In Judaism

In Jewish lore, he is said to be the Angel of Death, the chief ruler of the Fifth Heaven, one of the seven regents of the world served by two million angels. Yalkut I, 110 of the Talmud speaks of Samael as Esau's guardian angel. In Sotah 10b, Samael is Edom's guardian angel, and in the Sayings of Rabbi Eliezer, he is charged with being the one who tempted Eve, then seduced and impregnated her with Cain. Though some sources identify Gadreel as the angel that seduced Eve, other Hebrew scholars say that it was Samael who tempted Eve in the guise of the Serpent. Samael is also sometimes identified as being the angelic antagonist that wrestled Jacob at Esau, and as being the angel that held back the arm of Abraham as he was about to sacrifice his son.

In other traditions

In the Apocryphon of John, found in the Nag Hammadi library, Samael is the third name of the evil demiurge, whose other names are Yaldabaoth and Saklas. In this context, Samael means "the blind god", the theme of blindness running throughout gnostics. He is born out of the error of Sophia, who desires to create offspring of her own without the Spirit. His appearance is that of a lion-faced serpent. In On the Origin of the World in the Nag Hammadi library texts, he is also referred to as Ariael.

Fictional Samaels

Musical

• Samael is the name of a black metal band from Switzerland,who started in Sion,in 1987 and still perform now (See 'Samael Band' for more info)
• The American prog rock band The Mars Volta refer to Samael in their song Asilos Magdalena.

Literature and print

• Samiel, or The Black Huntsman, is the demonic antagonist in the Weber opera Der Freischütz
• The Italian comic writer, Hugo Pratt, uses Samael in a few of his stories: 'Corto Maltese; Romeo and Julliet' (Shamaël) and 'West of Eden' (Samaël)
• Samael is the occluded deity who imposed chaos — disorder — onto Horselover Fat's life in the novel Valis, by Philip K. Dick
• Sammael is the name used by Satan in Malign Fiesta, the final complete section of Wyndham Lewis's novel, The Human Age
• Samael is a name used by Lucifer before The Fall of Man in the Sandman comic book series written by Neil Gaiman
• In Mike Carey's comic series Lucifer, Samael is the name of Lucifer before he left heaven.
• Sammael, one of the Forsaken in the The Wheel of Time series of novels.
• Samael also features as the oldest and greatest of the vampires in Storm Constantine's "Burying the Shadow".

Film

• In the movie Hellboy, "Sammael the Desolate One," or "The Seed of Destruction," is a hound-like demon resurrected by the film's antagonist, Rasputin.
• In the movie Warlock, Samael is channelled through a medium for instructions to the warlock.

Computer and video games

• In the first game in the Silent Hill series, Dahlia Gillespie, an antagonist, refers to a symbol as being the "Mark of Samael" - A statement she makes to lure the main character into acting out her wishes. It is revealed in the third game that the symbol was not affiliated with Samael at all.
• Samael makes an appearance as a boss and a snake-like dragonic demon in the role-playing game, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, and Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga which is also sometimes called Shin Megami Tensei: Avatar Turner
• Samael is one of the beings sent by God to aide Daniel in the video game Painkiller
• Samael is an enemy in the role-playing game, Tales of Symphonia

Trivia

• Samael, is sometimes confused in some books with Camael, an archangel of God, whose name means "He who sees God", an example of this is "The book of Angels "Angelorum" written by Migene Gonzalez-Wippler.

Bibliography

• Bunson, Matthew, (1996). Angels A to Z : A Who's Who of the Heavenly Host. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-517-88537-9.
• Davidson, Gustav. A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels. Free Press. ISBN 0-02-907052-X

Further reading

• Bamberger, Bernard Jacob, (March 15, 2006). Fallen Angels: Soldiers of Satan's Realm. Jewish Publication Society of America. ISBN 0-8276-0797-0
• Cruz, Joan C. 1999. Angels and Devils. Tan Books & Publishers. ISBN 0-89555-638-3.