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the-girl-who-didnt-smile · 1 month ago

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Sir Duke (Hazbin Hotel)

“Sir Duke” is a character inspired by “Daniel Blanc” of New Orleans Voudou. This is just a rough concept.

Commentary below.

“Sir Duke” is inspired by the divine serpent of Louisiana Voudou, who is referred to as “Daniel Blanc”, “Blanc Dani” and “Monsieur Danny” in the historical record. Along with “Papa Lébat”, “Daniel Blanc” was one of the most important deities worshiped in Louisiana Voudou of the 19th century. He is derived from the category of West African serpent divinities called “Dan” (“Da”). The lwa Damballah of Haitian Vodou is related to but different from “Daniel Blanc”.

“Sir Duke” is named after the song by Stevie Wonder. Where “Big Papa” is also called “The Doorkeeper”, “Sir Duke” is also called “Grandfather Serpent”. This is a tribute to how “Daniel Blanc” seems to have also been called “Grandfather Rattlesnake”(“Ole Gran'daddy Rattlesnake”, see Alicia Owen’s (1893) Voodoo Tales) by African Americans in Missouri. Worship of the divine serpent was such a prominent feature of Mississippi River Valley Voudou that snake imagery persisted in the African American Spiritualist Churches.

The true form of “Sir Duke” is a giant white snake; the snake’s tail is much longer than shown. At that, he can grow or shrink the length of his body at will. The appearance of his serpentine form is inspired by the artwork of Beninese artist Cyprien Tokoudagba, where the snake’s eye are supposed to resemble the painting Vodoun Dangbé. I want his snake form to look like a cross between a white-lipped Python and a Black mamba. He needs to be rendered in enough detail to show that the shape of his head is a python, not a venomous snake. His color must be white, as the color white was associated with Daniel Blanc.

Previously, I stated that “ideally he should have iridescent stripes of rainbow scales down his back [to make him] resemble Tokoudagba’s painting Dan Houèdo, and the sculpture featured at Temple des Pythons (Dangbé-Xwé) at Ouidah, Benin.” I changed my mind about this, as I am unsure whether “Daniel Blanc” was the rainbow-serpent Dan Aïdo Hwèdo (Anyi-ewo) or a different divine serpent, namely Danh-gbi. To my knowledge, all that is known about “Daniel Blanc” is that he was associated with the color white; no mention of rainbows. Elements of Dan Aïdo Hwèdo are still present in “Sir Duke”, but he should probably just be a pure white snake, as a tribute to Daniel Blanc.

To shapeshift between his naga and serpent forms, he folds his arms into his body and curls inwards; his upper human half is the inside of the snake’s mouth, where his eyes are his gold fangs. There is no venom in his fangs, and he only displays them if he has to fight another lesser god. Because this scenario is by definition impossible, he never displays his fangs.

He has a snake form, a naga form, and a fully human form. In that last form, he wears an extremely expensive white and gold suit, making him look like a foreign King or Prince. This is how this man dresses when he goes to the convenience store… He is the ultimate Gentle Man. However, he doesn’t often like assuming a fully human form, because human legs feel weird.

If any one of these characters should get the twinkification treatment, it should be him, but I totally think he should be nicer Doctor Manhattan. I want him to look like he can beat your ass, he just chooses not to. If you go down the twinkification road, he has to be the most beautiful and twinkiest of them all!

In terms of personality, he is the opposite of “Big Papa”, where he has the least interest in human lives. He secludes himself in a pocket dimension populated by himself and a garden full of magic, rainbow colored plants. Gentle and nonviolent, he is the oldest and wisest of his siblings. Because he was made first, he has some features his siblings do not, and is the most powerful one in terms of raw potential. However, he is actually the least powerful one in practice, as he is crippled by his abysmally low ‘RUTHLESSNESS’ stat.

He is the fastest of his siblings, but because he is so conflict-avoidant he only ever uses this power to run away from battle.

