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The Abomination Vault Novel Characters
Panoptos
Panoptos
A servant of the Charred Council who's cruel as he is loyal. He is the first Watcher and the "father" of the race. The Watcher of the first game is one of said "children".
- Berserk Button: Does not take kindly to Death using him as a punching bag for his sarcasm. Or disobedience. Mainly Death's sarcasm though.
- Call-Forward: He's the one to suggest giving the Watchers power over the Horsemen to ensure their obedience to the Charred Council, as will happen in Darksiders.
- The Chessmaster: It's heavily implied that Panoptos engineered the events of the novel by feeding information to Raciel and her mercenaries so they could find the Horsemen whenever they came close to the Abominations, intending to have them wipe each other out then lay claim to the Grand Abominations himself, arm his "children" with them, and use them to break away from the Council..
- Extra Eyes: Like all Watchers, but whereas most Watchers have four or six eyes, Panoptos has nine.
- Jerkass: And how! Much like the one Watcher from the first game, Panoptos is simply vile to everyone he meets, excluding the Charred Council. As they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
- The Mole: It's heavily implied that it was Panoptos who told Raciel and her band of mercenaries about the existence of the Abomination Vault in the first place. At the very end of the book, Death confronts him about it, masking his accusations behind the veneer of a theory, but making it fairly clear that he believes Panoptos wanted the Grand Abominations to break from the chains of slavery using his "children" as his army.
- Meaningful Name: "Panoptos" sounds very close to "Panoptes," the Greek word for "All-seeing" — appropriate for the first Watcher of the Charred Council, and particularly considering the way he repeatedly appears to keep an eye on Death during the novel.
- Monster Progenitor: Of the Watcher race. All the other Watchers were spawned from him after the Charred Council made him.
- Oh, Crap!: He's absolutely horrified when Death reveals that he's destroyed the Ravaiim blood that the Council sent Panoptos to take from Death.
- Smug Snake: He's conceited and arrogant enough that Death is repeatedly tempted to slit his throat out of sheer annoyance, and he acts vile to almost everyone he meets. He's also quite the schemer, considering the implications throughout the novel detailed above.
Hadrimon
Hadrimon
An angel who, after a series of unfortunate circumstances, defected from Heaven.
- Alas, Poor Villain: In-Universe example. After Black Mercy forces Hadrimon to kill Raciel, Azrael uses illusion magic to disguise himself as Raciel in her former angelic form. As her, Azrael tells Hadrimon that "she" forgives him, something the former admits to being a kindness.
- Ax-Crazy: Black Mercy slowly grinds down his sanity over the course of the novel. By the end of it, he's almost an Empty Shell beyond random bursts of homicidal anger and the constant desire to use Black Mercy on anyone.
- Big Bad: Of the novel, as the architect of the Abomination Vault crisis.
- Butt-Monkey: After Raciel's exile, Hadrimon made so many futile half-planned efforts to restart the war between Heaven and Hell or to 'rescue' Raciel that he became something of a running joke in the White City, with Azrael even comparing his half-baked plans to those of a child. ...Until the Abomination Crisis began. Then he became a proper threat to everyone.
- Driven to Suicide: When Black Mercy, one of the Grand Abominations, briefly takes control of him and kills Raciel. He attempts to kill himself, but it doesn't work as Black Mercy wouldn't allow the hammers to collapse. He has to settle for holding himself back long enough for Death to do the deed.
- Evil Plan: Awakening the Grand Abominations and then unleashing them on both Heaven and Hell.
- Evil Weapon: He has the Nephilim sword Affliction, which causes any wound it creates to become instantly necrotic such that only someone with an incredible Healing Factor like Death can survive, and even then with difficulty. And then there's Black Mercy, one of the Grand Abominations forged from the flesh, blood and bone of a dead race that when fully awakened causes instantly fatal wounds in whatever it shoots or even turns still-bleeding wounds fatal if the target is in the range of the user. He wields them in a Sword and Gun manner.
- Fallen Angel: Unlike the common use of the trope, however, he isn't a demon. He's just defected from Heaven and against everyone.
