Devil

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The Devil
Character information
Aliases:	Satan Mr. Smith Miss Devlin Cadwallader Pip (possibly) The Howling Man
Species:	Demon
Affiliations:	Angels
Age:	Unknown
Gender:	Variable
Occupation:	Tempter
Legal Status:	N/A
Marital Status:	Single
Relations:	Unknown
Behind the scenes
Portrayed By:	Various
Appearances:	Escape Clause, A Nice Place to Visit, The Howling Man, Printer's Devil, Of Late I Think of Cliffordville, The Hunt, Dealer's Choice, I of Newton, Time and Teresa Golowitz

The Devil is a demonic entity that rules over Hell. Various interpretations of the Devil have been used throughout the Twilight Zone franchise, to the point that, in 1987, writers for The Twilight Zone were admonished by the show's network that they had been using the Devil too often.

Background

The devil has long been a part of popular folklore, especially amongst the Western Christian religion. Stories about the figure were most common in the legends of Ireland, Newfoundland, Italy and the United Kingdom. In most cases, the demon represented an archetypal trickster figure, who weaseled desperate individuals into doing his bidding in exchange for certain requirements—typically their souls. Most of these deals were later found out to be deceptive and often stacked in the devil's favor through loop holes in the wording of the deal.

At times, the individual who made the deal was left to defend himself with only his wits, but sometimes had some help from a religious or supernatural sources. A common example of this is in the prominent use of the antagonist in hagiographical tales that featured the accounts and adventures of notable saints, such as St. Dunstan. In some other tales, the devil represented the personification of evil while other stories treated him as a mere folk villain, similar to other legendary creatures.

The Devil also made numerous appearances involving the Twilight Zone in a variety of forms, such as the burly Pip, the weaselly entrepreneur, Mr. Smith, the slinky Miss Devlin, or the nefarious beast of "The Howling Man".

Powers and abilities

Known to make deals with mortal humans that provided them with abilities which were supernatural (e.g., immortality), it seems likely that these were powers that were shared by the Devil. "Escape Clause"

The Devil had a habit of appearing in numerous forms when appearing in the presence of humans. These usually were the guises of a typical human being but not always of one specific gender, size or race. "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville", "Time and Teresa Golowitz"

Despite this power, the presence of the Devil could still be detected by the villain's accompanying foul stench of brimstone which put dogs on alert. (TZ1: "The Hunt")

Another ability that the Devil had was the power to control men's movements, either though magic or telekinesis. Perhaps his greatest ability, however, was a potent ability for persuasion, lying and seeking pity to get what he wanted. (TZ1: "The Howling Man")

Appearances

TV episodes

• "Escape Clause"
• "A Nice Place to Visit"
• "The Howling Man"
• "Still Valley"
• "Printer's Devil"
• "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville"
• "The Hunt"
• "Dealer's Choice"
• "I of Newton"
• "Time and Teresa Golowitz"