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| “ | Come, brothers! Let Hell tremble before our might! | „ |
| ~ Commander Valen leading the Argenta to Immora. |
Commander Valen, also known as The Betrayer, is a minor supporting protagonist in the Doom franchise, namely in DOOM Eternal and its DLCs. He is an Argenta Night Sentinel commander, who trained the Doom Slayer himself in the art of Night Sentinel combat, and fought by his side in a war against Hell. However, after his son's death, he was disgraced and went into self-exile after being deceived into giving the demons a massive advantage over the Argenta. Externally, Valen resembles a dark-skinned human, although he appears to have a cybernetic left arm, a discolored and seemingly blind right eye, and a very injured right ear, along with numerous combat scars. Additionally, his armor is rather distinct from the plate armor of the typical Night Sentinel, instead better resembling the Praetor Suit of the Doom Slayer.
Valen was voiced by Kyle Chapple.
Biography[]
Early life[]
At some point in the ancient past, Valen had become a Night Sentinel of Argent D'Nur, a world of technologically advanced magic-sensitive humanoids who had been vassalized by the Maykrs, an extradimensional race of incredible power. During the reign of King Novik, Valen eventually rose the ranks of the Night Sentinels, becoming a commander, and eventually sired a son, who also joined the Night Sentinels. Valen was assigned the keys to the Elemental Wraiths, mysterious primordial beings who lay dormant within a Night Sentinel fortress, and who had once seeded all life on Argent D'Nur, including the Argenta themselves. Then, a mysterious human man, a marine from Earth, somehow crossed space and time while fighting demonic hordes, emerging half-alive and covered in demonic entrails in Argent D'Nur, where he was sent to the arena to fight for his freedom. Despite his condition, the marine defeated all his opponents and was quickly placed in the general Argenta infantry, but the entire time, he rambled about demons and impending doom, which the Maykrs were intrigued by.
War against Hell[]
Soon enough, the demons he spoke of invaded Argent D'Nur through Hell rifts, with Valen and the other Night Sentinels rallying in defense of their world. The sheer power and numbers of the demons began overrunning Argenta defenses, the Argenta clergymen and scientists being unable to find any weaknesses to the demons, but the Sentinels noticed how the marine survived every battle he was sent in, and knew exactly how to kill demons. While first suspicious of him, King Novik had the marine drafted into the order of the Night Sentinels, assigned to Commander Valen. Many Night Sentinels first scoffed at the idea of the marine joining them, but Valen trained the marine nonetheless, teaching him both Night Sentinel combat and traditions, and soon, after accompanying them on three battles going directly through the rifts and into Hell, the marine was accepted as a brother-in-arms, gaining the trust and loyalty of Valen, Novik, and all the Sentinels he fought side-by-side with. With the marine, and with the Deag Priests, the top Argenta clergymen, discovering the source of the demons' power and reconstituting it into Argent Energy, a more potent substance that they could use to power Argenta weaponry, the Night Sentinels turned the tide of the war, Valen and his fellow commanders leading more successful campaigns deeper into Hell.
Sometime during the war, after being granted superhuman strength by a renegade Maykr Seraph and slaying a Titan utilizing a Crucible, a weapon which would only activate in the hands of a Sentinel king, the marine became known as the Doom Slayer, and was made heir to King Novik. The Slayer's armor was upgraded by Argenta technology to be the fearsome Praetor Suit, which may have either been modeled after the design of Valen's own armor. The Slayer was promoted to a commanding rank as well, although he stayed with Valen's battalion. Alongside the Slayer, Valen ventured further into Hell than ever before, fighting their way towards the heart of Hell, seeking out the Dark Lord commanding the demons. However, unknown to the Sentinels or the Slayer, the Maykrs and Deag Priests had betrayed Argent D'Nur to the Dark Lord, exchanging the souls of Argenta for Argent Energy, which the Maykrs and their loyalists could use to be immortal, and secretly used Argenta slaves to build Argent-producing factories in the very patches of Hell land that the Sentinels had cleared. Additionally, sometime during the war, Valen's son was killed in battle, but Valen continued in his duties regardless.
