Dementus

Dementus
Alias	Red Dementus The Great Dementus Lord Guardian of Gastown Dark Dementus Warlord Dementus Dr Dementus Doctor D
Occupation	Warlord
Weapon(s)	Various, revolver, compund bow
Vehicle(s)	Motorcyle Chariot Six-Foot
Affiliations	Biker Horde Gastown The Bullet Farm
Relationships	Furiosa (Adopted Daughter)
Portrayed By	Chris Hemsworth
Voiced By	N/A
Appearances	Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

“	Bring me your leaders, and throw them down. You will rule with me in the splendor of a new wasteland!	”
– Dementus (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga)

Dementus is the main antagonist featured in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. He is the warlord-leader of the Biker Horde and portrayed by Chris Hemsworth.

Biography

Dementus is the leader of the Biker Horde. He is a warlord of the Wasteland who acquires a young Furiosa after she is abducted from the Green Place. Dementus' forces arrive at the Citadel and come into conflict with the tyrannical Immortan Joe.

His primary method of transportation is a chariot made from three motorcycles. He has a warped sense of a paternal relationship with Furiosa, seeing himself as a sort of "father figure" top her, though she would argue otherwise. In fact, Furiosa has sworn revenge against him and takes every opportunity she can to kill him. He is boisterous, brazen, darkly humorous and morally bankrupt, a product of the Wasteland from which he came. He is nevertheless extremely charismatic, hiding his true nature. He has a wild immaturity, sometimes resembling a stubborn child who is stomping his feet wanting something, but literally tearing people apart.

Dementus in many ways exhibits the extremes of Lord Humungus, as well as Max Rockatansky, combined into one.

Furiosa

Dementus is “gifted” a young Furiosa after she was kidnapped from the Vuvalini Tribe in the Green Place by Toe Jam and his four partners.

Toe Jam then takes Furiosa to Dementus at his hovel in the Wasteland, a sort of alcove nestled amongst sand dunes. There, Toe Jam demands to make a deal with Dementus using Furiosa and his knowledge of the Green Place as bargaining chips. This fails as Toe Jam attempts to enter the Biker Horde's hovel, Furiosa sabotages his motorcycle by throwing a cord down into the rear wheel, causing it to wreck, and slicing Toe Jam's throat in the process.

Rizzdale Pell brings Furiosa to Dementus, but fails to answer the warlord's many questions. This forced Pell to summons Toe Jam. But Toe Jam's throat was severely sliced from the wreck and he couldn't speak, just spit blood, It is in this moment that Dementus and Furiosa are bound, even though it is through darkness and deceit when Dementus attempts to ingratiate himself to the little girl in order to coax the whereabouts of her home out of her.

A short time later, Furiosa’s mother, Mary Jabassa, makes a noble attempt to rescue the girl which, ultimately, fails. Dementus and his Biker Horde capture Furiosa’s mother. Seeing this, Furiosa defies her mother by coming back where she is again captured. Then Dementus makes Furiosa watch as the Octoboss brutally tortures her to death . . . sealing his fate as the figure of Furiosa’s fury and the direction of her revenge.

Thereafter, Furiosa is imprisoned by Dementus, masked (much like Max in Fury Road,) chained, and kept in a wheeled cage along with his History Man. The warlord gives the girl a teddy bear that belonged to his children in order to give her comfort as she witnesses more brutality, this time the motorcycle-dismembering -- a modern-day drawn and quartering -- of a poor soul who was part of a small group that Dementus and his horde defeated.

Eventually, Dementus and his horde make a play for the Citadel. Not knowing, or understanding the dynamic of the "Three Fortresses," his power play fails rather spectacularly. However, the caged carriage that holds Furiosa is nearly captured by the War Boys who descend on cranes to snatch it away, but Dementus manages to rescue Furiosa from the carriage.

Despite his madness, and his own fury at the state of the world, it is clear that the warlord developed an attachment to young Furiosa as a proxy for his own "little ones." This is clearly evidenced a short while later after Dementus’ Horde captures Gastown; Dementus insists on strong-arming Immortan Joe into a deal or pact for peace whereby Dementus would be seen as the legitimate leader of Gas Town.

Immortan Joe and Dementus face-off for during the meeting.

During this meeting, Immortan Joe questions Dementus about the little girl whereby Dementus lies by claiming that she is his daughter. Immortan Joe openly questions this by which Dementus dissembles again in claiming that Furiosa got all of her mother’s "perfections" and none of his "deficiencies."

A highly-skeptical Immortan Joe then asks Furiosa the truth. Dementus said she is mute, but then the girls speaks up and tells the truth -- Dementus is NOT her father, and, in fact, killed her mother which Dementus claimed he was doing to make Furiosa stronger. At the end of the confab, Immortan Joe makes an offer to Dementus which he accepts. But the bargain comes with another, small price -- Dementus must give up the Organic Mechanic and Furiosa.

The deal done, Dementus takes back his teddy bear in breaking his bond with Furiosa as his “adopted daughter."

