Ghaur

Ghaur (pronounced "Gore") is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Peter B. Gillis and Sal Buscema, he first appeared in Eternals vol. 2, #2 (November, 1985).

In the Marvel Universe, he is the head of the Deviant race's priesthood.

Fictional character biography

Ghaur was born in the "City of Toads" in Deviant Lemuria. He grew up to become a high priest in the Deviant priesthood, but had ambition to be much more. He had Ranar the Deviant killed when Ranar claimed succession to the Deviant throne. Ghaur became the unofficial leader of the Deviants. He had a confrontation with Warlord Kro, whom Ghaur allowed to become a figurehead monarch.^[1] Ghaur captured Kro, and the Eternals Thena and Sersi. He revealed to Kro that he had amassed an army of Deviants in suspended animation. Ghaur used a vial containing part of the "essence" of the "Dreaming Celestial" to transform himself into a Celestial. However, Ghaur fell under the mental control of the Dreaming Celestial, who forced Ghaur to try to free him from his tomb. Ghaur's consciousness was separated from his Celestial body by a Uni-Mind composed of the Eternals and the West Coast Avengers. Ghaur's consciousness seemingly dissipated, and Ghaur's Celestial body shrank into apparent nothingness.^[2]

Ghaur later tricked the Silver Surfer into re-creating his physical form. Ghaur battled the Silver Surfer and freed the Lemurian supervillainess Llyra from captivity. Ghaur formed an alliance with Llyra to recreate the Serpent Crown. They formed an alliance with Attuma, and freed Tyrannus from the body of the Abomination. Ghaur and Llyra caused the devastation of Atlantis as a sacrifice to serpent god Set. Ghaur and Llyra assembled the seven "Brides of Set," and used them to bring Set to Earth. They were thwarted by a Thor-possessed Demogorge. Ghaur sought to slay the "Brides" to bring Set back to Earth, but was foiled by Naga.^[3]

He has since appeared in Avengers #370-371, Heroes for Hire #5-7 (1997), The New Eternals: Apocalypse Now (2000), and Black Panther vol. 3 #26-29 (2001).

Powers and abilities

Ghaur is the result of crossbreeding of his forebearers supervised by Deviant priests trained in genetics over centuries. His superhuman powers include the psionic ability to manipulate the minds and actions of any other Deviant whose genetic code is known to him. Since he also has a photographic memory, that effectively means every Deviant in existence, with the sole exception of the Warlord Kro.

Ghaur has a gifted intellect, and is a master politician and cunning strategist.

Deviant scientists have supplied him with "Brain Mines", which can render even an Eternal unconscious, bracelets containing cybernetic circuitry which paralyze the wearer's will (turning the wearer into a slave), and various Deviant vehicles.

Ghaur briefly possessed the body and attributes of a Celestial, but lost most of those powers upon returning to his original form. He retained a degree of superhuman strength and durability, the ability to survive without oxygen, and low level energy manipulation powers for a short time but then lost these superhuman powers entirely.

References

External links

• "G" in the Encyclopaedia Olympianna
• Marvel Directory entry on Ghaur
• The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
• http://www.marvel.com/universe/Ghaur