Varnae
Varnae is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
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Biography
Varnae was an ancient human who lived in the pre-Cataclysm Atlantis. (Bizarre Adventures v1 #33) In that time, he rose to be a sorcerer and was a member of the cult of the Darkholders headed by Thulsa Doom. (Conan the Barbarian v1 #245) The other Darkholders used the Darkhold tome to transform Varnae into the Earth's first vampire, but he turned on them when they tried to use him as a weapon against their nemesis, King Kull.
Varnae became the Lord of the Vampires, and would retain that title for millennia. When Atlantis sank beneath the sea during the Great Cataclysm, Varnae entered a state of suspended animation, and awoke thousands of years later during the Hyborian Age.
Those slain by Varnae and also killed by those he turned became the soulless will-less vampires the cultists had intended Varnae to become, and thus the vampire plague was unleashed. (Conan the Barbarian v1 #245) Varnae and the other vampires who followed him slew the other wizards, thus adding to their undead number. The undead worshipped him as the Lord of Vampires for centuries and he reveled in their worship. (Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme v1 #11) At the time of the Great Cataclysm that sunk Atlantis, Varnae placed himself in suspended animation in his sarcophagus amid a viscid human stew. During this time, he received visions of the world around him, including the emergence of the Cimmerians. Awakening during the Hyborian Era, Varnae used his mental powers to implant thoughts in the minds of the Afterlings, magically created humanoid bats that had served the adepts Morophla and Uathacht. He had them free him from his sarcophagus, and then used his powers to bind them to his will. Using his powers, Varnae received a vision of a group of mercenaries traveling upon a road. One of these mercenaries discovered an indestructible parchment of the Darkhold. Varnae, aware that the Darkhold possessed spells to destroy vampires with, grew concerned. Again using his ability to implant thoughts in the minds of others, Varnae generated images of a woman guarding treasure to lure the leader of the mercenaries, Amalric of Nemedia, to Varnae's base in the Flaming Mountains of Khrosha. (Conan the Barbarian v1 #245) Conan, Red Sonja, and Zula, having escaped imprisonment, ventured into the Khrosha caves. The Afterlings abducted them, and brought them to Varnae. (Conan the Barbarian v1 #244) Varnae told Conan and his compatriots of who he was, delighted to discover that Chthon had no worshippers in the Hyborian era when they did not recognize his name. Only deities worshipped when Varnae had been a man, such as Chthon and Valka, could affect him or be invoked against him. Varnae also showed them a captured scout of the mercenary army he had guided towards himself, whom Varnae ate. Enraged, Conan and his allies attacked the Afterlings, to no success. Varnae, rather than kill the rowdy trio immediately, had them placed in a deep pit, intending to hold them until he captured the forces of Almaric (aka Malthom) at which point he would perform a massive blood sacrifice and transform the Afterlings into true vampires. Conan, Red Sonja, and Zula escaped, however, and managed to reach the outside. However, having just emerged from the caves, they saw the Afterlings attacking Amalric. Conan saved Amalric from an Afterling, but another flew away with the scroll of the Darkhold. Red Sonja wounded and pursued the Afterling, only to be attacked by Varnae. The Afterling dropped the scroll and died. Conan came to Sonja's rescue, freeing Sonja from Varnae's grasp, but Varnae soon grabbed him. Zula went for the Darkhold parchment as Varnae prepared to eat Conan. When Zula began reading the parchment, Varnae sent an Afterling to attack him, but Sonja defended Zula as he completed the spell. The spell, invoking deities such as Valka and Chthon, mystically injured Varnae, forcing him to flee. He hurled Conan away, but an Afterling gave its life to break Conan's fall. (Conan the Barbarian v1 #245)
There, he fought Conan the Barbarian and his allies Red Sonja and Zula, but was forced away by Zula's magic. In ancient Sumeria circa 2000 BC, Varnae and the sorceress Aamshed created a spell that could magnify a vampire's power, but Aamshed twisted the spell so that it could only be cast on a vampire's home soil, and it could only be cast every 2,000 years. When the next opportunity came to cast the spell around 1 AD, Varnae attempted to mystically raise Atlantis, but Aamshed foiled his plans. During the Viking Age, Varnae travelled to North America, where he discovered a colony of Vikings and battled the Norse god Thor.
