| “ | Should intermittent vengeance arm again his red right hand to plague us? | „ |
| ~ Debating with other fallen angels in Pandemonium shortly after the War in Heaven |
| “ | I am evil's brightest lit match. With the snap of my fingers, I will bring forth a wave of hellfire that incinerates all. Remember these words and remember this name. Belial. Chant that name in reverence, and you shall be immortal. | „ |
| ~ As a King of Hell |
| “ | The Devil? No. I'm not him. Think of me as the president. He's the chairman. And trust me: you don't ever want to meet the chairman. | „ |
| ~ Belial |
Belial, known as Hell's Brightest Fire, Evil's Match, and the King of Evil, is the 68th spirit in the Goetia, and one of the four crowned princes of Hell ruling over the North.
After the fall of the angels, he was against God and Heaven, though likely this was due to his sloth. He would eventually decide to continue to be apart of the Stygian Council and became a King of Hell.
Overview[]
Belial is a mighty and powerful king as he was created right after Lucifer and is of his order. His office is to distribute preferment of senatorships and to cause favor of friends or foes. He bestows excellent familiars and governs 80 legions of spirits. Whoever summons him must have offerings of gifts or sacrifices or he will not give true answers to their demands, but even then with will not spend more than one hour on the truth unless constrained by divine power or his seal, to be worn as a lamin by the person who summons him.
In The Martyrdom of Isaiah, Belial is a demon of lawlessness and "the ruler of this world." Belial is also the patron of secrets, domination, and seduction. He is a profane being, reveling in the pleasures and pains of the flesh. He resides in the city of Abriymoch in a palace of jagged obsidian built on one lip of the caldera.
Belial's name means worthless in Hebrew, and later came to represent the personification of the devil. In the Old Testament of the bible the word tends to be used to describe a class of people, for instance the sons of Belial. The New Testament introduces Satan as the ruler of evil, but prior to that, Belial was said to be his predecessor. In demonology, he is one of Lucifer's most notable demons sources recount. He was the demon that indirectly created the Nosferatu known as Count Orlox. He is also the father of the demoness Fierna and the cambion Illyana Roth.
Description[]
Before his fall from grace, Belial appeared in the form of a beautiful angel sitting in a chariot of fire and speaks with a comely voice. After his fall he became the demon of lies and guilt and is able to induce to any type of sins, especially those related to sex and lust. Sebastian Michaelis states that Belial seduces by means of arrogance and his adversary is St. Francis of Paola; in this sense his name is translated as "Lord of Arrogance" or "Lord of Pride" (Baal ial). Belial is associated with the immoral, atheists, magicians, or perhaps anyone going against the grain. Belial is the partner of the Demon Necromancer Nebiros and the uncle figure of Alice.
The name "Belial" means "'without a master'" and symbolizes true independence, self-sufficiency, and personal accomplishment. Belial represents the earth element, is the "Master of Mankind' and the "Champion of Humanity', and represents the carnal and base urges of humans, which is highly similar to Satan himself. Belial also means "Worthless", meaning that the children of Belial literal means the Children of worthless. The word is used, in a Hebrew context, to describe many debase concepts or persons such as those who support or encourage the worship of other gods, those who have committed sex crimes, or rabble-rousers.
History[]
War in Heaven[]
Belial was one of the many great angels, a Cherubim to be precise, that joined Lucifer's crusade against the Most High and the tyranny of Heaven. Being of Lucifer's order, Belial was a very powerful and respected angel and as a result was a formidable force during the War in Heaven, acting as first lieutenant alongside Gothmog. He was soon defeated and cast out alongside Lucifer and the other fallen angels into the Abyss which then became Hell.
Plans of Attack[]
After establishing a kingdom within Hell, Belial was among the fallen that was part of the Stygian Council. He and his devilish cohorts debated amongst each other on what to do to strike back against God. Belial is almost a caricature of the slimy politician. His words are honeyed, his appearance pleasing, and his arguments persuasive, but "his thoughts were low". He uses his oratorical gifts to counter Moloch’s arguments for an immediate attack upon Heaven, addressing each of Moloch’s points in turn. First of all, he asserts that the whole enterprise would be not just doubtful, as Moloch characterized it, but fundamentally hopeless. Whether they attempted to sneak into Heaven or launch a full frontal assault, the ultimate result would be the same.
