The video game DOTA 2 by Valve served as an inspiration for Netflix’s original anime series DOTA: Dragon’s Blood. Since animation is what would be able to do justice to all the mythical beings that are part of DOTA 2, the enigmatic lore of the game is what first sparked discussion about an anime DOTA 2 adaptation.
This lore is extensive and includes creatures like dragons and demons, bringing them all together in a war-torn fantasy realm. Devils are inescapable in times of war, and this television programme arguably presents to viewers Terrorblade, one of the scariest demons ever to set foot on Earth.
In season one, Terrorblade is immediately introduced to the audience, but his appearance and skills are mainly hidden, making him the enigmatic antagonist who operates in the shadows. So, this is the tale of the devil who desired to rule over the entire creation.
Terrorblade’s Demonic Lore
The hellion known as the demon fighter, or Terrorblade, is a hellion who is feared not only by humans but even by other demons. He stole from the Demon Lords while breaking every rule of the seven Infernal Regions. Additionally, he disobeyed the rituals that were supposed to govern him. From his sins, he understood that Hell itself has a hell. He was eventually imprisoned in Foulfell, a hidden dimension where demonkind houses its own prisoners, following a brief, horrifying trial that resulted in many fatalities on all sides.
But Foulfell is not your normal jail or prison. In this gloomy mirror of reality, demons are compelled to spend all of eternity gazing into the distorted reflection of their own souls. Nevertheless, Terrorblade chooses to avoid pain by defeating his worst self— a ranting, thieving demon with unimaginable might. With his primal beast under control, he tore down the fractal prison walls and freed himself to wreak havoc on all of creation.
According to the lore of the fantasy world the series is set in, at the very beginning of time, there was only the Primordial Mind and it is from this same Primordial Mind that all of creation was born – the planets, the stars, ideas of life and of death, order and chaos. Slowly, as time went on, the Mind became splintered, fractured in many ways and became divided against itself. It split apart into two fragments – The Radiant and the Dire, thought and action, and they battled over creation with such ferociousness that nothing was able to reconcile the two fragments. This led to the chaos of the infinite and no one was spared. Gods, Monsters, Men and their rulers, all sought wisdom in the shattered Primordial Mind and power from its ineffable madness.
Terrorblade watched all of this play out from Foulfell and had a hellish idea – to fuse thought and action and then remake creation in his own infernal image. To do this, he would have to harness the powers of all the eight pillars of creation, souls of the four fundamental forces and the four classic elements that manifested in the form of eight massive, ancient dragons. And Terrorblade would go to any extent to get what he wanted. He became dead-set on acquiring all the dragon souls and remaking the world into a hellish one with only chaos, greed, lust, violence and madness – one that he would rule over.
However, he understood that what he wanted to do was no easy task. It would take time and effort and he needed allies. Thus, this hellion rose from Foulfell and came to Earth, to corrupt and destroy, use man’s worst thoughts and feelings against man and manipulate them to get what he wanted.
Therefore, Terrorblade, is shown as a fierce demon in the anime, who aspires to change the universe to suit his needs. But in order to do it, he needs the strength of all eight Eldwurms, who are the primary eight dragons – the pillars of creation. This is also the larger plot that functions as the backdrop of the entire DOTA: Dragons Blood show, throughout all the three seasons. His machinations and puppeteering of humans, dragons, mages, Gods, soldiers and all other in-between is what affects a lot of events in the series.
Hence, it is safe to say that he is an extremely important character in the series – in fact, the series would not exist if he did not embark on a quest for the dragon souls, in the first place. He is meant to be the main villain and is an excellent choice made by the showrunners, because he is terrifying and just plain evil. There is nothing redeeming about Terrorblade at all, which gives him no opportunity for a redemption arc, showing that he is nothing but the physical manifestation of the universe’s greatest evil.
All His Evil Deeds In The Series
His larger evil scheme, as we already know, is to steal all the dragon souls and use those pillars of creation to fuse the radiant and the dire – allowing him to remake the universe in his own infernal image. However, to achieve this end, he manipulates and coerces various people into doing many things for him. We see him carry out each step of his plan and in the process, kill, maim and destroy anything that might block his path.
We first see him when he corrupts a local battalion captain, General Fruhling. He goads the poor drunken man into letting Terrorblade possess him as he insults him on his lack of masculinity, as he taunts him about being helpless in front of dragons. Feeling insulted and angry, Fruhling allows Terrorblade to possess his body and use him as a vessel to find and kill Uldorak, the great slumbering Earth Dragon.
He steals Uldorak’s soul, but Slyrak, the fire dragon, otherwise known as the Father of Fire, shows up to avenge his brother and retrieve Uldorak’s soul. However, being devoid of all morality, Terrorblade possesses the lifeless corpse of the dead dragon Uldorak to fight his own brother, Slyrak.
