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"The last thing that you will ever see is my power over his."
―Nicolae to President Fitzhugh, claiming that he will defeat Jesus Christ[src]

Nicolae Jetty Carpathia, also known as the Antichrist, is the main antagonist in the Left Behind series. He is the archenemy of Rayford Steele and Tsion Ben-Judah.

Carpathia slowly gains complete control over the entire world, first as the Secretary-General of the United Nations, then as the far more powerful Supreme Potentate of the Global Community and, finally, as the self-proclaimed God of Carpathianism (which replaces the Enigma Babylon One World Faith). As the Antichrist, Carpathia is directly responsible for the terrifying 7-year-long Tribulation, and the ultimate Battle of Armageddon. After his incredible resurrection from the dead (after 3 days), Antichrist Carpathia is willingly possessed by the Devil, before gruesomely desecrating the Jewish Holy Temple and declaring himself to be God. He brutally enforces the diabolical new religion of Carpathianism by forcibly branding people with the Number of the Beast, and brutally executing any Christians. In the end, Supreme Potentate Carpathia marshals the "Ten Kingdoms" against the followers of Jesus Christ, and besieges Jerusalem in the final Battle of Armageddon. Antichrist Carpathia was finally defeated by Jesus for his actions, and his ultimate defeat marks the end of the Tribulation.  

Biography

Before the Rapture

Born in the small village of Cluj, Romania, Carpathia's birth was the end product of a genetic engineering/artificial insemination project, known as Project People's Victory. His mother, Marilena, was unwittingly convinced by Satanists to become the mother of a child who, they assured her, would change the face of the Earth. Satan himself agrees to help her make this possible if only she submits to him. Marilena stays with her husband, Sorin, until the baby is born, insisting that her "son" keep the strong and noble "Carpathia" name.

Through his parents, Carpathia possessed a very unique bloodline, dating far back to Ancient Rome, so he could actually claim to be of Roman descent. This is partly in keeping with the early Christian belief that the Antichrist would come in the form of a Roman emperor, in addition to the current Premillenialist Christian view that the Antichrist shall emerge from a "New Roman Empire,” in this case being the European Union. His father's last name, Carpathia, comes from the Carpathian Mountains, a mountain range in Romania.

As a young child, Carpathia showed a remarkable intelligence (easily mastering many languages), as well as an incredible beauty and immense athletic ability. He was also extraordinarily manipulative, able to bend others to his will with relative ease. Nicolae had his first taste of fame in a TIME article at a young age. He graduates high school early, and graduates university in under 2 years, with his education entirely financed by Jonathan Stonagal. Nicolae's Satanist handlers later arranged for his mother to be eliminated, and Nicolae himself eventually demanded the dispatch of his "fathers," a key to his rise to power. With his advisers and counselors, Carpathia formed a successful import-export business, which quickly transformed him into a millionaire. Once Nicolae had became a powerful businessman, he was visited and taken by a demon to the deserts of an unknown land, where he was forced to remain without food or water for 40 days. In contrast to Jesus's temptations, where He withstood the whiles of Satan with Scripture, Nicolae fell to all three temptations without hesitation. After this trial, Nicolae was returned to Romania by Satan.

After Nicolae Carpathia's return, his influence in business and politics grew substantially, likely as a result Of his “passing” the Demons tests. Nicolae would hire "kingmaker" and soon-to-be False Prophet Leon Fortunato as a deputy and a consultant. Over the course of a few years, Carpathia rose to power within the Romanian government, becoming a member of the Romanian House of Deputies (the government's lower house). Carpathia frequently manipulated people and events for his own personal gain, and often resorted to murder and blackmail in order to achieve these goals. He became a prominent government peacemaker within Romania, who led a movement of disarmament. Even the Israeli botanist and statesman Chaim Rosenzweig, knew of him, though he did not initially know his name.

Carpathia often calls upon the influence of his "spiritual guide" (later revealed to be the Devil himself) for advice. Jonathan Stonagal would later begin to grow regretful of his involvement wi the Carpathia’s birth, fearing that the young Antichrist was already out of his control.  

At the age of 24, Carpathia stepped onto the political scene properly, traveling often to establish alliances with foreign heads of state and powerful businessmen. In time, he would become known as the most popular man in Romania, admired, respected, and lauded by even his opponents.

