Faceless Ones

For the book of the same name, see Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones.

"You think the mortal religions sound any less fantastical? At least our gods are real."

— Abyssinia to Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant: Midnight

The Faceless Ones were evil gods, and the rivals of the Ancients and the Apocalypse Kings, another race of gods. The Faceless Ones are INSANELY powerful, laying waste to trillions in other realities, and killing the realities with them. They were kicked out of their own reality by the Ancients, and started working their way back. There have been several times when the Faceless Ones have actually entered our universe. The Sceptre of the Ancients, the Obsidian Blade and the 4 other God-Killers (spear, bow, dagger and sword) were the only known weapons able to destroy them. However, it is said in the fifth book that one who knows their True Name has the power to take on a Faceless One without the weapon. In the sixth book it is also mentioned that the Death Bringer could fight a Faceless One without the Sceptre. in lore, It's said that Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, Lovecraft based his dark gods on the Faceless Ones^[1] During the events of Kingdom of the Wicked when Valkyrie travelled to the alternate reality, the Sceptre of the Ancients, along with one of the God Killers (specifically the dagger) was present, implying that the Faceless Ones were either kicked there, or originated in that reality as well as our own. Of course, this that there are trillions more generations of the dark gods, banished to other realities, so it was either through extreme good fortune or insane power within one universe that the Faceless Ones have not invaded and consumed other dimensions in their journey "home". Their true appearances have never been shown in the books, as laying eyes upon them is enough to drive you insane.

Biography[]

History[]

The Faceless Ones are a race of gods born during the beginning of the universe. After the Scourge (when the gods banded together to take down the First Gods), the Faceless Ones slaughtered all the other gods in an event known as the Great Betrayal, which saw the survivors fleeing into other dimensions (most of them fled to Earth). Around 29’000 - 28’000 years ago, they entered Earth through three giant portals in Ireland, central Africa, and Australia, gifting the people in those area magic, and they became the Ancients, and they began worshipping the Faceless Ones. The Faceless Ones took over the Caves of the Void, using it as their base of operations as they hunted the surviving gods. They created the Sceptre of the Ancients to kill the surviving gods. They used molten gold to form the rod and placed a splintered off piece of the Void Meteorite (Katahedral crystal) at its hilt. Soon, they turned their attention to the surviving members of the Deathless, Cythraul, and Sathariel races, who had been responsible for rallying the remaining gods against the Faceless Ones. Upon capturing the trio, the Faceless Ones discovered that they had performed a spell. A spell that connected their souls to the Earths core. If they were killed, their souls released from their physical bodies, their souls would shake and destroy Earth, spitefully killing the Faceless Ones’ greatest source of worship. However, it can be assumed that the godly trio still had hope, and were possibly fearful of death, so they allowed themselves to be imprisoned in a box made by the Faceless Ones. Once they were free of other gods to war with, they fought each other over the human sacrifices and worship, using their magic and telekinetically throwing the Void Meteorite at each other until they finally ceased their hostilities and cast the Void Meteorite into a Barren Dimension. After their squabble, they stayed on Earth, enforcing their dominance over the Ancients and basking in their worship. For a long time, it appeared as if the Faceless Ones would reign supreme, however, the Ancients, realised they didn’t want to worship the Faceless Ones anymore. They had witnessed how brutally they had killed the gods hiding on Earth, watched as the Faceless Ones waged war against one another. They realised that their gods were not benevolent in any way. And so, 25’000 years ago, they rebelled against the Faceless Ones and engaged in a war with their masters that would last 1000 years. was meant to sing to the Faceless Ones when an enemy was near, but was silent when the Ancients took some. The Ancients eventually banished the Faceless Ones.

Playing With Fire[]

The Grotesquery was a hybrid of a Faceless One (the torso) and other magical creatures. When Valkyrie destroyed the Grotesquery, at the battle at Clearwater Hospital, Mr Bliss attempted , and failed to destroy the parts which came from the Faceless One. He did, however, succeed in burning the parts that were not made from a Faceless One. At the end of this book, all that remained of the Grotesquery was its Faceless One torso.

