The monster under your bed exists only if you believe in it.
It begs for you to remember it.
🌑 This is a tiny place where one overworked person shares headcanons about Pitch Black. I base all my assumtions on movie version of him. Headcanons posted here don't pretend to be true canon or anyhting. It's just thoughts spoken outloud.
So, the end goal to sketch for 40 days at least.
There will be uncomfortable themes.
🌑 You can ask anything or share your headcanons, but I can't promise I'll answer quickly. It may take from one week to a month to make an answer, since I don't want to answer with text only and sketches take time.
🌑 Also sometimes I may drop oc/canon things. If you don't want to see it block this tag -> #The Author & The Muse
Shadow is not designed to interact with technology, but that doesn't mean he can't use this nuance for horror.
Any device Pitch interacts with breaks apart: lightbulbs explode, TV show white noise, phones and computers malfunction. He can't help it- Not like he want to help it at all- It makes humans uneasy, so it's good.
Funny bonus under the cut.
Sometimes his close presence breaks everything completely xD
@toothianasimp don't hide this brilliance in the tags, I absolutely agree with you!
Actually I love Pitch for this as a character. He lost capability to change, stabs himself constantly and blames it on everyone else. How is he so bad at living while being the oldest is beyond me.
Pitch is a victim of his own ego. Guardians didn't want him dead even! Everyone disliked him, sure, but still North invited this guy and tried to convince to join the new era, which indicates there was somewhat peaceful times where Pitch and others wasn't at war. But the second others got chosen to be higher spirits he immediately got jealous that now he's not only favorite child.
He also reminds me of strict grandparents that refuse to acknowledge new ways of living, because in their time it was different. And it was, since spirits existed as free entities, they weren't really obligated to serve the idea they represent. Pitch spooked everyone just for the sake of it, not because he wanted to teach them a lesson or something. It's as if Sandy kept everyone asleep forever to prolong dreams he weaves.
Perhaps Pitch was a victum of lack of guidance from their literal god, but everything else is his fault alone. I guess Pitch will be willing to listen only at his lowest point.
We're curious about whether your Pitch would ride the Nightmares as means of transportation?
Even though our Pitch can technically move at the same speed as them through the shadows, he can still choose to ride a Nightmare for the sake of multi-tasking (so that he doesn't have to pay as much attention to directions/sharp turns, etc.) and/or for extra protection and back-up.
Yep, I pretty much agree with a nuance. Pitch doesn't necessarily need them to move around, he can teleport through shadows after all, but the thing is he can't fly on his own as air has no shadows or surface to cling to.
This is very important to note. Sandy can hover above the ground while Pitch is glued to it. In order to fight in the air he needs Nightmares or nightmare-sand to have something to cling to.
What is also interesting that Nightmares can't really teleport like him, they have to fly to their destination manually unless he summons them somehow? Notice how Nightmares have to carry little fairies, fly away from the Tooth Palace, while Pitch teleports Jack through shadows just fine.
So yeah, he rode Nightmares while he had control. Besides, I think Pitch liked to ride them because it looks cool, another idea he picked from humans.
Shadow guy is scary but shadow guy on a shadow horse is scarier!
You know, the thing about the Author is... She not a great person. Like Pitch she blames external forces in her sufferings- be it Guardians or the Moon- while most of the pain could've been prevented by simply picking a different path in life.
In this hypothetical AU Man in Moon rarely grants people with ability to see spirits at any age, so said humans can spread the word and image of spirits, making others aware of them, usually in forms of art. Like everything in this world no one knows why MIM chooses humans he chooses.
The Author is a chosen one, however it btings her no happiness. When she was a kid it was fine and dandy, everyone thought she had rich imagination, but as she was growing up others started to suspect something is wrong. Long story short she was medicated in her teenage years in hopes her "hallucinations" will go away. "Hallucinations" didn't go away, but her trust in people and spirits did. Because magical world refused her, didn't help her nor proved her words to others, making her sound insane, she decided she won't even attempt to engage with it anymore.
She is aware of existence of the magical creatures, but this magical world interacts with kids only, leaving her miserable in her struggles in adult life. So she holds a grudge against those magical forces. The Author doesn't wish for Guardians to fall, however she won't help them if danger to their existence will arrive. She is apathetic at best.
That's why she is fine allying with Pitch, their relationship purely transactional at first. She's actually happy to finally recieve attention from a supernatural being in a twisted way, even if it's a bragging shadowy guy who won't shut up about his defeat or desire to make the world his.
At this point in time Pitch is basically slowly dying, weakened to a state where he can't interact with the world, gets burned by the dreamsand and light, not to meantion Nightmares are still hunting him. He's not happy that his existence relies on one human he can't even torment properly! If she's too stressed she won't write thus won't spread his name thus won't prevent his agonizing death!
Despite the Author being the tired one in their relationship it's Pitch who barely holds himself together. He's one mistake away from completely breaking down mentally. In the end they are both losers who refuse to change their mindsets and are suffering from consequences of this mindsets.
In the continuation of that post, I have a conspiracy theory, that Pitch was supposed to be the first Guardian. Or an analogue of the Guardians before they were formed?
