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| “ | You think you know power, human... You know nothing! We have commanded legions of the undead. Fought battles to where bodies of our enemies littered the landscape as far as our eyes could see. You have merely made your people... inconvenienced. We will soon show you what power is. | „ |
| ~ Eyedol |
| “ | I... serve... NO ONE! | „ |
| ~ Eyedol's introduction quote. |
Eyedol is a fearsome, bicephalous monstrosity and a primary antagonist of the Killer Instinct series ever since he featured as the franchise's original last boss in Killer Instinct (1994).
One of the two demon warlords that were banished from Earth in the ancient past, the other being Gargos, in Killer Instinct (2013) Eyedol's a corrupted champion who was slain by Gargos, his nemesis, and who was thereafter foolishly resurrected by the sorcerer Kan-Ra.
Eyedol made his return to Killer Instinct after twenty-two years on July 27, 2016, as the eighth and final playable character to be released in the third wave of DLC. He is voiced by Zachary Quarles, who also voiced Riptor and Aganos.
Appearance[]
Eyedol VS Spinal in a promotional poster for the original Killer Instinct.
In Eyedol's classic design, he appears as a massive, gray (or green or brown) skinned, two-headed cyclops with glowing red eyes, and goat-like legs with cloven hooves.
He wields a massive, spiked mace and is the tallest character in the game.
In the 2013 title, Eyedol received a substantial overhaul. Unlike before he now appears to have only one head, however it has been split completely in half down the middle; so one eye is on each side of the cleft. His brain is visible within the massive gap, and purple and red lightning darts across the divide, connecting the two pieces of his head. His left eye glows purple and his right eye glows red, and the horn on the right side of his head is broken off at the end. He retains his gray skin, but now has swirling tattoos running along half of his body that glow purple, and also has ropes slung around his torso. He is less muscular and more pot-bellied, like a stereotypical ogre, though still very large in stature. He wears a single pauldron on his right shoulder and a loincloth with human skulls attached to it around his waist. His legs are digitigrade like those of Gargos', but his three-toed feet appear to have large, blunt toenails rather than sharp claws like his foe. He wields a massive club or mace laced with human skulls. When focusing on physical combat his red-eyed side takes control, and when he focuses on magical combat his purple-eyed side takes over.
Eyedol's retro appearance.
Eyedol's retro costume largely mirrors his original 1994 appearance, though he now is much bulkier than he was in the original game, each head now shows only one horn instead of two, and he has a purple-colored eye for one head and a red-colored eye for the other, and he lacks his original chain ear piercings. Eyedol still keeps his new skull-laced club from his default KI 2013 costume.
In both continuities, Eyedol is shown to be massive, towering over nearly all members of the cast.
Personality[]
Original[]
Though we don't see much of Eyedol's personality in the original 1994 game, in his ending we see him murder a woman who thinks he's her son in cold blood.
The Chairman mentions "The Voices".
In the 1996 comics which adapt and expand upon the first game's story, Eyedol is shown to be cunning, manipulating the man who would become the Chairman of UltraTech, helping him reach such a position through his own wisdom and knowledge, and so he could become the leader of the only company with the required resources to open a portal to Earth that Eyedol could access from the limbo he originated from.
He is shown to be very arrogant and bloodthirsty, being responsible for an unthinkable amount of death, misery and destruction and caring very little about the consequences, all to show how powerful he is.
Reboot[]
| “ | The plight of mortals yields no interest to me. My mind, though severed in two by the Shadow Tyrant, has but one resolve - vengeance for my suffering! You will not sway me to your cause. | „ |
| ~ Eyedol to The Alliance in Killer Instinct: Shadow Lords. |
Eyedol is a dread example of John Dalberg-Acton's famous observation: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
Once a champion who was chosen by an angelic race of demi-gods to save the world from Gargos, Eyedol's body and soul were consumed utterly by manifold factors: The magically enhanced abilities granted to him by those benevolent beings, his own pride and arrogance over the supreme victory that he achieved over Gargos, and him seizing a large portion of the Astral Tyrant's dark powers. Together, they caused Eyedol's essence to slowly but surely turn a sinful black, and over time, they hideously transformed him into the very thing he once was empowered to destroy—a fiend and an ungodly monster.
