The story of the satanic demon Moloch from the FOX television series Sleepy Hollow.
The Genisis of Ghenna[]
Moloch's history comes with despair, bloodshed, and tears. It was implied that Moloch was once an angel until he rebelled against God under the Devil's leadership and fell into Hell to become a demon king. For centries, while taking the Purgatory as his hell-like domain filled with despair, corruption and fear, Moloch attempted to jump-start the Apocalypse many times even before the birth of the United States of America, such as sending the Horseman of Conquest to Roanoke in 1584. During the American Revolution, he had his demons and servants infiltrate the British forces, planning to use the war to bring the destruction he so craved.
Under Moloch's manipulation, humans began to deal with demon and became diablolical creatures, including a Pied Piper. Many evil items were made or collected by his British pawns, like Tyrian shekels, bells for the Awakening Ritual and the dark magic book known as Lesser Key of Solomon. All Moloch needed to do next is to find vessels for his Four Horsemen of Apocalypse.
In 1774, Moloch let his Hessian minions shot Abraham Van Brunt, the former best friend of Ichabod and the ex-fiancé of Katrina Van Tassel. Then, Moloch transformed Abraham into the Horseman of Death after promising him to give him Katrina as his price, which was one of the main reasons of Katrina’s imprisonment in Purgatory. Abraham thus became the Horseman of Death, went on a rampage of killing spree. However, Death was defeated by Ichabod Crane, who beheaded him on the battlefield, sending Death into a state of suspension.
Afterwards, Moloch sent a Tree Monster after Katrina (who had become Ichabod's wife), who was staying at Fredericks Manor to give birth to her and Ichabod's child, Jeremy. In the 1800's, Moloch imprisoned Katrina in Purgatory indirectly by proxy (Katrina's former coven companions known as The Four Who Speak As One) so she could be given to Abraham when their deal was complete. He then spent centuries around Sleepy Hollow, sowing his plans and having the Hessians infiltrate the town so his servants were always on hand. The first recorded Sleepy Hollow sighting of Moloch was by a farmer who spotted him in 1882, when he appeared near four white trees in Pocantico Grove.
For many years, after summoned the Piper from his death, Moloch spread a curse on Daniel Lancaster's families and Grace Dixon's relatives, including Abbie and Jenny Mills. Dixon reletives, especially young women, died unnaturally just as they were accursed, including Grace who was burned down, an adventurer who searched for the Sword of Methuselah but only turned into stones by a guardian gorgon, Lori Roberts who commited suicide... and Abbie and Jenny that received fate worse than death.
As their drunken father Erza had gone, the sister's mother Lori Roberts protected her children along, saving them from demons several times. However, Lori was falsefully imprisoned into Tarrytown Psych by Leena Reyes and the girls was sent into a foster home where they were harshly treated. As the torture and sorrow he caused was not enough, Moloch sent Gina Lambert to drive Lori suicide and began his new plans.
In 2001, almost 13 years before the resurrection of Ichabod and the Horseman of Death, Moloch arrived at Pocantico Grove and freed Ichabod and Katrina's son, Jeremy Crane (later known as Henry Parrish), from his underground grave and turned him into the Horseman of War, appearing with four white trees to act as an omen of his Horsemen. Due to his nearly murder by the Four who Speaks as One, his growing hatred towards his own parents who he believed to have abandon him, and not knowing Moloch is the source of his sorrow, a freed Jeremy regaded Moloch as his true father. At that time, the young Abbie and Jenny Mills was there and witnessed Moloch (in fact by fate due to Abbie's Witness identity), but the sisters was far too weak to confront and Moloch erased their memories, trapping them in Purgatory.
This event was the beginning of the girls' downward spiral in life. Abbie denied the experience and said she merely fainted while Jenny stated the truth until she was deemed insane, and was later institutionalized. It was here that she faced repeated possession by a demon. Both girls were later met by Sheriff August Corbin, who helped give both girls direction in life. In the case of Abbie, she redeemed herself from theivery and was inspired to become a police officer.
However, Jenny was less lucky. For more than 10 years, Moloch had been haunting Jenny as a shadowing illusions all the time. Also, he sent his lieuteanent possessor, Ancitif, to control Jenny and take down Abbie. However, thanks to Sheriff August Corbin's exorcising on time, Jenny was saved from Moloch's claw again. She later aided Corbin by tracking down artifacts of importance.
However, Moloch has not give up his plan. After Jeremy Crane changed his name from the church he had been raised, "St. Henry's Parish", for a blasphemy of rage, he was ordered by Moloch to await until the sun eclipse 13 years later. When Henry awoke in a nightmare of being summoned from his premature burial, he knows Moloch had ordered him that the war shall rise.
A Plan Against the Witnesses[]
In 2013, the Headless Horseman of Death was reawakened to carry on Moloch's plans, also killing Corbin in process, just like Ancitif prophecized. However, Ichabod (who was linked by blood to the Headless Horseman after dealing him a fatal blow centuries earlier) was also awoken. Finally, as Ichabod had rose from his grave, Moloch can finally summon all of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, one by one, to raise death, war, plague and hunger throughout the globe, causing apocalypse to start. He connected the police officer Andy Brooks, who is another secret servant of him, in order to take the Horseman towards the false grave of Katrina where the skull was buried.
