Character page for the Hellraiser franchise's original continuity.
For the characters from the 2022 reboot, see here.
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Cenobites
In General
Servants of Leviathan, bringers of pain and pleasure, explorers of the outer reaches of experience. While Pinhead is the most famous of the group, he never appears alone. When he is summoned, he is accompanied by a revolving door of likewise mutilated Cenobites. It appears that three usually go with him. Later films portray him as their leader, or at least the head Cenobite in charge.
- Bald of Evil: Their morality is a bit more complex than "evil" but they are still fearsome demons without any hair whatsoever.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: To them the human concepts of "good" and "evil" are irrelevant, all that matters is the sensations the flesh gets to experience, from the most excruciating pain to the wildest pleasures, and they're quite eager to show their summoners what it all entails.
- Body Horror: The process of conversion often causes grievous mutilation to the Cenobite, such as ripping their flesh open and making the gaping wound never close or driving sharp objects into their bodies. Not that they seem to care...
- Church Militant: Most of the Cenobites seen in the movies are clergymen of Leviathan, imbued with power to shred through everything in their path.
- Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: They genuinely care about one another as a family would.
- Feel No Pain: They're completely numb to any sort of imaginable pain, having experienced the taste of pleasure granted by Leviathan.
- Hell Is That Noise: An ominous cue precedes their appearance on Earth, usually it's rattling chains or a short music box melody. Frank almost says this word-for-word when the Cenobites finally find him.
- Hell Seeker: The Lament Configuration often finds its way into the hands of a person seeking Hell as the ultimate pleasure, and a lot of those become Cenobites.
- Hellbent For Leather: It seems that their usual priestly or combat gear consists almost exclusively of leather and metal.
- Implacable Man: Conventional weaponry doesn't seem to harm them, only stopping them for a few moments.
- Malevolent Mutilation: Displayed proudly.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Their tastes are inhuman, and the pleasures they provides are agonizing.
- Noble Demon: A relatively consistent trait is that while the Cenobites are demons, they follow a set of rules when going after humans. They typically only go after those who have solved the Lament Configuration or have managed to elude them after opening the box and while they are willing to kill others as collateral, they actively spare those who are truly innocent. Also, simply solving the puzzle isn't enough to get their attention, there has to be a reason or desire behind it. The sole straight forward subversion of this is Pinhead Unbound and his pseudo cenobites from the third movie.
- Ominous Walk: They never run or chase after their summoners, instead maintaining a slow gait and teleporting when necessary.
- Sense Freak: They get off on pain, considering it the ultimate pleasure after being converted.
- Torture Technician: Cenobites are experienced in delivering exquisite torture to humans, but to them it's only a way of receiving delights.
- Was Once a Man: All of them were formerly human until being twisted by the Leviathan or other Cenobites.
Pinhead
"We have such sights to show you..."
Portrayed by: Doug Bradley (Hellraiser to Hellraiser: Hellworld), Stephan Smith Collins (Hellraiser: Revelations), Paul T. Taylor (Hellraiser: Judgement)
Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore (Hellraiser: Revelations), Doug Bradley (Dead by Daylight), Jun Hazumi (First film, Japanese Dub), Tesshō Genda (Hellraiser: Bloodline to Hellraiser: Inferno, Japanese Dub), Takaya Hashi (Hellraiser: Hellseeker, Japanese Dub)
Main baddie of the series, a mysterious figure known as a Cenobite holding the rank of the Hell Priest. Pinhead is an extremely dry witted bringer of the ultimate pleasure, which just happens to take the form of horrific tortures. Formerly Captain Elliot Spencer of the British Expeditionary Force, his mind was shattered after participating in The Third Battle of Ypres (Battle of Passchendaele). Developing a severe case of PTSD and Survivor Guilt, Spencer buried his grief by seeking out increasingly depraved carnal pleasures. His dark journey would eventually lead him to the Lament Configuration, and his transformation into Pinhead.
- Affably Evil: He is very polite to those who try to reason with him. In the third and fourth films, however, he is Faux Affably Evil due to the writers changing him into a traditional bad guy.
- Anti-Villain: His idea of pleasure is just too off the charts to be what humans want. In most cases, he tends to use this as a form of punishment for the film's primary villain(s). Not that they don't deserve it, though...
- Ascended Extra: In The Hellbound Heart, Pinhead is a minor Cenobite in the retinue and Butterball was the apparent leader. Come the film adaptation, due to Pinhead's makeup being the easiest for the actor to act in (Butterball couldn't see, Chatterer couldn't see or talk and the Female Cenobite had a very limited range of motion) Pinhead was promoted to leader. And the rest is history.
- Badass Boast: Very fond of them.
- From the first movie:
Pinhead: We'll tear your soul apart!- Hellbound:
Pinhead: [to Kirsty, who tries to bargain with him] Go on ... but trick us again child, and your suffering will be legendary, even in Hell!- And Bloodline:
Security Guard 1: Don't make us put some pain on you!
Pinhead: Pain? How dare you use that word?
Security Guard 2: He's got ... pins in his head!
Pinhead: What you think of as pain is only a shadow. Pain has a face. Allow me to show it to you. Gentlemen ... I ... am ... pain! - Badass Longrobe: His leather getup resembles a priest's robes, befitting his status as the high priest of an S&M religion.
- Berserk Button: Deceiving him or the Cenobites is a good way to make one's suffering legendary, even in Hell.
- Big Bad: Revered as the main antagonist of the franchise, though he mainly fulfills this role in the third and fourth films. In the others, he's a more distant problem if not outright helpful.
- Big Good: Interestingly, Pinhead's human form Captain Elliott Spencer is this of Hell on Earth, making it a Doug Bradley vs Doug Bradley fight!
- In the comics, Pinhead abandons his post in Hell, abdicating it to Kirsty Cotton, and pursues redemption. It's a con, and even without the power of Hell at his fingertips, he's still the Big Bad.
- He also serves as this in most films. However, he is far from the nicest example of this trope.
- Blasphemous Boast: He doesn't appreciate God's name being brought up around him.Pinhead: Do I look like someone who cares what God thinks!?
- He takes out two pins from his skull complete with brain matter coming out, sticks them in his palms and mocks Christ's crucifixion!
Pinhead: I AM THE WAY!!! (Cue Evil Laugh) - Blue-and-Orange Morality: Like all Cenobites, his motives are very hard for humans to comprehend.
- Breakout Villain: He ended up taking over the Big Bad role from intended main villain Julia Cotton.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Killing the angel Jophiel causes him to be exiled from Hell and be reduced to living as a human.
- Came Back Wrong: In the third Hellraiser film, he comes back from the dead, but is separated from his human half, making him more dangerous than before. By the end of the third film, this mistake is corrected when his human and Cenobite halves merge back together.
- Chain Pain: His Cenobite power is the ability to summon numerous chains to rip the victim apart.
