- "♪ I am the mastermind, and here I am the law. I've ruled the endless dark since long before the golden angel's fall. So you see, next to me, your master plans all look so small. Little mice, when you break my rules, you pay the price! ♪"
- ―Satan, to Stolas in "Mastermind"
Satan is a major character in Helluva Boss who made his official debut in the episode "Mastermind". He is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, embodying the sin of Wrath.[1][2]
Due to Lucifer Morningstar's absence, Satan became the stand-in leader of the Sins and ruler of affairs in Hell.
Appearance[]
Satan is a titanic and muscular draconic demon. He has two pairs of warm orange-yellow eyes, and two pairs of striped-horns that are different in appearance - the outer horns are longer and are two shades of mauve, while the inner horns are shorter and are black-and-white, similar to that of a male imp, and they are positioned in a way that resembles a pitchfork.
His skin appears to be different shades of red with claw-like fingers, darker-red markings, and warm orange-yellow lava-like stripes covering his wings, neck, and left arm, while on his right the stripes are dark red. He also sports black spikes coming out his back, all the way down to his large, demonic tail, which has a spearhead-shaped point at the end.
Satan is dressed in a way that is reminiscent of traditional American western-style clothing, as a nod of his association with imps of the Wrath Ring. His outfit consists of a mauve tank top under a black torn vest with tassels, red lapels, and golden fasteners shaped like barbell weights, black leather trousers with a belt that has a golden skull buckle, and black cowboy ankle boots.
Personality[]
Matching the sin he represents, Satan is shown to be a very wrathful demon with anger issues and fits of rage which leave him out of control. His uncontrollable rage is too much to the point that he needs a therapist to act like a "shoulder angel" to remind him to keep calm. Despite this, he can also be reasoned and well-sophisticated most of the time, unless he is provoked.
He is shown as having little to no care towards the demons that are below the nobility in the hierarchy of Hell, especially imps, whom he claims to have created for the purpose of obeying orders and doing their jobs. Despite holding royal demons in a much greater regard, he didn't hesitate to strip Stolas of his power and title and give it to Andrealphus as punishment for breaking demon law. He also quickly dismissed Asmodeus and Beelzebub's request to give Blitzo a fair trial, using the opinion of the rest of the court to justify it.
Satan is also shown as being immensely vain and arrogant, reveling on his position as leader of the Deadly Sins in Lucifer's absence. Despite the fact that Lucifer is the first ruler of Hell, Satan lies and proclaims himself as being the original ruler of Hell, though it is shown that Beelzebub and Asmodeus are aware of his lie.
Despite this, however, Satan is implied to have a slightly friendlier demeanor when off-the-clock, which is suggested with Beezlebub's comments and how she saw him as a brother figure. Furthermore, he is willing to let others go if they plead not guilty, such as when Blitzo convinced him not to execute the rest of I.M.P and just him, and again when he released Blitzo because Stolas admitted to being responsible for his crimes.
He doesn’t seem too fond of spending a long period of time in court, particularly when it is nearly lunch time. Because of this, Satan would prefer having the defendant executed rather than listen to their testimony if it means speeding it up.
Abilities[]
- Immortality - As he is called "your majesty" in "Mastermind", it can be assumed that Satan is demonic royalty and biologically immortal, being able to live for a long period of time and only able to be killed by angelic weaponry.
- Size alteration - While Satan's "normal" size alone towers over most demons, even his fellow Sins, he shows that he can easily alter his size at will, making himself even larger to an unspecified degree.
- Flight - Satan is able to fly thanks to his giant draconic wings.
- Environment manipulation - Satan can warp the colors, ambience, and illumination of every room and palace where he is, as shown when Satan interrupts Stolas' musical number and the courtroom turns into an orange-yellow color.
- Pyrokinesis - As shown in his song, Satan is able to create images out of flame, like the image of a six-winged angel. The smoke that emits from his nostrils when he is angry may suggest he can also breathe fire.
- Power deactivation - Satan, with the use of an enchanted set of rings bearing the sigils of the Seven Deadly Sins, can strip high-ranking demons like Goetic aristocrats of their powers and status. He performed this on Stolas and set it for a hundred years for providing the grimoire to Blitzo and allegedly commanding him to use it illegally.
- Enhanced strength - Befitting his size, Satan seemingly possesses incredible physical strength, such as being able to crack the floor when he steps off his throne. He also displayed his strength when he shakes the ground by slamming onto it during the trial.
Skillset[]
- Leadership - As the stand-in leader of the Seven Deadly Sins and the rest of Hell due to Lucifer's absence, Satan has a strong sense of strictness and command within its government, with the other Sins deferring to him as their adjudicator without questioning his ability. He is also incredibly intimidating compared to the other Sins, to the point even high-ranking Hellborn species are terrified of displeasing him by stepping out of line.
- Musical talent - Satan is shown to be a decent singer, as seen in his song.
History[]
Past[]
Not much is known about Satan's history other than at some point he joined Lucifer as part of the Deadly Sins, embodying the sin of Wrath.
