Mulciber

**Mulciber** is a minor character in the *Divine Comedy*.

Mulciber is the blacksmith of Hell and is responsible for having designed and built Pandemonium, the capital city of Hell, alongside Mammon. A fallen angel with a sloven and crude attitude, Mulciber does not like dealing with people including his own superiors as he prefers to spend his damnation in his workshop.

## History

### Background

Mulciber was an angel in Heaven and one of its grand architects. He would design the pristine palaces of paradise alongside Jophiel who was his apprentice. The reason Mulciber fell was due to his displeasure towards Heaven's authoritarian ways as his creative freedom was limited and could not properly deliver the designs for buildings he views in his mind. Mulciber would voice these opinions to Jophiel in secret and even encouraged her to try and give herself more freedom in her art.

### Banishment

It was not until Jophiel was confronted by some of the archangels before forcing her to admit that Mulciber was planning to rebel. Jophiel betrayed Mulciber and the latter was promptly thrown out of Heaven. Mulciber held a deep grudge and resentment towards Jophiel ever since though unbeknownst to him Jophiel did not believe they would banish him from Heaven and has lived with the guilt all her existence.

### Hell's Blacksmith

After falling to Hell, Mulciber was commissioned by Lucifer to build a glorious palace in the center of their new kingdom: Pandemonium. After it was done, Mulciber became the blacksmith of Hell and designed the symbols of office and power for the royals of Hell with his assistant Xaphan. Mulciber was also the one who designed most of the buildings in some of the Circles and over the centuries he would confine himself to his workshop.

Eventually, Mulciber built the Chop Shop for the purpose of using the bodies of sinners and demons who perished during the annual Extermination as materials for buildings and furniture. Mulciber at some point had a falling out with Mammon. Though the reasons are vague, Mulciber stated that the "greedy bastard would pull down my work if he found a smidge of gold on it".

## Personality

Mulciber is often rude, slovenly and ill-mannered. He frequently swears at his workers, calling them all sorts of names and accuses them of being incompetent, even giving his beast of burden, a Mazzikin, the name "fucking gratitude". His attitudes also extends to some of the royals, mostly the likes of the Ars Goetia or even Charlie though he is less explosive to the princess. Mulciber is not exactly social as he finds comfort in his forge and gets easily irritated when he is met with outside company.

Despite his crude attitude, he can surprisingly be good-natured, and comes to care for Charlie and her cousins who they refer to Mulciber as their "beer belly grumpy uncle". He shows genuine concern when he learns of Charlie's injuries from an Exterminator and assists Vaggie and the others in finding a path to Heaven. However, he is somewhat irritated when Charlie tries to get him and Mammon back on good terms. Mulciber also finds Charlie's sentimental and "softy" attitude annoying at times. Despite this, he was kind in his own way to the princess.

Like a majority of Hell's denizens, Mulciber hates Heaven. He has a particular grudge towards Jophiel, speaking with a tone that's laced with venom when mentioning her. He (as well as Belphegor) also never misses an opportunity to scold and mock her designs. It was not until during volume three that he and Jophiel finally met and spoke after countless centuries that he learned the truth and set his grudge aside.

## Trivia

* Mulciber is based on the fallen angel of the same name found in John Milton's epic poem *Paradise Lost*.
* The name "Mulciber" is also an alternate name for the Roman god Vulcan.
* He claims that when he lost his limbs after his fall from Heaven, he was able to craft new mechanical limbs using not only his one good hand but also his foot and mouth.
* The weapons and symbols of power wielded by the emperors and their children were all made by Mulciber. Examples include Lucifer's staff, Asmodeus' cane, Satan's bident, or Leviathan's trident.
* Mulciber uses his own sigil as a brand to mark his work.