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Names To Run Away From / Biblical Names

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A form of Names to Run Away from Really Fast.

Names from The Bible tend to imposing and vaguely supernatural. Cain is a very popular example, to the point that it has its own page; See Name of Cain. Demons and Angels also have their own page.

This is a subset of Names To Run Away From: Religious Names.

See Biblical Bad Guy when you've actually got the real deal making an appearance.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Absalom 
"O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!"
David, 2 Samuel 18:33



In Jewish tradition, the name Absalom is considered banned or at least bad luck to give to a child, given that the character led a revolt against his father. Doubles as an Ironic Name since it literally means "father of peace."
Anime & Manga

Comic Books

Literature

Live-Action TV

Myths & Religion

Tabletop Games

  • Absalom is the name of a state in the world of Pathfinder.

Video Games


    Adam 
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."



The First Man in the Book of Genesis, his name is often used for apocalyptic villains (to represent the loss of Paradise) or whenever an unsavory scientist tries to create life. (Of course, Adam is a very popular name, even in Real Life, and there are plenty of good guys with that name.)
Anime
  • The first, and by far the most powerful angel in Neon Genesis Evangelion. The mere act of waking up this being wiped out half the population of earth and changed most of the major landmass. Oh, and when Adam woke up it's four wings were large enough to be visible from space.
  • Adam the Treasure Tree from One Piece, known in-series for growing the most durable wood in the world.
  • In the fourth season of Symphogear, the Big Bad is Adam Weishaupt, the founder of the Bavarian Illuminati. He later turns out to be Adam Kadmon, the Gnostic or Kabbalistic Primeval Man.

Comic Books

  • Adam-One of Wanted is an African dictator and one of the five heads of the supervillainous Fraternity, which secretly controls the globe. While one of the more "benevolent" leaders (as in he wants to oppress the common people rather than destroy them all), he is still the supervillain ruler of a continent. His choice of name is very deliberate, as he is strongly implied to be the first man (making him an Expy of Vandal Savage).
  • Adam Strange is a subversion, as he is a good-natured hero and longtime ally of the Justice League of America.
  • Subverted with Adam Warlock, who is very deliberately named and created to be a Messianic Archetype.
  • Adam-X of the X-Men was probably named for this reason, seeing as how he is the first known half-human half-Shi'ar. He's a good guy, but he might be worth running away from anyway due to his mutant power of Bloody Murder.
  • Black Adam from DC Comics is very definitely someone you'll want to run away from when he gets mad, as he has a bad habit of ripping people limb from limb. He also gets bonus Adam points for having a group of followers called the Sons of Adam.
  • One of the first Mutant superheroes in any comic medium was Captain Comet of DC Comics, whose real name is Adam Blake.

Film

  • Adam is the vampire lord ruling over the vampiric hierarchy which controls the Southern states in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
  • Adam Bonner, a wealthy New York lawyer and one of the protagonists of the 1949 film Adam's Rib.
  • Adam Raki is the main character of the film simply titled Adam (2009).

Literature

Live-Action TV

  • Adam, Frankensteinian Magitek demon-bot on Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
  • Adam-12, an NBC Police Procedural, and the call sign for the patrol car that the protagonists were assigned to.
  • Adam Adamant, main character of The BBC's 1966 series Adam Adamant Lives!
  • Adam Baylin of Kyle XY, Sole Survivor of a breeding program intended to create super-geniuses.
  • Adam Carrington, a villain from the Dynasty soap opera.
  • Adam Goldberg, dorky main character of ABC's The Goldbergs.
  • Adam Kane, a scientist in Mutant X who oversees and cares for the titular New Mutants.
  • Adam Milligan, Long-Lost Relative of the Winchester Brothers in Supernatural.
  • Adam Mitchell from Doctor Who, the second companion of the Ninth Doctor.
  • Adam Monroe/Takezo Kensei, of Heroes, who, true to his name, ends up being the forerunner of all of the other superpowered people.
  • Adam Park from the Power Rangers franchise, who bears the distinction of being the third-longest running ranger in the franchise's history.
  • Adam Rimbauer, only son of Ellen Rimbauer in Stephen King's Rose Red.
  • One of the favored aliases for the (oldest known) immortal Methos in Highlander is Adam.

Real Life

Tabletop Games

Video Games

  • Adam is (rather fittingly) the name of the Player Character in Lost Eden.
  • Adam the Nasod King from Elsword, who rules alongside his Nasod Queen who is named Eve.
  • ADAM and EVE, a pair of artificial genetic substances in the BioShock games.
  • Adam Jensen, augmented human and main protagonist of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
  • "Adam" is the alias of Erich von Raiteneau, the leader of the quasi-mad-scientist/quasi-religious bio terrorist organization "Delphi" in the Trauma Center series, who engineered the 7 synthetic plagues known as GUILT to cull humanity.

Western Animation


    Ahab 
"Ahab, son of Omri, did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him."



A wicked king from the Book of Kings, Ahab went down in infamy for wantonly killing his own followers, as well as allowing his wife Jezebel (an infamous Biblical villain in her own right) to lead the nation of Israel into idolatry. He was not a sailor or a proponent of Revenge Before Reason, although a certain Ahab by one Herman Melville would firmly ascribe these qualities to the Ahab name in pop culture. Expect fictional Ahabs to draw mostly from Melville's Ahab, with maybe the odd reference to the Biblical Ahab here and there. He probably won't be a good guy in any form, though.

Ahab is not the Trope Namer for Captain Ahab Syndrome (that's Melville's Ahab again) but most fictional Ahabs will invariably suffer from it anyway.


Anime & Manga

Comic Books

  • Ahab (real name Rory Campbell) is the name of an X-Men villain who draws heavily from Captain Ahab, to the point of being a Hollywood Cyborg with a peg leg. And much like the Melville Ahab, Rory hunts his own "white whale" (the heroine Rachel Summers, who he enslaved in their shared backstory).

Film

  • Ahab of Father's Day (2011) is a very rare example of a protagonist with this name, though he still shares quite a few similarities with Captain Ahab (obsessed with revenge, wears an eyepatch, stays at one point in a motel called the Queequay).
  • Khan Noonien Singh of the Star Trek movies is another character who takes much of his inspiration from Captain Ahab, and in two films (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek: First Contact) lines from Melville's novel are even quoted outright to further hammer this home.
  • In xXx there is a waterborne Attack Drone called the AHAB.

Literature

  • There is a Captain Ahab who appears in the third of the Bloody Jack books. The book takes pains to spell out the Shout-Out by also including an Ishmael.
  • As mentioned above, Captain Ahab of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is a major Trope Codifier for Ahabs, to the point of arguably supplanting the Biblical Ahab in pop culture consciousness.

