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Malacoda is a character inDante Alighieri'sInferno (Cantos 21-2), where he features as the leader of theMalebranche, the twelve demons who guard Bolgia Five ofMalebolge, the eighth circle ofHell. The nameMalacoda is roughly equivalent to "bad tail" or "evil tail" inItalian. Unlike other characters such asGeryon, which are based on mythical characters, Malacoda was invented by Dante and is not a mythological reference.
He with his fiends guard the grafters, caught in boiling pitch to represent their sticky-fingered deals, torturing with grappling hooks whoever they can reach. Dante andVirgil gain a safe conduct from him (Malacoda) and he allows the poets to cross to the next Bolgia. However, Malacoda lies to the poets about the existence of bridges over the sixth Bolgia, making him less a help and more an impediment. In the Inferno it does not state whether or not Malacoda chases the poets after his demons Grizzly (Barbariccia) and Hellken (Alichino) fall into the boiling pit ofpitch. All the Inferno states is that the poets were being chased by the fiends before they escaped by sliding down a bank to the next Bolgia. Malacoda and his fiends cannot leave the fifth Bolgia of the grafters. It is said in theInferno:
Malacoda also gives the reader the time by telling how long time it was since Bolgia Six passages collapsed;
Dante assumes that the crucifixion of Jesus took place in year 34, when a great earthshake came. It happened 12 o'clock am (midnight) according to theGospel of Luke, which means that the time for Dante would be approximately 7 o'clock am in theHoly Saturday.[2]
The last line of Canto 21 features Malacoda signalling to other demons byblowing a raspberry; another demon replies by producing a thunderousfart that Dante likens to atrombone («ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta»).
