B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth #135–139: End of Days

[middenway]

OK, the last issue for the arc is out. Enjoy!

[ckmoak]

Well, that was...explosive.

*SPOILERS*

Is that...really all they're gonna do with a reincarnated Black Flame? He kind of just showed up, sat in New York for a bit, then died. Am I missing something there?

The Iosif bit at the end was glorious, though.

[highlandhellboy]

Well some of my favourite characters dodged a bullet....for now.

Epic storytelling. Thank god I read more than just mike's books or i'd be pulling my hair out waiting until may.

[Joker]

Is that...really all they're gonna do with a reincarnated Black Flame? He kind of just showed up, sat in New York for a bit, then died. Am I missing something there?

I had to re read it, because at first I thought he was taking power from the Ogrdu Jahad, but re reading it, I don't think that's the case. Honestly, I left this issue a little confused about how his death coincided with the Ogdru Jahad going crazy at the end.

[ckmoak]

It seemed more like he ended up being the one *unintentionally* reining in the Ogdru, and that possibly it was a dumb move to take him out. Whenever BF shows up (showed) I keep wondering about what Middenway wrote in one of his Hell Notes about that name Ereshigal that comes along every so often...I dunno.

Also, is Fenix gonna be okay?

[Joker]

I think it's important to read BPRD as a rolling story rather than focus on each arc as a self contained story. It seems that more often than not the conclusion isn't a big ordeal, but rather sets the stage for the next arc, and so on and so on.

That said, I think it reads better in large chunks than issue to issue, or even as trades. It is, like Hellboy often running a long game.

[zerodemon]

My position is this...

Always listen to Professor O'Donnell. He says that it's not possible for only one of the Ogdru Jahad to be present. They are, after all, the seven that are one. The Black Flame says himself that they are not his masters, and that he is in control of them. It's also stated that usually the power transfer between the seven that are one and their servants usually involves the servants creating the energy, and siphoning off a little of it for themselves, while passing the rest to their masters.

What if the black flame had inverted this somehow? What if he was using this one dragon (which he had separated from the group for ease of control) and was using it to take the lions share of drained power for himself, leaving the Ogdru with the table scraps usually reserved for the servant. Essentially he'd be using the Ogdru Jahad as a conduit for all universal power.

And what if he was doing this with the end goal of preserving life? We have seen more and more in recent books that the BPRD are agents of destruction, while the Black Flame is essentially the avatar of continued life for the current incarnation of earth. With him gone, The Ogdru Jahad that is awake reverts to its instinct, and begins the spread of its awesome fungal weirdness. Sadly, since it isn't connected to the other 6, and The Black Flame isn't there to hold its reigns, the thing is going hog wild, separated from its nest consciousness.

This somewhat explains what The Black Flame had done. He had made himself an analogue for the other 6 dragons, making the 7th think it was still part of the whole, and allowing it to come without its compatriots. Now with that connection severed, it is, for the first time, truly alone. What will it do in these circumstances? Is it weakened? Does it have the same level of consciousness alone as we saw in The Fury, when the seven bonded with Nimue? Is it trying to re-establish its connection to the other six, or is it behaving like an ant separated from its nest, walking around in circles until it dies or is killed?

Just my thoughts.

[Joker]

The Black Flame was 'syphoning potency and spirit from the living and from earth to feed the Ogdru Jahad' and 'keeping the excess for himself.'

So, I'm not sure how that equates to him controlling it. I had the same thought initially,but when I went back and re read O'donnell's lines, that didn't make sense. The "solicitation of severance" drained the Black Flame of that excess, and returned it to their sources.

All I can figure, after reading it a 3rd time, is that now the Ogrdu Jahad is hungry because it's power source just got cut off.

[zerodemon]

The Black Flame was 'syphoning potency and spirit from the living and from earth to feed the Ogdru Jahad' and 'keeping the excess for himself.'

