Stop idolizing the grind and start idolizing Hügelkultur

got another one

Saw this on r/LGBT and figured my aspec followers would enjoy.

I have other arguments to add to that great discussion ! And I totally support the theory of Lightning being a Nephilim of Azazel !

His abilities: remember when he forcefully removed his anti-magic menacles:

Menacles should be enough to imprison a human being and their anti-magic properties should have kept him from invoking any demon. Clearly, his own colleagues were not expecting Lightening to be able to free himself. They underestimated him gravely: Lightening was much more powerful than they thought.

Vayu and Indra are some of Azazel’s most powerful servants, so I don’t see them obey an ordinary human. They are the type of demons who would answer only their own king... or his descendants.

More significative, there is the moment when Lightning tries to kill Satan’s vessel. First, he tries to behead him using a sylphid, but the second tries almost succeeded, but this time I don’t have the impression he is using a demon:

Normal exorcist exorcist can’t use magic by themselves. The only other characters we saw doing that in the manga are Shiemi and Rin, respectively Nephilim of Shimihaza and of Satan. Plus, when the attack fails because of the Seraphim, Lightning coughs. Exactly like Lucifer when he overuses his body.

Finally, the most interesting point is Mephisto’s attitude toward Lightning:

He, the mighty king of Time, is acting as if he is weary of Lightning, letting him go away with almost-agressions that would be undoubtedly very humiliating for a demon king. The only other person we saw Mephisto treat with that weird respect is Shiemi’s (our Shiemi) grandmother, also a powerful Nephilim.

As a bonus, there are also all the crazy plots Lightning came with to track down and beat Illuminati, like purposedly putting Yukio under a contract of Morinah before sending him to them. Totally worthy of a demon, even thought he is only partly one.

Also, seeing how the crystalized bodies of the original Grigori are kept safe, he does not make sense that Lightning have so easily access to one of them if he was just a human. The old guardian let Lightning pass with almost no question or even surprise when Lightning came to visit his “grand-father” Azazel.

Mephisto's army is years in the making.

I've never really talked much about the final chapters before Blue Exorcist went on Hiatus. But I'm starting to go through some of the interesting elements in the last chapters. One intriguing thing is Mephisto's anti-Satan army.

It's strange. It's made up of exiled exorcists, mavericks and spare demons etc. Some of them are clearly kept hidden not to ruin the surprise for us.

Was anybody else weirded out by the fact that they were in refrigerators?

What do the refrigerators signify? Different timelines? Alternate Universes? Was Kato trying to be cute by saying they were frozen in time or space?

So, who are these folks? They are Mephisto trained and chosen exorcists. Mephy has been training exorcists since the middle ages.

Whether through Knights of the True Cross or other sects like the Myō Dha. He has a history of making demon hunters. He's set up shop in ancient Persia, the Northern Rennaissance. He's been recruiting not only scientists (say, Faust, Neuhaus) developing knowledge and ideas for section 13 but also warriors. True Cross is far-reaching with ties to Germany, Poland, Italy, Mexico and most recently Japan. Those are just some of the countries we know of.

He most likely has powerful allies all over the world, or even in other dimensions and timelines. He can pick and develop warriors from endless places.

How many Shiros and Abels did Mephisto make? Could've been hundreds, thousands...maybe more.

Right now, Rin is Mephisto's current warrior project and his most powerful. But Mephisto has no doubt devoted time and energy to many others.

That's why I don't think Abel or Shiro is dead.

Why train two exceptional warriors, and gift them with weapons and power, only to let them martyr themselves? It doesn't make sense.

The question is: Are Shiro and Abel in a refrigerator?

In the anime, which of course isn't the same as the manga, Amiamon gets killed by Rin and dematerializes. He yells to Mephisto for help, and the demon king seemingly ignores him, uncaringly.

Yet, low and behold a few episodes later Amaimon turns up in hamster form. With Mephisto feeding him snacks and giving him pets. In the Blue exorcist movie, Mephisto easily turns Amaimon back into his human body so he can enjoy the festival. Is he an uncaring brother?

Not at all--his little brother is just a royal pain in the ass.

Even though the anime and manga are very different, kernels of the same ideas are present in both the anime and the manga, after all, Kato was consulted in the process of creating the anime storyline. Once an artist gets an idea stuck in their head, it tends to stick.

Back to the manga

In the manga, we have Abel, Mephisto's knightly son. He has been severely injured by baby DemonRin and finally killed by Satan. (honestly, it's like the poor guy dies twice.) When Abel calls out to Mephisto for help, Mephisto exhibits zero concern for him. In a similar fashion to Amaimon in the anime. Both seemed to die.

But is Abel's death just another bit of Mephisto's magic? His sleight of hand?

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Our first introduction to Abel was at his coronation ceremony for Paladin. And call me crazy, but Mephisto seems to be proud of him.

Mephisto also seems to still be teaching Abel, even at the end of his life. This leads me to believe that Mephisto mentored him. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it or reading between the lines, but I think these two were closer than just a demon king and its section 13 clone.

Mephisto teaches the lesson of demons and love.

