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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"Death my scepter and pain my crown! KNOW THAT YOU FACE DEMOGORGON! PRINCE OF DEMONS!"''|'''Demogorgon, Prince of Demons''', ''[[Baldur's Gate]] 2: The Throne of Bhaal''}}
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The good equivalent are either called [[Celestial Paragons and Archangels|Celestial Paragons or simply Archangels]].
{{examples}}
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* In the anime and manga series ''[[Blue Exorcist]]'', there are the Eight Princes of Hell. So far, the only ones that have appeared are Amaimon (the Earth King) and Astaroth (the King of Rot). As Amaimon's older brother, it's possible that Mephisto counts as well. Other demon princes have been named in [[All There in the Manual|supplementary material]], but have yet to show up in the story.
* Chrono and Aion from ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' are arguably of this class of demon. Both of them are described as being "high ranked" devils. Duke Daffau, the leader of the Pursuers (sort of like a demon police and military) is definitely one of these, too.
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** Other Digimon considered to be demon lords or other rulers in the [[Hell|Dark Area]] exist, including [[Digimon Adventure|BelialVamdemon]], [[Our Vampires Are Different|GranDracmon]], and [[Digimon Frontier|Murmuxmon]]. None of these are considered to be part of the Seven Great Demon Lords, though.
** There are also many demon lords unaffiliated with the seven. A new one was introduced as the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'', Bagramon, the demonic inversion of ''[[Archangel Gabriel]]''.
== Comic Books ==
* The [[Marvel Universe]] has a huge variety of demon lords, Mephisto and Satannish usually being the most prominent. There's also a Satan, his relation to the others is unclear.
** Mephisto, Satannish and a few others are "brothers" in the sense that they were born from the same "mass of evil energy", possibly the one left after the destruction of the [[Elder Gods]]. Also, officially Satan has NEVER appeared in [[Marvel Comics]]; it's always been some other demon impersonating him. This is a [[Retcon]], probably for politically correct reasons, as Satan was a regular character in the "Son of Satan" (now known as Hellstorm) series in the 1970s. That "Satan" was later revealed to be Marduk Kurios, ''possibly'' a corrupted version of the Babylonian god (but there's someone else claiming to be that deity, too.) He showed up again when Wolverine went to hell. The "Satan" who created [[Ghost Rider]] was revealed to have been Mephisto.
*** Mephisto has claimed to be the source of all evil on several occasions. Of course, Mephisto ''lies''. The true nature, if any, is kept intentionally vague.
**** Well, what with his appearance, being one of the few demons to actually offer humans [[Deal with the Devil|deals with the Devil]] and trying to corrupt pure souls, he's probably the closest thing [[Marvel Universe|the MU]] will ever have to Satan.
*** Marvel did have a "Satan", but that later retconned because of the CCA at the time. Recently, Marvel introduced the biblical Lucifer into the Marvel universe, but insists he is a different entity than Satan(which isn't invalid). Fallen angels seem to be a different beast than the Mephisto type demon lords altogether.
*** The first appearance of the "Son of Satan" was in an issue of Ghost Rider. Daimon and Satana Hellstrom's and GR's Satan were the same entity, originally.
** Recently, it was revealed in a [[Fear Itself (Comic Book)|Fear Itself]] Tie-in, that the Demon Lords have meetings around Satan's empty throne. Mephisto even mentions, that while Demon Lords like to falsely claim to be "Satan", none of them dare do it near Satan's throne, or even sit on it. If they did, they'd be torn apart by all the other claimant hell-lords.
*** It was noted though by Mephisto that Marduk Kurios really does believe and persistently insist that he is in fact ''The'' real Satan, so for all we know "Satan" may originally have been the official title for the ruler of Hell and not a specific entity, with Marduk the first holder of the title until he was eventually deposed and failed to regain his throne ever since.
**** It should be remembered after all that during the ''Chaos War'' storyline, the ''Devil Powered by All of Hell's Fire'' who personally battled Marvel's biggest [[Big Bad]] to date, the Chaos King itself (who is the yin to the yang of Eternity himself), in the last stand of the Marvel nether realms, was Marduk Kurios.
** There are also many demon lords who don't go after the title of Satan but have no less nefarious goals, such as Lilith, Blackheart, Asteroth, The Beast Of The Hand and Plokta. All but the latter are confirmed to have different origins than the main group though.
