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"We know not how this perished. Mayhaps 'twas not by a demon's hand at all. If we rush to war without knowing, mightn't they purge all of Hell for daring an uprising?"
―Zestial, to Velvette regarding the proposal on fighting against Heaven
Zestial is a demon and one of the many powerful Overlords of Hell, as well as the oldest living Overlord in power.[2][1] He made a cameo in the pilot and his official debut in "Scrambled Eggs".
In "Silenced", Zestial was not convinced by Vox's proposition for uprising against Heaven and did not join him. Furthermore, he leaves Carmilla's side after she agrees to help Vox in making a powerful angelic weapon in "Scream Rain".
In "Curtain Call", Zestial assists the Hazbin Hotel crew to save Pentagram City from the Might of Lilith overloading, after which he returned to being Carmilla's ally.
Zestial is a very tall, lanky, spider-like demon with dark gray skin and four lime green eyes. He wears all-black clothing, with a pitch black cloak that covers most of his body. When Zestial unfurls his cloak, his eyes glow and the top pair gain red irises. He also wears a pair of red and black boots.
At the front of his cloak is a large black spider with lime green stripes on its eight legs, as well as lime green eyes and lime green on its back. The interior of his cloak is lime green with a spider web pattern and four red spider legs extending across the cloak.
He also wears a distinctive big black top hat with a light grey patch at the front, along with a gray skull and a lime green-and-maroon-striped feather on the right side.
Personality[]
Zestial speaks in an archaic dialect redolent of early modern English. He has a very sophisticated way of speaking, and often keeps his temper rather than get easily frustrated, as the case when Velvette mocks him. However, despite his overall demeanor, he can be slightly petty, loudly sipping his tea to cut Velvette off mid-sentence before opposing her proposal to fight back against the Exorcists.
His reputation is such that demons are terrified of him, with them hiding or cowering whenever he passes by, even including one of his fellow Overlords, Prick. The sight of Zestial causes one civilian to set himself on fire out of fear. Zestial has also demonstrated a more sadistic side to himself, stating that he "revels in the screams" while talking with Alastor about the potential for acid rain.
Befitting his advanced age, Zestial is extremely patient and cautious, telling Velvette that they shouldn't take immediate action in spite of being given proof that Exorcists can be killed out of fear of the potential repercussions, as he deduced that going to war with Heaven without knowing how to combat angels would result in them purging all of Hell for attempting to uprise.
As shown in "Silenced", unlike the vast majority of the Overlords, Zestial was not taken in by Vox's offer to war with Heaven after his defeating Alastor, knowing full well that while Vox touted how he was for Hell and its betterment, he was only loyal to himself. In "Scream Rain", Zestial predicted that Vox's actions would only bring ruin, strongly advising Carmilla to not work with him.
He is also shown to be compassionate to those with which he is close, sensing Carmilla's tension after an Overlord meeting and offering her an ear upon which to vent her concerns. Later, when Vox corners Carmilla and convinces her to align with him, Zestial again demonstrated his care for her and strongly advised that she back away from siding with Vox. Though despite his strong friendship with Carmilla, Zestial's own sense of self preservation and wisdom prevents him from supporting her while she works with Vox, citing that he will only come to her again when she comes to her senses about her alliance with him.
Abilities[]
Longevity - Zestial has lived for a long time, being known to be the oldest Overlord of Hell.
Bioluminescence - Zestial's eyes can glow, and parts of his spider accessory can glow when he unfurls his cloak.
Conjuration - Zestial is able to create objects out of thin air, doing so in a puff of lime green smoke with green skulls. He showcases this in "Scrambled Eggs" where he was able to produce a full cup of tea and saucer during the Overlord meeting.
Zestial's spider form
Shapeshifting - Zestial has shown the ability to change his form into a spider in order to spy on others in secret.
Web-weaving - In his spider form, Zestial was shown to be able to produce lime green spider threads.
Umbrakinesis - Much like Alastor, Zestial has shown to be able to transform into shadows. He is also able to transport himself this way, as first shown when he appears from a shadowy silhouette from the ground in Baxter's flashback in "Hazbin Hotel: Behind Closed Doors".
Energy Manipulation - Zestial is able to produce and manipulate a lime green energy. He first showcased this in Baxter's flashback in "Hazbin Hotel: Behind Closed Doors", where he could create multiple lime green energy slashes to attack with at will. In "Curtain Call", Zestial also he produced a lime green energy full of green ghosts to assist in creating a barrier around Vox's overloading angelic laser canon.
Skillset[]
Musical talent - He is adept in singing.
Intelligence - Presumably due to his age and how long he has spent in Hell, he has vast intellectual ability. This was demonstrated during his opposing statements against Velvette's proposal to enter war against the Exorcists. Because despite evidence that an Exorcist was killed they do not know how it was killed. Explaining that if they go to war without any information on how to kill angels then they would destroy all of Hell for rebelling. He, along with Velvette, eventually deduced that Carmilla was responsible for the angels' death due to how she was acting during the meeting. Making him confront her about it in private and comfort her. As shown, due to him having survived for centuries as an Overlord, Zestial is not easily swayed by power shifts in Hell, proven when he was unconvinced by Vox's proposal to "conquer" heaven and predicts that he would only cause misery and pain to all of Hell and everyone aligned with him.
Deal-making - While not shown on-screen, as mentioned in "Scrambled Eggs" that the Overlords in the meeting together "own millions of souls" implies that Zestial can make deals with others in order to collect their souls like other Overlords.
