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- "Even while I'm waiting for this body to adapt to the power levels I need it at, I'm still stronger and better than you. You really want to see which one of us would win in a fight? Really? Then let's go. I can't access most of my power yet, I can't even move properly, but I bet I can still rip your head off."
- — Darquesse to Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant: The Dying of the Light
Darquesse | |
Character Information | |
True Name | Darquesse |
Species | Human |
Gender | Female |
Birth | Unknown |
Age | Unknown |
Magic | True Name |
Location | Faceless Ones' Universe |
Darquesse is Valkyrie Cain's True Name and another part of her personality. She is first mentioned in prophecy, apparently destined to destroy the Earth. She manifests through Valkyrie several times before being forced out after fully taking her over - and manages to gain her own body by taking over the corpse of Valkyrie's Reflection. After Devastation Day, she is worshiped by a group called The Darquesse Society.
Biography
Mortal Coil
While the group find the Soul Catcher, Valkyrie is possessed by a Remnant in an effort to spur their messiah's coming, bringing out Darquesse. However, Darquesse is not the Remnant in control - instead, it is a part of Valkyrie which hates everything. It overpowers the Remnant possessing Valkyrie and sets about killing the horrified Remnants with pleasure, massacring dozens before almost turning on her allies. Skulduggery Pleasant arrives after a few minutes and explains that Darquesse is what Valkyrie will become if she refuses to fight back against the apathy, bitterness and hopelessness, and she finally lets go of the struggling Remnant in her body, which returns her to normal.
Death Bringer
When Valkyrie and Melancholia St Clair are under attack by Lord Vile in the Caves of the Void. Realising that only way to defeat Vile is to awaken Darquesse, Valkyrie forces Melancholia to try and kill her, successfully awaking Darquesse. Darquesse and Lord Vile engage in a huge fight, which takes them all around Dublin, finally stopping to fight on O'Connell Street. After a great battle, the two return to their former selves.
Kingdom of the Wicked
Darquesse is forced to emerge in order to work with Lord Vile to kill Doran Purcell, Kitana Kellaway, Sean Mackin and Argeddion. She gets sent into Mevolent's dimension. Deciding to retrieve The Sceptre of the Ancients, Darquesse flies to Ratoath where China Sorrows, leader of The Resistance against Mevolent, possess the sceptre. Upon arrival, she sees Mevolent and his forces attacking the town and The Resistance. Mevolent battles Darquesse and rips off her head but she uses her magic to reattach it to her body under seven seconds and they continue to battle until Darquesse hits him with a horse, knocking him out. After China agrees to give her The Sceptre of the Ancients, Nefarian Serpine hits her with a blast and she shunts back to her reality bringing the Sceptre with her, but not realising it. Angry, she flies back to Roarhaven and she kills Doran, Kitana and Sean but Argeddion resurrects them. Argeddion accidentally kills his alternative self and gives up. Lord Vile uses a tapping rhythm to snap back into Skulduggery and uses sigils to turn Darquesse back into Valkyrie.
Last Stand of Dead Men
Darquesse conflicts with Valkyrie's thoughts, and during a mission to rescue Fletcher Renn, Darquesse speaks to Valkyrie, leading her into a trap. Instead of escaping, she is stuck in a large room surrounded by hundreds of Brides of Blood Tears. They shoot beams of powerful energy, and Valkyrie's leg is blown off. Darquesse remarks that she can help, but Valkyrie refuses. Valkyrie then loses her left arm, and Darquesse tempts her again. Valkyrie loses her other arm, and Darquesse manipulates her, telling her that if Valkyrie lets Darquesse take over, there is 'no more sharing'. Valkyrie finally gives in to Darquesse, and she obliterates all the Brides. Fletcher and Skulduggery arrive shortly after to find a hundred dead Brides and a lot of blood with Darquesse already gone.
