This article contains spoilers.
If you’ve been seeing a lot of your friends talk about the new Netflix horror series “Marianne,” it’s for good reason. It’s a dark tale about a young writer, Emma Larsimon (Victoire Du Bois), who has become a famous horror author, writing several books in a series called Lizzie Larck. The books focus on a witch named Marianne and the heroine Emma has created to fight her, Lizzie.
Marianne, as we come to discover, has been haunting Emma in real-life since childhood, and her books have become a therapeutic outlet. It’s a visit from an old childhood friend during a book signing of her final Lizzie Larck installment that acts as the catalyst for sending Emma back to her hometown of Elden, a place she abruptly left over 15 years ago.
With Emma’s return to Elden, we learn more about the witch Marianne.
There’s a fascinating segment in Episode 4 where Inspector Ronan, the investigator assigned to a case involving Emma, reads the real-life accounts of a woman on trial in 1587 named Marianne Basselin. It begins with Marianne’s childhood, where her house mysteriously burns down, tragically killing her parents. Marianne however, manages to escape with her cat, Mathurin.
The report continues to describe Marianne’s life; death seems to follow her everywhere she goes. Marianne survives the plague as a teenager, still with her cat in tow. She marries at 16 and soon gives birth to a child, who only lives 3 months before his cradle catches on fire. Marianne and her husband have two more children who live to be older, but mysteriously disappear after Marianne takes them into the woods one night.
After all of this, Marianne decides to kill her husband and marry the demon Beleth. Odd choice, but okay. Beleth, as the report describes, is the King of Cats.
Now, I’ve never heard of any demon being the King of Cats, but then again, my demonology is what I would call severely lacking. I was fairly certain any Google search would come up with very little – perhaps a couple art prints on Etsy at most (which I would’ve clicked on immediately, for what it’s worth). But to my surprise, there were some results.
Over on Occult-World.com, Beleth is described as follows:
The demon Beleth (Bileth, Bilet, Byleth) is a Fallen Angel and 13th of the 72 Spirits of Solomon. In Hell, Beleth is a terrible and mighty king who rules over 85 Legions of Demons.
He once was a member of the Angelic Order of Powers. Beleth arrives on a pale horse, preceded by many musicians playing trumpets and other instruments. He is very angry when first summoned and must be sent to a magical triangle by a magician pointing a hazel wand to the southeast.
He must be treated with great courtesy, but if the magician shows fear, Beleth will forever lose respect for him. The magician must protect himself by wearing a silver ring on the middle finger of the left hand and holding it up to the face. If Beleth refuses to cooperate, the magician must proceed with his commands.
According to Johann Weyer, a bottle of wine helps to mellow Beleth into cooperation.
Now the article doesn’t say anything specifically about Beleth being the King of Cats, but it pretty much reads like a description of my cat meeting someone new for the first time. “He is very angry when first summoned…he must be treated with great courtesy…but if the visitor shows fear, he will forever lose respect for him.” Yup, sounds like a cat-demon to me.
Additionally, we can’t ignore the two amazing images included on the article page, which see Beleth flanked by an army of loyal cat servants. You’ll find those down below.
All hail Beleth, the King of Cats. And check out “Marianne,” now streaming on Netflix.
Image Credit: Occult-World.com
Image Credit: Occult-World.com