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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | No tears, please...It's a waste of good suffering! | „ |
| ~ Pinhead to Kirsty Cotton. |
| “ | The box, you opened it. We came. | „ |
| ~ Pinhead's most iconic quote. |
Pinhead is the overall main antagonist of the Hellraiser Franchise. Serving as the overarching antagonist of the first film, an anti-villain in Hellbound: Hellraiser II, the main antagonist of Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth and Hellraiser Bloodlines, and a major antagonist in every other film in the series. He is the leader of the cenobites, a group of demonic sadomasochists who kill and torture anyone who opens the Lament Configuration puzzle box.
He was portrayed by Doug Bradley.
His Evil Ranking[]
Debated Validations[]
- Contrary to popular belief, he didn't welch out in his deal with Kirsty in the first film. Kirsty mistakenly backed out first by telling him they couldn't have her father, not knowing that Frank Cotton had stolen her father's skin and was using it as a disguise. The cenobites outright told Kirsty that if she tried to cheat them, they'd take her too. On top of that, Pinhead never agreed to anything; he just answered with "maybe."
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
- He is one of the most brutal and sadistic villains in all of horror.
- Even though Kirsty opened the puzzle box by mistake, he still tried to take her.
- After being banished by Kirsty in the first film, Pinhead vows to give her one of the most brutal tortures in all of Hell.
- He manipulates night club owner, J.P. Monroe, into feeding him the lives of women so he could be reborn into the real world, after he was killed by the Doctor cenobite in the second movie.
- Upon being reborn, Pinhead massacred everyone in Monroe's nightclub, turning several of his victims into his new cenobites.
- He set out to take over the world with his new followers.
- Upon being summoned by Angelique in the fourth film, Pinhead agrees to help her track down the descendent of Philip LeMarchand, the man who created the puzzle box.
- He fed a dove to his Chatterbeast for fun.
- Upon hearing two brothers claim they never want to be separated, Pinhead joins them together in order to form The Twins cenobite out of sadism.
- He held John Merchant's wife and son hostage and threatened to kill them.
- When the Elysium Configuration failed to kill Pinhead and Angelique, Pinhead retaliates by killing John Merchant and attempted to do the same to his wife and son.
- After Merchant's wife banished Pinhead and Angelique back to hell, Pinhead enslaves Angelique by turning her into a cenobite.
- In the year 2127, Pinhead pursues another member of LeMarchand's lineage, while he and the rest of the Cenobites murder much of the crew in extremely gruesome ways. This time, however, the Elysium Configuration successfully kills Pinhead and destroys the puzzle box forever.
- He psychologically tortured the corrupt cop, Joseph Thorne by gaslighting him with a series of fake out deaths. Making Thorne question his own sanity.
- Similarly tortures Kirsty Cotton's abusive husband after cutting a deal with Kirsty. Five lives in exchange for her own.
- After defeating Winter LeMarchand and destroying the evil Deader cult, he betrays Amy Klein and tries to take her too. Forcing Amy to kill herself to avoid being tortured.
- He tortured both Nico and Stephen for fun, leaving Stephen traumatized when he managed to escape Hell. When he finally uses the box again, Pinhead manipulates him into becoming a new Cenobite to help him in his quests.
- He pursued the escaped fugitive of Hell, Nico Bradley, and stalked him to his family's home.
- Pinhead allows the Tramp to break into Stephen's family's house to search for the box, resulting in Nico's father being gruesomely murdered by being brutally disfigured with a knife.
- He murders Nico's mother solely for speaking out of turn.
- After Nico is killed by Mr. Craven, Pinhead kills his wife in retaliation, all to make the poor man suffer in his last moments of life knowing that he condemned his wife to a fate worse than death by suffering in hell for all eternity.
- Even though they were forced to open the box by Detective Sean Carter, Pinhead still takes David and Allison Carter anyway.
- He kills the corrupt angel Jophiel for letting Sean Carter kill people as the Preceptor, leading to God banishing Pinhead from Hell and turning him into a human.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- Depending on which movie he's appearing in, he either has many redeeming qualities, or none at all. He even sacrifices himself in the second film to save Kirsty and Tiffany from the Doctor cenobite.
- His moral agency comes into question depending on the film. In the second movie, it's shown that he was forced to become a cenobite by opening the puzzle box, meaning he wasn't willingly corrupted. In the third film, Pinhead's human side is completely removed, meaning he's made of evil. In Bloodlines however, Pinhead shows a clear moral agency, as Elliot Spencer had remerged with his form.
- More often than not, Pinhead is portrayed as the lesser of two evils. Frank in the first film was a hedonistic serial killer who needed to be stopped. Pinhead sacrificed himself to save Kirsty from Channard in the second film. In Deader, he temporarily teams up with the protagonist in order to defeat Winter LeMarchand and stop the Deader cult from conquering hell. In Hellworld, Pinhead only appears in person at the end to kill The Host, another serial killer who needed to be stopped. Likewise, Pinhead's murder of Jophiel, though it backfired, was justified in that Jophiel was enabling Sean Carter to continue his delusional murder spree. In several of these scenarios, Pinhead is shown actively helping the heroes, making him on & off.
- He and the other cenobites were disgusted by the actions of some of their victims, such as Frank who was trapped in his own private circle of hell out of spite.
- He has a clear set of standards and will not take anyone who was forced or manipulated into opening the box.
External Links[]
- Pinhead on the Villains Wiki
- Pinhead on the Hellraiser Wiki
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 Inconsistently Heinous
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Animated Features Live-Action Features | ||
 Inconsistently Heinous
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 Inconsistently Heinous
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Killers Backstory Characters |