Mephistopheles

"Mephistopheles Over Wittenberg" by Eugene Delacroix.

Mephistopheles, sometimes abbreviated to Mephisto, is a demonic being often featured among the ranks of powerful infernal entities. Unlike other famous demonic figures, Mephistopheles doesn't draw his origins in biblical scriptures or medieval demonology. Instead, he is a far more recent figure, stemming from story of Faust, first recorded in the 1500s, where he's a demonic figure who comes to tempt the titular doctor, offering him knowledge and earthly pleasures in exchange for his immortal soul. Mephistopheles soon afterwards began to appear in unrelated works, and in short order became entirely detached from the original legend.

Due to the nature of this first role, fiction often portrays Mephistopheles as a great schemer and tricker, the archetypal drafter of infernal contracts who will offer mortals wonders beyond imagining but who will always lead those foolish enough to deal with him into ruin and damnation. Many fiends may offer incautious mortals a Deal with the Devil, but Mephistopheles' deals will often be the most complex, the most tempting, the most numerous, and the most difficult to escape.

Outside of cases where he shows up in the infernal flesh, Mephistopheles is often compared to malicious exploiters and manipulators. Similarly, characters who entered morally dubious or exploitative deals or agreements may compare their decisions to having sold their soul to Mephistopheles.

The etymology of his name is unclear. In Classical Greek, "me" is a negative prefix analogous to the English "un-", while "pheles" may come from "phileos", meaning love or friendship. The middle part of his name could be derived from "phos", "light", to mean "one who does not love light". Alternatively, his name might also be intended to sound like "mephitic", or to just be a fancy-sounding nonsense word.

For Mephistopheles' infernal peers, see also Asmodeus, Baphomet, Beelzebub, Mammon, and Satan. Subtrope of Demon Lords and Archdevils.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Blue Exorcist: The demon director of True Cross Academy is "Mephisto Pheles", and goes by "Johann Faust V." While this is not his true demon name, it is the name he is known by on Earth and he intentionally plays on it by giving Rin and the others various bargains that are always rather tricky and dangerous.
• Digimon:
  • Mephismon is a powerful demonic Digimon who, borrowing a page from Baphomet, resembles a winged, humanoid goat. It's a cunning tactician and utterly evil, and its end goal is the destruction of all life.
  • Phelesmon is a more traditional Big Red Devil who is said to snatch away a person's soul in exchange for granting their desires.

Comic Books

• Marvel Universe: Mephisto is one of the most commonly-seen demon lords, and resembles a tall man in crimson robes, often with a pronounced red tint to his skin, hair, and eyes. He typically appears to propose deals to characters in dire straits, offering to perform grand changes to the state of the universe in exchange for some cost to the petitioner. What this cost is varies from case to case, but the deal always results in pain and grief for the other party.
  • Mephisto doesn't usually bargain for souls — he claims that the souls of those who made the ultimate sacrifice to save another suffer nobly for all eternity ("and really, where's the fun in that?"), and that there are enough damned souls flowing into Hell every day that there isn't much to gain in bringing in a couple more through contracts. Rather, his main motivation seems to be to break heroes' spirits or to just make their lives miserable.
  • Mephisto is particularly fond of causing suffering for Spider-Man and his associated cast. In One More Day, Spider-Man bargains with him to save his Aunt May's life in exchange for undoing his marriage to the woman he loves and wiping away the last twenty years of his life. In Champions (2019), he rewinds history entirely pro bono to allow Miles Morales to save his teammates' lives — but a price turns up anyway when he realizes that, in doing so, he also caused the deaths of innocents that he had rescued the first time around. In this story, Mephisto explains to his son Blackheart that he loves making spider-heroes suffer because they give people hope and he likes to crush that.
  • Most of the above points are drawn from later appearances. When Mephisto first appeared in Marvel comics, one of the few things he was honest about is that the only damned souls in his realm were people who willingly sold him their souls for material gain and he took his due after their natural deaths, and, since most of those people were naturally selfish in life, he draws pleasure from the challenge of tempting and corrupting people with pure intentions. Before his now-infamous encounter with Spider-Man, the heroes he loved tempting the most were the Silver Surfer and Thor, and for years he was a recurring villain to both heroes.

