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| “ | All that power flowing through your body and you can't even control it, BECAUSE YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO HAVE IT! YOU ARE NO SAVIOR! YOU'RE NO GOD! YOU'RE A MONSTER!!! | „ |
| ~ Castor |
Dark Ones are the main antagonists of the AMC series Into the Badlands.
They are a group of human beings that possess the Gift, dark chi powers that give them supernatural abilities whenever their skin is cut. While none of them are born inherently evil, the vast majority give into the dark power inside of them and wish to rebuild Azra, a kingdom where Dark Ones will rule. For hundreds of years, the existence of Dark Ones was forgotten by the societies that exist inside the Badlands, however the return of Pilgrim, a false messiah and one of the lost children of Azra, prompts the return of Dark Ones as a collective species. Eventually, Pilgrim managed to harness the Meridian Chamber, the origin of the Gift, thus allowing him to create an army of Dark Ones to conquer the world.
History[]
Origins[]
At some point in the distant future of the modern world, humanity began researching the energy that coursed through the Earth. This manifested itself in meridians of chi energy that existed deep underground. A great city known as Azra was built, where the peak of human technology resided. Eventually, a device known as the Meridian Chamber was built in close proximity to a museum, which contained an obelisk that could draw the chi directly from the Earth. Those who absorbed the chi into themselves gained an ability known as the Gift, dark chi powers that turned them into beings known as Dark Ones. However, the founders of Azra could not control the Gift, and the energy they extracted from the Earth permanently tainted humanity, causing Dark Ones to begin being born naturally. This outbreak of children becoming Dark Ones eventually led to the collapse of modern society. In response to this, a cult known as the Black Lotus was formed in order to hunt down and kill Dark Ones. Hundreds of years go by, and the world is left in complete disarray due to Dark Ones rampaging across the world, and those without the Gift becoming scavengers. At some point a girl named Ada accidentally manifests her Gift by cutting her finger on a thorn, and proceeding to accidentally kill her brother. She then went on to form the Abbot Monastery, where she became known as the Master and abducted Dark Ones to train them in secret and keep their Gift from harming innocent people. Eventually, in the ruins of the United States, a society is built known as the Badlands, where men and women called Barons rule over territories. Due to the Master abducting every Dark One she can find, their existence becomes known only as a fairly tale in the Badlands. In the ruins of the original Azra, a man named Dante begins to build a new city with the goal of eventually taking over the Badlands and allowing Dark Ones to rule. He trains his children, Sanzō and Kannin, alongside a friend of theirs named Taurin, with plans to use them for world conquest. However, Azra is eventually sacked by the Black Lotus after Ankara, a Master of the Abbot Monastery, is tricked by a man named Magnus into giving up the cities location. Following this, only Sanzō, Kannin, and Taurin manage to escape.
Emergence in the Badlands[]
Following the destruction of Azra, Sanzō has his Gift locked inside his mind by Kannin, thus keeping him safe from the Black Lotus' tracking but causing him to lose his memories. Kannin herself is kidnapped by the Black Lotus and brainwashed into becoming one of their followers. Taurin, who did not possess the Gift but instead the power to turn it off in others, was not trackable by the Black Lotus and instead taken in by a high priestess named Cressida and renamed to Pilgrim. Due to obsession with Azra, Ankara is banished from the Abbot Monastery and retreats to the mountains. However, before she was exiled she gave her apprentice Bajie the knowledge he needed in order to bring back Azra, something he devoted his life to. Bajie would go on to train a girl named Minerva, who gave him a book on Azra, which was one of the two key items Ankara told him to look for. After Minerva breaks the rule of the Monastery, the Master has the Abbots put her into a coma. Bajie saves her, but in the process both of them lose their Gift. The two part ways, with Bajie going across the Outlands in search of the Azran compass, the other item Ankara told him to search for, while Minerva goes on to become the Widow, a Baron of the Badlands. Sanzō, now named Sunny, is the Regent of Baron Quinn and the most feared Clipper in the Badlands, as well as being in possession of the compass Bajie was looking for. The Widow, wanting to find a Dark One to turn into her weapon against the other Barons, discovers a boy named M.K. who has demonstrated having the Gift, and hires nomad scavengers to abduct him and bring him to her. However, the nomads are killed by Sunny, who takes M.K. back to Quinn's territory and begins training him. The Master eventually sends three Abbots to abduct M.K. and bring him back to the Monastery. Sunny eventually loses the Azran compass with it being taken by the Abbots, and ends up in the Outlands. He eventually meets Bajie, and during their journey together Bajie eventually breaks into the Abbot Monastery, where he finds the Azran compass that originally belonged to Sunny. Bajie eventually visits an old Azran radio tower, where he uses the book and compass together to contact what he believes to be the lost city of Azra.
