The Harrowers were a specially chosen group of humans by the goddess Morte Mamme to battle her brother, Leviathan and his army of Cenobites. Millennia earlier, it was he who had previously imprisoned Morte Mamme in a Puzzle chamber known as Morte's Tomb.
History[]
Morte Mamme was imprisoned within an egg-shaped tomb in Joplin, Missouri for generations by her brother, Leviathan. Seeing a means to escape her imprisonment, selected six individuals to act as her Harrowers, blessed warriors to combat Leviathan and his demonic minions, the Cenobites, as well as to free her from her imprisonment. Unfortunately, Leviathan somehow managed to trick the Harrowers and all six of them ended up dead, thus failing the goddess.
Many years later, when all hope seemed lost, salvation arrived in the form of maggots. The goddess encouraged the insects to feast upon her flesh, shed their skin, and take flight in search of her chosen army. Several miles above, the tomb's guardian, Bunny Benedict, is startled from her sleep by an earthquake caused by Morte Mamme. The earthquake causes a crack in the earth, enabling the insects infused with her being to escape the facade over the tomb dubbed "Legs Benedict's Egg Museum", and seek out her chosen few. Bunny instinctively senses that she needs to prepare for company, and proceeds to clean the museum. She watches as the goddess's swarm takes flight and swats at the insects, unaware of their true purpose.
In Hell, Leviathan summons The General after his sister beckons her new allies to Joplin. The General rallies the Cenobites to combat their new foes, selecting six of his best soldiers to destroy the humans, and prevent Morte Mamme from being released from her subterranean prison.
Each individual called by Morte Mamme makes their way to the Legs Benedict's Egg Museum in Joplin, where they are greeted by guide Bunny Benedict. Benedict tells the group that the egg museum was built around a huge egg-shaped monument, and has been preserved and protected by her family for generations as part of a pact they made with the Indians. As Bunny gives her tour of the Egg Museum, another earthquake cracks open the floor, revealing a stairwell that descends into darkness. The kitten Zinc bolts into the darkness, much to the dismay of Winston Gage. Curious, the group takes a pair of lanterns, and follow the stairwell. Bunny, injured in the earthquake, remains topside. Soon, the others discover a granite rock covering a chamber doorway, and they use their collective strength to move the rock blocking the entrance.
The group discovers the bodies of six other people that have been dead for quite some time, in addition to Morte Mamme's prison. A message on the seal reads: "Sex Liberabit, Si Aenigma Explicata Erit" (Six shall release if the puzzle is solved) They determine that they must stand in front of the seal, and speak the Latin phrases directly in front of them. After doing so, they enter six individual chambers, and the room begins to spin. The goddess Morte Mamme appears before the group, and informs them they have been chosen to serve as her Harrowers, blessed warriors against evil demons known as Cenobites that were created by Leviathan. The goddess tells them that the bodies of the six fallen in the chamber were once her Harrowers, killed when her brother tricked them. She arms each member of the group with a weapon charged with her life-force.
Morte Mamme then tells the group that they will follow in the footsteps of their predecessors. The goddess warns the Harrowers that by summoning her, Leviathan has sent six Cenobites to stop the group. She tells the team that she has blessed them each with special abilities, and as the Harrowers return to the surface, Winston is overcome by a strange vision that troubles him. He realizes that he is actually seeing through the eyes of the kitten, Zinc. He sees the kitten snatched by Merkova, a hideous Cenobite with a horse's skull sutured to her face, along with the remaining demons sent to stop the team. Bunny hangs from the ceiling by hook chains. Winston switches places with Zinc, appearing before the Cenobites, while the kitten is teleported to the stairwell leading to the goddess's prison. Winston responds to Merkova's threat of turning Zinc's intestines into a bracelet by chopping her arms off with his battle axe. The other Harrowers join up with their friend back at the museum, and attack the Cenobites with the weapons bestowed upon them by Morte Mamme.
Dublin Morse displays his new gift of invisibility during the battle, and manages to stab a Cenobite cowboy with his dagger. Ron Ringwood leaps into action, and is strung up by the Cenobites with hook chains. Vera saves Ron from being castrated by one of the Cenobites using her boomerang. In retaliation, the Cenobites string Wyshak up with hook chains, and she asks Morte Mamme for help. The goddess turns Vera's blood and saliva acidic to the Cenobites, and the demons are forced to release the woman when the pain caused by her blood grows too intense. Vera spits on one of the Cenobites, and dissolves the monster. Marty Sevenbirds, a pacifist by nature, is forced to come to Ron Ringwood's aid when Merkova bears down on the young man. Sevenbirds stabs Merkova through the thigh with his long sword, forcing the Cenobite to retreat. Marty frees Ron from the hook chains, and Ringwood displays his new accelerated regeneration power, his wounds healing almost instantaneously.
Elsewhere, the twins Lavinia and Lucinda hide, too frightened to join the fray. The goddess creates a guide, Ovid, to assist the young women. Appearing as a cherubic infant with insect-like wings and pointed ears, Ovid is capable of speech, and is extremely flatulent. He explains that Cenobites find it so human, that it disorients the demons. Ovid encourages the Claire twins by telling them that they are not as weak as they feel, and Morte Mamme blesses the twins with mirror images of themselves, numerous additional reflections that make it impossible for the demons to determine who the real Claire siblings are. The twins use this new ability to confuse the Cenobites while they tie the demons up with their lasso, as Ovid breaks wind above the monsters. Now ensnared, the goddess bestows lightning generation and manipulation to Marty Sevenbirds. He hurls lightning at the Cenobites, further incapacitating them, and the Harrowers use their weapons to chop the demons into pieces. Merkova, however, manages to escape, and drags Bunny back to Hell with her.
