The Smiler (Apolafsi)

## General

The Smiler, real name Apolafsi, was a Higher Being of dreams commonly referred to as a demon. He was a recurring antihero most of the time in other arcs but he was the main antagonist of the Smiling Wars.

## Origins

Way, way back in time. Before the kingdom of Hallownest even existed, the dream realm and nightmare realm were one. Together they were referred to as *“The Minds”*. The higher being in charge of the minds was known as Apòlafsi. Apòlafsi, for the most part, was a peaceful being. He had his own followers known as *“the dreamers”* and he led them for years, giving them prophetic dreams and peace. However, one day, *the Minds* was split into two - the Dream Realm and the Nightmare Realm -thanks to the separation of the Nightmare Heart and the Radiance.

Apòlafsi was incredibly angered at this. He began taking his anger out on his subjects, giving them nights of twisting, vivid nightmares and sleepless nights. Eventually however, after the dreamers had realized that their pleading had no effect, they started leaving one by one. Having absolute control over the mind of every bug on the face of Gran-Nest, Apòlafsi caused irreversible damage to their psyche, stripping away every bug’s free will and sentience. *The Dreamers*, terrified at what their deity had become, fled. However, this didn’t stop Apòlafsi from mass murdering any bug belonging to the Dream Realm and Nightmare Realm, including the entirety of *The Dreamers.*

Eventually, the murders caught the attention of several gods. *The Lord of Shades, The Radiance,* the god of lakes, and the god of frost. A battle broke out between all these gods and Apòlafsi. Apòlafsi’s massive essence and mental attacks were incredibly powerful. He was able to take out the two unnamed gods of lakes and or frost and even heavily damage *The Radiance*, as she did not fully understand how her own powers worked during that time. However, the shade lord’s power proved far too much for Apòlafsi to bear as he was a cosmic Paragon Being much more powerful than him. A torrent of void swallowed the Smiler and sealed him away into an egg-like void construct for an almost-eternity. He was in captivity for long long years...

## Storyline

### Iggy Arc

...Until one of Iggy's personalities began his experiments, that is. Iggy’s experiments led to this egg of sorts to be thinned out enough for the Smiler to escape. The Smiler then took over Iggy’s body through his dreams. When the Smiler possessed him, it deleted many of his memories - leaving only a few notions about who to trust and who to hate.

Once Iggy travelled through the areas with high significance to him, his memories began flooding back. The Smiler did not like this, so he altered his memories to be much more vile. Iggy travelled throughout the rest of Hallownest to remember his past, recovering his memories and making new ones. It was like this until a few events took place such as the first visit of the Discarded Village, Anise's stay at the hospital, and the visit of Iggy's old prison made by husks. During these events Iggy was able to temporarily fight back against the Smiler's complete control. The Smiler commended Iggy for his attempts at freedom and gave up his control over Iggy's dreams - transferring himself to Hiro'Tal instead.

Iggy fell into a deep sleep. He dreamt of the Library burning down, he dreamt of the Smiler walking away from him towards Hiro. Then he woke up at the hospital where Hiro'Tal possessed by the Smiler was waiting there for him. He had a long discussion with "Hiro" about Apolafsi's plans and he was put right back to sleep (after getting Lucid Nightmare'd by Apolafsi of course).

## Abilities

Lucid Nightmare - Apolafsi uses essence to morph the victim’s dreams and reality, creating lifelike illusions. Any damage or wound dealt to the victim while this is active will cause real pain, however, once the effect is over, all wounds and damage sustained will cease.

The Mark - Apolafsi can leave a "mark" on whatever it touches. The mark allows it to multiply the effectiveness of all its powers and command the body of whoever is marked. He could literally say “kill yourself” to a marked victim and they would listen.

He can also communicate through essence and shoot concentrated blasts of dream and nightmare essence.