Nefera de Nile

"Only a De Nile can beat a De Nile!"

- Nefera de Nile in "Monster Mashionals Part 2"

Nefera de Nile is a 2011-introduced and all-around character. She is a mummy and a Monster High alumn. As the oldest daughter of Ramses de Nile, Nefera is destined to inherent the De Nile throne and she's been raised to be well-aware of that. This has taken a huge toll on her, making her unable to function past the safety of high school and hostile to anyone she perceives as either a threat or too low to breathe the same air as she does. Nefera was a popular model in Europe for a short time until her attitude forced her out of the glamorous world and back to her father's pyramid. This doesn't stop her from telling everyone she is a fashion model, though, which in her mind she still is regardless if she's on the catwalk or not. Nefera's favored victim is her younger sister Cleo, whose every success invalidates Nefera's sense of superiority.

Portrayers
In the English cartoon, she is voiced by Wendee Lee. In the Hebrew version, she's voiced by Ronit Bakerman, who also voices Headless Headmistress Bloodgood.

Background
Nefera was a princess of Egypt over 5,800 years ago and raised to inherit the throne from her father. One day, a delegation from a far-off country arrived and gifted her a corpse flower that was claimed to be a rare treasure only fit for royalty. It became one of her most important possessions. When her uncle committed a coup d'état, she took it with her when the family fled underground, although as she later found out the plant manipulated her into doing so. Despite that the queen had yet to join them, Ramses de Nile already had the family wrapped with magic cloth that would keep them safe while their loyal followers would deal with the usurper. What they didn't know was that they had no loyal followers left and that the magic cloth was meant to keep them asleep forever. Nonetheless, they woke up after 1,300 years, only to find the queen still missing and themselves trapped within the hiding spot. As Ramses began to spend his days looking for an exit and Cleo pessimistically enjoyed the luxuries of their prison, Nefera was hit badly by both the loss of her mother and her future and spent most of her time talking to her corpse flower. An earthquake eventually damaged the prison enough to create a hole, allowing sunlight in. As the family rejoiced, the corpse flower awakened from her slumber and introduced herself as Amanita Nightshade. She explained what truly happened during the coup d'état, revealed that the family had been asleep for 1,300 years, and elaborated that they now no longer fit the human world but must find their place in monster society. When a caravan passed by, the De Niles' shouting was not enough to draw attention, but Amanita was thin enough to get through the gap and promised to return with help. She never did and the family eventually got out on their own.

About 4,500 years later, the family has relocated to the Boonighted States of Scaremerica. Though the throne of old is gone, the family has access to a large collection of magical artifacts that only works for them and over 10,000 servants,  most of which apparently ushabti. Nefera attended Monster High for a couple of years, during which she made a name for herself as most decorated fearleader captain in the school's history as well as recordholder of the most money earned for charity. It is possible she accomplished all this on her own, but also that she made use of magic to get her successes. After this, she went to Europe, specifically Milan, to become a model. Ramses paid for all her expenses and even arranged appointments for her, but Nefera never showed up for any, using even the weakest of excuses to get out of anything real. Along with a worsening reputation in the fashion world, Nefera was ordered back home where Ramses could keep an eye on her. Since then, she has preoccupied herself with sabotaging Cleo's efforts and happiness in high school out of fear her sister would surpass her. Though despite seeing her high fashion modeling career in Europe a failure, Nefera has been able to find new job offers near home.

Personality
Due to the high expectations of her upbringing as well as the enviable future laid out for her, and possibly made worse by the loss of her mother and betrayal of Amanita, Nefera has developed into an individual ruled by narcissism. There are essentially only three ways she can interact with other people. Her father, whom she depends on financially and emotionally, is a warm but strict and traditional man. Nefera often agrees with him simply to get his approval and occasionally uses him as a tool to hurt Cleo. Cleo belongs to the group getting the second treatment; the group that Nefera perceives as competition. While sisterly love is not absent between them  the fact that Cleo is everything that can expose Nefera as anything less than pure perfection or as a failure rather than a victim of circumstances makes a healthy relationship impossible. Nefera uses every opportunity offered to point out Cleo's flaws and always is on the lookout for ways to make her feel miserable or take away the rewards for her work. Cleo's status as her sister saves her from the worst Nefera is capable of, such as the financial trap she set for a group of other models in Milan, but it also makes her a continuous target. Everyone else Nefera considers too far beneath her to care about but for the ways they are useful or bothersome in relation to her or Cleo.

