Akrida

Akrida
Powers and Abilities	Mind control Possession
Vulnerabilities	Ostium Soul-powered magic Otherworldly objects
Appearance
Episode(s)	1.01 Pilot (The Winchesters) 1.02 Teach Your Children Well 1.03 You're Lost Little Girl 1.05 Legend of a Mind 1.07 Reflections 1.13 Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye

The Akrida are a malevolent force, a monster not of this world. For centuries they tried to invade, the Men of Letters stopped them every time. But, they're gone now. – Ada Monroe, 1.01 Pilot (The Winchesters)

History

The Akrida are creatures from another world, that wished to wipe out humans, demons and all manner of monsters and take over the planet. They were created by Chuck Shurley to act as a fail-safe in case He ever failed in destroying creation, the Akrida were designed to wipe out all life in all universes.

When the former hunter Joan Hopkins went mad with the power of monster essences, her fellow hunters and the Men of Letters unwittingly banished her to the Akrida's homeworld, where she became their queen and gave them a purpose. With Joan, the Akrida attempted to crossover in the past, but were always stopped by the Men of Letters. One such invasion was in 1957 where Jack Wilcox performed experiments on the Akrida and humans before being kicked out of the order. In revenge, the Akrida targeted Jack's wife Dorothea, leaving her in a coma. Eventually, the Men of Letters managed to banish most of the Akrida back to their world using the Ostium, but at the cost of severe casualties to themselves. However, some of the Akrida remained in hiding on Earth, including their queen.

With the Men of Letters having died out due to the 1958 massacre, the Akrida resurfaced in 1972.

Characteristics

The Akrida appear as insect-like creatures with green skin, six legs and two arms with three-pronged pincers as well as a scorpion-like tail. Their heads are adorned with hoods similar to cobras, with small eyes and large mouths filled with needle like teeth. Like insects, the Akrida operate as a colony, with castes and a queen. They tend to travel / attack in swarms or small groups, and very rarely appear alone.

Humans under Akrida control as seen with the Bracelet of Erebus.

Powers and abilities

• Enhanced speed – Having six legs allowed the Akrida to move incredibly quickly.
• Mind control – By injecting stingers into their victims' heads, the Akrida could control their minds. However, this eventually proves to be fatal to those being controlled.
• Possession – The Akrida are able to possess a human host similar to a demon. Possession eventually burns out their hosts, although this appears to require a lengthy possession as Rockin' Roxy survived being possessed for months.

Weaknesses

• Anti-Possession Symbol – A special symbol can be tattooed onto a person's body, that will protect them from being possessed by an Akrida.
• Bracelet of Erebus – Anyone wearing the bracelet is able to identify others that are possessed or puppeteered by the Akrida. This is seen as green streaks light emanating from the possessed.
• Magic – Magic powered by a piece of the human soul is, according to Rowena, capable of killing the Akrida Queen. Using a special crystal, Ada Monroe was able to use it to funnel her magic and kill the Akrida possessing Lata and free her from possession.
• Ostium – Initially believed to be the only known object capable of killing the Akrida, the Ostium in reality only acts as a means to transport the Akrida back to their home universe.
• Otherworldly objects – Objects from another universe are capable of harming the Akrida. As the Impala is from another universe, it was capable of harming and killing the Akrida and their queen. Being hit with the Impala at a high speed caused the Akrida Queen, Joan Hopkins, to explode upon contact.
• Rigid hierarchy – All the Akrida share a connection with their queen, similar to an ant colony. If the Akrida are cut off from their queen, they will become incapable of surviving on their own. Within seconds of Joan's death, the Akrida all died.

Episodes

1.01 Pilot (The Winchesters)

Samuel Campbell has found out that the Akrida, an ancient enemy have returned. In the past they were dealt with by the Men of Letters, but with them having been gone for 15 years, the Akrida have found a way to Earth. With the help of Ada Monroe, Samuel tracks down that there may be a device -- the Monster Box -- that can stop them. Samuel also finds evidence that a Men of Letters based in Savannah had evidence of how the Akrida had entered the Earth before. If they find that point, then the Monster Box can stop them. He phones his daughter Mary, and gives her the address of the long deserted Men of Letters Clubhouse in Lawrence. He tells her to look for a schematic which will guide them in using the Box.

Samuel goes to New Orleans, and in a crypt he opens a tomb using a blood sigil. However he is interrupted by a loup-garou and tries to escape, and is pursued by an Akrida. Above ground in the cemetery he trips, which allowed for the Akrida to descend on him from the dark.

1.02 Teach Your Children Well

After the death of La Tunda, a cloaked figure absorbs part of her essence into a vial and leaves, followed by a number of Akrida.

1.03 You're Lost Little Girl

Ada and Carlos manage to capture the partner of the demon that had possessed Ada. The demon reveals that he and his partner had gone AWOL from Hell and, believing the Akrida to be too numerous to stop even with the Monster Box, made a deal with them to get the Akrida the box in exchange for the Akrida sparing them when they wipe everything out. The demon reveals that the Akrida leader has taken a human host, much like a demon, but all he knows is that the leader is in some woman.

