Dethl (Total War)

Dethl is a notable and powerful Druthulidi that survived the purge of the Golden Goddesses and later began to haunt the dreams of important characters in Hyrule's history, inadvertently creating the ReDeads and the Dark Interlopers.

Etymology
Dethl is the Ancient Hylian word for nightmare.

Characteristics
Dethl usually appears as an ambiguous mass of black smoke, tentacles, and a single glowing eye flanked by bulbous arms when interacting with the real world. When manifesting in an individual's dreams, Dethl can assume virtually any shape and form. According to Vaati, Dethl emits a foul stench detectable by other Druthulidi.

After Bongo's death Dethl converts her mindless corpse into a massive Devoured, whose hands are detached from the main body, and with a massive tentacled eye emerging like a flower from the former neck stump.

Dethl is seemingly an elder among its kind, referring to Demise as a "child."

Personality
Dethl shows signs of extreme cowardice, a trait not common amongst other Druthulidi. When exposed it will almost always flee. When Dethl has the upper hand or is in otherwise control of its victim's dreams, it usually displays a sadistic personality that finds enjoyment in emotional torture. Though Dethl is physically genderless, it tends to prefer being referred to as female. Dethl also seems to have an insatiable hunger, this is what leads to its quest for Triforce as it believes it will finally end its hunger.

Powers and Abilities
Dethl is able to invade and manipulate the dreams of almost any individual. Its control over a dream does not seem absolute, study has shown that the creature influences the victim through suggestion and tricks them into accomplishing Dethl's needs. As such Dethl's abilities while inhabiting a dream are rather ambiguous and seem to scale in power the longer it has been influencing a victim. It also seems that Dethl can only influence a victim while they sleep or are undead as Bongo was able to surrender to Princess Nylin Zelda I of her own will; something Dethl likely would not have done.

Those afflicted by Dethl's presence slowly lose their minds, eventually decapitating themselves if their insanity grows strong enough. Upon this the victim's insanity quite literally grows from the mindless corpse, transformation into the undead Devoured. This is Dethl's method of propagating itself, similar to Vaati's process of infecting and assimilating a host.

In the real world the extent of Dethl's abilities are unknown. When Ganon confronted Dethl the massive creature seemed to resort to smashing the Moblins with two rotating arms, as well as being able to rapidly dodge arrows and Ganon's attacks and phase through the floor.

Like most of its kind Dethl seems to have the ability to travel between worlds, how it achieves this is unknown.

History


Prehistory
Before the Dawn of Hyrule, Dethl claims to have "drowned countless worlds in their own nightmares."

Dethl arrived in Hyrule shortly after the first Druthulidi began to battle on its surface for domination. Rather than actively enslaving the creatures of the world, Dethl would appear to them and slowly exasperate them via nightmares. Dethl usually played on its victim's fear of death, eventually twisting the creatures into horrific undead abominations which it could control more easily. Dethl warped entire populations in serving its will until the Goddesses put an end to the conflict.

Ancient Age
At some point prior to the Rise of Ganon, Dethl was sealed in the Shadow Temple for an unknown period of time and haunted the dreams of its prisoners. it was able to extract the horrific thoughts and nightmares of these criminal Sheikah and manifest them within the temple. Over time it was able to twist the prisoners into hideous creatures, thus creating the ReDead: zombie-like monsters that continually died and came back to life. Dethl was able to feed on the Shadow Temple's population for a significant period of time, but eventually desired a fresh source of nourishment. Dethl reaches out and began haunting the dreams of the Sheikah wizard Bongo, impressing the need to visit the Shadow Temple.

