In this episode of Mahabharata. Combat continues even after sunset on Day 14. Out of nowhere comes this enormous flying man, who can increase his size even more. And he starts laying waste to the Kaurava army, stomping many to death, picking up and flinging many more warriors aside, blowing fire on others, catching spears and arrows and flinging them back with even greater force ... and bellowing in laughter at the whole thing. This is Ghattotgaj, the son Bhim’s had with the demoness Hidimba.
After an overjoyed Bhim and the Pandavas welcome Ghattotgaj into their tent, he expresses his sorrow over Abhimanyu’s death, Krishna tells the young demon that his actions in the war tomorrow will make him more revered than Abhimanyu.
Meanwhile Kunti and Gandhari arrive at the Kauravas tent, where they will remain till the conflict ends. Kunti informs her sons that Gandhari needs her emotional support now, that she has lost most of her sons. Duryodhan angrily confirms that now 98 of his brothers and all Kauravas’ sons are dead. Arjun tells Kunti what Karna did to earn their hatred of him.
As Ghattotgaj wreaks utter havoc on the Kauravas and their armies on Day 15, Karna may have a way to save the day for them. But it could leave him vulnerable to Arjun.
Tropes found here are
- Blow You Away: Ghattotgaj can blow gale force winds from his huge mouth.
- Breath Weapon: And sometimes he’ll blow fire too.
- Death from Above: Ghattotgaj flies in the air and drops exploding projectiles onto Kaurava troops, as though he is a bomber aircraft.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Ghattotgaj can also scoop up large boulders and fling them at enemy soldiers.
- Evil Laugh: Subversion. Ghattotgaj laughs like any monster villain would. Except he is fighting for the good guys.
- Godzilla Threshold: Ghattotgaj is this for the Kauravas. They must kill him before he annihilates them all. This is why Karna uses Indra’s divine arrow against Ghattotgaj.
- Goomba Stomp: Ghattotgaj kills many soldiers by stomping on them with his enormous feet.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Ghattotgaj ends up taking the one shot of Indra’s weapon that Karna is allowed to fire. Karna was saving that weapon for Arjun, so now that it is used up, Arjun is safe.
- Killed Offscreen: Between Bhim and Ghattotgaj, more Kauravas are killed offscreen. Now all of them except Duryodhan and Dushasan are dead. And so are all Kauravas’ sons.
- Nigh-Invulnerable: Spears, swords, arrows, maces, are all flung by the thousands at Ghattotgaj and he just shrugs it off, laughing at their ineffectiveness.
- Noble Demon: Ghattotgaj might look like a demon and fight like one, but his morals are indistinguishable from that of Abhimanyu.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Played with. Ghattotgaj feels he has to live up to Abhimanyu’s reputation for skill, courage and sacrifice. However, Ghattotgaj is bigger, stronger and tougher than his cousin, racks up a body count easily dwarfing Abhimanyu’s, and ultimately goes out taking one for the team in a manner Abhimanyu never could.
- Pass the Popcorn: None of the other Pandavas or their soldiers fight. They just sit back and watch Ghattotgaj wreak utter devastation.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Ghattotgaj is dead, but now the Kaurava army is severely depleted and are staring conventional defeat in the face. Just the previous night, Ghattotgaj had turned the Kauravas’ numerical superiority into an inferiority by massacring thousands of soldiers.
- Taking You with Me: As Indra’s weapon slowly drains Ghattotgaj’s life away, Bhim screams at him to grow to his maximum size and fall forward onto the Kaurava army. Thousands of soldiers are crushed beneath his ginormous corpse.