He manages to wound Slyrak fatally. However, the protagonist of the series, a young and skilled fighter known as Davion the Dragon Knight, shows up. He helps Slyrak and they both manage to send the demon back to Foulfell. This is also when Slyrak and Davion become bonded as Slyrak transfers his ancient soul inside Davion to keep it safe from being stolen by Terrorblade.
This battle made Terrorblade realise that no matter how strong he was, it would take a lot of time and effort for him to go around fighting each dragon and collecting their souls. Thus, he decided to ally with the world’s most powerful mage – The Invoker.
The deal between the two of them was quite simple – The Invoker would harvest the remaining seven dragons’ souls from the ancient beasts, and, in exchange, Terrorblade would make the world in such a way that he would resurrect the only person The Invoker truly cared about, his little girl Filomena, who had passed years ago due to a mysterious illness that no one was able to heal at the time. However, this also included one more condition, a condition we see Terrorblade fulfilling in the first season itself – destroying the Goddess of the Moon, Selemene.
The story goes that only one person could have healed little Filomena according to The Invoker, and that was Filomena’s mother – the Goddess of the Dark Moon Order of the Nightsilver Woods, Selemene. Yes, you heard me right. The Invoker was a powerful mage and he had a lover, a sorceress.
This sorceress wanted nothing more than to become a God, and thus, she ousted the real Goddess of the moon, Mene, and stole her divine power to become a celestial being herself. She left her husband and child behind to realise her twisted dream of being loved and worshipped by many. So, when the time came and Filomena needed her help, because the little girl refused to worship her mother, Selemene turned her back on her husband and her daughter.
Filomena soon succumbed to her mysterious illness, and that was the last straw for The Invoker. He struck a deal with Terrorblade to bring back his daughter and destroy his wife. Terrorblade happily took up this bargain since it meant that he would not have to pursue each dragon.
Instead, tirelessly, he turned his attention towards Selene in the Nightsilver Woods. He brutally and ruthlessly attacks the Goddess in her own temple – inundating her with blows and his dark energy, blocking her from the moonlight, the source of her power and divinity. He desecrates and destroys her temple and leaves her on the brink of death, having held up his end of the bargain – he had destroyed her and her temple, taken away the source of her power and divinity, making sure that her people lost faith in her, turning her into a false God.
Thus, he plays a terrifying role in the first season. In the second season, he largely remains behind the scenes, puppeteering people and making sure that his scheme is going as planned. However, even though that is largely the case, he does carry out some violent acts in season 2 as well.
One of his largest evil schemes in the second season was destroying the entirety of Dragonshold the moment Davion rallied all of the dragon knights to come to the aid of the ancient Eldwurms and protect them against Terrorblade. He manipulated the Father, the eldest man in Dragonshold, into giving in to his greed and dark desires, along with possessing multiple dragons and using them to attack the tower. They demolished the structure along with killing all of the dragon knights, leaving only Kaden, Davion and his squire, Bram, alive.
The Invoker also betrays Terrorblade and refuses to hand over the Eldwurm souls to him, fearing the infernal world that Terrorblade would create – full of ash and brimstone. He did not want to bring his beloved Filomena to life in a world ruled by a chaotic and evil demon, and thus decided to step back from the bargain. This angered Terrorblade and led to him amassing a massive legion consisting of men and dragons that he possessed to use for his evil purposes. He clashes with Slyrak in Foulfell and overpowers the ancient dragon with surprising ease, collecting his soul. This resulted in him possessing 3 Eldwurm souls and thus, having access to their physical bodies as well.
He takes his hellish legion of soldiers and dragons and marches to The Invokers tower, to presumably scare and threaten him into doing his bidding. The Invoker fights back, harnessing the power of the dragon souls and is able to keep him at bay, but not for long. Terrorblade and all the other heroes including Davion and Princess Mirana are then recruited by The Invoker for a final showdown in Terrorblade’s home ground – Foulfell, in the third season.
Powers and abilities
A demon who proved too much for Hell to handle is definitely going to be a terrifyingly powerful entity. You would think that being imprisoned in Foulfell would have knocked some sense into him, but that is not what happened. In addition to failing to imprison Terrorblade, the fractal walls of Foulfell gave him newfound influence over its twisted Reflections. He gained new powers and grew his strength, preparing to unleash his terror onto the world.
As far as his specific powers and abilities go, the Demon Marauder is able to summon images of himself that confuse opponents and aid him during combat. Not just this, he is even able to change other people’s reflections and twist them into horrible imagery. He usually does this to influence people and show them a false and grim view of the world. Thus, it is crucial to note that Terrorblade possesses manipulative abilities, and he continuously employs them to subdue his opponents.
