Atticus Thorn

Atticus Thorn is the main antagonist of the 2003 video game inspired by Disney's Haunted Mansion Attraction.

## General Information

### Quote

"Why settle with conquering the realm of the dead when the land of the living is practically within my reach? No more of this confusing 'Live, Afterlife, Afterdeath' nonsense! I'm afraid from now on, it's just death, death, and more death!""I have to go now but before I do, just know I'll be watching you."

## Background

Atticus Thorn is an ancient necromancer and leader of the evil cult known as the Order of Shadows. He has survived far beyond his natural life by "devouring the very souls he bends to his will" and uses evil spirits along with his followers to help him achieve his goal to cast all life on Earth into the fiery depths of the afterdeath. The Brotherhood of the Soul have mistaken his goal to be set on annihilating the afterlife, but in truth, Atticus is tired of the complex structure of life, the afterlife, and the afterdeath and thinks nothing of the fates of other souls but his own.

## Role in the game

The story of The Order, the Brotherhood, and the beacon is gradually planted out through monologues by Madame Leota and journal entries by Thorn.

In the twelfth century, the Brotherhood began to believe the Order would no longer trouble the world due to the Order's defeat years earlier. Thorn was determined to spread his influence across the world while the plague took more lives of the members of the Brotherhood. In the meantime, he had plans of using the holy Beacon of Souls to spread death throughout the world, but the Brotherhood would always hide it someplace else before the enemy could find it. During the Renaissance, Atticus set some of his focus on gathering more members after many of his previous ones left due to the discoveries and ideologies of the Renaissance having stripped them away from Thorn's ideologies.

In the 19th century, the Order found out that some remnants of the Brotherhood have hidden the beacon in a mansion that they just bought in the outskirts of New Orleans. His scouts also informed Thorn that there will be a powerful, oddly familiar aura that he must get rid of first. This aura turned out to be the gifted medium, Madame Leota. While the mansion's owners were away, Leota was coaxed into joining the Order who promised they would increase her power. Then, Brotherhood monks opened her up to the Order's true nature. From them on, Leota helped them fight off the lesser evil spirits until Thorn threw his tougher minions at her and ultimately concealed her within her own crystal ball where he hoped she wouldn't cause any more trouble. After that, the mansion became a desolate prison for the resident ghosts.

Eventually, the yellow fever had killed off the some members of the Brotherhood, "but not before they completed their task". Thorn now set his sights on at least the Beacon's soul gems which have been scattered and kept with Leota and five good ghosts. Thorn had an idea of having a naive living soul gather the gems for him and when Ezekiel Holloway got lured in with a faulty newspaper add sent out by the good ghosts, Thorn prepared to send out his minions in order to seclude his true intentions with the young man.

Thorn is first shown and mentioned in a brief flashback of him shutting off the lights in a room in the mansion and Leota explaining how he had corrupted many a soul in the estate and has erected magical barriers on the doors of every room which are each burdened with dangerous haunted magic. Every time Zeke cures a room where a soul gem is hidden(Minus the purple gem), Thorn appears to test his enemy's growing strength and disappears after taking too much damage.

On the final level, Zeke and Leota confront Atticus in a room called the Vault of Shadows and the Grand Master corrects Leota that he not just yearns to destroy the afterlife, but the living world as well. He snatches the Beacon from Zeke's hand and thanks him for collecting the soul gems along with the 999 shriveled souls kept in the beacon. After taking the gems and absorbing the souls, he tosses the empty beacon at Zeke's feet and transforms into a giant wormlike monstrosity. Zeke tries attacking with the empty lantern, but without its crystal core, he resorts to inserting Leota into the beacon and fights back as Thorn attempts to take this one more soul. When it appears that the monster is defeated, Thorn's tentacles break the ground and Zeke plummets into a lake of fire. Staying on the pieces of the floor, he finishes Thorn off who ends up sinking in agony into the lava, his centuries long life over at last.

## Gallery

Thorn's monster form after consuming the collected souls"Oh. The souls! Their suffering is beautiful! Powerful! But there's still room...""...For at least one more!"Zeke's first encounter with the Grand Master
## External Links

https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Atticus\_Thorn