Leviathan

**Leviathan** is a major recurring character in the *Divine Comedy*.

He was the first beast created by God as a representative of the Earth's oceans as well as being one of the family pets. Unlike Ziz and his archenemy Behemoth, Leviathan was not exactly complacent to Heaven's rule and frequently acted of his own volition which resulted in disastrous scenarios.

In the end, Leviathan's actions forced God to banish him only to end up in Hell and rule the Envy Circle as one of the Seven Emperors. He is the only member of the Seven Emperors that is not a fallen angel.

## History

### Background

Leviathan was the first beast created by God followed by Behemoth and Ziz to act as the representative to one of Earth's three layers which in this case is the ocean and its inhabitants. The three would act as guardians the planet in case any unwanted parasites tried to take hold of it. He was also a pet in a way to the Empyrean family something which he greatly detested.

As the lord of the Earth's oceans he also held dominion over all marine life. However, unlike his two cohorts, Leviathan was brash and insubordinate which coincides with the aspect of untameable and chaotic waters. He was not too keen on sharing the planet with Behemoth and Ziz much less even allowing the gods to have their fun with it. All in all, Leviathan had a problem with authority that was not his and was envious of any that had power equal to or greater than him as well as possessing something he feels that only he should have.

These feelings culminated after the fall of Adam and Eve where Leviathan went rogue and began to establish claim over the Earth. This of course did not sit well with Behemoth which resulted in the two clashing in fierce quarrels that threatened to break apart the Earth and drown it completely. This forced God to banish Behemoth and Leviathan from the world but the damage they inflicted was done.

### Ruler of Hell

Leviathan was banished to the abyssal plains which too had something reminiscent of chaotic dark waters. Eventually, he found his way to the newly created Hell where Lucifer and his band of rebel angels were banished for going against God and Heaven. He would swim through the dark streams that connected to what would be known as the Envy Circle and gladly took it for his own. This gained the attention of Lucifer who met up with Leviathan in Envy. The sea serpent was standoffish towards Lucifer at first but the Morningstar played into his feelings of insecurities and disdain towards the way he was treated as God's pet. Leviathan would not only now be freed from under God's eye but also have his own personal kingdom that was catered to his liking and whim. This eased Leviathan enough to accept Lucifer's proposal at being one of the Emperors of Hell.

Over the following millennia, Leviathan would rule over Envy beneath the dark and murky waves of the Circle. Humans that were condemned to Hell due to committing sinfully envious acts were thrown to the waters of Envy, transforming into humanoid marine monstrosities that serve Leviathan or be devoured by him. However, Leviathan also realized that he was not exactly as free and as authoritative as he had hoped to be for not only is his kingdom the third lowest Circle but is also below the ruling of the other emperors like Lucifer. Just the thought of having to look up and see his fellow emperors ruling their own kingdoms that are above his own was bad enough but the fact that Lucifer had the ultimate authority made his feelings of jealousy and resentment grow towards his power and influence him and his family has. Leviathan also met up with Behemoth again, who was now Hell's royal butler, and another battle nearly broke out but was stopped by Satan as the two are now bound by Hell's laws and must follow them through the letter. Bitter, Leviathan agreed to the terms.

### Other Exploits

At some point, Leviathan and Asmodeus got into a dispute on who would take the Sirens and marry them. Leviathan attempted to take the Sirens so that he could mate with them and produce powerful offspring with Asmodeus doing the same. This only increased the hostility between him and Asmodeus as they fought over the Sirens. When he found out that Asmodeus took a considerable amount for their own, Leviathan harbored a grudge towards them ever since.

Despite being down on his luck, Leviathan would find himself be smitten by Echidna, a daughter of Jormungandr and Eurynome. With Echidna, who became his new bride, Leviathan fathered two children, Thaumas and Pearl, that would be the heirs to the throne of Envy. Unfortunately, Echidna would die after the birth of his youngest daughter which not only affected Leviathan deeply but also created a detrimental and strained relationship between him and his children. His poor parenting skills coupled with losing his bride and feelings of envy also resulted in him having a drinking problem as Leviathan would drink copious amounts of beer and rum to drown his sorrows out.

This led to an "intervention" which consisted of Leviathan going on seafaring adventures with Agrat, her husband Belial and best friend Azazel as the four would go out and explore the unexplored realms and lands; Belphegor compares them a *Dungeons and Dragons* party. Even though this somewhat helped him in his escape from his thoughts it also made him spend far less time with his children which did not improve his relationship with them. At some point in time, Leviathan developed a social bureaucratic relationship with the esteemed Von Eldritch family prompting him to promote them as the feudal lords of the Envy Circle. However, the Von Eldritchs' envy and determinism to gain high status is so great relationship with Leviathan enables them to even play into the emperor's envious characteristics and manipulate him into taking actions that go against the laws of Hell and risk warranting war between him and the other emperors.

## Trivia

* He is based on one of the three beasts of Earth of the same name. In the Hebrew Bible in the *Book of Job*, the leviathan is a beast of darkness and chaos that takes the form of a gigantic sea serpent.
	+ In Binsfeld's classification of demons, Leviathan is depicted as one of the seven Princes of Hell and represents the sin of Envy. Likewise, Leviathan in this story serves as the king of the Envy Circle.
* Leviathan is an alcoholic and consumes large quantities of Rum. In fact at one point, Cognac and Brandy claim that Leviathan has been single handedly keeping their business afloat.
* It is implied that Agrat has been dragging Leviathan off to adventures to distract him from his addiction.
* According to Frederick Von Eldritch, should Leviathan and Behemoth ever fight again they could cause all of Hell to collapse unto itself.