Chernabog

Chernabog, the god of evil and death, is the villain of the Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria segment of Fantasia. The huge, nocturnal demon is based on the god of the night in Slavonic mythology. At Walpurgis Night (the Witches' Sabbath), Chernabog emerges from the peak of Bald Mountain (in reality Mount Triglaf, near Kiev in southern Russia) to summon all of his minions, who dance furiously as he throws them into the mountain’s fiery pit. Chernabog has been praised as Disney’s best representation of pure evil, and as animator Vladimir Tytla's greatest triumph. He is considered one of Disney's most powerful and terrifying villains; as the god of evil, he does not work towards a specific goal but exists purely to of be evil.

=Appearances on Film and Television=

Night on Bald Mountain (Fantasia)
The sequence takes place in a mountainous area, in which a village is overlooked by Bald Mountain. The peak of Bald Mountain is revealed to be Chernabog's wings, which he spreads out as he looks at the village down below. Stretching out his arms, Chernabog casts a dark shadow over the village and summons ghosts, including the spirits of hanged criminals (who pass through the noose a second time as they rise from their graves), fallen warriors in the moat and grounds of a ruined castle, and the souls of all who are not buried in sacred ground.

The ghosts join together to become a single mass, swirling around Chernabog, who laughs and summons fire and demons. As the demons emerge and gather below their master, he grabs a number of them and disdainfully throws them into the fires of Bald Mountain, while his other minions dance on. He then uses flames to create images: first, the flames resemble elegant dancers; then, at his pleasure, they transform into dancing barnyard animals. Chernabog then transforms them into blue demons, who dance before him, causing him to grin maliciously. As the dancing continues, it becomes more frantic and chaotic; Harpies fly above the demons, occasionally grabbing them and throwing them into the inferno.

The celebration culminates in a blinding flash of fire from the inferno. Chernabog, ready to continue, eagerly leers over his minions, but is interrupted by the sound of bells, which herald the coming of the dawn. Though he initially ignores the sound, the light of the sun forces him and his minions to retreat; as the ghosts return to their resting places, Chernabog raises his arms one final time, and closes his wings, protecting himself from the sunlight and becoming the peak of the mountain once more.

House of Mouse
In the House of Mouse series, Chernabog's role is largely for comical purposes. Voiced by Corey Burton, he is sometimes seen in the audience, often with a regular-sized table, which causes him to sit in a difficult position. At one point he admits to gossip queen Clarabelle Cow that he is afraid of the dark. He is also one of the many villains to appear in Mickey's House of Villains; Maleficent, after transforming into a dragon, sits next to Chernabog, who compliments her on her work and enjoys a drink with her.

Vault Disney
In the intro to Vault Disney, Chernabog can be seen spreading his wings on Bald Mountain. =Theme Park Appearances=

Fantasmic
Chernabog is one of the villains summoned by the Queen to do away with Mickey Mouse and destroy his imagination. Clips from Night on Bald Mountain are shown on water screens, indicating that Chernabog is summoning a host of ghouls against Mickey. =Video Game Appearances=

Kingdom Hearts
Chernabog is the final Disney boss to appear in the game. Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy encounter him at the End of the World. Similar to his first appearance in Fantasia, Chernabog is at the top of a mountain and is accompanied by Modest Moussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain. However, while Chernabog was silent in Fantasia, in Kingdom Hearts he roars loudly, though he does not speak. He attacks Sora, Donald and Goofy (who are able to fly about) with various fire attacks. When defeated, he disappears and the mountain on which he was perched is revealed to lead to the next area. Chernabog is the only boss not featured in the Journal; there is thus no explanation for his appearance of role in the game. It is possible that he is a Heartless.



Comic book appearances
In DC's Kingdom Come, written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Alex Ross, Chernabog is seen in a villains-only bar and in a battle scene towards the end of the story.

=Behind the Scenes= Chernabog was animated by Vladimir Tytla.

Inspiration and Design
The idea for Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria's Devil was conceived by German artist Heinrich Kley (who, though he did not work at the Disney studio, inspired many of the Disney artists, and whose drawings were collected by Walt Disney), who once sketched a pen and ink drawing of a gigantic demon forcing workers out of a factory by blocking the chimney. Albert Hurter, inspired by this drawing and others like it by Kley, drew various sketches of a huge, winged devil tossing handfuls of souls into a volcano. Hurter's sketches also included studies of Chernabog's hands as his flailing minions attempt to clamber onto his fingers for safety; this imagery is used in a scene in the final film. After Hurter's initial sketches, Kay Nielsen established the final appearance of Chernabog and his world in a series of detailled pastel illustrations, as well as a model sheet for the character. Chernabog was then created as a real model, to be used as reference by Tytla during animation.



Live-action Reference
For live-action reference, Wilfred Jackson, the director of Night on Bald Mountain, shot footage of actor Bela Lugosi (famous for his portrayal of Universal's Dracula), to be studied by Tytla. However, Tytla was not satisfied with Lugosi's performance, finding it not to be the way he felt the character would move. As a result, after Lugosi left, Tytla shot live-action footage of Jackson (a skinny man), directing his movements according to his intentions for the character. Jackson later recalled that his hands were also filmed in close-up as reference for Chernabog's hands as he manipulated the flames.

Animation

 * "No one but Tytla could have given Chernabog the odious, predominantly animal mentality which made him so fearsome" - Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston

Tytla was Ukrainian, and thus had a clear image in his mind of the character of his culture's folklore. Thornton Hee recalled wanting to ask Tytla about something, but finding that the animator's room was in complete darkness save for the fluorescent light under Tytla's drawing, which lit his face in an eerie way as he worked. This unnerved T. Hee enough to compell him to leave without alerting Tytla to his presence at all.

Chernabog as Satan
In Slavonic mythology, Chernobog represents darkness and destruction, and is the opposite of Bylebog (literally, 'Chernabog' means 'black god' and 'Bylebog' means 'white god'). Bylebog, the god of good, was normally depicted in Slavonic mythology as an old man with a white beard, dressed in white. However, as a Christian, Walt Disney chose not to use Bylebog, but instead used a Christian procession (depicted in the Ave Maria segment following Night on Bald Mountain) to act as opposition to Chernabog's profane celebration. Also while Bald Mountain is as much a part of Slavic myth as Chernabog, the sequence takes place on Walpurgis Night, a Germanic holiday wherein the witches hold a sabbat on Germany's Brocken Mountains. Furthering this, model sheets for the character do not refer to "Chernabog" but to "Devil". In the original "Wonderful World of Disney, no one less than Walt Disney once referred to Chernabog as "the Devil himself." Leaving little ambiguity as to who "Chernabog" is meant to represent when the musical segment is introduced in Fantasia, the conductor says

''"Bald Mountain," according to tradition is the gathering palce of Satan and his followers. Here on Walpurgisnacht, the equivilant of our own Halloween, the creatures of evil gather to worship their master. Under his spell, they dance furiously until the coming of dawn and the sounds of church bells send the infernal army slinking back into their abodes of darkness.''

If the character is interpreted as "Chernabog" his defeat by church bells and the transition to Christian pilgrims who walk as the Ave Maria is heard (a song honoring the Virgin Mary, mother of Christ) plays can symbolize the triumph of Christianity over ignorant paganism. If the charater is interpreted as Satan, it symbolizes the triumph of good over evil, of Christ over the Devil.

Disney TV Specials

 * Disney's Haunted Halloween segments The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Chernabog at Night on Bald Mountain.