Syphra

**Stolas** is a Goetic Prince of Hell and a major supporting character in *Helluva Boss*. He is the father of Octavia and the husband of Stella.

## Appearance

Syphra is an anthropomorphic demon. He is tall and lanky, with a pale rounded muzzle filled with ten thousand sharp teeth and a slimy black toothed tongue . He has two pairs of almond-shaped pitch-black eyes, the second being smaller and set beside the other, with no visible irises or pupils, they ooze a black tar-like substance in permanence. He has a weird long neck.

Syphra has a blackish dirty pelt. A long cold-colored streak in his "hair" goes from the middle of his eyes all the way to the tips, three cold-colored rings are present towards the end of his tail with a fourth on the base of it. There are three cold-colored rings on each of his limbs, one on the wrist/ankle, two on the forearm/foreleg, they are thinner when closer to the elbow/reverse knee thing.

His limbs are long, thin, and gangly, they are tipped with long black glossy claws. His tail makes up two thirds of his total body length, it is tipped with a large diamond-shaped stinger.

He is constantly slouching

## Personality

Syphra gives the immediate impression of a foul abomination. He dresses in clothing befitting his role, and his mansion is decadent, containing many large, elaborately framed portraits of himself and his small family.

Underneath these unholy wrappings, Syphra is shown to be a playful, eloquent, chaotic, and often giddy person. Someone who does not take his royal reputation as seriously as the people around him expect him to, and is prone to act quickly on his easily excitable emotions.

Stolas can also often get caught up in pursuing his own present interests and fails to pay attention to the more pressing issues around him, including the feelings and needs of others. He has even dismissed their wishes under the belief that, as long as he was happy, everybody else was as well, even when he was told otherwise.

Although, these tendencies can make him appear selfish and even airheaded to some people in his life, he isn't oblivious to correction or regret and this is something he makes an effort to improve on, specifically in regards to his beloved daughter, Octavia.

Stolas is also shown to be very lonely, seemingly isolated and cloistered in his position. In “The Circus”, when he was a child, he told a young Blitzo that he never had anybody to share his books with, further supporting this notion. Although, he is married, it is clear that he and his wife are not on affectionate terms, and that their marriage is implied to have been somewhat cold for a long while.

Stolas has, perhaps surprisingly, an equally romantic and explicit side, something he looks to indulge in with Blitzo, an Imp, considered 'lower-class' among his peers, whom he is currently engaged in a complicated extramarital affair with.

Stolas is invested in Hell's soap operas as comfort shows, enjoys the process of getting ready for rendezvous, and swoons over idealized ideas of amorous romance. He is also very uncensored in discussing his many bedroom preferences, using highly explicit and flowery language, sometimes in front of others, and is interested in aspects of BDSM, such as bondage.

As with many demons, and the denizens of Hell in general, Stolas has a somewhat questionable moral compass and is implied to interfere with the affairs of humans for his own benefit. He can easily cross the boundary between Hell and the living world with his own personal Demonic seal, and seems to enjoy striking fear into humans as a powerful Goetia.

Despite this, he is also gentle and nurturing to those he cares for, showing open devotion to his daughter, concern towards Blitzo and his coworkers, as well as attentiveness to his large and lavish garden of carnivorous Hell-plants.

## Abilities

### **Skillset**

* **Writing talent** - Stolas is shown to be very adept at singing, comforting his daughter with ballad-style lullabies.
* **Gardening** - This comes naturally with his love of plants. He has an extravagant collection of Hell-flora, which he lovingly tends to.

### **Natural Abilities**

* **Amortality** - Like all absolute deities, Syphra cannot be killed and was never born.
* **Possession** - Like most demonic beings, Syphra can possess mortals by physically entering them. The possession causes irrepairable physical damage to the host such as displaced bones, partially melted flesh, and constant hunger.
* **Spatio-temporal uniquness -** Like all deities, Syphra only exists once throughout all of existence.

