# HELLGOD - an ULTRAKILL Theory

## Prologue: What is the Hellgod theory?

Greetings.
I'm Laufer and welcome to the Hellgod theory. What is it?
It's a theory that posits that the sentience of Hell within ULTRAKILL's world is none other than God himself.

In this document, I will explain - to the best of my abilities - what I consider to be potential links, leads and inspirations into this theory, and why I think it's plausible to become canon.

(Also sorry if you find some typos anywhere. Happens to all of us.)

# ULTRAKILL's God

Before anything else, the link below will take you to the official ULTRAKILL Wiki, where you'll see the collection of all currently available Testaments (Everything except Testament VI - as 8-S does not currently exist). These are important for this discussion, so feel free to re-read them should you require it:
https://ultrakill.wiki.gg/wiki/Terminals#Testaments

The Testaments are our biggest insight into the character of God. Reading them one by one in chronological order, a simple story is presented:

___
***Testament I:***
Proclaiming mankind to be a failure and their free will a flaw, God intends to recreate them once they've been consumed by their own evil.

***Testament II:***
God fails again and again to create his perfect image of mankind - one without free will - and begins doubting himself and his abilities as a result.

***Testament III:***
After an extremely long period of time, God can still find no solution. He creates the realm of hell out of his frustration for man failing to abide by his laws, and intends for hell to be a place of torment where mankind shall suffer eternally for daring to defy him.
Only after hell is created does God then realize he can no longer unmake it.

***Testament IV:***
God is confronted by the beautiful angel Lucifer, who asks if mankind truly deserves an eternity of suffering and torment for their foolish defiance.
Unable to find an answer to this question due to his growing regret over hell's creation and subsequent guilt over the same act; God panics and in his fear casts Lucifer down into the same pit.
Coming to his senses and realizing what he's done, God sinks deeper into his own despair, which only grows.

***Testament V:***
God has been completely emptied by his own inner turmoil. His actions end up causing nothing but hatred and suffering, and he can no longer stomach his own suffering. With nowhere else to go, he attempts suicide but fails, as death itself refuses to claim him.
_____

These Testaments serve as our only "direct" insight into God's character. However, by analyzing certain things present within the lore that are connected to him, we can further point out a few characteristics.

- The Holy Council that formed after his mysterious disappearance is said to still act in his name and follow "his will".
(Act 2 Intermission)

Both the game and Hakita himself make plenty of mentions that despite this - their vision, their memory of this light has changed over time.

Despite that, we can still extrapolate how God ran things back while he was in office. The presence of Virtues acting as "Lesser Wardens" in hell in an attempt to ensure sinners do not evade their torment showcases that even while God was still present, he did nothing to even try and stop the suffering of the sinners in hell; and instead kept them doomed to the fate he gave them.
We know Virtues were already present in hell performing duties, as it's explicitly stated many times they *left hell* after God vanished, meaning they must have already been there wardening.

Likewise, it would seem that despite casting Lucifer into hell, God once again (to our knowledge) did absolutely nothing to try take back this error or get Lucifer out of hell.

While we do have the question of "Could God have done something about it though?" can be asked, it can also easily be answered. *Yes.*
From the in-game lore we have, we know that humanity itself found and explored hell to a certain degree, even sending many machines down to perform "Hell expeditions", such as seen with the Streetcleaner data entry:
(Streetcleaner Data Entry)

Furthermore, with the new ULTRA_REVAMP update, we know that the sinners present within hell also possesed the ability to traverse the layers of hell (most likely through the usage of Ferrymen skulls). This is evident with the new Lust related plaque present within 5-1.
(plaque visible near the end of 5-1)

This implies that both the living humans and the husks could traverse hell, with even those like Lust being able to construct a functional society where none would suffer hell's torment.
Even beyond that, we also know the angels themselves had no problem reaching hell, as there are plenty of Virtues everywhere, and Gabriel canonically goes in and out with no problem.
Even if God himself could not have done anything, we know the angels are absolutely loyal to him and will obey him to a fault, so he could have had them help the sinners in hell.

