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"Don't take our name too seriously. We actually do our best not to die."
Erskine Ravel, Skulduggery Pleasant: Last Stand of Dead Men
Dead Men
Dead Men new
The Dead Men during the War of the Sanctuaries.
Group Information
Location Global
Date Founded 1691-1702
Notable Members Skulduggery Pleasant;
Ghastly Bespoke;
Erskine Ravel;
Dexter Vex;
Saracen Rue;
Anton Shudder;
Valkyrie Cain;
Tanith Low

The Dead Men are an elite group of seven Irish sorcerers, known for going on suicide missions and returning alive. They were an instrumental part of the 300 Year War, and reunite to fight in the War of the Sanctuaries.

They are known for being extremely dangerous individually, but due to their teamwork and strategy, they are particularly formidable as a group. Though there is no official leader, operational command on the field falls to Skulduggery Pleasant, and orders are typically given by Corrival Deuce. Their motto is "strike from the shadows, disappear into darkness", and the tradition upon welcoming a new member is to hit them across the jaw as hard as possible.

One of the most iconic groups of the war, the Dead Men are often emulated by other groups. In particular, their constant number of seven is imitated by a team led by Dexter Vex that attempts to steal the God-Killers in 2013, and a new line-up of the team led by Skulduggery that travels to the Leibniz Universe to assassinate Mevolent in 2021.

History[]

The 300 Year War[]

"We just found each other. That's what happens when people try to kill you - you form attachments."
— Skulduggery in Last Stand of Dead Men.
Dead-Men

The Dead Men in 1861

Sometime after 1633, a group of four sorcerers became a closeknit unit in the 300 Year War: Skulduggery Pleasant, Ghastly Bespoke, Erskine Ravel, and Hopeless. All four made a name for themselves, especially Skulduggery, leading to Nefarian Serpine attempting to kill him in 1690. Instead, Skulduggery became a living skeleton, attracting the interest of Dexter Vex, who became part of the unofficial group. The five of them became familiar with Saracen Rue and Anton Shudder after Saracen accidentally entered an enemy camp and Shudder rescued him. At some point, Saracen and Vex were formally introduced by one of the others.

When Eachan Meritorious asked for volunteers for a suicide mission, Skulduggery immediately raised his hand, followed closely by Ghastly, who incorrectly assumed that Skulduggery had a plan. Hopeless, Ravel, Vex, and Shudder also raised their hands, as did Saracen, who claimed that he was yawning and not volunteering. The group became known as the 'Dead Men' due to the nature of the mission, but when they all returned alive, the name stuck. The Dead Men quickly developed a reputation for undertaking impossible missions, and became an official unit, usually following orders given by Corrival Deuce, though sometimes Meritorious commanded them directly.

Ire towards the Dead Men was strong among Mevolent's forces by 1703. In the early eighteenth century, Mevolent's forces finally succeeded in capturing Ravel, and tortured him purely because of his reputation. Ravel was eventually rescued, and while he recuperated, he was temporarily replaced as a Dead Man by Larrikin Fetter.

Larrikin later substituted for Skulduggery when the latter went missing, from 1728 to 1735. In this period, the Dead Men were attacked by Lord Vile in Denmark, and were attacked again two nights later by the corpses of Vile's victims. Skulduggery had returned to the group by the time the Dead Men allied with the Diablerie to eliminate Abyssinia, around 1745. Tensions rose between the groups and the alliance almost broke down until Abyssinia was located. The combined force fought Abyssinia for several days, but failed to defeat her until China Sorrows threatened to kill Abyssinia's son Caisson.

Larrikin substituted once more for Ravel around the 1850s, when the latter was on a "sojourn".[1] On one occasion in France, Larrikin succeeded in getting Shudder to smile while on a mission for the first time, after insisting that it was Shudder's birthday. Ravel had returned to the group by 1861, when they pursued Serpine from Wyoming to South Dakota, surviving an attack by Noche's zombies along the way. They failed to reach Serpine before the latter entered a Necromancer Temple, and withdrew.

Eventually, Hopeless was killed in action, likely in Prussia. Ghastly and Shudder became separated from the others and fell under the command of Renato Bisahalani, but the group soon reconvened, and replaced Hopeless with Larrikin. Larrikin himself was killed by Serpine in Wales while protecting Vex, and as the war ended a few months later, he was never replaced.

With the war over, the Dead Men went their separate ways. Skulduggery became a detective for the Irish Sanctuary, Ghastly settled in Ireland and became a tailor, Ravel became an ambassador under Deuce, Vex became an adventurer, Shudder founded and managed the Midnight Hotel, and Saracen made use of food and women to enjoy his retirement. Though all Dead Men remained in at least sporadic contact, it is believed that there was never a reunion of all six men.

The War of the Sanctuaries[]

"If they see the Dead Men back together, the same Dead Men who worked so effectively against Mevolent, the same Dead Men who saved their lives and the lives of their friends all those years ago... they'll know to fear us."
— Skulduggery in Last Stand of Dead Men.

