The Maw

**The Maw** is the main antagonist of The Medium. It is a towering, grey skinned creature behind the Niwa Massacre who spends its time stalking Marianne as it believed she was a powerful enough medium to contain his spirit.

## Biography

The entity originally became possible when Lilianne was sexually abused by Richard. The Maw is a malevolent creature spawned and given freedom from a tortured part of Lilianne's soul in exchange to save her and her sister from a house fire set by Henry Wilk. When possessing another physical body, it is only able to control them for so long, as its immense power causes the body to break down and wilt away. Deer bodies with strange wounds can be found throughout the game, implying that The Maw possessed these animals.

## Personality

The Maw is an extremely evil beast. Despite the direct pursuit it uses, it is capable of manipulating people in the material world, specifically Lilianne, into helping its cause, which is to quench its thirst for death. It is very arrogant, the very existence of Marianne in proximity promoting the Maw to think it has already won its ultimate desire. Despite being powerful, the Maw is in fact desperate, as whenever Marianne escapes it, the beast moans. It is also not extremely clever, Marianne being able to trick it simply by dislodging rubble to the opposite direction of her. The only person the Maw acts like an intelligent being to is Lilianne, considering they were born of the same conditions, and have lived the same life for some time.

## Physical Description

The Maw is gargantuan in stature but slim in build. It's head appears skeletal and has two white, cloudy eyes with a growth on the top of its head resembling an axe blade. It also has a pair of bony, flesh-like wings that appear to be cosmetic, without any actual function. It's possible that the Maw wasn't always as big as it appears in the game, as it and Lily alludes to the fact that it outgrew its past vessels by "wearing them out."

## Powers and Abilities

* **Possession** - the Maw's main motivation for hunting Marianne. As it is a spirit, it is capable of possessing humans, and possibly animals without their will. The Maw was the culprit behind the Niwa Massacre as it possessed the resort's nurse, slaughtering its guests. However, when Marianne is using astral projection, it is not capable of possessing her, allowing Marianne to return to her physical body.
* **Shapeshifting/Mimicry** - during the ruins section of the game, the Maw took the form of Jack, Marianne's deceased foster parent. The creature was capable of replicating Jack's voice, however it gave itself away through its signature phrase, *"It all ends...IN ME!*"
* **World-Crossing** - not bound by world barriers, the Maw is capable of manifesting itself in the material world as well, albeit invisible and incapable of causing physical damage.

## Weaknesses

* **Light** - Marianne is able to find temporary safe points with spirit wells, as spirit wells represent happy, pleasant memories.
* **Electricity** - electricity is capable of greatly paining the monster and incapacitating it. Shown when Marianne pushes a running generator into a body of water the Maw was occupying, causing it extreme pain and forcing it to retreat.
* **Death of Host** - as it used to possess Lilianne, the Maw outgrew her and was forced to leave to find a new body. Lilianne reveals to her sister that it cannot be stopped or killed unless she dies.

## Trivia

* Marianne refers to the Maw as an "it" and a "thing”, she also calls it a "twisted fucking bitch." The Maw itself has a male voice, and it has a generally feminine figure with visible breasts.
* Despite being associated with Lilianne's suffering, the Maw has a somewhat merry demeanor, and is not at all similar to Lilianne's personality. It also speaks with an English accent, unlike Lilianne.