Nephilim in popular culture

The Nephilim of Genesis 6 have become a notable motif in popular culture. This interlinks with other similar motifs regarding Christian demons in popular culture.^[1]

Music

• The band Fields of the Nephilim took their name from the Nephilim, as did vocalist Carl McCoys follow-up band Nefilim.
• The band AFI has a song entitled "The Nephilim" on the record The Art of Drowning.
• Brooklyn based rap group Flatbush Zombies have a song called "Nephilim" on their second mixtape BetterOffDEAD
• The band Katatonia has a song entitled "Nephilim."
• The band Behemoth has a song entitled "The Nephilim Rising" from their 2004 album Demigod.
• Frank Black and the Catholics reference the Nephilim in a song entitled All My Ghosts from their eponymous 1998 album.

Popular fiction

• In the "Victor Renquist" Series, by Mick Farren, the Nephilim are an ancient race of immensely powerful aliens who conquer earth in the early days of Homo Sapiens, creating the races of the Ancient Ones (proto-vampires) and Urshu (super human "Watchers") to mind humanity. The squid headed Cthulhu is among their number.
• In the "House of Night (novel)" Series, by P.C. and Kirsten Cast, Kalona, a Fallen Angel, appears during the fifth book of the series, Hunted and using his unearthly beauty he attempts to take over the world.
• In the novel Angelology by Danielle Trussoni, Nephilim appear as the antagonists to a group of Angelologists, people who study angels, and the battle between the two groups is to gain control of a powerful, sacred object.
• In the series Fallen novels by Lauren Kate, a Nephilim is any person with angel DNA. The Nephilim featured in the novels attend Shoreline school near Mendocino, California, and have not yet made their final choice between good and evil.
• In the series The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare, a Nephilim or Shadowhunter is a descendent of the original Nephilim, who drank the blood of the angel Raziel who gave it to them to defeat the monsters and demons who plagued the world.
• In Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush saga, fallen angels, archangels, and Nephilim are mentioned, as the main characters and conflicts form around these terms.
• In Thomas Sniegoski's book series The Fallen and the mini-series based on the books, Nephilim are referred to as the children of fallen angels and human women, who are eventually responsible for protecting the world from impending darkness.
• Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged is known in Modern Hebrew translation as Mered HaNephilim (מרד הנפילים, literally: the revolt/rebellion of the Nephilim)
• The Nephilim figure prominently in the Madeleine L'Engle novel Many Waters, primarily in an antagonistic role.
• In Tom Egeland's book Gospel of Lucifer, Nephilim are referred to as mysterious extraterrestrials who came to the earth over 5000 years ago, to help us advance as societies by teaching us mathematics, physics and technology.
• Author Richard Kadrey's "Sandman Slim" series feature a main character by the name of Stark (aka Sandman Slim) who discovers his magic and healing ability are the result of being a Nephilim.
• In Bryan Davis's novel series Dragons in Our Midst and Oracles of Fire, the Nephillim were offspring of fallen angels, known as Watchers, and human women. They were large in stature and evil in nature.
• The silicon-based vampiric creatures in the Tim Powers fantasy/horror novel The Stress of Her Regard are referred to as nephilim.
• In the Warhammer 40k universe, the Nephilim were an alien race on Melchior that were mostly exterminated by the Blood Angels and the Luna Wolves in "Fear to Tread" by James Swallow. They were later referenced by Traitor Warmaster Horus to the Sons Of Horus (formerly the Luna Wolves) in a plot to turn Sanguinus Primarch of the Blood Angels to his side.
• Karl Ove Knausgård's novel En tid for alt (2004) (English translation A time to every purpose under heaven) discusses the relationship between the nephilim and angels. In the section of the book which deals with events leading up to the Flood, Noah's father, Lamech, reports seeing a nephilim exhibited in a tent at the marketplace in the town of Nod.
• In the independent comic series Rise of the Nephilim, the nephilim are exiled from heaven as evil spirits on the earth.
• In Jerel Law's (author) Son of Angels, the children are born from Nephilim and are considered to be quarterlings.^[2]
• In the science fiction novella Doctor Bizzaro And The Infinite Nim-Tek by Jami Sell Nephilim attempt to seize the world through supernatural mind control and unintentionally create physical manifestations of the subconscious minds of people. Ancient prophesies emerge from the Book of Enoch and the Bible that reveal them to be the offspring of demons.
• In the antediluvian steampunk series The Chronicles of Susah ^[3] by C. D. Sutherland, Nephilim are the demon-possessed offspring of women, who have chosen to worship the fallen angel called Abaddon. Besides enforcing Abaddon’s rule over the other giants and the Cainites, they are mostly concerned with corrupting human flesh. Briefly introduced in book one, The Dragoneers,^[4] their role increases in book two, The Lost Dragoneer ^[5] as the Nephilim are employed as mighty shock troops for Abaddon’s invasion of the last human strongholds. Interestingly, Susah enjoys a short commercial jaunt hunting the breast for profit between her tours of duty in the Sethican Defense Force. Susah experiences battling Nephlilm and other giants slightly prepare her for greater battles against fallen angels in the third novel The Last Dragoneer.^[6]

