kwistarplus asked:
There is one thing I am confuse about Mammon. In one of the earliest cards of his is called "the fallen warrior" compare the other brother's cards that are very obvious to them. There is almost 2nd to nothing that is hinted to Mammon being a warrior back in Season 1 I am turning to you hoping you could figure out what it means by now.
Ooh, yes, let’s dig in 😁
Mammon: The Fallen Warrior
So, if we look at the regular Chapter A SR cards, each demon has two card titles, with seven variations of each one to represent every sin.
Lucifer: The Student Council, Home Sweet Home
Mammon: The School for Demons, The Fallen Warrior
Levi: The Infamous Hallway, The Castle of the Otaku
Satan: The Garden of Betrayal, The Source of Wisdom
Asmo: The Living Room, The Bathroom of Desire
Beel: Gluttony Rehab, The Twins of Light and Darkness
Belphie: The Secret of the Attic, The Garden of Silence
I was going to say that each demon has one SR set where the location behind them on the cards is RAD and the other the House of Lamentation, but looking at them properly, it seems like that’s only true of the four oldest brothers - Asmo and Belphie have both sets in the HoL, while Beel has one at HoL and the other in town.
However, it does seem pretty clear that the majority of these cards offer some insight into what is important to each demon.
Lucifer, as we know, takes his responsibilities on the Student Council very seriously, and more than anyone works to keep his family together under one roof - their home.
Mammon is constantly needing to study more. Levi would certainly like to think of his room as his own personal castle. Satan values knowledge. Asmo lives in his bath. Beel thinks a great deal of his twin, and of eating. And Belphie was the secret in the attic, where he was silenced at the top of the stairs.
Then there are the more obscure cards. Asmo perhaps is a fan of the living room? Satan perhaps feels betrayed by his father. Levi and the hallway… I’m not so sure. My brain is suggesting Hobbes and Hellraiser but it feels a tad weak. It could be his many games that involve opening doors to the wrong places.
And then Mammon is the fallen warrior, which for me is the most interesting.
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We know that Mammon is the second most powerful demon lord, but he is also the one demon we haven’t seen use his powers at full strength.
Lucifer loses control a hell of a lot. Levi loses his cool and summons Lotan. Satan is enraged, while Asmo charms Henry 1.0 and throws tantrums, Beel destroys the kitchen and brings down a whole wall, and Belphie kills MC.
But Mammon, the swiftest brother, outpowered only by Lucifer… Nope.
Not only do we know he is the second most powerful, but he was also the second to arrive in the Devildom - unsurprising given he is the swiftest. He must have plumetted straight after Lucifer and Lilith, meaning there was zero hesitation to follow his brother into the depths of hell.
And as I’ve pointed out, it is Mammon who assures his brother that none of them regret following him, who ensures all his brothers are okay and keeps tabs on their emotional states, and who is the only person Lucifer listens to when put in his place.
Mammon clearly holds enormous power, which as I’ve argued, is demonstrated even by his ability to not use it.
As angels, Mammon disobeyed Michael and was taken instead under Lucifer’s wings. His loyalty to his elder brother is absolute, and it is likely given his relative power that he too was either a seraph or right below them.
I think that the Celestial Realm does not follow traditional angelology - primarily because traditional angels are absolutely horrifying to look at! But also because we know Lucifer wore battle armour, which is not the attire of the traditional seraph (indeed, it is the attire of a lower angel class, the powers).
Where the other fallen angels resided in the Celestial hierarchy is unknown, but it’s very likely Mammon was next closest in rank. He was after all taught by the warrior Archangel himself.
A “fallen warrior” usually refers to one who has died in battle, but being a fallen angel gives it a new twist. Mammon is a warrior who has fallen from heaven, and now resides in hell. But as a demon, he is also no longer a warrior.
Although… that wasn’t initially true. The demons have told stories of battles fought in their early Devildom days. Peace reigns in the kingdom now, but it perhaps didn’t always.
Nonetheless, Mammon has not been seen as a warrior in the recent past or present, instead moving firmly into the territory of guardian demon - a bodyguard and protector.
We may not know much of Mammon the angel, but let’s crack open the demonology and see what we’ve got…
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Before I open up my grimoires though, we’re gonna have to move up a level in demon theory. The 201 to the previous demon 101s.
Demons and gods have many names in many cultures. A lot of the most notable demons we know the names of today, started of as demons or gods of other cultures, borrowed, blended, stolen, and usurped.
Belphegor and Beelzebub are but two examples of demons who have origins that trace back to old gods (Ba'al Pə'ôr and Ba'al Zəbûl), literally demonised into demons.
If you’ve read some of my previous theories, I’ve spoken about the influence of the god Pan on how the devil/Satan was and still is perceived, how the Greek Tartarus is linked to the christian hell, how the Great Flood myth predates christianity by centuries, as does the serpent in the garden, the resurrection of a mortal god, etc etc.
Every culture has a habit of telling the same stories but in different words, with different names. This is why my theories are written from a demonology perspective, not from a religious perspective. Demons and gods are older than current religions.
