Alastor (Hazbin Hotel)

Alastor "the Radio Demon" is a fictional character created by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano who primarily appears in the musical adult animated series ''Hazbin Hotel'' as one of the overlords of Hell. He was voiced by Edward Bosco and Gabriel C. Brown in the pilot and a series of music videos from 2019 to 2024, and by Amir Talai in the animated series since 2024. A constantly-smiling sinner, Alastor returns after a seven-year absence to help run a hotel known as the Hazbin Hotel, a halfway house founded by Charlie Morningstar, meant to rehabilitate the souls of those in Hell and help them earn a place in Heaven. Alastor seeks to guide and control Charlie, while also desiring to free his own soul from the service of an unknown being. He is often accompanied by the hotel's bartender Husk and housekeeper Niffty (whose souls he owns), and he is considered a rival by fellow overlord Vox and Charlie's father, Lucifer.

The character has received a positive critical reception, receiving particular attention as a prominent asexual character in media.

Conception and creation

Alastor was created by Medrano during her time at School of Visual Arts in New York City, appearing unnamed on her DeviantArt page "circa. 2008". He was planned to be incorporated into her 2012 webcomic series ''ZooPhobia'' as a supporting character in a planned "''Angels and Demons''" story arc following his formal creation in 2011; on the arc's cancellation in 2016 and subsequent redevelopment as ''Hazbin Hotel'', Alastor's full ''ZooPhobia'' design would not see publication.

Design and voice

In the unpublished ''ZooPhobia'' story arc ''Angels and Demons'', Alastor was depicted as a black-and-red demonic deer able to transform into a humanoid deer. He was described as "enjoy ngmaking deals and tricking mortals into service". He was a member of the "Demon Misfit Gang", who would later become the main cast of ''Hazbin Hotel''. Short comics about ''ZooPhobia'' published to Medrano's DeviantArt and Tumblr pages would see Alastor attempt to take the place of fellow deer-boy Autumn, and to convince Damian (the webcomic's Prince of Hell) to make a deal with him, while himself being in love with "KayCee", an all-powerful ancient being.

In the ''Hazbin Hotel'' pilot, Alastor was entirely human, save for a few deer-like characteristics, including hooves and antlers. He wore a red suitcoat and had an eternal smile of sharp teeth. He was confirmed to be asexual by Medrano on her Twitter account, which was alluded to in the series itself in " Hello Rosie!". Alastor's voice actor Amir Talai has also described the character as embodying the characteristics of the " Tumblr sexyman".

Alastor was a radio show host in his life, and he died at some point in the 1930s. Upon his arrival in Hell, he gained immense amounts of power very quickly, overthrowing overlords that had dominated for centuries. His voice reflects who he was in life, having a radio static effect over it most of the time, and sound effects common in radio shows of the time occasionally play while he is speaking.

In the pilot of ''Hazbin Hotel'', Edward Bosco was cast as the speaking voice of Alastor, and Gabriel C. Brown was cast as his singing voice. In the series, Bosco and Brown were replaced by Amir Talai.

Fictional character biography

Music videos (2018–2024)

Alastor made a cameo appearance in the 2018 music video for "Inside of Every Demon is a Rainbow", released October 6, 2018, one year prior to the release of the pilot episode of ''Hazbin Hotel''.

Gabriel C. Brown, the singing voice of Alastor in the pilot, provided vocals as Alastor in several fan-made music videos, including "Insane" in June 2021, which was reviewed by ''One Piece'' creator Eiichiro Oda as his "second-favorite song of 2023". In 2020, ''Hazbin Hotel'' and ''Helluva Boss'' songwriter Sam Haft released "Alastor's Game", in which Haft voiced Alastor.

"That's Entertainment" (2019)

Alastor made his first full appearance in " That's Entertainment", the ''Hazbin Hotel'' pilot episode. Presented as an overlord of Hell, Alastor visits the "Happy Hotel" after witnessing Charlie Morningstar's televised interview about the establishment. He offers his services to help run the hotel, and states that he believes redeeming sinners is an impossible task, and he is only there to watch people try and fail to redeem themselves for his own entertainment, due to boredom with his own life. He summons two souls under his control, Niffty and Husk, to serve as the hotel's maid and bartender, respectively. After renovating the hotel in a musical number ("Alastor's Reprise"), Alastor uses his power to fend off an attacking Sir Pentious, before renaming the hotel the "Hazbin Hotel".

''HuniCast'' (2019–2023)

From 2019 to 2023, Bosco and Brown would reprise their roles as Alastor in a series of skits in ''HuniCast'', a livestreamed podcast series co-hosted by Angel Dust's pilot voice actor, Michael Kovach, and ''Hazbin Hotel'' pilot animator Ashley Nichols, often featuring the cast and crew of ''Hazbin Hotel'' and SpindleHorse Toons as guests.

"A Day in the Afterlife" (2020)

Alastor returned in a starring role in "A Day in the Afterlife" (alternatively titled "The Radio Demon"), an official webcomic published on October 19, 2020. The comic explored a typical day for Alastor at an unspecified point in his afterlife. While attempting to purchase venison from a butcher, Alastor witnesses the butcher attempting to kill a sinner. He saves her life and consumes the butcher.

