Buer (demon)

For other uses, see Buer.

Buer, the 10th spirit, who teaches "Moral and Natural Philosophy". Illustration by Louis Breton from Dictionnaire Infernal

The sigil of Buer

Buer is a spirit that appears in the 16th-century grimoire Pseudomonarchia Daemonum and its derivatives, where he is described as a Great President of Hell, having fifty legions of demons under his command. He appears when the Sun is in Sagittarius. Like Chiron, the chief centaur of Greek mythology, he teaches natural and moral philosophy, logic, and the qualities and uses of all herbs and plants, and is also capable of healing all infirmities (especially of humans) and bestows good familiars.

He has been described as being in the shape of Sagittarius, which is as a centaur with a bow and arrows. Additionally, Louis Le Breton created an illustration of Buer, later engraved by M. Jarrault, depicting the demon as having the head of a lion and five, six or more goat or horse legs surrounding his body to walk in every direction.

In popular culture

• In the hit 2020 fighting game Guilty Gear Strive, Zato-1's jumping slash (j.s) is modeled after Louis Le Breton's illustration of the demon. However, instead of a lion's head, it is a large open mouth.
• In the video game Genshin Impact, Buer is the Goetic title given to Lesser Lord Kusanali, the Archon of Dendro (nature) and wisdom who is the tutelary deity of the nation of Sumeru and is the reincarnation of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, her predecessor, who created her from the purest branch of Irminsul, the tree that keeps all of Teyvat's knowledge. She currently resides in her vessel as Nahida.
• Buer appears as a minor enemy in several Castlevania games as well as the Castlevania TV series. It also appears in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the spiritual successor to Castlevania, as well as in the Dead Cells DLC "Return to Castlevania".
• Buer is a character in the animated series Rage of Bahamut.
• Buer also appears at the very beginning of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard as a set of strung up cow legs and a decapitated cow head.
• Buer can be seen in background of The Owl House in the fourth episode of Season 1
• Buer is a minor boss in La-Mulana, appearing as a lion head with many hooved legs walking in a crab-like manner. When flying between platforms, the legs rotate around the head as depicted in Breton's illustration.
• Buer appears as a secret character in the video game Pony Island by Daniel Mullins. Buer can be found in the broken map section of the game in the bottom right corner.

See also

• Ixion, from Greek mythology, the father of the centaurs who is bound to a winged fiery wheel by Zeus
• The Lesser Key of Solomon
• Wanyūdō, a similar creature from Japanese mythology

Sources

• S. L. MacGregor Mathers, A. Crowley, The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King (1904). 1995 reprint: ISBN 0-87728-847-X.