| “ | Look upon my great visage and well may you tremble. For you gaze upon Dormammu! First and mightiest of the Maleficar! Hear my words in your soul and feel it crumble! My thoughts shall weigh over you like a cloud of doom, and it shall bring them down into darkness and despair! My words will extinguish the light from your stars! Either serve me in the eternal darkness, or die without hope as you curse both life and death! | „ |
| ~ Dormammu |
Dormammu was the first of the Maleficar to be created and the most powerful of the Great Evils. He was also the second to be banished after defecting from the Prime Evils and rules over his own dimension that he discovered after being tossed into the Void.
Appearance[]
Initially, Dormammu had no true physical form, and using the fires of Tartarus was able to make himself what constitutes as a body. Dormammu appears as a behemoth with demonic regal clothing but the most prominent feature his his head which is completely encompassed in infernal mystic fire with his 'face' being a void black with only two glowing eyes and a menacing grin. Dormammu's appearance shifts depending on the type of energy he is draining from a realm. His usual appearance is due to the mystical energies that make up Angband as a whole and has also taken the form of a hulking giant made out of jagged brimstone and fire.
History[]
Background[]
Dormammu was created by the Prime Evils in Tartarus and was the first to emerge. Dormammu was believed to be the most cunning of the Maleficar as it is speculated that he was the one who endorsed Argosax's ambitions in taking over Hell for himself to not only remove him from the equation but also have a series of events lead to where both the Prime and other Maleficar, with the exception of his sister, are removed from the equation so that he may take all the power for himself.
Whereas most of the Maleficar reveled in power, Dormammu's fascination with obtaining power was unique to his own. He sought to obtain and harness excess levels of power to increase his own and place himself atop of the pyramid. Moreover, when Dormammu would expand his power across a particular land or realm where he reigns supreme he would have it infest other realms with his own power thus becoming part of his kingdom. His most desired object of interest was Earth and its inhabitants as the planet held powerful forces and artifacts that would be of great use to him when he conquers it. While other Evils would follow Argosax's method of conquest, some like Dormammu were more broad, sharing a similar mindset to his masters yet was his own.
Banishment[]
Dormammu discovered the power of Vril, particularly a spark of it that resided in one of the Knights of Hell. He killed one of the knights, Xephros, siphoned his power and consequently the spark of the Secret Fire that lay within him, and would then use the primordial chaotic elements of both the Abyss and Tartarus to shape and increase his own power, which he shared with his sister Andariel, in order to overthrow the lords of Hell then expand his rule to Earth. During this process, Dormammu would attempt learn the secrets of the universe's functions and flaws, both of which he could use to his advantage to spread his influence beyond just the reaches of the Earth, from Hell's tomes and archives.
Dormammu's knowledge and manipulation of such aspects related to the building blocks of the universe's creation only served to make him a threat in the eyes of the other Maleficar, believing that once Dormammu gathers enough power to slay the current rulers of Hell he would have not just the Primes but the other Maleficar be subservient to him. As a result, they betrayed Dormammu's location in Hell, alerting Beelzebub who quickly banished Dormammu far beyond the darkness of the Abyss where he would forever wander the Void. However, Dormammu was able to use the latent power he mixed between the Darkness and the Secret Fire to create a fissure in the Void that lead to another dimension where he reigned until his sister finds a way to release him. He used his power to fashion the dimension into a kingdom of his likeness and named it Angband.
Voice from the Dark[]
At some point in time, a Necromancer whose original name was lost to time was visited by Andariel, Dormammu's sister, and with the knowledge and power bestowed to him, the Necromancer was renamed Drath Mephruhn, a powerful lich. At Dormammu's behest, Andariel informed Drath Mephruhn of the Conjunction of the Spheres, a celestial event which only occurs once every 1,000 years where the realms that lay behind the veil from the land of man overlap and allow otherworldly creatures to emerge. Drath Mephruhn learned that by manipulating the celestial alignment to some degree he could allow Dormammu access to the material spheres of man and beast.
Drath knew that he would be resist by the monarchs of man until Dormammu suggested to corrupt said kings using a mark of his own making which would subdue the kings under his will so there would be no interruption. Dormammu would have Drath brand some of the kings of man, of whom held darkness in their hearts and a desire for power, with the Darksign. The Darksign would twist and corrupt their souls until they become nothing but husks of their former selves and leave Drath to his rituals uninterrupted. However, Drath Mephruhn's activities caught the alert of the Apostles of Hecate who, after an arduous battle, defeated Drath Mephruhn's by obliterating his body and took extra precautions by destroying the Phylactery that contained portions of his soul. However, they did not realize that other Phylacteries of Drath Mephruhn laid hidden with the former branded kings who now became the Ringed Wraiths.
Despite the setback, Dormammu had Andariel and the Ringed Wraiths search for others that would be more than willing to continue Drath Mephruhn's work. Much later, they recruited Sylas and Amara Briarwood who harnessed hundreds of souls to feed Drath Mephruhn's phylacteries in order to reconstitute his body and continue the arcane ritual which would bring Dormammu unto Earth. However, they would take it a step further. The Briarwoods were aware of the Feywild, the Lands Between and where all manner of mythical creatures and fae congregate and reside, but more importantly they knew of the Erdtree, a World Tree that took form from a branch of Yggdrasil or the Tree of Life, that resided there which acted as the pillar keeping the realm stable and the embodiment of the Feywild as a whole. They would need a branch from the Erdtree and use it as a vital piece to manipulate the celestial energies of the Convergence which would spread throughout the Erdtree, affecting all the realms and have them collapse to create a singularity that would not only be absorbed into Angband but allow Dormammu to cross over.
