October 2022 Prep Docs (Adherennium)

Day 15: Antagonist Background Story

Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name.

And all that.

You know who I am.

Naturally I know you. I know you intimately. Better than you do yourself, trite might that be.

I have many names, usually borrowed from old gods, but for convenience, I'm the Devil.

I'm sure some of you don't believe in me, or maybe think I only apply to those who are of the Christian belief.

Nope. I don't care if you're Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, or believe that you're above all of that nonsense.

You see, I am a part of each and every one of you. The dark part, the bit you like to keep hidden and pretend to forget about.

Sound familiar?

No?

Who are you trying to convince?

C. G. Jung tried to put me on a sound psychological footing, and termed me The Shadow. Nice man, he was a mystic, and they're always right, and pretty much ignored.

Now since I've been given a chance to put my side of the story, pin back your ears. Some of this might surprise you.

Did you know that I'm the Father of Civilisation? No? Before I came along you were all savages and brutes. You're still animals by the way, though some of you might prefer not to acknowledge the fact. That's not a problem, in fact, its what I'm here for, all those little bits you want to keep locked away safe.

Think about a moment, what does it mean to be 'civilised'? It's to have rules about what you can and can't do. What you can't do are the bad things. I love the bad things, most of them boil down to sex and violence, though heavily spiced with cruelty and greed. But, without me, you'd be a lot worse off, and civilisation would be a pipe dream. You only manage to be civil to one another by locking away all those unhealthy urges to rob, rape, or throttle one another.

What's so cool, is that most of you civilised people just love to break the rules. If you think you can get away with it.

I'm here to tempt you. Oh I make no secret of it. I'll offer you the world, and welch on the deal before the ink is dry on the contract. You'd expect no less. Surely?

But think about it a little more. That tempting can drive you to achieve amazing things. Albeit as Ollivander says in one of those dreadful Harry Potter books, "Terrible, but great." I push you to see how far you can go; goad you into pressing that button, just to see what happens. Why, without me, you'd never do anything new at all. You should thank me.

But you won't of course.

I will say, I'm very gratified at the recent moves to rebrand me. Lucifer the Lightbringer, plink plonking away in my nightclub. Terribly sophisticated, stylish even. I love watching your portrayals of me on-screen. Thoroughly inaccurate though they are.

Still, it is far better than my medieval stint. All those hooves and horns and let us not forget a huge icy phallus. Always fornicating with witches and suchlike. Early fan fiction, then as now, letting the author live out their own depraved fantasies. I love it.

My nature is brooding, simmering if you will. I'm your seething resentment of your neighbour. The one who always seems to have it better than you. I'm your abiding hatred of anyone foreign; anyone who's better educated; anyone who's a different colour from you. Whoever you choose to secretly blame for the world's, and far more importantly, your own woes, I'm here to fan that hatred, and whisper the words that justify your 'natural' prejudice. But you won't let it out to play.

Not often anyway.

Sometimes, someone snaps, and all hell breaks loose. So to speak.

Oh yes, I'm sarcastic, scornful, withering even. Don't you love having someone to look down upon? There are so many of them aren't there? A little superiority goes such a long way. There is us, and them, and they are inferior and evil, and we are the good guys.

So, (I'm sorry, I'm wiping a tear from my eye now), so... virtuous, noble and pure of heart.

The bad guys are capable of every evil. Things that you would never dream of. This despite your having a lengthy list of them ready to accuse the bad guys of. A true disciple of mine is supposed to have said, that you should always accuse the other side of doing what you yourselves are actually secretly doing. Or words to that effect. Of course I may be lying, as after all, misinformation and false news have always been a part of my stock in trade.

I?

I look down on you naturally. You make me sick with your hypocritical, self righteous and self deceiving natures. That self-satisfied assumption of your own decency, honesty, and socially approved behaviour. Unless you're behind closed doors. If you are behind closed doors, all bets are off. There's no one to see the petty evils that you practice and then conceal, save Him above, and you don't really believe in Him do you. I know I don't. There's no narcissistic homicidal maniac sitting on a cloud somewhere listening to your prayers. Why would he need to, being omniscient and all that.


Don't get me started on your infantile beliefs. You set up an all powerful creator, and then somehow have a serpent that tempts, and Old Nick waiting to drag you to hell, and Satan offering all the kingdoms of the world. Where - given that the Creator is all powerful, and all knowing, is this evil suppose to originate from independent of this absolute power, and sole creator. The answer is written, but often ignored.

I on the other hand am very real. You cannot deny my presence. There, behind your own locked doors, there I am. When your conscience tells you not to pursue some course of action, you can be sure it has first consulted me, to check if that action is on the banned list. You simply can't live without me.

My backstory? Consult any book on human history, any biography of a serial killer, any account of a mass school shooting. The source list is endless, because there is no limit to the darkness you hide in your bleak little hearts.


Word Count 1,074.