- "How surprising. Are you at your wits' end because you are all weaklings? This is truly a country of idiots. All the children that I sired turned out to be nothing but useless."
- - Decem Hougan to his subject.
Decem Hougan (デケム・ホウガン) was the last king of the Elf Country.
Appearance
Decem Hougan was said to have heterochromia eyes. He had pale skin and white king hair. In his head he wore a golden circlet with branches that emerged from behind his skull. Decem was dressed in a red cape, gold handless gauntlets and a gold plated skirt. He wore a green shirt though much of his chest was exposed.
Personality
Decem had a haughty and somewhat of an extremely narcissistic personality. He possessed an enormous ego and respects none except for himself. He held no loyalties to his nation or his people, indulging himself in excess of lust and luxury even in the face of annihilation. His arrogance led to a severe sense of delusion, having rendered him to become seemingly out of touch with reality. Due to these traits, he had displayed himself to have little to no care for the welfare of the nation and whatever else that might happen to it and his people due to the course of his actions of little concern to him, having instead focused his time impregnating elven women to produce children.
By doing so, his main objective was to create an army of his own bloodline so he might someday rule the world in the near future. However, none of his children inherited even a fraction of his power, causing him to see only disappointment in them. Because of this, he had shown willingness to abandon them and his entire nation. Even with the one child that inherited his power, he viewed her as little more than his property.
For his other children that he sired and women that he satisfied his lust with, he was wholly incapable of feeling genuine love for them and only sees them as expendable tools. Those that do not meet his impossible standards of strength were not regarded as his kin, and seen as weak.
His narcissistic attitude made it impossible for the elf to see any fault of his actions, preferring to project blame unto others, while boasting his actions to be generous and true. Though it only failed to hide a callous, self-deluded, despicable creature.
After finally facing a foe that utterly destroyed his summon, experienced pain and rendered him weak, Decem's pride still refused to accept it and instead chose to behave as a coward and flee. In his mind during his defeat, it displayed that Decem was still persistent in his dream of world conquest. Despite his defeat by his grandchildren, he still hoped to rebuild a new kingdom using the knowledge he gained from the battle and the discovery of his bloodline's potential. However he appeared to lack the ability to prioritize as his mind when under stress. Under this condition Decem's normally calculating façade vanished, but replaced by a fearful man too scatterbrain to make a coherent list of agendas, on whether to find food, bring women, collect treasure, etc. Though the experience taught him that he was no longer the strongest elf.
But still when faced with death, Decem pride was ever present as he was unable to comprehend that the debauch life he paved was the result of his demise to his dying breath.
Background
In the past, around a century and some decades ago, Decem tricked a woman known as the "trump card" of the Theocracy, effectively capturing and taking her prisoner. The Decem Hougan would later chain her up and rape her, and she ended up pregnant with his child. Unfortunately for him, the Black Scripture came to her rescue before she could give birth. This incident precipitated the decades-long war between the Slane Theocracy and the Elf Country.
The Elf King would have another confrontation, a hundred years ago, with the forces of the Theocracy in the form of the Holocaust Scripture which saw its near destruction at the elf’s hand.
Chronology
The Craftsman of Dwarf Arc
- Main article: The Craftsman of Dwarf Arc
Decem Hougan is approached by a former mistress about the dire situation their country faces at the hands of the encroaching forces of the Slane Theocracy. Despite her pleas, Decem ignores her, refusing to lift a hand to save what he considers a nation of weaklings. After dismissing her from his presence, he muses to himself that the Elf Country is over. Thinking back, he remembers the child sired from a woman in the Theocracy. He decided, once the Theocracy destroys his nation, he will go to its capital and reclaim his child.[1]
The Half Elf God-kin Arc
- Main article: The Half Elf God-kin I and The Half Elf God-kin II Arc
At the time when 40,000 troops of the Theocracy began advancing on the elven capital, Decem Hougan's young daughter Rugi was sent to confront them in hopes that the battlefield would awaken her latent talent. To aid her, he lent the girl his prized bow and quiver that belonged to his father. The Elf King was nearby when his daughter used his heirloom against the Theocracy forces, and was aware of members of the Holocaust Scripture in the area. She was killed by Schoen, the vice captain of the Scripture, and While Decem could have prevented her death, he did not and was not sadden, only intervening when the assassin attempted to loot his property. The king then proceeded to kill the vice captain by summoning an entity called Behemot.