After they had done their worst, "yet our great Enemy / All incorruptible would on his throne / Sit unpolluted", for even Hell has no power to destroy that which created the world. Of course, Moloch had himself allowed a strong possibility of defeat, but claimed that even this would be better than a life of exile. Belial dismisses these claims. He does not accept that to die, to be "swallowed up and lost / In the wide womb of uncreated Night", would be superior to continued existence under present circumstances. This is an arguable point, being as it is something of a value judgment. More compellingly, though, he notes that the devils’ present circumstance is hardly the worst that God could do to them if they angered Him again. Indeed, they have already experienced much worse. After Satan's victory in tempting man, Belial was among the devils that was turned into a serpent by God in retribution.
Belial's Rebellion[]
Thousands of years later, Belial attended the coronation of Mundus, the son of Lucifer and Lilith, crowned as the new Emperor of the Inferno whilst being aware of the fact that Mundus usurped the throne rather than inherit it outright. While Belial was content to not make any further action against God as he knew it was a hopeless endeavor, he was growing increasingly frustrated with Mundus's ways of ruling Hell and held the Dark Emperor in high contempt and disdain.
Throughout those years, however, Belial had gained an infamous reputation with demons calling him the Bright Fire of Hell or Evil's Brightest-Lit Match. During these years, he fathered the demoness Fierna with Agrat Bat Mahlat and a cambion girl that would come to be known as Illyana Roth in the modern days from a crow witch.
Inevitably, Belial reached his breaking point and declared that he would be under Mundus's rule no longer, sparking a civil war in Hell. Mundus knew that Belial posed a great threat to his rule, not just because of his power but also his influence as Belial was quite the powerful speaker and could coax numerous demons to his side, befitting of one who is a politician of sorts in the Stygian Council like other high-ranking demons. Moreover, Mundus was still in the early years of his reign and had not amassed enough control over the Inferno, and so resorted to having Beelzebub deal with the situation. Beelzebub gathered the Knights of Hell to fight back Belial's forces with great succession. Among these Knights was the Legendary Dark Knight himself, Sparda, who personally fought Belial in a titanic battle. After a long and hard-fought duel, Sparda defeated the mighty Devil King, before casting him into the Cocytus river.
Return and Revenge[]
After the Apocalypse, its effects reverberated across the realms and among them was Hell. Many barriers that held dangerous and powerful entities were weakened, and allowed these entities to leak out into the material world to threaten it once more. After Lucifer's defeat and Satan's imprisonment, a power vacuum was created in Hell with demons and fallen angels fighting for control over the throne. However, Belial was set free from the frozen lake of Cocytus, weakened from the effects of the Apocalypse, and was burning with a fiery vengeance against Mundus and Sparda.
Powers and Abilities[]
Being of Lucifer's order when he was an angel and later becoming a high-ranked demon of Hell, Belial is a monstrously powerful demon. In the distant past, Belial posed a large threat to even Mundus himself and his reign as a whole, which made Trish believe that Belial could have more than likely defeated Mundus even when the Dark Emperor was at his prime. As an angel, particularly of the Cherubim order, Belial was able to slay numerous angels during the war in Heaven and as a demon, slaughtered large demonic armies that attempted to move against him or any of the other seven great kings. He was even capable of fighting Sparda, who was also in his prime, for a long period of time before being defeated by the Dark Knight.
After his subsequent release from Cocytus, Belial's power and strength had not weakened nor was it hampered in any way as he remains just as powerful as he always was even after being imprisoned within Cocytus for thousands of years. His emergence from Hell to Earth created a tremor that was felt by supernatural psychics from miles away, and his first display of power was destroying New Mexico in a burst of Hellfire by simply flicking his index and ring finger upwards. He was capable of holding his own against multiple werewolves simultaneously, before effortlessly besting them, as well as defeating a Nero who had awakened his full Devil Trigger. Belial could even fight near evenly with Dante and Vergil, who both awakened their full demonic power through the Rebis.
