'Doom Patrol': What is Nurnheim?

This week's Doom Patrol saw the misfit heroes embark on what might be their most unusual adventures yet -- dealing with a mysterious death cult, a living book, and a mysterious city whose gates exist in the form of stigmata on a Spanish priest. And while there are many questions left after watching this week's episode, "Cult Patrol", there's at least one we provide answers for: what, exactly, is Nurnheim?

Head's up, if you haven't yet seen "Cult Patrol", there are going to be some spoilers beyond this point.

In "Cult Patrol", the quest to find The Chief gets derailed when a mysterious chaos magician, Willoughby Kipling, shows up with a dire message of actual doom. The Cult of the Unwritten Book is active again and very close to getting their hands on that unwritten book, reading it, and bringing about the end of the world. That book turns out to be a boy, the end of the world turns out to be coming in the form of the mysterious entity known as The Decreator, and the only way to stop things is to close the gates to Nurnheim, which happen to be the stigmata of a priest in Barcelona.

To paraphrase Robotman, what the heck is Nurnheim?

As fans of Doom Patrol comics might be able to tell you, pretty much every element of "Cult Patrol" comes out of comics, specifically Doom Patrol (Vol. 2) #31 in which the heroes faced a similar situation. In comics as in the episode, Nurnheim is a German town, but it's not just any German town. Nurnheim is ghost city, one that was destroyed years ago though it serves as the central headquarters for the Cult of the Unwritten Book.

In comics, Cliff Steele/Robotman ends up infiltrating Nurnheim through a cut on Emilio Cuervo, a.k.a. the Book. In "Cult Patrol", the show mixes things up a bit. Jane and Robotman both go to close the gates and ultimately end up sucked into the mysterious city where they come to understand that the Cult has gotten their hands on the book and will read it, bringing about the unmaking of reality.

Of course, being accessed through stigmata and being the headquarters of a weird death cult is the least interesting thing about Nurnheim. In comics the ghost city is hiding in plain sight inside a snow globe which appears to be exactly where audiences will find it in Doom Patrol's upcoming "Paw Patrol". Not only do we get a glimpse of the snow globe sitting on a table inside Doom Manor during "Cult Control", but the preview for next week's episode shows Robotman and Jane confronted by another person who very clearly doesn't belong in Nurnheim who reveals that she cut open a priest, climbed inside him, and ended up in a snow globe.

Here's to hoping Robotman and Jane figure out how to escape Nurnheim soon. At the end of "Cult Patrol", The Decreator made his (its?) grand appearance meaning the end isn't near. It's here.

Were you excited to see Nurnheim appear on Doom Patrol? Let us know in the comments below.

New episodes of Doom Patrol are available every Friday on DC Universe.

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