Glasya

Archfiend

Glasya
Glasya, Princess of Hell, as depicted in Dungeon #197 (2011). Art by Brian Valenzuela.
Title:	Princess of Hell, Lord of the Sixth, the Dark Prodigy
Alias(es):	The Princess of Hell
Home plane:	Nine Hells
Power level:	Archdevil
Gender:	Female
Class:	n/a
Alignment:	Lawful evil
Domains:	Diabolic, Evil, Trickery
Superior:	Asmodeus

Glasya is a Princess of Hell (Baator in later editions of the game). She is noted to be one of the most powerful and influential of the female devils. Her symbol is a copper scourge.

Description

Glasya is described as being incredibly beautiful. She has copper-colored skin and dark red or black hair. She appears human except that she has bat-like wings, horns, and a forked tail.

Relationships

Glasya is the daughter of the Overlord of the Hells, Asmodeus, and his deceased queen, Bensozia. She is also the former consort of Mammon, Lord of the Third.

Glasya has become fast friends with Fierna, the daughter of Belial, and Glasya's influence has caused Fierna to grow increasingly independent from her father.

Vassals

Glasya favors paeliryons and erinyes as her servants but has still to build a real court.

The only unique devils known to serve her are Tartach, Baalzebul's former legate who left the court of his master due to his opinions on the Slug Lord's policies, and Beleth, the Prince of Imps.

Tartach now serves as her chamberlain and lover, while Beleth serves as her master of spies.

Realm

Glasya rules Malbolge, the sixth layer of Hell. Her fortress there, Ossiea, was created from the grotesquely enlarged and distorted skull of the Hag Countess. It is a white, domelike structure, five stories in height, whose eye sockets have been filled with windows made from blood-red glass. A windpipe-like tunnel leads downwards to the subterranean kitchens and servant's quarters' the pink flesh of the walls still expands and contracts as if inhaling and exhaling in great slow breaths.

Worshipers

Glasya, depicted in the Monster Manual II (1983).

Glasya's worshippers cluster in areas of political unrest, where a small push might turn the entire realm to the ethos of lawful evil. She is also interested in realms that uphold traditional gender roles, teaching the wives and daughters of powerful men how to become the powers behind their thrones. Her clerics' favored weapon is the scourge.

Temples

Glasya favors brothels and bordellos and fronts for her temples.

History

Glasya on her throne.

Early Years

According to Dungeon #197, Glasya was reared on hatred and taught seduction and intrigue by her mother Bensozia, who hoped to turn her into a weapon against her father. Much later, after a fight with Asmodeus, Glasya came to Stygia in a bid to become Levistus's consort. Instead she discovered her mother in Levistus's embrace, and in a fit of rage she slit Bensozia's throat. Martinet discovered the gory scene and framed Levistus for the murder instead. Asmodeus duly punished Levistus by imprisoning him in ice, elevating Geryon to the status of lord of Stygia. Asmodeus sent Glasya to Mammon's court to become one of his concubines.

Chief Consort

Glasya was the chief consort of Mammon (out of his harem of nine), an archdevil of avarice who rules the third layer of Hell known as Minauros. The other consorts would never move against her, due to her status as Asmodeus's daughter.

In first edition supplements, Glasya was very influential but not very powerful in combat and thus preferred to stay on the sidelines when it came to battle. However, she was no easy mark. She has never been in good terms with her father and would often disrespect him at any occasion. On the other hand, she liked her mother very much and would always root for her.

In Dungeon #197, it's said that Glasya loathed Mammon and viewed her time in the stinking swamps of Minauros as a punishment. She conspired with Focalor, promising to help him destroy Mammon.

The Reckoning

Glasya's machinations would bear fruit in the Reckoning. Glasya whispered instructions into Focalor's ear, and Focalor obeyed them. Focalor told Mammon that Baalzebul was massing troops for an attempted invasion of Cania, Hell's eighth layer. Then Glasya went to Malbolge, the sixth layer, and conspired with the Hag Countess, one of Moloch's consorts. Using the Hag Countess as her mouthpiece, Glasya convinced Moloch that Mephistopheles was preparing to invade Malbolge.

Mammon warned Mephistopheles of the supposed invasion of Cania and Moloch warned Baalzebul of what the Hag Countess had told him. Both began amassing armies. The Hells split into factions, with Zariel, Baalzebul, and Moloch, and Belial on one side and Dispater, Mammon, Geryon, and Mephistopheles on the other. Belial's consort Naome, suspecting Glasya's plotting, warned Belial that the escalating tensions risked angering Asmodeus, and Belial began brokering a peace agreement, suggesting a new Blood War invasion of the Abyss in order to provide a common enemy for the feuding lords of Hell. Before this could happen, Glasya crept into Belial's domain and murdered Naome, and all attempts at peace fell apart. Belial ordered Zariel to invade Dis, while he himself joined Baalzebul and Moloch in an invasion of Stygia. The ensuing war is said to have lasted an eon.