Return of Azra[]
Unbeknownst to Bajie, the signal actually was sent out to Pilgrim and Cressida, which gave them the location of the first temple of Azra, the museum where the Meridian Chamber was built. They have amassed a massive group of followers in the Outlands who believe in Pilgrim's history as a lost child of Azra. Pilgrim and Cressida have the goal of unlocking the Meridian Chamber's power and giving the Gift to all of their followers, thus creating a society rules by Dark Ones. M.K., who has since escaped from the Abbot Monastery, has gained complete control over his Gift by focusing on a recently unlocked memory, the fact that Sunny actually killed his mother when he was a Clipper. This causes him to become Sunny's sworn enemy, and he joins Pilgrims cause, wanting to aid him is building a new Azra. Sunny himself visits Pilgrim with his son Henry, who has developed the Gift in infancy, alongside Bajie, who is angered to know that the signal he sent out went to a group of heretics instead of bringing back the fairy tale version of Azra that he believed in. In order to save his son, Sunny helps Pilgrim turn on the Meridian Chamber, and transfers Henry's Gift into Pilgrim. This effectively makes Pilgrim a God, as he can now use the Gift and disable it in others, prompting him to begin granting it to his army of followers. This causes Sunny and Bajie to flee, Soon after this, Sunny is abducted by the Black Lotus where he reunites with Kannin, who is still in their service. He manages to snap her out of her brainwashing, prompting her to join them. At M.K.'s suggestion, Pilgrim raids the Abbot Monastery where they free the Dark Ones under the Master's control, with M.K. himself killing the Master. Pilgrim then announces that he and his followers will hunt down and kill everyone who does not accept the Gift, prompting even Cressida to turn against him. With the Gift having fully infected Pilgrim's mind, the warriors of the Badlands, including Sunny, Bajie, Kannin, and the Widow join together to stop him. The Widow, alongside her adoptive daughter Tilda and lover Gaius Chau destroy the Meridian Chamber, having to kill M.K. in the process. Sunny, Bajie, and Kannin face Pilgrim, and despite Sunny being mortally wounded, he still manages to overcome and fatally stab Pilgrim, killing him and putting an end to the existence of Azra once and for all.
Members[]
- Sunny - The most powerful Dark One alive, but had it locked away in his mind when he was a child.
- M.K. - An extremely powerful young boy who emerges in the Badlands, where Dark Ones were thought to be a fairy tale.
- The Widow - A Baron of the Badlands who once was a part of the Abbot Monastery but had her Gift removed by the Master.
- Pilgrim - A false messiah born in the lost city of Azra who obtains the Gift unnaturally, and seeks to give it to the entire world.
- The Master - A woman who trained her Gift to the height of its ability, and control the Abbot Monastery, where Dark Ones are taken to be trained in secret.
- Bajie - A former member of the Abbot Monastery who gave up his Gift in order to save the Widow.
- Kannin - One of the lost children of Azra and sister of Sunny, she was kidnapped as a child by the Black Lotus and brainwashed to follow them.
- Cyan, Dury, and Ramona - A group of three high-ranking Abbots of the Abbot Monastery who are tasked by the Master to track down other Dark Ones.
- Ankara - A former Master of the Abbot Monastery who was exiled following the Black Lotus manipulating her into giving up the location of Azra.
- Castor - A young Dark One that follows Pilgrim who's Gift is slowly killing him due to overuse.
- Nix - A young Dark One that following Pilgrim but later abandons him after he murders Castor.
- Eli - A Dark One put into a coma by the Master who is saved by Pilgrim and M.K. and becomes a ruthless follower of their mission to bring back Azra.
- Dante - The father of Sunny and Kannin who led the attempt to rebuild Azra when they were children, and secretly desired to kill all who did not possess the Gift.
- Ava - A highly-skilled Abbot of the Abbot Monastery who was tasked with training M.K. to control his Gift.
- Tate - A novice of the Abbot Monastery who was put into a coma and later died when he tried to run away.