At some point before, Satan assumed leadership of the Seven Deadly Sins and became the de facto ruler of Hell, as Lucifer abandoned the rule of Hell. Satan was also the alleged creator of the imp race.
Helluva Boss Season 2[]
"Mastermind"[]
Satan leads the trial in which Blitzo is accused of breaking Hell's law by travelling to Earth for his job. As the trial goes on, Satan listens to Andrealphus and Striker's testimonies and decides to sentence Blitzo and his crew to death, rejecting a fair trial despite Asmodeus and Beelzebub's requests in favor of a quick execution, simply because he would rather have lunch than go through the full process of court. However, Blitzo convinces Satan to spare his crew and execute him alone instead.
Just as Blitzo is about to be executed, the trial is interrupted by Stolas, who takes the blame for Blitzo's case, claiming himself to be the "mastermind", which appears to anger Satan. Satan ultimately decides to release Blitzo and sentences Stolas to banishment, stripping him of his powers and status for the next 100 years.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Satan is based on the Biblical character of Satan, an archetypical rendition of the Devil that embodies all sin, malice, and temptation plaguing humanity.
- The Devil is a figure integral in the Abrahamic religions, although as an entity, its portrayal varies greatly. In the Bible, the Devil is often addressed as "Satan", a word derived from the Hebrew word שָּׂטָן, meaning "adversary". However, some writings depict Satan, and in extension, the Devil, as an individual with multiple words and names; words such as "Azazel", "Beelzebub", "Belial", "Lucifer", "Samael", "Samyaza", and others, are sometimes synonymous with the word "Satan". Conversely, in a great number of texts, these words are attributed to separate entities. In the Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss universe, this is shown to be the case, as Azazel, Beelzebub, Lucifer, and Satan, are all separate characters.[3][1]
- Furthermore, Satan, Lucifer, and Beelzebub individually represent the sins of Wrath, Pride, and Gluttony, respectively.[1]
- In the Hellaverse, the sins' demon classification is heavily inspired by Peter Binsfeld's classification of demons, based on an anonymous text from the 15th century known as The Lanterne of Light. In both The Lanterne of Light and Binsfeld's classification, Satan is one of the seven demons associated with the seven deadly sins, embodying the deadly sin of Wrath. Likewise, Satan in Helluva Boss is the embodiment of Wrath.
- The symbol that appears on the back of Satan's throne and the rings of the Seven Deadly Sins, a pentagram, is the real-life sigil of Satan, and is heavily featured within Satanism.
- The Devil is a figure integral in the Abrahamic religions, although as an entity, its portrayal varies greatly. In the Bible, the Devil is often addressed as "Satan", a word derived from the Hebrew word שָּׂטָן, meaning "adversary". However, some writings depict Satan, and in extension, the Devil, as an individual with multiple words and names; words such as "Azazel", "Beelzebub", "Belial", "Lucifer", "Samael", "Samyaza", and others, are sometimes synonymous with the word "Satan". Conversely, in a great number of texts, these words are attributed to separate entities. In the Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss universe, this is shown to be the case, as Azazel, Beelzebub, Lucifer, and Satan, are all separate characters.[3][1]
- Satan's dragon-themed design could possibly be a nod to Satan's appearance in The Book of Revelation from The Bible, in which Satan is said to manifest in the form of a red dragon with seven heads and ten horns.
- In a livestream, Vivienne Medrano first stated in Helluva Boss that Satan is the "sin of Wrath" whom imps view as a deity-like figure, hence why many characters have cursed by Satan's name in a few episodes.[1] Other demons aside from imps have also been shown cursing by Satan's name as well.
- In the pilot episode of Helluva Boss a homeless imp can be seen holding a sign that says "Satan Bless".
- As shown in the episode "Ozzie's" on Blitzo's phone, Satan has an app named after himself called "Satan's Workouts".
- According to Vivziepop, Leviathan and Satan were planned to be the most traditional in sticking with the usual themes in terms of design, but as of June 26, 2023, she was still working on finalizing them.[2]
- St. An's Hospital's name, "St. An's", is a play on words of "Satan".
- In the song Mastermind, Satan claims that he originally reigned over Hell, or the "endless darkness", prior to Lucifer's exile from Heaven. However, in a tweet Vivziepop revealed that because of Lucifer's absence, Satan can say anything he wants. She also confirmed that Lucifer has always been the first ruler of Hell, and Asmodeus and Beelzebub know Satan lied,[4] acknowledging this with a look at Lucifer's vacant throne and rolling their eyes in response to Satan's proclamation.
- Due to Lucifer's absence, Satan appears to currently be the stand-in ruler in charge of Hell's affairs. This, in turn, makes him the de facto leader among the currently active Seven Deadly Sins.
- Although Satan states he created the imp species, it is unknown if he has the actual power to do so or if he had assistance when he made them.
- The conflict of Satan against Blitzo and Stolas is first foreshadowed in Emberlynn Pinkle's fanfiction featuring her self-insert OC shipped with Blitzo, as shown in the Helluva Short "Mission: Weeaboo-boo".
References[]