All this to show that if humans, husks, and angels all could have done things to influence their situation in hell, there is no way someone as powerful as God wouldn't have been able to do the same. Yet, he did not. Not only did he not, but after his disappearance the angels kept sabotaging any attempts made by husks to lessen their own torment due to their belief that God's order necessitates they suffer eternally.
Abandoning sinners to their horrible fates he himself forced upon them while feeling grief and guilt over it showcases how absolutely incapable God was of accepting his own imperfections and admitting to others that he was himself not perfect.

What does this leave us with in terms of the character of God?

A cruel, vengeful, and imperfect creator.
Through his inability to unmake hell and create man without free will, he demonstrates a lack of omnipotence.
The creation of hell and the expulsion of Lucifer from Heaven were both done out of an emotional reaction; frustration and panic.
A lack of any attempt of repairing his mistakes and subsequent refusal of responsibility for being the cause of his mistakes.
Instead, all we're left with is a broken shell of a deity, one unable to confess his mistakes and own up to them, preferring instead to silently rot from within and drown in his own sorrow and misery.

# ULTRAKILL's Hell

On the flipside of the coin (mandatory marksman reference), we have the realm of hell where the story takes place.
While unseen at first, several things such as the P-2 ARG and several interactions found within P-2 and Violence imply a presence of an "overseer" entity. One watching over the entire realm of hell and everything within it.

While the game itself doesn't (yet) contain anything to indicate who or what this entity is, the P-2 ARG gives us our greatest clue as to the identity of this overseer.
(P-2 ARG conclusion page)

The text above tells us pretty much everything we need to know. The realm of hell itself is *alive*. It's a living being, a sentient superorganism that treats everyone within it as toys and playthings to use how it wishes. To use them to spread death, suffering and cruelty in what is deemed "entertainment."

Further clues can be found in levels like 7-1. A level purposefully created to be confusing in traversal, and endlessly white to act as canvas for bloodshed. Furthermore, the demons present within ULTRAKILL all give a sense of artistic pieces. Cerberi and Mannequin are literal statues, with the latter striking flamboyant, fancy poses as if to proudly show off the torment they inflict to those inside them while they wait for their next victim.

Our next look comes in the form of the 7-1 boss, the Minotaur:
(Minotaur Data Entry)

The Minotaur itself is another videly discussed matter of debate within the community due to the so far uncomfirmed nature of it's creator. All we know of this entity is:
- Their name is seemingly two words: one of four letters, and the second of six
- They considered the Minotaur to be beautiful, a monument of death and despair.
- It was a gift to Minos in an effort to create some form of rapport with the Judge-King

in the community, the theory on who the identity of the creator is mostly split in two:
1. The creator is our third and final prime soul candidate. Given the nature of the name, the first word could be "King", with the six lettered word being a name.
2. The creator is Hell Itself

For the purposes of this argument, I believe that it is *extremely* likely that the second option is the case. If we look back at the three things we know of this creator entity, we can beautifully line them up with all we know of Hell:
- Hell Itself fits perfectly within the four-letter six-letter formula
- Hell Itself has an obsession with death, cruelty and suffering, so of course it would consider a "personalized monument of death and despair" to be beautiful
- King Minos was the Judge of Hell. The one responsible for sending the damned to the layers they belonged too. He was, in a way, the only Husk with a job. If there's anyone for Hell to build a rapport with, it would surely be him.

Funnily enough, knowing Hell loves torment and suffering above all else, it likely saw Minos' decision to banish the Minotaur to the Garden an acceptance of the gift, since the labyrinth caused it immense suffering trying to escape. Ironically, what Minos did was the biggest "thank you" sign he could've done.

Another reason the creator is likely Hell is because it is the only creature we know is capable of creating Demons. As seen with the Leviathan data entry, which states that it was made by "the same force that created the other demons", implying that they all come from the same source:
(Leviathan Data Entry)

So alright, we know we're dealing with a sadistic overseer that delights in causing torment and death, and is responsible for creating these demons. Do we know anything else? Why yes we do.

