An archdemon
| “ | You know what's worse than an archangel? An archdemon. Thankfully, though, there's very little of them, and for good reason. The lords of Hell are kinda iffy knowing their subordinates could be competition for them. | „ |
| ~ Mephistopheles |
An Archdemon, also known as Archdevil or Archdaemon, is a high-ranking demon and spiritual entity as it is a physical one, prominent in the infernal hierarchy as a leader of the infernal host. Essentially, the archdemons are the demonic counterparts of archangels.
Overview
During different ages, some demons were historically "promoted" to archdemons, others were completely forgotten, and new ones were created. Archdemons are also said to be once fallen angels whom were in a choir of angels before they were cast out from Heaven and unto Hell. Archdemons are described as the leaders of demonic hosts, just as archangels lead choirs of angels. In ancient Jewish lore, many of the pagan gods of neighboring cultures were identified as extremely pernicious demons in order to prevent Jews from worshiping them.
Therefore, the pagan deity Baal was reinterpreted as the archdemon Baal or Beelzebub, and the pagan deity Ishtar was reinterpreted as the archdemon Astaroth. These two in particular were seen as some of the worst enemies of God. By the Middle Ages, these pagan deities were no longer worshiped, so their characterizations as archdemons were no longer important, but they still persisted anyway. New archdemons were invented over time, most of them revolving around Satan and the Antichrist.
Description
Archdemons are described as the leaders of demonic hosts, just as archangels lead choirs of angels. They were dubbed as archdemons simply due to the fact that they retained their high status as they once did in Heaven. The only difference being is that they were promoted as archdemon by a once high ranking angel such as Lucifer, Belial, or Astaroth.
Archdemons are at times thought to be demon lords or Princes of Hell such as Asmodeus or Mundus, but it depends on the iteration of it. Archdemons are simply high ranking demons whom are tasked of being second in command of their Lords' demonic legion. They are possibly referred to as "archangels of death" in the Bible.
Given that many devils were rebellious angels who had fallen, they maintained their rank as fallen angels within their new roles. Alphonsus de Spina in 1459 believed that specifically one third of the original angelic court became devils; specifically 133,306,668. However, accounts have varied throughout history and Johann Weyer altered the figures from 7,405,926 demons to 72 demons of hell.