Music

  • Ahab the band, a German Doom Metal band founded in 2004, draws its inspiration (like most of the other examples here) from Captain Ahab rather than the Biblical Ahab.
  • "Ahab the Arab", a 1962 song by Ray Stevens, is unique for referencing neither King Ahab nor Captain Ahab.

Myths & Religion

  • In addition to King Ahab, there is also a second Biblical Ahab who subverts this trope, an "impious prophet" who is referenced once in the Book of Jeremiah.

Video Games

AHAB who guards the disembodied brain of Jezebel (mentioned below).

Western Animation

  • One scene in Ace Combat Infinity features a reference to Captain Ahab.
  • The talking book Adventure from The Pagemaster at one point refers to Captain Ahab, calling him "my kind of guy".
  • Captain Koinelius Tunar of Thunder Cats 2011 is yet another Captain Ahab Expy who cannot help but quote from the Melville Ahab.
  • The X-Men villain Ahab detailed above makes an appearance in X-Men (1993) as the boss of the fourth level, Ahab's Future World.

    Apocalypse 
Proof that Adaptation Displacement is Older Than Dirt, Apocalypse was originally a term used to describe writings of a prophetic nature (the literal Greek meaning is "uncovering") before being displaced by the Book of Revelation into a term for the end of the world. You can safely bet on any character with this name either being a... well, apocalyptic type, usually a Omnicidal Maniac and/or Straw Nihilist villain bent on The End of the World as We Know It. If not one of those, expect a character explicitly created as a subversion.
Comic Books

Film

Real Life

  • Two Six Flags roller coasters bear this name, one at Six Flags America in Maryland and one at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California.
  • Apocalypsis is the name of a particular genus of moth.

Tabletop Games

Video Games

Webcomics


    Armageddon (and its variants) 
"Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon."
Revelation 16:16



The name for the site of the prophesied Final Battle in the Book of Revelation. This word is a Hellenization of the Hebrew of "Har Megiddo", the name of an ancient mountain in Israel (and the site of many, many battles for dominion over said mountain). The ubiquity of the term in Western civilization leads to it being very frequently used in reference to events or creatures bringing about The End of the World as We Know It. Writers going for that extra oomph will opt for the Hebrew "Megiddo", or a variant thereof.

Anime & Manga

  • Digimon has the Digimon Armageddonmon (Armagemon in the Japanese version) and Megidramon.

Comic Books

Film

Real Life

  • As previously mentioned, this term originally derives from the name of an actual mountain, which is known in the present day as Tel Megiddo.

Video Games


    David 



David's name is derived from the Hebrew word for "beloved", which is no accident as he is the hero of the Old Testament, and arguably second only to Christ himself among Biblical heroes. With a pedigree like that it should come a no surprise that David is consistently one of the most popular names of all time, and up there with Adam for most frequently used Biblical name both in real life and in fiction. And just as there are Adams of all stripes in fiction, so too are there a multitude of Davids both heroic and villainous.

David is one half of the Trope Namer for David Versus Goliath.


Comic Books
  • The name of Aquaman villain Black Manta was revealed to be "David" right around the time the character took a steep turn from Harmless Villain to child-murdering Knight of Cerebus.
  • David Cain from the Batman comics bags two Biblical names for the price of one, and as one of the world's deadliest assassins he is most certainly someone to run away from.
  • Played straight with David Cannon of The Avengers, who is better known as the evil Stalker with a Crush villain Whirlwind.
  • Originally played straight with David Haller of the X-Men, who won the Superpower Lottery only to go crazy and become the supervillain Legion because With Great Power Comes Great Insanity. Later subverted when the character was reformed.
  • True to his original codename of Maverick, David North from the Wolverine comics is variously hero, antihero and occasionally even downright villain. He's generally more moral than his film counterpart, though.

Film

  • David 8, a character in Prometheus who becomes the Big Bad in the sequel film Alien: Covenant.
  • Subverted with Dr. David Bowman of 2001: A Space Odyssey (unless you happen to be a murderous AI, in which case you probably should steer clear of him).
  • Also subverted with David Dunn, the superpowered protagonist of the 2000 film Unbreakable.
  • David Lightman of the 1983 film WarGames is another subversion, being the film's protagonist and a Playful Hacker archetype.
  • David McCall of Fear (1996) might be the David on this list you'd want to run away from the fastest, being the film's villain and a murderous Stalker with a Crush.
  • David North aka Agent Zero of the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine is played as much more antagonistic than his comics counterpart, being a Cold Sniper who is not above murdering an innocent Canadian couple in his pursuit of Wolverine.
  • David Rice of the 2008 film Jumper is notable for being much more amoral and more of a Jerkass than his literary counterpart, though as the film's protagonist he is not evil and eventually does get his act together to a degree.

Literature

  • Played straight with David, the Sixth Ranger (and later Sixth Ranger Traitor) of Animorphs.
  • As with the films above, David Bowman of the The Space Odyssey Series is a subversion of this trope.
  • Subverted with David Levin, one of the four main characters of Everworld (which no doubt came as a surprise to Animorphs readers).
  • As noted above, the protagonist of the Jumper novels is named David Rice. And as he is much more principled and moral than his film counterpart, he's not one to run away from (not that running would do you any good anyway, what with him having the power of Teleportation and all).

Live-Action TV

Real Life

Western Animation

Video Games


    Delilah 



The notorious seductress who betrayed Samson in the Book of Judges. While Samson's name suggests a violent killer, Delilah's tends to suggest a sinister temptress. Despite (or perhaps because of) this, most uses of this name in modern day works are subversions.

See Samson and Delilah for a listing of tropes related to Delilah herself.


Comic Books
  • Spider-Man villain the Rose (Jacob Conover) employed a cybernetic female enforcer named Delilah, both as a bodyguard and an assassin. (Unlike her namesake, she seemed to have Undying Loyalty towards him.)
  • A Delilah who does live up to her treacherous namesake is De'Lila from the pages of the Fantastic Four. A rogue Skrull agent and would-be assassin, she plots to kill the Skrull Emperor and usurp his power. She also seduces Mr. Fantastic in much the same way as the Biblical Delilah seduced Samson.

Fan Works

Film

Literature

Live-Action TV

  • Lilah Morgan is the name of an evil lawyer on Angel.
  • Subverted in NCIS; Delilah, who first appeared in Season 10 as Tim McGee's new girlfriend, has since then proven to be a likable character and steadfastly faithful to Tim.

Music

  • Delilah was said to be Freddie Mercury's favorite pet cat, he wrote a song for Queen about with that title.
  • Delilah is the name of a song by Tom Jones, also covered by The Leningrad Cowboys. Since the song is about a man getting revenge on the titular Delilah for being unfaithful (and mocking the protagonist when he realizes), it fits the Biblical traits.