The Faceless Ones[]

In the third book, the Faceless Ones were finally seen. In The Battle of Aranmore Farm, Fletcher Renn was forced to open the portal. Three Faceless Ones came out of the portal as Fletcher escapes when Jaron Gallow loses his grip on him. Valkyrie feels an incredibly powerful shock wave when the Faceless Ones are released through the portal. The three escaped Faceless Ones took over the bodies of Batu, Murder Rose and Gruesome Krav. Jaron Gallow was potentially one of the offered vessels for the Faceless Ones, however he diverted attention from him when he slices off his arm with the "invitation" sigil branded on. The Gruesome Krav-Faceless One was destroyed by Valkyrie using the Sceptre of the Ancients. The Murder Rose-Faceless One destroyed the Sceptre and in result destroyed itself as the crystal powering it crumbled. Lastly, the Batu-Faceless One was tricked back into the portal, but took Skulduggery Pleasant along with it.

Dark Days[]

In Dark Days, Valkyrie went into the Faceless Ones' dimension. In there, the Faceless Ones took turns possessing the body of Batu to torture Skulduggery by slowly pulling him apart and leaving him to put himself back together. He also has constant nightmares where illusions become reality - one of which is Valkyrie when she comes into the reality to rescue Skulduggery. Because of this, Skulduggery does not believe that it is Valkyrie, and does not follow her to the portal. However, when they are attacked by Riders and the Faceless One commandeering Batu's body, China Sorrows comes through the portal additionally, taking Skulduggery and Valkyrie out whilst fighting numerous Riders.

The Dying of the Light []

In the finale of the book, while trapped inside an illusion which made her believe that she had been victorious, Darquesse opens a portal to the Faceless Ones' dimension and heads inside to kill them. However, the illusion made her believe she was stronger than she actually was, so when she entered the dimension it is implied she only had an extremely slim chance of surviving against the Faceless Ones. Skulduggery Pleasant states that, while Darquesse could perhaps stand a chance against a Faceless One, or maybe even two, she wouldn't be capable of defeating an entire race. This, incidentally, is how Valkyrie, Skulduggery and the Irish Sanctuary rid themselves of potentially the greatest threat the world had ever faced.

Midnight[]

Sebastian Tao, Bennet Troth and Tantalus break into The Dark Cathedral and obtain a scythe containing Faceless Ones' blood. They use this blood to begin the search for the Faceless One's universe.

Bedlam[]

When Sebastian Tao and The Darquesse Society open a portal to the Faceless Ones' universe with the help of Silas Nadir, Sebastian goes through to see Darquesse fighting with the Faceless Ones. Neither side could win due to both having regenerative abilities. Darquesse had abandoned Stephanie (Valkyrie Cain's reflection)'s body in place of a magical form. When Sebastian asks Darquesse to come home, she follows Sebastian towards the portal, leaving the Faceless Ones behind.

Dead or Alive[]

At the end of the book, it is revealed by Valkyrie that the incomprehensible, mind-shattering forms taken up by the Faceless Ones are their "spiritual form," and that their natural, physical bodies are "horrible and sickening and huge," but not incomprehensible to the point breaking the psyche. When she shows Omen the Faceless Ones that had already entered their reality, he describes one as "An impossibly huge thing, bigger than a mountain, with too many legs and too many eyes." They are depicted to be idle, standing, waiting, and that there are hundreds of thousands of them in total, some on Earth, but most still on the other side waiting for reality to be made habitable for them. The description suggests that the natural form of a Faceless One is not even vaguely humanoid, though their shape isn't described, it is suggested that they are chthonic and horrendous to behold.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Until the End[]

Some of the Faceless that were freed from Valkyrie's soul now tower over the earth's timeless capital. However, they are invisible to humans and wizards. However, when Valkyrie is largely freed from the influence of the Faceless, Damogles Creed forces Valkyrie to perform a ritual to make the Faceless visible, who then unleash their armies of Shalgoth on the humans and wizards. Valkyrie manages to concentrate her god-killing powers and thus kill all the Faceless in her soul. The first Faceless in the mortal world, Khrthauk, is finally killed by Valkyrie. Another one, linked by Darquise, but above all Obsidian, managed to kill several Faceless. In their desperation, the Faceless began to give up their power and reduce their power to a small flame. When Darquise restarts the universe, she gives Valkyrie the cage in which she has imprisoned the last of the Faceless.

Description[]

While a direct description has never been given, Valkyrie described one as being five times taller than the tallest trees at Aranmore. Its appearance is said to not make sense and that it couldn't be real, as it had no weight or substance. It is said to have mass, but behind it is no depth.