During the age of Vikings; Varnae came to travel to the new world and attacked a Norse colony in North America where he turned the settlers into Vampires. A young girl escaped and prayed to the gods for help with Thor Odinson answering the call who came to battle the hordes of Vampires and eventually facing the first vampire himself. He was able to drive off Varnae and destroyed the vampire settlers by directing sunlight at them leaving only the young girl alive. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #63)
Eventually, Varnae tired of his existence, and set events in motion that would grant him a successor as the Lord of the Vampires. In the 15th century, Varnae manipulated a war between the Turkish Lord Turac and Dracula, who was then the mortal Vlad Tepes, prince of Transylvania. During a battle with Turac's forces, Dracula was fatally wounded by the immortal Apocalypse, but was saved from death when he was bitten and transformed into a vampire by Varnae's servant Lianda. Varnae rewarded Lianda with death, and rewarded another minion, Nimrod, with a taste of Varnae's own blood. Varnae named Nimrod the Lord of the Vampires, then set Nimrod against the fledgling vampire Dracula as a test for Dracula, who was his real choice for the title. As Varnae watched from afar, Dracula slew Nimrod and his lover Lala, only to be slain alongside the assembled vampires by a mortal priest. Varnae arranged for one of his minions to deflower a virgin near the waters where Dracula's ashes had been scattered; exposure to the former virgin's hymeneal blood was enough for Dracula to return to life. Dracula then slew the minion and confronted Varnae, but Varnae effortlessly overpowered Dracula. Varnae then forced Dracula to drink his blood to the point of saturation, placed Dracula in a coffin to sleep through the coming day, and walked into the dawn to die in the sunlight.
In the modern day, the voodoo priestess Marie Laveau sought the blood of a vampire; she had been given a potion in the 19th century by the immortal Cagliostro that would make her temporarily ageless, but each draught of the potion required a vampire's blood. Doctor Strange, the Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, had previously used the Darkhold's Montesi Formula to destroy all of the Earth's vampires (including Dracula) and prevent any more vampires from being created. Although Laveau had once been able to obtain vampire blood via time travel, she instead sought to undo the Montesi Formula so that she could more easily obtain vampire blood. She tried to cast the Vampiric Verses from Strange's Book of the Vishanti to completely counter the Montesi Formula. When that failed, she used the Darkhold to recreate the Lord of the Vampires, but instead of resurrecting Dracula as had been expected, she revived Varnae. Varnae fought Strange, Laveau, and Brother Voodoo to a standstill, and left with a grudging respect for Strange as a nemesis.
Varnae later fought several of Strange's allies John Blaze and the Nightstalkers. In his conflict with the Nightstalkers, Varnae took control of a clone of Dracula named Bloodstorm and transformed the Nightstalkers' ally Taj Nital into a vampire. In the final battle, the sorceress Salome, who had usurped Strange's title as Sorcerer Supreme, freed Bloodstorm, with the resulting battle ending in an explosion that apparently killed the Nightstalkers Frank Drake who was a descendant of Dracula and the vampire Hannibal King. The remaining Nightstalker, Blade, fought Varnae as well as Dracula, who had been reborn by the combination of the blood of Bloodstorm, King, and Drake. Since his rebirth, Dracula has again taken on the title of the Lord of the Vampires.
Overview
Personality and attributes
For a time, he came to be known by the title of the Lord of the Vampires. Over the course of his existence, he came to be know by many names. In Babylonia, he came to be known as Baal whilst the Tcho-Tcho people knew him as Tsathoggua and the red savages of the New World called him Croatoan. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #63)
It was noted that he loved the sound of his own savagery and the lush taste of the dark. (Bizarre Adventures v1 #33) At one point, it was many millennia when he had experienced pain where he had forgotten the sensation. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #63)
He did give rewards to others but instead took from those that served him where sometimes he took amusement from simply not honouring a promise. (Bizarre Adventures v1 #33)
The gods he had feared were said to had died eons ago. Varnae claimed to be older than the Abrahamic God who he considered to be weak-willed. (Bizarre Adventures v1 #33)
Powers and abilities
He could manifest himself wings allowing him to fly and attack his opponents. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #63)
Through a bite, he was able to turn other mortals into vampires. (Bizarre Adventures v1 #33)
Those that drank from his blood were chosen to be his successor as King of the Vampires. (Bizarre Adventures v1 #33)
Notes
- Varnae was created by Steve Perry and Steve Bissette where he made his first appearance in Bizarre Adventures v1 #33 (December, 1982).
Appearances
- Bizarre Adventures v1: (1982)
- Dracula Lives! v1:
- Conan the Barbarian v1:
- Marvel Comics Presents v1:
- Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme v1:
External Links
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