Ogdru Jahad

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The Ogdru Jahad are the 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 and they allegedy spawned the 369 children, known as the Ogdru Hem. In the movie version, Rasputin and Nazis attempt to contact the Ogdru Jahad during World War II but are unsuccessful, and wind up delivering Hellboy into Allied hands. Years later, Rasputin tries to compel Hellboy into freeing the Ogdru Jahad, but fails once again.

Contents

1 Who are the Ogdru Jahad?

1.1 Origins of the Ogdru Jahad and the Ogdru Hem
1.2 The Ogdru Jahad's connection to Hellboy's right hand

2 What do they want?

2.1 The Ogdru Jahad's mortal agents

2.1.1 Herman von Klempt
2.1.2
2.1.3 The Zinco Corporation

2.2 The Role of the \"''Frogmen''\"

3 See also

Who are the Ogdru Jahad?

As described by the alien agent in Conqueror Worm, there exist "living beings in space, invisible to your scientists, undetectable by man-made devices. They are older than this planet, and if they ever had physical bodies they are rid of them now". (It is not known whether the Ogdru Jahad are this closely related to the creatures mentioned by the alien agent, as the Ogdru Jahad certainly still have bodies , and the beings referred to by the alien are most likely NOT the Ogdru Jahad's children, as they are imprisoned on earth. However, the Ogdru Jahad are affiliated with the Conqueror Worm in some way.)

Mostly inspired by the Great Old Ones of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, the Ogdru Jahad are serpentine/crustacean entities which once resided (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:

Amon-Jahad
Adad-Jahad
Namrat-Jahad
Irra-Jahad
Nunn-Jahad
Beuu-Jahad
Nergal-Jahad

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.

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.

It is worth noting that Tolkien created a similar cosmology in the Silmarillion and the Tales of the Ainur and Maiar spirits children of Iluvatar.

What do they want?

The Ogdru Jahad await the downfall of man. Moreoever, they wish to: "devour all light and life, to make everything as cold and empty as they are themselves". In short, 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.

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).

Herman von Klempt

In Austria in 1939, the Nazis attempted to open relations with the Ogdru Jahad by sending them the body of one of their greatest scientists, 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 Ogdru Jahad received the spacecraft, and responded by replacing Oeming's body with a monstrous worm whose breath caused men to transform into frogmen. From what we can tell, the Ogdru Jahad implied that they would aid the Nazis in their conquest and help them achieve a new Eden on Earth. Arguably, this may indeed be what the Ogdru Jahad intend, but with a far different outcome than what the Nazis assumed.

After the events of Wake the Devil, Herman von Klempt is contacted by the Ogdru Jahad and provided with the truth about the Oeming mission and the details of the return of the capsule. The Ogdru Jahad also revealed their own plans, showing von Klempt the destruction that would result from releasing the worm they had planted within Oeming's body. Once the world has been overtaken by the worm, the Ogdru Hem will be released from their prisons, and they will, in turn, release the Ogdru Jahad, who will reduce the world to ashes.

The Ragnarok Project

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 to come. 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.

The Zinco Corporation

Roderick Zinco

Originally headed by Roderick Zinco, the Zinco Corporation is a massive, globe-spanning organization with resources, equipment, money, and political connections all across the world. Roderick 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, some 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 survives somehow, to resurface in a later story.

Mr. Pope

The Zinco Corporation returns under new management in B.P.R.D. - The Black Flame. The new CEO, 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 frogmen, to the extent that Pope is able to both speak to them and control them. He has plans involving specially-trained frogmen, as well as his status as the mysterious Black Flame, but these plans have yet to be revealed. Presumably, he is trying to release Katha Hem using the frogmen's innate knowledge of ancient rituals and languages.

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. 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.