Anathos

"Your travel ends there, humans! For I am the end of everything, I am Destiny!"

- Anathos (confronting the Legendaries to reincarnate himself) "Ah! Hell? I created Hell!"

- Anathos (mocking the idea of being sent to Hell)

Anathos is a major villain of the French comic book series Les Légendaires (The Legendaries). He is the God of Evil of the world of Alysia and the primary antagonist of the eponymous Anathos Cycle, during which he makes his return and nearly devastates the entire world. Anathos is by far the most awful villain of the entire series and his Cycle is both the Darkest Hour and the turning point of the narration. His name is derived from the Greek death god Thanatos.

Beginning of the Universe
In the beginning of time, the deities of the universe used the six Mystical Stones holding power over all things to create the universe and shape the world of Alysia. However, one of them, Anathos, was not interested the slightest in creation and stole the Mystical Stones to shape a staff that would grant him absolute power, in order to become the Master God of the universe and dominate his peers.

Using the power of the Stones, the fallen god obliterated the newly created Alysia and battled against the other deities. However, he ended up victim of his own greed when his staff became so unstable that it exploded in his hands, destroying his physical body (and half of the universe with it). The other gods then imprisoned Anathos' essence inside a living prison called the Bearer, before recreating the universe and Alysia. They left the Mystical Stones under the care of a divine being they created called the Guardian and left the world.

(It can be guessed that the other deities' bodies were also destroyed in the blast, since the other two gods seen in the series, Dawn and Dusk, appear like spirits that must possess mortals to interact with Alysia; which could explain why they left their world. However, nothing in the story is said to confirm or infirm it.) Anathos states that he created Hell, but it is not said if he did so before or after taking the Mystical Stones for himself.

Inside the Bearer
The Bearer roamed the world of Alysia for millennia keeping Anathos dormant, but as centuries went by, the God of Evil awoke and started to influence his prison, until he gained complete control of it. The Bearer still hindered much of his powers, but he was now able to send his spirit around the world.

At some point in the past, when the new Elementary Elf (the Guardian of the Elven Dimension able to control the elements by fusing with them) was anointed by the Elven Spirits, Anathos barged in, dispersed the Spirits and passed as one; talking her into accepting his mark, which he branded on her forehead and would enable him to reincarnate himself within her body when the time would come. Knowing that someone might try to thwart his return, he also branded his mark on the Elementary Elf's magic locket, which can open a way between Alysia and the Even Dimension, so that he would be also able to possess anyone who would bear it if needed.

Appearance
What Anathos looked like back when he was a physical being is not fully known, as the flashbacks mentioning Alysia's history only depict the gods as shadowy figures. He is distinctly represented with a demonic appearance and a skull-like face, sporting glowing yellow eyes with hellish pupils, a glowing mark on the forehead and four horns. The yellow eyes and horns being features that appears on his unfortunate human host. His essence is depicted as a dark smoke-like energy.

After his reincarnation, Anathos retains his host's child body and overall appearance, including the blonde hair and the shape of his face, but he becomes much taller and gets pointed nails, blade-like horns on his shoulders and horns on his head. His eyes become black with shinning yellow pupils; his ears become pointed; his skin becomes red (with white on the torso and around the face), with his mark (red and blue downwards arcs with a black upwards point behind) on the chest, white scales on the forearms and white spikes all over his body. He wears an elaborate black robe with a grey and white pattern and goes shirtless. Finally, he wields a the sword of his host, corrupted as well, which becomes silvery instead of golden and much longer, with a demonic looking hilt and a red stone on the blade. Even his speech bubbles are depicted as fire-looking to figure a demonic voice.

