Ars Goetia

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Ars Goetia
The sigils of the 72 demons, according to Mathers and Crowley.
Central Theme:
Synopsis: The first book of The Lesser Key of Solomon, an anonymous grimoire that discusses demonology.
Series: The Lesser Key of Solomon
Followed by: Ars Theurgia-Goetia
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The first section of the anonymously written 17th-century grimoire The Lesser Key of Solomon. It describes a group of 69-72 demons (depending on which edition you're working with) who were variously bound by Ham and Solomon to perform works on God's behalf, and how you, the lucky conjuror, can do the same. The Ars Goetia (or rather, the demons described) is/are frequently used in fiction. The grimoire itself is sometimes known as the "Lemegeton" and is a Stock Shout Out for a Tome of Eldritch Lore. For some reason, the later portions of the Lesser Key, like the Ars Theurgia Goetia (conjuring neutral/natural spirits) and Ars Paulina (conjuring lesser angels), get much less screen time in general.

The book can be found translated here. For quick reference, here's the seventy-two demons as listed in the Lesser Key:

The Usual Suspects

  1. Bael/Baell (Expect to see alternate spellings a lot)
  2. Agares/Agreas
  3. Vassago
  4. Samigina/Gamigin/Gamigm
  5. Marbas/Barbas
  6. Valefor/Valefar/Malephar/Malaphar
  7. Amon/Aamon
  8. Barbatos
  9. Paimon/Paymon
  10. Buer
  11. Gusion/Gusoin/Gusoyn
  12. Sitri/Bitru
  13. Beleth/Bileth/Bilet
  14. Leraje/Leraie/Loray/Oray/Leraikha
  15. Eligos/Abigor/Eligor
  16. Zepar
  17. Botis/Otis
  18. Bathin/Bathym/Mathim/Marthim
  19. Sallos/Zaebos/Saleos
  20. Purson/Pursan/Curson
  21. Marax/Morax/Foraii
  22. Ipos/Ipes/Ayperos/Ayporos
  23. Aim/Haborym/Aym/Haborim
  24. Naberius/Cerbere/Cerberus/Naberus
  25. Glasya-Labolas/Caacrinolaas/Caassimolar/Glassia-labolas
  26. Bune/Bim/Bime
  27. Ronove/Ronwe
  28. Berith/Beal/Bolfri/Beall/Berithi/Bolfry/Beale/Bofry
  29. Astaroth/Astarot/Ashtaroth
  30. Forneus
  31. Foras/Forcas
  32. Asmodeus/Asmoday/Asmodee/Chammadai/Sydonai/Sidonay/Asmodai
  33. Gaap/Tap
  34. Furfur
  35. Marchosias/Marchocias
  36. Stolas/Stolos
  37. Phenex/Phoenix/Pheynix
  38. Halphas/Malthous/Malthas/Malthus
  39. Malphas
  40. Raum/Raim
  41. Focalor/Forcalor/Furcalor
  42. Vepar/Separ/Vephar
  43. Sabnock/Sabnacke/Salmac/Savnok
  44. Shax/Scox/Chax/Shaz/Shass/Shan
  45. Vine/Vinea
  46. Bifrons/Bifrous/Bifrovs
  47. Uvall/Wall/Vuall/Vual/Voval
  48. Haagenti
  49. Crocell/Procell/Crokel
  50. Furcas/Forcas/Forras
  51. Balam/Balan/Balaam
  52. Alloces/Alocer/Allocer/Alocas
  53. Camio/Caym/Caim
  54. Murmur/Murmus/Murmux
  55. Orobas/Orobos
  56. Gremory/Gomory/Gamori
  57. Ose/Oze/Oso/Voso
  58. Amy/Avnas
  59. Oriax/Orias
  60. Vapula/Naphula
  61. Zagan
  62. Volac/Valac/Valak/Valu/Valax/Ualac
  63. Andras
  64. Haures/Flavros/Flauros/Hauras/Havres
  65. Andrealphus
  66. Cimejes/Cimeries/Cimeies/Kimaris
  67. Amdusias/Amduscias/Amdukias
  68. Belial/Beliall
  69. Decarabia/Carabia
  70. Seere/Sear/Seir
  71. Dantalion
  72. Andromalius


On a side note, the earlier Pseudomonarchia Daemonum by Johann Wier in 1583, which basically started all this, lists only 69 demons. Vassago, Seere, Dantalion, and Andromalius are not listed, and another demon, Pruflas, is listed. Pruflas doesn't seem to appear anywhere else; given his description, he may have been conflated with the extremely similar Andras.

