Last time, we caught up with the B.P.R.D. and its many supernaturally powered agents. Much like a political debate, we believe in offering the other side equal time. So today, it’s time for those pesky miscreants and their “Lovecraftian” elder gods, the Thule Society.
As mentioned previously, I had to re-read all the Hellboy trades in order to write these articles. But when I finished, I found that a lot of information about this secretive society was missing. Enter Wikipedia and its tremendous user-generated database. It’s no small wonder that Time picked “You” as the Person of the Year. Lean in close (not too close, you’ll strain your eyes), Metagame.com reader, as I give to you . . .
A Brief History of Nazis and The Occult*
The Thule Society, originally the Studiengruppe für Germanisches Altertum (Study Group for Germanic Antiquity), was a German occultist group named after a mythical northern country from Greek legend. The Thule Society was founded on August 17, 1918 by a German occultist named Rudolf von Sebottendorff, as the Munich branch of the Germanenorden (“Order of Teutons”). The Society is the organization that sponsored the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, which was later transformed by Adolf Hitler into the Nazi Party. Von Sebottendorff later claimed that he originally intended the Thule Society to be a vehicle for promoting his own occultist theories and not ideas of National Socialism. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, Herr Sebottendorff.
During the final stages of World War II, Hitler launched numerous “Doomsday” projects aimed at bringing about a Nazi victory through either scientific or occult means. It was around this time that Grigori Rasputin was approached by Heinrich Himmler to lead a group of Nazi occultists in building the Ragna Rok (The Fatal Destiny) Project. After recognizing the potential in fellow Society members Ilsa Haupstein, Leopold Kurtz, and Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, Rasputin recruited them into the project with sincere handshakes and caviar. Rasputin had promised Hitler a “miracle” that would turn the tide of the war. Secretly, Rasputin hoped to trigger an apocalyptic event that would begin a new Eden. Oh, betrayal most foul indeed.
On December 23, 1944, on Tarmagant Island, Project Ragna Rok entered into its final phase. Rasputin called forth the key to the apocalypse from Hell. Complications arose when the key did not appear on Tarmagant Island, but rather in a ruined church in East Bromwich, England. Even worse, the key—the massive stone right hand of an infant demon—was recovered by the Allies. The demon would later become Hellboy and his right hand would be much sought after by monsters and men. Klaus Werner von Krupt, Hitler’s liaison to the project, viewed the project as a failure and the team officially disbanded. Secretly, Rasputin pulled his followers aside and promised them that one day he would return to finish what he had started. Rasputin traveled to the Arctic Circle in pursuit of a long-lost temple to the Ogdru Jahad, while Haupstein, Kurtz, and Kroenen cryogenically froze themselves (Nazis were always more technologically advanced than the average political party) until Rasputin needed them once again.
In Seed of Destruction, Rasputin returned to confront Hellboy and convince him to open the doorway to Hell. Rasputin explained to Hellboy his true purpose—to command the powers that Rasputin was about to unleash upon the world. Hellboy denied this version of his destiny and refused to be controlled. Attempting to release the Ogdru Jahad, Rasputin was harpooned through the chest by Abe Sapien and killed. Rasputin’s body was incinerated by Liz Sherman and his skull was crushed within Hellboy’s stony Right Hand of Doom.
In Wake the Devil, Hellboy met the Goddess Hecate. Hellboy, addressed as “Anung Un Rama,” was told that his arrival on Earth signaled its end. Having heard this song and dance before, Hellboy told Hecate to get bent. Hecate, sensing the upstart’s tremendous disrespect, attacked Hellboy and tried to convince him to accept his destiny as the “Key to Hell.” Again, Hellboy refused, breaking off his newly re-grown horns and thereby symbolically renouncing his destiny. Meanwhile, angered by the incompetence of his followers, the Ghost of Rasputin engineered the “accidental” deaths of Kroenen and his apocalypse army. Sad times indeed for our wayward wizard.
In The Conqueror Worm, after the defeat of the Worm, Rasputin was confronted by Hecate, who told him to give up his useless struggles against Hellboy, accept his fate, and rest in peace. Rasputin refused and lashed out against her. Hecate was unimpressed and smote the ghostly sorcerer, annihilating his soul. The remains of Rasputin’s spirit reside within a small acorn necklace worn around the neck of his “grandmother,” Baba Yaga.
Supernatural Movers and Shakers
Grigori Rasputin: After being poisoned, shot, stabbed, hanged, and hurled into the icy waters of the Neva, Rasputin was contacted by the Ogdru Jahad. Through visions, The Dragon instructed him on its(their) plans to destroy the world and bring about a new Eden. While Rasputin was preparing himself for the apocalypse in Italy, he was recruited into the Thule Society by Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS. Once in the Society, Rasputin initiated a program entitled “Project Ragna Rok” and recruited a team of Nazi occultists, comprised primarily of Ilsa Haupstein, Leopold Kurtz, and Karl Ruprecht Kroenen. On December 23, 1944, Rasputin and his colleagues opened a doorway into the void, summoning Hellboy. Hellboy fell into the hands of the Allies, and after the war, Rasputin and his allies scattered across the globe. Rasputin traveled to a hidden temple in the distant Arctic dedicated to the Ogdru Jahad and sat at the foot of a statue of Sadu Hem for almost fifty years, awaiting the visions of the Ogdru Jahad. The man just could not figure out what to do when left to his own devices. His unconscious body was eventually found and accidentally reawakened by Professor Bruttenholm. After transforming the Professor’s comrades into hideous frogmen, Rasputin quickly regained his strength and set the Dragon’s plans into motion: capturing Hellboy and releasing the Ogdru Jahad in order to end the world.