Hell has a massive fascination with Machines. To confirm this, we need only look at the 7-4 secret book found on the Earthmover's back:
(7-4 Secret Book)

This fascination and adoration with machines extends beyond just the Earthmovers, as we know Guttermen coffins were used as the inspirations for Mannequins due to the suffering they inflicted:
(Gutterman Data Entry)

In addition, the P-2 ARG also writes how it has learned to manipulate, dissasemble, and reassemble technology.
Finally, there is also the popular theory that the three most famous lines of ULTRAKILL: "Mankind is dead. Blood is fuel. Hell is full." were sent to the machines by none other than Hell Itself in an effort to lure them into its bowels to partake in the massacre it would find entertaining.
(the text is red, most of Hell's writing is also colored red)

Where does this leave us in terms of the character of this mysterious entity?

A cruel, sadistic entity that takes pleasure in inflicting as much suffering, despair, pain, torment and death as it can. An entity that only seems to seek entertainment from the cruel acts it performs to everyone it toys with.
A curious entity, as it seemingly did nothing to stop the Lust Reinessance or the Greed Insurrection or the current Machine Invasion, instead merely observing, watching and waiting to see what amusement they can offer it.
A powerful entity capable of teleporting dozens upon dozens of creatures to wherever it sees fit and lock them in whatever room it wants to fight, with only the victor allowed to leave, only to delve deeper down.

# HELLGOD - INTRODUCTION

Now that we've introduced both sides of the coin, we can posit the theory itself.

The Hellgod theory which I'm discussing here is that *this* sadistic overseer that pits husk against machine against angel against demon, that *this* entity that delights in causing suffering and death, that *this* deity that's been stalking our every move, watching the invasion, and ensuring the torment of everyone inside....

.....is **God** himself.

I know, a very **bold** and a little insane thing to say considering everything mentioned above, but I believe investigating the details we have of the circumstances of the story, of those two characters, the inspirations for ULTRAKILL, and the background secrets and lore present within the game, there are actually quite a few leads that could very well lead to this being the case.

To begin with, I believe it will be simplest to look at some of the known inspirations for ULTRAKILL's world.
ULTRAKILL is a game with many esoteric themes present within it, so let's start with one of the biggest, that being **Gnosticism**. It's especially worth looking into since it's been linked by Hakita himself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism
And here we have one of the biggest leads: **The Demiurge**

# The Gnostic Demiurge

Gnosticism is a religious and philosophical movement, a collection of religious ideas that came together in the late 1st century. It was a diverse group of early Christian sects that emphasized personal spiritual knowledge over religious authority.

The lore of Gnosticism runs deep, and Gnosticism itself is closely connected to other esoteric traditions such as Hermeticism and Neoplatonism, and has connections with alchemy - something *very* present in ULTRAKILL with this newest update.

However, while we could certainly sift through all of Gnosticism, I think the link between ULTRAKILL and Gnosticism lies in the Demiurge. The "false god" and creator of the physical universe and maker of man.
Let us take a look into the lore of this Demiurge first, so we may gain better insight into what it is we're dealing with here.

The Demiurge is considered to be an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. Despite this, it is not necessarily the same as a creator god in a monotheistic sense, as the gnostics believed that the Demiurge itself as well as the materials it used to fashion the physical world were already present as consequences of things that came before it.

Gnosticism presents a clear divide and difference between the "highest and unknowable" True God and the Demiurge "Creator" of the physical universe - who is identified in some traditions as Yahweh himself.
Several gnostic thought systems portray this Demiurge as the malevolent and antagonistic deity, one that entraps the aspects of the divine in materiality.

The Demiurge thereby exists as a proposed solution to the "Problem of Evil" - the philosophical question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God.
(A question Hakita himself stated during the 2nd Dev Stream was one he asked himself, and is using the game as a way to explain his version of it.)
In the case of the Demiurge, it answers this by posing the creator entity is in itself neither benevolent nor omnipotent.

So, following this train of thought, one might easily say: "Well alright. Perhaps this symbols that ULTRAKILL's God is the unknowble and highest God while Hell takes the spot of the Demiurge."

However, I do not think this to be the case, and I'll explain why.

