Lord Loss (character)

Lord Loss is a Demon Master and main antagonist from Darren Shan's ten-book series, The Demonata. Lord Loss is the only character to appear in person during all ten books.

Appearance
Lord Loss is described as having pale red, lumpy skin, and eight arms (which are frequently described as being mangled). He has no heart, and instead has an open hole in his chest filled with deadly, venomous snakes. He bares a pair of very dark-red eyes with even darker red pupils. Instead of having legs, strips of bloody flesh hang from the edge of stumps where his feet would normally be, so he moves about by levitating. His skin is covered in cracks that ooze blood with every slight movement he makes. Unlike most Demon Masters, he has the power to traverse between the two universes with relative ease due to the fact that a piece of the Kah-Gash resided in him for an extended period of time. Any other Demon Master would have to wait for a mage to create a tunnel between the universes. His human compainon's name was Juni Swan, also known as Nadia Moore.

Unlike any other demon in the book, Lord Loss feeds on the sorrow of humans. He is described as the cruelest character in the books, and enjoys bringing slow and painful deaths upon humans. His need to drain the sorrow from humans is so strong, he has foiled past attempts the Demonata made to destroy mankind. In Slawter, he kills a young girl by literally sucking her dry of blood. In Bec he kills a woman by tormenting her with zombies of dead children that resembled her children that were killed by demons.

Lord Loss shows more interest in human culture than most other demons. He learns to speak their language and learned to play chess. His speech pattern is characterised by a tone of immense sadness, coupled with the use of quite a sophisticated vocabulary; he rarely uses abbreviations, and always addresses characters by their fulls names as opposed to nicknames. On several occasions, he has displayed polite and elegant mannerisms which contrast sharply with other more bestial behaviour undertaken at the same time. For example, at the end of his chess game in the first book, he graciously escorts Dervish Grady to the portal to the Demonata Universe, and then tries to rip his throat out moments later.

He lives in a castle made of webs. These webs vary from thick to thin, all extraordinarily strong. This castle has some more sophisticated mechanisms implemented into it, such as draw bridges. There is a moat with demon sharks at the bottom, but instead of water there is empty space. His throne bears a resemblance to a giant spider. Since he is a demon master, he commands thousands of demonic familiars. Two of his favorites are Vein and Artery.

The Demonata
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In Lord Loss, the title character, is first seen killing the family of our protagonist, Grubbs, accompanied by Vein and Artery. Using his power to cure lycanthropy, a game of chess is instigated against him by Dervish. Dervish rushes to save Grubbs when he's threatened, then Grubbs takes his place and makes a bad game worse. But once he notices that Lord Loss is feeding off his misery and desperation, he puts on a disinterested façade and storms to victory. Because of Grubbs' insults to both the game of Chess and Lord Loss himself, Lord Loss vows to make the Gradys suffer, a vow that intensifies in venom as the series progresses.

Demon Thief
Lord Loss masterminded the cruel plot to slowly drag Kernel towards him and, using the First Board stolen from the Druid Drust in Bec, let him realize the truth about Art. Kernel was responsible for turning Lord Loss's familiar (Artery) into a human (Art), which led to Kernel discovering his powers.

Slawter
Lord Loss was the only Demon Master in the town of Slawter. Before the demons were released, he gave a speech to the crowd. He then unleashed his demon followers. He had a fight with Dervish and Grubbs, but eventually they escaped with the 34 survivors of the cast and crew. During his fight with Grubbs all his arms were severed, but after Grubbs ran away he regrew them using magic. Lord Loss vowed to make the Gradys' deaths even more long and painful, then proceeded to kill all the people remaining in Slawter in the most painful ways he could think of.

Bec
Lord Loss purposefully assisted in stopping the demon attacks on Ireland, due to the fact that the human world was where he got his power from, through misery and sorrow. However, he did not wish any of the group that destroyed the tunnel to live (although Bran survived). It is in this book he first learns about chess, as he sees Drust playing it. He also sours Bec's "victory" with an admission to the futility of their mission, claiming that closing the tunnel had been for his benefit and that he had been crossing for centuries before that. Half way through he gives Bec some of his powers. Unfortunately for him that included part of the Kah-gash

Blood Beast (book)
Lord Loss is not seen until the plane scene where he and his demons start killing people on the plane. He rips the lower half of a woman's face off and feeds it to Artery.