- Cold Ham: During the first two movies, Pinhead is simultaneous restrained and dramatic.
- Cosmic Plaything: Surprisingly, even the Hell Priest isn't immune to the whims of Hellraiser's deities.
- In the second film he is killed by Channard (created by the Leviathan) and returned in the third film as a deranged monster after being separated from his human half. Although the mistake is corrected, the effects were devastating.
- In Judgement, Pinhead kills Jophiel as punishment for letting a serial killer known as the Perceptor roam free without consequence, only to be reduced to living as a human as punishment from God.
- Creepy Monotone: Speaks in one when he's not hamming it up.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite his menacing appearance and tendency to gruesomely mutilate those stupid enough to solve the Lament Configuration, Pinhead can be reasoned with to help fight against even worse threats or if the box was solved against the person's will or they were tricked into solving it, Pinhead can be reasoned with to find the person(s) responsible. While he does mutilate those who solve the puzzle box, most of them are power-hungry humans who had it coming big time.
- This is averted in the third and fourth movies, however, where he becomes a typical power-hungry villain who seeks world domination (although justified in the third as him having been separated from his human half, depriving him of his usual laws and self-imposed restrictions). Though starting from the fifth movie, he goes back to his more anti-villainous ways.
- Deadpan Snarker: His sense of humor is planted very firmly in the deadpan section.
- Deal with the Devil: He's willing to spare a victim, if they offer something worthwhile (usually a more wicked soul) in return. Faustian Rebellion remains common however, particularly with Kirsty. Depending on the Writer, however, Pinhead may actually keep his word, or he may refuse a victim if he feels they'll come to him eventually anyway.
- Depending on the Writer: His personality can range from supernatural being who punishes the wicked, to a garden-variety slasher villain.
- Dragon-in-Chief: Leader of the Cenobites, but answers to Leviathan.
- Even Evil Has Standards: When Tiffany is tricked into opening the Lament Configuration in Hellraiser II, he stops his fellow Cenobites from claiming her. Hard to pin down as a moral standard or just not being his modus operandi, though.Pinhead: It is not hands that call us. It is desire.
- Evil Brit: He was a British officer during the First World War. He lacks the accent as a Cenobite though, presumably due to his time in Hell.
- Eviler than Thou: Pinhead Unbound in Hellraiser IV berates his demonic partner Angelique for trying to win over John Merchant through seduction. Pinhead has a better plan: torture John and his family into obedience.
- He also does this to other villains who thinks it's a great idea to incur the wrath of a leather-clad Torture Technician.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: His sense of humor is very dry.
- Evil Is Hammy: When he wants to, he can crank up the ham.
- Evil Sounds Deep: He has a dark, booming baritone from his very first appearance, making him all the more regal and intimidating.
- Fallen Hero: Once an upstanding, moral, British military officer of World War I, but he became so deeply traumatized by his experiences in it that he fell into hedonism in an attempt to escape from his pain, and ultimately was claimed by the Box, taken to the Labyrinth and turned into the demonic Pinhead to serve Leviathan.
- Familial Foe: The LeMarchand/Merchant family are enemies of Pinhead and seek to close the gateway to Hell, which he wants to be kept open. Pinhead's first clash with a member of the family is in 1796, and the feud ends in 2127 with Pinhead's defeat.
- Flanderization: As the sequels kept coming, Pinhead devolved from complex figure, to stereotypical slasher film baddie. Thankfully, this was fixed in the fifth movie and on-wards.
- Freudian Excuse: Unlike Frank, he wasn't just a hedonist for the sake of sadistic thrills. His trauma from the war led to him turning to ever excessive pleasures to cope, eventually leading him to the box.
- Friendly Enemy: He seems to have a very one-sided affection for Kirsty. He is grateful for her helping retake souls that have escaped his clutches, and has enough respect for her to be willing to bargain with her. That said, he is very open wanting to claim her soul and sees taking it as an inevitable fate she cannot escape from.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: A rare antihero example for a horror film; he went from a shellshocked World War I veteran to becoming one of the most powerful Cenobites in the Hellraiser series after solving the Lament Configuration.
- Good Is Not Nice: Pinhead may be the closest thing the series has to an antihero, but when it comes to punishing the guilty, he makes them wish for a quick death and even puts them in a much worse fate.
- The Heavy: Plays a major role in every Hellraiser installment.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door / Wild Card: He goes from neutral in the first two movies, to evil in the third and fourth movie, to neutral again in the fifth movie and on-wards. This could possibly be blamed on bad writing, since the writers of Hellraiser 3 and 4 didn't properly understand the character (although the third at least justifies it through his separation from his human side), while the writers of sequels starting from 5 tried to get his character back on track.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: He has a sense of honor, moral standards, is capable of being reasonable with and cares for his fellow cenobite comrades.
- Horrifying Hero: For a certain definition of "hero". He's more of an Anti-Villain than anything, but nonetheless, remains a terrifying Humanoid Abomination covered in bodily mutilations and is most certainly not above tormenting the souls unfortunate enough to solve the Lament Configuration.
- Ironic Hell: In life Captain Elliott Spencer sought an escape from his past pain and trauma during World War I by seeking out pleasures as a hedonist, leading him to find the Lament Configuration. Ultimately he was dragged down to the Labyrinth and converted into a Cenobite, making him both incapable of feeling anything or even remembering his human past and the trauma in it.Doug Bradley: "A line from one of Clive's plays swam into my mind: 'I am in mourning for my humanity'. At this point, there was no back story for the character, but I had discussed this with Clive and we had agreed that he had once been human. But whether this was yesterday, last week, last year, ten, a hundred, a thousand years ago, I didn't know. I didn't need to. Sufficient to have that idea lodged into my brain. A perpetual, unconscious grieving for the man he had once been, for a life and a face he couldn't even remember. And a frozen grief. I felt now that Pinhead existed in an emotional limbo where neither pain nor pleasure could touch him. A pretty good definition of Hell for me."
- Lean and Mean: Like most Cenobites, Pinhead's rather slender.
- Legacy Character: Hinted at in the films. While Doug Bradley always portrays Pinhead, Hellbound shows him as the mortal Elliot Spencer, survivor of World War I. For comparison, Pinhead's first chronological film appearance is in Bloodline, nearly 100 years before Spencer's birth.
- Confirmed in the comics, where the Marvel run ties him to Aztec Mythology, and the ongoing series has him replaced by Kirsty Cotton and Harry D'Amour.
- Motive Decay: Initially his motives are inscrutable. In Hellbound, he's uncertain, but has echoes of human desires. From Hell on Earth on, he's a slasher villain, a generic demon, or a punisher of the wicked, Depending on the Writer.