Movie's world implies that all spirits are created by the Moon. It would be strange to create a shadowy maniac who feeds on fear for no logical reason.
I think the Moon created Pitch to help people - he wasn't supposed to amplify fears; he was supposed to guide humanity through terrors, make them learn bravery. But without any explanation he didn't understand his purpose, so he amplified fears instead of guidance, ensuring his own existence. It's quite interesting that his original abilities involve reading fears and playing with shadows. Nightmare-sand thing came long after the Dark Ages.
Fear protects, at least it was in animal world. When humanity evolved into more creative shape of mind fears were pretty limiting, so the Moon began to create other spirits to balance it out. Especially to balance Pitch out, since he wasn't working in the intended way.
So all the problems came from a lack of communication. I don't think after centuries of existence Pitch will be able to accept that everything he's done has been wrong, and that he was meant to have a different role, which he should have realized on his own during the time when normal tribes hadn't yet formed.
By the way, I guess after Pitch-Sandy situation the Moon decided to drop creations from concepts completely, as they are too... Well, conceptual. They don't have extensive human experience, it's more difficult for them to adapt and accept all the possibilities in the world. Sandy and Pitch think in pretty straightforward way.
It seems to be ingrained in him on an instinctual level that humans are _required_ to fear him in the most serious sense of the word in order for him to function properly. Even if there is a hypothetical child who likes Pitch, he would struggle to interact with the child, as the natural part of him would demand intimidation, while the more emotional part would appreciate any form of attention... I suppose? He is essentially the embodiment of a concept, he will always be swayed by his instincts.
I don't think he was just manipulating with "I long for a family" thing. He inherited this trait from humanity, unknowingly most likely. But his instincts always win.
Though in his mind family = obedience to him, so... Yeah. I'd even theorize he loves humans in his own messed up way. Like an abusive parent would?
It's hard to redeem a guy who refuses to learn anything and is too narcissistic for his own good.
Day 10: Mantle
Robe? Cloak? Whatever it's supposed to be is not an actual separate piece of clothing, it's continuation of Pitch. The same shadows he's made of wrap around him to mimic clothing. It's responsive to his movements, allowing to perform the most dramatic and chilling scenes.
The only downside is... Well, it's part of him, so he can feel everything with it. So stepping on the mantle is like stepping on a cat's tail. He won't be happy about it xD
A cute and funny au where Pitch gets de-aged/shrunk into a child/tiny form similar to Bunnymund.
While the Nightmares fed on his fear it not only caused him to slowly drain his power but also reduce him to a smaller and less intimidating physique.
I can imagine at some point Sandy would go to the lair to eventually find him in his current state, immediately took him in, and gets to experience childhood joy for the first time with the help and guidance from the Guardians.
Cue hilarious and chaotic shenanigans with Little!Pitch being a menace.
Bunnymund didn't de-age mentally, but I see where are you going with this. Technically Pitch didn't even have a childhood since he wasn't human... Though it doesn't mean he's unable to experience it in shrinked form.
Torn apart by Nightmares into a form so tiny that even Sandy's palms are big for him, Pitch goes through a series of existential crises at once. He is like disheveled kitten, too scared and confused by the world around him, so large and loud. He's also furious, which he announces by screeching at everyone. Constantly.
Little shadow refuses to accept help, even though he clearly needs it, hiding and biting everyone. Guardians need TONS of patience to deal with this guy xD
Day 9: Mutualism
Okay, I told I'd show my OC x Canon thing sooner or later, so here it is. Maybe I should turn it into separate AU or something.
The Author & The Muse: Fear cannot be killed nor cannot be truly contained. However, when it breaks out, it will be too late - too many generations have passed for anyone to remember it. Yet, there are those in this world who can see spirits even as adults.
Or hypothetical scenario where Pitch somehow got out of his underground prison only to find he's fading even faster than before. Weakened by years of torture, he roams the world aimlessly until he stumbles on a human that was blessed- or cursed- by the Moon with vision. So he's made a plan to revive his influence, this time with the aim of humans themselves, something Guardians can't fight against.
Nuance is that precious human is overworked stressed person with little to no free time. They strike a deal - he makes her famous writer of horror novels and she makes him known to people again.
...Anyway, they are forced to start with ao3 and fanfics. Yeah.
If you don't want to see this block this tag -> #The Author & The Muse
Nah, I don't ship anyone in rotg.
I see relationship between Sandy and Pitch more like... Old fight between siblings. An unresolved family conflict between non-human entities. In my vision they're both different from the rest of the cast as they are both concepts given form. And that very thing makes them similar to each other in nature.
Pitch sees it as an insult, at the same time acknowledging only Sandy out of everyone. Sandy saw it as an opportunity to become, if not friends, then at least colleagues, before Pitch ruined potential relationship with his selfishness. So now Sandy's reaction is "not this guy again" when Pitch does something stupid and dangerous to everyone.
At the very best, if Pitch stopped being mean, they could at least tolerate each other. Something like this I tried to write in this headcanon about Halloween.
Anyway! To answer the question with all my heart - I do have a silly OC x Canon thing going on... Which I didn't show yet. But I will. Probably soon enough.
