Devil

The following information contain spoilers.

   **Devil** and **demon** are words normally used about the most predominant inhabitants of Hell. Devils are related to angels, the first devils being corrupted fallen angels who transformed into their current demonic form when they were cast out of Heaven following their defeat at the hands of God's angel army in a war between Lucifer and God's army lead by the archangel Michael. Hereby, these devils became the ancestors of all future devils. "Devil" and "demon" is by principal the same thing, but the word "demon" is usually used for the more rough characters, such as the gragorns, and "devil" for the more elegant tempters, who tend to target the human soul in order to corrupt them. Devils are humanoid, bipedal, erect mammals, but in contrast to humans they have horns, wings and a tail. Humans are able to become a devil when located in Hell if they let their dark side come forth. Presumably angels have the same ability, considering that the original devils were originally angels. It is possible for a human and a devil to reproduce, and for two different types of devils to reproduce, thus giving the resultant child certain abilities from both parents, like with the half tempter gragorn Satina Datgue, who is mostly a tempter but retains the gragorn ability to breathe fire.

Originally, devils were immortal since angels were too when some of these transformed into the first devils, but following the theft of Death's die by ancient devils from Restless Retirement Home in the attempt to turn themselves mortal, Lucifer decided to finally take away their immortality. With this decision, he unwittingly unleashed the Great Devil War.

There exists four types of devils, if which three are most numerous: the tempters, the gragorns and the vargars. Since hushers are also descended from the original angels that fell from God's grace and transformed into devils, they are technically counted as devils too, although they are usually referred to as "demons," however they are so different in anatomy and nature that they are seldom spoken of as such.

## History

### Origin

The very first devils and demons were the angels who had joined the cause of the archangel Lucifer to overthrow God. When the commander of God's angel army, the archangel Michael, defeated Lucifer's army on the battlefield of Heaven, the enemies of Heaven were chased by Michael and God's angels to the outer edge of Heaven which opened like a gigantic mouth leading to a vast all-consuming darkness, and they were pushed over the precipice and fell, screaming, landing in a prison of rocky, firery crust surrounded by a wall of mountains. When they fell, some of the angels' swan wings had turned into bat wings, some into raven wings and some into enormous, leathery wings, they had grown tails from their rear ends, horns in their foreheads and their eyes and blood had become black.

Many different types of devils emerged from this transformation. There are the tempters, the devils of temptation who corrupt humans, the gragorns, who are used for hard work and to punish the condemned humans in Hell, the vargars, who invoke all meaningless suffering on Earth, and the hushers, who creates dread in people and compose the nightmares of all humans, both living and dead.

Lucifer arose along with his fallen combatants, and he scopes the place out and concocts a plan, involving revenge on God.

### Founding Hell

The devils managed to found a working society in Hell, complete with its own city, an infrastructure, workplaces, education and more. The entirety of the realm came to be run as an absolute monarchy, ruled singlehandedly by Lucifer as king. Furthermore, Hell became the afterlife and place of punishment for the souls of humans who had been wicked during their life.

### Fall of Man

Lucifer took revenge on God when tempted Adam and Eve into partaking of the Tree of Knowledge leading to their banishing from the Garden of Eden.

### Great Alliance between God and Hell

Even though Lucifer and God remained enemies for a time, the old conflicts were eventually settled and the two became friends once more, although not as closely as they had once been.

#### Great Flood

When God decided to cleanse the Earth of the wickedness of humankind, he forged an alliance with Lucifer known as the Great Alliance between God and Hell, the vargars of Hell produce the Great Flood to kill everyone but Noah, his family and two of every animal.

#### Plagues of Egypt

God had ten plagues unleashed on the land of Egypt to demonstrate his superior power to the pharaoh so that he would let the Hebrew slaves go free. According to the gragorn Bucklehorn S. Erpant, the demon Belial, a vargar, summoned the ten plagues of Egypt with his scream. However, although he may have played a part in the plagues, he did not act alone, as for the tenth plague, which involved the death of all of Egypt's first-borns, humans and animals, a demon, Molok, took care of the animals.

## Anatomy

Devils are humanoid, erect, bipedal, omnivore mammals. Different devils or demons have different anatomies, but they share some common attributes, including their horns, wings and tails. The horns, which grow out of their heads, usually in pairs, exist in different kinds of sizes and shapes. The wings, which are found in a pair growing out of their shoulder blades, allow them to fly and, like the horns, exist in different forms. The wing type tend to depend on the type of devil. Their long tails are found in different forms and grow out of their rear ends. All devils have dark, sometimes pitch-black, eyes. Tempters and vargars are the most human-like devils while gragorns are humanoid reptiles.

## Powers

Different types of devils have powers that are unique to their own kind. Tempters are the only devils with the ability to transform themselves and shape-shift, and learn to master this ability from a young age. One caveat is the fact that their original shadow will always be present during a transformation, causing their shadow to become double. Tempters have the innate ability to tempt and lure people to do certain things and listen to their darkest thoughts. Furthermore, tempters can sometimes get glimpses of people's recollections, dreams and thoughts by looking into their eyes. Gragorns are able to breathe flames and fireballs from their mouths and nostrils and produce smoke from both body parts as well. Vargars are able to summon disasters, diseases and all other manners of suffering on Earth by screaming incantations and using their magic. Finally, the hushers, if counted as a demon, are able to hide in shadows, even one belonging to a person, transform themselves and create nightmares for humankind. Lucifer is able to tempt, read thoughts and though he does not belong to any specific kind of devil, a case can be made for him being closest to that of the tempters. Lucifax, the Devil's cat, also have the ability to transform himself, though it is not known how.

