"I don't like that word," Nina said, advancing."Call me Grisha, call me zowa, call me death, if you like.

"

— Nina Zenik, King of Scars

Nina Zenik is a Heartrender from Ravka who joined the Dregs. She worked at the House of the White
Rose and used her Grisha power in her services there until Kaz Brekker asked her to join him in his quest
to break into the Ice Court. She is the only known Corpsewitch.

Nina has long, curly brown hair and green eyes. She is tall and curvaceous, described as looking like a
"generously carved figurehead'. She wears a red and gold robe with a black waist tie and gold trim. She
also sometimes wears a blue jacket. Her beauty and her charm almost caused her to become a
courtesan when she first arrived at Ketterdam, but Kaz sent Inej to offer her a place with the Dregs,
instead.

In King of Scars, Nina takes on a new appearance to look Fjerdan. She describes herself as paler and,
"her hair was slick, straight and nearly ice white; her eyes were narrower, the green of her irises
changed to the pale blue of the northern glacier. Her cheekbones were higher, her brows lower, her
mouth broader."

Personality

Nina is bold, loud, and hilarious. She has a terrible singing voice and loves to indulge in food like cake,
waffles, and toffees. Despite her forwardness, Nina is shown to also be extremely charming and even
forms a strong bond with Inej. However, above all her other traits, Nina is very loyal to her Ravkan roots
and deems herself a Grisha soldier to the Second Army first, always putting her country's needs before
hers.

As a child, Nina grew up in an orphanage. During her time at the orphanage, she was bullied. One day
she found out that she could make the kids bullying her suffer using her newfound powers, and soon
after went to school at the Little Palace.

Before the Ravkan Civil War, Nina attended school at the Little Palace before all of the children were
evacuated to Keramzin. She was forced to cut her lessons short to start her training with the Second
Army early, since they were low on soldiers.

While in the Wandering Isle, on a mission with Zoya Nazyalensky, she wandered into a camp of Fjerdan
Drüskelle. She pretended to be a Kaelish girl, but the Drüskelle saw through her disguise. Matthias
Helvar was part of the group that captured her.
After being captured by the Drüskelle, Nina was taken aboard a ship with other captured Grisha, one of
which was a Fabrikator farmer. She was put in a cage and experienced grueling treatment and mocking
at the hands of the guards.

One night, the ship experienced a massive storm. In the chaos, Nina managed to break free from her
chains and escape her cage. Matthias escaped with her, and they managed to get to shore.

After the storm, Matthias and Nina stuck together. Though they argued at times, they became allies, if
not close friends, until Nina turned Matthias into a Kerch merchant, claiming that he was a slaver who
had captured her. The Kerch merchant brought the two of them to Ketterdam, where Matthias was sent
to the prison of Hellgate.

It was later revealed that Nina had turned Matthias in to protect him. She was being watched by other
Grisha and had feared they would capture him and bring him to Ravka, possibly leading to his execution.
After his imprisonment, Nina stayed in Kerch instead of returning to her home country of Ravka,
planning to get Matthias out of Hellgate. She began working at the House of the White Rose as a
member of the Dregs.