Eidolon
<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Eidolon</default></title>
<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <group><header>Basic Information</header> <label>Civilian Name</label> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Gender</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Death</label> <label>Age</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Post-timeskip</label> <label>Ward start</label> <label>Relations</label> <label>Family</label></group> <group><header>Professional Status</header> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Classification</label> <label>Unique Features</label> <label>Alignment</label>
<label>Status</label><format><label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label> <label>Previous Team(s)</label> <label>Base of Operations</label></group> <group><header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label></group> </infobox>
Eidolon (pronounced “eye-doe-lon”)<ref>Worm Audiobook pronounciation guide (confirmed by Wildbow)</ref> is one of the founding members of the Protectorate and the leader of the Houston Protectorate. He is generally considered to be the strongest parahuman and the fifth-strongest being on the planet, the first four being Scion and the Endbringers.<ref name="8.1"> When the question inevitably got to who was the strongest, the ‘big five' were generally ruled out, in the sense of ‘well, yeah, but besides them‘. Scion got counted as a part of that group because the powers he did have were head and shoulders above just about everyone else's. - Excerpt from Extermination 8.1</ref>
Personality
He's described as a quiet man, with a calm voice, brimming with strength of his power, often making people around him feel intimidated.
His sole purpose in life is to help as many people as possible and help in the End of the World scenario - an event for which he is preparing his whole cape life, describing it as his legacy.<ref name="I27"/>
Appearance
Eidolon wears a blue-green skintight suit with a hood and cape and with sleeves that drape over his hands. The interior of his hood and cape are filled with a green light.
When not dressed up as Eidolon, he is a middle aged man, with thick eyebrows, thinning hair and heavy cheeks, big nose and ears. Legend described him as looking "more like an average family man who was getting dressed up as Eidolon for a costume party than he looked like Eidolon himself."<ref name=""I14y">Eidolon was the opposite. He had lowered his hood and removed his glowing mask, revealing a middle-aged man with thick eyebrows, thinning hair and heavy cheeks. He looked more like an average family man who was getting dressed up as Eidolon for a costume party than he looked like Eidolon himself. - Excerpt from Interlude 14.y</ref>
Abilities and Powers
He has the ability to equip himself with a tremendous array of varied powers, but is limited to three to four at the same time. The powers he chooses take time to build up, but within minutes he can match the strength of veteran users of the same abilities. <ref name="Cast2"> Eidolon – Third member of the Protectorate’s ‘Triumvirate’. Eidolon has the ability to use any power he needs at a given point in time, maintaining a set of two to four powers at a time. Adopting a new power is not immediate, but after minutes, his abilities with that power grow to the point they rival or surpass veteran users of the same abilities. - Cast in Depth</ref>
Even though his power is one of the strongest, he does not have much control over it. He is limited to holding tighter to or discarding given powers, which are selected by his shard in accordance to what it perceives David needs.<ref name="24.4e1">"Eidolon's power… he chooses what powers he gets?"
"He gets the powers he needs," Dispatch said. "He can be receptive to new ones, hold tighter to ones he wants to keep, but that's it." - Excerpt from Crushed 24.4</ref><ref name="R1.1"/> As a consequence, Eidolon does not have enough awareness about his complete repertoire of powers.
His powers potency, however, has been slowly weakening over time, which leads him to look for a sense of challenge, in order to seek the untapped well of power he can feel when he is fighting.<ref name="18.ze1">“I’m losing my powers. Slowly but surely. If this goes much further, mankind may lose this war.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Against the Endbringers, there are really only two individuals who can stop them, drive them away. Scion is one. I’m another. Each of us is worth a hundred other capes, if not more. I’m not boasting when I say this. But my powers are getting weaker every day, little by little. Whatever vast, improbably deep well parahumans tap into to use abilities, I suspect mine is running dry.” ---Excerpt from 18.z (Donation Interlude #3; Jessica Yamada, Therapist)</ref> In the meantime he's been using Cauldron vials as booster shots.<ref name=""I14y">“You want another booster shot?”