The Demiurge in Gnosticism was "born" by *Sophia*, the personification of Wisdom, emanating without a partner. Due to the nature of its creation, the Demiurge thinks itself to be alone, as it is unaware of the existence of the pleroma (a region of light created by the Monad, the True God). Then, it fashions both the physical universe and mankind itself by trapping aspects of pleroma within human bodies. However, man is given a "divine spark" from above, and the Demiurge, now disgusted by his creation, presents many obstacles to prevent humans from ascending beyond the physical existence he fashioned: instead forcing all souls to be trapped within the material universe in a world full of pain and suffering that he himself created.
However, the Demiurge is itself eventually cast out from the Highest Heaven into the pits of Tartarus, where it tortures sinners eternally henceforth.

From this, we can already tell certain things about the nature of the Demiurge:

1. It is not all-powerful
2. It is not all-knowing
3. It is not all-good
4. It created both the physical universe and mankind
5. Humanity possesed a certain something it despised and wished to be rid of it
6. To do this, it created many obstacles to entrap souls in a world of suffering it itself created.
7. Eventually, the Demiurge found itself cast down from Heaven into the pits of Tartarus to torture sinners itself directly.

Looking at these story beats, the similarities with ULTRAKILL's God are abundantly present.

1. God is not all powerful: as he cannot rid mankind of free will nor unmake hell
2. He is not all-knowing, as he couldn't figure out the formula to a mind without free will
3. He is not all good, as he not only allowed man to be consumed by their own evil, but damned them to an eternity of suffering
4. We know he created humanity and the universe
5. Mankind possesed "Free Will", something he despised and wished to remove from it
6. He created hell as a world of suffering and damned mankind to it

The parallels are clear. However, these parallels alone are not enough to definitely answer anything. Let's look for something else.
For example, the most common visual visage of the Demiurge is that of a serpent with the head of a lion.
(Commonly used depiction of the Demiurge)

Is there anything else in the game itself that might resemble something of a serpent-like lion faced entity? Why yes, there is one thing: the Hideous Mass
(Hideous Mass concept art)

Some might associate the HiM's design as being more indicative of the Manticore, a scorpion, or just a disgusting mess in general, but the matter remains that there is a visual distinction here.
Again however, even if we were to believe this at face glance, it's still - at best - a lot of coincidences and parallels. Not nearly enough to say for sure that hell's sentience is God himself. We need to look deeper. Where should we look next?
Well, thanks to the ULTRA_REVAMP update, we know exactly where.

# The Alchemical Rebis

The ULTRA_REVAMP is many things: A beautiful visual upgrade to literally every aspect of the game, a (somewhat) complete rework of the broken enemy code that haunted the devs for way too long, an addition of two infernally difficult Encore levels (fuck you 16a radiant cerbs on brutal).

However, the update also added a lot of background lore: all related to **Alchemy**!
Seemingly spearheaded by the dev Heckteck herself, we have been blessed... or cursed... by new mysterious backgrund lore that we must decrypt. Heckteck herself has been gracious enough to offer us a hint of what it is we're looking for (maybe).

The "Great Work". What's that supposed to be? Well, the existence of the new Ferryman skulls gave us the starting hint we needed: alchemy.
Alchemy has been given tons and tons of clues in the game with this update: The Ferrymen skulls with the Sulfur(red) and Mercury(blue) alchemical symbols etched on top (along with the gray skulls featuring the salt symbol), the main menu background "code poem" that seemingly inscribes some alchemical process onto it that we have yet to decipher, the background lore of levels such as 4-3, where Greed's sinners are doing.... *something*.

But that's all for another document, let's stick to the topic.
We are looking for the Great Work, is there such a thing as a Great Work in alchemy? Yes, in fact, there is. The Magnum Opus.

- In alchemy, the Magnum Opus or Great Work is a term for the process of working with the prima materia to create the philosopher's stone.
- According to Hermeticism, Accomplishing the Great Work represents the culmination of the spiritual path, the attainment of enlightenment, or the rescue of the human soul from the unconscious forces which bind it.

So we're looking for a philosopher's stone, and it is my belief that we're looking for it in the form of a **Rebis** - the end product of the alchemical magnum opus or great work.