Even the devil himself has been known as Lucifer, Satan, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Samael, Iblis, in just the post 500BC religions alone.
If you’ve done any digging into demonology yourself, you’ll know that two of the demons amongst the brothers don’t quite fit. They follow Binsfeld’s classification of demons (1589), which is based on a 1409 list that is slightly different, but the names of Leviathan and Mammon don’t quite gel with the others.
These are not famous demon names. The ancient Leviathan is not an angel or demon, but a destructive creature, based on the older Lotan (from a language that went extinct in 12th century BC) who himself is from Têmtum (18th century BC).
So, he wasn’t always a demon, but he is a hella HELLA old monster man, which is a) close enough, and b) pretty darn cool.
But also a great example of a demon who has been known by different names to at least three different cultures throughout history.
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Mammon, is a word that scholars are still debating the exact origins on but it’s certainly one that came to prominence around biblical times, from Aramaic and possibly transliterated from Mishnaic Hebrew.
The common wisdom is that Mammon meant money/greed and was only known as a demon in late medieval times, but there are records of folks preaching against Mammon the demon back in the 4th century.
Like his brothers however, Mammon is far older than he appears - he just didn’t always have that exact name.
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Demonology 201 - not all demons are individual demons, including those who are. Demons show different faces to different people, and one who calls himself Zazel, Maymon Abba Nuch, Amun(-Ra), Azazel, Maymūn, or Amaimon, may very well be Mammon. (Many of these are linked to the sun, warrior status, loyalty, prosperity, black feathers, etc.)
Most of these have since disappeared, fallen from use, as cultures changed, eroded and evolved.
Potentially, many older and forgotten names also exist. Equally, each of these may be aspects of a whole, or both together and separate. Demons be funny like that.
Again, this is a demonology perspective, not a religious one, which means conflicting sources are not only expected but positively desired 👀
(pictured: Book of Invocations of the Demons, ~1600, Maymon-Ra)
My ol’ pal Dante handily provides one such alternate form in his Inferno - in the fourth circle of hell, where the sinners of avarice and greed may be found, stands the mighty wolf: Plutus.
(In fact, Dante calls him Pluto yet describes him as Plutus - the two gods are quite distinct.)
Plutus is the Greek god of wealth, and determines who is worthy of his gifts, thus initiating chaos amongst humans. The links here to Mammon are clear - Plutus was demoted to demon-status, as most old gods were, and has the same blessing to give as Mammon does. The shift is only on the perception of wealth as godly vs demonic - the result is chaos on both sides!
The symbolic animal of Mammon traditionally is the wolf (hence the name of my fic, Wolf At Your Door!). Wolves are associated with greed and cunning, but also with loyalty and protectiveness. As Tabby says in my fic, the god Odin is known for having two ravens who acted as his eyes and ears far and wide, and two wolves, Geri and Freki, both named for “the greedy one”.
Who else happens to be able to speak to corvids and have them gather information for him across the land? 🤔
Mammon makes an appearance under his own name in Milton’s Paradise Lost, as a voice of reason. Fallen from heaven, the demons debate what their next action should be. One argues immediate attack upon heaven, the second (Belial) takes the politician tactic of denouncing the first proposed action, describing their certain failure and torture but advancing no alternate suggestion of his own.
The third speaker is Mammon, agrees largely with Belial in that defeat was near certain but gives his own unique opinion - that there is nowhere other than hell that the demons can hope to find happiness. After all, the demons do not want forgiveness, nor do they want to bow heads to god, and attacking heaven would only extend the period of hopeless melancholy and woe.
Incidentally, perhaps Dante was deliberately conflating the two gods when he calls Plutus Pluto, for the latter is the ruler of the underworld, also known as Hades. The two gods are often conflated, but it does draw attention to the fact that a god of wealth is now in hell itself.
Instead, he says, the demons should focus on building in hell, to create a home that might one day rival heaven in beauty, and that the demons will find happiness and hope in their own labour. Better to choose their own work, than bow in “servile pomp”.
Alas, the next speaker is Beelzebub, who rouses the demons into a clamour of excitement with his war propaganda, and tactic of not attacking heaven head on, but through the corruption of humankind. This isn’t his own idea however - it was whispered in his ear by Satan (Lucifer). The head demon allowed a free debate in which he himself had final say, through trickery of course.
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Still, it’s a key insight into the character of Mammon who gives the most philosophically and ethically sound solution. Not from cowardice of fighting, but from a pragmatic appreciation of freedom and opportunity. He has done his fighting, for what little good it did, and he is content to be fallen.
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This is very much the Mammon we know from OM, who seems to have zero regrets over his fall, or his loyalty to Lucifer, and who pursues a life of doing what he wants rather than following lesser orders.
He has great power in reserve, and unmatched control, but he holds no grudges, instead focusing on the happiness and wellbeing of his own family.
Remember, all the brothers are by definition warriors - all united under Lucifer to try and fight against the entire Celestial Realm.
Mammon hopes he is never called to war again. But rest assured that if he is, he will be second only to Lucifer in power unleashed 😱
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Further reading:
