Mammon as depicted in the Dictionnaire Infernal.
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."
Mammon: Prince of Hell, and Personification of Greed.
Mammon first appeared in the Gospels as a term used to refer to material wealth and to entities and people promising wealth. During the Middle Ages, the term was often personified into a demon and appeared in several occult texts as an infernal figure of some note, often as one of the major princes of the fallen angels. He was particularly popular in sets where each Prince was matched to one of the Seven Deadly Sins; Mammon's associated sin, of course, was Greed.
In modern fiction, Mammon commonly appears as a powerful demonic figure associated with the hoarding of material wealth. He's typically portrayed as greedy and miserly himself, but is also sometimes interested in spreading this vice among mortals. He is one of the named demons least likely to be conflated with Satan and to instead consistently remain his own distinct entity, in part because of his strong thematic association with a specialized sin.
A Sub-Trope of The Almighty Dollar and Demon Lords and Archdevils. For Mammon's infernal peers, see Asmodeus, Baphomet, Beelzebub and Mephistopheles.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Beelzebub: Mammon makes a brief but vital appearance in the "Return to Ishiyama High School Arc". He prolongs the lifespan of Furuichi's currently soulless body, after the deadline to how long Furuichi could survive without his soul had already passed.
- Reborn! (2004): The Mist Arcobaleno, Mammon, is a top tier illusionist mostly known for their unquenchable greed. They charge absurd costs for just about any service, and considers money the strongest force in the world.
- Seven Mortal Sins: Mammon is one of the titular Seven Mortal Sins, the rulers of Hell. She has an insatiable Money Fetish and is likely one of the most wealthiest woman in the human world — she's definitely the wealthiest among her fellow demons. To get all the money she has she acts as a Shady Real Estate Agent using Magically Binding Contracts, condemning her costumers to Hell. She also sells Magic Potions, which can do almost anything, online. With this being the sort of show it is, we later learn that Mammon also sells naughty pictures and figurines of both herself and the other Mortal Sins. She does all this both because of her aforementioned Money Fetish and because she wants to take care of her 500,000 demonic children.
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: The Ultimate Skill [Greedy King/Lord of Avarice, Mammon] is one of the Seven Sin Series and considered one of the most powerful Skills in existence. It manipulates the desires of others, letting the user Mind Control them through said desires and can empower them or its user by burning out their soul. It can even cause a One-Hit Kill by inverting a person's "desire" to live into a "desire" to die. Additional powers include Energy Absorption and stealing the Skills and abilities of other people. It evolves from the Unique Skill [Greed] and is owned by Yuuki Kagurazaka, who killed [Greed's] original owner and took it for himself by proving his avarice in wanting to Take Over the World surpassed hers.
Comic Books
- The DCU:
- Mammon is the wealthiest demon in Hell, to the point where he's even called the "Demon God of Wealth". In the 2010 Zatanna series, the owner of a Las Vegas casino uses a love potion on Zatanna as part of his deal with Mammon, to whom he has promised the souls of all the women that he marries as payment for his extended immortality. Even when this plan falls through, Mammon is too powered by the greed around him to simply be vanished.
- In the graphic novel "JLA: Earth 2", which reintroduced the Crime Syndicate of America to the post-Crisis DCU, money from the evil anti-matter Earth is shown to have "In Mammon We Trust" written on it instead of "In God We Trust".
- Spawn: Mammon is one of Spawn's most recurring and active antagonists, even become the Big Bad once Malebolgia is taken out. Here, Mammon is a Lord of Hell, being a former denizen of Heaven before being cast out as part of the "Forgotten Ones". In contrast to Malebolgia, Mammon has a humanoid appearance and dresses in high-class businessman attire. While the theme of Greed is more subtle than in other depictions, Mammon's main goal is to be the supreme ruler of Hell as well as take the Throne of Creation for himself so that he can also have control over Heaven.
Films — Live-Action
- Constantine (2005): Mammon is the demonic son of Satan, plotting to take over the world against the plans of both Heaven and Hell.
