Jerem

Jerem is an ancient 9th-circle necromancer whose soul is preserved inside the grimoire Death's Worship. After Theodore Miller releases the grimoire and later permits it to be consumed as a desperate gamble, Jerem takes Theodore's body, returns through the Pale Rider, and wages an undead campaign against Elvenheim in exchange for Nídhöggur's power.

Biography

Academy, Magic Contest, and National Service

Jerem enters the narrative as historical information rather than as an active body. Death's Worship identifies him as a legendary 9th-circle necromancer who fought humanity on the demons' side and whose soul waits in the abyss. His stated aim is a perfect resurrection, and the method attached to that aim is hostile possession: the soul preserved in the grimoire seeks a living reader whose body it can steal and transform into an undead vessel. No chapter in this phase depicts Jerem's original life or physical form directly. (Chapter 50)

The elder lich crisis demonstrates the grimoire's danger without making every action Jerem's personal decision. Giovanni had read Death's Worship and became its host, creating a dungeon and thousands of undead before Theodore destroys his life vessel. When the grimoire subsequently tries to take Theodore, Gluttony beats it into submission. The source describes Jerem's soul as the power within Death's Worship, but the acting entities in the scene are the hostile book, its current host, Theodore, and Gluttony rather than a fully awakened Jerem speaking in his own voice. (Chapter 50)

The grimoire's information also establishes what resurrection could restore: a chance to inherit part of Jerem's abilities, control over his Negative Dimension, and ownership of the undead stored there. It simultaneously warns that consumption makes Jerem's takeover highly probable. Theodore therefore refuses the immediate path to 9th-circle power and unlocks Gluttony's inventory so Death's Worship can be contained. Jerem ends this phase dormant inside the sealed grimoire, denied both Theodore's body and escape; containment postpones rather than destroys the ancient soul. (Chapter 50)

Eastern Legacies, Quattro, and the Soldun Civil War

Years later, Theodore fights Zest Speitem in the Sipoto wilderness and becomes trapped in a dimensional collapse. Gluttony proposes releasing Death's Worship because the grimoire can cross space over continental distances. Theodore accepts for survival, invokes the chained book, and uses Gluttony's tongue to hold onto it during its escape. This is Theodore's and Gluttony's plan, not an operation conceived by Jerem: the ancient warlock does not awaken, speak, or choose the destination during the transfer. (Chapter 240)

Death's Worship does act as a hostile grimoire during the escape. It roars upon release, resists Gluttony's restraint, and attempts to depart alone before being forced to carry Theodore through the collapsing space. These actions expose its presence to the Four Horsemen, who have spent centuries seeking Jerem's resurrection and relics. Hipatia senses what she believes is their master's trace and departs to alert the other riders. Her recognition is consequential, but it is her interpretation of the released grimoire rather than proof that Jerem already controls Theodore. (Chapter 240)

The resulting misunderstanding becomes a delayed part of Jerem's return. Theodore survives, while Death's Worship goes back into Gluttony's inventory and Jerem's soul remains sealed. The Four Horsemen, however, begin watching Theodore and connect his demonic summoning, possession of the grimoire, and nonliving automaton with their expected king. Jerem performs no political or military action in this arc; Theodore's emergency use of the book creates the evidence from which Jerem's followers later build a false identification. (Chapter 240)

East Continent and the Northern War

During the northern war, Hipatia's undead attack Andras while sparing Meltor, then she prostrates herself before Theodore and calls him “King Jerem.” Theodore remembers Death's Worship and deliberately does not correct her. He tests her organization, learns that the Four Horsemen intend to destroy civilization and humanity, and uses their mistaken loyalty as a strategic variable. The undead intervention at Dofrun and Hipatia's later commands therefore belong to the riders and to Theodore's impersonation; the dormant historical Jerem has not yet taken command. (Chapters 281–282)

Jerem actually returns when Theodore, desperate to save Veronica and defeat Invidia, allows Gluttony to consume Death's Worship. The announced mental suppression fails, Jerem's spirit seizes Theodore's flesh, and the Four Horsemen manifest to greet their true king. Jerem uses Theodore's memories, circles, divine and draconic attributes, and Umbra rather than a restored body of his own. He repairs Veronica's damaged soul because resolving the host's grudges helps complete possession, then directs his riders and stored undead against the weakened Invidia. (Chapters 295–296)

