History Main / DemonLordsAndArchdevils

** In 2018, Marvel finally revealed their ''"true"'' Satan in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'': the One Below All, who is the 'lowest'-level devil -- as in, residing in the bottomest level of the multiversal netherworld and thus being the most powerful demon ever -- not just of Earth, but of the literally the ''whole [[TheMultiverse multiverse]]''. Fittingly, 'it' is [[TheAntiGod the evil counterpart to the One Above All, the highest-level deity in the multiverse]]. Even more shockingly, the One Below All is also revealed to be the secret supernatural source of all [[ILoveNuclearPower gamma radiation]] in the cosmos, making [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]] and all other gamma-powered mutates its unwitting and unwilling avatars of violence and hatred.

** Sauron himself also qualifies, occupying a place between Morgoth and the Balrogs in the demonic hierarchy.

* In ''ComicBook/SatansHollow'', the Devil is serviced by four lieutenants in his infernal court, namely his Queen (a [[HornyDevils succubus]] with AbsoluteCleavage), his Squire (a [[SpiderPeople spider-esque]] demon), his Executioner (a [[BigRedDevil giant red demon]] with a Nazi cap), and his Reaper (TheGrimReaper with black wings).

* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse has a huge variety of demon lords, [[Characters/MarvelComicsDemons Mephisto and Satannish]] usually being the most prominent. There's also a "Satan"; his relation to the others is unclear.
** Mephisto, Satannish and many, if not most, of the others are "brothers/sisters" in the sense that they were born from the same "mass of evil energy", possibly the one left after the destruction of the ElderGods by the Demogorge.
** Also, "Satan" for the longest time until the 2000's did not officially appear in Creator/MarvelComics; it has always been some other demon impersonating instead. This is a {{retcon}}, probably for politically correct reasons, as Satan was a regular character in the "Son of Satan" (now known as Hellstorm) series in the 1970s. That "Satan" was later revealed to actually be Marduk Kurios, and was initially thought to ''possibly'' be a corrupted version of the Babylonian god, but it was later shown that there's someone else entirely different claiming to be that deity too. This fits the real-life mythology that the Babylonian Marduk was an egomaniacal narcissist who gave himself 200+ names when he won in battle the leadership of his own pantheon, with most of those names forcibly appropriated from other older dieties, such as his fellow Babylonian gods who were his older relatives who he personally defeated to become their leader. MK , who was later confirmed to be Marvel's version of the Fallen Angel Lucifer, may have been the entity from whom the Babylonian Marduk got his dominant name.
** Marduk Kurios repeatedly showed up again as "Lucifer" in battle against the Ghost Riders, and in his final form as the "True Devil" who "really ruled" Hell, when Wolverine's spirit was sent to Hell for eternal punishment. MK was later confirmed by Mephisto at the irregularly-held convention get-together meeting of ALL of Marvel's demons (or at least those native to planet Earth and its connected pocket dimensions), the aptly-named Devil's Advocacy, to be the "Satan" who fathered Daimom Hellstrom, and his younger sister Satana, and guest-starred in their series.
** The "Satan" who created ComicBook/GhostRider, or at least the Johmny Blaze version, was revealed to have secretly been Mephisto, as the Ghost Riders were later revealed to have secretly always been the Spirits of Vengeance of Heaven itself , through the course of human history on Planet Earth (their D.C counterpart would be the Spectre). As a general rule, it is said that there have always been exceptions of Ghost Riders ''not'' created or intended by Heaven, such as the GR who is the fusion of the archdemon Zarathos and the human Johnny Blaze by Mephisto (who punished his rival by wiping his memory and bonding him to a human host).
** Mephisto has also claimed to be the source of all evil on several occasions. Of course, Mephisto ''lies''. The true nature, if any, is kept intentionally vague. However, thematically, with his appearance, being one of the few demons to actually offer humans [[DealWithTheDevil deals with the Devil]] and trying to corrupt pure souls, he's the closest thing the MU has to the classic Satan archetype.
** In summary, Marvel did have a "Satan", but that later retconned because of the CCA at the time. Marvel later introduced the fallen angel Lucifer (Marduk Kurios) into the Marvel universe, but insists he is a different entity than Satan ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_princes_of_Hell#Binsfeld.27s_classification_of_demons which isn't invalid]]). Fallen Angels seem to be a different beast than the Mephisto-type natural demon lords altogether. The first appearance of the "Son of Satan" was in an issue of Ghost Rider. Daimon and Satana Hellstrom's and GR's Satan were originally intended by Marvel to be the same entity.
** It was revealed in a ComicBook/FearItself Tie-in, that whenever they have the aforementioned Devil’s Advocacy, that Marvel Earth’s Demon Lords have meetings around the actual Satan's empty throne. Mephisto even mentions, that while Demon Lords like to falsely claim to be "Satan", none of them dare do it near Satan's throne, or even sit on it. If they did, they'd be torn apart by all the other claimant hell-lords.
*** It was noted though by Mephisto that Marduk Kurios really does believe and persistently insist that he is in fact ''The'' real Satan, so for all we know "Satan" may originally have been the official title for the ruler of Hell and not a specific entity, with Marduk the first holder of the title until he was eventually deposed and failed to regain his throne ever since.
*** It should be remembered after all that during the ''Chaos War'' storyline, the ''Devil Powered by All of Hell's Fire'' who personally battled Marvel's biggest BigBad to date, the Chaos King itself (who is a spawn/manifestation of multiversal Oblivion, the yin to the yang of multiversal Eternity himself), in the last stand of the Marvel Earth netherrealms, was Marduk Kurios.
*** In 2018, Marvel finally revealed in ComicBook/ImmortalHulk, their “TRUE” Satan: the One-Below-All, who is the “lowest”-level Devil —- as in residing in the bottomest level of the multiversal netherworld and thus being the most powerful demon ever —- not just of Planet Earth , but of the literally the WHOLE Marvel Multiverse itself. Fittingly , “it” is the evil counterpart to the One-Above-All, the highest-level deity in the Marvel Multiverse. Even more shocking , the TOBA is also revealed to be the Secret supernatural SOURCE of ALL Gamma Radiation in the Marvel cosmos , making the Hulk and all other Gamma-powered mutates to be its unwitting and unwilling avatars of violence and hatred.
** There are also many demon lords and ladies who don't go after the title of Satan , but have no less nefarious goals, such as Lilith, Blackheart, Asteroth, Plotka, and The Beast Of The Hand (though TBOTH has been hinted to actually be a guise of Marduk Kurios , who has called himself and been called by others as “The Beast” upon occassion, the embodiment/personification of amoral passion). All but the last are confirmed to have different origins than the main group though.
* Franchise/TheDCU is very similar to the Marvel Universe in this regard.

