| Cenobites | |
|---|---|
| Hellraiser race | |
&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:Cenobites,_from_the_Hellraiser_series.jpg) The Cenobites in a promotional photo for Hellbound: Hellraiser II. | |
| First appearance | The Hellbound Heart |
| Created by | Clive Barker |
| In-universe information | |
| Type | Former humans/Demons |
| Leader | Pinhead |
The Cenobites are fictional, extra-dimensional, and seemingly demonic beings who appear in the works of Clive Barker. Introduced in Barker's 1986 novella The Hellbound Heart, they also appear in its sequel novel The Scarlet Gospels, the Hellraiser films, and in Hellraiser comic books published (intermittently) between 1987 and 2017. In the 1987 novel Weaveworld, they are mentioned in passing as "The Surgeons". The Cenobites appear in prose stories authorized but not written by Clive Barker, such as the anthology Hellbound Hearts edited by Paul Kane and Marie O'Regan, the novella Hellraiser: The Toll (plotted by Barker and written by Mark Alan Miller), and the novel Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell written by Paul Kane.
The most culturally significant, as can be seen through historical promotional material alongside the genesis of the third film in the series, of the Cenobites was nameless in the original novella, but was then nicknamed "Pinhead" by the production crew and fans of the first Hellraiser movie. In The Scarlet Gospels, he was given the official name of "The Hell Priest" by Barker.