Karl Ruprecht Kroenen: Kroenen was an SS scientist who was part of the ill-fated Project Ragna Rok. After the war, Kroenen was frozen inside a Nazi base and was later revived by his former master, Grigori Rasputin. Within his employ, Kroenen created the Apocalypse Army whose ranks numbered 666. The army was destroyed in an unfortunate “self destruct” accident before it could be used to conqueror the world. Unlike the movie, the comic book version of Kroenen does not have any special powers and is not skilled in single combat like Mr. Spock.
Herman von Klempt: Most of his body was destroyed in an unfortunate rocket accident, but his head was saved and kept alive in a jar. The jar was mounted on a floating apparatus with three robotic tentacles and a small laser. Von Klempt created what he called a “kriegaffe,” a sort of Frankenstein’s monster–like ape (that could talk), to do most of the work he could no longer perform himself (since he was just a head with tentacles). After the war, von Klempt retreated to a base in the jungle near Macapa, Brazil, where he began working on other projects (the man never finishes what he starts). It was there in 1959 that he was confronted by Hellboy, who was looking into the disappearance of peasant girls in the area. In the fight that ensued, Hellboy defeated von Klempt and his ape. Von Klempt would eventually resurface years later and unleash the Conqueror Worm on an unsuspecting Earth. Hellboy managed to defeat the Worm and von Klempt was finally laid to rest in the climactic battle.
Ogdru Jahad: In the beginning, God created an order of spirits and sent them to Earth to oversee it as its Watchers. One of these spirits created from fire and mud the Ogdru Jahad, a serpentine-like entity bent on the destruction and subjugation of all mankind. The Ogdru Jahad is also known as “the seven who are one”: Amon-Jahad, Adad-Jahad, Namrat-Jahad, Irra-Jahad, Nunn-Jahad, Beuu-Jahad, and Nergal-Jahad. The Ogdru Jahad (The Dragon) gave birth to the first living creatures of the Earth, the 369 Ogdru Hem (you remember them from last time). Upon seeing the creation of the Ogdru Hem, the other spirits went to war with them. The Ogdru Hem were eventually defeated and the Dragon was bound in a prison of crystal and placed in the heart of the abyss. The Watchers then turned on the Spirit who had created the Ogdru Jahad and virtually erased him save for his right hand. The hand was lost for many years until it was eventually grafted onto the arm of Hellboy shortly before he was summoned to Earth by Rasputin. The Right Hand of Doom is the key to releasing the Ogdru Jahad from their crystal prison and triggering the apocalypse. As you can imagine, it’s quite a hot little collectible.
Baba Yaga: In Russian tales, Baba Yaga is portrayed as a hag who flies through the air in a mortar, using the pestle as a rudder and sweeping away the tracks behind her with a broom made out of silver birch (WHAT THE . . .?). She lives in a log cabin that moves around on a pair of dancing chicken legs (HUH?!). The keyhole to her front door is a mouth filled with sharp teeth; the fence outside is made with human bones with skulls on top (this can’t be real). In the Hellboy comics, Baba Yaga has a special relationship with Rasputin, whom he calls “grandmother,” but not because they are related. She also holds a tremendous grudge against Hellboy for taking one of her eyes (yeah, I think I’d be pretty angry, too). Baba Yaga keeps what is left of Rasputin’s soul within a tiny acorn necklace she wears around her neck (that’s kind of weird).
Hecate:
Hecate was originally a goddess of the wilderness and childbirth originating from ancient Thrace. Later, popular cults venerating her as a mother goddess integrated her persona into Greek culture. In Ptolemaic Alexandria, she ultimately achieved her connotations as a goddess of sorcery and her role as the “Queen of Ghosts,” in which guise she was transmitted to post-Renaissance culture. Today, she is often seen as a goddess of witchcraft and Wicca. In the Hellboy comics, Hecate appears as an elder god, and after her first defeat at the hands of Hellboy, she appears in the guise of an iron maiden. It is in this form that she almost destroys Hellboy by swallowing him whole. After the Conqueror Worm affair, Rasputin picks a fight with her, which proves to be the last mistake he ever makes. Hecate mercilessly obliterates his soul, leaving the pieces for Baba Yaga to pick up.
The Conqueror Worm: During World War II, the Nazis attempted to contact the elder gods in order to gain ultimate power and turn the tide of the war. They sent a dead man in a rocket deep into space. The dead man was to be used as a vessel for one of these gods to return to Earth and destroy mankind. Sixty years later, the vessel returned to Earth and the Conqueror Worm was set loose upon the world, eating people and livestock. It took the combined might of Hellboy, Roger, and Lobster Johnson (“THE CLAW!”) to stop the monstrosity from devouring the entire planet and all the cats it could.
That’s it for now, folks. Be sure to pick up the Hellboy Essential Collection as soon as it goes on sale! Heck, buy two!
PASS THE PANCAKES!
Required Reading:
- Hellboy: Seed of Destruction
- Hellboy: Wake the Devil
- Hellboy: Chained Coffin & Other
- Hellboy: The Right Hand of Doom
- Hellboy: Conqueror Worm
- Hellboy: Strange Places
* Biographies assembled with the help of Wikipedia.