Yomyael

Yomyael.

Yomyael, also known as Yomayel or Varvara, is a fallen angel turned demon that fell from grace after he joined Lucifer's rebellion during the War in Heaven. As Varvara he was the former director of GRU Division "P" and one of the Lords of Hell.

Overview

Yomyael, alongside Sitri and Beleth, formed an evil trinity of demons, known as the Demon's Three, who reigned over parts of Europe and Asia, offering Faustian Bargains to everyone who asked. He also had aided the Asiatic people in battle "for as long as men had placed faith in the dark behind stars".

One of these famous bargains was Peter the Great of Russia, who summoned the three demons in order to defeat the Swedes in Great Northern War. In return Beleth and two other demons demanded three things: his future sons, his heart and his eternal soul.

Deciding to forgo returning to Hell, Yomyael stayed on Earth and possessed a number of hosts, the latest being Varvara Rasputin. In Varvara's guise he is the former director of GRU Division "P".

History

Background

Yomyael with Sitri and Beleth.

Yomyael was part of a trinity of demons (also including Beleth and Sitri) that had aided the Asiatic people in battle "for as long as men had placed faith in the dark behind stars." The trinity was discovered and summoned by Peter the Great's advisors to help him turn the tides against the Swedes in the Great Northern War.

The demons granted Peter's wishes, but they came with a price. The first demon would take the lives of all of Peter's future sons, so that his name would not live on; the second demon would take his heart, so he would be filled with cruelty and bring only pain to anyone he came in contact with; and the third demon, Yomyael, would take his soul. As the first two demons took what Peter owed, Yomyael walked through the battlefield and was so captivated by the brutality brought out by humans, he decided to stay in the mortal world, thus abandoning Peter's soul, which was also his passage home.

Yomyael wandered the earth for centuries, possessing different hosts, and in time he came to an understanding of humanity. In 1913, the demon possessed Varvara Rasputin after finding her alone with the body of her dead mother. Before the possession, Yomyael promised her the granting of terrible power to exact her rightful vengeance against Rasputin. Varvara agreed and Yomyael promptly took control of her body. Taking on her identity, Yomyael eventually aligned himself with the Soviet Union and become head of GRU Division "P".

Allying with the Professor

In 1946, "Varvara" was stationed in Soviet-occupied Berlin, gathering occult objects and keeping secret prisoners affiliated with the Nazi paranormal experiments for questioning. It was then that "Varvara" first encountered Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, who sought for any information related to the "Hellboy Incident". "Varvara" was already aware that the demon (Hellboy) was under the professor's care.

The Third Demon.

However, "Varvara" declined to share any information until she and her organization had made a truce with Bruttenholm that would be related to their common goal regarding Project Vampir Sturm. Their alliance led to the successful foiling of an attempt by Herman von Klempt to launch a rocket loaded with vampires at the United States. In the aftermath, "Varvara" was impressed by Bruttenholm and has since then she considered him her favorite human.

In 1947, "Varvara" appeared at the New Mexico Air Force base where the B.P.R.D. was then stationed to discuss the recent killings of ex-Nazis with Professor Bruttenholm, which they both knew to be the work of Baron Konig. 

In 1952, "Varvara" approached Malcolm Frost, who was planning to kill Professor Bruttenholm in order to gain access to eliminating Hellboy, and threatened him from ever harming Bruttenholm after she murdered Frost's underling Robert Amsel via spontaneous combustion.

Imprisonment

After "Varvara's" multiple meetings with Professor Bruttenholm regarding the vampire activity in Europe, most of the members of GRU Division "P" began to plot a coup against her. Tired of working in constant fear of her explosive temper and violent way of handling things, GRU-P conspirators carefully planned a ritual that will incapacitate "Varvara".

In 1956, after months of planning, they brought a medium to a radio station outpost where she recorded a carefully researched incantation done hundreds of miles away from "Varvara" and then broadcast it to her, weakening her and allowing Father Malakim to conduct an orthodox prayer that imprisoned "Varvara" in a glass case. For the next century and a half, "Varvara" remained contain and placed in the office of the new Director of GRU Division "P", Iosif Nichayko.

By the events of the Apocalypse, "Varvara" would be visited by a small cabal of demons who had escaped from Hell, who informed her that the "promised time" would not yet be out of reach. Confused, the demons elaborate albeit somewhat cryptically as they could not trust Varvara with full detail of the information yet, that their Dark Mother will bring Pandemonium to Earth, and Hell will have its reign over the kingdom of man and then the Heavens itself. Intrigued, "Varvara" agreed to join this coalition of demons under the condition she remains loyal to the Dark Mother's plans which she agreed to. Joining and reuniting with his fellow devils consisting of Bifrons and Beleth, "Varvara's" addition would mark the return of the Demon's Three who began to sow threads of discord while puppeteering the cult of the Black Hand all under the Dark Mother's command.

Blackest Night

With most of demon-lords dead, and having acquired the ring of Amdusias, Yomyael decided to to rebuild Pandemonium in New York City. The demon recruited the two remaining demon lords, Balam and Bifrons, and manages to re-enslave the minor demons. The demon also worked with the resurrected Karl Ruprecht Kroenen and Herman von Klempt, though Kroenen was killed by Yomyael after he doubted the plan. The forces of the B.P.R.D. alongside Devil May Cry attacked the remaining forces of Hell, during which Yomyael kills agent Devon. Both Balam and Bifrons were killed by Nero, Trish, and Liz Sherman while Yomyael fought against Illyana Roth and Ashley Strode. Strode casts Yomyael out of Varvara with an exorcism, and is forced to kneel in front of the Bureau's agents. The demon claims he was trying to hold Varvara back, but was decapitated by Strode with the Twin Blade before he could finish.

Rasputin, now speaking through Varvara, kills Strode then himself using the Moonblade that was "carved from the abyssal beach" and with her death coupled with wielding Shakti came an explosion that completely wiped out New York City off the map. Varvara's death via the Moonblade's contact with Shakti was intended as an explosive beacon for the Ogdru Hem to rise from their graves across the world with the explosion sending a signal for the Old Ones to lay claim over the now barren planet.

It is presumed that while Varvara initially wanted vengeance against Rasputin and the world, her perspective changed as she was being inhabited by Yomyael which the demon detected and thus opted to keep her detained for as long as possible. Varvara may have also grown impatient with Yomyael and decided to destroy the world through the release of the Ogdru Hem via Rasputin himself while also knowing Rasputin will be destroyed by forces who oppose him and the Old Ones. "Varvara's" last appearance was in the old headquarters of the B.P.R.D. in Connecticut. She mused to herself that her efforts to stall the apocalypse were useless and how one small little ghost had turned the tide when she had failed. She lamented that she misses Professor Bruttenholm, stating he was always her favorite, and wondered to herself who will entertain her now.

Trivia

• He has no connection with the fallen angel Yomiel, whose alias is also Yomyael.