This is about the entity featured in the original Evil Dead trilogy and it's expanded media. You might be looking for The Taker of Souls from the 2013 film or the Soul Eater from Evil Dead Regeneration.
| “ | I know now that there is such a thing as a "Living Evil". A foul and shapeless thing that lives not in the spaces that we know, but between them...in the dark...in the night... | „ |
| ~ Ash Williams (alternate Army of Darkness opening monologue) |
The Kandarian Demon (also known as "The Watcher In The Woods", "Humbaba", and "Drafter") is an ancient demonic spirit responsible for unleashing Deadite spirits and creating various other supernatural occurrences upon the world of the living.
The Kandarian Demon first appeared as an unseen entity in the 1981 film The Evil Dead, but made it's physical debut in the climax of Evil Dead II in 1987.
History
Origins
The being which came to be known as the Kandarian Demon existed on the Earth eons before documented history, silently watching from the shadows of the dark primeval forests as humanity evolved and claimed dominance over the world it once ruled. With a unwavering grudge against these "monkeys", the demon eventually learned that souls of the most-wicked of deceased humans ended up in Hell, where they would be corrupted by the evil forces found there. The demon learned to channel these corrupted souls, known as Deadites, and unleash them upon the world of the living.[1]
Early Appearances
Throughout the multiple universes in which the Kandarian Demon and the Deadites it channels are known to exist, it has appeared at various points throughout history of humanity. The earliest of these appearances in one reality was in the Mesopotamian city of Kandar circa 3000 BC, where the demon formed an alliance with the high priest Urigan and launched a reign of terror against the city's denizens. Several weeks after Urigan's siege, the demon was confronted by an old warrior named Enkidu, where the tree-bark "flesh" of the Kandarian Demon's physical form would be harvested and turned into the haft of Spear of Destiny.[1]
Most universes seem to depict the Kandarian Demon awakening in the year 1300 AD, where it terrorized the lands of Lord Arthur and Henry The Red.[2] Following the arrival of Ash Williams and the defeat of a massive army of the dead (of which he was accidentally responsible for creating), the demon presumably went back into a sleep-like state.
Appearance In The 20th Century
The Kandarian Demon would lie dormant for several centuries until finally being re-awakened by Professor Raymond Knowby in the United States during his translation and study of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. The demon attacked his wife Henrietta (resulting in her possession by a Deadite spirit), and eventually himself.[3]
A week after Knowby's disappearance, the Kandarian Demon attacked a group of five friends who had journeyed to Knowby's remote cabin for a weekend vacation. Among the members of this party was a slightly-younger Ash Williams, who did not yet know the horrors the demon was capable of unleashing. Shortly after the group learned of Raymond Knowby's tale though his recordings, the Kandarian Demon possessed the trees surrounding the cabin, where violated and infected Cheryl Williams with a Deadite spirit.[3]
Eventually, the demon came calling for Ash Williams, who had fought off his possessed friends. After briefly being possessed himself (and released by the purifying rays of the morning sun), Williams was subjected to physical and psychological torture instigated by the Kandarian Demon for another night, until the arrival of Annie Knowby (Raymond and Henrietta's daughter) with the "lost pages" of the Necronomicon. With these pages, Annie recited an incantation which would force the once-intangible demon into a thing of the flesh, and then use another spell to open a rift in time to send it back to it's last known appearance. The passages worked, giving the Kandarian Demon a physical form made of trees and flesh and pulling it (along with Ash) into the time vortex, landing in the year 1300 AD.[4]
Later Appearances
As previously mentioned, the Kandarian Demon and the Deadites exists in several alternate realities, most of which diverge from the timeline following the events of the cabin, the most well-known instance following an older Ash accidentally awakened the demon in 2015, which would eventually lead to a test of the mettle of man against the forces of evil.[5]
Powers & Abilities
- Deadite Conversion: The Kandarian Demon's primary power was the ability to turn anything into a Deadite, ranging from humans, plants, and inanimate objects. The exact limits to this ability is unknown, though it often chose to hone in on one desired target, giving chase until it was able to "infect" the desired object.
- Flight: In it's non-physical form, the Kandarian Demon demonstrated the ability to fly several feet in the air, easily gliding across the ground and over various obstacles.[3][4]
- Hallucination Induction: While in its non-physical form the Kandarian Demon is able to torment others with illusions in there in their minds.
