Pinhead, the leader of the cenobites, was once a human being who went by the name of Captain Elliot Spenser (c. 1883-1918). He was once a British Army veteran who fought during world war one, and subsequently an explorer. His dramatic transformation into pinhead came about through the opening of the lament configuration, or as we know it 'the box,' and he was subsequently possessed by the cenobite spirit Xipe Totec. His mutilations include pins hammered through his flesh into his skull in a grind pattern, and six open wounds on his lower torso with the flesh peeled back.

So what about the box....this was built some centuries ago by Phillip Merchant, a toymaker commissioned to make the box by Monsieur De Lillie. The box was initially used to summon a demon, (Angelique) becoming an opening (or gateway) to hell. Of course as a result Merchant's bloodline would all be cursed, something we really learn about in the fourth installment of Hellraiser. Yet it is Pinhead who seems to be first in line to use the gateway when the box is open.

Since the first film Pinhead's role has varied with each installment. in the original Hellraiser, Pinhead was simply named 'lead Conobite' and was part of a collective group whose purpose was to give pleasure and pain to those who opened the box. they were not evil as such, simply a force that existed to explore experience. The second film followed this but the third radically changed the original concept, making Pinhead and the cenobites into typical Hollywood monsters. In the fourth film he is presented as a demon from hell who wants to take over the earth, and by the fifth he is simply out to torture those who solve the box. The seventh film goes back to the originals, with the Cenobites being responsible for pleasure and pain, but still borders on the demonic portrayal of the middle installments.