Balthazar

Balthazar
""
Canon:	Constantine (movie)
Species:	half-demon
Hometown:	Hell
Age:	around three thousand years
Journal:	http://molotovmartinis.livejournal.com
Player:	Jillian

"Imagine that life on earth exists in a state of détente, a balance between the forces of good and evil scrupulously maintained through the ages. Humans choose their own paths in this realm and, in doing so, seal their fates for the realm beyond; some bound for heaven and some for hell.

"As part of this divine wager for all the souls in the world, both God and the devil are restricted from direct contact with the human race and its free will but are allowed a measure of influence through intermediaries. Neither fully angels nor demons, these earthbound influence peddlers are best described as halfbreeds." [1]

dead as dead can be my doctor tells me

Balthazar is a vain and manipulative demon with a predilection for ugly ties. He enjoys bottled water, looking like a smug, impeccable bastard, and toying with people.

According to movie canon, all demons that walk the earth are "halfbreeds", and thus are Hell's intermediaries just as Heaven's are angels. They may be killed and deported back to Hell with the use of blessed weapons, and are indifferent to any variety of fire.

At first glance, he appears to be a man in his mid or early thirties, about six feet tall — one who is striving for the descriptor of "impeccable." Invariably clad in pinstripes and sadistic ties, his demonic aura is subtly muted by the suit and his business-like demeanor. Those with keen senses of smell may pick up traces of brimstone and sulfur mixed up in that of an old-fashioned cologne. Holy water will reveal the greenish, demonic flesh beneath his skin as well as release a stronger scent of sulfur. When feeling strong emotion (or just being a dick and showing off) his eyes may become more noticeably red and/or luminescent.

but I just can't believe him, ever the optimistic one

The name Balthazar is a variant of Baltazar, which means "Ba'al protect the king" in Phoenician. In the Historia Trium Regum, the History of the Three Kings, the fourteenth-century cleric John of Hildesheim says that the names of the three kings who visit Jesus in Bethlehem are Caspar or Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.

Perhaps more pressingly, Balthazar is also a form of Belshazzar, a prince of Babylon, the son of Nabonidus, and the last king of Babylon according to the Book of Daniel. Daniel 5:1-4 describes "Belshazzar's Feast", in which the sacred vessels of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, which had been brought to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar at the time of the Captivity, were profaned by the company. In consequence of this, during the festivities, a hand was seen writing on the wall of the chamber a mysterious sentence mene mene tekel upharsin, which defied all attempts at interpretation. heir natural denotations of weights and measures were superficially meaningless: "two minas, a shekel and two parts.". In the verb form, they were: mene, to number; tekel, to weigh; upharsin, to divide — literally "numbered, weighed, divided". When the Hebrew Daniel was called in, he read and interpreted the words. The last word (prs) he read as peres not parsin. His free choice of interpretation and decoding revealed the menacing subtext: "Thou art weighed in the balance and art found wanting". The divine menace against the dissolute Belshazzar, whose kingdom was to be divided between the Medes and Persians, was swiftly realized: in the last verse we are told that Belshazzar was slain in that same night, and that his power passed to Darius the Mede. [2]

I'm sure of your ability to become my perfect enemy

The movie implies that this term is somewhat misleading, and given how John uses it against Gabriel and Balthazar, it actually seems to be something of an insult. In Hellblazer, a demon called Rosacarnis had three half-demon children with John as revenge for her father, Nergal. However, it seems some halfbreeds may be made rather than born, since Chaz reappears after the credits as an angel. Then again, this does not explain Gabriel.

In the movie, Balthazar's the human aspect allows him to roam the earth, while "real" demons cannot due to the Agreement (except when they can because everything is going to shit). If John can enter Hell using a pan of water and a cat, it only makes sense that Balthazar can move between Hell and earth with similar (if not even easier) means; however, when the human body is killed/destroyed, the demon is then "deported" with no means of return. Long association (in Balthazar's case, a couple thousand years) with a human body means that he is significantly different from and weaker than a true demon.

Though his personal history with John seems/is implied to be extensive (in the movie's promotional comic, John blames Balthazar specifically for a girl's suicide), there's little elaboration on how it all started. It's actually very easy to fit Nergal into moviecanon, which is to posit that Nergal is Balthazar's father and Balthazar's demonic aspect and penchant for fucking with Constantine therefore comes from him. In the comics, it is said that Nergal's line and the line of Constantine are heavily entwined.

Halfbreeds are at the bottom of the demonic food chain in terms of raw power. As far as their social status goes, they may be considered something like nouveau riche by other devils. While they have great influence over earthly matters, they are also in a sense representatives only: diplomats, ambassadors, stand-ins. A halfbreed who amasses wealth and power such as Balthazar may be dealing with complex infernal politics as well as orders from Mammon. Obviously, a direct order given by Lucifer would supercede even those.