The Forty-Day Wasteland War

Eventually, Dementus becomes increasingly unhappy with the deal he agreed to. His bikers are openly revolting and going "rogue" because of worsening conditions at Gas Town, most notably the lack of food. Dementus begins to feel cheated and squarely blames Immortan Joe and the other warlords.

Dementus then decides to seize the Bullet Farm, which he easily does. But he's not finished -- he has designs to take The Citadel as well and when he makes his move he inadvertently sparks what the History Men come to call "The Forty-Day Wasteland War," a brutal war in which the overwhelming majority of Dementus' Horde is wiped-out, save Dementus, Rizzdale Pell, Mr. Norton, the Smeg, and a few others.

Retribution

The "Darkest of Angels," the "Fifth Rider of the Apocalypse."

In the fourth chapter of the film, upon capturing Praetorian Jack and Furiosa in the Wasteland, Dementus says that he will be the bringer of "retribution" and "justice" for the ills and evils he has suffered. Yet, ultimately, it would be Dementus who would receive the retribution from "The Darkest of Angels," the "Fifth Rider of the Apocalypse."

After the Biker Horde is defeated at the end of the Forty-Day War, Dementus and several others attempt to flee into the Wasteland. They are chased by Furiosa, who finally manages to ambush Dementus, taking away his water, one of the wheels of his bike, and his ammunition. Dementus accepts defeat and allows himself to be confronted by Furiosa, but enrages her when he fails to recognise her, only remembering her as the woman who destroyed the Bullet Farm. Furiosa beats him up, demanding he give back the lives he stole from her, but he steadfastly tells her he cannot give her the retribution or justice she craves. Furiosa continues to beat him with her gun, but he continues unperturbed, arguing she is not unique in her pain as he too lost his family and the love of his life to the Wasteland, and further telling her he will not give her the satisfaction of begging for his life. Eventually, the repeated blows from Furiosa's gun cause him to have a seizure, causing him to lose consciousness on the ground.

As he lies there, Furiosa picks up the teddy bear and inspects it. Dementus wakes up from the seizure and seeing this finally recognizes her as "Little D." Amazed at what she has become, he claims the two of them are alike in that they have been changed by the Wasteland taking what they held dear, but she rejects his stance. He tells her she has a chance to become a legend of the Wasteland just like him, and asks how she plans to do away with him in the end, declaring his hope that she has it in her to "make it epic."

Dementus' fate is left unclear: while it is known is that she "took away his voice" (cut out his tongue), the official story that she simply shot him in the head was found unsatisfying by many. Some suggested she took revenge by killing him the same ways he killed her mother or Praetorian Jack. The History Man, however, states that Furiosa whispered to only him that she planted the peach seed given by her mother within the incapacitated Dementus, using his body as food for a newly sprouting tree. Some years later, Furiosa picks the first fruit from the tree, which Dementus watches with a weary smile.

Appearance and personality

Dementus was a large, muscular man. He had a long beard and hair, which was typically auburn, but became bright red from the paint bomb flare until eventually turning grey. He had a prominent nose that ended in a point. His teeth indicated severe neglect.

His typical attire was a leather vest and leather pants. Once he took over Gastown, he swapped his leather vest for the circus ringmaster vest from the former Guardian of Gastown. He almost always used a parachute as clothing, first as a shaman-like shroud, before the most common use as a cape, with a fold sometimes acting as a hood. The parachute was initially white but became red like his hair for the same reason as the paint bomb, and after 15 years running Gastown, it had turned almost completely black with some red trimmings.

A small teddy bear from his dead child or children was kept attached to his outfits, from tied to his back or chest, before finally chained to his belt; by the time of his defeat, one of the bear's arms had been lost and replaced by a plastic doll's arm.

As fitting his name, Dementus was functionally insane, although he is still highly charismatic, intimidating, and cunning, though he is also self-aggrandising, cruel, and amoral. As the years went by, his mental stability decayed, yet he was still able to orchestrate complicated plans; if they required greater long-term thinking, they were less effective but were still workable for at least years. He welcomed the label of "evil," as he believed it justified any action he may take, since he accepted it as a part of his nature. Despite his malevolence, he was capable of compassion and sentimentality of sorts, as he became attached to the young Furiosa, both out of admiration for her bravery as well as believing she would replace the family he lost.

While sometimes treating Furiosa with kindness, he predominantly gave her harsh treatment, such as keeping her trapped in a cage and killing her mother in front of her; most of his violence was out of his nihilistic worldview, but for Furiosa, he held the delusion that his actions were actually making her stronger, and he thought it was the only way she would learn to survive in the wasteland; however, he did display a semblance of protectiveness as he saved her from the War Boy assault and the subterranean maggot farmers. Similarly, he was fond of his closest followers, sharing more salvage and supplies with them than the rest of the Horde.

In spite of his attachments, in pursuit of his own indulgences or well-being, he'd abandon them instantly. As he killed most of one of his subordinate gangs to hide a Trojan Horse, he forfeited the incredibly useful Organic Mechanic to Immortan Joe, took moments to acquiesce to Joe's other trade condition by surrendering Furiosa to his involuntarily harem (although he did look a bit saddened for doing so), and upon facing defeat from the 40-Day Wasteland War, bid farewell to his closest allies, dismissing them so he could wander off alone, finding it easier to fend for himself.