Crowning himself the god-king of a vast empire in a time now long forgotten, when countless humans sang his praises and worshiped him as a divinity who walked the Earth, Eyedol's boundless lust for god-like status and power absolute seemed his greatest strength, yet it became his downfall. His corrupted being lost control over all its base impulses and Eyedol went berserk with greed, pride and wrath, almost completely wiping out the ancient heroes of the world who tried to contain his rampage and tyranny; which led to him being banished to the Astral Realm through the bravery of the immortal warrior Tunth-ska. There, Eyedol finally met his demise at the claws of a cunning Gargos, who had been waiting for him in the darkness of the Void.
Gargos kills Eyedol and steals his power.
After being slain by the Shadow Lord and getting his head spliced in two, and after having been reanimated by the arch-sorcerer Kan-Ra, the fallen god-beast Eyedol is now extremely obsessed with one thing: total annihilation for the sake of its unbridled retribution. To this end, he violently turns against Kan-Ra upon his resurrection and immediately goes on the war path. His one-track (or should we say, "two-track") mind becomes his only guide as he demolishes, brutalizes and magically destroys everything and everyone on his dark path to exact merciless vengeance on Gargos.
History[]
Killer Instinct (1994)[]
The manual prologue, mentioning two warlords, one Eyedol, the other Gargos.
Eyedol is freed.
Long ago, two demonic warlords battled for the dominance of Earth. They were both banished to Limbo, but Eyedol managed to return either by his own hand in the game or by using UltraTech's Chairman as his loyal servant.
Without his greatest rival to hinder him as he did thousands of years ago, Eyedol sets out to conquer the planet, but is confronted by Jago, who has been guided by a projection of his archenemy disguised as the "Tiger Spirit".
He is defeated, either by sending him back to Limbo as it happens in the comics or by killing him in the game's story mode.
If Eyedol is victorious, we are given a comical ending that parodies Blanka's ending from Street Fighter II.
| “ | Woman: Billy... Are you my long lost son Billy...? Eyedol: Why would I be your son?... My name's Eyedol. Woman: My son was lost in a car crash... I gave him those bracelets for his birthday..... Eyedol: (Eyedol's heads give each other a confused look) Somehow.......... we don't think so. (Eyedol smashes the woman into the pavement with his club) |
„ |
The name was changed from Jimmy to Billy, probably as a reference to British pop singer Billy Idol.
Killer Instinct (2013)[]
Eyedol was once a human being, and not the hideous beast that was resurrected by the sorcerer Kan-Ra. Eons ago, the Ichoriens, the benevolent rulers of the Astral Plane, chose Eyedol to serve as one of the Watchmen of the Gods: fell warriors infused with powers, and tasked with protecting planets in other dimensions from rogue Astral beings (like the Shadow Lord Gargos).
The immortal barbarian Tusk was one of these Watchmen. And like him, Eyedol successfully held off one of Gargos' interdimensional invasions, defeating the Shadow Lord in a devastating battle, and seizing some of his core powers. He then hurtled the demigod through a portal back to the Astral Plane. After this great victory, Eyedol became even stronger than before and was worshiped by his fellow humans. He crowned himself king of a vast empire.
But Eyedol's heart was black. Corrupted by the Astral energy coursing through his body—and the new power taken from Gargos. He was unable to control his base emotions. Eyedol morphed into a disgusting ogre: an outward representation of his diseased soul. He rampaged across the world, causing destruction and chaos. A legion of heroes rose up to oppose him, but he killed them all and mounted their skulls on his war-club.
Tusk VS Eyedol.