Fan Works

• Mario & Luigi: Darkest Timeline: Mephistopheles is revealed to be the mastermind behind Bowser's takeover of the Mushroom Kingdom and the one who murdered Princess Peach. Much like most of his versions, he made a deal with Bowser to give Bowser's army a power boost in exchange for Bowser's soul.

Films — Live-Action

• Faust: Love of the Damned: Mephistopheles is the Big Bad, using the alias "M" as a pseudonym. M is behind an international conspiracy to further Hell's goals, spreading corruption and death and tempting mortals into a Deal with the Devil.
• Ghost Rider (2007): Mephistopheles is a Fallen Angel and the demon that Johnny Blaze makes a deal with to become the title character. He appears as an elderly man in a black overcoat and triggers the plot by making a deal with 1000 residents of San Venganza.
• The Hating Game: When Helene and Bexley are arguing business ethics after the merger of the companies employing them, Helene compares working for the new management to selling her soul to Mephistopheles.
• Stay Tuned: Spike, who refers to himself as "the Mephistopheles of the cathode ray", offers couch potato Roy a Deal with the Devil; a satellite dish with 666 channels of original programming. Once they turn the set on, however, Roy and his wife Helen are told that if they can survive twenty-four hours of being Trapped in TV Land they can leave, but if they die then their souls become the property of Spike.

Literature

• A Batalha do Apocalipse: Mephistopheles, He Who Doesn't Love the Light, is one of the Dukes of Hell. Little is known about him, except that he is responsible for ruling the Eighth Circle of Hell, Mephasta.
• High School D×D: Mephisto Pheles is an ancient devil who has been alive since the time of the original Devil Kings. As a liberalist, Mephisto has an antagonistic relationship with the original Devil Kings, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Leviathan, and Asmodeus. Thus, Mephisto spent most of his time in the human world where he became famous as the legendary contracted devil of the master sorcerer Johann Georg Faust. After Faust's death, Mephisto became the chairman of Grauzerberer, a magician association founded by Faust.
• Mephisto: The actor Hendrik Hofgen is obsessed with playing Mephistopheles in a live rendition of Faust, but in order to do so he metaphorically sells his soul by siding with the Nazis in order to improve his social standing.

Live-Action TV

• El Chapulín Colorado: Mephistopheles appears when Chapúlin tells the story of Faust to a man trying to steal the projects of his father-in-law. In the story, the demon gives Faust a magic riding crop that can make anything appear and disappear in exchange for signing a contract.
• HEX: Mephistopheles appears as one of the leading demonic characters in the second season. He appears to be one of the nicest of the demonic characters, seeing his role as giving humans genuine free will rather than fighting God.
• Ultraman Nexus: Dark Mephisto is a servant of Zagi who tempted humans to join his side and become his host, and is responsible for the creation of Dark Faust. When his first host fails him, he selects a new one, and the first host becomes so angry that he helps Nexus defeat him, before ultimately dying himself. Possibly a downplayed example, as beyond the naming convention these dark Ultramen are simple Deal with the Devil or Demonic Possession archetypes.
• Xena: Warrior Princess: Mephistopheles was the original ruler of Hell before he was killed by Xena, giving her the title before she tricked the angel Lucifer into taking it. But here, he's portrayed as your standard devil rather than one that specializes in making deals for souls.

Manhwa

• Soul Cartel: Mephistopheles is one of the main characters and a demon of immense power. In the past, he entered a wager with Faust, with God as the judge, over whether Faust could resist the demon's temptations. As God intervened at the end to save Faust's soul, Mephistopheles feels that he was cheated out of his victory and has returned to Earth to hunt down Faust's reincarnation. Again he enters a bet — this time over whether the reincarnated mortal can make Mephistopheles kinder — but, since he feels that God would intervene again if He were to judge, he ropes the main character into this role.