As a half-demon, Balthazar was uniquely situated to act discretely on Mammon's behalf, and as the son of Lucifer, Mammon's social standing shielded Balthazar's activities from close scrutiny. Cooperating with an angel — Gabriel, at that — against Lucifer was an incredibly dangerous move. It is possible that he was simply following orders, but as several times he seemed quite assiduous regarding risky aspects of the job, it seems reasonable to assume he had some personal investment in the scheme. He was punished severely once Gabriel deported him.

wake up and face me; don't play dead, cause maybe—

Balthazar is a smug, manipulative, infuriating son of a bitch. His favorite deadly sins are, in order: greed, pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, and sloth. Taking the form of a stock broker in his thirties, he stands for everything corrupt and vile there is in modern industries. He delights in being perversely petty, self-mockingly acknowledging his low-on-the-demonic-hierarchy role as glorified car salesman. This is symbolized by the fact he wears godawful ties that clash terribly with his signature suit, an expensive navy pinstriped affair. He can be subtle when he wants but generally doesn't bother — one look at him and it's pretty obvious he's a rich bastard who should be dragged behind a barn and shot — or rather, he will play an obvious hand to hide the other. Astoundingly arrogant, he's nonetheless a shrewd operator, having survived for a long time among humanity and learned many lessons. He envies humans for their free will and despises them for what they choose to do with it.

A scheming, insidious underling, he is a businessman at heart, one who cares only about profit, profit being, of course, souls for Hell. He tempts and corrupts, using his money, influence, and powers to lead people down a primrose path to perdition.

Though a relatively young and thoroughly modern half-demon, Balthazar is nevertheless around three thousand years old. He has been preying on and leeching off of humans so long that the work bores him. Only individuals like Constantine can keep his attention for very long. He will go out of his way to antagonize John in an attempt to likewise hold the other man's attention. This is fitting for someone of Nergal's line.

His company, BZR (Balthazar Zynergy Registry [3]]), is a well-to-do brokerage firm.

— one day I will walk away and say "you fucking disappoint me..."

Balthazar demonstrates the following abilities during the movie:

• Illusions. Balthazar kills Father Hennessy by exploiting the other man's drinking problem. When Hennessy is frightened and runs to a liquor store, Balthazar makes it seem as if every bottle he opens is empty. In reality, they were full, resulting in Hennessy drinking himself to death. The fact that these powers work even on a psychic like Hennessy means that his illusions are very powerful. However, it's implied that John's necklace can protect its wearer from the effects.
  Balthazar also appears to use this power to move unseen. He watches Constantine on the stairs, but when John looks up, he's gone. Later, while murdering Father Hennessy, he moves through the store unnoticed by anyone. Granted, when there's someone dying noisily on the floor, all attention tends to focus there, but the cinematography and the fact that only the half-angel makes eye contact with him implies something about his state of visibility/presence. Finally, before Beeman dies, the pin machines start acting oddly with no one around. As the actual murder isn't shown (though Balthazar's presence is confirmed by the presence of one of his coins), it's unclear whether he revealed himself or not. This ability works with the idea of halfbreeds as whispering voices of influence. Gabriel also has this ability, presumably in a more powerful form; it's probable the incantation John uses to reveal the angel would work on Balthazar.
• I COVER YOU IN BEES. ... I have no idea why this is one of his powers. Okay, the guy's name is Beeman. That ... doesn't mean you have to ... you know what, forget it, although I should note that this power is more accurately described as "fill you with bees". Or, it's a reference to Beelzebub (בעל זבוב, Ba'al-zvuv, "god of the fly", "host of the fly" or literally "Lord of Flies"), which is ... not bees, OR Balthazar, but shhh.
• Enhanced strength. When John attacks him in the boardroom, Balthazar holds him off the ground, without much apparent effort. Nothing special. It may surprise people who expect him to be a gormless yuppie instead of Patrick Bates.
• Immunity to fire. It'll trash his clothes, but it won't hurt him.

Implied powers:

• Influence. As they are called "influence peddlers", it sounds as if demon halfbreeds are supposed to have some kind of power to convince people to do as they say, which people may be able to resist depending on their willpower/determination/morality.
• Limited imperviousness. Demons can only be killed by holy items or entities. That doesn't mean other things don't hurt them — Constantine left Balthazar literally smeared across a conference table — but Balthazar doesn't die until Gabriel dispatches him.
• Psychic sensitivity. He can tell angels, demons, halfbreeds, humans, and non-humans on sight (as he did in the liquor store), and sense when they're in the area. Exceptions would be made for beings of higher power who could mask their presence.

Weaknesses:

• Holy. Angels and blessed items are deadly to him.
• Eldritch. Infernal policy dictates no tentacles be stepped on.
• Magic. Balthazar can be forcibly summoned or forced to show himself. Psychics can see through his human facade and illusions.
• Hierarchy. He is supposed to obey demons of higher ranking and may be cowed into obedience. The same goes for sufficiently high status celestial beings, whether they're angels or gods, and people under their explicit protection.

"... maybe you're better off this way."

1. A Perfect Circle - Passive
2. Dope - Thanks for Nothing
3. Nine Inch Nails - Ruiner
4. Crystal Method - Born Too Slow
5. Muse - Sunburn
6. Fake - Past Performance Does Not Guarantee Future Results
7. Queens of the Stone Age - Skin on Skin
8. Corduroy - Money Is
9. Tool - Sober
10. Panic! At the Disco - Build God, Then We'll Talk