NOTE: Given how often they pop up outside of the lists, especially in sources that predate the lists, it probably isn't a good idea to list anything involving Belial, Asmodeus (also known as Asmoday), Bael, Astaroth, or Berith (as in Baal-Berith), unless there's a definite link in the example to the Ars Goetia, or at least to the other demons from the lists.

Goetic demons in popular culture:

Anime and Manga

  • Devilman uses the Goetic designs for all its demons and explains why they look that way. The Goetia also provides the names of two demons, Caim and Amon (the later of which is the demon Akira fuses with to become Devilman).
  • Vassago appeared as "Virsago" in Gundam X, where it is the name of an appropriately demonic-looking Gundam piloted by one of the main villains. Its partner Gundam (piloted by his brother) is named "Ashtaron", after Astaroth, while the prototype that spawned the two was named "Belphagor".
  • Shanu Andras, Orga Sabnak and Clotho Buer of Gundam SEED are all likely references to Andras, Sabnock and Buer.
  • SD Gundam G Generation World features Halphas (based on the spelling of Malthous) Gundam, and later "his" boss Barbatos.
  • In High School DxD the main protagonist's master is a part of the Gremory household and is also a woman. Later on, the head master of Phenex and Baal also show up.
  • Several characters in Shakugan no Shana are named after Goetic demons -- Marchosias, Dantalion, Valac, etc., while the third season adds many more: Decarabia, Stolas, Purson, Uvall, Haborym, Orobas, and others.
  • Slayers borrows the symbols in the Ars Goetia to symbolize the higher level Mazoku.
    • Duke Eligos (15) is Dynast Grausherra, Prince/Prelate & Count/Earl Ipos (22) is Greater Beastmaster Zellas Metallium, Duke Bune (26) is Chaos Dragon Garv, Duke Astaroth (29) is Hellmaster Filbrizo, and Duke Vepar (42) is Deep Sea Dolphin.
  • Most of Shura's Humongous Mecha in Super Robot Wars Compact 3 are named after Goetic demons.
  • Amon of Witch Hunter Robin. Not actually a demon, though.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!! has a couple. "Versago the Destroyer" is a mangling of "Vassago"; more recent is "Gaap the Divine Soldier". Gaap made an appearance in the Big Bad's deck in Yu-Gi-Oh! R, which included Leraje, Caassimolar, and Botis as Cannon Fodder.
  • Rental Magica has summoning of these as the signature technique of the Solomon's school of magic, appropriately (though there seems to be more to it). Adilicia as the heir specializes in Summon Magic - her preferred mode of travel is Sky Surfing on the back of Forneus (who in RM is a huge flying metal shark with four glowing red eyes and dorsal fin the size of a small yacht's mast), and Eligor (knight with various oversized weapons) often gets summoned as the enforcer of choice. She's an incorrigible show-off, if you couldn't tell already. Ars Paulina was not forgotten either - she did summon an angel to fix a problem at least once (she was planning to drink from that, after all).
  • In Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, the djinns found in the dungeons are named after the Ars Goetia demons.

Comic Books

  • Andras and Marchosias--two of the demons most associated with battle and manslaughter--start off the action in Promethea by being set up as hitmen by a conjuror who doesn't want the latest version of the title character to go on living. Later on, he somehow gets the entire retinue to possess someone. How he got some of the ones who definitely don't have possession/mind control/temptation in their repertoire, like Orobas and Haures, to do it is unknown.
  • PS238 Malphast is a demon/angel hybrid kid. As such he was kept secret by his parents (their bosses know and possibly set them up to begin with, but no one else did, and those "relatives" who discovered his existence don't know anything beyond that), and set to a human world. If there were others, there's nothing known about them for the same reason. Since he got traits of minions of Order and Chaos and got to live with this, in some ways he's just like a mortal human kid, and in others clearly not.

