Intelligent, sexy, and potentially deadly, the succubus is not a demon to be underestimated. She is a powerful seductress who loves to play with men, and while she may seem fun at first, you don’t want to make her angry!
Physical Description
Today, the word “succubus” conjures up voluptuous images: women with long, flowing hair, silky skin, and perfect curves. They wear leather outfits to show off their bodies and make no attempt to hide the telltale signs of their demonic nature. Bat wings, spiked tails, curled horns, and glowing eyes are common among modern succubi.
But these demons weren’t always so glamorous. From the dawn of their legend to the Middle Ages, succubi were considered hideous and deformed creatures. They were slightly smaller than ordinary people, and they crouched and crawled instead of walking upright. Their feet were like those of birds of prey, their faces like gargoyles, and their fingers ended in clawed tips.
Personality
Today’s demons have intense charisma and a seductive power that goes hand in hand with their good looks. They are intelligent creatures who can tempt men with both their words and their bodies. They can be domineering and vengeful if scorned, but ultimately they take pride in their ability to please (and manipulate) men.
The ancestors of today’s succubi, on the other hand, had personalities as unpleasant as their appearance. They were cunning, controlling, and malicious. Despite being driven mad by sex, they had no interest in pleasing men. Instead, they used sex for their own purposes: to please themselves, to corrupt the pious, to gain life force, or even to have children.
Related Creatures
The creatures related to this charmer of men are terrible demons that many fear to see angry.
Incubus
It is impossible to talk about the succubus without mentioning her partner in crime, the incubus. A male sex demon, he attacks women during the night. Since demons cannot reproduce on their own, they work together to produce offspring.
Succubi collect semen from their male dates, then pass it on to Incubus, who uses it to impregnate women. When the child (called a changeling) is born, it will have demonic characteristics, thanks to the touch of both the succubus and the incubus.
Clearly, these two sexual demons have many similarities and a close working relationship, but some scholars have suggested an even deeper connection: succubi and incubi are, in fact, the same creature. They are capable of switching between female and male forms, depending on their sexual partners.
Lilith
Perhaps the most famous seductress of all time, Lilith is known as the mother of all succubi. She appears in Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian mythology.
Lilith (called “lilitu”) first appeared in Sumerian culture as a goddess of fertility and witchcraft. Later, the Assyrians and Babylonians associated her with dark demons. The Greeks gave Lilith (called “lamia”) an extensive background.
She was a beautiful woman whom Hera transformed into a monster after her beauty caught the wandering eye of Zeus. In her new monstrous form, Lamia roamed the world, seducing men and eating babies.
Judeo-Christian mythology also gave its own twist to the legend of Lilith. She was described as Adam’s first wife, created at the same time as him. Unlike Eve, Lilith was not a docile companion. She refused to honor Adam as her leader.
Instead, she went off to explore on her own and discovered the Red Sea, where hordes of demons lived. The rebellious woman realized that she liked the demons better than Adam, so she mated with them and began to “bear lilies at a rate of more than a hundred a day.” These “lilim” went out into the world as demons, some of them as sexy and independent as their mother. These became the succubi.
Cultural Representation
Sexual demon women have existed since the dawn of folklore. They can be found in cultures around the world; India has the “yakshini,” Arabia has the “qarinha,” Native Americans have the “deer woman,” China has the “mogwai,” and Greece has the “Lamia.” It is impossible to know which of these legends came first. Most likely, they all evolved separately around the same time.
The word “succubus” (a combination of Latin words meaning “to lie down”) first appeared in medieval English. By the end of the 15th century, these demons were well known and often discussed by theologians, who tried to explain their origin, their ability to reproduce, etc.
Later, succubi appeared in witch hunts; women who “tried to seduce” men were accused of being succubi in disguise, while women who became pregnant outside of marriage were accused of being accomplices of Incubi.
During the Renaissance and Romanticism, interest in grotesque and subversive female demons waned. Instead, artists turned their attention to the Lamia of Greece, who was beautiful and unjustly cursed. It wasn’t until the rise of Gothic literature that succubi began to reclaim the spotlight, but even then they were changed from their original form, becoming more beautiful and intelligent.
Modern appearances
Succubi still have a place in fantasy and science fiction. They have appeared in the works of Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, Jonathon Stroud, and Stephanie Meyer. It’s no surprise that succubi are even more popular in visual genres such as comics and video games, where their hot bodies and leather outfits can attract a lot of attention.
Explanation
From a psychological and political perspective, the legend of the succubus is quite simple. In a patriarchal world, men were intimidated by women who took control of their own lives and their own sexuality, so they demonized any kind of “rebellious” behavior.
There could also be a biological explanation. Sixty percent of the total human population suffers from sleep paralysis, a sporadic condition that causes the brain to regain consciousness before the body does. During an episode of sleep paralysis, people suffer from hallucinations involving all five senses and an extreme sense of terror. These symptoms can easily be mistaken for a demonic visit!
