Tempestari are storm creatures of the Second Circle (Lust) of Hell in the Descent, winged beings that rule the winds and act as intermediaries between the circles.
| Type | Creature |
| Habitat | Second Circle of Hell (Lust) |
| Spanish entry | Tempestari |
Description
A Tempestari has immense wings, metallic plumage and is described as “half terminator”. It sails the storm and lives in floating cities high in the circle. It strikes with triple lightning bolts that cross the whole sky, acts more often than the eye can follow, attacks in bursts, and raises wind vortices with its wingbeats that throw down the most firmly planted. When wounded, ice freezes its wings. One said: “I am not of a man, I am much more than you.”
The name comes from European medieval folklore, where it designates controllers of storms. It was said that “22 Tempestaris” would have done the group in, suggesting there are many in the Second Circle.
Role
Tempestari have authority over the gargoyles and come wherever the order of a circle has been violated. The Second Circle also holds Paolo and Francesca, and its condemned are assigned by Minos.
History
- Battle: one was defeated after a long fight involving climbs over floating rocks, falls of 70–100 feet and aerial maneuvers. Helter took part.
- The Third Circle: a Tempestari with giant metallic wings, already sighted earlier, dove from the Second Circle when the gargoyles called, after Sven and Swedenborg fell prey to a lust alien to the circle they stood in. It offered Adam to go down alone or be carried with his companions; Adam negotiated with notable diplomacy, and the Tempestari carried the group back across the whole Third Circle to the Second.
Conflicting accounts
The Descent records these creatures under shifting spellings — Torchavento, Falchavento, Estarchavento: perhaps one individual with a varying name, perhaps a family of related creatures.