“ | I'm not a man. I have no male pride for you to trick me with, and I am not interested in single combat. That is entirely a weakness of your sex, not mine. I am a woman. I will use any weapon and all weapons to get what I want. | „ |
~ Lilith |
“ | Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. One often asks, "Where does that phrase originate from?" Well, my dear boy, the answer stands before you. | „ |
~ Lilith to Nero |
Lilith was the first wife of Adam who left the Garden of Eden and became the mother of demons and the supreme empress of Hell. She is also credited as the creator of the Turok-Han, an ancient species of vampire, and is thus regarded as the Mother of Vampires.
Overview
The Babylonians identified her as a storm demon known as "Lilitu" in ancient Mesopotamian myth around 3000 BC and she was thought to have been the cause of disease, illness, and death.
A female demon of the night who supposedly flies around searching for newborn children either to kidnap or strangle them. Also, she sleeps with men to seduce them into propagating demon sons. Legends told about Lilith are ancient. The rabbinical myths of Lilith being Adam's first wife seem to relate to the Sumero-Babylonian Goddess Belit-ili, or Belili. To the Canaanites, Lilith was Baalat, the "Divine Lady."
She later appears as a nocturnal demon in Jewish lore and the proclaimed mother of all demons and the Dark Lady. Lilith possesses a seductive, manipulative nature. She for decades had pretended to be advisor for the goddess Ishtar which gave her the title of the Second Hand of Ishtar.
Appearance
Lilith is an impeccably beautiful and well-endowed woman, described as the walking definition of feminine beauty alongside Eve herself. In contrast to Eve who has ginger hair, Lilith originally had platinum blonde hair, fair skin, bright blue eyes, and looked to be more slender but curvaceous nonetheless. She was also shown to be rather taller than Eve, standing roughly around six feet and three inches in height. Like Eve, she too sported a "crown of leaves" though in her case they consisted of branches or twigs formed in an intricate design.
After being driven out of the Garden of Eden, Lilith's hair darkened considerably, having a blackish red coloration with her skin having a light brown pigmentation. Her eyes, which were once sky blue, became a dark yellow. Her hair is also described as being the "nighttime sky carefully woven on her head" which is a nod to her shapeshifting into an owl, a nocturnal animal and her eventually becoming a demon of the night. She also bears puncture wounds on her hands and feet from where Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof pierced her with their lances and threatened to drown her if she did not comply to God's demands.
After becoming the Empress of Hell, Lilith was clothed in only the finest noble attire which possessed a consistent gothic theme to it yet demonic in nature. The clothing in question would at times be thin and revealing fabric, usually black or a dark royal purple. Fiery quills of an emerald sheen along with similar scales adorn her head in place of hair, and those same quills run down her spine to culminate in a reptilian tail ending in savage barbs. Her hands were no stranger to this savage appearance and so her five-fingered hands ended in curved claws. Lilith's mouth bears sharp fang-like teeth for shredding her victims and her eyes are smoldering crimson orbs devoid of pupils. She was adorned with jewelry that was rare on Earth and only found in the Underworld. Her sclera are red with yellow irises and black pupils.
History
Genesis
Lilith was the first wife of Adam, crafted from the same primordial matter as her counterpart by God. At some point in time, while she strolled the primeval plains, Lilith met with Lucifer and the two had a rather amicable conversation, shortly after the Morning Star was admonished by the Lord. During the conversation, Lucifer managed to persuade Lilith into siding with him as well. He convinced her that since Lilith had been created from clay the same as Adam she is equal to him and therefore should not be under him, she would be no puppet bound to any string. Lilith was enlightened by the Morning Star's words.
