Follow TV Tropes

Following

Playing With / Satanic Archetype

Go To

Basic Trope: A character based on Satan.

  • Straight: Lucia the Light Star is an angel that started the rebellion of angels until she and the other rebel angels lost the war and are banished to the inferno realm of fire and became its ruler. Years later she starts to make Faustian Contracts with people...
  • Exaggerated: Lucia even goes so far as to use her light appearance for deception and is even responsible for all the evil of the world - finally leading The Legions of Hell in an attack on it and on the entire universe or on Fluffy Cloud Heaven once the "light and beauty" One-Winged Angel façade drops to reveal the real creature.
  • Downplayed:
    • Lucia is a human being that just thinks Satan Is Good and/or just likes being a living Mind Screw to Christian fundamentalists. She presents herself as or considers herself a Satanic (or possibly Thelemite or Chaotic for a couple of others that aren't necessarily but are often mistaken for Satanism) priest/ess, but does nothing that causes true, lasting harm to anyone and is closer to The Trickster.
    • Lucia is simply a regular human who loves tricking and corrupting people for her own sadistic amusement, which just so happens to be what the Devil does - especially if she can catch her targets off guard.
  • Justified:
    • The author has a Christian background, and wants to teach future generations about the dangers of moral temptations by using the Devil as an example.
    • Or the author wants to explore the power of psychological temptation on people, and the Devil just happened to be the most common example.
    • A work that doesn't want to depict Satan himself but wants to play with related themes.
    • Avoiding Moral Guardians, especially if also using the inversion that Satan Is Good.
    • Creating a character that is Always Chaotic Evil or a Principles Zealot or a fallen angel or similar in a universe with no Christianity or Christian tradition *and* that has no "evil" or "oppositional" figure of its own - this is the counterpart to Crystal Dragon Jesus in such.
  • Inverted:
  • Subverted: Lucia The Light Star is an angel that started the rebellion of angels and is making Faustian compacts and rallying The Legions of Hell and conducting internal operations within Fluffy Cloud Heaven or Shining City or wherever - because the people there are victims of Mind Rape/the place is Powered by a Forsaken Child/something else that has crossed the Moral Event Horizon so much that even she couldn't take it anymore, in a case of God and Satan Are Both Jerks, she's actually the Jerk with a Heart of Gold or at least the slightly "better" jerk of the two.
  • Double Subverted: Once Lucia finally does the impossible and takes down Crystal Dragon Jesus or the resident god, she becomes overwhelmed with pride and He Who Fights Monsters takes effect, turning her into The Dark Lord, necessitating someone else, Sol Morningstar, to rise up and defeat her in the same way - and then the same thing happens to him, setting in motion a constant cycle of "gods become Jerkass Gods until rebellion, rebels become Jerkass Gods themselves in the effort and aftermath, more rebels must rise to take down the once-rebels now Jerkass Gods."
  • Parodied: Lucia is an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain who can never convince anyone to sell their soul.
  • Zig Zagged: ???
  • Averted:
    • There is no Satan-like figure present.
    • Satan himself appears, with no attempt to obscure him.
  • Enforced: If the work in question is based heavily on Judeo-Christian themes. Also if it's an adaptation of stories involving Satan or Iblis.
  • Lampshaded: "You took that from Satan, right, Lucia?" "No, he took it from me!"
  • Invoked: Despite being an Alien from the original Source material. Lucia insists that she forms wings of power, Draconic Appearance, Jet Blacked Crimson Skin, and taking a tribute of Satan from The Bible.
  • Exploited: ???
  • Defied: ???
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: ???
  • Deconstructed: Because the legend of the Satanic Archetype has become ubiquitous the longer time goes on, no single person Lucia approaches as The Corrupter will take her seriously either because she is seen as an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, Lovable Rogue, or as an Obviously Evil force of nature. Therefore, no one will be corrupted by her schemes because she and her plans are so obvious everyone can see it a mile away.
  • Reconstructed: But, if Lucia appears as unassuming as possible, more people will fall for her manipulations, because she did not appear to be the Devil at first. This will allow greater success in accomplishing her goals.

Back to Satanic Archetype

Top