Open the first plate of the Ars Goetia and you find Bael, a king with three heads: cat, toad, and man. Open the Poetic Edda and you meet Vidar, the silent god who tears the wolf Fenrir’s jaws apart. One commands sixty-six legions of infernal spirits. The other sits in Valhalla waiting for Ragnarok. Yet in certain books of demonology, they stand on the same list.
Bael and Vidar are both called demons, but they arrive from different worlds. Bael is the first spirit of the Ars Goetia, a king of Hell with 66 legions. Vidar is a Norse god of vengeance, later drafted into demonology by Christian writers. The difference between them reveals how demonic hierarchies were built.
Compare Bael, the first Goetic king, with Vidar, the Norse god reimagined as a demon in later texts. Their origins, powers, and places in the hierarchy tell a story of cultural transformation.
What Bael and Vidar Actually Are
Bael is the first of the seventy-two spirits of the Lesser Key of Solomon, a grimoire compiled in the mid-17th century but drawing on earlier traditions. He rules the East, appears with multiple heads, and grants invisibility and wisdom. His name descends from the Canaanite Baal, meaning “lord,” a storm god whose worship the Hebrew prophets condemned. That condemnation made Baal a demon in Jewish and Christian cosmology, and the Ars Goetia formalized him as Bael.
Vidar is a son of Odin in Norse mythology, described in the 13th-century Poetic Edda and Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson. He is the god of vengeance and silence, known for one deed: at Ragnarok he avenges Odin’s death by setting his foot on Fenrir’s lower jaw and ripping the wolf’s mouth apart. His shoe, made from the leather scraps that cobblers throw away, is a detail carried through every telling. He survives the apocalypse and dwells in the renewed world.
In demonological texts, Vidar appears far later. Unlike Bael, he has no entry in Johann Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (1563) or in the earliest manuscripts of the Lemegeton. His classification as a demon comes from the 19th-century occult revival, when compilers of infernal hierarchies drew freely from Norse and other pagan pantheons. Vidar became a demon of silence and retribution, listed in occasional grimories alongside figures like Thor and Odin.
Where Their Histories Diverge
Bael’s history is the story of a god turned demon. The Canaanite Baal was a high deity of fertility and storm, worshipped in Ugarit and Tyre from at least the 14th century BCE. In the Hebrew Bible, the prophet Elijah confronts the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18, dated to roughly the 9th century BCE). By the time of the New Testament, Baal had become Beelzebub, “lord of the flies,” a prince of demons. The Ars Goetia (circa 1670) gave him the rank of king, first in the hierarchy, with sixty-six legions under his command.
Vidar’s history moves in the opposite direction. He begins as a god in the Norse pantheon, likely older than the Eddas but recorded in writing only after Iceland’s conversion to Christianity (circa 1000 CE). The Gylfaginning section of the Prose Edda (c. 1220) describes him as “the silent god” who “is nearly as strong as Thor.” His role is eschatological: he acts at the end of the world, not before. When Christian missionaries and later demonologists cataloged the Norse gods, they classified them as demons by default. Augustine of Hippo had set the precedent in the 5th century: all pagan gods were fallen angels or demons ( City of God, Book 7). Vidar was pulled into that net, but not formally until the 19th century, when occultists like Eliphas Lévi and Collin de Plancy compiled expanded lists of infernal spirits.
What Each Represents
Bael embodies kingship, authority, and the link between the visible and invisible worlds. His three heads are often interpreted as the animal, human, and divine aspects of a ruler. In the Goetic tradition he is a spirit of knowledge and political power. He appears with a crown, and his sigil is a complex geometric seal used in evocation.
Vidar represents silence, patience, and overpowering strength. His attribute is the thick-soled shoe, a symbol of preparation: he gathered the leather scraps for generations, so when the moment came he was ready. In the Norse context, silence was not weakness but a form of grim focus. In demonology his silence becomes a sinister trait, associated with secret vengeance and stubbornness. The demon Vidar does not speak much during conjuration; his answers come through signs or sudden physical events.
How Practitioners Work with Them
Ceremonial magic treats Bael and Vidar very differently. Bael is a standard evocation in the Goetic tradition. The magician draws his seal on parchment, stands within a protective circle, and recites the appropriate conjurations from the Ars Goetia. Bael is described as relatively cooperative, though kings of Hell require respect. Historically, practitioners used the conjuration to request invisibility, the loyalty of subordinates, or knowledge of the hidden arts.
Vidar, because he is not part of the canonical Goetia, has no fixed ritual protocol. He appears in modern Norse-inspired demonolatry and in some editions of the Grand Grimoire that include additional spirits. When summoned, the practitioner might use runic invocations, a candle in black or dark blue, and a visualization of the single shoe. The goal is usually calling on his strength for a singular act of vengeance or to break an intractable situation.
The difference in method reflects the difference in origin. Bael arrives through a closed system of Judeo-Christian angelology and demonology, with strict hierarchies and named legions. Vidar enters through a more eclectic tradition, where the boundaries between god and demon blur.
Comparison: Bael and Vidar Side by Side
| Attribute | Bael | Vidar |
|---|---|---|
| Source text | Ars Goetia (c. 1670) | Poetic Edda (c. 1270), later demonological lists |
| Rank | King of Hell | None (demoted god) |
| Legions | 66 | None |
| Appearance | Three heads (cat, toad, man) | Usually a tall, silent man with a thick shoe |
| Attribute | Invisibility, wisdom | Vengeance, silence |
| Cultural root | Canaanite | Norse |
| First recorded as demon | 17th century | 19th century at earliest |
The two are rarely compared in primary sources because they belong to different worlds. The comparison is modern, driven by the need to organize an ever expanding infernal catalog.
What People Get Wrong
The most common error is treating Vidar as a Goetic spirit. He is not among the seventy-two, and no historical manuscript of the Lemegeton includes him. He appears, if at all, in later additions or in modern compilations that inflate the list. Second error: confusing Bael with Baal. Bael is the Goetic version, but Baal was a specific Canaanite god, not a demon in his own religion. Third error: assuming both can be summoned with the same tools. Bael requires a formal Goetic circle; Vidar may be approached with Norse runes, salt, and iron.
FAQ
Is Vidar in the Lesser Key of Solomon?
No. Vidar does not appear in the Ars Goetia or any other part of the Lemegeton. He is a Norse figure, not a Judaeo Christian demon.
Can Bael and Vidar be summoned together?
Traditional grimoires do not describe such a practice. Their different cultural systems make simultaneous evocation difficult unless the magician adapts both.
Are Bael and Vidar both demons?
Bael is a demon by origin, descended from a condemned Canaanite god. Vidar is a pagan god reclassified as a demon by later Christian and occult writers.
What is Vidar’s rank in Hell?
He has no fixed rank. In the few lists that include him, he is described as a duke or prince of minor authority, but sources disagree.
The difference between Bael and Vidar is the difference between a demon born from scripture and a god buried by history. Bael’s sixty-six legions are written. Vidar’s silence is the sound of a pantheon that was told it had become Hell. For those working with either spirit, the first step is knowing where each came from.
For more on the hierarchy Bael belongs to, see our complete guide to demonology and the Goetia. The broader context of how gods become demons is covered in the glossary entry on demonolatry. And if you are interested in the seventy-two spirits themselves, read our guide to the Ars Goetia spirits.