However, while facing off against the Faceless One who had taken over Gruesome Krav, the narration indicates that the vessel the Faceless One had commandeered was the same size and shape as Krav had been before he was taken over - just without features. This is because they can only be observed by humans when they have taken over a body. It is possible that this is not completely accurate, however - a direct reference was never mentioned in the book. Because their true forms are abstract, and impossible for a human mind to comprehend, if someone looks at a Faceless One they lose their mind. This is the reason why no one knows what their true form looks like. Remus Crux glimpsed a Faceless One and went insane, as they can only be observed by humans when they have taken over a body.

When a Faceless One possesses someone that person becomes featureless: the person's hair falls out and their eyeballs, mouth and nose melt away, similar to Kith.

They are so evil that their shadows shy away from them.

Powers[]

As a race of immortal, lovecraftian esque entities, the Faceless Ones are beings of near limitless magical ability. They wield powers most beings could scarcely begin to comprehend and vastly eclipse almost every other magical entity shown in the series thus far.

They possess super strength, the ability to grow to the size of mountains, an enhanced healing factor, and the ability to fly. They are known to travel between realities and were powerful enough to escape being trapped by the Ancients in a barren dimension. They have shown that they are capable of extremely powerful feats of telekinesis, being able to pull apart or invert bodies without effort, and throwing the Void Meteorite at each other. The Faceless One that possessed Gruesome Krav tore Mr. Bliss apart with a small hand movement.

These are only the powers that they've demonstrated but they should be, at the very least, capable of performing many more feats of magic as well as magic on a level similar to a sorcerer who has discovered their True Name.

The Faceless Ones are death and destruction incarnate. It's stated by Skullduggery in Dark Days that collectively they are powerful enough to decimate entire universes. They possess the power to destroy suns, lay waste to galaxies and kill basically anything in their path. Once all life had been snuffed from a universe they would move onto the next to start the process anew.

The Faceless Ones are also able to possess living creatures and in doing so cause their hosts eyes to melt out of their sockets, their nose and mouth to seal, their ears to melt away and all of their hair to fall out, resulting in a smooth featureless head. This, however, is not necessarily permanent as it is revealed in Bedlam, that if a Faceless One were to vacate its host before they burn them out the host in question would simply end up reverting back to their normal state. The only difference being an added strand of Faceless One DNA which 1 in 7 people in the present day are said to possess.

In their physical forms they are immune to harm from anything less than a God Killer weapon and can only be fought without one by a sorcerer who has discovered their True Name. During the Battle of Aranmore Farm they were shown to be completely unharmed by The White Cleavers scythe and during Playing With Fire Mr Bliss himself was unable to damage the Grotesqueries torso. Even after the Grotesqueries death its torso still proved impossible to destroy.

Although few feats have been shown in their true form it is hinted that they are just as powerful or perhaps even stronger without a physical vessel. Before the Ancients rose up against them The Faceless one didn't require physical vessels within this reality and could freely exist in their true forms. It was only after the Ancient made the environment of this reality to inhospitable for them that they were forced to take up physical vessels. This strongly implies that The Faceless ones were an even greater threat in their true forms as the Ancients appeared to have gone out of their way to force the Faceless Ones to take up a host. It is either that or they did this as a means to make the Faceless Ones vulnerable to the God Killer weapons. This conclusion is drawn due to the fact their true forms are shown to be formless, possessing no mass or substance and therefore making them impossible to damage via conventional weaponry. A God Killer weapon may be able to kill them but it can't kill them if it can't damage them.

It is known that a mere glimpse of a Faceless One without a vessel is enough to drive any normal sorcerer insane. (Remus Crux, Leibniz Eliza Scorn)

Immortality

Followers[]

Throughout the series, and before, many followers of the Faceless Ones have tried to bring them back to the world, the most notable probably being Mevolent, who sparked War between the Sanctuaries and the followers of the Faceless Ones. All the followers of the Faceless Ones believe that if they bring the Faceless Ones back, the Gods would spare them and only kill those who didn't follow them. But some followers, such as China Sorrows and Jaron Gallow found out this wasn't true, and stopped following the Faceless Ones. Some followers of the Faceless Ones operate at the Church of the Faceless.

After Mevolent lost the War, Nefarian Serpine, a General of Mevolent's had tried to bring back the Faceless Ones by using the Book of Names to control someone who would know how to bring them back. After Serpine failed, another of Mevolent's general, Baron Vengeous tried to bring back the Faceless Ones using the Grotesquery (torso of a human possessed by a Faceless One) to open a portal for them to return. However, Vengeous also failed, but only partly. The Grotesquery's death cry was able to alert the Faceless Ones the to location of Earth.

