| “ | What do I want? WHAT DO I WANT!? What do I need from a fucking ant like you? I don't want ANYTHING that you can give me except to be my meal. And that's ALL you insects are going to be! The women! The children! All of them are akin to maggots just waiting and begging to be crushed under my heel! There is no escape, no respite. There is nothing left but my darkness and the world will be covered in it along with EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU! | „ |
| ~ Theokoles |
Theokoles is one of the Maleficar and is said to be the second strongest of the four demon gods only behind Dormammu. He is the most violent and savage of the Evils with his power giving him the undisputed title of "Shadow of Evil".
Appearance[]
Theokoles stands well over eight feet tall with a muscular build and dark skin. What is most notable about him is the fact that he sports four arms and two faces similar to that of an Asura and has spiked hair. Theokoles has unique markings on his forehead, nose, cheeks, and torso. He also has a second pair of eyes under his normal eyes, which are usually closed. Theokoles also has two lines on both his wrists, upper arms, circles on both his shoulders with a dot in each, two-segmented curve lines on his chest, and two lines on his stomach.
It is shown that whenever one is in possession of the jars that contains his severed limb, their appearance changes to that of Theokoles specifically where they sport the same unique markings and even have a second pair of eyes under their normal eyes.
History[]
Background[]
Theokoles was created by the Prime Evils alongside his three cohorts to serve as their greatest weapons. However, while initially created to serve the Prime Evils, Theokoles had a more rebellious streak as he hated the idea of answering to a higher authority and would rather experience the freedom to kill, feed, and rule at his leisure. Theokoles was among the Maleficarum that did not trust in the power of the Prime Evils, accusing of them being scared to unleash the might of their abyssal power against Heaven and are more prominently focusing on ruling over the humans and turning the Earth into their own Hellish kingdom.
Seeing this, Theokoles believed that they were too narrow-minded and joined the other Maleficar in rebelling against their masters. Theokoles did not participate much in observing Hell's security and power-structure though he did gain a reputation amongst the denizens of the Inferno for his sheer ferocity of destroying legions of demons who stood in his way. Theokoles despised Hell, but not for the reasons one believes. While he relishes in the suffering and torment of others, in Hell it is the norm and fills the very poisonous fumes of the Inferno. He prefers the suffering of mortals in the material plane for it is pain and anguish at its most pure without having it be tainted by the fires of Hell after their departure. As such, he waited until the other Maleficar were out of the way and bide his time for Mundus to prepare his assault on the human world.
Terrorizing Earth[]
Theokoles would use one of the Seven Gates of Hell built by Mulciber to breach the barriers that separated the Underworld and mortal world from one another and lay waste to all that he sees. Theokoles attempted to establish his power over the Roman Empire in the 4th century as it would serve as the center point for his power to be at its most fullest spreading throughout the lands due to its corruption. But he would be driven out by Satan in every attempt as the Great Red Dragon held dominion over not just the Roman Empire but many other great empires that held enormous economic and political power across the lands. As a result, Theokoles expressed his rage by entering wars and battles between the Romans and other Germanic tribes, massacring both sides simply to satiate his bloodlust and spite Satan, arrogantly calling out the Devil to challenge him.
He terrorized many kingdoms and lands, leaving chaos in his wake. However, he ran into Cain during a battle between the Romans and a Germanic tribe, who also partook in these battles, engaging the Father of Murder in a monstrously tremendous fight. Eventually, Theokoles was overwhelmed and defeated by Cain in a battle that, according to Ovid, took them past the limits of their madness, enduring for three days and nights and "charred the sands into black and glass".
Defeat and Imprisonment[]
Cain dismembered Theokoles's body, then had his severed parts be bound in sacred jars by a powerful witch, ensuring that he never regenerates. The jars would be hidden in various sections of the world, but ever growing in power thus would reach out to the more depraved minds of the human world, influencing and corrupting them into seeking him out. These malignant group of humans, who colluded together as a demonic cult known only as the Black Hand, intend to bring all the severed parts of the demon god together, reforming and returning him to his former glory.
Personality[]
Theokoles is most often described as a monstrously savage demonic being, on one occasion he was cited as being far worse than a demon. He is selfish, cold-hearted, merciless, violent, immoral, and extremely sadistic, relishing in the screams and suffering of humans and other Earthly individuals or beasts. After his reformation when all the jars were united, Theokoles broke into ecstatic laughter, excited at the prospect of engaging in the slaughter of women and children and likening them to maggots crawling around and waiting to be crushed. Like the other Great Evils, Theokoles vies for power and control but his methods are far more extreme and destructive. By his own admission, Theokoles does not have dreams, goals, or aspirations to work towards, he simply does what he does because he wants to while driven by the belief that no one can stop him.