** The infernal hierarchy was temporarily settled with the "Reign in Hell" miniseries after decades of contradictions. Note: this series renders most of Lucifer's stories (from DC's Vertigo comics) out of continuity.
** As of ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'', it seems that DC has gone in the direction of treating Trigon--formerly just a ComicBook/TeenTitans villain who wasn't part of the ''Reign in Hell'' storyline--as their version of The Devil.
* [[Characters/WonderWomanAllies Artemis]] ends up in Hell after dying. She briefly serves as a general/fiance of a demon lord named Dalkriig-Hath. [[Franchise/WonderWoman Diana]] convinces her to quit and return to Earth.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has the three Archfiends (Lee, Nero and Cedric) from the [[CelestialBureaucracy Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission]]. For most of the story their plans land them solidly in GreaterScopeVillain territory: their true enemy is the forces of Good at large and while they definitely act against the heroes, only one of them knows the ICC exist and not at all that they have any particular plan involving the Order of the Stick.

** In Creator/TerryBrooks' ''Literature/TheWordAndTheVoid'' (which was later retconned into the ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' verse) the small "d" demons do not have an actual aristocratic hierarchy, with most demons operating solo, playing their own individual role in [[UltimateEvil The Void]]'s plans. Thematically, however, Findo Gask, powerful demon and notorious HeroKiller fulfills this function, forcing lesser demons to obey him, and sometimes acting as The Void's MouthOfSauron.

