Malthus, also known as Halphas, is the overarching antagonist of The Conjuring Universe, serving as the main antagonist of Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation and Annabelle Comes Home. It is a malevolent entity that latched onto a porcelain doll known as Annabelle. It uses Annabelle as a conduit, to torment those who own it.
History[]
Malthus is first seen in the movie Annabelle. After a Satanic cult invades the home of John Form and his then-pregnant wife Mia, the Annabelle doll that John gave Mia as a gift becomes a conduit for the demon.
Malthus occult sigil.
Since then, the demon spent time tormenting Mia and her daughter Leah. Toward the end of the film, Malthus kidnapped Leah and offered to give Leah back in exchange for Mia's soul. Mia attempts to give the demon her soul, but John arrives in the nick of time and stops Mia. Mia insists on giving her soul to the demon until Evelyn steps in to take Mia's place.
Evelyn commits suicide to give Malthus her soul and then Leah is returned. Since then, the Forms have gone back to their normal lives.
Personality[]
Malthus appears to be absent of any kind of mercy or remorse, often toying with its victims before attempting to kill them and take their souls. Malthus is also very sadistic, persistent, aggressive, terrifying, and pure evil.
Appearance[]
Malthus resembles that of a typical demon. It is a black ram-like humanoid demon with white (sometimes yellow or green) eyes. In Annabelle (2014) and Annabelle: Creation, the demon appears to have four horns. The horns that appear near its forehead resemble goat-like horns, while its other two curved horns resembled ram-like horns. The demon has sharp teeth, yellow sharp claws on its hands and feet, and has a body that resembles a humanoid. The demon also has a black goatee on its chin and black hair in between its goat-like horns.
Malthus is also a shapeshifter, able to take on any forms such as Annabelle "Bee" Mullins, Annabelle "Janice" Higgins, or as a black shadowy mass to move around. Malthus used these forms to terrorize or torment its victims. Malthus can be visible or invisible to humans. It can travel to different places as a shadowy mass of black smoke, which this helps the demon to be in different places at once, such as possessing someone or tormenting a victim, as shown in Annabelle: Creation.
In Annabelle Comes Home, Malthus looks different compared to its previous appearances. In this film, its two goat-like horns on its forehead are gone, and its ram like horns are much bigger than before. Its goatee and hair are now gone, and the eyes are now green instead of red, white, and yellow. The demon moves very swiftly and fast, able to attack its victims at high speed.
The reason for the demon's different design in this film has yet to be explained. It has presumably gotten stronger and changed its form as a result of feeding on Evelyn's soul when she sacrificed herself to the demon in Annabelle (2014) (to prevent Mia for sacrificing her own soul to save her baby daughter's life).
Trivia[]
- Malthus often uses Annabelle as a conduit to toy with its victims to steal their souls.
- Malthus's name is hinted at in Annabelle (2014), where Mia was reading books about demonology, where the name Malthus is seen with a ram-like demon sacrificing a baby child. At the same time, the demon attempts to put Mia's baby daughter, Leah, in danger unless Mia sacrifices her soul to the demon save Leah's life. Thus, this proves that the demon's name is truly Malthus.
- In demonology (Ars Goetia), Malphas is a demon who is a known as the mighty Great President of Hell, with forty legions of demons under his command and is second in command under Satan. It appears as a raven, but if requested, will instead resemble a man with a hoarse voice. Malphas is said to build houses, high towers and strongholds, throw down the buildings of the enemies, destroy the enemies' desires or thoughts (and/or make them known to the conjurer) and all that they have done, give good familiars, and quickly bring artificers together from all places of the world. According to the writers, Malphas accepts willingly and kindly any sacrifice offered to it, but then it will deceive the conjurer. In the film, Malthus appeared as a black ram-like demon instead of a raven-like demon, and it seeks to steal and feed on the souls of its victims, but only if they offered their souls to the demon.