Uriel

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"You act as though I mean to intentionally hurt my subordinates... That wounds me. There is no retribution to be had here."

―Uriel to Ipos Kabakoff and Sheila Seelendfreund

Uriel is the eldest out of the eight archangels. His name means "God is my light", and he is the physical embodiment of God's light. God is the only being capable of withstanding the light he radiates, so Uriel often injures or even blinds his subordinates in battle if they mistakenly look at him. This causes Uriel an immense amount of guilt.

Biography

Uriel is the shortest angel (next to Felix), and he likes to get retribution whenever it’s pointed out. He is seen, for the most part, always happy or smiling. His personality is cheerful, and he is also the palest angel. Uriel is one of the strictest angels when dealing with absolute law in Heaven. He is in a relationship with Archangel Zadkiel, unaware of her true motives.

Uriel’s gift given to him is that he is the actual physical embodiment of God’s light. However, because no one but God himself can handle the light, Uriel is prone to accidentally injuring fellow angels with it, which causes him immense guilt. He is the only thing that can “snuff” out the fire from Michael’s blade. If he doesn’t consume it, the fire will not go out.

Appearance

At 5'1", Uriel is the second shortest character in the comic next to Noah Sprits. He is also the palest angel. He has a small, round face and babyish features, despite being the eldest archangel. He has large, wide eyes with golden irises that almost seem to glow. He has short, thin eyebrows and a petite nose. His hair is a light blonde, and is styled into an undercut with long front bangs. Uriel's body type is thin, yet well-toned.

After fighting Sheila Seelendfreund and Ipos Kabakoff, Uriel was temporarily blinded—one or both demons had attempted to rake his eyes out during the fight. He decided not to undergo medical treatment for his facial scars and opted to let them heal naturally because he was impressed by the fight they put up and wanted to remember it. More recently, Raphael healed what little was left of the scarring.

As for piercings, both his helices have a golden cuff, and his earlobes have a gold stud in them. He has a septum piercing, as well as both nipples pierced.

Personality

Uriel is normally cheerful in nature and enjoys joking and fooling around. As God's light, it is only expected of him to be bright and cheery; he must set an example for the other angels.

However, when it comes to doing his Father's work, Uriel is strictly business. He will not hesitate to do something he is ordered to by either God or his higher-ups. Where Heaven's absolute law is concerned, Uriel is the most severe and uncompromising out of all the archangels. He is suspicious of and distrusts anyone who is not completely loyal to God.

Uriel has no love for Satan, his Fallen angels, or anyone who sympathizes with Satan and/or his cause. He sees them as untrustworthy liars and deceivers, as seen with Anthea Rosenfeld.

History

Uriel was the first archangel to be created, and there was nothing but darkness before he was brought into being. He was deemed by God to not only be His light, but the light to guide others to righteousness as well. However, he was never good at properly containing or managing the light he gave off, and often injured, burned, and blinded a lot of his subordinates unintentionally while leading them into battle. Uriel has always felt an immense amount of guilt for this, and spent hours after battles and skirmishes at injured angels' bedsides, begging for their forgiveness, which most of the time he never received.

During the Fall, he was shocked and angry to see Satan betray their Father. A rift between him and Gabriel formed when he learned Gabriel thought Satan's punishment was too severe. After the Fall, Uriel did not speak to the others as often and spent a lot of time alone.

Plot

Beginning

Uriel tails his significant other Zadkiel to an abandoned pad factory, presumably to follow up on the rumors of her plotting against Heaven. He appears to have arrived late and gets no solid evidence, having only seen Anthea Rosenfeld and Festus Totah leaving the factory as Zadkiel watches them go.

Uriel finding Zadkiel at the abandoned pad factory

In order to quell his suspicions about Zadkiel, Uriel goes on an outing with Gabriel to track down Anthea and find out why Zadkiel was there with them. After exchanging a few words, Uriel gets frustrated by Anthea's vague answers, and demands that Anthea says Zadkiel was not at the factory that night. Anthea simply says, "I cannot tell you what you want to hear, and I will not lie to you." This infuriates Uriel, and if Gabriel did not push Anthea out of the way, Uriel would have severely burned her with his light. Gabriel excuses Uriel and himself, thanks Anthea for her time, and the two angels leave quickly.

