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.

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.

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Wikipedia