Immediately upon returning, Lilith and Adam began to bicker as she refused to lay at the bottom while Adam was on top during intercourse only for Adam to counter her by saying that he will only be on top since he is superior, but Lilith rebutted him by saying that they were both made equal with their argument going back and forth. Lilith basically demanded equality from Adam and, failing to acquire it, exclaimed God's "Ineffable Name" and left him in anger. Adam in return complained to God that his wife had deserted him. God sent three angels to take Lilith back to Eden, who found her in the Red Sea. When they told her that she must return to Eden, Lilith refused and blasphemed them to which they pinned her hands and feet with their lances and held her above the Red Sea. From there, they began to threaten her of the consequences should she defy the word of God, the first of which was that she would be tossed in the Red Sea to drown but she refused. They threatened her a second a time, which was the loss of one hundred of her children every day unless she returned to Adam. She again refused and was punished by having all of her children slain though she struck back by saying that a hundred more will rise in response. Regardless, she was distraught, and completely left the Garden of Eden, sulking in misery and abandonment.
At some point, Lilith met and befriended an abyssal creature known as Tanin'iver who became her steed. Tanin'iver then led Lilith to the archangel Samael, who was cast out from the mountain of God due to his misanthropic views on humanity. While he was initially hostile towards Lilith due to the fact that she was human, she stated that her supposed one purpose in existence to be subservient to Adam is nothing but a farce, a blindfold to keep her from finding and achieving a higher goal. She wanted no part in humanity's affairs within the oncoming centuries and instead would rather be above them than below them, further going on to say that she shares Samael's view when it comes to the destructive nature of what humans will bring with no concept of equality between them in their societies. This convinced Samael to have trust in her, and more so when she tended to his injured state.
Original Sin
Because of helping Samael and refusing to return to Adam, one hundred of Lilith's children would be slain every day by the three angels. This prompted in Lilith's total abandonment of God and her hatred towards the divine along with Adam being the favored creation. Lilith sat by the Red Sea alongside Tanin'iver until they saw Lucifer and Samael approaching them sometime after the War in Heaven and were on their way to the Garden of Eden. Lilith and her steed joined the two fallen archangels on their quest to strike back at God and to pay back her debt to Lucifer for freeing her from Adam's presence. The four would only make their move at the hour the angels go up to worship God.
The four saw the angel Gadreel guarding the gates of Eden. Lucifer then conjured several stars, threw them across Gadreel's line of view and commanded them to dash around him like hyperactive fireflies, briefly disorienting the angel. Following this, Lilith commanded Tanin'iver to lunge towards Gadreel and subdue the angel by the throat. This gave Satan and Lilith the opportunity to sneak into the Garden of Eden undetected prompting Lucifer to leave and return to Hell. Tanin'iver was wounded by Gadreel during the scuffle and drove the beast away. Inside the Garden, Lilith at first opted to confront Adam, but due to Adam being her equal as both she and Adam were created from the same primal matter that God used to create them she could not harm him.
As a result, she set her sights upon Eve herself seeing that Eve was instead made from Adam's own rib and was thus weak-willed due to being subservient to Adam. Lilith then took the form of an owl, and would whisper words of power, doubt, independence, and self-reflection into Eve's dreams as she was perched atop of a tree where Eve slept, coaxing her enough for Satan, who assumed the form of a Serpent, to deceive Eve into eating the Forbidden Fruit, promising her that if she and her consort devour the fruit they would rule with equal authority like God. However, Lilith's disguise was exposed by one of the animals in the Garden, a great wolfhound that would come to be known as Maera, and was promptly driven away by the hound. Regardless, Satan succeeded in having Eve eat the fruit, and the two made their escape from Eden beneath a cloak of darkness weaved by Tanin'iver.
Queen of Hell
After the fall of the angels and Lilith completely cutting ties with Heaven and humanity, she eloped with Samael, now known as Satan, and the two were said to have made love within a cave, which resulted in Lilith giving birth to some of the first generation of demonic offspring known as the Lilim.
In response to this, God cast Satan further down into the Pit where his outer body is chained up but his true body roams the borders of the Ninth Circle. Moreover, the three angels slaughtered Lilith's children just as they warned her they would. Due to Satan's imprisonment, she took to Asmodeus instead, procreating demonic offspring and spreading chaos at every turn.