Distraught by what their creation had wrought, the Ichoriens sent Tusk to fight him. The immortal Barbarian lured Eyedol to a gateway where the ogre was teleported back to the Astral Plane; and the Ichoriens imprisoned him in the heart of their vast citadel.
Meanwhile, Gargos had recovered from his fight with Eyedol and was growing in might—mastering the force known as Shadow Energy. Warring across the Astral Plane, he slew its inhabitants and siphoned their energies until he became godlike. Eventually, Gargos murdered the Ichoriens themselves...and the prison walls guarding Eyedol—walls that had been knit together by the minds of the Ichoriens—dissolved, setting the ogre free.
Gargos and Eyedol now vied for the ultimate control of the Astral Plane. Eyedol was filled with rage and hungered for victory over his old nemesis. But Gargos was more cunning, and let Eyedol chase chimeras across the Astral Plane until he was exhausted. Only then did Gargos face Eyedol on the field of battle, and their great struggle was like an explosion of stars. Gargos finally cleaved Eyedol's skull with a tremendous stroke of his claw, and then pulled apart the stunned ogre's head like two sides of a rotten apple. Eyedol fell dead upon the Astral Plane, his spirit fleeing from his corpse before Gargos could capture it. And there the body lay for thousands of years (as it should have lain for all eternity) until the sorcerer Kan-Ra foolishly brought Eyedol back to life in order to use it as his trump card against the Shadow Lord and his forces.
Eyedol savagely beats up Kan-Ra.
| “ | There you are... My... prize. You were the only one to challenge him, and now here you lie... Divided. How do you feel about... second chances? | „ |
| ~ Kan-Ra foolishly awakens Eyedol. |
But even Kan-Ra's necromancy lacked the power needed to fully resurrect and control Eyedol, causing the mighty demon lord to quickly break free from the sorcerer's bonds and once again rampage across the Earth as destruction and violence incarnate.
Powers and Abilities[]
| “ | That presence! I know it! | „ |
| ~ Eyedol detects Gargos through his Tiger Spirit disguise in the comics. |
As the first major villain and final boss, Eyedol is among the most powerful characters in the Killer Instinct series.
Eyedol heals back to full strength after Jago's first victory against him.
He holds a size and strength advantage over most characters and his plethora of demonic powers only adds to his already deadly nature.
| “ | The Titan - no, the ancient Shadow Lord, Eyedol - has grown too powerful. It is clear now that we were fools all along, believing that we could control his tremendous power. Something must be done. | „ |
| ~ Kan-Ra during the events of Shadow Lords. |
In the reboot, ever since his head was split in half by Gargos, Eyedol's tremendous might has been diminished in two different ways. All of his power -and indeed his very mind itself- has become divided up into two separate entities: his red-eyed "savage head" and his purple-eyed "warlock head". The personality of the "savage" head is excessively violent, rushing over with abandon and impulsively lashing out with sheer ferocity and utter bloodlust. The "warlock" head's personality, however, is ominously calculated as well as deviously patient, and utilizes cataclysmically powerful magicks to ruin Eyedol's enemies with from afar.
When his Instinct Mode is activated, Eyedol's split personalities merge and his true strength will temporarily return to him. He becomes a god-like force to be reckoned with: An unholy beast embodying the ultimate power, brutality and sorcerous might.
Trivia[]
- Eyedol's name is a portmanteau of the words "eye" (being a cyclops) and "idol" (due to his reference in the original timeline as an ancient spirit by the Monks of the Tiger or being "worshipped" by Ultratech and the spectators of the Killer Instinct tournament).
- Following the new timeline introduced in the 2013 reboot, the "idol" part now references him being worshipped by humans who praised his original victory over Gargos and subsequently saving the world, eventually crowning himself king of a vast empire. And the "eye" part now references his split head and how his eyes are literally seperated from each other.
- Eyedol's original appearance is clearly an homage or is inspired by the Cyclops from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.