Later the Elf King returned to his royal castle at the capital where he was met by Myugi, his mistress and the mother of Rugi. His mistress inquired about their child, and he nonchalantly told her that her child was killed. Uncaring towards her distress, Decem informed her to prepare for bed to make another child . When returned from the treasury after storing his possession he found out from his servant that the woman had committed suicide by jumping from the balcony. The king was not moved by her death, and mistakenly believed it was the woman's way of apologizing to him for producing a worthless child. Decem then ordered his servant to send him his daughters so he can bed them, and if they were still too young to also bring his wife. The other man having no choice was forced to comply with the debauch elf's wishes.[2]
During the assault of the elven capital, Decem was unconcerned by the battle and refused to aid his people, preferring to stay in his castle being pampered by his concubines. However he detected intruders in his castle, near the treasury and went to see for himself. There he saw two dark elf children with heterochromic eyes. Though despite having no recollection of breeding with any dark elf, the eyes convinced him that they were of his bloodline. He was thrilled by the level of strength they possessed when he tested them out using his killing intent, making him come to the conclusion that they could be his grandchildren, and that while his children would not possess the level of his strength, subsequent generations would bear fruit.
Since the Elf Country was done for, the Elf King wanted to take the twins away and openly declared his intent to breed with Aura when she came of age and invited Mare to participate in the debauchery in order to produce more offspring. That statement was the last straw for Ainz Ooal Gown who was hiding via [Perfect Unknowable] and using magic to buff himself in preparation for a fight. Decem was punched in the face for his disgusting attitude. The Elf King recovering from the attack was shocked at seeing Ainz, but was fooled into thinking that the undead was a summon of his 'grandchildren' through necromancy.
Though he was attacked the Elf King was more happy to witness the power of his descendants and accepted the challenge in fighting their 'summon', but calling forth Behemot using the earth carpet in the castle chamber. The Sorcerer King and Elf King then battled each other, with the latter being on the offensive whilst the undead was on the defensive. Throughout the duel, Decem was asked a series of questions which the elf answered to indulge his 'grandchildren' though after he had no further information, Ainz stopped playing weak and acted serious. It was revealed that the Overlord feigned weakness in order to fool his opponent in wasting his mana against and just when Decem was planning on stealing Aura and Mare, Ainz displayed his power but easily destroying Behemot to the shock of Decem. He was dealt with a hideous blow to his chest forcing Decem to actually feel pain for the very first time in his life.
Decem in seeing the impossibility of the defeat of his powerful summon and feeling pain for the first time was given a chance to surrender by the Sorcerer King in exchange for his gear. Incapable of accepting his defeat, the Elf King fled for his life, despite Ainz's and Aura's attempt to stop him. Running back to his chambers, Decem fearfully tried to plan in thoughts in escape and planning for the future. He intended to leave the country and rebuild a new kingdom. He planned to use his strength to take what he wanted and possible look for some dark elves in order to create a new bloodline.
To make preparations for his flight, he went to his chambers to retrieve some supplies. When he returned to his quarters he found Antilene Heran Fouche waiting with his among the slaughtered remains of his mistresses. At first thinking she was the mother of the twins, he tried to flee, but was stopped by Antilene who then pinned him down on his chest. Whilst dying he thought who Antilene was and the dark elf twins, thinking that the older woman was his child and the twins were perhaps his grandchildren, when the former asked what he was talking about, caused Decem to maybe consider that the elves were not direct descendants of his, but another family branch created by his father. Experiencing more pain then ever, Decem could not fathom as to why he was in this situation, unable to comprehend why he deserve such spite before being crushed to death. However he was revived due to a spell he casted previously against Ainz, forcing Antilene to kill the elf again.