Demon Apocalypse (book)
Lord Loss is first seen in the beginning of the book from the continuation of Blood Beast. Then afterward, at the cave, before and after Bec, Grubbs, Kernel and Beranabus time travel through the power of the Kah Gash. Lord Loss battles with them in order to open the tunnel and allow thousands of demons to pass. In this book, he displays affection for his (technically) human servant Juni Swan, grieving in an "almost human" way when she is killed. This is the only occasion on which he has shown genuine care for a mortal, and it is implied that the two may have shared a romantic relationship. Indeed, Juni professes her love to Lord Loss before she dies.

Death's Shadow (book)
Lord Loss does not appear in this book, except for speaking through Cadaver's mouth. It is the first book of the series he has not appeared in person.

Wolf Island
Lord Loss makes no apperance, he is only mentioned, this is the only one where he does not show up at all, though he does send Juni Swan.

Dark Calling (book)
Lord Loss is seen when Grubbs Grady, Kernel Fleck, Bec McConn, Dervish Grady, and Meera Flame temporarily destroy Death's or The Shadow's body.Grubbs Grady and Dervish Grady also find Bill-E Spleen's soul has gone. As he is unable to use magic to protect himself from the torment. Death or The Shadow is with the demonic army and attacks them. Lord Loss is angered when Meera kills herself to finally kill Juni Swan (originally a Disciple, she turned to the Demonata after her resurrection in Demon Thief). As a result,she can no longer come back to life. Lord Loss battles with Bec and Bec is left behind when the Disciples escape. However, Kernel saw that their struggle seemed to be a weak facade and believes that Bec has made an alliance with Lord Loss. If this is true, the Kah-Gash, is in the hands of a Demon Master.

Hell's Heroes
Lord Loss is seen firstly in the dream of Grubbs Grady, when he seems to be treating Bec with great love and care (as with his previous assistant Juni Swan). He leads her through his castle and encourages her, showing her torture rooms and the contained victims, whom he tortures with great care and affection. It is stated that he whispers words of sorrow and kindness whilst torturing them. He then transports into the Original Board (taken from Drust in Bec) upon Bec's request, and secretely makes a deal with her. Lord Loss is next featured when Grubbs, Kernel, Kirilli Kovacs, Timas Brauss, Shark and the werewolf nicknamed 'Moe' enter his world to escape the demon master of the previous world. Lord Loss battles Kirilli, Shark and Moe but is described as 'playfully slapping them away' and seen to be toying with them, as he is too powerful on his home world. He then requests Bec to kill one of them, and is greatly pleased when she instead destroys all the souls from the Board, allowing Death/The Shadow to enter through Bec. The Disciples then flee his world, leaving Moe behind.

Lord Loss is seen again at the final battle, where he is blasted and temporarily paralysed by Grubbs. However, Bec opens the tunnel allowing more masters to cross. Grubbs notices here for the first time that Lord Loss is a weaker demon master. When Grubbs, Kernel and Bec reset the original Board universe using the Ka-Gash, Lord Loss is placed back in his world in a white square. The Ka-Gash then wipes out all the demon masters but upon arriving at Lord Loss, they learn of the deal struck with Bec, that is to spare his life if he agrees to help her concuct her plan. Grubbs is unwilling to agree, but Kernel and Bec convince him by saying that the world needs a evil, to remind them of what's good and making Lord Loss promise not to allow major crossings. Grubbs grudgingly agrees and Lord Loss is left alive as the last demon master. It is stated that he will now act as the omnipresent figure of malevolence in the minds of all sentient beings, and will continue causing misery and woe for all. He will also co-ordinate crossings so that history will play out as before, although all crossings will be stopped at the point when Bec was born so as to stop Death from becoming conscious.