** It should be noted that Overlords were not originally part of this trope, as they're essentially the BigBad and {{Satan}}-equivalent of their universe. TheMultiverse concept just got [[SerialEscalation a little out of hand]], to the point where the entire cast of ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'' was made up of Overlords hanging out in the space between Netherworlds.

Compare and contrast TheLegionsOfHell for the grunts, {{Satan}} for the big guy himself, and {{Asmodeus}}, {{Baphomet}}, {{Beelzebub}} and {{Mephistopheles}}, who are frequently confused with him. See also OurDemonsAreDifferent. Much like deer, the [[HornedHumanoid size of their horns]] can denote their status. Typically also a MonsterLord or going by MaouTheDemonKing. See also, EliteMooks.

* In the anime adaptation of the sexy-statue franchise ''Anime/SevenMortalSins'', the Nine Circles of Hell are initially run by the eponymous clique of sexy demonesses, led by Belial, who represents the Mortal Sin of Vanity, and followed in ostensible power rankings by Astaroth (Melancholy), Satan (Wrath), Mammon (Greed), Belphegor (Sloth), Beelzebub (Gluttony), and Asmodeus (Lust). However, its later revealed that the rankings are actually Nonsense (they have no real relation to power levels at all but merely measures the level of loyalty to leadership) which were invented by Belial (who is secretly the FallenAngel Satanael, in contrast to the other six who are natural-born demons) when she first took over Hell (after being banished forever from Heaven) by convincing the other six demon lords (who were hedonists that cared nothing for politics) that Hell needed a formal organized government to counter any possible invasion/extermination by Heaven (to whom Belial was actually planning to sell out Hell in order to be restored to her former status). Later, Belial is again banished forever (well, it doesn’t last this time), this time from Hell to Earth, for her treachery, and Asteroth (her Number One Fan) voluntarily goes into exile with her. They get replaced by Lucifer, another Fallen Angel (and ironically the former leader of Heaven’s own ruling clique of Archangels, the Seven Lively Virtues, who banished Belial from Heaven to begin with in the first place), who represents the Mortal Sin of Pride (which was once a Lively Virtue until she and it got replaced by Faith and its representative, the archangel Michael, Lucifer’s understudy who banished her on God’s orders and replaced her as the leader of the Lively Virtues) and Leviathan (Lucifer’s own Lovecrazed obsessive stalker) who represents the Mortal Sin of Envy (amusingly, she was a trying-hard(est) wannabe who kept getting rejected from joining the Mortal Sins for being too weak until Lucifer rewarded her for her tireless support in her quest to defeat Belial and repel the invasion/extermination of Heaven).

* ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel'' and its sister series ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'' have an entire demonic caste system within {{Hell}}. At the top are the King and Queen, Lucifer and Lilith with [[AntiAntiChrist their daughter Charlie]]. Beneath them are the Princes of Hell representing the other six of the SevenDeadlySins ruling each ring of Hell below Lucifer's Pride Ring, such as [[HornyDevils Asmodeus of the Lust Ring]] or Mammon of the Greed Ring. Next are the 72 demons of the Literature/ArsGoetia such as the 36th spirit Stolas who serves as a high noble. Last among the demonic upper classes are the Overlords, such as the Radio Demon Alastor, who are treated more or less as criminal kingpins rather than actual nobility.

* Subverted in the ''Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality'' series. Hell initially appears to be set up this way, with Satan at the top of a hierarchy of other archdevils and demon lords who manage the infernal bureaucracy and sometimes perform tasks in the mortal realm at Satan's orders. In a twist, however, none of the named denizens of hell except Lilith are actual demons or devils (while there are many true demons in Hell, almost all of them are unnamed minor characters). Satan is the throne name of a living human holding the office of the Incarnation of Evil, and most of his key underlings such as Lucifer, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, and Mephistopheles are also former officeholders. While they still retain certain powers such as Beelzebub's affinity for insects, they are merely damned souls whose mortal lives ended once they were overthrown, and they effectively only have as much political power in Hell as Satan allows them to have.