- Noble Demon: Pinhead's adherence to the order's rules lead him to be one of the more nuanced horror movie icons.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Most of the people he gruesomely kills or tortures often were those who had it coming or in some cases will give the villain a Fate Worse than Death.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He can be reasoned with to help against a worse threat or if the summoning was unintended, just don't ever lie to him.
- Sense Freak: Taken to its utmost, most nightmarish extremes.
- Straw Nihilist: After the battle of Flanders, he fell into a Despair Event Horizon, losing all faith in humanity, leading to his discovery of the Lament Configuration and subsequent transformation into the leader of the Cenobites.
- Super Power Lottery: He's an immortal super-being with a wide range of demonic abilities. He can teleport anywhere through the Lemarchand Configuration, create and control metal chains, imprison the souls of his victims, transform humans into Cenobites, search and mess around in your mind, and manipulate objects mentally. The third movie demonstrates especially well that the human race would be in serious trouble if he wasn't a neutral force most of the time.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In the first two movies, he was an anti-villain. However in the third and fourth movies, he becomes a full-fledged bad guy willing to hurt innocents and turn Earth into hell, although in the third this is justified as him being separated from his human side. He does revert back to how he was in the fifth film.
- Tragic Villain: A Shell-Shocked Veteran of the First World War who was forcibly and brutally transformed into a Cenobite.
- War Is Hell: What began Elliot's downward spiral and eventual transformation into a Cenobite.Spencer: We'd seen God fail you see. So many dead. For us, He too fell at Flanders.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: In some continuities, Pinhead scrupulously refuses to harm children as "innocents." The comic And God Will Send His Angels has him gently note to an abused little girl that even if he wanted to hurt her, he's bound by the rules of his order....so he takes her abusive uncle instead.
Chatterer
Chatterer
Portrayed by: Nicholas Vince (Hellraiser & Hellbound: Hellraiser II), Mike Jay Regan (Hellseeker, Deader, Hellworld & Judgement), Jolene Anderson (Revelations), Jason Liles (2022 reboot)
Pinhead's most constant Cenobite follower, and only one to appear more than twice. He appears as a tan figure, with the skin on his face stretched back by hooks. Obscuring his eyes, and leaving his gums and trademark chattering teeth exposed.
- Art Evolution: It's subtle, but after the original film, the Chatterer makeup is given a small tweak so his eyes are now visible. An evolution necessary so his portrayer could actually see.
- Depraved Homosexual: The first Chatterer was once a young orphan named Jim, whose Start of Darkness began when he framed his mother for murdering his abusive father. After spending several years in an orphanage, he and another boy named Seth became friends and lovers, eventually becoming rent boys at sixteen years old. Jim was turned into Chatterer years later after he failed to ensnare Seth's soul for the Cenobites, and spent the night having sex with him instead.
- Distaff Counterpart: The Female Chatterer from Revelations.
- The Dragon / The Brute: Though the Female Cenobite seemed to occupy it at first, his constant appearances pretty much grant him the title by default.
- Dumb Muscle: His primary role is that of an enforcer, usually restraining subjects for Pinhead.
- Enfant Terrible: At least one incarnation was a child who became a Cenobite.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: In Inferno, where he appears as a legless variant aptly called Torso.
- Lean and Mean: Like most Cenobites.
- Legacy Character: Pinhead seems to like having a variant (be it a Hell Hound or a female) of Chatterer around.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Chatterer has been given at least three different backstories, two of them ("Look, See" and "Prayers for Desire") written by Nicholas Vince. Of course, since there's been multiple Chatterers and Chatterer-like characters, it's possible that all three origins (little boy, hedonist actor, and gigolo servant of the Cenobites) are applicable.
- The Speechless: He obviously can't talk with his disfigurement.
- Teens Are Monsters: Jim, the boy who would become Chatterer, murdered his father and framed his mother for it; as a teenage male prostitute, Jim was chosen by the agents of Hell to serve the Cenobites; delivering Lament Configurations to potential victims. Eventually he became a Cenobite himself, after failing to damn the soul of his former friend and lover.
Female Cenobite
Female Cenobite/Deep Throat
Portrayed by: Grace Kirby (Hellraiser), Barbie Wilde (Hellbound: Hellraiser II), Seiko Tomoe (Japanese Dub)
One of the original four Cenobites. A raspy voiced female, with wires peeling back the skin around her throat.
- Ambiguously Bi: A subtle example but when Kirsty offers Frank to the cenobites in her place, the Female Cenobite says in a somewhat lascivious manner, "Perhaps we prefer you..." and seems quite interested in Kirsty later in the movie as well as the sequel. Of course, this could just be a means of intimidation.
- Bald of Evil: As with most Cenobites, she has no hair, and Cenobites are essentially torture demons.
- Dark Action Girl: Clearly Pinhead's Number Two.
- Dark Mistress: She is Pinhead's second in command as well as his lover, as revealed in the Boom! Studios comic stories.
- Deadpan Snarker: Has her moments in the second film"Didn't open the box? And what was it last time? You didn't know what the box was? And yet we do keep finding each other, don't we?"
- The Dragon: Before Chatterer took the role, she seemed to be Pinhead's second in command, and only one who spoke to him as an equal. Of course she was 1 of the 2 original Cenobite foursome that could speak at all. But still.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: In contrast to Pinhead, her voice is metallic and raspy.
- Lean and Mean: Like most Cenobites.
- Nun Too Holy: In the comics it's revealed that, prior to opening the Lament Configuration she was a Catholic nun named Sister Nikoletta. She obsessively desired sin despite her vocation, leading her to opening the box when given to her by a strange man.
- Stealth Pun: Deep Throat.
- Woman Scorned: After Pinhead betrays her in the comics, which reveals that she and him have been lovers, and how deeply she cares about him.
Butterball
Butterball Cenobite
Portrayed by: Simon Bamford
Last of the original four Cenobites. A grotesquely fat and mostly silent Cenobite, with a pair of sunglasses.
- Demoted to Extra: Actually had a big role, and the most dialogue of the original four in The Hellbound Heart. In the films, he's mostly a Living Prop.
- Eye Scream: Has his eyes sewn shut.
- Fat Bastard: He's called "Butterball" for a reason.
- Satellite Character: The least active of the Cenobites, usually content to stand in the background.
- Sinister Shades: What he hides his stitched eyes behind.
Camerahead
Camerahead
Portrayed by: Ken Carpenter
Formerly cameraman Daniel "Doc" Fisher. The first of several Pseudo-Cenobites, Cenobites forcibly morphed by Pinhead who haven't received their punishment in Hell. Has a camera lens where his right eye goes, and can make things he records explode.
- Face–Heel Turn: Like CD, his turn is unexplained. Unlike CD, we get enough background to wonder why he's suddenly a Cenobite.
- Improbable Weapon User: More than the other Cenobites of his generation, as he kills someone by extending his camera lens into their skull.