After defeating Invidia, Jerem reveals the larger ambition behind his resurrection. Theodore's accumulated body would let him regain full strength and possibly become a god, while Gluttony's knowledge offers a route toward magic's ultimate form. He asks Gluttony to accept him as user and declares that he would consume all life to reach that destination. Gluttony refuses and activates its plan with Mitra, whose newly awakened divine power tears Jerem's soul from within Theodore. Rather than die, Jerem transfers the damaged remnants of his soul into the Pale Rider and escapes, leaving Theodore's body restored to its owner. (Chapters 296–298)

Jerem's Return and the Great Forest

Jerem's new vessel cannot stabilize the divine damage. He approaches Crowd and proposes that they control the Northern Continent together, then attacks with undead when Crowd refuses; after an hour, his failing endurance forces him to retreat. He proceeds to Lairon, where Pluto's Palace converts the kingdom's population into undead and gathers roughly ten million souls. The story associates the ritual with Jerem's inherited magic and campaign, while its core also contains Nídhöggur's Bloodstone. Jerem takes Baldur's remains and turns both the souls and the divine corpse into bargaining resources for his next move. (Chapters 300 and 304–311)

With little time left in the Pale Rider's collapsing body, Jerem has the Four Horsemen consume the Orcus Company and uses its people only to extend his survival. He then offers Lairon's soul gem and Baldur's body to Nídhöggur. The dragon accepts the tribute, supplies power for an incomplete descent, and promises Jerem part of Niflheim if Yggdrasil is taken. Jerem's goal is thus not merely to raise an army: he intends to deliver Elvenheim's world tree to his patron, repair or transcend his ruined state, and receive territory in the realm of the dead. (Chapters 311–318)

At the Great Forest, Jerem offers to spare Meltor if Theodore surrenders his body, commands an army of roughly two hundred thousand undead, and separates Theodore from Veronica with spatial magic while the Four Horsemen engage the defenders. Theodore destroys the riders and defeats Jerem in a close magical battle using Soul Calibre, borrowed knowledge, and a dragon heart. Jerem then offers his crumbling body to Nídhöggur and consumes the remaining undead to prolong the dragon's force. His body collapses to ash and he dies; the sacrifice briefly empowers Nídhöggur but also removes the undead army, leaving more than a thousand elves dead and a recoverable forest. (Chapters 323–330 and 334)

Prometheus and the Eastern Apocalypse

Five years after Jerem's death, the magical understanding obtained through his possession remains part of Theodore's accumulated knowledge. It contributes to Theodore's rapid study alongside the Hall of Fame and the Zero Library, but this is inheritance after defeat rather than Jerem's continued instruction or survival. Theodore reaches the limits of an 8th-circle mortal through his own learning and many sources; Jerem's knowledge is one component of that growth, not the agent making later decisions in Meltor or the Prometheus expedition. (Chapter 337)

Several techniques survive as identifiable parts of Jerem's legacy. Theodore remembers the imaginary-space wall that absorbed energy, later adapts a similar defense, and uses the concept of Order that Jerem demonstrated when killing Invidia. In the southern expedition, Theodore explicitly identifies an Order-assisted shadow prison as a trick learned from the warlock. These applications belong to Theodore, whose Dragon Words and later transcendence allow him to reproduce or reinterpret them; Jerem does not return through the techniques or exercise control over their use. (Chapters 341 and 349)

Gluttony later consumes Jerem's Tartarus, ending the ancient storage domain as an independent strategic reserve and converting its remaining value into resources Theodore can use. The scale of Jerem's Lairon sacrifice also becomes a comparison during the Eastern apocalypse: ten million lives and Baldur's body had been enough to call a partial Nídhöggur, demonstrating the danger of a vastly larger sacrificial ward. In both cases, Jerem persists only as knowledge, consumed infrastructure, and a historical measure of atrocity rather than as a living antagonist. (Chapters 348 and 371)

