Valak also known by its alternate avatars, The Nun or The Crooked Man is the overall main antagonist of The Conjuring Universe, serving as the overarching antagonist of The Conjuring, alongside the main antagonist of The Conjuring 2, The Nun and The Nun II and the overarching antagonist of Annabelle: Creation.
History
Past
In ancient times, Valak was once an angel in Heaven who served God. However, a fellow angel named Lucifer rebelled against God and gathered other angels to become his followers, including Valak. After the rebellion, Lucifer, Valak, and the other angels were cast out of Heaven. Lucifer became Satan and Valak and the other angels who were cast down became demons. In the process, Valak was not only stripped of its status as an Angel, but was also stripped of its special powers it had as an Angel.
Valak appeared in written form in Pseudomonarchia Daemonum ("The False Monarchy of Demons”). The text was an appendix in the 1577 grimoire De praestigiis daemonum (“On the Tricks of Demons”), by Johann Weyer, who himself was a Dutch physician, renowned occultist, and demonologist.
The Nun
In this prequel, it is revealed that the Cârța Monastery was built somewhere in Romania by a duke centuries ago. Becoming obsessed with dark magic and Satanism, the Duke attempts to summon a demonic force from the catacombs only to be killed by the members of the Vatican who then sealed the rift with the Blood of Christ. Hundreds of years later, the monastery was bombed heavily during the events of World War II, releasing the same evil spirit from its imprisonment. The demon had since taken the form of a nun as a means of blending with the other nuns as well as to mock their faith. Throughout the years, nuns continuously prayed in communion to combat the evil, but in vain as the demonic entity walked freely around the monastery all nights, in the form of a nun to mock their faith.
In 1952, Valak had slain several of the nuns, leaving only two survivors. Sister Victoria, with a key in hand, commits suicide in order to prevent Valak from claiming her as a host. Sometime after her death, the Vatican tasks Burke and Sister Irene to investigate. Valak manipulates the characters throughout the film ranging from creating mass illusions with the ghosts of the slain nuns to weaken Sister Irene and torment Father Burke by taking the form of a young boy who had died from a botched exorcism at his hands. Valak then buries Father Burke alive before luring Sister Irene to become possessed. When the catacombs began to flood, Valak tries to strangle Sister Irene to death. While inspecting her for any vital signs, Sister Irene spits the Blood of Christ onto Valak, burning it severely. The rift is then resealed. However, this would prove to not be the end of the Demonic Nun as when the group was leaving, Frenchie, a French Canadian otherwise known as Maurice is revealed to have an inverse cross branded on the back of his neck.
The Nun II
Sometime in between the events of The Nun and The Conjuring 2, Valak returns with a vengeance against Sister Irene. It is revealed that right before Sister Irene banished Valak back to Hell, Valak tethered himself to Maurice in order to escape banishment. Using Maurice as a pawn, Valak scoured the catholic boarding school in search of a lost ancient relic known as The Eyes of Saint Lucy. Upon finding out what the demon was after, Sister Irene found the relic and dug it up, only for Valak who was possessing Maurice to attack her and take the relic.
After obtaining the relic his eyes glow yellow and with his full Angelic powers back, Valak now has access to his full potential again, and makes quick work of Sister Irene and her allies. However, through deep belief and conviction, Sister Irene and her new nun apprentice were able to wash Valak in wine turned into Christ’s blood, and set him on fire. They also freed Maurice from Valak’s possession in the process. It is currently unknown if Valak was sent back to Hell or not, but it was highly unlikely since years later, Valak would be eventually outed by Ed and Lorraine Warren, who then had priests try to exorcise the demon. Before they could, however, Valak willingly left Maurice (an act which caused his death several years later) and cursed Lorraine to have visions of Valak and Ed's death as revenge.
Annabelle: Creation
Sister Charlotte shows Mr. Mullins a picture of herself during her time at the Abbey in Romania with three other nuns. Mr. Mullins asks who the nun in the background of the photograph is. Sister Charlotte looks at the nun, revealing Valak to be standing behind her in the picture. She tells him she does not remember who that "Sister" is.
In a post-credits scene, Valak is seen roaming the candlelit halls of the Cârța Monastery in Romania in 1952. Judging by the scene where Janice is led by a nun-like figure to the cottage where Annabelle possesses her, Valak intentionally helped Malthus with its goal.
The Conjuring 2
Valak first appeared during a seance to determine whether or not a demonic presence was truly responsible for Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdering his family on November 13, 1974. Whilst paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren relieved the murders, Valak lured her to the basement. Valak had continued to haunt Lorraine since then. After Ed was compelled by a dream to paint Valak in nun form, Valak itself chooses the form to torment Lorraine, using the painting to its advantage. Knowing how special Ed was in her life, Valak shows her a vision with Ed being impaled after Lorraine asked the demon what he wanted.
