Triad of Hell

"Three is a magic number" - Schoolhouse Rock

The power of three, reflected in the legends of the Fates, Norns, and the Tridevi.  In Heaven it is known as The Presence, The Voice, and The Word. In the depths of Hell its names are not so well known. The power has been passed on to many infernals.  The status within the Triad or Triumverate of Hell is one earned through dark pacts made over the River Styx.

 Triad (WB's Charmed)

The Triad appeared on Television in several episodes of Charmed as an ongoing adversary to the Halliwell sisters a group of witches with their own power of three. The members of this faction of the underworld would eventually be named Asmodeus, Baliel, and Candor.  Candor was of course played by Leland Crooke who also portrayed upper demon Archduke Sebassis in Angel. Sebassis who was also a member of the Circle of the Black Thorn another faction with high power in the underworld.

Devils often make use of different names, we can assume they are one and the same. I believe Baliel to be a variation on Belial as his position in the Triad is mentioned in the Demon Comic series portraying Belial's son Etrigan.

The Trinity, Demon, DC, 1990

Of course we know in Neil Gaimon's Sandman series Neil knows full well of the Triumverate of Hell and he names them Beelzebub, Lucifer, and Azazel. When Lucifer departs Hell's politics he leaves his position among the Triad. Later Azazel is replaced by Belial.

The Devils are always looking to move up the ranks of Hell and each Lord of Hell has had his (or her) rise and fall.  According to Hesiod the River Styx was where the oaths, vocal contracts between the gods were made. These same contracts bind the Lords of the Underworld and form the position of those among the Triad.

Just who are the Triad right now?  In DC's Reign in Hell comic series a battle between Neron, Satanus and Lady Blaze resulted in Satanus winning the war for power in Hell.  The Triad themselves are not mention but Belial appeared as an ally of Neron, who is ultimately defeated.

Clearly the position could be anyone in the ongoing war for power in Hell.  As often as we hear about the Trinity, when mentioned with God, should it be surprising that there be balance of that in Hell?

As above, so below as we all should know!

DC and the New 52

I confess I am a DC fan! I prefer Superman over Spider-Man, Justice League over the Avengers, Batman over Iron Man!  As much as I love DC though I have always been very frustrated with the writers frequent disregard to continuity in the comics.  DC's Multiverse Mess is well known in the comics community. Power Girl was Supergirl (Kara) from Earth 2 but after the Crisis it was revealed that she had an Atlantean heritage.  Donna Troy and Hawkman's origins kept changing.  Heck even Superman's origins would seem to be changed every ten years or so.  Sometimes DC explained these changes other times they did not.

So when they decided to do another reboot again with the launch of the New 52 I was again frustrated and decided I would no longer buy anymore DC Comics. (I have since changed my mind)  Originally from what I saw of this New 52 I was not impressed.  Superman looked more like Superboy and was wearing body armor.  Teen Titans and Firestorm's origins were changed and Wally the third Flash seemed to not exist at all.

Over a year has gone by and DC has released additional titles as well as the Zero Issues in their reboot.  While their are changes I do not like and would sooner ignore there is much that I am starting to be interested in.  When I first got into comics DC had just finished Crisis on Infinite Earths.  I was a fan of Superman and enjoyed reading the John Byrne Superman series that portrayed Superman in his first year as a Superhero. Reading Crisis gave me an overall view of the DC Multiverse in both different time era's and different parallel earths.

 

Crisis On Infinite Earths #7

With a "Multiverse" that has been around since the 30's its not surprising all the confusion.   DC has purchased many comic companies and over the years added them to their Multiverse merging the characters from Fawcette (Captain Marvel Family), Charleston (Blue Beetle, Question), Image (WildC.A.T.s, Stormwatch) and Milestone (Static Shock) into their main titles universe.  Every generation see's its own interpretation of the character so its not surprising they are given a modern spin every ten years or so which is something we see in other properties.  Even Star Trek has been rebooted these days.

Now recent reports suggest that Green Arrow is getting a reboot in The New 52 in February so asking the question of what is canon and what is not is an endless task with no real "official" answer.  How can you trust an official answer when in a few years they will change their mind anyway.

Despite the challenge of continuity there is some great things happening in the New 52 that has given me enough reason to check out the comics.  I really enjoy that we get to see different time periods of DC with titles such as Demon Knights during the Middle Ages and All Star Western.  Characters I saw in the Crisis like Jonah Hex, and Amethyst have returned to the spotlight and the range of books they are publishing really gives us a sense of the many corners of the DC multiverse.

Despite the many problems with DC I still have a love for the characters and stories of the DC Multiverse.  In running my tabletop RPG using the DC Multiverse I have had to figure out what I want to use from the comics and what I did not. In future posts I will be sharing more on that and my own theories of the DC Multiverse.