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dt-artist1 · 12 days

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Why I think Nevin is a Demon

As we all know Nevin Jovel is one of the most mysterious characters in all of IBVS, with his own twin seemingly not to know much about him. So I have now concluded that the reason why Nevin may be as mysterious as he is, is because he is a demon. And here I am to gather hints from the story, and hypothesis why he may have become a demon and under what deal.

TW: demons, religious trauma, implied parental abuse, implied neglect, mentions of cult and cult activities (rituals)

To start with despite Nevin having little to do with demon encounters in the story, the times he has been involved seem to indicate something rather sinister. To start with one of the most telling and recent indicators to why Nevin may be a demon is in Season 2 Chapter 10’s ‘Purple’.

Now Barney the Dinosaur was clearly being possessed by some kind of demon. Especially considering it was summoned by Felix, who is notorious for doing rituals, and was looking for a suitable host.

Who out of its options collected: Nevin, Chris, James, Justin, Barry and Rachel. Who may have some characteristics in common, but I’m yet to fully understand why each of them was brought. (I could see why James’ was as he and Nevin may display similar characteristics in terms of being rather aggressive, and Rachel due to her frequently getting possessed by demons).

And as the chapter continues, it shows that Nevin was indeed chosen as: “You,” Barney said as he pointed at Nevin. The gesture was unclear due to his lack of opposable fingers. “This vessel is most suitable.”

Of course then indicating that Barney as a demon assumed that Nevin was a possible vessel, an empty host. However as Barney continues to perform the ritual:

The moment Barney’s hand made contact, there was a flash of hot light. Barney shouted in surprise and an unseen force blasted him away. He crashed sideways into a wall near the ceiling, his book flying from his hand as he nearly lost his costume head a second time. Pushing himself up, Barney stared in shock. Nevin’s eyes shone brightly enough to illuminate his whole face. His body lowered to the ground and he finally regained mobility.

“Impossible,” Barney declared, weary and overcome. His demonic Barney voice was gravelly. “What are you?”

Nevin stared right back. “You’re a fucking possessed Barney costume,” he said. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”

Barney’s attention diverted. “There’s no way. This boy couldn’t possibly be…”

Nevin took a step closer, disconcerted. “Finish that thought.”

It becomes somewhat clear that Nevin is possibly already hosting some kind of demonic entity. As while Nevin’s powers were dormant in terms of his actual control over it, they immediately seem to react upon coming into contact with demonic Barney. His face lighting up with that familiar teal and Nevin seems to be in full control of his abilities. As his powers having repelled…or in terms of demonic indicators, overpowered that of demon Barneys. In fact it seems like Barney is now intimidated by whatever Nevin is.

As oddly enough, Nevin’s use of ‘who do you think you’re talking to?’ makes somewhat little sense. Why would demon Barney have any clue who he is? He’s just some random teenager who Barney thought would be a great vessel.

Unless that’s not Nevin speaking. Unless it’s a demon speaking through him. While in IBVS there doesn’t seem to be some kind of demon hierarchy, the swift change from confidence to fear and confusion that Barney displays may indicate Nevin’s possessed by some kind of higher ranking demon.

Now to further secure Nevin’s demon connection, I’ve also headed back to where Nevin doesn’t directly interact with this demon, he is instead heightened to its presence. Season 2’s Chapter 1 ‘Mouth of the Wolf’ shows Nevin’s natural ability to detect when a demon is nearby.

Nevin was having a crisis. This wasn’t a particularly unusual occurrence, but that distinctive, heavy crawling feeling he sometimes got in his chest was happening too frequently lately,

Of course this feeling is only moments from revealing what Nevin was so paranoid about, the presence of demons.

Hey, have you seen a girl with pink hair anywhere around here?” Charlie asked. (…)

“Are you telling the truth?” Nevin asked him, furrowing his brow. “Is she a demon? How long has she been here?”