- Go Out with a Smile: When Death cuts him down, Hadrimon is smiling in relief at being freed from Black Mercy's influence and Raciel seemingly forgiving him.
- Heroic Willpower: A rare villainous example — while slowly succumbing to Black Mercy's influence, he manages to keep himself in check by remembering his love of Raciel. At the very end of the novel, the sight of her redeemed soul gives him just enough strength to hold Black Mercy in place long enough for Death to put him down.
- Inelegant Blubbering: The sight of the now-corrupted Raciel leaves him in tears, howling like a child.
- Let Them Die Happy: On the receiving end of a purely pragmatic example. Azrael creates an illusion of Raciel's redeemed soul forgiving him for causing her exile and corruption, which lets Hadrimon briefly resist Black Mercy's influence long enough to commit Suicide by Cop.
- Light Is Not Good: He may be an angel, but he's definitely not a good guy.
- Love Makes You Crazy: The reason behind said revenge. Getting his hands on Black Mercy just makes him infinitely worse as it draws on his buried rage and the like.
- Love Makes You Evil: Even before he went crazy due to Black Mercy's influence, he went completely renegade and was actively attacking his former comrades as part of his revenge on Heaven and Hell.
- My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction after turning Raciel in, which got her exiled to Hell. He was utterly horrified by what he'd done, having not anticipated that the punishment would be that terrible, and it was this guilt that sent him down the path of villainy.
- Never My Fault: Even though he's mostly responsible for Raciel's exile, he chooses to lash out at Heaven and Hell as if they were the true culprits. Later chapters suggest that he's aware of his part in all of it, but continues his rampage regardless.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Basically the reason why he wanted the Grand Abominations in the first place — Heaven exiled his lover to Hell, and Hell gave her (what he believes to be) a Fate Worse than Death, so he's out to kill everyone even conceivably associated with both. Unlike most examples, the cause of this revenge was technically his own fault.
- Sanity Slippage: Black Mercy's influence slowly degrades his mind over the story.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Used to be this with Raciel, due to Heaven's strict courtship laws forbidding romance between higher and lower military ranks. Subverted since he was the one that betrayed her and indirectly got her sentenced to being exiled to Hell.
- Suicide by Cop: Because Black Mercy won't let him shoot himself, Hadrimon forces himself to remain still long enough for Death to cut him down.
- Two Aliases, One Character: Until Lilith reveals his name to Death, he went under the alias of "Semyaza" note , who turned out to be a second lieutenant at an outpost in an area called the Empty Sea.
- Villainous Breakdown: Has a few of these, but most notably during the final battle where he has a huge one when he sees Raciel alive again after so many years, having previously thought that she had died during her exile to Hell. And another one when Black Mercy (one of the Grand Abominations that's in his possession throughout the story) controls him and makes him kill her. It hits its climax when Azrael then appears using an illusion of Raciel's original angel form and Black Mercy tries to force him to kill him/her, at which point he completely breaks and can barely keep himself from shooting, all but pleading with Death to finish him.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: For a brief moment, it looks like Raciel has forgiven him and is asking for his aid. Then Black Mercy acts on its own, targeting Raciel and shooting her with its One-Hit Kill bullet, utterly breaking Hadrimon.
Belisatra
Belisatra
A female Maker, formerly an apprentice of Gulbannan. And by "formerly", it means being the one to kill him.
- Chain Pain: She uses twin mentally-controlled chains wrapped around her armored arms that are covered in barbs and blades are as thick around as her arms themselves. They're dangerous enough she can either crush targets to death or saw them apart.
- Disability Immunity: Her Lack of Empathy allows her to resist the Grand Abominations' aura of hatred and rage, letting her keep a steady head even when wielding a fully-awakened Abomination.
- Dissonant Serenity: Lilith describes finding her after murdering Gulbannan standing over his corpse and covered in his blood, yet Belisatra was "calm as a drugged statue."