But what is the Rebis? It is the fusion, or reconcilliation, of both spirit and matter, of both above and below into one perfected form - the philosoher's stone.
(Image of the Rebis)
___

But where would we find this Rebis? Is there anything in game that points to some Great Work or Magnum Opus? Why yes there is - in 7-4's secret book.
(7-4 Secret book)
While this could certainly just be another coincidence, I think we have another thing pointing to this, and that's the new Main Menu Code:
(Main Menu background)
Now, the truth of what it is we're looking at with this code is still a topic of debate within the theorizing community, but a common consensus (shared by me also) is that it has *something* to do with man making machine (also perhaps further proven by the fact V1's literal schematics are to the right of it).
We know from 7-2's "Mother of Me" book, V1's new death screen "I DON'T WANT TO DIE", and the very important line "We all bleed the same blood." present in act 2's epilogue (and highlighted by Hakita in the 2nd Dev Stream) that it seems incredibly likely that machines posses sentience, and the latter sentence "We all bleed the same blood." as well as the themes of the game overall emphasize that machines are equally alive as any other type of life present within the game.
This is vital because if so, then the way man made machine should not be that inherently different to how God made man.
Or is it?

Back to the code, as it can tell us many things. It was soon discovered that the three jumpled up apparitions of letters in the three FROM functions (present in code line 1,2 and 7) are Trismegistus, Principles, and Womb respectively.
- Principles is linked to the alchemical Principles or "Tria Prima": Those of Sulfur, Mercury, and Salt (present on skulls)
- Womb has a lot of potential answers, and remains a topic of debate

However, the first - "Trismegistus", as well as the words "above, so" and the usage of "below" just two lines lower lead us to the Emerald Tablet - a cryptic and compact hermetic text attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, in which the line "As Above, So Below" is found:

*"That which is above is like to that which is below, and that which is below is like to that which is above."*

While we could easily say this is indicative of how the creation of man went about the same way as the creation of machines, it is also important for the matter of the alchemical Rebis; as the Rebis itself is a union of both spirit(above) and matter(below).

it is therefore possible the code is indicative of just that: the creation of the Great Work, the philosopher's stone, the Rebis, by uniting the spirit(above) and matter(below) to create life itself.

But how is this indicative of the theory that God and Hell have become one and the same?
Well, one of the most common depictions of the creation of the Rebis is that of "The White Queen and the Red King".
- "The White Queen" represents the ethereal and spiritual, moon, mercury, water and earth.
- "The Red King" represents the worldly and carnal, the sun, sulfur, air and fire.

But what does this matter? Where in the game do we see anything even remotely resembling this? In Limbo.
(glass panel commonly seen in Limbo)
A panel depicting God and Hell, the "White Queen" and the "Red King". Spiritual and material. Above and below.
In alchemy, the White Queen and Red King are united to create the Rebis.

But do we have any indication they might have united into one? Curiously, we might have that lead now.
("Death Screen Eye" with two irises, seen briefly when dying)
This ominous image appears for a total of a few frames in-between V1's death shutdown code and the [YOU ARE DEAD] screen. Many theorists, myself included, believe this to be the eye of our sadistic overseer, since we know they delight in causing suffering and death for the sake of entertainment; and entertainment needs to be observed to be entertaining.

But, with the freshest addition of the 8-1 OST teaser, we've been given this image:

(8-1 ost thumbnail)

While it is still too early to draw any conclusions - as it's too early to tell and we know nothing more of Fraud, the imagery present here is particular. If we speculate (and this is speculation) that this eye is indicative of God, then his descent and subsequent fusion with hell could explain where the second pupil came from. United into one. Above and below. Spiritual and carnal. (Also note this eye is looking UP - above, where God would be in regards to the Rebis)

# ULTRAKILL's "HELLGOD"

So how would this all come together?
Even if we were to acknowledge all these gnostic and alchemical parallels and possibilities, we still have to wonder how this would all fit into the game.

There are two variables we should look at:
1. How would this fit story wise given everything we know.
2. How would this work given their respective characters.

Let's begin!

## The First Point

1. How would this fit story wise given everything we know.

Getting the obvious out of the way first, there are so far no hard, clear confirmations of this theory being true and none of it being false either.

So instead we must look at the chronological events presented in the game so far, as well as circumstances in the lore to see how they work around this theory.