Morte Mamme informs the group that Leviathan's commander, The General, would suffer unimaginably for the failure of his soldiers. The goddess then tells the group that they need to enter Hell, in order to rescue Bunny Benedict. She explains that Bunny has been a faithful guardian over her tomb, and that she cannot be forsaken. As the Harrowers prepare to enter Hell, Leviathan gives The General one final opportunity to prove himself. The General creates a horrific monster from the body parts of his fallen Cenobites, Leviathan names it The Furiae, and The General sends it after The Harrowers. The group valiantly combats the monster, while Ron Ringwood searches Hell for Bunny Benedict on his motorcycle. Marty courageously sacrifices himself by electrifying himself and tackling the Furaie, sending them both falling into the deepest pit of Hell.
Meanwhile, the Cenobite Pinhead discovers that Bunny Benedict is actually a transgender woman while torturing her, and becomes amused. Before the demon can use a blowtorch to give Bunny an impromptu gender reassignment surgery, Ron finds the pair on his bike, uses his axe to cut Bunny's shackles, and drives off with her before Pinhead can harm her. Marty's sacrifice frees Morte Mamme from her prison, and Ringwood returns to the other Harrowers, with Bunny in tow. The goddess takes Benedict, and places her into her body, briefly impregnating herself. Within moments, Bunny returns to the others, and Morte Mamme explains that Bunny has twenty-four hours in her old form before a transformation occurs. When Benedict asks the goddess what she will turn into, Morte Mamme states that she does not know. The goddess tells her it is destiny's decision, and that she is merely destiny's conduit. Morte Mamme then disappears.
Meanwhile, back in Hell, Pinhead tearfully mourns the death of his beloved Merkova. Mortally wounded with Marty Sevenbirds' divine sword during the battle at the Egg Museum, Pinhead vows that his paramour will not have died in vain. Twenty-four hours later, the surviving Harrowers gather with Bunny in a Joplin park to await her transformation. They watch in bewilderment as Benedict becomes a little girl, and runs off to play with a group of other children. Morte Mamme then appears before the Harrowers, and tells them to prepare, for Leviathan has countless souls in need of liberation. The Harrowers have only just begun. Back in Hell, The General pleads with Leviathan to allow him yet another chance to destroy the Harrowers, proclaiming "This time, it's war..."
Later, Vera helped Kate Johnson by entering Hell. She killed Aparius, Hell's Bee-Keeper, when he confronted her and then followed the roots of the tree that has bound all the trapped souls of the Johnson family, Vera killed the queen bee and bled on the trees roots, freeing the souls and allowing them to be cleansed by Morte Mamme, Kate and her husband spent their last 24 hours together before he transformed. Vera then headed off on her own to parts unknown.
Members[]
- Bunny Benedict - The protector and sacred guardian of Morte's Tomb, a task passed down through generations. Bunny is attacked by cenobites and taken to Hell where it's revealed that she is a transwoman. Bunny is then saved by Ron and reborn the next day thanks to Morte Mamme's cleansing.
- Ron Ringwood - Hailing from New York city, Ron Ringwood is a tattoo artist pulled into Morte Mamme's Harrowers. He is wounded due to his reckless behaviour many times during the battle with the cenobites. He is also the Harrower who traveled into Hell alone and saved Bunny from Pinhead's harm. Due to Ron's reckless behaviour he can regenerate wounds almost instantly. Ron wields a divine short sword.
- Vera Wyshak - A woman on death row in Ohio State Penitentiary, Vera escaped her death sentence by becoming a Harrower. Morte Mamme changes her blood and spit, making it corrosive to cenobites. She wields bladed boomerangs.
- Winston Gage - A worker at an animal clinic, he found the kitten Zinc, sharing a special bond with her. He can see through Zinc's eyes on command and can switch places with her via teleportation. Winston wields a divine battle axe.
- Zinc - Winston's pet cat, Zinc came to him after swallowing one of Morte Mamme's flies. Her collar was what lead Winston to the Egg museum. Zinc can allow Winston to see through her eyes as well as to switch locations with Winston.
- Lucinda & Lavinia Claire - The Claire twins, born wealthy, the two Harrowers feeling more that they are worthless compared to the other Harrowers, so Morte Mamme creates Ovid as a guide. Ovid helps the two over come their fear which leads to the cenobites' defeat. They can create duplicates of themselves and they wield a divine lasso as a weapon.
- Dublin Morse - An ex-professor who's peacefulness allowed him to communicate with the fly that came to him from Morte Mamme and led him to the other Harrowers. Dublin has the power of invisibility and wielded a divine dagger.
- Marty Sevenbirds - A pacifist who overcomes his dislike of fighting in order to save the lives of his fellow Harrowers on more than one occasion. Marty sacrificed himself to eliminate the threat of the Furaie and now the two are locked in eternal combat inside Morte's Tomb. Marty could generate electricity from his body and wielded a divine longsword.
References[]
- Clive Barker's Hellraiser - Devil's Brigade Part 17: Hell Hath No Fury #16
- Clive Barker's Hellraiser - The Harrowing: Part One #17
- Clive Barker's Hellraiser - The Harrowing: Part Two #18
- Clive Barker's The Harrowers #1-6
- Clive Barker's Hellraiser: The Dark Watch #1-2, 4-7, 9, 11-12
- Clive Barker's Hellraiser (Boom! Studios Comic Series) #2-5, 8-14, 19
- Comicvine - The Harrowers
- The Hellbound Web - Enclypedia
- The Hellbound Web - The Harrowing Part 1: Resurrection
- The Hellbound Web - The Harrowing Part 2: Insurrection