Golem

Golem
Occupation:	Major force of Clay
Appeared In:	Extreme Ghostbusters "The True Face of a Monster"

A Golem is an animated anthropomorphic being from Jewish folklore.

History

According to an old European folktale, during times of extreme strife, a clay statue was created to defend the people in a village from persecution. It was brought to life by inserting an ancient scroll in its mouth, usually instructions the creator has written. Its body is mostly comprised of earth and clay and very powerful by physical standard. It starts out only following the orders given to it by its creator, but as it grows bigger it also becomes more aggressive until it's completely uncontrollable.

In the 1997, an ancient scroll from Prague arrived at Brooklyn's Beth Shalom Synagogue. One of the synagogue's resident students, Chaim, created a Golem to protect them from racists. A week later, two vandals were attacked by the Golem and covered in proto-organic clay. Unable to aid the victims, a doctor at the Memorial Hospital called the Ghostbusters for help. While trying to get a sample from the synagogue to match with the victims, the Golem attacked the Ghostbusters. They learned their Proton Streams were ineffective against it. Both samples of the clay were an identical match according to tests run at the Firehouse while Kylie Griffin researched the entity at the Jewish Cultural Center.

A couple nights later, the vandals' crew arrived at the synagogue to get revenge. They were also attacked by the Golem. The Ghostbusters arrived and not even a recalibration to the equipment could confine the Golem. It escaped down the drain to deal with the vandals. The battle continued near an iron works plant. Garrett Miller dumped the vats and initiated a fire that baked the Golem solid. When it was incapacitated and busy attempting to reform, Kylie removed the scroll. It de-animated and all its victims recovered. The scroll was handed over to the synagogue's rabbi, who decided it was too dangerous and destroyed it.

Powers

The creature has the ability to grow gradually and possesses the capability to morph its body to the direction it's going. It can also go through iron bars. Golems are physically the most powerful of supernatural beings, capable of throwing a human or other heavy objects like baseballs. It is shown that it can cocoon its victims as a form of punishment and it's able to regenerate itself by drawing the element it was made from.

Classification

After their first encounter with the Golem, the Extreme Ghostbusters refer to it as an ectoplasmic proto-organic entity. After further analysis is conducted, it is noted as an ecto-based hybrid. This simply meant the Golem was not purely ectoplasmic in nature.

See Also

There are also Golems in Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which are completely different from the version in Extreme Ghostbusters.

For more information on the type of creature go to the main Golem article.

Trivia

• Since the Golem's scroll was from Prague, it could be a reference to Berthold Auerbach's "Golem of Prague" story and Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th century chief rabbi of Prague, who allegedly created a Golem to defend the Prague ghetto from anti-Semitic attacks.
• A different design was proposed for the Golem by Everett Peck and Richard Raynis but it was lackluster and they went with Fil Barlow's original design.

Appearances

Extreme Ghostbusters

• "The True Face of a Monster"

Gallery

Collages

Primary Canon

In text at Jewish Cultural Center

Former Master

Out of Control

Emerging from Iron Works

Shattered

Kylie removes scroll