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This article contains HEAVY SPOILERS for FAITH: The Unholy Trinity. Read at your own risk! |
Malphas is a demon who is mentioned in FAITH: Chapter II, and later appears in Chapter III.
He serves as Gary Miller's accomplice in the Profane Sabbath, and as one of the final bosses in Chapter III.
Malphas was summoned somewhere in Connecticut to aid the arrival of the Antichrist onto Earth via a cursed ritual called the Second Death. He's also a benefactor of the Eternal Order of the Second Death and have devout followers who serve him, called Malphas Acolytes.
Appearance[]
Malphas is depicted as some sort of demonic half-avian creature with frail, blood-stained wings. The upper half of his beak is missing with the lower half exposing rows of sharp teeth. His eyes are located closer to the sides of his head, and are big and white with no pupils. He has a muscular build, with well-defined muscles on his chest and arms, which are further accentuated by his featherless, pale-brown skin.
Personality[]
Like most demons in the FAITH series, Malphas doesn't display much personality besides being evil. He is not shown to speak, besides emitting high-pitched roaring, and his behavior seems somewhat animalistic.
Biography[]
May of 1987[]
A cult primarily located in Sterling, Connecticut called the Eternal Order of the Second Death has been active for, at the very least, over a couple decades[1], and their main base of operation seem to be an underground tunnel system underneath a daycare center. However, around May of 87'[2], the secondary cult leader named Miriam Bell[3] instructs a select few of thralls (low-ranking cult members) and cultists alike to summon a demonic spirit[4][5] (although nameless in-game, it's called Peekaboo Demon in the game files, so we're going to call it as such) within a dense sewage system nicknamed the Candy Tunnels[2].
This sewage system has bad reputation by the Sterling community for being littered with drug addicts, gang members, prostitutes, and the homeless[2], but the local Police Department are too biased[2][5] towards the demographic living within to do anything. The spirit's main task is to (somehow) aid the summoning of an evil deity worshipped by the cult named the UNSPEAKABLE by using the squatters who live there as sacrifices[6].
While this demon brutalizes its victims and their corpses are laid around a drainage ditch[2], cult members construct a sanctum deep within the sewers that honor Malphas. Although this sanctum is simply file named as "Inner Sanctum", we, the player, are shown a title card when we enter this place in Chapter II.
The alphabet here originates from an occult-constructed language called Enochian. By translating it to Latin, we get, "DOMUS MALPHAS". Translating it again to English, the title card says, "MALPHAS' HOUSE". The series never explicitly expands on why this sanctum was crafted or named after Malphas, but borrowing key details of Malphas' origins in Demonology (check the Trivia section for a bigger analysis), this sanctum might serve its purpose of indoctrinating new cult members and providing them the tools necessary to conduct rituals. For now, we're left in the dark as to its true meaning, but it's important to at least understand that Miriam and other cult members essentially raided the sewer system for the UNSPEAKABLE and Malphas' cause.
Between September 22nd - 27th, 1987[]
These two dates here breach into a lot of theories from few resources that indirectly relate to Malphas.
Heavily speculated between the 22nd and 27th of September[7][8], the Sterling Police Department finally caved from local concerns after two bodies were discovered nearby a drainage ditch[2] and plan to raid the sewers. Initially, they believed a well-known Rhode Island & Connecticut serial killer named Joe Baumann was responsible for the murders and lurking within the tunnel system[2][9]. The next day after the raid, a newspaper article was released stating that multiple officers were wounded, one was killed, and the whereabouts & condition of the serial killer is unknown. At least one unnamed police officer a part of the force knows that what they encountered down there wasn't human and "understood" that all the squatters living in the sewage can be killed to satiate the beast's thirst to kill[5].
In reality, the Peekaboo Demon attacked and warded off against the invading police officers. Breaching into speculation here, although the demon fended them off, the cult won't be so lucky and will get overwhelmed when the police come back with larger numbers. They plan to abandon the area entirely and relocate elsewhere[6]. Before doing so, and heavily speculated here, Miriam decides to perform the Second Death ritual on herself in Malphas' House.