Literature

  • The Bartimaeus Trilogy namedropped a few - all of them famous djinn in Solomon's ranks.
  • In Naamah's Kiss, the main character gets involved with a group of academics attempting to summon members of the Goetia, though they aren't explicitly called that, and ask them for various magical powers.
  • Played a bit meta in the Chinese web novel "The Reader and Protagonist Definitely Have to Be in True Love", where the novel-within-a-novel “Mixed Blood” the main character is sucked into depicts a demonic race whose names of deities and cities are directly ripped off from the Ars Goetia, a fact the main character immediately noted of and the original author didn't bother to conceal.

Live Action TV

  • Charmed had Shax and Andras as villains.

Tabletop Games

  • In Ars Magica 5th Edition, the Goetic Arts (Summoning, Ablating, Binding, and Commanding) are infernal powers that allow their possessor to conjure and coerce demons and other spirits. Actually, Summoning can be associated with any realm (Magic, Faerie, even Divine!), the other three powers, however, are always Infernally aligned (although not everyone who has these powers necessarily knows that...)
  • The Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Sourcebook Tome of Magic has the "Binder" class that gains powers by binding vestiges with seals. In addition to being the base of the concept of the class, most of the vestiges (Ammon, Leraje, Naberius, Ronove, Malphas, Sabnock, Andromalius, Focalor, Paimon, Agares, Andras, Buer, Astaroth, Balam, Dantalion, Haures, Ipos, Shax, Zagan, Haagenti, Halphax, Eligor, Otiax, and Marchosias are used), along with their seals, are taken directly from Ars Goetia (another good portion are Continuity Nods like Acererak). The descriptions of the vestiges' manifestations don't always match perfectly with their descriptions in the Lesser Key of Solomon, though. For example, Zagan is described in the Lesser Key as an eagle-winged bull (well, gryphon-winged, but how does one tell the difference?), just like Haagenti, here an eagle-winged minotaur. In the Tome, he's a great yuan-ti priest who tried (and utterly failed) to achieve godhood, and manifests as a gigantic yuan-ti (i.e. a snake-man). Oddly in this instance, there is an unused Goetic demon, Botis, who manifests as a hideous viper...
    • Dungeons & Dragons 4e has the Vestige Pact Warlock, who can bind Shax and Leraje as a Continuity Nod.
    • In earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons, many of the devils of the Nine Hells had these names: Agares, Barbatos, Buer, Glasya and so on. It looks like this is continuing in 4e, if Alloces is anything to go by.
  • The Steve Jackson Games version of In Nomine used some of these names in their products. For example, Furfur is the Demon Prince of Hardcore in both the English and the original French version too. Malphas, Asmodeus and Haagenti all appear in the game, as well.
  • Mage: The Awakening features goetic demons, embodiments of a character's own Vice that can be given form in order to divest them of unsavory impulses... but that means there's a primal incarnation of Vice walking about. One Legacy, the Clavicularius, draws heavily upon the Ars Goetia and works to draw power from their Goetic demons while keeping them tightly bound. Another Legacy, the Bene Ashmedai, let their base instincts have a measure of free reign and gain power through excess. The latter legacy is a splinter faction of the former, and they tend not to get on well.
  • Warhammer 40,000 has at least two daemons named after Ars Goetia: Mamon, a daemon prince of Nurgle, and the Nurgle daemon lord Scaibeithrax (aka Papa Ga'ap).

