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The Charred Council
The Charred Council
The Charred Council and their agents are charged with keeping the Balance between Heaven and Hell. Appointed by the Creator, they claim neutrality, thus send their servants to wreak terrible vengeance upon any that defy them and their creed.
The Charred Council
Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore (All heads, Darksiders - Darksiders III; Angry head, Darksiders: Genesis), Jamieson Price (Reasonable Head, Darksiders Genesis), Darin De Paul (Wise head, Darksiders: Genesis)
The Council appears as a group of three stone statues amidst a sea of fire. Having neither mercy nor pity, the Council will destroy anyone or anything that has dared to meddle with the precious balance that has existed since time immemorial. After an agent of theirs, War, seemingly begins the End War without their leave, they are... displeased.
- Bad Boss: They do not treat their underlings well.
- Their Establishing Character Moment in the first game amounts to purposefully getting War killed as part of them framing him for the early End War, spending several minutes excoriating him for crimes he didn't commit, then sending him on a Suicide Mission to redeem himself or die.
- In The Abomination Vault, they respond to Death refusing to give them the titular location with an Agony Beam painful enough that he considers plunging a hand into magma barely noticeable by comparison, and threaten to keep it on until he cracks. They only back down when War makes it clear they'd have to do the same to him.
- In the prequel comic, they respond to a Watcher independently confirming the seventh seal was not broken by blasting her into a puddle of goo for acting without being given an order first.
- Balance Between Good and Evil: The Creator charged them with upholding order in Creation by maintaining a balance of power between Heaven and Hell (and the Kingdom of Man, when they emerged), through whatever means they deem necessary. Darksiders III reveals that they're increasingly less concerned with upholding the balance and more with their own power, desiring to get rid of the Third Kingdom and even fuelling the Destroyer's attack on Haven in a direct violation of their duty.
- Berserk Button: Refusing to accept their authority, disobeying their orders, or otherwise not being controlled by them is a surefire way to piss them off, badly.
- Breath Weapon: On the rare occasions they have to fight directly, they shoot fire from their mouths, being immobile stone heads.
- Control Freak: The Abomination Vault shows they created the Watchers as a Slave Race for the explicit purpose of having a force that couldn't disobey them. The Keeper notes they wouldn't truly trust any being that they couldn't completely control.
- The Corruptible: According to Lucifer in The Stinger to III, their actions that disrupt the very Balance Between Good and Evil they profess to uphold is evidence of them having become corrupted. Whether it is his doing, them being merely Drunk with Power or, as Envy suggests, the Seven Deadly Sins influenced their actions upon being set free because of the premature End War, is unclear.
- Freudian Trio: The three heads of the Charred Council roughly fit this when talking.
- The Angry head is, well, the Id of the three - quick to anger, swift to accuse, and very prone to jumping to conclusions or demanding swift, decisive action. This head is the one that spends most of its introductory scene yelling at War and accusing him of being a traitor to the Balance, and declared Abaddon had to be punished immediately for his defiance of the Balance.
- The Reasonable head is the Superego - they think very logically, considering the long-term consequences of an action, and always advises caution in making decisions. This head is the one that initially questions War's versions of events, pointing out that his defeat does not prove his innocence and asking where the other Horsemen were if the call for the End War was indeed given. In War's vision, they're the one advocating that the Council waits until they have concrete proof that Abaddon intends to break the Seven Seals and violate the treaty between Heaven and Hell.
- The Wise head is the Ego of the three - they often speak after the other two have made their points, and is very prone to taking a third, well-balanced option next to their allies binary decisions. This is the only head that doesn't really say much in its Establishing Character Moment and when the Council debated Abaddon's breaking of the Balance in Darksiders, the Wise head was the one who proposed manipulating War into hunting him down, thus setting off the events of the game.
- Greater-Scope Villain: It turns out they knew the whole time what caused the End War triggering too soon - they put War through everything to make sure he would hunt down those responsible, then planned to re-imprison him again after he accomplishes his mission. Simultaneously, the Council is actively trying to get rid of the rest of the Horsemen and Humanity.
- Hypocrite: As shown in III, they want to get rid of the Third Kingdom, realizing that Humans Are Special, rather than upholding the Balance Between Good and Evil until the organized, arranged End War. Lucifer even comments in The Stinger on how they work against the very balance they claim to uphold.
- Manipulative Bastard:
- The first game was essentially a Batman Gambit by them to manipulate War. The only reason it failed was because he saw a vision from the Tree of Knowledge, which War's Watcher didn't stop since it was to allow him to defeat The Destroyer.
- Compounded further in the third game, where it's heavily implied that they released the Seven Deadly Sins specifically so that they would finish off humanity, before sending Fury to hunt them down to cover their tracks and hopefully get rid of another Horseman by having her fall in a Mutual Kill with the Sins.
- The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: Their mission statement isn't vague, but they aren't big on explaining themselves to anyone, or (usually) using straightforward means.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: The Council aren't particularly concerned about the legality of their actions, especially when they're the strongest party. Of course, being appointed by the Creator is likely one of the reasons.
- Ungrateful Bastards: After Fury kills Envy, who was directly attacking the Council, they try to kill Fury herself, because she made it clear beforehand that she was no longer going to support their actions.
