"When? How? Where? What? Why? - Life's full of questions, isn't it?"
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You also rule a world, Morpheus. A world of sleepers and dreamers, of stories. A simple place compared to hell. I envy you. Can you imagine what it was like? Ten billion years providing a place for dead mortals to torture themselves? And like all masochists, they called the shots. 'Burn me.' 'Freeze me.' 'Eat me.' 'Hurt me.' And we did. Why do they blame me for all their little failings? They use my name as if I spent my entire day sitting on their shoulders, forcing them to commit acts they would otherwise find repulsive. 'The Devil made me do it.' I have never made any one of them do anything. Never. They live their own tiny lives. I do not live their lives for them. 
- — Lucifer Morningstar src
History
Lucifer Morningstar is a rebel archangel who was once given Hell as his own domain. After several thousand years he decided he no longer wanted to do what he believed was expected of him and so he abandoned Hell and "retired" to Earth.
Origin
Eons ago, Lucifer Morningstar rebelled against the Kingdom of Heaven, and was cast into a shapeless void known as the Chaoplasm. The Chaoplasm was transformed into a desolate and barren expanse known by many as Hell, the final destination for damned souls. Here Morningstar ruled, awaiting the day he could be freed.
Lucifer was forced to share his power after the Great Darkness's return. A Triumverate was formed, but Lucifer retained the majority of power.
At one point, Dream of the Endless entered Hell searching for the Helm that had been stolen from him when he was imprisoned. After Dream recovered his helm and slighted him, Morningstar threatened to destroy Dream.
Lucifer eventually abandoned his lordship over Hell. Lucifer had ruled as lord of Hell for ten billion years. Over that time, he had manipulated the various demons of Hell against each other, provided a place for dead mortals to be tormented, and led the war against Heaven. However, at some point during his rule, he had become bored with this existence. He became tired of the various stereotypes that mortals held of the devil, such as the idea that he purchased and traded for souls, which were largely untrue. He also resented the assumption that he caused the evils that humans did- he did not, in fact, have anything to do with the actions of the mortals who ended up there, he simply punished them. He had become tired of his reign over Hell, and felt it an unfair punishment that he should have to rule there forever simply because he once rebelled. These feelings were catalyzed when he was visited by Dream. Lucifer expelled all demons and damned souls from Hell before locking Hell's gates and handing over the key to Hell to Dream of the Endless. Eventually, control of Hell was handed over to two Angels, Duma (the angel of silence) and Remiel ("who stumbled rather than fell"), while Lucifer simply retired to Earth, specifically to Perth, Western Australia.
Now running a piano bar called "Lux" in Los Angeles with the assistance of his Lilim female consort, Mazikeen, Lucifer is portrayed as sophisticated and almost charming, similar to the stereotypical Christian devil. Beneath his charisma, however, Lucifer is a deadly and Machiavellian character, with no regard for human life or indeed any life other than those he can use to his advantage: a proud and vindictive fallen angel who has no qualms using powers second only to those of his father, Yahweh. In fact, Lucifer is described as having been the wisest, most beautiful and most powerful of all the angels in heaven, and he retains these traits even after his fall. Despite his egotistic and narcissistic tendencies, he does follow something akin to a code of honor- there are few beings in the universe he respects (his brother Michael and the Angel Duma among them) and only two he could be agued to care about (Mazikeen, his consort, and his niece Elaine), though his actions on their behalf are almost always for his own benefit, and it is doubted by all that he would help them otherwise. He also refuses emphatically to lie (which he considers crass and undignified), insists on paying back debts, and keeps his word- though this must not be confused with virtue.
Lucifer's "restful" retirement was disturbed by a series of associates from his past, and after various catalytic events, he endeavored to create a universe in competition with that of (and presumably against the wishes of) his father, Yahweh. This puts him on a collision course with several powerful mystical entities that have a vested interest in the new creation and draws the angelic host into the fray - including his brother, the archangel Michael Demiurgos, and his niece Elaine.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Nigh-Omnipotence: Unlike regular Fallen Angels, Lucifer retained his holy and nigh omnipotent powers, instead of them being faded away completely. Lucifer is able to manipulate any external force for any effect he desires. He cannot, however, create something out of nothing; for this he needs the Demiurgic force of his brother Michael, and later his niece Elaine. Together, Michael and Lucifer are capable of creating anything from living beings to entire multiverses. His most common use of power is calling forth the fire of the various suns he used to birth and burning his opponents to ashes. Lucifer is even stronger than the Endless and the only known beings able to rival and surpass his power are Michael and the Presence.
- Cosmic Awareness[1]
- Energy Projection
- Enhanced Intellect
- Flight: Through the use of his large, angelic wings, Lucifer is able to fly.
- Immortality: Lucifer will never grow physically old and can live forever. He is billions of years old. Only the Presence is said to have the ability to destroy him.
- Invulnerability
- Magic: Lucifer was able to cast a spell on a door, so that if a person opened it, it would unmake the rest of creation.
- Matter Absorption
- Necromancy: As a psychopomp, Lucifer can choose the soul's destination if he kills a person or supernatural being (as a demon). He killed Musubi by her own will; she allowed it to free herself from Izanami's service.
- Pyrokinesis: Lucifer is able to generate and manipulate holy fire.
- Thermal-Blast: Lucifer can generate blasts of flames at will.
- Incineration: Lucifer can incinerate beings with his flames.
- Dimensional Travel: By projecting flames from his hands, Lucifer is able to create portals to hell.
- Reality Alteration: Lucifer is capable of altering reality at will.
- Superhuman Stamina: Lucifer is able to function without rest or sleep.
- Superhuman Strength: Lucifer is strong enough to throw a person into orbit.
- Superhuman Speed: Lucifer has been said to be able to circle the planet before his image leaves your eye.
- Telekinesis: Lucifer was capable of telekinetically flinging knives at goons, and slicing them into chunks.
- Wings: As a fallen angel, Lucifer possesses large angelic wings.
Abilities
Notes
This character or object is an adaptation of Lucifer, a character or object in traditional stories. These include, but may not be limited to religious texts, myth, and/or folk lore. More information on the original can be found at Wikipedia.org.
Trivia
- Lucifer means “Bringer of Light”, "Light Bearer" in Latin. His (supposed) name in Hebrew is Sammael, which means "Poison of God".
- Lucifer is also known as The Devil, The Lightbringer, Atse'Hashke, The Maker, The Mocker.
- Another name for Lucifer is Helel meaning "shining one".
- The character was physically modeled after rock musician David Bowie.
Related
- 124 Appearances of Lucifer Morningstar (New Earth)
- 66 Images featuring Lucifer Morningstar (New Earth)
- 51 Quotations by or about Lucifer Morningstar (New Earth)
- Character Gallery: Lucifer Morningstar (New Earth)
External Links
- The Sandman Companion, Hy Bender, ISBN: 1-56389-644-3
Footnotes
This character exists under the Vertigo Imprint which is intended for Mature Readers.Their continuity takes place within the context of Vertigo titles although they may cross over into regular DC continuity.
  This character has been an ally or antagonist to either The Demon Etrigan or his counterpart Jason Blood in any of their various incarnations. |