CD
CD
Portrayed by: Eric Willhelm
Formerly Jimmy Hammerstein, local DJ. Jimmy had the misfortune to be DJ'ing the night Pinhead dropped by the Boiler Room. In the midst of the massacre, he was morphed into CD, the second Pseudo-Cenobite. Can launch CD's like shurikens from the CD player imbedded in his stomach.
- Deadly Disc: His whole schtick.
- Dull Surprise: Jimmy seems remarkably unfazed during the massacre. Until he gets a bunch of CD's embedded in his head.
- Flat Character: Unlike his brethren, has no real characterization before his conversion.
Barbie
Barbie
Portrayed by: Peter Atkins
Third of the Pseudo-Cenobites. Formerly Rick Bloodstone, Boiler Room bartender. After the massacre, he was morphed into Barbie, a large Cenobite with power over fire.
- Booze Flamethrower: The only power he seems to really have.
Siamese Cenobites
Siamese Twins
Portrayed by: Jimmy Schuelke and David Schuelke (Pre-Cenobite), Michael Polish and Mark Polish (As Cenobites)
Mark and Michael Norrington were Identical Twins, working together as security guards at a certain building. On their rounds one night, they had the misfortune of stumbling onto Pinhead and his ilk. The two inseparable brother were merged together at the head, becoming a ghastly Cenobite pair.
- Body Horror: While common to all Cenobites, the Twins can separate, only to reunite, destroying anyone between them in a shower of Gorn.
- Creepy Twins: Hard to get much creepier than these two.
Wire Twins
Wire Twins
Portrayed by: Lynn Speier and Trish Kara
A mysterious pair of Cenobite Females. They function as the Cenobite equivalent of Succubi, luring in victims with their sexual power.
- Creepy Twins: Though unlike the Siamese, they regularly function as two separate entities.
- Overly-Long Tongue: One of their signature characteristics.
Surgeon
Surgeon
Portrayed by: Dale Wilson (Pre-Cenobite), Mike Jay Regan(Cenobite)
Deacon Vrainian was once a skilled and lauded surgeon in his human life. But one slip up cost him the life of his wife during an operation. His mind shattered, Deacon eventually stumbled upon the Lament Configuration. Pinhead offered him a way to forget his pain. And so, he became a sinister Cenobite Surgeon.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Deacon had more sympathetic reasons for becoming a Cenobite as he simply wanted to escape his grief over his one mistake.
- Deadly Doctor: Well, he is a Cenobite surgeon.
- My Greatest Failure: The death of his wife is what drove him to become a Cenobite.
- Satellite Character: His role in the films is exceedingly minor.
- Tragic Monster: His origins describe him as a surgeon who fell from grace and wanted to forget his pain.
Bound I and II
Bound and Bound II
Portrayed by: Nancy Lilley (Female), Gary J. Tunnicliffe (Male)
A pair of similar, but unrelated Cenobites. Appearing with leather straps bound over their eyes and mouths.
- Satellite Character: Bound I has an almost ancillary role.
Stygian Inquisition
Introduced in Hellraiser: Judgement, The Stygian Inquisition are a group of demons who specialize in weighing the sins of and punishing the guilty. They are a separate branch of the Cenobites, despite having similar levels of Body Horror and Facial Horror to them.
In General
- Big Good: Of Hellraiser: Judgement.
- Body Horror: Each one of them has similar levels of this to the Cenobites.
- Dark Is Not Evil: They are a grim looking group of demonic creatures, but they are simply just doing their jobs of punishing the guilty.
- Good Is Not Nice: While they do punish the wicked, the methods are horrifying to even the most evil of souls.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Most of the people they judge tend to be those who had it coming.
- Trauma Conga Line: Given that they work with Pinhead and Hell itself, meeting the Stygian Inquisition is never a good sign if you are evil.
The Auditor
A demonic office worker who keeps track of those who enter Hell.- Beware the Nice Ones: He's a polite, calm fellow, but he is the first of the Stygian Inquisition that human souls meet and the rest goes downhill from there..
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite being a demon, he can be jovial at times and a bit sarcastic. It also helps that he is an office worker...in Hell nonetheless!
- Covered in Scars: His whole body and face are covered in various deep gashes.
- Creepy Good: He's a little unpleasant to look at, but is simply doing his job.
- Nice Guy: Arguably, more friendly than Pinhead, the Cenobites, or the other three Stygian Inquisition members.
- Oh, Crap!: Upon realizing that Pinhead had killed Jophiel, the angel who was responsible for exiling Adam and Eve, he knows that Pinhead is in deep trouble.
- Sinister Shades: Part of his demonic looking appearance.
- Tragic Keepsake: He keeps an old music box with him that brings him comfort.
The Assessor
The more human member of the Inquisition who devours the sins of the guilty.
- Big Eater: Has a tendency to eat the sins of the guilty in the form of pieces of parchment paper.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: The sins of the Preceptor were too abominable even for him, causing him to choke on them.
The Jury
A group of women who serve in the Stygian Inquisition. Each one of them has a face stripped of its skin.
- Badass Crew: Well, they are a subgroup of the Stygian Inquisition after all.
- Dark Action Girl: More like a group, but still frightening nonetheless.
- Facial Horror: Each member has faces with exposed muscle and missing noses.
The Butcher
A member of the Stygian Inquisition who sports a dollface mask and carries meat cleavers, which he uses to cut the guilty to pieces.
- Ax-Crazy: One of the more violent members of the Inquisition, alongside the Surgeon.
- Expy: Of Leatherface.
- Fat Bastard: He is remarkably overweight.
The Surgeon (Worker)
A Stygian Inquisition member who wears a gas mask and leather gimp suit.
- Ax-Crazy: As was the case with the Butcher, he is one of the more violent members, but is the closest thing to being on the side of good.
- Hellbent For Leather: His ensemble is a leather suit and gas mask.
- Lean and Mean: He is noticeably thinner than the other Inquisition members.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. He's the second character to be known as The Surgeon, the other being a minor Cenobite character.
Cotton Family
Kirsty Cotton
Portrayed by: Ashley Laurence, Rika Fukami (Japanese Dub)
The closet thing the franchise has to a main protagonist, making an appearance in three films. Niece of the despicable Frank Cotton, she winds up entangled in the plans of the Cenobites.
- Action Survivor: She's not physically strong enough to fight off Frank or the forces of hell. So, she uses her brain, of course!
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Kirsty is described in the book as being somewhat of a plain Jane, while in the movies she is more conventionally attractive.
- Adaptational Name Change: In the book, her name is Kirsty Singer, since she's not related to Larry in that version.
- Adaptational Personality Change: In the novella, Kirsty is much more of a Shrinking Violet, with secret, unrequited feelings for her friend Rory and implicitly jealous of Julia. In the film, Kirsty is more confident as well as being changed to the loving daughter of Larry (Rory in the novella) and more cold and critical towards Julia.
