History Main / SatanIsGood

** He also redeems himself before he does by filling seven jars with his [[SwissArmyTears magical phoenix-god tears]]. And yes, Melek Taus is a ''[[ThePhoenix friggin' phoenix]]''. [[CaptainObvious Which is awesome.]]

** He redeems himself before he does, however...

* The relatively obscure ancient Kurdish religion of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi Yazidi]] comes close. Their description of their main deity Melek Taus is more or less the same as the Islamis description of Iblis only with the twist that in their version of the story Shaitan got to rule the world in the end.
**** And there was a group called the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luciferianism Luciferians]] that was persecuted by the Catholic Church as a heretical sect during the Middle Ages. As with this trope, the Luciferians believed that eating from the Tree of Knowledge was a positive thing, and that Lucifer was the noble Creator opposing an evil and repressive god who had better press. They never worshipped evil or performed dark sacrificial rituals the way Satanists in contemporary and modern media were/are supposed to do. There are also modern day Luciferians who believe the same thing.

* ''GrandiaII''. In spades. For the ENTIRE game.

*** [[YourMileageMayVary YMMV]], allowing something is not the same as endorsing it or wanting it to happen. It's more like he's giving Satan free reign so everyone knows [[CrapsackWorld how crapsack the world can be]] when he's not running the show.

* In Kaori Yuki's ''AngelSanctuary'', God is the bad guy and even if Luzifer [[spoiler: aka Sakura Kira for most of the time]] isn't entirely evil, his final goal is getting rid of the supreme being [[spoiler: who's planning to replace every living with some freaky angel baby things of crazy nightmares]] Furthermore, whether you're an angel or demon doesn't have anything to do with your alignment.

* An AlternateCharacterInterpretation of the Christian version of Satan is that Satan is justified in defying God's authority due to the many massacres and other violent acts perpetrated by God in the Old Testament. He is sometimes cast as a Promethean figure who tries to unshackle humanity from the tyranny of an unjust God.
* Say what you want about {{Satan}}, {{God}} [[GodIsEvil killed]] [[http://graphjam.com/2008/06/16/song-chart-memes-god-vs-satan/ more people in the bible.]]
** Doesn't hurt that Satan hardly ever shows up in the Bible. At least not until that chat with Jesus in the desert. [[spoiler:He's all over Revelation, though.]]
*** It's relatively safe to assume that the Bible was not written by one person in a single session. It may have been codified and officiated by particular groups and individuals, but the lore itself comes from a variety of ideas and beliefs. At the very least a 2000 year old work cannot be assumed to be written by anyone unless there is a VERY reliable source saying there was. Therefore the idea of Satan may be very loose, with multiple interpretations occurring throughout, explaining Satan's seemingly disparate emphasis.

* Ironically, Christians keep saying this. How come? Well, Satan made rock, heavy metal, video games, Batman, comics, some movies, some cartoons, KISS and more of the like. And we're supposed to DISLIKE him?
** At this rate, 2012 [[CrowningMomentofAwesome is going to be THE BEST part of all time!]]
** ''{{Batman}}?''
*** At least according to SeductionOfTheInnocent.
*** Gives [[AllStarBatmanAndRobin "the goddamn Batman"]] a whole new meaning.
** Do not forget the booze. Another point for Lou.
** PatRobertson [[KickTheDog made a comment attributing the 2010 Haiti earthquake to vengeance from God for a "pact with the Devil" made by Louverture's revolutionaries to secure freedom from the French]]. So LetMeGetThisStraight... Satan freed a nation of slaves, and [[GodIsEvil God]] waited two hundred years, decided he was still pissed about being snubbed, and killed tens of thousands of the poorest people in the world for living in the country where it supposedly happened? Hail Satan!
** Also, remember that Satan's first act in the bible is to encourage Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. [[UnfortunateImplications Looks like God wants us to be stupid]]...

* In [[http://mortifer.smackjeeves.com Mortifer]], Lucifer is actually [[spoiler: an angel who's job is to prevent the fallen from escaping hell.]] It's revealed fairly early on in the comic that [[spoiler: Matthew's twin brother is his "reincarnation,"]] but isn't until later that we find out that he's not on earth to kick off the apocalypse or something, but instead to [[spoiler: track down Joey Von Krause and bring him back to hell. Unfortunately, Joey kills him a few chapters later.]]

This was quite common in earlier times, where {{Satan}} was seen as a servant of {{God}}, who performed an important role in testing peoples' resolve. Satan is derived from the Hebrew "ha-Satan", quite literally, means "the Accuser" -- and what he accuses you of is sin. [[CaptainObvious (Duh!)]]

This was quite common in earlier times, where {{Satan}} was seen as a servant of {{God}}, who performed an important role in testing peoples' resolve. ha-Satan, quite literally, means "the Accuser" -- and what he accuses you of is sin. [[CaptainObvious (Duh!)]]

