Damned Cult
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Spoiler warning: This article may contain major plot or ending details. |
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 Sprite of a Damned Cult Grunt | ||||||||
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The Damned Cult is a group interested in releasing the Legendary Pokémon Giratina from its banishment in the Distortion World and effectively destroying the world that the protagonist calls home. The group itself is never given a name during the events of the game, with members of the group even insisting that their organization is not a cult.
In the game
Damned Cultists have no specific theme when using Pokémon in battle, though it is stated that they do not use Pokémon that are native to their home dimension. The organization acts nearly entirely behind the scenes during the player's adventure throughout the Torren region but is revealed to be responsible for the formation and actions of several cults and their leaders, ultimately making them the true antagonists of the story.
The Damned Cult's presence is officially made known to the player midway through the story as a grunt finishes observing the demise of the Abyssal Cult.
The group's leader, Nyx, is then introduced during a scene where the player is not present as she is confronted by Jaern in her base of operations, the Throne of the Hegemon. The ease with which Nyx dismisses Jaern from her presence conveys her standing as a foe far more powerful than even the Augurs.
The Damned Cult's actions officially begin to involve the protagonist after they successfully manage to thwart Zenith's plans in the Infernal Base. At this point, the individual acting as an Ancient Oracle in the Utira Library comes forward and reveals his affiliation with the Damned Cult, stating that Nyx recruited him to fool Zenith into believing that the player would fall under his control, ultimately leading to Zenith's overconfidence and downfall.
The protagonist comes face-to-face with a grunt of the Damned Cult for the first time in Narra Town, where they have a short conversation concerning how weak the people of the player's universe seem to the grunt and their people.
The final actions of the Damned Cult begin in Amphitrite City, where a grunt manages to defeat Jaern, retrieve his fragment of the Crystal, and expose him as a fraud to the entire Torren region. The grunt also taunts the protagonist into attempting to stop their group's plans by declaring that Nora has been captured and is waiting for the player in the Damned Cult's base. The player is then forced to rescue Nora by journeying through a path traveling between dimensions known as the Void Gauntlet, battling grunts of the organization along the way. Once the player has successfully reached the Throne of the Hegemon, they meet Nyx for the first time, where she takes the time to explain her story to both the protagonist and Nora, insisting that her actions are done due to necessity and not out of spite for the protagonist nor the people of his or her universe. However, the player must defeat Nyx in order to preserve his or her universe, even if Nyx's people are forced to remain bound to their lives of hardship and unjust imprisonment within the Distortion World.
Though Nyx ultimately does succeed in summoning Giratina from its place within the Distortion World, the player is able to thwart her plans in the end, banishing the Damned Cult to the Distortion World for presumably the remainder of eternity.
Trivia
- As the grunts of the Damned Cult are listed as "Mysterious Grunt" and no one from their organization ever attempts to give the group a collective name, the cult's official name is instead derived from various files within the game, which lists the group's name as the Damned Cult.
