The Faceless Ones are evil gods, and the rivals of the Ancients. The Sceptre of the Ancients and the God-Killer are 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. It has been implied that the Faceless Ones are based on Howard Philip Lovecraft's Cthulthu Mythos series, although it is said Lovecraft based his dark gods on the Faceless Ones (most likely a reverse of the actual truth).[1] During Kingdom of the Wicked when Valkyrie traveled to the alternate reality the Sceptre of the Ancients and one of the God Killers was present, meaning that in that reality there were Faceless Ones as well. Meaning that there are trillions more banished to other realities, so it is extremely lucky that they have not been invaded by alternate reality Faceless Ones then.
The Grotesquery was a hybrid of a Faceless One (the torso) and other magical creatures. When Mr. Bliss destroyed the Grotesquery, after the battle at Clearwater Hospital, he could not destroy the parts which came from the Faceless One.
In the third book, the Faceless Ones were finally seen. In The Battle of Aranmore Farm, Fletcher Renn was forced to open the portal. Only three Faceless Ones escape out of the portal because Fletcher runs away when Jaron Gallow loses his grip on him. Valkyrie feels a surge of energy when the Faceless Ones move through the portal. The three escaped Faceless Ones took over the bodies of Batu, Murder Rose, Gruesome Krav, but failed to take over Jaron Gallow. The Grusom 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. Lastly, the Batu-Faceless One was tricked back into the portal, and took Skulduggery Pleasant along with it.
In Dark Days, Valkyrie went into their realm. 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
Description
While a direct description has never been given, Valkryie described one as being five times taller than trees. 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 a depth.
When a Faceless One possesses someone that person becomes featureless: the person's hair falls out and their eyeballs, mouth and nose melt away.
They are so evil that their shadows shy away from them.
Powers
Because their 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 lost his mind.
When a Faceless One possesses a body, the host is immediately killed. The eyes melt out of their sockets, the nose and mouth seal, the ears melt and all of the hair falls out, resulting in a featureless head. In their host body, Faceless Ones are extremely powerful. The Faceless Ones possess extremely powerful telekinesis, being able to pull apart or invert bodies without effort. The Faceless One that possessed Gruesome Krav turned Mr. Bliss inside out with a small hand movement. They are also shown to have the ability of super strength and shown to be virtually invincible, as Mr. Bliss was unable to destroy the Grotesquery's torso and the Faceless Ones were unharmed by The White Cleaver's scythe.
In the alternate dimension seen in Dark Days, the Faceless Ones repeatedly possessed the used body of Batu and slowly pulled Skulduggery apart, again and again, sadistically using him as long-lasting entertainment, as dismantling him wouldn't kill him.
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 Santuaries 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 (part of a Faceless Ones) to open a portal for them to return. However, Vengeous also failed.
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.
