#obey me lesson 43 spoilers

[nocreativityfornames]

EXCUSE ME???

[inhuman-obey-me]

Among Us: Obey Me Edition

Lesson 43 gave us some new worldbuilding mixed into the usual shenanigans. We learned some interesting stuff, so let's get into it!

(spoilers for NB Lesson 43 below the cut)

At the end of Lesson 42, we're taken by surprise when Asmodeus makes his wish for winning the Information Sciences part of the RAD Science Fair. He wants to have the brothers visit the Celestial Realm -- a wish that does get acknowledged as crazy, which even Asmo himself didn't necessarily expect to be possible.

And, well...it's not. Actually visiting the Celestial Realm is speculated as still being beyond Diavolo's ability to arrange, or else he would have just done that. The compromise they get instead, we learn, is that they will be allowed to go visit Babel, a place that isn't quite the Celestial Realm - it's actually located in the human realm. But it is, as Belphegor describes, "as close as you can get to the Celestial Realm" without actually going there.

Babel itself is obviously inspired by the story of the Tower of Babel. For those not familiar, this is an origin myth/parable from the Book of Genesis. TL;DR: The people of Babylon/Babel were constructing a tower that would reach the heavens. This makes God angry at their hubris, and thus he divides them by splintering their language, making it so they cannot understand each other and therefore cannot cooperate anymore -- and this is the explanation for why we have different languages/cultures today.

Babel is a very secret place, which only seraphs and the Devildom royal family are supposed to know about. Plus, to enter Babel, you have to use magic to find the entrance in the human world, and that entrance is always moving locations, so not even they quite know where it'll be at any given time -- though Solomon apparently somehow knows both about its existence and also where to find it, because of course he does. As they mention later, it really is not a place that often gets visitors! But luckily for our cast, it just so happens that the entrance will be showing up near Serenity Manor the very night they go to the human world!! Isn't that convenient?

Now, the mythological origins of Babel itself, as a name, can be traced to both the Hebrew and Akkadian names of Bablyon -- in Hebrew, it means "to confuse/to confound", and the Akkadian name Bāb-ilim translates to "gate of God".

Which brings us to the Gate of Babylon and the Test.

After Solomon dips, the brothers and MC fall through an abyss and are brought before the Gate of Babylon. Lucifer mentioned that Babel is a place that "all are free to enter, but none may enter freely". One has to pass some sort of judgment to be granted access to Babel, otherwise they could face various punishments, ranging from being drowned in Cocytus (again) to being erased from Earth. (We're not sure if that means just from the human world or...well, existence? Canonically, the astronomy of the human realm has different constellations than the Devildom...but we're not sure the writers were thinking that far about it.)

And how are the brothers and MC to be tested? Why, by none other than Raphael, who was dispatched specially to judge their entry on this day. He gives them a question/riddle they have to answer within 30 minutes -- there is an imposter in their midst, who is it?

After some back and forth, the brothers soon start panicking and lashing out at each other, accusing Belphegor of being an imposter. MC can help be a voice of reason (along with Lucifer and Beelzebub), and they come to the conclusion that the answer might be that there is no imposter.

And that's true between MC and the brothers -- but Lucifer (and potentially MC, depending on your choice) realizes that actually, there is an imposter. It's just not one of their group.

It's Raphael -- or, should we say, Michael.

This isn't the first time we've seen Michael pretending to be Raphael -- it was a twist that was shown at the very end of Nightbringer Season 1.

Michael, still impersonating Raphael, quickly runs off, letting them know that judgment has passed and they are free to enter Babel. Lucifer adds that the test was not only about getting the right answer, but also that it proves their faith in each other, which is about the kind of Celestial Realm trickery we expect at this point, and then the family proceeds to enter.

Interesting to note is that both Lucifer and Michael mentioned that even seraphs know very little of Babel, which means none of the cast, as far as we are aware, have ever been inside. This begs the question of what exactly is in Babel, along with its purpose.

Hopefully we'll find out in the next lesson!

[misc-obeyme]

nightbringer lesson 43

Well okay. Some of that was to be expected. Other parts, though...

Listen I didn't hate it, but I have questions!! Then again, I always have questions. Spoilers below as always.

So Babel, huh?

