Mephistopheles, the King of Hell, was a character on Xena: Warrior Princess. He was the King of Hell, until Xena killed him and forced Lucifer to take her place as the rightful ruler of Hell.
Mephistopheles ordered Callisto to kill Julius Caesar and make Xena follow the path of peace that Gabrielle was following at the time, in order to have a chance of resurrection. She failed and inadvertently caused their deaths, which led to Mephistopheles turning her into an Archdemon (as either a promotion or punishment, depending on perspective). Mephistopheles remained silent during Callisto's subsequent redemption and a demonic Xena's failed invasion of Heaven – it is not clear to what, if any extent, these events fitted into his plans.
Some time during Xena and Gabrielle's 25-year sleep, Mephistopheles opened a portal to Hell in Cyrene's tavern, releasing the minions of Hell onto the village. The townspeople believed Cyrene to be mad, when they became convinced that the spirits came from her. They burnt her at the stake as a witch, in a false belief that it would rid Amphipolis of the spirits - but it didn't.
When Xena, Gabrielle and Eve returned to Amphipolis after the 25-year sleep, they discovered Cyrene's tavern to be filled with evil spirits. Upon finding her mother's charred remains, she vowed to return Amphipolis to it's normal state and avenge her death. Mephistopheles could not be beaten in Hell or the Spiritual Realm and so he had to be bought to the surface world. He requested a mere droplet of the Messenger of Eli, Eve. She was more then willing to spill blood to allow Xena to defeat and end his reign of terror. Once on the surface, Mephistopheles and Xena fight. He tells her that if she were to kill him, then she will take his place as the rightful ruler of Hell - a fate she was willing to take. She impales him with her sword and begins to fall victim to the grasp of the prophecy.
In order to avoid her inevitable fate, Xena hatched a plan to force someone else to take her place - namely an Archangel, Lucifer. She forced him to cave into the Seven Deadly Sins, which made him transform into a hideous beast and become the new King of Hell.
Powers and Abilities[]
The origin of Mephistopheles is unknown, he is a demon and as King of Hell and Lucifer's predecessor. Mephistopheles and Dahak both had the same plan to enter the physical world and extend their kingdom. Although we do not get to witness many of his feats, he possesses powers and abilities similar or equal to the earthly gods. The powers of Mephistopheles are similar to Hades in particular as they both rule over infernal realms of the dead.
- Illusion: In Hell, Mephistopheles is able to make his prisoners see whatever he wants them to. He uses this to torment them with their worst agonies. He caused Callisto to see visions of Xena and Gabrielle mocking her. He also kept Cyrene in a loop of madness with this ability, having her experience her being dragged from her tavern by an angry mob and reexperience killing her husband. He was able to make Eve see a doppelganger of herself as Livia torturing her victims. Mephistopheles also may have used this ability to alter his voice as it would often modulate between high and low pitches.
- Retrocognition: A unique skill of Mephistopheles is to show his victims the past as a way to play on their fears and guilt. He used this to show Xena the aftermath of the death of her brother Lyceus and confronting Cyrene about it. Then again he showed Xena the death of Cyrene as she was burned at the stake.
- Immortality: Like all gods, Mephistopheles is undying by illness, injury, or time. He instantly heals from any wound and can not be harmed in any way. In his own realm, he is even immune to Xena's ability to kill gods as he is a spiritual being without a body to kill, although this restriction is lifted when he rises to Earth.
- Levitation: In his fight with Xena while in Hell during The Haunting of Amphipolis, Mephistopheles exhibited the ability to hover in the air and stand himself up after being knocked down. Through possessing Gabrielle, he was also able to walk on walls, which may be from this same ability.
- Necromancy: Although he was unable to enter the world physically without the blood of Eve, Mephistopheles did have other means of affecting it. He often would send spirits in his stead to torment the living, and possibly even visit in spiritual form himself. He was shown doing this first with Callisto in The Ides of March, and then furthered this by sending evil spirits to haunt Cyrene's tavern in The Haunting of Amphipolis. He also summoned Livia's victims to play on her guilt. Another feat he accomplished was to reanimate the dead as zombies, which he used to attack Gabrielle. These spirits are presumably under his control, or else only able to access Earth if they do his bidding.
- Omniscience: A common divine ability is to be aware of events that happened in places the god wasn't present at. Mephistopheles seems to be well aware of Xena's past, her time in India, her karmic status, and possible future paths for her.
- Portal Creation: As the Devil, Mephistopheles was able to create portals to Hell as fissures in the Earth that lead directly to his domain. Spirits, forces, and influences of the infernal realm were able to pass through these portals to affect the physical world.
- Possession: In spiritual form, Mephistopheles could take control of a mortal's body. This came with physical changes to the human such as yellowed eyes, rotting skin, and a change in voice. Although much less powerful than in his own form, he is still able to use some of his abilities through the possessed vessel.
- Speed Alteration: Another unique ability is that Mephistopheles seems to be able to either alter the speed of momentum or of time. He exhibited this while fighting Xena to slow down himself being tossed through the air and then another time to increase the speed and force of his punch.
- Super Strength: An ability among many divine beings is to possess great strength. This increases their fighting prowess and ability to deal more devastating blows. Mephistopheles could easily parry Xena's attacks on Hell and Earth. The extent to his strength was not shown as he spent much of his time toying with her, although he was powerful enough to knock her down and kick her about 10 feet away.
- Teleportation: Mephistopheles has the ability to mystically travel from once place to another like most gods. He will appear in places through a red, blood-like haze before materializing.
Notes[]
- During the final season of Xena: Warrior Princess, Mephistopheles replaced Poseidon in the opening credits when the narrator mentions "ancient gods".
- Although Xena, Gabrielle and Eve immediately know who Mephistopheles is upon hearing his name, he has never been mentioned before. This is especially odd considering that they didn't even know Heaven and Hell existed until they actually wound up there.
- Mephistopheles is the name given to the devil in the Faust legends. The origin of the name is unknown, but seems to derive either from an Ancient Greek phrase meaning "not a lover of light," (me-, a negation; phos, "light"; and philis, "loving") or from the Hebrew words mephitz ("destroyer") and tophel ("liar").
- The antagonist of "Be Deviled", who took the form of Serena and asked to be referred to as "Sin", may have been Mephistopheles in disguise.