Later, Uriel is seen sitting in Heaven with his friend Raphael. Uriel is distressed over the rumors surrounding Zadkiel and is beginning to believe they are true. To stop his suspicions once and for all, he asks Raphael if he would take a look into her soul to see if it is corrupted or not. To put his friend at ease, Raphael agrees to do it, and Uriel thanks him.

Uriel dealing with Zadkiel's defection

An hour later, Uriel goes to the temple to find Raphael and hear the final say on the state of Zadkiel's soul. Upon entering the temple, he steps into a pool of blood. He looks down to find Raphael, bleeding and unconscious due to blood poisoning from Zadkiel. Uriel gets help and brings Raphael to Heaven's medical wing, where several medic angels try to heal him. As Uriel watches Raphael receive treatment, Michael walks. Michael explains that since Uriel and Zadkiel were romantically involved prior to her defection, he will have to be under surveillance as a precautionary measure. He also says that he talked to their Father and got permission to treat Zadkiel "a la Lucifer" the next time he saw her. Despite being visibly troubled by this information, Uriel agreed that the surveillance and the hunt for Zadkiel were both "fine".

When Raphael wakes up, Uriel is the first person he sees. Uriel is shocked and happy to see that Raphael is alive, but troubled to hear that Raphael could not "feel anything". Raphael also asks if Zadkiel hurt him or anyone else, and to Uriel's knowledge, she had not. He tells Raphael to rest up, and that he would send Michael in when he wakes up again.

Run arc

Two months later, Uriel and Chamuel are sent down from Heaven with a handful of other low-rank angels to issue death sentences on Ipos Kabakoff and Sheila Seelendfreund. Despite being told multiple times by Heaven to stop aiding Satan, especially since the End of Days has begun, Ipos and Sheila have continued feeding valuable information to their leader. Ipos and Sheila fight the angels, but to no avail, as Uriel ends up blowing up them, as well as their establishment, with his light. He returns to Heaven heavily scarred and temporarily blinded by either Sheila or Ipos trying to claw his eyes out.

Titus arc

Two months later in January, Raphael is still missing and Uriel takes it upon himself to try and find his friend. He seeks out Anthea Rosenfeld again, apologizes for almost burning her to a crisp the last time they met, and then asks her if she knew anything of Raphael's whereabouts. Mid-conversation, a flurry of green spikes impale Uriel from behind, which also Anthea in the process. Titus Alwright enters Anthea's house and has a brief fight with Uriel, of which Titus wins. He carves a restrictive seal onto Uriel's chest and binds him inside a sack with the same seal. Titus leaves with Uriel and stores him in a warehouse, claiming that he could be "useful" down the line.

Uriel upon seeing Titus

Sometime later, Titus takes Uriel out of the warehouse to a cliff overlooking a large city. Titus first stabs the bag with a handful of spikes to provoke Uriel. In a fit of anger Uriel demands to be let out, to which Titus obliges. Uriel, thinking Titus would open the sack facing-first, blasts a huge ray of light outward, hoping to disintegrate Titus on the spot. Instead, Titus opened the sack facing over the cliff, and Uriel ends up setting an entire city on fire. This brings Uriel into a shocked silence, to which Titus closes up the sack, believing Uriel will be quiet once and for all.

Uriel getting his restrictive seal healed by Raphael

A day or two later, Uriel's sack is brought into Natalie McAllister's holding room by one of Titus' underlings. Curious as to what is inside, she peeks in and lets Uriel out. After Natalie asks why Uriel is with Titus, Uriel responds that he does not know who this "Titus" is. Natalie replies he is the man holding them captive, and that he is trying to be the "New Satan". This information sends Uriel into a panic, and he bites the outside of his thumb hard enough to bleed. He draws a sigil in his own blood, which summons Raphael. Uriel asks Raphael to heal the restrictive seal on his chest so he can pretend that he is still bound to the sack and catch Titus off guard, killing him once and for all. At first Raphael wants to take on Titus himself for hurting Uriel, but Uriel begs him not to because he wants to be the one to get back at Titus. Raphael begrudgingly agrees and heals the seal on Uriel's body. Raphael says he is leaving to go tell Heaven of the warehouse's location, but he instead goes to warn Satan. He does this so Satan can leave with Natalie safely, but he miscalculates how Satan would handle the situation, and everything goes downhill fast.

