| “ | And there fell a great star from Heaven, burning as if it were a lamp. And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And there arose a smoke from the Pit, as the smoke of a great furnace. And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of Heaven, saying with a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitors of the Earth! Woe is to you! | „ |
| ~ Asmodeus, quoting a garbled form of the Revelation before the Final Battle. |
Asmodeus is the main villain of the 2002 video-game Shadow Man: 2econd Coming. Like his seeming rival Legion before him, he is an extremely powerful Demon Lord ruler of a demonic dimension who seeks to unleash the Apocalypse.
He rules over Gehenna and his demonic vassals, the Seven Grigori Sephiroth, seek to release him from the Pit where he was sealed at the Dawn of Times, to destroy the world with the Wormwood Star mentioned in the biblical Book of Apocalypse.
Nature[]
Asmodeus' (and Legion's) nature is only explained in cut contents. They are the highest ranked of the Grigori Malakim, Demon Lords implied to be Fallen Angels. They are acquainted and, judging from his words, they had a fallout or a rivalry, both desiring to end the world on their terms to rule over the ashes. Like him, he is named after a famous demon of Christian Lore (namely a Prince of Hell), and like him he refers to his biblical inspiration by quoting its verses (albeit mixed and reinterpreted).
Asmodeus rules over the infernal realm of Gehenna, and leads the Seven Grigori Sephiroth (Greater Demons named after biblical angelic forces), each taking the name of a figure of Christian Myths, Voodoo religion or folklore to interact with the Physical Planes. As per tradition in the Shadow Man games, they take inspiration from the Voodoo Religion and its Lwas (divine spirits).
Appearance[]
A vision of Asmodeus, leading his hordes.
Asmodeus' humanoid appearance takes the aspect of a tall, gaunt, very ugly and deathly thin man with somewhat androgynous features, with whitish, corpse-like skin, dead white eyes, long black hair arranged back in a widow's peak running down behind his neck, and three very long, hooked claws on each hand.
He is constantly bleeding from his eyes and his mouth, something he has in common with Legion's Mouth of Blood. Finally, he wears black, form-fitting leather robes, gloves, slacks and platform boots.
Under his true form, Asmodeus appears as a gigantic, hideous and grotesque, insectoid demon, with a vaguely humanoid torso standing on four clawed, insect-like legs, with long, thin arms and enormous clawed hands. He sports two pairs of outwardly curved horns sprouting from his back, another pair on his shoulders, an enormous insect-like mouth on his belly, and yellow glowing eyes over a wide mouth filled with long, needle-like fangs.
Personality[]
As expected from a Dark Lord, Asmodeus is cold, poised and regal, if overly grandiose in his posture and speech pattern, but more importantly cruel, ruthless and hateful. He wants to destroy all that lives, seemingly out of hatred for creation, most likely planning to rule a chaotic nothingness populated only by his demons.
While threatening and a bit taunting towards his foes, and absolutely unforgiving for vassals who betrayed him, Asmodeus is genuinely courteous, praising Shadow Man in earnest mixed with playful, almost flirty comments, and respectful of his vassals. He enjoys poking fun at people with dark humour and irony, and is amused by defiance. But while he plays high and mighty, he is a coward in the face of death, asking Shadow Man if they can talk, while comically admitting his predictable refusal.
He is held in high regards by his vassals, implying that he is cordial with them. In cut content, he openly calls his second-in-command Samael the most beloved to him, and he seems disappointed in Deaketh's betrayal, though he attacks him intending to kill without a shred of hesitation and mocks his apparent demise.
Powers and Abilities[]
Asmodeus is so powerful that even Shadow Man (himself an enormously powerful immortal akin to a demi-god) normally stands no chance against him, needing to kill the Grigori Sephiroth and take the Sigils Asmodeus gave each of them, to gain enough power to face him.
He controls Gehenna, ruling its entire hordes of demons of all sizes and might, and exerts influence over Evil, being able to corrupt people and to twist the land merely by his leaking influence. He is all but stated to have created the Wormwood Star, in fact an asteroid he hollowed out to build his lair, and equipped with a skyscraper-sized energy cannon powered by demonic energy.
Him knowing the alias used by his redeemed vassal Deaketh, despite him assuming that identity millennia after his sealing, implies supernatural awareness, though he still needs to learn what happened to Legion. He is also implied to power the dark sorcery used by his worshippers, and to control Voodoo Magic to some extent.
Role in the Story[]
Background[]
Eons before the start of the story, Asmodeus and his vassals the Grigori Sephiroth fled from the Pit of Gehenna, during an event known as the Exodus. They attempted to destroy the world, only to get defeated by servants of God, with Asmodeus being imprisoned back in Gehenna behind Seven Seals. Cut content reveals that he was beaten by none other than Archangel Michael, being in fact the fabled dragon taken down by the General of the Heavenly Armies in Christian Folklore. (In Abrahamic Religions, Asmodeus is more of an enemy of Archangel Raphael.)
The Grigori Sephiroth disappeared, all assuming (or being reduced to) a mortal form and being forced to lay low, spreading evil to prepare for their liege's return for two thousand years. One of them, Diaketh, renounced evil and in turn became (or turned back into) an angel but lived as a human. Asmodeus knowing about it indicates that it happened before he was sealed.
It was prophesied that Asmodeus would return and bring about the Armageddon when the fabled star called Wormwood would appear in the sky.