I thought it was interesting that this basically confirms that demons can't go to the Celestial Realm. Not even Lord Diavolo could get that to happen. Babel is apparently kinda like Cocytus - technically part of the Celestial Realm, but not actually part of the Celestial Realm (whatever that means I swear this game is gonna be the death of me).

So instead of sending them to the CR, Diavolo was able to send them to Babel.

With Solomon as their guide! Even though he's never been there before! And he absconds shortly after arriving at the gate!

Then they gotta be judged because of course they do.

And who should show up but Michael himself, disguised as Raphael once again.

I can't decide how I feel about Michael. I mean, he's clearly a menace, but sometimes he's also just super benevolent and there is this heavy implication that he still cares about the bros? I can't figure him out.

I thought it was interesting that Lucifer said this when I chose the option saying I wanted to meet Michael. Tell us how you really feel, Luci.

Anyway, it's interesting to remember that Michael pretending to be Raphael in that hard lesson from season one was actually millennia ago. Like it might have been many thousands of years since Michael disguised himself as Raphael.

But it annoys me that he does it at all, tbh. I was like oh cool Raphael gets to be in this part! But NO.

I also kinda got the sense in the locked lesson that Diavolo and Barbatos like knew this was gonna happen and had planned for it all along? Like it really felt to me like Diavolo is running the SF just so he can grant wishes for the bros and make them do little tests as a family or whatever.

I dunno, I can't figure out the end game for all these shenanigans. I'm just really hoping it'll somehow lead to some kind of Nightbringer related reveal. 'Cause so far... I'm kinda bored?

But we did have some excellent lines and a few other things I thought were interesting, which I will get to.

Hard Mode: Once again we see the Lil Ds doing their thing, Diavolo being adorable with them, and at the end Luke & Simeon approach Nos 2 & 5! What could they want!?? Guess we gotta wait until next time.

Okay here are some interesting tidbits.

I love the implications of this. Asmo asks Satan how Solomon knows about Babel, which says that Asmo thinks Satan might know this fact about Solomon even though he, a demon who has a pact with said sorcerer, does not. Turns out Satan doesn't know, either. But LUCIFER clearly does. asdklfjfdkfj noooooo I didn't immediately go SOLOLUCI that wasn't something I did at all...

I will add here that I felt there were some hints of a Solomon and Michael friendship, though. Is it possible that Solomon left because he didn't want to see Michael? Did they have a falling out? Is this implying Michael is Nightbringer? (This last one seems unlikely but there it is.) Also I think a friendship between them could explain how Solomon knows about Babel to begin with.

I still think the friend that Solomon made when he was locked up as a child could have been Michael.

This whole part confused the junk out of me. Beel. My sweet baby boy. WHY. Why would any of you still love the CR!?!?! I don't understand this at all. It feels like they're trying to get us to think that the CR is a great place. But I've seen them as the enemy from the start?? You can't just switch it on us now. You can't pretend that Michael, a manipulative disguise wearer who [spoilers redacted] is somehow a good guy now? I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But if he wasn't the one doing all that stuff, them SOMEONE in the CR was.

😭Barb why. I thought we were back in the time when you liked Solomon. I just want my wives to get along, is that too much to ask??

Speaking of my wives getting along... chowderhead is my new favorite insult lol. I love Mammon he always says what he's thinking and it's freakin adorable. Was I perhaps considering this in terms of solomams? NOOOOOO. But really what does it mean when a tsundere gives you a little insulting nickname like that? It means THEY LOVE YOU OF COURSE. Sorry okay I'm done.

Oh nothing, just Beel making it sound like he's actually done this before. I would pay money to see it.

This part made me laugh so hard. Like look how SAD they both look l;kasdjfjf. Diavolo's just like, sorry Dad... and Barbatos is like, you have done nothing wrong, my son, my favorite child.

ANYWAY.

I'm still holding out hope but so far this season has been somewhat underwhelming. I give it a solid meh.

masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[luminari-mc]

**Spoilers for lesson 43**

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

You're telling me that Mammon loves MC so much that he can't even act a fake breakup scene? 🥺 Baby boy is physically hurt by even mentioning a breakup with them?? The look on his face, I swear if it was animated he would have been on the verge of tears!!

I don't care what Simeon says, don't you dare you call my boy "useless", he's just sensitive!