For instance, he reminds Davion of how depressing his early years were and how Slyrak eats away at his identity and individuality while he continues to work for an entity he despises, in an effort to sway and dissuade Davion from fighting him.
While this does not work on Davion because of his strong willpower, it works on many others throughout the show. Hence, one of his main weapons is his ability of corruption – he is able to corrupt numerous characters, taking advantage of their negative emotions and darkest imaginations. He often shows up on a reflective surface or as a disembodied voice, trying to get inside his target’s head and drive them mad, unless they give in to doing his bidding.
In addition to this, he also has the power of possession – he is a demon after all. He can possess any soulless body, like he does with Uldorak’s corpse. But when it comes to possessing humans, it seems like he can only do so once the human grants him permission. He uses his power of manipulation to get permission and once he has that, the body is at his disposal. It is seen however that he possesses whole legions of soldiers, proving that he can possess more than one body at once. Once possessed, these bodies also get all of his powers, as he channels them through the physical form of whomever it is that he has possessed.
Not only does Terrorblade know how to use his abilities effectively, but he also has a sharp mind. He strikes a deal with the powerful mage – The Invoker, who agrees to give him the surviving dragon souls in return for the Goddess Selemene’s soul, in order for Terrorblade to obtain the dragon souls. He does so because he quickly realises that these ancient dragons were terribly strong and it would not be easy for him to track down each of them and engage them in battle. Thus, he did the smart thing by recruiting another for the task so that he could meticulously design his plans. Further, Terrorblade grows even more intimidating as a result of his own fury and zeal as the series progresses. We also see that he has the ability to throw demonic forces at great distances and send Terror Waves, frightening his foes.
Apart from his special powers, he is extremely tall and has a muscular build along with having a gigantic pair of wings that allow him to fly. He has superhuman, or well, demonic strength far beyond the comprehension of us, mere mortals. Coupled with his super strength is his lightning-fast reflexes and beast-like agility that almost always gives him an upper hand in battle.
He is also a skilled combatant and can pretty much wield any weapon with ease and expertise. It is important to note that he has had centuries of battle experience along with the experience of literally living in Hell, and so he can pretty much withstand anyone and anything.
Having been imprisoned in Foulfell for so long, he has a vast knowledge of all things demonic and supernatural and like most demons that are portrayed in pop culture today, he has cosmic knowledge which means that he just knows things about people, such as the time he taunted Davion about his childhood, leaving Davion speechless because he couldn’t understand how someone knew about his childhood.
All in all, Terrorblade is a cunning and calculative villain who plans meticulously and takes advantage of whomever he can. He is more of a strategist and a planner than a fighter, using manipulation to get his job done. However, don’t let that aspect of him fool you into thinking that he is one to shy away from a battle. In fact, whenever he felt the need to, he stepped onto the battlefield only to completely wreck his opponents. This one is definitely a villain worth fearing.
Does his plan come to fruition?
Terrorblade’s evil plans have been in full swing since the very beginning of the first season – from capturing Eldwurm souls to destroying men and Gods alike. He does everything possible to be able to recreate the universe in his own hellish image, but in the end, good triumphs over evil and order triumphs over disorder. In an epic showdown that takes place in Foulfell, the fate of Terrorblade and his plans are decided. He possesses an entire legion of soldiers to form his infernal army and they face off against the collective power of Davion, Princess Mirana, Luna or the Scourge, Dragon Knight Kaden and Fymryn band the new Goddess, Mene.
However, it is our protagonist Davion the Dragon Knight who brings the demon to justice. If you remember, at the end of the second season, Slyrak’s soul left Davion and he went back to being a regular old dragon knight with no special dragon powers. So, you’re probably wondering how he could ever match up to Terrorblade as a mere mortal. Well, things take a turn. The Invoker allows the five dragon souls in his possession to inhabit Davion’s body, all at the same time, turning him into a massive hybrid dragon-man, strong enough to take on the dreaded Terrorblade.
They fight tooth and nail with Davion pouring his all into the fight to the point that he is able to break through Terrorblade’s armour and expose his life core. However, the demon overpowers him right after. But what Terrorblade doesn’t account for is Davion’s ingenuity, as in the very last moment, before Terrorblade is able to finish him off, he plunges his blade into the demon’s exposed core, shattering the being into a million pieces, putting an end to his existence. So, no, his plan does not come to fruition as Davion destroys him.
Terrorblade is a badass villain, pure evil and easy to hate, to be honest. He is the larger plot device used throughout all three seasons. He really strikes terror in the heart of the viewer because of his cold and calculating nature along with sheer physical power that allows him to win any fight without even breaking a sweat. It is no surprise that the showrunners chose Terrorblade to be the primary antagonist in the series. The third season has just been released and is now available for viewing on Netflix. The action sequences in this series are wonderfully rendered and Terrorblade is at the center of it all!