15. Ordog had many forms but had one purpose: to collect and corrupt souls.
The Ordog was a shapeshifting Hungarian demon who, in Christian times became identified with the devil. In Hungarian pagan tradition, the Ordog was an entity that worked in partnership with another spirit called Isten to create the world. While Isten – whose name means ‘god’ in Hungarian’ – was in control of light and goodness, Ordog controlled the dark forces of evil.
In his natural form, Ordog was an archetypical devil. He took the form of a warped satyr or faun. His torso was of a male human while his lower body was that of a goat with black cloven hooves and a blade-like forked tail. His phallus was also disproportionately large, which suggests that this physical appearance took its inspiration from pagan fertility gods. In this form, Ordog dwelt in Pokol, the Hungarian hell where he brewed the souls of the damned in a hellish cauldron.
However, Ordog was not content to wait in hell for souls to come to him. So, he would often venture forth to the mortal world. When he did so, he abandoned his hellish form to wander in disguise. Ordog’s favorite earthbound forms included that of a black fox or a dark-eyed shepherd. Or, he would hide in the walls of buildings, only detectable by the sound of his malicious laugh. However, whichever form he took, Ordog’s aim remained the same: to find souls to corrupt- and collect.
Ordog shares some traits with the ultimate of Demons.