Sir Duke is completely mute. He does not talk, but communicates with sentient life forms telepathically. I was picturing this effect as multiple voices appearing in a person’s head; a combination of male and female voices, to represent his sexual completeness. Tentatively, I was picturing it being four voices, to symbolize the four fundamental forces (gravity, electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions), but the number of voices is subject to change.

Where “Big Papa” is associated with dogs, “Sir Duke” is associated with snakes. In addition to telepathy, he also communicates by speaking through the mouths of nagas and snakes. When he speaks through a snake, you hear his multiple voices, as with telepathy. When he speaks through a naga, they speak in their own voice but in his calm and ancient style of speech. Their eyes also change to match his, as he has taken complete control over their body.

Sir Duke is not actually a psychic, but Lord of Thermodynamics. He communicates telepathically by controlling thermodynamics inside the human brain. This works on all similar structures, and is not limited to organic matter. It works on most everything that is sentient.

For this reason, Sir Duke wins all psychic battles. If fighting a human foe, he rapidly converts all chemical energy stored within the brain into kinetic energy, creating a near-instantaneous explosion.

His garden was not grown from seeds, but from him transforming photons into electrons and quarks, and converting light into chemical energy.

This is one of many examples of how this man completely underutilizes the God-like power he was granted.

Sir Duke rules over the human nervous system because of the association between the divine serpent Da and the cerebrospinal axis.

The following is an excerpt from the writings of Milo Rigaud. While it is not entirely scientifically accurate, it remains an intriguing historical document:

ORIGINE SCIENTIFIQUE DE DANBHALAH

L'origine scientifique de la couleuvre explique alors le comportement rituel du mystère Danbhalah, tout en montrant la vertu du parfum de Madeleine (qui est aussi le parfum d'Erzulie).

<<La couleuvre dans notre organisme, écrit Holly, c'est le fluide nervo-magnétique qui régit le système neuro-cardio-musculaire. Ce fluide est générateur de mouvement et de sensations. De là le culte (voudoo) où dominent les danses, les chants au son du tambour dont les coups de baguettes font naître des états d'âme reflétant les degrés divers de la possession et l'exaltation mystiques ... Là, les parfums et les essences aromatiques éveillent la passion... II est avéré que l'expression la plus élémentaire, la forme organique la plus simple sous laquelle la vie universelle se manifeste, c'est l'animalcule de la semence fécondatrice, lequel a la forme générale de la couleuvre. La forme embryonnaire de cet animalcule chez tous les êtres vertébrés, c'est l'axe céphalo-rachidien. Enlevez du cordon de la moelle tous les nerfs efférents et afférents et l'on se trouve alors en présence du spermatozoïde évolué, en présence de la couleuvre de vie, du serpent Da adoré au temple voudoo>>.

Les vertèbres de couleuvre représentent donc Danhhalah sur l'asson des houn'gan et des mam'bo, tandis que l'axe céphalo-rachidien ainsi que la semence fécondatrice qui fait de Legba un mystère phallique sont représentés par le poteau du péristyle.

TRANSLATION:

The scientific origin of the snake explains the ritual behavior of the mystère Damballah, while showing the virtue of Madeleine’s perfume (which is also the perfume of Erzulie).

“The snake in our organism”, writes Holly, “is the cerebrospinal fluid that rules the neuromuscular system. This fluid is the generator of movement and sensations. Hence the cult (Vodou) that is dominated by dances, the songs to the sound of the drum whose beats of the stick give rise to states of mind reflecting the diverse degrees of possession and mystical exaltation… There, the perfumes and aromatic essences arouse passion… It is proven that the most elementary expression, the most simple organic form under which life itself manifests, is the animalcule of the fertilizing seed, which has the general form of a snake. The embryonic form of this animalcule in all vertebrate beings is the cerebrospinal axis. Remove from the spinal cord all the efferent and afferent nerves and one is then in the presence of the evolved spermatozoon, in the presence of the snake of life, of the serpent Da worshiped in the Vodou temple.”

The vertebrae of the snake therefore represent Damballah on the asson of the houngan and the mambo, while the cerebrospinal axis as well as the fertilizing seed which makes Legba a phallic mystère are represented on the poteau of the péristyle.