Personality
As expected from a Dark God, Anathos is naught but pure evil. He surpasses in malevolence every other villain in the series (who are all pretty awful in their own right) and contrary to them he has no redeeming trait or funny element whatsoever. Although his expressions of astonishment and anger are drawn in a comical way during the final battle, it does not make him any less threatening. In chilling contrast with his noble and selfless host, Anathos is cruel, merciless, violent, vicious, sadistic, selfish and hateful. He never bothers to fight fairly, and greatly enjoys how much the Legendaries hate him for possessing their friend. He also revels in his victim's suffering; as evidenced by the vicious grins he harbours when taunting and tormenting people, while in any other situation he merely displays cold indifference.

Anathos cares only about his own interest. He despises the other gods and strives to get back at them for preventing him to rule the universe. Also, he loathes their creation which he regards as a waste of space, to the point that he destroyed the first Alysia merely to test the extent of his power after seizing the Stones. To him feelings are just tools which he can use, including those his followers harbours for him; going as far as tell his right-hand-woman that he reciprocates his affection before killing her in cold blood because she is too injured to be of any use. He cannot bear to get bested and if that happens, he quickly loses his composure to become a mass of seething fury (Although unlike many other villains, it does not cloud his judgment).

Finally, Anathos is highly intelligent and scheming. He is very skilled in predicting different outcomes of a given situation, preparing back-up plans, and deducing right conclusions from very few clues. Also he has a great understanding of the way mortals think, knowing how to influence people's decisions with a few words and being able impersonate his host in a very convincing way. Anathos is extremely confident in his abilities. He knows that no one can surpass him in battle and that, should he even find his match, only another god can kill him. Yet, he enjoys a good challenge, as seen when he accepted the Legendaries' promise to give him the best battle he could get while he could have reincarnated without disturbance.

Powers and Abilites
Being a god, Anathos is by far the most powerful character of the entire series (with the exception of the mysterious woman known as Calende). He is able to cast divine-level magic; to fly; to control the weather; to manipulate and transform matter; to animate objects no matter the size; to use people's DNA to create perfect doubles of them; to empower his followers; to create monsters from mere corpses; to cause all sorts of disasters; to compel people and influence their actions; among many other things. He demonstrates his power shortly after his return when he creates his fortress, his generals and his armies. It must be noted that he always uses something as a base for his creations, though he might very likely be able to create things from scratch.

Anathos is able to conjure and control the elements to an undefined extent. It seems that he was the one who granted the Elementary Elf her powers, but he might have hijacked the process started by the Elven Spirits. What is sure is that he was seen conjuring powerful fire blasts more than once. However, he mostly attacks with energy blasts ranging from a "mere" energy ball to the "Devil's Breath": an incredibly destructive beam that he fires from his mouth. When he uses all his power, he can create an island-sized Sphere of Destruction potent enough to destroy the entire world.

Moreover, Anathos is an unfathomably powerful warrior with incredible strength (enough to shatter someone's bones by intercepting their attack), speed (so much that the fastest member of the Legendaries could barely see him move), and skills with weapons. Since his host's Golden Sword was forged from the host's blood (and by extension his own) it is the only weapon able to kill him, should it be wielded by someone able to match his level. To circumvent this, he turned his host's sword into a flaming, demonic blade which he wields with deadly skills (although he only uses it in the first fight). Anathos increased the sword's power to return to its wielder wherever it is, and is now able to control it remotely and make it fly.

The Anathos Cycle
Anathos is first mentioned shortly after the Legendaries defeat Skroa, by the twin deities Dawn and Dusk. His name is not mentioned and Dusk only mentions cryptically that one of the Legendaries will become the others' worst enemy.

The Chase
As the Legendaries (the knight Danael, the mage princess Jadina, the beast-man Gryf, the barbarian Razzia and the Elementary Elf Shimy) are relaxing in a lake, they are found by Ténébris (Darkhell's daughter) who tells them everything about the God Anathos, including the fact that he is about to reincarnate withing one of them. Things turn to the worse when Elysio shows up with his "Evil Twin" Darkhell, revealing that they were recruited and empowered by the Guardian to prevent Anathos' return. Having been created by the gods, the Guardian cannot personally stand against one, and since he does not know who Anathos' target is, he has no choice but to have all the Legendaries killed. Fortunately, they are betrayed by Ténébris, who wants to save Razzia (who was her lover back when he was Darkhell's right-hand man), and manage to escape. Anathos, who knows full well that the Guardian is trying to stop him, cast a spell to prevent anyone from tracing him or his targets; as such Darkhell decides to trace Ténébris instead.