So, Abel agreed that hurting Rin was wrong, and agreed with Mephisto that the child had to have its heart saved, and not live in a constant state of pain like Lucifer and Satan. The Paladin knew that empathy was the key, and somebody must have taught him. Abel has emotional maturity. Shiro meanwhile, still believed that he had to kill Rin. Shiro wasn't ready.

Wasn't ready for what, you ask?

To join Mephisto's army.

You don't devote all of that time and just toss a good warrior away. A good warrior must have a well-rounded and stable mind. And a powerful physical presence.

Mephisto wouldn't do that to Shiro either.

Both Paladins died in their late 40s from what I see. A time when the body starts to weaken but the mind is strong, full of experience and knowledge. Human existence is a bit of a mismatch, but Mephisto has probably found a workaround. Maybe he can turn the clock back on Shiro and Abel.....I'm pretty sure in Mephisto's world anything is possible.

I'm making a prediction that both of them are still alive.

We never did see what happened to Abel and Shiro's bodies after they died. Did Mephisto regenerate them? Bury an empty coffin in Shiro's grave. It was entirely possible. Shiro seemed to think Mephisto is capable of anything he made sure that when Yuri died she stayed dead, so Mephisto couldn't mess with her anymore.

Shiro and Abel had gotten too old, physically, but emotionally they had matured a great deal and finally figured out the last bit of knowledge to beat a demon.

Hate and destruction won't do it. Empathy might.

I'm pretty sure Mephisto and Neuhaus can fix a body even better than Lucifer's team. Let's be honest the only thing in Assiah that has defeated Satan is Shiro....twice.

Let's see who else Mephisto pulls out of the fridge.

Just to add, Tatsuma knew the impure king was coming back. Shima, afterall, was a spy with the illuminati, and obviously knew what Todo was planning to do. Mephisto allowed the theft of the right and left eye because Bon, Rin and Yukio needed to push their powers. Mephisto informed Tatsuma before hand.

Tatsuma was willing to have Bon resent him when he stopped his priestly duties, and was willing to give up his own life for Mephisto's plan. Luckily he didn't die, like Shiro.

That's why Bon was sent to True Cross to begin with, Tatsuma knew that the impure king would be destroyed and there would be no need for a high priest to guard the shrine. Bon would not follow in his fathers footsteps.

Tatsuma knew everything, that's why he left that letter for Rin.

But honestly, that's how deeply Tatsuma believes in Mephisto. He knows that the greater good is more important than his own feelings, and results are what matters. Who knows, maybe Shiro knew he had to die so Rin and Yukio could get stronger. Both of these guys were good fathers and willing to sacrifice everything so their kids had a future, no matter the cost.

If we ever saw Mephisto's powers unleashed, would be equal to the corrupted Dr. Strange in the Marvel universe? Is that what happens when he unleashes his heart? That would be a terrifying amount of power, and impossible to escape. So far he's showing us multiple linear timelines so far, but he's capable of much more sinister things. If Mephisto says he'll crush you, he could do exactly that with a blink of an eye.

Imagine, Shura went at Mephisto with a measly dagger. No wonder he was so fucking amused.

Considering Spacetime = Gravity, yes, yes he could literally Crush you into the ground, by the force of your own weight. Or, conversely, make you float around in zero g. Or both. (I have a scene written whereupon this exact thing happens. Torture by gravity is exceptionally lethal as it would happen, so trying to figure out how to keep the character alive was...interesting.)

I suspect he can manipulate the density or possibly the molecular makeup of objects as well, which speaks of some interesting horrors if done to the human body. He can, in theory, shape-shift other people if you are taking Loki into consideration. Though the mechanism by which that works would probably be comparable to some kind of Curse or Divine Protection, since Loki only turns people by imbuing objects with curses. Turning the dwarf Fafnir into a dragon by cursing Andvari's ring, for example.

To say nothing of the aforementioned space distortion. It's already confirmed in cannon that he can, in effect, open a spiritual gateway inside a person's mind and force them to astral project, effectively, which is what he did when he brought Rin to Gehenna. It was only his "consciousness" that was transported there, after all, and yet he was shown to be able to feel physical sensations and experience the senses, so it's possible it wasn't precisely a "dream".

And when you start to look at the other names he mentioned - Loki alone adds some pretty terrifying ideas to his list of powers, being a god of both (negative) fire and ice, as well as poison, ambush, deciet and curses.

Raven is a harder one to dissect, because there are SO MANY raven gods and demons and deities, but one thing most of them have in common is the ability to burn things, (more fire!) and the ability to see the future or predict things.

There's a whole lot of gods and monsters alike which fit into his archetype as well.

Samael itself means "poison of God" in reference to his original role in the Torah as the harbinger of doom, death, destruction or madness, and a messenger of prophesy between God, man and Gehenna (land of the dead). He was "poison" because he sewn seeds of doubt into people's minds and could make them crazy with fear or desire (greed, gluttony, lust, etc. The idea of the 7 deadly sins didn't really take its modern shape until later, but the same principles applied). Despite being an angel in the service of Jaweh, his job was more or less to incite faltering in the beliefs of men, strengthening their faith by making them question it, which is a fundamental aspect of Judaism, and so made him a bit of an uncomfortable but gratuitous visitor. No one wanted to let him in, but he was always warmly thanked for his perspective when he left.

