Vril and the Mignolaverse

[MajorHoy]

Okay, I'm sure I'll get pounded on for not already knowing this stuff, but not too long ago I re-read Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1954 - The Black Sun #1-2, and I'm currently re-reading the tpb collection of Sledgehammer 44.

Anyway, looking into "vril" on a Google search, and the article it turned up for "Vril" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vril) touches on so many things that I've already read in Mignolaverse books that it's quite thought-provoking (for me, anyway).
Among other things, it references a 19th century novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton titled The Coming Race with a subterranean world populated by a race called the Vril-ya (who themselves are descendants of a race called the Ana). The Vril-ya have access to a source called "Vril" which had very destructive potential.
Later in the article it talks about a "Vril Society" in 20th century Germany as well as a link to a book called Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity.
Another Wikipedia article on Nazi UFOs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_UFOs) also suggests what we had in Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1954 - The Black Sun.

I know the Vril technology played a part in Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus as well as in Sledgehammer 44 and Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1954 - The Black Sun, but where else has it played a major part?

[zerodemon]

Plays pretty heavily into a lot of the mythology, and I don’t much want to give too many spoilers. I feel like Middenway did an article on Vril at some point.

Edit: Yep. Spoilers of course.

http://www.multiversitycomics.com/an...-hell-is-vril/

[middenway]

Plays pretty heavily into a lot of the mythology, and I don’t much want to give too many spoilers. I feel like Middenway did an article on Vril at some point.

Edit: Yep. Spoilers of course.

http://www.multiversitycomics.com/an...-hell-is-vril/

I think that article was my very first Hell Notes. It's pretty rough and very out of date...

[MajorHoy]

http://www.multiversitycomics.com/an...-hell-is-vril/

I think that article was my very first Hell Notes. It's pretty rough and very out of date...

Any plans for a revised/updated version in the foreseeable future?

[middenway]

Any plans for a revised/updated version in the foreseeable future?

Not any time soon. These days I don't seem to have much time to write Hell Notes very often.

[Waka Hem]

As far as I can tell there are a few elemental forces that go back to the origins of Mignolaverse mythology that sortof undergird everything else. The ones we know of being Vril, Fire, and the Black Flame. All three have avatars in the current series - the Sledgehammer 44 armor, Liz Sherman, and the various Black Flames (along with the Black Goddess/Ereshkigall), respectively. And we know two directly tie into the origin of the Oghdru Jahad - the Fire that the Watcher used to mold their physical bodies, and the darkness (which I believe correlates to the Black Flame) that entered them later and gave them life and purpose. The Vril to me is still the most mysterious, so I'm interested to see how future stories expand on it.

[DeathRidingAnElephant]

Vril and the Black Flame are two sides of the same coin. Vril is life, while Shakti (the Black Flame) is death. Vril and Shakti may both be inside of all life, but certain individuals have been able to channel that energy. Liz Sherman, The Sledgehammer suit, and many of the early mystics of/or trained by the first race of men could channel Vril. Hellboy’s hand probably has the ability to channel Vril, but he refuses to use it’s true power. I think we’ve only seen two people channel Shakti without science, the two incarnations of the Black Flame; but the Ogdru Jahad is definitely tied to it in some way. I don’t think the series will ever fully explain either force. I think they are beyond understanding.

[Kees_L]

Well, anyone wanting to know what Vril is or where it came from, please read the Mignola drawn and written second Epilogue to 'Hellboy: Darkness Calls'.

Read it and you can also find out if there ever have been 'angels' included to the Mignolaverse, plus you get the splendid origin to that fake Goddess Hecate and a nifty illustrious King Thoth headshot. Greatly recommended.

[KROENEN]

Vril and the Black Flame are two sides of the same coin. Vril is life, while Shakti (the Black Flame) is death. Vril and Shakti may both be inside of all life, but certain individuals have been able to channel that energy. Liz Sherman, The Sledgehammer suit, and many of the early mystics of/or trained by the first race of men could channel Vril. Hellboy’s hand probably has the ability to channel Vril, but he refuses to use it’s true power. I think we’ve only seen two people channel Shakti without science, the two incarnations of the Black Flame; but the Ogdru Jahad is definitely tied to it in some way. I don’t think the series will ever fully explain either force. I think they are beyond understanding.

I like this take and agree with it. I almost see Vril (in some literature) as likened to the substance left over by the Engineers in the Alien franchise; the black goo that can destroy life but create something new in it's place. In the Mignolaverse; VRIL and the BLACK FLAME are opposites of the same kind of celestial power. I've also done some research on Vril societies, very interesting stuff, it is described as kind of super substance that is able to destroy and create life, but I think in terms of the Mignolaverse it is more of like the boiled down essence of life; full of mysterious powers that can bend the laws that govern life, like extending it. I don't see Vril and fire as necessarily different elements, I see it more as VRIL on one side representing life affirming elements, and the BLACK FLAME of the void on the other side of the spectrum; like extreme heat and cold.