Phobetor

**Phobetor** is a minor antagonist in the *Divine Comedy*.

He is one of the main antagonists in the second chapter of the series' third volume.

The personification of nightmares and fear, Phobetor is one of the sons of the Sandman and Selene, the estranged brother of Morpheus and Phantasos, as well as being the fabled Boogeyman.

Phobetor's task was to induce nightmares into the sleeping minds of mortals whilst his brothers bring forth dreams and fantastical visions to them which made him garner a hatred for his job and a strong jealousy towards his brothers. His bitterness grew to where he sought to cover the world in fear and nightmares leaving no dreams or fantasy behind.

## Appearance

Phobetor is a tall, gaunt, and lithe entity. He is completely dark in appearance almost as if he is made of shadows and darkness. His gaunt and somewhat hunched appearance makes him look malnourished and is vaguely humanoid with long spindly arms and legs that are armed with sharp claws. His head is completely deprived of hair leaving only several strands of thin shadowy tendrils on it. His mouth consists of an inhumanly wide grin with razor sharp teeth that appear to be luminescent. His eyes appear as two small orbs that resemble a 'blood moon'.

## History

### Background

Phobetor is the triplet brother of Morpheus and Phantasos who together make up the Oneiroi. Among his siblings, Phobetor was perhaps the most reclusive and considered to be the black sheep of the family. Phobetor claims that his father hardly ever diverts his attention towards him and is mainly focused towards Morpheus who was clearly the favorite. This sparked a bitter rivalry between him and his brother though Morpheus held no ill-will towards Phobetor. He claims that his father's clear disdain towards him was due to the fact that he feeds on the fears of humanity while inducing terrible nightmares into their sleeping minds which unintentionally makes it hard for his father.

Over the centuries, Phobetor actually began to target children more than most as they are more impressionable thus making their fears far more intense, but this only serves as a well-prepared meal for Phobetor. Eventually, their fears made him grow so much in strength that he actually managed to slip into the physical world several times, terrorizing children as well as adolescents even in the waking world by entering from their closet doors which birthed the legend of the Boogeyman. Phobetor's growth in power made him produce his own aids known as Alps; shadowy impish creatures that induced sleep paralysis.

### Imprisonment

Acknowledging that this was getting way out of hand, the Sandman was forced to banish his son to the Black Veil which was a narrow tear that 'existed' between the physical and the sub-consciousness. Despite being grounded, the Alps continued to work in his name, bringing forth night terrors and irrational fears to the minds of humans while at the same time discreetly feeding Phobetor to supplement him with enough strength to break free.

His release would come to fruition with his target being Bermuda Falls. Citizens and animals of the town would begin to fall into a deep sleep where they are stuck in a perpetual loop of their greatest fears and nightmares. Even Cain was not spared from Phobetor's machinations but the Father of Murder was more focused on rescuing his children from Phobetor's clutches all while finding a way to break the nighmare god's spell.

## Trivia

* He is based off the mythological deity of the same name from Greek mythology.
* According to Morpheus, even as a child Phobetor had a strange habit of sleeping in closets.
* It is implied that Melinoë has a crush on Phobetor. This makes sense given that Melinoë induces night terrors unto sleeping sinners in Hell.
	+ Phobetor also seems to return the feelings when he mentioned Melinoë as "that cute nightmarish girl".