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The Ogdru Hem are fictional supervillains in the Hellboy universe, the ancient Lovecraftian spawn of the series' ultimate antagonist, the Ogdru Jahad.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2007) |
The Ogdru Hem are fictional supervillains in the Hellboy universe, the ancient Lovecraftian spawn of the series' ultimate antagonist, the Ogdru Jahad.
After awakening, the dragon Ogdru Jahad gave birth to the 369 Ogdru Hem, the first lifeforms on Earth. [1] The Ogdru Hem are essentially weaker versions of their parents (though they resemble invertebrates unlike their reptilian progenitor), but even so they wield unimaginable power. The Watcher spirits who had created the Ogdru Jahad were horrified at these creatures and waged war against them for ten thousand years, destroying two-thirds of the Hem's bodies and imprisoning the rest beneath the Earth. The spirits of the disembodied Ogdru Hem remained, waiting for an opportunity to return. When the goddess Hecate taught the First Race of Man the black magics, the Hyperboreans summoned forth the Ogdru spirits, who began to possess physical bodies in an attempt to restore themselves. Hyperborean shamans who maintained the true Right Hand path feared for the safety of the fledgling Second Race of Man, humanity, and taught a number of them to use Vril and defend themselves against the marauding Ogdru spirits. Thus, humanity was kept safe for the next couple thousand years for the most part, but worship in the Ogdru Hem never fully went away.
With the aid of Rasputin and other agents of the Ogdru Jahad, the Ogdru Hem have been attempting to make a resurgence. In a number of such cases, the mysterious alien visitor (known on Earth as Michael Mathers), stopped cult activity before a Hem spirit could be fully incarnated. Hellboy himself unknowingly encountered two Ogdru spirits over his many years of service, once in the Abbey of La Noe and the second as an ectoplasmic entity inadvertently summoned by the medium Mr. Tod, before the encounter with Sadu-Hem in the events of Seed of Destruction.
After Hellboy's departure from the B.P.R.D. in the wake of his encounter with the Conqueror Worm, other forces have begun to call for the emergence of more Ogdru Hem such as the frog monsters and the Black Flame. When Liz Sherman incinerated the Hollow Earth, it caused earthquakes that awakened many Ogdru spirits to attempt to retake their place in the world. When Von Krupt and Kroenen inadvertently brought back the Black Flame at Zinco headquarters, it reawakened the Ogdru Hem that were imprisoned in the Earth.
As the prophecies foretold, the Ogdru Hem did eventually have their time dominating over the ruined Earth. The Osiris Club used the power of the Right Hand of Doom to pull the crystal prison of the Ogdru Jahad out of deep space and slammed it into the Earth like an asteroid, wiping out the Ogdru Hem and their parents in one fell swoop.
Imprisoned on Earth so that the Ogdru Jahad would "always have a foothold in the world from which they were banished", [2] Physically, Sadu-Hem appeared as a gruesome fungal mass of tentacles and snapping claws, with a cluster of eyes and feelers serving as its head. 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 he was awakened the arrival of Professor Trevor Bruttenholm and the Cavendish exploration party. The newly revived being devoured most of Bruttenholm's exploration party, turning the Cavendish brothers and Sven Olafssen into frog creatures. Bruttenholm was allowed, under heavy psychological compulsion, to return to America to enact Rasputin's scheme to bring Hellboy to Cavendish Hall, with Sadu-Hem installed in the caverns. 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. [3]
Although Sadu-Hem was apparently destroyed, a small piece of the creature 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 possess a human host 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. [4]
At the end of the first Hellboy film, Rasputin releases from his body a giant monster simply referred to as the Behemoth, which Hellboy fights and destroys. The Behemoth's appearance is similar to Sadu-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 released 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. [5]
A creature similar in appearance to Urgo-Hem appears in "The Sword of Storms" animated film, where Liz immolates it, after a prolonged battle near the ocean.