To thoroughly explain this, we need to keep in mind as to what the Second Death is. It's a ritual where cult members draw an inverted cross on the ground and carve a hole into a vessel's face[10][11]. This gaping hole acts as a portal to Hell, where demons and other objects can enter to-and-fro[12]. We can confirm Miriam truly did this in Malphas' House because we see the inverted cross in Chapter II and Miriam lays immobile within "A New Journey" Ending of Chapter III.
Miriam already performed the ritual on herself back in the 1930s[1], and since we randomly come across an unresponsive Miriam in Chapter III, the inverted cross appearing in Malphas' House canonizes that she truly did perform the ritual on herself twice. One of the prerequistites in order for the ritual to work is that the vessel must be able-bodied[13]. Miriam is well into her 70s or 80s at this point, she was too frail to withstand the effects, and became unresponsive. Cult members relocate her to a secluded area called the Crucible in hopes that she may recover[14]. The main cult leader, Gary Miller, has no one else to rely on and scrambling to prepare everything for the Profane Sabbath, October 31st, the one day where demonic activity is at its peak and assumingly the suitable day to summon the Antichrist[13].
Once everything is set in stone, the Candy Tunnels and Malphas' House lay empty. We're assuming this because these two locations do not get referenced again beyond Chapter II.
September 28th, 1987[]
A week after our protagonist John Ward failed his second exorcism of Amy Martin, he falls asleep and experiences his worst nightmare yet. In this nightmare, he explores recent demonic events surrounding Gallup Cemetery, Snake Meadow Hill Church, and the Candy Tunnels. Chasing after a thrall's trail, John is seemingly transported to the Inner Sanctum/Malphas' House. We're shown the title card described previously.
"Go Forth With Faith" Ending[]
Awakening from the nightmare after witnessing the UNSPEAKABLE emerge from Miriam's body, John checks his front door. There's a letter addressed by a stranger named Father Garcia, telling John that they must save Amy's twin brothers, Nate and Jason Martin, before the cult uses them to summon the great demon Malphas. Garcia ends his letter that he'll update him on the twin's whereabouts.
John hops into his car and speeds away, probably to clear his mind. He monologues that his nightmares are progressively getting worse and has been haunted by visions of demons ever since he left the Martin House. He tries to form closure about failing Amy and remarks that the Martin Twins are in danger. John makes himself stern and states that Malphas must be stopped. Shortly before he speeds off, he worryingly remarks that the workers of darkness will grow stronger as the Profane Sabbath draws near. He pleads for God's mercy, knowing that whatever he'll face next will be worse than his nightmares. John speeds away.
So far, we're left in the dark as to how Father Garcia suddenly knows who Nate, Jason, and Amy are, let alone Malphas. The best theory to come up with his sudden knowledge is that he experienced the same nightmare John had, which would explain his word choice in a letter found in the "Road to Redemption" Ending[15]. Regardless, John has no choice but to wait around for an update.
Unbeknownst to either of them, Malphas has likely already been summoned to this physical plane.
October 28th, 1987[]
John receives his response from Father Garcia. He tasks him with investigating the clinic that Amy Martin used to work at, believing it to be a candidate for the summoning location of Malphas. John unfortunately does not find any evidence to support this theory.
October 29th, 1987[]
John receives a second assignment from Garcia to explore an apartment complex in New Haven, now suspecting it to be where the cult is attempting to summon Malphas. Two more letters from John's childhood friend, Lisa Pearson, also arrive, asking him to come to the same apartment complex to help rescue her from her creepy neighbors, who would not let her leave her apartment at all. John drives off to the apartment and begins his search.
As John explorers the building, he eventually stumbles across a lone camera on the ground nearby a decimated thrall. As soon as he picks it up, the power to the building cuts out. John has to use the flash of his camera to see his surroundings. As he does so, he may occasionally catch a glimpse of Malphas turning to face him.
