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They are Angels who make up Adam's personal private military force sent down from Heaven annually in an event known as the Extermination to kill as many Sinners as possible both to manage Hell's overpopulation and prevent any potential uprising against Heaven.
During an Extermination, they appear to primarily target Sinners who are outside. It is unclear if they will attempt to enter buildings to find targets. Exorcists are very bloodthirsty and love violence.[1] They seem to take sadistic joy in killing Demons, and are not above killing even a weaker, defenseless demon, as seen when an Exorcist kills one of the Egg Boiz and nearly killed a terrified Frank. However, there is the rare occurrence of an Exorcist having a change of heart.
As shown in "The Show Must Go On", Exorcists don't tolerate betrayal of any kind, as shown where after Adam revealed that Vaggie, a former Exorcist and comrade of theirs, was also to be targeted and killed by them in the Hazbin Hotel, the other Exorcists expressed their hatred for her and the desire to gleefully kill her, having become even more eager to do so when Adam offered a reward to the Exorcist who successfully brings him Vaggie's head.
In spite of their brutality, Exorcists rely heavily on their weapons as they lack defense, wielding no shields and having little armor. Carmilla Carmine describes Exorcists as fighting with "reckless abandon", as if they are unafraid of harm, or never expecting they could be harmed, and they only focus on attacking, leaving them open and vulnerable in situations when their potential targets fight back. She pointed this out when it comes to Vaggie's fighting style. Most notably, since the Exorcists never truly faced resistance when carrying out Extermination Day since Angels are inherently stronger than Demons, treating it almost akin to an entertaining sport, they were not prepared when Carmilla managed to kill one of them or when Charlie gathered a large enough force to fight them off, as their tactics were mainly attacking head-on and expecting to win.
Cultural relations
Sinners, who are targeted annually, fear and hate Exorcists due to them having the power to murder thousands of Sinners during the Extermination.
Exorcists are allowed to be in public in Heaven. Most of Heaven never knew about the Extermination and once it was revealed, many were horrified and disgusted by the event despite their target being damned Sinners.
Mortality
An Exorcist decapitated by Carmilla's angelic weaponry
In "Overture", it is revealed that Exorcists can be harmed. Exorcists can be killed by their own weaponry, as Carmilla Carmine was the first demon in history to kill an Exorcist with angelic steel that was in the form of her ballet shoes, while Vaggie received a permanent injury from Lute's angelic sword when she was an Exorcist in a flashback of "Welcome to Heaven". It is unknown whether these weapons can kill higher-ranking Angels, or if this is a trait exclusive to Exorcists. However, since Adam is a human soul from Heaven and he was killed by Niffty with an angelic dagger, these weapons may be capable of killing human souls from Heaven.
Exorcists can also be injured without the use of angelic weapons. Lute ripped off her arm that was trapped under fallen rubble. Lute tore off Vaggie's wings with her bare hands, but Vaggie later grew them back.
Exorcists appear to be mostly armed with angelic weapons styled in spears. Illustrations of the Exorcists in the pilot also depict them with swords and possibly arrows. According to Vivziepop, they possess a variety of weapons such as guns, knives, swords, spears, etc.[2] Despite this, Exorcists have only been seen wielding melee weapons on-screen.
Exorcists do not seem to hold much regard for their weapons and will often leave them behind in their victims, which are then gathered by Hell's denizens following the Extermination to sell on the black market, especially with Carmilla Carmine's weapon-dealing business.
Appearance
Exorcists appear to have a fairly uniform appearance, each being white or gray humanoids with a black halo that has a downward crystal at the front and point a small black ball and upward crystal floating above their heads. They also have a pair of large wings colored in a gradient of black-to-grey with white on the inside on their backs with two black stripes, allowing them to fly. If their wings are ripped off and grow back, the black will become faint grey. Their hairstyles are usually bob cuts in order to fit in their helmet and make it easier to fight.
Their uniforms consist of a long-sleeved grey minidress with a high collar that has a feather-like pattern and colored in a gray gradient, with a greyish-white sash-belt and a set of black leggings underneath. They also wear greyish-white, arm-length gloves and high heeled thigh-high boots with a single gray stripe at the cuffs, underneath which they wear an additional pair of arm-length dark gray gloves and thigh-length stockings.
