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 is a lowly member of the Daoine Sidhe, a race of fairy folk similar to elves. When the Daoine Sidhe kidnap a human baby in order to repopulate their dying race, Gruagach impersonates the baby, and takes delight in tormenting the infant's parents with glimpses of his true nature. Since the authorities refuse to believe that their baby has been taken, the parents call on the B.P.R.D., who send Hellboy to investigage, exposing Gruagach by seizing him with iron tongs which burn him and reveal his true form.

Hellboy makes a deal with the Daoine Sidhe: if he interrs the corpse of a recently deceased human friend of theirs in an acceptable churchyard, they will return the baby. Furious over his humiliation, Gruagach defies the King of the Daoine Sidhe and tries to stop Hellboy, giving Jenny Greenteeth the key to release Grom, a demon wild boar. However, once released, Grom snatches Gruagach out of the air and eats him. Hellboy uses an amulet on Grom to shrink him, allowing him to defeat the demon.

Gruagach somehow survives, now "wearing" Grom's shrunken body as his own. Fueled by his obession for revenge, Gruagach refuses to let their people gradually go extinct as a result of encroachment by the mortal world, and declares war on humanity. He assassinates the King and then recruits others of his people to release a variety of incredibly powerful magical entities from their various prisons.