In the weeks before the Rapture, Carpathia assigned Fortunato to orchestrate President of Romania, Gheorghe Vasile's leave of office. Fortunato resorts to several threats, before calling in a bomb threat at Vasile's grandchildren's school and setting a fire at his son's farm, which ultimately caused Vasile to step down. Carpathia won the election with ease and became Romania's President. Thus, Nicolae eliminated any obstacles in his path to power. As the newly appointed President of Romania, Nicolae was invited to speak before the U.N.

After the Rapture

In the aftermath of the Rapture, Carpathia quickly gained fame Internationally due to his upcoming speech at the United Nations. Carpathia arrives at the UN Headquarters to deliver his long and comprehensive speech, addressing the United Nations. He is introduced and warmly greeted by Secretary-General Mwangati Ngumo and Chaim Rosenzweig. During his address, Carpathia quickly charms and impresses everybody present with his incredible oratory skills, amazing genius-level intellect and memory, as well as his vast knowledge of the United Nations, its members, history, principal organs, and specialized agencies. Carpathia also demonstrates his uncommon polyglotism, being able to fluently speak over 9 languages, which include Romanian, Hungarian, Russian, English, French, Spanish, German, Arabic, Hebrew, and Chinese. A very impressed reporter Cameron Williams (who was previously known to be a skeptic) even refers to him as the "Carpathia Juggernaut." By the middle of his address, Carpathia had brought the entire crowd to its feet in full voice and applause, press and representative alike. Everybody, including Steve Plank and Buck Williams continued to clap and cheer, never once appearing embarrassed at their loss of detached objectivity. After his address Carpathia quickly became a celebrity, and People magazine named him their newest Sexiest Man Alive.  

Carpathia outlines his plan to get the UN back on track; re-arranging the Security Council, and organizing 10 regions to encompass the entire world, with the Leaders of each nation reporting to each leader of the 10 regions. Many vie for Carpathia to become the new Secretary-General, though Carpathia refuses unless a direct set of events are put in place, including moving the UN to New Babylon, a city in development in Iraq. All the demands are met, and Carpathia is elected as the new Secretary-General of the United Nations.

During a UN conference, Secretary-General Carpathia ruthlessly murders both Jonathan Stonagal and Joshua Todd-Cothran with a single gunshot, revealing his true colors. However, he manages to brainwash everybody present by convincing them that what they had actually seen was the two individuals murdering each other. Buck, however, was the only one immune to this brainwash, since he had previously accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Carpathia quickly began effecting changes to the U.N., converting it into the cruel and purely malevolent Global Community and appointing himself as that evil government's Supreme Potentate. After he raised Fortunato from the dead, he styled himself "His Excellency, Global Community Supreme Potentate Nicolae Carpathia", Eventually after World War III, Carpathia became a malevolent dictator, while still openly portraying himself as a benevolent pacifist and friend of the people.

After three and a half years in power Carpathia was assassinated by Chaim Rosenzweig, an Israeli botanist and statesman whom he once pretended to befriend, prophetically suffering a lethal head wound from a blade which Rosenzweig had created himself and concealed in the tubing of his wheelchair after feigning a stroke. Carpathia's demise was short-lived, however, as after three days of lying dead, Carpathia's body was indwelt by Satan himself, thus making Carpathia appear to rise from the dead and further cement his power as a dictator. Thus, Carpathia declares himself to be the one true God, and demands that all under heaven worship him as such. He declares that his palace would be extended, rising to the heights, with a transparent roof so that there would, in his own words,”be nothing above me.” He also warns all of the Christians currently watching the broadcast on which he makes all these declarations that the Great Tribulation, the 3.5 worst years in all of human history, awaits them all.

Nicolae eventually proclaims himself God in the desecrated Temple of the Holy of Holies, and demands that everyone on Earth worship him. With his reign secure, he would order that golden statues of himself be constructed throughout the Global Community, demanding that all worship these statues three times a day, with death as the penalty for failure to comply. He would then establish "Carpathianism" as the only legal religion on Earth and, following the events in the Book of Revelation, decreed that all were required to bear a mark (the biblical Mark of the Beast)upon their foreheads or hands, signifying their loyalty to him and the Global Community in order to participate in any economic exchange, including purchasing and selling. At last, he gave out the decree that those who did not accept the mark, along with any who refused to proclaim him as God, would be beheaded by a guillotine, known as a "loyalty enforcement facilitator."

