Valentino

"I own you, or have you forgotten that?"

- Valentino, reminding Angel Dust about his contract

Valentino is a sinner demon who is one of the many Overlords of Hell and a major antagonist of Hazbin Hotel.

He is the head of the porn studios within V Tower, and a close associate of Velvette and Vox. He is also the owner and boss of his films' main star, Angel Dust, whom he has under contractual obligation.

Appearance
Valentino is a tall, slender, somewhat muscular moth demon with greyish-lavender skin and cerise-pink eyes, over which he is always depicted wearing gold-rimmed, heart-shaped sunglasses with cerise-pink lenses. His mouth full of sharp, cerise-pink colored teeth, with a single golden fang that sits to his far left of center, a feature he shares with his employee, Angel Dust. He also has a long, pointed, cerise tongue.

Valentino's stature is tall, estimated to be around 10 feet, which he emphasizes with long black heeled boots. He has fluffy white fur with small red love-hearts around his neck that plumes up from his coat's break-line. He is bald with moth-like antennae; the right appearing like a large white with black heart striped feather while the left appears smaller and lacking the white areas.

He has an extra set of arms just above his hips. His hands and upper forearms are black, while his lower forearms are greyish-lavender. He wears gold arm bands on his lower wrists, each hand having one gold ring, and sometimes a gold thumb guard on his upper thumbs.

He has a pair of large vivid-red moth wings that features white with black striped fur around the edges, while the interior is darker colored with several heart designs. These wings are usually wrapped around his body to form a floor-length coat with white fur at the wrists, as well as black and white striped fur trim down the center-front to the bottom hem and three white stripes on both hips. This coat is pinned with a gold chain and gold love-heart shaped broach fastenings at the breast.

He has dark purple, heart-shaped nipples that are seen with gold piercings and a chain hung from them.

Valentino wears a vivid-red top hat that has a wide, asymmetrical zebra-print hat-band. Under his coat he wears a dark grey jacket that shows his chest, held together with two gold buttons, and with the sleeves rolled up, alongside white pants with a black belt that has a golden love-heart shaped buckle, and a pair of high-heeled black shoes. He accessorizes with a gold chain hung down to his chest.

According to Faustisse, Valentino wears fishnets under his coat. This was seen in "Welcome to Heaven".

Personality
Valentino has been described as being charming and roughly as level-headed as his fellow Overlord, Vox. When he interacts with Charlie in his studio he acts cordial around her while struggling to hide his anger and irritation that he would prefer to take out on one of his employees instead, such as Angel Dust. He does, eventually, show off his real behavior after some time. Valentino uses his charming persona in order to lure other Demons into working for him, as shown in "Welcome to Heaven" where Valentino admitted spending much of his time in nightclubs, picking up demons and offering them "jobs" at his studios, with him hiding his more violent and psychotic behavior in order to convince them to willingly "work" for him.

Valentino is depicted as being controlling, abusive, and narcissistic, specifically towards one of his star employees, Angel Dust. He also displays sadistic tendencies, appearing to take enjoyment in overriding Angel's consent, and remains seemingly unbothered by the trauma he is inflicting.

Valentino is frequently surrounded by a collection of the girls who work for him. He is ostentatious in displaying both his profession and status. Faustisse bluntly described him as "a huge fuckboi". Despite this, he is apparently in a romantic relationship with Vox.

Valetino has been described by Angel to be a "psychopathic freak". He has a temperamental side, throwing objects and ripping other demons apart when he is angry, and he doesn't think about how his actions affect his and the Vees' image to where Vox had to explain that "chasing whores around town" will "fuck up" their "image". Once he calms down, he is more pragmatic and aware of possible negatives to acting rashly.

On the other hand, even he has his limits. He was visibly shocked when Vox uncharacteristically snapped at him for wanting to murder everyone at the hotel. He is also terrified by Niffty's creepy stalker-ish and homicidal behavior.

Abilities

 * Strength - Valentino's strength appears to be greater than the average demon, being able to slam a door so hard a cupboard got knocked down in "Masquerade", and was able to tear demons into pieces with his bare hands in "Radio Killed the Video Star", when Velvette recounts how he "tore up her best model", despite presumably not having any weapons on him. One display of his strength is when he ruthlessly abuses Angel Dust by choking him and slamming him around with a single hand.
 * Charisma - Valentino possesses a flamboyant and vivacious charm that allows him to persuade others of his authority.
 * Wings - Valentino has a pair of moth wings shown to be able to produce powerful gusts of wind that can easily put out a large fire. These wings can cover his body to form his coat, or can be hung down like a cape. It is possible his wings can form coats of various designs as he is seen in "Welcome to Heaven" wearing an alternate style coat.
 * Multitasking - Valentino can multitask with his extra arms, such as holding his drink while he's decorating one of his guns.
 * [[Image:Val Smoke.jpeg|thumb|right|Valentino's red smoke]]Typhokinesis - In the "ADDICT" music video, Valentino exhales a red, heart shaped, smoke from his cigarettes that has the ability to twist and form different shapes, entering the bodies of other demons, as Valentino directs it. However, a similar smoke is also present in a cigarette Angel smokes indicating that this is both from a specific cigarette he own and also a natural ability of Valentino, since, in "Masquerade," he smokes a cigarette Angel was smoking and the color of the smoke changes when he blows it into Angel's face.
 * Smoke Constructs - Valentino can manipulate his pink smoke into specific shapes that are physically solid, as shown in "Masquerade" where he formed a chain and manacles to bind Angel Dust and show his dominance over him.