In order to combat the Supreme Council, the Dead Men reunite in 2013, this time under the loose leadership of Ravel, who is now Grand Mage of Ireland. Lacking a seventh member, the group inducts Valkyrie Cain. The first mission of the Dead Men is to retrieve the Engineer from France, intentionally placing themselves into a perilous situation so that the African and Australian Sanctuaries will be prompted to join the war to come to their aid. The mission is a success, despite an encounter with wraiths in Wolfsong.

The Dead Men complete many other successful missions over the course of the war, including feigning the capture of the Elders of the English Sanctuary in order to steal a part to repair the Engineer. After learning that Madame Mist has barricaded Roarhaven, Ravel, Ghastly, and Shudder separate from the others in order to confront her, only for Ravel to betray and kill Ghastly and Shudder. Shortly afterwards, Valkyrie surrenders herself to Darquesse.

Although only three of the Dead Men remain, the group does not formally disband until the Battle of Roarhaven, and Skulduggery, Vex, and Saracen continue fighting regardless.

Hunting Mevolent[]

"I know how difficult it will be. But I’m afraid we have little option. Meritorious had his Dead Men. I need you to be mine."
— China in Seasons of War.
DeadmenSOWcover

The Dead Men in 2021.

In 2021, a new group of Dead Men is formed by Skulduggery at the request of Supreme Mage China Sorrows. This new group consists of four previous Dead Men (Skulduggery, Valkyrie, Vex, and Saracen), a new Dead Man (Tanith Low), an 'apprentice' Dead Man (Luke Skywalker, a Dimensional Shunter), and Nefarian Serpine, who is denied the title of 'Dead Man' despite being the seventh member of the group. China secretly orders Skulduggery to kill Serpine when the mission is complete.

This new incarnation of the Dead Men travels to the Leibniz Universe to find and kill Mevolent with the God-Killers. They find that the Necromancers have created a draugar virus, and as such it takes them seven months to reach Mevolent, who is in Tahil na Kurge. Along the way, Luke is killed by a draugr, leaving the group with no way of returning to their own dimension. Additionally, Valkyrie becomes separated from the others, and Saracen is infected with the draugar virus, forcing Vex to put him down. Eventually, the group reaches Tahil na Kurge and reconvenes with Valkyrie. Mevolent is seemingly killed by Lord Vile when the Necromancers attack, and the group successfully prevents an invasion of their own dimension by the Leibniz Universe, returning to their own reality and closing the portal.

Skulduggery reports to China, who orders him to kill Serpine, but Skulduggery refuses, as Serpine seems to have genuinely reformed to an extent. When Mevolent is resurrected by Serafina of the Unveiled, the remaining four Dead Men attempt to kill him with their remaining God-Killers, but are defeated by the Unveiled. Mevolent and the Unveiled are then defeated by Damocles Creed, and with their mission complete, the Dead Men functionally disband once more.

Alternate timelines[]

In the Leibniz Universe, Skulduggery never returned to the Dead Men after becoming Lord Vile. This, as well as several other factors, allowed Mevolent to win the war. Several of the Dead Men, including Ghastly, Vex, and Shudder, survived the war and joined the Resistance, though all three die shortly after the dimension is discovered by Valkyrie in 2013.

When Strickent Abhor travels back in time to 1703, the Dead Men of this new timeline try to prevent him from assassinating Mevolent, so that Mevolent will be able to close the Gate to Hell. Skulduggery goes rogue when he sees a chance to have his revenge on Serpine, but reunites with the other Dead Men after the plan goes awry. The group is chosen to find and kill Abhor before he can widen the Gate any further, but becomes overwhelmed by Abhor's forces after the death of Hopeless, causing Skulduggery to become Lord Vile and kill Ravel. The remaining four Dead Men die at the hands of Mevolent, but this timeline is undone through the efforts of Valkyrie.

Members[]

Original members[]

Later members[]

Trivia[]

  • As of Skulduggery Pleasant: Until the End, Dexter Vex is the only founding member of the Dead Men who has never actually died.
  • According to The Skulduggery Pleasant Grimoire, Larrikin substituted for Hopeless in the Dead Men at some point before Hopeless' death, while Hopeless was busy with "other commitments". It is unclear if the Grimoire meant to refer to Skulduggery instead.
  1. In Last Stand of Dead Men, Ravel states that his capture by Mevolent's forces occurred before Skulduggery became Lord Vile. It is made clear in The Skulduggery Pleasant Grimoire that Skulduggery was Vile from 1728 to 1735, so when Larrikin was substituting for Ravel around 1850, this could not have been because Ravel was being tortured. In Across A Dark Plain, set in 1861, it is stated that Ravel had recently returned from a "sojourn". Therefore, in the absence of any official confirmation or acknowledgement of a continuity error, this wiki assumes that Larrikin replaced Ravel on at least two separate occasions, one in the eighteenth century when Ravel was being tortured, and one in the 1850s when Ravel was on a "sojourn".
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