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You didn't get to the bottom of the Layers. Asmodious is actually an Ouroboros, specifically a Scaled Snake-like Ouroboros, which resides in the bottom of the 9th Layer of Baator, in the depths of the Labyrinth. The version which you described is simply 1 of the 10 Avatars of Asmodious. You also entirely forgot his abilities, and his Ruby Rod of Power, in addition to the fact that his Blood created Devils as we know them, and his presence corrupted multiple beings, one of which was actually an Angel that was sent with the exact Goal of killing Asmodious, before eventually succumbing to the corruption and being forced to serve Asmodious once he'd become a Devil himself.
I can appreciate how they wrote in the plot device of souls granting magic power, because if the devils were pure tormentors and nothing else, they might not be quite evil enough to be called evil. It creates the motivation behind their tireless schemes and tricks.
The reality being that no soul can be contained. Captivated? Sure. Even captivated by nature's cycle no matter the balance, imbalance or each of any given realm storm liberates captivated souls based on their karma. 🤸
@@Endymion766 you need power to be I suppose a higher being in status. But, for example, people can offered to become devils for simply being extremely evil in their deeds during life.
The whole history of Asmodeus is actually quite interesting as well. Its quite interesting how they were able to take the myths and superstitions of so many cultures and blend them into one, very large, game.
@@Julie-zl3is I'm to concerned with withstanding the demons, principalities, and powers, and rulers of darkness in this world to worry about whats in hell. Only thing that concerns me regarding hell is my family motto: "Hell is hot, and eternity is long".
Sje was plotting against Asmodeus and was sloppy about it. Mephistopheles has promotion to kill Asmodeus if he ever shows weakness but she did not and she got caught.
Nice work as usual, just a little update. Azuth has managed to break free from Asmodeus as of the current era. It turned out that he was never really "assimilated", and the two struggled within the same body until Azuth was recently helped to escape--therefore robbing Asmo of part of his divinity: he's now a lesser power.
Bring D&D back!!!!!!! With the, aw just read my clmment to the COMMENT BELOW, and believe me ITS WORTH IT PEOPLE!!!!!!! THANKS FOR POSTING THIS LORE AND YOUR OTHER POSTS AS WELL AS JOINING THE CAUSE WE ARE STARTING FOR D&D FANS ALL OVER THE WORLD!!!!!
@Lamodrick Foster Orcus rose from mane to balor to demon Prince under his own power, so it doesn't make sense that Asmodeus would need a divine spark. There's also Gargauth, who is a demi power and a baatezu lord that got booted out of Baator because even the Dark Lord of Nessus found him revolting.
For anybody looking for a more up to date 5e version get the guide ‘Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. Has whole descriptions of the rulers and landscapes. Plus some of this information has changed or been updated. The book also goes into the blood war between the devils and demons. The book came out a year later after this video so a bunch of the information is outdated unfortunately.
I cannot tell you how many times this video has randomly showed up in my recommendations, and I've said to myself "Oh, I haven't seen this one yet!" watched the first ten seconds and been like "oh, yeah I have seen it, meh, I'll watch it again." I don't know how you make these videos so entertaining, they're just learning videos!? Please don't ever stop making these amazing videos.
every story abouth the origin of asmodeus are fucking cool BUT they are all false, Asmodeus is the king of lies, if you heard something about him, it's only because he's on the origin of it and find it funny
2:48 I was the DM of a a 9 year long game. Had my players make their way to the 3rd layer and to the city Jangling Cuter. The players began destroying the chains that keep the city from falling into the giant swamp below all while battling tons of devils that are in the city. They got a 1/3 of the city to break off and fall into the swamp below.
It's interesting that more than one layer of the 9 hells is icy. It's an nice touch and a nod to Dante's inferno. According to Dante, the devil is trapped on the bottom layer of hell in a lake of ice that is kept frozen by his beating wings as he is desperately trying to escape. This is also where "betrayers" spend eternity frozen in icy prisons. Most people think of hell as fire and brimstone, but the layer of hell reserved for the worst people is ice.
