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Raphael
| Overview | Combat |
“The mouse smiled brightly: it outfoxed the cat! Then down came the claw and that, love, was that.„
Raphael is a cambion / devil who first appears disguised as an enigmatic human, but quickly reveals his true form and intentions.
Overview[edit | edit source]
Raphael delights in enticing mortals with offers, especially to those whose circumstances leave them with few options.
Back home in the hells, Raphael resides in the House of Hope, a lavish and seemingly welcoming place where he brings potential clients.
Description[edit | edit source]
Appearance[edit | edit source]
Raphael has dark hair and faintly red skin, which deepens into a brighter red when he sheds his human disguise. In his true form, he has the tell-tale characteristics of a cambion; significantly with thick and decorative curved horns, and a set of pointed wings with visible membranes, similar to that of a bat.
While fiendishly ascended, Raphael's form forgoes its remaining humanoid qualities. Wreathed in flame and two sloping horns, his head is an amalgamation of three animalistic faces with skin stretched tight over bone. His faces total three glowing, yellow eyes, each with tusked gums and open nasal cavities, exposing bloody muscle. His body visibly glows with hellfire, laced with dark, bone-like structures that lead down his arms, torso and digitigrade legs.[1]
Personality[edit | edit source]
Raphael is cunning, manipulative, and very sure of himself [2], though he angers easily when undermined. Although his station grants him power and rank higher than many other devils, he hungers for more; plotting, manipulating and scheming - for over the past thousand years - to unite the Nine Hells under his control. As the game begins, he sees events unfold and realizes he now has the tenable possibility of finally achieving this goal.[3]
Raphael enjoys poetry and his own theatricality, as well as tormenting and playing with people in creatively cruel ways. He is also narcissistic to the point that his father sent an incubus, who could appear as a more youthful version of Raphael, to distract him.[4]
History[edit | edit source]
Raphael is heir to the archdevil Mephistopheles, a status granting him power and rank above that of other devils. He is proprietor to the House of Hope, a falsely welcoming home used to lure in those he wishes to bind into his service with infernal contracts.
The nature of Raphael's contracts are such that the contractee will inevitably owe him a debt. Those individuals would eventually become Eternal Debtors.
One such contractee was the architect of Moonrise Towers. They bargained to end Ketheric Thorm's Dark Justiciar army in exchange for their soul.[5] Raphael contracted Yurgir and his legion of Merregons, who destroyed all but one of the Justiciars, who himself made a deal with Raphael to guarantee his survival in the form of many rats. As Yurgir did not technically complete his end of the bargain, he remained trapped in the Gauntlet of Shar and under contract of Raphael.
The Crown of Karsus[edit | edit source]
Raphael bore witness to the fall of Netheril through Karsus' Folly; a magocracy destroyed by Karsus' inability to control the 
Crown of Karsus. However, Raphael saw also Karsus' ambition for creating a "better world" and ever since, coveted the crown for use in uniting the Nine Hells under his rule as Archdevil Supreme.[6]
Before he could retrieve the crown, however, his father Mephistopheles archived it to one of his vaults. He continued to monitor the crown, observing later how the Dead Three managed to steal it from its vault, and then use it to control an Elder Brain and subsequently its tadpoled servants.
At some point, likely after the fall of Netheril, Raphael's father sent him an incubus, Haarlep, to distract him from an unknown task (possibly his designs on the crown, though this task is not expanded upon anywhere). This was met mostly with success, thanks to Raphael's arrogance and narcissism.[7]
Raphael finally saw his chance to obtain the crown when a group of adventurers who had been implanted with tadpoles under the Dead Three's plan, managed to retain their autonomy. He met with them soon after their escape from a Nautiloid ship, and began to set in motion an exchange for the crown through an infernal contract.
Involvement[edit | edit source]
Act One[edit | edit source]
Raphael introduces himself to the party during Act One,[8] not long after the fall of the Nautiloid. He appears disguised as a human with an enigmatic personality, and the party can act diplomatically or hostile about his presence.
