For the New version see Ancient Spirits of Evil (2011 TV series)
- "Why should we help you recover the Golden Sphere? For when you have it, you will try to free yourself from our power once more!"
- —Ancient Spirits of Evil in the episode The Heritage
The Ancient Spirits of Evil are evil spirits that Mumm-Ra summons in order to transform himself into Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living. In addition, he sometimes invokes the Ancient Spirits of Evil to transform himself from Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living to other forms to suit his purposes, such as the Netherwitch (The Astral Prison) or Diamondfly. The spirits are represented by four large statues surrounding the cauldron.
Mumm-Ra uses the following invocation to summon the spirits to perform his transformation:
- "Ancient Spirits of Evil,
- Transform this decayed form,
- to Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living!"
History[]
The Ancient Spirits of Evil are the source of Mumm-Ra's powers and they control him. They would provide Mumm-Ra with whatever knowledge they could give him.
When the Ancient Spirits of Evil were getting disappointed with Mumm-Ra's repeated failures and how he is losing his grip on Third Earth, they demand that he destroy the ThunderCats or else he, the Mutants, and the Lunataks would be forcefully removed from Third Earth, they make Ma-Mutt disappear as an example. When Mumm-Ra fails and the deadline passes, the Ancient Spirits of Evil trap Mumm-Ra in a crystal with his transport pyramid and cast him away from Third Earth. When the ThunderCats decide to colonize New Thundera to rebuild it after destroying Mumm-Ra's pyramid, the Ancient Spirits of Evil free Mumm-Ra and rebuild his cauldron on Third Earth. Since then, they would summon one of their minions to help Mumm-Ra in his plots to destroy the ThunderCats.
In "Leah," the Ancient Spirits of Evil summoned Mirror Wraith to help Mumm-Ra. After Mirror Wraith was defeated by the ThunderCats and ended up back at Mumm-Ra's pyramid, he had the Ancient Spirits of Evil deal with him. The Ancient Spirits of Evil teleported the Mirror Wraith away.
In "The Book of Omens," Mumm-Ra steals the Book of Omens from the ThunderCats and infiltrates it as the Ancient Spirits of Evil try to stop Lion-O with the Bull Statue falling apart in this attempt. When Mumm-Ra was losing to Lion-O and he calls upon them for help, the Ancient Spirits of Evil use Mumm-Ra's cauldron to summon their champion Pyron.
The Four Statues[]
There are four anthropomorphic statues that seem to correspond to the Ancient Spirits of Evil:
- Boar - resembles the hog men in Mandora the Evil Chaser
- Crocodile
- Bull - in Episode 61, Lion-O's Trial of Evil, the head of the Bull statue is broken off. It fell apart again when Lion-O tried to infiltrate the Book of Omens after it as stolen by Mumm-Ra.
- Vulture - in Episode 33, Dimension Doom, Mumm-Ra refers to this one as 'the Vulture King'
Mumm-Ra's interaction with the statues changes after his defeat at Fire Rock Mountain. The statues each hold out an arm and circle the cauldron, creating a lurid green glow while transforming Mumm-Ra to Ever-Living form. This imbues Mumm-Ra with additional power.
Other Forces of Darkness[]
- Nemesis - in Episode 12, |The Doomgaze; and Episode 34, Queen of 8 Legs; described only as a "force of darkness" and voiced by Earle Hyman
- Anuket, Anubis, and Apophis - in Episode 35, Sword in a Hole; summoned by Mumm-Ra while in proximity to the Black Hole
Other Ancient Spirits[]
- Ancient Spirits of War - in Episode 27, The Thunder-Cutter
- Ancient Spirits of Iron and Steel - in Episode 48, Mechanical Plague
- Ancient Spirits of the Dream World - in Episode 56, Dream Master
- Ancient Spirits of Good - in Episode 63, Mumm-Rana