A cacodemon is an evil spirit or a demon. The opposite of a cacodemon is an agathodaemon or eudaemon, a good spirit or angel. The word cacodemon comes through Latin from the Ancient Greek κακοδαίμων kakodaimōn, meaning an "evil spirit", whereas daimon would be a neutral spirit in Greek. It is believed to be capable of shapeshifting. In psychology, cacodemonia is a form of insanity in which the patient believes that they are possessed by an evil spirit. The first known occurrence of the wordcacodemon dates to 1593. In William Shakespeare'sRichard III Act 1 Scene 3, Queen Margaret calls Richard a "cacodemon" for his foul deeds and manipulations. In John Fletcher's The Knight of Malta, Norandine calls Mountferrat, the play's villain, a "cacodemon" in the final scene. In The Arbatel de Magi Veterum written in 1575 the word Cacodemon is described as one of the Seven. In astrology, the 12thhouse was once called the Cacodemon for its association with evil.
In the book and TV seriesThe Magicians by Lev Grossman the main characters each have a Cacodemon magically implanted into their backs.
Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld novels feature cacodemons and eudemons, some of whom have produced semi-human-like progeny; in this context eudemons are not so much "good" as "non-chaotic".
Deicide's second album, Legion, contains a song called "Satan Spawn, the Caco-Daemon".
There is a painting by Paul Klee called Cacodaemonic.
There is a boulder in Squamish, Canada called Cacodemon; it is the location of the climb Dreamcatcher, a 5.14d first climbed by Chris Sharma.
There's a Cacodemon in the sewers of Wormy's lair in the Wormy comics for Dragon Magazine by David Trampier. It is never shown, but when Grumble and Snaggly escape from Boon and Irvin in the sewers with half the payroll, Irvin says to Boon to lock the grate back as the treasure now belongs to the Cacodemon that lives in the sewers, the reason why Wormy kept it locked up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Trampier
Games
In the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, "Cacodemon" is a seventh level magic-user spell. It was used to summon a type IV, V, or VI demon to the player character's location in the game world. The spell was omitted from the early versions of the second edition of the game, and was later revised in the Planescape product line, in which it could summon a variety of powerful tanar'ri or baatezu. The spell was eventually phased out in the third edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game in favor of a more comprehensive creature-summoning spell.
In the Doomvideo game series developed by id Software, Cacodemons are an enemy, depicted as levitating, spherical, one-eyed monsters. They fire burning projectiles and have appeared in every game of the series, becoming something of an icon for Doom as a whole.
