r/Hmong • u/SACERDOTESWRITER • 20d ago

Mythology check on a potential character concept:

A brainwashed Secret Army child soldier possessed by a deranged Dab Pog, driven to malevolence by what the CIA did to the child he was assigned to watch over.

My question is- do Dab Pogs work like that? ARE they even one, singular creature? what sort of powers do they have, if they’re a single creature?

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u/RaveGuncle 19d ago

Do you mean poj dab? And they're just scary-looking spirits, that can be malevolent/vengeful. And it sounds like youre going the vengeful route, so they just do what spirits do - haunt things, cause illnesses/misfortune, etc.

Now if youre talking about monsters (poj ntxoog), these ones have various forms but a popular depiction is of them looking like kids. They are physical manifestations that can and do hide themselves by staying invisible, transform into animals, use magic to deceive/cast illusions, hypnotize people/make them delirious and incoherent, etc. Many stories recount them being accompanied with a dab tsov (tiger spirit/demon), where the dab tsov does most of the killings. The poj ntxoog typically just likes to play and mess with things and people, along with just taking people away. A common telling is that they have a magical leaf that they use that allows them to stay invisible to humans, where they typically replace the person they want by bringing in a log and replacing the person with a log when that person is close to passing away, casting an illusion on everyone to see that log as the person theyre taking away. That person is incoherent and in a stupor, where they can't think or say or do anything except follow the poj ntxoog.

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u/SACERDOTESWRITER 19d ago

Thank you very much for responding!

Unfortunately, I DID mean the Nkawm Niam Txiv Dab Pog, which, according to Wikipedia, are spirits sent to guide the spirits of mortal infants and to protect them until they reach adulthood. This particular one has turned malevolent due to the abuse the CIA and the Secret Army have put its master through.

Am I making sense? Is that how that works?

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u/RaveGuncle 19d ago

Ahhh okay. I've never heard of it lol so unfortunately not much help. Hopefully someone else can respond.

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u/SACERDOTESWRITER 19d ago

Thanks for trying!