- The Dragon: To Hadrimon. She's responsible for providing the bulk of his forces in the form of her constructs, and is in charge of trying to awaken the Grand Abominations.
- Evil Genius: Her main motivation is scientific curiosity, and she's easily the more intelligent of the team-up between her and Hadrimon.
- Fate Worse than Death: Death muses once they capture her the Charred Council will likely have her thrown into Oblivion for her willing and sane commitment to Hadrimon's plan.
- For Science!: Her motivations basically boil down to curiosity; she wants to know how everything and everyone works, and will have said knowledge regardless of who gets hurt. In the case of allying with Hadrimon, she wants to know how the Grand Abominations function, even if that means wiping out entire worlds and races. Even Death is disturbed by this sort of mindset.
- Human Resources: Her workshop is full of half-living Old Ones, Angels, Demons, and more, attached to the walls or chained up for use in her experiments with the Grand Abominations. Most of them are missing at least half of their skin and muscles, and it's noted Belisatra cut out their tongues to prevent them disturbing her during her work.
- Killed Offscreen: Heavily implied. Death remarks that the Council will likely want to "introduce her to the Keeper [of Oblivion]" for her actions, and she's last seen being dragged away by several of his ghouls to be judged by the Charred Council.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Surrenders after Hadrimon's death and the destruction of her last few constructs, recognising that the battle is lost.
- Lack of Empathy: Lilith describes her as having a burning intellectual curiosity without much in the way of emotion to cloud it. This translates to being willing to cross any line if it means satisfying her quest for knowledge, even if she has to kill, torture, or unleash world-murdering Evil Weapons on all Creation to do it.
- Oh, Crap!: Visibly panics when Death off-handedly remarks that the Council will want to introduce her to "the Keeper" (i.e.: The Keeper of Oblivion).
- Pure Is Not Good: Lilith describes her as the "purest" Maker she's ever met, as in she completely unburdened by emotions getting in the way of her intellectual pursuits. This means she thinks nothing of killing people to get what she wants if that's what she has to do.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Hadrimon's red, providing a much calmer and more clinical mindset to contrast his aggression and bloodthirst.
- The Unfettered: Murdered her own master to keep him from coming clean about his sins to his fellow Makers...all because she wanted to see what Lilith would do with the knowledge of creation and Making she gained from him.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: She begins considering this as Hadrimon becomes more and more unstable. Death beats her to the punch.
- Where Does She Get All Those Wonderful Toys: It's implied she used her former master and Lilith's backing and resources to make her constructs, but Death himself honestly has to wonder where the hell Belisatra found enough brass to make her army of constructs and how long it took her to make them.
- Wrench Wench: Belisatra supplies Hadrimon with his army of constructs. She also provided Lilith and her soldiers with various resources as well.
The Keeper of Oblivion
The Keeper of Oblivion
The Charred Council's executioner and one of the very few people outside his brothers that Death considers a friend, also serving as the latter's confidant. True to his title, the Keeper holds the power to open a portal to Oblivion — a realm where literally nothing exists; not even light and darkness. If someone or something is thrown in, they cease to exist, which is considered one of the most terrible of fates... which is where the Keeper comes in.
- Cool Mask: Like Death, he constantly wears an iron executioner's mask decorated with corrosion trails falling from the eye-slits.
- Curiosity Is a Crapshoot: A firm believer in this view, which is part of the reason he flatly refuses to look into whether or not his victims are actually as guilty as the Council charges them to be — he understandably fears that doing so would cause him to go utterly barking mad.Death: Have you ever learned, after condemning someone to Oblivion, that the Council was wrong? That the condemned wasn't deserving of that fate?
The Keeper of Oblivion: Never. Of course, I don't investigate such things, either. I have to trust the Charred Council's judgement, Death. I have to. It's the only way I can perform my duties without losing whatever remains of my sanity. - The Dreaded: Considering that the Keeper holds the worst of all fates in the palm of his hands, he's one of the most feared beings in Creation. Even Death, himself The Dreaded to most of Creation, considers the Keeper somewhat unsettling.