So, I'm not sure how that equates to him controlling it. I had the same thought initially,but when I went back and re read O'donnell's lines, that didn't make sense. The "solicitation of severance" drained the Black Flame of that excess, and returned it to their sources.

All I can figure, after reading it a 3rd time, is that now the Ogrdu Jahad is hungry because it's power source just got cut off.

I can't correlate the explanation of him having the regular connection to the Ogdru Jahad that others have had, because, as O'Donnell states, just having one Ogdru Jahad free doesn't make sense. It smacks of the Black Flame engineering himself in to the master position, just as he was trying to do with the frogs when he was a much smaller, much more human creature. I think he found a way to invert the power cycle, and once that connection was broken, the Ogdru Jahad was set free. As a story, it makes more sense that Pope would want to be in charge. Rasputin was more the willing subject. Pope wanted power.

If it was operating of its own will, surely it would free its siblings. They are the seven that are one after all. It's possible that, now it's free of The Flame's influence, it's going to do exactly what it was created to do; build the world the way it wants, uncaring of the efforts of man to stop it.

[Joker]

Like I said, I walked away from this issue a little confused about the what/how/why of where we are now. I guess we wait a few months and hope the final arc explains it.

[zerodemon]

Fingers crossed.

Also, I looked back on Seed of Destruction to try to work out which Ogdru Jahad this is, and correct me if I'm wrong, but the cracked shell seemed to belong to Namrat Jahad. His was the vertical one, which I'm pretty sure was the one that cracked when they were all banging together. Later depictions after this have the shells connected though, whereas in Seed, they were all floating loose. Anybody have any idea when this happened? I'm assuming the aliens from Conquerer Worm bound them together to prevent them from bashing about again.

[thwhtGuardian]

My position is this...

Always listen to Professor O'Donnell. He says that it's not possible for only one of the Ogdru Jahad to be present. They are, after all, the seven that are one. The Black Flame says himself that they are not his masters, and that he is in control of them. It's also stated that usually the power transfer between the seven that are one and their servants usually involves the servants creating the energy, and siphoning off a little of it for themselves, while passing the rest to their masters.

What if the black flame had inverted this somehow? What if he was using this one dragon (which he had separated from the group for ease of control) and was using it to take the lions share of drained power for himself, leaving the Ogdru with the table scraps usually reserved for the servant. Essentially he'd be using the Ogdru Jahad as a conduit for all universal power.

And what if he was doing this with the end goal of preserving life? We have seen more and more in recent books that the BPRD are agents of destruction, while the Black Flame is essentially the avatar of continued life for the current incarnation of earth. With him gone, The Ogdru Jahad that is awake reverts to its instinct, and begins the spread of its awesome fungal weirdness. Sadly, since it isn't connected to the other 6, and The Black Flame isn't there to hold its reigns, the thing is going hog wild, separated from its nest consciousness.

This somewhat explains what The Black Flame had done. He had made himself an analogue for the other 6 dragons, making the 7th think it was still part of the whole, and allowing it to come without its compatriots. Now with that connection severed, it is, for the first time, truly alone. What will it do in these circumstances? Is it weakened? Does it have the same level of consciousness alone as we saw in The Fury, when the seven bonded with Nimue? Is it trying to re-establish its connection to the other six, or is it behaving like an ant separated from its nest, walking around in circles until it dies or is killed?

Just my thoughts.

That was my feeling as well, somehow he was taking more of the energy than he was supposed to normally be able to and now that he isn't somehow sapping the dragon of it's energy it's really free.

[Joker]

It's a little frustrating that this big arc ends and nobody really knows what actually happened. Then we get 3 months of a different story...

[zerodemon]

That's the whole mignolaverse in a nutshell. The answers will come, one day.

[thwhtGuardian]

That's the whole mignolaverse in a nutshell. The answers will come, one day.

Eh, not really the stories are usually much clearer. I'm not complaining mind you, I like that it's nebulous and left open to interpretation but to say that kind of ending is the norm doesn't ring true to me as just about every other story was pretty self contained and had just about all the answers revealed by the end of the arc.