Literature
- A Batalha do Apocalipse: Mammon, the Miserly, is one of the Dukes of Hell. Little is known about him, except that he is responsible for ruling the Sixth Circle of Hell, Caina.
- The Faerie Queene: Mammon is an old man who claims to have given all the kings of the world their riches and commands Sir Guyon to bow to him. Guyon refuses and Mammon proceeds to tempt him by taking him through a tour of The Underworld, where many of his riches and servants dwell.
- Paradise Lost: Mammon is one of the many fallen angels, one who spent more time staring down at the golden roads of Heaven than at the glory of God above. He contributes to the demonic counsel in Book II by advising the devils remain in Hell and gild it with all matters of gems and metal so they can at least pretend to not be tortured.
- The Phantom of Manhattan: The main antagonist, Darius, worships an evil entity known to him as "Mammon, the god of gold", who speaks to him in drug-induced trances.
- The Shadowhunter Chronicles: Mammon is one of the Princes of Hell, the nine most powerful demons in the universe. He makes a cameo in The Eldest Curses, attending a meeting that fellow Prince Sammael convenes.
Music
- Ghost: "Mummy Dust" is "sung" by Mammon, boasting about his corruptive influence on humanity. Although not named in the song, Papa Emeritus III would mention that the song is about Mammon during concerts before it was played.
Religion
- Most depictions derive from the brief references Christ makes to Mammon in The Four Gospels. Most famously, Christ says that no one can serve both God and Mammon, meaning you have to choose between worldly wealth and piety. However, the Bible doesn't say that money itself is evil; after all, people need money to function in the world, and the church wouldn't get very far if all its people were broke. It's when wealth becomes an idol and distracts from serving God that it becomes a problem. Put more succinctly: money is a good servant but a poor master.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons: Mammon is one of the Lords of the Nine and the richest and most tight-fisted archdevil in the Nine Hells. The 5e supplement Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes specifies that deals with him can be made over gold rather than souls, but if you want something worthwhile, you'd need more wealth than a dozen kingdoms' worth to avoid having to offer your soul.
- In Nomine: Mammon is a Balseraph and the Demon Prince of Greed, and makes his home in Shal-Mari, a realm shared by several Princes associated with the pleasures of the material world; his personal domain is a towering skyscraper staffed by the souls of damned magnates and profiteers, eternally doing menial tasks for Mammon's demonic servants. Mammon's demons aren't allowed to give away anything... even the time of day. Lately, he's lost a lot of his power and influence, particularly to Haagenti, the Demon Prince of Gluttony — since modern consumerism is more focused on obsessive and wasteful consumption of things than on hoarding of wealth, it's technically a function of Gluttony instead of Greed. Marc, the Archangel of Trade, has a cold, intellectual loathing for Mammon, seeing him as the embodiment of profit over principle; Mammon, on the other hand, sees Marc as a fellow profiteer.
- Pathfinder: Mammon, the Argent Prince, is the Lord of the Third Hell, and the archdevil of avarice, watchfulness, and wealth. He was one of the original angels who followed Asmodeus in rebellion, and ruled in Hell for a time until he died battling the proteans of the Maelstrom. However, his attachment to his wealth was so great that his spirit continued to cling to it even past the point where most others would have perished. In the modern day, he exists as a disembodied spirit haunting every piece of material wealth in his layer of Hell; his favorite vessel is a giant silver statue of himself, but every coin and ring that passes through his coffers can serve the purpose, even long after it leaves Hell. One of his favorite tricks is to pay others with such coins, allowing him to subtly corrupt mortals who unknowingly handle the wealth of Hell.
Video Games
- Bioshock: Some of the lower-class Splicers mention Mammon in their mad ravings, in the context of how Rapture went horribly wrong.
Waders: I traded you, O Lord, for Mammon! AND WHAT DID IT GET ME, HUH?!?
- Chrono Trigger: The Mammon Machine is the machine that draws the power from Lavos, representing the power hungry greed of the people of Zeal, particularly Queen Zeal.
- Darksiders Genesis: Mammon is a demon and boss that both War and Strife have to fight. Befitting his legendary greed, his boss room is one filled with so much gold and treasure that he can swim in it.