Decem's corpse was then kicked towards Mare who had come to capture Decem for Ainz. He dodged the impromptu projectile, and it caused a mess against the corridor wall. After Mare defeated Antilene, he brought her to Ainz and Mare and informed them of Decem's death. Ainz figuring out that the elf still had some valuable items on him wanted to retrieve them, decided to first prioritize securing Antilene at the Frozen Prison. Afterwards he then planned to instruct Pandora's Actor to do the retrieval for him at the elven capital.[3]
Abilities and Powers
The Decem Hougan is the monarch of his nation. Thus, he has full authority over its people and resources. The Decem Hougan has yet to reveal his true strength in battle, but according to his subjects, he is more than capable of dealing with the Holocaust Scripture. In fact the Slane Theocracy view him as an existence that exceeds the Realm of Heroes.
It also seems that Decem is capable of seeing through concealment spells such as [Invisibility] and [Silence] though this was not due to any magic, but his own monster-like perceptions. Though later its revealed that he uses magic to sense vibrations of those using low-level concealment magic.
In addition he seems to have the ability to call powerful summons as he conjured a beast known as Behemot which easily disposed of the vice captain of the Holocaust Scripture with just one punch. The elemental as it seems is able to be summoned using the earth, which is why Decem made an earthen carpet in his castle for easier access.
Decem appears to have an exceedingly resilient physical body, as he was able to take a punch from Ainz, coming out with a bloody nose with minimal pain. In fact the only time that he felt actual pain was when [Reality Slash] cut deep into his chest, and yet still was able to survive. Additionally he took an arrow to the leg and was still able to run.
According to Ainz estimate when he had analyzed his MP and HP Bars, he has the same HP bar as that of a level 70 player and his MP Bar is about the same range as that of Shalltear Bloodfallen, in addition he is able to summon monsters that are stronger than himself such as the Behemot which in reality is a Primal Earth Elemental.
This is normally not possible but it is suspected that due to his particular build and specific job classes he is able to do so but in exchange the stronger summons will continue to drain his mana for as long it is summoned. Which in total makes his total level to be around 70+ but less than 80. He is suspected to be a Backline Druid a similar type of druid as Mare.
Decem was able to teleport though it was limited to teleporting to the elemental he was linked with. When the summon was destroyed he could not use it anymore. Additionally he was able to use flight magic. Though for all his abilities he lacked skills in forestry and did not learn any spells in the production class.
Job Classes
- Druid
- High Druid
- Summoner
- Elementalist (Earth)
Active
- Aspect of Elemental: An 8th tier elemental spell that provides immunity towards bad statuses like poison and disease. Other than that, it also nullified critical hits and attacks with similar effects.
- Fly: A 3rd tier spell that allows themselves to achieve flight.
- Green Chain: A type of binding spell.
- Shining Burst: A 7th tier area-effect attack spell.
- Tempest: A 9th tier spell that allows one to create intense storms with high velocity rain and winds that can do damage to lower level opponents and block an enemies vision as well as counter other certain vision obstruction spells.
- Tremor Sense: A 4th tier spell that allows one to track an opponents movements trough the ground and floors.
- Mercy of Shorea Robusta: A 10th tier spell that has 3 known effects, it provides minimal self healing, allows one to resistance instant death attack spells and skills and allows one to revive themselves when hp reaches zero and minimal hp when revived with no level drain provide one died due to enemy attacks.
Main Equipment
- Unnamed Magic Item that resists fear.
- Unnamed Magic Item to counter Time effects.
- Large Bow
- Quiver: A Magic item that never runs out of arrows.
- Druid Staff: A magic item that can produce fruit.
