Ogdru Hem
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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. All of the Ogdru Hem were imprisoned by the Watchers, but many are now re-emerging, with the aid of Rasputin and other agents of the Ogdru Jahad.
Many of the Ogdru Hem are without bodies and exist, invisibly, in the air. These evil spirits are used to help raise the Ogdru Hem that have bodies (such as Katha-Hem) out of their earthly prisons.
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[edit] The known Ogdru Hem
[edit] Sadu-Hem
Imprisoned on Earth so that the Ogdru Jahad would "always have a foothold in the world from which they were banished", Sadu-Hem was discovered by Rasputin in the Gorinium temple at the top of the Arctic circle. Rasputin remained in a trance near the statue until the arrival of Professor Trevor Bruttenholm and the Cavendish exploration party. The newly-awakened Rasputin and Sadu-Hem devoured most of Bruttenholm's exploration party. Bruttenholm was allowed, under heavy psychological compulsion, to return to America, where Rasputin and Sadu-Hem installed themselves below Cavendish Hall. Physically, Sadu-Hem appeared as a gruesome mass of tentacles and snapping claws, with a cluster of eyes and feelers serving as its head. Sadu-Hem was to act as the conduit between Rasputin and the Ogdru Jahad, but was destroyed after Abe Sapien speared Rasputin to death and Liz Sherman set the entire place on fire.
Although Sadu-Hem was apparently destroyed, a small piece of him was discovered in the Cavendish Hall ruins over a decade later. Director Manning had the specimen of fungus preserved in a New Jersey lab, until Sadu-Hem grew strong enough to absorb a human form and escape. Fleeing to Crab Point, Michigan, Sadu-Hem converted an entire town into vicious frog monsters before he was again immolated by Liz Sherman.
[edit] Urgo-Hem
Urgo-Hem was freed from imprisonment through the blood of a 16th century Spanish priest. The priest had spent time in Tenochtitlan before it burned, and had learned the history of the Ogdru Hem there. After being persecuted by the inquisition for his knowledge, the priest was eventually squirrelled away by a secret order dedicated to preserving treasures of the ancient world. When Hellboy stumbled across him, the priest's blood releases Urgo-Hem. Apparently an aquatic beast, this child of the Ogdru Jahad resembled an eyeless serpent with sharp crustacean legs lining its pale underbelly. After a bloody conflict, Urgo Hem impaled itself on the mast of a nearby shipwreck, and Hellboy escaped.
[edit] Katha-Hem
Katha-Hem was the third of the Ogdru Hem to be set loose upon the world, and by far the most powerful. While Sadu-Hem was foretold to bring about the plague of frogs, the arrival of Katha-Hem was an indication that the world would begin to change.
Summoned out of the ether by the occult rituals of the frogmen and the Zinco Corporation's Mr. Pope, (also known as the Black Flame) Katha-Hem towered as large as a mountain and began marching across the Midwestern United States. Atop a tripod of spidery legs, Katha-Hem resembled a twisted, tentacled tree, its canopy an inferno of hellish blue fire, and numerous green-toothed maws lining its trunk. American artillery failed to make a dent in the mammoth creature, while any humans who ventured too close were turned into monsters by a strange green gas emitted from its body. Just as the President was about to resort to a nuclear strike, the BPRD's Liz Sherman managed to burn Katha-Hem to ashes, using an ancient artifact that mysteriously amplified her powers by a thousand times.
Katha-Hem's destruction (and the apparent mass suicide of the frog monsters) appeared to bring the plague of frogs to a conclusion.
[edit] Creatures similar to the Ogdru Hem
There have been several creatures that have been connected to the Ogdru Jahad, but have not been said to be Ogdru Hem.
[edit] The Conqueror Worm
The Conqueror Worm from the story of the same name is sent by space-borne monsters to devour the Earth. It could turn people into frog monsters (like Sadu-Hem before him) with its otherworldly breath and was preparing to devour the entire planet when it was defeated by Roger the Homunculus and the ghost of Lobster Johnson. It was told that once the Worm had destroyed all life on earth, it would call the Ogdru Jahad from their prisons.
[edit] Sammael the Desolate One (Hellboy film)
A hellhound from the Hellboy movie is a presumed member of the 369. His many aliases included the "Hound of the Resurrection", as every time he died, a Sammael hatches from the many thousands of eggs it had laid in a dark environment. Sammael was sealed in an urn and placed inside a statue at a museum by the Vatican until it was released by Rasputin, who enabled Sammael to be reborn in twos every time he died, which made Sammael a more significant threat. It was only by Liz Sherman's pyrokinesis that Sammael and its spawn were defeated. Though one seemed to have survived[citation needed].
While Sammael has more in common, physically, with the frog monsters than with a full-blown Ogdru Hem; he is described by Abe Sapien as the "Son of Nergal", who is one of the seven Ogdru Jahad. One of Sammael's numerous titles, the "Seed of Destruction", is homage to the comic storyline of the same name, which first introduced the Ogdru Jahad.
[edit] The "Behemoth" (Hellboy film)
The worm-like Behemoth from later in the film was also possibly an Ogdru Hem, serving as Rasputin's god. Every time Rasputin died, he brought back a piece of his master with him. Once Rasputin was killed for the final time, the Behemoth erupted out from his body, much like Urgo Hem was released through the priest's blood in Hellboy: The Island, and grew to gigantic size. The Behemoth was very similar in size, appearance, and temperament to Sadu-Hem.
[edit] Thunder and Lightning (Hellboy Animated)
Two evil Japanese storm demons sealed within the Sword of Storms. They can not be considered Ogdru Hem, but rather as brothers to the Ogdru Jahad, whom were referred to as "the Dragons". The two used Hellboy to break the sword in order to release them so they could summon their brothers, only to be sealed again in the two broken pieces of the sword.
