Moloch's Book was one of many tomes created by monks during the Dark Ages specifically designed to mystically bind specific demons within them through a spell. The spell had a counter-spell; once the words within the book are read (by any interpretation of the word), the demon would be released. In 1418, a monk known as Brother Thelonius, with the aid of his brothers, trapped a demon known as Moloch the Corruptor within one of these tomes. The book remained unread for more than five hundred years and by 1997 it had found its way to Sunnydale, where it was delivered to Rupert Giles.