[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/etrigan-the-demon.jpg]]

->''"Change! '''Change''', O form of man!''\\
''Free the prince forever damned!''\\
''Release the might from fleshy mire!''\\
''Boil the blood in heart of '''fire'''!''\\
''Gone! '''Gone'''! -- the form of man --''\\
''Rise, the Demon '''Etrigan'''!!"''
-->-- Jason Blood

Created by Creator/JackKirby and appearing for the first time in ''The Demon'' #1 (August, 1972), Etrigan the Demon is an anti-hero superhero who has played many smaller roles in several DC comics from ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' to ''Franchise/WonderWoman'', with occasional stories and miniseries wholly to himself (such as in anthology series ''ComicBook/WednesdayComics''), and a number of ongoings, including Kirby's original series, a fifty-nine issue run, not counting annuals, during TheNineties, and Creator/JohnByrne's ''Blood of the Demon''.

Etrigan is a yellow skinned and red eyed demon who was summoned by Myth/{{Merlin}} to aid Camelot against the forces of Morgaine le Fay, who later became a recurring opponent in the series. After the fall of Camelot, Merlin sent Etrigan to roam the earth in the disguise of a man. DependingOnTheWriter, Etrigan is either bonded to one of Myth/KingArthur's noblemen or the human Jason Blood was merely created by Merlin's spell. In the present, Jason Blood, a well respected authority on demonology, is well versed in the skill of magic and has helped other superheroes in several occasions. Etrigan's habit of speaking in verses is a later addition, introduced by Len Wein in ''ComicBook/DCComicsPresents'' #66, but really established and explained by Creator/AlanMoore. This also makes him fall under almost every rhyme Trope there is.

Etrigan's powers include superhuman strength, speed, durability, regenerative powers, hellfire projection, teleportation, and a high knowledge of maleficium. Jason Blood on the other hand is precognitive, as well as a capable sorcerer himself.

Etrigan has also appeared in various animated adaptations of DC comics, being played by Creator/BillyZane in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Michael T. Weiss in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', Creator/DeeBradleyBaker in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' and ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueTheFlashpointParadox'', Christopher S. Field in ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline'', Creator/RayChase in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDark'' and ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDarkApokolipsWar'', Creator/PatrickSeitz in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction'', and David Shaughnessy in ''[[WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010 Young Justice: Phantoms]]''.

His latest ongoing, ''ComicBook/DemonKnights'', sees Etrigan leading a RagtagBunchOfMisfits in DarkAgeEurope.
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!!Tropes associated with Etrigan include:

* AmbiguousGender: Klarion's cat {{familiar}} Teekl alternates between male and female DependingOnTheWriter. Kirby's version (and appearance in an animated adaptation) was female (including an alternate humanoid form), while Morrison's is characterized as male.
** Even between appearances in Kirby's original run, Teekl is referred to as male in the first appearance but female by the second appearance.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Animated adaptations, mainly the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', show Etrigan as very abrasive (and a bit bloodthirsty), but still retaining heroic qualities.
* AristocratsAreEvil:
** In continuities where Etrigan is a true demon, not merely a construct of Merlin's, he's depicted as at least a prince of Hell. While he was under the pen of Creator/GarthEnnis, he was briefly king of it.
** Baron Von Evilstein is an extremely depraved MadScientist.
* BadassNormal: Jason Blood is no pushover either. Blood was briefly a member of the Justice League, and while he did invoke Etrigan once out of desperation, he was a member for his own power, not for the Demon's.
* BigBrotherBully: Etrigan was this to his brother Scapegoat.
* TheBigGuy: Usually when teaming up.
* BlessedWithSuck: Jason is thousands of years old, has witnessed the birth and fall of nations, traveled the world, and become a future seeing sorcerer. Oh...and he is forever bonded with a destructive demon from Hell that he doesn't get along with. At all.
* BlindSeer: Randu's power increases after he's blinded.
* BloodKnight: Etrigan, even when he is acting as a hero on the side of the good guys, never tries to make it a secret that he enjoys fighting and general destruction.
* BreathWeapon: Etrigan can breath hellfire from his mouth, though he can also project it from his hands.
* ByThePowerOfGrayskull: Etrigan's summoning spell.
** Often, especially in adaptations, only the two last lines are used. To change back, he recites "Gone, gone, O Etrigan! Resume once more the form of man!"
** Other versions of the poem have been seen to work. Spoofed at least once by Blood himself, while in a particularly snarky mood:
--->''Gone, oh little man so tame,''
--->''Arise the demon... Whatsisname?''
** In one story, Blood is turned into a fly and is forced to write out the poem in the dust in a desperate hope that could trigger the change: it works.
* CanonDiscontinuity: Creator/JohnByrne, in an act of purism, attempted to reveal that Etrigan's rhyming was the result of a curse rather than his demonic rank in a story serving as a backup in the final arc of his run on ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'', where the curse was undone and Etrigan was overjoyed to speak normally again. This was ignored by basically everyone.
* CarFu: In ''The Demon Annual'' #2, Etrigan and an alien powerhouse brawl in the street, hitting each other with cars -- neither bothering to let the people out first.
* ChildMage: ComicBook/KlarionTheWitchBoy is an absurdly powerful little brat who, in his ''first'' appearance: cures a deadly poison, conjures up a feast, banishes a monster with a fork, and summons the Demon to his aid while tied up and suspended from the ceiling.
* CigarChomper: Henry won't let go of a cigar even in a dead faint.
* CombatSadomasochist: Etrigan enjoys receiving pain just as much as giving it. Even as an infant.
--> '''Etrigan:''' Blood is drawn! I am impressed--though my hell-spawned powers will heal it! Besides...next to giving pain, my favorite sport's to feel it!
* CreepyChild: Klarion the Witch-Boy likes to use his magic powers to wreak havoc and comes off as unsettling even when he's on the heroes' side.
* CreepyGood: Jason Blood. He's got human tongues on display in his basement in one story, and in another ritually [[BloodBath bathes in blood]].
* CursedWithAwesome: Jason Blood is immortal while he's bound to the Demon, and has influence over Etrigan's behavior. [[DealWithTheDevil The reverse is also true.]]
* DarkIsNotEvil: Etrigan may be a demon, but that doesn't make him any less of a good guy. Depending on how he feels at the time, really. Sometimes Etrigan will do good for the sake of good, or need coercing by Jason.
* DealWithTheDevil: During a guest appearance in Alan Moore's ''Swamp Thing'', Jason mentions he's made a deal with Etrigan, to see if he can ameliorate some of Ety's worse behavior. Of course, as Jason points out, demons cheat. It's in their nature, and he's not sure who's getting the better of whom.
* DemonLordsAndArchDevils: Etrigan is one of the higher-ups in Hell, a son of Belial one of the three rulers of Hell. A helpful indicator of his position in the hierarchy is his rhyming.
* DependingOnTheWriter: There were many inconsistencies with Etrigan that depended on who was writing him.
** The nature of his relationship to Jason Blood.
** Whether anyone else can force the transformation.
** The quality of his rhymes, or whether he always rhymes or only does so while spellcasting.
** Whether he's evil, apparently, though that may just be Creator/JohnByrne.
** Whether Klarion's cat familiar Teekl is a male or female. (Female in Kirby's case, male in Morrison's.)
** The extent of Jason Blood's power as a BadassNormal or a BlackMage.
* DrFakenstein: The original comic had an arc where the main villain was a mad scientist named Baron Von Evilstein, who himself was descended from a mad scientist Etrigan confronted centuries ago known as Rakenstein.
* EarFins: Has fins where human ears would be, to emphasize his other-ness.
* EldritchAbomination: A sizable portion of foes.
* EnemyMine: Tends to side with heroes more than villains, but it's usually due to not liking other villains very much.
* EnfantTerrible:
** Klarion. In his second appearance, he very nearly kills Jason Blood/Etrigan for good.
** A baby Etrigan was this as well, forcing his father to create Merlin.
* EthnicMagician: Randu Singh is an Indian mystic.
* EvilIsPetty: Etrigan often does things ForTheEvulz, and even when he's not working for his own gain, he's likely to annoy people just cause.
* EvilLaugh: A staple of the villains. Etrigan himself has been known to have a few evil chuckles.
* EvilMatriarch: Etrigan's mother is a serpent that Belial was afraid would eat him.
%%* TheFettered: Etrigan.
* ForTheEvulz: Etrigan's usually not interested in personal gain, preferring instead to just cause mayhem for his own amusement.
* FrankensteinsMonster: The original Jack Kirby series had an arc where Baron Von Evilstein attempted to transplant Jason Blood's head onto the body of his monster to give his creation the demonic powers of Etrigan. The monster wants no part of his creator's schemes and ultimately dies when he sacrifices himself to protect a woman with psychic powers he befriended from Evilstein.
* GameFace: On the occasions he only half-transforms.
* GeniusBruiser: Etrigan is capable of going toe-to-toe with Superman, Darkseid, and Lobo. He's also one of the most powerful spellcasters in existence, powerful enough that (an admittedly weakened) [[ComicBook/TheSandman1989 Morpheus]] treated him with respect and he has successfully plotted the overthrow of Hell's hierarchy on at least three occasions, emerging as a KarmaHoudini for orchestrating the Day of Judgement CrisisCrossover (almost nobody realizes his involvement).
* GoodIsNotNice:
** Jason Blood, especially outside of the Demon's own series. He isn't a villain, but he also doesn't bother often interfering with any disasters that aren't supernatural in nature.
** Even when Etrigan is considered a hero, he's pretty ruthless, resorting to cannibalism or self-mutilation without hesitation.
* GratuitousIambicPentameter: Part of either Etrigan's royalty in Hell, or his spells.
* GreaterScopeVillain: During [[CrisisCrossover the Day of Judgement crossover]], Etrigan was ultimately the one behind the scramble for control over ComicBook/TheSpectre, though he apparently knew better than to try for control himself. This resulted in [[Franchise/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]] taking the role, and Etrigan getting to [[ForTheEvulz laugh at the demons who thought they could.]]
* {{Hell}}: Etrigan being a demon, the infernal afterlife often played a part in his stories. Usually the FireAndBrimstoneHell.
* {{Hellfire}}: Etrigan can breath this from his mouth, or fire it from his hands. It has the effect of burning his target's soul and mind.
* HorrifyingHero: Etrigan is a ''demon'' grafted onto the soul of a knight who betrayed [[Myth/KingArthur Camelot.]]
* TheIgor: To keep with all the archetypes of being the typical mad scientist, Baron Von Evilstein even had a hunchbacked assistant named Igor who frequently responded to orders with "Yes, master".
* InstantRunes: Etrigan's one of the most powerful spellcasters around, with only Myth/{{Merlin}} confirmed his superior. He can perform spells like this if he chooses, though he usually prefers hellfire or physical violence.
* InvoluntaryShapeshifter: Jason Blood's transformation into Etrigan is triggered by ''anyone'' saying the poem. DependingOnTheWriter, sometimes even ''writing'' it does the trick.
* LeastRhymableWord: Etrigan can stretch a rhyme pretty far. He does this to annoy other people as much as being forced to rhyme due to spells or his caste in Hell.
* LetsGetDangerous: Usually averted. Given that Etrigan's twice conquered Hell just for his own amusement, he's clearly one of DC's heavy hitters. On the rare occasion that Etrigan's convinced the threat's worth his serious attention, he's typically subject to TheWorfEffect.
* MagicKnight: Jason was a literal knight of Camelot. And he has picked up a lot of useful sorcery over his few thousand years of life. However he is more of a "sit in a mystic circle and chanting" kind of magician.
