Beelzebub as depicted in the Dictionnaire Infernal.
"Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you."
Beelzebub: Lord of the Flies, Prince of Hell and Patron Demon of Gluttony.
Originally a Philistinian god worshipped in Ekron, Beelzebul was adopted through cultural osmosis as a major demon to the Abrahamic faiths. He is often called a "Prince of Demons" by the Hebrew faith, his name deriving from Ba'al Zebub, literally translating to "lord of the flies". To demonologists, Beelzebub is one of the Seven Princes of Hell, acting as the personification of the sin of gluttony and diametric opposite to Cassiel, Archangel of the virtue of temperance.
Beelzebub is arguably one of the most commonly depicted demons in modern times. Much like the theology from which he sprang, popular culture often makes Beelzebub and Satan interchangeable, either having Beelzebub be an alternate name for the Devil himself, the closest thing to a Devil we see, or one of Satan's most trusted (or least trusted) underlings.
As he is the Lord of Flies, he is often associated with crawling, creeping, flying, biting little critters that spread disease and inject venom. As a result, Beelzebub is often portrayed either as a giant, usually fly-like insect or as some kind of Plaguemaster and Pest Controller.
Sub-Trope of Demon Lords and Archdevils. Related to Asmodeus, Baphomet, Mammon, Mephistopheles, Sin Demons, the Seven Deadly Sins and Villain Baal.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- As Miss Beelzebub Likes: Beelzebub is portrayed as a former Seraphim that had been running Pandemonium (the series stand-in for Hell) after Lucifer's unexplained disappearance. While most demons look up to her for her skills as a capable and intelligent ruler, in private she is a ditzy airhead who rules only because it is her job and loves anything fluffy, her lifelong dream of becoming one big ball of fluff.
- Beelzebub: "Beelzebub" is the inherited name to a family of the Sin Lords of Gluttony, the youngest being Baby Beel (Kaiser de Emperana Beelzebub IV).
- Black Clover: Beelzebub is the name of one of the highest-ranking devils of the Tree of Qliphoth and is the devil bound to Zenon Zogratis, granting him access to his Spatial Magic.
- Demon Lord Dante: In the anime adaptation, Beelzebub acts as the high priest of a satanist cult working to resurrect the titular demon lord and goes on to become something of a mentor to the protagonist.
- Digimon: Beelzemon is an exceedingly powerful Mega-Level Digimon and one of the Seven Great Demon Lords.
- Digimon Tamers: Beelzemon is the digivolved form of Impmon, having been given a power boost by Caturamon when he sees his lust for power. He then goes on a rampage, attacking friend and foe alike before Juri (whose digimon partner Leomon Beelzemon had just killed) tearfully begs Gallantmon not to kill him. This gives Beelzemon a Heel Realization, eventually siding with the Tamers against the D-Reaper's invasion of the real world.
- Digimon Fusion: Beelzemon is the reincarnated form of Reapmon after sacrificing himself to save Shoutmon X4's life.
- Futari wa Pretty Cure: The Dragon in the second half of the season is named Belzei (rendered as "Beruzei" in the dub). His name comes from Beelzebub, which is written Beruzebubu in Japanese.
- Make the Exorcist Fall in Love: Beelzebub appears as a major antagonist, being the Lord of Gluttony of the Seven Deadly Sins. His typical appearance is a Dracula-esque fanged Silver Fox dressed as an aristocratic gentleman, but his true form is that of a shriveled black skeleton infested with maggots. His character takes a lot of cues from the novel Lord of the Flies—his main symbol is an impaled pig's head and he believes that he's merely a reflection of mankind's depravity. He's also the patron demon of the Witch Coven, reflecting how historically many accused witches were believed to be colluding with Beelzebub. He also has a rather good friendship with Lucifer, which seems to be a nod to how Paradise Lost describes Beelzebub as Satan's Number Two.
