| Raymond Knowby | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Raymond Knowby | |
| Aliases: | Professor Knowby Professor Raymond Knowby |
| Franchise: | Evil Dead |
| Notability: | Minor character |
| Type: | Archaeologist |
| Gender: | Male |
| Location: | Knowby cabin, Michigan |
| Known relatives: | Henrietta Knowby Annie Knowby Ruby Knowby |
| Status: | Deceased |
| Died: | 1982 |
| Introduction: | Evil Dead, The |
| Actor: | Bob Dorian John Peakes Nicholas Hope |
Professor Raymond Knowby is a fictional scholar and instructor and a minor character featured in the Evil Dead multimedia franchise. He was introduced in the 1981 film The Evil Dead as a voice on a tape recorder played by Bob Dorian. The character made his first full appearance in flashback scenes in the film's sequel, Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, where he was played by actor John Peakes. The character also made two appearances in the second season of the Starz television series Ash vs Evil Dead, where he was identified only as Professor Knowby. He was played by Nicholas Hope in these two episodes.
Biography[]
Raymond Knowby was a scholar who specialized in ancient cultures and also had knowledge of the occult. He was married to a woman named Henrietta and had two daughters named Annie Knowby and Ruby Knowby. In the early 1980s, Annie and he traveled to Europe where they explored the ruins of Castle Kandar. Professor Knowby discovered a book filled ancient Sumerian text, including funerary incantations. It was known as the Necronomicon ex Mortis - The Book of the Dead. The cover of the book was bound in human flesh, and its pages were written in blood.
Professor Knowby brought the book back to the United States and spent some time at the family cabin with his wife, translating the text. He spoke several incantations aloud into a tape recorder, not realizing that by doing so, he was unleashing demonic Kandarian spirits that could possess the living. [1]
Henrietta was the first to become possessed by the so-called "Evil Dead". Professor Knowby chained his wife in the fruit cellar of the cabin while he struggled to find a way to exorcise the Deadite spirit from her body. [2] Professor Knowby invited one of his students, a girl named Tanya, to come to the cabin under the pretense of being a student aide. Tanya could not have known that Knowby was planning on using her as a receptacle for the spirit currently possessing his wife. He lured Tanya into the fruit cellar where she was injured upon stepping into a bear trap. [3]
In a possible alternate timeline, a man named Ash Williams from the year 2016 traveled backwards in time thirty years in the hopes of preventing his younger self from ever coming into contact with the Necronomicon. He found Henrietta Knowby, who tricked him into freeing her. Professor Knowby was startled to find Ash, but even more surprised to see that he had freed Henrietta. Professor Knowby was ultimately killed by a Deadite-possessed version of his daughter, Ruby Knowby. [4]
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Raymond Knowby was created by director Sam Raimi and writer Scott Spiegel.
- Archival audio samples of Bob Dorian's voice from The Evil Dead, were used in the 2013 remake, Evil Dead.
- In the original timeline, Professor Knowby's fate remains unknown, though it is implied that the possessed Henrietta Knowby probably killed him. In the alternate timeline created in Ash vs Evil Dead, the 1982 version of Ruby Knowby killed Professor Knowby.
See also[]
Appearances[]
- Evil Dead (Voice only)
- Evil Dead, The (Voice only)
- Evil Dead 1 (In flashback only)
- Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1st full appearance; flashback only)
- Ash vs Evil Dead: Ashes to Ashes (Voice only)
- Ash vs Evil Dead: The Dark One (Voice only)
- Ash vs Evil Dead: Home Again
- Ash vs Evil Dead: Second Coming