I think a fun campaign for high level characters (of any alignment) would be to enroll them in one of the devil's armies in the Blood War or a feud with another devil, perhaps after being captured during an adventure in the Nine Hells. The PCs would be indentured servants and must fight for their life and freedom, the devil reasoning that the PCs will be far more motivated to fight than his wretched minions. Of course sooner or later the players will realize their master has no intention of letting them go free . . .
It should be noted that Asmodeus was a god for a while in general D&D. It was only in the Realms where he wasn't a god, so 4/5E had to come up with something to make the Realms consistent with general D&D.
Asmodeus is a cool dude. He makes appearances in the Brimestone Angel book series by Erin Evans. He has almost complete control over the devil's of the hells and they often fall to their knees uncontrollably when he's near; his voice is like daggers when he speaks, often causing instant, throbbing headaches in the listener and he can do all sorts of things like take away a devil's eyesight or hearing (or air, etc.) on a whim and give it back in an instant if he feels like it. Pretty much what you would expect from the leader of the nine hells really... Anyways, those books are really good, just wanted to leave that out there in case anyone passing by was interested in a series that isn't ENTIRELY about the nine hells but is very wrapped up with it (gets more so as the books go on) and will give you some more knowledge (for example, Glasya lives WITHIN the body of the old hag. The walls of the palace ooze blood and puss and moan with pain!!). You could start at book 3 (which is also book 3 of the Sundering series) and the beginning of the more hells-heavy plotlines. (But I would start at the beginning)
@Alexis Green , 20 odd years ago , AD&D 2nd E went to D&D3e. My gaming group (" F !") over the Nine Hells and my Arch Mage/ wizard Rogue character hooks up with "Glasya." Love my "Planeshifter," wizard class character.
@@franklinevans3044 I think it's safe to assume that a character created by a handful of nerds writing background for a role-playing game isn't real haha. And by cool he means Asmodeus is a 'bad-ass', in the same way people might call Terminator or a T-rex cool.
@@joshs9463 A great game that has a sick on it and it is killing it, soo painful to watch and not sure what can be done about it, but great nonetheless.
Pretty much Dantes inferno. just more shitty. not in the suffering way more so in like Dantes inferno is far better designed. specially if you include the Lesser key of solomon and add a few more cities to each ring like this does
well ever since Dante's Inferno (the book from the divine comedy) was written, it had become the standard for how the Christian hell is envisioned.. at least by those who preach and/or follow the canon of the religion. Prior to Dante's Inferno, Hell was just a burning pit outside of Zion. Pretty much every IP that uses Hell in its story visualizes hell as Dante's Inferno had (taking slight liberties with the 9 circles), or using just limbo and/or the 7th circle. Sidenote: DND has always borrowed A LOT from various religions and mythologies. Like... all the different afterlife destinations are from different religions, and based off those religious texts, Just like Hell
@@bloodydove5718 Yep. DnD is more about mashing together different mythologies than anything else. There are more dungeons and dragons in Skyrim than there is in DnD. But DnD has more Cthulu vs Satan vs Godzilla.
I just find it hilarious that you start the video with "the ph is silent" definitely got a laugh out of me and made me want to watch the rest of the video
i was playing dnd in the 80s when the song Amadeus by Falco came out. we natch turned it into Asmodeus (oh-oh-ohoh), and sang that anytime either the song or the demon came up in convo. fortunately, he never appeared before us when we did so (he meaning Asmodeus, not Falco). also, i had an elf named Falco, just cuz i liked him (Falco, not Asmodeus). RIP, Falco.
Freaking Zariel! He ratted Bel out for starting a series of taco restaurants on the prime to snag smokers of spice, who were naturally always having the munchies. It was a clever plan that would have eventually turned whole cities lawful evil, but Zariel told Asmodeus about Bel's tax evasion (a major no-no in the bureaucracy of the Hells) and so he gets the bump down. Thanks as usual for the great vids and informative stuff Jorphdan!