* Literature/TheBible mentions {{Beelzebub}} as a "Prince" of demons. {{Satan}} himself is also given titles like "Prince of the Power of the Air" or "God of this World" in some Biblical verses. In the book of Revelation, several demonic creatures are explicitly noted as having a rank of power over lesser beings, but the issue isn't gone into in detai. Later writers were happy [[WordOfDante to expand on that]].

For whatever reasons there are these guys: usually with names taken from the Apocrypha, Literature/ArsGoetia or Dante's ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'', these guys can be described as Almost-Satan, for when the real deal isn't as fun to use. They're often given fancy titles and pretty much do whatever {{Satan}} would have done had he been present. Also, if you actually kill one or stop their schemes, it's still an accomplishment, but it's hardly a collapse of the demonic system. There will always be another to replace the one that falls. [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Perhaps even]] [[TheStarscream the killer.]] Keep in mind, killing one is a lot harder than it sounds, because miraculously driving one's HitPoints to zero usually involves FightingAShadow.

In battle, they will almost always be the [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking most powerful demonic forces]] bar {{Satan}} himself. They often command {{Hellfire}} of far greater power than the demonic {{Mooks}} under them. Sometimes they are a RealityWarper, allowing them to make [[DealWithTheDevil deals with mortals]] and grant them incredible power at an even greater price. EvilIsNotAToy after all. They frequently wield [[ProngsOfPoseidon tridents]] or [[MagicStaff staves]] into battle. They are also [[CrossMeltingAura immune]] to what normal demons are weak to.

Compare and contrast TheLegionsOfHell for the grunts, {{Satan}} for the big guy himself, and {{Asmodeus}}, {{Baphomet}} and {{Beelzebub}}, who are frequently confused with him. See also OurDemonsAreDifferent. Much like deer, the [[HornedHumanoid size of their horns]] can denote their status. Typically also a MonsterLord or going by MaouTheDemonKing. See also, EliteMooks.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' doesn't go in depth with its hellish hierarchy except that [[{{Satan}} Mundus]] is called the "Devil Emperor" and "Prince of Darkness" while supplementary material says that he got the title after rising in power and killing the previous GodOfEvil. There are also other powerful high-ranking demons like Argosax the Chaos/Despair Embodied and Abigail/Sid in the animated series. ''Devil May Cry 5'' has a new BigBad called Urizen the "Nefarious Usurper" that holds the title of "Demon King" and seeks to become the most powerful being in existance while ruling both worlds. [[spoiler: Urizen ultimatelly turns out to be the demonic half of Dante's EvilTwin yet still AntiVillain brother Vergil.]] While there are other powerful demons, they are either independent or hold the rank of "generals", with the most important one being Sparda [[HeelFaceTurn who eventually turned good]] and [[AscendedDemon rebelled against his own kind to save the entire human world]].

* The ''Literature/ArsGoetia,'' the first section of the Lesser Key of Solomon, lists 72 demon lords, along with [[SchmuckBait instructions]] [[DontTryThisAtHome for their summoning]].
* Literature/TheBible mentions Beelzebub as a "Prince" of demons. {{Satan}} himself is also given titles like "Prince of the Power of the Air" or "God of this World" in some Biblical verses. In the book of Revelation, several demonic creatures are explicitly noted as having a rank of power over lesser beings, but the issue [[FanficFuel isn't gone into in detail]]. Later writers were happy [[WordOfDante to expand on that]].
* This is the general role played by the Daevas in UsefulNotes/{{Zoroastrianism}} (theorized to have originally been the gods of the religion that was dominant in ancient Iran during and prior to Zoroaster's life, and the names of several of whom resemble gods from Vedic Hinduism). Traditionally, there are six main Daevas, each corresponding to a particular form of evil: Akoman (Evil Thought), Indar (who freezes the minds of the righteous), Nanghait (Disconent), Sawar (Oppression), Tauriz (Destruction), and Zariz (who poisons plants), though there are a number of lesser ones as well. Collectively, they are evil counterparts to the Amesha Spentas (roughly equivalent to archangels) and are the minions of [[GodOfEvil Angra Mainyu/Ahriman]].