In a final surge for complete domination of Earth, Carpathia created the One World, composed of all G.C. military presence on the planet; their mission was to destroy the remnant stronghold of Petra and take over the city of Jerusalem as the world's new capital after the supernatural destruction of New Babylon. He also gathered the armies of the world at the valley of Armageddon for the battle with Jesus Christ and His army.

In accordance with the series' interpretation of biblical prophecy, Jesus Christ Himself defeated Antichrist Carpathia right after the Second Coming. Jesus instantly destroys the 3 Carpathia clones (unclean frog-like spirits), and has the defeated Antichrist and False Prophet brought before Him. Before Carpathia's eternal sentence is carried out, the Devil is forcibly cast out by Jesus, leaving Nicolae as withered husk of his former self, who then kneels before Christ and declares for Him as Lord. Carpathia is forced to admit, at the feet of Jesus, that everything he ever did was for personal gain and that thus, his entire life was a waste. Jesus declares that as the Antichrist, Carpathia is the most evil person of all time, and has brought about more destruction and carnage than any other person in throughout the history of mankind. Thus, both Antichrist Carpathia and the False Prophet Leon Fortunato are punished accordingly by Jesus Christ, who has them hurled into the bottomless and ineffably terrifying Lake of Fire for all eternity. Satan, however, is captured by the archangels and chained in the bottomless pit, destined to return in a thousand years to lead the final battle of Good and Evil against Christ.

One thousand years later, Carpathia and Leon Fortunato are seen in a brief glimpse, as the terrible Lake of Fire opens to swallow up the Devil himself. Carpathia is still seen writhing in agony as he is tortured in fire and sulfur, repeating over and over, "Jesus is Lord!". The scene closes, and Carpathia -along with his master and his underling- resume their suffering for all eternity.

Physical description

Being born as a result of the genetically engineered Project People's Victory, Carpathia possessed many incredibly desirable traits, and was extremely handsome and dashing; piercingly blue-eyes and blonde hair, like the original Romanians. He was extremely tall, with broad shoulders, as well as a thick muscular chest.            

Personality

Carpathia is the prophesied Antichrist (also known as the Beast from the Sea, the Man of Sin, and the Son of Perdition), and the most purely malevolent, egregious, and evil person the world has ever known, compared to whom all of the great dictators and tyrants of the past pale. His unparalleled evil, together with his incredible intelligence, oratory skills, and deceitful charisma, made Carpathia a terrifying and formidable juggernaut of a foe to anybody who dared to oppose him, even before he became Supreme Potentate. Nonetheless, Antichrist Carpathia was an expert at hiding his true colors and long-term goals by offering the world the seemingly glorious peace in the Middle East (especially in Israel), and global disarmament. According to Buck, he carried himself with a "sense of humility and purpose", and effortlessly dominated any room that he was in.

Carpathia after his indwelling is sadistic, but he was still callous before the indwelling. While in a discussion with Loren Hut, the head of the Morale Monitors, on how to deal with dissidents in Jerusalem, Carpathia revealed on his own sadistic recommendations on how to give them painful deaths by shooting them nine times, twice on hands, knees, feet, shoulders, with the final blow in the forehead where the mark should be. He also told Hut that their corpse should be taken to a guillotine and decapitated to make it clear that the consequences of the refusal to take the mark of loyalty. Carpathia attempted to regale Hut with the detail that one's heart can beat for more than a half an hour after decapitation, but Carpathia realized that was moot if someone actually shot a victim in the manner he described. Carpathia thought the guillotine was too humane for dissident Jews who refused his mark, and announced his intention to reward the sub-potentate with a doubled budget who is able to keep Jews alive the longest in the most abject conditions, with no heating, cooling, or medical care, but only enough food to maintain their existence. He also ordered Commander Tenzin to beat Ipswich to death for Ipswitch's impropriety towards Carpathia for "my entertainment and for the education of all." He also ordered GC security to occupy the GCCNN building in Al Hillah to shoot the the highest administrators from the chain of command there every minute until Chaim Rosenzeig was taken off the air from a pirated broadcast.

