Ogdru Jahad
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The Ogdru Jahad are seven ancient beings who threaten to destroy Earth in Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic. They are the Dragon of Revelation, and are destined to bring about the end-times. 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.
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[edit] Who are the Ogdru Jahad?
Mostly inspired by the Great Old Ones of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, 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 also, in a way, darkly analogous to the Holy Trinity. Just as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are individual entities yet one at the same time, the Ogdru Jahad are seven who are one. Currently, they are trapped in crystal prisons in the heart of the void.
They are listed as follows:
[edit] Origins of the Ogdru Jahad and the Ogdru Hem
In the beginning of time, God created an order of spirits. Of these, many of the greater spirits were sent to newborn Earth to oversee it as Watchers. One of these spirits created the Ogdru Jahad out of fire and mud. The other spirits proceeded to set spells and wards about 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 was instilled with purpose and function. The Dragon gave birth to the first living creatures of the Earth: the three hundred and sixty-nine Ogdru Hem.
The watchful spirits, upon seeing the creation of these abominations, went to war with them. Some of the monsters were forced out of their bodies and into the wind, while others were entombed in the earth. The Ogdru Hem were eventually all disposed of (though many of them clung to existence still), until only the Ogdru Jahad remained. The spirit that had first created the Dragon raised his hand and bound the monster in a prison of crystal and placed it 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.
[edit] The Ogdru Jahad's connection to Hellboy's right hand
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 Thoth, 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.
[edit] What do they want?
The Ogdru Jahad await the downfall of man. They want to destroy the universe, and the only way to do that is to destroy man. However, there is dissent as to what the Ogdru Jahad truly intend. Professor Herman 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 can live under the subjugation of the Dragon. 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 prophesised that a new world shall rise from the old due to the Right Hand of Doom.
[edit] The Ogdru Jahad's 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. Thus far, it appears as though many of these individuals were misled as to the true intentions of the Ogdru Jahad.
In order to contact the Ogdru Jahad, it appears as though the Nazis utilized the skulls of individuals from the past who had been able to receive communications from the Ogdru Jahad, including St. Jerome (the translator of the Vulgate Bible), St. Dominic de Guzman (founder of the Dominican Order), Abbot Hugh of Cluny, St. Ambrose (bishop of Milan), and Edward the Confessor (king of England).
[edit] Herman von Klempt
In Austria 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 several American troops, 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 prisons, 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-men, 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, presumably to his death.
[edit] Rasputin
After being poisoned, shot, 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. After the visions in the river, however, Rasputin waited to be contacted again. 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, comprised 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 travelled 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 Wake the Devil, while trying to strike back at Hellboy by using Ilsa's connection to a Romanian vampire, Rasputin brings Hellboy into the clutches of the Hecate (yet another twisted version of the Holy Trinity). 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, in Conqueror Worm, Hecate tells Rasputin that the only power that can free the Ogdru Jahad is Hellboy's right hand. Rasputin is nothing more than a tool with which to manipulate and manoeuver 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.
[edit] The Zinco Corporation
The Zinco Corporation is a massive, globe-spanning organization with resources, equipment, money, and political connections all across the world. The company has been involved in peculiar events regarding the paranormal since the 1930's at the earliest, when one of their researchers amplified his brain's strength to the point where he could murder using telekinesis.
Roderick Zinco, the most recent Zinco to head the company, offers his services to a newly awoken Kurtz, Kroenen and Haupstein after Rasputin's failure at Cavendish Hall. Zinco products are used frequently by the B.P.R.D. during the Wake the Devil arc, most of which malfunction at crucial times. Zinco himself had a vision from Rasputin, explaining the mortal man's purpose. However, after the retrieval of von Klempt's head prompts Kroenen to murder Kurtz, Rasputin is furious, and blinds Roderick. This causes Roderick to stumble on the conveniently placed "self-destruct" button, which obliterates the castle and everyone inside - though Klempt's head somehow survives, to resurface in a later story.
The Zinco Corporation returns under new management in B.P.R.D. - The Black Flame. The new C.E.O., Mr. Pope, appears to be just as corrupt as the previous one. In fact, Pope was Zinco's second in command during the events of Wake The Devil, implying that Pope was heavily involved with Rasputin and the Ogdru Jahad right from the start. His office is brimming with Nazi memorabilia, much of which looks as though it was once part of Rasputin's Ragnarok Project. Pope has tasked his R&D department with studying the frog monsters, to the extent that Pope is able to both speak to them and control them. For purposes of safety, Pope wears a suit of reinforced black armor when dealing with the frogs, but this costume serves a second purpose: it personifies him as the mysterious Black Flame. Presumably under the guidance of some ancient text, Pope and the frogs performed an occult ritual, sucking the life force out of one frogman and enveloping Pope's skull-like helmet in a torch of obsidian fire. Suited up and ensorcelled as the Black Flame, Pope hoped to harness the power of Katha-Hem for his own personal gain. Too late did he discover that the destiny of the Black Flame is to simply "light the way" for Katha-Hem into our world, and that he was manipulated by the frogs into serving their purpose. Pope was last seen being dragged into a deep chasm by a swarm of frogmen.
[edit] The role of the "Frogmen"
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 psychically and physically. A single creature was able to overpower Hellboy below Cavendish Hall, 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.
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 would appear that the frog monsters have been dealt a major setback. Whether or not their invasion has been halted by the destruction of Katha Hem remains to be seen.
[edit] In other media
[edit] Film
In the 2004 film Hellboy, the Ogdru Jahad are not mentioned by name; Rasputin refers to his otherdimensional benefactor(s) only in the singular, as "Master". There are scenes showing a tentacled creature or creatures reaching from the open dimensional portal, and when Rasputin is defeated a single multi-tentacled monster appears from within his body and rapidly grows to great size. This creature is also not identified by name, but its appearance resembles Sadu-Hem from the comics. Hellboy destroys the monster's body with high explosives. Sammael, another demon in the film, is also referred to as the "son of Nergal"; Nergal-Jahad is one of the Ogdu Jahad.
[edit] See also
- Demons
- The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets perform a song titled "Ogdru Jahad," a tribute to the Ogdru Jahad and the Hellboy comic.
- Deep One
