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Afterlife? My dear, sweet Leota. Think you that my ambitions stop merely at death's door? Oh, no, no, no. 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 life, afterlife, afterdeath nonsense! I'm afraid from now on, it's just death, death, and more death! Bwahahaha!
„
~ Grand Master Atticus Thorn.
Atticus Thorn is the main antagonist of the 2003 video game The Haunted Mansion and its 2024 remaster, which is based on the Walt Disney World ride attraction and the film of the same name. He is an evil sorcerer and the leader of an evil secret society known only as the Order of Shadows, an ancient cult obsessed with destroying all that is good and just in the world. Atticus is also the arch-nemesis of Ezekiel Holloway.
He was voiced by Corey Burton, who also voiced the Ghost Host.
The symbolic insignia of Atticus Thorn's sinister cult known as the Order of Shadows.
Atticus Thorn is an old man born in the 14th century and a powerful sorcerer who is experienced in dark magic. He started the cult called the Order of Shadows somewhere around the early 1300s during the Dark Ages. They began recruiting new members, summoning demons, and stealing the souls of innocent people. Thorn's main purpose is to wipe out all of the benevolent forces in the mortal world.
They made an enemy with the Brotherhood of Souls, a group of monks who defied and battled the cult, using the power of their weapon known as the Sacred Lantern (also called the "Beacon of Souls" and the "Beacon of Light"), an ancient lantern-like artifact embedded with six magic jewels called "Soul Gems" which purifies good souls and guide them to the afterlife. They used the power of the Beacon to resist the dark powers of the Order. Atticus and the Order have hunted members of the Brotherhood in their mission to destroy them all and in their pursuit of the Beacon.
They chased and hunted them down throughout Europe including Spain and Italy. They even sent scouts and new recruits to be their eyes and ears. The Order of Shadows were not counting on the infamous Black Plague that had been ravaging some of the members of the Brotherhood of Souls while it swept across medieval Europe and killed half of the continent's population. Still, the pursuit was not over, due to the Inquisition that had been all over Europe and killing people accused of witchcraft and heresy.
Later in the 1800s, the Beacon of Souls carried and protected by the last members of the Brotherhood of Souls has made its way into the New World (Americas). The Brotherhood have acquired a safe haven in an estate on the outskirts of the fever-wracked bayous of Louisiana within the United States of America, and that estate is none other than the Gracey Manor, which is also known as the Haunted Mansion. Atticus and his followers have followed them to the mansion, but could not enter it because of a mystical aura that protects the mansion. It was fortune-teller Madame Leota who strengthens the aura created by the Brotherhood to prevent the Order from entering after she was briefly and temporarily "recruited" by the Order before she learned of their deception and their agenda as she refused to aid the Order anymore to get into the mansion. However, not all is well; the chaos of the American Civil War ensues and the city of New Orleans becomes engulfed in flames, while within the secluded estate, the Brotherhood and Madame Leota were fighting a losing battle against a siege of evil spirits unleashed by the Order, who were losing its own members to a fever that has claimed their lives and those of laborers they manipulated into finding a way into the mansion for them. The Soul Gems, which were also created by the Brotherhood of Souls alongside the Beacon, were scattered in an attempt to stall the dangerous plans of the Order. Atticus Thorn is able to enter the mansion and murdered Leota and destroyed the last of the Brotherhood of Souls while in the pursuit of the Beacon.
Later, Thorn has made the Gracey Manor cursed with his evil by inviting evil spirits, giants spiders, banshees, possessed knight suits of armor and gargoyles. Atticus Thorn has been alive for many centuries, which would either make him an immortal or undead by devouring the very souls of those he bends to his will. He has imprisoned Madame Leota and the other ghosts in the mansion as part of his twisted conquest of the afterlife. He discovers the arrival of a young aspiring author named Zeke Holloway who would be standing in his way as he soon entered the mansion under the pretext of what he thought as an offering of a caretaker job.
In the end, Atticus Thorn is defeated and destroyed by Zeke Holloway and Madame Leota together and fell into hot molten lava beneath the floor of the Order's secret lair known as the Vault of Shadows, using the magical Beacon of Light, after the mad cult leader absorbs the Beacon's Soul Gems and transformed into a demonic worm-like monster through his ritual and the choosing of his transformation when he said "in the end, the worm conquers all". This was the end of Atticus Thorn and the Order of Shadows.
The Tome of Shadows[]
There is an ancient book called the Tome of Shadows which chronicles the entire recorded history of both Atticus Thorn and the Order of Shadows who created it. There are six volumes of the Tome itself with the recorded events and encounters leading up to young Zeke Holloway's encounter and battle with the Grand Master of the Order Shadows, Atticus Thorn.:
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Volume I, Page 734: Years have passed since our defeat. But we do not sleep yet, and the plague has proven quite effective at reducing the Brotherhood's numbers. Folly it was to believe we were no longer a threat and to lower their defenses. For, as the shadows crawl eastward from the setting sun, so too does the reach of the Order - extending to encircle the Globe.
„
~ A.Thorn, Grand Master, The Order of Shadows, October 31, 1349 A.D.
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Volume II, Page 482: We must have the Beacon of Souls. The Brotherhood has been wise to keep it hidden from us. In secret it travels; from the mountains of Italy to the valleys of Spain, always just beyond our grasp. But our eyes and ears are everywhere, and the Beacon will be found. I will scour the ends of the Earth until it is located. So it is written, and so it shall be.
„
~ A. Thorn, Grand Master, The Order of Shadows, December 21, 1491 A.D.
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Volume III, Page 561: My pursuit of the Beacon continues. In the meantime, I've taken steps to make the Order more efficient, given the inconvenience of the Inquisition. Those who did not share my vision for the future are no longer with us. But with the wisdom contained in our ancient texts, I will replenish our numbers with a legion like nothing mortal men have ever seen.
„
~ A. Thorn, Grand Master, The Order of Shadows, March 21, 1642 A.D.
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Volume IV, Page 320: The Beacon has turned up in the New World. Remnants of the Brotherhood have acquired an estate on the outskirts of the fever-wracked bayous of Louisiana and have hidden it within. However, my scouts have sensed a powerful aura within the mansion that I will have to overcome. Though I cannot be sure, there is something familiar about this aura.
„
~ A. Thorn, Grand Master, The Order of Shadows, April 30, 1856 A.D.
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Volume V, Page 613: It is the fortune-teller who has been thwarting my minions at the mansion. How ironic that she now stands between me and my acquisition of the Beacon. She may be able to handle the lesser spirits, but she will not fare so well when I unleash the others. With the chaos of the war and the city in flames, I'm afraid the secluded estate is no place for a lady... to be alone.
„
~ A. Thorn, Grand Master, The Order of Shadows, June 21, 1862 A.D.
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Volume VI, Page 999: The fever has returned and claimed some of the laborers, but not before they completed their task. Recovery of the Beacon's Soul Gems is now imperative, as is the gathering of the final ingredients. The gems were scattered in an attempt to thwart me. My minions still have not able to deliver them. Perhaps there is another way.
„
~ A. Thorn, Grand Master, The Order of Shadows, September 21, 1878 A.D.
Trivia[]
An old portrait of Atticus Thorn.
A painting portrait that is thought to be a picture of Atticus Thorn himself, looks strikingly similar to the image of the mansion's evil butler Ramsley.
If you look closely and pay attention between the Presentation of Zeke and Final Text of Atticus Thorn Diary you will find that the Last note, was wrote one month after Madame Leota summons Zeke into the Mansion.
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Villains