Astaroth. Wasn't he a devil or something?

[Roadkill101]

The earliest presentation of Astaroth, in the D&D game (that I am aware of), comes from an an article entitled "The Politics of Hell" by Alexander von Thorn, Issue #28 Dragon Magazine, August 1979.
He is presented as a devil, an arch-devil and treasurer of hell.
The article provides stats (1e AD&D) for Astaroth, Belial and Satan. It was reprinted in the Best of Dragon Volume II anthology, which is my source for the topic.

 

[Clueless]

Noted and added to the planewalker entry

 

[Shemeska]

Though to be fair the Astaroth in the 1979 Dragon article isn't the same Astaroth later introduced as an Abyssal Lord into the planar canon and later killed by Gargauth. The Politics of Hell article was explicitely not attempting to present itself as a canon source,
Authors note: The following article cannot be considered the official doctrine of either the Dungeons & Dragons game or the Roman Catholic Church.

The article is focused not on the Baatezu as they would develop in D&D in the next three decades, but devils in the pop-culturized Judeo-Christian sense. Among other things, Astaroth is presented as ambassabor to the USA in the article, and said to be responsible for the "commercial hype" that americans are subjected to. So not the same individual as the subsequent Astaroth, Gargauth using his name, or Ari's vestige now.

I'll be rewriting the Planewalker entry to reflect the division between the von thorn creation and the Astaroth in mainline D&D subsequent to that point.

 

[ericlboyd]

The earliest presentation of Astaroth, in the D&D game (that I am aware of), comes from an an article entitled "The Politics of Hell" by Alexander von Thorn, Issue #28 Dragon Magazine, August 1979.
He is presented as a devil, an arch-devil and treasurer of hell.
The article provides stats (1e AD&D) for Astaroth, Belial and Satan. It was reprinted in the Best of Dragon Volume II anthology, which is my source for the topic.

This is interesting. I didn't realize the Ed Greenwood reference to him in the write-up of Gargauth was building on a prior Dragon article.

--Eric

 

[Alaric_Prympax]

The earliest presentation of Astaroth, in the D&D game (that I am aware of), comes from an an article entitled "The Politics of Hell" by Alexander von Thorn, Issue #28 Dragon Magazine, August 1979.
He is presented as a devil, an arch-devil and treasurer of hell.
The article provides stats (1e AD&D) for Astaroth, Belial and Satan. It was reprinted in the Best of Dragon Volume II anthology, which is my source for the topic.

I was going to mention this article but I've done so in the past. It is IMO one of the BEST articles ever written for Dragon and I will say that I was slightly disappointed it wasn't in Dragon Compendium Vol. 1.

I find it interesting the the USA's 'Gaurdian Devil' is the Treasurer of Hell, it kind of explains a lot.

IMC this is how things happened in Hell and Astaroth is an Arch-Devil not a Demon but that's me.

 

[Joker]

So you're saying that the bad guy from the Smurfs killed the big dude with the axe in Soul Calibur and took his identity. Makes sense to me. Chasing after Smurfs all the time would get boring after awhile.

Wait... what?

Sorry... what?

 

[Nifft]

I'm under the impression that he's a devil.

Cheers, -- N

 

[TwinBahamut]

I was. The demon Astaroth is most commonly depicted as male, whatever the origin of his name might be.

Not always the case though...

In Paradise Lost, the names Ashtaroth, Astoreth, and Astarte are all used in the great parade of demons, with the first identified as a group of female demons, and the last two identified as the same individual demon leader (Astoreth being the demon name, Astarte explicitly called the Pheonician goddess name).

Considering how the demons and places of Paradise Lost seem to appear so much in D&D planar lore, I wonder if it is a major inspiration for D&D's demon lords... Certainly the realm of Chaos in Paradise Lost is identical to the Great Wheel's Limbo, execpt Chaos is more important and bigger.

 

[Ripzerai]

So many examples of game designers with non-Encyclopedic knowledge of past D&D confusing things!

Yes, Astaroth appeared in Dragon #28 as a devil.

Yes, Ed Greenwood used the devil from that article in Dragon #91, changing his name to "Gargoth" but retaining Astaroth as an alternate name (separate from the Abyssal lord mentioned in the MMII).

Eric Boyd based a deity on Gargoth, rationalizing Gargoth/Gargauth's alternate name by saying that Gargauth killed the Abyssal lord Astaroth, subsuming his portfolio and adding his power to his own.

Astaroth is mentioned in the Fiendish Codex I as the dead demon of prophecy.

Ari Marmell, unaware of Eric Boyd's work or the MMII/FC1 reference, introduces a third Astaroth.

It would be easiest just to assume that this was the vestige of the Abyssal lord Astaroth - just because he had no fiendish allies doesn't mean he didn't have a realm in the Abyss, after all.

 

[ericlboyd]

Yes, Ed Greenwood used the devil from that article in Dragon #91, changing his name to "Gargoth" but retaining Astaroth as an alternate name (separate from the Abyssal lord mentioned in the MMII).

Eric Boyd based a deity on Gargoth, rationalizing Gargoth/Gargauth's alternate name by saying that Gargauth killed the Abyssal lord Astaroth, subsuming his portfolio and adding his power to his own.

This isn't strictly true.

Quoting Dragon #91, page 30:

Gargoth, "The Lord Who Watches" (sometimes misnamed by sages as "Astaroth"; a name properly applies to a demon-prince of great power) ...

I think what I wrote in Powers & Pantheons is consistent with this.

What's the FC1 page numbers for the references to Astaroth?

--Eric