Film and TV

• In episode 114 (17th episode of season 5) of The X-Files entitled All Souls, Dana Scully attempts to save three Nephilim who appear as young girls with several genetic deformations.
• In the 2004 British TV series Hex, the main antagonist, Azazeal, is part of the Nephilim and can only show his true demonic form when gaining strength through performing ritual sacrifices with willing participants.
• The second and third Prophecy movies deal with fallen angels and one of the Nephilim.
• In the 22nd episode of the 8th season of Supernatural (TV series) "Clip Show" a Nephilim is introduced, whose name is Jane. She is called an abomination by the scribe of God, Metatron, and Castiel says that the offspring of a human and an angel is forbidden. Castiel is tasked with killing the Nephilim as one of his trials to close the gates of Heaven.
• The film Alien Armageddon (2011) references Nephilim as an invading alien threat, consuming human flesh.
• The 2013 movie based on the first book in The Mortal Instruments series, City of Bones, says the angel Raziel mixed his blood in the Mortal Cup with that of a man named Jonathan Shadowhunter and gave it to men to drink. The men became what is known as Shadowhunters, a.k.a. Nephilim, as did their offspring, and their offspring's children.
• The 2013 anime Senki Zesshou Symphogear G features a creature dubbed the Nephilim, a living relic that devours other relics to increase its power and transforms into increasingly monstrous forms as it does so.
• In the 2014 film Noah, the Nephilim are angels originally entrusted to keep watch over Adam and Eve. After they are expelled from the Garden of Eden, they follow humanity out of sympathy and are fallen due to having disobeyed God, their original bodies of light are driven into the Earth's crust and they are transformed into stone giants, known as the Watchers. However upon redeeming themselves by defending Noah's ark they are released from their stone giant forms and become angels once again.
• In the film The Devil's Tomb, Nephilim are portrayed as corrupted, fallen angels.

Games (general)

• In the pen and paper Nephilim role-playing game, published in four French editions since 1992 by Multisim and in English by Chaosium for its second edition, players depict Nephilim as powerful elemental entities. In the Chaosium version these incarnate into human beings, in a game containing much symbolism, primarily related to the Hermetic tradition.
• In the Trading Card Game Magic: The Gathering, the Nephilim are a creature card type found only in the Guildpact card set. They are shown as creatures of often monstrous appearance, created only to display the power of gods, thus humbling the world's inhabitants.^[7]
• In the Spanish role-playing game Anima: Beyond Fantasy, Nephilim are humans who have the soul of a non-human race as well as some of their characteristics (albeit atenuated).

Video games

• In the video game El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, the Nephilim are depicted as semi-humanoid, blob-like creatures that enjoy frolicking through the Tower of Babel. This belies their true nature, as the Nephilim are slowly consuming one another, growing more monstrous and threatening to consume the world. Enoch, the main character, must return the creatures to oblivion by purifying the souls of the Fallen Angels that parented them.
• In the video game DmC: Devil May Cry, the protagonist Dante, as well as his brother Vergil, are Nephilim. In this story, Nephilim are portrayed as half-demon, and half-angel.
• In the video games Diablo II, Diablo III and associated novels and other fiction, the term Nephalem is used to describe the extremely powerful offspring of commingling Angels and Demons, who inhabited the world which was created by the pairing of a powerful angel and demon, as a sanctuary from the Eternal Conflict.
• In Champions Online, Nephilims are half angel and half demon enemies, lead by their leader Therakiel
• In the post-apocalyptic video game Darksiders and its sequel, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (referred to as War, Death, Fury, and Strife) are shown to be Nephilim, derived from the mingled dust of angels and demons, and are the last of their kind after the Nephilim suffered devastating casualties during a war between Heaven and Hell centuries prior to the main storyline. The Nephilim are portrayed as tall, muscular demigods capable of incredible power, such as shapeshifting into giant demons and possessing incredible advanced weaponry.
• In the video game series Assassin's Creed, the Nephilim are referred as "The Ones Who Came Before" and creators of the Apple Of Eden. A race that created humans, and then vanished following a series of unknown events. In Assassin's Creed III the character William Miles quotes Numbers when explaining why it is nearly impossible to communicate with them.
• In the video game Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, the main antagonist's main goal is to resurrect the Nephilim called "The Sleeper" in order to gain immortality.
• In Guild Wars Factions, "Gavel of the Nephilim" is a weapon that can be chosen as a reward after completing the game's main storyline. The name of this weapon does not refer to any existing character in the game.
• In the Exile and Avernum game series, the Nephilim are portrayed as cat-like humanoids being hostile foes, allied divisions and playable characters.

References