Tortured Soul

The Tortured Soul is an uncommon Hardmode enemy found in The Underworld. If the player throws Purification Powder on him, he will transform into the Tax Collector NPC. Afterwards, the Tortured Soul will no longer spawn. If the Tax Collector is killed, he will respawn naturally without the need to purify another Tortured Soul. Only one Tortured Soul can be alive at a time.

Tips

 * Due to being an enemy, summoned minions and the Leaf Crystal from the Chlorophyte armor set bonus will attack the Tortured Soul and will often kill him before the player has time to purify him. Therefore, if the player is attempting to acquire the Tax Collector, they should de-summon any minions and equip a different armor set.
 * If the player built a long bridge in The Underworld in preparation for the Wall of Flesh fight, they can easily encounter a Tortured Soul there.
 * If the player can hear doors being opened or closed, the Tortured Soul is most likely nearby, as he is the only enemy in The Underworld that has the ability to open and close doors.
 * If the player does not have a free NPC home available, the Tax Collector will simply remain in The Underworld until he has a house to move into. Should he be killed by Underworld enemies, he will only respawn if a house is available, like most NPCs.
 * The player should aim to encounter a Tortured Soul before defeating a mechanical boss, as doing so will enable Lava Bats and Red Devils (much more powerful equivalents of Hellbats and Demons respectively) to spawn, which will make surviving in The Underworld a lot more difficult.
 * The player could even bring Purification Powder to the Wall of Flesh fight and search for a Tortured Soul right after defeating the boss.

Trivia

 * If multiple Tortured Souls spawn and are purified, e.g. via third-party software like mods, they will all become Tax Collectors and have the same name.
 * The Tortured Soul may serve as a reference to the character of from 's novella . Both appear to be "tortured souls", hence the name, and both sport what appear to be metal chains from their wrists. Notably, in life, Marley worked alongside  as a very hard-nosed money lender – similar in tone to the NPC that the Tortured Soul becomes when exposed to Purification Powder.