Gruagach (Hellboy)
Gruagach is a fictional character, created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. He first appeared as the main antagonist in the short story Hellboy: The Corpse, and then reappeared in Hellboy: Strange Places, developing into a major antagonist similar to Prince Nuada, the antagonist of the film Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
Story
Gruagach was once a shapeshifting warrior of the Tuatha De Danann, who would later become the Daoine Sidhe of Ireland. However, he fell in love with a mortal woman who wished to see the beast-like form he assumed during his kind's conflict with the giants. Though there is a law that decrees that he would be sent to a purgatorial land of mist should she scream at the sight of his form, Gruagach agreed. Though she resisted screaming at the sight of his form before Gruagach turned into a songbird, he ends up being sent to the netherwordly spirit realm while she screamed to warn him of the nearby cat. Though Gruagach eventually returned to the world, he lost most of his power and was reduced to a changeling.
Gruagach first encounters Hellboy in The Corpse when he assumed the identity of a kidnapped baby Alice Monaghan in 1959 in order to repopulate their dying race. Gruagach took delight in tormenting the infant's parents with glimpses of his true nature before the B.P.R.D. send Hellboy to investigate the parents' claims, exposing Gruagach by seizing him with iron tongs which burn him and reveal his true form. Followed by being forced to tell Hellboy how to get the child back from the Daoine Sidhe, Gruagach vowed vengeance on Hellboy for his cruel treatment. Gruagach look to aid in the river hag Jenny Greenteeth to free the boar-headed Fomorian Grom. However, once released, Grom snatches Gruagach out of the air and swallows him. Hellboy uses an amulet on Grom to shrink him, allowing him to defeat the dwarfed giant. While Hellboy succeeds in rescuing baby Alice from the Daoine Sidhe, the spirit of Gruagach is later revealed to have taken total control of Grom's body.
Fuelled by his obsession for revenge, Gruagach refuses to allow his people to gradually die and decides to wage war on humanity for their encroachment on their domains. Appearing before a gathering held by England's witches over a replacement leader for the disposed Hecate, knowing she would have the power to restore him to his former glory, Gruagach offers the resurrection of the Queen Of Blood. When the witches eventually agree, Gruagach and a company of two fairy cronies retrieve Nimue's box from a secret cavern beneath an English church. Through King Dagda attempted to reason with him, Gruagach could only watch his king unintentionally die at the hands of one of his followers. Soon after, Gruagach is visited by the demon Astaroth who gives him a golden and bejeweled Ciborium filled with human blood from a nearby village to restore Nimue to life. However, due to his impatience and arrogance, Gruagach ended up offending Nimue and is cast out of his service. During the events of The Storm, attempting to take shelter from a storm, a distraught Gruagach roamed aimlessly through the woods before stumbling onto the grave of Merlin. Merlin's spirit confronts Gruagach over his action of bringing Nimue back from the death, revealed that she murdered Queen Mab and essentially doomed the Tuatha De Danann bloodline. As punishment for his blind rage and naivete, Grugach is cursed by Merlin with immortality so he will see what will followed by what he had set in motion until the end of the world.[1]
References
- ↑ Hellboy: The Storm #2