Another Analysis Friday, another Hazbin Hotel essay! Y’all told me your thoughts on their posing as hellvangelists on Sunday…
And I’m impressed! I can’t tell if Alastor won just because we all love him though. 😂 I personally like the costumes equally.
But the best part is that these costumes and their associated roles play into Vox and Alastor themselves!
Vox likes clout. He may like to have it in a more mature, business way than Velvette, but he’s still a clout-chaser. So, posing as a televangelist during his song makes complete sense! Despite humility being a big thing Jesus focused on, televangelists are known instead for their bombastic, fake, hell-emphasizing, prosperity gospel-embracing sermons spread across the screen. I remember the days of early Saturday morning being plagued by these guys as a kid.
As for Alastor? He’s hard at work behind the scenes, just as nuns and monks historically have done forever. While not necessarily humble, he doesn’t chase attention so much as asserts dominance if anyone questions him. Alastor’s disarming smile downplays his real power, so people pay attention when he does make his presence known. Similarly we are still guessing about his intentions and deal, as he would much rather not have either announced. And, nuns aren’t trying to outdo each other, unlike the sorts of preachers seeking to get rich rather than help others. Alastor is so out of Vox’s league that he doesn’t even see him as competition!
Naturally, these takes are opposed to each other just like Alastor and Vox are.
And bonus points for personal details on their clothing! Vox’s signature static waves on his robes, and the x symbols (matching his death injury in life) on Alastor’s habit. Love that these are on his habit at all, as he was shot in the head.
As a fun extra bit of religious trivia today, let’s just note that the inverted cross only became a Satanic visual in the late 1800s due to Eugene Vintras’ possibly occult masses, and definitely his eccentric followers. Lucifer uses the pentagram himself, which has been a symbol of divine powers since Babylonian times at least. It also became Satanic in the same time period due to an entirely different reason.