Darquesse is then seen next breaking through the ceiling of the Sanctuary to save China's life. Skulduggery approaches her and she flings him aside. Darquesse places a small ball of light inside Ravel, cursing him with 23 hours of unbearable agony every day, with the pain heightening if his body gets used to it. China has the ability to kill Darquesse, but she hesitates, seeing Valkyrie's face. China then touches her, and the heat is transferred to Darquesse, who heals China. Darquesse, still wearing the clothes of a Bride of Blood Tears, ignites, and her clothes burn and her Necromancer ring is destroyed. However, she cools herself, and the shadows tighten around her, becoming like a second skin. Skulduggery attempts to negotiate with her, but Darquesse says that Valkyrie is gone, not even a little voice in her head. She says that she does not want to kill her parents, she just wants to be alive and free. Darquesse then flies off.
The Dying of the Light
Darquesse is first seen in a state of hibernation where Billy Ray Sanguine prepares to kill her. He decides not to as he doesn't wish to upset his fiancé, Tanith Low. Darquesse later wakes up and decides to release the Remnants to help her become smarter and more powerful. She and Tanith attack the Soul Catcher which held them and released them. She then talks to one Remnant that had possessed a scientist, after turning him into a chair for insulting her she then decides to steal a book called the Hessian Grimoire as the book would hold information that could help her gain god-like abilities. When attempting to steal it she ran into Skulduggery Pleasant and Stephaine Edgley. The two kill Darquesse and accidentally trap Valkyrie's essence in a small Soul Catcher when the plan was to trap Darquesse, who now occupied Valkyrie's body alone. After she turns a man into a rubber duck she and Skulduggery and their friends travel to America where Darquesse fights a magic-eating monster. At this point, she is still Darquesse, and only Skulduggery realises the little bits and clues that told him Darquesse is still here. He gets Fletcher Renn to fake an injury and makes Darquesse take care of Fletcher. She then leaves him and turns to fight a man. After the man realises she is still Darquesse, she kills him and returns to the group. They all link hands and Fletcher teleports them to a dark room where China Sorrows kills Darquesse with the Deathtouch Gauntlet. Darquesse's essence is then reduced to an untethered entity. Skulduggery uses a Sunburst to try and revive Valkyrie but it does not work. He then throws the Sunburst to Gracious O'Callahan, telling him to fix it. Skulduggery then starts CPR on Valkyrie. After a few minutes, Gracious finishes fiddling with the Sunburst and tossed it back to Skulduggery. It succeeds on bringing Valkyrie back to life. Darquesse then possesses sorcerers with psychic powers until she kills Stephanie in Obloquy's body inside a Cloaking Sphere with Valkyrie and Fletcher in the same room. She then burns out Obloquy's body just like all the other psychic sorcerers. After Valkyrie, Skulduggery and Fletcher and Reverie Synecdoche find out that Stephanie is dead, Valkyrie goes to her Gordon Edgley's house for the night. After waking up from a nightmare, Skulduggery tells Valkyrie that Stephanie's body has been missing for six hours. She gets up and goes to Echo-Gordon to tell him about the news. Valkyrie then realises Darquesse could be in Source Fountain underneath Gordon's house. She then proceeds to call Skulduggery and the three go into the Caves of the Void. They run into a pack of Phalanx Tigers. After Darquesse possess Echo-Gordon, he tells Skulduggery to go east, eventually leading him to a dead end. Valkyrie and Echo-Gordon soon find the Source Fountain with Samuel, Vincent Foe and Mercy Charient in the same cavern. After Valkyrie realises that Darquesse is Echo-Gordon, she also learns that Darquesse evicted Echo-Gordon. After Darquesse possesses Stephanie's body. Darquesse states that even though she can't move properly, she could still rip Valkyrie's head off. After trying to run from Darquesse, Remnant-Tanith kills Mercy, taking off her head.
She then removes Tanith's Remnant brutally and consumes the Remnant in order to get her information. She then travels to Mevolent's universe to retrieve Ravel who had been sent there to attract her. She then fights Mevolent, Vengeous and Vile but is easily defeated, forcing her to go back to her own universe. She then attacks Roarhaven to kill Ravel, after fighting and quickly destroying an army made up of Vampires, various sorcerers and the Remnants, she and Valkyrie then face off to allow three psychic sorcerers to hypnotises Darquesse into thinking she has already burned all reality causing her to travel to the universe occupied by the Faceless Ones. It's unknown if she is still alive but it is unlikely as Skulduggery said that she thought she was more powerful than she actually was due to the hallucinations.