Marriage, Armageddon, and the New World

When Theodore revisits the Great Forest, the ground blackened by the battles against Jerem and Nídhöggur is still visible, but the forest's organisms are growing toward the future. Mitra, the elves, and migrated spirits restore the damaged ecosystem while the world tree recovers. Jerem has no role in that work and does not reappear to contest it. The lasting mark of his campaign is environmental memory—a scar that can be seen—rather than a surviving curse shown to retain his will. (Chapter 386)

Lairon remains the other major posthumous consequence. Undead left in its territory initially make occupation difficult, and Soldun's forces help clear them. Once Jerem is dead and the remaining danger is reduced, the former kingdom becomes ownerless fertile land coveted by nomadic peoples, Austen, and Soldun. The undead are remnants of his destruction, but the later claims, threats, and negotiations belong to the living states; they are not a final plan that Jerem directs from beyond death. (Chapter 398)

The resulting dispute nearly causes another war before Meltor intervenes and asserts its role in killing Lairon's destroyer. This political contest confirms Jerem's ultimate fate by treating his death as settled and his territory of operation as abandoned. He receives no resurrection, successor vessel, or continuing command during Armageddon and the new world. His last effects are indirect: land without a government, corpses that must be cleared, memories of mass sacrifice, and techniques absorbed by the magician who defeated him. (Chapter 398)

Appearance and personality

The corpus does not show Jerem's original body from the Age of Mythology. His first active appearance uses Theodore's body, whose lake-blue eyes turn blood-red while black fog and death magic surround him. After Mitra expels him, he transfers into the Pale Rider, a bandage-wrapped undead. By the Elvenheim campaign that vessel is failing: Jerem hides beneath a black robe, exposes rotting skin, and later appears skeletal, with a white jaw and thin finger bones. These are possessed vessels and stages of decay, not evidence of his historical appearance. (Chapters 295–298, 318, and 326–329)

Jerem speaks and behaves as a monarch of death. He calls himself the King of the End, expects the Four Horsemen to prostrate themselves, refers to enemies as clowns or insolent inferiors, and treats obedience as the natural order. His confidence is grounded in genuine mastery, but it also becomes vanity: he assumes Gluttony will prefer an accomplished 9th-circle magician and is genuinely unable to understand refusal based on loyalty to Theodore. (Chapters 295–297 and 323–329)

His stated philosophy places magical attainment above every life. Jerem tells Gluttony that he studies for his own cause, lacks Theodore's “unnecessary” justice, and would consume all life to reach the ultimate form. He describes servants as existing to sacrifice themselves for their master, drains allies whose usefulness has ended, and offers an entire kingdom's souls to a dragon. His cruelty is therefore not limited to enemies; followers, hosts, civilians, and undead are all resources within the same hierarchy. (Chapters 296, 305, 318, and 329)

Jerem is calculating enough to exploit Theodore's desires during possession, repair Veronica so the host's resentment will not obstruct takeover, court Crowd as a potential partner, and prepare Lairon and Baldur as sacrifices before approaching Elvenheim. Yet his judgment deteriorates under humiliation and time pressure. Theodore provokes his anger, Gluttony exploits his certainty, and Jerem chooses a final sacrifice when his defeat becomes unavoidable. His intelligence and knowledge make him dangerous, while greed for an ideal vessel and inability to value bonds repeatedly expose him to opponents who do. (Chapters 295–298, 304–318, and 323–330)

Magic, abilities, and martial skills

Jerem is a historical 9th-circle magician whose specialization combines necromancy, soul magic, spatial and dimensional techniques, curses, and ancient spells. After returning, he never regains a healthy nine-circle body: he first operates Theodore's eight circles and then a Pale Rider vessel damaged by Mitra's divinity. His performance remains sufficient to defeat a depleted Invidia and challenge Theodore, but declining endurance, divine injury, and an unstable host sharply limit the duration and scale he could have sustained in his prime. (Chapters 295–300, 305, 318, and 323–330)

