The Demon is the main antagonist of "I of Newton", the second segment of the 12th episode of the first season of the 1985-1989 iteration of The Twilight Zone. Said episode was an adaptation of a short story from Fantastic Stories Vol 19 no 5. The demon is a malicious being who attempts to take the souls of those who summon him, and plays a game of wits with them for their souls, which he almost always wins, and then sells the captured souls to extradimensional bidders. Externally, the demon appears to be a tall, dark-skinned human man, with small white horns protruding from his forehead, all-black eyes with glowing white pupils, and a red shirt with text that constantly changes, featuring jokes and puns involving Hell.
The demon was played by the late Ron Glass in the episode. In the original story, instead of wanting to sell Sam's soul, the demon planned to eat it.
Biography[]
Early life[]
The demon existed since at least the 5th century BC, as part of a demonic company of soul brokers, who would take souls of humans and sell them to beings of other dimensions. Whenever he was summoned by humans, usually on accident, he would give them a way to save their soul: they got to ask him three questions, and then ask a fourth question, or give a command in place of the fourth question, and if the demon is unable to answer the question or fulfill the command, they would keep their soul. However, the demon's powers allowed him to break all physical laws, and he possessed near-perfect knowledge of all recorded information in the omniverse, even able to see alternate timelines, allowing him to answer the questions and fulfill the command of his victims. Despite this, one human managed to successfully give the demon a question or command he couldn't carry out sometime during the Peloponnesian War.
I of Newton[]
In the 1980s, a college mathematics professor named Sam, exasperated after failing to solve a complicated equation, angrily exclaimed that he would sell his soul to get it right. Unfortunately, the phonetic structure of the equation, which he spoke out loud while writing, was similar enough to a demonic incantation to summon the demon. Sam quickly attempted to leave, but the demon created an invisible barrier that prevented Sam from escaping. The demon then explained how Sam accidentally summoned him, and laughed off Sam's refusal to sell his soul, claiming to be merely a sub-agent performing a formality, also claiming that Sam's soul was already forfeit. When Sam protested that it wasn't fair, the demon responded that of course it wasn't, for they were evil, and when Sam asked what is done with the souls, the demon explained his company's purpose. Then, the demon gave Sam the usual four questions proposal, with Sam accidentally using up a question by asking "really?" When Sam protested again, the demon reminded him that he was evil, and told him about how long ago the last person to best him lived.
Sam then asked the demon if there are any limits to his abilities, to which the demon responded that there were none, saying that he could surpass lightspeed and make two electrons occupy the same quantum state with ease, also telling Sam of his vast multiversal knowledge. When Sam told the demon of how his next question would be a corollary to his last one, the demon complimented him on his poetic way with words, musing about selling Sam's soul to a world of sentient binary digits. Sam then asked if there was any place where the demon would be unable to return from if he went there, to which the demon once again responded that there were none, commenting that he could cross the space between the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way in a microsecond or less, and how he could hop between timelines, such as to universes where the Nazis won World War 2 or where Rome lasted until the 21st century due to Alexander the Great living until a ripe old age. The demon then expressed some disappointment in Sam, noting that the last person who tried finding limits to his power lived in the 5th century BC and failed, before stepping right in front of Sam and demanding to know Sam's final question. Sam then told him that it would be a command, to which the demon excitedly responded to lay it on him, only for Sam to command "Get lost." The demon quickly realized that due to being able to return from any place in the cosmos, it was impossible for him to get lost, and staggered back while screaming, before melting away, freeing Sam's soul and leaving behind only his sunglasses.
Despite the demon being seemingly destroyed, the fact that there was another victim who thwarted the demon in the past implies that the demon was not killed, but merely cast back to Hell, if in a rather violent manner.
