Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. Today we’re going to take a quick pause from
Greek mythology to spend this episode discussing one of the most interesting villains from pop
culture mythology, the Ogdru Jahad, known as the Dragons of Revelation, a group of
monsters so powerful that they’re destined to bring about Ragnarok in the Hellboy universe.
Let’s get into it.
The Ogdru Jahad were a group of seven dragons. Their appearance was an amalgam of crustacean
and serpentine inspirations, only on a colossal scale. They were behemoths.
Incarnations of chaos, mercilessness, and cruelty, once, they were the overlords of earth, and the
mere sight of them was said to be so horrific that even the briefest glance could drive a person mad.
Confident in their overwhelming power, they seem to be indifferent to humanity,
much as we are indifferent to ants frantically labouring about, and they claim to harbor no
particular hatred for humanity, which suggests a loathing and deep disdain for all life.
At the dawn of creation, God created a hierarchy of greater spirits,
and many of these were tasked with overseeing earth, posted as its guardians.
One of these spirits, Anum was the grand-architect responsible for the genesis of the Ogdru Jahad.
He wrought them of fire and mud, but life would not quicken within them, even after other of the
great spirits joined in, imbuing them with spells and infusing them with fire a second time. But
then night fell and in the darkness the Ogdru Jahad awoke, immediately filled with terrible
purpose, which was to spread its will, initially through propagation, birthing the Ogdru Hem,
369 children, all of them abominations, all of them immensely powerful. The greater spirits
waged war against this foul brood, and the Ogdru Hem were eventually crushed, not killed though,
but imprisoned, much as the Titans were imprisoned in Greek mythology. The Ogdru Jahad, while
immeasurably more powerful than their progeny, were also dealt with, imprisoned, sealed away in
crystal and banished in the heart of the abyss. Following this, the greater spirits no longer
trusted Anum, whom they blamed for the catastrophe that just transpired. Through a concerted attack,
they struck him down, going so far as to destroy the individual pieces of his broken body;
only his right hand, the hand of Anum, later called the right hand of doom, survived.
This hand, after an unquantified amount of time, found its way to hell,
where it came into the possession of Azzael, a powerful demon and one of the Dukes of Hell,
who affixed it to the arm of his newborn son Anung Un Rama, better known as Hellboy, who is
then summoned to earth by Rasputin so that he can use the hand of Anum, which is the key needed to
release the Ogdru Jahad from imprisonment, thereby bringing about the apocalypse.
Beyond desiring freedom, the true motives of the Ogdru Jahad are a matter of some debate,
and different characters in the Hellboy universe espouse different theories as to what their
ultimate goal is. It can be gleaned from the persistent efforts of Project Ragna Rok, which is
headed by Rasputin, that the release of the Ogdru Jahad would be an end to mankind as it currently
exists, consuming the world, with the earth scorched into a nightmarish hellscape. Rasputin
perceives this destruction as a necessary event, a preliminary step, that would then usher in the new
world, which he believes will be a paradisiacal world that the final race of man will inhabit.
We’re going to wrap up this video with the Ogdru Jahad Chant. Here it is:
"Chained in Heaven they are. Seven is their number. Bred in the depths of the ocean, neither
male nor female are They. They are as the howling wind, which knoweth not mercy, which knoweth not
pity. Heedless are they to pray and supplication. They are the Serpent. They are the furious Beast.
The Windstorm. Evil wind they are. The evil breath that heraldeth the baneful storm. They are mighty
children. Herald of Pestilence. Throne Bearers of Ereshigal. They are the flood which rusheth
through the land. Seven Gods of might. Seven demons of oppression. Seven in heaven and Seven
on Earth. Of giant strength and tread they are. Knowing no care they grind the land like corn.
Knowing no mercy they rage against Mankind, to spill blood like rain and devour flesh. Let the
seven now rise from the Abyss. Away be cast all chains. Freedom is to them. Power is to them."
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