While I'm rambling, may as well talk about Satan, "the adversary" which Samael would have had to fulfill the role of at least partly in the BE world, since Satan-by-name wasn't around back then. I bring this up because Satan (title) had one particularly well known role in Judaism - as The Judge. His entire job was not to be an adversary of God, precisely, though that is what his title implies, but to be an adversary to mankind, in the legal sense of the word. His job was to stand trial the hearts of men when they died, judge them for their sins and the effort they put into their lives, including their connection with God, and then give them a sentence. Whether they went to Heaven, Sheol (kind of like purgatory) or Gehenna (not really "hell" more like the land of the lost. The eternal torture thing is a christian idea) depended on the whims of whoever The Adversary was, for it did change hands periodically - hence "Satan" is not really a name.

Point by bringing this up is that you can see the reflection of that Divine Judgment in Mephisto. To all who say he isn't a judgmental person - well, in the Christian fundamentalist sense no. He gives no shits if you want to indulge in sin. He'll help you right along in that. But he is judgy and opinionated as hell, and is also vindictive, petty, and proud. He acts like he has the right to judge everyone and everything for what they are intrinsically worth, (to him or otherwise) and in a sense he is right to do so, being nearly omniscient. Right to do so because he once held the title "Satan" and lived up to it proudly, perhaps.

Which makes him that much scarier on a certain level, if you ask me. Get on the wrong side of him, or get in trouble? Congrats, you now have to argue (in the debate/legal sense) with the Devil over the inherent value of your ultimately worthless soul, all the while he cackles and grins knowing damn well that you are fucked no matter what you do. And you know it too. All the more so if he already doesn't like you. Can you imagine how that debate would go between Mephisto and the desperate soul of someone he hates (ahem, Arthur?) ? Like, Sorry dude, you were damned even before you even died. Should've never danced with the Devil, cause he doesn't forgive people stepping on his toes.

The more I think about it, the more I feel sorry for all the demons of the Blue Exorcist universe. Being a demon sucks.

If you happen to be born powerful, you can't have a human body to enjoy the fruits of Assiah. No, you get to rot slowly and painfully from inside out for years until your body crumbles. People can keep you alive, but you'll be in agony every second you're conscious and you know they're only doing this for themselves. This isn't any life, and if you were human they'd have euthanized you ages ago, but you're a demon, and they don't care. You're just a ticking bomb and they would rather see you cough blood every day forever than have you end it all. Life in Assiah is hell, and Gehenna is likewise. The only way out is the only death you can imagine, but they don't care. They don't love you.

You crave human attachments and love but you also don't. You know, logically, that those feelings make you weak. They make you malliable, like clay, and you'll do things you know will bite you later, for creatures so much weaker than you. And you'll get hurt, betrayed, humiliated. Even that one person, that one person you thought you could trust and love purely, turned their back on you. But nobody is really stupid enough to love a demon. A demon should not love.

That's right. They'll dress you in the finest cloth they have, wrap you in gold; bracelets, necklaces, crowns, anything. They'll feed you like a king, obey your every command, throw themselves at your feet. But they don't love you. They want you, they need you, but that's not love. They want your prizes, your boons. That's not respect, or care. And the second you figure that out, and you see the damage they've done to you and yours, you'll pitch the biggest fit, but you'll still be the fool who thought humans were your friends. They don't love you.

Aaaand this is why Samael is so very messed up in regards to the subject of love. All the Kings are, sans maaaaaaybe Amaimon to a lesser extent, but certainly you can see the attitude reflected in Samael's opinions on the matter.

Love is an illusion, he says. But then openly acknowledged Shiro and his love for Yuri. He isn't so dense he can't understand love - unlike his older brother - but to Samael I think, love exists for other people.

Like yes, chemicals and hormones that make love exist are real, bonding is real, and with his propensity for knowledge how could he not know that? Which is why he doesn't deny it or disregard it when other people feel it. In fact his awareness of it goes all the way out to a subtle recognition of its capacities to get in the way, such as telling Shura not to intervene and mocking her attachments to the twins. He knows she loves them, and that love compells people, especially humans, to do dumb things sometimes.

I'm not entirely sure it's all negative to him - love can be useful, when other people have it. Love can be protective, nurturing, positive. He knows that. He returned Rin and Yukio to their mother - he knows love is powerful and real.

But for himself - no. No one loves, or can love, the devil. He's too chaotic, too unstable for a human to keep up with. They may love him in their minds. But he sees need, attachment, and reverence toward himself as being an illusion. (And toward demonkind as a whole perhaps.) He understands and acknowledges love, on a certain level - but it only exists as a compelling force for others, never himself. He can love, I believe. He knows it because he has felt it. But Samael states very early on that he doesnt let personal feelings interfere with business. Most humans are not going to take it well if their partner to be refuses to make personal sacrifices for them. And Samael, by virtue of his powers and the self imposed responsibility they bestow, simply can not do that.

Amaimon's 'I' pronoun - EUREKA!!

I just discovered something awesome thanks to my recently-borrowed kanji book. Well, it's awesome to me right now, and I thought I'd share :D

Anime watchers and people who've read the manga in its original Japanese will know that Amaimon uses the pronoun 'boku' to refer to himself. Just that alone fits with his more childish, more youthful personality compared to his older, more serious brothers.