* The DCU is very similar to the Marvel Universe in this regard.
** DC only recently got its own infernal hierarchy settled with the "Reign in Hell" miniseries after decades of contradictions. Note: this series renders most of Lucifer's stories (from DC's Vertigo comics) out of continuity.
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== Film ==
* [[Demon Knight]] has a arch-devil known as the Collector, who distinguishes himself by saying that a particular eye-ball weakness only applies to "lower-level" demons. His [[One-Winged Angel|true form]] is the only demon that we see with wings.
== Literature ==
* [[Raymond E. Feist]]'s [[The Riftwar Cycle|Serpent War saga]] features two demon lords: Maarg and Jakan, both of which are manipulated by other forces.
** The more recent Demonwar Saga elaborates further on this; there are five Demon Kings (Maarg was one, and new [[Big Bad]] Dahun is another) who each rule a different territory of Hell and continually feud with each other over who gets what, and each is served by numerous lesser demon "captains" like Jakan. There's also a Demon High King, but whether he's a seperate entity or just a title claimed by the currently most powerful king is unclear.
* The [[Discworld]] novel ''[[
* In ''[[The Screwtape Letters]]'', some aspects of Hell's [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Lowerarchy]] are mentioned in passing. (Yes, Lowerarchy
* In the various versions of the ''[[Faust]]'' story, Dr. Faustus makes his [[Deal with the Devil|deal]] with the demon Mephistopheles.
* In ''[[David Eddings|The Malloreon]]'' a pair of demon lords become involved in their struggle. This is clearly a very bad thing, such that even the [[Big Bad]] of the series doesn't want them present, aware that [[Evil Is Not a Toy]].
* ''[[Good Omens]]'' has both [[Legions of Hell]] and Demon Lords and Archdevils {{spoiler|and Satan himself, at the end}}.
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* Referenced in Robert Jordan's ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' books, where a solid percentage of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] - who are just superpowered evil humans - are named after classic demon princes. Asmodean==Asmodeus, Bel'al==Belial, etc.
* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' has brought up the hierarchy of demons once or twice. Archdemons are mentioned as a hypothetical in ''Fool Moon'' and Harry theorizes that the villains in ''Small Favor'' could only have {{spoiler|trapped the Archive with the power of a [[Satan|fallen archangel]].}}
** On a slightly lower level, Anduriel, the [[Fallen Angel]] who is "partners" with [[Hero-Killer|Nicodemus]], is stated to have been one of [[Satan]]'s captains during the Fall and is currently probably the most potent Fallen active directly on Earth.
* In ''[[The Guardians]]'', Hell is in the middle of an [[Enemy Civil War]], and both [[Satan|Lucifer]] and Beliel have lieutenants among the [[Legions of Hell]].
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's [[Prospero's Daughter]] trilogy, their enemies include one of the powers of Hell, and one demon deposed from that position and out to get it back.
* In ''Tomlinson'' by [[Rudyard Kipling]]:
{{quote|The Devil he blew an outward breath, for his heart was free from care: -
"Ye have scarce the soul of a louse," he said, "but the roots of sin are there,
And for that sin should ye come in were I the lord alone.
But sinful pride has rule inside - and mightier than my own.
Honour and Wit, fore-damned they sit, to each his priest and whore:
Nay, scarce I dare myself go there, and you they'd torture sore. }}
== Live
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' has a number of named archdemons such as Azazel, Lilith, Alistair, Crowley (the last two being a [[Shout-Out]] to the occultist Aleister Crowley), [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Samhain]]...
** They are also marked by getting their own eye colours, except for Crowley, who instead of inherently being more powerful fought his way to being the King of Hell by sheer [[Magnificent Bastard
** To help make it clearer, the demonic hierarchy goes something like this, [[Mooks|Black Eyes]] < [[Deal with the Devil|Red Eyes]] < [[The Heavy|Yellow Eyes]] < [[Co-Dragons|White Eyes]] < [[Satan|Lucifer]].
* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' Giles sought to face Barvain, the Demon Prince. But The Initiative got to him first.
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== Music ==
* The multi-named speaker in Voltaire's "When You're Evil" is presumably one of these.
{{quote|
They call on me, by name, you see, for my special touch }}
== Myth & Religion ==
* The ''[[Ars Goetia]],'' the first section of the Lesser Key of Solomon, lists 72 demon lords, along with [[Don't Try This At Home|instructions for their summoning]].
