Valgavoth

Valgavoth
The Devouring Father Val
Details
Race	Elder Demon
Birthplace	Duskmourn
Lifetime	Omenpath Era
Colors

Valgavoth, called the Devouring Father by his cult, is the extremely powerful elder moth demon who rules over Duskmourn.

Description

Valgavoth was once imprisoned in a house on a magically and technologically advanced plane. Unable to escape, he magically extended the barriers of his prison so that it would swallow the entire plane whole. This world, now known as Duskmourn, serves as both Valgavoth's prison and his feeding ground, using it to attract unsuspecting victims and feed upon their feelings and memories. Extremely powerful, Valgavoth was able to open doors to other planes before the Omenpath Era and possibly even during the Mending Era. Conversely, he can prevent planeswalkers from entering Duskmourn through normal means. It is possible he can bend time within the House.

The Cult of Valgavoth is a group of survivors devoted to serving the demon, in hopes that he may cleanse the plane of fear and create a utopia for its inhabitants.

Appearance

Valgavoth is a demonic entity whose physical form is both grotesque and imposing, embodying the malevolence he exudes. His appearance is ever-changing due to his molting process, where he sheds his old form and emerges anew. This constant transformation means that Valgavoth doesn't have a single, stable form. Instead, his body is a horrific amalgamation of demonic features that shift and morph with each rebirth.

In his most recent incarnation, Valgavoth's body is a towering mass of sinewy, dark flesh, adorned with jagged, bone-like protrusions that jut out at irregular angles. His skin is an eerie, shifting palette of deep purples and blacks, reminiscent of bruises and shadows. His face is a nightmarish visage, with multiple eyes of varying sizes that glow with an unholy red light, each one capable of moving independently to track his prey. His mouth is a maw of sharp, uneven teeth, perpetually twisted into a menacing grin. Long, clawed hands extend from his muscular arms, each claw capable of rending flesh with ease.

Personality

Valgavoth's personality is as malevolent and insatiable as his appearance suggests. He is the embodiment of fear and terror, driven by an unquenchable hunger for the dread and suffering of others. His intelligence is dark and cunning, always seeking new ways to instill fear in the inhabitants of Duskmourn. Valgavoth revels in the power he holds over his victims, taking perverse pleasure in their terror and despair.

Despite his demonic nature, Valgavoth is not a mindless beast; he is a calculating and strategic entity. He carefully manipulates the House to maximize the fear it produces, ensuring that no one ever feels truly safe. His awareness of every individual within the House allows him to tailor his horrors to each person's deepest fears, making their suffering deeply personal and inescapable.

Valgavoth's cruelty is tempered by a twisted sense of artistry. He views the creation of fear as an art form, meticulously crafting scenarios that push his victims to the brink of madness. He is patient, willing to wait for the perfect moment to strike and unleash his horrors. This patience is complemented by his adaptability, as he can mold the House and its entities to counter any resistance or coping mechanisms that the survivors might develop.

Ultimately, Valgavoth is a tyrant whose sole purpose is to maintain a realm of perpetual terror. His power is absolute within the House, and his influence ensures that Duskmourn remains a place where fear is the only constant, and escape is an unattainable dream.

History

Origins

Valgavoth was originally summoned by one of the House's owners previous to the Vendrells, in hopes of using him as a simple service spirit. When the owners realized his power, they panicked, imprisoning him in the House's basement using ancient, powerful magic, and fleeing. Years later, when the Vendrells purchased the House, a sixteen-year-old Marina Vendrell came across the demon in the the House's cellar. Seeing a path to his freedom, Valgavoth befriended her, helping her to learn demonology, necromancy, and spirit-bending.

One day, after particularly vicious bullying, Marina returned home distraught. Screaming and crying, she poured out her pain and rage to her friend in the basement. Her friend listened in patient silence, and when her words finally died down, he offered to fix the matter for her. In that moment of misery and anger, she agreed. Following Valgavoth's instructions, she lured her bullies to her house and took them down to the basement. However, she was unprepared for what happened next. She watched, horrified, as the hungry entity came alive and devoured the bullies. Too late, she realized that her "friend" was something far more malevolent than she could have realized. She fled the basement and locked the door, vowing that she would never have anything to do with the entity again. But it was already too late.

Empowered by this first sacrifice, Valgavoth began to hunt. People around Marina began to meet sudden, unexplained, and terrifying ends. The neighborhood began to warp as well, twisting and growing strange and terrifying. But most disquieting of all, the house itself began to warp and grow, expanding to envelop the houses to either side. At first, Marina tried to pretend nothing was happening, even as the zone of influence increased and the occurrences became too obvious to ignore. But then, her parents vanished. Unable to deny it any longer, she delved into research and the history of her family's house and discovered that the entity in the basement was a demon. Previous owners of the house had summoned the demon but quickly lost control. To stop themselves from being devoured, they'd bound the demon to the physical structure of the house and fled. Trapped and unable to feed, the demon had sunk into hibernation and bided his time—until Marina came along and unwittingly loosened his shackles.

