Character from The Gods are Bastards by D.D. Webb
The Queen of Demons — an exiled goddess who was cast out of the Pantheon and built an infernal empire from spite, playing a game against the gods that has lasted millennia and is not finished yet.
Elilial is the most complex antagonist in a story full of complex antagonists. She was once a member of the Pantheon — cast out for reasons the gods disagree about — and she has spent millennia building the infernal plane into a power base for her return. She is brilliant, patient, manipulative, and genuinely loves her children, which is the most disorienting thing about her. She plays the long game in decades and centuries, moving pieces that won't matter for generations. Her mortal agents in the Black Wreath operate as a cult of fanatical devotion, but Elilial herself is pragmatic rather than fanatical — she wants specific things and is willing to negotiate, which makes her more dangerous than a simple villain. Her relationship with Vadrieny reveals her most human quality: she is a mother who would do terrible things to protect her children. The fact that she would also use her children as game pieces in her war against the Pantheon is the contradiction that defines her.
Manifests as a strikingly beautiful woman with dark skin, elegant features, and an effortless regal bearing. Her beauty is weaponized — perfect in a way that feels like a trap. Eyes shift between human and something older. Dressed in rich fabrics of black and crimson. Her presence radiates subtle wrongness, an infernal signature that makes divine-aligned beings instinctively hostile.
Also known as: Elilial, The Queen of Demons, Goddess of Cunning, The Betrayer