He teleports the party to the House of Hope where he reveals himself as a cambion. The fiend then offers them to lavishly partake on the supper he prepared and speaks in riddles, as he is fully aware of the party's condition.
Raphael offers a deal: to remove the tadpole in exchange for the player character's soul. He warns them that when their luck and time runs out, he will appear one last time.
While in the Wilderness, one of Raphael's agents, Korrilla, is keeping an eye on the party. If the player character is captured by Gut, Korrilla kills her instantly. She then frees the player character and reveals that Raphael sent her. Korrilla tells the player character to watch their back, as Raphael is not always going to be around to save them.
Regardless of having interacted with Korrilla before, she can briefly be found at the Campsite, during the 'Celebrate at Camp' stage of the quest 
. Shortly after the party starts, Korrilla appears to teleport into the northern part of the camp and can briefly be found sneaking around, towards where Gale is camped, before disappearing.
If getting too close, she disappears, with the player character making a remark about a "bizarre" smell of sulphur. If getting close enough without being detected, it is possible to pickpocket her for some common items and a small amount of gold, or trigger two lines of dialogue before she disappears.
The first encounter with Raphael may (though not always) be triggered when arriving at any of the following locations:
- Across the bridge from the Druid Grove toward the Blighted Village
- The Harper outpost southwest of the druids' grove at X: 155 Y: 365
- The path leading to the Secluded Cove
- Under the archway to the east of the druids' circle and Idol of Silvanus at X: 270 Y: 524
- In the Shattered Sanctum, in the upper rafters at X: 313 Y: -26 after collapsing the corridor wall from the Goblin Camp side at X: -105 Y: 478
- At the Selûnite Outpost in the Underdark (near the statue with the orb)
- At the broken bridge between the Blighted Village and Waukeen's Rest at X: -7 Y: 476
- At the Risen Road near where Karlach is recruited [Needs Verification]
- At camp while traveling to the Rosymorn Monastery
Act Two[edit | edit source]
During Act Two, Raphael can first be found at the Last Light Inn, playing lanceboard with Mol, if she survived. If Astarion is in the party, Raphael offers him a deal for information about his scars. Sometimes, regardless of Astarion's presence, Raphael may disappear before the party has a chance to talk to him, claiming to have "urgent business with another client" and saying that he will be around as needed for his "favorite client", leaving it ambiguous as to whether he is indicating the player or Astarion. Regardless, Mol can be spoken to after Raphael disappears, and will tell the party that she is considering making a deal with him.
Korrilla too can be briefly spotted and spoken to outside the Reithwin Masons' Guild in the Shadow-Cursed Lands, still keeping an eye on the party.
Raphael later can be encountered outside the Grand Mausoleum, practising a monologue. After approaching him, he immediately strikes up a conversation with the party. He warns them of a creature within the Mausoleum, and asks for it to be killed. Killing the creature also acts as payment for Astarion's deal. This starts .
Finding the creature inside the Mausoleum, the party discover that Raphael's enemy is Yurgir, an orthon who is trapped in a contract with Raphael. If his contract is successfully broken, Raphael appears to take Yurgir back to the House of Hope to discuss a new contract.
If he is killed, Yurgir returns back to the House of Hope. If Astarion made a deal, Raphael appears at camp to fulfil his side of the bargain.
Act Three[edit | edit source]
After reaching Wyrm's Crossing in Act Three, Korrilla can be encountered at the bar of Sharess' Caress. Talking with her lets her try to convince the party to take Raphael's deal. Upstairs in the Devil's Den, Raphael is speaking to Voss, who wishes to make a deal with him in exchange for the 
Orphic Hammer. He is uninterested in anything Voss has to offer, but instead offers it to the party in exchange for the Crown of Karsus. Raphael wants to unite the hells using the crown, and rule over them. This starts .
