Ian Mercer

"My light drags me to where ever I must go...I hurt my daughter, thinking I was helping her...I just want to tell her one last time that I love her..."

Ian Mercer is a damned soul who broke free from his bondage and seeks to return to the world of the living in order to be reunited with his daughter. Mercer is unique among the other sinners in Hell, as his punishment seems to be grossly unjustified to his sin, which was suicide. It is later revealed that his ex-wife made a pact with Heaven, who then in turn made a deal with Abaddon on her behalf, to have Mercer locked in the 9th, deepest ring of Hell, to be tormented for all eternity, seperated from ais daughter, without the release of death.

Appearance
Mercer as a demon appears to be skeletal being with glowing blue eyes, and ashy grey, cracked skin. When angry or otherwise frustrated, the cracks in his skin glow blue. He typically dresses in dark brown boots, light grey/blue jeans, white tee and button up shirt, and black hoodie jacket, with the hood always on. Mercer arrived in Hell with nothing, and took these clothes from another soul who died almost immediately after arriving in Hell.

As a human, Mercer is depicted with blond hair and blue eyes, and wears reading glasses.

Personality
Mercer is a deeply scarred and hurt man, and displays frighteningly extreme suicidal tendencies when discouraged, despite the fact that he cannot die due to his curse. He wanders Hell in search of any hope of breaking out and finding his daughter, that he might gain her forgiveness for leaving her behind. He is usually quiet and melancholy, a man of few words. He dislikes opening up to people he does not trust and jealously guards himself from most people. After gaining his trust, however, Mercer becomes a fiercely loyal friend, and though he is brutally defensive of those he cares about, he can be surprisingly gentle and empathetic. These hidden qualities of his are what lead Charlie to realize that there was more to who he was, and that his Soul was likely cheated in Judgement.

Due to his torture in the 9th Ring, Mercer spends every waking moment in excruciating agony, describing every step like "stepping on red-hot glass shards." Due to this, Mercer dislikes physical contact, and even necessities like eating and drinking are barely tolerable.

Mercer carries a cursed Polaroid photo that allows him fleeting scenes of his daughter on earth, causing him to become more distraught as she comes to blame him for her unhappiness. Despite this self inflicted torture, he violently protects the photo, and even raised a fist to Vaggie when she threatened to take it from him before being stopped by Charlie.

Mercer notably has absolutely no fear for powerful demons such as Alastor, Vox, Stolas and even Lucifer, likely due to his suicidal tendencies. The only exception to this is Abaddon, of whom Mercer is deathly afraid of, who seeks to re-imprison Mercer in the 9th Ring.

History
Ian Mercer was a typical salary man. He woke up next to his beautiful wife, had pancakes with his daughter, got her ready for school and went to work at contracting firm for the Department of Defense. He enjoyed football, beer, guns, fishing and vacations to the beach with his family. To any outside observer, his life was perfect.

Tragically, it was not to last, and a group of Demons, including Stolas, corrupted the soul of Hera Mercer, causing her to gradually hate her loving husband. Instead of sinning against him by killing him or committing adultery, however, she instead turned to Heaven of all realms, and made a deal. In exchange for her eternal service in the ranks of the Exorcists, she would offer her own daughter as a vessel for one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, namely Pestilence. Hera then promptly divorced Ian, leaving him financially ruined, but was unable to gain sole custody of their daughter. Furthermore, a rift had formed between Jasmine and Hera as a result of the divorce, with Jasmine believing that Hera was largely responsible for the family problems. This resulted in Jasmine and Ian being very close, but with mounting debts and further legal issues, Ian saw the situation was untenable, and the loss of his daughter was imminent. Lost in despair and grief at the shattering of his family, Ian took out a multi-million dollar life insurance policy for Jasmine, put a revolver to his head, and pulled the trigger.

Ian Mercer expected to be sent to Hell, but he was not expecting the cruel fate that awaited him in the black pit of the 9th Circle. Hera had made a deal with Abaddon himself, and Mercer was made into the official plaything of the demons of hell. Before long, he was known as The Whipping Boy of Hell. What made it worse, is that Abaddon allowed Mercer glimpses of Jasmine through a cursed Polaroid photo of his daughter, revealing she was wealthy and well off, but bitter and heart broken over his suicide. Furthermore, she was now under the direct influence of her mother, who was surrupticiously grooming her to be a Horseman of the Apocalypse. Hera would eventually die via terminal disease, and was made into a very powerful Angel in heaven, the finishing touch on the cruel twist of fate.

After what seemed like an age of torture. Ian Mercer found that he could move under he own will, but doing so was unbelievably painful. After learning it was possible for the dead to travel back to the land of the living, Ian vowed to find a way back to Jasmine, earn her forgivness and free her from her mother's ruinous influence. Step by step, inch by bloody inch, Ian Mercer literally crawled out of the 9th Circle, and set out on a crusade to find his way out of Hell.

