Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Religious Names

A form of Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Names from religion and mythology. Note that names straight from The Bible have their own article, but names from extra-Biblical Christian tradition are fair game in this page.

See also Demons Or Angels.

Abraxas
A name of God from Gnostic theology.

Comic Books

 * Abraxas is an evil cosmic being in Marvel Comics, the antithesis of Eternity.

Film

 * The spectacularly awful Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe probably just liked the Xtreme Kool Letterz, though.

Literature

 * Abraxas Malfoy and the Abraxan flying-horse breed in Harry Potter.

Web Original

 * Abraxas is the username of a Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant fanfiction author and user of Topless Robot.

Alastor
A demon of vengeance in Greek myth, and a possessing entity akin to Nemesis in Christian demonology. Spelled "Aleister," may be an allusion to purported black magician Aleister Crowley.

Anime and Manga

 * Alastor, the Flame of Heavens, from Shakugan no Shana.

Literature

 * Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody from Harry Potter.
 * The Big Bad of the children's book The Castle in the Attic, a sorcerer whose specialty was magic amulets.

Live-Action TV

 * Alister in Supernatural.

Tabletop Games

 * In Vampire: The Masquerade, alastors are the Camarilla enforcers charged with hunting down and destroying the Anathema, those vampires who the Camarilla have marked for Final Death.
 * The Executioner of Hell in the Ninth Hell of Nessus in Dungeons and Dragons.

Video Games

 * Blade Master Alastor from Viewtiful Joe.
 * One of the bosses of Painkiller
 * Dante's lightning sword in Devil May Cry.

Anime and Manga

 * Allelujah Haptism from Gundam00...well, not so much him as his sociopathic split personality Hallelujah.

Dante
Of The Divine Comedy fame (including the Inferno), and thus:

Anime and Manga

 * Big Bad of the anime Fullmetal Alchemist.
 * Go Nagai's Demon Lord Dante, as well.

Film

 * Clerks: He's not even supposed to BE HERE TODAY!
 * Dante's Peak.

Literature

 * It's possible that Edmond Dantes of The Count of Monte Cristo was named with this intent, given that he sentences his enemies to an Ironic Hell (albeit while still on earth).

Tabletop Games

 * The name of the chapter master of the Blood Angels in Warhammer 40000.

Video Games

 * Half-demon Badass from Devil May Cry
 * Knight Templar who takes up Grim Reaper's scythe and runs around attracting and killing off minions of Hell

Faust
And all derivations of it; note that it means "fist" in German.

Anime and Manga

 * Fairy Tail: The king of Edolas, who may have heard about ethics and similar things but decided they were for weaklings.
 * The villain from Saber Marionette J.
 * Claude Faustus

Comic Books

 * Felix Faust is a longtime Justice League of America villain.
 * Nineties Anti-Hero Faust from the eponymous comic series. He used to be a painter, but prefers bloodbaths to acrylics since his resurrection.

Literature

 * Ellen Faustino from The Supernaturalist
 * The title character of Algernon Charles Swinburne's poem "Faustine". Swinburne liked dominant women.

Music

 * German progressive-rock band Faust, culpable of terrifying deeds such as performing the Cabaret/noise-rock anthem "Why Don't You Eat Carrots".

Theatre

 * Faust from the various versions.

Video Games

 * Faust from Guilty Gear, who you really want to run away from before he sticks his giant scalpel up your ass.
 * The Big Bad of The Seventh Guest is named Stauf, which is an anagram of Faust.
 * The Chaorrupted demon who made a Deal with the Devil Don Giovanni during the Mythsong saga in Adventure Quest Worlds.

Fenrir
Norse Mythology. A giant wolf, son of god Loki, fated to break free from his chains on the coming of Ragnarok and eat Odin. Also known as Fenris, Fenrisúlfr...

Literature

 * Werewolf Fenrir Greyback in Harry Potter.

Video Games

 * Fenris Wolfbrother, an orc chieftain in Warcraft II Beyond the Dark Portal.
 * Fenris Isle in World of Warcraft, probably not named after the orc. Home of a dark wizard and his Gnolls (hyena-like humanoids) minions until the Cataclysm expansion pack. Also Fenrus the Devourer, a gigantic wolf worg.
 * Fenris from Dragon Age II.
 * A villain in the Marathon Game Mod Courier 11.

Hades and/or Acheron
The Greek underworld, the god that rules said underworld, and the river one must cross to reach it, respectively.

Literature

 * The entire Hades family in the Thursday Next novels, named after the Greek underworld and the rivers in it.

Janus
The Roman God of Gates, Doors, etc... Often depicted as having two faces. The doors of his temple were ritually opened when Rome went on war.

Film

 * An example would be Janus from Goldeneye,.

Video Games

 * Janus from Chrono Trigger who, but is also.

Jormungandr
The World Serpent of Norse myth.

Literature

 * Jormundur is Ajihad and Nasuada's right-hand man in the Inheritance Cycle.

MMORPGs

 * Blizzard likes this one: Jormungar are giant ice worms in the Norse-themed Northrend of World of Warcraft.

Video Games

 * In Starcraft, the Jormungand Brood, controlled by the player during the Zerg campaign, and therefore responsible for the invasion of Aiur.
 * A gigantic serpent called Jormungandr serves as an early boss in Magicka.

Lamia
An ancient Greek demon whose description boils down to 'succubus of children.'

Anime and Manga

 * Also see Demon Lord Dante by Go Nagai. Lamia wants to alternatively either screw or eat everyone in the city to have/make food for her zillions of spider babies. (She's a Drider instead of the typical half-snake version fantasy works usually toss up.)

