User blog comment:B214/Question and Answers 3/@comment-24098614-20140716003255/@comment-73.178.133.185-20140716145716

Otaku, "figurehead" doesn't mean "puppet". Any world leader is a figurehead. They represent their country and its policies to both its people and the rest of the world. The original Satans were the undisputed leaders of the Devils (with the exception of Mepshito Pheles) when they were alive. After they fell, a civil war occurred when those who had secretly disliked the Satans' policies took the opportunity to rise up. After the anti-Satan faction triumphed, the person left with the greatest influence was the first generation head of the House of Bael. (It's for this reason that the Great King faction probably holds so much power in the Devils' government.) However, the title of "Satan" is a symbol of power, and the only one that the Devils would follow without question, hence why it was decided to replace them. The heroes of the civil war, Sirzechs Gremory and Ajuka Astaroth, were the recognizable face of the anti-Satan faction and possessed power that surpassed any other Devil in existence with the exception of the son of Lucifer. They were the obvious choice to become the new Satans, as figureheads representing the new government's policies and due to the fact that the authority of anyone else chosen would be undermined by their very existence. However, they aren't the puppets. If they were, they'd merely be used to keep the status quo for the 72 Pillars. Instead, their policies towards rebuilding and raising up the children of the Devils and other such things have become threats to the noble Devils' power (hence the conflict with the Great King political faction).