Later, after John retrieves his cross and comes back up from the basement, he is ambushed by Alu. The demon possesses John, causing his body to violently thrash about and scream in pain.
During this time, John has a vision where he is met face-to-face with Malphas. The two stare emotionlessly at each other, before the screen cuts to John's face having been horrifically mangled, with his eyes gouged out and his chin and nose torn off. Malphas is then shown bearing John's eyes in place of his own, with a stream of blood trailing down from out of his beak.
After having lost control of his body for a few of seconds, John shakes off the possession and continues his mission.
October 30th, 1987[]
John receives Father Garcia's final assignment. Garcia informs him that he had gotten reports of children exhibiting abnormal behavior at a daycare center. This time, he's stern that if they find the Martin Twins there, Malphas' summoning site will be there as well. John hops into his car and speeds away. Sneaking past police officers stationed at the front, John enters inside via an unlocked backdoor.
Inside the daycare, a large idol of Malphas will appear in one of two nearby rooms. The idol will always appear in the opposite room from John, making any interaction with it impossible.
John solves a puzzle and opens a trapdoor to a secret network of tunnels underneath the daycare.
partake of the dark[]
Flashing forward a bit, John traverses down dark corridors and finds a lone lantern to ward off the incoming darkness enclosing him. As he attempts to find an exit, an abnormal dove with red eyes crashes into a gated fence. It does this a second time. As it flies away, a feminine creature walking backwards with a broken neck screeches and makes a beeline towards John. These creatures are nameless in-game, but relooking at the files again, this enemy is called "Malphas Acolyte" Judging by their name, they're supposed to be devout followers of Malphas and contorted their bodies for his sake. It's unlikely they're human anymore considering how their body looks. The acolytes have buldging white eyes on the side of their head, similar to how Malphas looks.
More and more of these creatures hound John in the enclosing darkness. John attempts to flee and is seemingly transported into a barren darkworld littered with white trees. Relooking at the game files again, this area is supposed to be called Nowhere Forest. Acolytes attempt to surround him as John neutralizes targets throughout the forest. Removing a seal on a door and entering inside, John comes face-to-face with Gary after walking towards what he thought were the Martin Twins.
October 31st, 1987 (Ending II "A New Purpose")[]
After a brief flashback of John's first exorcism, the time is 12:00AM, it's the Profane Sabbath. Feeling as if John has endured through so much, Gary grants him three questions that he can ask about anything. One of the questions John could ask is Malphas. Gary contorts his body and states that he is another spirit who can help him prepare for the Antichrist's arrival on the Profane Sabbath. Gary mocks John that he really thought he could prevent his summoning.
This reveals that John's journey was ultimately pointless; he and Father Garcia couldn't prevent Malphas being summoned. If John questioned about the Martin Twins, Gary reveals that they were nothing but illusions. The remaining mystery we have relating to Malphas is when and where he was summoned. Once again, we don't have any leads, and this is one of the few lingering questions in the series. The best explanation we can surmise is Inner Sanctum/Malphas' House back in Chapter II considering it was specifically built by the cult under his name. The word choice by Gary here alludes that Malphas was summoned long ago, which means that Father Garcia was intentionally misdirected. The way this was done is unknown, and we probably won't get concrete answers either.
the crucible[]
Flashing forward once again. John battles a contorted Gary within the Crucible, where Miriam's immobile body is suspended in the air.
After some time, Malphas' spirit slowly drifts into scene and screeches as he becomes flesh. He hurls trowels and tries to crush John.
Despite of everything, John prevails. Thoroughly weakened by the cross, Malphas and Gary transform into spirits and possesses Miriam's body as a last-ditch effort to kill off John. Miriam screams in agony as her body contorts into an abomination of the two demons (this abomination is filenamed as Super Miriam). John regains his withering faith and withstands Super Miriam's might.
Eventually, John briefly separates the two from her body.