- Henry - The infant child of Sunny who had his Gift removed and transferred to Pilgrim in order to save his life.
- Founders of Azra - The original individuals who discovered the Gift and built the Meridian Chamber to create Dark Ones, leading to the end of modern civilization.
- Abbots - Individuals kidnapped and brought to the Abbot Monastery where the Master trains them to control their Gift.
- Pilgrim's Harbingers - Followers of Pilgrim who were either rescued from the Abbot Monastery or given the Gift by the Meridian Chamber.
Powers & Abilities[]
By drawing energy from the Earth itself, Dark Ones are given supernatural abilities through the Gift that make them more powerful than any regular human ever could be, to the point that an untrained Dark One can easily take down the most skilled humans warriors in all of the Badlands.
- Martial Arts/Swordsmanship: Those with the Gift were shown capable of fighting in both hand-to-hand combat and with weapons to a superhuman degree, able to easily fight and overpower master combatants such as Sunny and Nathaniel Moon. This even extends to when the Gift itself is not active, as Sunny's powerful Gift allowed him to be the most skilled warrior in the Badlands despite it being locked away inside of him.
- Superhuman Strength: Dark Ones are given inhumane strength by the Gift, able to break through solid metal and throw people with enough sheer force to kill them.
- Superhuman Endurance: Dark Ones have an extreme pain tolerance and can go several days without sleeping whenever the Gift is activated.
- Healing: Powerful Dark Ones can heal injuries using the Gift, such as when the Master heal her arm after M.K. broke it severely.
- Superhuman Speed: Dark Ones can run and fight with inhumane speed, allowing them to quickly overwhelm their opponents with little effort.
- Superhuman Precision: Dark Ones are shown to have near perfect precision, as seen when M.K. caught a piece of glass from a broken mirror and threw it into Ajax's eye.
- Chi Control: Highly trained Dark Ones could control the Chi in others, allowing them to incapacitate a human being by pressing their forehead, or even influence an individuals dreams.
- Hand of Five Poisons: The most powerful application of Chi control was demonstrated by Cyan, who used the Hand of Five Poisons to put Sunny in an endless nightmare that would eventually kill his physical body.
- Master's Gift: Those who have trained their Gift extensively possessed a Master's Gift, to the point that they could turn it on and off at while for extended periods of time without suffering any adverse affects.
- Longevity: The Master was stated to be over one-hundred years old despite still appearing to be middle-aged, suggesting she was given longevity due to her Master's Gift.
- Meridian Chamber: Those given the Gift via the Meridian Chamber rather than being born with it were able to control the Gift in a significantly faster period of time in comparison to those born with it.
- World-Searching: The Master was capable of searching the world and probing the mind of others with her Gift, as seen when she tracked down Ankara.
- Telekinesis: At the height of its power, Dark Ones could use the Gift to physically move an object with their mind, as seen when Pilgrim used telekinesis to disarm Kannin.
- Gift Locking: Siblings who possessed the Gift could lock and unlock it in each other, an ability used by Kannin in order to lock Sunny's Gift inside of him so that he could not be tracked by the Black Lotus.
- Foresight: While it does not appear to be controllable or always even certain, both the Master and Sunny demonstrated the ability to see into the future, as seen when Sunny predicted what the name of his son was despite not having met him yet, or when the Master was able to correctly prophesize M.K.'s death.
- Resurrection: Due to Sunny possessing the most powerful Gift in the world, even after being physically killed by Pilgrim his Gift would eventually repair his body and revive him from death.
Weaknesses[]
- Gift Deactivation: There are several methods to deactivate the Gift in a Dark One and turn them back into a regular human. In a young or untrained Dark One, deactivating their Gift will also cause them to fall unconscious.
- Pressure Point Deactivation: The most common technique to turn off the Gift involves pressing the pressure points on a persons body. While this is most commonly an ability used by Dark Ones with powerful control over Chi, Magnus and other members of the Black Lotus were shown capable of doing this as well.
- Azran Command: The Azran command "Peace be with you" could deactivate the Gift when spoken by Pilgrim.
- Needles: When needles are pressed into the pressure points in a Dark One's body, it will keep their Gift deactivated for a long period of time, and can even put them into a coma. While this can theoretically keep the Gift turned off indefinitely, those with the Master's Gift such as Ankara were shown capable of still using certain abilities such as World-Searching even when the needles were in her skin.