- My Balls: Beelzebub is a Queen of Hell and close accomplice to fellow Queen Asmodai. She is portrayed as a beautiful woman whose breasts and genital area are covered in insectoid exoskeleton and has power over flies.
- Record of Ragnarok: Beelzebub is featured as one of the gods selected to fight against humanity's finest warriors to determine mankind's survival, going up against Nikola Tesla in the eighth round. In this universe, Beelzebub and Satan are the same entity in a manner like Jekyll & Hyde. It should also be noted that demons are generally classified as gods in a universe where All Myths Are True, with Beelzebub coexisting with demons from other mythologies such as those from the Norse Helheim, Buddhism's Naraka, and the Greek Underworld, with Hades being the proper ruler of the hell-like realm rather than Beelzebub or Satan.
- Sandland: Beelzebub is the protagonist and is portrayed as the troublemaker demon son of Lucifer.
- Seven Mortal Sins: Beelzebub is the Demon Lord of Gluttony, being the Token Mini-Moe, Token Wholesome, and Token Good Teammate of the Demon Lords. She only got her position as the Lord of Gluttony because of her uncontrollable Horror Hunger, and even then she neither has control over it nor does she have any real desire over the excess of it.
- Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle: Beelzebub, spelled Bael Zebul in this story, is the fly antennae-sporting matriarch of the Demon Clan, along with being the aunt of Demon Cleric Leonard.
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Rimuru Tempest's Unique Skill Gluttony evolves into the Ultimate Skill Gluttonous King/Lord of Gluttony Beelzebub after his True Demon Lord ascension thanks to Raphael fusing it with the recently-acquired Unique Skill Merciless. This Skill boosts the range and potency of his absorption abilities to near god-like levels, to the point he can take your soul, as well as allows him to impart Skills to his subordinates and learn theirs, even if they acquired them independently of each other, as long as it's a Skill they're compatible with.
Arts
- Beelzebaby
by Aza Smith is a soft-sculpture of a housefly dressed in a toddler's overalls.
- Prince Beelzebub is a painting by Wayne Barlowe and can be found in the Brushfire: Illuminations from the Inferno portfolio, detailing how he founded the Order of the Fly and only answers to Lucifer himself.
Card Games
- Yu-Gi-Oh!:
- "Beelze Frog" is a monster from the "Frog" archetype, portrayed as a black and red frog with little demon wings. He only has 1200 Attack Points, but gains 300 ATK for each "T.A.D.P.O.L.E." in its player's graveyard.
- "Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons" is a Dragon-Type Synchro-monster from the "Archfiend" and "Duel Dragon" Archetypes. In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, it is used by Sect in his Insect/Hell-themed deck, furthering the parallel to the Biblical demon it is based on.
- "Beelze Frog"
Comic Books
- Asterix: In Asterix and the Soothsayer, Vitalstatistix mentions Ba'al Zebub during a storm when all the other Gauls are cowering over it calling out for their gods' protection. Obelix then asks Asterix if he knows that god, which he replies that it must be an obscure foreign god.
- Black Moon Chronicles: Beelzebub is a morbidly obese demon made up of thousands of flies. He immediately usurps the throne of hell when he realizes Lucifer is gone and declares war on the remnants of humanity.
- The DCU: Beelzebub becomes one of the three co-rulers of Hell alongside Lucifer Morningstar and Azazel after an infernal civil war occurred after the Great Darkness was defeated in Hellblazer. Even after Lucifer abdicates his throne, Beelzebub keeps this role, often staying out of the way whenever some type of cosmic or political conflict involves Hell.
- God Is Dead portrays Beelzebub as a member of a group of Middle-Eastern demons and Underworld Gods aligned with Satan, him being a massive obese creature with flies swarming around him.
