Endbringers

There are three beings collectively known as the Endbringers: Leviathan, Simurgh and Behemoth.

According to Tattletale’s power, they were never human. Rather, they are monsters (in every sense of the word) who take turns attacking locations around the globe, aiming to cause as much damage as possible. The Endbringers consist of multiple layers, with each successive layer being stronger than the previous. Apparently unkillable, they retreat to their respective domains to heal after they have sustained sufficient damage, only to attack again months later.

Their arrival is almost always followed by devastation, including dead capes, massive civilian losses (sometimes ranging into the millions), catastrophic damage to cities and/or large scale damage to landscapes.

Leviathan

Leviathan is the only Endbringer described in detail thus far (during the Arc8.Extermination), a thirty-foot tall monstrosity with enhanced speed, enhanced strength, a watery afterimage that follows after his every movement and macrohydrokinesis.

He is widely viewed as the weakest of the three, and is known as the 'middle child' as he was the second to appear. The name Leviathan comes from a biblical sea monster, and is also the name of a prince of hell in Demonologist texts. Other nations refer to him by other names, including Jörmungandr.

Brockton Bay Attack

Leviathan killed forty six parahumans during his attack on Brockton Bay, leaving many others wounded or crippled.

Since the disasters at Newfoundland and Kyushu the locations the Endbringers target are classified as either hard targets or soft targets. In the hard battlefields the strategy is to hem the Endbringer in, minimizing the effects of growing waves and casualties until Leviathan is beaten into a retreat or Scion arrive.

Brockton Bay is a soft target. The city was originally founded at its location because of the proximity to the coastline for trade routes and an aquifier that provided the first settlers with access to fresh water. From the moment Leviathan shows himself, he began to stir and manipulate this underground reservoir to erode the surrounding sand, silt and rock. Together with the tidal waves from above, with the resulting tremors and impacts, most of the city would collapse into the aquifier.

List of known dead during the attack:WCM<ref>Extermination 8.2</ref>, Acoustic<ref name="8.3">Extermination 8.3</ref>, Resolute<ref name="8.3" /> (Georgia Woo), Fierceling<ref name="8.3" />, Good Neighbor<ref name="8.3" /> (Roberto Peets), Chubster, Hallow<ref name="8.3" />, Brigandine<ref name="8.3" />, Jotun<ref name="8.3" />, Dauntless<ref name="8.3" />, Alabaster<ref name="8.3" />, Shielder<ref name="8.3" />, Escutcheon<ref name="8.3" /> (Tyrone Venson), Herald<ref name="8.3" /> (Gordon Eckhart), Manpower<ref name="8.4">Extermination 8.4</ref>, Aegis<ref name="8.4" />, Fenja<ref name="8.4" /> (Jessica Biermann), Scalder<ref name="8.5">Extermination 8.5</ref>,Cloister<ref name="8.5" />, The Erudite<ref name="8.5" /> (Mavis Shoff), Frenetic<ref name="8.5" />, Penitent<ref name="8.5" />, Smackdown<ref name="8.5" /> (Jennie Ryan), Strider<ref name="8.5" /> (Craig McNish), Impel<ref name="8.5" /> (Corey Steffons), Apotheosis<ref name="8.5" /> eight of Bitch dogs<ref name="8.5" />, Kaiser<ref name="8.4" /><ref>Extermination 8.7</ref>, Furrow<ref name="8.8">Extermination 8.8</ref>, Gallant<ref name="8.8" /> (Dean Stansfield), Geomancer<ref name="8.8" /> (Tim Mars), Humble<ref name="8.8" />, Iron Falcon<ref name="8.8" /> (Brent Woodrow), Mister Eminent<ref name="8.8" /> , Oaf<ref name="8.8" /> (Wesley Scheaffer), Pelter<ref name="8.8" /> (Stefanie Lamana), Quark<ref name="8.8" /> (Caroline Ranson), Saurian<ref name="8.8" /> (Darlene Beckman), Sham<ref name="8.8" />, Snowflake<ref name="8.8" /> (Charlotte Tom), Uglymug<ref name="8.8" />, Velocity<ref name="8.8" /> (Robin Swoyer), Vitiator<ref name="8.8" />, Zigzag<ref name="8.8" /> (Bennie Debold and Geoff Schearn).

List of known crippled during the attack: Armsmaster, Flashbang,

Other Attacks

Leviathan is known for sinking Newfoundland (May 9, 2005), where he killed nearly half a million people and wiped the Canadian province from the maps.

His most devastating attack to date was at Kyushu, Japan (November 2, 1999)(his sixth appearance). The heroes failed to stop him and he killed nine and a half million people. Nearly three million more individuals evacuated but were naturally left homeless.

Behemoth

Taylor hints at Behemoth's powers when she states that Scion would only really have trouble with Behemoth if he arrived too late, and Behemoth had succeeded in turning the landscape into a radioactive, magma-ridden wasteland. In 8.2, Legend notes that Behemoth is physically the strongest of the Endbringers. The author notes in the comments of Extermination 8.4 that Behemoth is known as 'Herokiller' to some.

