Basic Trope: A character who is really a demon (usually one specific demon) in disguise uses an alias that is suspiciously demonic.
- Straight: Senator Morningstar is really Lucifer in disguise.
- Exaggerated: Senator Louis C. Ferr (who has horns, 5 wings, 4 heads and a body covered in eyes) is really Lucifer in disguise.
- Downplayed: Senator Morgenstern probably isn't literally a demon, but he's definitely The Corrupter and makes some devilish deals.
- Justified:
- The reason no one sees through such a painfully obvious name is because Senator Morningstar backs it up with a touch of Jedi Mind Trick.
- Lucifer is compelled by esoteric laws to pick such a blatant name as part of "playing fair".
- The devil is just being subtle and does not drop obvious hints to his true identity.
- Lucifer is acting as God's equivalent of a prosecuting attorney, and one of the rules he must follow is to observe the one on trial but reveal himself to them in a subtle manner, which he is following exactly as he should.
- The devil is deliberately using an obvious alias because he wants someone to figure who he is, and the alias is merely meant as a form of bait.
- Lucifer calls himself Mr. Morningstar, which is not an uncommon surname for the setting.
- Most people do not have meaningful names, so Alice doesn't notice.
- The alias is mainly for documentation purposes. A career in politics demands plenty of records to be kept, after all.
- The characters within the setting that Lucifer is in are either of the wrong faith (ex. they are Buddhists), irreligious, or otherwise don't believe in Lucifer's existence. Therefore, they wouldn't be as likely to notice how a name like Morningstar hints at Lucifer actually being present.
- Inverted:
- Professor Joshua Christian calls Senator Morningstar out and reveals that he's Jesus in disguise.
- God Was My Copilot... and dropped hints that he was God (perhaps jokingly calling himself "Mr. Clapton").
- Subverted: Senator Morningstar says stuff like "We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively, once and for all" and burns Bibles. He isn't Lucifer... just a communist.
- Double Subverted: Senator Morningstar is just a communist... but Congressman Zubb is the famed lord of the flies.
- Parodied:
- As Exaggerated, but when this is pointed out, everyone either refuses to believe such a ridiculous accusation, or is shocked when they find out.
- Santa of all people turns out to be Satan in disguise. (Get it? Because Santa is an anagram of Satan?)
- Zig Zagged:
- Senator Morningstar is just a normal corrupt senator— No, he actually is Lucifer after suffering Laser-Guided Amnesia— No, he isn't, he was just brainwashed in thinking he is— Actually he is, but allowed to be brainwashed so people would think he only believed he is Lucifer— And in the end it is revealed he really had amnesia, and believed himself to be Lucifer due to having powers, being actually Jesus - and is now having a severe Amnesiac Dissonance.
- "Old" Nick de Ville dresses in red, has a goatee, disdains religion, and is obsessed with the number six — but he's just a communist. It's his rival Joshua Christian who's really Lucifer.
- Lucifer's disguise uses an ironically holy-sounding name (Ex. Christopher, Jesús, Gabriel).
- Averted:
- No one named anything near "Lucifer", "Beelzebub", any of the demons from the Ars Goetia ect. and no one turns out to really one of them in disguise, and the story is free of religious references.
- Supernatural beings prefer to uphold The Masquerade, and take mundane human names to blend in better.
- Enforced: We need to make a plot twist of our Senator being Satan, but we can't make it come out of nowhere. Let's make his name sound demonic as Foreshadowing.
- Lampshaded: Upon learning Senator Morningstar is Lucifer, the hero proclaims "I can't believe I fell for that!" noting "It's one of the oldest ones in the book."
- Invoked: The communist party candidate Mr. Morningstar wants appeal to the satanist demographic, so he plays it up.
- Exploited: A demon hunter identifies demons by looking for names of this nature in the phonebook, as people with names like Sam Atan always turn out to be demons in disguise.
- Defied:
- Reverend Lou Cypher is really a nice, religious guy and, knowing that he has an unfortunate name, is sure never to engage in Satanic activity to preserve his reputation.
- Lucifer picks a non-incriminating alias.
- Lucifer doesn't even try to hide his identity. The voting public are just Horrible Judges of Character.
- Discussed: "I'm telling you, Senator Morningstar is evil! Look at his name! Why does no one believe me?"
- Conversed: "Like in those movies where Lucifer disguises himself using the name Louis Cypher?"
- Deconstructed: Character who learns Senator Morningstar is really Lucifer turns heavily religious (after all, he knows Lucifer is real, so logically...).
- Reconstructed: Character who learns Lucifer is really Senator Morningstar becomes a specialist in politics to fight against him.
- Played For Laughs: Demons have a betting pool on how little they can modify their names before they can get caught; Samael masquerades as Samuel, Vine pretends to be a woman named Ivy, and Amy just pronounces their name differently.
- Played For Horror: Lucifer uses a different alias when in the human world because hearing his actual name would be fatal.
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