Film

 * Lamia the witch from Stardust

Live-Action TV

 * Madam Lamia, Count Grendel of Gracht's assistant in "The Androids of Tara".
 * Scorpina's Zyuranger counterpart is named Lamia-Scorpion, though when not in her monster form she's called Lami for short.

Tabletop Games

 * The Lahmian vampires from Warhammer Fantasy.

Video Games

 * Also Lamia Loveless from Super Robot Wars. An android and efficient spy who will sneak into your team, get really friendly with your teammates, while leaking information to her higher ups so at one point, she will be able to bring your group down in one swift move, and she has no concern in anything except her mission, her life included. Played straight in SRW Advance, when playing Axel's scenario, whereas she never did develop her conscience and stays as a cold blooded android.
 * Lamia/Ramia Village in Ys II.

Nergal
A Babylonian deity, a fiery god of war and destruction. Identified with the planet Mars.

Anime and Manga

 * The ostensibly benevolent space exploration company in Martian Successor Nadesico.

Tabletop Games

 * Nurgle, the oldest of the four Gods of Chaos in Warhammer 40000, the God of Death and Decay, whose specialty is spreading nasty disease.

Video Games

 * Fire Emblem 7's Big Bad says hi, and waves his Ereshkigal tome around.
 * The Lethal Lava Land in Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys.

Western Animation

 * Nergal in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy is an Ineffectual Sympathetic Comedy Villian Eldritch Abomination who lives in the center of the earth. He's also Billy's uncle by marriage.

Real Life

 * Nergal, frontman/lyricist of the Polish death-metal band Behemoth. Somewhat fitting, since their lyrics play with theosophy a lot.

Odin
Norse Mythology. Usually referred to as 'the Allfather', 'Old One-eye' or 'the Ferryman', as He's rather scary and naming Him directly might bring you unwanted attention.


 * Odin from American Gods, although he actually avoids using the name.
 * Alfred Woden in Max Payne.

Pandora
Not evil by intention, but released evil upon the world.

Anime and Manga

 * Gives its name to the research organization PANDORA in Darker than Black, which like Nergal in Nadesico is ostensibly good - apparently no one in either cast studied mythology.

Film

 * Pandora is also the world inhabited by the Na'vi in Avatar. Not evil itself, but a foreshadowing that it won't remain undisturbed. Also fits the Greco-Roman theme naming of planets

Literature

 * Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles have a vampire named Pandora, though she's not particularly evil.

Live-Action TV

 * In the most recent season of Doctor Who there was the Pandorica, a prison meant for containing a force that would destroy the universe.
 * In the Expanded Universe, particularly the Gallifrey series, the Evil Overlord Time Lady who wants to take over Romana and declare herself "Imperiatrix" is named Pandora.

Video Games

 * Borderlands takes place on the planet Pandora, where almost everyone is searching for a mysterious "Vault," and trying to open it, for whatever idiotic reason...
 * Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow.

Shiva
Hindu god of destruction.

Anime

 * Shiva in Jinki Extend.

Comic Books

 * Lady Shiva in the DC Universe.

Tabletop Games

 * The Shiva Squadron from the Feng Shui supplement Glimpse of the Abyss are a Demon Slaying Amazon Brigade with eight arms much like their namesake (they're even called "shivas"). They're also not too keen on anyone who associates with demons, even if the demon in question has joined the forces of good (like quite a few Supernatural Creature PCs).

Video Games

 * The demons Shivarra in World of Warcraft.
 * Sheeva in the Mortal Kombat series.
 * The Shivans of Free Space were named for Shiva because of their apparently mindless desire to destroy everything non-Shivan.
 * Shiva from Streets of Rage series.
 * In SF Debris' Mass Effect 2 review, he names the main character "Shiva Shepard" for the number of people that die around her.

Tantalus
A figure from ancient Greek legend better known for his Ironic Hell punishment than for what he did to earn it.

Comic Books

 * Tantalus

Literature

 * A place version: The Arch of Tantalus from The Underland Chronicles.

Video Games

 * The Earth-destroying Tantalus Rays in Commander Keen Episode II: The Earth Explodes!.

Multiple

 * Oda Nobunaga is often referred to as "Dairokuten Maou" literally "Devil King of the Sixth Heaven" in various franchises he appears in (a nickname he apparently chose for himself in Real Life). This is roughly the Buddhist equivalent of Satan.
 * Beast Wars's Megatron uses this as an invoked trope, in an attempt to be the figure from the series' equivalent of The Bible, "The Covenant of Primus". The Transformers Wiki put it best: "What distinguishes Megatron from the countless others who share [his] goal is his chutzpah. This is a guy who named himself after his faith's equivalent of the Antichrist."
 * Titan. If you are in a super heroes work, and you hear the name, or title, Titan, why the hell are you still around to hear it? From Dark Horse (Superman expy goes insane and decides he should rule), to Marvel (last stop in a journal belonging to a guy found floating in the air, dead, making like the human torch), to Dreamworks (a manufactured Ascended Fanboy with the nom de guerre of Titan decides he'd much rather use his powers for crime and the easy life) to any of a number of works, if something is named Titan, get the fuck away from it.
 * The Great Khali, a professional wrestler. Named after Kali, the Hindu goddess of empowerment.
 * Anything with "Reaper" in its name. The Reaper Attack Drone in real life, the Reapers in Mass Effect 3, the giant cockroaches in Resident Evil 5, etc.