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As near as I can reckon it, this is the history of Jason Blood/Etrigan. Thanks to Mikishawm and others for providing help; and a big thanks to the author (I don't know names, sorry) of this bio which I used extensively in re-writing this to make it more comprehensive.
In 560, Morgaine le Fey was marching on Camelot with an army of demons. Arthur had already lost his battle with Mordred and was out of the picture; the brief flare of glory in the Dark Ages that had been Camelot was burning out. Merlin set Etrigan on Morgaine's forces, but in the end it was not enough. Camelot was overrun by the forces of evil, and Merlin was now tired and defeated. He sought to rest; but first he had to deal with Etrigan.
Unwilling to let Etrigan run free over the face of the earth, Merlin imprisoned him in the mortal form of a knight named Iason (or Jason). The bond quickly drove Jason mad, leading him to slaughter his wife and two daughters and commit other vile acts. After this, people started to call him 'Jason of the Blood,' or simply, Jason Blood.
After a year, Jason regained, if not full sanity, at least a measure of stability. As the years went on, he discovered that he was now immortal, a side effect of the bonding between him and Etrigan.
He spent much time and research in attempts to free himself of his hated inner demon, learning much magic and arcane lore to help him in his quest--but all to no avail. It seemed he was stuck with the creature forever.
Being chained inside a cage of flesh and bone was not a prospect that appealed to Etrigan either. Though he himself was effectively kept imprisoned inside Jason's form, he amused himself by tormenting Jason psychologically and frequently stealing his memories.
However, their situations can be reversed. A spoken chant can release Etrigan physically into our world, while Jason switches places with him in Hell. The spell is a spoken poem; either saying it himself or having it spoken in his presence was enough to trigger the change:
(An interesting side note here: the exact words of the poem do not seem to matter so much. Usually, just the last two lines are said, and there are often slight variations in the exact wording, which would seem to suggest that it is more the intent behind the phrase than the exact phrase itself.)
As the centuries went on, Jason would often summon the demon to destroy enemies and and the like, which the demon did
willingly enough, though he and Jason never ceased hating each other's guts. This went on, as far as we know, right up to
the present day, which finds Jason a world-renowned demonologist and occultist.
Recently (by which we mean the last decade or two) things have been even more eventful for the duo. Etrigan hatched several plots: one in which he manipulated Jason and Jason's girlfriend, one Glenda Mark, into defeating Merlin and thus disrupting the bond between the two. They were seperated-- but reunited by Darkseid and Izaya to defeat a cosmic evil. In another plot, Etrigan strove to crown himself the king of Hell and waged a war on Lucifer with the help of his parents, though he ended up betraying his father (no real surprise...) He actually succeeded, but he'd left Jason out of the equation, and Blood managed to defeat him at the the end, causing Etrigan's plans to crumble once more into dust...
(For a brief little vignette of some of the things the pair have been up to over the long years, check out this
page from Demon #4. We're also trying to get a proper chronology up, but make no promises...)
See, this whole story goes with the basic assumption that Etrigan is an evil, nasty, cruel, meanie of a demon--and Jack Kirby, who first created the character, never intended it to go this way. His Etrigan was a force for good, loyally serving Merlin. But when later writers came upon the scene, they altered the story a bit. And when yet a later writer came upon the scene and wished to return Etrigan to Kirby's original plan, he (John Byrne) had to do a bit of creative rewriting to explain Etrigan's evil, evil actions.
Here's how it went:
Then, she fooled Jason Blood into thinking this was the REAL Merlin and got him to drink a nasty potion that would make Etrigan an agent of evil, serving her... She implanted false memories that made Etrigan THINK he was Merlin's half-brother and a high-ranking demon, causing him to start rhyming.
Eventually however, Morgaine was killed, the false Merlin was destroyed by a good version therof, and the spell on Etrigan that made him evil was broken. However, the good Merlin left, and the spell resumed. Bummer.
Since then, he's apparently been keeping busy by trying to kill Jason Blood and dealing with Morgaine, who didn't stay dead. (Of course not.)
For what it's worth, I prefer the 'Bad Etrigan, BAD Etrigan' angle. I'm going to quote
Blinky the Tree Frog from the DC Message Boards right here because she says it a lot better than I can:
We hope this was at least a little helpful to either the casual reader or the long-time fan. Any feedback or questions can be sent here.
Etrigan the Demon is a Rhymer, a prince of Hell and the son of Belial and Raan va Daath. He is the firstborn of his father's spawns, and the secondborn is one we humans know best as the wizard Merlin. Merlin's task, given to him by his demonic father, was to bind and control Etrigan, which he did with some success until the year 560 AD.
Got all that so far? Okay, here's where it gets confusing. If you've ever read a comic book character that's been handled by a bazillion different writers, then you know whereof I speak when I say continuity can get really crapped up.
Change, change the form of man.
Free the prince forever damned.
Free the might from fleshy mire.
Boil the blood in heart of fire.
Gone, gone the form of man,
and rise the demon Etrigan. Remember Morgaine? She hated Merlin and his pet devil for the monkey wrench they put in her plans to conquer Camelot. So, when a weak, decrepit version of Merlin fell into her hands, she saw the opportunity to get revenge.
Now, depending on who's writing the book you happen to be reading, the last four paragraphs never happened. THIS is the sort of thing that drives people who read comic books insane...
"I loved the Matt Wagner/Alan Grant/Garth Ennis "innocent man bound to a terrible demon" version and Demon #0 is one of my all time favourite comics. That version had real angst and conflict, and was creepy as all hell. Whereas the Kirby version (and yes, I have read most of the original series) was just another superhero with a wierder angle than most."
Another aspect of the confusing parts of DEMON mythology: Kirby originally wrote that Etrigan had been turned into Jason-- that Jason wasn't a human at all, just Etrigan in a quiet mood. However, this has now been ret-conned as Pre-Crisis, and Jason as a human in his own right seems to be the current prevailing mood...
This is a non-profit, for-fun site. I don't own any of the characters shown here nor do I make any money off them. All ideas and characters on this site are property of DC Comics, a division of Warner Bros. I intend no infringement.
Just so you know, however, these pages are mine.
Copyright Lady Dien 2000.