- Unskilled, but Strong: As shown by Envy and Fury's direct encounters with them in the Final Boss of Darksiders III, they are immensely powerful, but have gone so long unchallenged that they don’t really know how to fight beyond brute force.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: If anyone is appointed a Council agent, don't expect much of a retirement plan.
War's Watcher
War's Watcher
Voiced by: Mark Hamill
"From now on, you're a dog on a leash. If I say bark, you bark! And if I have to kick you, you'd better not bare your teeth."
An agent assigned by the Council to monitor War on his quest, the Watcher is vicious and vile, only slightly more of a help than a hindrance, and if the Council hadn't granted him the ability to kill War on a whim, he wouldn't have lasted five minutes past their first meeting.
- Alien Blood: As we can see when Uriel and War hurt and kill him, his blood is a creepy blackish blue.
- Asshole Victim: When his arm is chopped off by Uriel and his head crushed by a newly restored War, one would be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks he didn't deserve it.
- Ended as one even earlier when Samael gets War to unlock his Chaos Form, where he renders the Watcher powerless and lets War land a big punch on him.
- Ax-Crazy: He delights in seeing killing, and Silitha's death as not painful enough (despite her getting impaled on a giant spike before War tore her heat out), at least for his taste.
- Dark Is Evil: He may be working for the council but there's little doubt he's an evil creature.
- Death by Disfigurement: Shortly after Uriel cuts off his arm, War resurrects and beats him up before crushing his head.
- Dirty Coward: Likes to act tough, but when Samael, and later War when the Seventh Seal is broken actually raise a hand against him, he's quick to beg for mercy.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": If the Watcher has a given name, we never get to learn it.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: He has a positively snakelike voice.
- Exposition Fairy: Can guide War on where he should go next.
- Hate Sink: War's Watcher has virtually nothing redeemable about him. All of his interactions involve insulting people in some way. Is it really surprising that he was an Asshole Victim in the end?
- Jerkass: Almost every time the Watcher opens his mouth, he does it for the sole purpose of pissing someone off. He doesn't seem to care as much about the Charred Council's law as he does getting the chance to see harm inflicted on others, even seeing humanity wiped out doesn't faze him.
- Karmic Death: After spending the entire game treating War like trash, the Horseman finally gets to kill him by crushing his head after Uriel breaks the Seventh Seal.
- Kick the Dog: One of his favourite activities is tormenting War through the use of an Agony Beam; bonus points for literally calling War his dog.
- Large Ham: He is voiced by Mark Hamill, after all.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Him provoking Uriel while holding onto the Seventh Seal causes her to break it, reviving War and Death.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He's got a bad habit of hurling misogynist slurs at Uriel. Given that she helps kill him at the end, this probably wasn't the best idea.
- Restraining Bolt: He is one for War, his mere existence weakening him, and can restrain him whenever he chooses. The exceptions occur when Samael is exerting power over the Watcher and when the Seventh Seal is broken, leaving War free to do whatever he wants.
- Smug Snake: Bordering on Too Dumb to Live, he's so smug he'll throw insults at almost anybody he sees not expecting it to come back to bite him thanks to his position as given by the Council. This gets him clobbered by Samael and later a freed War, to his fatal regret.
- Villainous Breakdown: After Uriel cuts off his arm, breaking the Seventh Seal and depriving him of it, he furiously screams at her and tries to torture her to death with an Agony Beam, then when War returns to life, the Watcher alternates between desperately pleading for mercy and defiantly shouting that War will never defeat the Council.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Plans to do this after War kills The Destroyer. He ends up failing due to War having been prepared via a vision given from the Tree of Knowledge.
- Your Head Asplode: War crushes his head like a berry after resurrecting at the end of the game.
Fury's Watcher
Fury's Watcher
Voiced by: Fryda Wolff
A member of the same race as the Watcher of Darksiders, this Watcher has been assigned to Fury to be the Charred Council's eyes.
- Contrasting Replacement Character: To War's Watcher - both are from the same race and perform the same functions as the eyes, messengers, and sometimes wardens of the Charred Council. However, this Watcher is far more courteous to others than her male counterpart. Then again, this Watcher was given to Fury for entirely different reasons and circumstances - whereas Fury is on an official "clean up the mess" mission from the Council, War was a "prisoner sent out to redeem himself or die" mission.
- Foreshadowing:
- The Watcher makes a lot of Oh, Crap! expressions when Lust offers to expose Envy to Fury in exchange for her life.
- Abraxis at one point tells Fury the weak envy the strong. He puts a weighty emphasis on the word "envy" and stares at the Watcher when he says that, adding "Isn't that right, Watcher?", to which she shrugs uncomfortably.
- Servile Snarker: She's not above making digs at her liege's expense.
- Sycophantic Servant: In contrast to her male counterpart, she acts largely subservient to Fury and even addresses her as "Mistress".
- Walking Spoiler: It's impossible to talk about either the Watcher or the climax of the third game without mentioning the fact that the Watcher is actually Envy in disguise. In fact it's up in the air whether there ever was a Watcher at all.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Calls out Fury for destroying a massive art collection during the fight with Avarice.
