Black Hound was a wolf-themed beast faced by the Rune Beast Rangers in Power Rangers Rune Beasts. It is the main antagonist in the episode Song of Nature with its true identity being Ivan Kearney's girlfriend, a young tribeswoman named Starla. It was previously contained within the Naught Monster Seekotter, before being freed after the Naught Monster's defeat.
History[]
Creation[]
When Ivan was on the verge of dying after being pricked by a poisonous plant, Starla pleads to the spirits of nature to be granted the ability to expel the poison from her boyfriend. Her plea was heard by a seemingly benevolent, formless spirit calling itself Black Hound, which agrees to help her in exchange of lending it her body. In her desperation, Starla agreed and the spirit inhabits her body, giving her innate healing powers a great upgrade that is enough to expel the poison out of Ivan's body. However, as the result of this deal, Starla's mind is overtaken by the Black Hound, transforming her into a one-horned wolf beast (which is Black Hound's true form). With the last of her consciousness, Starla managed to drive herself away from Ivan and went missing since then.
Contained within Seekotter[]
Some time after the Dreadnaught Brigade's arrival on Earth, Queen Archadia secretly took notice of the beast and ordered Valentinova to contain it, which she did by using a Naught Monster that is strong enough to override the Black Hound's consciousness for the time being. Later on, after Larry managed to defeat Seekotter, the Black Hound was freed from its containment. This prompts Ivan to charge at it in an attempt to free his girlfriend from the beast's control, which fails spectacularly.
Destruction[]
Black Hound would then rampage across town, which prompts the Rune Beast Rangers to confront it. However, Liam appears in effort to halt the Rangers from destroying the beast, by Queen Archadia's orders. Ivan would then face Black Hound once again in order to free Starla, with Kenneth assisting him by singing "The Song of Nature" (which is a rendition of Princess Shayla's "Song of Animaria"), which weakened the beast enough for Starla's consciousness to resurface for a bit. Later, after Ivan managed to reach out to Starla's consciousness through the portal opened by Kenneth, he would use Wild Force Megazord's Mega Roar alongside Rune Beast Battlezord - Super Lion Mode's Dimension Breaker to free Starla from the control of Black Hound, destroying the spirit once and for all.
Trivia[]
- Black Hound is based on Zen-Aku, the wolf Duke Org from Power Rangers Wild Force. Its possession of Starla mirrors how Zen-Aku possessed Merrick Baliton, the Lunar Wolf Ranger.
- Black Hound's offer to Starla of saving her loved one in exchange for something is similar to Diabolico's offer to Captain Mitchell to save Ryan Mitchell in exchange of taking him.
See Also[]
Demon No.1 - Super Sentai counterpart in No.1 Sentai Gozyuger.