Despite his tremendous skill with demonic energy and Hellfire manipulation, Belial prefers to engage via physical combat. He was fast and strong enough to be able to surprise and effortlessly kick Dante through a wall and clear out of the street with a single kick. He was also more than skilled enough with his Stygian Staff to hold his own against both Nero, Vergil, and Trish. When in Devil Trigger, Belial's physical and demonic prowess skyrocketed. He was able to effortlessly defeat the wolf pack of the Order of the Silver Cross, and Hellboy in a single blow each and was even able to quickly out-maneuver Dante in a sword fight. Using his bare hands, weapons, and powers he was able to contend against Dante and Vergil in their enhanced Devil Triggers as well as wielding his sword to their full effect. However, it was not until that the Sons of Sparda assumed their Sin Devil Triggers that Belial found himself significantly overwhelmed.
Myths and Legends[]
Dead Sea Scrolls[]
In the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Angel of Light and the Angel of Darkness are mentioned. God is cited as the Angel of Light, and Belial the contrary. The demon was said to bring guilt and wickedness to man. The source also recounts a dream of Amram, the father of Moses, where Belial is described as the King of Evil or Prince of Darkness.
Fragments of a Zodokite Work[]
The Fragments of a Zadokite Work, texts contained within the Dead Sea Scrolls, speak of the three nets of Belial: fornication, wealth and pollution of the sanctuary. He is depicted as a rebel or an agent of divine punishment and is said to be the one who influenced the Egyptian sorcerers to oppose Moses. This text also classifies any of his followers as necromancers or wizards!
The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Dakrkness[]
In The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, one of the Dead Sea scrolls, Belial is the leader of the Sons of Darkness:
- 'But for corruption thou hast made Belial, a king of hostility. All his dominions are in darkness, and his purpose is to bring about wickedness and guilt. All the spirits that are associated with him are but king of Sweed, a type of drug.' 'And all those who enter in the Rule of the Community shall establish a covenant before God in order to carry out all that he commands and in order not to stray from following him for any fear, dread or grief that might occur during the dominion of Belial.'
The evil and the good are two spirits that god created and put within every person. There are the Angel of Light and the Demon of Fire. The Manual of Discipline identifies the Angel of Light as God himself. The Demon of Darkness is identified in the same scroll as Belial
- 'I shall not retain Belial within my heart.'
Manual of Discipline[]
The writer of the Manual of Discipline attributes the existence of Belial and the Sons of Darkness to the mysteries of God, and the Sons of Light must be at odds with them until the time when God has set aside to come down to destroy all the injustice in the world.
It is clear from the Manual of Discipline that since everything came from God, Belial came from him as well. Confusion arises as to why the scroll people believed that God created evil, since the scrolls state that He loathes the Sons of Darkness.
- 'God loved one of them for all eternal ages and in all his deeds he takes pleasure for ever; of the other one he detests his advice and hates all his paths forever.'
This quote referring to the leader of the Sons of Light as Michael or Metatron and the Sons of Darkness as Belial. In early Christian writings, Belial was identified first as a Demon of confusion and lust, created after Lucifer. Paradoxically, some apocrypha credit Belial as being the father of Lucifer and the jinn that convinced him to wage a rebellion in Heaven against God, and that Belial was the first of the Satans to be expelled.
The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs[]
The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, one of the hidden scriptures linked to the Old Testament, depicts the demon as God’s adversary and places him in the role of the tempter. The texts cite that fornication brings man closer to Belial and separates him from God. It also claims that when the soul is disturbed, it is Belial ruling over it. When Egypt leaves Israel, Belial will remain with the Egyptians in darkness, the document further asserts. It also supports the view that the messiah will punish the demon and his followers on his return. Another apocryphal (hidden) text depicts him as the angel of lawlessness and the actual ruler of Earth. He is described in the text as the seducer of all the fallen angels. He is also illustrated as being extremely deceitful and only offers truth if threatened.
Edgar Cayce, a Christian psychic and mystic, used the term sons of Belial in his deep trance reading sessions in 1937. He was popularly known as the sleeping prophet and gave over 2500 readings to those he induced a deep trance state in. He used the term in the Hebrew sense of worthlessness, but later used it to refer to opposing human forces.
Fifteen century noble Gilles de Rais was said to dabble in alchemy and the occult. Sources claim de Rais attempted to call on the demon using the body parts of his victims, possibly numbering in the hundreds, as a sacrifice. The Frenchman was branded a serial killer and put to death.