Ephraim Darkwell is the overarching antagonist of the Living Dummy saga and the Goosebumps: Special Edition book, Slappy, Beware! He is the creator and father of Slappy the Dummy.
History[]
200 years ago, Ephraim Darkwell was a sorcerer with the power to bring his wooden creations to life. Originally, Darkwell vowed that he would never use these powers for evil, but when the people of the village discovered Darkwell's powers, they became afraid of him. After being told by the constable Darius Koben of the villagers' impending wrath, and his nephew Isaac being attacked by the villagers, Darkwell sought revenge. He would bring his latest dummy creation to life. He would tell the dummy that he was to commit horrifying acts every day he was alive or else be put to sleep forever. He would name the dummy Slappy on account of it being silly, like a clown's name.
The villagers arrived and began to set Darkwell's cottage on fire. They planned to take Isaac with them, only to discover that Isaac was also a wooden dummy. As the villagers cornered Darkwell, Slappy used a spell to freeze them in place. When Constable Koben was unaffected, Slappy managed to send the man flying off into the distance. Darkwell was proud of his evil creation.
200 years later, Slappy finds himself in a bad situation. All of his attempts to scare the members of the Carlton family continued to fail. And with mere hours before the day was up, he began to panic. As he headed to the birthday party of Bryce Carlton's cousin May-Rose, Slappy was stopped by Darkwell. The sorcerer told Slappy the truth. There was never a time limit placed upon him. But now he felt it was time to end Slappy's evil once and for all. He spoke the magic words backwards to put Slappy to sleep and vanished in a puff of smoke. However, since Slappy had covered his ears, he didn't hear the spell. So he continued on to May-Rose's party.
General information[]
Personality[]
Darkwell seems to have originally been on the side of good before he was wronged by the villagers. He sought revenge and created Slappy to seek out that revenge and spread chaos and evil. Somehow, overtime, Darkwell realized the error of his ways and intended to put Slappy back to sleep forever to end the dummy's evil once and for all.
Physical appearance[]
Ephraim Darkwell wears a gray robe. His beard is long and white and his eyes are a cold gray.
Trivia[]
- Despite being the creator of Slappy, it is unknown if he has any connection to Kanduu or Franz Mahar, known creators of Mr. Wood.
- This origin seems to also contradict the origin of Slappy being created by the coffin wood of an evil sorcerer.
- The 2023 Goosebumps series would feature a similar character by the name of Ephraim Bratt, who is tied to the history of Slappy.