- Marvel Universe: There's a very complicated representation of devil characters and the realms of Hell due to plenty of Continuity Snarls. Beelzebub and Beelzeboul are presented as separate characters who both claim to be Satan (All of the Hell Lords claim to be Satan to induce fear in mortals since nobody is sure if there ever existed an actual Satan itself). Beelzebub looks like your standard Big Red Devil, not unlike Chernabog from Fantasia, while Beelzeboul is a more subdued humanoid appearance with red skin. It's confirmed that Beelzeboul was one of Lucifer's lieutenants when he rebelled against God in the Christian Mythos, but it's only rumored that Beelzebub was also one of his lieutenants. Beelzebub and Beelzeboul may or may not also be the same character. There's no concrete proof that they're two different characters, but not enough to say they're the same either.
- In Mike Kazaleh's The Adventures of Captain Jack, crew member Herman has a demonic avatar named Beezelbub, or Bub for short. He's only visible to Herman and always gets him into trouble.
Films — Live-Action
- Beetlejuice: The titular Betelgeuse possesses various similarities to the Prince of Hell by association as a Satanic Archetype. He is associated with bugs — his name having "beetle" in it by pronunciation and is seen eating both a housefly and a cockroach — and is a filthy, grotesque being that torments living humans wherever he is summoned.
- The Omega Code: Just as Stone Alexander transforms into his true form in Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, he addresses himself through his various alternate names, including Satan, Lucifer, and Beelzebub.
- Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny: Jack calls Satan "Beelzeboss" when he and Kyle sing their song during their rock-off. Satan looks more confused by it if nothing else. "Beelzeboss" is the name of the song Satan, JB, and KG sing in the climax of the film.
Literature
- A Batalha do Apocalipse: Beelzebub, the Lord of Flies, is one of the Dukes of Hell. Little is known about him, except that he is responsible for ruling the Fourth Circle of Hell, Dis.
- Classic Singapore Horror Stories: In the story "The Artist Arcane Tao", the titular Mad Artist is a practitioner of the occult, who summoned creatures from hell as subject of his artworks and create haunting, lifelike portraits ranging from ghouls to lesser demons, with his "masterpiece" being a portrait of Beelzebub seated on his throne, tormenting an unfortunate soul. The story ends with Beelzebub exiting the painting and dragging Arcane into said portrait.
- "Flies": The three friends discuss the pun inherent in the ancient Hebrew corruption of "Ba'al zevuv", meaning "Lord of the Flies". Winthrop suggests that Casey is cursed by Beelzebub, and that's why he's always pestered by houseflies. Polen tries to research the emotions of the flies, realizing that the flies are following Casey out of religious reverence; he really is their god.
"It amounts to a pun," said Winthrop. "The ancient Hebrews used it as one of their many terms of derision for alien gods. It comes from Ba'al, meaning lord, and zevuv, meaning fly. The lord of flies."
- Good Omens: After Adam cancels the Apocalypse, both the Metatron and Beelzebub appear to them to represent Heaven and Hell respectively in order to talk Adam into changing his mind and restarting the Apocalypse.
- I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level has the demon Beelzebub. While she is not the Beelzebub, simply being named after the lord of the flies, she does have powers that would be associated with him, such as transforming into a fly. She also went from a bottom-tier bureaucrat to the demon minister of agriculture in one swift promotion and is one of the main characters' closest confidantes (demons are nice, if trollish in this universe).
- Lord of the Flies: The titular entity, a decomposing pig's head on a stick, is supposed to be an allegory for Satan. This contrasts with Simon, who is supposed to be an allegory for Jesus. It's worth mentioning that "lord of the flies" is a literal translation of "Beelzebub" from 2 Kings 1:2–3, 6, 16.
- Paradise Lost: Beelzebub appears as the close friend of and The Dragon to Satan, although he fades out of prominence after the start of the epic, as the narration follows Satan on his journey to Earth.
- The Salvation War: Beelzebub appears as one of the Grand Dukes of Hell, with hundreds of thousands of "flies" (firebreathing harpies) under his command. His attack gives the most trouble to the Human Expeditionary Army... which is still a relative term.