### Weaknesses

Devils have a few different weaknesses. They are allergic to happiness; for instance, too much exposure to a good-luck charm, such as a rabbit's foot, can give them a rash and eventually cause them to become sick, which can be lethal.

Devils, as unholy creatures, are weak against the holy powers of God and can be held abay by a cross, since it can be used as a weapon and radiate an invisible power, although only when it is right-side-up.

## Immortality

Originally, like the angels that they were born out of, devils were immortal, but after a group of ancient devils living at Restless Retirement Home stole Death's die in an attempt to use it to make themselves mortal so that they could escape their suffering, Lucifer decided to take away immortality from the devils for good and finally let death enter Hell. With this decision Lucifer unwittingly unleashed the Great Devil War. Angels, as well as the saved in Paradise, had already been made mortal several thousands of years before. Rules prescribe that if one devil is to be made mortal by Mortimer, Death, then all devils have to become mortal, however Lucifer remained immortal since his status is different from common devils and made him exempt from this change. The condemned in Hell still remain immortal so that their punishing can persist for eternity.

## Background

### Etymology

The Modern English word "devil" is derived from the Middle English *devel*, from the Old English *dēofol*, which in turn represents an early Germanic borrowing of the late Latin *diabolus* (see modern German *Teufel* and Dutch *duivel*), which itself is derived from the Ancient Greek word διάβολος (*diábolos*), "slanderer", from διαβάλλειν *diabállein*, "to slander", from διά *diá*, "across, through" and βάλλειν *bállein*, "to hurl", probably akin to the Sanskrit gurate, "he lifts up". *diábolos* is what the translators of the Septuagint, the pre-Christian translation of the Hebrew Bible into Ancient Greek, often chose to render the Hebrew word שָּׂטָן (*sâtan*) as, and both words mean "opponent" or "accuser". The word Satan itself originates from the Hebrew term sâtan, a generic noun meaning "accuser" or "adversary", and it is used throughout the Hebrew Bible to refer to ordinary human adversaries, as well as a specific supernatural entity. The word is derived from a verb meaning primarily "to obstruct, oppose". When it is used without the definite article (simply *satan*), the word can refer to any accuser, but when it is used with the definite article (*ha-satan*), it usually refers specifically to the heavenly accuser: the satan. Christians have taken this to mean a specific malevolent entity which they have dubbed both Satan and the Devil.

The word demon has a less malevolent origin. It comes from the Ancient Greek word δαίμων (*daemon*) and denotes a spirit or divine power, much like the Latin *genius* or *numen*. *Daimōn* most likely came from the Greek verb *daiesthai* (to divide, distribute). The Greek conception of a *daimōn* notably appears in the works of Plato, where it describes the divine inspiration of Socrates. The original Greek word daimon does not carry the negative connotation initially understood by implementation of the Koine δαιμόνιον (*daimonion*), and later ascribed to any cognate words sharing the root. These Greek terms do not have any connotations of evil or malevolence. εὐδαιμονία (*eudaimonia*) means happiness, or literally translated, "good-spiritedness").

### Malevolent entities

In the early Roman, cult statues were believed by pagans and their Christian neighbors to be inhabited by the numinous presense of the gods. British historian Robin Lane Fox wrote in his book *Pagans and Christians* (1989) "Like pagans, Christians still sensed and saw the gods and their power, and as something, they had to assume, lay behind it, by an easy traditional shift of opinion they turned these pagan daimones into malevolent 'demons', the troupe of Satan..... Far into the Byzantine period Christians eyed their cities' old pagan statuary as a seat of the demons' presence. It was no longer beautiful, it was infested." The term first acquired its negative connotations in the Septuagiant translation of the Hebrew Bible, which drew on the mythology of ancient Semitic religions.

The supposed existence of demons remains an important concept in many modern religions and occultist traditions to this day, and they are both admired and feared largely due to their alleged power to posess living creatures.

Various fallen angels, demons and evil spirits named in the Hebrew Bible as well as the Christian New Testament happens to be the names of gods and spirits from other Pagan religions, including ancient Semitic ones and Sumerian mythology, which predates Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Kenneth B. Andersen. *The Devil's Apprentice*. Høst & Søn, October 19, 2018 (English print-on-demand paperback). Høst & Søn, October 11 2018 (English e-book). (Original Danish version published September 30, 2005 by Høst & Søn)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Kenneth B. Andersen. *The Angel of Evil*. (Publication House) October 20, 2019. (Original Danish version published April 29, 2010 by Høst & Søn)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Kenneth B. Andersen. *The Die of Death*. Høst & Søn, October 19, 2018 (English print-on-demand paperback). Høst & Søn, October 11 2018 (English e-book). (Original Danish version published August 31, 2007 by Høst & Søn)
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Kenneth B. Andersen. *The Wrongful Death*. Høst & Søn, October 19, 2018 (English print-on-demand paperback) (Original Danish version published April 30, 2009 by Høst & Søn)

## Other literature

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 διάβολος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "buttrick" defined multiple times with different content
2. ↑ "Definition of DEVIL". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Kelly, Henry Ansgar (2006), Satan: A Biography, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521604024
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Campo, Juan Eduardo (2009), "Satan", Encyclopedia of Islam, New York City, New York: Infobase Publishing, pp. 603–604, ISBN 978-0-8160-5454-1

## Kinds of devils

* Tempters
* Vargars
* Gragorns
* Hushers