- "Angels wield no shields, little armor, and fight with reckless abandon."
- ―Carmilla Carmine, about the Exorcists
The Exorcists[1] are the main antagonists of Hazbin Hotel.
They are angels who make up Adam's 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.
Following Adam's death in "The Show Must Go On", Lute claimed to be the new commander of the Exorcists. However, this was only temporary as the seraphims assigned Adam's son, Abel, as the new commander in "Storyteller", with Lute remaining as lieutenant.
Description[]
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 Vaggi, 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 Vaggi'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 Vaggi's fighting style.
Most notably, since the Exorcists never truly faced resistance when carrying out Extermination Day since they think that angels are more inherently stronger than demons, treating it almost akin to an entertaining sport, and demons had been afraid of them, 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 ability to murder thousands of sinners during the Extermination with angelic weaponry.
Exorcists are allowed to be in public in Heaven, even as far as wearing their uniforms. Most of Heaven doesn't know about the exterminations, and once it was revealed to the angelic court, heated discussions and verbal infighting began between the courts' angels.
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 Vaggi 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 Vaggi's wings with her bare hands, but Vaggi later grew them back.
Weaponry[]
- Main article: Angelic Weapon
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 humanoids with a black halo floating above their heads that have a small black ball sandwiched vertically between two downward and upward pointing crystals at the front. Almost all Exorcists have skin colored in shades of grey or white however some have darker natural shades(similar to Velvette's skin tone in some cases) and white or grey hair. Their hairstyles are usually bob cuts in order to fit in their mask and make it easier to fight. All Exorcists have gold irises and white sclera, including Vaggi's prior to her fall, though it is currently pink with white irises for reasons unknown.
Exorcists also have a pair of large wings on their backs, allowing them to fly. These wings are colored in a gradient of black-to-grey with white on the inside. Most Exorcists have no stripes on the back of their wings, but some, including Lute, have two black stripes along the back. All Exorcists shown so far have two black stripes along the front of their wings, with the only exception so far being Vaggi, who has one stripe.
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 tights 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-high 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 gemstone, 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.
Known members[]
Former members[]
Trivia[]
- 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 Vaggi 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.
- In a Bluesky post on October 13, 2025, Vivziepop explained that, in season 1, the intention was to try imply that Vaggi knew angels could hurt her, but Heaven was "too self focused" to realize their own rules could apply broadly and be used against them as well.[5] This is further implied by Adam and Lute's surprise when an Exorcist was killed and witnessed the Hotel killing their troops with angelic weapons, surprised that demons specifically could harm angels, especially with their own weapons.
- 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 Vaggi's "sisters", which further implies their gender.
- Interestingly, the pattern of the horns on all their masks 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.
- In the video released of the GalaxyCon Richmond 2025 panel, Vivziepop confirmed that the Exorcists are not the descendants of Adam,[6] meaning that they are originally from Heaven and not human souls from Earth.
- As revealed in "Welcome to Heaven", Adam was the one who gave Vaggi the name "Vaggie", 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. However, this line may be referring to Adam himself.
- Cletus mentions the Exorcists to the D.H.O.R.K.S. agents in "The Full Moon", calling them the "Flaming Swords of the Heavens". It is unknown how the cherubs would know of the Exorcists, as the angels in Hazbin Hotel had no idea about the Exterminations, however, given they are often referred to as "Heaven's army" and some Exorcists are seen in uniform publicly, and as the Exorcists have their own building with an Exorcist statue on full display, it is possible that angels know about the Exorcists and what they can do, whilst being oblivious of the exterminations, as it was only stated that the extermination was to be kept secret.
- Vaggi's wings have been shown to be retractable. However, it is unknown if all Exorcists are capable of this or if it is something unique to Vaggi.
- It could be because she is a Fallen Angel, as Lucifer's wings are also shown to be fully retractable.
- While Exorcists have a uniform appearance, excluding their horn shapes and skin tones, there are noticeable exceptions:
- Vaggi's wings have one stripe instead of two.
- Most Exorcists have a white X where the right eye would be. However, some Exorcists, including Vaggi, have the X replacing the left eye instead, and the right eye of Lute's mask is a white circle with a black X over it instead of being a white X.
- The design of Lute's mask may represent her position as Adam's lieutenant and second-in command.
- While the black stripes on their wings are usually on the bottom, several have theirs placed differently, such as on the far side of their wings or higher positioned.
Gallery[]
References[]