- The Executioner: If the Council decides someone is too dangerous to the Balance to be simply killed and allowed a shot at reincarnation, they have the Keeper throw them into Oblivion, utterly and totally erasing them from Creation. Death even refers to him by the trope name when describing the Keeper's function.
- The Faceless: Like Death, the Keeper is never seen without his mask; said mask is made of iron as opposed to bone.
- Faux Affably Evil: Implied. While he's perfectly polite and even friendly toward Death during their meetings, the Horseman suspects it to be a ruse.
- Lean and Mean: Death notes that he's gaunt enough to appear emaciated, but nonetheless conveys a sense of boundless strength through his presence and stature.
- Loophole Abuse: As Death points out to gain his aid, The Keeper can't banish living things to Oblivion without the Council's permission — but he can banish non-living things of his own accord, which technically includes the Ravaiim blood.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Despite his earlier Affably Evil demeanour when speaking to Death, he becomes far blunter and strained after helping him destroy the Ravaiim blood against the Council's orders.Keeper of Oblivion: Go away, Horseman. Go — and pray to whoever you still trust that you can make the Charred Council understand your choices here today.
- Sanity Slippage: Both downplayed and lampshaded. The Keeper outright admits he's at least somewhat insane due to the horrific nature of his duty, though he's certainly still lucid enough to function properly.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Despite his obvious misgivings and initial reluctance, he goes through with destroying the Ravaiim blood as Death requested. It's also implied that he assisted Death in the destruction of the remaining Grand Abominations after the events of The Abomination Vault.
- The Stoic: Downplayed. The Keeper does show a fair bit of emotion when talking with Death, even laughing and providing counsel to him, though Death speculates that it may be more politeness than anything else.
- Not So Stoic: The thought of the Council losing trust in him — which would almost certainly see him thrown into Oblivion — is enough to deeply unsettle the Keeper, almost to the point of refusing to help Death.
- The Spook: Not even Death knows who the Hell this guy is, where he comes from, or why he serves the Charred Council. The most we know about him is that he's committed atrocities on a similar scale to Death, and that he's the Council's executioner.
- Tears of Blood: Wears a mask that gives this effect, though with corrosion trails instead of actual blood.
- Warrior Therapist: To Death. It's mentioned several times that the Keeper has committed atrocities on a similar level to Death's, which is probably why he's trusted with knowledge that not even the rest of the Horsemen know.
Berrarris
Berrarris
The Keeper of Oblivion's young Maker apprentice.
- Shrinking Violet: Possibly subverted, as we've only seen this behaviour when Death is around.
Raciel (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Raciel
A Fallen Angel and Hadrimon's former lover. However, their love wasn't meant to be, as Heaven forbade relationships between soldiers of disparate ranks. Upon second-guessing their relationship, Hadrimon betrayed Raciel by informing Heaven's leaders of her infatuation with him. This resulted in Raciel being banished to Hell, where she became a demon, and later the leader of a band of demonic mercenaries interested in the Abominations.
- Action Girl: Leads a band of demon mercenaries into battle and can fight a Horseman on roughly even terms.
- Alas, Poor Villain: In-Universe example. During his narration of Hadrimon and Raciel's story, Azrael openly admits that he wonders if Raciel had actually been the strongest of the angels, rather than the weakest, given that she knowingly risked everything to defy Heaven's laws and be with the one she loves. He even states that, though he understands why it was done, her punishment was irrational.
- Create Your Own Villain: The entire reason she became what she is — and by extension, the reason the Abomination Vault Crisis occurred — is because Heaven decided to inflict a hugely disproportionate punishment on her for a relatively minor "crime" during a period of extreme militarism.
- Disproportionate Retribution: For her forbidden love with Hadrimon, she was banished to Hell. Azrael even notes this disproportional response and explains it was due to the events occurring at the height of the fighting with Hell; their leaders decided they needed to Make an Example of Them to show what would happen to anyone who deviated from Heaven's laws. The generals originally tried to get permission from the Charred Council to throw her into Oblivion, but were rebuffed as the Council felt she had committed no crime against the Balance and had no desire to serve as a tool of revenge for others.
