Moloch in popular culture

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Moloch or Molech or Molekh representing Hebrew מלך mlk is either the name of a god or the name of a particular kind of sacrifice associated historically with Phoenician and related cultures in north Africa and the Levant.

This is a list of references to Moloch in modern popular culture and art.

1 Literature
2 Comics and graphic novels
3 Film
4 Video Games
5 Television
6 Music
7 Other
8 References

[edit] Literature

Sacrifices to Molech are a major plot element in James Michener's 1967 novel, The Source. In 2200 B.C.E., at Tell Makor, the farmer Urbaal is forced to sacrifice his younger wife Timna's first-born child to Molech. At the public ceremony, Urbaal covers Timna's mouth with his hand so no one will hear her weep.
Janko Kač, a Slovene writer, has written Moloh ("Moloch") in which he allegorically presented a textile factory in Prebold, which has been devouring poor workers, pushing them as far as attempting to burn it, but the woman who tried to do that, ended her agony in a small lake.
Moloch is a novel by Henry Miller
Moloch appears in Dean Koontz's novel, The Face. The antagonist, Corky Laputa, is referred to as Moloch by a deceased character who communicates with Channing's child, Aelfric, by phone.
Moloch appears in John McIntyre-Grimau's epic, Matt the Zombie, as a soul-consuming demon.
Moloch appears in Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl (Part II). Ginsberg's Moloch bears a resemblence to Lang's, in that it takes the form a demonic city ("Moloch whose smokestacks and antennae crown the cities!"). In that work, Moloch is generally interpreted as representing American consumerism.
Moloch is metaphorically referred to several times in Varlam Shalamov's Kolyma Tales as the diety to which the dead in the Soviet Gulags are sacrificed. After recounting the deaths of dozens of his comrades he writes "and Moloch chewed on."

[edit] Comics and graphic novels

Moloch the Mystic, a retired villain with real name Edward Jacobi, is a fictional character in Alan Moore's 1987 graphic novel Watchmen.
Moloch is one of the antagonists in the Hellboy novel "On Earth As It Is In Hell".
Moloch appears in the comic Proposition Player, by Bill Willingham where he appears as an old god who has been looking for a new patheon.
Moloch appears as one of the Gods in the series Testament (comics) by Douglas Rushkoff.

[edit] Film

In the 1914 Italian film Cabiria by Italian film director Giovane Pastrone, in which the title character, a young girl, is sold as a slave in Carthage and offered to the god as a sacrifice.
Cabiria (1914) subsequently inspired the Federico Fellini film Nights of Cabiria. Moloch appears explicitly in the film a number of times.
In Fritz Lang's 1927 dystopian film Metropolis, one of the machines which powers the city is called the "M Machine," or "Moloch Machine." One worker succumbs to exhaustion, and his inability to manage his task causes the M Machine to overheat. Freder witnesses the ensuing explosion, and in his eyes the M Machine turns into a demonic image. He cries out, "Moloch!" and watches in terror as the bodies of workers are led into its gaping mouth. This image fades gradually, to reveal that the dead workers have been replaced and the M Machine is back in operation. Freder flees to tell his father Joh Fredersen, the master of the city.
Russian film director Aleksandr Sokurov released "Molokh" (1999) as the first installment of his "tetralogy of power," a series of films meditating on the nature of dictatorial power. This film, set in 1942 Bavaria, presents a de-dramatized and psychologically neurotic Adolf Hitler in his relationship with Eva Braun; interestingly, it makes minimal reference to Hitler's genocidal ideology or military command, focusing instead on his troublingly mundane human existence.

[edit] Video Games

In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, a game for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, Moloch is a Summoned Spirit requiring the power of two Mercury Djinn and one Jupiter Djinn to summon. Here, Moloch is a big, white, furry, horned ice monster.
In the video game Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, the boss-character Moloch is a powerful Oni, an ally of Shang Tsung as insurance against betrayal by Quan Chi.
Molochs feature as powerful demonic enemies in the roguelike computer game ADOM.
Moloch also appears in the roguelike computer game Nethack. In the game's story background, he steals the Amulet of Yendor, an item necessary to complete the game, and seals it away in the Dungeons of Doom where the game takes place.
In the PC game FreeSpace 2, the Moloch is a class of Shivan corvettes.
In the PSP game Death Jr., Moloch is the game's main villain - a demon who DJ and his friends accidentally set free. In the graphic novel based on the game, he is the elder brother of DJ's father, Death, and also the villain of the story.
In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Molag Bal is a Daedra Lord. He is known as "The Corrupter."
In Majin Tensei, Moloch is the second Boss(Maou). He is portrayed as a green demon with four arms and a serpent's body instead of legs.

[edit] Television

An episode of the popular television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer named "I Robot... You Jane" (Season 1) featured a demon named Moloch. In this episode, the character Moloch "The Corruptor" came to inhabit the internet, built a robot body for himself and was eventually defeated by Buffy.
Moloch was a member of the Spookhouse organization along with your character, The Stranger, in the 1999 PC game, Nocturne (Game). He was portrayed as a large, dark red demon with three horns, two shredded wings, and hoofed feet. He fought other supernatural threats alongside humans because his fellow demons cast him out of hell centuries before, and he claims to have been cast out of Heaven as well.
The episode of The Outer Limits named Resurrection features a story where mankind and all other mammal life becomes extinct, with androids left to rule the world. The android in charge of keeping the robot community safe is named Moloch. In the episode a robot clones a human 'Cain' from a strand of hair, and Moloch tries to find and destroy the human.
In Stargate SG-1 Moloch (spelled 'Moloc') was a minor Goa'uld System Lord who killed all female Jaffa born in his empire. This action gave rise to the rebellion of the Hak'tyl in order to save the infant Jaffa. He was later killed by SG-1 and the Hak'tyl.
In a 1982 episode of CHiPs entitled "Rock Devil Rock", Don Most portrayed a pseudo-satanic rock star named Moloch

[edit] Music

Current 93's 2000 album "Sleep Has His House" features a song titled "Good Morning Great Moloch."
Ronnie James Dio, of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, recalls his grandmother referring to Moloch when she made the sign for the 'evil eye', index finger and pinky finger extended, that he then popularized during concerts and has now become the universal sign of heavy metal in pop culture^[1].
Naglfar's album "Harvest" has a song titled "Feeding Molock".
Bran Van 3000's song Go Shoppin' mentions Moloch: Moloch passed the message to Behemoth.

[edit] Other

In the core Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting and other settings, including the Forgotten Realms and Planescape, Moloch is a deposed archdevil of the Nine Hells of Baator. Originally ruler of the mountainous sixth layer Malbolge, he unsuccessfully rebelled against Asmodeus in the Reckoning. Moloch's advisor and consort Hag Countess was installed as ruler of Malbolge in his place, though Glasya rules there now.
In modern Hebrew language the expression sacrifice something/someone to the Molech means to give up something valuable or harm someone for an utterly worthless cause.
In the Wizards of the Coast TCG Hecatomb base set, Moloch is one of the rare God cards. The name also appeared in the Ravnica set as "Torpid Moloch" and in the Dissension set as "Whiptail Moloch", lizard creatures not unlike Stygimoloch. The Ravnica block takes place within a sprawling city, so perhaps this is a reference to Lang's Metropolis.
Conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones has accused the leaders of developed nations such as USA, UK, and top corporate bigwigs indulging in ancient (effigy) sacrifices to Moloch and engaging in global conspiracy in the Californian resort of Bohemian Grove. However, the statue there is not named Moloch and it does not resemble the historical Moloch.