After the Reckoning, Asmodeus ended the relationship between Mammon and his daughter by ordering her to come back to Nessus. There, she served her father as mistress of the erinyes, a position she hated, particularly because it put her under the command of the Dark Eight.

Talakara

Around 120 years ago, a human wizard named Talakara devoted herself to Glasya, and Glasya rewarded her with the circlet containing the soul of the ancient skeleton warrior Agrovale. With the combination of her increasingly powerful magic and Agrovale's might, Talakara soon conquered an isolated mountain kingdom called Pandar.

Lord of the Sixth

As of Fiendish Codex II, Glasya is now the Lord of the Sixth Layer of Hell, having taken that position from Malagarde the Hag Countess in 595 or 596 CY. Powered up by the life essence of late arch-Duke Geryon, the Princess of Hell is now much more set for war purposes and even more forceful. She also settled her differences with her father, at least for the moment.

According to Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells, Glasya currently seeks revenge upon Levistus for having dared to murder her beloved mother. To that end, she's constantly spying on him so that she can get evidence of major transgression of Baator's rules. If she can provide that, Asmodeus will grant her the right (and his benediction) to utterly destroy Levistus. However, according to Dungeon #197, her obsession with Levistus vacillates from depression to hate. She still despises him for rejecting her in favor of her mother, and in retribution seeks to literally devour his heart.

In the meantime, she has grown to be a close ally of Fierna, Belial's daughter. If Fierna knows of the rumors of Glasya's part in the death of Fierna's mother Naome, it doesn't seem to bother her. Rumors suggest Glasya has also cultivated allies among the Dark Eight. The other archdevils (not counting Asmodeus) all despise her for manipulating them in the Reckoning, and would destroy her if not for their fear of her father's wrath.

Creative origins

Like many of the archfiends in the game, Glasya, at least namewise, has her origins in real world myths. Her name seems to be a derivation of Glasya-Labolas, which is another name for the fiend known as Caarcrinolaas. The fact that she is the Overlord of Hell's daughter is a completely original concept written by Gary Gygax.

Publishing history

Glasya, depicted in Guide to Hell (1999).

Glasya made her first appearance in Dragon #75, in an article that served as a preview of the then upcoming first edition Monster Manual II.

In the second edition of the game, Glasya appeared in the supplement Guide to Hell, written by Chris Pramas. In this sourcebook, she is no longer the consort to Mammon but the leader of the erinyes.

Glasya made her third edition Dungeons & Dragons debut in the sourcebook Book of Vile Darkness.

The fourth edition Monster Manual mentions that Glasya is still the lord of Malbolge. Additional information relating to her has been released in Dragon magazine, The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea, and Demonomicon, the latter of which relates that she was an active participant—and early ally and later foe of Graz'zt—in the Blood War of the new default setting.

See also

• Devil
• Duke of Hell
• Lords of the Nine Hells

Bibliography

• Baur, Wolfgang, and Steven Kurtz. "A Rose for Talakara." Dungeon #25. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1990.

• Cook, Monte. Book of Vile Darkness. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2002.

• Gygax, Gary. "From the Sorcerer's Scroll: New Denizens of Devildom." Dragon #75. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983.

———. Monster Manual II. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983.

• Laws, Robin D., and Robert J. Schwalb. Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells (Wizards of the Coast, 2006.

• Marmell, Ari. "Codex of Betrayal: Beleth, the Witch's Viscount." Dragon #365. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2008. Available online: [1]

• McComb, Colin. Faces of Evil: The Fiends. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1997.

• Pramas, Chris. Guide to Hell. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1999.

• Schwalb, Robert J. "Codex of Betrayal: Glasya, Princess of the Nine Hells." Dungeon #197. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2011.

  Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index

The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.

Topic	Type	Description	Product	Page/Card/Image
Glasya {Princess of Hell}	Deity	Female, Devil, Arch-Devil, (Arch-devil), Female,	Defenders of the Faith, D&D 3.0e	96
Glasya {Princess of Hell}	Deity	Female, Devil, Arch-Devil, (Arch-devil), Female,	Dragon magazine #075	9, 11, 12, 25, 27
Glasya {Princess of Hell}	Deity	Female, Devil, Arch-Devil, (Arch-devil), Female,	Monster Manual 1, D&D 5e	68
Glasya {Princess of Hell}	Deity	Female, Devil, Arch-Devil, (Arch-devil), Female,	Monster Manual 2, AD&D 1e	44, 47
Glasya {Princess of Hell}	Deity	Female, Devil, Arch-Devil, (Arch-devil), Female,	Manual of the Planes, AD&D 1e	65, 111