- All for Nothing: A portion of the second movie is dedicated to her finding what she believes is to be her father after she sees a blood note. Unfortunately, it's Frank and she doesn't see Larry again. That said, in the original script, it would've been for something as Larry would've saved Kirsty, but unfortunately Andrew Robinson didn't return.
- Bittersweet Ending: She successfully bargains her way out of Pinhead's clutches but the methods to do so have most likely damned her to Hell when she dies anyway.
- Break the Cutie: The first movie is dedicated to mentally breaking her.
- Daddy's Girl: She loves her father very much and his death gets her very close to the Despair Event Horizon.
- Damsel out of Distress: After all the years of fearing Pinhead and his ilk, she escapes from them.
- Dark Is Not Evil: In the comics, she becomes a Cenobite after Pinhead renounces his status as a Cenobite, but still maintains the same personality she had as a human. She also happens to wear a white kimono as a Cenobite.
- Deal with the Devil: With Pinhead, more than once, over the course of her movies.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Her murder of one of her husband's mistresses is heavily implied to condemn the other woman to Hell, despite no sign that she even knew Kirsty existed.
- Domestic Abuse: In Hellseeker, her cheating husband was planning on killing her.
- Face–Heel Turn: In Hellseeker she murders her husband's three mistresses and gives their souls to Pinhead for eternal damnation to try to save herself from it. While Trevor's boss and neighbor undoubtedly knew of her, there is no evidence that the third mistress, his masseuse, knew of the marriage in the first place, much less wished Kirsty ill.
- Final Girl: Survives each of the movies she is in to the end.
- Guile Hero: She outwits Frank in each of their encounters and becomes the closest thing Pinhead has to an ally.
- Latex Perfection: Well, not exactly latex...
- Missing Mom: Her birth mother died before the story.
- Morality Pet: Serves as one for Pinhead.
- Oh, Crap!: Has this when she realizes "Larry" is actually Frank and was too late to save her father.
- Odd Friendship: With the Cenobites and Pinhead on some occasions or to fight against a worse threat.
- Related in the Adaptation: In The Hellbound Heart, she was just Larry's coworker, with the implication that she had a crush on him. She's his daughter in the movies.
- She Who Fights Monsters: By the time of Hellseeker it is clear that Kirsty has spent so much time fighting against Pinhead and the Cenobites, struggling to survive against them and the human threats to her life, that she is becoming the very evil she has resisted.
- Tear Off Your Face: Does this to Julia in Hellraiser II, to Kill and Replace her.
- Took a Level in Badass: With each subsequent movie and in the comics.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In Hellseeker, she becomes a borderline villain.
Larry Cotton
Portrayed by: Andrew Robinson, Rokurō Naya (Japanese Dub)
The poor bastard who inherits his grandmother's old home, not knowing what his depraved brother Frank had unleashed inside it.- Adaptational Name Change: In The Hellbound Heart his first name was Rory.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Is skinned alive so Frank can assume his identity.
- Good Is Dumb: He's a loving father and clearly loves his daughter. Though he doesn't realize that Julia is keeping very dark secrets from him.
- Good Parents: He clearly loves Kirsty and cares a lot for her well-being.
- Killed Offscreen: We don't see him getting skinned, but it wasn't a pretty sight evidently.
- Nice Guy: He's shown to be a very friendly and caring man, which only makes his death even more depressing...
- Supernatural-Proof Father: He's unaware of what's been happening and is the only one of the Cottons who isn't aware of what's happening in the house. This doesn't save him from his tragic fate.
- Too Dumb to Live: Doesn't recognize the warning signs about Julia and the house until it's too late.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: While Kirsty is tricked into opening the Lament Configuration again because she sees visions of her father trapped in Hell, this turns out to be a ruse by Frank to trick her into freeing him. Larry is never seen or heard from again. In the book, Kristy sees the image of Frank and Julia trapped inside the puzzle box, but no trace of Larry, and wonders if Larry might have departed to a better place that could be glimpsed with some other puzzle.
- In the original script Pinhead says that he is "he's in his own Hell, child. And quite unreachable." Later it is revealed that Larry is indeed in Hell, permanently stitched into the back of Frank, the brothers are inseparable for eternity. Larry also saves Kirsty from a rape attempt by Frank.
Frank Cotton
Frank Cotton
"Come to Daddy..."
click here to see his skinless form
click here to see him in Larry's skin
- Portrayed by: Sean Chapman, Oliver Smith, and Andrew Robinson, Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (Japanese Dub)
The decrepit soul who started it all. Frank believed he had felt all the pleasures the world could offer him, until he found a mysterious puzzle box on a trek through India. Upon solving it, he was whisked off to the Cenobite realm to experience the so called "Ultimate pleasure". And after years of this "Ultimate pleasure" he wants out.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: In the book, Frank is described as being overweight with a massive mustache. This is not the case with Sean Chapman.
- Asshole Victim: Dies in the most brutal way possible at the end of the movie and then gets trapped in hell forever. A very brutal, but well deserved fate for such a despicable animal like Frank.
- Badass Boast: His last words before the Cenobites rip him apart. Also a Blasphemous Boast, as he seems to be implying that he's in more pain that Jesus was, but he just laughs through it.Frank: Jesus wept.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: He wanted to experience a sensation he'd never felt before. He got just that when he met the Cenobites.
- Big Bad: Of the first part. The Cenobites actually help Kirsty to an extent in the movie.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Tries to pull the same stunt in the sequel. Julia is having none of it this time though.
- Big "NO!": Frank shouts this when Kirsty tosses the Lament Configuration out the window.
- And again when Kirsty sets fire to his digs in Hell, which causes him to lose his skin again.
- Cain and Abel: He's the Cain to Larry's Abel. That said, they aren't actually seen talking on-screen. Although there would've been a moment in the sequel where they do.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Threatens Julia on more than one occasion and tells her she needs to love him more than Larry. It's actually subverted when he backstabs her.
- Creepy Uncle: Repeatedly tries to force himself on Kirsty, his brother's daughter.
- Dark Is Evil: He looks like a corpse after escaping the Cenobites and tries to paint himself as a victim, but is a corrupt, sadistic serial killer. Also serves as a counterpart for Pinhead's Dark Is Not Evil characteristics.
- Die Laughing: Frank cackles maniacally as the chains rip him apart in the climax.
- Evil Counterpart: To Kirsty and Elliot Spencer. While Kirsty solved the configuration by accident and later convinced Pinhead and the Cenobites to stop Frank, Frank solved the box, knowing full well what he was getting into, and tricked the Cenobites. Also serves as one to Pinhead. While Spencer indulged in pleasure as a way to cope with his PTSD after the war, Frank indulged in hedonistic pleasures out of petty sadism. Also, Pinhead went from a human to a Cenobite who goes after those who solved the box (and was simply doing his job) while Frank tricked the Cenobites and was punished for it.
