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Pitch Black is the main antagonist of Rise of the Guardians. He is the Nightmare King, better known as the Bogeyman. He is voiced by Jude Law.
Background
During the infamous Dark Ages, Pitch was the master of terror, causing fear amongst the humans, who were terrified of him. However, his great power was vanquished when the Man in the Moon chose the Guardians to give hope to the humans, which resulted in Pitch's powers weakening until he could no longer be seen or heard. This isolation caused Pitch to become incredibly bitter and hateful against the Guardians, and spent centuries plotting his vengeance.
Role in the film
Pitch, in order to bring the Guardians together, sends a swirl of black sand that engulfs North's, better known as Santa Claus', globe of the earth. Pitch later appears in the bedroom of a girl named Cupcake, and transforms her dream into a Nightmare, which he has spent years perfecting. Pitch then sends the Nightmare out to assemble the others for his scheme.
Some time afterwards, Pitch sends his Nightmares to attack Toothiana's castle in order to steal her fairies and the teeth of children, which contain their memories. When the Guardians arrive, Pitch confronts them, and reveals his plan to cause the children of the world to lose faith in the Guardians, which will cause them to become invisible to them as he has been for centuries. During the encounter, Pitch notices Jack Frost amongst the Guardians, but decides to ignore him. Toothiana's powers begin to weaken as the children lose faith in her, and the Guardians attack Pitch, who flees on one of his Nightmares. Pitch returns to his underground lair, where he discovers that the Guardians have done Toothiana's job of collecting the teeth and delivering them gifts. Enraged, Pitch then decides to target Sandy, his most dangerous enemy.
The Nightmares lure Jack and Sandy out into the town, where Pitch confronts both of them. However, Sandy subdues Pitch and tosses him onto the streets. However, Pitch's Nightmare army arrives to help him. The rest of the Guardians arrive to battle Pitch's army, and during the ensuing confrontation, Sandy is surrounded by Nightmares. As he attempts to fight them off, Pitch fires an arrow into his back, causing him to be consumed by Nightmares. With Sandy gone, Pitch directs his Nightmares at the other Guardians, but Jack unleashes a powerful ice blast that obliterates most of the army and sends Pitch hurtling into the forest. Intrigued, Pitch schemes to not only ruin Easter, Bunnymund's season, but to also shift Jack to his side.
Pitch, after locating Jack's memories, using the voice of Jack's sister to lure him into the underground lair. There, Pitch taunts him, claiming that Jack will never be one of the Guardians, before handing Jack his memories. Jack returns to Bunnymund's domain, only to find that the Nightmares had destroyed all of the eggs. As a result, the children lose belief in Bunnymund, and he becomes invisible. A dejected Jack departs to Antarctica, and Pitch follows him. Pitch offers Jack a chance to join him and be believed in by children, but Jack refuses, knowing that children would fear both of them. Pitch, hurt at Jack's rejection, reveals that he has captured Baby Tooth, one of Toothiana's fairies, and offers her in exchange for Jack's staff. Jack reluctantly agrees, but Pitch refuses to hand Baby Tooth over. Pitch then tosses Baby Tooth away and breaks the staff before knocking Jack into a chasm. Pitch drops the broken staff into the chasm as well before departing.
As children lose faith in the Guardians, Pitch grows stronger and he takes over Santa's Workshop. As he gloats, Pitch notices that there is one last child who still believes in the Guardians: Jamie Bennett. Pitch arrives at Jamie's town to diminish his faith, and finds that Jack has restored his staff. As the Guardians take Jamie away, Jack attempts to battle Pitch. However, Pitch easily defeats Jack and knocks him out off the sky. Seeing that Jamie will not stop believing in the Guardians, Pitch opts to instead directly attack him. He and his Nightmares corner the Guardians and Jamie in an alley, where Pitch asks if Jamie believes in the Bogeyman. However, he is cut off when Jack hits him with a snowball, before the Guardians and Jamie set off to find Jamie's friends.
Pitch later surrounds the Guardian's and the children, and orders his Nightmare army to attack the children. However, the belief in the children repels the Nightmares and restores the Guardians's strength. Horrified at this, Pitch orders the other Nightmares to attack. Jack then battles Pitch directly on the buildings of the tower, and is joined by the other Guardians. Pitch is eventually cornered in an alley, but vanishes into shadows to distract the Guardians before attempting to strike Jack with his scythe. However, Pitch is unexpectedly dragged towards a revived Sandy, who knocks Pitch unconscious.
When he awakens, Pitch discovers that the children's belief has been restored and his powers are gone. Enraged, Pitch attacks Jamie, but is horrified to learn that the children can no longer see him. Pitch flees into the forest, but is cornered by the Guardians. Despite being defeated, Pitch reminds the Guardians that he will be around so long as there is fear. The remaining Nightmares arrive, and Pitch sees this as proof that the Guardians still fear him. However, he is dismayed to learn that it is his own fears that have brought the Nightmares. The Nightmares then turn on Pitch and engulf him, dragging him into his lair and trapping him.
Trivia
- In the original book series that the film is based on, Pitch was an alien cogeneral named Kozmotis Pitchiner who was possessed by fear demons called fearlings. Whether this is canon in the films is unknown.
- Pitch can be seen as an evil counterpart to Sandy; whereas Sandy is short, plump, bright, and bestows upon children dreams, Pitch is tall, lythe, gray, and gives nightmares to children.
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