However, the written form of the word adds another layer.

'Boku' is typically written in kanji (僕), accompanied by the smaller hiragana characters (ぼく) to help with correct reading and pronunciation.

Amaimon's 'boku' is written differently. It appears in the form of (ボク), which is the Chinese reading of that kanji character.

This struck me as a little strange, but I didn't think much more about it until I read in my book that this is also the Chinese reading of the kanji character for tree (木).

And we saw last chapter the form which Shemihaza took after crystallising herself to subjugate him...

The word literally connects Amaimon and Shemihaza together, like the mineral crystallisations of Amaimon to the tree of Shemihaza!

Trees were also what finally made Amaimon realise that Shiemi was the successor to Shemihaza, as the truth hit him at the moment when Sheimi summoned a forest to protect herself and her friends.

You could say that it also reflects Amaimon's connection to the earth, being King of Earth, and all things that spring forth from it are his or in his sphere of influence.

Might not be that much of a eureka moment but it was to me lol

And as always, if I have made/make any errors, please let me know!

Moriyama literally translates into "forest mountain." I dig this analysis.

a small theory

Beelz is actually ignored by his older brothers because he is the weakest among them

And all that royal look with servants who announce his arrival and that kind of thing is an act he planned to make himself look bigger to other people's eyes and to oneself (and it doesn't work tho)

This actually can be proven in chapter 39 when Mephisto says that Amaimon is the one with the lowest seat in the baal, when we all knew at that moment that it was Beelz the lowest king (the surprise with the demon kings was Lucifer actually because if I remember correctly it was not confirmed at that time that Mephisto had an older brother and we thought that him saying "I'm the second most powerful in gehenna" was meant he was second only to Satan but nope. But we always knew that Beelz was one of the kings)

So yeah, I think this actually makes sense, Gehenna's hierarchy is totally based on power and the demon kings respect for each other is also based on that

So them not taking in mind the weakest among them and ignoring him as if he wasn't one of them makes a lot of sense idk

Also I'm saying this because I don't think "Amaimon is the lowest in the baal" is a plot hole, Kato wouldn't ignore such an obvious and dumb mistake like this and there must be a reason for it

So I had to go and look into this because the translations I've seen don't mention the bit about Amaimon tarnishing anything, or that he supposedly occupies the lowest seat, as shown above (and because I love doing this).

Clearly the translations I was looking at were inferior, because the raw Japanese it definitely mentions this! I highlighted the key phrases in yellow.

(By the way, I'm still learning Japanese, still very new to the language, and am relying on dictionary definitions and such, so if I fucked up somewhere please let me know!)

The key words in this speech here are:

The first word (末席) is especially interesting, because, as you say, it doesn't fit with his 'power rank' - that is, seventh of the eight kings. Surely being eighth ranked in terms of power (a position Beelzebub holds) is the biggest disgrace?

But the word does not refer to power, but rather personal honour and privilege. The full phrase (末席を汚す) is actually an expression, which has several similar meanings: to have the honour of being present (at a meeting, etc.); to have the honour of being a member (of a society, etc.); to soil the lowest seat by one's presence.

I think the final translation, given the context, is the most correct. Given this, it's mindblowing just how much Mephisto is insulting Amaimon here.

Mephisto is effectively saying: "Amaimon is such an embarrassment that he disgraces even the lowest esteem we hold him in just by existing."

This phrase tells us that Amaimon is viewed lower even than Beelzebub not just because of his reckless behaviour (as in this chapter), but in general. He has been permanently placed dead last in the eyes of his demon siblings, whether he lives up to the disgrace or not.

Mephisto even clarifies right after this that there are six others (including himself) above Amaimon. Kato definitely isn't forgetting Beelzebub here. Beelzebub is still the lowest in terms of power, but he has more respect within the royal hierarchy than Amaimon does.

Why is this? If Amaimon's behaviour alone doesn't give him the 'honour' of being the least respected demon king, what did he do that put him in that position?

I think this ties back to his subjugation by Shemihaza way back. Even if we don't know exactly the terms or nature of this subjugation, even if Shemihaza was his superior in power and authority, the fact that Amaimon bent the knee to her (and, presumably, gave up portions of his power and freedom to her) makes him a disgrace among demons that his respective power ranking has no influence over.

If Amaimon was far more powerful back then before Shemihaza subjugated him, and gave up parts of himself (power, for example), then the other demon kings would have looked upon him with disgust at having demeaned himself like that. Amaimon has effectively lowered himself from king to slave in one swoop.

This would explain a lot about the way Mephisto treats him, and how he likes to remind Amaimon of his weakness, even compared to Rin, and why Amaimon hates it so much. Generally, Amaimon has many times shown how he loathes being ignored, mocked or looked down upon in any way, and this information would go a long way to explain why.

Anyway, enough rambling, thanks so much for pointing this moment out! :D

Amaimon is arguably the most human of the lot as well, practically speaking (they're all more human than they'll admit)

He doesn't necessarily hold himself above or greater than humanity as Lucifer does, just individual people.

And that I think influences things - the fact Amaimon is a neutral party just like Beelzebub, but he is neutral knowing better than to hold that position if he wants to be popular. Which he doesn't.