“Probably another Endbringer attack coming up, it’s best if I’m in top form.” - Excerpt from Interlude 14.y</ref> Eidolon speculated that Ignis Fatuus was not as restricted as he was, and perhaps if Glaistig Uaine claimed his power, she would not be as well.<ref name="I27">Interlude 27</ref> Skitter, however, speculated that Ignis Fatuus was enhancing his power using a variant of Scapegoat's power.<ref name="19.6e1">The flickering. Was that some variant on Scapegoat’s power? More broad? Paging through realities to find the state he wanted to be in? Uninjured, dressed?
There were a lot of ugly possibilities with that one. Could he affect how he was accessing powers?-Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref>
He is later able to restore his energy reserves by digging up the power to sense and drain the shards of other parahumans, based on advice given to him by Glaistig Uaine.<ref name="I27"/>
{{#if:Tattletale|| “ | Eidolon’s some kind of exception, on a lot of levels. His power works by different vectors, the innate limits aren’t there… something broke, and I’m betting the Endbringers are tied to it. Like, this entity is fissioning off into countless fragments that impregnate hosts and somehow a little extra gets tacked on. Or Cauldron’s method of replicating the fragments gets that little extra. | ” |
| {{#if:Tattletale| —Tattletale{{#if:|, {{{3}}}}} }}}} | ||
Glaistig Uaine referred to Eidolon's shard as the "High Priest".<ref>"Can you tell me why you call me the High Priest, before I put my life in your hands?"
[...] "Some lead by logic, by law, by order and organization. Others lead by the abstract. By faith and the imagination of the public. Yes?"
"You're talking about leading… the passengers, the agents?"
"Naturally so. Plotting, raising the faerie up as objects for worship. They are chosen, cultivated, as the situation demands, to suit the world outside, to best manipulate it. The pantheon in the temple."
"Me. I'm this temple?"
She nodded. "Mmm."</ref>
History
Background
David was born with a severe illness and was confined to wheelchair for most of his life, facing regular seizures.
Before being approached by Doctor Mother he wanted to become more independent, applied to the army and was subsequently turned down, which made him try to commit suicide.<ref name="I27"/>
When Eidolon gained his powers, he was one of a rare few who did not forget the vision of the Entity they saw. Doctor Mother speculated that his passenger had not been limited, unlike most powers.<ref name="29.7">Venom 29.7</ref>
As Eidolon, he was a founding member of the Protectorate. After Hero's death, he became the leader of a smaller team based in Houston.<ref name="R1">Around the time that they were a group, they were simply 'the Protectorate' or 'the guys at the top'. You could say, perhaps, that the loss of Hero splintered the team. They didn't hate each other or resent each other, but it was about time, and served as the catalyst to the group each going to their own individual cities - New York, LA, & Houston. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref>
Battle against Leviathan
During the fight he worked with Myrddin to mitigate the effects of tidal waves created by the Endbringer, along with helping the wounded heroes.<ref>Excerpt from Extermination 8.3</ref> After Scion makes the appearance Eidolon helps pin down Leviathan with the manipulation of the water, freezing it into walls around the Endbringer.<ref>Excerpt from Extermination 8.5</ref>
New Delhi
During the whole encounter he's noted as the one being at the epicenter of the fight along with Legend and Alexandria.
At the beginning of the fight he works in coordination with Legend to slow down the Endbringer's movement. After Alexandria's (Pretender) arrival he adopts more of a hit-and-run approach with a malee powerset and a time bubble slowing down the Behemoth's movement, to help Alexandria's own efforts in hitting the Endbringer hard enough to topple and drive him back. Their coordinated efforts are noted to throw the Behemoth off his game and with the help of Clockblocker's frozen strings they are able to deal substantial damage to his body.
He's involved in Weaver's and Phir Se plan of killing the Endbringer. He creates an inviolable forcefield, which contains the Phir's Se light to an area surrounding the Behemoth. In the final stand in the Temple he creates a green field around the structure, which keeps it from collapsing.