It is impossible to know how much time passed between each testament, but we know humanity had to have existed by testament I for it to be considered a failure, and that hell as a realm had to exist by the time of Testament III and onwards.
This follows lore well, as we know sinners were suffering in hell and that angels were present within it performing their duties long before God had left, as several data entries mention angels leaving hell after God's mysterious dissapearance.
This further tracks as this gave time for things like the Lust and Greed revolutions to happen.

Furthermore, a giant point of the lore is that *no one*, not even angels know God's current whereabouts. In order for this theory to work, we must ask if anyone knows of Hell's sentience either?
No. It is never alluded to by any data entry or any character.
Furthermore, we know through the Virtue data entry that their eyes have been removed:
(Virtue Data Entry)

The text clearly implies that Virtues not present in hell probably retain their eyes, which makes hell virtues a special case. It is also stated that the reason for this isn't known while mentioning Judge Minos.

The topic of eyes has been long discussed in the community, with no apparent answers anywhere yet. However, we do know of four entities that *do* posses eyes.
1. The Corpse of King Minos
2. Corpse Minos' snakelike parasites
3. The two flesh prisons in charge of holding prime souls

Minos is a bit of an odd one, as his portrait in 2-2 demonstrates him featuring a covering over his eyes, but his corpse clearly has two huge beacons shining everywhere. Furthermore, the portrait further seems to posit that he **did not** have eyes, and the official ultrakill page seems to support this:

Thankfully, Hakita himself seems to have answered this one:

This tells us that Minos' eyes were only given to him after his death at the hands of Gabriel, and the reason he has them is so his soul can witness the destruction of his beloved city from within the confines of the prison.
The parasites puppeting Minos' corpse can then be explained in one of two ways: either it was their eyes that "used" the Corpse Minos eyes to send Minos a "livestream" of what was going on, or-

As is the case with Flesh Prison and Flesh Panopticon, they're not truly sentient beings.
(Flesh Prison Data Entry)

But if this is the case, what makes these entities so special? They're "organic machines" so what. Except it does mean everything, because as the P-2 ARG stated, hell has the ability to tamper with technology and machines, taking it apart and putting it back together in perverse ways. It is possible that in the same manner, Hell has taken to manually controlling - or in some way manipulating - the prisons and by extension the snakelike parasites.

Other than this, the only presence of eyes yet to be accounted for is Gluttony in general; but as hell is the material world itself, those may very well just be its own eyes.

Originally, many members of the fandom including myself have speculated this lack of eyes is the result of God attempting to hide his own shame of creating hell by removing everyone's eyes, so that nobody would "see" it. While this could very well still be the case, it's also possible that the lack of eyes later also served another purpose, and that's to conceal the fact someone's "hiding" down there.

Either way, whether you disagree or agree with the whole eye thing, the matter of fact remains the same: Nobody seems to be aware of hell being sentient.

What else do we know of the mysterious circumstances of God's absence?
We know that after he left, many things happened in hell:
1. The angels left
2. Lust began its renaissance
3. Greed began planning its insurrection
4. The sinners of violence attempted to leave through the white labyrinth

While the first three don't say particularly much about this topic, #4 is exceedingly interesting:
(7-2 secret book)

And given the data entry for the Mannequins, we know what likely happened to these poor souls:
(Mannequin Data Entry)

Furthermore however, we know that our beloved pose-striking Mannequins were inspired by the suffering of those inside Guttermen coffins:
(Gutterman Data Entry)

While most people instinctively refer to this force being Hell itself, it's never outright stated it was it that took notice of man's cruelty: only that a *force from far beyond* did, and *later* used it as an inspiration.
This is important because we need to look at *when* the Mannequins were made *chronologically.* Their data entry states they're made of the husks that attempted to flee Violence *after* the department of angels - which we know was due to God's absence. Meaning the first Mannequin could only come to be after God was already long gone, making the following likely:
1. God takes notice of the cruelty man is capable of.
2. God leaves heaven to unite with hell
3. Angels leave hell due to God's vanishing, and husks attempt to leave Violence
4. God(as Hell) takes inspiration from their own cruelty to make them into mannequins

A similar thought could be lent to the nature of the Leviathan: another demon 100% confirmed to be made of sinners:
(Leviathan Data Entry)
It mentions it's made of the Sullen, those that have given up fighting, and instead lay at the bottom. The second paragraph mentions it was both the *same force* that created the other demons (which would include Mannequins), but also that they became an abomination prophesized to be at the end of the world - while mentioning that Styx was - at the time of it's creation - already the Ocean Styx.

