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Hecate Poole is Evelyn Poole's beautiful and youthful daughter and also a practitioner of the dark arts. At first glance, she seems to be completely controlled by her mother, who uses her as a dangerous and lethal weapon in her evil quest. However, it is later revealed that their relationship is far more complicated. She takes delight in her mother's terror and eventually orchestrates her ultimate demise having tired of her presence. Hecate sees herself as a worthy successor and displays great confidence in her own abilities.

Appearance and Personality[]

Hecate is a beautiful young woman with thick, curly brown hair and pale skin. Strongly tied to her mother, she shows a completely apathetic personality to the suffering of others, even seeming to enjoy their death, including that of a sister witch. Surprisingly, she shows affections for animals, such as horses. Hecate displays incredible confidence in her own abilities, perhaps even arrogance, and believes herself to be more than ready to succeed her mother. Hecate's resentment against her mother stems from having been offered to the Devil when she was five years old, and Evelyn stared while Lucifer branded her flesh instead of protecting her.

History[]

When Hecate's mother expressed "a certain modicum of disappointment" in the failure of one of her coven, she killed the offending witch, much to Hecate's amusement, thus leaving Hecate to take over as leader of the younger members of the coven. Evelyn then assigned Hecate the task of dealing with Chandler, whom they had discovered would be a formidable obstacle in turning Vanessa Ives to their cause.[1]

Hecate stalked a young couple through London, eventually following them into the Underground. In an otherwise deserted rail carriage, she murdered the couple and absconded with their infant child, whom she delivered to her mother. Evelyn used the child's organs in the creation of a fetish doll of Vanessa.[2]

Under the guise of "Hecate Aphrodite Livingston", an American abroad, Hecate staged an accident in view of Chandler so that he would rush to rescue her. The pair chatted in a café, with Hecate explaining that she was named after a Greek sea goddess. Chandler, however, saw through her disguise, pointing out a number of errors in her alleged background, accent, and even wardrobe. Thinking she was sent by Pinkerton, he gave her a message for his father and stormed off. When reporting her results to Evelyn, Hecate admitted that while Chandler rationalized his distrust through the errors she had made, he must have smelled her and was thus on guard. Evelyn agreed there could no longer be any doubt that Chandler was a Lupus Dei, and warned her daughter not to fail her again. When Hecate asked what to do about Chandler that evening, Evelyn dismissively reminded her daughter that Vanessa's fate is the only one that really matters.[3]

At Malcolm's house, Chandler related the incident to Vanessa, who explained that Hecate was actually a moon goddess and was a patron of witches; it's not likely that the woman he met was actually after him. Later that evening, Hecate and the nightcomers attacked and eventually made off with a lock of Vanessa's hair. As she left, Hecate taunted Chandler.[3]

Being faithful to the promise of serving Ethan, Hecate followed him to America, where she narrowly avoided being shot by men in the employ of Ethan's father, Jared Talbot, as they stormed the train on which Ethan was being transported. Then, having followed Ethan and his captors to a small town, Hecate used her power to help him escape.[4]

Once on the run, Hecate made moves to corrupt Ethan, initially battling his distrust and eventually coaxing him to reveal more of his past. At one point, she persuaded him to let her use his blood for a dark ritual in which she caused a writhing mass of snakes to attack the camp of the marshals pursuing them, and later seduced him while they were sheltering in a cave. But without water, the pair were soon deprived of their horses and were succumbing to dehydration as they trudged through the desert. Luckily they were found by Sir Malcolm, although not so luckily also chanced upon by a gang of Jared Talbot's men, who brought them back to the Talbot homestead. When Hecate recovered, she convinced Ethan to carry out his plan to murder his father.[5]

Powers and Abilities[]

