The Bent One

**The Bent One**, also known as the **Bent One**, the **Dark Lord of Thulcandra**, the **Archon**, the **Black Oyarsa**, the **Oyarsa of Tellus**, the **Hideous Strength**, or just the **Dark Lord** is the bent archon of Earth, known to humans as the **Devil**. He rebelled against Maleldil, and the good Oyarsa, and was thus quarantined on Earth and its moon, Sulva, beyond whose orbit his power rarely extends. Due to the Earth being bent, it has lost communication with the other worlds in the Field of Arbol, and is known as the "Silent Planet" or Thulcandra.

In *Out of the Silent Planet*, it is revealed that he destroyed much of the atmosphere of Malacandra, rendering the Harandra uninhabitable to the Hnau there apart from the Séroni.

A common misconception is that Edward Rolles Weston is possessed by the Bent One when he becomes the Un-man on Perelandra. Elwin Ransom knows that something evil has possessed him, probably a bent Eldil in alliance with the Bent One, but not necessarily the being himself. Ransom says to the Un-man, "*I know what you are. Which of them doesn't matter...*", suggesting it is not the Bent Oyarsa himself.

In *That Hideous Strength*, the National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments are controlled unknowingly by the Bent One via the Macrobes, who aims to complete his destruction of Earth and its biosphere.

The Bent One does not appear directly, but his presence is often felt through the novels.

## Influences

In British English, the word "bent" has connotations of corruption (and thus is also used in British English to connote homosexuality, but it is unlikely that this the primary intention of its use here).

Clive Staples Lewis was also influenced by Irish mythology in his works. Crom Dubh (the Dark Bent One) is a figure of evil in Irish folklore, connected to the evil deity Crom Cruach (the Bent Headed one) whose followers St. Patrick fought in the conversion of Ireland to Christianity.

## Quotations

* > "*It was not always so, once we knew the Oyarsa of your world—he was brighter and greater than I—and then we did not call it Thulcandra. It is the longest of all stories and the bitterest. He became bent. That was before any life came on your world. Those were the Bent Years of which we still speak in the heavens… It was in his mind to spoil other worlds besides his own. There was great war, and we drove him back out of the heavens and bound him in the air of his own world… There doubtless he lies to this hour, and we know no more of that planet: it is silent. We think that Maleldil would not give it up utterly to the Bent One, and there are stories among us that He has taken strange counsel and dared terrible things, wrestling with the Bent One in Thulcandra. But of this we know less than you; it is a thing we desire to look into.*” (the Oyarsa of Malacandra in Out of the Silent Planet)
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* >  *“Yes,” said Oyarsa, “but one thing we left behind us on the harandra: fear. And with fear, murder and rebellion. The weakest of my people does not fear death. It is the Bent One, the lord of your world, who wastes your lives and befouls them with flying from what you know will overtake you in the end. If you were subjects of Maleldil you would have peace.”* (Out of the Silent Planet)
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* > "*We shall fall upon your moon, wherein there is a secret evil, and which is as the shield of the **Dark Lord of Thulcandra**–scarred with many a blow. We shall break her. Her light shall be put out. Her fragments shall fall into your world and the seas and the smoke shall arise so that the dwellers in Thulcandra will no longer see the light of Arbol. And as Maleldil Himself draws near, the evil things in your world shall show themselves stripped of disguise so that plagues and horrors shall cover your lands and seas. But in the end all shall be cleansed, and even the memory of your **Black Oyarsa** blotted out, and your world shall be fair and sweet and reunited to the field of Arbol and its true name shall be heard again.*" (*That Hideous Strength*)
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> *“…Who is it by?”*
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> *“It’s by the Devil, if you want to know,” shouted Scudamour.*
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> *“Ah–,” said Knellie very slowly, “I see what you mean. Perhaps in a certain sense that is true of all art at its supreme moments. Didn’t poor Oscar say something like that–?”* (p52, *The Dark Tower*)
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## Non-canon

A non-canon source says that the Oyarsa of Thulcandra

> Focuses on flaws.
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## See also

* Adam and Eve
* Bible
* Eldil
* Glund-Oyarsa
* Lurga (Oyarsa)
* Maleldil
* Oyarsa of Malacandra
* Oyarsa of Perelandra
* Tower of Babel
* Viritrilbia (Oyarsa)

1. ↑ https://fantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Oyarsa