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Imps are essentially the "working-class" of Hell's society.[3] They hold the lowest ranking in Hell's hierarchy, alongside Hellhounds, and therefore are among the least respected and most likely to be hired for heavy labor work, or as servants for higher ranking demons.
There is a hotspot in the Pride Ring for imps called Imp City, which appears extremely shabby and rundown, even by Hell's standards.
Cultural relations[]
Due to their poor status among the demons of Hell's hierarchy, imps do not get along with higher-ranked demons, who possess natural stigma toward them for perceived inferiority. Stella, a Goetic demon, calls imps "peasants", "plebeians", and "poor people", and is openly against the idea of high-ranked demons, more specifically a demon of the Goetia, sleeping or being in a relationship with an imp. Paimon, Stolas' father and another Goetic demon, sees the idea of a high-ranked demon bowing to an imp ridiculous, saying imps should be bowing to them.
In "Western Energy", a fish demon child innocently calls Blitzo a "fire toad" when he was surprised that St. An's Hospital allowed imps in, visibly offending him, and the mother tells her child to wait until they are in the car as "it's not polite to say that to their face". Imps, as a species of demon, can be held in contempt by Angels. TheCherubs in "C.H.E.R.U.B", say that imps are "nothing but dirt that shitty dead people tread on".
In "Ghostf**kers", it is said that imps, or specifically Wrathian imps, are expected to be nothing more than dumb muscle. In addition, imps typically do not manage to work for themselves, and any cases otherwise, such as starting their on business, is considered impressive.
In "Mastermind", Satan says that he created impkind to be obedient and dutiful in their role as part of the workforce of Hell and that any imp who attempts to try and rise from that role to "gain the upper hand" by defying higher ranks is considered disgraceful or even a disappointment to their kind.
Imps are designed to look like how the devil is typically portrayed in media, with red skin, horns and an arrow-tipped tail. Sometimes there is black or white stripes or splotches on the tail. All imps have skin in a shade of red and striped horns. Imps have yellow (or lime-green like Fizzarolli) sclerae that glow in the dark with black slitted pupils, and sometimes visible red irises that tend to grow wide when an Imp is angered; some imps have white markings on their skin as well.
A very tiny imp
One of the most distinctive traits that tell imps apart is the shape of their horns, which the shape can vary greatly between individuals. Imps themselves also come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The majority of imps are smaller in stature than humans, but imp height varies significantly, ranging from between comparable to an average human, to small enough to fit into a bag.
A rare male imp with dark hair
A rare female imp with white hair
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Imps exhibit sexual dimorphism of their hair and horns depending on their birth sex: female imps generally have dark hair and black horns with thin white or grey grooves on them, while male imps tend to have white hair with striped black-and-white horns.[4] Although these are predominant traits, there are apparent exceptions, such as a male imp with dark hair that can be seen in the background of the episode "Loo Loo Land". Sallie May, a transgender female imp, has black hair like female imps, however, her horns and parts of her hair remain biologically unaltered. Lin, an older female imp, has greying hair. It can be noted that some Imps naturally lack hair their entire lives. In the case of Cash Buckzo, hiskids, and Fizzarolli, they would be considered bald.[note 1] Once an imp's horn(s) breaks, they don't grow back. Imps appear to take a measure of pride in their horns, as Fizzarolli's was once considered larger than Blizto's during their youth in the circus, which was considered a sore spot for the former. Following the accident that resulted in his grevious injuries and broke his horns, Fizzarolli covers them with a jester hat out of shame and as a result is very insecure about them.
Imp heads are relatively large compared to their bodies, and have some vaguely reptilian traits, such as a lack of ears, lack of a defined nose, and their heads often have a slight conical point towards the upper lip. Imp head shape varies notably, such as Blitzo and Barbie Wire having elongated rear craniums. Although imps usually appear to lack any nostrils at all, they are revealed to actually have nostrils when actively smelling something. Their teeth are often shown as sharp and conical, and their tongues are forked like those of snakes.
Imp arms and legs have some amount of variation, they may have either plantigrade or digitigrade feet, typically with hooves or claws, which are usually black. Some imps may have natural high heels on their feet, as evidenced by Blitzo. Both Blitzo and Barbie Wire have wrists and ankles which are relatively thick and undefined.
As first shown in "Murder Family", imp blood is black. Some imps appear to produce animalistic sounds that are unique to individual imps. Examples include Blitzo generating cat-like purring, Moxxie's occasional habit of hissing like a cat when annoyed such as in "Seeing Stars", Striker's tendency to hiss and rattle his tail, and Millie making chittering shrieks when angered. Some imps, like Blitzo and Striker, have spikes down their back, tail, and head.
Abilities[]
Ocular illumination - Imps have the natural ability to project light from their eyes when they are in dimly lit areas.