== Tabletop Games ==
▲* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' has loads of examples, mainly in the [[Planescape]] setting.
** The [[Lawful Evil]] devils are ruled by Asmodeus (probably the most direct Satan-analogue) and supported by a pretty complicated hierarchy of devils, the most important one being the other eight Archdevils or Lords of the Nine: Bel, Dispater, Mammon, Belial (and his daughter and co-ruler Fierna), Levistus, Glasya, Baalzebul, and Mephistopheles; there are also a couple of exiles, most notably Geryon and Moloch. The lesser unique devils are known as Dukes of Hell and serve the above as vassals.
*** 4th Edition makes Asmodeus the God of Tyranny instead of an Archdevil. He still is the lord of all devils and the other Archdevils remain unchanged.
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*** At least one source says that Anthraxus may be the current Oinoloth, but there were others as well - and his position was not secure. Each of them had names based on some form of disease.
** Apomps the Three-Sided God is the singular ruler of the gehreleths, a sort of weird offshoot of the yugoloths.
** The Slaad
** The alternate rules set usually referred to as Basic and Expert eventually added its own versions of Demogorgon and Orcus in the Immortals set. They were evil immortals, included to be opponents of the (presumably) good immortals typified by the player characters who had ascended.
* ''[[Pathfinder]]'' has the archdevils Barbatos (an honorary archdevil), Dispater, Mammon, Belial, Geryon, Moloch, Baalzebul, and Mephistopheles all answering to Asmodeus who is both the greatest of the archdevils and a god in his own right. There are countless demon lords, including Lamashtu (who like Asmodeus has achieved true godhood), Pazuzu, Baphomet, Cyth V'Sug, Nocticula, Angazhan, Abraxis, Kostchtei, and Flaucos. Finally, the [[Neutral Evil]] daemons are ruled by the Four [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse]], a quartet of archdaemons who once answered to the singular Oinodaemon.
* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]'' has various demon princes and Greater Demons that serve the four Gods of Chaos. In ''[[Warhammer
** Warhammer 40k has rules for Daemon Lords of Chaos, Greater Demons even bigger and more powerful than most of their kind. They are Gargantuan Creatures that cost from between 666 (Slaanesh) to 999 (upcoming Tzeench Daemon Lord) points so they're only usable in extremely large-scale games, and for a good reason as they can pretty wipe out armies single-handedly.
* As should be expected in a game about the struggle between Heaven and Hell, ''[[In Nomine]]'' has
* In ''[[Talislanta]]'', the most powerful devils are called "shaitans", and constitute a race in their own right that rule over the lesser diabolic races.
* ''[[Exalted]]'' has the Yozis, as well as the Third and Second Circle demons. Interestingly, these aren't entirely separate
** And there are canonical Charms to allow a high-Essence Infernal Exalt to spawn his own pantheon of subordinate souls, with one major difference from the Yozis: while Yozis have to have a defining, or "fetich" soul to anchor their self-image (Malfeas has Ligier, the Green Sun, for example), Infernals get to keep using the one they started with, meaning they lose a major [[Achilles' Heel]].
* ''[[The Dark Eye]]'' features twelve demons [[Evil Knockoff|who act as evil counterparts of the major gods]]. Also there is the Demon Sultan, a true [[Eldritch Abomination]] in demon form. ("Daemon Sultan", incidentally, was one of the titles for Azathoth in the [[Cthulhu Mythos]].)
* ''[[Demon: The Fallen]]'' has these. In fact, they are the bosses (ostensibly) of the player characters.
* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has a hellish plane called Phyrexia, filled with these guys. There's Gix, Davvol, Tsabo, and many others. Some people even ascend (descend?) to this role, such as Volrath, Ertai, and Crovax. The new Phyrexia doesn't have a [[Big Bad]], just five praetors who also fill this role.
