"Yes! At last! It's time to corrupt the mortal realm!"
~~~Cerberus, The Triple Demon
Cerberus is the third Demon encountered in Helltaker, and although Cerberus has three bodies, there is only one soul living within and controlling all three of them. They are referred to as "The Triple Demon."
Appearance[]
Cerberus, like most of the Helltaker cast, is depicted as a short demon girl with pale skin, red irises, a black arrow-tipped tail, and silvery-white hair; however, in her case, she is represented as 3 girls rather than 1, although these traits still apply to all three. Since all three are identical, any descriptors applied to one of the girls apply to all of them. While not possessing horns like the rest of the demons, they instead have white canine ears that emerge from under their hair on the top of their heads; They also all have canine teeth, as evidenced by the small fangs present in their mouths in their idle sprite. Their eyes are very large, rounded, and wide, invoking an enthusiastic expression. They have parted fringes and their hair stretches all the way down their back, where at the end it is tied via hair tie into a short "tail".
Cerberus dons more form-fitting apparel, wearing red button-up long-sleeve shirts underneath black-striped suit vests, and black slim fit suit pants. They wear black cuffs over their red shirts just below the shoulder, as well as black gloves and a black ties tucked underneath their vests. Their tails seem to emerge from underneath their vests and over their pants.
Personality[]
Cerberus, upon first meeting in the Underworld, is one of the more excitable and ecstatic demons with a happy-go-lucky attitude, as evidenced by their almost always smiling sprites and their enthusiastic dialogue. Cerberus, while at first seeming relatively innocent compared to the rest of the demon girls that join the Helltaker's party, quickly reveal a more sinister side of themselves, albeit while retaining their cute, seemingly harmless appearance. When joining the party, they all express their excitement to finally be able to "corrupt the mortal realm". At the same time, they also infer that they have no hesitation in tearing the Helltaker into pieces if he asks questions about bringing them to the normal world.
Encounter[]
When the Helltaker first encounters Cerberus at the end of Level 3, Cerberus expresses their surprise at the appearance of a "real human" in Hell, and ask the player to take them with. The player is given two options to respond with:
- "Deal, no questions asked."
- "This is getting too easy. I have questions."
If the player picks the first option, they rejoice, eyes widened. They exclaim that it is finally time to corrupt the mortal realm. Cerberus joins the party and the player receives a "SUCCESS" prompt, advancing on to Level 4.
If the player picks the second option, Cerberus delightfully explains that, although they need a human to cross the Hell's Gate (for unspecified reasons), they don't need you to be in one piece. The player is given a "Bad End" screen, which says "They jumped you like rabid dogs. Canine sounds included. The cuteness of it all gave you a heart attack."
Life Advice[]
If player asks for life advice in fourth and fifth chapter Cerberus will sense Malina and Zdrada.
Chapter IV
Hey, do you smell that? Orange, berries and... Vodka? There's no doubt. That's got to be Malina. She acts hard to get, but maybe you'll figure her out. Then we will all hang out and it's gonna be FUN!
Chapter V
This place stinks of smoke. Zdrada must be close by.
Trivia[]
- Cerberus was originally supposed to have a single, younger looking body, to be accompanied by "not sure if legal" jokes. To avoid any potential legal trouble or bad publicity, they were instead made older and given her signature extra bodies.
- It's implied in their bad ending that Cerberus is more dangerous for how cute they are rather than their canine features; as the three bodies attack the Helltaker like "rabid dogs", no mention is made of any physical damage sustained. Instead, he's specifically said to have had a heart attack from the "cuteness of it all".
- It's mentioned that he need not be in one piece for them to cross the gates to the mortal realm, implying that, while they do have the strength to dismember a human, they seemingly can't kill one with that alone.
- An pornographic artist known as Krekkov created a piece on Cerberus (among other Helltaker characters), which depicted two of the Cerberi being affected by what was happening to one Cerberus. Vanripper commented on Short Comic About Demon Lore that Krekkov had "figured them out long ago, but now it's canon."
Gallery[]