While others, such as Carpathia's secretary Krystall Carney and Loren Hut, became disillusioned with his behavior and personality, others in his inner circle were sycophantic around him, trying to curry his favor. A few spoke defiantly towards him, such as Loren Hut, Raman Vajpayee, and General Slovak (named in Glorious Appearing: an Experience in Sound and Drama), but they were often killed by Carpathia. During the latter half of the Tribulation, many Global Community citizens bearing Carpathia's mark of loyalty spoke out against him in protests. Carpathia and the Global Community had no tolerance for dissent. In The Remnant, in region 7, the United African States, the Global Community massacred a crowd of protesters who were dismayed at the lack of a semblance of a justice system under Carpathia's rule. Carpathia then ordered Suhail Akbar, the Global Community Director of Security and Intelligence, to assassinate the heads of Libya and Ethiopia and their entire senior cabinets in order to send a message to the sub-potentate of the United African States by the time the sub-potentate wakes up in the morning. Director Akbar at first thought Carpathia was using hyperbole and said that he would talk to sub-potentate about the issue, but Akbar got clarification that Carpathia literally wanted the leaders and their cabinet dead.

The authors gave the impression that Nicolae Carpathia really did believe that his self-aggrandizing endeavors to defeat God and the Son would prevail, even though scripture says that the devil knows his time is short (Revelation 12:12). He was genuinely frustrated and surprised when the Unity Army were unable to inflict harm on the inhabitants of Petra and capture Jerusalem. Lucifer in the persona of Nicolae Carpathia did not believe that God created him but that his sentience emerged from a primordial ooze and thought that God also came into existence the same way but had just preceded him. Lucifer even says this while he is being judged by the angels after the Glorious Appearing. Carpathia's aim in defeating the remnant in Petra and capturing Jerusalem in the Battle of Armageddon is to usurp God's place and ascend to his throne in the heavens (Isaiah 14:13-14).

Carpathia often informally address his subordinates by their first name, such as "Suhail" or "Walter". He would not tolerate others calling him "Nicolae" except perhaps his aunt, Viv Ivins. After his resurrection and indwelling, he expects everyone to use an honorific such as "excellency" or "potentate" with "sir" being insufficient for him. For instance, he had Ipswich beaten to death for addressing him as "sir" and not giving a sufficiently abject apology to him.

Powers and abilities

Manipulation: The Antichrist Nicolae was able to manipulate anyone at ease. He was able to do this after he murdered Jonathan Stonagal and Joshua Todd-Cothran by lying saying that Stonagal shot himself and Todd-Cothran in remorse for the assassinations. He was able to implant thoughts in Enoch Litwala's mind so that he would plan a conspiracy with the other subpotentates to kill Peter Mathews. Tsion Ben-Judah says that it is not from Carpathia's power that he was able to implant those thoughts, but it was God who put those thoughts in Enoch Litwala and the other sub-potentates' mind in order for God to work out His eternal plan.

Metabolic control: Nicolae was known to barely sleep even before the Indwelling; after the Indwelling, he no longer required food or sleep, although he would sometimes eat at social events. He had sufficient control over his neurology, speech patterns, and body language that he could pass through an advanced lie detector test (not just a polygraph) by answering falsehoods that the computer program recorded as the truth.

Language fluency: Nicolae was able to speak over nine languages, including his own, with impeccable grammar, although he retained an accent and did not use contractions in languages that have them. However, he did not have the supernatural ability of universal speech, where he can say something in one language but have listeners from other languages understand him in their language. During The Meeting of The Witnesses, Carpathia had to have interpreters in order to speak to the diverse audience who came from throughout the world, but Tsion Ben-Judah was able to address the audience simultaneously, with everyone understanding his message.

Supernatural Abilities: Even before he was indwelt by Satan, Nicolae had the ability to resurrect whoever he wanted from the dead, though this was used only one time with Leon Fortunato. After he was indwelt, Nicolae had superhuman stamina and could withstand extremely high temperatures, as was witnessed by his taking a sunbath during the fourth Bowl Judgment. (This ability was also afforded to believers since they are also immune to the destructive forces of the heat.) He was also able to emit a faint glowing aura that gave limited visibility to both him and whoever was close to his personal vicinity during the fifth Bowl Judgment. In the Dramatic Audio presentation of Armageddon, Nicolae was able to rip the heart out of Raman Vajpayee's chest with his bare hands when Raman challenged the Antichrist to kill him by calling him "impotent". In Left Behind: World at War, he displays the same ability as an Angel to let bullets pass through him without losing momentum and hit the person behind him.

