Death Battle - Slenderman vs. Cabadath Research

Fear is human nature. Everyone has it; there are no exceptions. Some say that, in order to conquer your fears, you need to stare it right in the face and not back down. But what if the embodiment of fear HAS no face to look into? Then maybe you’re screwed.

Slenderman, the ghost of the forest…

And Cabadath, the “Tall Man”…

Today, I’ll be going over their strengths, weaknesses and abilities and compare the two to find out who would win…A “Death Battle”.

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Slenderman
Age: UNKNOWN
Height: Varies, but appears to be at least eight feet tall
Weight: UNKNOWN
Tentacles: MANY
Needs a tan: YES

In spite of popular belief, the Slenderman mythos spans back far further than his Marble Hornets incarnation. An old German folk tale from the 1600’s tells of a faceless, tall being that haunted a forest and killed people. It wasn’t until his Creepypasta stories that people starting paying more attention to him, and I think it’s safe to say that that was a real mistake.

Sightings of a tall, lanky, human-like being started showing up in photographs, always in the background but still standing out like a sore thumb. Legend has it that something terrible happens to both the photographer and whoever else may be unlucky enough to be in the picture in the first place. In spite of this, the popularity and notoriety of this being quickly rose.

Hearing the stories about this mythical “Slenderman”, people have wandered into the forest to try and catch a picture or a glimpse of him. Very few came back alive and those that did were driven insane. Ironically, the ones that got out were the lucky ones, as the ones that died apparently died horribly.

How Slendy Survives…
- Simply feeds on people.
- Invokes paranoia on prey.
- Makes sure people know about him.

Slenderman needs to feed, and his prey is anyone who is unlucky enough to wander into his forest. His favourite method of killing is to invoke a strange paranoia into his prey in order to ripen them up for a kill. Slenderman feeds on the fear of his prey, and in order to bring out the most in people, he needs to scare before he kills. And even still, that’s not the only way he survives…

People have gotten away from Slenderman in the past, but the truth may be that he’s actually LETTING some of these people go so that they’ll tell others about him. Slender: Arrival explains that Slendy simply needs to be in the minds of people in order to survive, so if everyone in the world suddenly forgot about him, he would waste away to nothing. After all, if no one knew about him, they wouldn’t willingly wander into his forest out of curiosity. It’s unknown how Slenderman chooses who he spares, but he obviously would need to mentally break them so badly that there’s no way they WOULDN’T tell anyone about what they saw in the forest.

Limbs
- Can create multiple tentacles from his back.
- Unknown if there is a limit to the number he can create at once.
- Can be used as weapons, extra limbs or just to scare.

Slendy’s arms and legs are long, and he has the ability to create multiple tentacles, each one sprouting from his back. These can be used as extra arms or legs, to instill extra fear into his prey, and there have been stories about his tentacles being used as weapons themselves. There isn’t a definitive number of tentacles Slenderman can create, but he can apparently create any number he needs.

The tentacles ironically help Slenderman with camouflage at the same time, because the long, wavy tentacles look like branches from afar, making Slendy blend in with the trees of his forest.

Slender Walking
- Allow for quick moving when not being viewed by anyone.
- Seems to resemble teleportation.
- Not very fast when being watched.

Slenderman’s main method of movement is something known as “Slender Walking”. Slendy is something like a Weeping Angel from Doctor Who. When looked at, Slender either doesn’t move at all or walks slowly towards his prey (likely another method to instill fear). However, the instant you look away, the Slender Walking kicks in. Turning away for only a second and looking back again gives Slenderman the time to move short distances, giving the impression of teleportation. This allows Slenderman to chase after his prey if and when they turn and run.

Proxies
- Former humans who Slenderman broke enough to enslave.
- Brought in to help with more-persistent prey.
- Brutal and animalistic.
- One proxy implied to be the protagonist of the original Slender.

Slenderman doesn’t work alone some times. If he sees it fit, Slendy will mentally break someone so far to the point where they lose all form of humanity and work for him in helping chase down prey that are giving Slendy a harder time than usual. These former humans are called Proxies, and if they see the prey, they will instantly start chasing them, but will stop in their tracks if a light is shone on them.

