| “ | The greatest magic trick ever. I'm going to make people disappear. | „ |
| ~ Isaac Izard. |
Isaac Izard is the overarching antagonist of the 1973 American juvenile mystery fiction novel The House with a Clock in its Walls by the late John Bellairs, and one of the two main antagonists (alongside Selena) of its 2018 film adaptation of the same name.
He is an evil warlock who was the titular house's original owner and Johnathan's former friend turned arch-nemesis.
Originally, Isaac Izard was a resident of New Zebedee, Michigan, and a practicing warlock who, with his wife, Selena Izard, created the Doomsday Clock. The two once lived at 100 High Street, now owned by Jonathan Barnavelt.
He was portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan, who also played King Claudius in Hamlet, Cliff Vandercave in The Flintstones, Killer BOB in Twin Peaks, Earl Raymond Diggs in HBO's Tales From the Crypt, Donald Love in Grand Theft Auto, and Calvin L. Johnson in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Biography[]
Originally, Isaac Izard and his friend Jonathan Barnavelt were a magic duo, touring the country and performing their shows, using real magic without anyone knowing. Then the Second World War broke out, and Isaac enlisted in the military. The horrors he saw in the war turned him bitter and spiteful of humanity, which was heightened one fateful day. His unit was ambushed in battle, and he fled into the Black Forest, where he wandered for days. He used every spell he could think of with one thought in his mind: to undo all of it, all the horror and hardship and suffering he had been through. This had the effect of summoning the being who gave him the means to do just that, the demon prince Azazel.
Azazel and Isaac made a deal which gave Isaac the blueprints for the Clock. Upon returning home, he married the wicked witch Selena, and they shut themselves away, until Isaac's death trying to cast blood magic, which caused a blast on energy. Before he died, he hid the Doomsday Clock in the walls, made so when the time is right, he can reset the world to the beginning of time, and then stopping it to continue once more.
About a year later, Lewis Barnavelt goes to live with his uncle after the death of his parents in a car crash. Soon after, Lewis resurrects Isaac with a necromancy book without realizing who it is he has brought back to life. With Selena in tow, and after capturing Lewis, Johnathan and Florence, he revealed his diabolical plan to rewrite history so that mankind never existed. However, they were ultimately defeated when Lewis used the Magic 8-Ball to stop the Clock's activation, causing Isaac and Selena to fall. They were hit by the clock's energy, restoring them to their original appearance and got hit again, erasing Isaac and Selena from existence. Their clothes fell into the gears with Isaac’s glasses getting crushed.
Following their demise, Jonathan and his beloveds were save and lived in peace.