When injured, it is his habit to descend into the earth and burrow deeper than his enemies are able to go, and experiments run on the trace earth and minerals he shed on his arrivals suggested he habitually stayed close to the Earth’s core. Seismic data can hint his current locations.

Behemoth is also known as Hadhayosh, among other things. Both Behemoth and Hadhayosh are entities vaguely described in religious texts (the book of Job and Zoroastrian texts from the middle-Persian era, respectively) as beasts comparable to massive elephants or oxen. Hadhayosh, specifically, was large enough to house entire contingents of men on its back.

During a flashback in an Interlude 15(bonus #3) of story arc Colony(15), Behemoth is finally described. He is a 45-foot tall semihumanoid, hugely muscular, with grey skin and horn-like growths and claws. He has only a single eye, and a mouth that curves from the bottom of his face to near his temple.

Behemoth is a dynakinetic with no Manton limitation. This gives him access to a wide range of abilities, notably incredible strength and durability, and the ability to set aflame anything within 200 feet. He can also use sonic and lightning as attacks.

Simurgh

The first Endbringer mentioned by name over the course of the story, the Simurgh is named for the massive mammal-bird that rests on the tree of life. She is also known as Ziz, which is a griffin-like creature with a wingspan that can block out the sun, who is otherwise very similar to the Simurgh in nature and description. Interestingly, the creatures for which she is named are actually benevolent. The Simurgh as she appears in the setting is most definitely not.

Much like Behemoth, the Simurgh has yet to be detailed in depth, so readers must draw the clues about her nature and powers from various places in the text. In the Agitation arc, Tattletale notes that the Simurgh is the only conventional telepath in the setting, and that this scares people. In 8.2, Legend calls the Simurgh a cunning manipulator. In chapter 8.4, Taylor states that the Simurgh is noteworthy because winning the fight against her isn't necessarily a problem, that the heroes could "Win every battle against her, lose the war."

When recovering betwen attacks she usually orbits Earth, traveling within the planet's Thermosphere (her last known location, as of Interlude 10.5, was 350 km above Spain ) where she hibernates while flying, absorbing light and ambient radiation through her broad wings as a form of nourishment.

The Simurgh is the only one of the Endbringers that is described using female pronouns. She appears to be 15 feet tall and covered in wings.

(Major Spoilers)

It is revealed in the Migration Arc that Simurgh has telekinesis, and some sort of area psychic attack. she was also theorized to have precognition, all of which combine to make her the most dangerous Endbringer. She appears to be able to manipulate the future actions of individuals who remain near her for even a relatively short period of time; those affected are quarantined or killed so they cannot cause catastrophic damage. She is also feared to have telepathy, though this is only speculation.

She also has the schematic for a portal memorized and is able to construct one in a matter of minutes, allowing her access to Earth Aleph and at least one other dimension populated by monstrous, eldrich creatures.

(Even Bigger Spoiler)

After Behemoth is killed three more Endbringers show up: Khonsu, Bohu and Tohu.

Khonsu

Taylor describes him as a feral Buddha. He's completely black, with white or silver to define his form. He doesn't wear cloths, but has something between leaves and fins, with elaborate designs at the edges, curling away from elbows, his wrist, his fingers and around his legs. This makes his fingers and toes into claws, and leaves dangerous looking blades elsewhere. His arms are extended out to either side and almost seems to waddle, while he's floated as though he were walking on the moon. While this might not sound impressive, he's the most mobile of all the Endbringers. When he's facing stiff opposition, he teleports to another location on the planet, leaving behind the protectors.

His powers consist of circle of accelerated time, the circle is part of a pillar that seems to strech beyond sight. The cirlces move around Khonsu. According to Scarab 25.4 "The effect moved on, and it left a ruined husk of a building behind. Though there was no sun shining, the stone and terrain had been sun bleached, worn by elements, eroded." Which seems to indicate that sunlight and elements are able to reach the pillar, but that those are uncorrelated to the surrounding world. The only cape taking advantage of this time delation effect is Legend. He uses it to accelerate to (near) the speed of light and uses it to attack Khonsu, stripping away a few of his layers. Others capes tried to survive the effect by taking food with them, but didn't survive. Considering that the attack leaves behind skeletons, you'd probably need to take a life long supply with you.

Bohu and Tohu

Bohu and Tohu appear together, Bohu attacks while Tohu protects her sister. Bohu is a tower, she is gaunt and stretched thin to the point where her head was five times longer than it was wide. Her body widens near the ground and is rooted into the ground. Her hair consists of thendrils the thickness of an arm and is as heavy as stone. Bohu is one thousand three hundred feet, or 396.24 meters, tall. Tohu has three faces, that change over time to look like the faces of parahumans from around the world, twisted into a feminine face. Once a face has set, Tohu takes on the powerset of that parahuman. She has two, small breasted, torsos and one pair of legs.

Bohu turns the whole city into a trap, influencing every structure in the city, while her sister Tohu protects her.

References