Can this be considered a subtrope of "adaptation wimp"? Because there are some bible verses that him seem threatening. Or was he originally meant to be lame, and most modern depictions are examlpes of adaptational badass?
I wouldn't call Satan a spirit of death, more like a spirit of pure evil.
What's the inverse of this trope? Where the Devil is every bit as mighty and grandiose as he claims to be?
- The Devil in Old Harry's Game is a somewhat whiny guy who has trouble keeping his demons in line and can be foiled by a dead professor or the director of a privatised water company.
I think there's a valid point in here somewhere, but it's obscured because it doesn't seem the person who wrote this has actually seen the show. The only part which is inarguably true is that he's whiny. As far as having trouble keeping his demons in line, it's true that there have been two instances in the show of demons rebelling. The first time, it's only a single demon, and Satan allowed it to happen because he was feeling suicidal at the time; as soon as he realizes that he doesn't want to be defeated, he easily thwarts it. The second time was a full-on rebellion, but it was only able to go on because Satan was on a mission on Earth at the time; once he gets back to Hell, he quells it with just a few sentences. I'd hardly call either of those evidence of his being a loser. Now the part about his being foiled is really confusing me. Satan in the show doesn't really do much in the way of plots, so there isn't much to foil, but when he does, he's usually trying to change some basic part of human nature, and fails because of, well, human nature, regardless of any activity of other characters. The Professor often manages to win arguments with the Devil, but it's a stretch to call that "foiling", and indeed the only reason he gets away with this is because Satan actually likes him. Thomas is nothing more than a punching bag to Satan, and never really threatens what plans he does make. As I said, there's a valid example here, but think more Supernatural and less Jimmy Two-Shoes.
Is this related to Being Evil Sucks ?