In the Tarzan novels

Monkeys friendly to Tarzan and his allies appear under the generic name of Manu ("monkey" in the ape language) in a number of early Tarzan novels, including the fourth Tarzan novel (1915's ''

The Son of Tarzan ''The Son of Tarzan'' is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fourth in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. It was written between January 21 and May 11, 1915, and first published in the magazine ' ...

''), the sixth (chronologically earlier) Tarzan novel (1919's ''

Jungle Tales of Tarzan ''Jungle Tales of Tarzan'' is a collection of twelve loosely connected short stories by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, comprising the sixth book in order of publication in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. ...

''), the seventh (1920's ''

Tarzan the Untamed ''Tarzan the Untamed'' is a book by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the seventh in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. It was originally published as two separate stories serialized in different pulp magazines; ...

'') and the ninth (1922's ''

Tarzan and the Golden Lion ''Tarzan and the Golden Lion'' is an adventure novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the ninth in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. It was first published as a seven part serial in ''Argosy All-Story Week ...

''). Some of these precursors to Nkima may in fact be Nkima himself, before he received that name. The first appearance of Nkima by name, however, is in the twelfth Tarzan novel (1928's ''

Tarzan and the Lost Empire ''Tarzan and the Lost Empire'' is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the twelfth in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. It was first published as a serial in ''Blue Book Magazine'' from October 1928 thr ...

''). The character re-appears in the fourteenth (1930's ''

Tarzan the Invincible ''Tarzan the Invincible'' is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fourteenth in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine ''Blue Book'' from October, 19 ...

''); eighteenth (1932's '' Tarzan and the Leopard Men''); nineteenth (1936's ''

''); twenty-fourth (1965's ''

Tarzan and the Castaways Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

''—a collection of stories, Nkima is in one of them, the 1939 short story "

Tarzan and the Champion Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

"); and twenty-sixth (1995's '' Tarzan: the Lost Adventure'') books. Nkima is also mentioned in passing in the twenty-second novel, ''

Tarzan and the Foreign Legion ''Tarzan and the Foreign Legion'' is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the twenty-second in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. The book, written June–September 1944 while Burroughs was living in Hon ...

'' (1947).

In other media

The character of Nkima was also featured in the Tarzan comic strip and comic books, both in adaptations of the original/Burroughs novels, and in stories newly written for those media. He had one film appearance, in the 1935 serial, ''

The New Adventures of Tarzan ''The New Adventures of Tarzan'' is a 1935 American film serial in 12 chapters starring Herman Brix. The serial presents a more authentic version of the character than most other film adaptations, with Tarzan as the cultured and well-educated gen ...

'' (also released in 1938 as the

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

, ''

Tarzan and the Green Goddess ''The New Adventures of Tarzan'' is a 1935 American film serial in 12 chapters starring Herman Brix. The serial presents a more authentic version of the character than most other film adaptations, with Tarzan as the cultured and well-educated gent ...

''—although re-cast as a chimpanzee and portrayed by Jiggs, the same chimp that originated the role of "Cheeta" in the

Johnny Weissmuller Johnny Weissmuller (born Johann Peter Weißmüller; June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was an American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He was known for having one of the best competitive swimming records of the 20th century. H ...

Tarzan films). Nkima was also a main character in

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and pr ...

's 1976-1981, Saturday morning animated series ''

Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle ''Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle'' is an American animated series created by the Filmation studio for Saturday mornings on CBS, starting in 1976. This was the first animated series about the jungle hero. There are 36 episodes produced over four seas ...

''; the depiction was faithful to Burroughs' characterization. His monkey-like 'speech' was voiced by

Lou Scheimer Louis Scheimer (October 19, 1928 – October 17, 2013) was an American producer and voice actor who was one of the original founders of Filmation. He was also credited as an executive producer of many of its cartoons. Early life and education ...

References

Ullery, David A. ''The Tarzan Novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs: An Illustrated Reader's Guide''. McFarland & Company, Jefferson, NC, 2001, pages 199-200. {{Tarzan Tarzan characters Fictional monkeys Literary characters introduced in 1928 Characters in American novels of the 20th century Characters in fantasy literature