Relationships
Antilene Heran Fouche
Antilene is the king's estranged bastard daughter who was conceived by her mother after the Decem Hougan raped her. He holds no emotional attachments towards her, seeing her as an asset or a tool to further his ambition in conquering the New World. Upon meeting her for the first time, Decem did not recognize her. Though at the time he was fleeing for his life and assumed she was the mother of Aura and Mare. When she asked who he was talking about made him wonder if she was from another branch of his family in order to explain her powerful strength. While being crushed to death, he could not fathom as to why he deserved such treatment, refusing to admit to his wrongdoings to his dying breath,
Rugi
Rugi was a child he sired with an elven woman named Myugi, though never cared to remember her name. The Elf King wanting her to grow stronger removed her from her mother's arms and placed her into the midst of battle against the Slane Theocracy. While she was indeed stronger than her mother, she was still regarded as useless and a failure. The Elf King spared not sorrow for her death at the hands of the Holocaust Scripture, and was annoyed that she wasted his time.
Myugi
A woman he bedded with to produce one of the newest progeny. Though was severely disappointed in the girl and mother. He expressed no interest in Myugi and was only mildly surprised when the female was not cowering from him. Rather than admit she was a strong woman who had overcome her fear of him, he chalked it to being due to having exhausting himself from his brief skirmish with the Holocaust Scripture. He cared naught for her devastation of when he informed her of their daughter’s death only prioritizing his need to have her serve him in bed to produce a new spawn.
Even when he learned about her act of committing suicide the king failed to conceive that he was responsible for her mental breakdown and believed that she had been murdered. Though he settled to believing that she killed herself as a way of apologizing to him for producing a weak daughter which he then forgave her, as he was a generous king.
Elf Country
Despite being its Monarch and Ruler, Decem bears little to no care, concern or empathy for his nation or his people. As seen where he purposefully sparked the war between the two nations in his endless hedonism and selfishness to satiate his immense lust and desire for strong children by kidnapping and raping the Theocracy's Ace. And later despite having the power to do so, Decem has shown to put no actual real effort in assisting his people on the on going war between the Theocracy, a war that he himself started, and has instead focused completely on "training" his existing children by sending them out into battle and see if the experience awakens any of his inherited power in them and has instead focused on making more children for his "great cause."
As seen from his inner thoughts, Decem is completely apathetic to the plight of his nation and is already making plans on what to do after the war with the Theocracy, with him fully expecting his kingdom to lose the war.
Due to the sorry state of affairs of the Elf Country, Decem earned great resentment by his own people which he is oblivious to. The only reason why none openly rebelled was because they knew they had no chance against the Elf King.
Slane Theocracy
Originally he and the Slane Theocracy had a cooperative agreement between him and his country that benefited them both. But due to his hedonism, Decem himself broke this relationship by kidnapping and raping the Theocracy's strongest God-kin.
Effectively sparking a war of retribution between the two nations that has caused much bloodshed and suffering on both sides, especially to the elves due to them now being enslaved by the Theocracy. The Six Cardinals of the Theocracy themselves regards him with absolute disgust and see him as a criminal and "bastard" due to his actions.
However despite his deplorable actions against the Theocracy and the hostile relations between his country and theirs, due to his immense ego, arrogance, delusional self-entitlement/importance and selfishness, Decem actually believes that he could just casually go up and ask the Theocracy to "return his property" after the war between the two nations and is completely oblivious to the contempt the Theocracy has for him.
King Hougan
Decem greatly admired his father who he viewed as a strong being and impressed him with the ideology that elves were the chosen race. To Decem, his father's existence was proof that elves could even defeat Dragon Lords and were meant to conquer the world. His admiration was great that he refused to allow humans to steal his father's memento. Though based on his privileged and self-entitled upbringing, it seems that his father neglected to properly discipline his son in aspects such as humility or decency.