Really appreciate these videos. Watching all the devils and demon videos tonight because one of my players devided to attune to a chardlyn gauntlet with the mind of a spinagon inside it. Guess her monk is going to get a chance to mutliclass to warlock of the fiend here soon.
Gygax wrote a novel called Dance of Demons back in the 80's (Gord the Rogue series). The champion of the forces of neutrality goes to the abyss to broker a deal. It's a crazy story. Grazzt, Orcus, Demogorgon (Grazzt calls him the monkey heads😅), Pazuzu and all the rest are in it. Even Anthraxus (daemon lord) is there stirring up mischief. You get to see first hand why the demons can never defeat the devils.
Good summary - however - I heard that Lucifer resides in a "10th Layer" - Embodied as a MASSIVE Serpent, impaled on the stalagmites of his own prison. Even Asmodeus himself refuses to acknowledge the possible existence of Lucifer - to the point of Paranoia. Something I remember reading. Also - Bel is the most bad ass looking of the Devils. Fun fact - Tiamat is also known to make her Hellish Home in Averna - the 1st Layer of the 9 Hells. (Technically 10 to 13 Layers)
You heard wrong. Also, no, not 10-13 Layers, *nine.* Tiamat actually used to be in charge of the 1st, till there was a purge of non-Devils from Hell's leadership positions (Out of game. In game, I think she just got bored.)
I actually had an epic party go in and work (politically and physically) to remove the hierarchy in the 1st layer, after which Tiamat took over the layer again. It was...hellish.
Doesn't Asmodeus basically ending the Bloodwar mean that the rest of creation is kind of doomed? The entire point of the war was that neither side could win or else all of creation would either be destroyed (demons) or conquered (devils)
It's interesting to see how the 9 hells have changed over time. I still only play 1st Edition also known as AD&D and the 9 hells are much different. Tiamat is the leader of the 1st plane for example. The politics are much different as well. Gygax and the rest really did a lot with the politics, it goes pretty deep. Although you had to own the copies of Dragon magazine to know. But this was really interesting, don't like what happened to Beelzebub, that's kinda silly, but everything else was cool.
I have tried. It's going to be difficult to explain this in a short text but i'll try, I wount be able to cover everything. It really is the freedom and the rule system I love so much. In first edition as a DM I can basically do anything I need to. There really is nothing the newer editions can do that I couldn't make possible in 1st edition if I really like it and wanted to. It's a more open and free game. None of the rules are written in stone. The players aren't bound by what the rules say, but by their imagination. Making a character is easy and quick, not a lot of unessential skills that never really get used. I also like that the other dice are used more often, in 3rd edition most was controlled by the D20. I like having a ton of different charts that use the other dice. But that's just a nit pick. The older books give it a feel all it's own. It has a more Archaic feel to it. Every time I open the Dungeon Master's guide I find something new, or something I forgotten about. When I play the new games, everything feels so plastic, empty and controlled. Forced to use maps and figures the rule system is more written in stone. (I personally never play with maps and figures, but again that's a nit pick. I just like to explain what is going on how far things are from them, what the room looks like, and let the players tell me what they are doing. Instead of slowing down the game by placing things all over a map.) Also 1st edition is like a Survival Adventure. Just making it past 3rd level is an accomplishment. Sort of a trial by fire thing. Something to be proud of and not something to expect. Players aren't given a ton of powers and abilities, they need to earn them, find them, or have them granted to them. I like that players aren't superheros when they make their first level character, but closer to what actual people would be like. Also if someone likes something from the newer editions, it is easy to add those things to 1st edition.
Cool, I highly recommend it. To be honest it depends on the DM and players. A good DM can make any edition and any game fun as long as the players are having fun. But here is something Gary Gygax said “It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules which is important. Never hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule books upon you, if it goes against the obvious intent of the game. As you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general, also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players. Within the broad parameters given in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons volumes, you are creator and final arbiter. By ordering things as they should be, the game as a whole first, you campaign next and your participants thereafter, you will be playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as it was meant to be.” Dungeon Master’s Guide (page 230), Gary Gygax
I have never heard the pronunciation of Asmodeus like that but it makes sense in a way. I pronounce it az(as in AZgard)-mo(as in MOW the lawn)-dee(DEAn)-oos(OOze)(and an ‘s’ at the end instead of a ‘z’). But DEUS makes sense because it is referring to god and should be pronounced as such. Sorry for the random sentiment. Your video was awesome by the way. I am a new DM and have a tiefling PC so this gives some perspective.
