Kandarian Demon

The Kandarian Demon, also known as "The Evil" and "The Force", also called "Rotten Apple Head" and "The Evil Force", is the main villain of the Evil Dead franchise. It is an evil supernatural entity that was the living spirit of the accursed spellbook known as the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis.

Kandarian Demon is the alpha/leader of the Deadites, due to Deadites referring themselves in plural, and when manifests as Evil Ash, the Evil Force later took over as leader of the Deadite army which is also called the Army of Darkness during its war against mankind in the 14th century.

Background
The origin of the Kandarian Demon (or just 'Kandarian') may be traced back to a time predating the age in which the Necronomicon Ex Mortis a.k.a. Naturum Demonto, the original Book of the Dead, had been written by the Dark Ones. According to Professor Ed Getley, the book was written roughly 3.000 years before 1987, or maybe even more than that (as suggested by Annie Knowby).

The book was written in the Ancient Sumeria, when the seas "ran red with blood". Presumably, the Dark Ones were gifted people/being bearing supernatural capabilities and dealing with outerdimensional creatures and demons running on Earth. In the attempt to exhert command upon these demons and thus having some kind of supremacy in the world, they created the book as a way to channeling some of these obscure forces and putting them in check the best way possible.

Long before the book, Kandarian's were running amok. It was a Living Evil born in the "space between the spaces", an interdimensional demon world. Many events could have brought the creature to lose its "life" and become "incorporeal" forever (apparently). In that specific time, The Evil Dead had (re)born with an hunger for life, a vital energy once lost. The Dark Ones found the right phonetic incantations to either make the entity dormient and forbid its terrible influence on human kind or awake it and bring destruction and horror. A chance to tame the beast and use it.

As explained by Dr. Raymond Knowby: "The book speaks of a spiritual presence. A thing of evil that roams the forests and the dark bowers of man's domain. It is through the recitation of the book's passages that this dark spirit is given license to possess the living".

Throughout centuries and millenia, new versions of the Book of the Dead were written, not with the best intentions. This caused some consistent variations in the way the Evil Dead interacted with the living world and our dimension.

The second biggest (multiple) manifestation of the Evil Dead had been in the 13th/14th century in Great Britain, involving the Kandar Castle. It was a ferocious battle between good and evil lasting decades. It was a pivotal moment in history. In the end, The Evil Dead was defeated and all Books of the Dead disappeared from Man's scenario. Until the 1970s.

The Evil Dead
In The Evil Dead, the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis (original variant of Naturom Demonto) was found in the Castle of Kandar somewhere in England by Professor Knowby, where he takes it to a cabin in the woods to translate it. He succeeds at the cost of both his and his wife's lives. About a week later, five twenty-somethings go to that very same cabin, where they discover nothing unusual, until one of them, Scotty, decides to investigate the cellar, where he and fellow friend and protagonist, Ash, find a single-barreled shotgun (a Double-Barrel in the next two films that he eventually nicknamed Boom-stick), some shotgun shells, a taperecorder, a Kandarian dagger and the Book itself.

When they take the items upstairs, Scotty thinks it can't hurt to play the tape. However, when the tape plays a recording of Knowby's translations of the passages, the evil spirits in the surrounding woods called Deadites, alongside their leader Kandarian Demon, are awakened and gained access to the world and arrived at the woods near the cabin. It isn't until Ash's sister, Cheryl, is possessed by the Book's conjured spirit and ends up locked in the cellar, that the others realize that something is wrong. Eventually, one by one, everyone is possessed by Deadite spirits except Ash, who makes a last stand against his former friends. He is almost killed by the demons but manages to grab the book and throw it into the fireplace, thus killing the others. Except that the evil is not at rest: the last shot of the film is from the Kandarian Demon's point of view, ending when it hurls itself into Ash after losing it's minions.

Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn
Evil Dead II continues the story from the previous film after a stunted recap in which the audience is only introduced to Ash's girlfriend Linda (who still subsequently gets possessed, decapitated and buried) and Ash himself, to the point where the evil spirit attacks Ash. From this point, the film continues the story from where the first film left off.

Carried a good distance by the demon, Ash is slammed hard against a tree and falls in a puddle of water. It transpires that he was possessed by the spirit but is subsequently released by the coming of dawn, only to pass out. Ash regains consciousness moments before sunset. Deciding to get out of there as fast as he can, he climbs into his car and drives to where the bridge was, only to find it completely destroyed by Kandarian Demon's wrath. As the sun quickly sets, said force starts climbing up the cliff, and Ash hops into his car, driving away as fast as he can and as a result, crashing right into a tree stump that sends him flying through the windshield. With Kandarian Demon close behind him, he runs into the cabin and runs through it attempting to find a hiding place. He ducks under the trapdoor to the fruit cellar, waiting until the Kandarian Demon leaves. After it has left, Ash comes out, only to find himself stuck at the cabin with Kandarian Demon at large for yet another night.

