Ogdru Jahad
Encyclopedia
The Ogdru Jahad are fictional characters in Mike Mignola
's Hellboy
comic. They are the Dragon of Revelation
, and are destined to bring about the end of the world. Though the Ogdru Jahad are the ultimate antagonist
s in the series, they are not themselves active, their release from imprisonment instead being the object of many other villains' plans. They were imprisoned in their Golden Cocoons by the Right Hand of Doom shortly after the creation of Earth, but not before they spawned 369 children, known as the Ogdru Hem
.
's Cthulhu Mythos
(with some ancient Egyptian and Babylonian influences as well) the Ogdru Jahad are serpentine/crustacean entities which once resided on, and presided over, Earth. They are pitiless, chaotic, bent on destruction and subjugation and often so horrific in appearance that the mere sight of one of them sometimes induced madness.
They are listed as follows:
created an order of spirits. Of these, many of the greater spirits were sent to newborn Earth
to oversee it as Watchers. After a time, one of them "...dared to take fire from the air, and with it, fashioned out of mud the dragon (...)". The Ogdru Jahad is thus made up of the four classical elements. The other spirits set their seals on the Dragon
, and even infused it with fire once again, but still the being remained lifeless. However, when nighttime came, the Ogdru Jahad awoke and the darkness instilled it with purpose and function, instantly giving birth to the Ogdru Hem
who become Earth's first lifeforms.
The watchful spirits, upon seeing the creation of these abominations, went to war with them. The Ogdru Hem were eventually all disposed of, with many of them barely clinging to existence in some fashion, with the Ogdru Jahad sealed by their creator in a prison of crystal and placed in the heart of the abyss. The other Watchers, however, no longer trusted the one spirit, and so they struck him down and destroyed all his remnants, save for one: his right hand. After that, God looked down in fury on what had happened, and exacted his retribution on the Watchers for botching their task: some were cast down into the pit, while others were stranded on the Earth to breed monsters.
, their greatest king, attached the hand to a great statue. The statue stood for ten thousand years, until finally Hyperboria became corrupted. Thoth began to worship Heca-Emem-Ra
, the Black Goddess (presumably this is an early incarnation of Hecate
), and as a result the statue left its place in Thoth's garden and destroyed the city, before finally hurling itself over a cliff. The only remnant of the statue was the original right hand. As for Hyperboria, it was crushed by the Ice Age
, which triggered the second race of men (humanity) to come forward.
After that, the hand was somehow recovered, and later grafted onto Hellboy's arm before he was summoned by Rasputin. The arm is the key to freeing the Ogdru Jahad from their prison and thus triggering the apocalypse (hence the moniker "the Right Hand of Doom"). Hellboy is aware that he must keep the hand, as it would be more dangerous to try to rid himself of it. Attempts have already been made to separate Hellboy from his arm, both to protect the world and to hasten its destruction. Hellboy believes he is the best protection the arm can have.
While certain events have made it clear that the Right Hand of Doom is the Key to releasing the Ogdru Jahad, the actions of Herman von Klempt and the frog monsters suggest that there may be other means to the same end. The summonings of the Conqueror Worm and Katha-Hem were meant to lead to the Ogdru Jahad's freedom, yet Hellboy's right hand had no role in these schemes. Whether there are numerous ways to unlock the Dragon's prison, or whether Von Klempt and the frogs were simply doomed to failure without possession of the Right Hand, remains a mystery.
As an immortal and vastly powerful entity whose true nature defies description (even the simple issue of whether it is one creature or a plurality of creatures is ambiguous), the motivations of the Ogdru Jahad may not be possible to represent in human terms. As such, the human and quasi-human inhabitants of the Hellboy universe have expressed a variety of opinions on what the Ogdru Jahad wants beyond freedom, which it desires above all other things.
