In the early days, the freaks and monsters that made up the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence seemed like a close knit gang, almost a surrogate family. After Hellboy left and the BPRD got their own spin-off series, though, tensions began to creep in. Having the former US Marine Captain appointed as their Field Commander, bringing a much more military attitude than they were used to was never going to go down well with the other agents. But what makes Daimio worthy of their suspicions is that he is the only survivor of a run in with a Bolivian jaguar cult that left all his men dead and Daimio himself disfiguringly scarred, which adds instant credibility to the mythos of the character.
24. Dagda
As Hellboy and BPRD have split off from each other, it has been the role of the latter to deal with the Lovecraftian tentacle monsters and mad Nazi scientists. The original parent comic, however, has delved further and further into strange fairy worlds. Like all the best fairies and fairy stories, Hellboy's take on the Daione Sidhe of Irish folklore are neither good nor evil as such, but rather a different force of nature with a different kind of morality. As embodied in their taciturn king Dagda, intangibly old and powerful and the last pure blood of his kind, they are a sort of threat, but are equally tinged with melancholy at the inevitable passing of magic from the modern world.
