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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | Miss me? | „ |
| ~ A common note left by Annabelle. |
| “ | YOUR SOUL! | „ |
| ~ Malthus, the demon, in Annabelle, disguised as Bee, threatening Janice to give her soul to it. |
Malthus, more commonly known by its vessel, Annabelle the Doll, is the secondary antagonist of The Conjuring Universe.
It is a powerful demonic entity that, despite being able to exist independently, frequently latches onto a porcelain doll to torment those who own it. It is one of the artifacts taken by paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren during one of their cases. Annabelle is considered to be their most dangerous and haunted item and has a habit of moving around unseen.
It was portrayed by Joseph Bishara (who also played Bathsheba Sherman in The Conjuring) and voiced by Fred Tatasciore (who also voiced Sweet Tooth in Twisted Metal: Head-On, Ultron in Avengers Assemble, Mephistopheles in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, the High Override in the Ben 10 reboot, Don Corneo in Final Fantasy VII Remake, the Mad-Man in Primal and Megatron in Cybertron games.) in Annabelle and Annabelle: Creation. In Annabelle Comes Home, Malthus was portrayed and voiced by Alexander Ward, who also played Kurt Barlow in Salem's Lot (2024).
What Makes It Pure Evil?[]
- It shows intelligence when committing its crimes, showing it has a moral agency.
- Takes advantage of Mr. and Mrs. Mullins' grief over losing Annabelle and pretends to be their daughter in order to torment them.
- It uses the Mullins' believing it is their daughter to interact with Earth.
- Killing Mr. Mullins by breaking his fingers when he attempted to banish it with a cross.
- Crucifying Mrs. Mullins and cutting her in half.
- Mentally breaking and possessing Janice.
- Attempting to possess it's owners.
- Threatening Mia Form to take the soul of her infant daughter, Leah, unless she sacrifices her soul.
- Having a ghost push Ed in front of a truck that it took control of.
- Teaming up with Bathsheba Sherman and throwing a rocking chair at Judy Warren to kill her.
- Teaming up with the demons and evil spirits locked away in the Warrens' occult museum to kill Judy, Mary Ellen, and Daniela Rios.
- It also particularly targets Judy in an attempt to steal her soul. When Judy attempts to put Malthus back in the glass case, it attacks her and tries to steal her soul again, but is knocked off by Judy using a crucifix.
- Taking advantage of Daniela's suffering of her deceased father's loss, it takes his form and blames her for his death, breaking Daniela down in an attempt for the Bride to possess her.
- It feels no remorse for its crimes.
Trivia[]
- Unlike the doll that Annabelle is based on, which was a Raggedy Ann doll, the film version is a porcelain doll. The change had to be made for copyright and publicity purposes.
- As an Easter egg to the original, Janice-Annabelle's new parents gave her a Raggedy Ann-like Doll in Annabelle: Creation.
- Additionally, a little girl wins a Raggedy Ann doll as a game show prize on television in Annabelle Comes Home.
- The demon's name appears to be Malthus, which is shown when Mia reads a book on demonology in Annabelle (2014), where it shows an illustration of a ram-like demon looming his claws over a human infant. At the same time, the demon attempts to put Mia's baby daughter, Leah, in danger unless Mia sacrifices her soul to the demon to save Leah's life. Thus, this proves that the demon's name is truly Malthus.
- The name Malthus is based on Malphas in The Lesser Key of Solomon, similar to Valak's name being based on Valac. In mythology, Malphas is a demon who is known as the mighty Great President of Hell, with forty legions of demons under his command, and is second in command under Satan. He appears as a raven, but if requested, will instead resemble a man with a hoarse voice. Malphas is said to build houses, high towers, and strongholds, throw down the buildings of the enemies, destroy the enemies' desires or thoughts (and/or make them known to the conjurer) and all that they have done, give good familiars, and quickly bring artificers together from all places of the world. According to the writers, Malphas accepts willingly and kindly any sacrifice offered to him, but then he will deceive the conjurer. In the film, Malthus appeared as a black ram-like demon instead of a raven-like demon, and it seeks to steal and feed on the souls of its victims, but only if they offered their souls to the demon.
- The demon, Malthus, is invisible to the human eye, only becoming visible on occasion whenever it attacks or taunts and terrorizes its victims. It takes on many forms, such as Bee or Annabelle "Janice" Higgins, and it makes its presence known by making the porcelain doll move by itself. Also, whenever the demon's presence is felt, it makes a chilling deep rumbling sound around the room or the house. On occasion, Malthus takes on a form of black smoke in Annabelle: Creation, which terrified Janice. This would explain how the demon moves around quickly to terrorize its victims.
- Many have thought that the nun that attacked Janice and pulled her wheelchair in Annabelle: Creation, is Valak. However, this is proven to be false, as it was Malthus, taking on Sister Charlotte's form, in an attempt to possess her. Malthus could have been inspired by Valak to take on the Nun form. Valak did make very brief cameos in the film, however, as Sister Charlotte has a picture of herself and her fellow nuns, where Valak itself was shown in the shadows of the photo. Valak also makes a cameo in the post-credits scene, roaming around the hallways of Saint Cartha's monastery in Romania, as a teaser for The Nun.
External links[]
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 Pure Evils
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Valak | Malthus | Bathsheba Sherman | Isla the Occultist | ||
 Pure Evils
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Live-Action Features Scripts Fanon See Also | ||