Biblical Hell: A prison meant to lock away the unredeemable forever. DND 9 layers Of Hell: If you are tough enough, you'd be surprised to find things to truly enjoy. People. You need to stop forgetting how deliberately different they are.
The Styx is a major battleground of the blood war, but its property of erasing all memories of those who touch it would make those battles really weird... I'm imagining huge battles where demons and devils in boats try to splash each other with the water while trying to stay dry themselves. The best weapons would be huge wooden spoons and the best defense would be umbrellas 😂
Baalzebul, anyone reminded of the count from Berserk’s black swordsman arc who looks very similar. Berserk takes a lot of inspiration from D&D lore so I wouldn’t be surprised if that was another aspect
I've always said there are Nine hells! I also believe there is a difference between Fiends and Demons, which most people not only confuse but think are interchangeable
@2:44 HOW DID YOU MESS THAT UP. THE SINGLE MOST ICONIC MOMENT OF ASMODEUS EVER, AND YOU MESSED IT UP. Asmodeus's single, iconic quote. *Read the fine print.*
Did you find much information about Moloch, one of the old rulers of the 6th layer? It went Moloch > Hag Countess > Glasya. I keep seeing conflicting records of what actually happened to Moloch. In the 5e DMG he's supposedly a lowly imp lost on the first layer, plotting to get his power back, but other sources say he was doomed to worse fates than that (he was the leader of a rebellion that attempted to usurp Asmodeus and would have been successful, but he was betrayed I believe by the Hag Countess herself). While we're at it - doesn't Tiamat live on the first layer, sorta trapped there but also ruling and manipulating the Material Plane from it as well?
I had no idea about Moloch, just read up on him and it's awesome. Thanks for pointing that out. As far as Tiamat yeah she has a lair on the first level of hell and ruled Avernus for a time, but she was demoted for doing a crappy job.
Moloch and his story is the root source for a major NPC in an old campaign I played a year ago, and was going to be the main antagonist for the party (involving said NPC) in the following one. Unfortunately it never really started properly, but it was going to involve chasing Moloch through very non-hellish planes (because he's not welcome back in Baator after, yknow, trying to rebel) including the Feywild and other strange locations, with possibly finishing him for good in Baator himself. My point is that Moloch is the best choice if you need a devil character that is really out of its element - he's shunned by other devils at this point and would probably be slain if he ever willingly stepped back into Baator again, so he's incredibly likely to meddle in Prime Material affairs and even make deals with mortals (when others would probably just be happy slaying them/taking their souls to the 9 Hells). He's alone, a little desperate and with few options. A volatile antagonist like that can be used in a lot of unique ways - how about finding out the reason Unseelie factions in the Feywild are becoming unruly and attacking the Seelie often is that they're being organized by a being made of literal flames? The jarring juxtaposition seemed like it would be memorable.
Moloch got kick out of Hell over 20 years ago right before AD&D2nde went to D&D3e. " How did such an Arch Devil become such a loser ?" Oh yeah, an "imp" will nearly always get spank by a 6th- level character party.
Yup, mamma Tiamat was letting too many high level adventurer parties "sneak" pass her. Back in my day of gaming. My group game shop let people play dragons. If you die in combat, your character dragon end up in hell. We had newbe players hate ending up in the first layer of Hell with out any of their equipment. Had one game where everyone was playing Lawfull Evil low level characters, the whole group was killed off with with three Fire Ball attacks. Plot : Children of pamper lesser nobility trying to take over a Township in a political trade coup only to get burn to death, wake up running for their lives over sharp rocks from monsters. Best part was half of them vanish each day and return to the living world as ghost each night. We had some good roll players.