Beyond the basic premise of seeking freedom and then burning the earth, there is much dissent as to precisely what the Ogdru Jahad desire. The aliens that watch the cosmic prison of the Ogdru Jahad apparently perceive Earth as a focal point necessary to maintaining the prison. If the Ogdru Jahad are released, they will destroy Earth and then the entire Universe. Hermann von Klempt believes that once man has been destroyed, the three hundred and sixty-nine Ogdru Hem will rise up from their prisons, free the Ogdru Jahad and burn the Earth to ashes. Similarly, the Bog Roosh was plagued with dreams in which Hellboy's hand is taken and used to free the Ogdru Jahad, who then burn the earth to cinders. Rasputin, on the other hand, seems convinced that the desire of the Ogdru Jahad is to create a new, perfect world out of the ashes of the old one, where the final race of man will live. He tells Inger von Klempt that her grandfather was unable to see beyond the destruction of the human race, and that a new Eden does indeed await the final race of man. Hecate also strongly implies that there will be a "new world to come" during a conversation with Rasputin in the Conqueror Worm epilogue, but mentions that she cannot see that far ahead, and that death could await them just as easily. In The Third Wish, the Daoine Sidh explicitly state that it is prophesied that a new world shall rise from the old due to the Right Hand of Doom.
in 1939, the Nazis attempted to open relations with space-borne monsters by sending them the corpse of one of their greatest scientists, Dr. Ernst Oeming, in the hopes that the creatures would use it as a vessel and return to Earth. On March 20, 1939, even though the mission, which took place at Hunte Castle, was interrupted by the arrival of Lobster Johnson
and a detachment of American soldiers, the launch went ahead as planned. The castle, however, was left in ruins, and all parties were killed except for Herman von Klempt
. The creatures received the spacecraft, and responded by placing one of their own inside Oeming's lifeless body.
After the events of Wake the Devil, Herman von Klempt is provided with the truth about the Oeming mission and the details of the return of the capsule. The invisible space monsters showed von Klempt the destruction that would result from releasing the worm they had planted within Oeming's body. Once the world had been overtaken by the worm, the Ogdru Hem would be released from their prison
s, and they would, in turn, release the Ogdru Jahad, who will reduce the world to ashes. Despairing over the failures of his best laid plans, and inspired by Rasputin posing as the angel of death, von Klempt returned to Hunte Castle and set to work.
Von Klempt succeeded in bringing Oeming's capsule back to Earth, and from it rose a massive juggernaut known as the Conqueror Worm. Spewing forth a noxious gas, the worm turned von Klempt's human agents into frog monsters, then devoured them immediately to feed its insatiable hunger. Only quick intervention by Hellboy and Roger the Homunculus, aided by the ghost of Lobster Johnson and a mysterious alien, managed to halt the worm's feasting march. Herman von Klempt watched in dismay as his plans were foiled, only to be grabbed by Roger and heaved off a cliff to his final death.
Eventually, after years of silence and waiting, Rasputin was approached by Heinrich Himmler
, head of Hitler's SS. Recognizing this as an opportunity to acquire the resources needed to establish a stronger connection to the Ogdru Jahad, Rasputin joined forces with the Nazis and soon assembled a team of Nazi occultists, consisting primarily of Ilsa Haupstein, Leopold Kurtz, and Prof. Doktor Karl Ruprecht Kroenen. This team was known as Project Ragna Rok
. On December 23, 1944, Rasputin and his colleagues opened a doorway into the void, and Hellboy was brought forth, albeit unbeknownst to the Nazis (but not to Rasputin). After this apparent failure, the Allies won World War II and Rasputin and his allies scattered. Rasputin himself traveled to a hidden temple in the distant Arctic dedicated to the Ogdru Jahad. Inside, he sat at the foot of a statue of Sadu Hem for almost fifty years until he was disturbed by Professor Bruttenholm, providing a catalyst for his, and Sadu Hem's, sudden re-awakenings. Ilsa, Kroenen and Kurtz relocated to the frigid north of Norway
and cryogenically froze themselves until Rasputin's return, though they did not revive themselves until after Rasputin's failure at Cavendish Hall.
