Hirudegarn (ヒルデガーン) is an enormous monster, and the main antagonist of the movie Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon. It is a simple-minded monster that destroys everything and kills anyone in its path.
History[]
The ancient and gigantic monster Hirudegarn existed thousands of years prior to the events of the series, on an Earth-like planet in the Southern Galaxy named Konats. According to Tapion in the FUNimation dub, Hirudegarn is a "phantom of mist and shadow" who "consumes its victims and imprisons their life-force" (similar to Cell, but on a massive scale). He was apparently turned to stone with the use of an enchanted sword and a pair of enchanted ocarinas (the Hero's Flutes), and sealed away in a temple by Tapion's and Minotia's ancestors, until a group of star traveling black magicians known as the Kashvar arrive on Konats and use their dark magic to bring the monster back to life with the intent of destroying the Konatsians and all races in the universe different from themselves. The monster immediately goes on a rampage, killing everyone in his path or who tries to get in his way, and devastating the planet. Tapion and his brother Minotia manage to freeze the monster in his tracks by each playing a pair of enchanted ocarinas found in the wraith's temple, giving a wizard the opportunity to cut the monster in half with an enchanted sword. However, this action only badly injures and handicaps Hirudegarn, as opposed to killing it.
Since Hirudegarn cannot be killed at the time, his upper half is sealed in Tapion and the other half in Minotia and in this way the brothers became legends. However, fearing that the Kashvar would try to revive the monster again someday, the brothers are separated, each sealed in a music box by the wizard, and are then shot into opposite ends of the farthest galaxies, far away from each other by the Konats war council, with the music box holding Tapion landing on Earth. The wizard vows to release the brothers once the Kashvar are brought to justice, and it is assumed that the Kashvar are hunted down over time.
Wrath of the Dragon[]
A thousand years later in the present, the last of the Kashvar, Hoi, has vowed to resurrect the monster to cleanse the universe of all who are not Kashvars. He releases Hirudegarn's lower half on a distant planet and easily disposes of Minotia, who is crushed under the foot of the monster. Upon Minotia's death, Hoi seals the lower half inside himself to summon at his leisure. On Earth, however, he switches to a more tactical plan and spies on Gohan (as the Great Saiyaman) and Videl (as the Great Saiyawoman), as they fight crime. Both are summoned from their school again to rescue Hoi, who is pretending to be suicidal to gain their trust and sympathy. Hoi then tells the two about the legendary warrior, Tapion.
Both are anxious to see who this Tapion is. However, neither they nor Goten, Trunks, Goku or Bulma (using her scientific expertise) are able to open the seal. Seeing no other alternative, the fighters of Earth collect the Dragon Balls so they can summon Shenron and wish for the seal to be broken. Shenron succeeds and Gohan, Videl, Goten, Trunks, Goku, Bulma, Krillin, Oolong and Master Roshi along with Hoi (who may have encountered Tapion as far back as during the original Hirudegarn crisis on Konats a thousand years ago), meet Tapion for the first time. However, Tapion is very upset at them all, because it is a bad idea to release him. He demands that he be sealed back again, but by his release, the oracle has shattered, so this proves impossible. Trunks, however, is determined to bring him food and drinks, as he sees Tapion as a brother.
Shortly after Tapion's release, Hirudegarn's lower half (summoned by Hoi) starts destroying Satan City. Gohan and Videl arrive at the scene to investigate, but shortly after they arrive, they are almost swept away by the monster's tail. After executing their Great Saiyaman poses, Hirudegarn's tail throws the two each to a side of the street. Gohan immediately sets up a counter-attack, with Videl supporting him. After the short battle, Videl thinks Gohan has won. However, Gohan said it is not over yet. Both then hear the same ocarina melody that they heard when Tapion was released, and they notice the monster is gone.
Later, as Tapion sleeps, Hirudegarn's top half temporarily escapes, but Tapion is able to imprison it before it does any significant damage. The next night, Tapion explains everything to Bulma: about how Hoi had been a member of the Kashvar, how he was involved in the attempted genocide of the Konatsians and how he helped unleash Hirudegarn on the people of Konats, ultimately revealing that Hoi had deceived them all. He explains how Hirudegarn had been given a major impedimenting injury but ultimately survives, how the halves had been sealed within him and Minotia, how they were further sealed within the music boxes and then sent to opposite ends of the universe. Bulma is angered at hearing it, and she decides to create another oracle. She finishes it by the next day.
That night, Hirudegarn's lower half is summoned by Hoi to once again wreak havoc, as he drew seven men and two women into his tail to devour their life energy. Hoi directs his power to release the upper half of Hirudegarn. He finally succeeds in this, and with the monster back together, nothing can stop him. However, the Z Fighters resist magnificently. Goku, Gohan and Goten are the first ones to launch a counterattack, but just as Gohan is being crushed in the demon's fist, Vegeta throws himself into the line of battle after saving Gohan. Goten and Trunks decide to use the Fusion Dance to become Gotenks after even Super Saiyan 2 Goku is overwhelmed. As a Super Saiyan 3, Gotenks attacks the monster with his Continuous Die Die Missile. Although apparently successful in crippling the monster, it is soon revealed that Hirudegarn survives the onslaught and subsequently breaks out of his heavily damaged husk.
In his new form, Hirudegarn mows Gotenks down to the ground, smashes Gohan and Videl into a building and throws Goku into some rubble. Tapion plays the Hero's Flute again and manages to seal Hirudegarn inside himself. He then orders Trunks to kill him with his sword, which will destroy the trapped monster. Due to hesitation, Trunks fails to kill Tapion, resulting in Hirudegarn breaking free and Tapion's Hero's Flute being destroyed in the process. Hoi, who has been watching the whole fight, mocks Tapion for being so foolish, but is killed when Hirudegarn crushes him underfoot. At this point, Goku arises as a Super Saiyan 3. Nevertheless, Trunks tries to fight Hirudegarn with Tapion's sword and manages to cut off the monster's tail. Goku taunts the monster and uses his Dragon Fist to pierce through Hirudegarn when he becomes solid, obliterating the monster completely.
