| “ | Greed is known by many things. It is also known as avarice, cupidity, or covetousness! It is the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one's self. It is applied to a markedly high desire for and pursuit of wealth, status, and power. And does it harm you? No! It gives you power! It gives you strength! Far beyond that of any mortal could ever hope to comprehend! With power you are untouchable. | „ |
| ~ Mammon. |
Mammon, also known as Maymun or Plutus, is a powerful fallen angel that is commonly personified as Greed and is the noble demon lord of avarice, richness, abundance, prosperity, wealth and injustice, most often personified as a deity. He is the demon that forged Hellboy's Right Hand of Doom and gave knowledge to mortals on the creation of Homunculi.
Appearance
In his appearance, Mammon appears as a wolf-like demon of wealth, especially given that wolves would be associated with greed in the Middle Ages. Mammon's skin appeared to be entirely made of a golden material but with several black scorched marks. He had single curved spikes jutting out of his elbows, two other spikes out of his shoulder blades, and finally his knees. His feet resembled those of some kind of eagle or dragon, and his hands resembled the claws of a dragon, his tail was also that of a dragon's. His head on the other hand resembles that of a wolf with no visible lips thus allowing his fierce dagger sharp teeth to be visible. He had bright golden amber eyes with a black sclera. When unfolding his wings they are also of a gold color though the tips of his secondary feathers are a faded black with the greater secondary coverts being a scorched black.
History
Fall from Grace
During his time in Heaven, he was depicted as forever looking downward at Heaven's golden pavement rather than God himself. In fact, Mammon's obsession with gold was to the point where he did not even care about Lucifer's rebellion but due to the fact that he cared more about material wealth than God he was cast out by the archangel Gabriel.
After the rebellion in Heaven, Mammon was banished to Hell where he is the one who finds underground precious metal that his demonic companions use to build their capital city, Pandemonium by Lucifer's order. Mammon counsels the devils to be happy with what they have got, and to create a home for themselves in Hell.
Treasurer of Hell
At some point during further construction, Mammon and Mulciber discovered the substance known as Necroplasm during their cultivation of the Abyss and transforming it into the kingdom of Hell. Upon this discovery, they would take this substance, cultivate, and later mass produce it for other beneficial means; it is mainly exclusive to the Eighth Circle of Hell within the Malebolge. The production of necroplasm gave way to the creation of Basileus and the Hellspawn.
Mammon also crafted the enigmatic Right Hand of Doom alongside Belphegor, and both he and Azazel believe that with this object, which is the key to the Outerverse, they can unleash and maybe even control the Ogdru Jahad known as Yog-Sothoth, using the ancient deity to exact their vengeance against God and Heaven. In addition, Mammon crafted the hand in order to conceal the power of Vril within it, acting as a container of sorts, and did so after Lucifer was usurped by Mundus. He feared what would happen should Mundus assume his control over the Secret Fire and thus opted to hide it from the Dark Emperor inside the Right Hand of Doom. The Right Hand of Doom would not be used until thousands of years later where Mammon, alongside Dagan and Astaroth, were to look after Azazel's son, Anung Un Rama. The two demons witnessed the birth of the cambion in Hell, and then cut off his right hand to graft the Right Hand of Doom onto him.
Much later on, Mammon, with the aid of Mulciber, created the legendary Twin Blade, which was made from the bones of a fallen angel, salt that was crystalized from the tears of Michael, then melted down with the ichor of a god into Damascus Steel. The Twin Blade is capable of killing almost anything. It is unknown why Mammon created such a weapon although it is believed that Mammon was aware of Satan's true intention of destroying creation to start over and knew that he would be among those that would not be spared from his mission. Thus, Mammon would oversee the creation of the Twin Blade in a bid to kill Satan simply for self-preservation.
Time on Earth
Mammon is credited as the creator of alchemy, specifically credited as the one who bestowed knowledge to humans on what the proper alchemical compounds are needed to create gold. Mammon's bestowal of such forbidden information also led to the creation of the homunculi, humanoid entities of great power and strength, which in turn makes him the indirect creator of such creatures.
He first showed the power of alchemy in Egypt in 300 B.C., to a metallurgist 'sorcerer' named Ronny along with his disciples, who were also at the time members of the recently formed Illuminati. With Mammon's guidance, he creates a "complete homunculus," using his and their blood as a medium. This complete, omniscient homunculus (shaped in the likeness of Ronny) observes this Ronny and others out of curiosity and slight envy. It then decides to move about its own accord while being under the discreet guidance of Mammon.
Mammon is also the father of the Greek god of wealth, Plutus. He appeared before the goddess Demeter in the form of a "golden winged man" with scorches on his body that looked as though boiling liquid was poured on him. While the details of this tale is scarce, the few that know of it all say that Mammon seduced the goddess with the false promise of relieving her misery. Their sexual encounter led to the birth of Plutus. Hypnos regards it as more of a "sordid" tale where Demeter was at her lowest point and Mammon took advantage of it. Why Mammon wanted to lay with the goddess was unknown.