Real Life

Video Games

Western Animation

  • In the second season of Gargoyles, Thailog makes a fused clone of Demona and Elisa Maza, naming her Delilah. Somewhat ironically, rather than being the "sinister temptress", her mere existence is proof of Thailog's unfaithfulness to Demona. She does make a Heel–Face Turn later, but that's as close as she gets to being "unfaithful".
  • Delilah Devonshire is one of the two teenage spies and title characters in the Canadian Animated Series Delilah & Julius.

    Eden 
"The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom He had formed."



The garden paradise that Adam and Eve are born into (and forsake when they eat from he tree of knowledge), this name is like Adam's in that it is frequently used for villains to represent the loss of Paradise, though it can also be used to evoke a certain primordial sense of mystery. (And not coincidentally, Eden is also a rather popular Real Life name).
Anime & Manga

Film

  • One of the two villains from The Proposition is named Eden Fletcher. His first name kind of gets him on here. Since he's an evil decadent type, and, better yet, a Smug Snake his name makes perfect symbolic sense.
  • Eden Log, the promised paradise in Eden Log that lends the film its title, which turns out to be an evil company harvesting people.

Live-Action TV

Real Life

Video Games

Western Animation

  • The Genie would find himself a girlfriend in Aladdin: The Series, a female Genie who bore this name. Though, it's more likely a Shout-Out to the actress Barbara Eden who is most famous for playing a genie on the 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.

    Exodus 
"Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."
The LORD, Exodus 3:10



The second book of the Old Testament, this name is actually derived from the Ancient Greek term for "exit". Originally referring specifically to the exit of the Israelite slaves in Egypt that the book of Exodus focuses on, the word has since become a catch-all term for any mass departure, especially of a group or race of people. Expect any event named this to specifically evoke the mass departure meaning, and any character named this to either be affiliated with such a departure, or simply be named as such for the Rule of Cool.
Anime & Manga
  • Exodia the Forbidden One from the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise,its a five cards set that when all are on the hand of a player, it grants them automatic victory. Exodia is designed after a pharaoh.

Comic Books

Film

Literature

Live-Action TV

  • "Exodus" is the name for a two-part episode in the third season of Battlestar Galactica (2003), and is so named because of the evacuation of the New Caprica space colony.
  • The original subtitle for the third Volume of Heroes was "Exodus", before the 2008 writer's strike and subsequent rewrite to the "Villains" volume that was the final product.
  • "The Exodus" is the title for a 2-part epiode from the third season of Sliders.
  • The season 2 finale episode of Smallville was titled Exodus, in reference to a mandate Clark receives from Jor-El telling him he must leave his titular hometown.

Music

Tabletop Games

  • The 22nd Magic: The Gathering expansion set is named Exodus, in reference to the heroes of the Weatherlight escaping the plane of Rath in this set.
  • Exodia the Forbidden One, a legendary monster from Yu-Gi-Oh! well known for being an Instant-Win Condition in the card game when summoned.

Video Games

  • 2004's Ground Control II: Operation Exodus, the sequel to the groundbreaking Ground Control RTS game.
  • Set for a 2018 release date is Metro: Exodus, the third game in the Metro 2033 series.
  • The second Oddworld game is titled Abe's Exoddus.
  • 1983's Ultima III bears the subtitle of Exodus, in reference to the game's Big Bad.

    Genesis 
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."



Everyone knows this one. The first book of the Bible, the beginning of creation itself, the origin of life, the universe, and everything else. As Biblical names go few are more well-known or used than Genesis, and most uses in both fiction and Real Life are benign. But creation isn't necessarily an act of good, and occasionally there'll be villains or doomsday objects given this name outright for the Irony. Alternative forms of the name, such as Genesys or Genisys, also qualify.
Anime & Manga

Comic Books

  • Averted in Jack Kirby's New Gods, where the titular Gods dwell on a utopian world called New Genesis.
  • In Preacher there is an Eldritch Abomination named Genesis, the spawn of an angel and a demon. As this creature is an Almighty Idiot, it is very definitely worth running away from.
  • There are no less than three characters from the X-Men who have taken or will take the name Genesis, but only one is worth running away from
    • Tyler Dayspring, son of Cable, is the only Genesis in X-Men who is played straight, as he takes the Genesis name after turning evil and becoming an Apocalypse worshipper.
    • A second Genesis would emerge decades later in the form of Evan Sabahnur, a Generation Xerox of Apocalypse himself. Unlike Tyler, Evan has rejected his Villainous Legacy, though in alternate futures he has been seen falling prey to the dark side anyway.
    • The third and final Genesis isn't even a Genesis yet! In the '90s it was revealed that the X-Man Forge would become famous in the future by the name of Genesis. This was teased as a big deal at the time, but has not been mentioned in decades, and may even be an Aborted Arc at this late date.

Film

Literature

Live-Action TV

Music

  • Genesis the band, a British rock band formed in 1967.

Real Life

  • Genesys Telecommunications, a California-based company that specializes in call center tech.
  • The Sega Genesis, a video game console. Somewhat misleadingly named, as it was in fact the second home gaming console produced by SEGA. Definitely a subversion, as it is a legendary console from the 16-bit era with hundreds of games that have stood the test of time and are worth playing even today.

Video Games


    Gideon 
"The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, 'The LORD is with you, valiant warrior!'"



A minor hero from the Book of Judges, Gideon was essentially the proto-Leonidas, right down to the leading 300 men into battle against enormous odds (though unlike Leonidas, Gideon and his men would survive their battle). Due to this legacy fictional Gideons are invariably martially-minded sorts, and due to the original Biblical Gideon's relative obscurity they can swing either way in terms of moral alignment. Whether he's good or bad, any Gideon in fiction is not a man you want to see facing you across the other side of a battlefield.
Comic Books
  • The first and most prominent member of Rob Liefeld's Externals from X-Force is a Gideon, an immortal Corrupt Corporate Executive and Power Copying mutant. He leans more towards the Pragmatic Villainy end of the evil scale, but he's still not a man you want to cross. He also gets bonus points for running a company called Ophrah Industries (a reference to the hometown of the Biblical Gideon).
  • Played straight with Gideon Graves, Hero Killer and the Big Bad of Scott Pilgrim. He created "the Glow", a form of supernatural psychological warfare that he heavily implies he made millions with the military and is the quintessential highly functional sociopath.

Literature

  • John Dickson Carr's character Dr. Gideon Fell is one of the few Gideons who has no skill in or association with warfare, though he shares the cleverness of the Biblical Gideon.

Live-Action TV

Myths & Religion

  • In addition to the Gideon of Judges, the The Book of Mormon adds a second Gideon to their Biblical canon, a faithful Nephite leader.

