A Lamb In Hell is a Crossover fanfiction combining the Hellaverse (mainly Hazbin Hotel, but Helluva Boss characters make appearances) and Cult of the Lamb. The currently ongoing series is posted on Archive of Our Own by That_Guy_Who_Writes and can be read here
, but be warned that the comic has a mature rating.
After countless years of taking care of his flock after his victory against The One Who Waits, a certain fluffy cult leader is bored. Day in and day out, Lambert the Lamb performs menial tasks, praying for a day where he could step away from his duties and do something exciting. One day, a seemingly routine extermination of lingering resistance grants his wish in the form of a peculiar old grimoire the cultists were carrying, specifically a page involving a portal to hell...
A Lamb In Hell provides examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: Years to hone his divine abilities makes Lambert as dangerous as The One Who Waits used to be, with abilities including hypnosis immunity, full at-will access to the Crown's arsenal of weapons, curses, and his fleeces, and a full on One-Winged Angel form similar to those of the Bishops and The One Who Waits.
- Adaptational Wimp: An accidental example with Exterminators/Exorcists,
due to Chapter 11 being written before the Amazon release of Hazbin Hotel. Specifically, their lack of an immunity to non-angelic armaments. Angel Dust and Husk manage to make an Exterminator flinch and shield herself from regular gunfire, something canon Exorcists would be too confident in their invincibility to consider even if it could hurt them. Chapter 19, the first mention of Exorcists since the Season 1 finale, made attempts to retroactively return to canon by having Lambert and Valentino allude to the show's revelations, the former mentioning how seemingly unafraid of death angels were and the latter stating how this was the first time anyone has hurt, let alone killed, an angel. - Admiring the Abomination: When Lambert reveals his One-Winged Angel form to Hell, several Hellborn are seen enjoying the sight: Loona and Octavia are mad at themselves for not getting a picture of The Lamb earlier, Blitzo wants Lambert to work for I.M.P., and Millie is taking notes on the deity's brutal fighting style.
- Adorable Abomination: The Lamb is outright adorable to everyone who meets him but powerful enough to match Alastor, at least in an intimidation display.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Angel Dust tells Lambert his sins are irredeemable, Lambert bluntly asks if Angel committed genocide. The shocked spider says no and can't respond when the Lamb matter-of-factly states that means he can be redeemed.
- Berserk Button: Genocide for Lambert, due to his past with the Bishops. To him, genocide is a
Moral Event Horizon, the first thing that comes to his mind when he has to consider a sin that would make someone irredeemable. The moment he learns about the Extermination, his immediate response is all out conflict with the invading angels. - Beware the Nice Ones: Lambert is a cuddly little guy who likes getting pets and loves helping out Charlie, the Happy Hotel, and his followers. He's also a Physical God who came to Hell specifically because he thought fighting demons would make for a good vacation, and he's more than happy to turn someone into a bloody pulp if they mess with him. The first interaction he has in Hell that doesn't end with him getting immediately brushed off is beating up and torturing three minotaur-like demons for killing confused new Sinners yet begging for mercy when up against a serious threat.
- Break Them by Talking:
- Lambert manages to convince Sir Pentious to retreat from his battle with Cherri Bomb by deconstructing it, forcing him to admit that the fight is completely pointless.
- Lambert completely tears down Katie Killjoy when she yet again decides to mock Charlie's hotel, reading her mind to find a memory that humiliates her and exposes her hypocrisy.
- Celibate Hero: The Lamb constantly shows little interest in relationships, believing marriage to be something meant to be between his followers and admitting to not having any desire for a bond of his own. Sexual innuendos tend to fly over his head (partially due to them not being invented yet in his world) while obvious lust directed at him tends to be met with disgust or threats at knifepoint.
- Cruel Mercy: After shattering Victoria's halo for killing one of his flock, Lambert chooses to heal her. The process strips her of Heaven's power and replaces it with his own, something the zealous angel considers a Fate Worse than Death.
- Cuteness Proximity: The Lamb is understandably viewed as adorable by most who meet him. Angel Dust immediately starts petting him, Millie wants to keep him as a pet, and Velvette makes clear that he would have a massive social media presence due to his looks.
- Cutting Off the Branches: The story takes place in a timeline where The Lamb chose to kill Narinder. The option to recruit him to the cult is referenced in a dream Lambert has in Chapter 8.