- Evil Feels Good: Frank's motivation.
- Evil Makes You Ugly: Played straight in the book, but averted on the ugly part in the movie.
- Evil Uncle: To Kirsty.
- Face Death with Dignity: It takes a bit, but he's not afraid of death in his final moments.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: His movie counterpart looks like a romance-novel cover model, but make no mistake, he is a cruel sadist who has no qualms using his charm to manipulate and betray other people and even Cenobites.
- The face of an angel part doesn't apply in the book, however, where he's an ugly fat bastard.
- Face Stealer: More like "Skin Stealer".
- "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: See Badass Boast.
- Fat Bastard: In the book at-least, though Averted on the "fat" part in the movie. However the bastard part is played very straight in both the book and movie.
- Faux Affably Evil: He can turn on the charm when he needs to. It briefly works on Kirsty when he steals the skin of Larry, until she puts the two and two together, ultimately causing his downfall.
- Go Out with a Smile: Dies with an absolute grin on his face.
- Hated by All: Everyone in the Cotton family has a strong dislike towards Frank given his immoral behavior, and cares little about him. Even Julia, in her inner monologue from the book, acknowledges that her fling with Frank had "all the aggression and joylessness of rape." It's possible even the Cenobites hated him, since he was never converted into their ranks.
- Hate Sink: One of the most rotten characters in the series. Frank has no redeeming or likable qualities, enjoys all the bad things he does and is depraved to the very bone.
- The Hedonist: Which led him to the Lament Configuration.
- Hypocrite: In Hellbound he taunts Kirsty for wondering why her father isn't with him by saying "when you're dead, you're f***g dead." This is coming from the guy who just spent the previous film trying to bring himself back to life.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He pretends to love Julia, but is really just using her, and eventually kills her when she outlives her usefulness to him.
- Kill and Replace: His brother.
- Lack of Empathy: Tying with Ungrateful Bastard, he kills Julia despite all the effort she went through to give him skin and isn't sorry in the slightest.
- The Nth Doctor: Sean Chapman plays Frank before his opening of the puzzle box. Oliver Smith plays him in his desiccated/skinless stages. Portrayed by Andrew Robinson after Frank kills Larry and steals his skin.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Instead of becoming a Cenobite, Frank reforms as a desiccated skinless figure who rebuilds himself by draining human flesh, and maintains his usual friendly personality otherwise.
- Sadist: Frank may be out to restore himself to life, but he does seem to enjoy draining the life from his victims.
- Sense Freak: Like most fictional hedonists.
- The Sociopath: Completely lacking in empathy, morally bankrupt, sadistic, utterly selfish and even takes pride in all of this.
- Speak Ill of the Dead: When Kirsty mourns her father, he insults him to her face. It bites him in the ass when it gets Pinhead's group to show up moments later.
- Too Dumb to Live: In the book, even after seeing how heavily scarified the Cenobites are (having previously assumed they'd be beautiful women) and hearing their repeated warnings that their offer of "pleasure" isn't what he's thinking of, Frank goes all in anyway. He soon regrets it.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: You never would have known just how evil Frank is based on first impressions.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: His original motivation seems to be that he thinks he is starring in his own personal porn movie, with the Cenobites providing a magical and ultimate production. He is very very very wrong.
Julia Cotton
Julia Cotton
"I'm no longer just the wicked stepmother. Now I'm the evil queen."
- Portrayed by: Clare Higgins, Kazuko Yanaga (Japanese Dub)
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Julia has no interest in her mild-mannered husband. But three minutes with his pushy, knife-wielding brother is all it takes for her to get in bed with him and promise him anything he wants.
- Asshole Victim: She gets betrayed in the first film by Frank, and then gets trapped in hell forever in the second film. But of course, she was such a vile, murderous scumbag that no one will feel sorry for her.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With Frank in Hellraiser and Channard in Hellbound.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Her role in Hellbound. She may have Took a Level in Badass for sure, but she was ultimately nothing to the forces of hell and Dr Channard overtakes her Big Bad role once he becomes a Cenobite. Also in comparison to the rest of the villains in the second film, her final fate is largely unspectacular as she is sucked out of her skin into the abyss with no fanfare.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In the first film, she presents herself as a friendly and kind hearted woman, but is revealed to be the complete opposite later on.
- Card-Carrying Villain: In the second film, to the point of referring to herself as an "Evil Queen".
- Dark Action Girl: In Part II.
- Dark Mistress: Subverted. Julia thinks she's this for Frank in the first movie. In actuality, Frank couldn't care less about her, and merely drains her of her blood and throws her aside after he accidentally stabs her.
- The Dragon: To Frank, being the one killing men so he can revive. Later fills this role to Leviathan, alongside Pinhead and Channard.
- Dragon Ascendant: After Frank's death, she forms a Big Bad Duumvirate with Channard.
- Dragged Off to Hell: Twice. And the second time, she remains there for good.
- Evil Brit: She is British and just as vile as Frank.
- Fate Worse than Death: What ends up happening to her in the second film.
- Faux Affably Evil: In the first film, she's very polite and friendly, though it doesn't change the fact she's a remorseless serial killer. In the second movie, she doesn't even try to hide her monstrous nature and becomes more of a jerkass on top of that.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Between the first movie and second, she evolves from a bored adulterous housewife to the servant of Leviathan. She was originally intended to take over the franchise as the queen of Hell.
- Hate Sink: Played very straight in the second film, where she becomes even more depraved, sadistic and psychopathic.
- Ironic Echo: Kills Frank and says the exact words he said when he accidentally killed her.
- Kick the Dog: The way she kills her victims is just brutal and horrifying to watch.
- Lack of Empathy: Sells out her victims to skinless Frank and doesn't give a damn, including her own husband, who was nothing but a kind and loving one towards her.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Her actions end up biting her in the ass twice. In the first film she gets killed by Frank, and in the second film she gets trapped in Hell forever.
- Love Makes You Evil: Even her actress Lampshaded this in an interview at one point. Julia is in a loveless marriage with Rory/Larry and believes only Frank can give her the passion she craves, which leads her to a very dark place.
- Light Is Not Good: In the second film, she spends part of her time covered in white bandages which surprisingly don't end up soiled by blood. She also wears a light blue dress which belies her supernatural monstrosity (though the original ending had her pull an Evil Costume Switch by changing the dress's color to black).
- Manipulative Bitch: Easily cons Channard into becoming a Cenobite. Not that he minded one bit.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Like Frank, Julia returns from hell in the sequel as a skinless pseudo-Cenobite that drains human blood to regenerate. Also like Frank, she maintains her depraved, remorseless personality.
- Serial Killer: She picks up and beats men with a hammer and feeds them to Frank.
- The Sociopath: Like Frank, Julia has no morals or empathy for others and kills others in the most brutal and sadistic ways without a shred of guilt.