- Fallen Angel: The inevitable fate of any angel that is banished to Hell and becomes twisted and mutated by both Hell's power and their own wills succumbing to the temptation. Her wings have lost nearly all their feathers to become bat-like, she's grown twisted horns and a barbed tail, and she's become taller and bulkier than before.
- Fate Worse than Death: Being banished from Heaven was this, as it's what condemned her to an eternity of torture and her ultimate corruption by the hands of the demons.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Downplayed. As part of her banishment from Heaven, memories of the White Army's military secrets were removed from her so that they could not be used against them. She was allowed to keep everything else, however.
- Make an Example of Them: More or less why she became a Fallen Angel. Heaven exiled her to Hell the height of their war with Hell to show all angels the penalty for defying their strict laws, and prevent any internal division or questioning of the law at a time when they could not afford it.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: She was this with Hadrimon, as the angels' strict laws criminalised relations between widely different ranks in their military. After her exile to Hell and corruption into a Fallen Angel she hates his guts, barely tolerating him so that she can get her hands on the Grand Abominations and take revenge on Heaven.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Does not hesitate to give Hadrimon one when she reunites with him, calling him out on how he betrayed her.
- Walking Spoiler: It's extremely difficult to discuss her without spoiling the main villain's motive and identity.
Gulbannan
Gulbannan
A once well-respected member of the Makers, until he took Lilith as a lover. However, Lilith was using him to learn his secrets about creating life (which she succeeded in doing), and after he had finished sharing all he knew, Gulbannan became worried of what Lilith might do with those secrets. Before he could do anything about it, his former apprentice, Belisatra, killed him out of interest in what Lilith would create. It's heavily implied that Lilith used her newfound abilities to create the Nephilim.
- Death by Origin Story: He taught Lilith how to create life, which she used to create the Nephilim, and by extension, the Four Horsemen. However, he was killed after she learned everything she could from him, albeit not by her hand; she was just as surprised as any when Belisatra murdered him.
- The Ghost: He's repeatedly mentioned as a mentor of Lilith and Belisatra, but never makes a physical appearance due to being dead as a doornail.
- Mentor Archetype: According to Lilith, he was responsible for teaching her how to create life and mentored Belisatra.
- Posthumous Character: Offed by Belisatra before the series began so she could find out what Lilith would do with his secrets.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Gulbannan was indirectly responsible for the Nephilim and the Four Horsemen's creation, as well as the Abomination Vault Crisis through his mentorship of Lilith and Belisatra. He's also long-dead by the time of the novel, never making an on-screen appearance.
The Grand Abominations
The Grand Abominations
A set of extraordinarily powerful, quasi-living weapons crafted by the Nephilim for use in their rampage across Creation, designed to destroy entire realms and exterminate whole races. Most of them are now long believed lost, contained, or destroyed.
- Abnormal Ammo: Black Mercy — a tri-barrelled revolver — fires teeth at its targets. It seems to have an infinite supply of them, too, as Hadrimon is never seen reloading it.
- And I Must Scream: It's heavily implied that the Ravaiim used to make the Grand Abominations are still aware on some level, with many characters noting that the weapons quite literally radiate a sense of agony and hatred, with Belisatra even referring to Black Mercy as "screaming on some primal level."
- Attack Reflector: Mortis
' primary function was to absorb attacks directed at the wielder, then reply by sending a retaliatory attack toward a random friend, loved one, or other figure drawn from the attacker's memories. It could even strike across realms, and cross a world in a matter of heartbeats. - Ax-Crazy: Each and every Abomination is an Omnicidal Maniac that hates all of Creation with vehement passion. The narrator notes that if their thoughts could be sensed, they would sound like a tortured, insane madman's babbling.
- Body Horror: Earth Reaver is essentially a multi-storey mass of tentacles formed from handless, interconnected arms tipped with gangrenous teeth and gums fused to a set of crablike legs and a huge obsidian mirror, while Black Mercy is stated to have tendons winding through its mechanisms and blood pumping through the steel, among other horrific things. Whatever the hell the Nephilim did to the Ravaiim to create the Grand Abominations, it was not pretty.