As stated, the Proxies tend to show up when Slenderman is dealing with someone more-persistent that he may be used to. They’re mainly used to soften the prey up to the point where Slenderman can swoop in to deal the final blow.

Slender: Arrival gives an implication that the protagonist of the original Slender game ended up becoming the Proxy that chases the player character. It just goes to show how far some people can get broken into servitude.

Weaknesses
- No armour.
- Only known to play offensive.
- Not fast when being watched.
- Relies on help when he has trouble killing.
- Mostly preys on kids and young adults.

Slenderman’s only form of protection is his suit, and while he’s normally shown that no one can seem to do him any physical harm, if someone were brave and stupid enough to get close, they may actually be able to hurt him.

Much like a Weeping Angel, Slendy isn’t very mobile when being watched. He’s at his fastest when no one is watching. In addition, while he can usually do things alone, he is known to rely on his Proxies to help him when he needs them.

Slendy’s prey usually consists of young people. Adults don’t seem to be able to see him, so this seems to imply that he has no interest in dealing with them.

Slenderman is as old as the trees in his forest and a silent killer in his own right. No one has been known to have ever hurt him, and he always seems to be the one to win in the end. Just goes to show that, sometimes, the face of fear is really just a blank slate…

(Slendy turns the screen to static…)

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Cabadath
Alias: “The Tall Man” and “The Arrogant Man”
Age: At least 2000 years old.
Height: Around eight feet tall.
Weight: UNKNOWN
Occupation: Servant of Chzo.
Needs a tan: YES

In 55 BC, there was a druid named Cabadath. In an attempt to help fend off attacking forces, Cabadath tried to summon a demon from a place called the “World of Magick” called Chzo, the god of chaos, and use it to fight off the attackers to protect his land. Unfortunately, Cabadath had underestimated the size and power Chzo wielded, and Chzo instead pulled Cabadath into his own dimension.

Luckily (or rather, unluckily) Chzo doesn’t kill its prey, and instead subjected Cabadath to centuries of torment and torture in order to break him into becoming a loyal servant, acting as a representative in the real world, one that could travel between worlds because Chzo was unable to make any movement itself.

Chzo imprisoned Cadadath’s soul into a tree; A tree that grew up around the wreckage of his own house. Cabadath’s connection to the real world was the wood of the tree, and when a lumberjack foolishly chopped down the tree in the 1500’s, he unwittingly unleashed Cabadath on the world.

Method of Killing…
- Pertains to the wood of his tree.
- Anyone who “defiles” the wood dies at Cabadath’s hand.
- Anything made from the wood of his tree can house Cabadath’s soul.
- Most-popular artifact is a crudely-made fertility idol.

Cabadath’s soul is tied to the tree, and should anyone cut the wood (such as to build something out of it), he will feel it. He will also make sure that whoever cut (or “defiled”) the wood will pay with their life, and his wrath will sometimes extend to whoever is around the guilty party at the time, depending on how frustrated he is. His anger increases the more times people defile his tree, and the angrier he gets, the more people he kills.

Since his tree was originally chopped down, many things were created from the wood. Anything from shipping crates to hotels to pianos were made from the wood, but the most-notorious example was that of an idol crafted by a rescued slave on a merchant ship, using wood from a shipping crate and a whittling knife. In turn, Cabadath struck down everyone on the ship. The idol is one of the few known artifacts in today’s time that is cursed by Cabadath, and it has been a bane in the side of Trilby, a famed gentleman thief, for a long time.

Weapon – Stave
- Four-pointed weapon on the end of a long pole.
- As tall as Cabadath is.
- Cabadath is able to wield it easily and with one hand.
- The pole itself is strong enough to impale a person.

Cabadath’s weapon of choice is a tall, bladed stave, one that’s as tall as he is and just as deadly as it looks. Despite its awkward looks, Cabadath is able to wield it easily and he really only needs one hand to hold it unless he’s killing someone with it. He’s shown that he’s capable of impaling someone VERTICALLY with the stave’s pole, and the stave itself makes for a very messy death when he starts grinding a victim’s insides up with it like paste.