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 depths of the Earth by the occult rituals of the frog monsters 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 flaming-headed frog 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 a thousand times. [6]
The Conqueror Worm from the graphic novel Hellboy: Conqueror Worm was one of the Ogdru spirits that floated adrift in space, facetiously referred to as 'space ghosts' by Hellboy.
The Nazis lured mystics, astrologers and other sensitive psychic minds to Hunte Castle in the 1930s, beheading them and fusing their heads to radio equipment to make contact with the Ogdru spirits, who told them to prepare a vessel. The Nazis used the body of Dr. Ernst Oeming, one of their top scientists, and launched him into space using a rocket despite a raid by American forces led by Lobster Johnson. Sixty-one years after the rocket was launched, Herman Von Klempt called for the vessel to return and it landed back at Hunte Castle. The Worm constructed a new body for itself using the available matter around it and emerged from the pod incarnated. The worm possessed abilities similar to the Ogdru Hem such as turning people into frog monsters (like Sadu-Hem and Katha Hem) with its otherworldly breath, though it devoured its own creations to feed its hunger and growth. Unlike the other Ogdru Hem, the Worm was highly averse to electricity, keeping Roger the Homunculus safe from being devoured. Ultimately, Roger willingly absorbed the Worm's spirit into itself, allowing the ghost of Lobster Johnson to stab a metal pole into his chest and shock the Worm out of him with a bolt of lightning.
Herman Von Klempt was told that once the Worm had destroyed all life on earth, it would call out to the rest of its brethren who would then use their power to restore the Ogdru Hem, who would then release the Ogdru Jahad from their prison to complete the destruction of the Earth. [7]
This creature emerges from the Salton Sea during the worldwide upheaval seemingly caused by Liz Sherman. It has a reptilian/crustacean body with a long neck and arthropod-like head, from which emit scarlet-coloured vapours that cause humans who inhale them (such as the crew and passengers of a passing airliner) to mutate into grey, arthropod-like monsters.
When the Black Flame is returned to Earth, the Monster begins to walk off in an unspecified direction, leaving some eggs in its wake. One of these eggs hatches and goes into the Salton Sea, where it dies (as discovered by Abe Sapien during his visit to the Sea), and another is destroyed by Fenix to undermine a cult that has formed around it.
Hellboy is a fictional 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. The character has been adapted into three live-action feature films – two starring Ron Perlman in 2004 and 2008 in the title role, and one in 2019 which starred David Harbour, as well as two straight-to-DVD animated films, again starring Perlman, and three video games – Asylum Seeker, The Science of Evil, and as a playable character in Injustice 2.
The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense is a fictional organization in the comic book work of Mike Mignola, founded by the United States and United Kingdom governments, charged with researching the occult, paranormal and supernatural, and defending against their dangers. The B.P.R.D. originally appeared in the Hellboy comics and has since been a major part of its expanded universe.
Abraham Sapien, born Langdon Everett Caul, is a fictional character in the comic book series Hellboy, created by Mike Mignola. He takes his name from "Ichthyo sapien", the fanciful species designation chosen for him by his colleagues in the 19th-century Oannes Club, and from Abraham Lincoln, on whose assassination date the Oannes Club abandoned Abe's body in a suspended animation tank beneath a Washington D.C. hospital, leaving only a cryptic note as explanation. He is occasionally referred to as an "amphibious man."
Elizabeth Anne "Liz" Sherman is a fictional character appearing in the Hellboy comic book series created by Mike Mignola. A firestarter, she becomes a ward of the B.P.R.D. at age 11 after burning her family to death in a traumatic accident. Sherman later hones her abilities and becomes a longtime field agent for the Bureau alongside Hellboy and Abe Sapien.
Hellboy: Conqueror Worm is a Hellboy comic book mini-series, written and drawn by Mike Mignola and published by Dark Horse Comics.
Karl Ruprect Kroenen is a fictional supervillain in the Hellboy comic book series, created by Mike Mignola.