Power[]
- Movie
Prior to transforming Hirudegarn was capable of trading blows and gaining the upper hand over several Z Fighters like Super Saiyan Goku, Super Saiyan Vegeta and Gohan before seemingly being overpowered by Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks and emerging into a more powerful form.
In this new form he was powerful enough that with one blow he was able to defeat Gotenks by knocking him to the ground, and easily restrain Gohan when he wasn't paying attention. Even after Goku managed to severely drain his energy by making him feel intense emotion (his weakness), he still did serious damage to Super Saiyan 3 Goku until Goku used the Dragon Fist technique, killing Hirudegarn once and for all.
- Statements by authors and guidebooks
According to the Toei website. Super Janemba is stronger than even Hirudegarn, since Hirudegarn was destroyed by Super Saiyan 3 Goku while Super Janemba could beat back Super Saiyan 3 Goku.
Special abilities[]
Hirudegarn has a variety of special abilities, most of them being incredibly destructive and powerful.
- Flight – In his final form, Hirudegarn is able to fly using his insect-like wings.
- Fire Balls – Hirudegarn shoots big, reddish-yellow balls of fire from his mouth, with long, flaming tails. They explode on contact with anything, able to inflict high damage and destroying things.
- Chou Makousen – Creates a massive, blue energy beam from the mouth, that scans over a large area, giving it a good blast radius.
- Explosive Wave – Creates a weak burst of energy for protection, with himself serving as the nexus. If anyone comes in contact with the wave, they will be knocked away, and receive minor damage.
- Super Explosive Wave – Hirudegarn charges a lot of ki energy to create a giant explosion, with Hirudegarn himself serving as the nexus. It will protect him from almost anything, but it takes much of his energy, so it does not last very long. Anything caught in the energy wave will be destroyed.
- Gigantic Flame – Hirudegarn charges all his energy up to unleash an enormous storm of pure fire that demolish anything in its path, due to the incredible heat generated from all the ki energy in Hirudegarn's body. Upon contact with a big point, such as a building, the flame creates a gigantic explosion. This attack serves as his ultimate attack in several video games, his version being called Phantom Demon Flame Cannon (幻魔火炎砲, Genma Kaenhō) in the arcade game Dragon Ball Heroes.
- Dark Eyes – Hirudegarn can turn into ectoplasm[1] to prevent damage and reappear in front of the enemy for a surprise attack. This move seems to be reflex, making Hirudegarn invincible due to his intangibility. This technique can only be bypassed when Hirudegarn is physically attacking, which makes him briefly tangible as he needs to be tangible to hit something. In the dub, Hirudegarn's energy is drained when it experiences intense emotions, such as anger. Due to the emotion's intensity, Dark Eyes can't be used.
- Crushing in Hands – Hirudegarn crushes his opponent in one of his hands. He uses this against Gohan.
- Tail Attack – Hirudegarn can perform strike attacks as well as a technique similar to the Crushing in Hands using his tail. He uses this against Gohan.
- Mystic Attack – In Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z, Hirudegarn has the ability to greatly elongate his tail.
- Drain Life – Hirudegarn has the ability to absorb people's energy with his tail, much like Cell does. He raises his gigantic tail, open it and trap his victims with threads. He then sucks their energy out of their bodies, growing stronger.
- Regeneration – Hirudegarn has regenerative abilities in the video game Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z.
Forms and Transformation[]
Hirudegarn's original form, which was created from a devil statue. After being easily defeated by Gotenks, he transforms into a more powerful state. This form appears for the first time in a video-game in Dragon Ball Heroes, introduced in the eighth mission of the God Mission series (GDM8).
Hirudegarn (Post-Transformation)[]
Hirudegarn is able to morph by evolving inside a cocoon. While in his transformed state, he gains more strength and the ability to take flight thanks to the wings he has in his transformed state. In the movie, Hirudegarn creates his cocoon and morphs after Gotenks attacked him with his Continuous Die Die Missile.
King of Destruction Hirudegarn[]
King of Destruction Hirudegarn is a boss character in Dragon Ball Heroes, making his debut in the fifth mission of the Jaaku Mission series (JM5), and so far, he is not playable. His eyes turn white while in this form.
Video game appearances[]
Hirudegarn made his debut in video games in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and yet again in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. However, he is only playable in his final form, and is minimized drastically.
In Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi, Dragon Ball Heroes, and Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z, Hirudegarn is a giant boss, and therefore not playable.
Voice actors[]
- Japanese dub: Shin Aomori
- FUNimation dub: Robert McCollum, Christopher Sabat (Ultimate Tenkaichi only)
Battles[]
- Hirudegarn's lower half (Pre-Transformation) vs. Minotia
- Hirudegarn's lower half (Pre-Transformation) vs. Gohan and Videl
- Hirudegarn (Pre-Transformation) vs. Goku, Goten (Base/Super Saiyan), and Gohan
- Hirudegarn (Pre-Transformation) vs. Vegeta
- Hirudegarn (Pre-Transformation) vs. Gotenks (Super Saiyan 3)
- Hirudegarn (Post-Transformation) vs. Gotenks (Super Saiyan 3), Gohan, Videl, and Goku (Super Saiyan 2)[5]
- Hirudegarn (Post-Transformation) vs. Tapion
- Hirudegarn (Post-Transformation) vs. Goku (Super Saiyan 3) and Trunks