Lilith became a consort of Asmodeus and the offspring they bore were the Asmodai, a second generational horde of Lilim, whom Lilith personally raised and trained, usually through harsh and ruthless means. Later on, Lilith rose dramatically in the ranks by becoming the first and possibly only Demon Queen as well as the Empress of the Inferno by wedding Lucifer, who crowned himself the Emperor of Hell. Lilith's union with Lucifer resulted in the birth of none other than Mundus, the potential heir to Hell's throne. Aside from her other duties and habits, Lilith would groom Mundus into becoming a powerful ruler and even spoil him though Lucifer held no special love for his son.
Mother of Monsters
After her banishment from the Garden of Eden and Heaven entirely, Lilith also set foot upon the primeval Earth where she came across its many ancient beastly inhabitants. Seeing as how she bore the demons that now roam Hell, Lilith decided to create Earthly monsters as well; in some writing, Lilith was treated as the mother of all vampires or monsters giving her the titles of the First Vampire and the Mother of Monsters. Her credit as the mother of vampires is due to her creating the Turok-Han, whom are regarded as the first vampires to appear in history.
The Turok-Han rampaged across the Antediluvian Earth and their terror was recorded on ancient pottery in Mesopotamia. Lilith also took revenge against the Heavens by launching a reign of terror against women in childbirth, newborn infants, particularly males, and men who slept alone. She was forced, however, to swear to the three angels that whenever she saw their names or images on an amulet, she would leave infants and mothers alone. This also resulted in her developing a fiercely antagonistic relationship with Lailah, the archangel of night and protector of children.
Another version of the story as told in the "Midrash Abkier", is that after Cain's homicide brings death to the world, Adam separates from Eve and fasts for 130 years. When Lilith saw him she took him by force by using his own sin against him. She bore him many demonic spirits known to be a plague to mankind. This tale was later attributed to Naamah, a sister of Lilith, and she bore the Nashiym who helped their mother to seduce the Watchers. Nonetheless, Lilith would be seen as the incarnation of lust, causing men to be led astray, and Lilith as a child-killing witch, who strangles helpless neonates.
Battle for the Messiah
When Jesus was born, Hell shook in terror and awe of the Messiah's birth as the demons screamed in profanity against the creator and the heavens. Lilith offered to devour Jesus as a showcase of Hell's power over the light, and that by consuming Jesus the darkness will consume the light. Her offer came to an accord by the powers of Hell and she, alongside her steed Tanin'iver, set course to kill the infant Christ, striking on the night of his birth and accompanied by several Lilim.
As the infant messiah lay sleeping in his crib, Lilith had Tanin'iver shroud the barn of where he laid in darkness, with the only known light source being Jesus himself whose radiance disturbed the beast and Lilith. Tanin'iver would compress the light of Jesus enough to have the Lilim get close and dismember his body before feeding it to Lilith. However, the Lilim were intercepted by the three angels, Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, quickly slaying them. More troubling was that the archangel Lailah alongside Maera her wolfhound made their presence known. Lilith began battling Lailah over Jesus and Maera with Tanin'iver. While the blind serpent fights the hound fiercely, he could not defeat him.
Upon seeing Tanin'iver defeated and terribly wounded by the three angels and Maera, Lilith flew into a rage. She lunged at Lailah, transforming into a monstrous owl-like creature of darkness, but Lailah draws her veil over Lilith's eyes and she was "blind and inflicted with fatigue from bright stars". Maera quickly subdued her by the throat much like how she did to Gadreel with Tanin'iver. In a feeble attempt to escape, Lilith transformed into a snake but still Maera held her captive. At the mercy of the great wolfhound, Lilith was forced to admit defeat and swore to never again come after the infant Jesus. She returned to Hell in humiliation and fury, with Satan shaming her over such a defeat.