Perhaps stemming from his grief and mania, he found the concept of hope to be abhorrent, becoming enraged when he sees someone whose actions imply a sense of optimism. Although he was aware that his own ambitions could be interpreted as "hope," he therefore had an excuse prepared about his actions not indicating hope but rather being exercises of instinct or emotionless calculation. He does, however, hold an enthusiastic belief in hatred, believing it to be one of the "great forces of nature."

Dementus imagined a kinship between himself and Furiosa, believing themselves to be survivors and stronger than most. When reuniting with her as an adult, he felt his cruelty and abandonment of her to Immortan Joe were worthwhile, since she had become a formidable warrior that was able to best him; her capabilities made him believe that she was as evil as him, since he thought that only the worst can survive and thrive in the wasteland. While at her mercy, he was completely unafraid, since his degraded mind and years of violence had made him practically incapable of feeling anything anymore; rather than scared, he was excited as he felt his death at her hands would only prove his nihilism right again. He had longed for death but only wanted someone he felt was more dangerous than him to kill him, as to make his demise "epic." Something he would clearly come to regret, for if what Furiosa said about his body being used as living nutrients for a peach tree she planted underneath him... his death would take a very long time, leaving him a prisoner of his own body.

Titles

Red Dementus

The post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max is the new "Dark Age" without law and order, an age where anyone can reinvent themselves through force and brutality. Clearly, "Dementus," along with nearly every character in the Mad Max Saga, adopts a new identity as a way of finding themselves a place in this calamity; a coping mechanism for the new, savage world. It is through this mentality by which the characters have adopted outrageous titles and names such as "Immortan" or "Dementus."

As the narrative of Furiosa unfolds Dementus grants himself many titles; initially declaring himself "Red Dementus" because he is literally red after coming through a "sky blood" explosion. Then, after striking the deal with Immortan Joe et al, he declares himself "The Great" Dementus the "Lord Guardian of Gastown," much the same way that "nobles" did in the original Dark Ages.

Lastly, as Dementus descends further into madness, after he has captured the Praetorian couple -- Jack and Furiosa -- whilst simultaneously losing his grip on his horde as well as his fortress, he declares himself "Dark Dementus."

Appearance As Symbolism

All of the characters throughout the Mad Max Saga are carefully crafted and designed to tell the story through non-verbal communication which is where symbolism comes in. This is especially important for Dementus during the events of Furiosa.

A Messianic appearance . . .

When we first meet Dementus, he is garbed in a white cloak in a very Messianic appearance meant to convey peacefulness or even "innocence." The cloak is made out of a polyester-type parachute material, most likely acquired from one of the mortifliers. The material gives the sense of flight or airiness, connotations of an angel.

"Red Dementus" . . . NOT Thor

Later, as the story progresses, we learn very quickly that Dementus is a man in the stages of transformation as he has already perpetrated some horrible acts against Mary Jabassa and has overcome a small group of wanderers which he destroyed, particularly their leader, in a gruesome way. It is soon that Dementus becomes "Red Dementus" -- angry, rageous, mad Dementus -- when he is literally turned red from a "sky blood" explosion. Red Dementus becomes thirsty for power and sets his eyes on conquering The Citadel. But first, he and his horde take Gastown in an event that fractures his relationship with the Octoboss and his men.

Dark Dementus

Finally, apropos to the three-act format, we find "Dark Dementus" in the end; a man who has gone into the proverbial abyss never to return. This is reflected in his cloak that has turned black with age and decay. Dark Dementus has no cares for anything but himself, regressed, devolved to the most basic of savages. After his total and utter defeat following the end of the Forty-Day Wasteland War, Dementus attempts to flee into the Wastelands. At one point, knowing he will be caught, he gives his blackened cloak to Smeg to act as a decoy. Furiosa bites on the ploy and chases Smeg as he sheds the cloak revealing the truth. It is Furiosa who dons the black cloak as she -- the Darkest of Angels and the Fifth Rider of the Apocalypse -- exacts her retribution.

Trivia

• Dementus was first mentioned in the Mad Max video game, referred to as "Dr. Dementus", and described as having been killed by Scabrous Scrotus.
• His actor, Chris Hemsworth, describes him as being "a pretty horrible individual," though, like many villains, one who does not necessarily think of himself in that way. He further stated that in Furiosa, viewers will keep coming back to the question of "This is evil, but what is the intention behind it?" Additionally, he is of the opinion that his character commits harsh, violent acts because in his mind it is about survival. He explained that when Dementus asks "Do you have it in you to make it epic?" it is because he feels that if you aren't memorable and don't stand out, then you'll be not only forgotten, but brutally disposed of.
• The teddy bear worn as an accessory by Dementus is the only holdover from the original concept of the story as an anime. The teddy bear is a juxtaposition to the film's otherwise war-torn landscape, and is also deeply connected to the story of both Dementus himself and his relationship with Furiosa.

Featurettes

FURIOSA - A MAD MAX SAGA - Motorbike Messiah Featurette

FURIOSA- A MAD MAX SAGA - Dangerously Demented Featurette