Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Okay so the title probably doesn't make it obvious, but I have a lot of thoughts about the interconnection of the sins, and how the order of the brothers kind of relates to that interconnection, and how each brother shows traits of the sins on either side of him in birth order.

If you're at all familiar with the enneagram personality types, I kind of think of it like that (how you can be a five with a wing 4 or 6 to say that you lean in either direction taking in more traits of one or the other), and so I think that each brother has traits of the sins on either side of him. Of course for this to work the birth order has to be looked at in more of a circle than a line (making Lucifer and Belphie next to each other). I also think that the strong tendencies to the other sins is greatly tempered by the sin that they are already the avatar of. 

This also contains a lot of my thoughts about the sin's themselves as well. It's honestly a mixed bag.

These Headcannons sort of include why some brothers don't get along as much, but I'm not really including the lore between Satan and Lucifer on this one (I have other head cannons about THAT specifically but it's probably a different post?) anyway:

Lucifer (Pride):

• Pride is bracketed by greed and sloth, and I know that Lucifer doesn't seem like one to engage in slothful behaviors, but I'll get to that after I get to greed first.
• It isn't super outwardly apparent, but the greed IS there, it's just hyper specific (his pride makes him have standards you know?)
• It's in the cursed record collection, the way he listens to them over, and over, as if savoring each note, and imprinting the feeling of listening into his mental library of experiences
• It's in the way he is greedy with MC's time and attention (though he would never admit it aloud, again: pride)
• It's in his expensive taste (Fine Demonus, good food, etc...)
• But all of it just seems like part of the pride, part of "keeping up appearances"
• Then there's the sloth;
• It seems counterintuitive, I know, but after all Lucifer is by his own admission: not a morning demon
• I think that if it weren't for the pride running through his veins, he ABSOLUTELY, would love to be someone who sleeps until noon (especially since he's a bit of an insomniac as is
• If he could, he would laze in bed with someone beloved to him, hiding away from the world
• I think sloth is actually the sin he craves to engage in the most, because it is so far out of reach for him, so forbidden to his position, both as the oldest and as Diavolo's Right-hand man 
• Please can we just let this man get a good night's rest (maybe I have this HC 'cause I want Lucifer to get a good night of sleep dammit!)
• I kind of think this is why Lucifer struggles with Belphegor so much because he want's to give in to some of those slothful tendencies, and is envious that he won't can't 

Mammon (Greed):

• Greed is bracketed by pride and envy
• The pride is self evident (imho) in the way he talks: "aren't you lucky to have THE great Mammon helping ya, human?" he never shies away from talking himself up
• He IS the avatar of greed though, not pride, and so he is greedy for the attention, the praise, the recognition of his greatness, and so he seeks to elicit the desired responses in a way that bends towards that greed
• But the pride is there, and since no one else will admit how talented he can be, he'll sing his own praises, but it sure isn't fair that no one notices
• And that brings us to envy (which I think he leans a little heavier towards than pride if I'm honest) because while it's obvious he has the pride, he still very clearly feels inferior in a lot of ways. Just like Levi
• Where Levi will put himself down, Mammon vehemently denies the things he thinks the other brothers will say about him (often saying it first, before they can)
• Honestly greed and envy feel very tied together to me just as concepts
• But Mammon feels so much envy (and admiration) towards Lucifer, and that's why he tries to emulate him, he doesn't view it as fair that all his brothers admire (or at least respect) Lucifer, and make him the butt of their jokes
• He's just as capable as Lucifer, just as able to take care of them, and Lucifer himself had acknowledged Mammon's own ability back when they were in the Celestial realm, so why can't anyone just realize that he's capable? It's not fair
• He's the second eldest dammit, pay him some respect!

Leviathan (Envy):

• Envy is bracketed by greed and wrath
• Listen, I think Levi and Mammon both butt heads so much because they're both envious and greedy as all hell
• The whole reason MC has a pact with mammon is in part due to Levi's own greed. That whole Seraphina figurine debacle? yeah
• Also, he's a collector. Anime, manga, games. He's just selective with WHAT he collects, but it always has to be the best of the best, and he wants EVERYTHING related to it
• His TSL collection somewhat exemplifies that greed if you ask me (idk if it's stated in cannon, but I feel like he would hunt down every version of every title, especially anything limited edition, if the cursed album of the soundtrack he had was any indication
• Let's get to the wrath that Levi shows too, which I would say is mainly triggered by his Envy
• The way he totally flips out when he hits the edges of his envy, and wants something for his own?
• The way he coldly and calculatingly ensnares others to use to get what he wants (he bullied MC into making a pact with Mammon so he could get his money back) which is honestly a level of cunning that everyone associates with Satan
• But everyone seems to overlook it in Levi, because as Lucifer has said; he's generally a harmless demon, and he's generally pretty meek, but he (like anyone) has his limits
• And in that way he's wearing a mask as much as Satan is if you ask me. Everyone views him as harmless and non-threatening since he's pretty self-effacing, but he's actually really good at getting people to do what he wants (hello, he's a military leader -can't remember his title off the top of my head rn sorry- for GOOD reason?!)

