| “ | It is mine! The people of this world obey my voice! I have power, power as you've never seen! | „ |
| ~ Satan |
| “ | Do as I command, fall down and worship me, for the god of this world! | „ |
| ~ Satan |
Satan is one of two overarching antagonists in Animated Stories From the New Testament along with Caiaphas and the main antagonist in Jesus The Son of God. He is extremely arrogant to the point of calling himself "the god of this world" as he considers himself the major influence on the ideals, opinions, hopes, goals, and endeavors of the human race.
He was voiced by Ray Porter, who also voiced King Saul, King Ahab, Phineas, and Naaman in Animated Stories From the Old Testament, Count Grisham in The Scarecrow, The Whale in Monk, Hestler Jones in Justified, the Nightmare Train in The Little Engine That Could, and portrayed Darkseid in the DC Extended Universe.
Biography[]
| “ | I know who you are, and you know who I am! | „ |
| ~ Jesus to Satan. |
Satan was once a fallen angel prior to being cast out of heaven for insubordination, conspiracy, and warmongering. As the Common Era dawned, Satan was the voice in the heads of numerous evildoers, including (but far from limited to) hegemonic tyrants such as King Herod and Queen Herodias, hedonistic bachelors such as Fashid, robbers such as Nadab and Kish, and of course Caiaphas, causing problems for protagonists throughout the series such as John the Baptist, Ezra, and especially his nemesis from the dawn of time, Jesus Christ. While he never appears directly in the Old Testament episodes, he still influenced evildoers such as Potiphar's wife and Haman and preyed on numerous hegemonic dictators such as King Ahab, Queen Jezebel, King Belshazzar, and Herod The Great and needled them to gradually become more extreme in their malevolence. It is also likely he notoriously convinced God to torture Job in centuries past as this is never contradicted. In circa 30 CE, he approached Jesus Christ in the wilderness and sardonically commended him for surviving through an agonizing forty-day fast. He showed him a stone and goaded him to transmute it into bread, but Jesus wisely told him that man needed more than foodstuff to live. He took him to the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem and commanded Jesus to test God by throwing himself downward so that the angels would have their hand forced to expose themselves by catching him. Jesus acknowledged rescue would be inevitable, but that he saw his goading for what it was: temptation.
Despite seemingly backing down, Satan regained his composure and took Jesus to the top of a tall mountain as well. He proceeded to show him the kingdoms of the earth and numerous human aspects that Christianity frowned upon, promising to give them all to him if he would kneel in subservience for all time. Despite Jesus shakily denying this, Satan's promise to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth implies that all those kingdoms were his to give. Jesus did not contradict his promise, but instead he told him to go and annoy someone else. Left with no choice, Satan fell back from the mountain and disappeared, presumably back to the underworld to remain well through the late twentieth century.
Personality[]
| “ | If you're the son of God, then why does he let you suffer so? | „ |
| ~ Satan's pragmatic "concern" for Jesus' mortal well-being as a mark of his unbelievably manipulative personality. |
As an amortal deity who spreads pain and suffering wherever he is even remotely relevant, Satan is nothing more or less than the ultimate personification of mercilessness, megalomania, and oblivion. He appears to be a living vessel of pure and utter malevolence, hellbent on corrupting humanity into the underworld and overthrowing God, though at the top of his list is humbling his arch-nemesis, Jesus of Nazareth, going so far as to tempt King Herod at his psychological worst to try and kill him as a baby, tempt the wealthy and acclaimed but vicious and tyrannical Caiaphas to irrationally mark Jesus as his worst enemy, and later tempting him into worshiping him for all eternity. This is even more messed up considering King Herod had hundreds of babies under his own dominion mass-murdered, Caiaphas brought about Saul of Tarsus' descent into utter darkness, and Jesus was already emaciated from over a month of fasting. This version of the Devil, like all others has nothing redeeming about him whatsoever.
Trivia[]
- While Satan's backstory and motives are rather vague in this continuity, enough is implied throughout the episodes for viewers to rationally presume none of his actions or ends are contradicted at all. While his redeeming qualities in this continuity are practically nonexistent, this is likely due to the young target audience, for whom evil is often painted as black and white for good reason.