Stolas is a former Goetic Prince of Hell, and a deuteragonist in Helluva Boss. He is the father of Octavia and the husband of Stella, who he is currently in the midst of divorce proceedings with.

He is also a target of Striker, an assailant hired by Stolas' wife to kill him. As of "Mastermind", Stolas has had his royal status and powers taken from him and been banished from the Ars Goetia to live amongst the common demons in Hell for the next 100 years.

Appearance

Stolas is an anthropomorphic owl demon. He is tall and slender, with a white, heart-shaped facial disk and small black beak, resembling that of an owl. He has two pairs of almond-shaped red eyes, one set atop the other, with no visible irises or pupils, albeit white highlights do occasionally appear when he is excited.

Stolas has gray-blue feathers, which gradients to dark gray-blue on his head and long, plume-like tail. He has a lighter gray-blue puff of fur on his chest. He also has a gray streak on his hair.

His limbs are long, thin, and black, and his feet are tipped with bird-like claws.

Although, he frequently changes clothes, Stolas is often seen wearing a deep red tunic with six linked golden buttons down the breast, and beige breeches. He accessorizes with a feathery tophat that features a regal gold crown encircling it, as well as a long burgundy cape, tattered at the hemline, with a plush ermine-look fur collar, and long black gloves with white feathered trims at the elbows.

As shown in "Mastermind", Stolas now has a permanent white scar on his left shoulder from Striker's torture in "Western Enegry".

Full Demon

Human Disguise

Stolas' human disguise is much shorter than his regular form, while still relatively rather tall compared to other humans. He only has one set of eyes, which have white sclera with red irises, and a pair of pupils which he normally lacks in his regular form. He lacks any type of plumage so he instead has gray hair atop his head.

His outfit changes drastically, now wearing a deep red vest with coat-tails reminiscent of his tail feathers, over a gray long-sleeve, high-collar shirt with a light gray puff tie. His pants are dark gray and he now has black shoes. During the episode "Seeing Stars" Stolas picks up a pair of red lensed glasses that he wears on his forehead, being reminiscent of his regular forms second set of eyes.

Personality

Stolas gives the immediate impression of someone regal and ostentatious, as would be expected for a royal of his station. He dresses in clothing befitting his role, and his mansion is decadent, containing many large, elaborately framed portraits of himself and his small family.

Underneath these dignified trappings, however, Stolas is shown to be a flamboyant, dramatic, eccentric, and often giddy person. Someone who does not take his royal reputation as seriously as the people around him expect him to, and is prone to act quickly on his easily excitable emotions.

He is also shown to be very intelligent, even as a child, due to being a bibliophile and having incredible knowledge of many things including the laws of Hell.

Stolas can also often get caught up in pursuing his own present interests and fails to pay attention to the more pressing issues around him, including the feelings and needs of others. He has even dismissed their wishes under the belief that, as long as he was happy, everybody else was as well, even when he was told otherwise. He also has trouble expressing his emotions when facing bigger dilemmas such as having a hard time explaining to Octavia that his marriage was never good or standing up to Stella before his affair and having trouble talking to Blitzo about his true feelings toward him.

Although, these tendencies can make him appear selfish and even airheaded to some people in his life, he isn't oblivious to correction or regret and this is something he makes an effort to improve on, specifically in regards to his beloved daughter, Octavia.

Stolas is also shown to be very lonely, seemingly isolated and cloistered in his position. In "The Circus", when he was a child, he told a young Blitzo that he never had anybody to share his books with, further supporting this notion. Although, he is married, it is clear that he and his wife are not on affectionate terms, and that their marriage is implied to have been somewhat cold for a long while.

Stolas has, perhaps surprisingly, an equally romantic and explicit side, something he looks to indulge in with Blitzo, an imp, considered 'lower-class' among his peers, whom he is currently engaged in a complicated extramarital affair with. He is also very uncensored in discussing his many bedroom preferences, using highly explicit and flowery language, sometimes in front of others, and is interested in aspects of BDSM, such as bondage.

Stolas is invested in Hell's soap operas as comfort shows, enjoys the process of getting ready for rendezvous, and swoons over idealized ideas of amorous romance.

As with many demons, and the denizens of Hell in general, Stolas has a somewhat questionable moral compass and is implied to interfere with the affairs of humans for his own benefit. He can easily cross the boundary between Hell and the living world with his own personal grimoire, and seems to enjoy striking fear into humans.

