Dweller-in-Darkness (Earth-616)

Name	Unrevealed (if any)
Current Alias	Dweller-in-Darkness
Aliases	The Dweller, He Who Dwells in Darkness, Dweller in the Dark
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Fear Lords
Relatives	Children: D'Spayre (creation); Spite (creation) Descendants: D'Sprytes ("grandchildren") Other Relatives: Nightmare ("cousin");
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	1′ (30.48 cm), 6′ (1.83 m) (on artificial body)
Weight	12 lbs (5.44 kg)
Eyes	Eyeballs: Yellow Irises: Red
Hair	No Hair At All
Skin	Black
Unusual Features	Facial tentacles
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Elder God; Demon from Everinnye
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Everinnye
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Occupation	Embodiment of man's collective fear
Base of Operations	Halls of Fear dimensions; formerly Everinnye dimension
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler
First	Thor #229 (August, 1974)
First	Thor #229 (August, 1974)

History

Origin

Like each of the Fear Lords, the Dweller-in-Darkness was a mystery, and his origin (or even his very existence) was known to few. Allegedly from the Sixth Cosmos, he was a demon that originated from the dimension Everinnye, and was was the embodiment of humanity's collective fear. The Dweller turned his back on his people by following the Way of the Shamblu, in disembodying his head and existing in physical form.

The Dweller's disembodied true form

The Dweller considered Nightmare to be his "cousin", a designation Nightmare rejected, knowing the Dweller's full origins, and stating that he had no cousin and especially not the Dweller, for he had chosen the way of the Shamblu. On the other side, according to the Dweller, Nightmare degraded himself by adopting his shape and by living in exile among the Lower Universes.

Like Nightmare, the Dweller fed on the fear of living beings, fear both increased his powers and kept him alive.

Pre-Cataclysmic Age

When he first came to Earth, 20,000 years ago, the Dweller-in-Darkness fed upon the fears created by the wars between the humans of Atlantis and the Deviants of Lemuria. The Atlantean sorceress Zhered-Na discovered the existence of the Dweller and banished him with the help of Agamotto and the Atlantean god Valka. When Atlantis sank, the Dweller absorbed the fear of the inhabitants and used it to create D'Spayre and ordered him to kill Zhered-Na in revenge. D'Spayre manipulated a tribesman to kill Zhered-Na and Zhered-Na's student, Dakimh the Enchanter battled D'Spayre over the next millennia, while D'Spayre tried to generate enough fear on Earth to free his creator. During this time the Dweller created other beings with a similar purpose, including the demoness Spite. D'Spayre remained his most powerful creation though.

Modern Age

In the 20th century, the Dweller appeared in the dreams of many humans and told them that they would gain eternal life if they died. These humans would then kill themselves but turn into Shade-Thralls, powerful creatures who served the Dweller, but were vulnerable to light. His plan was stopped by the gods Thor and Hercules who fought the Shade-Thralls and destroyed them. He also inspired Zoltan Drago who became the first Mister Fear.

The Dweller created new Shade-Thralls. These Shade-Thralls were destroyed by Doctor Strange and Clea, but not before the Dweller finally freed himself from his prison. The Dweller witnessed the destruction of his Shade-Thralls by Strange and Clea and determined that they were the largest threat to him on Earth. Over the next few months he tried to kill Strange using servants like the Dream Weaver, or the twin-demons Ludi and Ningal, but Strange defeated them all. Still, Strange's resolve was sapped by the Dweller's servants and he was overcome with fear. The Dweller decided that he had defeated Strange and stopped his attacks.

Months later, the Dweller gathered the Fear Lords and told them about his plans to create the Great Fear: a terror which would engulf humanity. In fact, the Dweller hoped that the other Fear Lords would be destroyed during this plan by Doctor Strange. Most of the Fear Lords agreed, but the Straw Man, benevolent to humanity, disagreed with their plan and warned Strange. The Fear Lords destroyed the Straw Man before he could tell Strange too much, but they only killed one of the Straw Man's many bodies. The Great Fear started out as the Dweller had planned; several of the Fear Lords were destroyed by Strange and his allies, but D'Spayre told Nightmare about the Dweller's true plans. Nightmare and the Dweller fought, but during their battle they generated so much fear that humanity stopped fearing and started to despair. The two were unable to feed upon this despair, but D'Spayre was and he become more powerful than the two of them. Realising that D'Spayre had manipulated them, the Dweller attacked him, but D'Spayre destroyed the Dweller's robotic body. His head, the only living part of the Dweller escaped.