Real Life

  • Gideon, a city in Oklahoma. The state of Missouri also has a city named Gideon.
  • Gideon Emery, a British actor and voice actor.
  • Gideons International, distributor of the ubiquitous Gideon Bible.
  • Subverted with Oprah Winfrey, whose name looks like a homage to the hometown of Gideon mentioned above. She is actually named for Orpah, a woman from the Book of Ruth.

Tabletop Games

  • Mostly subverted with Gideon Jura, a post-mending Planeswalker from Magic: The Gathering. He's a fearsome military leader with Knight Templar tendencies, but he's generally on the side of good.

Video Games


    Gog and/or Magog 
"Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him."
The LORD, Ezekiel 38:2



A pair of names first mentioned together in the Book of Ezekiel (Gog referring to an Evil Prince and Magog being the land he rules, though a Magog is also confusingly listed in Genesis as one of Noah's grandsons), these names are frequently used to evoke doom and destruction, partly because of their aforementioned use in Ezekiel and partly because they are mentioned again in the book of Revelation. There is evidence that these particular names may have been adapted into the Old Testament rather than coming from it, as they were also affiliated with a Roman legend concerning the Gates of Alexander. They also appear in The Qur'an (as Yajuj and Majuj) and in Welsh folklore as Gogmagog, a legendary giant.
Comic Books
  • Magog, the penultimate '90s Anti-Hero of Kingdom Come, later reinvented as a Legacy Character for the JSA. Had a brief solo series that really got into the whole Gog/Magog legend, introducing characters modeled after the legendary duo's mother and 33 evil aunts before being shitcanned for low sales.
    • DC Comics also has three Gogs, all connected to Magog. The first Gog debuted in The Kingdom and was originally intended to be the foster father of the Kingdom Come Magog (who was originally going to be Superman and Wonder Woman's son!) before the underwhelming reception of The Kingdom turned all of this into an Aborted Arc. The second Gog was some kind of Alternate Universe counterpart of Gog, notable primarily for miring the character into a Continuity Snarl. The third Gog, a Cosmic Entity, debuted several years later in JSA under the pen of Geoff Johns and was retconned into the first, true Gog, while the Gog of The Kingdom was retconned into a mentally unstable man who discovered Gog's staff by chance and usurped his power (the second Gog disappeared into the ether with a Heel–Face Turn-ed Doomsday and has not been seen since).
  • The Marvel Comics-published Doctor Who comic Doctor Who and the Iron Legion brought to the table a Magog as the most powerful and fearsome of its antagonist race, the Malevilus. He was defeated by the Fourth Doctor and later encountered by the Seventh Doctor in an And I Must Scream state.
  • Two Marvel Comics characters are named Gog: the first is an alien foe of Spider-Man, while the second is an enemy of Longshot. The second has a Killer Rabbit son named Magog.
  • The Mighty Thor villain Mangog, a gigantic Anthropomorphic Personification of hate (specifically, the hate of a "billion billion beings").

Literature

Live-Action TV

Real Life

  • Gog is the name of a particular genus of trilobite.
  • The Gog and Magog statues, a pair of wicker giants that have have been carried in the Lord Mayor’s Show of London since the reign of Henry V.
  • Gog and Magog, a pair of ancient oak trees in Glastonbury known together as the Oaks of Albion.
  • The Gog Magog Hills, a range of hills south of Cambridge in Britain.
  • Magog, a town in Quebec. It's actually a rather beautiful place, quite subverting the spirit of its name. There's also a Lake Magog, a Mt. Magog, and a Magog River, all connected to the aforementioned town.

Video Games

Web Comics

Western Animation

  • Gogs, a Welsh claymation series revolving around a tribe of cave people.

    Jezebel 
"And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her."
The LORD, 2 Kings 9:10



The cruel and heretical wife of King Ahab from the Book of Kings. Long used to evoke images of false prophets (thanks to Jezebel's support for pagan deities over Yahweh) and prostitutes.
Anime
  • Not a straight example, but in Pokémon: The Series, James' cruel and sadistic ex-fiancé is named Jessiebelle, a clear pun on the infamous name.

Comic Books

  • One of Batman's many lovers is named Jezebel Jet. True to the spirit of the name, she does not exactly prove to be a faithful lover...
  • In the Blacksad album "Arctic Nation", Jezebel is the name of sinister police officer Karup's wife, who openly despises her husband and seems to have an agenda of her own. By the end it's revealed that she orchestrated everything that happened as a way of getting revenge on Karup, who is actually her father.
  • One of the more obscure members of Jack Kirby's New Gods is Jezebelle of the Fiery Eyes. As a defector from Apokolips who remains loyal to New Genesis up to her death (and inevitable resurrection), she subverts this trope in spirit if not in name.
  • Another comics subversion of this trope's spirit is Jesse Quick of the Teen Titans (later Liberty Belle of the Justice Society of America), whose real name is... you guessed it: Jesse Belle Chambers. Perhaps because of this trope's usual implications, she is renamed to Jesse Chambers Wells for her appearance in Arrow.

Comic Strips

  • Played for laughs in Peanuts, during a storyline when Linus meets a female classmate who constantly changes her name from day to day.
    Classmate: Today my name is Jezebel.
    Linus: Jezebel was the evil wife of King Ahab in the Old Testament. In II Kings, it says that her servants threw her out of the window and she landed on her head.
    Classmate: ...Today my name is Susan.

Film

Live-Action Television

Literature

  • In The Caves of Steel, our hero Elijah is married to a woman named Jezebel, and the biblical association becomes a point of discussion. His wife enjoys the naughty aura the name gives her, and isn't happy when her husband explains Jezebel's bad reputation is largely due to Historical Villain Upgrade.
  • In Hannibal, Big Bad Mason Verger is compared more than once to Jezebel, due to his Egocentrically Religious attitude and Hiding Behind Religion when it comes to his own perversions. Indeed, the story of Jezebel was Hannibal's inspiration for the Fate Worse than Death he chose for Verger ("Keen Bible student that you are, you will recall the dogs ate Jezebel's face, along with the rest of her, after the eunuchs threw her out the window.")
  • The Kingdom Keepers: In the first book, Finn runs across a girl named Jez, who flat out admits it's short for Jezebel, from The Bible. Not being a biblical scholar, Finn fails to realize that he should be worried.

Video Games

  • Jezebel is the name of one of the Bel Demons in Devil Survivor.
  • Jezebel the Robobrain in Fallout 4 is a rude and sociopathic Killer Robot, as well as being the reason why the Mechanist's robots went rogue and began murdering everyone on sight, all because she decided that the most effective way to "help" the Commonwealth was to Mercy Kill its inhabitants. According to the Medical Observation Terminal, there's a female subject that was an ex-military convicted to manslaughter, and is highly intelligent along with being a solid candidate. If this implied that Jezebel was the very same woman, she was likely an asshole before she becomes a Robobrain.
  • Jezebel Mephistopheles, the daughter of Satan in Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell. She actually subverts this, though: Jezebel is one of the friendliest people in the cast, depsite being a literal demon. Her father's the real monster.
  • There are three Jezebels in World of Warcraft: Jezebel Bican, a simple supplies vendor; Shadowmistress Jezebel Hawke, a warlock; and the Je'Tze's Bell, an item. There's also Jacob Alerius, a Paladin.

