Horror

**Demon Beasts Horrors** (魔獣ホラー *Majū Horā*) are fictional monsters and the antagonists in the tokusatsu series *GARO*.

## Fictional history

The Horrors are demons that originate from a Demon World (魔界 *Makai*). The usual variety of Horrors, called "**Inga Horrors**" (陰我ホラー *Inga Horā*, lit. "Yin-self Horrors") are grotesque black-winged skeletal demons that enter the human world, drawn by their primary "food" of human malice and darkness. They use Inga Gates, objects tainted by darkness from either playing a role in a naturally accumulated atrocity like mass murder or an unresolved traumatic experience. There are also Inga Gates that are created by someone infusing the object with dark energies. Regardless, all Inga Gates are usually activated when person with inner darkness approaches them, with the emerging Horror turning that person or any other living thing nearby into a host body. From there, either taking over the host or forming a symbiosis to act out the host's dark desires, the Horror "evolves" into a unique form based on the Gate they emerged from with personal tastes and feeding habits. Normally a human is dead the moment that an Inga Horror possesses them and what remains of the host follows the Horror in death as well. The Makai Knight Jinga seemingly possessed the unique ability to purge a Horror out of its human host with the human restored to their original self, but it is later revealed that he only suppressed the Horrors, and it only worked due to the original Jinga's machinations. Though rare, there are also some unusual Horrors that prefer to possess objects rather than living things, not having a preference of prey as they consume whoever comes into close contact one way or another instead. But the rarest Horrors are the ones that assume the form of large beasts without needing a host body, acting only on a primal and indiscriminate urge to feed. As revealed in *GARO: Guren no Tsuki*, Horrors have influenced humanity's myths such as the people of Heian period believing them to be Preta.

Three commonalities all Inga Horrors share is a preference of hunting at night, their blood marking someone for death as Horrors will have an increased desirability for the afflicted, and speaking in the Makai language which can be understood by someone well-versed in the language or a potential host, usually adopting a human language upon possession. While slain on a regular basis, Horrors can never truly die so long as darkness exists in the hearts of men. Upon a physical death, the Horror's essence is sealed within a Makai Sword until its essence is formed into a dagger that is entrusted to a Watchdog to be sent back to the Demon World. Though there is a one night relief in the Inga Lapsing Night (陰我消滅の晩, *Inga Shōmetsu no Ban*) that occurs once every 20 years to bar any passage of Horrors into the human world, a slain Inga Horror can still return later. Trace essences of slain Horrors latch onto a Makai Knight and accumulate, requiring him to undergo a ritualistic purification periodically. In the case of those who bear the title of Garo, the essence of Horrors that the Garo user slain eventually forms into a Zaji, vowing slay whoever is holding the title of Garo at the moment. While Inga Horrors taken on human forms have no weakness against sunlight and can operate normally during daytime, they have an aversion nonetheless of showing their true forms under broad daylight. As such, Makai Knights almost never need to draw their blades for combat before sundown.

While stronger Horrors, especially those evolved to have unique forms and powers, tend to live and hunt alone when they make it into the human world, the weaker ones with no desire to hunt on their own and dependent on others to feed tend to band together and form small community pockets, as revealed in *GARO: Makai Retsuden*. Each of these communities have their own hideouts called "forts", despite having no fortifications of any kind. The forts have cages in which humans are kept as livestock to be consumed later. These Horrors are weak enough that a lone Makai Knight prove more than enough to wipe a dozen or two of them out within minutes.

Despite their nature as enemies of humanity, some recurrent ones gaining so much notoriety that they are named and documented. Horrors are not always targeted for elimination. At times, they are re-purposed by Makai Priests to serve various functions, such as for sealing of other more powerful Horrors, experimentation, or those like Sedinbale sealed to provide their vast knowledge on various Makai-related matters. Even Madou Tool (魔導具 *Madōgu*) like Zaruba are created with Horrors that hold no enmity against humanity and have pledged their loyalty to the Makai Order, the created items entrusted to certain Makai Knights of prestige.

In the events of *GARO: Yami o Terasu Mono* and *ZERO: BLACK BLOOD*, given humans as payment for their loyalty as familiars, the Inga Horrors are shown to be significantly weaker as they can be killed by Makai Knights at a quicker pace. These Inga Horrors lack unique Horror forms, mostly seen only in their human form even during battle while some can assume their true usual Horror form.

In the events of *GARO: VERSUS ROAD*, a new form of Inga Horror is seen as an enemy that hunts down players. These Horrors appear to be modified with cybernetic enhancements, which seem to serve as restraints or control devices. The game world Horrors are shown to be incredibly fast, able to clear large distances in an instant. Despite the slight increase in physical ability granted to them by the game world, the players, being otherwise normal humans, are quickly overwhelmed by even one of these Horrors and generally opt to either flee or hide when encountering one.