Personality
Lord Loss is an ancient demon who feeds off the sorrow of humanity, and because of this, he has a morbid love of the human race. He is extremely sadistic though this is partially because he needs humanity's suffering and sorrow in order to survive. He loves to cause as much pain, both mental and physical, as he can and needs pain the way a human needs food and drink. Lord Loss kills people in the cruelest ways he can think of; in Bec he has the zombies of Orna's own children eat her alive all for his entertainment. Lord Loss speaks in a sad tone of voice and is very skilled at speaking the human language.

Lord Loss is by far the most complex demon in the series, apart from Beranabus who is not a full demon. This is because, unlike all other known demons who are not confirmed to be part human, he is not entirely evil. Though he does have a natural sadistic streak that is ingrained in his personality, his cruelty largely comes from the fact that he literally feeds on suffering. I t turns out that he does, to a certain extent, feel pity towards the humans he torments despite them providing him with delicious food. A sociopath rather than a full psychopath, Lord Loss can feel genuine attachment towards others, stating that he liked Bec and entering a lustful relationship with her after she joined him whilst also secretly helping her save the universe, and being genuinely devastated when Juni Swan is killed. He also calls Juni "My Swan" and when she was dying he gave her a sad smile that was "almost human". Indeed, the only person that Lord Loss actually hates is Grubbs Grady, who not only humiliated him but also ruined chess for him, though the game still provides him with fond, nostalgic memories despite his unwillingness to continue playing it.

Lord Loss also considers lying to be beneath him, seeing it as a petty, human trait and knowing that all lies will be uncovered eventually so he sees no need for them. He always tells at least a variation of the truth, sometimes wording it so that he can find a loophole that will work in his favour, such as when he let Davida Haym film him and his familiars but never actually agreed to let her live to complete the movie, but never flat out lying. Also he will always stick to both the rules he abides by and any promises he makes. Ironically he uses this as a weapon against Bec. Because he cast a geis he had no choice but to kill her, since he had made a solemn vow.

Lord Loss also prefers the fight when the odds are in his favour. Putting it bluntly, he's a coward, though he'll never admit it. However, he shows no fear when confronted with all the pieces of the Kah-Gash, who had just destroyed all the other Demon Masters, because he trusted Bec and believed that she would keep her word and protect him. Since he considers Bec to be his equal, treating her like a princess rather than a prisoner in the time she spent in his universe, he believes lying is beneath her just as it is beneath him and correctly guessed that she would protect him from the vengeful Grubbs and Kernel.

Lord Loss also has an obsession with chess, something that Grubbs Grady considers stupid and pointless. He gained an attraction to the game after seeing Drust with the Original Chess Board, a gift from the Old Creatures. Along with sensing powerful magic in the Original Board and unlocking its secrets, Lord Loss also liked chess simply as a means of entertainment, showing a playful side. Due to the Crux being set up like a chess board, with the white zones being the Demonata's universe and the black zones being the Old Creature's universe, Lord Loss's obsession with chess prepared him for his destiny of becoming the last Demon Master.

Powers and abilities
Other than his obvious demonic abilities, Lord Loss gained an obsession with chess, one of his only similarities to mankind, and has become very good at it. He can also travel between the Demonata's world and Earth, which no other Demon Master has accomplished without using a tunnel (though, Lord Loss is only able to do so because he once was a piece of the Kah-Gash). Lord Loss has also been able to combat Beranabus, Bec and Dervish on equal terms and the fact that Beranabus needed to call on his Demon side in order to survive indicates that Lord Loss might be even more powerful than he is. Despite this it turns out that he is actually one of the weaker Demon Masters, though he later becomes the strongest after Grubbs, Bec and Kernel remake the universe. Lord Loss has also become very proficient at speaking English. He also has the ability to feed on a persons pain, which he needs the way a human needs food and water.

Trivia

 * Lord Loss is the first demon to be named in the Demonata.
 * He is the only Demon Master able to travel through Windows.
 * He was part of the Kah-Gash.
 * He also is apparently one of the weakest demon masters, as seen in Hells Heroes.
 * He is now technically the Demonata world's "devil"