Subpages cleanup: Complete Monster

Awesome!

@nwotyzal Whoops, my mistake.

for the Archon.

for Julius, and the Emperor.

Archon

The French Emperor

"I guarded her until she peacefully passed away. She was the only person I respected. She formed me to the strong, perfect leader I am today."

This is textbook Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas, complete with a regret for hiding to her that he did purge the rest of their family.

Also, why the French Emperor is a German supremacist

Milord

Edited by KazuyaProta on Jul 14th 2022 at 10:48:04 AM

I'll also report back on the Kung Fu Panda show

I'd love to join the Stranger Things 4 Vol 2 discussion whenever it will be, but I have one episode left and won't get to it tonight. I'll jump in once I'm done though of course. Been quite the ride so far this season.

Ignore that question about that god dude from a few hours ago, there may be more to that than I thought. First for the new Skulduggery batch.

Who is Gog Magog?

The God of the Apocalypse himself, Gog Magog was despised by his fellow deities, even amongst the genocidal monstrosities that were the Faceless Ones. A unique being who was the sole member of his own pantheon, Gog Magog had the annoying habit of waiting for the other gods to create species to worship them only to swoop in and destroy everything, either instigating or actively leading these civilizations to their own extinction. Eventually, the other pantheons had enough of his shit and banded together to strip him of his power, casting him down to Earth as a mere mortal.

Losing his memories in the process, Gog Magog took up the new name of Abrogate Raze and set out to discover his purpose in life, eventually marrying a grade-A badass named Quinlan Forte. They had a family together, but Raze's feelings of bitterness and inability to find meaning drove him to acts of such terrible violence that Quinlan eventually fled with her younger children. On December 2nd, 1607, Quinlan was found with "her blood spilled, her body broken, and her life extinguished" as her house burned down and her children huddled together outside. Her second eldest, a young man who had taken up the name Skulduggery Pleasant, vowed to avenge her even if he had to hunt his father to the very ends of the earth.

A year later, Raze joined an obscure cult, usurping control and murdering the prior leader another 7 years later. Under his influence, the cult grew in power, taking advantage of the ongoing war against the genocidal warlord Mevolent to plunder a massive collection of magical tomes for Raze's research. After a few years of more murder the cult was crippled by Skulduggery's unrelenting manhunt for his father. Raze and 18 of his remaining followers drank poison to join with their cult's god... only for Raze to come back to life and, distraught at not joining what he had believed to be his true purpose, run away.

After taking over a few more cults he eventually joined up with Mevolent's Legion of Judgement, acting as an important researcher and apparently playing an integral part in keeping the Legion a step ahead in the war over the course of 22 years. It was during this time he came across references to an obscure god called Gog Magog, and felt "some dark thing stirring in [his] soul." As his old memories resurfaced in his subconscious, they created a Mind Virus—the more you learn about Gog Magog (as long as what you learn is in a specific order), the more obsessed you become with worshipping him. Raze eventually defected and bargained for amnesty. With his freedom intact—though Skulduggery, of course, was still after him—Raze continued his research into Gog Magog, taking on two assistants who gradually fell prey to the Mind Virus and went insane.

Skulduggery and three of his siblings eventually tracked Raze down, but Raze got said three to fall prey to the Mind Virus and join him as acolytes of Gog Magog. Skulduggery, since become a living skeleton because of reasons, was partially immune and escaped. Over the next two years Raze and his children left a trail of chaos in their wake as they continued their research into Gog Magog and recruited more innocents into the "Covenant of the Destroyer," being directly responsible for over two dozen murders in that time period.

Fortunately, in 1800, Skulduggery and his uninfected siblings managed to get the drop on an alone Raze and, after a brutal battle, sealed him in a coffin. After coming to realize their father was... you know, a god, Skulduggery took some extra security precautions and sent him to the "Dire" Dimension. Due to that world's weird physics, you can only enter or leave the dimension if you trade places with someone else, so Raze was traded for Dire's equivalent: Quietus of Gaunt, their recently overthrown genocidal ruler. And he's been there ever since...

Which did nothing to end the troubles he caused. The three children he infected continued to worship Gog Magog, with their clashes with their siblings leading to widescale destruction over the course of a century and a half. Arden Gale, a researcher for the Sanctuaries, also fell under the Mind Virus and killed his spouse before setting out to make new converts. The Skulduggery Pleasant Grimoire, a guidebook told from the In-Universe perspective of four more researchers as they summarize the events of previous books, also details their descent into insanity as they explored obscure references to Raze in Skulduggery's adventures, with Arden helping the process along. All this worship is feeding Gog Magog's power, and The Grimoire is successfully published to spread the word of the Destroyer.

Oh, and then there's the latest book. The void incarnate wants to, well, void everything, and the only one who knows how to stop it is Quietus. He agrees to give Skulduggery the info in exchange for being sent back home and an as-of-yet unknown second favor. And since he's returned to Dire, guess whose coffin is traded back?

I'm sure that's not going to be important later. /s

Heinousness?

As Raze, without his memories of divinity, he's a serial killer who left a trail of destruction in his wake and corrupted numerous innocents into murderous, nihilistic insanity. Impressive, but not much to stand out considering how how the individual Big Bads of pretty much every book have bodycounts aiming in the thousands at the least. Kitana, Bubba Moon, and the Promoter make up for their own low bodycounts with a collective lack of resources and, respectively, a gruesome M.O. and targeting a school for slaughter; a unique niche of forced death matches; and being a serial killer of children, which also (in some way he doesn't know the precise details of) aids in starting a genocidal WW3. Corrupting innocents gives Raze a boost but isn't enough on its own, even without considering how high he stands resource-wise.