** Also, "Satan" for the longest time until the 2000's did not officially appear in Creator/MarvelComics; it has always been some other demon impersonating instead. This is a {{retcon}}, probably for politically correct reasons, as Satan was a regular character in the "Son of Satan" (now known as Hellstorm) series in the 1970s. That "Satan" was later revealed to actually be Marduk Kurios, and was initially thought to ''possibly'' be a corrupted version of the Babylonian god, but it was later shown that there's someone else entirely different claiming to be that deity too. This fits the real-life mythology that the Babylonian Marduk was an egomaniacal narcissist who gave himself 200+ names when he won in battle the leadership of his own pantheon, with most of those names forcibly appropriated from other older dieties , such as his fellow Babylonian gods who were his older relatives who he personally defeated to become their leader. MK , who was later confirmed to be Marvel’s version of the Fallen Angel Lucifer, may have been the entity from whom the Babylonian Marduk got his dominant name.
** Marduk Kurios repeatedly showed up again as “Lucifer” in battle against the Ghost Riders, and in his final form as the "True Devil" who "really ruled" Hell, when Wolverine’s spirit was sent to Hell for eternal punishment. MK was later confirmed by Mephisto at the irregularly-held convention get-together meeting of ALL of Marvel’s demons (or at least those native to planet Earth and its connected pocket dimensions), the aptly-named Devil’s Advocacy, to be the “Satan” who fathered Daimom Hellstrom, and his younger sister Satana, and guest-starred in their series.
** The "Satan" who created ComicBook/GhostRider, or at least the Johmny Blaze version, was revealed to have secretly been Mephisto, as the Ghost Riders were later revealed to have secretly always been the Spirits of Vengeance of Heaven itself , through the course of human history on Planet Earth (their D.C counterpart would be the Spectre).
*** as a General Rule, it is said that there have always been exceptions of Ghost Riders NOT created or intended by Heaven , such as the GR who is the fusion of the archdemon Zarathos and the human Johnny Blaze by Mephisto (who punished his rival by wiping his memory and bonding him to a human host).
** Mephisto has also claimed to be the source of all evil on several occasions. Of course, Mephisto ''lies''. The true nature, if any, is kept intentionally vague.
*** Well, what with his appearance, being one of the few demons to actually offer humans [[DealWithTheDevil deals with the Devil]] and trying to corrupt pure souls, he's probably the closest thing [[Franchise/MarvelUniverse the MU]] will ever have to Satan.
** In summary, Marvel did have a "Satan", but that later retconned because of the CCA at the time. Marvel later introduced the fallen angel Lucifer (Marduk Kurios) into the Marvel universe, but insists he is a different entity than Satan ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_princes_of_Hell#Binsfeld.27s_classification_of_demons which isn't invalid]]). Fallen Angels seem to be a different beast than the Mephisto-type natural demon lords altogether.
*** The first appearance of the "Son of Satan" was in an issue of Ghost Rider. Daimon and Satana Hellstrom's and GR's Satan were originally intended by Marvel to be the same entity.

* In the various versions of the ''Faust'' story, Dr. Faustus makes his [[DealWithTheDevil deal]] with the demon Mephistopheles.

** The LawfulEvil devils are ruled by Asmodeus (probably the most direct Satan-analogue) and overseen by a pretty complicated hierarchy of devils, the most important one being the other eight Archdevils or Lords of the Nine: [[FallenAngel Zariel]] (formerly [[DragonAscendant Bel]]), [[ExtraOreDinary Dis]][[ProperlyParanoid pater]], [[{{Greed}} Mammon]], [[LadyInRed Fierna]] (and her father, [[ParentalIncest lover]] and secret co-ruler or "[[TheManBehindTheMan advisor]]", [[HornyDevils Belial]]) , [[SealedEvilInACan Levi]][[AnIcePerson stus]], [[DaddysLittleVillain Glasya]], [[BalefulPolymorph Baal]][[FallenHero zebul]], and [[TheStarscream Mephist]][[{{Hellfire}} opheles]]; there are also a couple of exiles, most notably Geryon and Moloch. The lesser unique devils are known as Dukes of Hell and serve the above as vassals.