- Emotion Bomb: Prolonged exposure to the Abominations and their hatred gradually degrades the user's mind, eventually reducing them to an Empty Shell or an Omnicidal Maniac. Death and other sufficiently disciplined users can block out this influence, though. Exploited at the very end of the novel by Death, who blasts the seals off the Vault, causing Hadrimon to be temporarily paralysed by the sheer emotional overload of countless Grand Abominations' hatreds being projected into his weakened mind at once.
- Empathic Weapon: The Grand Abominations are aware of their state, and they hate all of Creation as a consequence. Black Mercy in particular is capable of actively controlling its wielder's body and firing on its own.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There:
- Black Mercy has an eye jammed into the space between its barrels, which serves to aid the user's accuracy.
- Mortis has a giant eye set into the middle of its form, above a mouth with More Teeth than the Osmond Family.
- The Ghost: Several Abominations are mentioned but never seen, including one implied to be Black Mercy's partner.
- Human Resources:
- As Death reveals halfway through the novel, they were crafted from the remains of an extinct race known as the Ravaiim, the very first victims of the Nephilim's genocidal rampage across Creation.
- Earth Reaver is ripped apart by Hadrimon and Belisatra for the small quantity of Ravaiim blood that can be found inside, so that they can awake Black Mercy after Death destroys the main way to activate the Abominations.
- "Instant Death" Radius: When fully awakened, Black Mercy's signature One-Hit Kill evolves into this — any still-bleeding wound belonging to an enemy of the wielder instantly becomes fatal within a certain radius of the Abomination, no matter how small or severe. According to Death, this area also grows larger based on how many things it's killed since awakening.
- Killed Offscreen: For a given value of "killed". Death implies that he threw all the remaining Grand Abominations into Oblivion after the novel's end, though he kept the mostly-dead Mortis for his own use due to it being too crippled to pose much of a threat.
- Living Weapon: The Grand Abominations are alive on some level — they share a form of psychic link with one another, possess the ability to feel emotions (particularly hatred), and can even react and act on their own if sufficiently empowered.
- Lovecraftian Superpower: The Ravaiim had the power to sculpt their own flesh and bone into any tool they desired. It was this property that made them the target of the Nephilim's first attack, and the dark arts the Nephilim used to forge the Grand Abominations brought out the full potential of this ability.
- Magma Man: Earth Reaver can channel magma from faults and fissures into a massive volcanic eruption, capable of wiping out whole armies at a stroke. However, it can only do this once for a specific region; all the magma in the area is used up in that one shot, so it has to move on to a new one before it can fire again.
- Mind Rape: Mortis inflicts this on Death when it catches him off-guard, raiding his mind for the secret of awakening the Grand Abominations then passing this to the others.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Named Abominations include Black Mercy, White Anguish, Anathema, Lamentation, Gravesire, Bleak Tranquillity and Earth Reaver. Suffice to say, they're fittingly named.
- Not Quite Dead: Mortis is deeply weakened and almost dead by the time Death finds it, but it's just alive enough to Mind Rape him and leak the location of the Ravaiim homeworld to Hadrimon.
- One-Hit Kill: Black Mercy's signature power is to kill in one hit, regardless of how small the wound it inflicts is. When fully awakened, any wound that bleeds in its presence becomes instantly fatal and it gains an "Instant Death" Radius which expands with every kill it makes.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Every last one of them wants nothing more than to kill, and they're not particularly picky who they kill.
- The Power of Blood: They need Ravaiim blood to awaken their full power, as part of a failsafe built in by the Firstborn Nephilim to prevent the Abominations being used against them and to maintain their control over them.
- The Power of Hate: According to Death, the Grand Abominations hate all of Creation with enough rancour to make demons look positively cuddly in comparison, which is one of the things making them so dangerous. Black Mercy in particular can act independently of its user and even puppeteer their body due to how much power its hatred grants it, something Death notes the Abominations should not be able to do.