Web Comics

  • Jezebel, Big Bad of the Life of Riley webcomic.
  • Jezebel Starr from EVIL is a vicious vamp who will seduce you, rob you blind, and likely leave you for dead.

Western Animation

Real Life

  • The feminist news site Jezebel invokes this trope by naming itself after a fierce literary woman you don't want to mess with. And like anything regarding feminism on The Internet, the site has also been known to spark flame wars that are definitely worth running away from.

    Judas Iscariot 
"What will ye give me, if I will deliver Him unto you?"
Judas Iscariot, Matthew 26:15



One of the twelve original disciples of Jesus, Judas is infamously remembered as the betrayer of Christ. Despite sharing a name with several non-treacherous saints, this name has still become taboo in modern times, and many believe the superstition surrounding the number thirteen may have originated with him (as he was the thirteenth member of Jesus' group, if Jesus himself is counted as the first). Occasionally his surname, Iscariot ("man of Kerioth") will be used independently of the Judas name, but usually to invoke the same ominous meaning.

Judas Iscariot is the Trope Namer for the Finding Judas and Obvious Judas tropes.


Anime & Manga
  • The Iscariot Organization from Hellsing is named for Judas the Betrayer. Bonus points for Father Alexander Anderson, the biggest badass in the organization, having the nickname of "Judas Priest".
  • Judas the Angel, leader of the Saint Beasts and main character of Saint Beast.
  • Judas the Shinigami, title character of the manga Judas.

Comic Books

Comic Strips

Film

  • The Judas Breed, a species of giant insectoid monsters in Mimic. Since the scientists who engineered them picked the name themselves, they can charitably be called idiots for actually expecting their bio-engineering project to not Go Horribly Right.
  • In Dracula 2000, Drac claims to have been the actual historical Judas. Yes, seriously.
  • The third film in The Librarian series is given the subtitle "The Judas Chalice", in reference to an Artifact of Doom that is apparently capable of controlling Dracula. Notably, this work inverts the above scenario from Dracula II Ascension, presenting Judas as the first vampire rather than Dracula himself.
  • While Judas does not directly appear in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, the cursed Aztec gold used as a plot point in the first film was inspired by Judas's thirty pieces of silver. Unfortunately for the Black Pearl crew, however, they have a great many more coins to account for than that — 882, to be precise.
  • Much like Pirates above, Judad does not himself appear in Sleepy Hollow but is still an influence on the plot, as one of his cursed thirty pieces of silver is said to have influenced Benedict Arnold into betraying his countrymen.
  • Juda the Galactic Conqueror from the Ultra Series Stock Footage movie Ultraman Story and spinoff Andro Melos.

Literature

  • Judas is depicted in The Divine Comedy as trapped in the deepest circle of Hell, being chewed on by a three-faced Satan eternally alongside Brutus and Cassius.
  • 2005's Judas Unchained, the sequel novel to Peter F. Hamilton's Pandora's Star.
  • The ill-fated Rinaldo Pazzi in Hannibal comes from a family whose members are often compared to Judas in art, due to several of their number being traitors in medieval Italy. Lecter ultimately kills Pazzi himself in a way that is identical to the death of Pazzi's 500-year old ancestor, both of whom die as Judas Iscariot himself died ("Bowels in or out, Commendatore?").
  • In the Nightside series, John Taylor realizes too late that he really should have paid more attention to a man named Jude who's seeking the Unholy Grail. Subverted: it's Judas himself, but his goal is to consecrate and de-power the Grail, as the final step to his atonement.

Live-Action TV

  • Arnold Judas Rimmer from Red Dwarf, for a double dose of treachery. Subverted however in that he eventually becomes a Jerk with a Heart of Gold after receiving more character development.
  • The Judas tree on Doctor Who is apparently where River Song got the poison that she added to her Drugged Lipstick for the purposes of assassinating the Doctor (just like Judas betrayed Jesus with the Kiss of Death).

Music

Myths & Religion

Real Life

  • The Judas goat is a trained animal (not always a goat) that guides herds of livestock to a destination. Because that destination is usually slaughter, and because the Judas goat itself is spared, it acquired this moniker.
  • Because Judas identified Christ to the Romans by kissing him, the "Judas kiss" has entered the culture lexicon as a term for an act of seeming friendship which is ultimately harmful to its recipient.
  • Cercis siliquastrum is a species of tree often called the Judas Tree, as according to legend it is the type of tree that Judas hanged himself from.

Tabletop Games

Theatre

Video Games

Web Original

  • During her time on Atop the Fourth Wall, Iron Liz had a murderous doppelgänger named "Judas Liz". The name had a double meaning, as the character was both evil and wore a Judas Priest tee shirt (in contrast to the Iron Maiden tees Liz normally wears).

Western Animation


    Lazarus 
"And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!"



Any medical experiment named "Project Lazarus", run by a Dr. Lazarus, or building "the Lazarus Device" will be intended to cheat death or even return the dead to life. Bringing back the dead and cheating death is Meddling In God's Domain, and will almost certainly go horribly wrong and punish all involved. Alternative forms of the name, such as Eleazar or Eliezer, also qualify. Strangely enough this only refers to one of two Lazaruses in the New Testament, the other being a beggar in one of Jesus' parables who gets to go to Heaven (and stay there!) but not the rich man in the parable.
Anime
  • A mellow, vaguely ominous song titled "Lazarus" is used in the 2003 Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan. As an expository montage of Broly's Freudian Excuse past directly precedes it, the theory goes that the song (which focuses on the "Rich man and Lazarus" tale you can read more on below) is comparing the Rich Man Dives to King Vegeta, and Lazarus to Broly.

Comic Books

Film

  • Black Snake Moan features as its main character a Lazarus, played by Samuel L. Jackson.
  • Actually averted by Galaxy Quest with Dr. Lazarus, an affectionate party of various Leonard Nimoy roles.
  • 2016's The Lazarus Effect, a Science Fiction Horror film that predictably focuses on the consequences of doctors discovering a way to resuscitate dead patients.
  • Averted with Dr. Marian Lazarus of the 1981 film Outland.
  • In 2001's Soulkeeper there is an Artifact of Doom called the Rock of Lazarus, which is said to be able to return souls of the deceased to Earth. The gag is that it works, there's just no guarantee you'll get reincarnated as a human...
  • In Tropic Thunder one of the characters is fictional actor Kirk Lazarus, played by Robert Downey Jr. He's not someone you'll always want to run away from, but he can be a strange fellow due to his penchant for taking Method Acting to extremes.
  • Death and the lengths people will go to to survive is a running theme of Sorcerer, and three of its main characters begin the film narrowly escaping desperate situations that either killed their friends or drove them to suicide, also putting a metaphorical end to the protagonists' former lives. Fittingly, one of the trucks is named "Lazaro". It survives; the one named "Sorcerer" doesn't.

