SPOILER WARNING! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST EPISODE(S) OF TORCHWOOD YET, YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ THIS AFTER YOU HAVE! IF YOU READ THIS FIRST, YOU ARE GOING TO MISS OUT ON ALL THAT LOVELY SUSPENSE!
As I said in the last post, Abaddon made a guest appearance ('cameo' sounds a bit tame for the destroyer of the world!) in last night's final episode of Torchwood - one of the spin offs from the hugely 
successful BBC 'resurrection' of Doctor Who which has been screening this autumn/winter on BBC3 (digital/satellite/cable) and BBC2 (terrestrial) here in the UK. The series has focussed heavily not on aliens and sci-fi but on the inadequacies, and metrosexual tendencies, of the team of people which Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) has gathered around himself.
The last (double) episode features Bilis Manger - a slimy looking character - tricking/ pressurizing/ persuading the Torchwood team to open up the time/space rift which is centred on Cardiff where they and the rift are based. The result is that Abaddon is released from his imprisonment underneath the rift in order to wreak havoc and destruction on the city and people of Cardiff (and from there, presumably, the world). If you haven't heard of Cardiff - it is the capital of Wales - I am not overly surprised! We are not told why Abaddon happens to be imprisoned under Cardiff!
Abaddon appears in Job 26.6 and Proverbs 15:5 - although in both places Abaddon is a place rather than a being and is identified with Sheol. (also in Hodayot and Philo) In other words, like Sheol, Abaddon is the place of waiting after death - a place of shadows. This actually ties in very well with Torchwood's concept of postmortem existence - as shown by the episodes where the resurrection glove is used - the programme suggests that postmortem existence is either 'nothing', or just darkness with something moving around within the dark. What is not present in the OT references to Abaddon or in Torchwood is the possibility of Elysium - the Greek concept that alongside the place of shadows or the waiting room (Hades) there is also a place reserved for heroes, saints and those favoured by the gods in some way or other. All is a little dark and sinister.
Abaddon also appears somewhat differently in Revelation 9:11. There he is the king of the locust army and is called the angel of the abyss, known in Greek as Apollyon, the destroyer (see also Acts of Thomas and demonology texts). This presumably gives Torchwood the concept of idea of Abaddon being imprisoned underneath the rift - at the bottom of some some form of chasm. It also ties in with the episode in Doctor Who Series 2, Episodes 8 and 9 (The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit) where the doctor discovers a fiery monster (Satan - surprise, surprise!) who is imprisoned on a planet held suspended over a black hole(!).
This rather horrible, sinister and convincingly bad demonic entity is supposed to be the reality behind the various personifications of evil around the universe(s). The Good Doctor eventually dispatches the demon into the black hole...while he and his friends beat a hasty retreat. So, the doctor is able to rid the world of the devil - not even God was able to do that!
Torchwood's Abaddon is actually a pale reflection of Doctor Who's Satan and was apparently given the nickname Bob by the design team! Gone is the fire and the insidious mind games, and along with it most of the horror. Instead this goat-footed, horned beast tramples over Cardiff and his shadow destroys anything which gets in his way. However, just like his mentor/hero/heartthrob (?), the Doctor, Jack is also able to destroy the Destroyer. Abaddon is killed when Jack, the enigmatic man who cannot die, comes face to face with walking death. The resulting paradox is too much - light bursts from Jack's body and Abaddon disappears. Jack is left lying with his arms outstretched, apparently lifeless, in the middle of some wasteland outside the city. Are you getting the echoes yet - or are they a bit too subtle for you? Jack's body is taken back to Torchwood HQ and laid out in the mortuary attended by Gwen for several hours/days - eventually she decides to leave him and gives him a farewell kiss. Jack is revived and they all live happily ever after into Series 2! The rather obvious echoes to the Passion are all there - dying to save the planet on a slight hill outside the city, lying dead in a tomblike context, a woman waiting with you (Mary Magdalene???), giving you a kiss (or is this Sleeping Beauty or the MAtrix perhaps?) and resurrection...death cannot hold Jack! Lo and behold all is well. I have to say that in the context of Torchwood, with all the Jesus echoes on loudspeaker mode, it was all a bit gruesome! No subtlety here! Although, Mark Goodacre asks a good question (see comments below) - are these Jesus allusions or just 'standard dying rising saviour' allusions. Dunno...same could go for Matrix but there the allusions are much more overt and literally in the scenery!
At the end of the episode all is restored! All the monsters and plagues and everything are cleared up; the mutiny in the team is apparently resolved and they all look forward to an exciting Second Series! Although suddenly, with the sound of the Tardis in the background, they find that Jack has gone! Apparently, it is a link to a future episode of Doctor Who to be released in late 2007. Shame he didn't stop around to introduce the Doctor to his rather manic and disfunctional team. But then, when you boss keeps disappearing or being shot or whatever, it doesn't make for good team dynamics, does it?
Back to the Biblical Abaddon: even in Revelation, we are given precious few details about him. He is clearly on the side of the opponents of God - although traditionally he is sometimes seen to have the same background as other fallen angels - in other words, a being which decided to stand against Yahweh and thus establish an alternative power structure within the divine council - note he is still called the angel of the abyss. As such, Abaddon and Satan are linked closely - possibly they are alternative names for the same concept/being. There is a reference in Job 27:22 to the personification of Death and Abaddon - in that they are given speech. But this sense of personification of attributes is quite common - Satan is personified, as is Wisdom.
I think it is likely that Torchwood is actually using the Biblical texts as a launchpad for an exploration of the demonological discussions about Abaddon. This would be much more appropriate for today's (Western) culture which enjoys dabbling in demonology (Buffy, Vampires, Van Helsing and so on) but without taking it all that seriously (Shaun of the Dead...). Instead, the episode picks up on the biblical resonances of apocalypticism (end times, destruction, plagues, strange happenings in the skies) and takes one of the names associated with the end times (Abaddon) and then moves into the demonological texts to portray Abaddon and his qualities or characteristics. I was intrigued that it was Abaddon's shadow which brought death and wondered whether this was actually a harking back to the Passover and the Angel of Death???
Anyway, enough of Abaddon. Must get back to work. I would be intrigued if others add to this...but there are plenty of websites for those who really like the gory details.
Pete
Thanks for the great post. I think you should add a "Spoiler alert" at the top of the post for those who haven't seen the last episode of Torchwood yet -- you reveal everything. (Happily, I watched it last night, before I'd read this post today).
One typo -- on the Satan Pit (etc.), it should be Series 2, not 1.
Are the parallels Jesus parallels, though, or just standard dying and rising saviour motifs? What is specifically Christian about the imagery?
Posted by: Mark Goodacre | January 05, 2007 at 05:09 PM