  • Shapeshifting: she possesses the ability to transform into the occult nightcomer form that grants superhuman strength, agility, and speed. However, unlike other nightcomers, she has displayed this ability during the day too.
  • Illusion: when she required it, she blended into her surroundings.[3]
  • Enhanced strength: during her fight at the mansion, she shoved fully grown men across the room with little effort.[3] During a mission to retrieve a baby, she killed a couple on a train simply by running past them and using her nails to slit their throats. It should be noted she has only displayed this quality when in her occult nightcomer form, like the other witches.
  • Catoptric Teleportation: Hecate displayed an ability to quite literally travel through mirrors. She used this magic to breach the defensive charms and totems on the mansion and gain entry.
  • Psychokinesis: Hecate can move objects with her mind, as seen when she blasted away the front door to Sir Malcolm's mansion.
  • Verbis Diablo: As a nightcomer, Hecate is fluent in the so-called "Word of the Devil", and uses this language for her spells.
  • Beast Mastery: Hecate was able to use a spell empowered by Ethan's blood in order to cause dozens of poisonous snakes to rise up out of the sand to attack a sleeping group of men.[3]

Appearances[]

Memorable Quotes[]

Ferdinand Lyle: I'm not sure what game you're playing, my dear, but I so enjoy watching your scales catch the light as you coil.

Hecate Poole: Don't you like games, Mr. Lyle?

Ferdinand Lyle: Some. And is your mother aware of yours?

Hecate Poole: My mother has games of her own. Mine are more far-sighted. But there's time enough for that. I am, after all, very young.

Ferdinand Lyle: As is she [Evelyn].

Hecate Poole: For now.

-Glorious Horrors


Hecate Poole: You lost your power over him? Perhaps you're not as desirable as you thought, Mother.

Madame Poole: You grow impertinent.

Hecate Poole: You grow old.

-And Hell Itself My Only Foe


Ethan Chandler: I have no ambition.

Hecate Poole: Everyone has ambition.

Ethan Chandler: And yours?

Hecate Poole: To join your great enterprise. I don't mean Miss Ives and the rest of this woebegone bunch. I mean yours. The Wolf of God. You have been chosen. You are unlike all others and you have a profound destiny. Will you seize it?

Ethan Chandler: And what's that destiny?

Hecate Poole: To strike with impunity. To feed at will. To serve not the emaciated Galilean God but to stand alongside the great winged Lucifer as he reconquers heaven's bloody throne. Will you crawl with the insects or will you rise over them?

- And Hell Itself My Only Foe


Hecate Poole (to Ethan Chandler): You have been given a great power. One day you will use it and take your foretold place over these mortal animals. You know in your heart I'm speaking the truth. Admit it. Yes, you are what you are. And when you're ready I will serve you best of all.

- And Hell Itself My Only Foe


Hecate Poole (to Ethan Chandler): What's done is done. Because I murder with will and not like a blind animal, you think me a monster. How many corpses have you left in your wake, Ethan? When there are bodies stretched from here to the horizon, and you can walk across them without touching the ground, then you can weep.

- Good and Evil Braided Be


Hecate Poole (to Ethan Chandler): I want to liberate your truest self. The beast that prowls around your heart. And when you are truly yourself, and we are painted with blood, I want to rule the darkness at your side.

- Good and Evil Braided Be


Hecate Poole: Such guilt you carry. This shame, it hangs around your neck.

Ethan Chandler: The only decent thing about me is the shame I feel.

Hecate Poole: Oh, spoken like a true servant of God.

- This World Is Our Hell



Hecate Poole: This God, that would anoint you Lupus Dei. That would make you a glorious monster, and have you hate yourself for being so monstrous. He tortures you with guilt, and in return offers you what?

Ethan Chandler: Forgiveness.

Hecate Poole Do you feel forgiven? There is only one way to free yourself of guilt. Embrace your sins.

- This World Is Our Hell


Gallery[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

  • Hecate managed to breach the enchantment made by Vanessa Ives to protect the mansion through mirror-travel at daytime with seemingly no ill effects on her, after assertions had been made previously that nightcomers could only transform at night.[6]

References[]

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