LILITH
Real Name
: Kiskililla (Her Sumerian name, Lilith is her later Jewish name)Occupation: Goddess of the Underworld, Succubus, former goddess of storm
Legal Status: Citizen of Allatum
Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of the existence of Lilith except as a mythological character.
Other Aliases: Lilitu (Babylonian Name), Lamia (Greek name), Eve (possible modern alias), The Vampire Goddess, Mother of Demons, Daughter of Darkness,
Place of Birth: possibly somewhere in Ancient Sumeria (now modern Iraq)
Marital Status: (Asmodeus) Married, (Samael) Separated
Known Relatives: Ahriman (possible father), Aehr (possible foster-father), mother (name unrevealed), Lillu, Ardat, Irdu (sisters, possibly deceased), Asmodeus (husband), Samael (former husband), The Lilin (sons), Madek (possible son), Vampirella, Magdalene (possible daughters), Pothos (grandfather), (grandmother), Anu, Damkina, Ea, Eriskegal, Mami (cousins),
Group Affiliations: The Gods of Sumeria, Leader of the Shedu/Shedim , Mother of the Lilin/Lilim
Base of Operations: Abaddon, formerly Mobile, formerly somewhere along the Red Sea in Ancient Arabia
First Appearance: (historical) (name only) The Book of Isaiah, Chapter 34, Verse 14, (modern) Ghost Rider III #28
History: Lilith is a member of the extra-dimensional race known as the Anunnaki, an extra-dimensional race of beings who were worshipped as gods by the Sumerian and Babylonian Empires. Not much is known about her origins and what few facts that have been established are often speculatory and often contradictory. In some myths, she is the daughter of Ahriman, the god of evil, who was possibly known as Aehr to the Phoenicians. Ahriman was the polar opposite of Ormazd, the ancestor of the Hindu and Persian Gods, and after his demise, he was reborn as Ravanna, the Chieftain of the Rakshasas, the demons in the Hindu cosmology of gods. However, it is uncertain if Ahriman fathered Lilith, or if Aehr and Ahriman are two distinct figures. In Phoenician myth, Aehr and Aura were the progeny of Pothos and Omichle, the gods of darkness.
In Assyria, Lilith was one of four sisters including Lilit, Lillu and Ardat, who represented aspects of storm. Ancient Hebrew writers influenced by Zoroasterism eventually described Lilith with more demonic aspects than godly attributes. In Hebrew texts, Lilith was reported to have attempted to seduce Adam, the ancestor of the ancient Hebrew kings in the Judeo-Christian Religion. (Later stories erroneously claimed that Lilith was created from the same dust as Adam to be his wife, but she refused to be subservient to him and fled for the desolate wastelands beyond the Euphrates River. and on the Red Sea.) When Adam was cast out of Eden with Eve, his second wife, Lilith returned to terrorize them both until they found solace freed of her influence. Lilith is reported to have lived at one time in Pre-Cataclysmic Atlantis, where she reportedly conceived the first vampires. At one time, she was wife of Namtar, the god of death, or to Samael, the Jewish spirit of death (whether both figures are actually one and the same is unrevealed). Lilith had numerous male lovers and gave birth to many off-spring. Among her lovers was the demon Asmodeus, who reportedly took her as his wife and made her Queen of Abaddon, the other-dimensional realm known as Hell in Judeo-Christian theology.
For several centuries, Lilith abducted unbaptised children and drank of their blood, possibly in order to increase her power by delving into the supernatural power inherent in the non-corporeal beings known later as vampires. Three enchanted beings, Senoi, Sansenoi and Semangol, later believed to be Angels under Judeo-Christian Religion, confronted Lilith before she became too powerful and took an oath from her not to take any infants protected under Jewish faith. However, Lilith must have broken this vow because Senoi, Sansenoi and Semangol returned to her and ripped her apart, scattering her remains to the ocean. In later years, Lilith's attributes were taken by Lamia, the cursed queen of Libya, a former paramour of Poseidon, the Olympian god of the sea. In India, the Hindu goddess Kali took over her followers and worshippers.
Lilith's legacy, however, didn't die out completely. Stories passed down over several years of her reputation lead to the daughter of Count Dracula to be named Lilith in the Sixth Century. This Lilith became a constant nemesis of her father who counted himself as lord of all the vampires on earth. Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange, however, used a spell from the Darkhold known as the Montesi Formula that made it impossible for any and all true vampires on earth to exist, and Lilith and Dracula were destroyed. Since then, the spell has been weakened and both Lilith and her father once more exist on Earth.
At some point, Lilith somehow managed to regenerate herself from within the body of a whale that had swallowed enough of her for her to return to life. By now, she had more attributes as a vampire than she did as a goddess. Claiming that it had been Atlantean sorcerers that had imprisoned her within the whale, she again became mother of several beings known as the Lilin who were almost entirely vampires by nature. However, Lilith had seen visions of her children being destroyed by Johnny Blaze and the Ghost Rider. In fact, Danny Ketch, the human form of the Ghost Rider, had had a premonition of Lilith returning to life. Lilith also wanted the Darkhold for the secrets contained within it, but both Blaze and Ketch as the Ghost Rider prevented her from getting it. Aided by Doctor Strange and the Nightstalkers, Ketch and Blaze formed the Midnight Sons group dedicated to destroying as many as Lilith's spawn as possible and seemingly banish her to another dimension.
