Talk:The Dragon 28

Oh boy. "The Politics of Hell" article directly connects D&D infernal lore to medieval demonology (naming popular grimoire The Lesser Key of Solomon) and the Bible and Judeo-Christian faith, naming God and having Satan as the first ruler of Hell. He even has stats. They're connected to Earth history, e.g., Asmodeus is implied to be behind real-world events like WW1, WW2, and fascism. This might be where the Satanic Panic began.

Fortunately, the author, Alexander von Thorn, cheekily gives himself an out, of sorts: "(Author’s note: The following article cannot be considered the official doctrine of either Advanced Dungeons and Dragons or the Roman Catholic Church. However, it is compatible with AD&D, and except for the parts about Asmodeus it is not in conflict with works on demonology as generally accepted by Catholic exorcists, thus enjoying tacit approval by the Church. However, this article does not have a nihil obstat; much of it is original, and it approaches the subject from a different angle than a religious tract would and should not be considered as such. The rise of Asmodeus is not documented in any major text on demonology, but very little original work on the subject has been done since the Middle Ages, so it is possible that the situation has changed. Perhaps Mr. Gygax has more accurate sources of information."

Despite this, it seems much of the lore survived through later revisions of the Nine Hells, just without God and Satan, and with new origin stories for Asmodeus and the Nine Hells. Greenwood referenced this article for his own article in Dragon #75 in the account of Astaroth.

Anyway, based on Thorn's note and the later extensive retconning, I want to declare "The Politics of Hell" non-canon, both to D&D and to the Realms. The alternative is incorporating modern Earth religions and history to explain the Nine Hells. — BadCatMan (talk) 09:08, March 26, 2020 (UTC)


 * I think there's merit to recording The Politics of Hell as apocryphal information on the wiki, similarly to superseded pre-Campaign Set information, like Tymora originally being called Tyche and Ed's "Hebrides-style" Moonshaes being switched out with Doug Niles' "Albion". — Look-a-troopa (talk) 09:45, March 26, 2020 (UTC)


 * I agree. That are several other articles like this in the old magazines, giving real-world information. I know that there is one about rakshasas and Hinduism that is non-canonical that sometimes gets cited on our wiki. I think it best that we search the wiki for when these are used as citations and remove them.


 * To respond to Look-a-troopa's comment, I think mentioning real-world connections is okay only in an Appendix, where it can be done in a note and does not require citation templates.


 * ~ Lhynard (talk) 14:53, March 26, 2020 (UTC)