Rise of Ganon
Obsessed with entering the Shadow Temple, Bongo betrays the Kingdom of Hyrule with her Dark Interlopers and tentatively allies with Ganon in exchange for his aid in entering exploring Temple. The two are able to overcome the undead infesting the place, and Bongo is lured to Dethl's lair. The Druthulidi is taken by surprise by the army that is brought in with them. Dethl attempts to stop Ganon's army with hordes of ReDead and other twisted denizens of the haunted prison, but Ganon's army is able to fight their way through and injure Dethl. Before Ganon is able to finish it off, Dethl slips into Bongo's mind and possesses the Sheikah. The Druthulidi also secretly creates the Eye of Truth - an artifact with the ability to read the truth and control people. Though Bongo had notions of rebelling against the Royal Family, it is likely that Dethl's presence convinces Bongo to take advantage of Ganon and seek the Triforce for her own uses.

With the Eye of Truth, Bongo is easily able to extract the location of the Triforce from Princess Zelda, whom Ganon has captured during a previous operation: in the throne room of Hyrule Castle. Bongo suggests to Ganon to ally with the Gerudo and the Darknut Legion from the west, because their combined forces are not enough to occupy the city. The Gerudo refuse, but the Darknuts accept, and through this alliance, Dethl finds itself in another alliance with Vaati and Demise - two other surviving Druthulidi, masterminds behind the leaders of the Moblins and the Darknuts.

After the fall of Hyrule Castle, Bongo extracts the location of the Triforce from King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule after Ganon failed to find it under the throne room. Instead of telling Ganon the truth, Bongo convinces him that the King had the Triforce brought to Spectacle Rock on top of Death Mountain. While Ganon is away seeking the Triforce Bongo gathers her Sheikah followers and takes control of Hylia Marine and the Water Temple; the true location that the King had brought the Triforce.

Dethl and Bongo's efforts are foiled when the Twinrova sisters and Veran catch word of the Triforce's location. Gerudo armies attack the Water Temple from the west, while Veran's Fairies attack from the east. While all three armies are busy fighting each other, General Rutela, Impa, and Princess Zelda I are able to lead an attack on the city. Bongo is knocked unconscious by Impa and later surrenders along with the rest of the Interlopers. While many of the traitorous Sheikah are banished into the Mirror of Twilight along with other Gerudo and Fairy prisoners, Impa personally guillotines Bongo and tosses her corpse into the well in Kakariko.

The Gerudo Wars
It is revealed that Agahnim had secured Bongo's Eye of Truth and is using the device to brainwash soldiers into serving him. It is possible that Dethl might have tried to influence Agahnim through the Eye of Truth, but whatever the case may have been Agahnim eventually pledges his service to Majora, rendering Dethl's nightmare influence useless.

A Tale of Two Swords
The Eye of Truth comes into the possession of Akazoo Vapith after Agahnim was killed. Slowly over time the device accelerates his insanity until Dethl is able to invade his nightmares near his death. When Akazoo's necromantic spells works and he later rises from the dead, Dethl is again able to suggest and influence Akazoo. Eventually Akazoo wishes to confront the source of his insanity and is drawn to Dethl in the Shadow Temple, now a giant monster that has grown from the headless corpse of Bongo. Rather than rebel against Dethl, Akazoo instead chooses to embrace the madness and releases Bongo from the temple.

Dethl is eventually destroyed in the form of Bongo-Bongo by Impa when Princess Tetralyna Zelda V lured its armies of Stalfos into battle with Ganondorf's Gerudo, Nardu's Lizalfos, and Hylia's Wizzrobes. Impa eventually destroys the Eye of Truth and Bongo-Bongo, as well as most of the Stalfos. It is unknown if Dethl has escaped into the nightmares of another victim, though it is never heard from again in historical chronicles of Hyrule.

Gameplay
Dethl appears in the game in two forms: the original body only encountered in the Unearthing Shadows mission as the final boss, and Bongo-Bongo, the form it takes after raising from Bongo's corpse as a fully playable boss character for the Sheikah in both custom battles and the Freeform Campaign.

Trivia

 * Given Dethl's habit of possessing and warping victims into undead beings, it is possible that, much like the other horrors lurking in the Shadow Temple, its first body was originally a Sheikah convict.