WatchmenComicMovie.com Forum

My wife has asked me to post this topic, as I couldn't answer the question myself...

Why does Moloch have, or how did he get, his pointy elf-like ears?

There's only one superhuman in the world of 'Watchmen', and no mutants or magic; Moloch's appearance in the graphic novel as well as in the film kind of makes you assume he is something more than human, purely because of his pixie ears. I personally thought his ears just happened to be a bit pointed at first, but after seeing the film (I know, I know, I shouldn't be talking about the film here) it looks like they went to a lot of effort to give Moloch a supernatural appearance.

Is it explained anywhere or should we just assume he had plastic surgery to enhance his 'look' during his days as a stage magician?

I don't recall any definitive answer to where Moloch's ears came from. He had them from a very young age, so I'd personally assume that it's a birth defect of some kind.

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This is truly a madhouse. And I'm the lunatic running it. I've spent three years wondering if I should be proud or ashamed.

I always thought it was born that way. Hurm.

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I think this is the answer. Since he never shows any sign that he has any powers, I don't know how you assume he is meant to be supernatural.

My take is that they are a birth defect. Probably caused him a lot of grief in high school. However, he was savvy enough to make it work for him. Using the stage name "Moloch", after the demon god, his pointy ears worked perfectly with the whole demon god shtick.



Moloch the demon is also sometimes depicted as an owl. Some owls have pointy ears, which might be why he took the name as his stage name.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

I'm sure that led to some interesting conversations between Moloch and Hollis Mason back in the day

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LOLZ!

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We're not amused.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

Muppet Watchmen...
Bring it on!

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...evidently chicken-town.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

I wasn't assuming he was meant to be supernatural, what I said was that in both the GN and the film he has been given a markedly supernatural appearance, and this is what we were wondering about. I'm not entirely happy to just suspend my disbelief in this way (boy born with pointy elf-ears, boy grows to be magician and super-villain) as pretty much everything else in Watchmen is explained somewhere but, yeah I guess I can live with it.

i always assumed it was some reference to the fact that supervillains sometimes have things like that, deformaties etc. perhaps he was teased at school which led him to a life of crime lol.

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We're all actors, Laurie. I'm just an actor who read the script.

Moloch could well have had "psychic" powers and been special. Having pointy ears made him extra creepy and easy to recognise in the frames (Especially in the flash-back at the Den).

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

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Damn. It seems I messed up somehow with my previous post. I just was saying some of us had been debating whether or no Moloch had a third eye or not.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

ah, crap. you beat me to it! i was just about to make a thread on this. Yeah, they kinda looked pig or bat ear, to me.

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"Tonight, a Comedian died in New York. Somebody knows why. Somebody knows........."

I remember hearing on 'House' that there is a condition that results in 'Elfin Features', which could include pointed ears maybe? It was a TV show though, so probably BS.

It is coincidence. Mal = bad/evil + occhio = eye.

Moloch is a Hebrew derivation of a Semitic word (or two) for king, and translates roughly to 'he who demands sacrifice.' (I don't have the character set to represent the words appropriately.) He's better known to Western mythology as Baal.

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