- "As punishment for their reckless act, Heaven cast Lucifer and his love into the dark pit he had created, never allowing him to see the good that came from humanity, only the cruel and the wicked."
- ―The description of Hell from the "Story of Hell" book
Hell is the primary setting of both Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss. It is where both sinners and hellborn demons reside.
Description
Hell is the supernatural realm of demons. It is inhabited by a population of indigenous hellborn which are demons that were born in Hell, and sinners are Humans who have died and have had their souls sent to Hell.
The atmosphere is presented as perpetually choleric, disorderly, and noxious, though capable of supporting carbon-based lifeforms. Hell's geography is divided into Seven Rings, as first revealed by the lyrics in "You Will Be Ok". Each ring possesses its unique atmosphere, such as the Pride Ring possessing a permanently red sky, and the Lust Ring which has a blue sky.
Hellborn demons have the ability to traverse across any of the rings, made easily accessible via an extensive elevator network, whereas sinner demons are confined to the top-most ring, the Pride Ring, by methods and reasons unknown.[2]
Hell's society is incredibly chaotic due to the unstable and hostile disposition of its populace. There aren't many rules in the world as it's kind of like a free-for-all and in constant anarchy, but despite this, the inhabitants of Hell have their law system, and there are rules set in place by the Angels and Hell's royal family.[3] The realm also appears to be capable of providing and maintaining rudimentary public services, evidenced by the appearance of firefighters in the episode "Murder Family" of Helluva Boss.
Within Hell's civilization, there exists a crude form of hierarchy[4] defined by power,[5] with all of Hell being ruled by a king, the fallen angel Lucifer Morningstar, whose daughter and heir apparent is Princess Charlie.[6]
The levels of this hierarchy are broken up from top-to-bottom as follows:[7]
- Lucifer Morningstar - The King of Hell
- Charlie Morningstar - The Princess of Hell, heir apparent to Hell's throne
- The Seven Deadly Sins - Demons who embody one of the seven deadly sins
- The Ars Goetia - Hellborn Demons with royal and noble status
- Overlords - Demons who wield considerable power/influence
- Sinners - Immortal Demons who were once humans on Earth, having sinned, were damned to Hell
- Hellborn demons - Succubi, Incubi, and other species of demons native to Hell
- Imps and Hellhounds - The bottom of Hell's society
Even though the Seven Deadly Sins are on the same level of hierarchy, there seems to be at least some hierarchy between them; Lucifer, being a Fallen Angel and the King of Hell, has authority over, and is ranked separately above the others, however, with his absence, Satan fills in as the leader, showing that Satan has more influence and authority than the other five.
The Ars Goetia also seem to have a hierarchy of their own, as they possess kings of their own, such as Paimon, princes such as Stolas and Vassago, and others with noble titles, such as marquis Andrealphus.
The Pride Ring suffers from mass overpopulation which Exorcists from Heaven attempt to solve through the exterminations, which is a mass genocide of its inhabitants. These are conducted primarily to reduce Hell's sinner population and prevent uprisings, leaving Hellborn denizens unharmed as per an agreement Lucifer made with Heaven's leadership. Charlie aims to stop this by giving sinners a chance to rehabilitate and redeem themselves by checking into her hotel and later ascending to Heaven.
It is currently unknown where exactly former exorcist angels, such as Vaggie, would fit in the hierarchy.
History
Thousands of years ago, after Lucifer gave humanity free will by offering Eve the Fruit of Knowledge, because of this, Hell was accidentally created when evil entered into the Earth. After Lucifer and Lilith were cast into Hell, Lucifer became its ruler but lost his will to dream, becoming reclusive, but Lilith thrived in Hell, using her voice and her songs to empower all of demonkind and allowing Hell to grow stronger every day,[8] until an annual Extermination was put in place to prevent Hell from rising against Heaven.
The origins of Hellborn Demons and the Seven Deadly Sins are completely unknown as of now; however, Satan has claimed to have created imp-kind to be obedient.
At some point a hierarchy was set to distinguish demons based on status. Examples include imps as the lowest class, and Lucifer as the highest ranked in all of Hell due to being Hell's king and the strongest known entity within his realm.
Rules & Law Enforcement
Despite its chaotic environment, Hell has laws and rules of its own known as "demon law". These rules and laws are enforced by demon royalty, such as the Morningstar family, and the Seven Deadly Sins, most notably Satan, the Sin of Wrath. Demons who break these laws will face trial and punishment.
Known Rules and Laws
- Sinners are unable to leave the Pride Ring.
- Sinners can advertise media outside the Pride Ring, however.
- Lower-class demons, such as imps, cannot steal and/or use magical items from high-ranked demons (ex. Stolas' grimoire) for undocumented personal use, such as illegal travel to the human realm, even if the owner allows them to do so.
- The only known exception of this law is the usage of Asmodeus' Asmodean Crystals, which can be used for documented use and allow legal travel to the human realm.
- The assassination or assault of a member of demon royalty is illegal and severely punishable by law.