* MuggleBestFriend: Harry Matthews is a mere mortal who is friends with Jason Blood.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast:
** His foe, called Baron von Evilstein (his true name is Von Rakenstein).
** Frequently, Jason Blood himself.
* NobleDemon: Though not particularly noble or magnanimous himself, even when he is doing good, Etrigan is royalty, as his father is one of the three rulers of hell, making Etrigan a prince. At times when he is in the mood, Etrigan himself ''can'' recognise the good qualities of others and lend them his assistance. But it's rare to catch him in this mood.
* NoSell: Etrigan briefly got involved in the events of ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', where the Black Lanterns tried tearing out his heart... which didn't do anything more than annoy him. Of course, Etrigan's fire-breath did nothing to them, so neither party had any reason to stick around. Etrigan's last seen taking off in a huff complaining about how Gotham puts Hell to shame.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Haircut aside, Jason Blood looks exactly as he did in King Arthur's time.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: All over the place. Etrigan's not much different from a horny devil, but pretty much every variation appears in Hell.
* PainfulRhyme: In less talented hands. During ''Demon Knights'', flashbacks to Etrigan's early days show him as not having the full mastery of verse he has in the here-and-now, and he occasionally flubs up.
* PintsizedPowerhouse: While Etrigan is very broad, he's also usually drawn much shorter than most Superman-tier bruisers, and it isn't helped by his constantly hunched back.
* PlanetOfHats: Klarion is from Witch-World, a dimension where everyone has at least some skill in wizardry. However, being a child, adults were constantly telling him what he could and couldn't do with his powers and what kinds of sorcery he could and couldn't practice. Coming to our dimension where he was free to do whatever he wanted solved that problem for him.
* ReallyGetsAround: Belial, Etrigan's father has three children, by three different mothers. Though considering he is a very high ranked demon, it's understandable he'd have multiple wives.
* RhymesOnADime: Apparently, this is ''required'' among the nobility of Hell. It takes an incredible amount of effort for him to speak ''without'' rhyming his words.
* RhymingWizardry: Both the abridged and full versions of the incantations Jason Blood must yell to transform into Etrigan and back consist of rhymes.
-->''"Gone! Gone! -- the form of man. Rise, the Demon Etrigan!!"''
* TheScapegoat: Etrigan's little brother.
* SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan: Played with. Even in stories where Jason Blood and Etrigan both predate their merge, it's not always clear whether Blood is Etrigan's prison or vice versa.
* ShapeshiftingTrickster: Frequently, Etrigan's own motivation is his own amusement... such as when he intentionally triggered a war between Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory over [[ComicBook/TheSpectre the vessel of God's divine rage]], just to get more serious (and dull) demons abused when the heroes inevitably won.
* SplitPersonality: Sometimes.
* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: In ''The Demon Annual'' #2, after Etrigan pounds his opponent through the pavement into a sewer:
-->'''Etrigan:''' By my dearest brother Goat--\\
Who'd've thought the oaf would float?\\
Down that sewer all so dank and dimly lit?\\
But just watch the fellow hurry\\
Through that mass of noxious slurry...\\
He really seems at home in all that--\\
'''Policeman:''' [[CurseCutShort Freeze!]]
* SummonMagic: Klarion the Witch-Boy is capable of summoning Etrigan to his aid in his first appearance.
* SuperStrength: He's been known to be able to trade blows with folks as strong as Franchise/{{Superman}} and Lobo.
* TorchesAndPitchforks: Jason Blood's sometimes shown betraying Camelot, and this is the reaction of the locals. Other times, they just notice he's not aging, and take the same response.
* UnusualEyebrows: Jason's are swooped and very, very noticeable.
%%* UrbanFantasy
* VitriolicBestBuds: Etrigan and Lobo are prone to physically pummeling each other as their way of saying "Hi."
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Toyed with. It's just as often against their will.
* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: Even though it's ''Hell'', Etrigan spent quite a lot of time terrorizing Hell as a child.
* YouBastard: The final issue of the Creator/GarthEnnis[=/=]John [=McCrea=] run on ''The Demon'' ends with Etrigan breaking the fourth wall to mock the reader for enjoying a comic filled with depravity and featuring a VillainProtagonist.
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