[apparentlyaswarmofbees]

Look at this drama queen go

[obeyme-kaidii]

Obey Me Angel Ranks

Season 3 (Lesson 43 & 44 spoilers) ahead!

In Lesson 43, we learn that Simeon’s current rank is an Archangel.

In Lesson 44, MC goes back in time and gets to see the brothers when they were still in the Celestial Realm. Based on the conversations that take place, it seems that this is shortly before the fall. And we learn that during this time Simeon is a Seraphim.

Now, assuming they are basing the angel ranks off of Christian mythology, this means Simeon suffered a pretty big demotion at some point. It’s unclear when or why this occurred. And I really hope they explain this during this Season!

If you remember back in Season 1, Michael himself is also referred to as an Archangel. But I think this may just be because the Obey Me team hasn’t fleshed out their lore well enough yet, and hadn’t intended on Michael and/or the Celestial Realm playing that big of a role in things.

I also read that it’s possible there are two different types of “archangels”. Arch-angels (big A) are the ones like Michael who possess a great deal of power. And archangels (little a), who are like Simeon and simply a lower ranking angel.

In Lesson 44 we also learn some important things about the ranks of the other brothers. Beel for example is a Cherubim, which is a very high ranked angel.

Mammon is also a very high ranking angel- serving in the role of throne. He apparently used to be an Archangel until Lucifer promoted him. This is also the first sign we see that Mammon appears to be struggling with his own insecurities since he mentions he would have rather stayed a lower rank. He tries to play it off like he’s just thinks the job is boring, but his expression hints at the fact that he has other reasons for feeling out of place.

Some of the mythology I read regarding angels had throne regarded as a pretty low tier - basically controlled by cherubim. But this seems to be contradictory to how the game talks about Mammon and his position, which seems to make it sound like it’s a very respectable and highly esteemed position.

Levi’s rank is never mentioned, but it’s implied he’s a very high ranking angel, serving in the role of General for the Angelic Army when they were still waging war constantly with the Devildom.

(I also found it interesting that even as an angel he commanded Lotan. My husband thinks Lotan must have been so sad when Levi fell and he couldn’t find him. So he looked high and low for his best friend until finally reuniting with him in the Devildom.)

Asmo and Belphie’s ranks are never mentioned either. And Satan of course wasn’t yet “born” independent of Lucifer so he’s not present.

[midnightcinderella]

mean Simeon is my favorite Simeon lmaoo

[emmys-grimoire]

He’s grown so much <3

(I lowkey imagine OM! Michael saying this, too)

[obaby-obeyme]

Mammon said all we is, is hoes!

That's all the spoilers I'm gonna post for Lesson 43 xD

Also, Levi is probably dead in his room or he's run off to some anime convention without telling his brothers.

[applecherrybanana]

Obey Me Lesson 43 Intimacy Guide

Hello! Once again I’m making this in hopes someone can update the wiki info ♥ Quick note - I don’t have 43-A, B, or C unlocked yet so potential intimacy gains are missing from those. Please let me know if you catch any mistakes.

43-5 “We should make it a date!” +Mammon “I wonder if everyone’s all right back at home...” +Lucifer +Satan +Levi +Asmodeus +Beelzebub +Belphegor “This is the one I’m ACTUALLY serious about...” +Mammon

43-10 “I missed you so much, Luke!” +Luke

43-12 “I’ll help you!” +Simeon

43-18 “Are you two feeling all right now?” +Satan +Beelzebub

43-19 “Ask Mammon.” +Mammon “Ask Satan.” +Satan “Ask Beel.” +Beelzebub

[nocreativityfornames]

Do you guys think that Michael turns into Raphael on a daily basis just for fun? Because he's too damn casual about it, and looking back at their talk and his reaction to Michael going to the Devildom as him, he wasn't even remotely as bothered as he should've been? Is my boy just used to this or something??

[ohbae-me]

Guys, lesson 43 has given me life 😭😭😭

Thank you devs for all the Mammon love 🙏🙏😘

My heart is so happy rn I can't even

[selkiis]

lesson 43

so far lesson 43 is everything a mammon stan could ask for 🥺 my little heart... this lesson is just so wholesome i love it 10/10

[thatonebishie]

Simeon when angy

[in-love-with-fictional-people]

LESSON 43 SPOILER

Did they forget that MC literally passed out just from Solomon's cooking? I know they kinda just brushed it to the side, but come on 😂 (laugh-crying emoji)

[Photo I.D.] a screenshot of a text conversation from the game "Obey Me: One Master to Rule Them All" the conversation in the screenshot is as follows:

Belphegor: After all, when Mammon and Joli ate the stuff Solomon made, you could see the look of absolute disgust on their faces.

