ERESHKIGALERESHKIGAL
Real Name: Eriskegal (more common spelling)
Identity/Class: Mesopotamian God
Occupation: Goddess of the Dead
Group Membership: The Annunaki (Mesopotamian gods)
Affiliations: Gods of the Dead (Ahpuch, Hela, Mephisto, Pluto, Seth, Yama), Indra
Enemies: Tiamat and her progeny, Demogorge
Known Relatives: Anu (father), Kishar (mother); Enki
(brothers), Mami, Damkina (sisters);
Nergal
(husband); Nusku, Gibil, Kinyras,
Martu,
Enlil, Marduk,
Ninurta, Hadad
(brothers-in-law/nephews),
Zarpandit, Ningal (nieces/sisters-in-law); Inanna
(former sister-in-law, see comments)
Aliases: Allatu, Ganair, Irkalla, Queen of the Great Below
Base of Operations: Her palace at Ganzir, the doorway to Irkalla
First Appearance: Thor Annual#10 (1982)
Powers/Abilities: Eriskegal possesses the conventional powers of the Mesopotamian gods including superhuman strength (Class 25 at least) and durability including certain undefined mystical skills such as the ability to conjure hellfire.
Height: (top of head) 6'8"; (top of
wingtips) 7'6" (both by estimation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Purple
Hair: Black
History: (mythological) Eriskegal is the Sumer-Babylonian goddess of the dead who taunted her husband's adopted sister, Inanna, many millennia ago. She married Nergal, her brother's son, the war-god, to keep him from conquering the underworld.
(Tales of the Zombie#4/3 - BTS) - Ereshkigal was invoked by an Egyptian man who created a zombie in order to force a woman into marrying him. However, the woman eventually learned how to control the zombie herself, and used it to murder him.
(Thor Annual#10) - In recent years,
dissatisfied with the lack of procured souls to her realm, she entered
into and unholy alliance with other gods of the dead to unite their
perspective realms. Their ritual, however, released from the dawn of
time Atum in his form of Demogorge the God Eater. The Egyptian Seth
rushed at the interloper intending to destroy him, only to be swiftly
absorbed. Ignoring Hela's counsel to combine their powers and strike
as one, the panicking remaining Death gods, Ereshkigal included,
blasted Demogorge separately with hellfire, but he easily shrugged it
off. After Pluto and Yama were also consumed, Ahpuch and Mephisto
grabbed Demogorge's arms, hoping to physically disable the limbs he
used to absorb his prey, while the wiser Hela and Erishkigal held
back. Witnessing their last two allies also being consumed, Hela and
Ereshkigal fled with Demogorge in pursuit, their plight witnessed by
Odin's raven spy Hugin. Catching up with the two female Death gods,
Demogorge's energies reached from his arms to Ereshkigal and began
drawing her in for absorption; Hela tried in vain to prevent this by
holding desperately to Erishkigal's legs, but to no avail, and
Erishkigal was consumed. Luckily for her Hugin had by this point
relayed the events he had witnessed to Odin, who instructed Thor to
assemble an alliance of several thunder and sun gods of different
pantheons to stop the God Eater. After an epic battle Demogorge
absorbed them too, but Thor's continued resistance even within
Demogorge's body convinced the God Eater that it was not yet time for
his recent victims to die, and so he expelled them from his form and
returned them to life, Erishkigal included.
(Hellstorm:
Prince of Lies I#4 - BTS) - While passing through JFK Airport
occultist Jack Riley spotted Daimon Helstrom. Mistakenly believing
Helstorm was hunting for him, Riley cast a protection spell that
invoked Eriskigel (sic) alongside a number of other gods and eldritch
entities.
COMMENTS: Created by William Zeleneta and Bob Hall
In the ancient Sumerian myths, Tiamat was the great saltwater goddess that the gods overthrew to take their place in the heavens. Their story greatly parallels that of the Olympians over throwing the Titans.
Also in the myths, Inanna is also the goddess Aphrodite: The story of Aphrodite's embarrassment by Eriskegal can be found in the Sumerian Tale "Inanna's Descent into the Underworld." The fact that the Greeks borrowed Inanna to be Aphrodite suggests she was both deities.
In the Annunaki entry in All-New OHotMU Update#3 it was assumed that Ereshkigal kept her power and avoided demon degeneration by expelling her demonic aspects as Allatou or by trading her name and husband to the demon who would become Allatou.
Ereshkigal
was pictured in a headshot in OHOTMU I#14's After Death in the Marvel
Universe article alongside Death gods of other pantheons, and in the
Annunaki entry in the Encyclopedia Mythologica alongside other members
of her pantheon.
Profile by William Uchtman.
CLARIFICATIONS:
In ancient times (and modern ones, too), Eriskegal was
impersonated by the Deviant Ereshkigal the same way that
certain Eternals impersonated the Olympian Gods.
Inanna, the demon in Hellstorm, may or may not be the same as the Mesopotamian Goddess. God's have degenerated into demons before.
Nergal, the demon who is the husband of the demon Allatou, may or may not be the same as the Mesopotamian God who is Eriskegal's husband.
Ningal, Eriskegal's niece, is probably not the same as:
Tiamat, the saltwater goddess, has no
known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Thor Annual#10, p14, pan2 (main)
Thor
Annual#10, p14, pan3 (face)
Thor
Annual#10, p18, pan1 (looking back in
fear)
Thor
Annual#10, p19, pan5 (full body, better view of leg markings)
Thor
Annual#10, p34, pan1 (restored to life, clearer view of
chest markings)
OHOTMU I#14, p34, pan6 (headshot)
Thor &
Hercules - Encyclopædia Mythologica, p8, pan1 (Erishkigal alongside
her pantheon).
Appearances:Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
First Posted: 01/19/2002
Last Updated: 09/06/2025
Non-Marvel
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