Saturday 4 April 2015

AtoZChallenge2015 - D is for Dahak

Hello and welcome to day 4 of the AtoZChallenge 2015.

I fear I have chosen another evil entity for today's post. Dahak is actually from the Zoroastrian folklore of ancient Iran and he's an evil monster demon. However the fictional version of this entity that I'm interested in comes from Xena and Hercules. Both shows always did epic so well and Dahak is definitely that.

Dahak is a powerful, godlike creature worshiped by cultists in Brittania. He is an ancient evil set on bringing destruction to the world. He almost succeeded too.

While Gabrielle was in Brittania she became friendly with a follower of Dahak, not realising that it was a dark, evil cult. She was then impregnated by Dahak with her daughter Hope, the bringer of Evil. Hope in turn has a demonic child called the Destroyer with Ares who has teamed up with Dahak to take over the world, only to be foiled by Xena and Gabrielle.

Not to be put off, Dahak then tries again using Hercules and Iolaus this time. After tricking Hercules, Gilgamesh, the Sumrrian King and now disciple of Dahak, kills Iolaus, which allows Dahak to possess Iolaus' body. Dahak then proceeds to try and wipe out any and all deities that might oppose him while mascarading as a god of light. Of course Hercules eventually defeats him.

Thanks to Wikipedia and The Hercules and Xena Wiki for helping me with this post.


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64 comments:

  1. Cool. I have never heard of Dahak before, but I have heard of some of the other deities involved. This is so educational!

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    1. :D - I couldn't actually remember his name, but vaguely remember the Xena story, so I went looking and up he popped.

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  2. Sounds like a nasty dude.

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  3. He was one horrible deity - messed up Xena and Hercules!

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  4. Replies
    1. Me too - I catch it ever now and then on Sky these days too :)

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  5. What? A bringer of evil called Hope? I love the contradiction! :D

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  6. Sheeesh, now I'm kinda happy I gave up on both shows before these things happened... I mean they were always very liberal for mythology, but really?... :D

    @TarkabarkaHolgy from
    Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
    MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary

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    1. They did get more and more outlandish, but then a lot of shows do :)

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  7. Very helpful website as well as packing the A-Z blogs full of useful info. Shall know where to come for info on the dark entities now. You must have worked so hard to have so many books and such a great site, :-)

    Anne
    http://www.authorsupport.com

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    1. Thank you :) The AtoZ is a lot of fun and so is writing.

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  8. That's a very intricate story, but at least good triumphs over evil eventually.

    Annalisa, writing A-Z vignettes, at Wake Up, Eat, Write, Sleep

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    1. Yes, but they definitely took their time about it! :)

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  9. Glad he gets defeated by Hercules :) Made me wonder reading that bit about Hope having a demonic child. I wonder how interesting it was to raise him, LOL :)

    betty

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    1. I think she mostly leaves him in a cave - so, y'know, not the greatest. :)

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  10. Man I haven't seen Xena in years. I think it's on Netflix I have to check it out...

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    1. It pops up on The Horror channel of all places every now and then I think. At least I skip past it often enough :).

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  11. Wow, I actually remember watching that episode of Xena when I was a little girl. And like they said above, glad good triumphs over this one.

    Good luck with the 2015 A to Z Challenge!
    A to Z Co-Host S. L. Hennessy
    http://pensuasion.blogspot.com

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    1. Dahak was one that really, really needed good to come through and triumph, wasn't he.

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  12. Evil creatures are far more fun than the others.

    Precious Monsters

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  13. Another monster I have to keep in mind. I'm really enjoying your posts.

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  14. Now let me see if I got this straight...Gabriella begets Hope...Hope begets Destroyer...X and G destroy Destroyer and Evil prevails? What a VICIOUS Cirlcle! I see you are right in the middle of it, too...lol!!! GOOD 'over evil' JOB!
    Sue at CollectInTexas Gal
    AtoZ 2015 Challenge
    Minion for AJ's wHooligans

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    1. It is rather a complicated scenario isn't it :)

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  15. I loved Xena! But I don't recall an episode with a Dahak. I feel like having a Xena marathon now. ;)

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  16. Hi Natasha - I haven't heard of these stories or some of the deities .. especially when they're particularly nasty and called Hope ... thankfully as Sue says Good 'over evil' .. will prevail .. Obviously I move in the wrong circles .. thankfully your readers know a thing or two .. cheers Hilary

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  17. I used to watch both of these shows, but obviously missed these episodes! How cool that they used a "real" deity. Had no idea. Wish we had more shows (but updated now) like these nowadays... Lisa, co-host AtoZ 2015, @ http://www.lisabuiecollard.com

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    1. They were some of the later ones - as with all shows they got more complicated and involved as they went on.

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  18. Definitely creepy this deity...and yes, I remember watchng Xena way back.

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  19. Cool! I didn't watch all the episodes of those shows. Too bad I missed those episodes, because they sound cool.

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    1. I didn't see them first time round either - I remember catching them in reruns in pieces.

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  20. I have a friend who was a very strong fan of Xena. I bet she knows everything you said above.
    To me... it kind of sounds a bit messy....

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    1. I think if you weren't watching it, it's rather complicated.

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  21. I used to watch Xena as a kid, but I have no memory of Dahak. Thanks for introducing her again.

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    1. No probs :) always glad to bring back good memories.

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  22. I think evil entities like Dahak are far more fun than the good kind of entities. That being said, I'd be scared to death if this story hadn't ended with good prevailing over evil. #AtoZChallenge

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  23. Great choice for D :-) As demons go he's pretty unpleasant!

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  24. I always love to hear of mythological creatures - I have to admit I know nothing about Iranian folklore and mythology.
    I have to admit I didn't remember Dahak from back when I watched Hercules and Xena but I always find villains interesting.

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    1. He was a good villain - possibly the nastiest they had.

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  25. I love mythology, particularly Greek mythology. My family used to watch Hercules and Xena all the time, and we even had a tradition of getting pizza from some local place and eating it as we watched Hercules.

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  26. He doesn't sound very nice at all, thanks for sharing!

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  27. I really want to watch these series again. I love how interconnected they were.

    Alex Hurst, A Fantasy Author in Kyoto
    A-Z Blogging in April Participant

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  28. Sounds like he used some dirty tactics.

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  29. I remember watching the Hercules and Xena series. Dahak certainly was evil, but goodness always prevails on these shows. ☺

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    1. Yep - just the way I like them :) Happy Endings all the way for me!

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  30. Another character I hadn't heard of before. I haven't Xena either.

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    1. Xena was a lot of fun back in the day - the early seasons are very easy to watch too - lots of fun.

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  31. This is a really interesting topic set!
    And man, I loved watching Xena, back when it was on TV - Hercules, too.

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    1. Thank you. They really were great TV shows weren't they :)

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