Heart of Darkness

## Overview

The Heart of Darkness is a dreamstone. It's a large black diamond.

### History

After learning about their father's fate Lladiz tried to commit suicide in the intrinsic Darkness. Archangel Gabriel managed to talk her down, but the Darkness started to whisper to them. After some time Lladiz came back with questions. When they left, they only had more questions, was also more powerful and paranoid than before, having taken a large, mysterious black diamond into their possession.

First Lladiz took it to Gemworld, where she chose Kaala, a young noble from House Diamond, to bestow with unstable power and appointed them as their prophet under a new Enochian title of Galid. The Galid began a spiritual movement among the Gemworlders. This religion set Lladiz as its god and was called the "Light of the Eclipse" or the "Church of the Black Diamond".

In a short time, the religion gained enough traction that it had a significant following on the western half of the continent. During an eclipse, the followers of this church gathered together for a massive festival where the Galid claimed it was time to overthrow the nobles and sacrifice noble blood to Lladiz's name. The violence that followed created the War of the Eclipse in which the other Houses banded together against the Galid and the followers of Lladiz. After years of violence and countless loss of life, the princess of House Amethyst slew the Galid in combat, putting an end to his claims of immortality.

Later she gave it to Exoristos when she and the Demon Knights were in Hell. When the Amazon found that she grew more violent afterward and figured the diamond in her possession was the issue. She left the gem with Al Jabr, who agreed to study the magical gem. What became of the gem after this is unknown but it somehow ended up in Lladiz's possession again, though not before the gem's corrupting influence had taken root among Al Jabr with his experiments with the black diamond leaving a residual effect on his hidden stronghold of 'Eth Alth'eban.

Lladiz showed up in the Homelands' Londontown, following a period of restructuring following a failed Sheeda invasion. Likely inspired by having seen the effects of Al Jabr's experiments with the black diamond, Lladiz approached a number of Fable scientists about working with the gem. Lladiz chose Dr. Jekyll with the black diamond.

The black diamond made its way to Earth in the possession of Dr. Jekyll's maid. When the unnamed Fable eventually grew old and died due, the gemstone was inherited by her mortal descendants where it would fall into the possession of serial killer Bruce Gordon. Upon his execution, without any relatives coming forward to claim his personal effects, Blackgate Prison dropped off the murderer's things at the office of his public defender, Jean Loring.

Loring never opened the box until years later when she was in the process of decluttering her life after a bad break-up. The moment she touched the diamond to appraise if it was real, she was visited by Lladiz who bestowed upon her the power of the Galid or, if using English, the "Eclipso". Only after accepting the full power of the gemstone, did Jean Loring learn its name and its origin. Lladiz told her it was the dreamstone known as the Heart of Darkness.

Following this, as the villain Eclipso, Loring threatened the world with chaotic violence, prompting the Justice League to take action. In the course of an early battle, the gemstone was lost and Loring was arrested. The Heart of Darkness was eventually found by the Felix Faust who hired the Legion of Doom to steal it from a private collection for him. Though the Legion's theft was foiled by the Hawks, Faust managed to find the Heart of Darkness among the debris from the battle.

On Thanksgiving Day, 2009, Faust revealed an apparatus he had created which allowed him to safely handle the Heart of Darkness and use its power to affect the minds of the people of Midway City. His efforts were interrupted by Hawkman, Hawkwoman, and the original Hawk and Dove. However, the massive amount of energy coming from the Heart of Darkness drew the attention of a recovering Jean Loring from her asylum cell a great distance away.

Loring, longing to hold the Heart in her hand one more time, called upon Lladiz. Much to the surprise of the Arkham staff, Loring disappeared from her cell moments later only to appear in Midway City transformed into Eclipso where she defeated the heroes and reclaimed the Heart of Darkness.

The Heart of Darkness is currently in Jean Loring's possession.

## Trivia and Notes

### Notes

* In the comics the Heart of Darkness stored the essence of Eclipso, a powerful cosmic entity representing the wrath of God.
	+ Kaala is Eclipso in *New 52*.
	+ Bruce Gordon is the first Eclipso.
	+ Jean Loring is Eclipso in the Day of Vengeance.
	+ Galidis the original Spirit of God's Wrath.
	+ Dr. Jekyll is a character from the *Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde*.

## Links and References

* Appearances of the Heart of Darkness
* Item Gallery: Heart of Darkness

1. ↑ Oracle Files: Carter Hall (3/3)
2. ↑ NFX: Lladiz