But the dude's also the literal God of the Apocalypse. He's implicitly responsible for the slaughter of countless civilizations throughout the multiverse. I'm not quite sure whether this should be considered Offscreen Villainy since it's only mentioned in a few paragraphs compared to the detail put into his exploits as Raze, but considering it's the entire reason he was banished in the first place I think it's fine. And, like, I don't think we need it spelled out to us what he's going to do when he gets free.

There's also a small implication that he was behind the events of The Age of the Maggot, wherein a god attempted to replace humanity with a species of maggot monsters. The short story ends on the conclusion that it was orchestrated by the Demon King and God of Evolution, Tunnrak Rakhir, and while nothing outright contradicts this, the whistleblower of the operation only came forward after getting "worked on" by Arden Gale to supposedly remove the brainwashing Tunnrak had on her. Considering Gog Magog was the prime suspect before this... well, it's something I'll keep an eye on.

Any mitigating factors?

None so far. He only married Quinlan to see if love is the thing he felt he was missing, and once it's clear that it isn't he kills her and books it. Personally, I'm not expecting any to show up later, he's directly compared to Serpine as an irredeemable ass Skulduggery will never forgive and never stop hunting.

Verdict?

I think so? For now, at least.

You know, making the title character the son of a god would normally be some of that "Bullshit Magic Protagonist Powers" stuff I despise, but honestly it's a better explanation for all the inexplicable shit he's gotten away with in the past 14 books other than "he's the protagonist, shut up." And no, being a living skeleton somehow isn't included in that list of inexplicable shit, that for some ungodly reason actually has a halfway logical explanation behind it.

Edited by EmeraldEmperor on Jul 14th 2022 at 12:18:23 PM

to Gog Magog

Sure there.

I've got one myself:

What's the work?

The film ...And Justice for All is a 1979 film starring Al Pacino as a bold young defense attorney serving a contempt charge for punching a judge during a fight after the judge stonewalls his attempts to free an innocent client in Judge Henry T. Fleming's courtroom. A lot of terrible stuff is going on: his friend and mentor is having a breakdown, our hero Kirkland is in trouble before the ethics board.

Then Fleming is arrested for rape. and he asks for Kirkland as his attorney. The two despise one another but Fleming thinks that if Kirkland helps him, it will make him look more innocent.

But is he? WELLLL...

Who is Judge Henry T. Fleming?

A sadist in robes. Fleming is the embodiment of evil in the justice system. A cruel, twisted man who delights in hurting others. Fleming goes out of his way to ruin the lives of the innocent. He suppresses evidence to make them appear guilty to have them sent to hellish prisons. One of Kirkland's innocent clients is abused in prison in every way and when Kirkland has evidence proving he's innocent, Fleming screws it on a technicality, knowing the man is innocent. Some are murdered in prison...unable to bear the abuse any longer, the man kills himself.

Fleming pushes for the most brutal punishments he can, such as trying to get armed robbers executed, but swears he just upholds the law and he's innocent of rape. Then the evidence mounts and Kirkland learns Fleming is a brutal rapist when he discovers picture of him in a BDSM scenario with a call girl. Fleming likes his sex rough and preferably nonconsensual.

The victim was brutalized, raped and savagely beaten. And when he confronts Fleming, Fleming tells Kirkland that he's guilty. But Kirkland can't do anything about it because he's a defense attorney. Fleming chose him just to fuck with him and hurt him more.

And then in court, he makes a remark he'd like to "meet the victim" again. Kirkland snaps and in the denouement, Kirkland gives a speech how the prosecution won't get Fleming.

Because he will. Denouncing fleming, he declares that Fleming is guilty and confessed it to him. That Fleming is a monster. "You son of a bitch1 You're supposed to stand for something! You're supposed to protect people! Instead, you fucking murder them!"

Fleming is left stunned in a Villainous BSoD as Kirkland storms off, enraged...the ending is ambiguous, but Kirkland's going to be disbarred, almost certainly. Fleming's fate is unknown, but it is likely he'll have a new trial. And likely be convicted as everyone in the city despises him.

Mitigating issues?

The one standout crime is a violent rape and beating. But beyond that, Fleming is a twisted sadist using the justice system to get his fix. He makes it so innocent people are sentenced and guilty people are punished far more than they deserve. And he knows full well what happens: horrible abuse, murders in prison, beatings, rapes...he does everything he can to destroy their lives and sentence them to hell.

That he's the worst kind of criminal himself is an irony that escapes nobody. Fleming isn't just a well intentioned tough on crime guy, he's a monster.

Conclusion?

Keeper.

to Fleming as well.

Goggy and Fleming

Yes to Magog and Fleming

Archon, Gog and Fleming

Julius and Emperor

Edited by DemonDuckofDoom on Jul 15th 2022 at 12:02:54 PM

Gog Magog and Fleming.

Fleming. Can he get Hanging Judge as a pothole please?

Yes to Gog and Fleming.

Gog and Fleming

Yes to Gog Magog and to Fleming whom, it turns out, is very much out of order.

Gog, Fleming

Also I'm open for a collab on the Nicholas Cage series I've reserved.

Edited by WetFlannels on Jul 15th 2022 at 1:25:44 PM

Gog Magog.

Judge Flemming.

Judge Henry T. Fleming

Gog Magog

Archon, Gog, & Flemming

Should Vecna from Stranger Things be listed as a Complete Monster?

Edited by MemeMaster245 on Jul 15th 2022 at 9:57:34 AM

to Magog and Fleming

Discussion will begin when the discussion begins.