''Hazbin Hotel'' Season One (2024)

In the 2024 ''Hazbin Hotel'' animated series, Alastor continues to assist Charlie in running her redemption hotel. In "Overture", one week after the events of the pilot, Alastor makes a television commercial for the hotel with Vaggie, Husk, Angel Dust, and Niffty, noting it to have been seven years since he was active in Hell. In "Radio Killed the Video Star", after fending off another attack by Sir Pentious, Alastor's rival Vox learns that Alastor has returned; after losing a broadcast debate with him (" Stayed Gone"), Vox and the other "Vees" (Velvette and Valentino) seek to prevent Alastor from making a deal with Charlie, and send Sir Pentious into the hotel to spy on him. After Sir Pentious is exposed and forgiven by Charlie, choosing to become a real patron instead, Alastor mocks Vox over Sir Pentious' smartwatch. In "Scrambled Eggs", Vaggie asks Alastor to look after Sir Pentious' egg minions, which he allows to accompany him to a meeting with the other the overlords of Hell. After Velvette insinuates at the meeting that Carmilla Carmine killed an angel during the last Extermination (an annual purge of the souls of Hell by Heaven's army, led by Adam) An intrigued Alastor subsequently orders one of the egg minions to spy on Carmilla and confirm this claim to be true, before returning to the hotel.

In "Masquerade", Husk is revealed to have once been an overlord of Hell, who made a deal with Alastor to keep his power in exchange for his soul. In "Dad Beat Dad", after Charlie's father Lucifer arrives at the hotel and isn't impressed, he clashes with Alastor over who is the better father figure to Charlie (" Hell's Greatest Dad"), before being interrupted by Alastor's friend Mimzy. Distrustful of Mimzy, Husk takes Alastor aside while showing Lucifer the hotel to remind him not to trust her motives. On being brushed off as a "pet", Husk mentions how Alastor is "on a leash" to someone else, which Alastor threatens him never to mention again. After several loan shark demons attack the hotel in search of Mimzy, Alastor uses his powers to kill them and remind Hell of his power, before ordering Mimzy to leave. In "Hello Rosie!", following Charlie failing to pitch the hotel to Heaven again, with one month to go until the annual Extermination, Alastor convinces her to make a deal with him, telling her about Carmilla killing an angel, in exchange for a binding future favor. After Charlie sends Vaggie to acquire the information from Carmilla, Alastor brings Charlie to see his friend Rosie, the overlord of Hell in charge of Cannibal Town, and they convince the cannibals to serve as an army to defend the hotel against the angels ("Ready For This").

In "The Show Must Go On", the night before the Extermination, Alastor reminisces on the previous six months with Niffty, noting that one "could get used to" the residents of the hotel. On the Extermination's arrival the next day, a war between the angels and sinners ensues, and Alastor faces Adam himself. Overconfident, Alastor is badly wounded by Adam and forced to flee; in the aftermath of the battle, as the Vees celebrate Alastor's assumed loss and plot to take over Hell, a desperate Alastor hopes for freedom from his previous deal with an unknown being and control over Hell, before cleaning himself up "with a smile" and reuniting with Charlie and her friends ("Finale").

Promotion and reception

Since 2018, official clothing and merchandise based around Alastor and the cast of ''Hazbin Hotel'' designed by Medrano have been available intermittently from Shark Robot LLC. In 2024, an emote entitled "Reaper's Showtime" was added to the video game ''Fortnite'', depicting the player character dancing with a scythe matching Alastor's color scheme, while playing the fan song "Insane". "Insane" was sung by Black Gryph0n, the singing voice of Alastor for the pilot episode.

Alastor's character in the show's pilot was received positively. Esther Liberman of ''BeLatina'' described him as "caricaturesque, impossibly rotten and flatter, like a perverse version of a third-generation descendant", while Dan Short of ''Animated Views'' called Alastor the "show-stealer" as one who is "charismatic and extravagant with smile-inducing flare while making it subtly clear he is as evil as he's feared to be", complimenting Edward Bosco's "magnificent" vocal performance and Gabriel C. Brown's "wonderfully inspired" singing voice. Reviewer Sean Cubillas for '' CBR'' described him as the embodiment of "dark humor at its quietest and best".

Alastor's character in the animated series was also received positively. Hope Mullinax of ''Collider'' praised him as "the most delightful enigma that keeps the audience guessing if he’s a friend or an antagonist waiting in the wings. Or both!", while also complimenting the "phenomenal" sound design behind Alastor and Vox, with the "shifting static of radio and VHS tracking buzz from nostalgic television sets heighten ngtheir subtextual emotions". Another reviewer, Mae Abdulbaki of ''ScreenRant'', has said he has "a particularly intriguing character" during the series, noting his "mysterious and seemingly dangerous, yet protective and snarky" attitude. ''MXDWN'' additionally praised the "incredible chemistry" between Jeremy Jordan as Lucifer and Talai as Alastor.

See also

* History of LGBT characters in animation: 2010s
* List of animated series with LGBT characters: 2020–present
* List of fictional asexual characters
* List of demons in fiction

References

{{Hazbin Hotel

Animated characters introduced in 2019
Demons in television
Male characters in animated television series
Fictional asexuals
Fictional characters who have made pacts with devils
Fictional demons
Fictional hoteliers
Fictional lords and ladies
Fictional mass murderers
Fictional serial killers
Hazbin Hotel characters
Internet characters introduced in 2008
LGBTQ characters in animated television series
Television characters introduced in 2019
Webcomic characters
Fictional radio personalities