Who is Abaddon?

In Revelation chapter 9, when an angel blows the 5th trumpet, a star falls from Heaven with the key to open the bottomless pit. When opened, a large amount of smoke arises from the pit, and the smoke turned into hordes of locusts that are given permission to torment any humans who do not bear the seal of God. When speaking of the locusts, John writes:

They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon. (Revelation 9:11 ESV)

When I saw the name Abaddon, my inner nerd came out and got very excited. As I’ve talked about before, I love the television show Supernatural, which deals a whole heck of a lot with demons. They’re currently on the 9th season, but last season, a character named Abaddon was introduced to the show. She’s called the Knight of Hell, but is looking to make herself the Queen of Hell, since she feels Crowley’s reign hasn’t been up to snuff.

Since I like the tv character, I thought it would be neat to research the Biblical character, too. Basically what I’m trying to say is, my question is: Who is Abaddon?

In some of the first, quick searches I did, it seems like there are many theories as to who or what Abaddon is. When first reading the passage where Abaddon is mentioned, it seems like he is some form of demon who is playing for Team Evil. But there is much speculation whether he is indeed a demon… or possibly another name for either the Antichrist or Satan. On the other side of the spectrum, it’s theorized that he is some entity, but may not be evil. Then some even go so far as to say that Abaddon or Apollyon are other names for Jesus Christ.

The word (or name) Abaddon is mentions a few other times in the Bible, but mostly in the Old Testament: in Proverbs, Psalms, and Job. Most of the verses that mention him before seem to use Abaddon as the name of a destination or event. In Revelation, though, the name is specifically given to a figure identified as a king and an angel from the bottomless pit.

In Hebrew, the name “Abaddon” means “place of destruction”; the Greek title “Apollyon” literally means “The Destroyer.”

Abaddon/Apollyon is often used as another name for Satan. However, Scripture seems to distinguish the two. We find Satan later on in Revelation, when he is imprisoned for 1,000 years. He is then released to wreak havoc on the earth and ultimately receives his final, eternal punishment.

So, this Abaddon is definitely its own being, not a place or a state of being (like just destruction), and he is also different from Satan.

The angel of the abyss is called Destruction or Destroyer because his task is to oversee the devastation of the inhabitants of the earth, although it is curious that his minions are allowed only to torture and not to kill. His identity is a matter of dispute. Some make him Satan himself, while others take him to be only one of Satan’s many evil subordinates.

I found one source that elaborated more on Abaddon’s connection with the locusts:

In the book of Revelation, Apollyon is personal but far from human. Some interpreters identify this king, or angel of the Abyss, with the fallen star that first released the terrible locusts from the shaft of the Abyss. Although stars can sometimes represent angels in John’s visions, this angel is more likely one of the locusts from the Abyss. He is named in connection with John’s description of them, and like them belongs to the Abyss itself.

Although some information I came upon said otherwise, the majority of what I found pointed to my own thoughts when reading this part of Revelation: that Abaddon was some kind of demon (or other being), but not Satan himself.