Video Games

  • In the original Japanese version of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, Caulder is called Stolos--a variation of Stolas, an owl-demon (all right, or possibly a raven-demon, but other than Andras, the other birds aren't usually alternately owls).
  • Aquanox's ultimate enemies, the Old Ones, were variously named for Goetics, the two strongest being Crocell and Forneus (the latter being the first game's final boss).
  • The portable chapters of Castlevania such as Portrait of Ruin name many enemies after the Goetic demons, such as Vapula (a winged lion), Glasya-Labolas (a winged bulldog), Stolas (an owl monster), Buer (a fiery rotating wheel-thingy) and so on.
  • Two of the chest emblems available for your City of Heroes character's costume, specifically Mystic1 and Mystic2, are in fact the seals of, respectively, Gusion and Astaroth.
  • The Random Name Generator in the Disgaea games seems to have at least some of the 72 demons listed in it.
  • Early editions of Dragonquest had lists of these demons and their game stats.
  • Drakengard has Seere (described as being neither good nor evil, but indifferent in the Ars Goetia, and also manifesting as a beautiful man...although riding a pegasus rather than a golem) and, arguably, Caim (another name for Camio, who somehow communicates with burning embers and allows one to converse with animals. Remember who Caim's synchronized with?).
  • In Final Fantasy VIII, the Guardian Force Doomtrain was originally named Glasya Labolas.
  • Most of the Demon enemies in Final Fantasy XI who are given proper titles are named after demons in the Goetia.
  • A later Big Bad in the Ghosts N Goblins series is named Nebiros, an alternate name of Naberius; the name Nebiros is also used for the final boss in Psikyo's Dragon Blaze. It's worth considering that the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum identified Naberius with none other than Kerberos.
  • In Golden Sun, two of the Summon Spirits accessible in Lost Age are Zagan (early on) and Haures (much later on). They show up again in Dark Dawn, and rather appropriately, the Ancient Devil can summon Haures himself.
  • Andras, Marchosias, and Amon (and maybe Phenex; the question is whether the original bird Phoenix or the demon knock-off is meant) appear as Mooks in La-Mulana, with Buer appearing as a mid-boss.
  • The Ogre Battle series of video games uses this trope frequently, especially in episode VII, where a large portion of the characters are named after Goetic demons (Barbatos, Andras, Haborym, etc.).
  • R-Type Final has a couple of ships named for Goetic demons, Andromalius and Dantalion. Dantalion is particularly appropriately named, since the thing was the beginning of ships that included Bydo tissue for more than the Force itself...
  • The Shadow Hearts series uses slips of paper marked with the demons' crests to bestow magic on people. Asmodeus, Astaroth and Amon are all major figures in the second game.
  • Various members of the 72 Demons of Goetia appear as demons most of the Shin Megami Tensei games, almost always as part of the "Fallen" demon family. Some of the demons also appear as Personas.
    • In Shin Megami Tensei I Belial and Nebiros(Naberius on the list above) sacrifice an entire freakin' town to resurrect a Creepy Child Alice.
    • Some of the mythos are tempered with, though. In Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, Forneus and Decarabia is depicted as friends, while the original Goetia has no mention whatsoever. Perhaps because in SMT Forneus is a demonic ray and Decarabia is a starfish with an eye... In Persona 3 you even get a Fusion spell named Best Friends when the protagonist has both of them.
  • Barbatos Goetia from Tales of Destiny 2 is named not only after one of the demons, but the Ars Goetia itself. The game also features bosses named Buer, Vassago, Forneus, Sabnock, Ose, Vepar, Glasya-Labolas, Dantalion, Halphas, and Gaap.
  • Ronove and Gaap show up in Umineko no Naku Koro ni, where their status as part of the 72 is regularly mentioned. As well as Zepar and Furfur., and a few of the Seven Stakes of Purgatory.
  • A few bad guys in World of Warcraft take names from Goetics, including Naberius (a lich in the Outland), Murmur (a sound elemental), and Sabnok (a Scourge Mad Scientist).
  • The superpowered undead that Nessiah summons in Yggdra Union and Blaze Union have names taken from the 72.
  • The most powerful of the Dark Tomes in Fire Emblem: Awakening is called Goetia. (Interestingly, the Legendary "Dark Tome Gimle" which is the new opposition to the old Game Breaker "Holy Tome Naga" is weaker...)