Breaking the First Seal
Lilith was one of the factors in breaking the seal that kept Lucifer in his tomb and heralding the arrival of the Apocalypse. She contributed in Vergil's torment when he first fell into Hell and brazingly challenged Mundus, only to be defeated and then again when he failed to kill Dante as Nelo Angelo. His failure resulted in endless, brutal, and unspeakable punishment from the likes of Lilith herself, alongside the Malebranche, Alastor, and Mundus. While Vergil would escape, he would only fail in each attempt and is returned to the chamber to begin the torture all over again; Vergil recalled that Lilith was one of the worst ones that took part in his torture.
Despite the fact that Mundus originally claimed Vergil's soul after defeating him, it was Lilith that staked an indirect claim over Vergil's soul as she was among those who knew of Lucifer's grand plan of a New World Order with Mundus having little information over the matter, thus seeing as how essential it is for Vergil to break the first seal with Lilith on the plan, she would have claim over him.
It was because of Lilith's actions, with Mundus in extension, that Vergil's will was completely shattered but did not impede his efforts in escaping and to finally succeed. However, this only served as a victory for Lilith as Vergil's escape from Hell was in fact the first seal, tauntingly dubbing Vergil as the "Righteous Man" that strives for what is best but broken in spirit. When Vergil escaped, Lilith blew into her Crook, which spread throughout the entirety of Hell and signalling the legions of the damned that the first seal had been broken, heralding the inevitable return of Lucifer and the initiation of the Apocalypse itself.
Personality
In the beginning, Lilith was independent, gentle, amicable, but brash and proud, the latter of which resulted in her rejection of Adam's advances, especially when he would attempt to lay atop of her during sexual intercourse. Lilith's view of this was that despite being crafted from the same primordial material as Adam, she is regarded as being beneath Adam and only second to him which frustrated her. She proclaimed that if she was equal to Adam then she would be treated as equal. Although, this could indicate some form of insecurity from Lilith, implying that she is not too fond of being looked down on.
Lilith's early fall from grace even prompted her to join the side of the rebel angels during the impending War in Heaven. And it was from there she met Satan who, despite having contrasting ideologies, possessed a similar frustration and sense of betrayal; in Lilith's case the angels that would cater to her and Adam, would instead drive her out of the garden for her rebellious nature and more so when she realized that God would only listen to Adam instead of her thereby thinking that God shares the view of Lilith being second fiddle. After her banishment from Heaven and eloping with Satan, Lilith became quite deceptive, cunning, and calculating to where she even managed to manipulate her sister, Eve, into finding answers from the Tree of Knowledge to initiate the Fall of Man. Her treatment and abandonment in Heaven made her grow spiteful and vengeful towards the divine, which resulted in her creating the first monsters on Earth that would terrorize the children of Adam and Eve for centuries to come, and her demonic children would drive mankind down into a spiral of chaos, corruption, and sin, turning them away from the light of God. She is also highly opportunistic, ever watchful of the next opportunity to gain power through someone else.
While Lilith does care and love her children she will fiercely discipline them if they step out of line or show weakness, example is her subjecting the Lilim through brutal and gruesome punishments to "help" them grow, and did not even intervene when Lucifer destroyed Mundus, their own son, despite the fact that Lilith herself spoiled Mundus in his youth, but this was mostly due to the fact that Lilith was aware of Mundus' hand in imprisoning Lucifer within his tomb. She also displayed a great deal affection towards her steed Tanin'iver to the point where she erupted in fury upon seeing her beloved pet wounded and incapacitated by Maera alongside Senoi, Sansenoi, and Sammangelof, whom she grealy despises. It is possible that Lilith shows affection towards those that would be of some beneficial use for her though in rare cases this affection can be that of genuine fondness.