Danael then resolves to go to Larbos, the kingdom where he was born, and steal the Alystory (the magical tome in which all history is recorder) from the royal treasure, to know how to prevent Anathos' return without killing anyone. By doing so, they are branded as traitors and thieves and pursued by the elite knights of the Silver Falcons, led by Danael's older brother Ikael. Worse, the Alystory states that killing the future host is the only option, future host who is revealed to be Shimy. Danael then destroys the Alystory and resolves to write history himself, but not to long after, they are attacked by the Bearer and its demonic host. As Anathos is about to reincarnate, Danael convinces him to give them twenty four hours spare in exchange of "the best battle he could ever ask for".

One day later, Anathos catches up with Danael and Gryf who start attacking him, while Jadina, Razzia and Ténébris are tasked to keep Shimy away from the God of Evil (and kill her should they get defeated). Anathos initially proves too strong for the two Legendaries, who cannot even scratch his jail, but Danael manages to bypass his defenses by having his golden sword return to him, beheading the Bearer from behind and defeating Anathos. Right after, Danael's other friends rush towards him and frantically tell him to throw away the locked that Shimy gave him to be able to enter the Elven Dimension, as it bears Anathos' mark. But it is too late and Anathos reincarnates himself within Danael.

Defeating the Legendaries
"Now everyone follow Jadina's example and bow before Anathos."

- Anathos (after stabbing Jadina and causing her to fall to her knees)

Jadina rushes towards her lover, but only for Anathos to pierce her with his sword. The remaining Legendaries attack the God of Evil, but only to get horribly slaughtered in mere seconds. Anathos slashes Gryf, cuts off Razzia's arm and burns Shimy's eyes with his flaming sword, leaving them barely alive. He then approaches Ténébris and offers to spare her if she becomes his right-hand woman, but she refuses.

At the last second, Elysio and Darkhell appear to rescue their daughter. The two sorcerers engage a fight against the God of Evil but it quickly becomes evident that even they are no match for him. They then decide to fuse back into one person and become so powerful that they overcome the effect of the Jovenia Incident (which turned everyone in Alysia back to children after Darkhell's defeat). The fused sorcerer opens a wormhole to send Ténébris and the Legendaries away, before engaging another fight against Anathos. Seeing that Darkhell-Elysio matches his own might, Anathos unleashes his "Devil's Breath", only for his foe to retaliate with an energy beam of equal power. Alas, Anathos sends his flying sword to pierce his foe from behind, causing him to get struck and killed by both spells. Immediately after Anathos obliterates the Guardian and his flying castle with another “Devil's Breath” attack. Meanwhile, a traumatized Ténébris appears before the bewildered Silver Falcons, surrounded with the bleeding Legendaries and screaming for help.

Reign of Terror
Knowing that the Legendaries would one day come to fight him again, Anathos uses their blood to create Evil Twins of them whom he calls the Hellions. He then transforms the entire island into a demonic mobile fortress able to fire devastating energy blasts from a canon, the Castlewar, as his base of operation. He then proceeds to nuke several nearby towns and sets out to extinguish all life on Alysia.

Anathos spends the following two years roaming the world with the Castlewar, destroying all the cities he comes across with his fortress and sending his army of Vulturs (powerful demonic beings he created from the corpses of his first victims) led by the Hellions to wipe out what remains. As if it was not enough, he spreads an incurable plague on his wake to make sure that no one would survive after he left (and condemning all survivors to a much direr fate than a quick death under the fire of the Castlewar, or the hand of his minions).

