Valak

### Goals

Drive its victims into committing suicide and murder (somewhat succeeded).Torment and kill Janet Hodgson.Lure and kill Ed Warren and to traumatize his wife Lorraine afterwards.Prevent others from knowing the truth of its crimes.Discourage Lorraine Warren from continuing her paranormal investigating careerTorment and kill Sister Irene (all failed).Use Maurice as his vessel to kill St. Lucy Siracusa's descendants to find the Eyes of St. Lucy (succeeded).Find the Eyes of St. Lucy to gain his angelic power back (succeeded)

### Type of Villain

Manipulative Demon

**Valak**, sometimes referred to as **The Nun**, is the main antagonist of *The Conjuring Universe*.

Valak is an extraordinary powerful demon that manifests as a demonic nun to both mock the faith of its enemies and to hide among them. It also holds the title as the archenemy of the Warrens, Lorraine Warren in particular, with their rivalry starting when she exorcised it from Maurice towards the end of its origin film. It was once an angel but rejected and sent to prison in hell by God.

Valak is the archnemesis of Lorraine Warren and Sister Irene.

It is portrayed by Bonnie Aarons as a nun and Javier Botet as the Crooked Man, with its voice provided by Robin Atkin Downes. Botet also played Tristana Medeiros in the *REC* film series, Mama in the film of the same name, Myrtui in The Other Side of the Door, the Leper, one of the many forms of It, in the 2017 adaptation of *IT*, KeyFace in *Insidious: The Last Key*, Slender Man in the 2018 film of the same name, and Dracula in *The Last Voyage of the Demeter*. While possessing the Abbess of St. Carta, it was portrayed by Gabrielle Downey.

exorcised out of Maurice by them, showing a vengeful side to itself.

Despite its abominable cruelty, Valak is shown to be really intelligent, well-organized and a good mastermind, being able to disguise itself as a nun to not be noticed in the abbey and she also succeeded in tricking the Warrens by making them think it was Bill Wilkins who possessed Janet instead of Valak itself. However, it’s trick was revealed when Bill Wilkins tells Lorraine that he wasn't the one who possessed Janet. Valak mostly put things down and pushed people back with a blast of breath. Even hidden in the shadows, Irene was the only nun who can see it.

Valak also has a silent and opportunistic personality. It likes to play with it’s adversaries before killing them, and only speaks when it is possessing someone, with even then saying few words. If it is in it’s nun form outside of a vessel, it doesn’t speak.

## History

#### Past

In ancient times, Valak was once an angel in Heaven who served God. However, a fellow angel named Lucifer rebelled against God and gathered other angels to become his followers, including Valak. After the rebellion, Lucifer, Valak, and the other angels were cast out of Heaven. Lucifer became Satan and Valak and the other angels who were cast down became demons. In the process, Valak was not only stripped of its status as an Angel, but was also stripped of its special powers it had as an Angel.

### *The Nun*

In this prequel, it is revealed that the Cârța Monastery was built somewhere in the country of Romania by a duke centuries ago. Becoming obsessed with dark magic and Satanism, the Duke attempted to summon a demonic force from the catacombs only to be killed by the members of the Vatican who then sealed the rift with the Blood of Christ. Hundreds of years later, the monastery was bombed heavily during the events of World War II, releasing the same evil spirit from its imprisonment. The demon had since taken the form of a nun as a means of blending with the other nuns as well as to mock their faith. Throughout the years, nuns continuously prayed in communion to combat the evil, but in vain as while the rift remained open, Valak was free to walk freely around the monastery every night, whilst killing them one by one.

By 1952, Valak had slaughtered all of the nuns, leaving only two survivors. After murdering one after she retrieved the key to the relic, the other, Sister Victoria, commits suicide in order to prevent Valak from claiming her as a host. Sometime after her death, the Vatican tasks Burke and Sister Irene to investigate. Valak manipulates the characters throughout the film ranging from creating mass illusions with the ghosts of the slain nuns to weakening Sister Irene and tormenting Father Burke by taking the form of a young boy who had died from a botched exorcism at his hands. Valak then buries Father Burke alive before luring Sister Irene to become possessed. When the catacombs began to flood, Valak tries to strangle Sister Irene to death. While inspecting her for any vital signs, Sister Irene spits the Blood of Christ onto Valak, burning it severely. The rift is then resealed. However, this would prove to be in vain as just before being banished, Valak had managed to latch itself onto Frenchie, a French Canadian otherwise known as Maurice who is revealed to have an inverse cross branded on the back of his neck. This segues to the original *Conjuring* film during a lesson the Warrens were giving about demonic possession. Valak spent years posing as Maurice before being outed by Ed and Lorraine Warren, who then had priests try to exorcise the demon. Before they could, however, Valak willingly left Maurice (an act which caused his death several years later) and cursed Lorraine to have visions of Valak and Ed's death as revenge.