- Power Limiter: The Firstborn Nephilim built one into all of the Grand Abominations to prevent their world-ending power being used against them should a lost Abomination be recovered or stolen. Ravaiim blood is the key to deactivating this limiter.
- Psychic Link: The Abominations have a form of mental connection between them, letting them transmit memories, images, etc. from one Abomination to another. This sets up the majority of the conflict for the story's second act, as Mortis feeds Hadrimon Death's plans and Death later exploits it as part of a double bluff to ensure the Ravaiim blood's permanent destruction.
- The Reveal: The Grand Abominations aren't magical weapons like Affliction or Harvester. They're living things created from the Ravaiim's remains through a process so vile that it corrupted the Ravaiim homeworld into a hellhole covered in fleshy growths, were used by the Nephilim to butcher whole worlds, and hate all of Creation with utter vehemence due to their horrific fate. Death was the one who came up with the idea of making them and personally supervised the creation of several. And while the majority are sealed in an extradimensional vault, several are still out there due to being thought lost or destroyed on battlefields.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: Particularly when they fire teeth and kill with one hit, as Black Mercy demonstrates.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: According to Death, most of the Grand Abominations are locked away in an extradimensional vault. Despite the Charred Council trying to torture him into divulging the location, he steadfastly refuses to speak a word of where it is. It turns out it's on the dead world where he built his home, hence why that world never drifted off into the Abyss.
- Sole Survivor: Mortis is the only Abomination known to exist for certain after The Abomination Vault; if Death held to his word, the rest of them got tossed into Oblivion after the story.
- Walking Spoiler: It's difficult to discuss anything about their true nature without spoiling about half the book.
- Weapon Wields You: As Hadrimon's Villainous Breakdown begins in earnest, Black Mercy essentially seizes control of his body and starts acting on its own. Death specifically notes that they should not be able to do this, and speculates that it may be due to the Abominations having centuries to nurse their grudges while in the Vault.
- Wrecked Weapon:
- Implied. Death indicates that several Grand Abominations were destroyed prior to the story, or otherwise lost so thoroughly that they might as well be.
- Downplayed in the case of Mortis. While still functional, Death notes that it's nearly dead and at a fraction of its former power.
Downloadable Content Characters
The Hunter
The Hunter
Voiced by: Steve Blum
From the Belial DLC. A human who roamed around the ruins of Earth, whom Death eventually bumped into after hearing rumors of survivors from Uriel.
- Action Survivor: Yep. Despite his failings, he's a paragon of humanity's potential, despite how most supernatural beings dismiss humans as being weak. This guy managed to survive with just a sniper rifle, his own survival skills, and a makeshift prosthesis.
- The Atoner: Suffers from extreme guilt of serving Belial by revealing the locations of the other survivors in exchange for his own soul back.
- Badass Normal: No special powers whatsoever. Even the 'deal' with Belial got him no powers whatsoever.
- Cold Sniper: Uses a sniper rifle as his main weapon.
- Handicapped Badass: He replaced his missing leg with a makeshift prosthesis.
- Heroic BSoD: Suffers from one upon learning that his soul was never taken and that the humans he helped locate died for nothing.
- Last of Their Kind: Implied. When asked by Death if there were others, the Hunter merely answers that he doesn't know and that if there were he "hoped that their end was quick". The second game renders this trope moot since Death restores mankind back to life and the third game reveals other humans have survived as well.
- Redemption Equals Death: When it turned out his soul was never taken from him and that he was merely fooled into ratting out the other humans, the Hunter asks to be killed as penance. Death complies.
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What Could Have Been: The Hunter was originally meant to appear as a character in the first Darksiders as an ally to War, but was scrapped for unknown reasons.
Belial
The Mad Smith
The Mad Smith
Voiced by: Keith Szarabajka
A Maker who was imprisoned in the Shadow Lands by his kin for his creation of the Abyssal Forge.
- Ax-Crazy: When meeting Death for the first time.