Live-Action TV
- Good Omens (2019): Beelzebub is given a much more prominent appearance in the series than in the original novel, acting as the highest authority in Hell below Satan himself. Ze is portrayed as looking like an Impoverished Patrician riddled with bug bites, with a prominent and borderline necrotic blemish on zir right cheek and followed around by a halo of swarming insects. When ze appears on Earth, ze appears much more healthy, zir body lacking the bites, zir clothes much more refined, and wearing a large fly on zir head as a hat. When ze is angry, zir voice buzzes like the wings of a fly.
Crowley: [takes a bow] Lord Beelzebub. What an honor.
Beelzebub: Crowley. The traitor.
Crowley: That's not a nice word.
Beelzebub: All the other words I have for you are worse. - One of the Phantoms in Kamen Rider Wizard is named "Beelzebub", and used venomous slugs to turn a woman's friends against her.
- The Beelzebub Minosaur in Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger, a Minosaur created from a man's insecurity over being called a "flea".
- Lucifer (2016): In "#TeamLucifer", Beelzebub is referred to by the Satanic Priest as one of the Four Crowned Princes of Hell. Lucifer finds it annoying since there is only one "him", implying that he does not identify "Beelzebub" as one of his names, nor is there actually an entity named "Beelzebub" anywhere.
- The demonic Grand Duc from Riget: Exodus is heavily implied to be an avatar of Beelzebub. Mrs. Drusse mentions that Grand Duc is Beelzebub's title in the Infernal hierarchy, and he is constantly accompanied by the buzzing of flies.
Music
- Queen: In "Bohemian Rhapsody", the lyrics say that "Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me", hinting that Beelzebub chooses which demon is assigned to what person.
- FAKE TYPE.: the music video for BEELZEBUZ has the titular "cursed god", who, true to form, takes the form of a Kaiju-sized fly and controls swarms of giant mosquitoes, as well as normal-sized bugs he can fire like giant beams. Here, he appears to be a manifestation of toxicity and pettiness on the Internet.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons: Baalzebul, the Lord of Flies and Lies, has been the Lord of the Seventh layer of Hell since 1st Edition. While he originally resembles a fly-eyed humanoid, after a failed rebellion against his master Asmodeus he was left with command of his territory but was cursed into a loathsome sluglike form, an insult for which he continues to plot revenge. The conditions of his curse specified that he was to remain in this form for a year for each lie he told — applied retroactively. He eventually worked through this debt by the time of 5th Edition's Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, allowing to freely manifest in his old form, as a giant fly, or as a swarm of flies but forcing him to remain honest, prolonging his humiliation.
- Pathfinder: Baalzebul, the Lord of the Seventh layer of Hell, is a Fallen Angel who joined Asmodeus in his rebellion against Heaven. When he demanded extra power, Asmodeus transformed him into a Hive Minded swarm of flies. He continues to serve Hell's interests, manifesting as a huge angelic figure of flies, a gigantic fly, or a single small fly that whispers corruption to mortals.
- Trench Crusade: Beelzebub commands the Black Grail: an army devoted to him that is afflicted by the eponymous disease of his own making. Unlike Nurgle of Warhammer fame, there is absolutely nothing redeemable about him. All of the diseases he spreads are designed to inflict as much suffering as possible, seeking to defile and pervert all of God's creations.
- Warhammer, its sequel Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, and the spinoff Warhammer 40,000, although distinct from one another, share elements in their cosmology. The most common is the force of Chaos as a creeping, concentrated evil seeking to devour the material world. Though Chaos comprises of mortal followers, daemons, a number of greater entities, the "Big Four" at the top of this totem pole are the four Chaos Gods. Though his name is from Mesopotamian Mythology, Nurgle, god of rot, plagues, entropy, and despair, is a significant expy of Beelzebub as he's understood. Though much more personable than his peers, Nurgle and his much-less-personable forces are broadly accepted to be one of the most horrifying and malefic forces within these settings.