As Miriam lies motionlessly, John remembers the note he read back within Garyland and lights himself on fire from a nearby torch. He transfers the flame to Miriam. As she burns to death, Gary reverts back to his human form and kneels since his demonic form relied on her. Since all demons originate from Miriam (signified that she's the only person who had the Second Death performed on her and the quote "MOTHER OF DEMONS" scribbled on a floor back in Chapter II), any remaining evil spirits or demons left in Connecticut (like the Spindly Lady in Chapter II for example since John never truly goes inside Snake Meadow Hill Church) are heavily weakened and eventually disintegrate into nothingness. Malphas shrieks as his ghostly form disintegrates since he was more than likely summoned from her as well.
As soon as Malphas disappears, Miriam explodes into a gory mess and her blood trickles down like rain. Covered in blood, John stares in stunned silence as he watches Amy slowly drift from the darkness.
Sounds[]
| Context | Audio |
|---|---|
| Camera jumpscare event | |
| Possession scene noise | |
| Battle cry |
Trivia[]
- In Demonology, Malphas is a greater demonic creature who serves as one of the presidents of Hell.
- Malphas in the FAITH series is more or less the same as he's usually depicted in Demonology. Malphas is depicted as a bird-like demon that can turn into a male human. He's either a great prince or a president in Hell's hierarchy, but overall, he's second only to Satan. His main job is to build towers using his trowel, create weapons for soldiers, and give info about what an enemy is doing.
- Some connections could be the number of thralls in Malphas' House, bird-like, his arrow-like projectiles are trowels, and being one of the crucial entities for the Unholy Trinity due to being a mighty demon.
- (Shoutout to Abortion Steve from the FAITH Discord for pointing this out)
- Based off a Twitter Q&A from Airdorf, Malphas was supposed to make more appearances and act as a "Phantom Menace" where he's behind the scenes[16]. But, in the final, most players would've only seen him during a possession sequence.
- Even though Malphas is supposed to be some kind of avian creature, his wings are absent in rotoscope cutscenes. Or it could be that they're so small that they don't appear, but that's unlikely.
- The way blood is protruding from Malphas' mouth heavily implies that he took a bite out of John's face and gouged his eyes during the possession process.
- This would make sense because when Lisa gets possessed by Alu her sprite doesn't appear mutilated like John's.
- We only know when John gets possessed from his color turning purple, eyes widening, and spouting blood. The face mutilation is an effect by Malphas.
- This gives further background by how ruthless and animalistic Malphas is because we don't really see how he acts until near endgame.
- This is completely irrelevant from everything else but look at this tweet about Malphas' "pecks"[16]. Question courtesy of Swirls from the FAITH Discord.
Gallery[]
In-Game[]
In Animation[]
Other[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ref. - Note #41 Ch III
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Ref. - Note #20 Ch II
- ↑ Ref. - Note #21 Ch II
- ↑ Ref. - Gameplay Screenshot of Peekaboo Demon's lair in Chapter II/Candy Tunnels
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Ref. - Note #22 Ch II
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ref. - Note #24 Ch III
- ↑ Ref. - Note #18 Ch II
- ↑ Ref. - Note #18 greatly suggests that every location within Chapter II had demonic activity occurring in-between the events of Chapter I and II. Check John's wiki page for exact reasoning.
- ↑ Ref. - Note #19 Ch II
- ↑ Ref. - Gameplay Screenshot of Second Death Marking in Martin House (confirming that Amy had the ritual performed the ritual here after she escaped a mental institution, implied in "The Murderer" Note of Chapter I)
- ↑ Ref. - Gameplay Screenshot of Second Death Marking in New Haven Apartment Complex (Tiffany performed the ritual on herself in here)
- ↑ Ref. - "About the Second Death" Dialogue
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Ref. - "Pre-Final Boss" Dialogue
- ↑ Ref. - Gameplay Screenshot of Miriam within Crucible
- ↑ Ref. - Note #25/Road to Redemption Ending Ch II
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Misc. - lol