- Jade Cocoon: Mamon was once one of the divine spirits in service to the forest god Elrihm, but committed some sin that resulted in him being punished by being stripped of his spirit form and being forced to live as a physical being. He now goes by the name Totoyamu, and is the patron of the Yamu people, who live in the Spider Forest at the base of the World Tree that serves as Elrihm's physical manifestation in the world. Befitting his namesake's association with Greed, he and his family will refuse to help Levant unless he presents each of them with a gift.
- Kingdom of Loathing: In the Suburbs of Dis, the player can fight a number of bosses each themed around a Dr. Seuss character and one of the seven deadly sins. The representative of greed is Mammon the Elephant, a Horton lookalike who sits on a hoard of stolen and greedily-hoarded eggs.
- Obey Me! – One Master to Rule Them All!: Mammon is one of the Seven Demon Brothers, the Avatar of Greed and the second oldest among them. Mammon is one of the central characters and is the one assigned to act as the caretaker of the main character.
- Persona 5: Mammon is the demon name of the Shadow of Kunikazu Okumura, the Corrupt Corporate Executive of Okumura Foods who is willing to sacrifice anything, including his daughter Haru, in order to climb up the political ladder. He represents Greed of the Palace Rulers, though Shadow Okumura is one of few bosses who doesn't transform into a demon, instead employing his Corporobo to fight for his stead.
- Quest 64: Mammon is the Big Bad, a demon who seeks to destroy humans because he envies their uniqueness.
- Trillion: God of Destruction: Mammon is the adopted cousin of Great Overlord Zeabolos and holder of the Crest of Greed. Right before the game's events, she skipped out on watching the Gate of Hell to go treasure hunting, which ironically saved her life when Trillion struck. Reflecting this is her starting off with a rank in Item and Money drop skills. Her backstory involves her having been a former slum-dweller before being adopted into the Overlord's family, and, as you progress through her events, you learn that she's actually been quite Charitable, fencing her treasures and putting the money towards helping the slums' inhabitants. Her 100% ending has her moving everyone out of the slums and into a brand-new high-rise building, greatly increasing living conditions. Zeabolos even mentions that she could create a world where there is no difference between the rich and poor.
- Shadows of Forbidden Gods: Mammon, Wealth of Man, Spirit of the Mountain is one of the game's playable dark gods. His playstyle is based around spreading his dark influence through trade routes, causing greed and envy in those affected, and devouring crowds of his followers to increase his power.
- Umineko: When They Cry: Greed is represented by the demon Mammon, one of the Seven Stakes of Purgatory, who constantly wants more of anything and everything, whether it's knowledge, affection, or material things.
Web Animation
- Helluva Boss: Mammon is a spidery demon who rules the Ring of Greed, with such complete ownership of its industries and banks his face is on Hell's money. He was an entertainer once, according to fellow Deadly Sin Asmodeus, but has long since stopped that to focus on his enterprises. Personality-wise, he's an Australian-accented money-grubber who mixes all the worst elements of sleazy showbiz manager and soulless, shareholder-pleasing Corrupt Corporate Executive.
Webcomics
- Kill Six Billion Demons: The Demiurge Mammon represents the sin of greed amongst the seven remaining Demiurges. Driven by ambition to obtain power and wealth, he murdered his own family in order to have no distractions on his path to godhood. He presently controls much of the economy of Throne and mints its dominant coinage through the Infinite Bank that he rules as a literal Corporate Dragon. When Allison finally comes face-to-face with him, she finds that Mammon has been reduced to a senile, blind husk of his former self, reduced by The Fog of Ages to meaninglessly count the infinite wealth inside his vault while having entirely forgotten why he accrued it all in the first place. In one of his more lucid moments, he asks Allison to kill him.
Other
- Firefox and its derivatives' Easter Egg The Book of Mozilla
describes the browser's evolution in terms evocative of the Book of Revelation and uses "Mammon" to refer to Microsoft, Apple, and Google, describing them as enemies of Mozilla's open source ideals driven by Greed.