Skulduggery Pleasant: Bedlam
It turns out that she is still alive in the dimension of the Faceless Ones. However, she is locked in a constant battle with them as neither party is capable of killing each other.
Eventually Sebastian Tao manages to find Darquesse with the help of his fellow Darquesse admirers and Silas Nadir. Although she ignores him at first eventually she decides to re-enter the body of Stephanie and hear out Sebastian.
Skulduggery Pleasant: Seasons of War
For several months, Darquesse stays in a room, staring at the wall. Sebastian tries to communicate with her, but she doesn't respond.
Eventually, she moves. Sebastian asks her if she will save the world. Darquesse says she needs to see whether this world is worth saving, and promptly disappears.
Later, Sebastian finds Darquesse. She has split into multiple copies of herself and is 'collecting information'. After she had finished collecting info, she absorbs each version of her, Including Kes, who cries before she is dissipated. Darquess then makes herself pregnant with magic, and takes refuge in Sebastian Tao's house.
Original future
In the prophetic vision of Darquesse, she was seen in the future destroying the world and killing her own (Valkyrie's) parents.
Until the end
After obsidian wipes most people from existence, Darquesse restarts the universe, and brings back Auger and (unconfirmed) Ghastly Bespoke.
Powers and abilities
When in grave danger - such as being on the brink of death -, Valkyrie subconsciously allows Darquesse to take over her mind and body. As Darquesse, Valkyrie can wield a unique type of magic, possibly Ancient magic, which grants her a huge amount of strength, allowing her to break boulders, crush skulls, and punch through bones with ease. She also has the ability to fly, the ability to see and manipulate someone's consciousness. Darquesse can also dull pain and has the ability to heal even her brain and organs, making her practically invincible. Darquesse can survive injuries that would easily kill a normal mage, even one as powerful as Skulduggery. Darquesse can even withstand having her head ripped off, though she admitted there was a strong chance she'd have died had she not magically repaired herself within seven seconds. Complete destruction of the brain would kill her - however, this is almost impossible do due to her ability to heal any and all wounds magically. Darquesse has been shown to be capable of disintegrating regular humans, turning them to ash with a mere gesture. In addition, Valkyrie's normal skills, such as Necromancy and Elemental Magic are increased vastly, superior to any average sorcerer. In Death Bringer, she is shown to be capable of fighting on par with Lord Vile; however, in Kingdom of the Wicked it is shown that her power has grown greatly, as she defeats Lord Vile with moderate difficulty, and even later states that she has surpassed him. She is also shown to have the ability to see Magic, sensing its presence and nature in other beings. She can understand different people's abilities, how strong they are, and how they will use it. She can also manifest her magic in the form of telekinesis, such as using it to break Kitana's leg and moving her body towards her decapitated head.
Currently, the precise limits of Darquesse's power are unknown. As of 2012, she is roughly equal to Mevolent, if not slightly stronger - however, it has been shown that her power is increasing exponentially every time she emerges. Argeddion also states that she is learning and becoming powerful faster than he did, as she easily mastered the ability to see magic, while it took him many months. It is known that Darquesse has been prophesied to extinguish all life on Earth, and eventually the planet itself. By 2013 Darquesse has completely taken over. She could tear another mage apart with a casual flick of her wrist, destroy a thousand powerful Witches and an army of Warlocks, other mages, Wretchlings and several supercharged sorcerers. By 2014 she is sufficiently powerful to destroy a large part of Roarhaven, absorb thousands of remnants, atomize living beings, erase matter, energy and souls from existence, and even travel to the dimension of the Faceless Ones. It was also said that even weakened, Darquesse could defeat Lord Vile (even after he was supercharged by the Accelerator). At almost her full power, she survives a combined assault by Valkyrie (with invincibility), Melancholia, and supercharged Lord Vile, and manages to defeat all of them with a large blast of energy. Skulduggery would later go on to state that despite this she would not be able to defeat more than two Faceless Ones, let alone a whole race of them after she was tricked into leaving her native reality for theirs. Strongly Implying that she would meet her demise at their hands. This, however, proved to be incorrect, as Darquesse had indeed survived her incursion into The Faceless Ones reality only to be locked in a stalemate as neither side possessed the means to kill the other.
Trivia
- Darquesse was originally part of a different project.[1]
Appearances
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