Mongo (planet)

Mongo is a fictional planet where the comic strip (and later movie serials) of Flash Gordon take place. It is ruled by a usurper named Ming the Merciless, who governs with an iron hand.

Mongo is inhabited by different cultures. Some are technologically advanced, but they are falling under the domination of the tyrant Ming. Flash Gordon succeeds in unifying them against Ming, eventually removing him from power.

Planetary description

Mongo is much like the Earth. Its atmosphere is compatible with Terran life, and the dominant species on Mongo is the Homo sapiens. Other intelligent species exist, either Homo sapiens variants or others of a humanoid pattern, such as the Lion Men. Mongo's gravity is slightly weaker than the Earth's, which allows Flash Gordon to put his gymnastics skills to good use.

Mongo has a variety of climates. Part of the planet is covered by the forest kingdom of Arboria, ruled by Prince Barin. An area of mountains and caverns makes up the frozen kingdom of Frigia, ruled by Barin's cousin, Queen Fria. Beneath the Sea of Mystery is the underwater kingdom of Coralia, ruled by Queen Undina. Bordering the sea is the Land of the Lion Men, ruled by King Thun.

East of the Lion Men's kingdom are the Magnetic Mountains, where Ming the Merciless established a new base of operations after he was defeated and removed from Mongo's throne. North of this is the Sky City of the Hawk Men, led by Vultan. There is also the jungle continent of Tropica, ruled by Queen Desira, and the Fire Lands, home of Gundar the Desert Hawk. Mongo also has extensive underground domains.

These kingdoms and their rulers feature prominently in The New Adventures of Flash Gordon.

Races of Mongo

• Gillmen
• Lionmen
• Hawkmen
• Arborean Hunters

Creatures of Mongo

• Carnivir Tree
• Constrictor Plant

Locations on Mongo

• Mingo City
• Dire Marsh
• Gurinium Mines
• Arborea

Politics

Mongo is ruled from Mingo City, site of the palace of Ming the Merciless, who appears to be the Emperor of all Mongo. Mongo political structure is exclusively monarchical. Each realm Flash Gordon and visits has its own king or queen. Most seem to give at some deference to Ming the Merciless, the exceptions being Prince Barin and Thun, ruler of the Lion-men.

Thun informs Flash Gordon that Barin should be the emperor, but he adds that in his view this would be no improvement. Ming's authority appears to be based as much on his vast military power as on his legal position. A reference is made to legends that Ming once was the high priest of an ancient Mongovian king, and that he Ming launched invasions 'long and long ago'. Ming claims to be immortal, and these tales may be meant to support this.

When Flash Gordon arrives on Mongo, he finds Prince Barin is leading a guerrilla war against Ming from Arboria. Thun the Lion-man is also Ming's active enemy. However, Prince Barin is at odds with the Lion-men, and almost everyone else. Gordon learns that "every race on Mongo is an enemy to every other race" and "each man stands alone on Mongo". Much Gordon's efforts are directed toward overcoming this mutual antipathy.

The social structure of Mongo is oppressive. Ming uses slave labor to mine radioactive elements for power and industry. Thun tells Gordon that one week in the mines can damage your health, and 100 days is the life span of the workers. Ming's beautiful daughter Aura hunts people for excitement.

The lesser rulers of Mongo also practice slavery. The Hawk-men of King Vultan use slave labor from rival states in high-radiation work, and even Prince Barin hunts political enemies for sport. King Vultan of the flying Hawk-men has ambitions of becoming Ming's son-in-law by a forced marriage to Ming's daughter Aura. The various nations view all outsiders as enemies to be slain or exploited. Of all the rulers Flash meets, Thun consistently is the most honorable, loyal, and decent.

In the 2007 Sci Fi Channel series, Mongo's government is called the "United Peoples of Mongo" ruled by Emperor Ming.

The Witch Kingdom of Syk

Mongos crusts is riddled with caverns and chambers, and in some of them is found a realm that according to legend is the remnant of a kingdom that once ruled all Mongo. The monarch of that ancient kingdom was Ghor-Dhan, pronounced as "Gordon". His appearance was also identical to the earthman Flash Gordon.

Syk is a kingdom supposedly founded on magic, in contrast to the high technology of the rest of Mongo. However, it becomes clear that Syk's "magic" is actually an advanced technology, though they use the imagery of magic. Dr. Zarkov masters some of it.

Syk is ruled by the witch-queen Azura, who is feared by everyone on Mongo. Ming the Merciless is said to have attempted to conquer Syk "long and long ago" with an army of one million, who completely vanished. Thun says that legend refers to Ming having acted as King Ghor-Dhan's "high priest". Ghor-Dhan left Mongo seeking new worlds to conquer, leaving his lover Azura to rule as his regent. He never returned, and Azura has ruled ever since, apparently being immortal.

Queen Azura is convinced that Flash Gordon is her long-lost lover and is even able to bring back apparent memories of that time in him. Gordon marvels at the similarity of the statue, the name, and other indications of a connection, and Dr. Zarkov admits there are things that science cannot account for.

Flash Gordon revival

In the Scifi Channel series Flash Gordon, Mongo is a planet, "in another dimension" (i.e. parallel universe). It is explained that "the dimensional shift" is "quite small" and that there is an inherent connection between Earth and Mongo, where the quantum mechanics of Bell's theorem and EPR Paradox are working on a planetary scale. That is why there are so many similarities between both worlds, including language and Homo Sapiens evolving on both planets. Its is theorized that at some point in time and space, the two planets were much closer.

In the episode Sorrow, it is revealed that Mongo was once a prosperous blue and green planet; it relied on a glowing red ore called zerilium that was mined on the moon. Mongo's inhabitants even built two small artificial moons named Arkaylia and Surd to process zerilium and shelter the miners. An accident on Mongo released poisonous zerilium gas into the air, which caused acid rain, killed wildlife, and contaminated Mongo's water. The planet became uninhabitable. A small portion of Mongo's people emigrated to Arkaylia. After three generations on the artificial moon, Mongo's environment partially repaired itself. As a result, the people returned to the planet. Clean water, known as "source water", still remained scarce and came from underground. Centuries later, Ming seized power and began his rule.

External links

• Map of Mongo