Eventually, Slayer, Valen, and the other Sentinels discovered the truth of the Maykrs. They attempted to tell the populace, but most of the people were blinded by the usage of Argent Energy, which had been distributed among the general population and led the Argenta into a new golden age. King Novik, Valen, and any Sentinel still loyal to their cause joined the Slayer in an uprising against the Maykrs, although many Sentinels remained loyal to the Maykrs and turned on Novik, becoming the Marauders and creating a long and bloody civil war. The Deag Priests, still hiding their true loyalty to the Maykrs, pretended to stay on the side of the Sentinels, and found out that the Sentinels had plans to both destroy the Argent plants and reawaken the Wraiths, knowing that seeing their creators active again would sway the people away from the Maykrs. Deag Grav, knowing Valen guarded the keys to the Wraiths, then began sending him nightmares and visions of his son's soul in torment in Hell, driving Valen mad with grief. Confronting Valen in private, Grav then revealed himself as a Maykr loyalist, but rather than execute or imprison him, Valen begged him to resurrect his son. Grav agreed in exchange for the keys to the Wraiths, and in his desperation, Valen accepted, allowing Grav to trap the Wraiths in Hell. At the same time, the other Deag Priests opened slipgates into Hell that they claimed led right to the Nekravol, the central Argent production plant, but when the Slayer and his loyal battalions went through, they were instead scattered throughout Hell, right in the center of demonic hordes. With no reinforcements, all but the Slayer were killed, with Novik and his remaining followers fleeing to the city of Exultia as the Maykr loyalists took over the planet. Seeing what he had caused, Valen, whose actions became known, was branded as The Betrayer, and willingly entered Hell in self-imposed exile, leaving a message for any of his old comrades to leave him there, for it was where he belonged.
Doom Eternal[]
Valen remained in Hell for eons, presumably cursed to be immortal. His son was resurrected, but only as a disembodied heart, with the rest of his body and essence being used to create the monstrous Icon of Sin. Valen lived alone in a cave, guarding himself from demons by utilizing automatic turrets made from pieces of an Atlan, an Argenta war mech, either his own or one from the other Sentinels who were lost in Hell. Additionally, he kept a Celestial Locator with him, but otherwise appeared to lose all hope of salvation. Sometime during the 22nd century, by Earth's time, the Slayer found Valen in Hell, approaching him to replace the central component of his Celestial Locator, which he had calibrated to hunt down the Deag Priests. Valen replaced the component, but told the Slayer that saving his world, Earth, would not give him peace, just make the burden he carried worse. Valen then urged the Slayer to simply let the world fall, completely resigned to his grief and believing that it was Argent D'Nur's time to fall as well. However, the Slayer began to leave, but not before Valen gave him one last request: to put the soul of his son to rest, tossing the Slayer a small knife to do the job, before sitting down again in shame. Not too long afterwards, the Slayer had killed all three Deag Priests and entered Urdak, realm of the Maykrs, where he found and killed the heart of Valen's son with Valen's knife, preventing the Maykrs from controlling the Icon of Sin. With the heart's death, Valen's curse of immortality was lifted, and he sensed his son's soul at peace.
Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods Part 2[]
Commander Valen leading the Night Sentinels to Immora
After the Icon of Sin was killed and the invasion of Earth ended, the Slayer traveled back to Hell to retrieve the life sphere of the original Dark Lord, Davoth, knowing that trapping him in a physical body and then killing him would end Hell's threat forever. After Davoth was restored to life, he promptly fled to Immora, the heavily fortified capital city of Hell, and while chasing him there, the Slayer stopped back on Argent D'Nur. There, Valen, who had presumably already exited Hell, sent a hologram to the Slayer, which he used to give the Slayer a Sentinel Hammer, a powerful weapon he had used in combat against demons. As the Slayer re-lit the Argenta Torch of Kings, signifying to the surviving populace that a king had returned, Valen returned to Argent D'Nur, where he found the remnants of the Night Sentinels. With the Slayer venturing directly to Hell to finally end the war, Valen was re-accepted into their ranks, and rallied all Argenta who would stand with him. Together, when the Slayer finally reached Immora, Valen opened slipgates for the Night Sentinels to enter Hell, Valen himself acknowledging the Slayer with a look. As the demonic hordes advanced, Valen raised his hammer and declared that Hell would tremble before their might, charging forward with the Night Sentinels to help the Slayer breach the walls and enter Immora. Valen's fate after the battle is unknown, but if he survived, then after the Slayer finally killed Davoth and Hell's power collapsed in on itself, all demons outside Hell being instantly destroyed, Valen likely returned home with the surviving Argenta to rebuild their world.
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