However, the plan failed and Andy was imprisoned. By the late of the day, Moloch appeared in Andy' cell, killing him for failure, without any mercy. When Ichabod and Abbie found Brooks dead, they also heard Corbin's ghost quoting the Book of Revelations while seeing a blurry, demonic figure, a figure which Abbie had unfortunatly met 13 years ago, had walked through a pale forest. The figure is none other than Moloch himself. He soon turned to Abbie and about to run out of the mirror to attack her. Just then, the mirror cracked and leaving Moloch inside his domain.
Undead Servants and New Plans[]
Before the day when the Blood Moon rise, Moloch went into the morge and raised Andy from the dead. He told a horrified Andy that his soul will belong to the deranged demon, before gaving Andy immortality powers so he could serve him. Moloch then present Andy a pendant to raise his fanatic dark witch servant, Serilda of Abaddon, who is the leader of the Order of the Blood Moon, from her demise. Unwillingly, Andy summoned Serilda back to life and helped to kill the descendents of witch trial judges, ending their bloodline and gaining their bone dusts. At that night, Serilda’s quest for reconstructing her body causes a man (who is a descendent of an anti-witchcraft judge) burned alive in his car.
After Serilda's death, Abbie began to suffer from the sandman known as Ro'kenhronteys, who intened to torture her due to betraying Jenny. As the sandman began to interrogate Abbie, the vision of Moloch began to haunt Abbie again and again. Finally, Abbie began to face her dark past bravely, thus saving herself from the sandman. Moloch, however, had not gave up. Finding Abbie unbeatable, Moloch began to send messages to his modern Hessian mercenaries and began his new plan by ordering them to take down someone. This time, it is Jenny.
Three disguised Hessians attacked Wendel Clark, one of Jenny's friends, to knew about Jenny's whereabouts and killed him. The murder quickly drew notice of Captain Frank Irving. Frank, alongside detectives Luke Morales and Devon Jones, investigated the murder and soon found out that one of the killers named Gunther was a local piano teacher. They quickly located the killer's house. Inside its basement, the captain found a huge word, written in lemon yellow paint. The word is: MOLOCH.
Meanwhile, Moloch's Hessian henchmen located Corbin's house (where Jenny lived) and attacked her, Abbie and Ichabod, before they stole the map leading to The Lesser Key of Solomon. Gunther was caught and confessed about his vile master, who had now control everything, had a plan of bringing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to the hollow for them to rise one by one, and had caused Abbie and Jenny's ordeal. After that, he commited suicide.
His fellow, Arnim and Hagen, had got the book and began the ritual of summoning Moloch's demon army, including 72 powerful Demon Kings. However, Ichabod, Abbie and Jenny quickly formed the Witness Team and arrived on time to stop their plan. They throw the book into the firey pit and threw the two gangsters inside as well, making them all dragged to Hell alongside the demons that was forced to return to their realms. Back into the police station, Ichabod showed Abbie about Moloch's tale on Paradise Lost and was glad to know who was behind the whole conspiracy. After that, the creature Abbie saw in the forest, who controlled the Horsemen and guarded Katrina, was finally revealed.
Release of the Horsemen[]
The Horseman of Conquest set on to begin his move in order to obey his cruel master's order…
The conspiracy still went on when Moloch gave his orders to the Horseman of Conquest. Then, Conquest went into the plague-ramapaging Colony of Roanoke and drove an infected boy into Sleepy Hollow, spreading deathly plague throughout the town. However, before the two Horsemen could join together, Abbie found the way to defeat Conquest and released the tormented people from the terror. However, Ichabod accidentally knew Katrina's whereabouts and suspecting the reason why Moloch hold her captive. Unable to harm the Headless Horseman's Head with their efforts, the Witnesses soon forged a plan to defeat the Headless Horseman and interrogated him to know more details.
However, an ancient relic known as the Thracian Phiale, which could break the hex spell of Masonic cell, had been burgled by the Hessian troops from Jesse Adams shortly after Crane, Abbie and Irving captured and imprisoned the Headless Horseman and found the revived Brooks who might help them. Moloch forced Brooks to hide the Thracian Phiale inside him. While the Headless Horseman and Brooks was both in captive, Moloch ordered at least seven Hessian troops to blow up the Sleepy Hollow West Power Grid, causing a massive blackout and shut down the UV lights that weakened the Death in process. With the lights shut down, the Headless Horseman regained his power. After that, Moloch forced Brooks to take out the Phiale and then broke the hex of the cell. This unleashed several demon troops, as well as making the Horseman broke free and attacked Ichabod.
However, Moloch somehow forbidded the Horseman, who was soon revealed to be Ichabod's former friend, Abraham van Brunt, to kill Ichabod in a thirst for revenge, even if he promised to give Katrina to Abraham if he killed Ichabod. The demon troops arrived at the cell, taking the Horseman and Brooks away.
