Darkhold

Publication history

The  Darkhold  was co-created by Gerry Conway and Mike Ploog . The  Darkhold  was first mentioned in  Marvel Spotlight  # 3 (May 1972) but first shown in  Marvel Spotlight  # 4 (June 1972). The book has appeared in  Werewolf by Night  # 1 (September 1972) and  Marvel Chillers  # 3 (February 1976).

The comic book series  Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins  ran 16 issues, from October 1992 through January 1994.

The  Darkness  received by  the Marvel Universe Update ’89  # 2.

Fictional book history

Origin

Chthon , a demonic Elder God who was the Earth’s first practitioner of black magic , was the principal author of the  Darkhold  . Being academic, Chthon wrote all his collected knowledge of magic on the iron-bound scrolls that served as the first form of the  Darkhold  . It Remained as the  Darkhold  after-MOST of the demonic Elder Gods Were slain by the Demogorge except for Chthon and Set . The  Darkhold  ‘ s power is so vast it Took The combined strength and will of Both Merlin and St. Brendan to Contain it. Even together, they were unable to destroy it or its power. Mordredaussi Seemed to Believe That use of the  Darkhold  Would grant _him_ Sufficient strength to challenge Merlin himself.  ^{[  volume & issue needed  ]}

First vampire

Humans first found the  Darkness  during the time before Atlantis sunk into the ocean. When Kull slew Thulsa Doom , Doom’s followers, the Darkholders, used the Darkhold to create the first vampire , Varnae , dying due to wounds suffered in Kull. Varnae consumed one of the Darkholders who vampires. Some surviving Darkholders managed to make off with the  Darkhold  before Atlantis sank.  ^[1]

When Atlantis sank, Varnae went into hibernation and did not revive until circa 10,000 BC. He found that some parchments of the  Darkhold  had been left behind in the Flaming Mountains of Khorasha. Varnae attempted to recover these parchments, now bound in “The Iron-Bound Book Of Skelos.” In an altercation with Conan , Red Sonja , and the Zula sorcerer, Varnae controlled bat-like humanoids called the Afterlings. Zula used a spell from the  Darkhold / Chthon Scrolls against Varnae, reciting, “Shemek Iref Wenek Tjhen Inek It-Ek Chthon Djedeni Emm-Maat Wenen Taeei Hemet Ankh-Ek Isheset Antioo Djedte Nes Sep Iree Nen Renek Anhkhu Wi-Im Valka!” He then noted, “I’m sorry the incantation ended where it hurt Lord Varnae, rather than destroying him.” To Zula, the words appeared in Stygian , but it had long been known that Chthon had cast a spell that would make the Darkhold appear intelligible in any language. In any event, Varnae fled.  ^[2]

Red Sonja

Zula also used the  Darkhold  against the Set-worshipping Sorcerer Thugra Khothan. Later Red Sonja and Zula traveled to Zamboula , Zambia serving the western part of the Turanian empire. Totrasmek, the priest of the Hanuman Deity (note that Hindus also worshiped a simian deity called Hanuman ), came into possession of the Chthon Scroll / Darkhold. Totramesk had been searching for years for the Darkhold. Zula recovered the Darkhold and used the scrolls to transport himself and Sonja away. Zula noted that the scroll disappeared as a result of the spell.  ^[3]

Later historians in the Vatican would note that at some point scrolls of the Darkhold were taken East during the Hyborian Age .  ^[4]

Morgan Le Fay

After the Hyborian Age, Egyptians , Babylonians , and Hebrews came to possess the  Darkhold  Scrolls. Morgan The Fay bound the scrolls in book form for the first time circa the 7th century. It is around this time that they were translated from Chthon’s arcane script into Latin . Saint Brendan tore them up. Numerous pages from the  Darkhold  -have-been scattered across the globe by cults of Chthon-worshiping Darkholders. The use of a page of the  Darkhold  would summon the Dwarf Darkhold, a minion or manifestation of Chthon, who would attempt to manipulate and corrupt the page’s invoker.

In the 12th century, a heretical monk named Aelfric had reformed the  Darkhold  . This monk was burnt at the stake, the  Darkhold  with him. The  Darkhold  reformed itself, and was purchased by a trader, who was then murdered. By the 17th century, the Vatican came to the  Darkhold  . Dracula feels a thief to acquire it for him, but Cagliostro slew the thief and took it for himself.

At some point the vampire Lord Ruthven may have possessed the  Darkhold  .