== Webcomics ==▼
* ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' has the three Archfiends (Lee, Nero and Cedric) from the [[Celestial Bureaucracy|Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission]].▼
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'':▼
** Lord Horribus, who leads the Dimension of Pain demons, but is still subservient to the Demon King, a literal personification of evil. Also other demon aristocracy like him, at least other Demon Lords and Queens, such as his sister Deplora of the Dimension of Grief.▼
** The Demon King counts equally well for this and for [[God of Evil]].▼
** There's also K'Z'K, the immensely powerful demon who's supposed to bring about the end of the world.▼
* ''[[Darken]]'' gives you the nine levels of hell, each one ruled by a devil. The only ones that are names are Asmodeus of level nine, and the overlord. Mephistopheles on level eight, and Baalzebul on level seven. Apparently the other six levels are boring... [http://darkencomic.com/?webcomic_post=20050622 Nice Explanation.]▼
* In ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'' you have various [[God of Evil|Evil Gods]] fighting for power under [[Big Bad|Chaos]], Archfiends (the classical four... all with [[Dysfunction Junction|their own personality problems]]), and then the legions of hell underneath. All of them tend to be incredibly [[Chaotic Evil|evil and devious]], and hell is, well [[Fire and Brimstone Hell|Hell]]. Of course, when [[Omnicidal Maniac|Black Mage]] temporarily [[Like a Badass Out of Hell|becomes king of hell]] for twenty minutes, all of these afore-mentioned evil beings (and the universe in general) experience a terrified [[Oh Crap]] moment complete with [[Ominous Latin Chanting]]. Luckily the [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|forces of Evil]] manage to kick him [[Restraining Bolt|back into his body]], [[Cosmic Plaything|and the universe isn't stupid enough to let him die again any time soon]] ([[Iron Butt Monkey|although this doesn't stop it from kicking his ass into the gutter for all that its worth]]). One [[God of Evil]] ''did'' try to make Black Mage his Archdemon/Antichrist/Evil Messiah, but [[Spanner in the Works|that didn't work out too well]].▼
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'', as mentioned above, has you face Demogorgon, the Prince of Demons, in the expansion. You also encounter a "Lesser Demon Lord" in the Drow City.
* ''[[Nippon Ichi]]'s'' [[The Verse]] has this throughout, mostly focused in the ''[[Disgaea]]'' games and ''[[Makai Kingdom]]''. Multiple Netherworlds are ruled by Demon Overlords; with Demon Lords as the second highest rank; and they often war with each other. Beyond Overlord one starts getting into [[God of Evil]] level; and this is not [[This Is Your Brain on Evil|healthy mentally.]]
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** However, unlike the Four Fiends of Chaos, who are actual demons corrupting the elements, the Elemental Lords (or Archfiends) of ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' are actual spirits of nature, as they tell you in "After Years" while asking to [[Never Say "Die"|put them back to sleep]].
* ''[[Diablo]]'' is all about these. By the end of ''Diablo II'' you'll have [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|killed nearly all of them]], and for the next game they're making up new ones as well as bringing some of the old ones back.
{{quote|
Duriel, the Lord of Pain
Andariel, the Maiden of Anguish
Belial, the Lord of Lies
Azmodan, the Lord of Sin
Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred
Baal, the Lord of Destruction
Diablo, the Lord of Terror }}
* ''[[Warcraft]]'' has Sargeras the Fallen Titan, a kind of demonic [[Satan]]/GodOfEvil figure, and the über-demons that serve under him, most notably Archimonde and Kil'jaeden.
** The proper title of Archie and KJ would be "Legionlord", or "Fiery Lord of the [[Legions of Hell|Burning Legion]]" ("sir" will do fine, too).
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20100213100559/http://www.cwsargeras.com/2009/03/scourge-chat-log-1.html It's *Lord* Jaeden.]
** Interestingly, every single one of these figures has now been slain or at least defeated in lore. Archimonde was destroyed at the World Tree in ''[[Warcraft]] III'', Kil'jaeden was defeated at the Sunwell in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', and Sargeras' physical form was destroyed ages ago at the Well of Eternity. Of course, given how [[Death Is Cheap]] in the ''Warcraft'' universe, it's likely that any/all of these could be back at some point.
*** The only one who's canonically dead is [[Bad Boss|Archimonde]]. [[Manipulative Bastard|Kil'jaeden]] just got kicked back through the Sunwell so hard that his necklace fell off. As for [[God of Evil|Sargeras]], his latest alt just got deleted.
* ''[[Dept. Heaven]]'' has a complicated system in its
* ''[[Nethack]]'' features several of these guys. The nastiest by far is Demogorgon, but it is possible to finish the game without meeting him.
* ''[[Dominions]]'' has five Arch Devils, six Ice Devils, and four Heliophagus' who resemble 'classical' devils and have powers related to fire, ice, and darkness respectively, as well as four Demon lords, who resemble well, some of the more bizarre designs from medieval manuscripts.