- Do Wrong, Right: When Valentino invites the Lamb to watch him film one of his pornos, Lambert quickly gets annoyed by poor acting on display and takes over, insisting on a change in performers that results in an extremely intimate performance that impresses the Vee. The innocent Lamb, for his part, is extremely disturbed by the results of his actions.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Even after so long, Lambert's home dimension is significantly less advanced than the Hellaverse, and the Lamb develops a strong desire to learn about all the unfamiliar technology he comes across in Hell. He quickly connects with Velvette and Sir Pentious due to their knowledge of social media and massive war machines, respectively.
- I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: When Lambert visits Eris to tell her about the grimoire, the elk mistakes her leader vaguely expressing a desire for a vacation for a request for sex.
- Morality Chain: Charlie becomes one to Lambert, the little deity reining in his destructive desires as to not attract trouble towards her and the hotel. Her influence even convinces Lambert to give Narinder a chance at rehabilitation rather than take revenge.
- Mundane Object Amazement: The Lamb comes from a pre-industrial world, so certain things like phones and television amaze him. His reaction to Alastor's microphone as a piece of amazing innovation actually endears him to Alastor a little.
- Mundane Utility:
- Among its more extravagant uses, Lambert uses his mind reading for Velvette's photo shoot to get the exact poses she wants.
- Valentino gets the idea to use one of Lambert's godly powers (his One-Winged Angel form) for his sex work. Lambert quickly shuts down that idea.
- Mythology Gag: During the visit to Lobotomy Corporation, Lambert comes across an agent with pink military armor and a pink sniper rifle that causes its target to commit suicide. People familiar with the game would recognize the description as the "Pink" E.G.O. gear set obtainable from the Army In Black.
- Named In The Adaptation: The Lamb goes by Lambert in this story.
- One Free Hit: In Chapter 2, a minotaur demon offers Lambert the first strike after the little deity threatens to kill them. The narration lampshades how bad of an idea this is, and the demon's hubris is punished with a massive blow from the Red Crown's hammer form.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: The Lamb's relationship with Narinder. When the latter gets attacked during the Extermination, Lambert's secondary objective is to keep them alive so he can kill them himself.
- Outside-Context Problem: Lambert is a complete anomaly to Hell's inhabitants, the godlike Funny Animal and his powers breaking almost every rule of the Hellaverse, starting with his mere existence from being from a world where humans don't exist and escalating to resurrecting someone killed by a Exterminator's weapon, a fate that would otherwise permanently destroy a soul.
- Running Gag: The Coprophiliac Joseph and the cult's constant annoyance for his "unique" culinary requests.
- Teleportation Misfire: Lambert's portals don't always lead to his intended destination, with unexpected detours leading him to:
- A second hell where a human in green armor is beating up a pink demon with his own horn.
- A third hell where a coin-throwing robot with a pistol is fighting an extremely angry angel with two swords.
- The Darkest Dungeon, where Lambert gives Reynauld and Dismus' party a divine light to refresh themselves.
- Lobotomy Corporation during an Ordeal, with the manager able to get ALEPH level gear from the diminutive deity.
- Valentino's lounge, giving him a surprise meeting with the Vees.
- Threat Backfire: Upon getting ambushed mere minutes after his arrival into Hell, A demon tells Lambert (believing him to be a regular Sinner) that he'll get to kill the little guy as much as he wants, since the latter will keep coming back as long as an Executioner doesn't kill him. Lambert, feigning an innocent tone, merely points out that this means it works the other way around, and a Curb-Stomp Battle ensues.
- Underestimating Badassery: A constant source of comedy is the citizens of Hell assuming The Lamb to be an ordinary Sinner and Lambert immediately disproving that false image. Even after his true nature is exposed to everyone, some of the more arrogant inhabitants still try to one-up Lambert, and are just as successful as those prior (in other words: not at all).
- Whole-Plot Reference: While generally an original story, most of Chapter 8 is a recreation of C.H.E.R.U.B. with Lambert following everyone around and bringing up his own arguments.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: Lambert's power is described to be both demonic and divine in nature, allowing him to perform feats impossible for demons or angels alone.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Angel Dust's belief that he's irredeemable is challenged by the Lamb, who tells him about an enemy warrior who made a Heel–Face Turn after they were betrayed by the Bishops for accidently delivering false information about the Lamb's death (unaware of the Lamb's Resurrective Immortality). After killing the Bishop's cultists, the warrior begged to join the Lamb, who doubted his intentions and gave the warrior a branding iron to prove himself. The warrior shocked the Lamb by branding himself not once, but four times, and loyally protected the cult ever since. The Lamb ends this story with a simple statement: if the warrior could redeem himself, why can't Angel?
