Valentino

**Valentino**, or **Val** for short, is a major antagonist in the *Divine Comedy*. He serves as the main antagonist of volume one, a minor, yet pivotal, antagonist in volume two, and a major antagonist in volume three.

Formerly known as Riccardo Valentino who operated as a prolific sex trafficker in life, he is one of Hell's most influential Overlords, serving as the vassal of the Lust Circle. He is a psychopathic moth demon who runs Hell's adult entertainment industry.

He is the de-facto leader of the Vees (which consist of himself and his "friends" Vox and Velvette) and a major antagonist towards Angel Dust as he was the latter's former pimp and boss that suffered decades of physical and psychological abuse under his service. Valentino would be the main catalyst behind Angel's path to redemption just to simply escape from the moth demon's grasp.

## Appearance

Valentino is a ten-foot tall moth demon with a slender build. He has muted blue skin, red eyes, four arms, and possesses two antennae, with one having a large feather-like appearance and the other completely devoid of its keratin. He has white fuzz around his neck that serves as a 'collar' with hearts implanted in it, which is apparently a part of his body. He has a mouth full of sharp, hot pink teeth with one gold tooth, which was previously shared by Angel Dust.

His primary attire is a red, fur-lined coat, with white fluffy cuffs. His coat has a zebra-print appearance at the bottom, and a large top hat that also has zebra print. He is almost always seen wearing gold, heart-shaped sunglasses with pink lenses. Under his coat, he wears long stiletto high heels, fishnet stockings, and has two X symbols over his nipples. Valentino also wears black evening gloves that go slightly lighter at the tips and wrist, and he occasionally carries an assortment of canes with him.

## History

### Background

In life, he was known as Riccardo Valentino and was an extremely wealthy and high-profile Italian-American adult film director. In the late 60s, his business proved to be highly successful at the time, and he maintained a good reputation to the public. However, behind closed doors, he was the head of an underground drug and sex trafficking ring. At some point the 60s-70s, Valentino began abducting and sexually torturing hundreds of men and women, sometimes murdering them as well.

One fateful night in the 70s, Valentino was in the midst of one of his many lavish parties hosted at his private mansion. One of his employees, a girl dancing in a cage named Hailey, waited for the right moment when Valentino was distracted to where she stealthily picked the keys to her cage from one of the guards as he passed by, then unlocked the cage before giving the nod to the other dancers who all collaborated to take Valentino down. The dancers would provocatively dance with the guards and Valentino's associates, distracting them while Hailey snuck behind Valentino and stabbed him in the neck. Immediately chaos ensued as the guards shot Hailey while Valentino bled profusely from his neck.

Just then, the waitress who was also part of the coup against Val, revealed a molotov cocktail followed by the other waitresses who then threw the molotovs at the guards as well as the room which effectively set the mansion ablaze. Valentino desperately attempted to escape and was losing consciousness while he put pressure on the wound and right when he was in the atrium of his mansion, he was confronted by Hailey who survived from her gunshot wounds and told him, "What you feel isn't even a tenth of the shit you made us feel. So by the time I see you in Hell, I'll be sure to finish the job over and over." She kicked Valentino hard sending him flying into one of the neon signs by the bar in the atrium, electrocuting him to death. Hailey would eventually die from her wounds.

### Arrival to Hell

Following his death, Valentino's vile soul was cast into Hell, damned to the Lust and Pride Circles and by extension the Violence Ring, where he was reborn as a moth demon. Following his rebirth, he would no longer use his first name and instead be simply called "Valentino". Seeking to rebuild his empire and power, Valentino targeted the TV Overlord, Vox, who was the most powerful Overlord in the Sloth and Pride Circles, and the two began a burgeoning, parasitic yet consolidarity partnership. Overtime the moth demon forged a relationship with Vox simply to leech off of his money and power, which allowed him to elevate to the status of an Overlord himself.

Valentino's skills and operations even ended in him gaining favor from Asmodeus themselves who promoted Valentino as a vassal of the Lust Circle thereby being part of the Lust Emperor's court. His service to Asmodeus made his empire bigger than it was previously, along with being a high-profile pimp and becoming the manager of Hell's porn industry below Asmodeus. Using his manipulation tactics and influence, became Hell's main pornographic distributor to the general public, rising to Hell's social ladder to become one of the most feared and economically powerful Overlords in Pride and Lust.

## Trivia

* Valentino is an Italian name that means "brave" and/or "strong". It can also mean "a ladies' man", which is fitting given his position as a sugar daddy.
* His theme song would be "Parasite" by Set It Off.
* Valentino is very attracted to bright lights, as shown by all of the neon lights and signs displayed at his studio and his nightclubs, and his implied obsession with lamps. Even his powers revolve around the manipulation neon. This is obviously in part due to his motif as a moth demon.
* He owns a fashion company called *Valentino's Secret*.
* Velvette would often tease Valentino on the time when Wilfred beat him with a lamp.