The stave isn’t Cabadath’s only weapon, however. Cabadath is physically strong enough to kill someone with his bare hands (which could be part of the reason his hands are constantly red-stained in blood) and has shown that he can use his hand to impale someone. It’s not done to the extent of what Cabadath can cause with his stave, but it’s definitely no laughing matter either.

Movement
- Can turn invisible.
- Can seemingly teleport.
- Otherwise walks normally.

As shown when he killed the lumberjack that cut down his tree, Cabadath has the ability to become invisible, but it seems to be only a temporary thing, because he’ll become visible when it’s obvious that he’s there (like when someone he’s killing looks like he’s hovering in midair).

Cabadath can teleport, or at least seemingly appear out of nowhere, usually in front of behind someone he’s got his sights set on. If he sees someone trying to flee, one of Cabadath’s ways to corner them is to simply teleport directly in front of them.

Cabadath isn’t a very fast mover otherwise. When not using his teleporting, he simply walks at normal speeds towards his prey. Cabadath isn’t known for stealth when he’s seen. He simply sets his sights on someone and marches towards them, whether they’re looking at him or not. While he uses his teleportation to get around fast, if he thinks he’ll be able to catch his victim, he’ll simply stalk towards them.

Relationships
John DeFoe
- Loyal subject. Made a pact during DeFoe’s fatal beating.
- Almost never seen together.
- Cabadath prefers to work alone.
Trilby
- Escaped Cabadath by temporarily willing himself to death.
- Cabadath hates him with a passion.
- If Trilby is seen, Cabadath makes killing him a priority.

Cabadath has a few…Let’s say “interesting” relationships with a couple of people (not in that way, though). First off is John DeFoe, a deity that haunts people wearing a welder’s mask and apron and armed with a machete. DeFoe was beaten to death as a boy by his abusive father, but the father made a mistake of using the idol housing Cabadath’s soul to deliver the final blow. Cabadath decided to help the boy attain revenge on his father after his death, and made DeFoe a servant for Chzo, although it’s unknown if DeFoe was aware of his real purpose and was just in it for revenge against his father.

While DeFoe is technically an underling of Cabadath, the two never work together. DeFoe is only seen doing things alone and Cabadath has never worked well with others.

Trilby is a gentleman thief turned paranormal investigator that has history with both DeFoe and Cabadath, mostly thanks to the idol. Trilby escaped Cabadath before by willing himself to death (temporarily), causing the Tall Man to pass over him. Cabadath hates Trilby with a passion, but is also cautious around him, as he knows Trilby is one of the only people that is a threat to him. Because of this, Cabadath makes killing Trilby a priority, even if there are other people in the area that are actively trying to stop him. It seems like a obsession with killing Trilby before anyone else. When a corporation created an army of Trilby clones to keep Cabadath at bay, he would only go after the main hero if he had already killed all the Trilby clones around him first.

Weaknesses
- Incredibly arrogant.
- Obsession with killing Trilby.
- Used to playing offensive.
- Not very agile or fast.

Cabadath is confident and arrogant to a fault, earning him the second nickname of “the arrogant man”. Even when he was a druid, he was too confident in his own abilities for his own good, and that got him turned into a monster for his troubles. Even as a deity, Cabadath is cocky and arrogant, believing that nothing can hurt him.

His desire to kill Trilby borderlines on an obsession, as Cabadath will stop whatever he’s doing when he sees Trilby and make it a priority to kill him. He is also not very fast when not teleporting and prefers a direct approach as opposed to using stealth tricks to kill someone. He is also not very agile unless he uses teleportation. When he uses teleportation, he obviously becomes extremely agile.

Cabadath strikes fear into the hearts of whoever sees him. Even the Order of Blessed Agonies, a cult created to worship Chzo, is terrified of Cabadath. But Cabadath still serves Chzo after centuries of physical and mental torment, and makes it a personal mission to help Chzo achieve its goals in any way possible.

(“And he knew the name of the king…”)