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| “ | Lahmu: It is the moment of decision, my errant soul. Accept me. Accept the vengeance you deserve. Sahori Itsukishima: ...But I'm not... Lahmu: I command you... give in to your urges. Accept them. Embrace them! |
„ |
| ~ Lahmu manipulating Sahori Itsukishima into giving in to her dark desires. |
| “ | Don't "hurt" them...? Hahaha! I'm only returning the favor! The only thing I did wrong was put up with their abuse for as long as I did. All that did was make them hurt me more. God, I hate them... I hate them SO MUCH! So I'm going to give them exactly what they deserve. | „ |
| ~ Sahori Itsukishima's dark desires, with thoughts like these being partly responsible for Lahmu's presence. |
Lahmu is a major antagonist in Shin Megami Tensei V. A version of a creature from Babylonian mythology and the leader of a group of Babylonian demons, he is a demon that wishes to become a Nahobino alongside Sahori, partly so he can reobtain his former power and partly so that he can become the next Creator.
He was voiced by Yasuyuki Kase (who also voiced Funny Valentine) in Japanese and Kellen Goff (who also voiced Diavolo, Kai Chisaki, Fiddlesticks, Freddy Fazbear, Rekka Hoshimiya, and Zagred) in English.
Biography[]
Possibly formed from Sahori's darker emotions, Lahmu (presumably fed up with the conflict that demons and angels have) decides that he is going to recreate the world. However, it's heavily implied that he wishes to install the wishes that the forces of chaos believe in (being a world where mankind is free to do as they please, but without any guarantee of safety), hence his decision to create another one.
Realizing that there is a girl in the human world, Sahori Itsukishima, who has darkness in her heart and wishes to have revenge on her bullies, Lahmu decides that he is going to help her. However, he wishes for something in return, as is the case with most other demons. He realizes that Sahori is in possession of a fragment of his soul, and that by merging with her he can regain his lost power and have a chance to obtain the Throne of Creation.
In order to reunite with Sahori, he decides to destroy the barrier that separates the human world from the Netherworld, which Lucifer himself allowed to exist. So he leads an attack on the barrier that shatters it. He looks forward to killing humans and devouring their Magatsuhi. When the player encounters him, he discovers that Lahmu and his minions had massacred many angels. (The scene mirrors the player's first meeting with Nuwa who also kills angels, though truth be told, Nuwa wants what she feels is best for humanity, whereas Lahmu only truly thinks about himself.)
Once he encounters Sahori, he persuades her to join his cause by offering her some of his power. He hopes that by using this power she will hunt down and murder her two bullies, which she does, allowing Lahmu to eat their Magatsuhi. Unfortunately, the darkness in Sahori's heart had ultimately endangered everyone at her school, as once demons attacked, the school was thrown into massive chaos.
Using Sahori's decision as a justification for taking her to the Netherworld, he proceeds to kidnap her. He then persuades her to combine with her, in the hopes of him ascending as a Nahobino. However, partly because Sahori allowed him to control her, he ends up being the dominant personality.
While he doesn't necessarily lie that Sahori would no longer feel sad, taking away her ability to feel sadness would presumably take away her ability to feel empathy, which would turn her into a sociopath. And as long as she remained merged with Lahmu and allowed him to control her, she would never regain her humanity.
He impales both Tao and Aogami with his tentacles, and then Tao, but Tao not only uses her divine power to restore the Nahobino to life, but Sahori also ultimately realizes that Lahmu did not truly love her, as he would not have persuaded her to help him murder her best friend otherwise (who truly did love her, in a platonic way). So she decides to allow the Nahobino (who also loved her) to stab her in order to kill Lahmu, thus saving the world from both Lahmu and herself.
As he dies, he laments that he was unable to recreate the world, and that the Nahobino took it from him.
Following his death, Yakumo uses Lahmu as evidence that demons are an evil in the world that should be exterminated.
In Canon of Vengeance, he does not succeed in merging with Sahori, and is thus put down by the Nahobino much earlier. His actions of wanton slaughter were posthumously mocked by the Qadištu’s leader Lilith as counterproductive to gathering Magatsuhi, which was borne of human emotions such as fear and despair, while his Knowledge, Sahori, ends up serving the four female demons in the long run.
Powers and Abilities[]
| “ | He's a serious threat. We have to put him down, fast. | „ |
| ~ Aogami to his human partner, after witnessing Lahmu easily kill multiple angels. |
Initially, Lahmu is not much stronger than a normal demon, though he is the leader of the demons attacking Tokyo. However, he is able to make himself stronger by consuming humans. He is capable of corrupting people into doing what he wants, as is the case with Sahori. However, he is not able to corrupt Tao, as she doesn't have any darkness in her heart to work with.
Unlike other Nahobino, who become a combined being when they merge (or in Aogami's case, decides to remain on standby until given a command by the player), Lahmu remains in control after merging with Sahori, due to his manipulations. (However, he makes the fatal mistake of killing Sahori's best friend Tao so that he can have Sahori for himself, which causes him to lose his power over her.)
For actual physical abilities, Lahmu not only has the ability to use his tentacles to grab or impale objects, but he also has the ability to use powerful magic attacks, with his boss fight showing him able to use attacks of the Dark, Ice, and Electric types, alongside the ability to inflict the confusion status with Tentarafoo and two unique Almighty attacks (Babylon Curse and Silt of Ruin), although the player can only access the latter if they use Lahmu after being unlocked.
