Stranger Things Wiki

SPOILERS AHEAD

Read at your own discretion...

READ MORE

Stranger Things Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Stranger Things Wiki
Rename icon
This topic might have a better name.
"Russian Demogorgon" is an unofficial name.

Talk about it here.

This article is about the individual creature being held captive in Kamchatka. For the species, see Demogorgon (species). For other uses, see Demogorgon (disambiguation).

The "Russian Demogorgon" was a member of a species of humanoid predators originating from the Upside Down. The creature was held captive at a Soviet-run prison camp in Kamchatka, from where it would massacre and feast upon unlucky prisoners forced to fight it in an open arena. It was ultimately executed by the escaped American prisoner Jim Hopper.

History[]

Origin[]

According to Dmitri Antonov, the creature was "a monster... from America".[1]

It was almost certainly acquired during the Soviet Union's secret operation in Hawkins, Indiana. The Soviets, having opened a stable gate to the Upside Down with experimental technology on June 28, 1985, apparently used the gate to extract various 'Demogorgon' specimens; somehow, the Soviets also captured a mass of silver-black particles (a portion of the Mind Flayer).

The creatures were transported to a prison camp in the Kamchatka Peninsula. One specimen was either fully-grown upon capture, or was allowed to fully mature. The Soviets occasionally executed prisoners by feeding them to the creature, helping it grow stronger in the process.

The remaining creatures were cryogenically frozen, preventing them from leaving adolescence. The Mind Flayer's particles, meanwhile, were encased in a special tank, confined in place by electric heaters.

Hopper-template-test
"Oh my god, none of this is real."
This information from Stranger Things: Kamchatka is of questionable canonicity.[canon-rationale 1]
According to one account, the Russians' Demogorgon had a different origin. On June 28, 1984, a team of Russian scientists, including Dr. Karine, conducted an experiment test-running the Key technology. However, the volatile machine, like the others, suffered a grave malfunction upon activation, fatally electrocuting almost all of the scientists standing nearby, with Dr. Karine as the sole survivor.

Though her team deemed the experiment a failure, Karine found a strange infant creature - a Demogorgon - in the rubble produced by the machine. Karine then proceeded to experiment upon the Demogorgon, feeding it as many people as she could - prisoners and free citizens alike - to strengthen and weaponize the beast.

1985[]

October[]

Two Red Army soldiers pulled a prisoner out of his cell and fed him to the adult Demogorgon, although they chose against giving up their "American" prisoner - Jim Hopper - to the creature.[2]

1986[]

March[]

Following Hopper's failed escape attempt, guards told Hopper, former guard Dmitri Antonov, Oleg and thirteen other prisoners they would soon fight the creature in an arena-like pit. To his horror, Hopper realised the guards were talking about a Demogorgon. The guards took the prisoners to another room; inside, the men discovered many platters of cooked food and alcoholic beverages. The prisoners eagerly began to feast upon the various platters and dishes, but a cynical Hopper saw the truth of things; he explained their captors wanted them fattened-up before being fed to the Demogorgon. Hopper used the situation to his advantage, however, smuggling a small bottle of vodka out of the banquet room before the guards returned.

Demogorgon pit

Hopper fends off the Demogorgon

Meanwhile, Warden Melnikov led Murray Bauman - disguised as Yuri Ismaylov - to a balcony above the arena pit, wanting to show off the Demogorgon's slaughter to Murray, Joyce Byers and the real Yuri (disguised as Murray). Hopper, Dmitri and the prisoners entered the pit, and grabbed preprepared makeshift weapons in anticipation of the creature's attack. Hopper took the smuggled vodka out of his jacket pocket, pouring it over a spear and set it aflame with a lighter; this alarmed Melnikov, who demanded to know what Hopper was doing. Moments later, Murray dropped his facade and held Melnikov at gunpoint; at the same time, the Demogorgon was unleashed upon the prisoners. The majority of the prisoners were savaged to death within minutes, but Hopper and Dmitri kept the creature at bay with the flaming spear. After knocking Melnikov and various guards unconscious, Murray and Joyce managed to open the gate out of the arena pit, allowing Hopper and Dmitri to escape. Shortly after, Hopper was amazed to find himself reunited with Joyce and Murray.