The Prophecy of War[]
At the Christmas Eve, Moloch summoned Ichabod to Purgatory temporarily, to give him a warning, telling him that War would soon be coming, and that Ichabod would give him both his own and Abbie's souls soon enough.
Later, Andy contacted Moloch, telling he was weak in the past and that he will be a solider in the demon's army. Moloch, however, told him that loyalty must be proven and sets thousands of insects upon Andy, turning him into a much more powerful monster which he then sends with other demons to reclaim George Washington's map to Purgatory.
Moloch attacked Abbie.
In the season finale "Bad Blood," Moloch confronted Abbie in Purgatory. He grabs Abbie and hoists her into the air, declaring she is his. Abbie, however, presses Katrina's enchanted necklace into his shoulder, badly wounding him. Angered, the demon chases Abbie, who fell into another part of Purgatory, a place where Moloch placed her and Jenny's childhood memories. Upon seeing the memories, Abbie finally recalled what had happened in her and Jenny's childhood and demanded to return, but not long after, she realised that she will be trapped, inside Purgatory, forever and ever... indicating the truth: Moloch had won.
The Key of Ghenna[]
After having two of the Horsemen summoned, Moloch empowered and reached his second form, with black silk robes around him and a skeleton horse as his ride. Now, with the War rose from slumber, Moloch began to summoning his army of demons, lost souls and undeads from their grave inside Purgatory, but he needed the Ghenna Key, which was hid by Benjamin Franklin in somewhere.
As Moloch was summoning his armies, Abbie oversaw the ritual under protection of a redeemed Andy Brooks. With the help of Brooks, Abbie found Moloch's lair and contacted Ichabod. Meanwhile, Henry went on to Moloch's plan. He tricked Ichabod and Abbie, and then he found that Jenny knew the Key's exact whereabouts. Henry captured Jenny and checked her memories. The Hessians soon set out for the Key, but they failed to find it. Meanwhile, the freed Ichabod and Jenny found the key, and Ichabod entered into Purgatory.
Abbie tried to find the pendant which Katrina presented her, but could not find it anywhere. Just then, a Moloch's minion disguised as Ichabod had come to trick Abbie, but then the real Ichabod arrived. After a long fight, Abbie recognized and killed the false Ichabod, and then she got the key. Suddenly, Moloch found the two Witnesses and then summoned his zombie troops to stop them. Ichabod and Abbie rushed to the Purgatory gate and escaped. The door closed and trapped Moloch inside. The key was then destroyed and not even Henry could fix it.
The Sword of Fire[]
Moloch manipulated Henry's pain and hatred towards his parents to form evil conspiracies.
| “ | PICK YOURSELF UP. THERE IS NEW WORK TO BE DONE. (summoned the Horseman armor) YOU ARE THE SECOND HORSEMAN... WAR. USE YOUR SOUL TO CONTROL IT. WE WILL FORGE A NEW PLAN, TO SECURE MY REIGN ON EARTH. | „ |
| ~ Moloch to Henry in "This is War" |
Under the Fredricks Manor, Moloch contacted Henry through a mirror and formed a new plan. He summoned a firey armor of the Horseman of War, informing Henry to do what he ordered and do not failed him. Henry controlled the armor and then wielded his sword. The war soon began to start throughout the Sleepy Hollow silently.
However, Henry was relucant to merely follow Moloch's order. He just wanted to form his own plan and his own war. Moloch dragged Henry into his dreadful lair several times and warned him in a cold tone, especially when Henry summoned Mary Wells as a ghost to attack Katrina. Moloch angrily called Henry a "SOLDIER" and pushed him back into Fredricks Manor, leaving him crying out of control.
Relucantly, Henry began to do what Moloch ordered him to do, like cursing Joe Corbin and make him into a savaging Wendigo, in order to earn the powerful Chinese poison known as Jincan (金蚕), from August Corbin's possession. Even if Joe was saved, Henry still got the poison, which finally unleashed Moloch's soul, making it a form of spider. The spider Moloch crawled into Katrina's mouth and possessed her.
Legacy[]
Even if he is gone, however, Moloch is not forgotten by the Witness Team even after six weeks - never is and never will. The main reason is Moloch's posthumous effect, which is far more tremendous than all the evil things he did before he died. Moloch, as Ichabod later confirmed, is just the first of the Seven Disasters the Witnesses faced. His role of the primary evil within the Sleepy Hollow will soon be succeeded by a mysterious woman known as Pandora and other five nameless evil followed behind. However, Moloch will be remembered as the first and one the foremost prime evils within Sleepy Hollow.
Due to an unknown reason, or possibly due to Moloch binded himself to Purgatory, his death triggered his domain's massive turbulance, causing numerous evil spirits or antagonistic creature inside it escaped, including demons who were planning to unleash perhaps another Demon King for them to serve, the angel Orion who demanded genocide and almost suceeded, and Solomon Kent who brought the Grand Grimoire to Sleepy Hollow and was the key influence to Katrina's fall from grace. After that, lives of millions of people around the world are now at stake, because of Moloch himself.