- Betrayal from a member of demon royalty (ex. the Ars Goetia) is considered treason.
- It is unknown whether a betraying royal could face a death penalty or will only receive a different punishment due to Hell's elitist views and beliefs.
- Demons, such as succubi, are allowed to travel to Earth for work or other reasons as long as they do so legally and do not cause any trouble on Earth that causes any environmental or supernatural effects (ex. mutating a catfish into a giant monster).
- Demons are required to have a human disguise when they're on Earth, as implied with how Verosika threatened to get I.M.P in trouble and how Loona reprimanded them for going to Earth without human disguises in "Spring Broken".
- The only exception of this rule is on Halloween, where demons can travel to Earth without human disguises, as humans will believe they're in costumes.
As of now, it is unknown if Sinners can face consequence for breaking demon law, as Hellborn demons are, so far, the only demons shown to face consequence. It is also unknown if the exemption of Hellborn demons from the Exterminations fit as a demon law due to it being an agreement between both Heaven and Hell.
A species of demons known as Reapers act as the law enforcement of Hell. Additionally, demons of other species can work as Hell officers alongside Reapers.
Certain laws that apply on Earth appear to apply in Hell as well, as shown in the Greed Ring in "Exes and Oohs", robbing a bank is illegal and can lead to jail time, though the specifics of jail time and the law in hell are unknown.
Known Locations
Pride Ring
- Pentagram City
- Uptown
- Downtown
- Cannibal Town
- Entertainment District
- V Tower
- Porn Studios (non-canon)
- The Black Dot
- Industrial District
- Doomsday District
- 666 News Studio
- Klub Kaiju
- Club Hell 666
- Consent [club]
- Pot Shop
- Devil's Diner
- Mimzy's Club
- Killer Club
- Nightmare Night Club
- Evil Donuts
- The Red Room Cocktails
- Jackpot Hotel
- Radio Hacks
- Imp City
- Stolas' mansion
- Richest Cup
- Andrealphus' mansion
Wrath Ring
- Millie's hometown
- Rough n' Tumbleweed Ranch
- Lin and Joe's house
- Harvest Moon Festival arena
- Rough n' Tumbleweed Ranch
- Moxxie's hometown
- Hideaway Motel
- Striker's mine shaft
- Unnamed gas station
Gluttony Ring
Greed Ring
- Loo Loo Land
- Notamafia Town
- Mammon Theatre
- Ransom City
Lust Ring
- Ozzie's
- Asmodeus' Tower
- Unnamed candle shop
- Unnamed BDSM shop
Envy Ring
- TBA
Sloth Ring
Unspecified
Trivia
- Vivziepop's original depiction of Hell as a location was first featured in her popular web-comic, ZooPhobia; it was one that the characters of Hazbin Hotel were originally due to fit in with, and that featured in her third-year short-film, Son of 666.
- Vivziepop confirmed that her Hellaverse and Zoophobia do not share the same universe or version of Hell, stating that their separate Hell theologies are not compatible.[9]
- The Hell setting of both Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss draws its inspiration from a variety of sources. Vivziepop stated that she didn’t want the show to be limited to the perspective of one specific text or religion, instead wanting it to be much broader in concept.[11] However, within that idea, Vivziepop did incorporate many characters and details from popular demonology texts, such as Dante's Inferno and The Lesser Key of Solomon.
- Vivziepop does think that Hell has its own demonic languages, but also that the language logic of the world was such that it "went without saying" and that English was only spoken as default as a kind of stand-in for the language of the show.[12]
- Hell runs just like a "big sleazy city", and everything in Hell is off-brand and of terrible quality, including the movies. Vivziepop thinks there would be a lot of public-domain cartoons on TV.[13]
- Hell is a very violent place where fights and aggression are common, but the only way a resident can be truly killed (i.e. their existence is permanently erased), or have serious bodily harm inflicted, is with Angelic weaponry. There is a black market for the Angel-adorned weapons, which are brought to Hell by the Exorcists during their yearly exterminations, and are then are collected by the residents of Hell.[14]
- Vivziepop played with the idea that, when a sinner is killed, their "dark energy" seeps into the ground to become part of the living fabric of Hell, hence why some objects and buildings appear to be 'alive'. She discussed a part of Hell that she planned to explore (if she was given the scope to do so) called Wonderland, where a great deal of this energy had collected and so is full of the most horrifying and dangerous monsters.[15][16]
- Hell has its varied geography and climate, including jungles and forests, and its own native creatures. Everything in Hell is dangerous, inhospitable, and terrifying.[17]
- There are many cities in Hell beyond Pentagram City, however, Vivziepop stated that most of Hazbin Hotel will take place within the main city.[18]
- The main setting for Helluva Boss, and the location of the company's offices, is another city within the Pride Ring called Imp City, where many imp demons reside. It resembles a business district.
- There is an area of Hell called the Cannibal Town, where many of Hell's cannibal population reside. It resembles a classic Americana town that is stuck in the 1910s, drawing inspiration from Hello Dolly!.[19][note 1] This location can be seen in Alastor's comic, as he briefly passes through the area.