The group searched for a way out of the base, stumbling upon various cryogenically frozen Demodogs and the Soviets’ imprisoned fragment of the Mind Flayer. Despite reaching Yuri's warehouse in Kyrzran, the group decided to return to the camp after hearing that their allies and loved ones in Hawkins were in danger. They hoped that by destroying the fragment of the Mind Flayer, they could deal damage to the Upside Down's hive mind, and assist their friends in need.

Upon Hopper, Joyce and Murray's return, they learned that gunfire shattered the Demodogs' and the Mind Flayer's tanks. The Mind Flayer re-animated the frozen Demodogs, which in turn slaughtered the remainder of the base's personnel. They set out to kill the Demogorgons, still hoping to inflict pain upon the hive mind. After chasing Hopper and Joyce around the Soviet base for a lengthy period, the Demogorgons gathered in the same spot, allowing Murray to burn the bulk of the creatures to death with Yuri Ismaylov's flamethrower. The adult Demogorgon survived, but moments later, Hopper used a sword to behead the creature. Hopper, Joyce and Murray were rescued by Yuri and Dmitri Antonov in Yuri's helicopter Katinka. The Demogorgon deaths weakened everything else connected to the hive mind: the Demobats, vines, and even Vecna himself.

Appearance[]

The Soviets' Demogorgon largely resembled the creature that terrorized Hawkins in '83. However, the creature's limbs and heels were of differing size and proportions, and had a slightly lighter skin tone compared to its Western counterpart.[3]

Nature[]

The creature has displayed typical predatory behavior, immediately attacking as soon as it sees its prey.

Abilities[]

The Demogorgon presumably had all the same abilities that are characteristic of its species, such as immense strength and high durability. Interestingly, this Demogorgon didn't seem to have the ability to create gates, as it seemed unable to escape.

Appearances[]

Season Three appearances
Suzie, Do You Copy? The Mall Rats The Case of the Missing Lifeguard The Sauna Test
The Flayed E Pluribus Unum The Bite The Battle of Starcourt
Season Four appearances
The Hellfire Club Vecna's Curse The Monster and the Superhero
Dear Billy The Nina Project The Dive
The Massacre at Hawkins Lab Papa The Piggyback

Behind the scenes[]

In the November 12, 2022 episode of "VFX Artists React" on the Corridor Crew YouTube channel, Rodeo FX's VFX Supervisor Julien Héry explained that the Demogorgon was almost entirely redesigned, due to the acrobatics and fighting the creature was required to do:

It’s an iconic character, the Demogorgon, you can’t really touch it, but we actually kind of changed 95% of it. His kind of petal flower mouth, obviously you can’t touch that but we can change everything else. The length of all of his limbs has been changed. In previous seasons it was in the dark, it was not doing that much, but now we want him to run, we want him to jump. How is he going to fight? And we basically changed all the sizes of the limbs and the heels and everything so he could do those actions. We took a lot of references from animals. A gorilla is kind of running on all fours and then rising up for the fighting using their feet or using their hands and so you look at a lot of different creatures to build one.
— Julien Héry[3]


Gallery[]

References

CanonCanon hierarchy[]

  1. Information from Stranger Things: Kamchatka, a Tier 3 source, conflicts with what's presented in the main series.
    • In the fourth season, the Soviets are shown to have captured various Demogorgons, with the adult Demogorgon presumably captured the same way (via the gate at Starcourt Base). Dmitri Antonov specifically describes the Demogorgon as a monster "from America". This is at odds with Stranger Things: Kamchatka, which depicts Dr. Karine discovering an infant Demogorgon amongst the Kamchatkan Key's wreckage.
Advertisement