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| Morgaine Le Fay | ||||
| Real name | Morgaine Le Fay | |||
| Debut | The Demon v1 #1 (September 1972) | |||
| Created by | Jack Kirby | |||
| Affiliations | Dark Arcana, Dark Trinity | |||
| Abilities | Expert in Maleficium | |||
| Played by | Olivia D'Abo (voice) | |||
History[]
Origin[]
Morgaine le Fey is the ancient and diabolical sorceress of Arthurian legends. Her history is slightly different from the legends but she is a sorceress gifted in the arts of black magic. She uses her gifts without restraint and is quite willing to destroy the universe in order to gain more power. In the 6th century, Morgaine le Fey and her sisters Morgause and Elaine (themselves adepts of sorcery) are the children of Igraine and Duke Gorlois of Cornwall. Morgaine comes to blame her half-brother King Arthur, child of Igraine and Uther Pendragon (her father's killer), with stealing her birthright and that of her sisters. She conspires against him throughout his time on the throne and seeks the destruction of Camelot
Morgaine (or "Morgana") is also referred to as a sister of Nimue Inwudu (the future Madame xanadu) and Viviane, the Lady of the Lake. It is not clear whether "sister" in this context is a symbolic title or a blood relation (the latter may imply that Gorlois is not her biological father). All three women are said to be descended from the "Elder Folk," explaining Morgaine's affinity with magic.
In the waning days of Camelot,Merlin merges his demon familiar Etrigan with a man, Jason Blood, as part of a last ditch effort to defend the kingdom against Morgaine le Fey's assault. Blood had been an ally of le Fey and is bonded to the Demon as penance. He and Morgaine become enemies henceforth. Following the fall of Camelot, Morgaine continues to practice her dark arts and retains her youth for many centuries, always seeking more power and a new kingdom to rule. By the 20th century, Merlin has arisen anew and tricks Morgaine, causing her to lose her youth and beauty which she had preserved using her magics. She wishes to replenish her youth with Merlin's secrets. She forces Jason Blood to become the Demon again and to lead her to Merlin's tomb. The Demon eventually strives to keep Morgaine le Fey from restoring her youth with the powers of Merlin.
Morgaine later attempts to steal Wonder Woman's eternal youth, not realizing that Wonder Woman has already given it up. Her spell backfires and she disintegrates into dust. She retains enough magic for a resurrection however and returns to battle the Demon and Wonder Woman on many occasions.
Trinity[]
Morgaine teamed up with the Antimatter Universe of the Riddler called Enigma and the alien warlord Despero to usurp the symbolic position of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman The trio of villains succeed in creating an alternate timeline with their efforts. However, the spell is not entirely successful, as this "Despero" is in fact the alien villain Kanjar-Ro in disguise, which disrupts Morgaine's enchantment.
While her bid for godhood is disrupted, she nonetheless acquires magical might to enslave the Earth by infusing an already powerful supervillain team with the might of the Major Arcana of the Tarot, giving them a measure of control over reality. As she is part of this Dark Arcana team, as the High Priestess, she has also this measure of control, allowing her to bring Europe and most of Minor Asia under her control, and ultimately lead the forces of good back to America for a final showdown of the powers of the Arcana.
This bid also fails, as the divinely-empowered Trinity of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman return from their exile and destroy the Dark Arcana's reality-based powers, vanquishing Morgaine's control over Europe. Morgaine, ultimately, seeks the aid of Krona, first, to enslave, and later, to destroy the Earth, as she preferred to have it blasted to nothingness than allow it to remain outside of her control. However, even this alliance fails, as Morgaine had offered Krona the soul of Enigma's daughter, causing him to turn on her. Morgaine's is defeated, and she is imprisoned in a stone idol, which is placed in the custody of Jason Blood.
Brightest Day[]
During the Brightest Day crossover, Mr.Terrific mentions that Morgaine is among the dozens of magical beings driven insane by the Starheart. According to him, Morgaine was spotted in New Mexico, where she was going on a rampage.
DCnU[]
The Demon Knights were dispatched by the rulers of Alba Sarum to find a way to bring the murdered Merlin back to life, hoping their city could become the next Camelot. In order to do so, the Knights had to travel to Britan and return to the location of Arthur's Camelot, even before they reached the island they were met with monsters of incredible durability and savagery, according to the locals it had gradually gotten worse ever since Camelot fell. The Knights later encountered a skeletal King Arthur who was soon restored and led them to Camelot, where Morgaine Le Fay had built her castle on the ruins and desecrated various items, such as the Round Table.
Morgaine was revealed to be one of the Fay, or Ladies of the Lake a race of woman-like creatures that lived on the shores of Avalon and is as such the sister of Madame Xanadu, who she knows as Nimue. Even by Fay standards Morgaine was old and due to the magics she had practiced over the course of her life, her body had decayed to a point that she prefers to hide it behind a golden mask. Though she had been planning on switching her mind to the body of Merlin, which would allow her to endure and be a new person. Her plan for Merlin was foiled, and her attempt to transfer herself into Nimue was blocked by King Arthur who then struck a gem that had been responsible for the monsters.
What became of Morgaine remained unknown until she turned up in present day Hong Kong, disguised as Madame Xan. She sent an army of mutant creatures to The Living Room to steal the helmet of the Dead King, thinking it would allow her to leave Earth, which she believes is being killed by humans, and live forever. The Others tracked Morgaine down, to the Xan Building where she was based, in order to retrieve the stolen helmet. Here, Morgaine infiltrated each of the team members' minds and offered them deals in exchange for them giving her their mind and heart. Each member of the team rejected her offer except for Ya'Wara who was forced to obey her "mistress" and kill the Others. However, Aquaman formulated a plan, having Prisoner-of-War distract Morgaine with his Patrol and create a shield to contain the tsunami that Morgaine created, his powers boosted by Sky's connection to the Ghost Lands. Meanwhile, Aquaman swam through water and attacked Morgaine, defeating her and freeing Ya'Wara from her control.
Equipment[]
- Golden Armor
In other media[]
- In Justice League, Morgaine Le Fay appears in the episode "A Knight of Shadows". She fights Batman, Etrigan, and the Justice League. She returns in "Kid Stuff". Her son, Mordred wants the throne to the kingdom, and she seeks to help him do that. Mordred accidentally, using a mystical object transports all the adults in the world to another dimension. Le Fey calls out the heroes of the Justice League, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern to become children again and stop Mordred. When they do, Mordred is transformed into a elder and Morgains must care for him.
- In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, she appears in the fifth episode "Day of the Dark Knight!". It's shown in a flashback how she defeated the Knights of the round table and her former teacher Merlin in order to overthrow his brother King Arthur. As her personal bodyguard she controls Etrigan the demon. When Merlin traveled in time to recruit Batman and Green Arrow, the sorceress sent Etrigan and other creatures to stop them. Seeing the failure of her slaves, she decided to join in batle personally. At the entrance of tower of Excalibur, Le Fey mesmerized Batman and gave him Medieval armor to claim Excalibur in her name. Merlin freed Batman and Etrigan from her control. The witch, angered by the latest move done by Merlin, turned into a dragon. She managed to turn Merlin and Etrigan into stone. But she is defeated by Green Arrow using Excalibur as an arrow.