After Scion's arrival Eidolon helps keep the Endbringer from retreating, arresting his momentum in the sky with a violet forcefield and he stands witness to the destruction of Behemoth with Scion's golden light.<ref>Crushed 24.x</ref>
Post-Timeskip
Tried to help against the Slaughterhouse Nine Hold Apartment Hostage but was turned away by Weaver, who pointed out that while she could be put down if she became evil, Eidolon would be much harder to contain.<ref>Sting 26.3</ref>
Gold Morning
Eidolon participated in the oil-rig battle alongside the rest of the Triumvirate.<ref name="27.5">Extinction 27.5</ref> Glaistig Uaine taught him how to drain other parahumans, bringing him back to his peak strength. Together, they drove Scion across dimensions. Scion, increasingly hard-pressed, used his path-to-victory ability to convince Eidolon to give up.<ref name="I27">Interlude 27</ref> Glaistig Uaine harvested Eidolon's shard<ref name="29.2">Venom 29.2</ref> keeping him in the fight.
Relation to Endbringers
Eidolon is the suspected creator of the Endbringers, which is likely unintentional due to his lack of active control over his power. It is suspected that the power acted on his subconscious need to engage in fights against enemies on his power-level. This may be due to his psychological issues of inferiority complex from his background. In addition, it is not certain whether he actually created the Endbringers, or if they were created by Eden and his power just gained control over them after her 'death'. This is supported by their appearance in the Eden's interlude chapter, which contains a vision of the future as intended by the Entities.
The hints on the origin of the Endbringers were not present until late in the story, but then several convincing clues appeared:
The first clue are the words uttered by Scion and David's reaction to them: 'You needed worthy opponents'.<ref>https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/interlude-27b/</ref><ref name="R1.1">Some people don't believe it's the case, saying that Scion only said it because it was a way to blow Eidolon's mind. Some say it was truth.
But Eidolon's power gives him what he needs. Scion says Eidolon needed worthy opponents. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref>After Eidolon's death Simurgh, Khonsu, Tohu, Bohu and Leviathan began behaving in an erratic manner.<ref>Cockroaches 28.2</ref>
Similarly after the Undersiders and Protectorate approach the Simurgh, Tattletale and Defiant discuss the topic:
“He’s really their creator?” Defiant asked. “Eidolon?”
“…Sixty percent sure."<ref>Cockroaches 28.4</ref>
The final clue is Simurgh's weapon, which after the Gold Morning contained a male fetus "With large ears and a large round nose. Not attractive, as babies went."<ref>Teneral e.5</ref>, which matches the general description of Eidolon.
Trivia
- "Eidolon" can mean an unsubstantial image, an ideal, or an idealized figure.
- Wildbow originally considered using "Mary Sue" character in place of Eidolon.
- He does have the ability to use tinker powers but his access to other powers and the long term element inherent in tinker powers vs. something like a blaster power of the same utility factors in to his non-use of them.<ref>Tinkering takes time and brainpower. Eidolon ~could~ get into it, but his power swaps out often enough that it's not worthwhile, and he could just get a power to do much the same thing. GU has ghosts like Bakuda, but they operate distinctly from one another, and don't really merge specialties. Generally it's going to be the same as Eidolon - she'll have one spirit provide the materials and her bakuda spirit puts it together into something slapdash, and that's what she uses. Anything else is arguably a waste of time, unless she's fabricating specialized materials or gear for her costume or whatever else. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref>
Fanart Gallery
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Image by DerTodesbote on deviantart -
Image by TheDeviantObserver on DeviantArt.
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Illustration by sandara on deviantart
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Image by lonsheep on DeviantArt.
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Image by YunYunHakusho on Reddit.
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Image by DerTodesbote on DeviantArt
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Image by foust2015 on Reddit.
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Fanart by Juilian Bautista.
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Image by a friend of DellSalami on Reddit.
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Image by kuraitormentus on DeviantArt
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References
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