### **Unique Abilities**

* **True omnivore** - Syphra can eat and digest everything without any issues.
* **Demon creation** - Stolas can use telekinesis, both passively and aggressively. He uses the power to lift his grimoire into his hands so that he can comfort his daughter, and also to violently hurl monitors across the room in the D.H.O.R.K.S. headquarters.
* **Shadow travel** - Stolas can possess humans on Earth by spiritually entering them. The possession causes the host to spasm and they gain red eyes, sharp teeth, and Stolas's eye stripes. Furthermore, when they stand on his seal, they can serve as a medium to summon Stolas's physical form to Earth.
* **Frost and madness aura** - Stolas can temporarily animate the corpses of deceased humans, which he demonstrates on a group of D.H.O.R.K.S. agents, using them to draw out his seal in order to give him access to the Human World without the use of the grimoire.

## Concept & Creation

Stolas is based on a Great Prince of Hell from the *Ars Goetia* chapter of the *The Lesser Key of Solomon* demonology grimoire, who is also depicted as a crowned owl with long legs.

## Trivia

* VivziePop clarified that Stolas is not an Overlord, but, is part of this separate hierarchical tier, which are also referred to as 'the Goetia Demons' Stolas alludes to the order in "Loo Loo Land".
	+ The seal of the Goetic demon can be seen on the balcony of Stolas's mansion.
		- As seen in "The Circus", before having the ownership of the mansion handed down to Stolas by his father, Paimon used to have his goetic seal on the outer wall before Stolas changed it to his own.
	+ Stolas' love of gardening and plants, as well as his astrological theming, both reference how the mythological Stolas teaches astronomy and is knowledgeable about herbs, plants, and precious stones. Prior to "Loo Loo Land", Stolas' gardening hobby was foreshadowed in a post from the unofficial Voxtagram account.<
* Stolas exhibits some owl-like behaviors, such as making hooting noises at the end of his laughs. It's also shown in "Loo Loo Land" that he keeps a ziplock bag of dead rodents in his refrigerator.
* Stolas can use his grimoire to access locations away from Earth, transporting himself and his daughter to an asteroid in outer-space so that she can watch the spectacle of a collision.
* Although VivziePop admitted she hadn't given the idea much thought, she described Stolas as being more powerful than Alastor, although she also mentioned that their powers work differently from each other.
* In "Loo Loo Land", it appears that Stolas is actually very lightweight, as Blitzo is able to princess-carry him up steps to his seat without any struggle.
* In "Truth Seekers" Stolas is shown being able to create a portal from Earth back to Hell without using his grimoire. In the episode "Ozzie's", he is also able to fabricate portals without his grimoire, although only to access another Ring of Hell, instead of crossing into the living world.
* Pinkham's favorite line as Stolas in season one is "We're rich and we're hot!" from "Loo Loo Land".
* It is shown in "Murder Family" that Blitzo has multiple security buttons under his desk as he frantically presses one to try and alert the others in reception. As listed on the lights on Loona's desk, one of the scenarios for one of the buttons include Stolas himself.
* In "The Circus" it is shown that Stolas takes Belphegor-branded "Happy Pills". This is fitting, as Belphegor being the Prince of Sloth works well with the intended effects of the medicine - a means to tone down the consumer's stress.
* It is revealed in "The Circus" that Stolas has numerous unnamed siblings on his father's side.
	+ After being reminded of Stolas' name by Mister Butler, Paimon refers to the former as "The owl boy", insinuating that his other children are of other bird-like breeds or different animals entirely.
* It is revealed in "The Circus" that Stolas became acquainted with Stella and Blitzo on his birthday, when he was informed he was arranged to be engaged to the former by Paimon. He then developed a crush on Blitzo that day after first witnessing his performance at the circus.
* According to the lead storyboard artist for *Helluva Boss*, Stolas has a cloaca.
* When Stolas was a child, he had a stuff animal that bears resemblance to Max from "Sam & Max". He had it ever since he was a newborn baby.