Anhkana

The Anhkana teaches that that which is not Krill is without soul.— Teleya

The Anhkana was the primary holy text of the Krill religion, which carried the instructions of a wrathful supreme god named Avis. According to Admiral Ozawa, the Anhkana determined the Krill's "code of conduct in all matters" and called upon the Krill to attack other civilizations as part of "the Great Crusade." Captain Kratok quoted one of the commands of the Anhkana to be: "Invade and conquer!"

Contents

The central idea of the Anhkana appears to be that Krill alone possessed souls and therefore were superior to every other living being in the Universe. The supreme deity Avis touched only the Krill "with his divine hand," gifting them with souls and the right to claim all the resources of the universe. The Anhkana exhorted the Krill to wage a "divine fight" against all other species, to eradicate or subjugate them. All Krill were "brothers" in a crusade against civilizations seen as lesser or unworthy of life.

One line of the Anhkana is quoted by Teleya, a school teacher aboard the Yakar: "Judge not a stranger by his sheath, but by his sword." The phrase is interpreted by the Krill to mean that other species can show the characteristics of sentience without bearing a soul.

Another teaching was that "vengeance is the will of Avis."

Though the majority of its contents were unknown to the Planetary Union, they had learned over the years about Avis and that the Anhkana was meant to document stories about him and his philosophies. The late High Priest Sazeron said the book was holy and contained wisdom to comfort in times of grief.

The Anhkana taught of an eternal afterlife. Those Krill who died were said to be "at peace in the arms of Avis," implying that the souls of departed Krill dwell with their deity.

In Shadow Realms, the Anhkana teaches of the "Shadow Realm", a place of demons. The "Shadow Realm" is actually the Kalarr expanse.

Production

The Anhkana was one of the most impressive prop pieces of Season 1, designed by prop master Bryan Rodgers. The book was made to be "complete:" text was written on every single page so that the actors could flip to any page in the book on camera. Artwork was added including intricate drawings of Avis. Finally, Rodgers printed and bound the entire book, which weighed 35 pounds once finished.

Decipherment

The Anhkana was initially believed to be a Rosetta stone to decipher Krillain writings found throughout Krill ships. However, since the decipherment of Krillain, the written contents of the Anhkana have been shown to contain no information about Krill religion or society.

• Two pages of the text are shown in a scene where Chris and Devon actively copy the text in the chapel of the Yakar. They are the symbols for the numbers 0 through 9 in random order.
• Later, a passage of the Anhkana is displayed on the screen inside Chris and Devon's quarters, which is the symbols for 0 through 9, the letters of the Krillain alphabet, and several undeciphered symbols believed to be punctuation notation, repeating.
• A page of the Anhkana on Karx's monitor reads only "SETH MACFARLANE DAVID GOODMAN DAVID CABEZA MICHAEL ATIYEH."
  • Seth MacFarlane is the creator of The Orville.
  • David A. Goodman is an executive producer and the writer of The Word of Avis, Pt. 1, the comic this easter egg appears in.
  • David Cabeza inked the comic.
  • Michael Atiyeh is the comic's colorist.

Trivia

• Captain Ed Mercer called the Anhkana gruesome, similar to a Bret Easton Ellis novel.
  • When Ed called the Anhkana gruesome, he had been reading a passage from the Anhkana. However, when fans deciphered the passage, all the text said was the letters of the Krillain alphabet and the numbers 0 through 9.

Gallery

A page of the Anhkana depicting the deity Avis.

Two pages of the Anhkana. The text is merely a random assortment of the numbers 0 through 9.

Appearances

• Episode 1x06: Krill
• Episode 1.5x03: The Word of Avis, Pt. 1
• Episode 2x04: Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes (mentioned only)
• Episode 2.5x02: Launch Day, Pt. 2