- Hypocritical Humor: He pulls this off when describing the Abyssal Forge. He's called the "Mad" Smith for a reason.Mad Smith: And unlike myself, the Abyssal Forge is utterly insane.
- Mad Scientist: Even if he is a talented smith, it's clear he has a few screws loose.
- Mercy Kill: Asks this of Death after the destruction of the Abyssal Forge. The request didn't seem all that important to him, given how aloof he was when Death decided to spare him, even stating he wanted to make a new masterpiece. Although, this is probably another sign of his madness...
- Oh, Crap!: When Death tells him the seal to the Shadow Lands has been broken, the smith starts to freak out about the potential invasion of the Abyssal Forge and its armies and begs him to destroy it.
Frostbane
Frostbane
Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore
An ice dragon created by Argul, who summoned a soul of the Abyss to serve him. It serves as the final boss in the Argul's Tomb DLC.- Badass Boast: Tells Death that his soul is indestructible and even killing his vessel won't truly end him.
- Casting a Shadow: Frostbane starts channeling the power of the Abyss during the fight with Death, empowering its attacks with a dark energy.
- The Dragon: To Argul, both figuratively and literally.
- Dragon Their Feet: Frostbane is confronted long after his master has been dethroned, and likely can be faced after his defeat in Death's hands.
- Evil Is Deathly Cold: Much like his master Argul, Frostbane also has domains over cold.
- Expy: He resembles the Destroyer in the first game, only being covered in ice instead of wreathed in flames.
- Off with His Head!: How Death finishes the fight.
- Our Dragons Are Different: He's not actually a "true" dragon, but rather a soul from the Abyss Argul bound to a vessel shaped like a dragon. Frostbane uses terminology like "this form" when describing himself, indicating that his true appearance is likely different.
- Our Souls Are Different: As a being from the Abyss, Frostborne's soul will not travel to the Well of Souls with his vessel's destruction and will instead simply return to the Abyss.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: When Argul was deposed, Frostbane was trapped inside his sanctuary and throw away into a pocket realm by the Lord of Bones away from anyone's reach.
Death's Door Graphic Novel Characters
The Horsemaster
The Horsemaster
The protector of a place called the Far Fields. It is from him that the Horsemen got their steeds.
- Beware the Nice Ones: To quote Death...Death: When he is at rest, no being has known greater serenity. And when he is called to arms, no being is swifter at bringing everlasting darkness... Save for me.
- Cool Old Guy: He acts very respectful towards Death and even helps him gets to Earth, saying that the latter's cause has always been just.
- Cowboy: Possibly a lone cowboy variation. Aside from dressing the part (save for what appear to be two tanto-like weapons strapped to his back), he hasn't been seen to be living with anyone else and he takes care of the horses that live in his realm.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Horsemaster is simply known to those who know him as... the Horsemaster.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: From what Death knows, if the Horsemaster actually has a given name, he has yet to tell anyone.
Makhala
Makhala
A former angel soldier from the Hellguard that was present at the Battle of Eden where the Nephilim were wiped out by the temporary alliance between the Four Horsemen and the Hellguard. However, after Absalom died and Corruption was born, Makhala became one of the first people to fall under its influence. She traveled to Earth and started a cult among the humans while spreading Corruption's influence, claiming that she's "saving" them. It wasn't until the events of Death's Door (specifically, in 18th century France) that Death hunted her down (as requested by Abaddon, when she killed several of his best soldiers (but he thought she was a demon)) and killed her.
- Action Girl: Was formerly part of the Hellguard.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Thanks to Corruption. Also applies to her followers.
- Evil Redhead: In stark contrast to most angel characters (who have platinum hair), Makhala has red hair.
- Fallen Angel: She's filled with Corruption, and is so apart from her status as an angel that Abaddon thought she was a demon.
- Light Is Not Good: She's an angel, but spreading Corruption pegs her as this trope.
- Precision-Guided Boomerang: Like War in the first game, she uses a crossblade. Unlike War, it's her main weapon.
- Religion of Evil: Started one of these on Earth under the influence of Corruption.