Aura Bella Fiora
Upon seeing Aura's eyes and her ability to withstand his presence, Decem mistakenly assumed that she was his grandchild as he did not recall ever bedding with any dark elves and concluded that his worthless bastard children must have interbred with the dark elves. Decem was ecstatic of the prospect as he believed he found the solution of what he had been trying for years: breed a family of powerful elves to conquer the world. While his children would not inherit his abilities, the same could not be said for the subsequent generations. He openly admitted his plans to have Aura bed with him so they could produce even more children. Through Ainz's machinations, he mistakenly believed Aura to be a powerful necromancer, though rather being angry he was proud that his supposed grandchild was powerful. After being defeated, Decem was shown to be terrified of her but even when suffering a loss, Decem's pride found it vexing to admit it, though convinced himself that he was responsible for her power since his 'blood' flowed in her. Due to the power she exhibited, Decem planned to find some dark elves to breed with them.
Mare Bello Fiore
Upon seeing Mare's eyes and her ability to withstand his presence, Decem mistakenly assumed that he was his grandchild as he did not recall ever bedding with any dark elves and concluded that his worthless bastard children must have interbred with the dark elves. Decem was ecstatic of the prospect as he believed he found the solution of what he had been trying for years: breed a family of powerful elves to conquer the world. While his children would not inherit his abilities, the same could not be said for the subsequent generations. He openly admitted his plans to have Aura bed with him so they could produce even more children. Though noticing Mare to be a boy, invited him to breed with as many elven women as possible. Through Ainz's machinations, he mistakenly believed Mare to be a powerful necromancer, though rather being angry he was proud that his supposed grandchild was powerful. After being defeated, Decem was shown to be terrified of him but even when suffering a loss, Decem's pride found it vexing to admit it, though convinced himself that he was responsible for his power since his 'blood' flowed in her. Due to the power he exhibited, Decem planned to find some dark elves to breed with them.
Ainz Ooal Gown
Decem mistakenly believed that Ainz was an undead summon created by Aura and Mare. Initially thinking little of the undead, Decem haughtiness turned to terror after seeing the undead destroy his summon Behemot and physically harm him. However due to his pride he attributed his defeat to being the result of his so-called grandchildren.
Trivia
- He is the fourth character in the Overlord series to possess heterochromic eyes.
- In the Web Novel, there was an elf who is considered to be a member of the Thirteen Heroes two hundred years ago.[4]
- The elf-king is stated to have different colored eyes like Antilene, Aura, and Mare. What this may signify is unknown but all of these characters are known for being extremely powerful by New World standards.
- Ironically enough, despite the intense hatred his daughter Antilene has for him, his daughter shares the same obsession as him in finding a powerful mate in order to breed with and create powerful children together.
- He is the first official New Worlder Ainz had met who can personal use upper tier magic from 7th to 10th tier as it was shown during his one on one battle with him in the Elven Capital.
- Oddly though Decem possesses a birth date, according to his character sheet.[5]
- Elves in the New World, normally do not possess one. And the date seems to refer to an animal: the Rabbit Year. It could be a reference to the Zodiac Calendar, which is possible as his father was a player and from the World of 2138.
Quotes
- (To his former mistress): "Get lost. You are loathsome in my sight. Better yet, train up the children you bore for me".
- (To himself about humans): "...Should I go all-out on the humans? I can breed with them, after all."
- (To himself about Antilene's mother): "Well, she got pregnant in the end."
- (To Himself): "After this country falls, perhaps I'll go over to the Theocracy in person and take the child back."
References
- ↑ Overlord Volume 11 Intermission
- ↑ Overlord Volume 15 Chapter 2: The Travelling Scenery in Nazarick
- ↑ Overlord Volume 16 Chapter 5: Kill Steal
- ↑ Overlord First Half Chapter 36: Investigation Part 1
- ↑ Overlord Volume 16 Character Sheet: Decem Hougan
Gallery
Elf Country | |
---|---|
King | |
Crescent Lake | |
Dark Elf Village |