Dweller later met with the other Fear Lords to discuss the Serpent's attempted conquest of Earth and the group was gathered again by Kid Loki to stop Nightmare from becoming the King of Fear by forging the Serpent's fear into a crown and usurping all the other Lords. To this end they were tricked into a stalemate where none could possess the crown without it being taken by another. This seemingly lasted until Mephisto claimed the crown for himself and the Fear Lords bent to his will, feeding off the fear Mephisto gave them from the crown. It is presumed that when Kid Loki sacrificed himself the crown faded and the Fear Lords left Mephisto's service.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

The Dweller has the ability to generate fear in other living beings. This fear in turn sustains and empowers the Dweller, allowing him to generate even more fear. He also has other undefined mystical powers: he can create independent creatures out of fear like D'Spayre and he can turn humans who die under his influence into Shade-Thralls, beings made of shadow with superhuman strength. Strong light can kill or banish these thralls.

The Dweller is immortal, doesn't age and even the sorceress Zhered-Na, assisted by powerful beings like Agamotto and Valka, could only banish him, not destroy him.

The "Way of the Shamblu", the Dweller's chosen path in life, involved a ritual where the Dweller removed his head from his own body. His body died, but his head lived on, now as a corporeal being, whereas the other inhabitants of Everinnye are more ethereal. The Dweller's head is attached to a robotic body, which possesses superhuman strength, but it can detach and move with the tentacles near its mouth in case of emergency.

Notes

• Regarding the statement "[the Dweller] was here in the last universe," this is based on the Dweller-in-Darkness from Adventures of the X-Men #12 where he existed in the universe before this one and shattered the M'kraan Crystal, ending the Sixth Cosmos. However, the end of the Sixth Cosmos has been retconned many times, bringing the canonicity of that Dweller into question.
• The Dweller-in-Darkness is seemingly inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos.
  • The path undergone by the Dweller, the "Way of the Shamblu", was created by Jean-Marc Lofficier as a reference to Catherine L. Moore's short story "Shambleau" (Weird Tales; November, 1933). C. L. Moore was a correspondent of H.P. Lovecraft (though she didn't contribute to the Cthulhu Mythos), and an author of science-fiction, fantasy, and Sword and Sorcery.
  • "The Dweller in Darkness" (1944) is a short story by August Derleth, featuring Nyarlathotep.
  • In the Mythos-riddled Adventures of the X-Men #4 (July, 1996), the Dweller-in-Darkness was stated to be "a true offspring of Great Cthulhu".
    • That information was reprised in the corrections on Marvel.com of his profile in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Horror 2005 #1 (October, 2005) ("alleged spawn of the Old One Cthulhu"), and is still present on the Dweller-in-Darkness' profile on Marvel.com.
    • It was later retconned, corrected or precised in the Dweller-in-Darkness' profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #3 (July, 2008), who stated that the Dweller was "considered a worthy scion of the Great Old One Cthulhu, though no direct relationship exists."
• The Dweller-in-Darkness is a class III demon, being extra-dimensional in origin.

See Also

• 19 appearance(s) of Dweller-in-Darkness (Earth-616)
• 7 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Dweller-in-Darkness (Earth-616)
• 3 minor appearance(s) of Dweller-in-Darkness (Earth-616)
• 4 mention(s) of Dweller-in-Darkness (Earth-616)
• 6 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Dweller-in-Darkness (Earth-616)
• 10 image(s) of Dweller-in-Darkness (Earth-616)
• 1 quotation(s) by or about Dweller-in-Darkness (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Dweller-in-Darkness on Marvel.com
• Dweller-in-Darkness on Wikipedia.org