Comparison of Narratology of The Devil “Azazel” in The Book of Enoch and Contemporary Works

Abstract

One of the earliest appearances of Azazel was in the Book of Enoch, circa the 3rd century BC. Azazel's notoriety as a fallen angel or demon has been brought up in literature across periods of time. This paper sought to analyze a relatively obscure Biblical figure of Azazel and subsequently analyze his namesakes in contemporary works, namely TV series Supernatural Season 1 & 2 (2005-2006), a wargame-franchise trilogy novel The Legend of Sigmar (2008, 2009, 2011), and a videogame Helltaker (2020). Qualitative analysis was used to compare the apocryphal Book of Enoch to identify facets of Enochic Azazel and the three contemporary objects in a narratological sense using the theory of fabula. It is found that all contemporary Azazels echo Enochic Azazel in at least two fabulaic aspects of forbidden knowledge and power. A possible trend was also found between the recency of a depiction and how much it matches The Book of Enoch, with the more recent a work is, the more it matches.