At least three reported vampire-like children seemingly escaped this bloodshed. One of these children was a daughter who became Vampirella. Vampirella was not as bloodthirsty as her brothers and sisters and centuries before was attacked by her brother and sister, Madek and Magdalene, who left her amnesiac. For several years, Vampirella confused her past with extra-terrestrial rather than extra-dimensional origins until Lilith once more restored her true memories to her. This Lilith gave Vampirella permission to destroy all the vampires on earth. Much more subdued than the Lilith defeated by the Midnight Sons, this Lilith may or may not be the same previous Lilith seen before.
Another being similar to Lilith has appeared in recent years as an antagonist
to Sam and
Dean Winchester, paranormal investigators who hunted down and slew vampires,
zombies and demons. Calling herself Eve, this being much like Lilith, claimed to
be the mother of all vampires and demons infesting the Earth, but the
Winchesters poisoned her with the pure ashes of a Phoenix, driving her spirit
from Earth. Although she had much the same attributes and history of Lilith, it
is no known if Eve was actually Lilith or another being altogether.
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 420 lbs.
Eyes: Blue (sometimes Red)
Hair: Black
Unusual Physical Features: Lilith sometimes appears to mortals with two
large black wings coming out of her back.
Strength Level: Lilith possesses superhuman strength enabling her to lift (press) at least 30 tons under optimal conditions.
Known Superhuman Powers: Lilith possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Anunnaki as well as several demonic attributes inherent from her considerable degeneration into a vampire-like entity. Like all the Anunnaki, she is exceptionally long lived, but not immortal like the Olympian Gods. She has not aged since reaching adulthood and possesses a beauty-youth enchantment rendering her irresistibly attractive to men; she cannot die by any conventional means. She is immune to all Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If she were somehow wounded, her godly life force would enable her to recover with superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of her bodily molecules to cause her a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for a god of significant power, such as Anu or Eriskegal or for a number of Mesopotamian gods of equal power working together to revive her. Lilith also possesses superhuman strength and her Anunnaki metabolism provides her with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Anunnaki flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the superhuman strength and weight of the Mesopotamian Gods.)
Lilith also has several characteristics demonic in nature due to her tapping and manipulating aspects of vampirism. By drinking the blood of living things, preferably human, she gains powers unique to her but inherent in all true vampires. If she is wounded by any means, she can regain her full power by ingesting fresh blood. She can control all vampires and manipulate anyone who she can make eye contact with for five to seven seconds, and then control them indefinitely, even years after first contact. She can control certain animals, usually only bats, wolves, rats and hordes of insects, such as flies and cockroaches. She can also change her form and manifest huge black wings which could enable her to fly at incredible speeds. At some times, she can assume incredible size, usually no taller than twenty feet tall, but she rarely does so because of the drain of her physical strength at that size. When she changes or transforms, her clothing does not transform as she does, but then, she does not seem to have any qualms against nudity.
Lilith can also tap into and manipulate certain occult forces in the universe to create spells and magical effects. In ancient times, she could control the weather and conjure storms at will. Equal or on par with Doctor Strange, Odin and Zeus, she can send her voice and image of her face across dimensional barriers and send thoughts telepathically to her children. She can stir up and project fields and orbs of black energy to explode on contact or to psychokinetically move massive objects. By using the remains of once living things, she can have prophetic visions. She is clairvoyant and can perceive events from across time and space. By injecting her essence into others, she can become aware of their memories and even what they encounter. Her body seems to store and focus most of the energies, and in fact, she gets much stronger and powerful when she absorbs enough energies from the astral bodies ("souls") of living things, whether by drinking blood or drawing the life force from her victims. By reaching into her own body, she can pull her children out of her from other dimensions. By "birthing" as many children as possible to absorb energy for her, she could become even more powerful; however, once one of her children is killed or destroyed, she can no longer draw energies through them. She can also draw on their energies from across dimensional barriers.
Abilities: Lilith has vast information of mystical lore and knowledge of supernatural forces native to the civilization of Earth. She can create potions to turn human beings into vampires or to degenerate individuals into demons which she can control.
Limitations: Due to her vampiric tendencies, Lilith is powerless during the daylight hours but much more powerful at night. Sunlight doesn't weaken her, but it can leave her vulnerable to injury. She is also vulnerable to the anathema of silver. While she is not vulnerable to religious objects, such as crosses and Holy Water (Lilith's existence predates the importance of these objects), she is vulnerable to objects charged with positive mystical energy. She has since been mystically bound to the underworld from returning Earth by Doctor Strange's spells.
In her incarnation as Eve, Lilith was vulnerable to the ashes of a Phoenix, a sacred bird linked to the purity of the sun and used as anathema against all demonic creatures. While this attribute might be true of Lilith, it has yet to be established if Lilith and Eve are one and the same.
Base of Operations: Lilith resides in Abaddon, the darkest, most dismal abyss within the underworld of Allatum. Known as Sheol in Hebrew tradition, Abaddon was sometimes called the Shadowside Dimension and was frequently referred to as Drakulon by Vampirella, but this could be a mere portion of it. Bathed in an eternal starless night, this world appears as a hellish-environment within an extremely complex network of caves, chambers and compartment, some large enough to hold vast ruined castles, eternal flames and rivers of flowing lava, consigned as a place for demonic entities to live apart from Allatum, which was usually reserved for the spirits of the dead and ruled by Eriskegal, goddess of the dead.
Comments: This bio describes Lilith as she has appeared in Marvel Comics, DC Comics and the Supernatural TV-Series.
Clarifications: Lilith is not to be confused with:
Last updated: 10/25/13