“ | My ink swells and boils. It consumes. I... am the Ink Demon. This realm is mine. You were born from it... you belong to it... | „ |
~ The Ink Demon introducing himself. |
“ | It's time... Audrey. Your road... is broken. Join the Dark Puddles... and give in to your suffering. You have nothing. You are without purpose. Your very existence... was a terrible lie. You're a mistake. A monster. Like. Me. But, I will make you strong. I will make you meaningful. It's time... | „ |
~ The Ink Demon speaking to Audrey before absorbing her into his body and becoming Beast Bendy. |
The Ink Demon, referred to as Ink Bendy in external media, is the titular main antagonist of the Bendy franchise.
He is a malformed ink humanoid which was a failed attempt at bringing a cartoon devil named Bendy, created by Joey Drew and Henry Stein, to life. Created by the Ink Machine, he was first imprisoned by Joey but managed to break out and since then became feared by everyone and everything inside the Cycle.
Following prolonged torture and experimentation by Wilson Arch and Keepers, he was reduced to a completely accurate, although less powerful and more childish recreation of the cartoon Bendy, but can still temporarily return to his original, monstrous form.
He is voiced by Sean Crisden.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- Although he had a horrific and genuinely tragic past, as he was locked up and abandoned in the studio by Joey Drew for years simply due to looking scary despite the fact he was peaceful and never harmed anyone, he ends up subverting it completely. It's made clear the Ink Demon is completely unaffected by what happened to him and doesn't even pretend it bothers him, with all his evil actions being because of his selfishness rather than seeking revenge over being locked up.
- This is further backed up by the fact that he's quite stoic when he kills Ink Joey (a version of the man responsible for his torment), and isn't even angry at him for his actions or satisfied that the person who tortured him is finally gone, as he killed him for trying to motivate Audrey rather than revenge for being locked up.
- Although, he does snarl at the man when he first sees him, implying he still bares that grudge from so long ago, although it could be because of how Joey shows up to influence Audrey.
- While it is worth noting that he calls himself a mistake and a monster (implying insecurities), he's still willing to put them onto Audrey to manipulate her, showing he has no problem using what happened to him to his own gain.
- On top of it, he tells Audrey that he will help her be strong and meaningful, meaning he just sees himself as important and others as worthless.
- This is further backed up by the fact that he's quite stoic when he kills Ink Joey (a version of the man responsible for his torment), and isn't even angry at him for his actions or satisfied that the person who tortured him is finally gone, as he killed him for trying to motivate Audrey rather than revenge for being locked up.
- While he lacks a soul and is made of ink, which is explicitly stated to be a sentient force that corrupts people, this doesn't mean he lacks moral agency, he started out good, never hurting a single person and simply wandering around the studio, and other "soulless" ink creatures, such as Allison Angel and Henry Stein are shown to be good people despite it, which means the Ink Demon is evil because he wants to be rather than outside influence.
- While he did originally start out with no personality, being a Generic Doomsday Villain, he outgrows this by the time the events of Bendy and the Dark Revival happens, where he speaks and is shown to have a cold, calculating personality.
- While one can also argue he's a parody of Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob SquarePants, and rubber hose cartoons in general, he is taken completely seriously, being more of a homage/horror take on the genre.
- While the tie-in novels were confirmed to be non-canon, so nothing from them impacts his Pure Evil status, it's worth to note that it's been stated that something from the books becomes canon if carried over to the games. Since Boris is still implied to be Daniel "Buddy" Lewek in the games, it's likely that the Ink Demon's brutal murder of Buddy - ripping him in half with his teeth while drowning him in ink - might still apply to the game continuity.
Bendy and the Ink Machine[]
- By the time the game begins, he took the entire studio for himself and became widely feared, with huge implications he killed numerous ink creatures off-screen to create his reputation as a feared figure who should be avoided.
- It's implied some of the dead ink creatures were clones of Alice Angel, as there are 17 angel haloes next to his throne, his worshippers write statements like "NO ANGELS" and, by the time the game takes place, there are only two versions of her still alive.
- He manipulated dozens of ink creatures, including Sammy Lawrence, with false promises of freeing them so they would worship him.
- Upon spotting a recreation of Henry Stein in front of the Ink Machine, he tries to attack and kill him by swiping at him behind a wooden fence.
- After being summoned by Sammy, he kills him (even if he was later revived) before trying to kill Henry. It's shown that this is what pushed Sammy over the edge and turned him even more insane, trying to kill Henry upon encountering and mistaking him for the Ink Demon.
- Hunted down Ink Henry throughout the studio and tried to kill him several times in Chapter 3.
- Can optionally kills a few Searchers and Butcher Gang members while hunting for Ink Henry.
- When he saw Ink Henry in a vent, he briefly taunted him about being quiet before leaving.
- When the Projectionist cornered and tried to kill Ink Henry, he attacked and brutally killed him by snapping his neck and decapitating him before taking his body away.
- While this does mean he saved and spared Ink Henry's life, it was completely accidental as he wasn't aware of Henry's presence and even when he did notice him, he only stared at Henry and moved his head in provoked way, and left because of no point of hunting Henry now due to how even Ink Demon himself can't influence Miracle Station and already had a corpse to deal with.
- When Ink Henry was about to restart the Cycle, he transformed into Beast Bendy as his final attempt to kill him.
Bendy and the Dark Revival[]
- Chases Audrey throughout the studio and tries to kill her brutally several times, with one game over screen including him brutally biting her head off while she was alive.
- He is shown eating Lost Ones twice while ink corpses are found around him, showing that he is not far from eating own species.
- What's worse is that some of the notes found in the game imply that Lost Ones have been lured to their deaths.
- Even though he saved Audrey by killing Shipahoy Wilson, it was more out of pragmatism so he could take back the Cycle that was stolen from him.
- While he did claim that he and Audrey had something in common (that the two were monsters), this does not make him insecure as he merely used it to manipulate Audrey through her insecurities to consume her into his body, transforming back into Beast Bendy.
- Killed Ink Joey right in front of Audrey for encouraging her to fight back, and to spite him for telling Audrey how much he loved her, even though he never showed that same type of love to the demon.
- Ordered the Lost Ones and Searchers to stop Audrey when he realized she was attempting to restart the Cycle.
- He wants the Cycle to continue, which would put all ink creatures in eternal torment, because he wants to rule over it as its king and take sadistic joy in it.
- His redemption is not a proper redemption as by the end of the game, he is unwillingly recreated as a more benevolent entity who stays with Audrey as her friend, not out of his own volition.
- On top of that, the cartoon side of him is shown to be ashamed of himself for his other half attempting to kill Audrey.
- While one could say he cares about Audrey (seeing as he attempted to warn her that Wilson was lying to her), he only wants her on his side out of his selfish reasons and calls her a "wretch" even after merging with her. He outright calls Audrey a pawn before asking what makes her think she can disobey him, then commands many ink creatures to destroy her and calls her a traitor.
Trivia[]
- His cartoon side from Bendy and the Dark Revival doesn't qualify as Pure Evil due to being a docile and innocent being who is genuinely friendly towards Audrey and helps her progress through the Cycle, not to mention that he dislikes his demon side for obvious reasons.
- Similarly, his counterpart from the novels isn't Pure Evil either due to lacking personality and being more sympathetic.
- He is the only Bendy villain to be Pure Evil so far.
External Links[]
- The Ink Demon on the Villains Wiki
- The Ink Demon on the Ultimate Evil Wiki
- The Ink Demon on the Bendy Wiki