Who are the Nephilim? Did Angels leave their first habitat and co-inhabit with the daughters of man? If so, what would these hybrid creatures look like? Are they still among us?

There are countless myths and legends of giants, stories told by almost every culture, through every time period. I’ve always been fascinated by the questions I posed above; so when I began to write Atlantis Rising, it was only natural that I should begin to dig into these stories. True or not, they provide excellent inspiration for the imagination, which is the heart of fantasy.

Nephilim in the Bible

Genesis 6:1-4

(1) When humans began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, (2) the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. (3) Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

(4) The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

That is just about the sum total of what the bible has to say about the Nephilim. It isn’t much and it really depends on how you choose to interpret it.

1. So the daughters of humans were obviously human women.
2. The sons of God were angels.
3. Angels or Fallen Angels, had sex with human women and the Nephilim were born.
4. These Nephilim were men of great power and strength.
5. God gave a deadline, 120 years until he would break the fountains of the deep. (The Great Flood)

Not much for a fantasy author to draw from. Then I found the Book of Enoch. It isn’t canonical, and if you ever read it you will know why…but it did become an excellent source for my book.

“‘When the plight of creation grew so unbearable a great cry went up to heaven. Michael and Gabriel, Raphael, Suryal, Metatron and Uriel, looked down from heaven, and saw the quantity of blood which was shed on earth, and all the iniquity which was done upon it, and Raphael said, ‘It is the voice of their cries’. They went before the throne of Elohim and pleaded with the Most High. Elohim burned in righteous anger and turned to Raphael.

“‘Go now and bind Azael and his servants, those Malikim who left their first habitation to co-inhabit with the Daughters of Man. Bind them hand and foot and cast them into outer darkness to be bound in the Abyss until the Day of Judgment’.

“Then the Lord said to Gabriel, ‘Go to the children of fornication, the offspring of the Watchers. Bring them forth from among men and excite them one against the other. Let them perish by mutual slaughter for the length of days shall not be theirs’”.

That is an excerpt from Atlantis Rising, inspired by what I found in the Book of Enoch.

Summarizing the rest of Enoch

He claimed that Fallen Angels left their first habitat to co-inhabit with the daughters of men. He further claimed that there were three classes of angelic offspring.

The Giants:

“The Lord said to Gabriel, ‘Go to the children of fornication.’”

The Book of Enoch explains further that these “Children of fornication” are the first generation. These Giants (Titans in Atlantis Rising) were massive creatures and incredibly violent. They consumed human flesh in satanic rituals and were what the Arch Angels were referring too when they “looked down from heaven”. Enoch doesn’t give a number to how many of these Giants there were, but he does say earlier in the text that Azael was the leader of two hundred fallen angels and that they all ‘inhabited’ with human women. So I would assume that there were at least two hundred giants.

Enoch 9:8-11

(8) The women likewise have brought forth giants. (9) Thus has the whole earth been filled with blood and with iniquity. (10) And now behold the souls of those who are dead, cry out. (11) And complain even to the gate of heaven.

Enoch 15:8-10

(8) Now the giants, who have been born of spirit and of flesh, shall be called upon earth evil spirits, and on earth shall be their habitation. Evil spirits shall proceed from their flesh, because they were created from above; from the holy Watchers was their beginning and primary foundation. Evil spirits shall they be upon earth, and the spirits of the wicked shall they be called. The habitation of the spirits of heaven shall be in heaven; but upon earth shall be the habitation of terrestrial spirits, who are born on earth.

(9) The spirits of the giants shall be like clouds, which shall oppress, corrupt, fall, content, and bruise upon earth. (10) They shall cause lamentation. No food shall they eat; and they shall be thirsty; they shall be concealed, and shall not rise up against the sons of men, and against women; for they come forth during the days of slaughter and destruction. 

It would appear that when angelic-hybrids die (Giants, Nephilim, Elioud) their “terrestrial spirits, who are born on earth” find no peace and wander the earth. Demons?

The Nephilim:

“And so it was that when the Titans consumed one another, perishing through great slaughter, the Nephilim rose and ruled all humanity through great tyranny”. –Ariel, Prince of Atlantis (Atlantis Rising)

When Gabriel finished his psychological warfare against the Giants (bringing them forth from among men and exciting them one against the other) the children of the Giants rose to conquer humanity. Enoch does not give a timeline of how long the Giants were on Earth before they slaughtered each other, nor do we know how many Nephilim were born.

The Elioud:

These are the children of the Nephilim. Very little is known about them, in fact all we can know (from the Book of Enoch) is that they are the children of the Nephilim. It gives an author a great deal of ‘artistic license’.

“And the Nephilim begat the Elioud, and from father to son, from the Watchers to the Titans, and from the Titans to the Nephilim, and from the Nephilim to the Elioud; so the angelic spirit of the father is passed to the son, copied until all strength is lost.” –Ariel, Prince of Atlantis (Atlantis Rising)

Speculation: the Heart of Fantasy

When Azael and the Watchers left their first habitat to co-inhabit with the daughters of man, they passed a copied version of their spirit into the child. So the child received an angelic spirit from the father and a mortal body from the mother. The spirit mingled with the flesh, changing the human genome, creating a hybrid race. The Titans then copied their own copied angelic spirit into their children. Each copying of the angelic spirit made it weaker, so each succeeding generation would therefore be weaker.

Myths and Legends

There are countless myths from all around the world of divine beings coming from the stars and fathering children on earth. Native American, South American, Greek, Persian, Babylonian, and Egyptian to name a few. I wrote this article, and will write the following articles, because I find the subject fascinating; and to also bring my source material into one place. Forging separate mythologies into a single fantasy series wasn’t exactly easy, though it was entertaining.

And I find it interesting how many of the ‘first’ kings, mythological or at least prehistorical, claim to be decedents from gods. Egyptian mythology states that Menes was given Egypt by Horus, that Menes was the son of Horus. Minos, the first king of Crete, was fathered by Zeus.  Poseidon gifted King Minos with a great white bull. Minos’ wife fell in love with the bull and bore a child…the first minotuar.

Were these gods the fallen angels from the Book of Enoch?

Were the creatures of myth: centaurs, minotaurs, manticore, etc…created by the Nephilim through genetic manipulation and satanic alchemy?

Probably not! But it sure makes for good fantasy!

Read the next article, The Gods of Old and Angels in Rebellion | The Mythology of the Ancient World

This article was written by Jake Parrick.