His first appearance was actually in Dr Faustus, he is now used as a stock character for the devil and is a demon featured a lot in German folklore. He is a shape shifter often used to tempt people into giving up their souls for supernatural power. He is a fallen angel and one of the 7 rulers of hell and according to Cornelius Agrippa (featured in the play, but he was a real person who after his death had been rumored to have been summoning demons) was called Zadkeil who was the archangel of freedom, benevolence and mercy.
Mephistopheles name can translate into two things, in Hebrew it mean Falsehood Plasterer (liar), were as in Greek it means not-light-loving possibly trying to show that he is a polar opposite to Lucifer "light-bearer".
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