Belphegor: I don't think there's any way that could've been acting.

Beelzebub: Maybe humans like Joli don't get sick?

Satan: Hmm, OK. And maybe Mammon didn't get sick because he's an idiot?

[End photo I.D.]

[hotdemonsummer]

Obey Me! and Angelology and Demonology

 alternatively titled Lets Get Into Lucifer

This is yet another long, long post about the lore of Obey Me! from the perspective of historical and theological angelology, and demonology or the study of angels and demons respectively, because I think it’s neat. I also talk way too much. I’m scared to check the word count on this.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on anything, and certainly not on religion. I just like comparative theology. Also, spoilers for lesson 43/44.

What is an angel? And what, in turn, is a demon? It depends on who you ask. All religions that have angels have a general consensus that they are spiritual beings, intermediaries of some kind of higher power. Demons, on the other hand, are much more vague beyond general malevolence toward humanity. Any connection between the two is entirely dependent on the culture and religion in question. Some have angels but not demons, and many have vice versa.

There’s generally four kinds of spirits that are considered demons:

Dead people with extremely bad vibes (think mogwai, yuurei, and other revenants)

Neutral-to-malevolent energy, physical form optional (think djinni or yokai)

Cult subjects (including foreign gods and ancestor worship)

Corrupted angels (either fallen or Nephilim)

The word demon comes from the Greek δαίμων, or daimon, but the concept of a demon is much older than the Greeks. The original daimon had none of the malevolent, evil associations that we now think of. Instead, daimon just described a kind of powerful spiritual entity (for example, δαίμων is the term Euripides uses for the new god Dionysus in The Bacchae). What we think of as demons now didn’t exist in Greek culture, and the negative associations came when the Tanakh was translated from Hebrew to Greek, but even then shedim aren’t identical to the contemporary depiction of demons that we see in Obey Me!, which, like everything else in Western society, came about through the domination of Christianity.

Shedim, the precursor to the Christian demon, was more or less a term for false gods, a title for the various Levantine pagan gods (see: origin of Beelzebub, Belphegor, and pretty much every demon that starts with Bel- or Bal-). 

Obey Me! pretty much canonizes Type 2 and Type 4 demons, with characters like Diavolo, Barbatos, and Satan as Type 2 and the other brothers as Type 4. Historically, Beelzebub and Belphegor are Type 3 (Beelzebub and Belphegor being Levantine gods), Mammon being Type 2 (a general personification of Wealth, although Milton did write him as a Type 4 in Paradise Lost) and Asmodeus being somewhere in between Type 2 and 3 (being heavily derived from a Zoroastrian daeva of wrath). Lucifer is, historically, the only consistently Type 4 demon.

I don’t think I have to explain what a fallen angel is to any OM! fan. But I will. 

Let’s talk about these guys. We’re all familiar with Satan’s weird complex about Lucifer, and I’m sure we’re all equally familiar with how Satan and Lucifer are terms used interchangeably for whatever being is The Big Bad of Hell. However, they’re not synonymous.

Satan derives from the same Proto-Semitic root as shayatan, which... should be pretty obvious, but nonetheless has a pretty analogous role as a tempter of men in the Abrahamic religions. Beyond that “tempter of men” title, though, the actual details of what Satan is is incredibly varied, including whether or not “Satan” is a name or a title. In Christianity, the view of Satan as an extremely powerful and evil corrupter of man, wholly opposed to God, came around the Middle Ages, when witchcraft hysteria spread.

Lucifer, on the other hand, is simultaneously a figure originating in Christianity and much, much older than it. The term of course means “light-bringer”, and is heavily associated with the morning star, aka the planet Venus. To make a very long story short, many Mesopotamian, Levantine, and Mediterranean cultures saw the lowering of Venus toward the horizon at night and thought, “hey, thats a pretty neat image!” and created stories about heavenly beings falling toward the earth. Of course, they didn’t use the ‘term’ Lucifer, that’s Latin, and came from the Vulgate Bible.