Video Games
- Body Harvest: Beelzebub is the name of one of the alien bosses, appears as a giant floating bug somewhat resembling a demon fly from hell and fires motion wave beams at the player.
- The Binding of Isaac: By picking up three items related to flies, you become Beelzebub. You gain the ability to fly and all fly enemies will be friendly to you for the rest of the run
- Caladrius: Beelzebub is the game's True Final Boss if the player was able to perform a 1 credit clear of the game's previous stages, who appears in this game as a mature, alluring, and busty woman clad in a leotard that reveals her cleavage and almost everything else down below.
- Castlevania: Beelzebub (alternatively called Beezelbub) is a recurring boss, being an undead demon that makes his first appearance in Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Despair as a giant rotting corpse suspended by hooks and chains, surrounded by hideous flies that closely resemble the page image.
- Darksiders III: Despite the existence of a demon named Gluttony, Sloth bears a stronger resemblance to the Lord of the Flies. He's one of the Seven Deadly Sins, a group of demons made by the Creator as Necessarily Evil, that were so powerful that they were imprisoned by the Charred Council as a precaution but which escaped to Earth after the Apocalypse was started prematurely. Sloth takes the form of a giant, obese locust-like creature who sits on a throne of filth and has his locust slaves do everything for him.
- Dread Templar has a Beelzebub expy (or maybe a relative) called Beelzebur II as the main villain, who's depicted like one from Paul Bunyan's art, a fiery-winged demon. He's also the one villain who murdered your grandfather when you're a child, and dragged you to hell.
- Final Fantasy II: An optional boss named Beelzebub appears as a Chest Monster in Pandaemonium. He looks like a giant blue fly wearing a cape. A Palette Swap called Beelzebub Soul appears in Soul of Rebirth in the corresponding part of its final dungeon.
- Ghosts 'n Goblins: Beelzebub appears as the Pre-Final Boss of Ghouls 'n Ghosts and as a regular boss in Resurrection, taking the form of a giant fly able to become a swarm of tiny flies on command.
- God Hand: One of the villains is a demon named Belze. He appears human at first, but his true form is that of a demonic fly.
- The boss of the second world in Hell Pie — Gluttony — is a Big Red Devil (emphasis on big), but he mainly employs bug-people to run the slaughterhouse, wait on customers, and work security.
- Helltaker: Beelzebub serves as the Character Narrator, and takes the form of a massive, vaguely humanoid fly-like Animalistic Abomination, in sharp contrast to the designs of the other demons. In the secret ending, it is explained that Beelzebub was banished to the Abyss by the other demons. If you jump into the portal to the Abyss, she decides the Helltaker is better company than being left alone in the Abyss forever (he also brought chocolate pancakes) and so assumes A Form You Are Comfortable With, turning into another Cute Monster Girl. Then she and the Helltaker live Happily Ever After. Possibly.
- La-Mulana: Beelzebub appears as a vampire-like figure and the miniboss of the Shrine of the Mother. While he won't attack you when it is the normal Shrine of the Mother (and trying to attack him simply makes him break apart into insects and reform) and you can simply carry on to the next room, when the place transforms into the True Shrine of the Mother, he will close the exit and fight you when you enter his room. He shoots flies from his hand, and also transforms into a giant fly when he Turns Red in said battle.
- Patapon: In Patapon 3, Gluttonous Buzzcrave bears a resemblance to Beelzebub due to being linked to the Archfiend of Restraint, representing the Deadly Sin of Gluttony, and he wears a purple bug-like mask with yellow fly like eyes. He usually talks about devouring his foes and also talks about eating a couple more of Zaknels and chewing on a Cyclops. He is never seen eating anything in-game though.
- Puzzle & Dragons: Beelzebub appears as one of the Descended Dungeon monsters, and the gem of his Ultimate Evolution is a component of a few other evolutions. His portraits have him riding a motorcycle-shaped fly.