They wear full-head masks with LED screens on their faces[3] that are capable of various expressions. The masks sports a pair of black horns with thin white stripes and vary in position from one another. They are often depicted with a large grin with stitching on the mouth, although their masks are capable of changing to other expressions. One eye appears as a large white circle while the other is a large white X. Seemingly upon death, the Exorcist's mask LED lights change from white to red, with their "eye" closed, and their usual toothy expressions replaced with a frown. It is unknown if all masks show similar features should their wearer die, or if that was simply the last expression the slain Exorcist had at death.
Pilot
In the pilot, their uniforms are white instead of grey, their halos were white with six small spikes and a spear like crest with a red gem, and their masks sometimes lack the X over their eyes and stitching on their mouths. One appears with red eyes and mouth.
Abilities
Flight - Like all Angels, Exorcists can fly utilizing their wings. They can even temporarily have their wings in a drill shape to improve diving.
In real life an Exorcist is a person who casts out demons who are alleged to have possessed a person.
According to Vivziepop, only the Exorcists can really and truly kill the citizens of Hell using their special tools.[4] While non-Exorcists can kill other sinners, they must do so with scavenged angelic weapons.
When asked why there is a reason that Exorcists and presumably other Angels are robotic, Vivziepop said that she can't say much, but she did confirm that they're not exactly robots. However, they do wear LED screen masks on their faces.[3] This is confirmed in "Welcome to Heaven" where Vaggie and Lute are shown to take their masks off, and Adam's is ripped to show his face in "The Show Must Go On".
When the beheaded Exorcist died, her white LED face became red.
Adam's mask may be holographic as he is shown to be capable of eating and drinking through it. It is unknown if it is the same for all the Exorcists masks.
As shown with Lute, the black screen can fall off.
When taken off, the mask's default expression is a simple smile.
It was shown in "Overture" that the Exorcists can be killed, but it was unknown how at the time. It was revealed in "Scrambled Eggs" that Carmilla Carmine was responsible for killing the Exorcist, which she reveals in "Hello Rosie!" was by using angelic steel, the metal angelic weapons are made of.
The color of their blood may be a reference to ichor, the golden blood of the gods and immortals in Greek mythology.
A sample of blood by a blown up Exorcist
The blood is luminescent, in which it has a bright yellow or golden glow in even dark environments.
In "The Show Must Go On", as the Angels embark on the Extermination, some of Adam's comments, and the fact that he called them "ladies", seems to indicate that all the Exorcists are female. In ”Hello Rosie!”, Carmilla addresses the Exorcists as Vaggie's "sisters", which further implies their gender.
Interestingly, the pattern of the horns on all their helmets are identical to the pattern of female imp horns.
In the official French dub, the Exorcists are incorrectly referred to with the masculine plural.
The Exorcists may be inspired by the Zabaniyah from Islamic scripture, as like the Zabaniyah, the Exorcists are angels tasked to punish Sinners in Hell, however the Zabaniyah only torture the demons.
It is unknown whether the Exorcists are a specific species of Angels or if they are human souls from Earth.
Vaggie sometimes speaks Spanish, which may indicate that she was once human. If she is a human, then it is still unknown whether or not all Exorcists were humans at some point.
As revealed in "Welcome to Heaven", Adam was the one who gave Vaggie her name, which may imply that Adam personally gives names to the Exorcists or that he created them in some way.
As mentioned by Adam in "Overture", Exorcists may have received divine ordainment.
Cletus mentions the Exorcists to the D.H.O.R.K.S. agents in "The Full Moon", however, it is unknown how they would know of them, as in Hazbin Hotel, the angels of Heaven had no idea about the Exterminations. Although, given some Exorcists are present among the angels, it is possible the angels know what Exorcists are and can do, whilst being oblivious of their true mission, as it was only stated that the Extermination was to be kept secret.
Vaggie's wings been shown to be retractable. However, it is unknown if all Exorcists are capable of this or if it is something unique to Vaggie.
While Exorcists have a uniformed appearance excluding for the horns, their are noticeable exceptions:
Vaggie's wings have one stripe instead of two.
A few masks, including Vaggie's, have the X on the left eye, while the right eye of Lute's mask is a white circle with an X over it instead of being a white X.
While the black stripes on their wings are usually on the bottom, several have their's placed differently, such as on the far side of their wings or higher positioned.