Literature

Live-Action TV

  • Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor's incident with a Dr. Lazarus. The episode title was "The Lazarus Experiment."
  • In Season 2 of Heroes, new character Takezo Kensei's Catchphrase is "Lazarus risen!", which nicely foreshadows The Reveal that he is a superhuman after his Healing Factor revives him from death.
  • Sanctuary had the Lazarus virus and while it only infected abnormals not human, the infected nonetheless became hazardous to human health as a result of the disease. Among abnormals it was also lethal.
  • Sherlock: Lazarus is the codename texted to Mycroft to start the plan to fake Sherlock's death

Myths & Religion

  • The Trope Namer is Lazarus of Bethany, also known as Lazarus of the Four Days in reference to the time he spent deceased.
  • A second Biblical Lazarus is a poor beggar who appears in the Gospel of Luke, since immortalized in the tale of the Rich man and Lazarus. He is often confused or merged with Lazarus of Bethany via Compressed Adaptation, but they were two separate individuals.
  • Along with the Lazarus of Luke mentioned directly above, there are at least three other saints who bear this name.

Real Life

  • The name is derived from the Hebrew name Eleazar, meaning "God helps/has helped".
  • The founder of the retail chain Toys 'R Us is a man named Charles Lazarus, which is sadly ironic given said chain's current financial status...
  • Eliezer Yudkowsky may not be evil, but as a transhumanist, one of his main projects is trying to find a way to live forever.
  • Lazarus of Persia, a Christian Inspirational Martyr who was tortured and then killed on March 27, 326.
  • The failed micronation of New Utopia was founded by a Lazarus Long, a man who changed his name after being inspired by the Robert A. Heinlein character mentioned above. His actual birth name was Howard Turney.
  • The Order of St. Lazarus was a Catholic military order that was extant from its founding in 1119 until its decline in the 17th century. (The "St Lazarus" in question refers to the Lazarus of Luke, for the curious).

Tabletop Games

  • In Anima: Beyond Fantasy, a character -Expy of Sephiroth- about which nothing is known, who very often appears leaving behind barren cities, with just shadows of people seeming to run away.

Video Games

  • The Big Bad in the obscure PSX driving combat game Auto Destruct.
  • Baron Lazarus Pedabouche, an evil ancestor of the title character of Baron Baldric.
  • Referenced in Command & Conquer with the stealth tank, which uses the Lazarus Shield to camouflage itself.
  • Averted with Lazarus the Gunslinger of Cross Edge, who not only turns out to be a pretty cool guy but also does not reincarnate after pulling his Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Dark Watch has Lazarus Malkoth, the vampiric Big Bad and founder of the titular Darkwatch.
  • Lazarus in Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a radio host, focusing on conspiracy theories. Most of the time he's right.
  • Archbishop Lazarus of Tristram from Diablo. If Big D isn't running the show, he is. Then again, Big D is always running the show. Still, the guy's a bastard.
  • The Lazarus Labs from Doom (2016) are the source of the Possessed that the Doom Slayer fights early on in the game. They are created through exposure to waves of Argent Energy from Hell, which are called Lazarus Waves.
  • The Lazarus device in Evolve is a gauntlet meant to make field medics irrelevant by resurrecting the fallen rather than heal the wounded. While it does work, it is mentioned to cause brain damage through extended use, while attempting to use it on someone who was dead for too long or died of natural causes will cause them to return, spasm and scream for a moment, and die again.
  • Final Fantasy Brave Exvius: Doctor Lazarov is a minor antagonist in the first season. A completely amoral Mad Scientist obssessed with attaining immortality, he will stop at nothing in his pursuit of this forbbiden knowledge. Lazarov admits the sole reason as to why he joined the Six Sworm of Paladia is because the war they're waging will leave plenty of fresh corpses he plans to put to good use.
  • Ghost Hunter brings up police officer Lazarus Jones, who predictably dies and is revived over the course of the game.
  • The Lazarus Pits of DC Comics mentioned above are referenced in Injustice 2.
  • Shepard is revived by the "Lazarus Project" in Mass Effect 2 with no ill effects. However, the Project is simply the reason s/he survives being killed and remains the player character, rather than a significant plot point.
  • Averted with Lazarus the Knight, a party character in Shining Tears.
  • Averted by the Lazarus Concordance, the elders of the Lost Land in the Turok series.
  • Father Lazarus, a Forsaken (read: undead) priest trainer in World of Warcraft.
  • The Lazarus Vector in Bioshock, a chemical solution that brings dead plants back to life. It was envisioned by Julie Langford, and ends up being invented and used by Jack.

Western Animation

  • Batman: Under the Red Hood features the Lazarus Pits referenced above, used by Ra's al Ghul to resurrect the titular Red Hood who is actually Batman's deceased sidekick Jason Todd. As in the comics, there are... complications.

    Leviathan 
"By the greatness of this monster Leviathan, God showeth his greatness and his power, which nothing can resist."
Job 41:1 (1599 Geneva edition)



An enormous Sea Monster first referenced in the Book of Job, the Leviathan is like Gog & Magog above in that it was likely adapted into the Old Testament rather than originating from it, as there is evidence of a very similar creature in the mythology of the pre-monotheistic Canaanites called Lotan, which the Leviathan of Job is almost certainly an adaptation of. During the Age of Sail this term became synonymous with various sea monsters of the time, from the so-called "great whales" (which actually do exist) to sea dragons (which almost certainly do not). Later referenced in the Book of Revelation as rising from the sea alongside its earthbound brother Behemoth to help usher in The End of the World as We Know It, this last appearance codified the Leviathan as a colossal monster bent on destruction. Expect any creature given this name to be of a similar bent.

See Kraken and Leviathan for more information, as well as a more complete listing of fictional Leviathans.


Real Life
  • Livyatan melvillei, an extinct whale named after the sea monster from the Book of Job, as well as the author of Moby-Dick.

Video Games

    Nimrod 
"Therefore it is said, 'Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD'."
Genesis 10:9

An ancient conqueror mentioned only once in Genesis. Given that the first half sounds like a Portmaneau of "numb" and "dim," and what "rod" can mean, this name's level of badass may have decayed a bit by now. (Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck calling Elmer Fudd "Nimrod"note  certainly didn't help.)