- Saint of Chains: Beelzebub is the Hidden Villain who leads a Satanic Cult called the Covenant, who possessed protagonist Ethan Hayes early in the game with the entire story being Ethan's hallucinations from his deteriorating mind. This was foreshadowed by the first boss, a huge wingless housefly who turns out to be the Lord of the Flies' herald.
- Shin Megami Tensei: Beelzebub is a recurring demon/persona. He has had two designs: one is an anthropomorphic fly based on the image of the demon in the Dictionnaire Infernal while another is a blue man with veins and a tigerskin, usually differentiated from the fly by the name "Baal Zebul" if they're both in the same game. He is a powerful Tyrant demon that serves as the second-in-command of Lucifer and is frequently found as either a powerful Optional Boss, Superboss, or at the very least a late-game foe. In the Persona series, he is usually the ultimate Persona of The Devil Arcana, which is unlocked upon completing the Devil social link.
Web Original
- Codex Inversus: Beelzebub was one of the original Archdevils who founded the Holy Infernal Empire. In the modern day, Devils revere him as a saint and pray to him for protection against pest insects.
- Helluva Boss: Beelzebub appears in the (long-delayed) first season finale "Queen Bee" as a female bee-fox hybrid who goes by "Bee", rules the ring of Gluttony, and throws parties where she magically creates large amounts of food and drink, especially drinks, so she can feed off the guests' indulgence. That being said, she is not okay with people indulging themselves for the sake of escapism, as she gets better vibes when the indulgence is done for the sake of having a good time.
- Monster Girl Encyclopedia: Beelzebubs are A Kind of One Fly/Bug type of Cute Monster Girl from the Demon Realm. They are omnivorous with a particular liking to human body fluids (which they will often get through sexual intercourse) and are routinely called the "Lord of Gluttony" of the monster world for their ravenous appetites.
- Mortasheen: The Lord of the Flies is referenced in the names of three insect-themed zombie spawn — Beeblezug, an armless, larva-like zombie that hosts an immense colony of maggots in its guts; Zeelzebuz, whose hive-like lungs host a protective colony of carrion-eating bees; and Bezulga, a shambling thing completely covered in a thick layer of clonal maggots and swarming flies.
- SCP Foundation: SCP-3063 is a seemingly normal fly capable of telepathic communication, which appears to random people around the world to tempt them, offering to fulfill their greatest desires. If a victim of SCP-3063 accepts, their wish is granted, but they are invariably slowly and painfully devoured by fly larvae that manifest inside their body exactly 2,376 days (roughly six years and a half) later. 3063 normally grants wishes according to their spirit, but any wish that would harm the entity (such as its permanent destruction or full explanation of its nature) gets twisted to be useless while still incurring the terrible price. The Foundation's records indicate that "the earliest known records of entities and events matching SCP-3063's description have been discovered in early Canaanite settlements", implying that 3063 is indeed the Beelzebub.
- WitchCraft SMP: The mod-pack depicts Beelzebub as a tall, winged entity with antennae, bug-like eyes, and crimson skin. He can summon hostile arthropods like cave spiders and aggravated bees to attack players.
Western Animation
- The Devil and Daniel Mouse: Jan's scarily strange manager goes by B.L. Zebubb.
- Exploding Kittens: Beelzebub is "Devilcat's" real name, she's the daughter of Satan and took over as CEO of Hell, Inc when he died. However, her idea of torturing the damned consists of dad jokes and duct tape, so after God was banished to Earth in the form of a cat Hell's board did the same to her until she got a better grasp on being evil.
- Jimmy Two-Shoes: Beezy is meant to be an Expy of Beelzebub. His father is Lucius, who is supposed to be Lucifer.
- Futurama: In "Hell is Other Robots", Leela sarcastically calls the Robot Devil "Beelzebot". In a later episode, when the Robot Devil makes a suitably unsubtle entrance, Bender greets him lackadaisically with "Hey, Beelzy."