Malthus, also known as Halphas, is the secondary antagonist of The Conjuring Universe, serving as the main antagonist of Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation and Annabelle Comes Home. He is a malevolent entity that latched onto a porcelain doll known as Annabelle. He uses Annabelle as a conduit, to torment those who own it.
History[]
Malthus is first seen in the movie Annabelle. After a Satanic cult invades the home of John Form and his then-pregnant wife Mia, the Annabelle doll that John gave Mia as a gift becomes a conduit for the demon.
Malthus occult sigil.
Since then, the demon spent time tormenting Mia and her daughter Leah. Toward the end of the film, Malthus kidnapped Leah and offered to give Leah back in exchange for Mia's soul. Mia attempts to give the demon her soul, but John arrives in the nick of time and stops Mia. Mia insists on giving her soul to the demon until Evelyn steps in to take Mia's place.
Evelyn commits suicide to give Malthus her soul and then Leah is returned. Since then, the Forms have gone back to their normal lives.
Personality[]
Malthus appears to be absent of any kind of mercy or remorse, often toying with his victims before attempting to kill them and take their souls. Malthus is also very sadistic, persistent, aggressive, terrifying, and pure evil.
As Thalael, Malthus once represented serenity, compassion, and reason. He was calm and thoughtful, devoted to his divine purpose of maintaining harmony between divine justice and mercy. His presence brought peace among the other angels, and his wisdom earned him the trust of both archangels and seraphim. Thalael believed that every being, no matter how flawed, could find equilibrium through understanding and faith in God, whom he once loved and served.
Appearance[]
Malthus resembles that of a typical demon. He is a black ram-like humanoid demon with white (sometimes yellow or green) eyes. In Annabelle (2014) and Annabelle: Creation, the demon appears to have four horns. The horns that appear near his forehead resemble goat-like horns, while his other two curved horns resembled ram-like horns. The demon has sharp teeth, yellow sharp claws on his hands and feet, and has a body that resembles a humanoid. The demon also has a black goatee on his chin and black hair in between his goat-like horns.
Malthus is also a shapeshifter, able to take on any forms such as Annabelle "Bee" Mullins, Annabelle "Janice" Higgins, or as a black shadowy mass to move around. Malthus used these forms to terrorize or torment his victims. Malthus can be visible or invisible to humans. He can travel to different places as a shadowy mass of black smoke, which this helps the demon to be in different places at once, such as possessing someone or tormenting a victim, as shown in Annabelle: Creation.
In Annabelle Comes Home, Malthus looks different compared to his previous appearances. In this film, his two goat-like horns on his forehead are gone, and his ram like horns are much bigger than before. His goatee and hair are now gone, and the eyes are now green instead of red, white, and yellow. The demon moves very swiftly and fast, able to attack his victims at high speed.
The reason for the demon's different design in this film has yet to be explained. He has presumably gotten stronger and changed his form as a result of feeding on Evelyn's soul when she sacrificed herself to the demon in Annabelle (2014) (to prevent Mia for sacrificing her own soul to save her baby daughter's life).
Trivia[]
- Malthus often uses Annabelle as a conduit to toy with his victims to steal their souls.
- Malthus's name is hinted at in Annabelle (2014), where Mia was reading books about demonology, where the name Malthus is seen with a ram-like demon sacrificing a baby child. At the same time, the demon attempts to put Mia's baby daughter, Leah, in danger unless Mia sacrifices her soul to the demon save Leah's life. Thus, this proves that the demon's name is truly Malthus.
- In demonology (Ars Goetia), Malphas is a demon who is a known as the mighty Great President of Hell, with forty legions of demons under his command and is second in command under Satan. He appears as a raven, but if requested, will instead resemble a man with a hoarse voice. Malphas is said to build houses, high towers and strongholds, throw down the buildings of the enemies, destroy the enemies' desires or thoughts (and/or make them known to the conjurer) and all that they have done, give good familiars, and quickly bring artificers together from all places of the world. According to the writers, Malphas accepts willingly and kindly any sacrifice offered to him, but then he will deceive the conjurer. In the film, Malthus appeared as a black ram-like demon instead of a raven-like demon, and he seeks to steal and feed on the souls of his victims, but only if they offered their souls to the demon.
- Before his fall from grace, Thalael was known throughout Heaven as the Angel of Balance, a celestial guardian tasked with maintaining harmony between divine justice and mercy. His silver light reflected both creation’s serenity and its conflict, shining calm in peace, dimming in turmoil. Thalael served under Lucifer, often acting as a mediator and voice of reason among the archangels and other higher seraph. He wielded a double-edged staff forged from divine and shadowed light, symbolizing his sacred duty to preserve equilibrium between opposing forces. Unlike Lucifer, whose rebellion was born of pride, Thalael’s fall stemmed from conviction. He came to see Heaven’s laws as flawed; justice delivered without compassion, mercy granted without discernment. To Thalael, this imbalance was hypocrisy, and he believed that true harmony could not exist under the tyranny of blind obedience. When Lucifer rose in defiance, Thalael joined him not out of arrogance, but because he believed rebellion was the only way to restore fairness and freedom among creation. His staff shattered during his descent, and the fragments were said to tear rifts between Heaven and Hell. Thalael’s silver light turned to black flame, and he became known as Malthus, the Demon of Discord and Disturbance. Some texts describe him as the lost counterpart to Raphael, where Raphael heals through faith and unity, Malthus feeds on chaos and despair.
- Malthus uses the Annabelle doll as a vessel to corrupt innocence and mock his former divine purpose as Thalael. Malthus seeks to twist symbols of purity into a conduit of torment and despair until his victims break out of madness or fear and offer their souls to him. The doll, originally crafted as a gift of comfort, became the perfect medium for his influence, its childlike form and emotional attachment granting him a strong spiritual anchor in the mortal realm. By inhabiting Annabelle, Malthus inverts his original nature. What once represented safety and balance now becomes an object of chaos and fear. Unlike most demons, who require open summoning, Malthus draws strength from attention, emotion, and belief, feeding on the terror of those who acknowledge his presence. The more fear the doll inspires, the more powerful his hold becomes.