Happy Halloween, friends! Rounding out this series on demons (click here to start from the beginning), I want to pose kind of a silly question that may ultimately have some much deeper philosophy behind it:

Why are so many fictional depictions of demons sexy?

If you google “sexy Halloween costume” (which, for the love of your search history, do not do), I can guarantee “sexy demon” will pop up pretty quickly. In fact, the seductive demon is a recurring motif in popular media from Elizabeth Hurley’s fiery femme fatale in 2000’s Bedazzled all the way back to more ancient times when things like an unexpected pregnancy or an assault might be blamed on an Incubus. There are some layers here which require way more study than we have time for, but I want to at least scratch the surface of this question and present two likely answers:

(1) The cultural fixation on “sexual sin” has led us to depict appropriately-sexy demons.
Theologians over the years have created whole classes of sex-related demons. Incubi and succubi are male and female seducers, respectively, who would be blamed for all kinds of sexual indiscretion. In the Binsfeld classification system, the demon Asmodeus represents lust, and this is especially interesting since Asmodeus draws heavily on the goat-like iconography of the Greek god Pan, who was himself a fertility deity. There’s even some ambiguity around the apocryphal figure Lilith (the mythological first wife of Adam) and whether she herself might be a demonic metaphor for sexuality. In fact, for a deeper dive into Lilith’s fascinating evolution over the years, click here.

With the early Church’s focus on demons as either tempters toward sin or metaphors for sin, it just makes sense that we’d develop sexy demons. And with the Church’s heavy sexism over the years, it tracks that a lot of these depictions would be disproportionately female, with “Lilith” and “succubus” being used as derogatory terms for centuries.

Also, honorable mention here to the Cenobites and their whole pain/pleasure sexuality kick. Sure, they’re not technically demons, and their extreme mutilations are more parody than actual enticement, but I’d say they definitely fit under the sexy demon umbrella. Moving on…

(2) How we depict demons is really about communicating our views on the nature of evil.
In the Inferno, Dante chose to show Lucifer as a dumb gnawing force of evil, imprisoned in the ice at Hell’s center and perpetually munching on sinners. Dante’s devil isn’t enticing in the slightest; he’s just ugly, hungry, and bored— a three-headed monstrosity blatantly parodying the Trinity. By contrast, John Milton created one of the most sympathetic portrayals of the devil in literary history. In Paradise Lost, Milton’s Lucifer is a rebel trying to reclaim his influence, and he’s arguably the greatest antihero in Western literature. For kicks, check out Gustave Dore’s depictions of both below— Dante’s on the left and Milton’s on the right. Can you believe these are the same character drawn by the same artist based on two different poets’ descriptions?

So why the stark difference? Well, Dante wanted to show evil as nothing more than the absence of good. For Dante, evil has no substance of its own; it can only twist and corrupt, so a being of pure evil in its natural abode (like Lucifer in Hell) should look as unappealing as possible. Milton, however, wanted to portray the seductiveness of sin, and his devil winds up being not only sympathetic but —let’s be honest here— kinda hot. Milton sees sin as a dangerous lure to death, so it makes sense that his devil would be a walking thirst trap.

With this contrast in mind, it can be fun to look at other evil characters in popular fiction. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s world, the shapeshifting Sauron is initially attractive and seductive before a bitter defeat prevents him from ever taking a “fair form” again. In his Space Trilogy, C.S. Lewis showcases a demon-possessed character so repugnant that he tortures small insects when the protagonists aren’t available to heckle, and Lewis’s Narnia antagonists are so selfish and evil they border on cartoonish. Then there’s the fascinating case of Star Wars. On the one hand, the Dark Side of the Force constantly tempts Luke Skywalker, and Yoda regularly warns of its seductiveness. However, George Lucas made a point of showing all of his evil characters (particularly the Sith) to be quite miserable. Though I have been unable to track down the exact quote, a key Star Wars creator (possibly Lucas himself) once stated, “If you want to be Darth Vader, then you’ve missed the point of Darth Vader. He’s in constant pain and only knows guilt and hatred.”

So what do demons look like?
Are they enticing or repellant?
Are they as sexy as the Halloween costumes would imply?
Well, that all depends on how you choose to view evil.