He would trample through entire armies and demolish entire cities and kingdoms just so he could bathe in the blood of humans and cement his power over them. He never cares for the consequences of his actions even when said actions garner the attention of individuals that are purportedly stronger than him like Satan. While taking most things in casually cruel stride, he does have a temper. When angered, Theokoles has shown a much more stoic and cold side to himself, putting aside his usual evil smiles and having a scowl on his face while making his fury clear with swift retaliations. But when truly pushed, his anger implodes into violent fury and becomes utterly relentless in his brutality.
Theokoles is aware of his enormous power and is extremely arrogant about it. He would often introduce himself through his titles alone and speak of his exploits on Earth and Hell to show others the sort of foe they are dealing with. When brutalizing an opponent he becomes patronizing and proclaiming his superiority over them. For this reason, he is highly dismissive of his opponents and rarely takes them seriously, even explicitly stating he would kill Urizen. Theokoles's arrogance is so immense that to him the concept of losing is completely foreign to him. Moreover, when he is actually being pushed and the thought of losing crosses his mind, Theokoles snaps and becomes angrily erratic. He was also shown to hold a massive grudge against one that defeated him for when was fully reformed, he pondered on where Cain was and eagerly sought a rematch. However, despite his somewhat brutish nature, Theokoles is surprisingly quite clever and analytical when the circumstances call for it. During his battle with Cain he quickly deduced that the force behind the Father of Murder's strikes and attacks were slowly increasing with each rapid succession and that his healing was also increasing in conjunction with his rage thereby making it all the more difficult for Theokoles to kill him and much less put him down. He is also quick to analyze situations and make correct conclusions.
Theokoles is also an immense glutton, not only for the flesh of others but for fighting and bloodshed., constantly showing enjoyment whenever fighting an opponent or a facing a challenge. While frequently taunting his enemies upon easily overwhelming them, Theokoles is by no means brutally straight-forward in a fight and is quite pragmatic and analytical, opting to take his time to analyze the abilities of his enemy rather than just instantly charging on them before decimating them with ease after understanding their capabilities and flaunting them, however, his arrogance can get the better of him as he views the abilities of his opponents so beneath him that he would not bother to study their methods of fighting. His thousands of years of experience in defeating entire armies, slaughtering great demons and killing mighty monsters constantly means it is easy for him to figure out what powers and abilities his enemies would have, so Theokoles is shown to be quite interested when an enemy defies his expectations or has quite intriguing abilities. He is also not above praising his opponents as shown when he maddeningly complimented Cain's power and strength and was euphoric in the heat of battle at having to fight such an opponent who could push him to the very brink of his madness and power.
Powers and Abilities[]
Regarded as a God of Demons, the Shadow of Evil, and the Great Evil of War, Theokoles is among the most powerful beings that emerged from Tartarus. He is often ranked as only second in power among the Maleficar behind only Dormammu, though Andariel states that should Dormammu have perished Theokoles would quite easily take over the position of being the most powerful Maleficar. He possesses both overwhelming levels of power and extraordinary levels of skill to the point where he once openly challenged Satan, threatened to kill his masters, and fought Cain in a battle that inspired humans to create poems of it.
In the past, the Romans worshipped him as Mars, the Roman god of war, as he would be seen entering battlefields and wars just to trek through an ocean of blood and would be dubbed as the Devouring Darkness since he would also consume not just humans but other demons and monsters. The full-brunt of his power was shown during his battle with Cain where both the latter and Theokoles engaged in a battle so fiercely intense and monstrous that it endured for three days and nights and which, according to Ovid, took them past the limits of their madness until finally being defeated. Cain himself admitted that Theokoles may have been the second strongest opponent he has ever faced with the first being Sparda himself. During their battle, Theokoles unleashed an overhead slash with his weapon that raised up a massive chunk of the earth and struck Cain deep into the ground to where they reached a cavern of magma despite Cain blocking the blow. Their battle within the asthenosphere of the mantle caused geysers of magma to erupt and chasms to form which threatened all those above.
It is shown that even after having his body dismembered and placed into mystical jars, Theokoles's power was so strong that he managed to avoid being completely destroyed. Moreover, his severed parts alone are easily capable of corrupting and influencing any whoso dare to listen to his calls and would be totally under Theokoles's command should they physically touch the jar itself. His severed parts could even bestow powers to his holders making them highly formidable threats to the likes of other powerful individuals such as Nero, the wolf pack, and even the Ghost Rider. Upon fully reforming when all his body parts were united, Theokoles was shown to be near-unstoppable as Nero, even with his fully-awakened Devil Trigger, could not defeat him with Theokoles beating him without much effort. He was even able to overwhelm Johnny Blaze and was slightly unharmed when the Ghost Rider unleashed a colossal blast of Hellfire that completely engulfed him. Even Alucard acknowledged Theokoles's strength and considered a fight between them as being a challenge even for him. John Constantine also states that he would need to utilize some of the strongest spells to fight Theokoles comparable to when they fought Lucifer, Satan, and the forces of the Apocalypse.