Roger the Homunculus is a fictional character featured in the Hellboy and B.P.R.D. comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. He is an unusually large homunculus, a humanoid being said to be created by means of alchemy. Initially revived by Liz Sherman, Roger is one of the early supporting characters of the "Mignola-verse", appearing alongside other "enhanced" B.P.R.D. agents including Sherman, Abe Sapien and Johann Kraus under Dr. Kate Corrigan.
Johann Kraus is a fictional character in the comic book series Hellboy, created by Mike Mignola. He is featured in the comic book B.P.R.D., published by Dark Horse Comics. Kraus is a disembodied ectoplasmic spirit with psychic abilities, who inhabits a containment suit, without which his form would eventually dissipate and be lost forever.
Trevor Bruttenholm is a fictional character in the comic book series Hellboy, created by Mike Mignola and John Byrne. His first appearance was in the comic book Hellboy: Seed of Destruction issue #1 (1994). He is a father figure to protagonist Hellboy and one of the main characters in the series.
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.
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin is a fictional supervillain in the comic book series Hellboy. The character was created by Mike Mignola and John Byrne, and was based on the real life Russian mystic of the same name. Rasputin serves as the second archenemy of Hellboy after the Ogdru Jahad.
Hellboy: The Science of Evil is a video game adapted from the 2004 Hellboy film by Guillermo del Toro, based on the comic book character of the same name. It was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PlayStation Portable on June 24, 2008, in North America, followed by an August 15 release in Europe and August 22 release in Australia.
Hellboy is a 2004 American superhero film based on the Dark Horse Comics character of the same name, created by Mike Mignola. Produced by Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin in association with Dark Horse Entertainment, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is the first live-action film in the franchise. Directed and written by Guillermo del Toro, the film stars Ron Perlman in the title role, alongside Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden, Rupert Evans, and John Hurt. The film draws inspiration from the debut comic Hellboy: Seed of Destruction. In the film, a charismatic demon-turned-investigator named "Hellboy" works with the secretive Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense to suppress paranormal threats, but a resurrected sorcerer seeks to make Hellboy fulfill his destiny by triggering the apocalypse.
Hellboy: Blood and Iron is the second in the Hellboy Animated series, written by Tad Stones and Mike Mignola. It first aired on March 10, 2007 on Cartoon Network, and aired again on July 19, 2008 to promote the release of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and was released on DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment on June 12, 2007. The film's storyline is based in part upon the Hellboy: Wake the Devil storyline from the original comics.
Herman von Klempt is a fictional supervillain created by writer/artist Mike Mignola for the Dark Horse Comics series Hellboy. He first appeared in the Comics Buyer's Guide.
Hellboy: Seed of Destruction is the first Hellboy comic book mini-series, published by Dark Horse Comics. It was conceived and illustrated by Mike Mignola and scripted by John Byrne. The comic served as the basis for the 2004 film Hellboy, directed by Guillermo del Toro.
Hellboy: Wake the Devil is a five-issue comic book mini-series in the Hellboy franchise, conceived and illustrated by Mike Mignola and published by Dark Horse Comics. Various elements and sections of plot were later used in the animated film Hellboy: Blood and Iron.
B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs is the third trade paperback collection in the B.P.R.D. series.
Hellboy: The Storm and the Fury is the twelfth collected edition in Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic book series, the third of three connected story arcs written by Mignola and illustrated by Duncan Fegredo. It collects Hellboy: The Storm #1-3 and Hellboy: The Fury #1-3, with the partition into two limited series intended to accommodate an anticipated production gap of several months that eventually saw the story's first three issues published between July through September 2010 and its last three between May through August 2011. This is the concluding story arc of a trilogy beginning with Darkness Calls and continuing with The Wild Hunt, all of them written by Mignola and illustrated by Fegredo. The six issues were numbered on their inside front covers as issues 47-49 and 55-57 of the continuing Hellboy series. Two prelude pages from The Fury #3 are absent in this trade paperback.
B.P.R.D.: The Black Flame is the fifth trade paperback collection in the B.P.R.D. series.
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