Western Animation

Other

The 72 named demons are also associated with the following tropes:


  • Aerith and Bob: Andrealphus, Oriax, Decarabia, Valefor, and...Amy? At least until you realize that it should be pronounced with a short "a" sound.
  • Ascended Demon: Some of the demons have aspirations of redemption, specifically Marchosias, Amy, Focalor, and Phenex. Unfortunately, it seems they are "deceived in that hope"...
    • They told Solomon that they hoped to return to the Seventh Throne (Heaven or God or both) in 1,000 or 1,200 years or so. It's been 3,000 years since Solomon was alive. So they hoped for returning to the Seventh Throne 2,000 or 1,800 years ago.
  • Baleful Polymorph: Pray that a conjuror doesn't decide he's mad enough with you to send Ose after you. Not only do you get shapeshifted, you start thinking that you've always been the thing or being Ose just turned you into. Andrealphus, Oriax, and Marbas can do this, too, but they won't throw in the Fake Memories as well (and Andrealphus is limited to turning people into birds).
  • The Beast Master: Volac will bring whatever serpents you desire to you. Although the text doesn't say anything about whether you can actually control them...
  • Dark Is Not Evil: A few of the demons seem to be harmless, or even good-hearted. For example, Orobas is said to be an honest demon who never tells a lie. He also protects his conjuror from evil spirits; more specifically, he makes sure they can't tempt him. Sallos is said to have a generally peaceful nature, and specializes in setting up lovers (although, see Hypnotize the Princess below...). Andromalius specializes in preventing and punishing theft. Of course, you still have singularly nasty demons in there (Andras not only specializes in fomenting strife and discord, he's one of the few specifically stated to, if there's even a small flaw in his summoning confinement, kill the conjuror and all his associates...)
    • It's also worth noting that although we're...well...talking DEMONS here, the conjuror is actually instructed to call upon God and appeal to his authority (which is still binding on the demons, whether they like it or not) in order to get the particular demon to obey the call and evocation. In other words, the idea is that you're using unholy implements (demons) for (allegedly) acceptable-to-God means (although how anyone would call what some of these characters, like Sitri, Andras, and Beleth, do "holy" is kind of difficult).
  • Deal with the Devil: Well, if the above point about using God to get these guys to obey one is anything to go by, one doesn't have the usual soul-price to put up with here, at least as long as the power isn't abused to malevolent and perdition-worthy ends (although as also mentioned, a few, like Leraje and Andras, will only perform malign deeds). One needs to be careful in any case, though; Andras will be trying to kill the conjuror and every one of his associates, Valefor will try to get his conjuror to commit and be caught for a capital crime, and Malphas has a bad habit of reneging on promises secured by a sacrifice on the part of the conjuror.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Agares can cause earthquakes.
  • Enfant Terrible: Volac. Volac himself looks like an angel-winged child. Fair enough. His steed? A two-headed dragon.
  • Evil Counterpart: Some occult traditions consider the Goetic demons, at least when they number 72 and not 69, to be this to the angels who bear the Shem ha-Mephorasch (the hidden name of God). There's even the claim that the Goetics' seals are actually some sort of reverse spelling of each associated angel's name.
  • Evil Is Not a Toy: While no demon at all should be taken lightly, Phenex, Malphas and Andras are especially nasty to would-be conjurors who screw up trying to bind them -- and in the case of Andras, fatal. Valefor, meanwhile, is troublesome post-binding (see Treacherous Advisor).
  • Evil Sounds Deep: This may be the idea behind a fair number of the Goetics being described as having a hoarse voice.
  • Fake Memories: Besides Ose's gimmick, as described in Baleful Polymorph above, Dantalion can reveal a person's thoughts to a conjuror, then change those memories. It does not help that he's one of the bevy of Goetics skilled in impelling love...
  • Familiar: Many, many Goetics have the explicit ability to grant familiars to conjurors. This is also Valefor's sole recorded ability...perhaps because rather than giving you a familiar, he is the familiar.
  • Go Mad from the Revelation: Part of the basic instructions given is to make sure the demons don't appear in forms likely to induce this. If you have read the Book of Ezekiel (and keep in mind that the angels aren't hostile to him), you'll know why.