Nefera isn't incapable of making friends, but only on her own terms and she's the first to betray them if it suits her. For instance, her friendship with Toralei, Meowlody, and Purrsephone was always shaky, but took a dive after Nefera made Cleo her successor as fearleader captain instead of Toralei, who had trained Cleo in the first place. The reason for this was that Nefera did not want Cleo to succeed and so giving the position Toralei wanted to Cleo instead was little more than revenge. While angry, the relation between Cleo and the werecats grew even worse so that when Nefera returned as fearleading coach and offered to replace the current team with them, they immediately accepted. But as tensions rose, Nefera insulted them again by deriding their skill, making them abandon her on a crucial moment.

As a narcissist, Nefera avoids most situations that would bring her recognition out of fear that instead they'll prove she has flaws. The thought of having flaws in unbearable to Nefera. Alternatively, she may also prematurely rely on her family's magical artifact collection before any actual confrontation happens, never daring to truly put her own skills to the test. As such, Nefera's steps in life after high school have become both small and slow and largely forced by her father. As a future ruler, Nefera enjoys luxury in the sense that she doesn't tolerate less than the finest for her own perfect being. Her favorite foods, Almas caviar and white truffles, exemplify this: both top the list of most expensive foods/ingredients worldwide.

Appearance
Nefera's hair is blue and favorably augmented with thick highlights of black and gold. She has tan skin and her eye color is purple, while the ever-present gem on her left cheek is orange. Nefera was born with a scar on her upper left arm, which she usually keeps covered with bandages due to her insecurities about her own perfection. As all of her family, there's only one fashion rule Nefera is truly bound by, although she may get as creative with it as she wants: she always has to have at least one piece of burial wrapping on her, lest she disappears into dust. Nefera's choice of colors to dress in is limited to blue, gold, and black, the same colors she uses for her hair.

Family
Nefera and Cleo are three years apart, a fact that Nefera fervently holds onto despite that both girls are over 5,800 years old now. As the older child, Nefera will one day inherit Ramses's empire, while Cleo's status as the younger child bars her from that future. Of course, it would be embarrassing and potentially threatening if the younger child prove herself a better fit for the throne than the older, and this is something Nefera can't handle. Because she has little to show for her own qualities, Nefera has made it her mission to highlight and sometimes orchestrate Cleo's failures to prevent that scenario, though with little success, in part because Cleo has a social network to rely on while Nefera favors to allow only herself within her company. Cleo isn't interested in undermining Nefera, but Nefera's constant demeaning attitude and favorable treatment do take their toll on her well-being and make her inclined to retaliate in small ways, like by taking her property without asking. At times, though, the girls do have a sense of sisterhood and for a while act pleasant to each other.

When it comes to her father, Ramses de Nile, Nefera has it tough and his ideas about raising royalty will likely if unintentionally have had a big impact on Nefera's narcissism. Ramses cares a lot about appearances and constantly emphasizes that as De Niles his daughters are destined for greatness. His disapproval is something they fear. As his heir, the effect on Nefera is greater than on Cleo, who does not have that much to lose nor only him to turn to when things get rough. Despite Ramses's high demands, he is not a cold father. His daughters' well-being means a lot to him and he rarely punishes them, favoring admonishment and consequences aimed at preventing repeat only. Despite his busy schedule, he reserves time for the occasional father-daughter game night and keeps involved in his daughters' lives. However, this also makes Nefera's dependence on him worse, because his unconditional love coupled with the power he grants her when she gets him to agree with her wishes diminish the need to expand her social network beyond him.

Nefera hasn't seen her mother in ages. She was separated fromt the family when they had to flee and never rejoined them in the tomb as planned. Upon awakening, Nefera's first course of action was to hum a song she had taught her, suggesting her relationship with her mother was good. It is unclear how the loss has impacted her.