Music

• Ghost: "Call Me Little Sunshine" revolves around a person being tempted to go down a dark path that could consume or destroy them, and invokes Mephistopheles in the chorus as a way to name this nebulous tempting.
  Call me little sunshine // Call me Mephistopheles // If you're all alone, just call me // Little sunshine
• Kamelot: The albums "Epica" and "The Black Halo" are heavily inspired by the story of Faust. Mephisto, a Fallen Angel, makes a bet with God that if he can claim ownership of the soul of the philosopher-scientist Ariel, God must allow him to return to Heaven. He then manipulates Ariel into a Deal with the Devil: Mephisto will grant him access to worldly power and knowledge in order to satisfy Ariel's yearning to understand universal truths, on the condition that if Ariel ever experiences a moment of such deep contentment that he wishes to stay there forever, he forfeits ownership of his soul to Mephisto.
• OneRepublic: "Love Runs Out" has the line "got an angel on my shoulder and Mephistopheles".
• The Police: "Wrapped Around Your Finger" is loosely based on Faust, revolving around a man who seeks forbidden knowledge from a mysterious teacher, who themself previously sold their destiny away in exchange for this knowledge (represented by a golden ring that they wear). The pupil explicitly compares the teacher to Mephistopheles as a result and aims to avoid meeting the same fate by becoming the teacher's master instead.

Myths & Religion

• Faust: The demon Mephistopheles appears to Dr. Faustus, an academic bored and frustrated with life, and offers him infinite knowledge and all the pleasures of the flesh in exchange for Faustus' soul when his life is over. In most versions of the story, Mephistopheles stays by Faustus' side all this time, acting as a confidant and chaperone, until time comes to collect.

Podcasts

• Eidolon Playtest: The second season introduces Mephistopheles as one of the Seven Spears of Hell. He looks like a charred skeleton wearing a tweed-suit and is trapped underneath Harvey's house in the Undertow, making deals with people who die to resurrect them in return for finding a way to free him. His blood also gives the Jawbreakers their Eidolons this time around.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons: Mephistopheles, the Lord of the Eighth, is a classic Big Red Devil with an affinity for Hellfire, which he claims to have invented. He's known for tricking mortals into his service, and is especially fond of offering his considerable arcane knowledge to ambitious wizards, with the hidden stipulation that his contract partners doom themselves to an eternity of grunt work in his laboratories by accepting his deal. He is also obsessed with overthrowing Asmodeus and becoming ruler of Hell, and plots and schemes night and day to achieve this goal. This is true of every archdevil, of course, but Mephistopheles is a brazen enough Starscream to announce his intentions to Asmodeus' face, and will actively interfere with his rivals' schemes just to ensure that he will be the one to cast down Asmodeus. Small wonder, then, that Mephistopheles is assigned the circle of hell between Asmodeus' capital and the rest of Baator.
• Pathfinder: Mephistopheles, the Crimson Son, is one of the nine archdevils, the ruler of Hell's eighth layer, and the archdevil of contracts and secrets. He resembles a crimson-skinned, horned human with six wings — two black and birdlike, two batlike and two flaming — and is particularly famous for his aptitude for schemes and slippery wordplay, which is considerable even among the devils. He's a master of tricking mortals into signing away their souls, but his more complex schemes can span worlds — foiling the plots of just one of his minions takes up an entire adventure path.
• Warhammer 40,000: Mephet'ran the Deceiver, one of the C'tan "star gods", brokered the deal that gave the short-lived and sickly Necrontyr race bodies of untiring, undying metal. What he didn't tell them was that becoming the robotic Necrons would strip them of their souls and turn them into Mecha-Mooks for the C'tan.

