Nicolae Jetty Carpathia is the primary
antagonist in the
Left Behind book series. Within the series, Carpathia is the
Antichrist, and leader of the Global Community (GC), a
world government which he ultimately marshals against the followers of
Jesus Christ. In the
Left Behind films, Carpathia is portrayed by
Gordon Currie, Randy LaHaye and
Bailey Chase. In the
Left Behind PC games, he is portrayed by Trevor Parsons.
Life Early life and rise to power According to the plot, Carpathia was born in
Cluj County,
Romania, the product of
genetic engineering and
artificial insemination. His mother,
Marilena, is unwittingly convinced by a group of
Luciferians, whose group she joins, to become the mother of a child who, they assure her, will change the face of the world. Marilena stays with her husband, Sorin, until the baby is born, insisting that her son keep the strong Carpathia name. (In the prequel novel
The Rising, it is explained that the name
Nicolae, when translated, means , although this is far from Carpathia's actual goals. His middle name refers to the "
jet-black" night on which he was born.) Through his parents, Carpathia possesses a unique bloodline dating back to
Ancient Rome, so he can actually claim to be a Roman descendant. This references both the early Christian belief that the Antichrist would come in the form of a
Roman emperor, as well as the current
premillennialist Christian view that the Antichrist will emerge from a "New Roman Empire". As a young child, Carpathia shows remarkable intelligence and athletic ability, and also proves to be extraordinarily
manipulative, able to bend others to his will with relative ease. His handlers arrange for his mother to be eliminated, and Nicolae himself eventually demands the dispatch of his "father", a key to his rise to power. With his advisers and counselors, Carpathia forms a successful import-export business which quickly makes him a millionaire. After he becomes a millionaire, he is then taken by a demon to a desert, probably the
Judaean Desert, where he is forced to live without food and water for 40 days. In contrast to Jesus's temptation, Nicolae falls for all three temptations, thus fully confirming that he will soon be the Antichrist. After that, he is then returned to Romania. He quickly grows bored with business and finance and, guided by the "kingmaker"
Leon Fortunato, sets his sights on politics. At the age of 24, Carpathia steps into the political scene as a member of the lower house of the
Parliament of Romania. Falling victim to Fortunato's blackmail, the President of Romania resigns, allowing Carpathia to assume power with the unanimous support of the country's parliament. He also finances an attempted invasion of Israel which is thwarted by God. Shortly thereafter, in the chaos following the
Rapture, Carpathia is appointed
United Nations Secretary-General. From this office, he converts the U.N. into the Global Community, appointing himself as that government's Supreme Potentate. After Carpathia establishes the Global Community, the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, and Egypt launch an uprising against him, resulting in WWIII. Carpathia allows his enemies to start the war so that the Community can "retaliate" by destroying them. Carpathia orders cities around the world, including neutral ones, to be obliterated to serve as an example to his enemies. London, Chicago, and other cities are nuked, resulting in millions of casualties, and blamed on the rebels. Having won the war, and with no government left to oppose him, Carpathia gains full dominion of the earth.
Death and resurrection After three and a half years in power, Carpathia is assassinated by
Chaim Rosenzweig, an Israeli botanist and statesman. He is killed by a lethal head wound from a sword which Rosenzweig had concealed. His demise is short-lived, however, as after three days of lying dead, Carpathia's body is indwelt by Satan himself, thus making Carpathia appear to rise from the dead and further cement his power. Four million people attend his funeral.
Final 3½ years After his resurrection, Carpathia drops his peaceful facade and reveals himself to be a
narcissistic and
psychopathic tyrant. He has statues of himself built around the world, which all people are required to bow to. He then enforces the loyalty mark, the prophesied
Mark of the Beast, which all are required to wear. Refusal to do either of these activities is made punishable by public execution. Carpathia has the Global Community motto written as "Hail Carpathia, our lord and risen king!". He then wages a genocidal purge against
Christians,
Jews,
Muslims, and
secular rebels, going as far as telling an officer in
Desecration to behead enemy bodies, even if already dead. To complete his quest for world domination, Carpathia creates the One World Unity Army, composed of all GC military presence on the planet. Their mission is to destroy the remnant stronghold of
Petra and take over the city of Jerusalem as the world's new capital, following the supernatural destruction of New Babylon. He also gathers 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, Carpathia is overthrown with the
return of Jesus, who cast him, along with his
false prophet Fortunato, into the
Lake of Fire to suffer for all eternity. Before his eternal sentence is carried out, Satan is cast out of Carpathia, rendering Carpathia to his rotting corpse-like remains, the state his body would have been in had Satan not resurrected him prior. He then kneels before Christ and declares him the Christ after Jesus judged him for all his crimes and sins against humanity and God. He also admits, at the feet of Jesus, that his entire life was a waste and that he rebelled against a God that he never knew loved him. Unlike Fortunato, who attempted to struggle with
Michael the Archangel out of his sentence, Carpathia accepted his fate out of his own guilt and shame, and simply covered his eyes as he passively allowed the archangel to throw him in.
One thousand years later One thousand years later, a brief glimpse of Carpathia and Leon Fortunato is seen as the Lake of Fire opens to swallow up Satan. Carpathia is still writhing in agony as he is tortured in fire and brimstone, repeating over and over that Jesus is Lord. The scene closes, and Carpathia's suffering—along with that of his master and his underling—is resumed for all eternity.
Carpathianism Carpathianism is a
fictional religion established by Leon to worship Nicolae Carpathia, leaving it as the only legal religion on Earth. Failure to comply results in death. The religion lasts for three and a half years before meeting its downfall at the
Second Coming of Christ. Carpathianism draws heavily from the narratives and traditions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. After his death and resurrection, Carpathia proclaims himself God in the desecrated Temple of the
Holy of Holies, an act that is considered blasphemous in all three Abrahamic religions. He orders golden statues of himself to be placed prominently and worshiped three times a day. This touches on the
golden calf story found in both the
Old Testament and the
Quran. In reference to the
Book of Revelation, Carpathia introduces the mandatory mark known as the
Mark of the Beast.
Real-world trivia Some aspects of Nicolae Carpathia appear to be based on historical Romanian president
Nicolae Ceaușescu – in particular, his name, cult of personality, and strongarm tactics. Carpathia is derived from the English name for Romania's
Carpathian Mountains, and is not a Romanian name. The mountains are locally called the Munții Carpați, and an authentic surname derived from the mountains would be Carpatescu. ==Annie Christopher==