In the film, Rasputin was sucked into the portal and was seemingly destroyed, not to be seen again for 60 years. Only 2 members of the Nazis occultist team, Ilsa Haupstein and Kroenen survived
In Wake the Devil, while trying to strike back at Hellboy by using Ilsa's connection to a Romania
n vampire
, Rasputin brings Hellboy into the clutches of the Hecate. Hecate threatens Hellboy with his destiny, and in the end Hellboy prevails. Retreating to the abode of his grandmother, Baba Yaga
, Rasputin tries to come to terms with the fact that the Ogdru Jahad manipulated him. He realizes that the Ogdru Jahad were behind his latest venture, though he alone is responsible for the failure. He also must deal with the fact that rather than saving Ilsa, he instead sacrificed her to Hecate, who would use Ilsa's corpse (and the Iron Maiden
which contained it) as her new body.
Moreover, Hecate tells Rasputin that he had no hope in trying to awake the Dragon in the events of Seed of Destruction - the only power that can free the Ogdru Jahad is Hellboy's right hand, and Rasputin is nothing more than a tool with which to manipulate and maneuver Hellboy. Upon hearing this, Rasputin loses control and attacks Hecate, who virtually destroys him, leaving nothing more than a tiny shard of his soul
for the Baba Yaga to preserve in an acorn
shell.
The frogmen are linked to the Ogdru Jahad, and are being employed to free the Ogdru Hem who were imprisoned by the Watchers at the beginning of time. Once the Ogdru Hem are free, the Ogdru Jahad will follow. Currently, due to the events in B.P.R.D.: A Plague of Frogs, numerous frogmen have escaped the clutches of the B.P.R.D. and are moving across the North American countryside. These nests seem constructed around the purpose of praying to the Ogdru Hem, and in certain locations relics and items have been found which spawn vicious and lethal Ogdru-Hem-like creatures. Moreover, the frogs have transcended their human limitations and have developed the ability to convert their bodies to biological factories, producing thousands of tadpoles which become frog monsters.
After the events of B.P.R.D.: The Black Flame, it appeared that the frog monsters have been dealt a major setback. However, in B.P.R.D.: The Warning and B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess, it was revealed that they had instead regrouped and reunited with the subterraineans from B.P.R.D.: The Hollow Earth.
, the Ogdru Jahad were mentioned by name only twice by Rasputin
. They were portrayed as indistinct, octopus-like creatures encased in crystal shells. They are referred to by him as the seven gods of chaos who will destroy the world and from its ashes a new eden will arise.
At the conclusion of the film, their prisons were shattered and the Ogdru Jahad began their assault on Earth. Before the final lock could be released by Hellboy, he regained his senses and the Ogdru Jahad disappeared.
Sammael, a demon in the film, was referred to as the "son of Nergal
"; Nergal-Jahad was one of the Ogdru Jahad. The giant Behemoth which appears at the end of the film resembles Sadu-Hem, one of the Ogdru Hem
(also offspring of the Ogdru Jahad).
Mike Mignola
Michael Joseph "Mike" Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer who created the comic book series Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics. He has worked for animation projects such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the adaptation of his one shot comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.-Career:Mignola...
's Hellboy
Hellboy
Hellboy is a comic book superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 , and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers...
comic. They are the Dragon of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
, and are destined to bring about the end of the world. Though the Ogdru Jahad are the ultimate antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
s in the series, they are not themselves active, their release from imprisonment instead being the object of many other villains' plans. They were imprisoned in their Golden Cocoons by the Right Hand of Doom shortly after the creation of Earth, but not before they spawned 369 children, known as the Ogdru Hem
Ogdru Hem
The Ogdru Hem are fictional creatures in the Hellboy universe. After awakening, the demonic Ogdru Jahad gave birth to the 369 Ogdru Hem. The Ogdru Hem are essentially weaker versions of their parents, but even so they wield unimaginable power...
.
Fictional character biography
Mostly inspired by the Great Old Ones of H. P. LovecraftH. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
's Cthulhu Mythos
Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
(with some ancient Egyptian and Babylonian influences as well) the Ogdru Jahad are serpentine/crustacean entities which once resided on, and presided over, Earth. They are pitiless, chaotic, bent on destruction and subjugation and often so horrific in appearance that the mere sight of one of them sometimes induced madness.
They are listed as follows:
- AmonAmonAmon can refer to:* Amun, an Ancient Egyptian deity, also known as Amon and Amon Ra* Amon , a Goetic demon* Amon * Former name of the band Deicide* Amon of Judah, king of Judah and son of Manasseh...
