Belial

**Belial** is an ancient male devil and a vargar. He is a resident of the Restless Retirement Home in Hell. According to Bucklehorn S. Erpant, Belial was the one who summoned the ten plagues of Egypt, with his "chilling scream". This however goes against what Philip Engel was told by Moses in Paradise, who claimed that God sent the plagues, and that the killing of all of Egypt's first-borns were committed by an angel. But it is possible that a vargar, like Belial, had a hand in the plagues, just as when God sent the Great Flood to Earth.

## History

More than 2,000 years ago, the vargar Belial was supposed, according to the gragorn Bucklehorn S. Erpant, to have summoned the ten plagues of Egypt with his scream. According to theologians, the ten plagues of Egypt happened around the 13th century BCE.

Today, Belial is ancient, and lives in the Restless Retirement Home in Hell. Before the devils' immortality was taken from them, he wanted more than anything to die, as most of the residents at Restless did. He sees immortality as a curse, as it forces one to remain alive regardless of what happens to one's body; if you waste away, you do not have the vigor to move, and if you are fatally wounded, you will feel pain forever. It is asumed that Belial was happy when Death made an agreement with the the Devil to take away immortality from all devils.

## Physical appearance

As with other vargars, it can be assumed that Belial's skin is pale and speckled with toad-like warts, that his eyes are icy-white without pupils, that he has rat's teeth, is bald and that his head is covered by a wreath of sharp horns. Furthermore, it can be assumed that he has a pair of raven wings on his back, and a long, slimy snake's tail at his rear end. Like all other devils, Belial's blood is black.

## Abilities

Like all other vargars, Belial has magic in his blood, which makes him able to conjure catastrophes and all sorts of meaningless suffering on Earth, among the humans, by simply screaming incantations with his voice.

## Background

### The Hebrew Bible

The name "Belial" appears in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, several times. It is derived from the Hebrew word בְּלִיַעַל‎, *bĕli-yaal*, and also appears in the variants of Belhor, Baalial, Beliar, Beliall og Beliel. According to interpretations found in rabbinical literature, more precisely the Talmud, "Belial" is not a term for something supernatural, but rather an allegorical personification of evil. The term has also been associated with the god "Baal", but has since become a personification of the Devil and evil, both in Christian and Jewish theology.

The word appears 27 times in the Masoretic Texts. In the Hebrew text, the phrase either appears as "sons of Belial", "men of Belial" or simply as "sons of worthlessness". Phrases that begin with "sons of" are a common semitic idiom. Of the 27 appearances, the idiom "sons of Belial" (בְּנֵֽי־בְלִיַּעַל *beni beliyaal*) appears 15 times to indicate worthless people, including idolaters (Deuteronomy 13:13), men of Gibeah (Judges 19:22, 20:13), sons of Eli (1 Samuel 2:12), Nabal, and Shimei. "Belial" is applied to ideas, words, and counsel, calamitous circumstances, and most frequent to worthless men of the lowest who worship other gods than the god of the Jewish people.

### Etymology

"Belial" (בְלִיַּעַל *bĕli-yaal*) is a Hebrew word "used to characterize the wicked or worthless." The etymology of the word is often understood as "without worth", from two common words: *beli*- (בְּלִי "without-") og *ya'al* (יָעַל "to be of worth"). Certain scholars transalte the word from Hebrew as "worthless" (*Beli yo'il*), while others translate it as "yokeless" (*Beli ol*), "may he never rise" or "never to rise" (*Beli ya'al*). Only a few etymologists have believed that the word was an invented name from the beginning.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 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)
2. ↑ Kenneth B. Andersen. *The Fallen Angel*. (Publication House) Month #, 2020. (Original Danish version published September 15, 2015 by Høst & Søn)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 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)