Mephisto Pheles

## Voices

**Mephisto Pheles** (メフィスト・フェレス, *Mefisuto Feresu*), whose real name is **Samael** (サマエル, *Samaeru*), is an Exorcist and the second strongest of the Eight Demon Kings; he holds the title **The King of Time** (時の王, *Toki no Ō*). He uses the name **Johann Faust V** (ヨハン·ファウスト五世, *Yohan Fausuto Gosei*) in public and is the Principal of True Cross Academy. Following the death of Shiro Fujimoto, Mephisto takes it upon himself to enroll Rin in True Cross Academy.

## Appearance

Mephisto has dark purple hair and forest green eyes. He is also very tall, having a height of 195 cm (6'5").  He is usually seen in an elegant white outfit that consists of a white top hat with pink and purple around the base, purple gloves, a tie that is pink with white dots, a white suit-shirt and undershirt, jester-style pants, and pointed shoes. His appearance prompts Rin to refer to him as *The Clown*. As the series progresses, he stops wearing the jester pants and pointed shoes, instead wearing white dress pants and black shoes.

In addition, he can transform into a small white dog when he counts down from three in German (up to three in the anime). In this form he is a small, fluffy, Scottish terrier-looking dog with a large pink ribbon around his neck with a silver trinket attached to it, the trinket being the symbol of an Exorcist. He also is shown to be able to transform into a Bug.

## Personality

Shrouded in mystery, one quickly learns of Mephisto's innate ability to act as if he knows more than what he is letting on. Careful and meticulous, he is like a chess player, always ahead of the game.

He enjoys chaos, as he stated to himself that he was a hell-raiser, and Assiah to be his playground. He frequently observes the growing conflict around Rin and his friends with delight, though he does not wish to see any of his students get killed.  He apparently 'loves' humans. When Mephisto first meets Amaimon in the series, it is implied he is conspiring with Satan and is most likely training Rin on his orders. He likes to make gambles with whoever possible, including Fujimoto, Rin, and the True Cross Order.

He is prone to eccentric moments nestled in between serious moments, making light of a heavy mood and is portrayed as a man with more money than sense, but is very cheap when it comes to spending on others. Like his brother, he loves to eat sweets and he is deeply interested in the Japanese pop culture, proudly stating that he is an otaku (that is, loves computers, anime/manga, and/or pop culture to the point that it negatively affects his social life).

## Trivia

* Mephisto takes heavy inspiration from several characters and elements of the German folk tale Faust in which the main character, Faust, wagers his soul with Satan.
	+ His name "Mephisto Pheles" is a split form of the daemon "Mephistopheles" who is Satan's agent in the tale.
	+ His alias "Johann Faust V " is likely based on "Johann Georg Faust" the historical inspiration for the folk tale.
	+ His ability to transform into a small dog may be a reference to the version published by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, where the daemon "Mephistopheles" first appears taking the guise of a similar dog.
	+ He shares his birthday with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who wrote the most widely known version of the folk tale.
	+ In the tale, Mephistopheles is often portrayed as the manifestation of contradiction. This may be inspiration for some of his unusual behavior throughout the series such as his addiction to junk food despite enforcing high quality meals for acadamy students.
* His real name, Samael, is an archangel in Talmudic lore who fell from heaven and is also called an angel of death.
* In Judaism lore, Samael is the guardian angel of the Biblical character Esau, brother of Jacob. In some theories, the angel that Jacob wrestles (from whom he earns the name Isreal) is named Samael.
* His average hours of sleep is 1 hour.
* He is pretty good at party games, claw crane games and chess.
* His pastimes and talents are: watching movies, reading manga, watching anime, playing video games, listening to music, toys, and subcultures.
	+ All manga genres are his favorites.
* His favorite food is junk food (mostly candy).
* His favorite type of women are those who are temptresses, "devilish", or elegant/beautiful. In the Weekend Hero novel, he mentions also fancying "pretty girls with a sad past", as well as charismatic women.
* He has a frequent tendency of breaking the fourth wall by directly speaking to the reader.
* He likes to make gambles with whoever possible, including Fujimoto, Rin, and the True Cross Order.
	+ Despite being King of Time, Mephisto seems unable to foresee the future; or because the future is in flux, he doesn't know **which** future will become real.
* According to the anime, Mephisto has allergies despite being a demon. However, it's unknown if it's just acting.