Death's Worship and possession

Death's Worship is the vessel in which Jerem preserves his soul and seeks resurrection. A reader risks bodily theft and transformation into an undead, while consumption can transfer Jerem's knowledge, Negative Dimension, and undead to a successful owner. The grimoire first possesses Giovanni, then attacks Theodore before Gluttony suppresses it. When Theodore later allows consumption, Jerem's soul awakens and defeats the planned mental suppression. The mechanism grants control of the host rather than creating a new body, which is why Theodore's circles, memories, blood, divinity, grimoires, and artifacts remain available to Jerem. (Chapters 50 and 295–296)

Possession is not secure against every internal force. Jerem can exploit Theodore's body with far greater magical control than Theodore initially possesses, but Mitra is already contracted inside that same body. Her divine awakening attacks Jerem at the soul level from within, where his defenses are least useful. Jerem escapes only by transferring into the Pale Rider, and the damaged soul immediately begins destroying that inadequate vessel. Absorbing vitality and souls can delay the collapse for one or two months, but the source explicitly describes this as emergency maintenance rather than true recovery. (Chapters 297–300 and 318)

Necromancy, the Four Horsemen, and Tartarus

Jerem commands the Four Horsemen as ancient servants: Hipatia, Elohim, Delos, and the Pale Rider manifest as top-grade undead capable of threatening masters. He can release their sealed strength, summon them from shadows, and use them as independent combatants, escorts, or replacement vessels. Their organization continues during his dormancy, but not every action they take belongs to Jerem; Hipatia leads them while misidentifying Theodore, and Theodore temporarily issues commands under that false identity. Jerem assumes direct command only after awakening in Theodore. (Chapters 240, 281–282, and 295–298)

Tartarus is Jerem's Negative Dimension and the storehouse for undead created during his prime. Its known contents include a bone dragon made from a black dragon, a death-knight lord made from a grandmaster, a human-demon chimera, a hydra, a ghoul prince, and a helix ogre. Jerem summons only selected creatures against Invidia because even individual specimens can threaten the balance of the current age. After Gluttony consumes Death's Worship, it uses sub-master authority to swallow most of the stored undead; the domain itself is consumed later, preventing Jerem from recovering that ancient reserve. (Chapters 296, 300, and 348)

Jerem can also create armies at national scale. Pluto's Palace turns creatures within its enormous ritual boundary into undead and extracts their souls; in Lairon, its core and Nídhöggur's Bloodstone support the conversion of the kingdom and the collection of roughly ten million souls. His later field army numbers around two hundred thousand and includes both disposable corpses and senior undead. These forces are not identical to the ancient Tartarus collection, and Nídhöggur's external power—not Jerem's unaided magic—revives and strengthens many of them at Elvenheim. (Chapters 306–311 and 323–325)

Soul magic, ancient spells, and Order

As a necromancer, Jerem perceives and manipulates souls directly. Using Theodore's Umbra, he stitches Veronica's torn soul well enough to keep her alive, a feat that an ordinary 8th-circle magician cannot perform. His black magic includes the 8th-circle death domain Erebos, multi-layer curses, summoned specters, spatial disassembly, and ancient attack and defense spells. His casting speed, combinations, and control remain competitive with Theodore even in a collapsing vessel, although anti-curse protection and Soul Calibre exploit the particular weaknesses of his methods and undead state. (Chapters 295–296 and 323–330)

Order is Jerem's nearest approach to a power beyond ordinary magic. By combining his 9th-circle understanding with Dragon Words present in Theodore's body, he commands “Death” and destroys Invidia's manifested grimoire body. He had not achieved that exact use in his prime, and the host's dragon blood supplies an important enabling element. Order requires Jerem to speak; Theodore later interrupts an attempted activation by sealing his mouth first. Its demonstrated power is extraordinary, but the corpus does not establish that every word Jerem speaks can overwrite reality or that he retains equal output in the Pale Rider vessel. (Chapters 296 and 329)

Contract with Nídhöggur

Nídhöggur is Jerem's patron rather than an undead he created or controls. The dragon's support helped make Death's Worship and preserve Jerem's route to resurrection, while Jerem supplies corpses and grand sacrifices matching Nídhöggur's appetite. Their renewed bargain consumes Lairon's soul gem and Baldur's body; in exchange, Nídhöggur lends enough power for an incomplete descent and promises territory if the world tree is taken. The arrangement is contractual and unequal: Jerem fears the dragon, addresses it as a greater being, and cannot command its independent will. (Chapter 311 and 318)