Faced with the full truth at last of what she had done, Marina confronted the entity and demanded it stop. If it didn't, she would burn the entire house down. Powerful though he was, the demon was still bound by his original summoners' curse. Destroying the house would kill him as well. With no other choice, the demon agreed to give her back the world as she remembered it. Marina accepted, relieved that she had bested the demon and restored the world to normality … as far as she could perceive, anyway. In reality, the house continued to expand. The horrors continued to increase, drowning all who lived within in terror. The demon grew in power until the entirety of the plane was swallowed up in the walls of Duskmourn.

Ascension

Valgavoth's most significant achievement is known as the Ascension. This event marked his successful expansion of the House's boundaries to encompass the entirety of the plane, transforming it into what is now known as Duskmourn. The Ascension was a gradual process, involving the absorption and corruption of the surrounding environment and the folding of the demonic realm into the House's confines. This monumental transformation granted Valgavoth a profound psychic connection to the House, effectively making it an extension of his consciousness.

Dominance

Following the Ascension, Valgavoth established absolute control over Duskmourn. The House, imbued with Valgavoth's consciousness, gained a level of sentience, allowing Valgavoth to monitor and manipulate every aspect of its environment. He could track the movements and thoughts of every inhabitant, ensuring that fear and terror permeated every corner of the House. His ability to control the House's layout and the behavior of its monstrous entities made escape or resistance nearly impossible for the survivors trapped within. One of his first acts after ascending was killing most of the plane's other demons and breaking the rest, ensuring none could challenge his rule.

Valgavoth's primary objective is to sustain himself by feeding on fear and terror. The House is designed to create an endless loop of horror, where survivors are constantly subjected to new and terrifying experiences. Valgavoth's hunger for fear is insatiable, and he orchestrates events within the House to maximize the terror experienced by its inhabitants. This endless cycle of fear is punctuated by periods known as Harrowings and Quiescences, corresponding to Valgavoth's molting process. Quiescences corresponding to the weeks before a molt offer a brief respite as Valgavoth focuses inward on his growth. Harrowings, on the other hand, are days-long periods after a molt when his malevolent energy peaks, causing a surge in the House's activity and the birth of new horrors.

Expansion through Omenpaths

Extremely powerful, Valgavoth can open doors to other planes, though it is costly enough that only a single door can be opened every few years. With the emergence of Omenpaths, connections between planes became more accessible. Valgavoth exploited these paths to extend his influence beyond Duskmourn, luring unsuspecting victims from other planes into his domain. This expansion has allowed him to draw in a steady stream of new sources of fear, ensuring that his hunger remains sated.

Story appearances

Title	Author	Publishing date	Set	Setting (plane)	Featuring
Duskmourn: House of Horror - Episode 5: Don't Give In	Mira Grant	2024-08-28	Duskmourn: House of Horror	Duskmourn, Ravnica	Tyvar Kell, Zimone Wola, Koma (mentioned), Marina Vendrell, Rootha Squallheart (mentioned), Valgavoth, Nashi, Winter, The Wanderer, Niko Aris, Rill, Sunset, Tamiyo, Kaito Shizuki, Himoto, Jace Beleren, Aminatou, Etrata, Niv-Mizzet, Alquist Proft, Yoshimaru
Duskmourn: House of Horror - Episode 6: Don't Die	Mira Grant	2024-08-30	Duskmourn: House of Horror	Duskmourn, Ravnica	Niko Aris, Nashi, The Wanderer, Tamiyo, Valgavoth, Marina Vendrell, Winter, Zimone Wola, Tyvar Kell, Kaito Shizuki, Himoto, Alquist Proft, Aminatou, Yoshimaru, Loot, Etrata, Niv-Mizzet (mentioned)

In-game references

Represented in:

• Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls
• Valgavoth, Terror Eater

Associated cards:

• Valgavoth's Faithful
• Valgavoth's Lair
• Valgavoth's Onslaught
• Victor, Valgavoth's Seneschal

Depicted in:

• Damnation (Special Guests, #68)
• Demonic Counsel
• I Am Duskmourn
• Plains (Duskmourn: House of Horror, #272)
• Island (Duskmourn: House of Horror, #273)
• Swamp (Duskmourn: House of Horror, #274)
• Mountain (Duskmourn: House of Horror, #275)
• Forest (Duskmourn: House of Horror, #276)

Quoted or referred to:

• Beast Within
• Chaos Is My Plaything
• Creeping Peeper
• Daggermaw Megalodon
• Dark Wings Bring Your Downfall
• Drag to the Roots
• Emerge from the Cocoon
• Fanatic of the Harrowing
• I Am Untouchable
• Impossible Inferno
• Inquisitive Glimmer
• Kneel Before My Legions
• Live or Die
• Mine Is the Only Truth
• My Laughter Echoes
• Power Without Equal
• Rampaging Soulrager
• Sacrifice
• Time Bends to My Will
• Wary Watchdog
• You Are Unworthy of Mercy
• You Will Know True Suffering
• Your Own Face Mocks You
• Your Plans Mean Nothing

Trivia

• Although Valgavoth is described as a moth, he isn't an Insect demon.
  • "Legendary Creature — Elder Demon Insect" didn't fit on the type line, and R&D felt Elder was cooler than Insect.
• While she thought Valgavoth was her friend, Marina Vendrell affectionally called him "Val".