The Mirror Demon (also known as the Confession Demon) is a reoccurring enemy that appears throughout FAITH: The Unholy Trinity.
Its background is a mystery, implied to be connected to John and the unethical practices he endured while as a patient at Yale Psychiatric Institution. Ever since he was released, John associates his time at the institution as demonic in nature, so the demon's reappearance acts as a way of bringing up past, traumatic memories and guilt over failing to exorcise Amy.
Appearance[]
The demon, compared to John's canonical height of 6'2, is freakishly tall and has a gray, shambling mass. Its head (if it can be called that) resembles a dark red flower with a black pit. It is capable of floating around in random speeds, slowly or slightly faster, teleporting when needed be, and can turn into a silhouette of itself. It also has elongated red arms and disembodied gray hands that can drag victims into its pocket dimension.
Personality[]
This demon has equally bestial and more human traits, as it can speak both Latin and English (a rarity as other demons primarily use English). During battles, he intentionally garbles his voice and emits unnatural roars, screeches, and wails, while also capable of speaking clearly and coherently.
Biography[]
September 21st, 1987[]
In the Martin House, after John watches Amy jump out the attic window, he rushes downstairs and tries to check on her outside. However, he spots a rifle in the foyer room and the words, "KILL HER" written backwards in blood. He picks up the weapon: it only has one bullet. Before stepping outside, intent on shooting her, if he walks into the master bedroom he can check the mirror. Before he attempted to exorcise Amy, he saw a silhouette of her stalking him in the mirror; this time, there's a freakishly tall demon looming right behind him.
If John decides to shoot the mirror, it cracks, but nothing happens initially. However, every time he fires the rifle, a new one appears in the foyer room (to prevent you locking yourself out of an ending if you miss with your one bullet). After shooting the mirror a third time, an elongated red arm emerges and drags John within.
With John seemingly dragged into a pocket dimension littered with skeletons, the Mirror Demon garbles, "FILIS PATER PROFANI!", which roughly translates to "MY UNHOLY FATHER!". It then floats towards him, and a battle begins. During the fight, it attempts to catch John by surprise by sporadically teleporting around the room. Every time he gets close, the aberration effect (if turned on) becomes stronger and distorted. Whenever that happens, it generally establishes that the enemy has immense demonic power (such as Miriam in Chapter II) while most demons John meets do not have this effect. Eventually, John bests the demon with his crucifix. Before it disappears, it garbles, "I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN!" before it is banished, leaving behind a note.
Picking it up, the note is actually a letter written by John on October 23rd, 1986, requesting to Dr. McGlashan, the head runner of Yale Psychiatric Institute, to be released from the care of his assigned psychiatrist, Dr. Spinel. He states that ever since he began his treatment thirty days before, he had been able to come into terms as to what truly happened inside the Martin House on September 21st, accepting that nothing supernatural occurred within the house. Rather, he admits that Amy was pressured and driven to kill her parents due to how controlling they were, as well as Father Allred, John's late superior, for using old church rituals thought to dispel evil. He reports that his nightmares have ceased and generally feels peace of mind ever since he accepted the truth. John ends his letter that he respectfully requests to be released from the institution, hopefully in exchange for future appointments with Dr. Spinel. After reading the letter, John pops back into the real world, and the mirror remains destroyed.
It is difficult to know if the letter and the battle with the Mirror Demon is canonical or not, as it is entirely optional; John also does not comment on it in future chapters, and how the demon got a hold of the document is uncertain.
September 28th, 1987[]
A week after John's second failed exorcism with Amy, he experiences his worst nightmare yet where the Mirror Demon appears. Finding himself in the Snake Meadow Hill Church again, he enters the now-accessible confession booth begins to recount his sins: his failure to save Amy again, leaving her to die, and his broken vows with God. An unseen person in the next booth speaks of God's goodness and gives him a penance: to bring the child, as doing so would let him find peace. John agrees, believing the voice to be a pastor, John thanks them and praises God's mercy before leaving the booth.
However, John had been speaking to the Mirror Demon hiding in the next booth; at that point, John had been fooled before by evil figures pretending to be benevolent beings, such as bargaining with the white entity in the Martin House.
Initiation[]
John takes the "pastor's" penance into consideration and heads outside. Traversing through the cornfields, a child staggers towards him and asks for help. John tricks the child to join him and lures them to the confessional booth, glimpsing a silhouette of Amy in the process. Once close enough, a disembodied gray hand grabs both John and the child, dragging them into the booth. John finds himself in a pocket dimension once again, as the Mirror Demon floats before him and garbles, "FILIS PAETER PROFANI!" before a fight ensues.
The battle is mostly the same as before, except the arena looks like an open field with demon hands acting as barriers. There are more skeletons littered throughout the area than usual, and the child is mysteriously missing. At one point, the Mirror Demon turns into a black silhouette, visually blending in with the skeletons in an attempt to throw John off. In the end, John banishes the demon, and it garbles, "I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN!" before disappearing. He drops a psychiatric note where Dr. Spinel believes that a medical, in-vivo approach is best for John so that he can come into terms with reality. After reading it, John pops back into the building and proceeds with receiving the UNSPEAKABLE's blessing.
Once again, the Mirror Demon's reappearance is supposed to coincide with John's traumatic experiences of both his failed exorcisms and the time as a patient. This ending, however, signifies how John is submitting to his evil urges, submitting to the cult's doings. The child may represent the side of him that knows what he is doing is wrong and wants to get help.