*** The TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms used to have the god Gargauth, who was a former Archdevil that had somehow managed to make himself into a demigod of betrayal, cruelty, powerbrokers and political corruption. His titles included 'the Tenth Lord of the Nine'.

** Under Asmodeus, Hell is ruled by the archdevils Barbatos[[note]]Not actually a devil, or for that matter anything anyone knows about, but he holds a place in their ranks.[[/note]], Dispater, Mammon, Belial, Geryon, Moloch, [[Beelzebub Baalzebul]], and Mephistopheles, each of whom rules one of its rings. Under them are the infernal dukes, the elite of Hell's society, and the Malebranche, powerful devils each transformed to conquer a mortal world.

* The Seven Great Evils in the ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' series, which you will be spending the entire trilogy either killing or foiling the plans of:

* ''Webcomic/{{Darken}}'' gives you the nine levels of hell, each one ruled by a devil. The only ones that are names are Asmodeus of level nine, and the overlord. Mephistopheles on level eight, and Baalzebul on level seven. Apparently the other six levels are boring... [[http://darkencomic.com/?webcomic_post=20050622 Nice Explanation.]]

* Several Demon lords appear in ''Manga/{{Bastard}}''. The demons have a hierarchy of nobility, with Satan being the top dog. Directly beneath him are the 7 demon kings,- Asmodeus, Astaroth, Baal, Beelzebub, Belial, Bilt & Paimon. Among whom Beelzebub seems to be the one in charge. Further down the hierarchy, we have demons like Konron, who is a Viscount of Hell.

** Mephisto, Satannish and many, if not most, of the others are "brothers/sisters” in the sense that they were born from the same "mass of evil energy", possibly the one left after the destruction of the ElderGods by the Demogorge.

** Marduk Kurios repeatedly showed up again as “Lucifer” in battle against the Ghost Riders, and in his Final Form as the “True Devil” who “really ruled” Hell, when Wolverine’s spirit was sent to Hell for eternal punishment. MK was later confirmed by Mephisto at the irregularly-held convention get-together meeting of ALL of Marvel’s demons (or at least those native to planet Earth and its connected pocket dimensions), the aptly-named Devil’s Advocacy, to be the “Satan” who fathered Daimom Hellstrom, and his younger sister Satana, and guest-starred in their series.

* In the manga and anime series ''Manga/BlueExorcist'', there are the Eight Princes of Hell. So far, the only ones that have appeared are Amaimon (the King of Earth) and Astaroth (the King of Rot). [[spoiler:It later turns out that Amaimon's older brother Mephisto, actually Samael, is one of the Princes, the King of Time. Lucifer, the King of Light, later makes an appearance]]. Other demon princes have been named in [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary material]], but have yet to show up in the story.

* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse has a huge variety of demon lords, [[Characters/MarvelComicsDemons Mephisto and Satannish]] usually being the most prominent. There's also a “Satan”; his relation to the others is unclear.

** Also, “Satan” for the longest time until the 2000’s did not officially appear in Creator/MarvelComics; it has always been some other demon impersonating instead. This is a {{retcon}}, probably for politically correct reasons, as Satan was a regular character in the "Son of Satan" (now known as Hellstorm) series in the 1970s. That "Satan" was later revealed to actually be Marduk Kurios, and was initially thought to ''possibly'' be a corrupted version of the Babylonian god, but it was later shown that there’s someone else entirely different claiming to be that deity too.
*** Which fits the Real Life mythology that the Babylonian Marduk was an egomaniacal narcissist who gave himself 200+ names when he won in battle the leadership of his own pantheon, with most of those names forcibly appropriated from other older dieties , such as his fellow Babylonian gods who were his older relatives who he personally defeated to become their leader. MK , who was later confirmed to be Marvel’s version of the Fallen Angel Lucifer, may have been the entity from whom the Babylonian Marduk got his dominant name.