  • Have a Gay Old Time: Notice how Beleth's power refers to the "exorcist" in Hypnotize the Princess? Even though Mr. Lucky isn't driving Beleth off (yet)? This works because "exorcise" is derived from the Latin for "compel to adhere to an oath"; "conjure" comes from a similar term. That's how exorcising fiends out of someone was supposed to work--force the possessors to adhere to God's laws (like the one forbidding torment of humans) for once, Or Else. No real difference in mechanism when you were instead adjuring/conjuring/exorcising them to be your day laborer.
  • Hellish Horse: Samigina and Orobas both manifest as horses (even if Orobas, going by what he's willing to do for the conjuror, doesn't seem to be particularly hellish in the first place), and Amdusias as a unicorn.
  • Hijacked by Jesus: A few of the demons owe their demonhood to the medieval Christian conceit that gods other than the Hebrew one were merely demons masquerading as divine beings and trying to steal glory and honor that only God should have received. Sallos is alternately Zaebos, a Babylonian crocodile deity. Bifrons (literally "two faces") is another name for Janus, the Roman god of gates. Berith comes from Baal-Berith, patron of a city at odds with early Jersualem. Amon is iffy--while he seems to be named for the Egyptian deity, that his name is occasionally spelled Ammon may connect him to the Ammonites, one of the Hebrews' perennial enemies.
  • Hypnotize the Princess: A lot of the Goetic crew have the ability to incite love between men and women. One has to wonder if anybody trusted the conjurors to not try to use this trick to get themselves a desired bedmate with no strings attached...Sitri is especially explicit about this. Not only can he pull this stunt, he can make them disrobe and degrade themselves. Instant Wild Teen Party, of that sort...or porn...or blackmail material. Beleth's entry, meanwhile, is very explicit about the not-so-romantic side of this; "This Great King Beleth causeth all the love that may be, both of Men and of Women, until the Master Exorcist hath had his desire fulfilled."
    • If you really want to take this trope to the extreme, just turn to Zepar; some sources claim he can turn men into gay pedophiles. No, really. Naturally, he also can do the whole "make men and women fall in love" trick.
      • Some sources have him not only impelling love between men and women, but also rendering women barren. Not necessarily the same women. Patron demon of eugenics?
    • Gremory, meanwhile, will even procure the love of old women. And while Furfur can do this, he sticks to restoring love in marriage.
  • Invisibility: Bael, Glasya-Labolas, Balam, Forneus and Foras have the ability to grant this. For some reason, this typically comes bundled with eloquence and sharp-mindedness.
  • Making a Splash: Focalor's specialty is to rip up warships with his control over the seas and winds, although he'll take care not to kill any specific creature the conjuror forbids him to. Vepar and Crocell also have abilities related to water--Vepar guides the warships (fear the conjuror who's commanding both her and Focalor), and Crocell can sniff out water sources.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Several Goetics appeared as animals with traits belonging to some other beast. Zagan and Haagenti were bulls with eagle wi...fine, gryphon wings...Valefor a lion with a donkey's head, Marchosias a gryphon-winged, snake-tailed she-wolf, etc. Ipos may get the prize for oddest-looking Goetic in this respect: angel with lion's head, goose's feet, and hare's tail. The Dictionnaire Infernal supplies an even odder possible form: lion with goose's head and feet and hare's tail.
  • Multiple Head Case: Some of the demons (e.g. Bune, Aim, Asmoday, in some lists Bael) have three heads, one human and two animal, presumably an implication of their perversion of angelhood by containing an equally chimeric trinity.
  • No Indoor Voice: Paimon is said to "speak in a booming voice" when first summoned, until the conjuror compels him. Alloces isn't an improvement; his voice is "hoarse and very big" (well, he does have a lion's head...), and unlike Paimon, the conjuror can't undo this.
  • No Pronunciation Guide: Keep in mind that, since the original sources partook variously of Latin and German texts, instances of "V" represent the "W" sound (hence some of the alternate spellings for Volac and Uvall). Not something obvious to modern-day viewers who don't have a European linguistics background.
  • Odd Rank Out: Furcas is the only demon with the rank of "Knight".
  • Our Monsters Are Weird