Werewolves

The  Darkhold  was also responsible for the curse of the werewolf ; an 18th-century man named Grigori Russoff had been tainted by the  Darkhold  , and was subsequently succeeded by Dracula . Grigori passed this curse of lycanthropy to his descendents, including eventually Gregor Russoff and his son Jacob Russoff . Taboo, the sorcerer, claims to the  Darkhold  in an old Balkan castle . He used to taunt Gregor Russoff with a possible cure.  ^[5]

Gregor Russoff came to possess the  Darkhold  . He would like to read about it in the journal of his ancestor, and use it as a journal for himself. Accounts vary as to how he came to possess it. Some say he bought it, while others say he took it from the Taboo sorcerer. Two accounts say that Russoff bought it. In any event, when he reads about the origin of lycanthropy in the  Darkhold  , Gregor Russoff (whose ancestor Grigory had been a werewolf) also contracted lycanthropy. During this time, Dracula shadowed Russoff.

Gregor Russoff attempted to raise Chthon hoping he could cure him of lycanthropy. Chthon instead apparently struck Russoff dead, though Russoff evidently somehow revived. The High Evolutionary and Magnus managed to defeat Chthon at this point. Presumably, the revived Gregor Russoff recovered the  Darkhold  and somehow managed to hide his activities from the High Evolutionary and Magnus for some time. It was more than 20 years ago.

Later, Russoff’s his Jack also became a werewolf. Recovering the  Darkhold  from Miles Blackgar, he gave it to a Father Jacquez to translate. Aelfric’s ghost possessed Jacquez. At the end of this struggle, Russoff incorrectly thought that the Darkhold was destroyed. Later, Russoff traveled to Transylvania with the Indian woman Topaz to visit Russoff Manor. There they found Gregor Russoff’s diary. Dracula came to possess the diary, but he left behind a blizzard in the Alps he learned that the diary contained a copy of the Montesi Formula to destroy vampires. Morgan Le Fay later recovered the diary.

At some point Doctor Doom found a part of the Darkhold Belasco ‘s Limbo. Also at some point, Mephisto imprisoned a demon called Darklove into a page of the  Darkhold  .

Marvel Zombies

The  Darkhold  played a role in the fifth  Marvel Zombies  series, specifically in the third issue.  ^[6]  In this series, Machine Man and Howard the Duck (from the primary Marvel universe) and Jackie Kane (from Earth-483). In this issue, they have a world which contains dubbed “Raimis” zombies (a reference to the  Evil Dead  movies by Sam Raimi ). In this universe, though, the zombies are controlled by the Darkhold rather than by the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis , which is how they are controlled in the movie series.

Later appearances

During the  Secret Empire  storyline, Baron Helmut Zemo used the Darkhold on Blackout in order to enhance his powers Darkforce shadows cover all of Manhattan.  ^[7]

Darkhold Redeemers

A group led by Victoria Montesi, the last member of the Montesi family, attempted to curtail the effects of the lost pages of the  Darkhold  . The group starred in the  Darkhold  series  : Pages from the Book of Sins  . Many pages of the  Darkhold have been  passed by a demonic dwarf. The recipients of the page could use them to grant a wish at the cost of their soul; the wish tends to go horrifically wrong.  ^[8]

Victoria Montesi

Louise Hastings

A member of the Darkhold Redeemers. Professor Louise Hastings was an expert in the occult. She spent her career fighting occult or demonic forces, her midnight peons and the Midnight Sons . During the crisis known as the “Midnight Massacre” it was Hastings who saved the day by the Darkhold, sacrificing her soul to Chthon . She was killed months later by the “Siege of Darkness” by Morbius who was possessed by Lilin blood. She is survived by her grandson, Jinx.

Sam Buchanan

Little is known about Sam Buchanan. He is an Interpol agent who is assigned to protect Victoria Montesi after she barely survived an attack by a cult worshipping the  Darkhold  . After Victoria Montesi disappears and Professor Hastings was murdered, Sam walked away from the occult. He is presumed back at Interpol.

Modred The Mystic

Jinx

Jinx is the grandson of Louise Hastings, an expert in the occult and a mystic of limited power. It is likely that her experiences in the mystic affected her lineage, her daughter, Caprice, never demonstrated any mystical abilities. Jinx proved able to access magic to perform.  ^{[  volume & issue needed  ]}  Jinx’s mother was killed in a struggle over the  Darkhold pages, and he came to live with his grandmother, Louise. Almost instantly, he became caught up in a dark plot to reassemble the pages. Sam Buchanan was an agent of Interpol and was convinced by his superior, DeGuzman, leader of a Darkholder sect, to betray and bring in the Darkhold Redeemers. Jinx followed Buchanan back to a base in the southwest, where he accessed the energy of a page of the Darkhold to disperse a group of guards and free Victoria Montesi.  ^{[  volume & issue needed  ]}

An ally of the Darkhold Redeemers, Blade, was once corrupted, becoming an incarnation of the Demogorge. Modred teleported Jinx back to New Hope to prevent him from being injured in the battle against the Demogorge.  ^{[  volume & issue needed  ]}