This should have a disclaimer noting that this cannot be taken as truth as the only one who truly knows Asmodeus' origin is himself, and noone can trust him to tell the truth about where he came from. This is just one of a few stories he's told about himself, like another noting that he's one of the first two beings in existence, The lawful evil serpent counterpart of a chaotic good serpent. And in this other version, he created hell after he lost a fight with the other serpent regarding what existence should be.
If you can get your hands on Issues #75 and #76 of Dragon Magazine, Ed Greenwood wrote an excellent 2-part summary of the Nine Hells. Written for 1E, but easily applied to later versions of D&D.
I don't suppose you know how many Devils were in a company? A friend and I were trying to extrapolate the size of DnD's cosmos by working backwards from the number of Pit Fiends in the Nine Hells. #75 & #76 only list the number of companies of Pit Fiends. Thx in advance for any help!
Hey great summary. I hoped you go into more detail on the history/stuggeling of the different planes. Some information also seem outdated (afaik), for instance Zariel is the current ruler of Avernus since Bel fell out of Asmodeus's favor and was demoted to be her advisor.
In the end it should not matter anyway. We are talking about details from a cosmology of fantasy. And in your game you can make up what ever you want. For example in my game I run in the FR however I changed so many major npc/factions even kingdoms and culture to better fit my need and visions. For me the only advantage in knowing these details is to inspire you and giving you a baseline.
The pronunciation of the various archdevils and layers of the hells varies from person to person and always makes me chuckle when I hear "Fle-ggethos" or "Mammin" or "Can-KNEEa" etc. Shit makes me chuckle every time.
I don't know about the accuracy of the statement that Asmodeus was an angel created by the gods to battle demons. In Dragon Talk: LYSK The Nine Hells with Greg Tito and Chris Perkins, Perkins said that Asmodeus has pretty much existed since the multiverse was created, maybe not in his current form, but as long as there is Good, there is Evil, and he is the embodiment of Lawful and Evil.
There are different myths about him. It was some old 2nd edition material that stated Asmodeus was an angel. However in the Forgotten Realms lore he was an Arch Devil that obtained divinity. I tried to cover both :) Good catch though, love me some LYSK
I think I've been pronouncing every single layer of hell differently from you. Haha. I'm new to this section of d&d lore, so I'm sure you have it correct.
The Nine Hells (aka Baator) are more from Planescape than Forgotten Realms... And the Devils (from Baator/LE) call themselve : the Baatezus The Tanar'ris (CE) are the demons from the Abysses (the Sworn ennemies of the Baatezus : the two species fight in an eternal war call "The Blood War") The Yugoloth are the daemons (NE). The three kinds of fiends were created by the Baernaloth (an other story) It was just a reminder ;-)
You're welcome ;-) By the way : you will find really more informations, secret, plots,, etc. about the differents hells, heavens, and other kind of plans of D&D in Planescape's books. ;-)
Mr. Beck, tiefling Arcane Domain Cleric lvl 20, high Cleric of Azmodeus, spreading the love of Azzy daddy to mortals and smiting those who worship or summon demons. My favorite 5e character I have ever made....
Question: how strong, or rather, what must be defeated for a (antagonist) to cause a calamity event that would rework the entirety of the forgotten realms, and cause all the realms to collide and mix... time and space failing to make sense as the enemy laughs as his plan comes to completion
Would it be safe to assume that devils would have laws for Mortals that enter the 9 hells that are explicitly written just to have them imprisoned upon their deaths so that they can corrupt them so they can claim their soul even after release from their original crimes?
What do they mean by Primal Law? Does this mean certain laws which devils and angels have in common, or is it more abstract like truthfulness, honesty, and doing what you're told
@@Jorphdan I recall seeing "the nine layers of Hell" mentioned in one of the Di Vinci code Movies *BUT* It's presence with Tom Hanks in the Movie didn't go into as much detail as you did. *THANKS* . 👨🏫👹👥🎰🎭🔥☠
