Jackie Estacado surrounded by the Serpent Heads.
The Demon Arms also known as Serpent Heads are physical manifestations of The Darkness that protrude from Jackie's back and serve as his primary weapons. They devour hearts that replenish health and Darkness Energy. As Jackie climbs the Darkness Levels, the eyes of the Serpents change depending on the power he's currently using.
Abilities & Weaknesses[]
The Darkness[]
The Serpent Heads devour hearts and assist in executions. In the first game, they are used as a visual to show the player that Jackie is currently using The Darkness, they have a Dark Energy meter shown at the sides of their bodies that gets filled when the heads "absorb" the darkness around them as long as they aren't exposed to direct light, this causes them to flinch (eventually hiding) and to lose Dark Energy.
They are the key to using the Darkness Powers, abilities unlocked through the game consuming the hearts of certain enemies, all of them use the Dark Energy to work, these include a Demon Arm, which impales enemies, a Black Hole that absorbs and kills all the enemies in range, Darkness Guns and even controlling one of the Serpent Heads, making it climb walls and attack opponents remotely. This is known as the Creeping Darkness.
The Darkness II[]
In The Darkness II, you are now unable to hide the Serpent Heads. The right Serpent Head can be used to attack in a slashing motion, and the left can be used to grab objects and enemies. They no longer have a Dark Energy meter, most of the Darkness Powers didn't have a comeback, except for the Demon Arm and the Black Hole, which have been somewhat modified. They may still be used to devour hearts, which will replenish the health meter and give a small Dark Essence bonus.
Their weakness to direct light is taken even further in The Darkness II, now this causes the player's vision to blur and take a monochrome effect, which greatly reduces visibility and the Serpent Heads will hide almost instantly, leaving Jackie vulnerable to enemies, The Brotherhood will exploit this weakness, throwing flashing grenades at him and using high-power flashlight-weapons.
Visual Comparison[]
The Darkness[]
In The Darkness, both serpent heads are identical, making them identical in appearance and actions. However their under bellies glow in different colors depending on the power Jackie uses: red for the Demon arm, green for the Darkness Guns, yellow for the Creeping Darkness and blue for the Black Hole.
The Darkness II[]
In The Darkness II, the right serpent head looks like a slightly updated version from The Darkness as it appears quite similar to the original and serves as the primary attacking serpent as it has blades protruding from it's form which (when upgraded) will shoot out increasing their size and damage for a short time after consuming a heart.
The left Serpent head is different in it's design as it has a domed forehead that looks like a battering ram. It's lower jaw protrudes outwards a bit and it has bony growths/horns protruding from the sides of it's head. This arms serves as the stronger attacking serpent as it is used to hold up objects in use such as car doors, gas tanks and even people while the right arm is free to attack. It is also the arm used in sequences where it must latch onto a door/power box and destroy it.
Right serpent head after upgrading it.
In The Darkness II, blood collects on the Serpent's teeth much more obviously and through upgrades, their physical appearance will change to have red underbellies.
Sometimes when devouring a heart the head will fight over the meat even though only one get it, this causes the second head to seem like its mad.
Institution[]
The Serpent Head appear in the Institution, represented by two sock puppets, manipulated by a patient named Tom. The right head is represented by a green sock puppet, while the left one is represented by the orange sock puppet with visible horns protruding from its back, just like in the real world. Just like most of the patients in the Institution, the Serpent Heads are unaware of what is really happening.
Trivia[]
- They appear to be a separate entity from The Darkness, or even have a mind of their own, as they seem to interact with each other differently and are sometimes unable to resist Jackie's power over them.
- In the first game, only the right Serpent Head could consume hearts. This changes in the second game in which only the left head can consume hearts.
- The Serpent Heads bear striking resemblances to the Viper Fish, or "Dragon Fish".
- This deep sea creature has bioluminescent organs called photophores, similar to what The Darkness uses to change the color of its neck while possessing Jackie. These are called "Color Filters"
- They bear a strong resemblance to the "snake shoulders" of the evil king in Persian mythology, Zahhak which had to eat two human brains a day in order to not turn on their host.
- During development, Demons Arms were affectionately called Grabby and Slashy by Digital Extremes.
Gallery[]
The Darkness[]
The Darkness II[]