Skillset

 * Weapon Proficiency - As shown in the prequel comic, Valentino is easily able to shoot a moving target with accuracy from a notable distance away.
 * Bilingualism - Valentino can fluently speak Spanish, as well as English.
 * Angel Dust's contract.pngContracts - Like all Overlords, Valentino amassed his power and influence by "owning" souls. The method he uses to accomplish this is by having his victims sign their souls away to his ownership through the contracts he conjures, as shown in his ownership of Angel Dust, where the latter had willingly signed his real name in his contract to "work" for Valentino. However, in some cases, there are loopholes that makes them untouchable under certain circumstances, such as Angel being free from him and his influence outside his studio. It is possible for Valentino to willingly render the contract null and void and release Angel from his control if he chooses to do so.
 * Artistic talent - According to the "Clocktower Countdown to Premiere" livestream, Valentino is actually a talented artist.
 * Singing and dancing - Valentino has shown to be a good singer and exceptional dancer, being able to performing a duet and dance with Vox.

Weapons

 * Guns - Valentino has a collection of guns, such as a gold and black half pistol, and a pink and zebra print revolver. He sometimes decorates them with glue, gemstones, and glitter.

Concept & Creation
Valentino was a very late addition in the development of Hazbin Hotel, with Faustisse noting that the character was still being worked on, even past the release of the pilot.

He makes his first appearance within the Hazbin Hotel pilot.

Gallery

 * Valentino/Gallery

Trivia

 * Valentino is an Italian name, meaning "brave or strong". It can also mean "a ladies' man", which is fitting considering his status as a pimp. It is likely also a reference to the word "valentine", which is near synonymous with love in many places.
 * According to Vivziepop the name "Valentino" came from her family's pet cat who was put down in August 15, 2016, because he was suffering and old. Vivziepop explained that the name was something she really loved and always wanted to name a character with, and thought it fit the character Valentino because it is a "very fancy name" that sounds "vaguely Latin", and also makes her think of Valentine's stuff.
 * According to Sam Miller, background artist and art director of SpindleHorse, Valentino was Hispanic when living.
 * Faustisse thinks that Valentino may have died in the 1970s.
 * Dia and Summer in ADDICT 7.png When asked about Valentino's sexuality, Faustisse replied, "full pansexual".
 * Vivziepop thinks that Valentino would be the kind of person to have a collection of canes.
 * According to Vivziepop in a tweet, Valentino wishes he could visit the Lust Ring.
 * As shown in "Radio Killed the Video Star" Valentino owns a customized Robo Fizz that he calls "Kitty".
 * Sometimes while Valentino speaks, he makes squeaking sounds like a moth.
 * He sometimes switches between an American accent and a Hispanic accent when he is in the middle of a mood swing.
 * According to Angel, Valentino's eyesight is so bad, he once spent a half hour counting a stack of bills, unaware there was only three.
 * The fur collar around Valentino's neck is an actual part of his body. This was previously implied in some of Valentino's now-deleted Voxtagram posts, while this was officially confirmed in "Masquerade". He can feel from his collar, as shown in "Welcome to Heaven" when Niffty rips some fur off for her collection he screams in pain.
 * Within the characters' Voxtagram accounts, Valentino was depicted in a romantic on-again off-again relationship with fellow Overlord, Vox. One that appeared, at times, to be physically and psychologically abusive. Whether this relationship is reflective of their canon dynamic at all is currently unknown, as the actual events of the Instagram story arcs themselves are not.
 * In "The Show Must Go On", the two were dancing in a provocative and romantic nature, along with making out at the end implies they are dating.
 * Valentino was depicted in his Voxtagram posts as owning a creature named Queef, which he kept as a pet before killing it with a gun for annoying him.
 * Prior to the series' release, Faustisse was not of the opinion that Valentino cares about Angel Dust being at the Hazbin Hotel. This however is not canon in the series as shown in the episode "Radio Killed the Video Star" Valentino was greatly enraged that Angel started living at the Hotel.
 * As revealed in "Welcome to Heaven", while the exact details are unknown, according to the contract Angel Dust has signed that gave Valentino ownership of his soul, Valentino can only "Do whatever he wants" to Angel within his porn studio, giving Angel some measure of freedom when he is outside of it. Given that Angel formerly lived in the studio with Valentino, this can possibly be the real reason to Valentino's anger of him moving into the Hazbin Hotel, as this allowed him to escape Valentino's full control.
 * Valentino's symbol was made by Sam Miller and is an elevated design of the one she made for the ADDICT music video; it has a subtle XXX within a moth design, and is also a bit skull-like.