Despite his limited description on what Britney may be, he somewhat rightfully concludes that it’s a demon despite her being half of both. His gut feeling becoming linked to demons as though he already has a connection to them, as well as some kind of immunity to her ability. I wasn’t too sure where else to find Britney seemingly using her own demon powers (well I’m guessing they’re demon powers) aside from Season 1 Chapter 21 ‘The Shadow’ where she:

Did she?” Mrs. Cage, the new substitute, asked. After Reuben drugged the last teacher, apparently he quit, saying he’d had “just about enough of these damn scoundrels,” and the last substitute was too exasperated to keep working, so they had to bring in the scary janitor’s wife. “You’re going to have to take this up with the…”

Britney lifted up one of her hands, putting it on the teacher’s. The woman looked a bit confused. “If the principal asks where Nolan is, tell her he’s exactly where he should be,” Britney said sweetly. Mrs. Cage’s hand twitched violently for a half second, her eyes briefly widening with the sharp movement.

“… Enjoy your study, Britney,” Mrs. Cage said.

Seems to use her powers to manipulate situations to benefit herself, but when she tries this with Nevin:

“Come on,” she said, almost as a command. Nevin gave her a quizzical look and decided to stride forward a few paces. The girl’s eyes were concealed by her mask, but she seemed put off by his behaviour.

“Who even are you?” Nevin asked.

The girl hopped away towards the upstairs. “This way,” she continued.

Nevin groaned. “I’m not following you anywhere.”

The little girl gritted her teeth for a second. “I said, this way,” she repeated. “Why won’t you do what I say?”

“Why would I?” Nevin hissed. “Go take whatever the hell you’re doing somewhere else.”

It has seemingly little to no effect, as while earlier it does express that Nevin debated skipping class and following, he ultimately still is the one to defy what she wants. And Britney also indicates that this is possibly an unusual occurrence, implying most mortals do whatever she commands with no hesitation, and only those who have passed on (like Charlie) and demons can defy.

And of course Nevin looking like a regular human, it further exemplifies her confusion on why he won’t follow. And once again I may be grasping at straws here for a moment, but Nevin once again seems to split in terms of who’s talking. Initially Nevin comes off as cautious, yet curious and then becomes aggressive once more with him starting to hiss. Is this Nevin standing his ground? Or perhaps the demon he’s hosting flexing their authority?

Another indicator that Nevin is a demon, could be how he became one.

As I feel as though within the fandom it’s strongly agreed that Nevin may have some religious trauma, from growing up with as Drew describes their ‘eccentric’ mother, and as he represses his past with developing a phobia of the occult and being locked up and hiding.

Which ironically enough, when Nevin thinks of these things his powers flare up and become stronger:

The sickly feeling in his stomach grew stronger. His throat hurt. He envisioned his fingers constricting around something, a neck, or maybe a pair of wrists as another thought jabbed at him, sweat beading at his temples.

The old home.

His mother.

A dark room, its walls not close, yet oppressive all the same. The shelves are stacked high, cold air prickling his skin. His mother’s face taunts him, reminding him without words how small he is, how helpless, and how this is the thing that will make her love him–

A horrible slew of emotions coursed and seethed through Nevin’s entire body, and he cried out with a growl, hurling his fist into the tree. It began to bleed. He struck it again, and again.

This may have been the moment Nevin began to host a demon. Perhaps his mother was a leader in some kind of cult, worshipping a demon and forced one of her sons to become its host. As Nevin’s memories highlight how young he must have been. Considering all he probably wanted back then was the love of his mother to make their family complete and happy, as his mother even uses this naïve dream against him to get what she wants.

A human vessel for the demon she worshipped.

Now this demon thrives off of Nevin recalling this emotions as his powers flare up any time he is put in a situation where he fees helpless, feels what he felt then. Which is even shown in the demon Barney Chapter:

Nevin was sick to his stomach, helplessly watching Barney pace and read from his book, stupid, cursed voice and all. It prompted buried, unpleasant visions. He didn’t need some demon spirit that thought it was Barney to worsen that haunting feeling. Nevin couldn’t tell if that sensation of something crawling up his legs was in his imagination taunting him of his younger self or not. He didn’t know if he could reach out and choke a costume, but he really wanted to.

