Azrael

**Azrael** is a minor supporting character in the *Divine Comedy*.

He is the archangel of death charged with overseeing the flow of souls in Heaven. Despite being part of the main Empyrean family, Azrael is often distinguished as the "black sheep" of the archangels resulting in his distancing from them. This also led to some of the lesser angels to paint him as a dreadful figure even though Azrael is simply gloomy, glum, and quite frankly does not want to deal with anyone.

## History

### Background

Azrael is one of God and Goddess's oldest angels and was also part of the Genesis Jam. Given his role as the archangel of death it is presumed that through the jamming session of the universe's creation Azrael would introduce the concept of death in his verse which would result in that very concept taking form as Death; it should be noted that while Azrael introduced the concept he has no power over said concept. Azrael was rather isolated compared to his siblings though this did not spare him from Lucifer's shenanigans. But even so, Lucifer was also rather supportive to Azrael such as when he tried to persuade him to be more social and outgoing.

### Angel of Death

After the war in Heaven and the fall of man, Azrael would be appointed as the archangel of death, guiding the souls of the departed to their appropriate destinations when they are permitted to enter Heaven and to which Sphere they are designated to. However, Azrael's introduction of the concept of death led him to be ostracized by most of his family and feared by humanity when God cursed the latter with mortality (death) after kicking them out of Eden. Death would only end up being feared by mankind because of Cain who tried to avoid it so much he twisted it into a curse instead of a gift.

His estrangement from his family resulted in him appointing Dumah, who was part of his choir, as the angel of death but when he refused to kill the firstborn children of Egypt, Azrael had no choice but to take his place and finish the job, which only further darkened his image to the lesser angels and humanity. As the archangel of death, he is constantly recording and erasing in a large book the names of humans at birth and death, respectively. In addition, Azrael and Death are on pretty friendly terms. This friendship is evident when Death convinced Azrael to give Cassiel the opportunity to make amends for his failed duties as a Power by becoming a psychopomp. Azrael accepted by putting in a good word to the Magisterium for Cassiel, to which the latter got the job.

Azrael runs the Mortem System which is basically the cycle of death for living things and how they are processed and evaluated in said cycle to determine where they should go after their demise. In the system's management, Azrael would be something of a dispatcher for the transportations and its passengers while Death would be the trainmaster who makes sure psychopomps like Phlegyas, Charon, and Cassiel are doing their jobs dutifully; Cassiel is more under Azrael's department.

## Trivia

* He is based on the angel of the same name, who, in Abrahamic religions, is depicted as the angel of death that transports the souls of the recently deceased away from their bodies.
* His name means "God has helped" in Hebrew.
* His theme song would be "A Conversation with Death" by Khemmis.
* Azrael is shown to wield dual sickles rather than a scythe.
* Though Heaven is his home, Azrael has since moved out and resides in Necropolis, focusing solely on his work. It is also implied that he mainly did so because he found Metatron's very presence suffocating.
* Azrael is not fond of cats. This dislike towards cats may allude to the proverb "A cat has nine lives" from Shakespeare's *Romeo and Juliet*.