  • Plaguemaster: Leraje: Guarantees that any of your archers' arrows that don't kill the targets outright will turn the wounds putrescent. Vepar and Sabnock: Arrange for enemies' wounds to become maggot-ridden. Marbas: General bringer of disease. This is pretty scary in conjunction with his Baleful Polymorph ability; what happens if the conjuror instructs him to transfigure the pathogen?
    • On the other hand, this could be quite a con. Step 1: Have Marbas cause disease. Step 2: Sell snake oil for curing the disease. Step 3: Have Marbas turn the disease into a different one with a delayed incubation (thus "removing" the first one). Step 4: Return to Step 2.
  • Playing with Fire: Haures can use fire to kill his conjuror's foes, while Furcas will teach the conjuror how to use fire to discern the future, and Aim favors just setting whole cities and castles on fire. Amy doesn't grant anything particularly related to fire, but manifests as a great mass of flame.
  • Rank Inflation: Several of the demons are given multiple ranks. Not across several grimoires, but in the same grimoire. To wit: President & Count/Earl Botis (17), President & Count/Earl Marax (21), Prince/Prelate & Count/Earl Ipos (22), President & Count/Earl Glasya-Labolas (25), Marquis and Count/Earl Ronove (27), President & Prince/Prelate Gaap (33), King & Count/Earl Vine (45), Duke & Count/Earl Murmur (54), and King & President Zagan (61). Basically, rannks are: King (Gold), Marquis (Silver), President (Mercury), Duke (Copper), Count/Earl (Iron), Prince/Prelate (Tin), and Knight (Lead). Or could be listed as: King (Sunday), Marquis (Monday), Count/Earl (Tuesday), President (Wednesday), Prince/Prelate (Thursday), Duke (Friday), and Knight (Saturday). Real Life rankings of nobility would go King, Duke, Prince/Prelate, Marquis, Count/Earl, and Knight (not sure where President goes).
    • "President", in this case, would refer to one who presides over a college or convocation. Also, at the time, "prince" just meant someone who ruled over something, like the princes of Italian city-states.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: A pretty fair number of these guys are associated with snakes (no surprise, given one of the usual alleged guises of Satan) in some fashion, whether holding snakes, riding snakes, having a snake tail, or in Botis's case, being a snake. In addition, Agares, Vassago, Furcas, and Sallos all ride crocodiles, and Volac and Astaroth ride dragons. And finally, except for his heads, Bune is a dragon.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Part of the binding procedure that Solomon used was trapping the demons inside an elaborate vessel of brass, which he could pull them out of at will to perform this or that deed. Once he'd gotten all the work he needed out of them, he cast the full vessel into a great lake in the Babylonian Empire, expecting them to stay stuck until the end of time. Too bad the Babylonians who later found it mistook it for an ordinary treasure cache and opened it, getting nothing for their troubles except Belial impersonating one of their gods...
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Amon has been associated with Wrath, and Asmoday with Lust.
  • Shock and Awe: Furfur.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Marchosias (a she-wolf, at least according to the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum and Dictionnaire Infernal), Vepar (a mermaid) and Gremory (a woman riding a camel) are the only female demons. Though given that they are fallen angels and a good chunk are shapeshifters, male/female may be a formality rather than an indication of (normally) possessing any genitalia. It doesn't help that, even with Gremory, the most obviously female of the lot, the texts always use male pronouns.
  • Speaks Fluent Animal: Barbatos and Camio can make you do this.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Because of the way copying was done for the earliest manuscripts describing the demons, spellings can vary quite a bit from list to list. Ose, for example, can also be called Oso or Voso. Leraje can also be Leraie or Loray. Gremory can be Gomory. Glasya-Labolas gets the prize for dissimilar names, though; he's also called Caacrinolaas and Caassimolar.
  • Starfish Language: Apparently, Camio uses burning coals to communicate. The text doesn't give specifics. Somewhat appropriately, he has the power to let conjurors understand the speech of animals...and the speech of ocean waves...
  • Treacherous Advisor: While Valefor does make for a good Familiar, the problem is that he's constantly trying to tempt the conjuror into a life of robbery--and a resultant execution for robbery.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: A lot of the stranger-looking Goetics will eventually adopt human shape.
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