Alastor is seemingly on friendly terms with Zestial and was shown to have respect for him. It's also noteworthy how Zestial is one of the only male characters Alastor doesn't act hostile or disrespectful towards.
In "Scrambled Eggs", Alastor greets Zestial during a walk with the Egg Boiz to Carmilla's building for a meeting. Alastor quickly told the Egg Boiz to be quiet, and remained cordial with Zestial during the walk. Although many demons fled from his sight, Zestial did not harm the Egg Boiz, likely because he surmised they were Alastor's minions. Zestial was also interested in Alastor's 7-year absence and wondered if he fell to holy arms, and while Alastor says that his absence wasn't anything serious, he was interested to hear the theories about what they think happened, and Zestial also wondered about him being in folly with the princess and her "recent flight of fancy" and had wondered about the workings of what goes on his mind since he has been an enigma since he manifested in Hell. At the meeting, Alastor agreed with Zestial's stance of not going to war with the Exorcists without further intel on how to kill them.
Carmilla defends Zestial's honor when Velvette is rude to him, showing that the two have a good relationship. As stated by Carmilla, Zestial and Carmilla have known each other for a long time and have been friends and as well as allies as Overlords. As demonstrated when Zestial was also able to tell that something was bothering Carmilla and offered to hear her out to help get it off her chest. This closeness was also shown when Zestial easily deduced that Carmilla was the one responsible for killing the Exorcist that Velvette had brought to their meeting, based on her reaction to the head being brought to their meeting. Further, in Whatever It Takes, she looked directly at him while singing "I'll keep you safe", to the visible surprise of Zestial.
According to the Hazbin Hotel Playbill page posted on Vivziepop's Instagram, Zestial is currently assisting Carmilla with her endeavors due to them being on friendly terms and having similar mindsets.[1]
In "Scream Rain", Zestial urged Carmilla to avoid allying herself with the Vees, fearing that doing so would lead to her own downfall and that of Hell itself, recognizing that Vox held no loyalty to anyone beyond himself. Although his attempt to sway Carmilla away from the Vees ultimately failed, he hoped she would in time come to her senses and renounce her allegiance.
In "Curtain Call", Zestial appears behind Carmilla and sings a verse with her during the song Hear My Hope, joining her and the others to stop the weapon she built. After the weapon is destroyed, Zestial and Carmilla smile at each other as Zestial tells her he knew she would come to her senses.
As is shown in "Hazbin Hotel: Behind Closed Doors", Zestial appeared to have associated with Vox by participating in a Hell's Fair tournament sponsored by his company to test inventions from various scientists and inventors.
In "Scrambled Eggs", Zestial is shown to have a negative opinion of the Vees, including Vox, because of their desire to start a war against Heaven after finding the decapitated head of an Exorcist.
In "Silenced", Vox tries to appeal to Zestial about what Heaven has to offer if they took it over, but Zestial was unamused by this and did not join him.
As seen "Scream Rain" Zestial doesn't trust Vox. In his miniature spider form, he eavesdrops on Vox's conversation with Carmilla about building his weapon to attack Heaven. He expresses to Carmilla that Vox only cares about himself, and that she shouldn't trust anything he says, and is clearly shown to see through Vox's intentions and draws a line at it.
At the meeting, when Velvette brought a deceased Exorcist's head and proposed to fight back, he viewed Velvette as foolish, stating that they should not act with such meager proof without knowing how the angel had died. He remains calm but irritated when she insults him on being too scared too fight and being irrelevant.
Zestial fought Baxter during a duel at Hell's Fair, where he attacked his biogenetic creature, which was able to regenerate from his attacks, astonishing the Overlord, which allowed him to gain some of his respect while the scientist was being hired by Vox.
According to the "Clocktower Countdown to Premiere" livestream, Zestial is the oldest Overlord in Hell,[2] with Alastor referring to him as "ancient" and Velvette insulting him with "grandpa", "old man", "fossil", and "senile" in the show itself. However, whether he is the oldest by age or by how long he has reigned is unclear.
The Hazbin Hotel Playbill page posted on Vivziepop's Instagram specifies that Zestial is the "oldest living Overlord in power".[1]
According to the Hazbin Hotel Playbill page posted on Vivziepop's Instagram, Zestial was once one of the most feared Overlords, but is now effectively retired, spending his days roaming Hell and enjoying the spoils, and currently is assisting Carmilla with her endeavors.[1]
In the Japanese dub, he shares the same voice actor with the same characters from Helluva Boss, being voiced by Hiroshi Shirokuma.
In the Russian dub, he shares his voice actor with Paimon from Helluva Boss, with both being voiced by Nikita Prozorovsky.
In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, he shares his voice actor with Satan from Helluva Boss, with both being voiced by Francisco Júnior.
In an interview with Collider, Vivziepop stated that Zestial is interesting because unlike other characters, whom are mostly bad, she feels that Zestial is one of a few characters with very specific morale that can "see through the bullshit" and understand that it's not worth their time or not a good idea. She also says that there is an element to him telling him not go down a certain path to which Carmilla follows, and thinks he is a very wise person who while not necessarily wants to do what is right or righteous will know when things will be a bad call that will make you feel worse or do worse or get hurt. Vivziepop also thinks that Zestial has just been in hell for so long that he's satisfied now and doesn't have any desire to do more evil, because he's good with how things are now and is so very old by now and has gained enough power and has existed around long Enough, and feels that Zestials own Existentialism in hell is that nothing matters to him now and he is above such desires and wants in life that other overlords have, and hints that there will be allusions to what Zestial did in Season 3.[3]
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