Pyrokinesis - At least some imps are capable of producing flames, such as the imp carnie in "Loo Loo Land", who lights a cigarette made from a bill with a flick of his finger.
Earthly fire immunity - As shown in "Murder Family", imps are completely resistant to the fire of Earth, and being fully engulfed in it does no harm to them. It is unknown if this is an ability unique to imps, or if it is a trait all demons possess.
Prehensile tail - Imps are able to use their tail to grasp things, such as when shown in "The Harvest Moon Festival" that Blitzo uses his tail to grab Striker and throw him with it.
Elastic tongue - As shown by Blitzo in "Murder Family", imps can shoot out their tongue to catch food midair.
Smell - Although not as strong as a Hellhounds sense of smell, Imps are capable of smelling unique things, like the "scent of the living world" on Sinners, which allows them to indicate that they recently died. This was shown when with Blitzo who smelled Loopty Goopty and deduce that he had recently just died due to his human scent.
Flight - Some imps are born with wings behind their backs,[5] which grants them the ability to fly.
Imps on large dosage of heroin
Drug tolerance - While imps can become dependent or addicted to drugs, such as the Hell drug H-8, to the point they need to be rehabilitated, it would appear they are very tolerant when it comes to the effects of earthly drugs such as heroin, as Blitzo claims that heroin barely gets rid of a headache in "Unhappy Campers". Much like their immunity to earthly fire, it remains unknown if this is a trait other demons possess. That said, imps suddenly being covered with large amounts of heroin can apparently affect them into becoming feral and violent.
Mortality[]
Unlike demon royalty and sinners, it appears in the episode "Loo Loo Land" that imps can be killed by non-Angelic Weapons. For unknown reasons, either due to being members of the lowest class of demons or being a hellborn species, imps can suffer fatal wounds from regular weapons, such as knives and guns, or can even die from being petrified into stone from Stolas' gaze. A headshot from a gun has also been shown to be significant enough to kill an imp completely. In the episode "The Harvest Moon Festival", it is confirmed by Millie's parents that imps can indeed be killed, such as during a natural disaster or during a violent festival event.
Although imps possess a certain resistance to fire, this seems to depend on the type of fire: Blitzo and Millie were observed being consumed by fire from Earth and emerging unharmed in "Murder Family", while in "Oops", Blitzo and Fizzarolli sustained injury to a fire that broke out in Hell. This suggests that their resistance is restricted to Earthly fire. It can also be assumed that smoke inhalation is still fatal to imps, as suggested by a group of firefighting imps wearing gas masks in the course of their work.
In "Ghostf**kers", Blitzo mentions that imps can suffer and can die from conditions such as heart attacks and diabetes.
Despite having a high tolerance to drugs and alcohol, a hellhound in "Queen Bee" says that Blitzo is gonna die during the drinking challenge with Beelzebub. It is implied that the drink he consumed was most likely Beelzejuice, an alcoholic beverage made in Hell by Beelzebub, which may also imply that the high alcohol and drug tolerance may not apply to specific Hell-made drugs and alcohol and imps could die from consuming high amounts.
In European mythology, an imp is a minor type of fairy or demon that is typically more mischievous than threatening, and as such is deemed a lesser being, even servile, to supernatural entities-- this may be part of the inspiration for imps in the series.
In the episode "Murder Family", Blitzo is injured by a bullet while in the human world and later implies that a shot to the head would send them back to Hell. This statement may be true based on Millie's reaction but has never been outright confirmed or denied.
It is possible that young imps are called "Implings", as Robo Fizz and Mammon addresses them as such in his show.
According to Striker, imps don't typically start businesses on their own due to how low they are in Hell's hierarchy or from just the low income they receive.
As hinted in Stolas' greeting before he starts the ritual for the Harvest Moon Festival, the majority of imp-kind appear to be native to the Wrath Ring, and much less present elsewhere.
This is further implied in the episode "Western Energy" where a demon assumes Blitzo is from Wrath because he's an imp.
In the episode "Western Energy" it is revealed that imps are called "fire toads" by higher ranking demons. In the St. An's Hospital waiting room a child calls Blitzo a "fire toad" which results in Blitzo becoming visibly offended and confronting the child, and the child's mother responds by saying, "it's not polite to call them that to their face, wait until we get in the car", which may imply it is some type of racial slur.
As shown in "Oops", scarring contributes to the development of an imp's white skin markings. This was previously implied by the cut and bruise patterns seen among imps in the show. However, given there are imps with markings that resemble non-scarred tissue such as freckles, it is unknown if white markings may be caused by other factors.
Despite being equal rank, imps can own/adopt hellhounds for personal labor or as pets.
As shown in the episode "Mastermind", on Blitzo's phone reads a news article celebrating I.M.P for surviving their trial, stating they were the first Hellborns to ever survive a trial by the Seven Deadly Sins.