By the time the Legendaries reunite after two years of intense training, the casualties can be counted in millions. It is even said by a victim of the plague they come across that he razed most of the major cities of the world. Shimy is now blind but able to perceive auras, Razzia has a prosthetic arm and Jadina no longer has a human aura, but they are now able to get back at Anathos. It appears that the God of Evil has recently abducted Ténébris, whom they resolve to save. However, Anathos quickly understands that she let herself be captured on purpose and is about to send his army of Vulturs against the Legendaries, when a mysterious adult woman (who was revealed to be called Calende) appears and advises him to deal with them himself. Anathos follows the prophecy-like advice and sends the Hellions, forcing the Legendaries to split. He then orders Dark Jadina to bring the real Jadina before him.

The Final Battle
As Gryf, Razzia and Shimy are facing their respective Evil Twin, who outclasses them by far due to the huge increase in power they got from their lord, Anathos greets Jadina who attacks him in a rage, but he casually intercepts her blow with one finger, breaking every bone of her arm. He then asks her about the Legendaries' assault on the Castlewar, deducing from their words that this is merely a diversion as part of a bigger plan. It turns out that Jadina is indeed no longer human and that she is now able to regenerate, with her newfound power she makes quick work of Dark Jadina, who is finished off by Anathos himself, after the God of Evil feigned to reciprocate her feelings. Dark Shimy arrives, claiming that she killed her original counterpart but she soon happens to be the real Shimy shape-shifted and she attacks Anathos, who saw her coming and shrugs off her attack. Gryf and Razzia then barge in, having defeated their demonic counterpart with their newfound powers.

It is then revealed that Jadina lured the Castlewar in a canyon, so that the Silver Falcons led by Ikael and other allies of the Legendaries could collapse all the ways out with explosives, trapping the mobile fortress here. (On a funny note, the canyon is called Gold-Orak and Ikael's operation is called Gold-Orak Go.) Anathos prepares to obliterate the Silver Falcons with the Castlewar weaponry but the fleet of the Elf Kingdom appears from gateways linked to their world's sea, flooding the canyon and neutralizing the Castlewar's cannon. Furious, Anathos unleashes his Vulturs to obliterate the allied forces from the above but the airborne squadrons of the Pyranis (another race from the Elven Dimension) and the flying armada of the human kingdom of Sabledoray (a pun on "Sable Doré", the French for "Golden Sand") take part in the battle and manage to destroy Anathos' army.

Furious for being outwitted by a human, Anathos engages a fight against the Legendaries, who manage to hold their own by skillfully combining their respective abilities. Their careful teamwork provides Jadina with an opening which she uses to grab the God of Evil, before putting all her power in a tremendous explosion that would kill them both. Razzia uses his prosthetic arm (in fact a shape-shifting demon called Amy) to protect the others from the blast. It first seems that Jadina's attempt succeeded, and Jadina resurrects before their very eyes. Unfortunately, Anathos survived, since only a god can kill another one. Now absolutely livid, he flies away and prepares to destroy the entire planet. As everything seems lost, Calende appears and grabs Anathos' arm, dispelling his evil power and restoring Danael's body and sword to normal. She tells the Legendaries that she cannot hold Anathos for long and that they must use Danael's golden sword to kill him. As Jadina prepares to stab Anathos, the God of Evil awakes and skillfully pretends to be Danael, begging Jadina not to believe Calende. This proves to be his undoing however, as Jadina knows full well that the real Danael would have asked her to kill him. Grief-struck, she stabs Anathos in the heart and kills him... alongside his unfortunate host.

Every survivor holds a funeral for Danael, Darkhell and Elysio, Anathos's first victims and resolves to rebuilt Alysia. However, Calende appears after the ceremony and resurrects Danael, recruiting him along with other former heroes. However, Danael is no longer a normal human and cannot be part of the Legendaries any longer; and he will likely never see them again.