| “ | What a miraculous device. I'm really getting the hang of this. I do believe that we are destined to be soul mates. | „ |
| ~ Hexxus while merging with the Leveler machine. |
Hexxus is the ancient dark entity, evil spirit of destruction and the main antagonist in 20th Century Fox's 1992 animated film FernGully: The Last Rainforest.
He is voiced by Tim Curry.
Overview
Hexxus is the ancient spirit of destruction and all that is toxic to nature. As such, his only goal is to cause destruction, decay and death in any way he can.
History
Origin
Hexxus first appeared on Earth in ancient times when the balance of nature shifted. He rose out of the Earth and rained down poison, destroying much in his wake and killing countless living creatures, including humans. He was finally defeated by the fairy priestess Magi Lune and imprisoned inside an enchanted baobab tree, which he remained trapped in for hundreds, if not thousands or possibly even millions of years.
FernGully: The Last Rainforest
The movie's main male protagonist Zak's superiors cut down the enchanted tree that Zak had unwittingly painted an X mark on marking it to be cut down. Unfortunately, this turns out to be the tree Hexxus is trapped in, and the cutting down and processing of the tree by the mobile lumbermill known as "The Leveler" releases him. Determined to get revenge upon the fairies of Ferngully (specifically Magi Lune) for imprisoning him and seeing the useful potential of the human machine, Hexxus decides to take control of it and use it to exact his plan.
He manipulates the lumberjacks and their tree leveler into tearing down the rainforest in the direction of the fairies by the next morning, thereby destroying the very fabric of their world. He does this under the vocal guise of their boss. Sometime latter, upon reaching Ferngully after having successfully destroyed much of the rainforest, Hexxus reveals himself. With Magi gone (having sacrificed herself to give her power to all the other fairies), it is up to Crysta and the other fairies to defeat him. He and the leveler chase the fairies and drive them into their home tree despite the several valiant efforts of Crysta, Zak, and Batty to stop him. Hexxus scares the lumberjacks off and takes control of the machine. Just as Hexxus is about to kill off all the fairies, Zak turns off the leveler, causing Hexxus to lose the energy he was gaining from it and disappear, but he soon rips out of the machine as a giant demonic skeleton creature made of oil that breathes fire.
Crysta seemingly sacrifices herself like Magi did by allowing Hexxus to devour her in one bite, and uses her powers from inside him to grow a seed she had with her to again imprison Hexxus (together with the leveler) inside a new tree with help from the fairies led by Pips. In the last moments, Hexxus can only watch in horror as the enclosing roots seal, thereby imprisoning him again, and hopefully forever.
Personality
Hexxus, true to all he embodies, could very much be considered the dark side of nature itself. At the core he relishes destruction and decay. He also shows to take great pleasure in the suffering and death of living creatures. However he also shows great fear when the situation turns against him, such as when Zak turned off the leveler and then when he was imprisoned once again.
He is an exceptional manipulator, able to influence others from the shadows. Hexxus also seems to show some admiration for humans, describing them as "wonderful creatures, so clever and useful". Possibly because he and humans share much in common, they both cause destruction to nature and its creatures. Nevertheless, he only sees them as a means to an end and, like all other living creatures, Hexxus takes great pleasure in their deaths just the same. He also has shown overconfidence, and enjoys taunting his prey, however his own arrogance is ultimately his greatest flaw.
Powers and Abilities
As the dark side of nature, Hexxus wields as variety of abilities and powers. He can change his form, which presumably depends on what type of poison or toxin he's currently feeding on, for example: Zak's spray paint (a shapeless blob of black ooze), the smog produced by the Leveler (a humanoid shadow of black smoke), the oil in the Leveler (a giant flaming skeleton-like being draped in ooze like a cape), etc.
He has been shown to be able to mimic seemingly any voice. He is also able to breathe fire, both in his Smoke and Fire forms. His Smoke form also appears able to cast bolts of acid. Hexxus can also possess machines, such as when he merges with the Leveler and also takes control of it once he scares off it's human operators. As stated by Magi Lune, Hexxus can rain down poison which presumably is his deadliest ability, for Magi states that during his first rampage the forest was "nearly destroyed and many lives were lost".
Aside from those abilities, Hexxus also seems to have some level of omniscience or omnipresence. Because as is hinted many times in his his song Toxic Love, it seems that, despite being imprisoned for countless years, Hexxus was still fully aware of how much humans and civilization had evolved over the millennia. Thus he, at least partially, understood the concept of machines, human greed, human work (shifts, breaks and all) and was aware of human things like shopping malls, cocktails, etc. Furthermore, he apparently also knew both the voice and even the personality of the lumberjacks' boss when he mimicked him over the intercom. The fact that he is a spirit further adds plausibility to this theory. Indeed, Hexxus himself has stated that he "sees the world and all the creatures in it".
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