Later in the movie, the Hodgson family, a British household living in the United Kingdom, start experiencing paranormal activity. On top of that, Janet Hodgson, the youngest daughter, becomes possessed by the spirit of Bill Wilkins, the previous owner of the house the Hodgson family is living in. This makes the Hodgson family call for help and Ed and Lorraine take the case.
In the middle of the film, Valak appears as The Crooked Man during a massive showdown sequence when it transformed from a dog again before Billy Hodgson and attacked him and then its shadow appeared before the whole family, quoting its own rhyme with some sinister additional quotes. When the shadow reveals itself to the family, it appears to be Janet possessed by the demon who continues to present itself as the character.
It is eventually revealed that the ghost of Bill Wilkins himself wishes no harm upon the family. Lorraine encounters him in a vision, where he exposes the truth that Valak had manipulated him into tormenting the family, to prevent her and everyone else from seeing the true perpetrator.
Soon after they discover that Valak is behind everything, Ed and Lorraine return to the Hodgson residence, only to find all of the Hodgsons, except for Janet, locked outside. A lightning strike hits a nearby tree, leaving a jagged stump resembling the object that impaled Ed in Lorraine's first vision. Ed ventures into the house alone but Valak causes the pipe to burst open, partially blinding his eyes with steam. Valak (in the form of the Crooked Man) appears before him in Billy's tent and tries to kill him by the umbrella, but fails because of Ed's resistance. Ed eventually finds Janet standing near the window and getting ready to commit suicide. Ed grabs Janet in time but finds himself holding onto a shower curtain being torn from its rings due to Ed and Janet's combined weight. Soon, Lorraine enters the room herself. Lorraine figures out that they need the demon's name to defeat it, and realizes that she had heard it in one of her previous visions: Valak. She finds and confronts Valak (now as the nun) and successfully condemns Valak back to Hell forever by saying his name.
Trivia
- In demonology, Valac is known as the Great President of Hell, with over 30 legions of demons at his command. Valak manifests as an angelically winged boy riding a two-headed dragon and it possesses the power to find treasures. In the case of the film, Valak's treasure was the vision of Ed Warren being impaled, which it offered to his wife Lorraine as a "gift".
- Other ways to spell Valak's name include "Valac", "Ualac", "Valax", "Valu", "Valic", and "Volac".
- Despite the fact that many people thought that A Crooked Man was a completely computer-generated character, he was actually played by Javier Botet with heavy makeup. Botet was born with elongated limbs and digits, allowing him to portray tall, skinny characters (especially monsters) with little to no alternations made to his appearance aside from makeup and wigs.
- The character of the Crooked Man was designed by the conceptual artist Jared Krichevsky (Krampus (2015), TMNT: Out of the Shadows), who revealed that director James Wan initially envisioned The Crooked Man "with a large moon face."
- in The Conjuring 2, right after Lorraine wakes from her nightmare, the decorative wood letters V, A, L, A, K, can be seen spelling out Valak's name on the bookshelf behind her.
- In The Conjuring 2, the word VALAK is spelled out in two places in the Warrens’ kitchen while Ed and Lorraine are at the table: along the edge of the cabinet to Lorraine’s right and in decorative letters in front of the window.
- It was implied that Valak appeared as a nun in order to test Lorraine Warren's faith and distort her perception of her Catholic beliefs. The 2018 film, The Nun, however, makes it clear that Valak had already taken the visage of a nun long before, as his description in a book by the count who summons him during the middle ages already describes Valak as such.
- Its ability to block Lorraine Warren's visions makes it the most dangerous spirit that the Warren couple ever met.
- Valak may be the most powerful entity thus far in the series, and the "Evil Nun" in Annabelle: Creation implies that it may be responsible for Annabelle's involvement in the series as well. Valak possibly was the one who pushed Janice into the barn and allowed Malthus to possess her.
- Valak is more powerful than Malthus, because all it takes to contain Malthus is either in a closet lines with Bible pages or inside a case made out of glass from a church's windows, as well as having a priest come bless the containment twice a month. To keep Valak contained, the nuns at the Cârța Monastery had to pray in unison 24/7 (which some nuns had to take turns with their shifts), and this was only enough to keep Valak at bay for a short time before he eventually killed all the nuns.
- In 2018, the same year The Nun was released in, there was an ad for the film where it shows something messing with the user, shutting the volume off completely. After this happens, Valak in its Nun form appears roaring loudly, ending the ad. However, YouTube controversially removed the ad for containing a jumpscare (which violated its terms of service).
- Valak posing as a Nun appeared as a cameo in the 2018 film Blood Fest.
- Valak appeared as one of the three main antagonists (alongside Bathsheba Sherman and Annabelle the Doll) of "The Conjuring Universe" haunted attraction at Warner Brother's 2018 Horror Made Here event.
- Valak is probably the leader of the Conjureverse demons, only answering to Satan.
Gallery