The Diablerie were the next to attempt to bring back the Faceless Ones using an Isthmus Anchor (the Grotesquery) and a Teleporter, (Fletcher Renn). The group managed to bring three of the Gods into the world. However, the Gods possessed most of the group and the rest fled. Valkyrie Cain, using the Sceptre of the Ancients, managed to kill two of the Faceless Ones, and the third was forced back into Faceless Ones' universe.

Despite the disaster the Diablerie created, the Church of the Faceless still plans to bring the Faceless Ones back. Eliza Scorn, a follower of the Gods, is currently planning to bring the Gods back through unknown methods. Eliza has a list of twelve names that will help bring back the Church of the Faceless. She was also blackmailing China, until she revealed China's secret to Skulduggery and Valkyrie.

Known members[]

Cyarrnaroh[]

The first Faceless One to enter the main dimension and the last to leave it. It coined the name “Darklands” to describe our world to the Ancients, and was the most engaging with the Ancients. It’s full name is over 800 letters long, a quarter of it unpronounceable by any living thing.

Dhahun’garun[]

This Faceless One was the chief creator of the Shalgoth and Shalgoth-Reth, unleashing the majority of them upon the rebellious Ancients. It personally locked Rhast in its Earthen prison when the Shalgoth and Shalgoth-Reth rebelled. Dhahun’garun’s hatred for the Ancients was legendary, even before they rebelled, preferring monsters and creatures over life forms it considered inferior. Dhahun’garun’s full name involves have an alphabet that no one with ears had ever heard.

Ghiurnouth[]

One of the three Faceless Ones that entered our dimension in 2010 at Aranmore Farm. The gods full name stretches five hundred and thirty-eight letters long, and can never be written in one book, and instead multiple, lest the writer be disintegrated. Likewise, it cannot be spoken in one go and instead spoken in different time periods.

Khrthauk[]

A Faceless One that is a mountain of flesh and claws, folds and tentacles. It was considered a legend amongst the gods, even its own kind. It had been the most savage and ruthless and cunning when the Faceless Ones had slaughtered the other gods and had been the most merciless when the Ancients had risen up. When the Faceless Ones used the Caves of the Void as a base of operations on Earth, Khrthauk was the first to mine out the Katahedral crystals and was the original creator of the Sceptre of the Ancients to wield against the other gods and it’s own race. Its brutality and infamy is paralleled by another member of its race: Phanaror. It’s full name has seven hundred and fifty letters in it and is uttered through a variety of tones - whispering, guttural growls, crying and fear.

Phanaror[]

Phanaror is a Faceless One whose manipulations are so grandiose and selfish. It tempted the other gods into participating in the Scourge, and was the one who tempted its race to engage in the Great Betrayal. Phanaror was the primary Faceless One behind the Faceless civil war, whispering in the ears of its brethren and manipulating the Faceless Ones against each other. Despite Khrthauks savagery against the other gods and the Ancients, it paled in comparison to Phanaror cruelty and viciousness when facing its own race, claiming the most lives out of all the Faceless Ones. Their duality is similar; Khrthauk was the first to raise the Sceptre against its own kind, and Phanaror was the first to use the Void MEteorite as a weapon, telepathically throwing the exposed chunk of obsidian at its foes to wipe them from existence. Phanaror full name is three hundred and fifty-seven letters long, half of which can’t be puttered by anyone who hasn’t looked at its spiritual form.

Rhgonnaleth[]

One of the three Faceless Ones that entered our dimension in 2010 at Aranmore Farm. It’s full name consists of roughly five minutes of a combination of whistles , clicks and and a singular foreign language that requires the deepening of the voice in order to utter it.

Zahx’loyan[]

One of the three Faceless Ones that entered our dimension in 2010 at Aranmore Farm. It’s full name is composed of multiple languages unknown, extending to five hundred letters long.

Lahsse[]

Chased Skulduggery and Valkyrie while possessing Batu’s body. Its full name is four hundred and sixty-eight letters long, the last half of which is made up of five dead languages.

Appearances[]

References[]

↑ Skulduggery Pleasant, p.300

[SP300-1] Skulduggery Pleasant, p.300

[1]