SOURCE: Rigaud, Milo. La tradition voudoo et le voudoo haïtien: son temple, ses mystères, sa magie. FeniXX, 1953. https://original-ufdc.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00002240/00001/295j

Sir Duke is associated with snakes, as the snakes symbolize the cerebrospinal axis and the strings in String Theory.

Sir Duke’s characterization is inspired by Alfred Burton Ellis’ (1890) The Ewe-Speaking People’s of the Slave Coast of West Africa.

“Big Papa” is a composite character who merges elements from divinities in the Esu-Elegbara collective, especially Papa Lebat of New Orleans Voudou and the Hoodoo Spirit at the Crossroads; “Lady Love” is a composite character who merges elements from the Ezili famille of Haitian Vodou, especially Erzulie Freda and Erzulie Dantor. Likewise, “Sir Duke” is a composite character who draws from the category of West African divine serpents that were referred to as “Danh”, especially Danh-gbi and Anyi-Ewo (Aido-Wedo) (Aïdo-wedo )

The divine serpent Dan (Da) is not one but multiple divinities, as the term dañh or dà simply means “snake”.

As Ellis explains:

“…Most travellers in West Africa have called [Anyi-Ewo] Dañh ; but dà (as the word is pronounced by the western Ewe tribes) or dañh (as it is pronounced by the eastern) means any snake, and not the rainbow snake alone…”

SOURCE: Ellis, Alfred Burdon. The Eʻwe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa: Their Religion, Manners, Customs, Laws, Languages, &c. United Kingdom, Chapman and Hall, limited, 1890. p. 48. Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_E%CA%BBwe_speaking_Peoples_of_the_Slave/Ak9M8SXJlekC?hl=en&gbpv=0

Two of the most important divine serpents to enslaved Ewe-Speaking peoples were Danh-gbi and Anyi-Ewo. In real life, Temple des Pythons (Dangbé-Xwé) of Ouidah, Benin honors Danh-gbi (Dangbé).

Sir Duke’s wise and gentle nature, ability to grow his tail, and garden (which should actually resemble a forest) are inspired by the following description of Danh-gbi:

Danh-gbi = This deity is the python, which is worshipped in the kingdom of Dahomi, especially at Whydah ; at Agweh, at Great and Little Popo , and in the kingdom of Porto Novo. Dañh, as has been before said, means snake," and gbi or gbe is a contraction of agbi, " life," so that the name Dañh-gbi, implies " Life-giving snake." The snake itself is not worshipped, butrather its indwelling spirit ; the outward form of the python being considered the manifestation of the god…

The popular idea is that he is hidden in a gigantic tree, which is growing somewhere in the depths of a vast forest . Every morning the snake climbs to the topmost branch of the tree, wraps his tail round it , and hangs head downwards towards the earth, to measure his length . When he has grown long enough to touch the ground, he will be able to reach the sky and climb up into it.Dañh-gbi is the god of wisdom, and of earthly bliss . He is also the benefactor of mankind , for the first man and woman that came into the world were blind, and mankind would have been blind to this day had not Dañh-gbi opened their eyes. The white ants are his messengers, and their nests may often be seen sur- rounded with palm-leaves , to show that they are in his service…

Dañh- gbi has his special offerings, iron rods bent so as to give the appearance of the serpentine curves or concentric folds of a snake, and a rude, bell- shaped image of iron. These are considered representations of Dañh-gbi, the former representing the male python , and the latter the female, and are constantly to be seen on the shores of lagoons, the banks of streams , or near springs or pools, for the god loves the neighbourhood of water…

Unlike the variety of boa which is regarded as the messenger of the rainbow-god [Anyi-Ewo] , certain individuals only of which are to be treated with respect, every python of the Dañh-gbi kind must be treated with the utmost veneration, wherever met…

SOURCE: Ellis, Alfred Burdon. The Eʻwe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa: Their Religion, Manners, Customs, Laws, Languages, &c. United Kingdom, Chapman and Hall, limited, 1890. pp. 54-63. Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_E%CA%BBwe_speaking_Peoples_of_the_Slave/Ak9M8SXJlekC?hl=en&gbpv=0 Sir Duke’s reclusiveness and association with rainbows is inspired by the following description of Anyi-Ewo:

Anyi-Ewo = rainbow-god, who manifests himself in the form of a serpent, and only appears, it is believed, when he is thirsty and requires water…

…His proper name is Anyi-eŵo -anyi (lower part, or underneath) , ewo (a large snake)-" Great snake of the Underneath ," because he ordinarily lives underneath , or over the edge of the world , and only comes up into the sky when thirsty. In Whydah and Porto Novo be appears to have another name, which Captain Burton writes Aydo-whe- do, and the French missionaries Aïdo- wedo and Aïdo - Khouédo. This , I believe , has the same meaning as Anyi-ewo, which is the name by which the god is universally known by the western tribes ; but as I have lost a vocabulary I had collected of words of the eastern dialect, I am unable to speak positively. Speak- ing from memory, I think that Aido-wedo is a corruption of Aïdó-ewo-dò : aï (earth, or under-part), dó (edge) , ewo (a large snake) , dò (large) , and hence means, " The great snake of the under- edge.”…

The temples of Anyi-ewo are usually painted with the colours of the rainbow, in stripes, and in the middle of the prism a snake is often rudely drawn. His messenger is a small variety of the boa, but only such individual snakes of this kind as are declared by the priests to be his messengers are free from molestation , and all others may be killed with impunity…

SOURCE: Ellis, Alfred Burdon. The Eʻwe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa: Their Religion, Manners, Customs, Laws, Languages, &c. United Kingdom, Chapman and Hall, limited, 1890. pp. 47-49. Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_E%CA%BBwe_speaking_Peoples_of_the_Slave/Ak9M8SXJlekC?hl=en&gbpv=0

SEE ALSO: Hebblethwaite, Benjamin. A Transatlantic History of Haitian Vodou: Rasin Figuier, Rasin Bwa Kayiman, and the Rada and Gede Rites. United States, University Press of Mississippi, 2021.

I decided to merge elements from Danh-gbi and Anyi-ewo into a single character, as I am not actually sure which one can be properly identified with “Daniel Blanc”.

Evidence that Danh-gbi or Aido-wedo (Anyi-ewo) was worshiped as a separate divinity from Damballah can be found in George W. Cable’s (1887) The Grandissimes, where “Monsieur Danny” and “Monsieur D’Embarras” are both named as two different “imps”. Although it is a fictional work, it is likely that the divinities described in The Grandissimes correspond with spirits that were actually worshiped in Louisiana Voudou. The “Danny” in “Monsieur Danny” is likely derived from dañh, while the “D’Embarras” in “Monsieur D’Embarras” is likely derived from Dambara / Dambarah, an alternative spelling of Danbalah*.

SOURCE: Cable, George W. The Grandissimes: A Story of Creole Life. United States, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1887. p.94 https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Grandissimes_A_Story_of_Creole_Life/xuYhgJXZIkUC?hl=en&gbpv=0

*See: Rigaud, Milo. La tradition voudoo et le voudoo haïtien: son temple, ses mystères, sa magie. FeniXX, 1953. p. 422. Retrieved from: https://dloc.com/AA00002240/00001/images/425

Another piece of evidence comes from Helen Pitkin’s (1904) An Angel in Brevet. Much like Cable, Pitkin was careful in her research, and similarly describes “Blanc Dani” (identified with St. Michael) and “Dambarra Soutons” as two separate divinities.

SOURCE: Schertz, Helen Pitkin. An Angel by Brevet: A Story of Modern New Orleans. United Kingdom, J.B. Lippincott, 1904. Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/books/edition/An_Angel_by_Brevet/35PUAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

“Monsieur Danny” / “Blanc Dani” certainly had a real-life counterpart in “Daniel Blanc”, who was identified with St. Michael.