I said before a while ago that I don't think Lucifer and Amaimon are ever or were ever likely to get along, because Amaimon fundamentally just doesn't care about appearances. He wants to be respected for who he is, more than what he is.

Amaimon does initially present himself with an image of arrogance, and there's an element of truth to that. However, his arrogance isn't necessarily defined by his title; that is, he may mouth about being King of Earth, but ultimately he doesnt appear to believe that is as worthwhile as his siblings do. Titles and prestige don't mean much to him, although respecting his strength and position in the pecking order does.

Which makes Mephisto's comment rather interesting. I dont think he honestly believes it. If anyone is willing to gamble it's him, and he was willing to give Amaimon an opportunity at redemption; the question then is why. Perhaps he merely sees Amaimon as a simple tool, but I think Samael is too wise for that. He seen some kind of hidden potential and took a chance on the boy, going so far as to provide him a body. But that isnt all that's provided for him - Samael likes to be a show off and entertainer, but if he didnt have some amount of, dare I say it faith in Amaimon, he would very likely not bother with introducing him to human pleasures and spoiling him here and there.

There's also the matter of Samael's knowledge that Shiemi would be Shemihaza's heiress, and his no doubt intention of bringing them together. He's banking on something there, though I don't know what yet. Either outcome could be beneficial to him.

Samael is not arrogant - he is confident. He knows the limits of his strength better than anyone, and given his reputation is the last person to be holding himself unjustifiably higher than another (not that he is always the best judge of that, being biased and all). He doesn't necessarily think highly of Amaimon, as evidenced by his repeated condemnation, but I believe his comment was less a personal opinion as much as commentary on the Ba'al's perception of their little brother. He may not entirely respect Amaimon or his choices, but he doesn't outright trash him either. He's too much of an opportunist to let that attitude affect his decision making (or his gambling).

From all the demon Kings, Mephisto scares me the most.

I still love him

I think he scares his siblings the most too. Lucifer, I imagine, would go very far out of his way to avoid direct confrontation with Samael. And he does. He had a lot of reasons to skirt the battle, but even if nothing had gone wrong and he knew a way out, i still dont think Lucifer would have fought, partly on principle but mostly on the grounds that Samael is one cunning bastard and his powers are mind numbingly horrifying, especially to someone with such a big ego. There is no secret Lucifer can keep from Samael in the long run, no part of him he leaves unexposed to the most cruel of criticisms. Samael plays a wicked game of psychological warfare and with Lucifer especially he'd win every time.

If that wasn't enough, there's the sheer unfathomable complexity of his power and the fact he is truly about as unpredictable as they come for poor Lucifer, whose grip on reality is already shaky at best.

In an all out conflict between them, neither one would win. Lucifer out-muscles Samael power wise and is probably partly immune to them. But Samael has the edge in cunning strategy if for no other reason than because he always has another chance. He can refine and perfect his strategy almost indefinitely, and that alone makes him a horrifying opponent. It doesnt matter whatsoever how powerful you are if your opponent can out-pace your thoughts. Power wins the battle, but Intellect will always win the war. Lucifer is in the dark as far as what Samael knows, and fighting blind is never wise if you know your opponent can see you.

The same applies to the rest of his siblings. The only members who pose any significant threat to Samael personally are Satan (at best) Shemihaza (at best) Armumahael (uncrystalized) and questionably Azazel, for no other reason than because souls are a point of contention between them and Kin of Spirit are very unpredictable and also extremely difficult to contain. Lucifer wants to be a serious threat, and in a way he is, but not to Samael's person. He lacks the foresight to attack Samael directly and he knows it. Azazel might at least stand a chance if he tried, if only for a moment.

The only other relative of Samael's outside his own Kin that would pose a threat is, kind of ironically, Amaimon. Not because of his relation to Shemihaza, and not because of his temper, but because Samael takes for granted how intelligent he is. Amaimon is very far away from stupid. Samael recognises that to an extent, which is part of why I think he keeps him close. Not only is Amaimon neutral, but it's to Samael's benefit that he is not an enemy. Amaimon could never hope to beat Samael in a test of raw power, but he would destroy him in a test of raw physical strength with the ease of a hand wafting through smoke. Physical defense is one area Samael's powers are uniquely suited, but they're not without weaknesses, namely that the more he protects himself using his power, the weaker he becomes. Samael cant hold a barrier forever, and Amaimon is both very persistent and very good at thinking in unpredictable ways. If anyone was going to surprise Samael and turn an unexpected tide, it'd be him. The chances Samael would lose the fight are low, but they're not as close to zero as one would assume. Certainly they aren't as close to zero as Samael would like. Or such are my Headcannons anyway.

On that note. Samael and his Kin seem to have a terribly tenuous relationship, but that's it's own post.