** Under Asmodeus, Hell is ruled by the archdevils Barbatos[[note]]Not actually a devil, or for that matter anything anyone knows about, but he holds a place in their ranks.[[/note]], Dispater, Mammon, Belial, Geryon, Moloch, Baalzebul, and Mephistopheles, each of whom rules one of its rings. Under them are the infernal dukes, the elite of Hell's society, and the Malebranche, powerful devils each transformed to conquer a mortal world.
** There are countless demon lords, including Pazuzu, Deskari, Abraxas, Baphomet, Cyth V'Sug, Dagon, Nocticula, Angazhan, Abraxis, Kostchtei, Shivaska, Zevgabizeb, and Flaucos. There are also nascent demon lords like Treerazer and Nightripper who are near the final stage of their growth to become lords themselves. Nocticula is rumored to be attempting to emulate Lamashtu and become a true demon goddess; in the ''Wrath of the Righteous'' adventure path, [[spoiler:she potentially succeeds in this, but stops being a demon lord, instead becoming the ChaoticNeutral goddess of artists and outcasts]].
** The NeutralEvil daemons are ruled by the Four HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, Apollyon, Szuriel, Trelmarixian, and Charon. Serving under them are the daemonic harbingers, powerful unique daemons like Corosbel, Folca, Llamolaek, Vorasha, Zelishkar, Stygivod, and Pavnuri who work to further their goals.

** The qlippoth are the oldest beings in the multiverse from the depths of the Abyss, and the oldest of their kind are the qlippoth lords. Given the nature of both qlippoth and the Abyss they're more rarely encountered than the leaders of other kinds of fiends, but Chavazvug, Isph-Aun-Vuln, Oaur-Ooung, Thuskchoon, and Yamasoth are a few of those known. They are noted to be less powerful than their equivalents in other fiendish species - perhaps the ascension of Rovagug required something fundamental from the qlippoth, or perhaps there are more powerful qlippoth still, dwelling undetected in the deepest parts of the Abyss. Some of the demon lords, such as Dagon, Cyth V'Sug, Jubilex, Mazmezz, and Yhidothrus were once qlippoth lords but became tainted by mortal sin and transformed into demons.
** The Queens of Night are a quartet of fallen good outsiders who remain something distinct from the devils and demons fallen outsiders typically become. They manipulate mortals and outsiders alike, making plans to conquer the planes they once served.

* The Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Literature/{{Eric}}'' features politicking among the demon lords.

The TropeNamer is ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', where demons and devils are distinct beings ruled by demon lords and archdevils.

* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse has a huge variety of demon lords, ComicBook/{{Mephisto}} and Satannish usually being the most prominent. There's also a “Satan”, his relation to the others is unclear.

*** which fits the Real Life mythology that the Babylonian Marduk was an egomaniacal narcissist who gave himself 200+ names when he won in battle the leadership of his own pantheon, with most of those names forcibly appropriated from other older dieties , such as his fellow Babylonian gods who were his older relatives who he personally defeated to become their leader. MK , who was later condirmed to be Marvel’s version of the Fallen Angel Lucifer, may have been the entity from whom the Babylonian Marduk got his dominant name.

* ComicBook/{{Artemis}} ends up in Hell after dying. She briefly serves as a general/fiance of a demon lord named Dalkriig-Hath. [[Franchise/WonderWoman Diana]] convinces her to quit and return to Earth.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' has brought up the hierarchy of demons once or twice. Archdemons are mentioned as a hypothetical in ''Fool Moon'' and Harry theorizes that the villains in ''Small Favor'' could only have [[spoiler: trapped the Archive with the power of a [[{{Satan}} fallen archangel]].]]

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' has Archduke Sebassis, "bonafide nobility of the fiery down under" and commander of 40 [[TheLegionsOfHell Legions of Hell]].
** The Senior Partners and the [[EldritchAbomination Old Ones]], such as Illyria, may count as these as well. According to Illyria (herself demoted to a puny humanoid form, implying a high turnover rate in the demon world), the Partners were once [[HarmlessVillain considered a joke]] amongst their peers. Perhaps aware of this, they hid behind "man's law", allowing them to flourish in the litigious modern world.

