With the recent character reveal of Nina Williams coming to Tekken 8, I want to give a brief run-through of who and why she’s such an important staple to Tekken’s story.
Nina’s Backstory
Nina was born as the daughter of an Irish Republican Army assassin, and her mother was a British Aikido champion. Inheriting this level of expertise, she was bound to be a unique and valuable individual when it comes to combat.
Tekken (1994)
Nina’s involvement with Tekken was originally for a contract she received to assassinate Heihachi Mishima. She ultimately failed as Kazuya, Heihachi’s son, was the one who actually “kills” him.
We all know why I added the quotations. 😁
Tekken 2
This time around, Nina received yet another contract, but this time it was to take out Kazuya Mishima. And just to slow her down, her sister Anna decides to be Kazuya’s bodyguard.
This led to Nina once again failing to complete her mission, as well as being captured by the Mishima Zaibatsu, who put her into cryosleep for Dr. Bosconovitch’s research. Due to either jealousy or loneliness, Anna volunteers to be put into cryosleep too.
Tekken 3
19 years later, Nina and Anna are awakened from their sleep, but Nina wakes up with a case of amnesia, having no memory of her past, including her sister. With this realization, Anna tries to stop Nina from becoming an assassin again.
While this is going on, Heihachi awakens Ogre, who begins to telepathically control Nina into finding and killing Jin Kazama because Ogre knows Jin’s coming for him. Jin stops this mind control by killing Ogre, leaving Nina free to live her own life.
Anna then tries to restore Nina’s memory with the help of Dr. Bosconovitch, but it doesn’t seem to work. The two sisters go to visit their father’s grave but Nina suddenly has a flashback, followed by slapping Anna.
It’s safe to say her memory is slowly coming back!
Tekken 4
Nina goes back to being an assassin, and one day she lands a contract to take out world boxing champion Steve Fox.
While getting more information on the kill order, she reads that his mother was a test subject put into cryosleep at the Mishima Research Lab.
She was getting ready to fulfill the contract, but she ultimately stops right as Lei Wulong barges into the room she was hiding in.
Nina makes a run for it, coming face to face with Steve, and he pushes her out of the way from getting shot, giving her a chance to escape.
Tekken 5
It’s confirmed that Nina is the biological mother of Steve, and when her contract handlers were disbanded, Nina went out to find Anna and fully uncover her past.
Unfortunately, there’s still bad blood between them as Anna starts engaging in combat the moment she sees Nina. They fight for days and decide to settle it once and for all at the upcoming Iron Fist Tournament.
A director watching them fight, inspired him to cast them both in a medieval movie. They agree and while Anna is getting praise, Nina leaves the set, detonating a bomb, “officially settling the score”.
Tekken 6
After the tournament, Jin Kazama recruits Nina to be his right hand in his conquest to take over the world.
She knew of his plans to awaken Azazel so he can defeat him, ultimately saving the world in the long run.
With Lars Alexanderson constantly one step behind them, after Jin defeats Azazel, Nina tries to explain and justify why Jin did what he did to the world. For the greater good.
She then leaves the tombs in a helicopter, claiming status as the CEO of the Mishima Zaibatsu.
Tekken 7
Heihachi has returned to reclaim the Mishima Zaibatsu, and after a long gruelling fight to the top of the building, Nina realizes she can’t win this fight.
She stands down and agrees to help Heihachi track down Claudio Sarafino to help with his plans to take down Kazuya and G Corp. (which Anna is now working alongside).
After this, Nina gets assigned to retrieve Jin, who’s under Lars’ custody at Lee Chaolan’s medical facility. She successfully infiltrates the facility but Lee is a step ahead of her, airlifting Jin out of the facility and away from Nina’s grasp.
After the failure to retrieve Jin, Nina went out on a private assignment, infiltrating a G Corp. executive’s wedding. After taking all her targets out, the Tekken Force stormed in to retrieve her, and in the middle of the escape, she ran into Steve Fox.
They get into a fight, and afterwards, he demands to know about his past, seeing how all the research he did on himself at the Mishima Zaibatsu kept including her name.
She explains they were trying to create genetically enhanced super soldiers using her DNA. The Tekken force arrives again and Steve holds them off to help Nina escape.
FUN FACT: That G Corp. executive that was getting married Anna, hence why in Tekken 7 Anna’s costume is that of a widow!
With Nina being one of the first character reveals for Tekken 8, something tells me we’re finally going to get a lot more information and closure soon on this family feud that is Nina, Anna and Steve.
What do you guys think?