October 30th, 1987[]
While investigation the daycare center on 4th Street, John finds himself inside a makeshift tunnel system called Garyland in the files, finding a room with a large statue depicting Moloch in the middle. John finds instructions on how to open its naval by retrieving three artifacts; to grab the last artifact, John enters a room with a large mirror. An artifact can be seen in the reflection that is inaccessible, while vines on the mirror steadily grow if left unchecked with the crucifix.
Suddenly, the Mirror Demon makes his grand return in the reflection. It attempts to slowly float towards John instead of sporadically teleporting. It can only be seen in the reflection, so John must carefully attempt to exorcise it while the vines slow it down. Every time the Mirror Demon gets too close, fanfare begins to play that signifies the player that John is close to getting killed, the same fanfare played in the "Initiation" Ending. Eventually, John bests the demon. Yet again, it garbles, "I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN!" and disappears. This time it leaves behind an artifact but not a psychiatric note behind. Grabbing it, John unlocks Moloch's door and heads deeper into Garyland.
This is the only required battle against the Mirror Demon throughout the entire series.
October 31st, 1987[]
Unlocking a door in the Nowhere Forest, John comes face-to-face with Gary. After some questioning, the two engage in battle where Gary has a chance of summoning red-scaled versions of enemies John has dealt with, including the Mirror Demon. However, these summons merely knock John down, making him drop his crucifix. Being apparitions, they are not truly summoned from wherever they were to aid Gary, instead acting as bad memories that mentally affected John.
This is the last time the Mirror Demon is seen; why it appears or what it wants with John is never explained. Likely it was not truly defeated or killed, simply shuffled away and will come back eventually. Appearing an apparition on the 31st, it possibly "died" on the 30th and had yet to reform.
Interpretation[]
This particular demon's reoccurrence throughout the Unholy Trinity is significant in that it likely symbolizes John's depression over the botched exorcism of Amy Martin. On the subject of the demon itself and its elements, at a glance, the distorted head likely resembles either cracked glass, or the mirror found within the Save Family Tomb, both of which symbolize having a distorted view of oneself. In addition, the presence of triangle symbology in the demon's lair in Chapter I alludes to the third aspect of the Unholy Trinity that describes one's lack of purity - that being the Unholy Spirit. True to its name, the Mirror Demon appears most often during John's moments of reflection.
Chapter I: The silhouette of Amy stalking John from the mirror is replaced by this demon, signifying that John's guilt is creeping up on him since it's (partly) his fault for failing to exorcise her for now the second time. Yet to follow her outside, he was unsure about her condition since she jumped from a two-story house, very likely dead or severely wounded.
Chapter II: The sacrifice of the Doomed Child to the demon is likely a stab at Amy's fate - through John's cowardice, he allowed Amy, as a spirit, to be fed to the forces of the underworld on a silver platter. The demon's use of confessional responses is also a reminder to John; not even under the wing of Christianity is he free from the pain of the past, for self-reflection is a core practice.
Chapter III: Moloch's navel key is found in a room featuring a giant mirror spanning the room's entire north wall, as well as a growth growing out of the room's top corners that must be exorcised for him to degenerate. The Mirror Demon is only seen in the reflection of the giant mirror and can only be exorcised while he is very nearby to John's reflection, as he slows down whenever he gets close enough, and John's reflection is incapable of exorcising. Several allusions can be gleaned from this encounter:
- The demon's required closeness to John in this sequence is representative of facing oneself and one's actions,
- The demon's connection to the navel key (Moloch's third and most unique key) alludes to the third facet of the Unholy Trinity that pertains to the soul (which is the Unholy Spirit),
- And the growths that infest the room are likely representative of the depressive symptom of hyper fixating on oneself and one's guilt, as the growths will overtake the whole room and ensnare John, slowing down his movement, should he remain too long without exorcising them.
Quotes[]
| Context | Quote | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter I | "FILIS SHABBAT PROFANI."
("Children of the Profane Sabbath.") |
|
| *teleports* | ||
| "I'LL SEE YOU AGAIN." | ||
| Chapter II | John: "Pray for me, Father, for I have sinned." | - |
| "What sins have you come to confess?" | ||
| John: "I tried to save a girl from evil," "but my fears overcame me."
"I turned my back on the ministry..." "...and broke my vows to God." "A year later the girl reached out to me again." "But in the end I couldn't save her." "I left her to die." "I am sorry for these and my past sins." |
- | |
| "Thou hast said well."
"Here is thy penance:" "BRING THE CHILD TO ME." "Perform this act of contrition..." "...and thou shalt have the peace thou seekest." "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good." |
||
| John: "For his mercy endures forever." | - |
Trivia[]
- In the original standalone version of FAITH: Deluxe Edition, the Mirror Demon was not added until version 1.2.
- The arena that the demon drags John into in Chapter I is called "HellZone".
- In some way, the Mirror Demon's face sort of looks similar to the mirror that John's reflection wickedly smiles in Save Family Tomb.
- In the game's files, there are unused audio clips of the demon's battle dialogue where the intense filter is removed, allowing its speech to be more clearly understood.
- (This is trivia for the wiki page) Shoutout goes to NotGlowyswamps for creating the "Theories" tab. This was integrated into the "Interpretation" section of the "Biography" tab.
Gallery[]
In-Game[]
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