-Jahad - AdadAdadAdad in Akkadian and Ishkur in Sumerian and Hadad in Aramaic are the names of the storm-god in the Babylonian-Assyrian pantheon. All three are usually written by the logogram dIM...
-Jahad - Namrat-Jahad
- IrraIrraIrra can refer to:*Lugal-Irra, a Sumerian, Babylonian, and Akkadian god*IRRA, an acronym in economics, finance, and decision theory for increasing relative risk aversion...
-Jahad - Nunn-Jahad
- Belili-Jahad
- NergalNergalThe name Nergal, Nirgal, or Nirgali refers to a deity in Babylon with the main seat of his cult at Cuthah represented by the mound of Tell-Ibrahim. Nergal is mentioned in the Hebrew bible as the deity of the city of Cuth : "And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal"...
-Jahad
Origins
In the beginning of time, GodGod
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
created an order of spirits. Of these, many of the greater spirits were sent to newborn Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
to oversee it as Watchers. After a time, one of them "...dared to take fire from the air, and with it, fashioned out of mud the dragon (...)". The Ogdru Jahad is thus made up of the four classical elements. The other spirits set their seals on the Dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
, and even infused it with fire once again, but still the being remained lifeless. However, when nighttime came, the Ogdru Jahad awoke and the darkness instilled it with purpose and function, instantly giving birth to the Ogdru Hem
Ogdru Hem
The Ogdru Hem are fictional creatures in the Hellboy universe. After awakening, the demonic Ogdru Jahad gave birth to the 369 Ogdru Hem. The Ogdru Hem are essentially weaker versions of their parents, but even so they wield unimaginable power...
who become Earth's first lifeforms.
The watchful spirits, upon seeing the creation of these abominations, went to war with them. The Ogdru Hem were eventually all disposed of, with many of them barely clinging to existence in some fashion, with the Ogdru Jahad sealed by their creator in a prison of crystal and placed in the heart of the abyss. The other Watchers, however, no longer trusted the one spirit, and so they struck him down and destroyed all his remnants, save for one: his right hand. After that, God looked down in fury on what had happened, and exacted his retribution on the Watchers for botching their task: some were cast down into the pit, while others were stranded on the Earth to breed monsters.
The Right Hand of Doom
Of the original spirits, many of the lesser ones were now given substance by God and took up residence on Earth as the first men, the Golden People, the pre-humans. They dwelled in the land of Hyperboria, and they took the right hand of that one spirit as their holy object, and at the request of ThothThoth
Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...
, their greatest king, attached the hand to a great statue. The statue stood for ten thousand years, until finally Hyperboria became corrupted. Thoth began to worship Heca-Emem-Ra
Ra
Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
, the Black Goddess (presumably this is an early incarnation of Hecate
Hecate
Hecate or Hekate is a chthonic Greco-Roman goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and crossroads.She is attested in poetry as early as Hesiod's Theogony...
), and as a result the statue left its place in Thoth's garden and destroyed the city, before finally hurling itself over a cliff. The only remnant of the statue was the original right hand. As for Hyperboria, it was crushed by the Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
, which triggered the second race of men (humanity) to come forward.
After that, the hand was somehow recovered, and later grafted onto Hellboy's arm before he was summoned by Rasputin. The arm is the key to freeing the Ogdru Jahad from their prison and thus triggering the apocalypse (hence the moniker "the Right Hand of Doom"). Hellboy is aware that he must keep the hand, as it would be more dangerous to try to rid himself of it. Attempts have already been made to separate Hellboy from his arm, both to protect the world and to hasten its destruction. Hellboy believes he is the best protection the arm can have.
While certain events have made it clear that the Right Hand of Doom is the Key to releasing the Ogdru Jahad, the actions of Herman von Klempt and the frog monsters suggest that there may be other means to the same end. The summonings of the Conqueror Worm and Katha-Hem were meant to lead to the Ogdru Jahad's freedom, yet Hellboy's right hand had no role in these schemes. Whether there are numerous ways to unlock the Dragon's prison, or whether Von Klempt and the frogs were simply doomed to failure without possession of the Right Hand, remains a mystery.