- Master's Syringe: The Master possessed a syringe containing an unknown liquid which could turn off the Gift in anyone, including someone with a Master's Gift such as Ankara.
- Uncontrollable Gift: The Gift is not controllable in those who have either been born with it or initially given it by the Meridian Chamber, only activating if the user cuts their skin. In those who are born with the Gift, they aren't able to control their actions when their uncontrollable Gift is activated. Those given the Gift by the Meridian Chamber do not share this weakness, but still need their skin to be cut in order to activate the Gift. This weakness can only be overcome through years of peaceful training or by giving into the darkness and rage of the Gift.
- Body Deterioration: Excessive usage of an untrained Gift will eventually lead to a Dark One's body overexerting itself and eventually lead to their death, as seen with Castor.
- Mental Deterioration: Dark Ones who obtained the Gift via the Meridian Chamber rather than being born with it naturally suffer from a deteriorating mental state and would eventually succumb to insanity.
- Human Mortality: Despite how powerful the Gift makes a Dark One in combat, their physical body is not made more durable by the Gift and they can still be killed by impalement or blunt force trauma.
Quotes[]
Said by Dark Ones[]
| “ | It happens when I bleed. Ever since I was little, it's been this way. It's like something takes control of me. When I wake up, someone's been hurt or worse. | „ |
| ~ M.K.'s initial description of the Gift. |
| “ | If you want to use your Gift without cutting then you need to find a trigger, a memory... a feeling. One that hurts worse than any knife. | „ |
| ~ M.K.'s explanation of how to use the Gift without cutting. |
| “ | Pilgrim: The Gift is not yours to mold, Master. It molds us. Azra tells us so.
The Master: No! It is a responsibility! One that must be tended less the darkness consume us all! As it has consumed you. |
„ |
| ~ Pilgrim and the Master's clashing outlooks on the Gift. |
| “ | All this power inside me... I can feel it, coursing through my blood like fire! Begging to be unleashed, to conquer this world in the name of Azra! | „ |
| ~ Pilgrim's description of how the Gift feels. |
| “ | You wanna control your Gift without cutting yourselves? Use your pain. Channel your rage. Find the darkness inside of you. Let that darkness give you strength. | „ |
| ~ M.K. indoctrinating Pilgrim's followers to give into being a Dark One. |
Said about Dark Ones[]
| “ | Every force has its equal. Fear, peace, dark, light… one can’t exist without the other. | „ |
| ~ Sunny's analysis of Dark Ones. |
| “ | I heard stories about people like him when I was a Cog, but who would ever actually believe that they exist, let alone walk amongst us. Now I know why the Widow wanted to get her hands on him. He's worth how many Clippers, ten? Twenty? A whole army, perhaps. | „ |
| ~ Quinn describing the power of M.K.'s Gift. |
| “ | What is the point of saving your son, if he doesn't have a world left to grow up in? Maybe whoever blocked your memory, they did it so this didn't happen! Maybe we're not meant to have this kind of power! | „ |
| ~ Bajie lambasting Sunny for indirectly giving Pilgrim an army of Dark Ones. |
| “ | Our founders tried to warn the people that the Gifted ones would lead to their destruction, but their warning went unheeded until it was too late. | „ |
| ~ Magnus explanation for why the Black Lotus hunts Dark Ones. |
| “ | You were not meant to have this Gift. You can control the Gift in others but now yours controls you. It is twisting your faith. | „ |
| ~ Cressida describing the dangers of Pilgrim being a Dark One. |
Trivia[]
- Dark Ones possibly allude to the demons from the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, of which Into the Badlands is loosely based on.
- Henry is the only Dark One who's Gift manifests in infancy, as it typically appears when a Dark One is a young teenager.
- By the end of the series, the Widow and Eli are the only Dark Ones left in the entire world.
- Kannin and Bajie are still alive, but have both lost their Gift due to having it taken by Pilgrim in Kannin's case and giving it up to save the Widow in Bajie's case.
- Sunny's Gift causes his eyes to turn gold rather than Black, likely a result of it being the most powerful in the world.
- The manner in which Dark Ones cut themselves seems to have an effect on how fast it kills them, as Castor would cut his face rather than his arm and thus his body deteriorated faster.
External Links[]
- Dark Ones on the Into the Badlands Wiki
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 Villains
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