Surely someone would interrupt. Someone would notice that he and the five others, most of whom were popular, were missing. Barney’s reading dragged on. Was this ritual that stupidly long? Had he really been resigned to the fate of having Barney’s evil alter ego inhabit his body? Would anyone save him before his consciousness was smothered under the will of this low being?

He was levitating now and the circle was glowing. Nevin had long since determined this to be a pretty bad day

As he does also seem accustomed with what is done with a ritual. As he seems to in a moment of dark humour complain that the ritual is so long. Possibly because he can remember how quick the ritual was that invited the demon into his soul.

Since within IBVS it seems to be quite common for demon’s to make a deal, as we’ve seen from Felix making deals left, right and centre with any demon he can. With Felix making a deal with Gregory to see his daughter, and with the Chrisler being more then happy to move away as no one was making a deal with him.

It then begs the question did Nevin possibly make a deal? Or was it purely the ritual?

Personally, I do think it was just the ritual that may have invited the demon in as for his mother just performing a ritual on her unwilling son would be easier then trying to get him to make a deal.

Or would it?

Striking a deal with a demon to protect Drew would definitely be his main motivator. With the Jovel’s past being so well-hidden it is reasonable to guess that she was extremely neglectful and possibly even violent.

As a description from Drew’s perspective in Season 2’s Chapter 3: ‘Fear Nothing’ describes their home as something damaged:

I wake to the sound of the house’s walls settling around me, noisy creaking permeating the room. I rise from the itchy sheets where I had been resting, gaining my bearings, an undeniable familiarity taking hold of me as I scan these old walls, taking in every flaw of the torn wallpaper.

And something that Nevin would probably want to take Drew away from. As it’s very clear that despite the two being twins, Nevin has always been Drew’s guardian. Keeping him away from their mother when she tries to get him to go into the basement and as we all know from his main character traits, threatening anyone who tries messing with Drew.

We see this in their introductory chapter in season 1, and we see Nevin constantly worrying about his safety. Even when Britney’s presence is around Nevin immediately wants to know where Drew is and if he is safe or not.

Therefore, it’s reasonable to conclude that Nevin has struck a deal with a demon in order to gain his more ‘flashy’ powers and the deal had something to do with keeping Drew safe. The powers are exemplified by Nevin’s more repressed memories and whatever kind of demon is co-occupying his soul could be a pretty powerful demon.

So that’s what I reckon, with a bit of evidence here and there to back it up (hopefully). This was just occupying my brain for ages and I decided to put my thoughts on a digital piece of paper. Plus I’ve been wanting to write a proper theory for ages and this is my first attempt at this, with a theory that I think people will agree with me.

Hope you enjoyed reading my absolute rambles and enjoy the drawing. I have a few more thoughts on Nevin as a demon so I may make another part (or heck even write a oneshot about the idea) and yeah, thanks for reading.

My predications for the next possible demon Nevin moment is when Felix summons him from a book. :D

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dt-artist1 · 29 days

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(SORRY I'VE BEEN DEAD! Also i just realized I never see content for Dez and Ed. Like they have a sibling like relationship (even tho they're cousins), and they're supposedly really close in Canon! But I never saw anything for them, and I decided that needed to be fixed. SO! Here ya go!)

Again, her dad was in the hospital again. It had gotten to where he was there more than home, and that was scary and awful in its own right. But now, because of the sudden dip in his health. He can't take her to their yearly concert! They've gone to one every year since she was four, and it was her favorite part of the summer. They'd already bought their tickets and everything... and then he started getting sick again. Bad enough to land him in the hospital two days before they were supposed to leave... Dez was angry, to say the least. NOT at her dad. She knew better than anyone that the last thing the man ever wanted was to break his little girl's heart. She was mad at life for making this happen. Mad at the cancer for making her poor dad so sick and weak. He didn't deserve this. She felt so lost, so out of control. She didn't know what to do, she had to do something. She was SO tired of feeling powerless. She didn't even think about it as she grabbed the scissors from the counter.