Motivations
From the varied attempts of the comic's villains to free the Ogdru Jahad, it is readily apparent that the release of the Ogdru Jahad is closely tied to the fall of mankind. Whether the fall of man causes the release or quickly follows it is not known with any certainty. All the characters attempting to liberate it agree that the Ogdru Jahad will do something akin to "burning the earth to a cinder" so it is possible they are all referring to some common vision of the dragon's release but are guessing at how the prophecy is fulfilled.As an immortal and vastly powerful entity whose true nature defies description (even the simple issue of whether it is one creature or a plurality of creatures is ambiguous), the motivations of the Ogdru Jahad may not be possible to represent in human terms. As such, the human and quasi-human inhabitants of the Hellboy universe have expressed a variety of opinions on what the Ogdru Jahad wants beyond freedom, which it desires above all other things.
Beyond the basic premise of seeking freedom and then burning the earth, there is much dissent as to precisely what the Ogdru Jahad desire. The aliens that watch the cosmic prison of the Ogdru Jahad apparently perceive Earth as a focal point necessary to maintaining the prison. If the Ogdru Jahad are released, they will destroy Earth and then the entire Universe. Hermann von Klempt believes that once man has been destroyed, the three hundred and sixty-nine Ogdru Hem will rise up from their prisons, free the Ogdru Jahad and burn the Earth to ashes. Similarly, the Bog Roosh was plagued with dreams in which Hellboy's hand is taken and used to free the Ogdru Jahad, who then burn the earth to cinders. Rasputin, on the other hand, seems convinced that the desire of the Ogdru Jahad is to create a new, perfect world out of the ashes of the old one, where the final race of man will live. He tells Inger von Klempt that her grandfather was unable to see beyond the destruction of the human race, and that a new Eden does indeed await the final race of man. Hecate also strongly implies that there will be a "new world to come" during a conversation with Rasputin in the Conqueror Worm epilogue, but mentions that she cannot see that far ahead, and that death could await them just as easily. In The Third Wish, the Daoine Sidh explicitly state that it is prophesied that a new world shall rise from the old due to the Right Hand of Doom.
Mortal agents
After being imprisoned in the void, the Ogdru Jahad turned their considerable forces toward finding a way to escape their confinement and exact their revenge on the world. Since they are trapped in deep space, their contact with humanity is sparse at best. However, since the Ogdru Jahad are supremely powerful psychic entities, they have been able to establish contact with mortals on Earth in order to coerce them into doing their bidding.Herman von Klempt
In AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in 1939, the Nazis attempted to open relations with space-borne monsters by sending them the corpse of one of their greatest scientists, Dr. Ernst Oeming, in the hopes that the creatures would use it as a vessel and return to Earth. On March 20, 1939, even though the mission, which took place at Hunte Castle, was interrupted by the arrival of Lobster Johnson
Lobster Johnson
Lobster Johnson is a fictional character featured in the Hellboy and Bureau For Paranormal Research and Defense comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. He was created by Mike Mignola....
and a detachment of American soldiers, the launch went ahead as planned. The castle, however, was left in ruins, and all parties were killed except for Herman von Klempt
Herman von Klempt
Herman von Klempt is a villain created by writer/artist Mike Mignola for the Dark Horse Comics series Hellboy. He first appeared in the Comics Buyer's Guide.-Character Biography:...
. The creatures received the spacecraft, and responded by placing one of their own inside Oeming's lifeless body.
After the events of Wake the Devil, Herman von Klempt is provided with the truth about the Oeming mission and the details of the return of the capsule. The invisible space monsters showed von Klempt the destruction that would result from releasing the worm they had planted within Oeming's body. Once the world had been overtaken by the worm, the Ogdru Hem would be released from their prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
s, and they would, in turn, release the Ogdru Jahad, who will reduce the world to ashes. Despairing over the failures of his best laid plans, and inspired by Rasputin posing as the angel of death, von Klempt returned to Hunte Castle and set to work.
