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Homunculus
Homunculus-Don'tBeAfraidOfTheDark2011
Naming
Others Tooth Fairy
Morphology
Body type Humanoid
Intelligence
Sentience Sentient
Sapience Sapient
Language English
Ecology
Place of origin The Netherworld
Habitat Darkness
Diet Teeth
Locomotion Bipedal
Quadrupedal
Status DD
Behind the Scenes
Universe Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
Created by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins (based on the original creatures by Nigel McKeand)
Performed by Grant Piro, Todd MacDonald, Angus Smallwood, Dylan Young and Guillermo del Toro

The Homunculi are a race of small, demonic beings which come from the netherworld. They seem quite scrawny and hideous in appearance, while these creatures even lurk within darkness and inhabit the house previously owned by Emerson Blackwood. They are able to speak in whispering voices, are driven away by bright lights and crave for human teeth, specifically deciduous teeth from children.

History[]

Backstory[]

The Homunculi predate mankind, and have lived, since the dawn of their existence, deep within the dark caverns of the netherworld, dwelling amongst the roots of the trees. They are dark forces of a nature that must destroy in order to create, hence taking one human life every time that they emerge in order to replendish their ranks. Many of them feed on the bones, namely the teeth, of young children.

In the year 999, a truce was made between Pope Sylvestor II and the Homunculi, under which they, in exchange for human teeth, start to leave silver pieces under pillows.

Arthur Llywellyn Jones (pen name Arthur Machen), a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century whose most notable work is in the supernatural and fantasy genres, wrote various books on the Homunculi, in which he believed.

Lord Emerson Blackwood quoted a lot from Arthur Machen while researching, drawing, and writing about the Homunculi.

Throughout the film[]

Roughly over about 200 years ago back at Providence County, Rhode Island of the 19th century; Lord Emerson Blackwood's son had been taken away by the Homunculi where he implored for his return by murdering a maid thus in an attempt to offer her in exchange only for him to get dragged into their lair.

When a divorced Alex Hurst alongside with both his eight year-old daughter Sally and girlfriend Kim Raphael, had moved into the house. Where Sally came to notice the sealed basement through a window. In spite of being warned by William Harris, the Homunculi are inadvertently awakened by a tune from Sally's nightlight therefore she had opened the passage herself and released the creatures as a result.

The Homunculi roamed throughout the house mostly at night and Sally would often hear them softly whisper in the dark as they called her name, saying that they'd just wanted to friends. After the Homunculi kidnapped Sally, they tried to take her but instead dragged Kim down the passage to the netherworld; outraged, Sally broke in tears and killed Lord Blackwood who was now a Homunculus. Sometime later, the manor was in foreclosure and as it turned out, Kim was somehow became one of the Homunculi as her voice was heard telling the others to wait for their next victims.

Appearances[]

  • Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)

Notes[]

  • They're loosely based on the unnamed creatures from the 1973 TV film.
  • During the homunculi's bathroom infiltration, one homunculus put its arm around a smaller one, indicating that these two are Lord Blackwood and his son. It is also highly implied that if humans become one of these creatures, they will still retain traces of their human emotions.
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