After a dream, Linda's severed head lands in Ash's lap, and then proceeds to bite hard into his right hand. After Linda's final death, Ash goes to the mirror to console himself, when his right hand begins to shake and tremble uncontrollably: His hand is now possessed by Kandarian Demon. Actually, Kandarian Demon is trying to take over his body again, but failed and only able to control his hand. After many comical sequences, Ash has no other option but to cut off the Hand with a nearby chainsaw. However, he had no idea that in spite of the failure, Kandarian Demon has taking his darkest traits that it would used later.

Later on, Kandarian Demon takes some more people when they visit the cabin by summoning more Deadite spirits; Eddie, Knowby's daughter's boyfriend, Jake, one of the locals, Bobby Jo, Jake's girlfriend, and none other than Ash himself again once more. Unfortunately, this time there is no sunlight to drive the demon out. However, on finding Linda's locket, the memories and anguish of losing his love allow Ash to exorcise the evil from his soul.

He teams up with Annie to fight her possessed mother, Henrietta. After Henrietta's death, Kandarian Demon comes, but thanks to a recitation from the extra pages brought by Annie, the Evil has taken a physical form, dubbed 'Rotten Apple Head'. The film ends with Ash and the Evil being sucked into 1300 A.D. and Ash is named 'He who comes from the skies to deliver the peasants from the terror of the Deadites (those possessed by the Evil).

Army of Darkness
See: Evil Ash (Evil Dead)

Stripped from it's physical form as result of the time travel, it tries to chases Ash again into a windmill. Though failed to entered by force, it managed to go through the mirror inside, tricking Ash to shattered in where through the latter's reflection, manifests as Tiny Ashes. These small-sized clones are managed to incapacitate Ash and attempted to entered his body. Unfortunately, only one of them that succeed while the others forced to flee with Ash managed to free himself and drank the boiling water to burn the clone that has entered his stomach. But it's too late, as Kandarian Demon, now have developed a physical extension of itself, grows from his body during another comical sequence and matured into Evil Ash whom comically mocked the latter until Ash himself blasted him aside with Boomstick and mutilate him.

As Ash buries him alive, Kandarian Demon's Evil Ash, whom recalled it's original goals, tries to taunt him. Later, with Ash incorrectly recites time-travel spell on Necronomicon, a bunch of undead army rises and Evil Ash himself restored, before quickly amasses an army to retake the book.

Ash vs. Evil Dead
After Ash accidently recite the summoning spell on the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis to impresses a lady, the Kandarian Demon returns to resume what it's started and goes after Ash again. In the TV series, the Kandarian Demon's incorporeal form that mostly seen through POV, now revealed as the huge jet of demonic yellow fog.

Physical Appearance
The Kandarian Demon's appearance as revealed in Ash vs. Evil Dead, Kandarian Demon's primary, incorporeal form is a colossal jet of fog that capable to ram anything that stood on it's way. Later, thanks to a recitation from the extra pages brought by Annie, the Evil has taken a physical form, dubbed "Rotten Apple Head". It appeared as a large demonic tree-like creature with the heads of its victims on the side. Ash's head is one of the faces embedded in the creature's side, despite the fact that it has never killed him; it could be possible that Ash's head was there because he was to be the Evil's next victim until Annie drove the Evil back through time to the year 1300 A.D., or the Evil managed to take his dark side and his traits after failed attempt to possessed Ash to consume his soul.

Later on, as means to regained another physical form (which accurately, also extension of itself), he possessed mirror and provoke Ash to punch it, resulting the birth of mini-Ashes which one of them entered his mouth and prompt Ash to killed it by drinking hot water. But it was too late: the essence of Kandarian Demon has grown on Ash' body and splits into Ash's Evil twin. It appeared that due to Evil Ash' comedic but agressive behavior on real Ash, Kandarian Demon yet to accustomized itself with Ash's traits in it. But when it finally does, it was too late as Ash has mutilate it and buried it alive. Fortunately, Ash's blunder in misspelling a spell in Necronomicon caused not only an army of the dead awakened, but it's physical form, which partially rotten due to the burial, restored albeit not in entirely perfect condition as it's appearance was more zombie-like.

Trivia

 * The Evil Force was indeed replaced by another unseen dark entity known as the Taker of Souls, the main antagonist of the 2013 remake and 4th sequel Evil Dead. Despite this however, both the Taker of Souls and the Evil Force have some similarity however. This was due to both are associated with Deadite spirits shares similar powers, albeit Taker of Soul's are inferior than the latter.
 * Although not taken as canon, sources imply the true name of the demon is "Dagan".
 * In The Evil Dead, director Sam Raimi, using a device that modifies his voice, provided the voice of the Evil Force. In Evil Dead II, the force is voiced by William Preston Robertson, who also voices the laughing inanimate objects.
 * In Army of Darkness, Wiseman refers to Evil Ash as "The Evil", and a Necronomicon page said that the figure called the "Hero from the Sky" (later revealed to be Ash) was destined to destroy the evil, and at the end of Army of Darkness, Evil Ash is destroyed by Ash.