Von Klempt succeeded in bringing Oeming's capsule back to Earth, and from it rose a massive juggernaut known as the Conqueror Worm. Spewing forth a noxious gas, the worm turned von Klempt's human agents into frog monsters, then devoured them immediately to feed its insatiable hunger. Only quick intervention by Hellboy and Roger the Homunculus, aided by the ghost of Lobster Johnson and a mysterious alien, managed to halt the worm's feasting march. Herman von Klempt watched in dismay as his plans were foiled, only to be grabbed by Roger and heaved off a cliff to his final death.
Rasputin
After being poisoned, shot, stabbed, clubbed, castrated, and hurled into the icy waters of the Neva, Rasputin was contacted by the Ogdru Jahad. They sent him visions explaining their nature and what they wanted from him, namely, to release them from their prison, help bring about the end of the world, and make way for a new world. Uncertain of how to proceed, Rasputin waited to be contacted again.Eventually, after years of silence and waiting, Rasputin was approached by Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
, head of Hitler's SS. Recognizing this as an opportunity to acquire the resources needed to establish a stronger connection to the Ogdru Jahad, Rasputin joined forces with the Nazis and soon assembled a team of Nazi occultists, consisting primarily of Ilsa Haupstein, Leopold Kurtz, and Prof. Doktor Karl Ruprecht Kroenen. This team was known as Project Ragna Rok
Project Ragna Rok
Project Ragna Rok is a fictional plan from Mike Mignola's Hellboy comics.It involved a secret team of Nazi scientists and occultists, headed by Rasputin, aiming at creating a doomsday weapon which could end World War II and bring about a victory for the Third Reich.It was named after the apocalypse...
. On December 23, 1944, Rasputin and his colleagues opened a doorway into the void, and Hellboy was brought forth, albeit unbeknownst to the Nazis (but not to Rasputin). After this apparent failure, the Allies won World War II and Rasputin and his allies scattered. Rasputin himself traveled to a hidden temple in the distant Arctic dedicated to the Ogdru Jahad. Inside, he sat at the foot of a statue of Sadu Hem for almost fifty years until he was disturbed by Professor Bruttenholm, providing a catalyst for his, and Sadu Hem's, sudden re-awakenings. Ilsa, Kroenen and Kurtz relocated to the frigid north of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and cryogenically froze themselves until Rasputin's return, though they did not revive themselves until after Rasputin's failure at Cavendish Hall.
In the film, Rasputin was sucked into the portal and was seemingly destroyed, not to be seen again for 60 years. Only 2 members of the Nazis occultist team, Ilsa Haupstein and Kroenen survived
In Wake the Devil, while trying to strike back at Hellboy by using Ilsa's connection to a Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
, Rasputin brings Hellboy into the clutches of the Hecate. Hecate threatens Hellboy with his destiny, and in the end Hellboy prevails. Retreating to the abode of his grandmother, Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga or Baba Roga is a haggish or witchlike character in Slavic folklore. She flies around on a giant pestle, kidnaps small children, and lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs...
, Rasputin tries to come to terms with the fact that the Ogdru Jahad manipulated him. He realizes that the Ogdru Jahad were behind his latest venture, though he alone is responsible for the failure. He also must deal with the fact that rather than saving Ilsa, he instead sacrificed her to Hecate, who would use Ilsa's corpse (and the Iron Maiden
Iron maiden (torture device)
An iron maiden is a torture device, consisting of an iron cabinet, with a hinged front, sufficiently tall to enclose a human being. It usually has a small closeable opening so that the torturer can interrogate the victim and torture or kill a person by piercing the body with sharp objects , while...
which contained it) as her new body.
Moreover, Hecate tells Rasputin that he had no hope in trying to awake the Dragon in the events of Seed of Destruction - the only power that can free the Ogdru Jahad is Hellboy's right hand, and Rasputin is nothing more than a tool with which to manipulate and maneuver Hellboy. Upon hearing this, Rasputin loses control and attacks Hecate, who virtually destroys him, leaving nothing more than a tiny shard of his soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
for the Baba Yaga to preserve in an acorn
Acorn
The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
shell.