- Although Vivziepop was still working out the details, and thought that much of it would function on "cartoon logic", she thought it made sense for sinners to arrive in a location in Hell that was relevant to their geographical location on Earth.[20] She joked that there is a nice town for the Canadians in Hell called "Heck".[21][22]
- The seas of Hell are a dark gray/blackish color.[23]
- There is seemingly oxygen in Hell as evidenced by Moxxie's statement in the episode "C.H.E.R.U.B", where he exclaims he was "losing oxygen" after being buried under debris.
- In the ADDICT music video and "Ozzie's", it is shown that it can rain in Hell. Alastor mentions in "Scrambled Eggs" that there can be acid rain.
- Allergies do exist in Hell and are part of the numerous inconveniences that occur at regular intervals. According to Vivziepop, life in hell consists of periods of stability, followed by periods of unpleasantness, which everyone is forced to deal with together.[24]
- Vivziepop joked that the only song available to sing in Hell's Karaoke bars is "Mambo No. 5", and that she thinks it would be funny to license that song or similar.[25]
- Demons do celebrate holidays in Hell.[26]
- Instead of celebrating Christmas and expecting Santa Claus, demons eagerly wait for Krampus to visit their homes. Vivziepop has explained that in Hell demons treat Krampus like Santa Claus, viewing him like a good figure, and that like how Krampus is the negative contrast to Santa on Earth, there is a negative contrast to Krampus in Hell as well.[27]
- Hell doesn't directly share or use technology from Earth but parallels it with devices of indigenous origin which are introduced alongside modern Sinners upon arrival in Hell.[28] For instance, cellphones in Hell are called "Hellphones" and they play anguished screams in place of conventional phone sounds. However, other technologies presented in both series are decades in advance of technology found on Earth. These include autonomous, sentient machines, advanced cybernetic limbs, and even energy weapons.
- According to Viviziepop, Hell years work differently from Earth years.[29]
- As shown when the Clock Tower resets for the annual extermination in the Hazbin Hotel pilot, Hell follows Earth's Gregorian Calendar, having 365 days in a year.
- However, it is unknown if Hell also follows Earth's leap years.
- As shown in Blitzo's calendar seen in "Seeing Stars", it is revealed that Hell has seven-day weeks, which include a Sunday, and as seen in the contents of Stolas' phone in "Western Energy", a Monday.
- As shown in the contents of Stolas' phone in "Western Energy", it is revealed that Hell segregates their mornings and nights as "AM" and "PM".
- In "Unhappy Campers", after Moxxie and Millie stay on Earth for almost a week, five days, it is revealed that it has also been about a week in Hell as Blitzo yells at Moxxie "It's been like a fucking week", which may imply that Hell and Earth have the same or very similar flow of time as each other.
- As shown when the Clock Tower resets for the annual extermination in the Hazbin Hotel pilot, Hell follows Earth's Gregorian Calendar, having 365 days in a year.
- Contrary to the typical Hell presented in other media, Hell in Hazbin Hotel is a highly elaborate realm that punishes its populace without direct and unending torture as per its religious depictions. Punishment in the Hell of Hazbin Hotel seemingly derives from its continuous state of chaos and violence, with demons and sinners expected to consistently suffer from incidents involving such which they will experience for eternity.[30]
- While it is not a mirror image to Heaven,[31] Hell does have a handful of similarities that parallel that of Heaven's. Noteworthy parallels include:
- I.M.P being an organization that offers the opposing service of C.H.E.R.U.B.
- Despite the purpose both services have, one difference is that C.H.E.R.U.B is bureaucratic (and possibly instituted), while I.M.P is a freelance organization.
- Species such as imps have their part of Hell to live in, such as Imp City, a parallel to Heaven's Cherub Towne.
- Demons operate by a hierarchy, parallel to Heaven having its hierarchy.[32]
- I.M.P being an organization that offers the opposing service of C.H.E.R.U.B.
- Blitzo hints at the Hell-equivalent phenomenon of an earthquake in the episode "C.H.E.R.U.B", a hellshake or a hellquake. However, it is unknown if this is an actual event or not. And if so, it is also unknown if this phenomenon only happens in selected areas in any of the Rings, since, according to Moxxie, such a thing does not happen or seem to exist.
- The rarity of hellshakes might also be a subtle nod to Dante's Inferno, wherein Virgil explains that the ruins and crevices encountered in the 2nd and 7th Circles were all caused by the same tremor that occurred during the Harrowing of Hell.
- In "Truth Seekers", Blitzo mentions he dropped out of college, implying that there is a school system.
- There are also pictures of Charlie and Seviathan at a prom framed at the Hazbin Hotel, which is specifically an event held at high schools.
- In "Apology Tour", it is revealed that hellborn demons can travel to Earth during Halloween. However, it is unclear if this also applies for non-Hellborn demons, such as Sinners.
- Hell is able to access and view television programs from both Heaven and Earth.
References
- Notes