The last point to ask is how God would be Hell if hell existed since Testament III, while God was still all good up in Heaven.
This is answered to the abovementioned theory and connections to the alchemical Rebis. If God is the "White Queen" symbolizing spirit and the above, then it makes sense hell -as the "Red King" of matter and the below - existed as a realm of suffering before they became one.
God, as the spirit, the above - would become the sentience of the already existing matter, the carnal body, the form - of hell.
In Gnosticism too - Tartarus existed as a place long before the Demiurge descended there to torture sinners itself.

Overall, there's not *anything* we have directly present that would deny this theory.

## The Second Point

2. How would this work given their respective characters.

This is a question I often received (and one that inspired me to make this entire document) so it's one definitely worth asking and answering.

After all, last we heard of God(Testament V as of writing this) he was a broken suicidal shell, far from someone who'd take delight in the suffering of others and work meticulously to create as much of it as possible.

Now, unfortunately, I cannot outright answer this with anything present within the game - as it doesn't exist, and we're lacking crucial information like Testament VI.

However, I can offer an interesting theory I think might work, and it's related to yet another thing Hakita has outright stated he has knowledge of: Paradise Lost.

Granted, the discussion this message is pulled from was largely discussing the devil, but the fact of the matter remains that Hakita knows about Paradise Lost.

And I believe that by looking at Paradise Lost we can pull the most likely explanation to how the character of God could have transitioned into that of Hell: and it is in the character of none other than Lucifer himself.

Don't worry, I'm not here to discuss Lucifer's presence or lore in the story. Rather, I am here to show an interesting parallel between the story of Lucifer from Paradise Lost and ULTRAKILL's God.

In Paradise Lost, Lucifer falls from Heaven into Hell for many of the usual reasons you'd think so: His pride, envy, anger and greed. However, during his stay in Hell, as he's plotting the demise of mankind, he notices that he's *suffering*.
Having never suffered before, he is puzzled by this, but associates the torment he feels was caused by his fall into Hell. He thinks to himself it's the flames of Hell and fall from Heaven that are causing him this misery.
Sometime later however, as Lucifer makes his way out of Hell and enters the Garden of Eden, he realizes he's *still* suffering despite having left Hell. Standing there in Eden he finally realizes that all of his suffering is entirely *his own*.

His guilt, grief, loss, frustration, and hatred are what's causing him suffering. And unlike a realm like hell, this suffering is entirely *internal.* It's the type of suffering that will follow him whether he's in hell or heaven. No matter what he does, he cannot escape it.
And so, he drops one of the most important lines in Paradise Lost:
___

*Me miserable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell;
And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep
Still threatening to devour me opens wide,
To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.*
___

The first three lines tell us his state. He's completely miserable. He's standing in Eden, a literal paradise, and still feels nothing but suffering, nothing but infinite misery. He reflects that no matter which way he goes, no matter where he tries to run or hide, he shall only find more suffering, as that suffering is himself.

He is his own suffering, and suffering is hell.
As he is his own suffering, that means he is his own hell.
So since he is his own hell, he himself is Hell.

I think it's this that greatly resembles the present state of Ultrakill's God down to a T. Many members of the fandom believe that the final testament - Testament VI - will be one where God declares he's leaving behind the universe and departing to somewhere far away.
However, just like Paradise Lost's Lucifer - God's suffering is internal. It is his grief, his guilt, his regret, his despair. No matter where he goes: be it a different galaxy, a different cosmos, a different dimension or a different universe, he shall still suffer, because his suffering is internal.

But that still doesn't answer why he'd start enjoying being cruel and sadistic. Say it is true he realizes all this. What then? How does he transition into the sadistic overseer we see in game?
For that, we look at the last three lines.