Video Games

• Crystar: The primary demons you negotiate with are a pair of sisters named Mephis and Pheles. They offer up contracts with provide the heroes with power in exchange for having to do dirty work managing lost souls for them. When they fuse into the Final Boss, they get the full name of Mephistopheles.
• Demon's Souls: A woman named Mephistopheles will appear in the Nexus if the player saves, then kills Yurt, the Silent Chief. It seems she's from a mysterious group of assassins tasked with hiding the secrets of the Soul Arts and thus, she tasks you with offing several NPC's (many of whom are important merchants.) Yurt would have done the same thing, but with him gone, she needs someone to fill in his position. Naturally, at the end of her quest line she attempts to assassinate YOU.
• Diablo II: Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred, is one of the Seven Great Evils and responsible for the corruption of the Zakarum church. He resembles a horned, skeletal figure and is described as the weakest of the Prime Evils, but also the most cunning and strategic.
• Fate/Grand Order: Mephistopheles appears as one of the playable Caster-class Servants from the launch... sort of. While he tries to present himself as being the titular demon, he is actually a homunculus created by the real-life Dr. Georg Faust. He generally only does things he finds enjoyment in doing and is not afraid of turning against his Master if he finds them too boring like he did with Faust. He also tends to be the character to play a demon role if needed.
• Fausts Alptraum, a game based on the legend of Faust that follows his daughter Elizabeth, has the demon as the Big Bad. It appears as an androgynous purple demon to Elizabeth and traps her inside the house, offering to show her the way out and turning her escape into some twisted game.
• Faust: The Seven Games of the Soul: One of the main characters, and he's depicted as an ordinary if somewhat off-putting looking man who dons a reverend outfit. He sends the protagonist to an abandoned theme park called Dreamland to judge seven deceased people connected to it, and he had made contracts with some of them before they died, like giving the Casanova Wannabe Frank Barnes telepathy that would let him attract women, but in exchange he would only be capable of creating one artistic masterpiece in his life.
• GrimGrimoire: The Sorcery Teacher, Advocat, turns out to actually be Mephistopheles, and while his nature as a devil does shine through on many an occasion, he ends up helping out Lillet Blan the most out of the adult cast.
• Monster Hunter Online: Despite not being the demon himself, the Black Dragon Merphistophelin shares both the name and appearance with his literary namesake. On top of that, it also can steal the elemental power of other Large Monsters in the manner of a Soul Eater.
• Neverwinter Nights: In the "Hordes of the Underdark" expansion, the Dungeons & Dragons version of Mephistopheles is summoned by a drow empress known as the Valsharess, bound to her will and forced to become her minion. Understandably displeased by this arrangement, he manipulates events so as to free himself from her service via some Loophole Abuse, takes her place as the Big Bad, then launches an invasion of Toril and tries to turn it into the 10th layer of Hell.
• The Secret World: In issue 11, a visit to the Faust Omega level of Orochi Tower reveals that the resident banking company, Faust Capital, is being run by none other than Mephistopheles himself. He offers you several beneficial-sounding options that you have to decide between in order to progress, and all of them result in unpleasant, cheap, or overly-complicated rewards: for example, choosing eternal love will give you an immediate appointment with a murderous succubus, while choosing eternal life summons a vampire into the room with you. The level ends in a boss battle with Mephistopheles, revealing that he's actually a Jinn.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (2006): Mephiles the Dark has his name derived from Mephistopheles. Like Mephistopheles, Mephiles is a demonic being (he and Iblis are the two halves of the Eldritch Abomination Solaris) and quite the Manipulative Bastard. He tricks the heroic Silver into thinking that Sonic is his enemy, and he allows Sonic and Elise to get close so that, when he kills Sonic, Elise will cry, releasing Iblis and allowing Mephiles to regain his full power.

Visual Novels

• Animamundi Dark Alchemist: Mephisto is determined to obtain the lead character's soul, and Georik eventually sells it in exchange for his sister's life after she's attacked by a monster in the woods. However, not only was Mephistopheles the one who attacked her in the first place, he did so because she had also sold her soul to him a little while earlier in exchange for her brother's life. Mephistopheles is quite pleased with himself for that one. Dr. Bruno Glening also wants a deal with Mephistopheles, but the devil finds Bruno so repulsive that he rejects every attempt, and it has gotten to the point where he even refuses to answer the man's summons.
• Dies Irae: The Big Bad of the story, Reinhard Heydrich, carries the title of Mephistopheles which was given to him by his close friend Karl to fit in with his whole Satanic Archetype deal.

Western Animation

• The New Scooby-Doo Movies: In the Jerry Reed episode, a statue of Mephisto pops out of the theater stage floor to frighten Fred and Daphne. Fred immediately recognizes it from Faust.

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