Lore about Lilith: Who is she in Biblical lore and mythology?

Lilith was introduced in Supernatural Season 3, Episode 12. We learned almost nothing about her, but would later learn that she was Lucifer’s first demon. How does that lore link to Biblical lore and mythology?

Lilith was Lucifer’s first demon and the one needed to open the Cage to allow him to walk free. When she was first introduced in Supernatural Season 3, Episode 12, we had no idea, though. All we saw was this little girl with the ability to wipe out a whole sheriff’s office. All she wanted was the Winchesters dead.

At least, that was what we were left to believe. We’d soon learn that she wanted something bigger.

Of course, Lilith has been taken from real Biblical and other religious mythology and lore. She is known as various people, including Adam’s first wife, the first demon, the first witch, and much more. Here’s how the real lore and the Supernatural lore about Lilith connect.

Supernatural lore about the first demon

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In the series, they opted to run with the lore that she was the first demon. Created personally by Lucifer, she had white eyes and was easily more powerful than anything the Winchesters had come across before, including Azazel.

At first, she embodied children but in the fourth season, she upgraded to an adult. It’s unclear why the show did that–probably because killing a child would have been frowned upon.

Lilith’s sole purpose was to raise Lucifer out of his cage. Nothing else mattered and she was willing to sacrifice herself for Lucifer.

Real Lilith lore

In real lore and mythology, this is a woman who pops up routinely but never really has the same creature or being. She’s in Babylonian mythology as a demon and a wilderness demon mentioned once in the Bible.

A lot of the focus for Lilith is in the Jewish Torah, where she’s Adam’s first wife and created from the same clay and soil as Adam. Lilith refuses to go back to the Garden of Eden after refusing to allow Adam to dominate over her. She also couples with the archangel Samael. Because of this decision, she’s often viewed as a feminist and can be celebrated by modern feminists for standing up against the patriarchal Adam.

She’s been viewed as half human-half serpent, with hair that is magical and considered the “first gold.”

The name comes from Sumerian for “female demons.” She’s most dangerous to infants and pregnant women. In some guises, she is the first vampire. In others, she is the first witch. Whatever the form, she casts a spell over mankind.

With so many different stories surrounding Lilith, it’s hard to see where Supernatural took the information from and which story it fully developed. After all, it’s not the feminist route, as Lilith followed Lucifer’s orders to break him out of the Cage.

What do you know of Lilith? Which stories have you heard about the first demon/witch/vampire? Share in the comments below.

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