* The Demon Sorcerers in ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' are a [[BigScrewedUpFamily family]] of eight [[CompleteImmortality immortal]] demon siblings who once [[EvilOverlord ruled]] [[SorcerousOverlord the]] Earth with an iron fist before they were sealed in the [[PrisonDimension Nether]][[PhantomZone world]]. They each [[ElementalEmbodiment represent elements]] that appear in UsefulNotes/BaGua.
** There's also Tarakudo, who's an {{Oni}}, a Japanese demon. He leads vast [[LivingShadow Shadowkhan]] armies with his nine Oni Generals and is called "King of all Shadowkhan" and "Lord of all Oni".

*** The quori are a race of quasi-demonic nightmare spirits who are behind the PathOfInspiration and covertly control the nation of Riedra through it, and aim to control all mortal dreams. The most powerful kind of quori are Kalaraqs (intended to be roughly analogous to balors or pit fiends), and the most powerful of ''them'' is the Devourer of Dreams, who is the MouthOfSauron to the Dreaming Dark itself, the GeniusLoci of the DreamWorld which ultimately controls the quori.

* [[WebAnimation/TheSevenSinisters The Seven Sinisters]] is a Youtube Cartoon [[https://www.youtube.com/user/PoundToundHound By PoundToundHound]] about the seven princes of hell living in an apartment with a crazy slime girl trying to kill them, along with them turning evil in each episode. The show also features [[SevenHeavenlyVirtues The Seven Heavenly Virtues]] as the sinisters mothers. In a particularly creative touch, Envy and Wrath are depicted as twin sisters.
* ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel'': Hell has a number of overlords, many of which are treated more or less as criminal kingpins, and others as actual nobles. In the series, the main ones are Alastor, The Radio Demon, an uncommonly powerful demon that took down other overlords and rose as one of the most powerful beings in hell, and Lucifer and Lilith, the King and Queen of Hell and the protagonist's parents. Another number of them were mentioned by the creator as future antagonists.
* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'' has Stolas, an owl demon and high noble of hell (based on the 36th spirit of the ''Ars Goetia'') who lusts after Blitzo to no end and sponsors his business by allowing him to keep a spell book in exchange for occasionally killing people for him and fulfilling his other desires for him every full moon.

Compare and contrast TheLegionsOfHell for the grunts, {{Satan}} for the big guy himself, and {{Baphomet}} and {{Beelzebub}}, who are frequently confused with him. See also OurDemonsAreDifferent. Much like deer, the [[HornedHumanoid size of their horns]] can denote their status. Typically also a MonsterLord or going by MaouTheDemonKing. See also, EliteMooks.

** The ChaoticEvil Demons have an "uncountable" number of lords, princes, and monarchs -- the most famous being Demogorgon (who looks like a tentacled, two-headed mandrill), Graz'zt (the Abyss's MagnificentBastard), and Orcus (think bat-winged zombie minotaur). Two have ascended from this rank to godhood; Lolth (sometimes Lloth), goddess of the dark elves, who still uses the title "Demon Queen", and Juiblex (sometimes Jubilex), the "god" of {{blob monster}}s, who rated a ShoutOut in the ''Wrath of the Dragon God'' movie.

** ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'' introduces Stolas, an owl demon and high noble of hell (based on the 36th spirit of the ''Ars Goetia'') who lusts after Blitzo to no end and sponsors his business by allowing him to keep a spell book in exchange for ocasionally killing people for him.

** Great Demon King Piccolo is the evil half of the “God” of Earth, who left his body and descended from the sky and attacked the Earthlings with his army of Mazoku children. Great Demon King Piccolo reincarnated himself into a younger version after being killed by Son Goku. The revelation of Piccolo being an extraterrestial alien did not retcon both Piccolos' status as being demons.
** Dabura is the King of the Demon Realm and also an extremely powerful fellow. According to Goku, he's as powerful as Cell, who at full strength rivaled that of the Super Saiyan 2 form.

Compare and contrast TheLegionsOfHell for the grunts, {{Satan}} for the big guy himself, and {{Baphomet}} and {{Beelzebub}}, who are frequently confused with him. See also OurDemonsAreDifferent. Much like deer, the [[HornedHumanoid size of their horns]] can denote their status. Typically also a MonsterLord. See also, EliteMooks.