Comic Books
  • The ultimate Sentinel that the X-Men have to contend with is called Nimrod.
  • Similarly, there's a serial killer named Nimrod ("a mighty hunter before the Lord" and all) in The Doll's House from Sandman. Which also has the Corinthian, named for the Biblical symbolism of "through a glass, darkly" (as a dark mirror of humanity) as well as for the the mode of behavior, with his particular twist on it.

Live-Action TV

  • A subversion in the Doctor Who episode "Ghost Light". Nimrod is the name of the original Big Bad's Neanderthal butler, and a worshipper of the actual Big Bad, a Physical God known only as Light, but he's a good guy.
    • The Whoniverse has another Nimrod - an Ax-Crazy undead government agent bent on world domination by Britain, and complete control of Britain by his organization, the Forge, which should be itself put around here given its Orwellian type of evil and willingness to abuse alien tech.
  • In the two-part episode, "White Light" of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Season 2, Lord Zedd creates a monster named Nimrod the Scarlet Sentinel. In fact, she was the first Monster of the Week that Tommy fought as the White Ranger, and clearly, this Trope does apply, as she was very powerful, managing to nearly flatten the Thunder Megazord in the first part of the two-parter, right before Tommy appeared in his new identity. (A big part of that was because Zordon was, at the time, diverting most of the Command Center's energy to Tommy in order to give him his new powers, leaving the Megzord at subpar levels.) She had powerful electrical attacks and could summon two other monsters (her "assistants") named AC and DC to help her.

Tabletop Games


    Samson 



The Jerk with a Heart of Gold hero of the Book of Judges and a major early Trope Codifier for what would eventually become the Anti-Hero archetype. Famous for being the guy who killed an entire army with the jawbone of an ass, for his Riddle, and for not being very bright. Anyone who has this name, whether he's good or bad, is likely very strong.

Samson is the Trope Namer for The Samson Option.

See Samson and Delilah for a listing of tropes related to Samson himself.


Comic Books
  • Invincible: Black Samson has the strength of his namesake, but as Super-Strength isn't such a big deal in comic books, he also has the other powers required for Flying Brick status. They don't save him from eventually being killed.
  • The Incredible Hulk: Doc Samson, a psychiatrist who has a green-haired Genius Bruiser transformation. Predictably, his hair grows long in his transformed state, and his power is dependent on his hair just like the mythical Samson.
  • Samson of Mighty Samson, who is essentially a fusing of the Biblical Samson archetype with the Barbarian Hero archetype.
  • One of the Morlocks from X-Men was a Samson. He had the usual Super Strength, but was also blind (a second, more subtle reference to the Biblical Samson). He appeared just long enough to be killed by Sabretooth during the Mutant Massacre.

Film

Literature

  • Bernard Samson of the Bernard Samson Series. As Bernie is set in a more realistic world, he gets no Super Strength and has to content himself with "merely" being a badass spy.
  • Coyote Blue brings us Sam Hunter, who uses the alias Samson Hunts Alone while on the run.
  • Samson, or more specifically the Riddle of Samson, is referenced in Hannibal when the title character writes a letter to heroine Clarice Starling telling her that she is the answer to Samson's riddle, "the honey in the lion".
  • October Daye: Samson is Raj's father, who tries to overthrow Tybalt as King of the Court of Dreaming Cats.
  • Samson Agonistes, a 1671 drama written by John Milton that is a dramatized retelling of the Samson and Delilah story.

Live-Action TV

  • An excellent zig-zag of the trope is Samson from Carnivàle, who is the dwarf manager of the carnival. He isn't particularly evil or physically imposing, but he was once a weightlifter and is certainly closer to the supernatural elements of the show than other characters.
  • Samson Gray, Sylar's Retired Monster father on Heroes.
  • Averted with Samson the talking dog of Samson En Gert, who is as adorable a sheepdog as any you'll find.

Video Games

  • One of the two hypermuscular bodybuilder characters in the utterly bizarre Cho Aniki is named Samson.
  • Samson, the villainous and superpowered Red Templar from Dragon Age: Inquisition.
  • Little Samson's title character has the strength of his namesake but not his dependence on shaggy locks to maintain it.

Western Animation

  • Brock Samson from The Venture Brothers The man is a walking TERROR. He once proposed weaponizing a jawbone, which (combined with his oft-mocked mullet) are subtle little Shout Outs to the original.
  • Samson J. Clogmeyer of Camp Lazlo is a subversion in that not only he is not very strong, he's actually rather prone to suffering injuries himself.

Real Life

  • Samson the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, notable for having the most complete T. Rex skull ever found (as of 2017).
  • The Samson Unit, a real-life Badass Israeli special forces unit named after the Biblical figure.


    Wormwood 
"The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter."



"Wormwood" denotes a number of plants within the genus Artemisia that have historically been used in medicine and in alcoholic drinks like absinthe. The Bible namedrops these plants to connote bitterness. What's more, Greek versions translated the Hebrew word for "curse" as "wormwood" (or apsinthos), and the Book of Revelation references a star called Wormwood that falls from the sky and poisons the waters of Earth.
Comic Books
  • Danny Wormwood, main character of The Chronicles of Wormwood. He's a successful television producer who just so happens to also be The Antichrist.
  • Kingdom Come is a work that slathers on the Biblical themes hard and heavy, so it should come as no surprise that the UN official who orders the climatic nuclear strike towards the end would be named Secretary-General Wyrmwood.
  • Wormwood the Zombie, main character of Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse. He's actually some kind of extradimensional larvae... thing, that infests corpses and raises them to run around in.

Film

Literature

  • The Abarat books include a vessel called Wormwood Deathship.
  • The Christ Clone Trilogy features an asteroid called Wormwood, which is no accident as the trilogy is a Christian End Times novel in the vein of the Left Behind books.
  • The Screwtape Letters are addressed to a demon named Wormwood, containing advice on how to corrupt the mortal soul.
  • Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood, Matilda's parents, downplay this. They're anti-intellectual jerkasses, but not all that evil. Matilda Wormwood herself, while the heroine of the story, is no force to be trifled with either, being a Child Prodigy who regularly uses her wits to humiliate mean adults. She even develops telekinesis later in the book.
  • Stephen King references wormwood in several of his books, including Carrie, Home Delivery, The Mist, and Under the Dome.

Live-Action TV

Newspaper Comics

  • Calvin and Hobbes subverts this with Mrs. Wormwood, named after the aforementioned demon from The Screwtape Letters. Calvin views her as a Sadist Teacher and uses her as the basis for many of the aliens and monsters in his daydreams, but it's pretty clear that Mrs. Wormwood is just doing her job as a teacher. Hey, you'd be stern too if you had to put up with Calvin's shenanigans. Bill Watterson, the cartoonist behind Calvin and Hobbes, actually considers her something of an Iron Woobie.

Tabletop Games

Theatre

  • In Act III Scene II of Hamlet the titular protagonist says "Wormwood, wormwood" as an aside while watching the Play Within a Play.