Later, it's revealed that the Akrida leader is possessing a DJ known as Rockin' Roxy. After John Winchester leaves the fire in which he is burning the Bori Baba's remains, an Akrida comes out of the shadows and steals Bori Baba's bag and brings it to its leader. The leader is able to extract some of the monster's essence from the bag the same as it had from La Tunda's remains.

1.04 Masters of War

Mars Neto reveals that there's a war coming with the Akrida and that he has been searching for the perfect soldiers to fight in it. As both a hunter and a former Marine, Mars believes that John Winchester is the perfect person to fight in the war.

1.05 Legend of a Mind

The Monster Club investigates a series of strange deaths that they believe are the work of a djinn. The group locates Ada Monroe's half-djinn son Tony who reveals that the Akrida are actually responsible, having injected stingers into people's minds in order to control them through a toxin. Tony is able to identify Derek Fisher as the Akrida's next target, but when the group tries to save him, they are attacked by an Akrida who ends up injecting its stingers into Mary Campbell's head instead. In order to save Mary, John Winchester dreamwalks into Mary's nightmares with Tony's help. After confronting her most traumatic memory with John's help, Mary is able to find and destroy the stingers.

At the same time, Carlos investigates the people that the Akrida had targeted and discovers that they were all connected to a project involving the building of a radio tower which would amplify the Akrida's ability to send out a signal to draw in rare monsters such as La Tunda and Bori Baba. Tony reveals that when he was in the victims' minds, he heard the Akrida talk about collecting essence from the remains of rare monsters, meaning that by killing the rare monsters, the Monster Club has essentially been doing the Akrida's dirty work. However, Tony doesn't know what they're planning on doing with the essence. Investigating further, the Monster Club realizes that the Akrida leader is actually Rockin' Roxy. As the hunters listen to her broadcast, another Akrida in a human vessel approaches Roxy and reveals that Mary didn't succumb to their control. The other Akrida worries that the hunters will be a problem, but Roxy reassures him that they'll get the hunters the way they want eventually.

1.07 Reflections

While trying to find Rockin' Roxy, John and Mary come across an Akrida possessing a man by the name of Hector Salazar locked in the trunk of a car. The Akrida reveals that he was captured and tortured by Samuel for information, but tells the two that he is just a worker bee and isn't told everything when they ask for Samuel's whereabouts. The Akrida tells John and Mary that he was left to deliver a message that they are done with the radio tower and have enough monster essences for their queen to go forward with their plans, before dispossessing from Hector.

Carlos and Mary are later pulled over by a puppeted police officer and Roxy, who wants to make a deal with Mary to trade her father for the Ostium. Meanwhile the Akrida and their puppets are excavating a site, that led to a metal door being found, with an Akrida being pleased and telling the others she will relay what they've found to Roxy.

After learning that a piece of the Akrida home world powers the Ostium, the Monster Club finds the Akrida's new base of operations and attempt to use the Ostium. However, it is only successful in sucking the Akrida possessing Roxy and one other. Unable to get to work again, John and Mary flee as a swarm of Akrida chase after them. They are temporarily able to put some space between themselves and the Akrida by locking themselves in a room. The Akrida eventually break through, but before they can attack John and Mary, they are all sucked into the Ostium by Samuel Campbell.

A woman possessed by an Akrida arrives at the excavation site with the collected monster essences in hand, kneeing down, she tells the queen that they will make her strong again so she can bring the others and make the world their own.

1.08 Hang On to Your Life

The Akrida have vanished following their defeat by the Monster Club. Samuel shares reconnaissance pictures that he took of possible locations where the Akrida Queen might be, although they prove to have been damaged and virtually useless. Samuel departs to search for a possible magical method to defeat the Akrida with Ava while Millie Winchester attempts to repair the Ostium.

1.09 Cast Your Fate to the Wind

Kyle Reed was revealed to be under Akrida mind control and manipulating Betty Donelon to investigate John, Mary and their friends.

1.10 Suspicious Minds

In 1957, an Akrida puppet ambushes Dorothea Wilcox and hits her in the head with a crowbar, putting Dorothea into a permanent coma.

Kyle Reed meets with a group of other Akrida puppets and shows them a picture of Dean Winchester, telling them that the queen believes that the Monster Club might be useful in leading them to Dean. The queen believes that Dean is a hunter himself and by all accounts of the Akrida spies in the field, he's the reason that the Monster Club got together. The group knows that Dean needs to be eliminated, but they don't know his identity. Kyle suggests a plan involving spilling some human blood.

