✭✩✭•Stolas•✮✩✮

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. 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.

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. 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'.

Abilities

Immortality - As demonic royalty, and as mentioned by Blitzo in "Apology Tour", Stolas is biologically immortal, presumably 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. Stolas' Gaze Stolas' petrification gaze 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. Stolas carries Blitz Stolas creates a portal unaided 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.

Skillset

Skillset HB S1E2 You'll take it as a sign Stolas sings his daughter a lullaby 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. 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.

Concept and 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.

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.[11] 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.[12] 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.[13] The designs for Stolas' outfit changes for the episode "Loo Loo Land" were first revealed during the BLM Charity Stream.[14] 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.[15] 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.[16]