The latest episode of Hazbin Hotel Season 2 confirmed that Charlie Morningstar's Hell-ruling Lucifer cannot hurt sinners, but it failed to address exactly why. Since Hazbin Season 1, Jeremy Jordan's Lucifer has had a looming presence over the series. Serving as the ruler of Hell and the estranged husband of Lilith (who has been a major player this season), this fallen angel has undergone a change of heart regarding his daughter's pursuit of redemption.
At the end of Season 1, Lucifer opted to join his daughter within the hallowed halls of Hazbin Hotel, trying to help his daughter give the sinners of Hell a second chance. While, to this point, Lucifer has been seen as a mega-powerful, devilish figure, that does not turn out to be 100% the case.
Season 2, Episode 5 revealed that Lucifer is unable to harm other sinners. This comes up as Vaggie asks him to kill Season 2 big bad Vox. When prodded on the idea of offing the Overlord of Hell, Lucifer retorts that he cannot do anything.
"[Hell] isn't just a place... It's a punishment, and mine is that I'm stuck here with all these sinners, can't kill 'em, can't do nothing with 'em," the leader of Hell remarked, adding a new tragic wrinkle to his Hazbin story:
"You see, it isn't just a place... it's a punishment, and mine is that I'm stuck here with all these sinners, can't kill 'em, can't do nothing with 'em. So I just have to ignore them."
Hazbin Hotel Season 2 is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. New entries of the hit R-rated animated series debuting every Wednesday through November 19.
Why Can't Lucifer Hurt Vox and Sinners In Hazbin Hotel?
In Hazbin Hotel proper, Lucifer's comments to Vaggie are the only explanation he provides for why he cannot hurt sinners. He has simply been prescribed punishment as a sinner himself, and is now forced to live alongside others without any way of getting out of his truly unbearable predicament. However, it could go much deeper than that.
If the character were to be able to hurt, harm, or even kill the sinners he rules over, he could be perceived as too overpowered for the Hazbin Hotel universe. One of the great things about the animated take on Heaven and Hell is that no character is truly infallible. Everybody, no matter how big or small, has a weakness of some sort.
And Lucifer's weakness is that, despite ruling over the sinners of Hell, there is actually nothing he can do about those who may act up (at least from a physical perspective). Given his status as a fallen angel and the various souped-up powerset that comes with that, this keeps Lucifer from running wild over the Hellaverse, molding it to his liking from atop the show's fiendish food chain.
Series creator Vivienne "Vivziepop" Medrano indicated this was the case in a BlueSky post to fans in the wake of Episode 5's release. When asked why she "nerfed" Lucifer, Medrano came back with that she "didn't nerf him...[She] just gave him big limitations:"
"Didn't nerf him lol just gave him big limitations! He's still one of the most powerful characters in the show!"
This particular foible also serves as a bit of tragic symmetry for the character's past actions. In the Hazbin lore, Lucifer is the one who gave humanity freewill at the beginning of time.
So, it is rather fitting that he now has to live with the consequences of that, being surrounded by humanity's worst mistakes in the depths of Hell, without any way to remedy the situation.