From the Federal Writer’s Project interview with the 75-year old Mary Washington (“Mary Ellis”), who was born in 1863*:

“That’s all I can remember. Marie Laveau used to call St. Peter somethin’ like ‘Laba.’ She called St. Michael ‘Daniel Blanc,’ and St. Anthony ‘Yon Sue.’ There was another one she called ‘On Za Tier’; I think that was St. Paul. I never did know where them names come from. They sounded Chinee to me. You know the Chinee emperor sent her a shawl? She wore it all the time, my aunt told me.”

SOURCE: Source: Tallant, Robert. Voodoo in New Orleans. 1946. Reprint, Gretna, La.: United Kingdom, Pelican Publishing Company, 1983.:

*Age and date of birth described in: Long, Carolyn Morrow. A New Orleans voudou priestess: The legend and reality of Marie Laveau. University Press of Florida, 2007.

Although Helen Pitkin’s and George Cable’s novels are both fictional works, both authors appear to have carefully researched the names of these spirits. It seems likely that there existed a real-life counterpart to “Monsieur D’Embarras” / “Dambarra Soutons”, who was distinct from “Daniel Blanc”.

In Haiti, the male lwa Damballah Wedo is paired with the female lwa Aida Wedo. Notably, Damballah is not identified with St. Michael, but St. Patrick*.

*See: Herskovits, M. J. (1937). Life in a Haitian valley.

It seems only one of these divine serpents appears in mythology of Missouri Voudou: Ole Gran'daddy Rattlesnake. Interestingly, there is a myth wherein “Gran'daddy Rattlesnake” had a twin sister, who he killed in a fit of rage, by turning her into snakeweed. In another account, “Gran'daddy Rattlesnake” is the father of a pair of twins, a boy and a girl; it is the son - not “Gran’daddy” himself - who kills the twin sister. This is similar to how Danh-gbi is represented by a pair of male and female snakes, and how Aido-Wedo has a female counterpart in Aida-Wedo.

See: Owen, Mary Alicia. Voodoo Tales: As Told Among the Negroes of the Southwest. United States, Putnam's Sons, 1893. pp.257-258 Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Voodoo_Tales/H_kLAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

It seems that Daniel Blanc is distinct from Damballah, but I am actually not entirely certain if he is derived from Danh-gbi or Dan Aïdo Hwèdo (Anyi-ewo). In the present day, ball pythons (the snake identified with Danh-gbi) are a prominent feature of celebrations in Congo Square, New Orleans; however, Ava Kay Jones was famously photographed with a boa constrictor (the snake identified with Anyi-ewo). This, too, adds to my uncertainty.

It is plausible that worshipers of both Danh-gbi and Anyi-ewo were present in Louisiana. Taking all of this into account, I ultimately decided to merge the divine serpents into a single character. Alternatively, it may be better to split “Sir Duke” into two separate characters: a male and female naga, who are wedded to each other. For now, I have merged both into a single character, as nonfiction sources only describe a single serpent-related divinity worshiped by followers of Marie Laveau: “Daniel Blanc”, identified with St. Michael.

SEE: Anderson, Jeffrey E.. Voodoo: An African American Religion. United States, LSU Press, 2024.

Tentatively, Sir Duke speaks with three male voices and one female. The female voice represents the female serpent and the force of gravity; the male voices represent the other three fundamental forces.

In addition to manipulating thermodynamics and vibrational strings, he has some other insane power that I have not defined yet… it might be that he has the power to rewrite the laws of physics itself…

He uses this power to run away really fast… All of his powers are completely squandered on him.

You know what… I misspoke. This is a snake who sticks to his principles of non violence, refusing to buckle to what other people think of him. Good on him!

In real life, Daniel Blanc was syncretized with St. Michael. This is another reason I think “Sir Duke” makes for a fun inclusion, as I would wager that St. Michael - fated enemy of Lucifer - might appear in a later season of Hazbin Hotel.

Because he does not sing, Sir Duke plays the soprano saxophone.

IT’S GOD MODE SIDNEY BECHET.

#hazbin hotel ocs #commentary #the loa (hazbin hotel)#sir duke (hazbin hotel)#snake #DOCTOR MANHATTAN BUT NOT AN ASSHOLE!!!

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