Western Animation

Real Life

  • You wanna know the Russian name for common wormwood? Chernobyl. Then again, common wormwood or mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) is only one species within the genus. The stuff in absinthe (Artemisia absinthium) is called grand wormwood in English and polyn in Russian.

    Zillah 
"Lamech took two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. [...] Zillah bore Tubal-cain, who made all kinds of bronze and iron tools. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. Lamech said to his wives: 'Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.'"

Sixth-generation descendant of Cain and mother of Tubal-Cain, legendary inventor of metallurgy, and his sister Naamah, who some rabbis claim to be Noah's wife. She and her fellow wife Adah are the first women besides Eve to be mentioned by name, and are supposedly the first to be described with any form or grace or beauty as opposed to being factually the first women on Earth.


Literature

  • The third book in Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quartet, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, revolves around women of a particular line all named "Zillah/Zylle/Zyll". Zillah is actually the middle name of Meg's mother in law, who sets the events of the story into motion and is central to the conflict.
  • Poppy Z. Brite's Lost Souls's character. Interestingly, Brite's Zillah is male.
  • Wuthering Heights includes a minor character named Zillah, a servant of Heathcliff after he inherits the titular manor.

Live-Action TV

Music

  • Zilla, an American Trance band founded in 2004.
  • Zillah Minx (born Zillah Elaine Ashworth), vocalist for the British Punk Rock band Rubela Ballet.

Real Life

  • A Zillah, also known as a Zilā or Jela, is a South Asian word for a district. Zillahs can be found in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.
  • Zillah is both the name of an animal and a plant genus. The animal is a type of spider, while the plant is a type of flower endemic to deserts in Northern Africa and The Middle East.
  • Zillah, a city in the state of Washington.
  • The USS Zillah, a motorboat built in 1903 that served as a patrol vessel for the U.S. Navy in 1918.

Theatre

Video Games


    Others 
Anime

Comic Books

  • As noted above, during the '90s there was an Ancient Conspiracy team of evil mutants the X-Men fought called the Externals, several of whom were named for Biblical characters. On top of the aforementioned Absalom and Gideon, their ranks included a Nicodemus, a Burke, and and a Saul. X-Men Big Bad Apocalypse was also retroactively deemed one of their number (though in a class above them, as they swore a collective oath to never meddle in his affairs).

Film

  • Subverted in Diggstown with Gabriel Caine, who, while he is a con man, is still good and is unquestionably one of the heroes of the story.
  • All the leaders of Children of the Corn and and their right hand men have Biblical names: Isaac, Malachai, Micah, Mordecai, Eli, Josiah, Ezeekial and so on.

Literature

  • COMMISSAR CIAPHAS CAIN, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!! is named after TWO Biblical villains (Joseph Caiaphas was the high priest who had Jesus condemned to death)
  • The priest from The Last Church is named Uriah - a name shared with King David's generalnote  Uriah the Hittite.
  • Bathsheba and Gabriel of Far from the Madding Crowd
  • Herod Sayle in the Alex Rider novel Stormbreaker shares his biblical namesake's desire for infanticide.
  • Phenomena has Ezau, he often tries to lure his brother Azur to his death even though he swore to his parents to keep him safe. He stays a villain in his own right without influence from the true Big Bad. In the end the brothers have more a Cain and Abel dynamic though.

Live-Action TV

  • Carnivàle, fittingly enough for a show about Biblical catastrophes and superpowered beings, has many Biblical names, but not among the villains. The only Biblical connection on the dark side is Tommy Dolan, his first name being an excellent and prophetic reference to "doubting Thomas".
  • The fourth season of Heroes featured as its Big Bad one Samuel Sullivan, a Dark Messiah who promised to lead the "specials" to a promised land where they would be free of persecution. In the Bible, Samuel is the prophet who essentially founded the Kingdom of Israel.
  • Lost has a lot of Biblical names. Ironically, the show's resident Magnificent Bastard is named Benjamin. This should refer to Jacob, too, now that Ben has started to turn into the real powers' Butt-Monkey.
  • Messiah, the Killer AI of Tokumei Sentai Go Busters. For bonus points, he was "born" on Christmas Day.
  • Ultra Series:
    • Gomora from Ultraman is named after one of two cities smited by God in the Old Testament. Later in Ultraman Dyna, this would be homaged with a monster named after the other city called Sodom.
    • Ultraman Noa, the true form of Ultraman Nexus, and one of the most powerful Ultras in the franchise. Yes, he's named after that Noah. Also in an episode of the original Ultraman, there was a cult in the Middle East that worshiped Ultraman as Noah (they even lived near Mt. Ararat where Noah's Ark set ground after the Flood)
    • Barabas from Ultraman Ace is a vicious-looking Choju named after a criminal released from crucifixion over Christ in the New Testament. Also the same episodes he was in featured a planet named Golgotha (the hilltop Christ's crucifixion was set upon), where Yapool has crucified the Ultra Brothers.
  • Millennium (1996): Juggernaut Onan Goopta, inventor of Selfosophy. (Admittedly, you rather laugh you ass off than run away. Bad mistake.)

Video Games

  • The Flood from Halo.
    • The villains of the game mod RED are named Joshua and Michael.
  • The Ark of Napishtim from Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim is named after the Ark of Ut-napishtim, the Epic of Gilgamesh's analog of Noah.
  • Joshua Graham, aka the Burned Man, in Fallout: New Vegas: Honest Hearts.
  • Numerous specimens in Monster Hunter, including the all-too-obvious and all-too-appropriately-named Deviljho (Read: Devil, Joe), as well as the Diablos, which translates to Satan in Spanish. Other more vague/loose examples include the Ceadeus (Sea + Deus).
  • Evolve gives each of its monsters menacing names, with two of them given biblical names. The Goliath is named after the giant Philistine warrior who frightened all but David into surrender, while the Behemoth is named after the massive and powerful land-based counterpart to the Leviathan.
  • Noah (as well as its sub-names, Noah, Soul of Ambiton and Noah Prime), the Final Boss of Astral Chain. A massive Eldritch Abomination created by the Big Bad of the game, Yoseph Calvert, who also built the megacity the game takes place on, the Ark. As in, Noah's Ark.

Webcomics

Web Original

  • SCP Foundation: In SCP-5172, the monster manifesting is called a "Zalmunna event". Zalmunna was a king of the Midianites who fought Gideon.note 
  • In Worm the first two Endbringers are Behemoth and Leviathan, after the two monstrous creatures described in the Book of Job. Like the originals, they are slaves to the unconscious will of their creator, Eidolon.

Western Animation

  • Parodied on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, when Meatwad attempts to name what appears to be a mini-Shake that appeared on their doorstep:
    "I'm gonna name you Jesus...Ezekiel...Jesus. And that's from the Bible."

Real Life



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