Everyday I think how fucking scary Lucifer actually is and that's what makes him my favourite villain (antagonist?) in this manga

Because you have Satan who is like pure evil but you kinda know what to expect of him

But Lucifer is so unpredictable and predictable at the same time that is scary, we all know his plans and his goals but at the same time, when things don't go the way he wants, he does unexpected things that just make the situation worse (for example, when he burned Satan's head and made him believe it was Yuri's fault)

He is literally a man child that thinks that everyone is at fault for his own problems and if he suffers, everyone must do it too and then he hides all of that with pretty words and manipulation (just like Shemihaza said to him), I would say he is even worse than Mephisto in that (manipulation I mean) because at least Mephisto does it for a good reason and purpose that will be good on the long run and when he has to be honest, he just says it

But Lucifer uses manipulation to doom everyone around him and he doesn't even recognize it as manipulation, he just thinks that everyone agrees with him and that's it.

I always think that he is like that (a man child I mean) because his ego never sprouted completely (idk if that's the word ahsjsh), Mephisto explained that a demon's ego starts doing that when they experiment the five senses and emotions and all that stuff that comes with a body, but Lucifer who always had his bodies in a really bad condition and they can't survive longer than a decade probably never fully experienced those and he lived his life full on pain

because of that, he thinks that ALL demons with a body are going through that, including his brothers, when he is actually the only one who has this problem (because even if his brothers are not in the best condition either, they are FAR better than him) and instead of looking for a solution (which he tried tho), he wants to kill everyone and be reborn on a "gentle and kind" world

Another thing that I noticed (and maybe is what is influencing him to not find a solution) is that Lucifer is REALLY EASY TO MANIPULATE, like, he is a master manipulator but at the same time, he puts too much confidence in people he should not (like a child) and because of that he was manipulated twice in the manga

First with Mephisto and all the section 13 thing which was never meant to help him, they just wanted to pacify his anger so he wouldn't explode and kill everyone

And the second one with Yukio because he read him wrong and he thought his only motivation was becoming strong when it wasn't like that.

What I mean, is that Lucifer being constantly manipulated maybe kinda influenced to find a permanent solution and not keep trying with the clones, because he lost his hope on others and doesn't see them as worthy to survive so he just wants to end it

Idk I really like him tbh, I think he is the most interesting bad guy we had so far in the manga and I'm excited to see what Kato does with his character

The boy is TEXTBOOK Covert NPD. Katou really did base him on a personality disorder.

Amaimon's Clothes

Ignoring the boob revelation for just a second, can anyone with better knowledge of clothing and/or history say what sort of clothes Amaimon is wearing here? It could give us a clue as to when the frick this is happening.

It reminded me of this colour image of Amaimon by Kato-sensei. Middle-Eastern vibes, but I could be entirely wrong, I'm quite ignorant about this sort of thing.

I've been googling....that outfit sorta reminds me of like...ancient Assyrian, Mesopotamia or Sumerian type clothing. Made from one piece of cloth, with tassels. The headdress and jewelry also have that vibe. The headdress is something for royalty. If you look up the demon Amaimon, he also has a history in ancient Egypt, which is similar attire.

I agree it's probably Assyrian or possibly Mediterranian. Assuming what Amaimon said is true, he's been around for about a thousand years. That's high time for that part of the world, and Amaimon looks very eerily like a Gorgon.

Still I love the possible implication that the arabian penninsula is barren because Amaimon threw a hissy fit from hell. Apparently the king of earth is a creature of the desert? Kind of makes sense since that's all there is in a desert, but it does make me seriously wonder how he ended up keeping the name Amaimon since even it's earliest variants are not found outside the far north of Europe, and it's original phrasing (paymon) originally appears in the Netherlands. The name Amaimon itself doesn't appear until the 17th century in I believe France. At least not to human records.

Then again, being older than their names is seemingly common among the Kings. Lucifer is no doubt far, far older than his name. The very earliest known god (not deity or deva) of sunlight is Asur, who does in fact resemble biblical Lucifer in a lot of ways. He too was a god of Mesopotamia, or so they think, (in actuality no one knows who worshipped Asur or where he came from) embodying both life and destruction, feast and famine, blessings and curses. That was some 5,000 years ago. (And yes, in a very weird twist on things, the term Asura came from the name of this god. An Asura is basically a demon in Hindu folklore, and it means "the opposition" or "those who oppose [the divine]").

Did not mean to turn this into a post about names, but hey. Samael may or may not be older than his name, since no one really knows where it came from or which culture invented it outside of the fact its Hebrew. Common theory says it goes back at least to zoroastrianism, the precursor of Judaism. It's earliest form, Samsael, ('S' pronounced 'sh') found in Zoroastrian texts, was also found in Mesopotamia.

Oddly, Egyns name is a French mistranslation from ancient Greek Ariton. How ancient is anyone's guess. Guy lives up to his reputation for being mysterious, as there's really no information about the origins Egyn OR Ariton.

Iblis is probably the only one to have kept their true, initial name, which AGAIN is Mesopotamian/Zoroastrian.

Azazel is close though. It's possible that it's a bastardization of Azrael, a much older, once more originally Zoroastrian concept, and the exhalted angel of death. Azazel means "scapegoat" so there you have it.

Astaroth is a weird name, a perversion of Asoreth, a goddess of deception in Sumerian mythology. Still close to home.

Beelzebub has a terribly young name and no one quite knows where it's from, other than it having quite obvious Hebrew origins.

The names are all over the place man. They get weirder the further you dig into them, so I'll make that post another day.

