| “ | All she knew was that Perse was naughty, Perse was a bad doll instead of a good doll, she was out of control and getting out-of-controller all the time, she had to be sent away. | „ |
| ~ Edgar describing how Elizabeth felt about Perse. |
Persephone, more commonly referred to as Perse, is the main antagonist of Stephen King's novel Duma Key. She's a sadistic goddess whom manipulates artists into drawing paintings that end up coming true in the real world. Her influence was first held over a woman named Elizabeth, and later over the story's main protagonist Edgar.
Appearance[]
Perse is described as a female humanoid who wears a red robe. Her face was described as having a grin that outran the sides of her face. She has a third eye on her forehead. Her china-doll was described as having a claw-hand, but it is unknown if this reflects her true appearance.
Characteristics[]
Perse connects to the Earth realm through personifying humanoid dolls, most notably her signature china-doll and Elizabeth's doll Noveen. Through these she is able to extend her power and influence, using others to perform her villainous deeds for her.
Perse controls a ghost ship, which has her nickname "Perse" panted along its side. This ship often appears in the gruesome paintings that she influences artists to create. Perse takes possession of nearby artifacts in order to begin her mental influence on these artists, their paintings allowing her to have influence over the real world, the things depicted in the paintings eventually occurring.
Edgar's description of the goddess was a monster like a vampire, only except a blood she was hungry for souls. Perse takes souls both for the sake of collection but also for vengeance, as seen several times when she took the loved ones from Edgar and Elizabeth when they apposed her.
The doll she sits inside of is described as being as hard to crack as steel. Perse's doll has a weakness to fresh water, which was used to defeat her twice over.
Biography[]
Past[]
In 1927, a young Elizabeth's father has first found the little china doll that Perse's spirit resided in along with other treasures. Perse first began speaking to Elizabeth through her doll Noveen, influencing Elizabeth's paintings. One of the first examples of Perse exploiting Elizabeth's power was when she made Elizabeth create an out-of-season hurricane what was very destructive. Elizabeth would begin to notice and actively resist Perse's power, much to Perse's ire. Perse would eventually get Elizabeth's loved ones to kill themselves, including Tessie and Laura, whom drowned themselves. Nan Melda would finally cut ties with Perse by putting her in a barrel and dropping the barrel in the ocean.
Duma Key[]
Perse first made herself known through her ghost ship, which had her name painted along side it. Edgar's paintings began to become somewhat apparent of having Perse's influence over them, these being a series of Girl and Ship paintings. Edgar began to realize Perse's influence after his interaction with Elizabeth, noticing voices in his head had been telling him how and what to draw. She would then send over one of there undead demon sailors in order to kill Edgar, but it was unable to do so.
It was soon after this that Edgar found out his paintings had been sold, one of them already claiming their first victim, that being Tom Riley. She would later go on to take another friend of Edgars, this being a man named Kamen. Edgar would eventually track down his daughter, Iles, and have her burn the painting she bought from him. A woman named Mary Ire would eventually come over and kill her, killing herself afterward. This is when Edgar had enough and decided to take action, going to Elizabeth's old home in search for answers. They would find the Noveen doll, which Edgar eventually figured out was being used by Perse in order to spy on them. Perse would later be seen by Nan Melda during one of Edgar's flashbacks.
They would eventually figure out that Perse was buried with Nan Melda in an old cistern, which they eventually discovered near an old statue of Charley. With them they had brought a plastic bag with fresh water inside of it to put Perse inside of. They eventually found her in a barrel, she causing him to hallucinate. She also tried to manipulate him into stopping by making false promises. He eventually broke the keg and discovered the doll. Soon after more demonic sprits were summoned on her behalf. Although she tried to fight back with the teeth that were on the doll, Edgar dropped it into the water, causing her soldiers to loose their power.
Edgar was said to have placed the flashlight tube with Perse inside of it into a safe, sealing her in "double darkness".
Powers & Abilities[]
- Possession - Perse's most notable ability is her ability to possess objects, specifically dolls. These allow her spirit to connect to the real-world, as well as spy on others through the dolls eyes (as was implied with Noveen). She is also implied to be able to possess people, as seen when she used her third eye to make Melda stop resisting her.
- Telepathy - Perse demonstrated unto Edgar her ability to communicate telepathically. This was first seen during his painting process, where she would communicate with him mentally, influencing his paintings. This is also seen towards the end where she used her ability to try and plead with Edgar not to put her in fresh-water.
- Necromancy - Perse demonstrated an ability to bring the dead back to life, specifically her victims. She was able to do this on several occasions, first summoning someone to fight Edgar after he began to fall suspect of her. This again occurred when her china-doll was discovered, summoning several of her minions to go after Edgar, Wireman, and Jack. The souls she controls are implied to live on the ghost ship that has her name on it.
- Reality-Warping - Through the power of the paintings that she manipulates her artist victims into drawing, Perse has the ability to warp reality. Things in these paintings come to life, as first seen when Elizabeth was able to bring about a hurricane that she depicted in her drawing.
- Immortality - Being a goddess, it is heavily implied that she is immortal. This is explored in the novel through the idea that she cannot die, but rather have her precense/power supressed.
Trivia[]
- Persephone is based on a goddess of the same name from Greek mythology. Persephone is the goddess of death as well as the queen of the underworld.
- When Edgar had first said the word Perse, an elderly Elizabeth began to experience a seizure. It is unknown if this is due to Perse's influence, the trauma that Perse experienced to to her, or a coincidence.
- Frogs had jumped at Edgar, attempting to attack him when he was getting close to Perse's china doll. It is unknown if Perse had influenced this.