### *The Nun II*

Sometime in between the events of *The Nun* and *The Conjuring 2*, Valak returns with a vengeance against Sister Irene. It is revealed that right before Sister Irene banished Valak back to Hell, Valak tethered himself to Maurice in order to escape banishment. Using Maurice as a pawn, Valak scoured the catholic boarding school in search of a lost ancient relic known as The Eyes of Saint Lucy. Upon finding out what the demon was after, Sister Irene found the relic and dug it up, only for Valak who was possessing Maurice to attack her and take the relic.

After obtaining the relic his eyes glow yellow with his full Angelic powers back, Valak now has accesses his full potential again, and made quick work of Sister Irene and her allies. However, through deep belief and conviction, Sister Irene and her new nun apprentice were able to wash Valak in wine turned into Christ’s blood, and set him on fire. They also freed Maurice from Valak’s possession in the process. It is currently unknown if Valak was sent back to Hell or not, but it is likely he will eventually return, never stoping for vengenace against Sister Irene.

### *Annabelle: Creation*

Sister Charlotte shows Mr. Mullins a picture of herself in Romania with three other nuns. Mr. Mullins asks who the nun in the background of the photograph is. Sister Charlotte looks at the nun, revealing Valak to be standing behind her in the picture. She tells him that she does not remember who the "woman" is as she never met her.

In a post-credits scene, Valak is seen roaming the candlelit halls of the Cârța Monastery in Romania in 1952. This was however just a teaser for the (at the time) upcoming spin-off featuring Valak.

### *The Conjuring 2*

Valak first appeared during a séance to determine whether or not a demonic presence was truly responsible for Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdering his family on November 13, 1974. Whilst paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren relieved the murders, Valak lured her to the basement in the form of a demonic nun in order to blaspheme her faith in Catholicism. Knowing how special Ed was in her life, Valak showed her a vision with Ed being impaled. Valak had continued to haunt Lorraine since then.

After Ed was compelled by a dream to paint Valak in its nun form, tormented Lorraine with another vision of Ed being impaled, using the painting to its advantage, as well as blaspheming the song *Hark! The Herald Angels Sing* to indicate its arrival.

Later in the movie, the Hodgson family, a British household living in the United Kingdom, starts experiencing paranormal activity. On top of that, Janet Hodgson, the youngest daughter, becomes possessed by the spirit of Bill Wilkins, the previous owner of the house the Hodgson family is living in. When the Hodgsons retreat to their neighbor's house, Valak appears as The Crooked Man when it transformed from a dog before Billy Hodgson and attacked him before turning into a shadow, quoting the Crooked Man's own rhyme with some sinister twists to it. When the shadow reveals itself to the family, it appears to be Janet possessed by the demon who continues to present itself as the character. This makes the Hodgson family call for help and Ed and Lorraine take the case.

When Ed and Lorraine Warren eventually come close to outing Valak, the demon has Janet deliberately throw furniture about in front of a camera, leading to all the paranormal investigators dismissing it as a hoax and leaving. Seizing the opportunity, Valak possesses Janet and chases the other Hodgson's out of the house, preparing to sacrifice Janet. On the train back, Lorraine has a vision of Bill Wilkins himself, who reveals he wishes no harm upon the family, that Valak had manipulated him into tormenting the family, to prevent her and everyone else from seeing the true perpetrator and not letting him move on into the afterlife.

Soon after they discover that Valak is behind everything, Ed and Lorraine return to the Hodgson residence, only to find all of the Hodgsons, except for Janet, locked outside. A lightning strike hits a nearby tree, leaving a jagged stump resembling the object that impaled Ed in Lorraine's first vision. Ed ventures into the house alone but Valak causes the pipe to burst open, partially blinding his eyes with steam. Valak (in the form of the Crooked Man) appears before him in Billy's tent and tries to kill him by the umbrella, but fails because of Ed's resistance. Ed eventually finds Janet standing near the window and getting ready to commit suicide. Ed grabs Janet in time but finds himself holding onto a shower curtain being torn from its rings due to Ed and Janet's combined weight. Soon, Lorraine enters the room herself. She finds and confronts Valak (now as the nun) and successfully condemns Valak back to Hell.