*And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep
Still threatening to devour me opens wide,
To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.*

Even now, as he's in the lowest of the low, so miserable he attempted to end his own life; even here, even now, something even darker opens up in him, and it is in this new low he finds that the Hell he suffers...
....feels like Heaven.

So, why not indulge it?
If, as he himself states in Testament V, his choices and mistakes cause only hatred and infinite pain, why not embrace it?
If the Hell he feels gnawing him from the inside has started to feel like Heaven, why not take it?

Moving away from the possibility of it being for the sake of sadism, we can also consider what we know of God's opinion of the suffering inside hell - he feels guilt over having sent mankind to suffer eternally in there. While the P-2 ARG suggests our sadistic overseer is acting purely out of malice, it is also possible that - if we assume the lore under the lens of the Hellgod theory - God(as Hell) has invited the machines into hell so they might kill everyone inside - thereby leaving none to suffer eternally.
Can't feel guilty over damning everyone to eternal suffering if there's no one left to suffer eternally; and who better to carry out this cleansing than the literal war machines who were made for nothing but perfecting death?
And if God can never die; how could he not find machines fascinating and beatiful, given that their ability to inflict so much death is their primary purpose in life.

However, as said. This is all purely speculation and theorizing. Hakita could take this any way, all I've done here is posit and idea of how it could potentially work out.

# Epilogue

The posited storyline with Hellgod in mind is this:

1. God creates the universe and humanity
2. Humanity posseses "Free Will", something he grows to consider the fatal flaw
3. God spends "uncountable cycles" attempting to remove it - to no avail
4. Frustrated by his own failures and angered at man for failing to fold to his will, he creates a material world of suffering and pain - hell - in which to trap humanity in physical forms to be tortured for eternity
5. Doubting himself over his failure to make his perfect humanity and gnawed at by guilt over the creation of hell, he is confronted by Lucifer
6. Refusing to accept his faults and admit he was wrong, God is instead taken by panic and fear and casts Lucifer into hell. Realizing his new error but refusing to fix it because it would admit his own imperfection, he continues to sink deeper into despair.
7. An untold amount of time later, he has completely hollowed out. Nothing inside him remains. All his choices cause only hatred and suffering, and he can stomach no more of his own guilt and regret.
8. He attempts suicide, but fails, as he is unable to die.
9. Realizing he will never escape his own suffering, he reflects his suffering is his hell, which makes him his own hell, which makes himself Hell.
10. In this lowest of lows, an even lower low "opens" inside him, where his own suffering(hell) resembles pleasure(heaven) and he begins taking delight in suffering
11. God (the above, the spiritual) - combines himself with hell (the material, the below) to become Hell; to nourish, promote, and cause suffering and torment, which is his new heaven.
12. The events of the game take place

___
Another point to be raised is that having this revelation and subsequent turning point for God would be too much to fit into one testament. However, I would like to mention that the final testament is not the *only* thing we know will discuss the matter of Hell's sentience - the final Prime Sanctum end terminal will also. As far as all available in-game material is concerned so far - we have no knowledge or confirmation of Hell being sentient *at all.* Our only indication to this is an external ARG not many new players will see.
However, Hakita has said that the contents of the P-2 ARG *will* be included in the last prime sanctum terminal along with some new info. This means that we'd have - at least - Testament VI and the P-3 Terminal to reveal this information; so I posit the following:
- Testament VI discusses God's internal realization of himself being Hell and how it's begun to feel like Heaven
- The P-3 ending terminal discusses the mysterios sadistic overseer causing all the widespread suffering.

This way, the Testament can better cover these final steps of the Hellgod theory, ultimately leaving it up to the player to connect the dots between what happened.

Now yes, I know that inevitably some of you reading will say it's still a completely stupid for God to turn into the spirit and sentience of hell and become one with it. It's your subjective opinion and I cannot argue it.

However, given all the abovementioned things we know not just in the lore, but with inspirations to both gnosticism and alchemy we know to be present within the world of ULTRAKILL, I feel we might be reaching a point where the coincidences just start being a few too many to not mean anything.

Maybe I'm nuts.
And maybe, just maybe, it's as Hakita himself said in the 2nd Dev Stream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qASafL-AN4w&t=11560s