- Invulnerability: While the demon is in its non-physical form, it cannot be physically harmed though it can still apply physical force to the world.[4]
- Smoke Form: When the Kandarian Demon is summoned it manifests it's non-physical form as a whirling smoke cloud.[4][6]
- Sound Manipulation: While tormenting others, the Kandarian Demon is able to affect sounds around its victims to drive them mad.[4]
- Super Strength: The Kandarian Demon has shown bursts of great strength when lifting or tearing through objects and living beings.[4][2]
Weaknesses
Sunlight Aversion
There is conflicting accounts on the Kandarian Demon's weakness for sunlight. During Ash's second night at the cabin, the demon (in it's non-physical form) seemed to retreat to the dark heavily wooded ravine as the morning sun began to rise (and emerged to once again attack Ash as the sun began to set).[4] However, later encounters would depict the demon as having no problem chasing it's victims during broad daylight.[2] A possible explanation might be that the demon simply becomes more resistant when it consumes more souls, as the Kandarian Demon in 1300 AD was presumably roaming unchecked and took countless victims.
Physical Form
In it's physical form, the Kandarian Demon was not invulnerable, as Ash Williams was seen being able to stab the creature in it's eye with his chainsaw.[4]
Objects
- Necronomicon: As with other being summoned via. the Book of the Dead, Kandarian Demon is still the subject under control of the Necronomicon and those who possess it provided the person in question has sufficient knowledge to do so. Not only that, the Book of the Dead also has written instruction of how to render the demon corporeal and thus more susceptible to damage and banishment.[4]
- Talismans: The Kandarian Demon could not enter El Brujo's farm due to protective talismans he placed around the perimeter.[6] It was only after the talismans were destroyed by a fire that it was able to roam the property.[7]
Appearances In Other Media
Board Games
- The Kandarian Demon appears as one of the main antagonists in the Army of Darkness Roleplaying Game released by Eden Studios in 2005. The demon is referred to as "The Watcher In The Woods" (or simply "The Watcher") in most of the game's chapters, though the character Enkidu calls it "Humbaba" during the "Gilga-Ash" chapter.
- The Kandarian Demon appears as physical miniature model featured in the Evil Dead 2: The Board Game released in 2020 (which was originally designed for Space Goat's cancelled Evil Dead 2 board game from 2016).
Comic Books
- The Kandarian Demon (in its unseen intangible form) has appeared throughout the various Army of Darkness comics, starting with the 1992 Dark Horse adaptation, Ashes 2 Ashes, Shop 'Till You Drop Dead, Ash In Space, and Army of Darkness: 1979.
- The Kandarian Demon's physical form appeared in the first issue of Space Goat's 2015 series Evil Dead 2: Beyond Dead By Dawn.
- The demon made a cameo appearance as the manifestation of evil extracted from Annie Knowby's soul in Evil Dead 2: Cradle of The Damned #3.
- The Kandarian Demon appears in the Evil Dead 2 Cinestory, released in 2020.
Video Games
- The Kandarian Demon makes an unseen appearance in the Evil Dead: Hail To The King video game released in 2000, as well as the 2003 sequel, Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick.
- The Kandarian Demon appears as a ghostly flying skull in the 2005 video game Evil Dead Regeneration. Another creature in the game, the Soul Eater, uses a slightly modified design of the Kandarian Demon's physical form from the climax of the Evil Dead II film.
- The Kandarian Demon is a playable character in Evil Dead: The Game, released in 2022.
Gallery
Trivia
- The Kandarian Demon originates from Sam Raimi's 1978 short film Within The Woods. In the short, the demon is referred to as "Tinga", a Native American spirit who watches over the grave of a deceased Indian medicine man.
- The faces seen on the side of the Kandarian Demon's physical form represent its recently claimed victims. According to Bruce Campbell on the audio commentary of the Evil Dead II film, Ash's face appears on the Demon due to it believing it would kill Ash next.
- For many years following the release of the original films, it was thought that the Kandarian Demon's true name was "Dagen", however, no official source backed up this claim. The Evil Dead 2 comic books would later introduce a demon with that name, but it had no connection to the Kandarian Demon.
- The original shooting script for the first Evil Dead film (then titled Book of The Dead), explained that the Kandarian Demon was of the Katardi family, a type of demon that specifically roamed heavily wooded or jungle areas.
- Rabisu, a large monster featured in the Evil Dead 2: Beyond Dead By Dawn comic series, is visually inspired by the Kandarian Demon (as both wear the faces of those who souls it swallowed).
- In the Evil Dead: The Musical Original Broadway Cast Album, "Kandarian" is spelled "Candarian", and is used in a plural form ("All the Men in My Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons"), likely referring to Deadites in general.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Army of Darkness Roleplaying Game (2005)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Army of Darkness (1993)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Evil Dead (1981)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Evil Dead II (1987)
- ↑ Ash vs Evil Dead: El Jefe (Season 1, Episode 1) (2015)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ash vs Evil Dead: Brujo (Season 1, Episode 4) (2015)
- ↑ Ash vs Evil Dead: The Killer of Killers (Season 1, Episode 6) (2015)