At Elvenheim, Nídhöggur's dimensional power reinforces the undead, restores Jerem's damaged vessel, halts sunrise, and opposes Hraesvelgr. These effects are Nídhöggur's, not proof that Jerem personally possesses godlike strength. When Theodore defeats him, Jerem uses his remaining connection as a final weapon by offering his body and the undead army. The sacrifice briefly shifts the struggle between dragons but destroys Jerem's army and severs the summoner who anchors Nídhöggur to the material world, making the dragon's time limited even as its immediate power rises. (Chapters 324–330)

Power progression

Relationships

• Theodore Miller: Theodore contains Death's Worship, releases it to survive Zest's dimensional collapse, and later offers his body as a gamble against Invidia. Jerem covets that body as an ideal vessel and tries to retain it, then pursues Theodore after Mitra expels him. Their final battle contrasts Jerem's consumption of servants with Theodore's voluntary alliances; Theodore defeats him using knowledge and powers from multiple consenting sources. (Chapters 50, 240, 281–300, and 312–330)
• Gluttony: Jerem desires Gluttony's limitless knowledge and believes his 9th-circle attainment makes him the superior user. Gluttony suppresses Death's Worship, refuses Jerem's proposal after possession, orchestrates Mitra's internal counterattack, and consumes the undead in Tartarus. Their conflict turns on a judgment Jerem cannot predict: Gluttony values its existing bond with Theodore over Jerem's apparent technical qualifications. (Chapters 50, 240, and 295–300)
• Mitra: Mitra is the decisive counter to Jerem's possession because she awakens divine power inside Theodore's body. As a warlock marked as the world's enemy, Jerem experiences her divinity as fatal poison and must abandon the vessel he considers perfect. Her later deification also helps defend and restore the Great Forest targeted by his patron. (Chapters 297–298 and 330–386)
• Hipatia: Hipatia is Jerem's White Rider and a senior figure among the followers awaiting his return. She initially mistakes Theodore for Jerem, directs undead in service of that misunderstanding, and later manifests before the genuine resurrected warlock. Jerem treats her and the other riders as useful servants rather than equals, eventually losing her to Theodore's soul-cutting weapon. (Chapters 240, 281–282, 295–298, and 323–326)
• Invidia: Jerem encounters Invidia while controlling Theodore's body and uses the Four Horsemen, Tartarus undead, and Order to destroy its manifested form. He regards Invidia's attempt to assemble transcendence from accumulated abilities as fundamentally mistaken. The victory gives Jerem confidence in Theodore's vessel, but it also leaves him exposed to Gluttony's internal plan and Mitra's divinity. (Chapters 295–297)
• Veronica: Saving Veronica is Theodore's reason for risking Jerem's resurrection. Jerem repairs her soul because satisfying the host's unresolved desire helps bodily domination, not because he values her life. She later helps defend Elvenheim and fights the Pale Rider while Theodore confronts Jerem's other servants and, ultimately, Jerem himself. (Chapters 295–298 and 323–330)
• Hraesvelgr: Hraesvelgr does not fight Jerem directly as a personal rival; the sacred creature opposes Nídhöggur, whose descent Jerem enables. That intervention prevents the patron from freely deciding the battle and gives Theodore's side time to defeat Jerem. After Jerem's death, Hraesvelgr continues containing the dragon while the severed summoning link begins to limit Nídhöggur's stay. (Chapters 327–333)

Items

Death's Worship is the central object associated with Jerem: it contains his soul, preserves access to his knowledge and Negative Dimension, and enables possession when consumed. It is not present in the finalized item-link manifest, so no item-page link is supplied here. Umbra, the dragon blood, divine attributes, and other artifacts Jerem uses while occupying Theodore remain Theodore's possessions and host-derived capabilities rather than Jerem's personal inventory. (Chapters 50, 240, and 295–300)