Baron of Hell

"Tough as a dump truck and nearly as big, these Goliaths are the worst things on two legs since Tyrannosaurus rex."

- Doom instruction manual.

Barons of Hell are one of the most powerful demonic creatures encountered in all classic Doom games.

Background
Barons of Hell is a class of demons found in the Doom games. These include Ogres, the horned Hell Knight, the Barons of Hell themselves, and finally Fireborne Barons.

Doom/Doom II
A pair of barons, referred to internally by id Software as the "Bruiser Brothers", start as the bosses at the end of Knee-Deep in the Dead, the first episode of Doom. Barons also appear as regular enemies in the later episodes and in the sequels; coincidentally, they and their weaker counterparts, the Hell Knights, frequently appear in pairs.

The Doom II manual later described them as follows: "''The Hell Knight was bad news but this is Big Daddy. These bruisers are a lot like Hell Knights, but look a little different and are twice as tough to kill". The original Baron of Hell description was given to the Hell Knight in Doom II'' 's manual instead.

A texture displaying the face of the Barons/Knight of Hell can be found in E2M8: Tower of Babel on pillars throughout the level (a similar texture appears in Doom Eternal as well).

Doom RPG/Doom II RPG
In Doom RPG and Doom II RPG, the Baron of Hell and Hell Knight both belong to the "baron" monster class. There are three variations, identified by color:
 * Ogre (green torso, red hands, brown legs)
 * Hell Knight (brown torso, brown hands, pink legs)
 * Baron (pink torso, orange hands, brown legs)

As in the original, the Hell Knight is not as powerful as the Baron, though both are more powerful than the new "ogre" variation. This class of monster is especially weak against attacks from shotguns.

Doom Eternal
A texture showing the classic Doom Baron of Hell can be found in some levels (this is based on a similar texture in Doom 1). Doom Eternal introduces the Fireborne Barons as a new breed of Barons of Hell.

Inspiration and development
The Barons were known as the "bruiser brothers" internally to id because of the first encounter with them and as a parody of the Hammer Brothers in Super Mario Brothers.

Having many hit points, the Baron of Hell appears only sparingly in Doom, as a boss or a champion-type monster. In Doom II the game dynamics change with the inclusion of a greater variety of relatively tough monsters, and the addition of two items, the super shotgun, and the megasphere. The Hell Knight, essentially the same as the baron but with only half as much health, was added to serve as a standard medium-strength monster, falling more quickly to small arms fire such as from the shotgun or chaingun, or offering some resistance without slowing the action down, against more heavily equipped players.

Trivia

 * Barons have green blood, as is evident in their death animation, as well as the wall textures of the "crucified" Baron. However, due to the limitations of the Doom engine, red blood is still displayed while shooting them, as with all other enemies and in Brutal Doom, both Barons and Hell Knights emit red blood when attacked and killed.