The role of the "Frog monsters"
As the Ogdru Jahad advance their plans on Earth, it becomes evident that they intend to introduce a new "final" race of man, in the form of the frog-monsters seen in Seed of Destruction. A version of these monsters return in Conqueror Worm when the contaminated space capsule triggers the soldiers to transform into frogmen, and again in A Plague of Frogs when a resurrected Sadu Hem transforms an entire town into frog-monsters. The monsters are extremely powerful, both physically and mentally. A single creature was able to overpower Hellboy below Cavendish Hall (though this specific frog monster, along with the others featured in Seed of Destruction, appeared to be stronger and more powerful than the general population), and in A Plague of Frogs, it is revealed that the frogmen are able to shift between their human and frog forms, allowing them to pass unnoticed in populated areas. Moreover, the frogmen can exert a degree of telepathic influence over their victims, confusing them with illusions and mind-tricks. These creatures also possess souls, that create a corrupting influence on living beings.If they pass on,a creature seems to devour their ectasic spirits. Whether this being is the Ogdru Jahad or something else entirely is uncertain.The frogmen are linked to the Ogdru Jahad, and are being employed to free the Ogdru Hem who were imprisoned by the Watchers at the beginning of time. Once the Ogdru Hem are free, the Ogdru Jahad will follow. Currently, due to the events in B.P.R.D.: A Plague of Frogs, numerous frogmen have escaped the clutches of the B.P.R.D. and are moving across the North American countryside. These nests seem constructed around the purpose of praying to the Ogdru Hem, and in certain locations relics and items have been found which spawn vicious and lethal Ogdru-Hem-like creatures. Moreover, the frogs have transcended their human limitations and have developed the ability to convert their bodies to biological factories, producing thousands of tadpoles which become frog monsters.
After the events of B.P.R.D.: The Black Flame, it appeared that the frog monsters have been dealt a major setback. However, in B.P.R.D.: The Warning and B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess, it was revealed that they had instead regrouped and reunited with the subterraineans from B.P.R.D.: The Hollow Earth.
Film
In the 2004 film HellboyHellboy (film)
Hellboy is a 2004 supernatural superhero film, starring Ron Perlman, John Hurt and Selma Blair, directed by Guillermo del Toro. The film is based on the Dark Horse Comics work Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola. It was produced by Revolution Studios, and distributed by Columbia Pictures...
, the Ogdru Jahad were mentioned by name only twice by Rasputin
Grigori Rasputin
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was a Russian Orthodox Christian and mystic who is perceived as having influenced the latter days of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their only son Alexei...
. They were portrayed as indistinct, octopus-like creatures encased in crystal shells. They are referred to by him as the seven gods of chaos who will destroy the world and from its ashes a new eden will arise.
At the conclusion of the film, their prisons were shattered and the Ogdru Jahad began their assault on Earth. Before the final lock could be released by Hellboy, he regained his senses and the Ogdru Jahad disappeared.
Sammael, a demon in the film, was referred to as the "son of Nergal
Nergal
The name Nergal, Nirgal, or Nirgali refers to a deity in Babylon with the main seat of his cult at Cuthah represented by the mound of Tell-Ibrahim. Nergal is mentioned in the Hebrew bible as the deity of the city of Cuth : "And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal"...
"; Nergal-Jahad was one of the Ogdru Jahad. The giant Behemoth which appears at the end of the film resembles Sadu-Hem, one of the Ogdru Hem
Ogdru Hem
The Ogdru Hem are fictional creatures in the Hellboy universe. After awakening, the demonic Ogdru Jahad gave birth to the 369 Ogdru Hem. The Ogdru Hem are essentially weaker versions of their parents, but even so they wield unimaginable power...
(also offspring of the Ogdru Jahad).
Animated
In Hellboy: Sword of Storms, the Ogdru Jahad (or possibly Ogdru Hem) made a cameo as the brothers of Thunder and Lightning. Though not mentioned by name, they were referred to as the "Dragons".See also
- Demons
- The Darkest of the Hillside ThicketsThe Darkest of the Hillside ThicketsThe Darkest of the Hillside Thickets is a rock band from Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. Their music largely consists of often tongue-in-cheek homages to the works of H. P...
released a song titled "Ogdru Jahad," a tribute to the Ogdru Jahad and the Hellboy comic on their 1995 album "Cthulhu Strikes Back." - Deep OneDeep OneThe Deep Ones are creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The beings first appeared in Lovecraft's novella "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"...