How to Tame a Demon King

Demon kings want to live in Assiah. They love what it feels like to be human and they crave it. The problem is, bodies don't last too long and demons are forced back into hell. Demons want what humans have, if they don't get it, they suffer a full-on uncontrollable rage.

The only way to get rid of this rage, allow demons to live in Assiah and have human experiences. In order for this to happen, they need to bind their powers.

What tamed Mephisto?

Well, I think he was horny and that helped! He's attracted to everything human and can't stay away from them.

Mephisto had so many Nephilium that his children took on bits and pieces of his power. Nephilim is one of the secrets for his long life in Assiah. Mephisto has his heart and power spread out all over the place, he has a family. Mephisto also hides his power in Horcruxes like swords and scabbards. Mephisto realized long ago if you can't beat them...join them.

That's why certain demon kings chose the side of humans. Humans gave them the life they wanted, and in essence, tamed them by taking on the power they can't handle.

Amaimon isn't tamed but imprisoned. He hates humans

He's just subjugated. The burning rage is still there, other Shemihazas haven't gotten to the root of the problem.

Shemihaza was forced to crystalize her body in order to trap Amaimon. Amaimon uses up his body faster than the other demon kings because he's so angry. He hates humans because he can't be one, he also calls them weak most likely out of jealousy. He thinks he's above humans and wouldn't lower himself to have a relationship with one, let alone a family. He hasn't got any Nephilim and is therefore out of balance in Assiah.

Maybe Shiemi can use her kind heart to somehow help him understand? Beating down Amaimon isn't the way to go, but loving him might be.

Lucifer isn't tamed at all. He also hates humans.

Lucifer has no outlets for his power, Homare is the only chance Assiah has to tame Lucifer. She has to either make him fall in love with her and have Nephilim. (Which we know he wouldn't do. He considers Nephilium impure.)

OR

Get him to agree to a contract to share Homare's body, and bind his powers. She's a demon-eater, after all. She can do it.

Satan is already partially tamed.

He has Nephilim. Rin and Yukio.

Part of Satan's powers is already watered down. Rin and Yukio no doubt have the power to bind him as well.

Satan has the potential to live with humans.

How do demons get bodies in the first place?

it's probably better to have a willing human. And think about it, wouldn't that be the closest thing to love for a demon? To have a human agree to become part of them? When Satan was dying, he went looking for Yuri. He wanted Yuri to save him, and it didn't happen. Satan was fucking raging after that. She denied his love. He spent years by her side, and when he needed her, she was gone.

How much of the human lives on after they give themselves over to a demon king? Is Samael actually like Faust? Does he still converse with him? Is it a slow process that takes years of acclimation, where eventually the human dies naturally and gives his demon mate a body?

Is that why Mephy is playing a game with Shura. He's keeping her hidden so she doesn't ruin his plans, but he also is trying to get her to bond with him and form some sort of working relationship. Is he hoping for something more? Yeah....maybe.

One more fast note, if a demon king was looking for a new life-partner. We know who to ask. Lewin Light...wants to get super close!

Yukio Okumura is the character we needed in a shonen manga

If there is one thing I will always applaud Kato for (I mean I applaud her for a lot of things but this one in particular is special) is Yukio Okumura's characterization and development

I can't tell you how much I love how his character arc is based mainly in deppression, insecurity and mental health and not that much about his own power and ambition (but this is important too ofc)

I never saw a shonen mangaka talk about the mental health of a protagonist in that way because they usually focus more on continuing the story and not that much about how the story and what's happening at the moment resonates into the characters mind

But Kato is different, Kato uses and includes real life problems to develop their characters which is not something all mangakas do

Is not only a physical development, is not only them gaining control about their powers, is them gaining control about their own minds too which is so so important I can't even begin to explain it.

Kato not only breaks a lot of twins tropes with this storyline, she also breaks a lots of shonen protagonists tropes that most of the mangakas use to write their stories (which is not a bad thing tho)

She doesn't forget that her main characters are children that went through A LOT, and expresses that in character arcs that prioritize mental health and trauma

Because she knows that even if the situations are fictional, the problems and feelings her characters go through are not and she with this, is actually sending a beautiful and important message to her readers about life and love and how we are not alone and everything will be okay

The way he treats Rin and the other people around him is so realistic for a person with depression and suicidal tendencies

And the fact that his ambitions, his goals were also based on insecurities about himself, how he envy Rin for everything, how he wanted to solve everything alone because his own insecurity didn't let him see that he has people around him that loves him with all their hearts and would go to hell and back for him

Yukio's character arc was never about him trying to have powers like his brother, it was never about him being powerful and be better than Rin, it was all about he realizing his own insecurities and trauma and open up with the people he loves and is just so powerful to me as a person who has a sibling with depression and feels so related with how Rin feels about the whole situation with his brother.

So yeah, Yukio Okumura is such an important character not only for AoEx but for Shonen mangas in general, and it is also a great example and reference for future authors and artists who want to include these topics about mental health in action and adventure projects.

A lot of people may hate Yukio, or only dislike him because of how he treated Rin in past chapters but we can't deny this, he is indeed the best written character in the whole manga and the manga wouldn't be the same without him

Rin may be the heart, but Yukio is the SOUL of Ao no exorcist/Blue Exorcist and I just applaud Kato for introducing this character to us, because he is indeed, an incredible, powerful and complex character.

