Deimos
42 years ago - 15-year-old Deimos becomes an initiate in the Thera’s priesthood.
34 years ago - 23-year-old Deimos is named high priest of Thera, the youngest in the city's history.
30 years ago - 27-year-old Deimos discovers the scrolls of blood, unlocking the ancient science of the Atlanteans that settled Skartaris.
27 years ago - 30-year-old Deimos ascends to the throne of Thera with the power of the scrolls of blood. He begins broadening the reach of the Theran slave ships.
21 years ago - 36-year-old Deimos's forces capture Princess Tara of Shamballah and her companion Travis Morgan. She is brought to Thera as a hostage, while Morgan is sold as a galley slave.
20 years ago - 37-year-old Deimos is in the audience of a gladiatorial game, with Tara attending him, where he sees Travis Morgan & Machiste compete. Tara rejects his advances, living as a prisoner in the Theran dungeon rather than his consort.
19 years ago - 38-year-old Deimos's rule in Thera ends as the city is taken by Travis Morgan & Machiste's Gladiator army. He is cut down and killed by Morgan in their final battle, but his body is secretly taken by Ashiya.
18 years ago - Deimos's body is returned to a state of living undeath by Ashiya using the Mask of Life. Unable to survive in the constant sunlight of Skartaris, he creates Castle Deimos, a hidden lair that magically transports itself through the shadowlands.
17 years ago - Deimos kidnaps Joshua Morgan, the son of Travis Morgan & Tara, from his bed in Shamballah, and hides him in Castile Deimos.
16 years ago - Deimos magically grows a clone of Joshua Morgan to adulthood as Travis Morgan, Tara & Machiste find Castle Deimos. and magically compels him to attach his father, forcing Morgan to fight and kill his son. Morgan cuts Deimos in half and knocks his body off a cliff, assuming him dead, but the Mask of Life sustains him as a broken monster. Knowing the blood of his killer will allow him to regrow his body, he begins to magically summon anyone with Travis Morgan's blood. He is unable to find the child Joshua Morgan but unknowingly begins to effect Jennifer Morgan on the surface through her own magical sensitivity.
13 years ago - Deimos follower Faaldren becomes his constant attendant, maintaining Castle Deimos and bringing him what he needs to sustain his undeath.
9 years ago - Deimos's magic successfully summons Travis Morgan's daughter, Jennifer Morgan, to Skartaris. Theran slavers capture her and her companion Mariah Romanova from their ship, the Lady J. They sell Mariah, but Jennifer is found by Faaldren and brought to Castle Deimos so her blood can sustain Deimos, allowing him to regrow his body.
7 years ago - Deimos brings the full power of his control of both magic and Atlantean technology to bear when the restored Castle Deimos is found by Travis Morgan, Mariah Romanova, Machiste, Shakira & Aton. He kills Aton, but he is betrayed by Faaldren, allowing Morgan to finally, truly kill him.
Deimos is SUCH a classic fantasy villain. I feel like I don't even have to describe him, because everyone already knows this character since he basically exists in every fantasy movie ever made, but of course that isn't really accurate, there's a whole spectrum of fantasy baddies, from Voldemort to Maleficent to Rip Torn in Beastmaster. Deimos is just dripping with despicable personality, and has that tenacious permanent hatred of the hero fueling him even after death that all truly great nemesis have to have. You can't do Skartaris without Deimos.
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Deimos's Comic HistoryDeimos, first appeared in 1st Issue Special #8 in 1975, the very first Skartaris story. As Travis and Tara are brought into the city of Thera, Deimos is the evil-looking advisor to the king, described as the cities high priest, and who quickly views Morgan as a threat to his position, he sends men to try to kill them. A few issues later, as Travis is starting a gladiator rebellion and demands to know what has happened to Tara, he is told she was sold to KING Deimos of Thera, that Deimos had come into possession of the Scrolls of Blood and used them to take the throne. Thus begins the first of many quests for Morgan, as he leads his gladiator army to Thera, frees Tara and, for the very first time, kills Deimos. We learn just what the Scrolls of Blood were, and that all of Skataris is built on the ancient technology of Atlantis. Deimos, as it turns out, was never using magic, but instead was manipulating that ancient tech.
This is far from the last time we see Deimos, of course. He's brought back to a cursed non-life by Aishya using the Mask of Life, and begins plotting in the background to get his revenge on Travis, often manipulating other enemies into his path. He reveals himself by stealing their son, enacting an absolutely insane plan that leads Morgan to believe he's responsible for his own son's death before Morgan kills him a second time. Of course, even the best villain has one last round in him. Deimos manages to keep going long enough to threaten Morgan's daughter Jennifer, and kill his friend Aton, before Morgan finally kills him for good, using a pack of wolves, of all things. |
Our Deimos StoryI have absolutely no notes on Deimos. If anything, I wish we had more of him. He's just the perfect example of all sorts of villainous tropes and is such a fantastic foil for Morgan. The story of him stealing Morgan and Tara's son and the insane plan to force Morgan to kill his son is absolutely bonkers... and is made even more so by the fact that Deimos didn't actually know Ashiya had swapped the real Joshua for the backup clone baby he'd made. Deimos straight-up thought he was aging Morgan's real son to adulthood, and then magically making him fight his dad. The clone was just a backup.
We kind of breeze over it, but there are some great moments after Morgan has killed him the second time, and the Mask of Life is keeping him alive as a twisted little monster, where he is this unseen menace in the shadows of his castle while Jennifer Morgan plays the role of the unsuspecting horror movie girl-in-the-bathtub, before it's revealed that he's basically a head hopping around on one hand. He later reconstituted himself, of course, but this just goes to show how fantastically versatile Deimos is. He's the perfect fantasy nemesis. |
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