The term Lucifer does not exclusively refer to The Evil Fallen Angel™ in Christian texts (some very sacred things like the Exsultet explicitly refer to Jesus as Lucifer), but it sure is the most popular interpretation. In works like Paradise Lost or the Divine Comedy, the general idea is that the angel Lucifer rebelled against God in some way and was cast out of Heaven, then becoming Satan, and thus the two are one and the same.

(inb4 some Quora-type chews me out for accuracy’s sake, the “lucifer” mentioned in Isaiah 14:12 refers not to any angel, but to a Babylonian king. The whole fallen angel thing, much like the beatitudes or Bethlehem or Christmas, is a fusion of pagan influences.)

In other words, Lucifer is always and has always been a fallen angel. Satan, on the other hand, doesn’t have those connections to angelhood, and the two figures have an undeniable connection despite their clear individual differences. Sound familiar?

The next question is then what kind of angel is Lucifer anyway? to which you might be thinking, wait, there are different kinds? Yes, holy shit, there are so many kinds of angels and very little consensus on what they are. In terms of Christian angelology (because again, Lucifer is a uniquely Christian/derivative Christian figure unless you exclude Leland’s Aradia which I don’t because lbr they were Italian anyways), most hierarchies are based on the work of this guy:

This man has the incredibly succinct name of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, and sometime in the 5th century he wrote a book called De Coelesti Hierarchia. It orders the *WTNV voice* hierarchy of angels into three levels called spheres, and each sphere has three sub-levels called choirs. Many, but not all, of the choirs are adopted from various Jewish angelic hierarchies. If you thought that it was just angels and then archangels were, like, the middle management version of angels then you are very wrong. I’m sorry that television lied.

You know who also lied? Tumblr dot com and any post that implies that the true form of angels is a big wheel with a bunch of eyes. That is, in fact, a descriptor for only one kind of angel: ophanim, or thrones. The depiction of angels runs the gamut from winged humanoids to multi-winged humanoids with multiple animal heads to burning snakes to vague heavenly mist.

Archangels and angels are the eighth and ninth lowest choirs of angels, respectively. Angels, or malakhim, are the default messengers of God and the choir from which guardian angels come from. Generally, if someone claims to have a message from God delivered to them, it will be an angel doing it. If it’s really important, it’ll be an archangel. Everyone else literally has more important things to do. No one’s getting visions from dominions.

Lucifer’s (the theological one) actual designation is kind of a mystery. Depending on the text, Lucifer has been described as a seraph (the highest), a cherub (the second highest), or an archangel (the eighth). According to Thomas Aquinas:

Lucifer, chief of the sinning angels, was probably the highest of all the angels. But there are some who think that Lucifer was highest only among the rebel angels.

Not very helpful, but hey. The question remains: what kind of angel is Lucifer, and this time I mean our Lucifer. 

We know that Michael, just like his namesake, is an archangel. We also know that (SPOILERS) Simeon, unlike his namesake, is an archangel as well (Simeon is a saint, not an angel.) Lucifer likely was at their level, if not higher.

However, Lucifer was also a six-winged angel, a depiction generally reserved for seraphim (and cherubim, but far less frequently).

Moreover, in terms of role, an angellic Lucifer fits well with that of the powers, the sixth choir. Powers are in charge of moving the heavenly bodies, and are depicted as powerful warriors dressed in beautiful armor. It's fitting for a being so closely tied to the morning star to be a power, after all.

So, with all that considered, what is Lucifer? 

Well, he’s a seraph (or saraph, technically). Why? Because Simeon is somehow a seraph and an archangel (I have already written too much to unpack that bullshit), and Mammon was a throne (remember those wheels with eyes?) and Beel was a cherub and therefore Lucifer had to be higher than both of them (interestingly big brother Mammon is in a lower choir than little brother Beel). This makes Michael kind of, well... weird, given the archangels’ low rank.

Some like to differentiate between archangel the eighth choir and Archangel, with a capital A, as a term for any high-ranking angel. While this is likely what Solmare is doing, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this has zero basis in any religious text whatsoever and is solely done for the convenience of not remembering anything besides angel and archangel. Which is like, fine, but I’m a pedantic jerk who I found claims to the contrary while researching and I felt the need to correct that.

Anyways, the more you know.