Eventually, after many failed attempts, Mercer finally made his way to the Ring of Pride, where he saw Charlie's segment on the Hell's News Channel. Mercer was largly unconvinced that redeption was possible, but at this point, with Abaddon's agents chasing him and multiple hits on him from other demons, a shot was a shot, and he eventually showed up on the front step of the Happy Hotel.

After first keeping to himself for several weeks, Mercer slowly edged out of his shell and attended a Hotel activity, a discussion night consisting of Angel Dust, Husker, Vaggie, Charlie and Himself. After silently listening to both Husker and Angel Dust talk about their past lives, Mercer speaks up and points out that acts of goodness could help, and offers to assist both of them. Angel Dust initially laughs it off, but after being sexually assaulted by Valentino, Mercer searched all of Pride City until he found him, and drove him back to the Hotel. This facilitates the two's close friendship.

Mercer joins the group on many of their misadventures, serving as a voice of reason and caution, much like Vaggie is to Charlie. Unlike Vaggie, however, Mercer is known to disregard even his own advise if the possibility arises that earth can be accessed. This often leads to some comedic situations, and sometimes to moments of heartbreak for Mercer.

Halfway through the season, Mercer finally shares his developing feelings for Battes, who reciprocates his love. While genuinely happy of their relationship, he is concerned that this means he is committing adultry: Vaggie and Angel Dust point out that he is divorced, but Mercer notes that God does not see that as an excuse. For the rest of the season, the two are a couple and make redemption a team effort for them.

In the penultimate episode, Mercer kills Scoobi Hogger by ripping his head off after the latter sexually assaulted Battes, who was his ex-wife. Horrified by what he had done Mercer became convinced that he was irredeemable and told Battes to find herself a real man who wasn't a failure. She refuses, and reiterates that Charlie was right, that there was no heart in hell purer than his.

Abilities and Equipment

 * Limited Fire and Electrical Manipulation: While not nearly on the same level as most other demons in hell, Mercer non the less has the ability to coat his hands and feet in flame making punches and kicks more powerful, and can create small electric explosions from his impacting fists.  This is extremely painful for him to do, however, and thus uses it only as a last resort.
 * Enhanced Strength, Speed, and Durability: Despite his skeletal appearance, Mercer is very strong, capable of easily lifting a car when one flipped and landed on Battes.  He is also fast on his feet, in spite of his pain, and move with blinding swiftness for short periods.  Also, his durability prevents mortal harm from killing him, thanks to his curse.
 * Heightened Pain Tolerance: Years of suffering has made the day to day pain normal for Mercer, and as a result, has an extremely large pain threshold.
 * Poison Immunity: Mercer is immune to poison as part of his undying curse.  Also, because of this, he cannot get drunk or high off of alcohol and drugs, and is thus unable to escape his mental pain because of it.
 * Marksmanship: Mercer has proven himself to be decent shot, wielding a shotgun and revolver, among other weapons, with impressive accuracy.
 * Negotiation Skills: Mercers work as a contractor for the DoD has made him very good at making deals, and as a result, it is hard for demons to pull one over on him.  Charlie occasionally talks to him about making pacts with Alastor, to which Mercer gives Charlie advise on deal making.
 * Empathy: Not all of his pain was for naught it seems, and Mercer has used his pain to help others along in similar situations.  Mercer does not like to watch unwarrented suffering, and is quick to try and set things right.

Weapons

 * Hellgun: Mercer stole a stockless, lever-action shotgun from a dead gangster demon following a bar fight shortly after his arrival in Pride city. He uses this primarily to deal with threats to the Hotel and himself
 * Lyfendr: A replica of the same revolver Mercer used to commit suicide. This Weapon was made by Abaddon and given to Mercer personally, so that Mercer could recreate his death for Abaddons perverse enjoyment.  Mercer hates this weapon, but is compelled to carry it everywhere, and at times, attempt to relive his suicide.  Despite this, it is extremely powerful, and Alastor suspects it is capable of killing Overlords.

Trivia

 * To better visualize Mercer's fire manipulation, the Hellknights from Doom 2016 and their explosive punches is a close analogy.
 * Ian Mercer was inspired by fictional characters Constantine, Ghost Rider, and Alex Mercer from Prototype, the later of which he shares a surname.
 * Vivziepop has stated that sinner demons cannot move through the seperate rings of hell. The case of Mercer that doesn't break canon is that he arrived originally in the 9th Ring due to a specific deal that was struck between Heaven and Abaddon.  After breaking free, Mercer moved up towards the Pride Ring, instead of down, the only available option to most other demons.  Now that he is in Pride City, he cannot move down unless Abaddon catches him and brings him back to the Pit.
 * Ian is a Scottish form of the name John, which in turn is Hebrew for "Graced by God."
 * Mercer has two musical solos in Hazbin Hotel, singing a rendition of Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues," and the original song "Maybe Things Are Looking Up (Or Is It Just Me)". He and Battes share an original duet, "Love in the Fire" while he and Angel Dust share a rendition of Gregory Isakov’s “The Stable Song.”