Cambion
Offspring of a human and a demon in medieval legend.
A cambion is the offspring of a human and a demon, typically resulting from a union involving an incubus or a succubus. In European mythology and literature, the term originally referred to a changeling, a child substituted for a human baby. The concept has been debated and defined in various ways across medieval and later sources.
Quick Facts
- Earliest known use
- Interchangeable with changeling
- Etymology
- From Late Latin 'cambiare' (to exchange) and Celtic root 'kamb' (crooked or exchange)
Facts from the source article.
Changelings
The word cambion traces back to the Late Latin cambiare, meaning "to exchange," and further to the Celtic root kamb, meaning crooked or exchange. Originally, it referred to a changeling—a fairy or demon child swapped for a human baby. In the 13th century, William of Auvergne described cambiones as "sons of incubi demons," false infants who wailed endlessly for milk and could not be satisfied even by four nurses. Richard Firth Green noted this became the standard medieval explanation for changelings. The term later appeared in the 1818 Dictionnaire Infernal as the offspring of two demons. The 1825 edition added that such a being had no breath or pulse until age seven, was extremely heavy, and cried when touched.
Human–demon hybrids
Since at least the 19th century, cambion has also been used for the child of an incubus or succubus with a human parent. Victor Hugo's 1874 novel Toilers of the Sea defined a cambion as the son of a woman and the devil, and the term later appeared in Dungeons & Dragons' 1983 Monster Manual II. During the Middle Ages, the concept of offspring from humans and demons was debated but lacked a widely accepted name. The influential Malleus Maleficarum, a major compendium of 15th-century demonology, states that demons such as the incubus and succubus are incapable of reproduction. According to this text, the creation of a cambion requires a protracted process: a succubus has sexual relations with a human male to acquire sperm, which she then passes to an incubus, who corrupts and strengthens the seed before transferring it to a human female to impregnate her. The Malleus Maleficarum discusses arguments for and against this process, citing biblical quotations and scholars, and concludes that this is the method used by such demons. It refers to the children of incubi as campsores or Wechselkind, a German term for changelings.
In popular culture
In folklore and modern fiction, a cambion is the child of a human and a demon. The legendary wizard Merlin is sometimes called a cambion in later stories, as his father was an incubus. Hellboy, from Dark Horse Comics, is a cambion born to the demon Azzael and the human Sarah Hughes. DC Comics' Raven is also a cambion, the daughter of the demon Trigon and the human Arella. In The Shadowhunter Chronicles, warlocks like Magnus Bane are cambions; his mother was half Dutch and half Indonesian, and his father was the demon Asmodeus, who tricked her by taking her husband's form. Tessa Gray, from The Infernal Devices, is a unique warlock because her mother was a nephilim named Adele Starkweather and her father was the demon Belial. The Devil May Cry twins Dante and Vergil are cambions, sons of the demon knight Sparda and the human Eva. In KPop Demon Hunters, Rumi has a demon father and a human mother who is a demon hunter. Finally, Toji Shuten from Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi is a cambion.
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