Hell is a realm of torment and punishment, inhabited by various demons and damned souls. It serves as where the events of the Hellboy in Hell storyline take place.
Background
The beginning of Hell traces its story to the First Fall of the Angels, when the Watchers failed in their task of safeguarding the Creator‘s creation, he thus cast the Watchers into the pit. One of these creatures would be called Pluto by the future descendants of man and ruled as chief among the fallen angels.
The Second Fall of Angels began when a few Watchers were allowed by the Creator to remain on the earth, but when they refused to bow to the newly arisen race of man, they too were cast down into Hell. Satan led this group of rebels against Pluto's followers, and after a thousand years managed to usurp him from his throne.
While Satan nominally rules Hell from the city of Pandemonium, much of the territory is divided amongst the Princes and Ministers of Hell. Hell is vast. There are different sections that correspond with the different mythologies of the world and their own cultural perspectives of Hell.
Pandemonium
The great city and capital of Hell bordered by the Lake of Fire, the Citadel of the Fly serving as its seat of power. It is here where Hellboy's throne resides along with his crown and the sword and ring of office of his father Azzael. Once the beating heart of Hell, all of its inhabitants fled upon hearing of Hellboy's arrival in Hell. All save Satan, who remained sleeping in a chamber under the city until he was murdered in his sleep by a catatonic Hellboy.
Hellboy in Hell
Throughout the series numerous changes were made to the place by Hellboy (intentionally or not), with all of the "nobles" of hell perished all the demons that were slaves were freed to have Pandemonium as their own until Gamori's scream brought it all down killing all of them with her buried beneath it all. She was slowly being influenced by Pluto and would have freed him if not for Koshchei came to fight for the new Hell that was created by Hellboy.
Many souls of the damned used to be unable to move on had found salvation and flied away to heaven in the form of a bird. Many, however, still struggle and stuck in the form of a red serpent.
The Rivers of Hell
- Acheron - "Sad Acheron of Sorrow, Black and Deep" - The house of the warlock Angus Weir sits on the banks of the river, taken from Earth by demons in 1813. The river Acheron is also the place where the demon Amdusias threw the pieces of Sir Edward Grey's corpse.
- Styx - "Abhorred Styx, the Flood of Deadly Hate" - In Hellboy in Hell #2 Hellboy passes out of one of the cities in Hell and flies across the Stygian Sea.
- Lethe - traditionally the river of unmindfullness, oblivion, forgetfullness, or concealment. The river Lethe is seen coming from the mouth of a gargoyle in Hellboy in Hell #1 and dripping from a leaky water pump in Hellboy in Hell #4
- Cocytus - traditionally the river of wailing or lamentation. The river Cocytus appears in Hellboy in Hell #2. Hellboy stands where the river flows out of the Earth into Hell and sees fish swimming in the river. These fish are actually the souls of the common damned who are taken out of the water by the Fisher of Souls to be hammered into soldiers for Hell's army. These soldiers are then tossed into a pile, waiting for Hellboy to awaken them.
- Phlegethon: The demon-lord Shax was killed at this river.
Environments
- Hell's geography is described by one of the ghosts there as akin to a bowl with all of its water pouring into the middle and Pandemonium erected above it. This lake of fire is surrounded by a great body of water from the river Styx which is called the Stygian Sea.
- Around the edges of the Stygian Sea just a bit away from its beach is one huge city covered all around the sea itself. The city of ghosts and other common damned souls. The entire city is like a maze and very easy to get lost in so best to find a good place to stay or know the main ways in and out of it.
- Beyond the city is a forest that is bare and dry with only trees that have no leaves or any living floras.
- Beyond the barren forest are "unclimbable" mountains of rocks.
- And beyond that mountain are the frozen wastelands with the Abyss beyond its edges.
After the series Hellboy in Hell, the places completely changes with the lake of fire become a normal sea of water and the ruins of Pandemonium was completely overgrown by a massive tree left behind from the battle between Koshchei and Gamori, this tree also sealed off Pluto's entrance to return from Tartarus.
With so many changes being made to Hell by Hellboy, all the rivers of Hell are now flowing to "Lands Unknown".
The Abyss
According to Sir Edward Grey, the Abyss is "not quite Hell." It is described as the outer edge, bordered by the bottomless depths of chaos. Numerous creatures appear to dwell in the Abyss. They resemble giant monstrous insects, squids, and jellyfish.