- Took a Level in Badass: In Hellbound, she went from a victim in the first movie to a Faux Affably Evil Femme Fatale.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: She was by no means a good person in the first film. However, in the second film, she's even more despicable and sadistic.
- Unholy Matrimony: Has this with both Frank in the first film and Channard in the second film.
- White and Red and Eerie All Over: The flayed and bleeding Julia in her pristinely elegant white suit makes for an unsettling visual contrast.
- Wicked Stepmother: To Kirsty, whom she has tried to kill multiple times.
- Would Hurt a Child: She plans on killing Tiffany in the second film, who's only a teen.
Merchant Family
Several generations of men tied to the Cenobites and the Lament Configuration. With one exception, all are portrayed by Bruce Ramsey. Philip Le Marchand
Philip Lemarchand
The creator of the Lament Configuration.- Adaptational Heroism: Clive Barker originally wrote Lemarchand in the novel and subsequent comics as an evil occultist toymaker who voluntarily created the Lament Configuration to summon demons, as well as creating hundreds of similar nefarious boxes while in league with Leviathan and the Cenobites. Bloodline portrays him as an unwitting pawn who was tricked into creating one box, with the Duc corrupting it.
- Decomposite Character: The Duc de L'Isle appears to take on all the villainy of the Phillip Lemarchand of the novel and comics, including being an Evil Old Folks type in league with Leviathan and using Hell's power to make the box the gateway to the Labyrinth and Cenobites. The movie version of Phillip Lemarchand meanwhile was a good toymaker who only created the box as a toy without any nefarious designs in mind, with his creation being corrupted by L'Isle.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Subverted. Lemarchand had been obliquely referenced before, but everything implied he was a Cenobite-worshiping cultist. Nobody expected him to be just some guy, much less someone who'd never willingly worked with Leviathan or spent his efforts trying to stop Pinhead.
- Unwitting Pawn: He had no clue the toybox he was commissioned to make would bring about his end, and curse his bloodline for generations.
- Wicked Toymaker: Starts out a harmless toymaker and winds up creating dimensional doors to perverted hell dimensions.
- Subverted, however, in that Lemarchand is appalled by this, and attempts to undo it.
John Merchant
John Merchant
An architect drawn into his family's feud with Pinhead.- The Insomniac: He's frequently skipping sleep due to bad dreams.
- Off with His Head! Stabbed through the throat and beheaded by Pinhead.
Doctor Paul Merchant
Doctor Paul Merchant
A scientist in the far future, and latest of the cursed Merchant bloodline.- Badass Bookworm: A brilliant engineer who is the one to defeat and destroy Pinhead, for good.
- Magic Versus Science: He's the science fighting Pinhead's magic. His science wins in the end.
Winter
Winter
- Portrayed by Paul Rhys
- Ax-Crazy: He kills his own followers and brings them back as undead.
- Badass Longcoat: Winter is seen wearing a white trenchcoat on a few occasions.
- Big Bad: Of Deader. He is the leader of the Deader cult.
- Cain and Abel: John's wife offhandedly mentions that he has an unnamed brother, who we can reasonably assume is Winter.
- Dark Is Evil: He is a sadistic necromancer who turns people into the undead, in contrast with Pinhead who converts people into Cenobites.
- Dark Messiah: Gathers suicidal hedonists to his side and transforms them into "Deaders" - undead beings in various states of decay.
- Evil Counterpart: To Pinhead. While Pinhead grants power to humans by converting them into Cenobites, making them more powerful than before, Winter turns people into the undead, making them his slaves.
- Light Is Not Good: Dresses in white and is one of the most evil members of the Merchant family.
- Manipulative Bastard: Easily able to convince depressed hedonists into joining his cult and becoming nihilistic undead followers.
- Necromancer: And a vile psychopath too.
- Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: The younger villain to Pinhead's older hero as Pinhead is chronologically an old World War I veteran in contrast with the younger Winter.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Intends to conquer Hell and overthrow the Cenobites. Pinhead isn't having it. And when Pinhead finally gets his hands on him, it's not even a Curb Stomp Battle!
- Token Evil Teammate: Other descendants of Philip Lemarchand are seen trying to reverse engineer the puzzle box into a configuration that can kill Cenobites. Winter intends to use it to conquer them for his own gain.
Other Characters
Phillip Channard
Phillip Channard
- Portrayed by: Kenneth Cranham
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Via flashback, we see that his Deadly Doctor tendencies started with dissecting dogs (which he most likely killed to begin with).
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Of Part II with Julia, though both are ultimately merely tools of Leviathan.
- Combat Tentacles: Tipped with scalpels.
- Deadly Doctor: His killings are medically related ("I recommend amputation!")
- Dragon-in-Chief: To Julia.
- Evil Counterpart: To Pinhead and the other three Cenobites. While Pinhead has grimly and reluctantly accepted his role, Channard hesitated before embracing his role as a Cenobite wholeheartedly. Where Pinhead is cold and professional, reasonable, calm and silently mourning the loss of his humanity, Channard is an out of control emotional sadistic serial killer who revels in being Leviathan's slave. Also, Channard is shown wearing a white lab coat while Pinhead wears a black leather uniform.
- Evil Feels Good: His Cenobite conversion comes with wires burrowed into his face, and a massive tendril stuck in his head. His reaction to all this?Channard: And to think...I hesitated.
- Eviler than Thou: To Pinhead and his group of Cenobites.
- Faux Affably Evil: He mockingly uses his "bedside manner" voice to feel superior to others as a human, let alone after his conversion into a Cenobite. Once he is made into a monster, he drops all pretenses and revels in his sadism.
- Hate Sink: Unlike the other Cenobites, there is nothing even remotely redeeming about Channard.
- Hero Killer: He killed Pinhead and the other three Cenobites and to add insult to injury, he was responsible for Pinhead coming back as a deranged monster in the third film.
- Humanoid Abomination: As a result of his own vile nature and being directly controlled and empowered by Leviathan, he's much more monstrous than any of the other Cenobites, who have at least retained a sliver of their humanity. Channard's human body is drained and withered during his conversion, with tentacles and wires tearing through the remnants of his flesh.
- Karmic Death: Twice. First from fellow serial killer Julia, who lures him into the Labyrinth and betrays him, which sees him turned into a Cenobite puppet of Leviathan. The second and final time he is casually and pathetically discarded and decapitated by Leviathan once he has outlived his use, despite reveling in being Leviathan's puppet. Unlike the other Cenobites he murdered who regain their humanity, he gets no redemption for his soul, and his body simply dropped off the side of the Labyrinth and into an abyss.
- Large Ham: As a Cenobite.
- Light Is Not Good: Wears a white lab coat and is very evil.
- Loophole Abuse: Thinks getting a crazed patient to open the Lament Configuration will exempt him from the Cenobites' wrath. He's wrong.