Jinx accompanied the other Redeemers when they investigated Lt. Frank Walsh after he used the “Troid” spell of the Darkhold. Following this, Victoria Montesi accessed a page of the  Darkhold  to gain healing powers. This resulted in the summoning of the creature Monstrosity, which was drawn to follow Victoria and slaughter those it encountered. Jinx attempted to engage the Monstrosity, but was stabbed in the chest by it. He was deadly wounded, but Victoria appeared and used her magics to heal him instantly. It was at this time that Jinx started training as an apprentice to Modred, much to the consternation of the other Redeemers. Jinx demonstrated the ability to focus mystic energy from his right eye while participating in the fight against Spider-X, another  Darkhold user page.  ^{[  volume & issue needed  ]}

Modred’s training allowed Jinx to participate in the “Siege of Darkness”, amplifying Modred’s power to oppose the forces of the demon Lilith I. Internal strife and misunderstandings among the Midnight Sons did briefly turn Jinx against Modred, but they soon resolved this. The Truth-Sayer Blood Member. They succeeded, although Truth-Sayer was incinerated by the Fallen member Metarchus. Following this, in order to protect against the final battle against Lilith and Zarathos, Jinx was sent to the Vatican to remain under the care of Vittorio Montesi.  ^{[  volume & issue needed  ]}

In other media

• The  Darkhold  appears in  The Super Hero Squad Show  episode “Mother of Doom.” It was shown to be used by many people in the fight against Strange’s flesh, much to Chthon’s annoyance.

• The  Darkhold  is referenced in the  Marvel Anime: Blade  episode “The Other Side of Darkness.”  ^{[  Citation needed  ]}  In the post-credits of the episode, Blade’s narrative states That he is now fighting Against the Vampires Who are followers of the  Darkhold  as seen When He saves a woman from Reviews some of the  Darkhold  -worshiping Vampires.

• The  Darkhold  is featured in the fourth season of  Agents of SHIELD  ^[9]  It had aliases like the  Book of Spells  and the  Book of Sins  . The  Darkhold  is revealed by Coulson to be sought by numerous parties over the years. While its pages appear blank, words will manifest in their native language. The book was found by Momentum Labs worker Joseph Bauer and his wife Lucy Bauer, using it in their research to create matter from nothing. When they touched it, the text appeared in English to Lucy and German for Joseph. But the lab technician Eli Morrow, became obsessed with the power that the  Darkhold offered, turning Lucy and their co-workers Hugo, Frederic, and Vincent into ghost-like beings. Later, he assaulted Joseph in an attempt to get the  Darkhold’s  hire, putting Joseph in a coma. After freeing Hugo, Frederick, and Vincent in “Meet the New Boss,” Lucy begins to search for the  Darkhold  to help restore her physical form and resume their work.  ^[10]  In the episodes “Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire” and “Lockup,” Lucy uses her ghostly abilities to revive Joseph from his coma to learn the hiring of the book, killing him unintentionally as a side effect of her touch. Lucy is forced to free Eli from South Ridge Penitentiary as her incorporeal state renders her unable to use the book. She succeeds at the cost of her fellow ghosts. Darkhold  , the text appears in Spanish. In the episode “The Good Samaritan,” Eli and Lucy created a replica of their laboratory at the abandoned Roxxon Power Plant previously owned by Isodyne. After Melinda May the  darkhold  and Lucy was vanquished by Robbie Reyes / Ghost Rider , Eli uses the machine to become a powerful being able to create matter from nothing. In the episode “Deals With Our Devils,” Holden Radcliffe uses AIDA to read the  Darkhold where the text appears in computer coding. Using the information given to her, Phil Coulson and Leo Fitz from between dimensions. By the end of the episode, AIDA uses her newfound knowledge to work on an artificial brain. In the episode “Hot Potato Soup,” Eric Koenig ‘s siblings hid the  Darkhold  in a place called the Labyrinth until it was found and stolen by Holden Radcliffe as part of his plans to learn the secrets to immortality. In the episode “Boom,” the Superior Watchdog Anton Ivanov reads the book, with text appearing to him in Russian, which tells the story in the inhumans . In the episode “Self Control,” AIDA used the  Darkhold  to create aLife Model Decoy body of the crippled Anton Ivanov where the brain in his head has been controlled remotely. She then proceeds to create various LMDs of the agents of SHIELD, creating an alternate reality within a computer reality called Framework, where she assumes the alias of Aida Ophelia / Madame Hydra . In the episode “World’s End” after AIDA is destroyed, the  dark  is secured by Robbie Reyes / Ghost Rider, who takes it to a remote area to hide it there so that it would never fall into the wrong hands again.

References