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* ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]'' series has a unit called Archdevil in the Inferno town, not to mention many of its heroes are effectively demon lords.
* ''[[Lusternia]]'' has the Demon Lords of Nil: Gorgulu, who is [[Body Horror]] incarnate and an endlessly ravenous incarnate of greed; Nifilhema, who delights in [[Cold-Blooded Torture]] and [[Combat Aestheticist|the beauty of combat]]; Ashtorath, [[The Berserker]] and a [[Big Red Devil]], appropriately representing rage; Baalphegar, a [[Giant Spider]] [[Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge]], who weaves plots that span millennia; and Luciphage, an endlessly patient [[The Chessmaster|chessmaster]] and their devilishly charismatic leader. The Nihilists guild can form pacts with the Demon Lords, and usually pledge themselves to the service of one above the others (the one whose ideology most matches their own).
* In ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'', a central element of the plot is that the [[Big Bad|Emperor]] has made a [[Deal with the Devil]] (quite literally, according to the [[All There in the Manual|novelizations]] [[Satan]] himself rules hell in ''FFII''-verse) to summon the [[Legions of Hell]] in order to [[Take Over the World]]. However, when the heroes kill the Emperor, he ends up [[Like a Badass Out of Hell|killing Satan and taking over Hell]], and thus the heroes are obligated to journey to the palace of Hell to take him out for good. And it is in the palace of Hell that the
* ''[[Solium Infernum]]'' runs on this trope.
* Ghirahim, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'' has the title of "Demon Lord", and he appears to be the leader of the demons of the surface and the most powerful demon next to his master, {{spoiler|[[Bigger Bad|Demise]], Hyrule's [[God of Evil]].}}
▲* ''[[The
▲* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'':
▲** Lord Horribus, who leads the Dimension of Pain demons, but is still subservient to the Demon King, a literal personification of evil. Also other demon aristocracy like him, at least other Demon Lords and Queens, such as his sister Deplora of the Dimension of Grief.
▲** The Demon King counts equally well for this and for [[God of Evil]].
▲** There's also K'Z'K, the immensely powerful demon who's supposed to bring about the end of the world.
▲* ''[[Darken]]'' gives you the nine levels of hell, each one ruled by a devil. The only ones that are names are Asmodeus of level nine, and the overlord. Mephistopheles on level eight, and Baalzebul on level seven. Apparently the other six levels are boring... [http://darkencomic.com/?webcomic_post=20050622 Nice Explanation.]
▲* In ''[[8-
== Web Original ==
* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance]]'', each of the four demon hordes has an archdemon leading it, but a few independent archdemons exist as well. The known archdemons are [[Evil Old Folks|Hepnaz]], [[Four-Star Badass|Malphas]], [[Horny Devils|Nina]], [[Wicked Cultured|Pazuzu]], {{spoiler|[[Visionary Villain|Vaetris]]}}, [[The Atoner|Omaroch]], [[Omnicidal Maniac|Yurius]], [[Evil Matriarch|Nhrakate]] and [[A God Am I|Malakhia]].
* In [[Super Teens Stuff]], Al is a Human who becomes the Demon Lord.
** {{spoiler|When Azazel dies, Hell is split into many fractions of said Demon Lords.}}
* In ''[[The Salvation War]]'', Hell is split into many fiefdoms of various sizes. The ranks of nobility the Demons use is based primarily on medieval Italy and the Holy Roman Empire, with Satan acting as the King/Emperor who allowed the Grand Dukes, Barons, etc. fight amongst each other in order to preserve the balance of power and have no one be able to challenge him. Throw in the basic territorial setup found in Dante's ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', and you have an idea of the political, technological and geographic situation the modern humans fighting them easily overcame. Following this trope, the largest and most powerful demons were usually regarded as Grand Dukes and Princes. They usually had the best territory, the most wives and offspring, the most powerful armies, and the most favour in Satan's Court. They were also (as mentioned before) [[Large and In Charge|the physically largest and most imposing Demons in Hell (only trumped by Satan himself)]], as well as [[Asskicking Equals Authority|the strongest and most feared Demons, with Satan regularly killing off underlings easy-as-you-please whenever he threw a tantrum]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Religion Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Infernal Tropes]]
[[Category:Power]]
[[Category:Demonic Characters]]
[[Category:Badass in Charge]]
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