Despite this, he is also gentle and nurturing to those he cares for, showing open devotion to his daughter, concern towards Blitzo and his coworkers, as well as attentiveness to his large and lavish garden of carnivorous Hell-plants.

Abilities

NOTE: As Stolas has had his powers taken away during the events of "Mastermind" for the next 100 years, it can be assumed that he is currently incapable of most of the abilities listed.

• Immortality - As demonic royalty, and as mentioned by Blitzo in "Apology Tour", Stolas is biologically immortal, being able to live for a long period of time and only able to be killed by angelic weaponry.
• Demon transformation - Stolas can transform into a huge, monstrous demon form, with jet-black feathers, large wings, jagged teeth, and two sets of glowing red eyes.
• Human disguise - Stolas can take on a convincing human appearance to disguise himself in the living world.
• Flexible head - Like most owls, Stolas can turn his head 180 degrees with little to no effort and without any signs of discomfort or pain.

• 

  Petrification - Stolas can turn his targets into stone with a simple glare.
• Telekinesis - Stolas can use telekinesis, both passively and aggressively. He uses the power to lift his grimoire into his hands so that he can comfort his daughter, and also to violently hurl monitors across the room in the D.H.O.R.K.S. headquarters.
• Possession - Stolas can possess humans on Earth by spiritually entering them. The possession causes the host to spasm and they gain red eyes, sharp teeth, and Stolas' eye stripes. Furthermore, when they stand on his seal, they can serve as a medium to summon Stolas' physical form to Earth.
• Reanimation - Stolas can temporarily animate the corpses of deceased humans, which he demonstrates on a group of D.H.O.R.K.S. agents, using them to draw out his seal in order to give him access to the Human World without the use of the grimoire.
• Electrokinesis - Stolas showcases this ability in "Truth Seekers" when he disrupts the electric signal of the security cameras' monitors in the D.H.O.R.K.S. headquarters. It is unknown if this is an effect of his possessing someone or not.

• 

  Pyligenesis - Stolas is able to create portals to seemingly anywhere without using his grimoire. This ability first appears in "Truth Seekers" when he creates a portal from Earth back to Hell, and he later shows in "Seeing Stars" that he can also create portals to cross into the living world. In "Ozzie's" he is shown to also fabricate portals to access the other Rings of Hell.
• High pain tolerance - In "Western Energy" Stolas was shown to have a high tolerance to pain as Striker broke and stabbed his leg Stolas didn't react to the pain.
• Projection - In "The Full Moon" Stolas created a projection from his grimoire of Blitzo moving from Hell to Earth while explaining about the Asmodean Crystal to him.
• Teleportation - In "The Full Moon", Stolas transported Blitzo outside his mansion without the use of a portal.
• Pyrokinesis - As seen in "Apology Tour", Stolas can snap generate purple flames, which he erupted into during his song.
• Cosmic energy manipulation - In "Mastermind", Stolas manipulated cosmic energy to hold back the Reaper's axe from executing Blitzo.

Skillset

• 

  Musical talent - Stolas is shown to be very adept at singing, comforting his daughter with ballad-style lullabies.
• Gardening - This comes naturally with his love of plants. He has an extravagant collection of Hell-flora, which he lovingly tends to.
• Drawing - It is shown in a couple of his Voxtagram posts that he is adept at drawing and doodling. In Sinsmas, it he shown to be a good artist in his story book.
• Speed reading - In "Oops", it shown that due to having extra eyes Stolas is able to read at a fast pace even when having large piles of papers and remember what was on it.
• Average strength - In "Sinsmas", it is shown that Stolas has enough strength to give Andrealphus a black eye and make him bleed, and was even able to pick up an ice statue and smash it on him with no struggle.

Gallery

• Stolas/Gallery

Concept & Creation

Stolas is based on a Great Prince of Hell of the same name from the Ars Goetia chapter of the The Lesser Key of Solomon demonology grimoire, who is also depicted as a crowned owl with long legs.

