Lilith in popular culture

For the term relating to a night monster in the Dead Sea Scrolls and a demon in Jewish mythology see Lilith

Lilith, a female demon from Jewish mythology, has been developed into characters in popular culture.^[1][2] One writer on witches has written "No spirit exerts more fascination over media and popular culture than Lilith. Her appearances are genuinely too numerous to count."^[3][4][5] Lilith is one of several demonic figures with biblical or related origins taken into popular culture.^[6][7]

Books

This section only includes direct references to the Lilith of Jewish legend (as documented in Jewish sources) in popular culture. It does not include references to the many dozens of derivative female characters called "Lilith" in comics, video games, cartoons, supernatural films, TV series, and so on. See Lilith (disambiguation) for a complete listing of characters named Lilith

The March 1973 issue of the Warren magazine, Eerie, contains a story written by Nick Cuti titled "Lilith," illustrated by Jaime Brocal. The story is based on the medieval stories of Lilith being Adam's first wife, but there are several interesting turns on the tale, such as the archangel Gabriel being substituted for Samael.^[8]

In books the legendary Lilith, presumed wife of Adam, appears in various fantasy novels. For example Lilith is a principal character in Stephen Brust's To Reign in Hell, (1984) where she is the love interest of both Satan and Lucifer at varying points. In Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series of fantasy novels Lilith appears in For Love of Evil (1988) and the last in the series Under a Velvet Cloak (2007). In Cassandra Clare's young adult fantasy series The Mortal Instruments (2007–2014) Lilith is the first wife of Adam in the garden of Eden. In Jaye Wells' urban paranormal series the Sabina Kane novels, Lilith is the Queen of Hell and wife of Asmodeus, and the mother of the vampire and mage races; while Lilith only makes brief cameos in the first four books, the prophecy of her return drives the central plot of the series and she is a major character in the fifth installation. She's also named as Adam's first wife in the fantasy series Fallen by Lauren Kate.

Lilith is Resurrected in Author Kevin R. Given's "last Rites: The Return of Sebastian Vasilis which is book one in the "Karl Vincent: Vampire Hunter" series. She, along with the Egyptian Sekhmet Sekhmet and Hindu Kali Kali form an evil female trinity bent on destroying mankind and taking over the earth. She is also seen in the comic book version of "Karl Vincent: Vampire Hunter" #1-6

Lilith appears in the 40th issue of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series from DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. She is later present in several issues of the Lucifer comic series, where she is found to be the mother of Mazikeen.^[9] She was first wife of Adam, who, when rejected by Adam and God for being a person in her own right, slept with many (if not all) of the angels to give birth to the first demons, who she then organized into building the Silver City.

In Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, Humbert Humbert says of himself, “Humbert was perfectly capable of intercourse with Eve, but it was Lilith he longed for.”

Excerpt From: Nabokov, Vladimir. “The Annotated Lolita: Revised and Updated.” iBooks. ".

In the Simon R. Green's Nightside book series, Lilith is the main hero's mother.

There are two characters named Lilith in the Marvel Universe.

In the Larissa Ione book series The Lords of Deliverance, Lilith is the mother of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Television, movies, and music

The Lilith myth is the subject of the episode "Lilith: Queen of the Night" from the third season of the Canadian documentary series The Naked Archaeologist.

In the US TV series Supernatural, a white-eyed and very powerful demon called Lilith appears in season 3 (2007) and season 4 (2009). She is said to be the first human ever tempted into Lucifer's service, thus becoming the first demon. In the season 4 finale, it is revealed that she is also the last of the 66 seals, and when she is killed, the Devil is unleashed from his cage.

In the episode "Night on Haunted Mountain" (2012) of the Cartoon Network television series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, the main villainess was a flying phantom which is named Dark Lilith and protects a mountain named Mount Diabla.

In season 5 of the television series True Blood, Lilith is the goddess that the Sanguinistas (an underground religious group composed mainly of vampires) worship and pray to. Lilith is acknowledged in The Original Testament, the vampire Bible and predecessor to both the Old and New Testaments, as the second vampire—after God himself—and is portrayed as the messiah of vampires. The Sanguinistas also possess a vial which they believe contains the blood of Lilith.

Lilith is the subject of the horror film "Night Angel" (1990). The horror movie 30 Days of Night: Dark Days features a vampire called Lilith. In the 2012 horror anthology film V/H/S, the segment "Amateur Night" features three friends who run afoul of a succubus-inspired creature, played by Hannah Fierman, who is listed in the credits as Lily. Lilith is the name of the demon in the film Evil Angel (2009). Also in 2009 comedy movie Year One Lilith is represented as daughter of Adam, sister of Cain.

Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa (2010)—the ninth studio album from the British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth—is a concept album focused on Lilith. Therion has a song called "Lilith" featured on the album Les Fleurs du Mal. Genesis' sixth studio album, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (1974), features the song "Lilywhite Lilith". On the album Concentration (1993) by the American industrial rock band Machines of Loving Grace, there is a song called "Lilith/Eve" that is also based on this legend. The electronic producer Varien released the song "Lilith", which is about this legend.

Anime

In the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion—a show that makes innumerable references to Jewish mysticism—Lilith is stated to be the Second Angel, the progenitor of the human race. She is confined in the lowest level of NERV headquarters and impaled with the Lance of Longinus in order to keep her compliant to NERV/SEELE's goals. However, she's wrongly identified as Adam until episode 24, when Kaworu Nagisa sees her and realises what SEELE is planning.

There is a Digimon known as Lilithmon who is based on the mythical Lilith and is one of the Seven Great Demon Lords. The character's first anime appearance is in Digimon Fusion.

In the manga Chrono Crusade, Lilith is the mother of Chrono and Aion. Lilith was turned into a replacement core for Pandemonium. At the end of the story, Aion beheads her, making clear his contempt for her. He further requests that it never be disclosed that Chrono and he are both humans turned into demons. In the penultimate chapter, Asmaria has a vision of a pregnant woman walking through the countryside when the ancestral demons came to Earth, and this woman happens to be Lilith.

Games

• Lilith is a character in Darksiders and Darksiders II.

• Lilith is a recurring enemy in the Final Fantasy series, here referring to the demons that share her name, which are portrayed as snake-women.

• Lady Lilith is the main antagonist in an expansion to the game Final Fantasy XI. She is a version of one of the heroes of the expansion, in an alternate timeline.

• Lilith is a character in DmC: Devil May Cry. She is the wife of the main antagonist, Mundus, and is fought as a boss alongside her unborn son.

• There is an enemy named Lilith in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, but she can only be encountered in a special quest that is available only in multiplayer.

• Lilith appears in the seventh update to The Secret World, titled "A Dream to Kill". She claims to be the mother of most of the monsters the player has fought, and is allied with a cult that is repeatedly encountered.

• Lilith, the "Mother of Monsters," is one of the primary leaders in Malifaux.

• Lilith is recurring enemy in the Castlevania series, and is usually a palette-swap of the series' Succubus enemy.

• Lilith, evolved from a Succubus, is a 4-star healer in the Japanese mobile game, "Puzzle & Dragons"

• Lilith will be a playable character in the popular indie game The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth DLC Afterbirth which is scheduled to release in the summer of 2015.

Characters named Lilith

See the disambiguation page for characters merely named Lilith, such as Lilith Sternin in Cheers and Frasier.

References