Surprisingly, and contrary to popular belief, Lilith deeply cares for Eve despite their backgrounds. Even though Lilith instigated the temptation to have her eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, she has displayed pity and anger towards Adam's treatment of Eve before and after their banishment from the Garden of Eden. While she was disguised as an owl in the Garden, Lilith and Eve would have several conversations with one another regarding Adam and his overbearing nature on Eve, eventually reaching to a mutual respect and liking to one another especially since Lilith saw that Eve craved for knowledge to sate her curiosity. Lilith watched over Eve during her days on Earth, and this same affection also extends to her other sisters such as Naamah, Agrat, and Eisheth.
Regardless, Lilith remains to be one of the more sadistically malicious demons. This is especially prominent in her habit of devouring human infants and gleefully causing miscarriages to pregnant women. She is quite fond of toying with her prey, especially when they are defenseless and vulnerable, evident when she took part in Vergil's torment during his time in Hell with Vergil even outright admitting that Lilith was one of the more highly unpleasant ones that took turns in torturing him. Lilith would even taunt Lailah, her archenemy, by dangling the devoured remains of an infant towards her to add salt in the wound for her failure to protect them. Lilith is also quite promiscuous, as she more often than not had sexual relations with many powerful demons, gods, and even several angels. While the concept of love is foreign to her and had many partners, she does have a preference to who she is with such as Lucifer, Satan, and Asmodeus though to a lesser degree regarding the latter. She is also something of an exhibitionist, being shameless when she engages in an orgy consisting of Satanic witches (male and female) and demons.
Powers and Abilities
As the first "traditional" demon, Lilith is one of the most powerful beings in Hell. As the true queen of Hell she outranked her own sisters as well as her own son Mundus; Dantalion implied that in terms of pure talent in the art of magic Lilith may be a 'shade' stronger than Mundus, Ornias even admitted he would rather follow Lilith than Mundus out of fear of disobeying the queen of Hell. As such, Lilith commands the legions of Hell unchallenged as their queen and is not afraid to flex her power over them should they dare step out of line. Lilith's power is prevalent when she is able to successfully ward off normal angels but is humble enough to know when she is outmatched.
What Lilith really excels at was dark magic and is said to have been the first to ever master the art. She can cast and weave a complex web of spells that can deabilitate even the mightiest of demons. Her magic is proficient enough to even make Lailah, the archangel of night, struggle somewhat in battle against her. It is also revealed that it was she who taught her son how to exercise the dark arts to where Mundus, using the knowledge he learned from his mother, created a series of artificial demons in his arsenal, many of which were so strong they even threatened the demon realm. Aside from her use in magic, her inherent abilities also include shapeshifting, when she transformed into an owl, and pyrokinesis. She also possesses a sonic scream that can outright vaporize her opponents.
One other dangerous aspect of Lilith is her intelligence. As she is not one to "get her hands dirty", her greatest asset in battle lies in her knowledge and intelligence, using strategies to render her opponents helpless without engaging them directly. She is capable of seducing or manipulating the masses to do her work for her while she stays on the sidelines pulling the strings, something that has impressed the likes of Beelzebub himself. This was seen when she was the orchestrator behind Abaddon's release and was the benefactor for the Black Hand in setting up the preparations for Theokoles's ascent to power all while the opposing organizations from the Dark Knight Initiative were unaware of her involvement for a time. She knows how to exploit and take advantage of others or a situation to get whatever she desires and demonstrates both craftiness and cunning in battle; she exploits her opponents' physical and emotional weaknesses.
Myth and Legends
As late as the 18th century, it was a common practice in many cultures to protect new mothers and their infants with amulets against Lilith. Males were most vulnerable during the first week of life, girls during the first three weeks. Sometimes a magic circle was drawn around the lying-in-bed, with a charm inscribed with the names of the three angels, Adam and Eve and the words "barring Lilith" or "protect this newborn child from all harm." Frequently amulets were place in the four corners and throughout the bedchamber. If a child laughed while sleeping, it was taken as a sign that Lilith was present. Tapping the child on the nose, it was believed, made her go away.