Lord of Nightmares
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| Slayers Deities | ||
|---|---|---|
| The Lord of Nightmares | ||
| In-Universe Information | ||
| Homeworld: | None, exists outside the physical world | |
| Species: | Creator of the Universe, no known species | |
| Gender: | None/All | |
| Hair Color: | None/All | |
| Eye Color: | None/All | |
| Known Relatives: | As a creator being, her exact relation to all life is unclear | |
| Age: | Eternal | |
| Powers and Abilities: | Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent |
|
| Weapon: | Its own power | |
| Host: | Lina Inverse, when manifest within Lina the Lord of Nightmares appears just as Lina only with a pulsing golden hue | |
| Role: | Deity | |
| Series Information | ||
| First Episode Appearance: | Slayers NEXT Episode 25 (Season 2) | |
The Lord of Nightmares is the creator deity in the anime and novel series Slayers (known as "The Slayers" in its American video release). Unlike most creator deities in fiction, the Lord of Nightmares ("LoN") is not considered benevolent and very few humans worship her. Only those steeped in the magical arts are aware of her existence, including sorcerers and the Mazoku or "demon race", who refer to her as "the Mother of All". Other names given her include: Lord of Dreams that Terrify; She Who Shines Like Gold upon the Sea of Chaos; The Golden Lord; And L-Sama.
[edit] Background
The Lord of Nightmares created not only the entire Slayers multiverse (including the futuristic galaxy portrayed in Lost Universe) but also the Mazoku themselves and their rivals, the Shinzoku and the Ryuzoku. Both Shabranigdo, the devil figure of universe where Slayers takes place, and his rival Ceiphied are her direct creations. Some have theorized that the Lord of Nightmares did this simply because she wanted to watch gods, demons and mortals contend because it would be amusing, a hypothesis adopted by Valgaav in Slayers TRY in his attempt to remake the world. Others have theorised that Lord of Nightmares requires the chaos of battle for sustenance.
As few humans are aware of the Lord of Nightmares; even fewer actually seek her attention. Only Lina Inverse has been known to directly use the power of the Lord of Nightmares in spells, and this she does with great reluctance. Spells that call upon the power of the Lord of Nightmares are notoriously unreliable, with failure frequently having devastating consequences. The most notable of such spells, the Giga Slave, could theoretically destroy existence itself if miscast. Only Lina Inverse knows this spell and she has so far been unwilling to teach it to anyone else. In the beginning of the series, she also knew little about Lord of Nightmares, and using the bits she learnt, she created an incomplete form of Giga Slave used to defeat a piece of Shabranigdo in Slayers. Later in Slayers Next, she picked up traces of information and finally obtained the true knowledge of Lord of Nightmares, thus completing the Giga Slave and derived a less powerful (yet still comparable to the power of Dragon Slave) and more easily controlled spell Ragna Blade. However, this also provided her with the knowledge of the chance of destroying the world if the spell is miscast, and therefore she is reluctant to use the complete form of the spell. In the story, she has cast the incomplete form once even after knowing the truth in order to minimize the chance of the spell going awry.
This god bears a striking resemblance to Tiamat in ancient Babylonian myth.
[edit] Appearances
Unlike the Dark Lords, whose power is called upon by sorcery, the Lord of Nightmares is her power itself, and can withhold it if she chooses: "Her mind is her power, and her power is her mind." When LoN inhabits a human body, that body glows in a golden aura.
The Lord of Nightmares's only direct appearance was in Slayers NEXT when Lina Inverse failed in an attempt to cast the Giga Slave when fighting Hellmaster Phibrizzo. Using Lina's body as a vessel, the Lord of Nightmares utterly destroyed Phibrizzo. She then declared that Lina was gone forever, consumed by her power. Gourry Gabriev, Lina's "guardian," was able to rescue the sorceress' soul from the Sea of Chaos with the exchange of the Sword of Light.
In the anime, Xellos somehow is able to negotiate and bring back the Sword of Light. However, in the original novel story, the Sword of Light never again appeared in the story.
She did not intervene in the battle against Valgaav and Dark Star, since Lina Inverse was reluctant to cast the Giga Slave spell.
[edit] The Novels
The Slayers novels usually feature an afterword written from the perspective of a character referred to only as "L' or "L-sama", who frequently expresses bemused annoyance with the author. Since "L-sama" is also a term used to describe the Lord of Nightmares, it is possible they are the same character. "L" certainly seems to display the foul temper and whimsical temperament associated with the Lord of Nightmares. This was confirmed in the afterword in Novel 8.
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