Trivia

• Vivziepop clarified that Stolas is not an Overlord, but, is part of this separate hierarchical tier, which are also referred to as 'the Goetia Demons'.^[3] Stolas alludes to the order in "Loo Loo Land".
  • The seal of the Goetic demon can be seen on the balcony of Stolas' mansion.
    • As seen in "The Circus", before having the ownership of the mansion handed down to Stolas by his father, Paimon used to have his goetic seal on the outer wall before Stolas changed it to his own.
  • Stolas' love of gardening and plants, as well as his astrological theming, both reference how the mythological Stolas teaches astronomy and is knowledgeable about herbs, plants, and precious stones. Prior to "Loo Loo Land", Stolas' gardening hobby was foreshadowed in a post from the unofficial Voxtagram account.^[7]
• Stolas exhibits some owl-like behaviors, such as making hooting noises at the end of his laughs. It's also shown in "Loo Loo Land" that he keeps a ziplock bag of dead rodents in his refrigerator.
• Although Vivziepop admitted she hadn't given the idea much thought, she described Stolas as being more powerful than Alastor, albeit she also mentioned that their powers work differently from each other.^[8]
• In "Loo Loo Land", it appears that Stolas is actually very lightweight, as Blitzo is able to princess-style carry him up the steps to his seat without any struggle.
• Pinkham's favorite line as Stolas in season one is "We're rich and we're hot!" from "Loo Loo Land".^[9]
• It is shown in "Murder Family" that Blitzo has multiple security buttons under his desk as he frantically presses one to try to alert the others in reception. As listed on the lights on Loona's desk, one of the scenarios for one of the buttons include Stolas himself.
• In "The Circus" it is shown that Stolas takes Belphegor-branded "Happy Pills". This is fitting, as Belphegor being the Prince of Sloth works well with the intended effects of the medicine - a means to tone down the consumer's stress.
• As indicated by his father's wording in "The Circus", Stolas has numerous unnamed siblings on his father's side.
  • Furthermore, after being reminded of Stolas' name by Mister Butler, Paimon refers to the former as "The owl boy", insinuating that his other children are of other bird-like breeds or different animals entirely.
• As shown in "The Circus", Stolas became acquainted with Stella and Blitzo on his birthday, when he was informed he was arranged to be engaged to the former by Paimon. He then developed a crush on Blitzo that day after first witnessing his performance at the circus.
• According to the lead storyboard artist for Helluva Boss, Stolas has a cloaca.^[10] This was later confirmed in the episode "The Full Moon".
• When Stolas was a child, he had a stuff animal that bears resemblance to Max from Sam & Max. He had it ever since he was a newborn baby.
• In "Seeing Stars" it is implied Stolas can use any of the spells within the grimoire if he remembers them.
• Sam Haft said in a tweet that Stolas is the character he loves writing songs for the most because he understands Stolas so well emotionally and musically.^[11]
• In an Instagram highlights by Vivienne Medrano, it was said that Stolas is not a villain, but he does have his moments.^[12]
• Despite being modeled after an owl, some sound effects used for him include ostrich sounds.
• In "Apology Tour", it is revealed that Stolas can be summon to Earth by Satanists who worship him.
• According to Vivziepop, the injuries that Stolas received in "Western Energy" had lasting effect. Vivziepop also thinks that we will learn more about his injuries organically.^[13]
• In "Sinsmas", it isrevealed that Stolas writes erotic stories.
• In "Sinsmas", it is revealed that Stolas enjoys eating koi, kale salad, and vole.

Development

• Before the conception of Helluva Boss Vivziepop had replied to a tweet asking about cameos of demons from mythology, saying that Stolas was 100% going to appear in Hazbin Hotel.^[14]
• During one of the Helluva Boss Q&As, Bryce Pinkham described Stolas' view of Blitzo as "Someone he can be his true self with" and expressed his happiness for the character in finding that in someone. He described it as a relationship that had obvious physicality, but, which also had "something deeper going on", and that he saw both the characters as having to wrestle with that.^[15]
• When auditioning for the role of Stolas, Bryce mentioned having two prompts that he took in with him, one of them being King George from Hamilton. He also leaned into that playful British speech pattern, which he then went on to describe as ending up half Mrs. Doubtfire and half his British dance teacher grandmother-in-law.^[16]
• The designs for Stolas' outfit changes for the episode "Loo Loo Land" were first revealed during the BLM Charity Stream.^[17]
• According to Vivienne Medrano, early into writing the first season, she had decided that she wanted Blitzo and Stolas to have met as kids, and that this idea informed the rest of the series and especially season two.^[18]
• According to Vivziepop, while writing the first season she asked Brandon Rogers if he thought Stolas and Blitzo was a worthwhile relationship to explore or if they should keep it purely comedic and keep Stolas and Blitzo as the joke of a weird hookup relationship; Brandon thought the former made sense and they changed the trajectory of the series to fit that. Vivziepop also mentioned that Brandon was the one who controlled whether Stolas stayed a villainous character or have a really intricate nuanced story and complicated romance.^[19]

References