Personality[]
| “ | Young man, there are demons in this world that feign kindness to prey on you. | „ |
| ~ Aogami indirectly warning the Nahobino about Lahmu. |
| “ | Hahahahaha! Fools! Complete and utter fools! You two have caused me a lot of trouble, but now I'll show you just how magnificent I am! Tremble at my awesome might as I send you to your doom! Hahahahaha! | „ |
| ~ Lahmu gleefully killing the Nahobino, including his Proto-Fiend Partner Aogami and showing his true nature. |
Lahmu makes Sahori believe that he loves her, but it is ultimately an obsessive lust. While he more or less showers her with gifts, he doesn't show her true affection, and expects things in return for his power. And while he doesn't necessarily lie to her, he leaves things out along the way. Additionally, he exhibits entitlement towards her when Tao demands he return her home, saying that is only natural to be reunited with his other half. As his last words would suggest, he does not truly care about his partner, instead viewing her as part of himself.
Lahmu personifies the worst aspects of demonkind, which are being corruptive, manipulative, and psychotic. Tao is clearly terrified of him, and while Aogami does not necessarily exhibit fear (due to having a robotic personality), he is clearly concerned what Lahmu will do if he is allowed to continue doing what he wants. Additionally, he represents what the angels fear about demons becoming Nahobino, as humans who become Nahobino run the risk of being manipulated and corrupted, though this is not the case if their partner is benevolent, as is the case of the player character.
Lahmu went to great lengths to ensure he could combine with Sahori and become a Nahobino, as he led an attack that destroyed the barrier between the human world and the demon world. While Lucifer did seize power by force, he himself would not touch that barrier, and he was willing to allow the humans, demons, and angels to live in peace. And truth be told, it was Abdiel and her army who were mostly on the offensive.
While he hates Bethel for interfering with his plans (in particular angels), it turned out they had every reason to, as his plans threatened to destroy the peace that the two worlds secretly had. And he presumably intended to recreate the world so he could turn it into a living hell.
While demons in Shin Megami Tensei are chaotic more often than not, it is shown they have the capacity to make moral decisions (Jack Frosts in particular are sweet and innocent, though they will fight against the player if they wish them to), meaning that Lahmu more or less does what he does voluntarily regardless of how horrible it is. Additionally, his minions are shown to dislike him for his high and mighty attitude. While there are demons who kill for food and not pleasure, Lahmu's final cutscene shows that he does enjoy killing his prey, and it is shown in Canon of Vengeance that he did wish for Sahori to put her bullies to death as well.
Ironically, despite hating YHVH for making human sacrifices, he decides to have human sacrifices himself once he merges with Sahori. This shows that he is a hypocrite, along with him being outraged at Tao’s audacity to have immense power despite how boastful he is of his.
Ultimately, his inability to understand true love is what leads to his undoing, as Tao uses the power of true love to being about his downfall.
In the Demon Haunt conversations, he is a very bitter loser, despising the Nahobino for his “humiliation” and having no loyalty to him, while being unable to harm his “master”, and intending to vent his wrath by bringing ruin around him.
Trivia[]
- Lahmu is arguably Shin Megami Tensei V’s most hated character for the way he plays with Sahori’s emotions. Whereas other characters die relatively peaceful deaths, Lahmu is left to die alone.
- He can be considered to be one of Shin Megami Tensei's most evil villains (and possibly SMTV’s most evil villain) for the havoc he causes in Tokyo, in addition for his corruption of a Japanese schoolgirl. His human partner, in contrast, is one of Atlus's sympathetic villains.
- Despite being utterly evil, he can be summoned by the Nahobino as a companion. While he still exhibits the psychosis he had in a previous life, as well as utter hatred for the Nahobino for defeating him, he will still follow the Nahobino's commands without question.
- His appearance is similar to Japanese erotica as Sahori is a Japanese schoolgirl and he a tentacled monster (The author explained he designed Lahmu based on mythology and not strictly erotica, but this comparison can still be made.) Incidentally, many of the ways that Lahmu manipulates Sahori are similar to how real world sexual predators manipulate their victims, such as telling her how special she is to him. Sexual predators are also known to target those that are emotionally vulnerable, such as those who keep getting bullied. He also wears a mask that hides what he really looks like, similar to an online predator pretending to be someone that they are not, and his first conversation with Sahori is not face-to-face.
- He acts as a dark counterpart to his human partner Sahori. Unlike Sahori, Lahmu does not have a real justification for his evil deeds (though he had a soul fragment taken away from him, Khonsu was in a similar situation but decided not to reclaim his from Miyazu for her sake, and it’s implied God knew that Lahmu would kill many more people if he remained at full strength) He also does not feel remorse for his actions and does not have any friends. This is reflected in the matter of their deaths, with Sahori dying peacefully and Lahmu dying alone. (Incidentally, these personality differences are the main reason why his plan to take the throne failed.)
- He acts as a dark counterpart to Tao as well. Both have enormous amounts of power (though neither do have this power at first), but Tao uses her power to save lives instead of taking them. Tao is described as being a saint, whereas Lahmu is described as being vile. Tao is charismatic and loved by all, whereas Lahmu is disliked by his followers for his arrogant attitude. And while Tao is a true friend to Sahori, Lahmu is a false friend.
- Lahmu is the only demon to force their partner to merge with them, and to have their partner turn on them, which foils his ambitions to be a true Nahobino.
- Coincidentally, the Nahobino later encounters another demon king in Act III, though unlike Lahmu, Arioch does not engage in what would be considered to be war crimes.