Samael (comics)


 * This article pertains to the God-like being of the comics universe.

"The bestial figure you just looked upon is one of our emissaries, called Samael, a god in your terms who is hungry for life in your reality...
 * —Whately, on the nature of Samael"

Samael, also spelled Sammael, is a god-like entity from an unknown plane of existence.

Background
Samael's place in the hierarchy of her kind is unclear. Whately, as a mediating member of the same race as Samael, refers to the otherworldy entity as "an emissary". Of what, exactly, isn't built upon. Whately claims that, because of her powerful nature, Samael can be likened to a god by human standards. In her natural plane of existence, Samael appears to take on the form of an anthropomorphic goat, while an empty vessel, typically the body of a physically and emotionally damaged person, is necessary when Samael wishes to exist in corporeal form on other planes of existence.

It is implied that many other beings like Samael exist, but they are never introduced.

Personality
As told by Whately, Samael is a voracious being, contented only with blood sacrifice and suffering. Wanting control of the mortal realm, it was that driving force that compelled Samael to allow herself to be born on Earth. When Samael finally crosses into the mortal world, She, possessing the body of Connie Mills, appears sentient, but seeks only to ease her hunger by consuming the souls of those who cross her path and possesses concern for little else.

Powers and abilities
Being a god-like figure, Samael is known to possess several supernatural abilities. Among them, Samael has demonstrated the ability to travel between numerous planes of existence. However, because of the sheer amount of energy required to do so, as well as needing a suitable vessel to contain her essence, doing so often is impractical.

In addition to traversing the various planes of existence, Samael is able to warp between locations situated within a single plane of existence, possesses enhanced durability, and the capability to consume the life forces of humans in order to increase her own strength. Had things gone as they were intended, Samael would have been able to recreate reality as she saw fit, and it was also stated that reality itself may have been rent asunder by Samael's mere presence.

Birth and death
Throughout the course of the series, several options are presented that could be used to foster Samael's birth.

Dying Inside
Whately is first introduced as the guardian of a female patient said to be sleeping within the depths of Brookhaven Hospital. This patient is implicated as being the progenitor of the darkness that has engulfed Silent Hill. Whether she is the woman who was impregnated with the seed of Samael or not is never confirmed.

Hunger


Douglas Brenneman begins to experience strange changes in the world around him on the 11th of June, during an unspecified year. The oddities seem to have been triggered by a bizarre murder early in the day, and the occurrences only continue to strengthen as the day presses on, culminating in Silent Hill becoming completely engulfed in an otherworldly inferno. Throughout this madness, Douglas searches for his fiancee, Rosy, and it's during his search that he encounters the stranger Whately.

Choosing Douglas to be the author of a book detailing the events that had begun in Silent Hill, Whately makes known to Douglas the existence and eminent birth of Samael. A human female, chosen by a Dr. Aickmann who practices out of Brookhaven Hospital, has been impregnated with the seed of Samael and struggles against the entity's will, trying to protect both herself and her world. According to Whately, the birth is not an assured event, and the possibility that Samael won't be born into the mortal realm is very real.

Taking into account the events of Dead/Alive, it appears that the female host was able to overcome the influence of Samael, though Silent Hill would remain forever changed.

Dead/Alive
Lenora, a powerful witch and cohort of Whately, searches for a female candidate who is capable of receiving the essence of Samael and serving as a vessel for that essence. Such a host is found in the form of Connie Mills, a woman of no true notoriety, save she may have once held the unborn child of actor Kenneth Carter, a man who was born only half-human to a monstrous mother and human father. Kenneth is destined to kill the filled vessel and release the essence of Samael, allowing the being to fully integrate itself into the mortal realm.

To facilitate the implantation of Samael into Connie, Whately and the Order set about to seed nightmares and common knowledge with the strange atmosphere of Silent Hill by allowing Ike Isaacs to paint scenes from the town, and implicating Kenneth in a series of murders inspired by such painting. In doing this, it gave Samael the strength needed to cross between worlds and arrive within its human host. When the entity is successfully integrated into Connie Mills, Samael begins to roam, consuming the souls of those unfortunate enough to cross her path. Her goal is the consumption of Christabella LaRoache, to enhance her strength.

As told by Lenora, it was Kenneth's destiny to kill Connie and complete Samael's birth into the mortal realm. However, by killing the host body with the love he once felt for her, reality is torn asunder and those involved with the struggles in Silent Hill are placed into the lives they were meant for.

Game universe
Further information: God

In Silent Hill, the name "Samael" was used as a sophism by the cultist Dahlia Gillespie to convince Harry Mason that Alessa was attempting to summon a demon. This was done to manipulate him into stopping her from spreading the Seal of Metatron. In Silent Hill: Origins, Travis Grady finds a note written by someone confusing Samael for the God of the cult itself. A portrait entitled "The Demon Samael" may be seen in the Centennial Building in Silent Hill: Downpour.

Trivia

 * Samael's appearances in the comics are based on Incubus from the first game and the portraits of the God seen throughout the course of Silent Hill 3.