Baraqiel

**Baraqiel** is the current Vice Governor General of the Fallen Angels and Grigori. He is the father of Akeno Himejima and widower of Shuri Himejima. Baraqiel is also one of Azazel's closest friends, alongside Shemhazai.

## Appearance

Baraqiel has the appearance of a middle-aged, gruff-looking man with black hair, matching beard and a muscular body. Being the Vice Governor General of the Fallen Angels, Baraqiel possesses ten black wings.

## Personality

Baraqiel has a serious, rigid warrior-type personality. Baraqiel is very protective of his daughter, Akeno, and initially hated Issei due to his misconception of him being "A Dragon that devours breasts". This also suggests that he is naive to jokes, taking them in a literal sense. He also has a masochistic side to him, the inverse of which is inherited by his daughter.

## History

Originally an Angel from Fifth Heaven, Baraqiel is one of the first few Angels that fell alongside Azazel and Shemhazai, eventually becoming one of the leaders of Grigori founded by Azazel. During some time in the past, Baraqiel was injured and found by Shuri Himejima who nursed him back to health. This event caused Baraqiel to fall in love with her, eventually leading to their marriage. However, despite Shuri giving birth to his daughter, her family could not accept Baraqiel due to him being a Fallen Angel, a fact that led her to be murdered during his absence.

## Plot

### Birth of the Breast Dragon Emperor

He was mentioned in Volume 3 by Kokabiel and again in Volume 4 by Azazel.

### The Heroic Oppai Dragon

Baraqiel makes his official appearance in Volume 7, posing as Odin's bodyguard. While talking to Akeno, he nearly attacked Issei, who was eavesdropping, due to his misconception of Issei being the "Oppai Dragon" This was because Azazel had earlier jokingly told him that Issei is "A Dragon that devours breasts". The incident, however, is resolved when Akeno interferes, saying that Baraqiel is not her father, causing the latter much grief. He later helps in the final fight against Loki and was able to make amends with his daughter during the fight, especially after Issei used his Pailingual on Akeno, thus revealing her true feelings for her father. He and Akeno having reconciled, then combine their Holy Lightning to help Issei, who was wielding the replica version of Mjolnir, defeat Loki.

In Volume 12, Baraqiel visits the Gremory Palace to cheer up his daughter when she was immensely depressed over Issei's "death". He was later promoted to Vice Governor General after Azazel resigned from his post and Shemhazai became Governor General. Azazel also said that when he found out that Akeno passed her Middle-Class Promotion test, Baraqiel was happy and cried manly tears at his daughter's success.

## Powers & Abilities

**Immense Strength**: Baraqiel possesses a Satan Class power, as a former Cadre and the current Vice-Governor General of the Grigori. By possessing God`s holy lightning, he can kill a High-Class Devil or injure an Ultimate-Class Devil in a single strike.

**Holy Lightning**: Baraqiel's signature move is one that combines light and lightning together. Baraqiel's Holy Lightning is reputed to be number one amongst Fallen Angels in terms of damage output from a single strike. His Holy Lightning is powerful enough to kill High-Class or Ultimate-Class Devils in one strike. He has also shown to be able to form the lightning into a spear as well as fuse his Holy Lightning into punches and kicks, allowing him to fight Issei in his Crimson Armor, on equal terms.

**Light-Based Weapons**: While not shown in the light novel, in the anime, Baraqiel has shown that he can create a light sword.

**Master Tactician**: Baraqiel has shown to be able to implement a genius strategy, as shown in Volume 22 where he lured Issei into a corner by manipulation, completely tricking Issei into not noticing his plan. This is further proven when trapping Issei was all but a feint for him to use "Castling" to swap places with Rossweisse, so that Baraqiel's Queen, Armaros, could ambush her.

**Flight**: Being a Fallen Angel, Baraqiel can fly using his wings.

## Trivia

* Baraqiel's name translates into Lightning of God, which is represented by his and Akeno's specialization in thunder and lightning magic.
* Baraqiel is the 9th leader of the 20 Watcher leaders of the 200 fallen angels in the Book of Enoch, who taught men astrology during the days of Jared or Yered.
* Baraqiel is considered to be the father of Hazael, mentioned in the 9th century BCE inscription from Tel Dan.