INUA (INUIT GODS)
Classification: Gods (Extra-Dimensionals/Immortals)
Location/Base of Operations: Quidlivun
Known Members: Hodiak (god of the sky), Kadlu (goddess of lightning), Negafok (god of cold weather), Nelvanna (goddess of the northern lights), Nanuq (god of polar bears), Sedna (goddess of the sea & death), Snowbird/Narya (Narya, daughter of Nelvanna; goddess of nature), Tekkeitsertok (god of caribou & the hunt), Turoq/Shaper (god of change)
Affiliations: Other races of Gods, Amarok (Nanabozho
Enemies: The Great Beasts
Aliases: Northern Gods
First Appearance: X-Men I#120 (April, 1979)
Powers/Abilities/Traits: The Inua all possess certain superhuman physical attributes. They are true immortals who cease to age upon reaching adulthood, and they cannot die by conventional means. The Inua are immune to all terrestrial diseases and are resistant to conventional injury. If an Inua is wounded, his or her godly life force will enable him or her to recover at a superhuman rate. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it incinerates an Inua or disperses a major portion of his or her bodily molecules to cause him or her to die. Even then, it may be possible for a god of greater or equal power, or several gods acting together, to revive the deceased Inua before the god's life essence is beyond resurrection. Inua flesh and bone are about three times denser than similar human tissue, contributing to the gods' superhuman strength and weight. An average male god can lift about 30 tons; an average goddess can lift about 25 tons. The gods' metabolism gives them superhuman endurance in all physical activities. Many Inua gods also possess additional superhuman powers that may be magical in nature, and many are shapeshifters. Turoq (also known as "the Shaper") is perhaps the most skilled Inua shape-shifter, able to masterfully alter the physical properties of other objects in addition to his own physical appearance. Negafok, the cold weather spirit, can generate snow and freezing winds.
History: (Thor & Hercules: Encyclopedia Mythologica) - The Inua (also known as the "Northern Gods") are a race of superhumanly powerful humanoid beings who have been worshipped by the Inuit and other Eskimo-Aleut shamanistic cultures of the circumpolar region from 10,000 BC into modern times. It is believed that the Inua are even older, and that they were part of the union of gods that supported the first Talisman, a mortal warrior empowered by the Coronet of Enchantment to oppose Llan the Sorcerer and the Twisted Realm's forces. Most of the Inua dwell in Quidlivun (also known as "Paradise" and the "Land of the Moon"), a small "pocket" dimension adjacent to Earth; an interdimensional nexus point between Quidlivun and Earth exists somewhere within the Arctic Circle, although access between Earth and Quidlivun has frequently been cut off in recent years. Very little is known about celestial Quidlivun other than it appears to be built on a small planetary object.
The Inua's precise origin, like that of all Earth's pantheons, is shrouded in legend. According to ancient myths, the Sky Father Hodiak and the Earth Mother Gaea (known to the Inua as "A'akuluujjusi") are the progenitors of the principal Inua; however, it is unclear whether the Inua race originated on Earth, Quidlivun, or in another dimension linked to Quidlivun. The Inua are called different names by their human worshippers in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Siberia; for example, Hodiak is known as "Anguta" in Qikiqtaaluk uannangani, as "Torngarsuk" in Kalaallisut/Greenlandic, and as "Tulugaak" in Inupiaq. Although the Inua are often cut off from access to Earth, they are still invoked by powerful shamans such as Aningan Kenojuak of the Inuit Bantu Nation and Michael & Elizabeth Twoyoungmen of Canada's Sarcee Nation.
In an effort to deter human cannibalism, the Inua created the Curse of the Wendigo, which transforms men who feast upon human flesh into savage, supernatural monsters. On at least three occasions, the Inua defended Earth from the Great Beasts, a race of extradimensional creatures who sought to conquer the Earth realm after decimating their native dimension. Over 1000 years ago, the Inua successfully sealed the Great Beasts within their native dimension via a mystic barrier, but the Beasts countered the incantation and trapped the Inua within Quidlivun. In the mid-18th century, the Inua used their influence to oppose the French sorcerer Mauvais (Jean-Pierre Beaubier) as he tried to conquer Canada during the French & Indian War. Later, during the French Revolution of the late 18th century, Mauvais again clashed with the Inua, who joined forces with that era's Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One, to curse Mauvais to eternal immobility, able to escape only if another knowingly released him. Mauvais was imprisoned on the remote island prison known as le Prison de la Morte.
In modern times, archeologist Richard Lawrence Easton located the the Great Beast Tundra's headband, which served as a link to both Quidlivun and the Realm of the Beasts. Easton was then contacted by Nelvanna, the Inua goddess of the northern lights and daughter of Hodiak, who convinced him to conceive a child who would serve as the Earth realm's guardian against the Beasts. This demigod child, known as Narya (and later Snowbird), eventually joined the Canadian super-team Alpha Flight and successfully defended Earth against the Beasts upon their return. Narya bore a son by Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman Doug Thompson, but both Doug and the infant died due to the machinations of evil Pestilence (F.R. Crozier); they both ascended to Quidlivun alongside Narya, who also had seemingly perished in that battle.
More recently, Mauvais escaped custody when he was released by a prison guard and again tried to conquer Canada for himself. He devoured a Wendigo's heart to harness the beast's mystical power in an attempt to permanently prevent the Inua from interfering in the Earth realm; but, after battling Wolverine (Logan/James Howlett) and Alpha Flight, Mauvais was defeated by the Inua gods and banished to the Realm of the Beasts. When Earth's various pantheons believed their existence threatened by a Skrull invasion, Hodiak chose Narya (who had been previously restored to life) to represent the Northern Gods as part of a God Squad sent to battle the Skrull gods.
Comments:
Collectively, the Native American Gods seem to
be made up of a collection of interconnected familes known
together as the Anasazi. Separated, they are known as the Innua
(gods of the North West), Manitou (North East gods), Orenda
(South East gods) and the Kachina (South West Gods). A parallel
can be found in the Asgardian Aesir and Vanir, Celtic Danaans and
Fomore and the Greek Olympians and Titans.)
It is as yet uncertain whether this race of gods is to be
considered (in the Marvel Universe) a separate pantheon from the
rest of the Native American Gods, the Anasazi.
Sedna dwelled in the undersea realm of Adlivun.
Other possible Inuit gods in the MU include Ranaq, Kolomaq, Kariooq, Somon, Tundra, Tanaraq and Tolomaq who have appeared in various issues of Alpha Flight. Of these, only Tanaraq seems to have any basis in myth, and only as the legendary Sasquatch.
The main image in this profile is by Kevin Sharpe.
Clarifications:
images:
Thor & Hercules: Encyclopedia Mythologica, p30
Alpha Flight I#7/2, p3, pan1 (Richard Easton with Inua)
First Posted: 09/12/2002
Last updated: 09/12/2002
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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