Nicolae is not omniscient, even when indwelt by Satan, since that ability is only reserved for God. During the plague of darkness after the Global Community had evacuated New Babylon since it had been crippled by the plague, Carpathia was discussing who is to blame for the failure of the Global Community News Network to retain control over their broadcast from the Tribulation Force's attempts to pirate it. Carpathia mentioned "the Scandinavian young man" Lars Rahlmost, but he forgot that he had been killed during the onset of the heat plague. Carpathia said he cannot keep track of everyone who dies from the plagues. Apparently, Carpathia does not care to remember his subordinates, whom he considers expendable. In the kids series book The Rise of False Messiahs, Chang Wong looked at Carpathia while Carpathia was in the courtyard of the GC Palace. Chang said to Carpathia in his mental voice that "You are evil in the flesh, the total opposite of the loving God I serve." Carpathia just look away, and that convince Chang that Nicolae cannot know his thoughts.

Behind the scenes

Marilena stays with her husband, Sorin, until the baby is born, insisting that her "son" keep the strong "Carpathia" name. Note that this is contrary to real-life Romanian naming conventions; Carpatescu would be a better rendition.

In the prequel, it is suggested that his name means "Victory of the People." This refers to his first name Nicolae, which comes from the Greek name of Nikolaos, which means victory over/of the people. (This was hinted at with the name of the artificial insemination project, Project People's Victory.) It can also a refer to a group of non-mainstream/not accepted "Christians" called Nicolaitans in Revelation 2:15.

The President of Romania soon resigned in favor of Carpathia, with the unanimous support of that country's parliament. This event would run contrary to the current Constitution of Romania, which specifies that the Romanian President is directly elected, and in the event of the death, resignation, or removal, the presidency is assumed ad hoc by the President of the Senate until new elections are held.

The Left Behind series series portrays Carpathia as a man who craves the reverence and adulation of his subjects, even composing a hymn that glorifies himself and demanding that his subjects worship his image three times a day. Carpathia also believes that he can usurp God's exalted position in the heavens and rule over creation though an extravagant scheme of destroying the Christians and Jews of the world and capturing Jerusalem with overwhelming military force. In contrast, Christopher Goodman, the Antichrist of the Christ Clone Trilogy, had less of an appetite for the devotion of the world, but he captivates others to follow his cause through flattery, the promotion of new age ideology that promises the collective evolution of humanity and libertine morals, and their odium towards God. In Acts of God, Christopher Goodman rallies his followers around the world to gather in Middle East so they can march to Petra to destroy the last stronghold of resistors and liberate the humanity from the oppressive influence of Yahweh so humanity can reach the next evolutionary stage of increased health and psychic powers without Yahweh's obstruction. This gathering would use their combined newfound psychic powers (no conventional or nuclear weapons are to be used) to break down the walls of Petra and kill every inhabitant there. Months before the battle, when the protagonist Decker Hawthorne confronts Christopher Goodman, Christopher confesses that he expects to be thrown into hell, but that his spite towards God and his desire to sadistically relish in other people's hatred towards him motivates him to deceive the world to deprive God of the souls He intends to save. (Carpathia would prefer others to worship him and deprive God of worship, not to have other souls despise him in hell.) As Christopher's army was marching towards Petra, Jesus appears on a ridge and Christopher meets him there. Christopher then boasts anticlimactically to Jesus that the gathering before him were intended to become Jesus' bride but became his "whores and sluts". Upon hearing this heartrending realization, the gathering then starts to fight amongst themselves and were killed by a plague.

Character basis

Nicolae Carpathia is most likely based on former Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu. This is evidenced by both Carpathia's and Ceausescu's use of cult of personality in their rules. Also, both hail from the country of Romania, and moved up the political ladder in that country with incredible speed and ease. Finally, a nickname for Nicolae Ceausescu is "The Genius of the Carpathians", and that is even the name of his biography. As well, his last name, Carpathia, comes from the Carpathian Mountains, a mountain range in Romania.

It is also interesting to note that Nicolae Carpathia and Leon Fortunato essentially share the same first names as Nikolai Lenin and Leon Trotsky.

Appearance-wise, in the original release of Left Behind, Nicolae Carpathia was said to resemble a young Robert Redford, while in the later release, he was said to resemble a young Brad Pitt. Being portrayed by Gordon Currie in the Left Behind trilogy, he had a more androgynous appearance (possibly to attribute him a more sinister, supernatural presence).

Appearances

Left Behind series

Left Behind: The Kids

In other media

Trivia

  • Carpathia was the Global Community official that had the highest amount of appearances in the adult Left Behind series.
  • Carpathia was never referred to by name in Kingdom Come.

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