Bellum (Manga)

"These humans... so simple to manipulate... so effortless to move... using him, I shall rob you of that which is most precious... your very lives!"

- Bellum possessing Linebeck.

Bellum is the main antagonist of the 2009 manga The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, based on the 2007 Nintendo DS game of the same name. He is an ancient parasite that rose from the ocean, cursed the Temple of the Ocean King, and possesses a Ghost Ship to search the seas for prey to eat their life forces.

Biography
Bellum is the ancient archenemy to Oshu, the Ocean King. When he escapes his imprisonment, he curses the Temple of the Ocean King, draining the Ocean King of his life force until he is nothing more than a frail and weak old man. Once the inhabitants of the temple have been petrified into stone, drained of their life force, Bellum enforces the diabolical Cubus Sisters into possessing the Ghost Ship to haunt the seas in search for more life force.

Only Linebeck survives his Ghost Ship encounter without having his life force stolen, and encourages Link to destroy the Ghost Ship and infiltrate the Temple of the Ocean King to stop Bellum.

While gathering the Sands of Time to fill the Phantom Hourglass, Bellum recognizes Celia, Link's fairy companion, as the Spirit of Time and Courage, who he previously caused her memory loss by ripping out her soul through his feeding. He orders Crayk to kill her so she will never be whole again, but Link kills Crayk, restoring Celia to her whole self.

After Link infiltrates the Ghost Ship and defeats the Cubus Sisters and Joline, Bellum arrives. Because he lacks the Phantom Sword to slay the demon, Link is unable to defeat him. Bellum turns his attention to Linebeck and possesses him. Using Linebeck as a living hostage, Bellum demands Link to surrender the Phantom Hourglass or he stab himself. Link offers the Phantom Hourglass, to which Bellum still tries to kill Link not caring about his or Linebeck's life. Fortunately, Link is granted the Phantom Sword by Cilia, and uses it to defeat Bellum and separate him from Linebeck.

Both Oshu and Linebeck return to normal, but Bellum is still not dead and attacks the Ocean King. Tetra manages to direct the ship cannons at Bellum forcing him to let go of Oshu. Joline tosses Link the Phantom Sword, and he uses it to deliver the final blow to Bellum before the demon dissolves into sand.

Personality
Unlike his game counterpart, this version of Bellum is completely aware of the destruction he causes. He is also much more sadistic here given how he takes pleasure in draining victims of their life force and possessing Linebeck to kill Link.

Trivia

 * Unlike his game version, Bellum can speak. To give him a more sinister approach, his speech bubbles are darker and his text is bold.