While Raphael is gone, Uriel and Natalie bide their time in the warehouse while waiting for Heaven to arrive. Uriel stays inside the sack to ensure that if Titus comes in the room, he wouldn't know he is being tricked. However, this plan goes south for Uriel, as he misses the warehouse going up in flames as Satan arrives before Heaven does. The angels arrive shortly after Satan, and they begin filling the warehouse on the lookout for Titus. Raphael quickly goes inside to find Uriel to apologize. Uriel, oblivious to the truth of the matter, thinks Heaven went overboard on the raid, judging how destroyed the warehouse is. Raphael then apologizes to him profusely for telling Satan about the warehouse before Heaven. Uriel is shocked and angered by Raphael's actions, and says he cannot trust him anymore. The two get up to leave together to head back to Michael and Gabriel, but encounter Zoe, one of Satan's underlings, upon turning a corner. She quickly gives herself up and says she will come with them quietly, to which Uriel simply says that she'd better.

Memory arc

Uriel talking to Raphael

Raphael makes Uriel wait 30 minutes in the hospital waiting room before being seen because he is too nervous to talk to him. When Uriel is finally seen by him, Uriel acts casually while Raphael is a complete mess. While Raphael heals the last of his burn marks from the warehouse and facial scars from the fight at Thirsties, he apologizes to Uriel once more and asks to be friends again. Uriel turns him down and says that since he potentially put their Father's army in danger, he cannot trust him anymore. Uriel asks Raphael to take this as an experience in making new friends and learning to be happy. As Uriel leaves the doctor's office, he is seen with his lip quivering as he tells Raphael that he will see him later at a meeting with Michael about the prisoners they caught at the warehouse.

Relationships

• Zadkiel - Uriel was the first to approach and comfort Zadkiel after she nearly had a break down over her own creation, overwhelmed by responsibilities she never asked for. Uriel and Zadkiel were in a romantic relationship before she fell. Zadkiel's fall deeply disturbed Uriel, and he was in denial of her wrongdoings for a long time. Uriel loved her dearly, and did not want to believe that she was bad. They cared deeply for each other while they were together, and even after Zadkiel defected, the two are often shown thinking of one another.
• Raphael - Uriel and Raphael were close friends prior to Raphael breaking Uriel trust at Titus' warehouse. After that, all of their conversations have been awkward, terse, or simultaneously both. Uriel ends up cutting Raphael off, unable to accept his apology or plea for friendship because he no longer trusts him. This may be in part Uriel not wanting to deal with another Zadkiel situation. A loved one aiding Satan hits too close too home; he would rather cut the head off the snake than deal with a second heartbreak.
• Gabriel - Uriel is not fond of Gabriel because he still considers Satan family, to an extent. Gabriel thought Satan punishment for defecting was too severe, which Uriel vehemently disagreed on. Uriel refers to Gabriel as a "Lucifer sympathizer", but never to his face.

Quotes

Uriel: "Gabriel, please make sure proper treatment is administered to Chamuel."

Gabriel: "Treatment... So you really did go to... Nevertheless, I believe you need treatment first and foremost! I should wake Raphael--"

Uriel: "Don't. We're already struggling with medics. I can heal myself."

Gabriel: "But without proper treatment, that could take months..."

Uriel: "I am OK with that. Let Raphael rest... Besides, I'm impressed. I think I'd like to remember this, at least till I'm well again. You of all people should understand."

—Uriel refusing medical treatment

Trivia

• Uriel glows extremely bright when he fights, so much so that if you look directly at him, you go blind and it harms you. In fear of injury, a lot of angels dislike fighting under Uriel's command. In fact, the majority of Heaven actively tries to avoid him in battle.
• Uriel loves puns.
• Uriel has a lisp.
• Uriel's light is the only thing that can "snuff" out the flame on Michael's blade. If Uriel does not consume the flame, it will burn eternally.
• Uriel can be dared to do almost anything.
• Uriel and Zadkiel's relationship is most often symbolized by two butterflies; a yellow one and a purple one, respectively. Around the world, butterflies symbolize endurance, hope, change, and life. The Christian religion sees butterflies as a symbol of resurrection; the themes of change and rebirth are heavy within both Zadkiel and Uriel's storylines.