- Mad Doctor: Subjecting his patients to horrific mutilation and solving the Lament Configuration is something he's been doing even as a human.
- Off with His Head!: Has the top of his head pulled off by Leviathan's tendril when his hooks get stuck in the floor.
- People Puppets: He himself becomes one for Leviathan post-transformation, his feet dangling uselessly in the air as his body is supported by a massive, phallic tentacle that has drilled into his head.
- Sadist: After becoming a Cenobite, Channard actively enjoys inflicting pain on others, in contrast to the mostly cold professionalism of the other Cenobites.
- Schmuck Bait: Tries to entice Tiffany by having his Combat Tentacles sprout flowers and beckoning fingers. It doesn't work.
- The Sociopath: He cares nothing for the suffering of others, so long as it brings him closer to discovering the mysteries of the Lament Configuration.
- Unholy Matrimony: Hits it off pretty well with the equally depraved Julia, even after she betrays him and offers him up to Leviathan, he still seems interested, as he seems genuinely happy when "Julia" returns to him in the climax.
The Leviathan
The Leviathan
- Affably Evil: In the comics, it appears in visions as a neighborhood milkman.
- Bad Boss: Ruthlessly murdered Pinhead and his Cenobites the moment they chose to defy it. Unwittingly freeing their souls in the process. Also casually and pathetically discarded Channard, a sadist who very much enjoyed serving it faithfully, the moment it was convenient.
- Eldritch Abomination: Takes the form of a rhombus emanating a black light (as in actually black, and not ultraviolet), that forces anyone who it shines down on to face their crimes. His true form — if he has one — is unknown.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Very much implied, from its instinctive murdering of Pinhead's Cenobites and forcibly reverting Pinhead back into a human being for his defiance, thinking it was a punishment. When it is clear that was what Pinhead wanted all along, to be the man he was, Captain Elliot Spencer, again.
- A God Am I: The reverberations it makes spell out "God" in Morse code.
- Greater-Scope Villain: It's the one Pinhead and all the other Cenobites ultimately answer to.
- Hero Killer: Was responsible for Channard becoming a cenobite and was therefore responsible for Pinhead's death and the deaths of three other cenobites.
- Satanic Archetype: He's essentially the Satan of Hellraiser.
- Shout-Out: His comics persona takes on the appearance of Milkman Dan.
- The Voiceless: It does make sounds, but it's not clear if those are indeed its voice.
Joanne Summerskill
Joanne Summerskill
- Portrayed by: Terry Farrell
- Final Girl: Of Part III.
J.P. Monroe
J.P Monroe/Piston-Head
- Portrayed by: Kevin Bernhardt
- Beauty Is Bad: To put it simply, he's a total hunk. And a morally deficient bastard.
- The Dragon: Briefly to Pinhead, as he was the one bringing him women for him to eat so he could resurrect.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He may be a Casanova scumbag but even he is horrified by Pinhead's cruelty. To an extent.
- Expy: Of Frank, right down to the "come to daddy" line.
- The Hedonist: To a lesser extent than Frank.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Right through his noggin, signalling his change into Piston-Head.
- Self-Made Orphan: Killed both of his parents for an inheritance.
Angelique
Angelique
Portrayed by: Valentina Vargas, Yumi Touma (Japanese Dub)
- Alas, Poor Villain: For all of her manipulative nature, she spends the entire movie as someone's slave. First Delisle, then Jacques and, eventually, Pinhead himself. One really can't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for her state.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: In her physical state.
- Bald of Evil: After her conversion to a Cenobite, her scalp is split open and tethered by hooks.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Shared this with Pinhead in the course of their working together, with their differing methods and ideas, underlying tension. Bickering like the daughter of a company's boss and the right hand man of the boss. She even looks like she's getting off on Pinhead sliding his hooked fingers into her flesh.
- Demoted to Extra: Pinhead originally addresses her with respect, if disagreeing with her methods, implying that Angelique is his superior. After her conversion, she no longer even receives lines, and is just another Cenobite in his retinue. It is implied Leviathan was punishing his daughter for her failure by putting her under the command of his favored Cenobite.
- Ironic Name: Angelique is French for "angelic".
- Manipulative Bitch: She plays with John Merchant's head to complete the Elysium configuration.
- Mind over Matter: She demonstrates the ability of telekinesis, such as moving the puzzle box from across the room to her hand.
- Stripperiffic: Her Cenobite outfit exposes her cleavage and hips.
- The Vamp: Downplayed. She uses her appearance to win favor with John Merchant, but other than an erotic dream he has of her, nothing comes of it.
- Voice of the Legion: After becoming a Cenobite, her voice has a darker reverberation to it.
Detective Joseph Thorne
Detective Joseph Thorne / The Engineer
- Portrayed by: Craig Sheffer, Kazuhiko Inoue (Japanese Dub)
- Alas, Poor Villain: Despite being a thoroughly unpleasant individual and Villain Protagonist, his fate might warrant at least some sympathy after he realizes just how horribly he wronged people.
- And I Must Scream: Comes with being trapped in Hell and having to relive your sins for all eternity.
- Ate His Gun: But doesn't make a difference as he just returns to where he was, doomed to repeat it again.
- Big "NO!": When he realizes he is doomed.
- Big Bad: Of Inferno. He is the Engineer.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: Consigned to that in the end as a Fate Worse than Death.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In spite of his hedonistic and asshole behaviour, Thorne goes seem to genuinely care about his daughter.
- Jerkass: Rude and condescending to everyone.
- The Hedonist: Uses cocaine, cheats on his wife with hookers and steals from crime scenes to fund his depraved lifestyle.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. The creature crawling down halls in the first movie is also canonically named the Engineer, but appears to have no direct relationship with the one Thorne hunts. (The novel has a third entity named the Engineer, but it's unclear if it exists in the film canon.)
- Smart People Play Chess: The movie opens with Joseph playing speed chess against a friend of his to show his intelligence. On top of that he has a phone conversation halfway through without interrupting his game and goes right back to playing a basketball game after he trumps his opponent.
- Tomato in the Mirror: It turns out he's been chasing himself this whole time.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The severed finger found belongs to his innocent childhood self.
Trevor Gooden
Trevor Gooden
Kirsty's husband in Hellseeker. After Kirsty's fake death, Trevor suffers amnesia before the Cenobites begin to stalk him. Turns out he was cheating on Kirsty and planing on killing her with the Lament Configuration. Kirsty turns the tables on him and set the Cenobites on him.
- Big Bad: Technically.
- Dead All Along: As revealed in the end, was in Limbo from the beginning of the film.
The Host
The Host
- Portrayed by: Lance Henriksen
The main antagonist of Hellworld, The Host invites the protagonists to a party only to begin picking them off one by one alongside the Cenobites. It turns out that he blamed them for the suicide of his son, and the Cenobites were hallucinations caused by drugs he had slipped to them.