* This is a common [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation alternate reading]] of ''ParadiseLost'', though it's almost certainly [[MisaimedFandom not what Milton intended]]. Satan's arguments are ''supposed'' to be persuasive and seem perfectly rational at the beginning, until later in the story when he admits to himself that he's a total fraud and is simply too weak to back down. Stanley Fish's ''Suprised by Sin'' suggests that Milton intended his audience to reenact the fall by sympathizing with Satan.

* This is a common [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation alternate reading]] of ''ParadiseLost'', though it's almost certainly [[MisaimedFandom not what Milton intended]].
** Amusingly much of this is because many of Satan's 'evil' desires for Heaven have become accepted norms in RealLife - among other things he suggests what is essentially a theory of evolution for immortal god-like spirits, as opposed to creation, and argues for a rudimentary democratic system over absolute monarchy and nepotism represented by God and his Son.
*** Except that other Milton scholars would say that Satan's lying in the earlier acts, and that you're supposed to be seduced by his reasonable sounding desires early on and then be surprised later that he's lying, and that that's all part of Milton's intent (to have the reader re-enact the Fall). There's a reason why Stanley Fish's ''Suprised by Sin'' completely reshaped Milton studies 30 years ago.

* Several of Neil Gaiman's works including Good Omens and Murder Mysteries have an interesting varriation in this where it is suggested Lucifer is evil, but only because God wanted him to be, which actually makes him good, becuase God's will is the ultimate source of goodness. It helps that it is literally impossible for God to do wrong.
** it's less a "makes him good" than a "makes it all planned". In Murder Mysteries, God isn't really shown as good, but Lucifers developement was all ''just as planned''.

** On the other hand, OK Go's response to that song in the form of "A Good Idea At The Time" depicts him as, at worst, apathetic to said atrocities.

* The Greek god of the dead, Hades, is depicted in modern works to be a villainous, Satan-like figure, but in the mythologies themselves, Hades's morality is usually neutral, for death itself favors neither good nor evil. He abuses his godly power here and there, but his list of crimes is nowhere near as long as Zeus's.

* In Judaism, Satan is not a fallen angel, but a regular angel submissive to God's will. He distinguishes himself by being critical of humanity's capacity for evil, and specifically proposes a test of faith for Job. His name comes from the word for "adversary" or "accuser" and his role is more like that of God's prosecuting attorney. It's also worth noting that the Serpent in the Garden of Eden and Lucifer are considered separate entities both from Satan and each other.
** In Jewish theology Satan is basically around to play, well, Devil's Advocate to God. The book of Job actually starts out with Satan just hanging around Heaven and then deciding to go see if he can needle God into admitting that people only worship Him because he's nice to His followers. From the way God reacts ("is that what you're on about today?", more or less), it seems like it's hardly the first time Satan's done that, too.
*** He is also supposed to be responsible for getting King David to hold a census. Just what was so bad about the census is not explained. Actually, the title of Adversary does not necessarily belong to one angel; it could be the title of whichever angel is being argumentative at the moment.
*** Determining where Satan/the Devil shows up in the Hebrew Bible is tough, since Hebrew and Koine Greek (the languages of the two main manuscripts that were most used in translating the bible into other languages) can be translated in several ways.

-->"''An apology for the Devil - it must be remembered that we have only heard one side of the case. God has written all of the books.''"
-->- Samuel Butler

**** The relatively obscure ancient Kurdish religion of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi Yazidi]] comes close. Their description of their main deity Melek Taus is more or less the same as the Islamis description of Iblis only with the twist that in their version of the story Shaitan got to rule the world in the end.

* Christianity actually denies Satan any creative power and considers the human free will to be the actual source of evil. Satan may be a schemer but he can only instigate and use people's vices against them. In Book of Job he actually tries to do so on God's command. Contrary to popular belief, portraying God and Satan as opponents is not the Christian concept but a basic tenet of Manichean paradigm.
** I'd say '''the misuse''' of said free will, rather, is the Christian view of the source of evil, not free will itself.

* The Devil figure in {{Jack}}. He does not cause any evil, which is implied to be coming from ourselves and the bad choices we make. The Sins, on the other hand...

* Christianity actually denies Satan any creative power and considers the misuse of human free will to be the actual source of evil. Satan may be a schemer but he can only instigate and use people's vices against them.

* Christianity actually denies Satan any creative power and considers the human free will to be the actual source of evil. Satan may be a schemer but he can only instigate and use people's vices against them. In Book of Job he actually tries to do so on God's command. Contrary to popular belief, portraying God and Satan as opponents is not the Christian concept but a basic tenet of Manichean paradigm.
** I'd say '''the misuse''' of said free will, rather, is the Christian view of the source of evil, not free will itself.