Outside of her direct family, Nefera has an uncle who dethroned her father and likely is long dead, an aunt by the name of Nefertiti who may or may not be long dead, an aunt named Neferia who is still around,, an uncle named Tut who owns a yacht,  and a grandmother who occasionally visits. Like with her father, Nefera is interested in getting on her grandmother's good side because of what it might get her.

Though not family, Jinafire Long lives with the De Niles during her stay in the Boonighted States of Scaremerica, making her part of the household. Nefera seems to largely ignore her because Jinafire has little to say about her.

Friends
Nefera believes in her own solitary perfection and doesn't so much seek out friendships as alliances. In all, only four people can claim to have experience being on her good side: Toralei, Meowlody, Purrsephone, and Amanita Nightshade. Nefera, being a cat person, brought them into the Fear Squad when she was still a student at Monster High. In general she recognized their skill and was protective of them, but the relationship soured when Toralei began training Cleo. In Nefera's perception, that made Toralei a traitor, and when Cleo became good and Nefera graduated, she made Cleo the new captain instead of Toralei out of revenge. However, and Nefera is likely to have foreseen this, Cleo and Toralei soon became enemies, allowing Nefera to easily get the werecats to work with her again when she returned as fearleading coach and replaced Cleo's friends with the trio. However, Nefera's obsession to win and keep Cleo below her made her grab for her family's artifacts to win rather rely on the werecats' skills. Insulted, they turned against her and the friendship has been blemished since.

With Amanita, Nefera has a peculiar relationship. Amanita was gifted to her when she was still asleep and Nefera still human, with the message that only a queen or future queen was worthy of the flower. Nefera didn't know she was a person. Amanita overheard the plans to dethrone the De Niles and used her scent to manipulate Nefera into taking her with her when the family went into hiding. Upon awakening from the 1,300 year slumber that followed, Nefera distanced herself from her father and sister and instead began speaking to Amanita, who appeared to listen to all Nefera spilled. When finally the tomb broke open and the family was reunited with sunlight, Amanita revealed herself. It is not known how the relationship between Nefera and Amanita was during this time but that it was now Nefera listening to Amanita's stories. Due to Amanita being thinner than any of the De Niles, she offered to crawl through the small hole and get help, but she never returned. It is also unknown how Nefera took this.

Friendships that never got to bloom were those between Nefera and a group of fellow starter models she met in Milan. Nefera did try to befriend them, but on her own terms, which means that her offers involved a power dynamic in her favor. Counter-offers for friendship on equal basis were rejected by Nefera and so nothing came of it other than mutual resentment.

Pet
Nefera's pet is a male scarab beetle named Azura. Azura is arguably the only creature in existence that Nefera is unconditionally nice to. That is, after the loss of her pet flower.

Books
Despite everyone knowing that Nefera is older than Cleo, doesn't get along with herm and lives in Cairo, Spectra spreads a rumor that they are twin sisters and that Cleo's recent bad mood is due to Nefera moving away to Alexandria.

Timeline

 * June 13, 2011: Mattel requests the trademark for Nefera de Nile.
 * June 16, 2011: Nefera de Nile is mentioned in "Miss Infearmation".
 * June 23, 2011: Nefera de Nile makes her 2D cartoon debut in "Hyde and Shriek".
 * Mid June, 2011: Nefera de Nile makes her diary debut in Cleo's School's Out diary.
 * July 14, 2011: Nefera de Nile's profile is published on the Monster High website.
 * July 14, 2011: Nefera de Nile's profile art is revealed.
 * July 23, 2011: Nefera de Nile's debut doll is put on display at San Diego Comic-Con International.
 * Late January, 2012: Nefera de Nile's debut doll is released as part of the Campus Stroll series.
 * May 01, 2012: Nefera de Nile makes her Monster High book debut in Back and Deader Than Ever.
 * October 09, 2012: Nefera de Nile makes her 3D cartoon debut in "Ghouls Rule".
 * October 23, 2013: Nefera de Nile's theme was added to the Maul.
 * December 16, 2014: Nefera de Nile makes her comic debut in "Table for None".