Dormammu's Ascent[]
Dormammu reveals himself (Art by Zero Shadows)
The activities of the Briarwoods garnered the attention of individuals who would become their greatest foes. Among them would be the Witcher Geralt, Sparda, and several others who would band together to become the Dark Swordsman Party. During their adventure they would come to learn of Dormammu's existence all while battling the Ringed Wraths, and would be more alarmed of the methods required to properly bring him over to their world. While they managed to defeat and this time properly destroy Drath Mephruhn, the tainted and black magic used by the Briarwoods corrupted several of the Fae, and turned kingdoms into desolate wastelands which only grew worse with the coming of the Conjunction of the Spheres and the Briarwoods' tampering with the Natural Order of creation.
Unfortunately, despite their best efforts and them slaying the Briarwoods, the ritual was complete and Dormammu began his descent unto the material plane where his kingdom would begin to assimilate the Earth's lands and his armies would march. The Dark Swordsman Party confronted Dormammu within the Nexus Roots the middle-ground between the conjoining realms of the mythical and mortal. The Party, empowered by the seeds of the Erdtree, battled the Great Evil in a titanic battle. However, they struggled fiercely against his godly might only to discover that Dormammu's power is dependent on his realm and that they must lure him away from Angband which would slowly weaken him overtime. As they did, Dormammu found himself slowly but surely being overwhelmed by the combined might of the Dark Swordsman Party. Keyleth used her magic to graft the seeds unto Sparda's blade, empowering it with the divine magic of the Erdtree before Sparda would leap and deal a massively critical blow to Dormammu with a downward slash. Injuring the Dread Conqueror and banishing him back into Angband.
Personality[]
Like Theokoles, Dormammu has been described as "something worse than a demon". Many times he would be labeled as "Evil Incarnate" and wanted nothing more than power and domination, being utterly malicious and cruel. Dormammu proved himself to be merciless, extremely wrathful and aggressive, and happy to slaughter as many as he wished. He had the will to dominate the Earth itself, despising free will and wanting all life to be his slaves. He was so unsympathetic for human life that he wanted to kill the women and children of Cintra, alongside the entire city's population. Those who he did not want to kill were nothing but slaves who carried out his bidding without question, such as the Briarwoods and the Mindless Ones.
Despite his aggressiveness, Dormammu is sometimes shown as incredibly patient, with certain plots to achieve his goals spanning millions of years, whereas others are planned far more recently or even improvised through opportunity. He was proficient in the art of deception, taking advantage of the greed and corruptibility of others, such as the Briarwoods and Drath Mephruhn. His influence even corrupted the Fae to some extent, turning their greatest warriors into beastial monsters. Although extremely intelligent, with tremendous knowledge of the mystic arts, he is overwhelmingly arrogant, generally does not adapt well to sudden confusion and unexpected developments, and has a tendency to gloat over technically outmatched foes rather than swiftly finish them off.
Powers and Abilities[]
Dormammu is the most powerful of the Maleficar and one of the most powerful beings that ever threatened not just Earth but potentially the Natural Order itself. In fact, Dormammu is often considered to be one of the greatest threats to the Natural Order seeing as how he was more than willing to tear the fabric of creation's workings asunder simply to absorb it into his realm. Many covens of mages acknowledge Dormammu as one of their "most terrible foes"; a threat to "all life" itself, that "at full power no one could stand against." Dormammu's ascension to power alarmed even Beelzebub who quickly banished the Great Evil to the Void possibly indicating that the longer he dabbled in primordial forces the more chances he had of successfully overthrowing the royals of Hell and unleashing his power on the Earth.
Dormammu is composed of pure mystic energy, eclipsing even the greatest of sorcerers in terms of raw power and the ability to manipulate the forces of magic. Dormammu is virtually indestructible and immortal due to his energy form composed of raw magical energy which is increased and replenished, at least partially, by worship throughout various dimensions. Dormammu has also shown himself capable of competing against and nearly besting wielders of the World Tree seeds. His influence is so dark and filthy that it can even corrupt the light of the elves and the Fae race as a whole. With the knowledge and power he attained before and after his banishment to the Void, Dormammu is capable of using said power to almost any effect he desires, including: energy projection, matter manipulation, resizing, teleportation, possession; necromancy, bestowing of power, and creating demon lords. Even when facing against the Dark Swordsman Party who had their abilities greatly enhanced by the World Tree seeds they still struggled greatly against him where even the mighty Sparda was being pushed.
However, despite his terrifying power, Dormammu's chief vulnerability was his connection to his own realm. Having invested the majority of the energies and will of his personal being into Angband (in order to exert maximum influence over the other realms he would eventually rule over once absorbed into his own realm) the longer he is away from Angband, the weaker and more susceptible he becomes to attacks. His vitality is dependent on his kingdom. In more extreme cases, the destruction of Angband would lead to the disillusion of his form to the point where a blow empowered by divine and holy energy would prove fatal for even him. In relation to this, despite shrugging off blasts from some of the members of the Dark Swordsman Party, their empowerment from the World Tree seed agitated him to where he winced from some of the strongest attacks.