Game Setting[]
In ancient times, there used to be several Shadow Men, immortal Voodoo warriors able to walk between both sides of the Veil, protectors of both Liveside (the Physical Planes) and Deadside (the Land of the Deads akin to the Purgatory where everyone goes after they die.) Now, with the dwindling influence of Voodoo, only one remains per generation, bearer of the powerful Mask of Shadows, but one as powerful as were every other combined. The current Shadow Man, a failed litterature student named Michael LeRoi who was accidentally responsible for the death of his beloved family for incurring the wrath of a mob boss, works for the highly powerful Voodoo Priestess Mamma Agnetta (shortened in Nettie), taking the role as an expiation.
The story takes place in New Orleans, during the turn of the millennium. A few months after Legion's final demise. Many years before that, in 1976, Detective Thomas Deacon and his partner Gabe took the Codex, the cursed grimoire telling everything about the Grigori Sephiroth. Alas, they are ambushed by the second mightiest Grigori Sephiroth, Asmodeus' second-in-command Sammael, who kills Gabe and cripples Deacon. The latter only owes his life to the Codex, using it to teleport away, but has to be amputated and confined to a wheelchair. He would befriend Mamma Nettie and provide her with intel about the Five, serial killers turned demonic heralds by Legion.
Breaking the Seven Seals[]
The story begins as Shadow Man awakes, having been drifting lost in Deadside after the destruction of Legion and his Asylum. He returns to Liveside searching for his friend Jaunty, a being able to manifest in both Liveside and Deadside, only to notice a strange star in the sky, growing progressively bigger as it draws closer, and mysterious symbols written all over. He finds Jaunty captured and cursed with one of those symbols, by Mamma Nettie's fellow Voodoo Priest and hated rival Papa Morte, who broke the truce between them. Still, the curse is too powerful even for Nettie to break, and "not exactly Voodoo", hinting something far more sinister.
Upon meeting Deacon, Shadow Man learns that this is more than a mere clan war between Voodoo Priests, but that Morte is in fact Morteth, one of the Grigori Sephiroth. Deacon gives Shadow Man the trident-like Nephilim Shard, the only weapon able to destroy the Grigori Sephiroth, and instructs him to destroy them all in their Dark Sepulchres, the Seals to Asmodeus' jail, and use their Sigil and the Codex to open them. With the goal to free Asmodeus on his own terms, and to slay him for good before he can make his move.
So Shadow Man does, getting the powerful Nephilim Blade and killing all demons: Morteth who hints that Deacon is more than it seems; Farduroth (Far Durocha, inspired from the Dullahan from Irish Mythology); Babayagoth (Baba Yaga, inspired from a witch in Russian Folklore); and Ogoferael (Ogou Feray inspired from Ogoun Ferraille, the Lwa of Fire, Metal, Forgers and Warriors, who fights against misery, once again a benevolent figure in Mythology made here into a demon.)
The Final Battle[]
Asmodeus' hideously grotesque true form
As Shadow Man enters Asmodeus' lair, within the core of the Wormwood Star, and gets greeted by the Demon Lord himself, Thomas Deacon appears. Asmodeus reveals that he is his former vassal Deaketh, who reverts to his restored angelic form and attacks his former liege, explaining that he killed Sammael.
Alas, he is no match for his former liege, who assumes his true demonic form and seemingly kills him. Diaketh passes the mantle to Shadow Man, trusting him to destroy him once and for all.
If Shadow Man loses the Final Battle, Asmodeus kills him by tearing out the Mask of Shadows from his chest and tearing out his head and spine, brandishing it as a trophy as the Wormwood Star laser cannon extinguishes all life on Earth. If he wins however, he destroys Asmodeus once and for all, stabbing his guts with the Nephilim Blade with no regards for his pleas and sending his head flying. Then, Diaketh casts the Wormwood Star into the Void.
As the Final Boss[]
Asmodeus, blasting Shadow Man from above.
Asmodeus is quite challenging. He spends most of his time on the ceiling, conjuring small creeper-like demons that Shadow Man must destroy, and firing powerful, lasting blast of bluish-white light from above.
Shadow Man cannot target Asmodeus on the roof before all demons are destroyed, and they respawn fast, so he must attack with powerful Voodoo Weapons when he is on the ground. Jars next to the wall can be broken to regain health and supplies.
Asmodeus is fast and can shield himself by crossing his arms before him, or surround himself with purplish red fire. He swipes his claws, jumps high, fires a powerful, fiery red beam from his belly mouth, a multi-directional, spreading array of extremely fast yellow beams, and cause a tremendous purple explosion all around him. Shadow Man must quickly side-step the former two, which reaches him no matter how far, and always keep away for the latter.
Trivia[]
- Asmodeus or Ashmedai, meaning either Wrath or Exterminator, is the name of a Prince of Hell described in the Ars Goetia. As such, the name is used for many Demon Lords of fiction.
- In Biblical Lore, a Grigori is a messenger angel sent to Earth by God, and a Malakim is an angel tasked to execute God's will, including his sentence. While the former are highly benevolent and the latter dangerous only to sinners about to be smitten, here they are Demon Lords of the highest tier and implied to be Fallen Angels.
- In the same way, in Judaic tradition known as the Kabbalah, Sephiroth (singular Sephirah) are ten emanations of the Eyn Sof (boundless), the divine essence of creation that can guide mortals to Higher Consciousness, represented in a Tree of Life. Again, why the game creators chose to name Greater Demons after such a positive concept is unclear, though it is implied that there is some sort of corruption.
- In the biblical Book of Apocalypse, supposed to describe the End of Times and the final victory of God over the Devil, the Wormwood Star is one of the Seven Plagues ending the Physical World, a star falling from heaven into the oceans and poisoning water by making it bitter. It can be seen as a metaphor for bitterness.