Horror, she felt true horror as she looked in the mirror. Her hair, her pretty hair, was all over the floor and the sink. Oh god, what had she done... her knees buckled, and she sank to the ground, scissors long abandoned on the counter as she cried and wiped at her face. Her eyes were sore, and her throat was raw. She wanted her dad, but he was not there. And someday, probably soon, he'd never be there again, and that thought just made her cry harder. Dez was an independent person generally. She didn't like being genuinely reliant on anyone, but right now, she'd throw her pride aside for some comfort. Her head shot up at the sound of the almost totally open door, creaking the rest of the way open and a startled gasp following it. Someone stood in the doorway, eyes wide, and God did that make her crumble even further. But this time, there were arms wrapping around her, pulling her close and nails, raking through what remained of her hair. She buried her face into their chest and just let herself cry. She cried and cried until she couldn't seem to muster any more tears.

"Dez..." Ed's quiet response came after a moment or two of prolonged silence. "Desiree, talk to me." he insisted when he got nothing but a sniffle in response, pulling her back by the shoulders to get a good look at her. He frowned a bit and brushed some hair off of her cheek. "I..." She choked out. "Oh god, what did I do... my hair..." She sniffled, trying not to cry again. "Hey, hey..." he hushed "Cmon tell me what's up." he reminded as he pulled her with him to rest against the sink cabnit. Still supporting her with an arm around the shoulder. "I... Dad is sick again." She whispered, and he seemed to understand almost immediately. "Yeah..he is..." he nodded solemly.

"I miss him.." She added, closing her eyes and resting against the strong weight beside her. "I know ya do... he misses ya, too." he reminded, and she couldn't help but smile sadly at that. "He's not coming home anytime soon... and this week was.. supposed to be our concert week." She struggled to get her words out with that feeling bubbling up in her throat again. The feeling that everything was falling apart, Edward just squeezed her shoulder in response. "Yeah Tiá was talking about that earlier this week... you guys go every year..."

"Yeah... and now we can't... " she choked harshly but pushed on. "I know it's dumb. I know he can't help it. It's not that big a deal it just.. it kinda made me realize that there's a good chance that we won't get to do a lot of stuff together, and I don't know... I just cracked, and now my hair is a mess, and I'm a mess.. everything's a mess..." She wiped at her eyes furiously as she spoke. "That's alright." He seemed to have decided. "It's okay to be a little bit of a mess sometimes..." And Dez briefly caught herself thinking about how Ed should probably take that sentiment to heart as well. "And I wouldn't say your hair is a mess..." he laughed a little, moving a bit to get a better look. "it's a bit choppy, yeah... but I don't think it looks bad on ya!" she seemed rather skeptical as she glanced up at the older boy. "Really?"

"Yeah! Just needs a bit of touch up, here..." he insisted, pulling her up and directing her to the mirror as he grabbed the scissors that had been discarded on the counter and immediately started cutting away. "Hey!" she tensed a bit, "Just trust me, Dez." he sighed with a roll of his eyes, and soon he set them back down. "See..?" she was a bit scared to look up at first but slowly she opened her eyes (which she hadn't really registered squeezing shut until now) and... he was right... it wasn't awful. "It'll take a little gettin used to, it is a big change." he hummed, fluffing her hair up a bit to check the length. "But I think you might end up liking it... and if you don't... it's just hair. It'll grow back."

She wasn't sure how to feel, standing there with a boy she'd for some reason expected to be mean when first meeting him.. it was a funny thought now. She stood there studying his work, his hands resting comfortingly on her shoulder... She didn't know how to feel, but another gentle squeeze cleared her mind. "Hey..." his voice was soft. "It'll be okay... I know it doesn't feel like it right now... everything's a bit hectic, and it's hard to see it, but... You'll be okay." And somehow, when Edward said it, it sounded a lot more believable. She couldn't help but feel better with the reminder that even when her Dad was gone. Ed would still be there... he was always there... whether she wanted or not... "Hey Eddie?" She whispered after another long pause. Ed had already gotten to cleaning up the mess she'd made. He seemed to do that a lot... "Yeah?" He hummed, not looking up from his task of sweeping up hair. "Would you wanna go to a concert this weekend?" He seemed a bit confused for a moment, but the confusion was short-lived, and he seemed to understand. He smiled fondly to himself and nodded.

"Yeah, I would."

Dez had a feeling that she'd be okay...

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