Satan (Wrath):

• Wrath is bracketed by envy and lust
• Satan is envious of Lucifer. Not because of the respect he holds, not because of anything obvious, but because Lucifer is his own person
• Satan often feels like he is not his own person, not a person at all, but wrath incarnate, and has had to carve out his own personality, but fears that it's not his own, will never be his own
• And like Leviathan, Satan reacts to this envy with wrath, but because he IS the avatar of wrath, things often get messy, and he's gone on many a rampage because of it
• But I feel like other than that he doesn't tend towards envy too much unless Lucifer is involved (even mores if MC is involved at all)
• Then there's lust, and here's where it's gonna get dark (sorry not sorry)
• Bloodlust is a thing Satan feels often
• The all consuming desire to tear into flesh with his claws, to feel hot blood painting his skin, to crush bone and pull out viscera
• It's a heady release when he does, it feels so good, it feels so right, it feels better than sex. And he want's more of it, as much as possible, until he's had his fill. Nevermind the pit of guilt afterwards, he's enjoying himself right now
• He definitely get's turned on when people are angry, and/or actively giving into violent urges
• Idk why Satan's is so short, but it felt like it was easier to be concise with it? (and I feel like the lust/wrath overlap has a lot to do with some OTHER head cannons I want to write so IDK)

Asmodeus (Lust):

• Lust is bracketed by wrath and gluttony
• Asmo loves himself more than anything, and I would say he keeps a pretty good lid on his wrath, mostly because I think he doesn't actually have to get violent, or have an outburst to satisfy his wrath
• After all, he can charm anyone into doing what he wants, so if he feels slighted, or insulted, he will 100% charm the culprit into seeing his way (and honestly probably into doing something very stupid as way of punishment)
• I think we don't see Asmo's wrath because it is handled swiftly, in the moment, and with all the charm of someone who is one of the most beautiful demons to exist. If anything, he acts on it more impulsively than Satan
• It carries a certain level of entitlement, because who wouldn't want to be charmed by the avatar of lust anyway? He's certainly doing you a favor! 
• I think we also don't see his wrath or anger because he's worried about frowning too much and getting wrinkles
• Now onto the overlap of gluttony and lust
• Asmo's desire is a effectively a bottomless pit, Much like Beel's stomach
• He wants more and more love, and sex, and admiration, and it's never enough, even when he's full to bursting of it (literally and figuratively) he still craves more. Like how Beel will eat until he has heartburn (or is even physically ill), Asmodeus will fill himself to the brink and then push farther because he wants needs more

Beelzebub (Gluttony):

• Gluttony is bracketed by lust and sloth
• Beelzebub doesn't just feel hunger, though that is his chief complaint, he feels desire for food as well. While he is mainly focused on filling his stomach most of the time, I fully believe that if there wasn't the urgency behind it, he would 100% savor his food in the most sinful and sensual way (moaning through it all)
• I feel like he probably takes time to do this in private sometimes, and it turns into a whole thing, where he's not sure whether he's turned on or hungry. I feel like this is evidenced in the different kind of "hunger" (Which lets be honest is lust lol) he feels for MC
• For Belzebub there's probably not actually much difference for him between hunger and desire, and that the signals can actually get very mixed up for him (I feel like there are times he's horny, and eats because he thinks he's actually hungry)
• For sloth, I think this show's up once he's hit the point of excess. I know in game it's often joked that his stomach is literally a bottomless pit, but I think if he truly went all out and just ate everything in sight (walls, plants, food, people, everything) he would end up with the biggest food coma in the three realms
• He might not even move for days he's so full
• He might even sleep for most of it too!
• We know that Beelzebub keeps active for the most part, but I really do think there are times when he just can't be bothered; he is tired of eating all the time, tired of always being so fucking hungry, and so he sleeps instead. 
• Incidentally I think that strengthened his and Belphie's bond; Beelzebub was struggling with his hunger, and Belphie helped him sleep through some of the worst of it when he couldn't take it when they first got to the Devildom (This is pure hc, and not cannon afaik)

Belphegor (Sloth):

• Sloth is bracketed by gluttony and pride
• Beelzebub is known for having a bottomless pit of a stomach, and what are bottomless pit's but the embodiment of emptiness, and yet, Belphie's TSL equivalent is The Lord of Emptiness, not Beelzebub
• I think that where gluttony aims to fill the void, sloth aims to become it
• I think that the way that sloth fills the void, is with inactivity, or sleep, and that the ultimate fulfillment of that void is the eternal sleep. I'm not saying Belphegor is suicidal per se, just that he longs for the never ending sleep, because then he wouldn't have to wake up
• I'm finding it hard to articulate how that equates gluttony, but in my mind it just does so if you want feel free to add to it lol
• So I'll move onto Belphegor and pride 
• Belphegor's pride is probably the thing keeping him alive (along with spite and the will to be a menace but I digress) and the eternal sleep at bay
• I feel like his pride is evident in the way he feels disgust towards Lucifer choosing to always agree with Diavolo (we know that's because of him swearing loyalty, but still), and says that he lacks pride for just agreeing without question
• It shows when he bristles at being told to do anything, by anyone; (part of that's the sloth, yes, and not wanting to do the thing, but also the pride because) how dare they have the audacity to order him around
• His pride won't abide being dismissed or belittled, but because he doesn't like doing things or putting forth effort, he seldom acts on it (unless he's got a healthy dose of wrath flowing through his veins, which is why I think he and Satan are so good as a pair to mess with Lucifer lol), or eggs others on to his bidding