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 absolutely yes!!! Beautifully articulated 💖

Hey again! Did you mean in ch119 too? Because, for sure…

…this volume had a lot of additional pages and I loved it!

So yeah, the guy talking to Drac must be from the Uzai family considering their hairdo (probably Jeremiah or his uncle, whose name I don’t remember right now). Not that I’m surprised since, after all, they are heavily hinted to be the human antagonists of the story (while Lucifer/Satan are the demon ones).

Besides, we already know that they’re super fishy [x][x] and that the Order as an Organization stands to be shut down, as it strayed too much from the purpose of the 3 original Grigori (who are tools nowadays to the Order).

Also, also, remember how Shima once tried to say that Toudou wasn’t the one who recruited him into the Illuminati in ch66? 

Well, seeing those pages from vol25, maybe the one who recruited him is the same guy from this scene…

…that is to say maybe someone from the Uzai family. I just wouldn’t be surprised at this point.

So yeah I feel scared for Shiemi and Arthur (who’s being completely lied to and maybe set up to be Lucifer’s next vessel). I honestly think Shiemi’s mother doesn’t know how she can break her daughter free from the same cycle that she and her own mother went through. Shiemi might be in an even more complicated situation than them though, because…

…while Lucifer did say that Shemihaza’s nephilims are normal and thus borrowing power from Shemihaza’s crystal, we readers all saw just how powerful Shiemi herself actually is (surprising both Satan and Amaimon in ch97/98). 

Who knows just how long the Uzai family has been waiting for a Shemihaza nephilim with actual powers and, therefore, I fear that her situation might be way worse than we can imagine. For example, I stand by the idea that she’s possibly behind the “resurrection” of new!Shiro.

TL;DR I JUST CAN’T WAIT FOR ALL THESE ANSWERS. I love this series so damn much, it’s really amazing. I’m due for a reread though, just to make sure I got all my facts covered before we dive into the mess that is the Uzai family’s schemes. 

Rooting for Shiemi all the way too! She’s got amazing friends, whom she helped a lot, so now it’s their turn. :))

Take care Anon!!

Demon Emotions

Kato once described demons as having emotions but they’re just muted emotions compared to humans. I think it makes perfect sense. 

If a demon, say Mephisto, is immortal. His emotions would be very stunted. He’s seen millions of friends, lovers and Nephilium live and die. After many years, not much would really matter. All the pain has been felt, all the love, loved. All the loss experienced exponentially. Mephisto is completely numb inside. Mephisto befriending a human is nothing more than tossing another tetra in the fish tank. 

Amaimon has more human-like emotions compared to Mephisto, maybe because he could be younger. And I’m not talking about just the age of his vessel. He seems to be younger emotionally. Amaimon wears his heart on his sleeve more than Mephisto does, he also doesn’t interact as well with humans. He seems less experienced in the world of Assiah and still claims to be regularly bored. He’s also aggressive and has an immature streak. I can maybe explain that through the order of things. The oldest demon kings would be Mephisto and Lucifer plus the sol. First there was light (Lucifer) space/time, matter (Mephisto), anti-matter (Armumahel), Creation and so forth. This would be followed by spirit, and the rest of elementals.

This’s why Satan’s emotions are so raw in comparison. He’s intelligent and powerful, but not emotionally. He feels jealousy, heartache, anger and love. But they are the demon versions. He’s like a petulant teenager going through growing pains. Satan has been alive in Assiah for about 20 years, Mephisto and Lucifer have been around for say 13.8 billion years. The earth, meanwhile was formed 4.5 billion years ago.

Dark Headcannons for the Demon Bois, part 2.a : Physiological Adaptations and Defense Mechanisms (physical)

I continue this ideology with more horror HC's (kind of) detailing some of the physiology and physical defenses of our boys - HOWEVER there is quite a bit of science invested in this particular post, so there's a little explaining to do first.

Note: I have removed Iblis from the list for the next few rounds because we really dont know anything about her, and I've also removed Egyn because I have zero idea what kind of adaptations he has since no one's ever seen his body. Azazel is floating in kind of the same boat. We seen his clones, but not him, and we have only really seen two of his kin - from that alone its hard to tell. We haven't even seen Beelzebub except in Gehenna, and for all we know they are stuck there. Im basing all this off hypothetical and mythological sources as well as my knowledge of animal and human anatomy.

Onward!

But first! (Yep, scientific Exposition Time Baby! I promise it won't be long) Something that strikes me odd is that all demons seem to be stronger physically than their non possessed counterparts, and so for the sake of not repeating myself where unessessary, we will assume this is due to increased muscular density, as a default which is the same thing that allows much smaller primates to be much stronger than ourselves.

However, be aware that there are MANY factors that influence physical strength alone - efficiency of respiration, bodily waste management (aka, kidney and liver function) and efficiency of metabolic processes (digestive system, pancreas, and again liver). I'll touch on all these things in their own right, but just to let you know, everything is interconnected.

Onward!

Whew! That was a lot. This post took FOREVER to make!

Questions and comments are welcome, reading with a grain of salt in mind is recommended.