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| “ | You're all witches and heretics, the same as us. You know what they do to witches, don't you? What do you think they'll do with you when there's no one left to burn? | „ |
| ~ Arnold Leach (regarding his disgust towards his former fellow humans). |
Arnold Leach was the secondary main antagonist of the 2007 first person shooter psychological horror videogame Clive Barker's Jericho.
Biography
Not much is known about Leech's life before going into the Jericho team.
Arnold Leach was recruited into the secret U.S. government agency known as Department of Occult Warfare in the year 1962 as an invoker. A scholar of arcane books and forbidden texts, Leach was always obsessed with ancient gods and beings older than man. Lacking scruples and a proponent of Machiavellian methods to achieve his goals, it soon became clear that, with the knowledge of the DOW at his disposal, Leach was a potential threat to the very people he was supposed to be protecting. After several botched operations, Leach was expelled from the department. Secretly, his elimination was authorized.
The assassination attempt was a slaughter. Hundreds of civilians died when Leach, perhaps warned of the attempt on his life, caused several space-time rips called "Breaches" in a crowded shopping center in Dallas. This created an opening for unspeakable abominations that spread chaos and destruction before the situation was brought under control. Several Jericho operatives were killed during the incident. For a time, it was believed that Leach had died during the ordeal or been dragged into another dimension.
Several years later, the Brotherhood of the Dark Rapture emerged. At first ignored as just another apocalyptic cult, it soon became clear that, with an investigation into the heinous acts committed across the globe by this group, Arnold Leach had returned and was revealed to be the founder and leader of this dangous cult due to the fact he was contacted by the Firstborn and he and his cult members became it's devoted servants. The Brotherhood of the Dark Rapture were responsible for gas attacks in Sydney, grisly murders in Baltimore, and a slew of vicious attacks against children and babies in London and schools elsewhere around the world. Leach's intentions with these attacks were unclear as they seemed to have no apparent purpose: no curses, no invocations, and no rituals to make them into sacrifices. Leach's goal was actually uncovered after the fact by Jericho operative Frank Delgado; who ventured a guess that with all the vicious attacks launched by the group, they were trying to build up a massive negative charge to be released at one moment (also called a "Karma Bomb"). In one moment, surrounded by his followers as they all committed suicide amongst great suffering, the dying Arnold Leach released all of the energy; tearing open the Breach once again.
Leach and his followers, who set up their own cult compound inside the ruins of Al-Khali (also known as Rub Al-Khali) returned inside the deep chasmal prison of Pyxis Prima (dubbed "The Box" by D.O.W.) far deep below the lost Middle Eastern city; though grotesquely malformed and disfigured. They attempted to thwart Jericho Team 23 as they made their way through the time-slices of the Box. He killed Captain Devin Ross.
He even posed as the Archangel Gabriel (often addressed to as "Seraphim Gabriel") to a group of Templar Knights during the 13th century Crusades, the same time that the mad Bishop Maltheus St. Claire led an ill-fated army of child soldiers to their doom at Al-Khali. Hetricked the Templars into believing that him and his select group of winged Brotherhood of the Dark Rapture members are seraphic angels from heaven serving "God" (the Firstborn).
At the end of the ordeal, as the 5 remaining members of the team did battle with the Firstborn, Arnold Leach appeared again. Only this time, he seemed to have realized the error of his ways and the consequences of his action; destroying the Firstborn and possibly himself at the same time by angrily flying at the Firstborn and carries it into a tunnel of pure energy.
Trivia
- He was voiced by Jim Cummings.