Former Man of Letters Jack Wilcox, under the guise of Porter Hobbes, arrives at the Men of Letters Clubhouse claiming to have a way to destroy the Akrida by using their stingers to create a neurotoxin. Jack reveals that the Akrida had invaded in 1957, but were pushed back to their world using the Ostium at the cost of severe casualties to the Men of Letters. Several Akrida managed to remain in hiding on Earth, including the queen, and Jack suggests that they were probably responsible for the destruction of the Men of Letters. With John and Mary's help, Jack captures Officer Jones, an Akrida puppet, and removes the stingers from him at the cost of Jones' life. However, Jack's real intention is to use the stingers to transfer his consciousness and Dorothea's into John and Mary so that they can live again, explaining that the Akrida had targeted his wife after Jack's expulsion from the order in revenge for his experiments upon them. Jack is ultimately defeated, and he dies when his own golem crushes him.

At the same time, Carlos and Lata's surveillance of the locations from Samuel's pictures fail to turn up any sign of the Akrida. Instead, the two approach Rockin' Roxy who survived her possession, although her life has been left ruined by it. Using a form of magical hypnosis taught to her by Tony Monroe, Lata helps Roxy to remember the location of the Akrida queen which proves to be just a couple of hours away in Kansas. Although Lata offers to erase Roxy's memories of her possession, Roxy chooses to remember so as to know that her ordeal helped to defeat the Akrida. She also requests a shot at the Akrida queen if they get the chance. Checking out the location, Carlos and Lata spot several Akrida puppets, including the woman who had taken the collected monster essences and realize that they've found the queen.

Later, Kyle ambushes John at Winchesters Garage, revealing himself to be an Akrida puppet and spy. The Akrida force Kyle to kill himself, framing John for his murder as part of their plans.

1.11 You've Got a Friend

After John's arrest for Kyle's murder, the detective in charge of the case reveals himself to be controlled by the same Akrida that had control of Kyle. The detective demands answers from John about Dean Winchester, but John deduces from the Akrida's obvious fear and what the possessed Roxy had said, that Dean must not be of this Earth and thus a threat to the Akrida. Realizing that John doesn't know anything, the Akrida plot to have him killed during a prisoner transport, but John is rescued by Mary, Millie, Carlos and Betty. John and Mary go into hiding until John's name can be cleared while Mary tells John that they must find Dean to stop the Akrida.

1.12 The Tears of a Clown

Ada Monroe continues her search for magic powerful enough to stop the Akrida Queen and meets Rowena who offers Ada what she seeks. After testing out Ada's power and taking the demon that Ada had trapped in a plant, Rowena provides Ada with the promised magic which takes the form of a crystal. However, using it against the Akrida will also require a piece of Ada's soul. Rowena warns Ada that the magic may not be enough to stop the Akrida invasion which will begin soon. All that Rowena knows is that the queen will need the help of an alignment of five planets to open her portal.

Soon after, Millie brings the news that she and Betty have found a witness who can attest that Kyle Reed arrived at the garage after he made the 911 call saying that he was already there, clearing John of the murder that the Akrida had framed him for. Looking over star charts, Lata determines that the planetary alignment that the queen needs has already begun.

1.13 Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye

The Akrida Queen is revealed to be a former hunter named Joan Hopkins who was driven insane, consumed monster essences and was banished from the world by the Men of Letters, meeting the Akrida afterwards. Joan has an Akrida possess Lata, forcing Ada to sacrifice the magic that Rowena gave her to save her friend. She also banishes Dean Winchester and the Impala into a portal that will rip them apart, neutralizing Dean's threat to her.

Joan attempts to open the portal to begin the Akrida invasion, but she is confronted by John, Carlos and Samuel who arm themselves with silver swords as Joan can be harmed, although not killed, by silver due to having some monster weaknesses. Joan calls upon a number of other Akrida to battle Carlos and Samuel while she sword fights John herself, revealing in the process that it was Joan, using all of her remaining power, that had destroyed the Men of Letters following the Akrida's previously foiled invasion.

In an effort to finally stop the Akrida, Mary, Lata and Millie use the Ostium in reverse with Dean's Journal in an attempt to bring Dean back into their world. However, the Ostium only brings back the Impala which Mary realizes can be used to kill Joan as the car is not of their world. As Joan opens the portal, Mary hits her with the Impala, killing Joan and passing through the portal in the process. Moments later, all of the Akrida perish due to the death of their queen, leaving their meatsuits alive but confused.

After saving Mary from Joan's portal, Dean explains that the Akrida were one of God's last creations, meant to act as a failsafe in case he ever failed in destroying everything. While driving through the Multiverse after his death, Dean discovered the threat of the Akrida and intervened against Jack's orders in order to protect his loved ones still alive in Dean's universe as the Akrida would eventually reach and try to destroy it.

Trivia

• The Akrida may have been a reference to the Greek definition of the word, which translates to "locust." In the Bible, locusts appear as plagues unleashed by God, in Revelation the locusts are described as being shaped like horses, with the faces of men and teeth like lions’, with tails like scorpions.