Week of March 14, 2013 - Henchmen

Henchmen is a word that has fascinated me for a long time. It has such deliciously evil connotation to it. I always imagined being a fictional henchman, as a way of vicariously living out that “bad guy” fantasy without having to think up all those evil plots and schemes.

Henchmen Definition

Henchmen is defined as a loyal and trusted follower, a subordinate, someone who supports a political figure for selfish interests, a member of a criminal gang, a right-hand man, someone who follows the evil side without asking why, any group of followers of a gangster.

There was an motorcycle gang called the Henchmen Motorcycle club that emerged in the 70s. They became quite large by absorbing or merging with several other smaller groups, including the Hells Angels. By the 90s, the group had drawn the ire of a rival gang (the Outlaws) who ended up burning down their club house. These days, The Henchmen Motorcycle Club is a Non-Profit Corporation in California, with a dues-paying membership of men who own American-made  motorcycles of a specific size.

Fictional Henchmen

This is only a very small, partial list of fictional henchmen.  I quickly figured out that, to try and name all known henchmen would make this blog go on for weeks.

·                     Grima Wormtongue, Saruman, and Nazgul (Lord of the Rings trilogy)

·                     Blackout, Bombshell, Bonecrusher, Brawl and many more (Transformers)

·                     Buzzer,  Ripper (GI Joe)

·                     Cal Durham (former henchman of Black Manta, DC Comics)

·                     Boba Fett, Grand Moff Tarkin (Star Wars)

·                     Igor (traditional stock character with the cliché hunchback, used as a butler or assistant for Count Dracula, any mad scientist, Frankenstein, and countless horror movies and horror movie parodies)

·                     Jaws, Oddjob (James Bond)

·                     Leonardo Fortunato (Left Behind series of novels)

·                     Lucifer (Battlestar Galactica)

·                     Mandarin’s Minions (The Mandarin)

·                     Mini Me (Austin Powers)

·                     Sebastian Moran (Professor Moriarti’s henchman in the Sherlock Holmes stories)

·                     Muttley (Henchman of Dick Dastardly, Wacky Races)

·                     Otis (Superman)

·                     Over-Kill (Spawn)

·                     Pintel and Ragetti (Pirates of the Caribbean)

·                     Charlie Prince (Three-Ten to Yuma)

·                     Renfield (Dracula)

·                     Reptile (Mortal Combat)

·                     Silver Samerai (Marvel Comics)

·                     Tokka and Rahzar, Dr. Baxter Stockman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

·                     Turok-Han (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Synonyms for Henchmen

The word henchmen has several synonyms, words with negative, positive, and neutral nuances that help define what a henchman is. The synonyms include: follower, adherent, cohort, disciple, minion, supporter, pursuer, attendant, hangers-on, dangler, parasite, stooge, flunky, partisan, sectary, camp follower, groupie, fan and buff, courtier, train-bearer, and entourage. I’m sure you’ve seen many of these in your reading.