The party can take this deal, or attempt to steal the Hammer from Raphael's House of Hope. It is also possible to just visit (or loot everything but the hammer from) Raphael's house.
In the House of Hope it is revealed that Raphael keeps Korrilla's sister, Hope, captive, and that he prefers to have sex with an incubus who looks like a younger version of himself, Haarlep.
If taking the deal, Raphael has a short cutscene at the end of the story, where he reveals his ambitions to take his rule further than just the hells.
If instead stealing the hammer, Raphael confronts the party when they are trying to leave, and must be killed.
After Raphael is defeated, the party can interact with a Crystal Ball in the Devil's Fee to see that he is dangling, bloody and beaten, above the giant mouth of Mephistopheles and about to be devoured.
Companion approval[edit | edit source]
When meeting Raphael for the first time
- "I'll do anything to get rid of the tadpole."
-5 
-1 
-1 - "I need to think this over."
+1 
+1 
+1 - "You're mad if you think I'll make a deal with a devil."
+1 +5 +1 +5 +5 - "Then fix it. Or die by my hand!"
+5 +1 +5 +1 +1
Combat[edit | edit source]
Loot[edit | edit source]
Related literature[edit | edit source]
A Fall of Netheril
A List of Essential Personnel
About Creation of Orphic Hammer
Contract: Mol- Devil Don't Rhyme - A Verse Epic
Inscribed Githyanki Slate (Astral Prism)
Letter to Voss
List of Debtors
One Becomes Many- Orders for Archivist
Raphael's Diary - Chapter 1- Raphael's Diary - Chapter 2
- Raphael's Diary - Chapter 3
- Raphael's Notes
Report for Raphael
Security Breach
Soul-Sworn Contract- Supplication Scrapbook
Taming Hope: Part One- Taming Hope: Part Two
- Taming Hope: Part Three
The Nautiloid Adventurers
The Power of the Crown
White Bishop - Orders- White Knight - Orders
- White Pawn - Orders
Related quests[edit | edit source]
Gallery[edit | edit source]
Human model
Old model
Devil model
Ascended model
Thinking
Raphael's in-game painting above the fireplace by Jane Katsubo
Larian Studios Render of Raphael's face
Raphael's ascended fiend form
Raphael's old hair, before Patch 3
Raphael's cambion form in Early Access
Video[edit | edit source]
See also[edit | edit source]
Notes and references[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Raphael's appearance has mostly remained the same throughout the lifespan of the game with the exception of his hair color. During the Early Access and the Release of the game, Raphael had dark, brown hair. In Patch 3, this was changed to black. Sometime in a later update, however, his hair was reverted back to its previous state.
- ↑ In Act Three, the party can speak with Raphael on the upper floor of Sharess' Caress, where Voss is pleading with him for the means to free Orpheus. If choosing the conversation line, "What makes you think you'd succeed in using the Crown where Karsus couldn't?", Raphael indignantly replies, "I AM NO MORTAL. And I do not fail."
- ↑ In a conversation with Raphael and the player character at Sharess' Caress, when discussing the Crown of Karsus, certain dialogue choices result in Raphael revealing, "The archdevil Mephistopheles snatched up the Crown and squirreled it away in one of his vaults. He's naught more than a frigid archivist. So much power and potential kept inert. He made a miracle into a museum piece. I raged - but only for a decade or so - then I waited, ever watching, for more than a thousand years, for a mistake, a mishap, a misadventure. And these Chosen who have caused you so much trouble accidentally did me a favor. They brought the Crown back into play."
- ↑ Haarlep's dialogue using
- ↑
Mason's Log by Morfred
- ↑ Raphael in the Devil's Den
- ↑ Haarlep's dialogue using
- ↑ When Raphael is met for the first time, before being transported to the House of Hope, it is possible to set the stage for early acquisition of his legendary and highly desirable
Helldusk Armour early on for use in rest of the game. This guide explains how.
External links[edit | edit source]
Raphael on the Forgotten Realms Wiki