TARANITH GELSTAL

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Negative Zone, Sorenio) alien

Occupation: Former explorer; former mock ruler

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Posed as ruler to people of Mantracora

Enemies: Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Susan Richards, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Taranith Gelstal, High Lord of the Keep

Base of Operations: Negative Zone, formerly the Keep, its citadel on the planet Mantracora;
    originally from planet Sorenio, somewhere in the Negative Zone

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#254 (May, 1983)

Powers/Abilities: Possessing telepathy, this non-humanoid alien could communicate with and even manipulate others to some extent. With its three limbs, it could scale solid walls; it could also duplicate human speech with effort, although it found the process of audibly speaking to be extremely uncomfortable.

The alien was a brilliant and devious inventor; it manipulated the people of Mantracora into believing it was their ruler for many years. It had created a machine to drain psionic energy from the Mantracorans into a battery to power its stranded starship. It had a group of loyal followers among the Mantracorans who kept a look out for minds suitable for its needs. It also had access to mind-numbing drugs.

To appear as the roughly humanoid Taranith Gelstal, the alien utilized a robe-covered exoskeleton mechanism, along with a golden helmet/mask.

Height: 19"
Weight: 31 lbs.
Eyes: Red
Hair: None

 

History:
(Fantastic Four I#254 (fb) - BTS) - In the Negative Zone, approximately "thirty sun-cycles ago" (however long that is on Mantracora), an alien's spaceship crashed on the planet Mantracora. The alien found a world of primitive barbarism, with none of the technology it would need to repair its ship. Noticing that the humanoid natives were devoted to their ruler Taranith Gelstal, the alien realized that Gelstal held a position of power and influence; after slaying the real Gelstal, the alien designed and built an exoskeleton to appear in a human-sized form, and usurped the role of Taranith Gelstal.

   For the next span of years as the false Taranith, the alien continued its ruse and would periodically select two natives of Mantracora to supposedly ascend into the Taranith's citadel and join his brotherhood; but in reality, the alien would choose the natives with the most powerful minds, lead them deep into the bowels of its citadel, drug them, and connect them to a machine that would drain their minds of energy--their bodies stayed alive while the machine continually siphoned their psionic energy into a power battery, all in the hopes of one day gaining sufficient energy to allow the alien's starship to leave Mantracora.

(Fantastic Four I#254) - While exploring the Negative Zone, the Fantastic Four traveled to the planet of Mantracora; they went to the city ruled by Taranith Gelstal in order to investigate the unusual energies in its Keep. Sensing the great intellect of Reed Richards, the disguised alien invited the FF into the Keep to join in a feast; but Reed's drink had been drugged, and when he collapsed, the lights in the room suddenly went out--in the darkness, the alien took Reed into its spaceship.

   When Reed revived, he found himself connected to the mind-draining machine; the alien explained its situation as it removed its disguise,  then siphoned Reed's mind into the living matrix of the starship. The rest of the FF eventually made their way to Reed, only to find their leader's body apparently mindless.

(Fantastic Four I#255) - Finally having attained the necessary energy to leave Mantracora, the alien activated its starship's engines and launched into space, with the Fantastic Four trapped aboard. But the alien had not taken into account the level of power of Reed's mind, for Reed's disembodied consciousness had reasserted itself, which enabled him to take control of the ship. Realizing it was foiled, the alien fled into an escape pod and exited its ship--however, after years of inactivity, the pod was improperly maintained, and it overheated and exploded, apparently killing the alien.

   Later, Reed instructed his teammates to create a "cyber-helmet," which allowed him to remotely control his physical form while his mind was trapped in the ship. He piloted the ship to the Distortion Zone, enabling the FF to return to Earth, despite Annihilus' destruction of their portal. The energies of the Distortion Zone enabled Reed to return his mind to his body as he passed through to Earth.

Comments: Created by John Byrne.

The Invisible Girl once referred to the ruler of Mantracora as "The Taranith" (Fantastic Four I#254, p17, pan2), so it likely wasn't his first name, but actually a title, probably the equivalent of "emperor," "king" or something similar.--Ron Fredricks

It seems like it might be only the city that was named Mantracora, but I refer to the planet by the same name for simplicity's sake.

    I think it's worth noting that the plot of Fantastic Four #254 bears some amazing similarities to the Doctor Who serial "The Krotons," which saw a group of aliens posing as god-like beings and manipulating the local populace into sending two of their own brightest each year to "serve" them, in actuality being killed and drained of mental energy to recharge their
crashed spaceship.  Here's a rundown on that story...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/episodeguide/krotons/plot.shtml
In addition, the design of Taranith Gelstal's mask, and the name Mantracora, bring to mind another Doctor Who story, "The Masque of Mandragora."
http://wheelinspace.com/masque_of_mandragora.htm
I can't be the only Doctor Who fan who has picked up on all those similarities.
--Ben Herman

In All-New OHotMU Update#4, the alien/false Taranith's race was revealed as the Sorenio.

Profile by Snood. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.





CLARIFICATIONS:
The alien/Taranith Gestal has no known connection to:

spaceship

From somewhere in the Negative Zone, this spacecraft came from the planet Sorenio (see comments); it possessed anti-gravity drives. The ship had crashed on the primitive planet Mantracora "thirty sun-cycles ago," stranding its (apparently) lone occupant.

In one chamber of the ship, the alien built a machine to drain the psionic energy from the minds of Mantracorans, then used that siphoned energy to recharge the ship's batteries, in the hopes of one day returning back to its homeworld.

When the Fantastic Four were exploring the Negative Zone, the team landed on Mantracora, and the alien sensed it could drain the power of Reed Richards' mind to complete the recharging process. However, Reed's disembodied consciousness took control of the spaceship.

(Note: While the rest of the FF were tearing their way though the corridors of the ship to get to Reed, the Human Torch commented, "These walls look almost alive."--possibly the spaceship also had self-repair capabilities.)

--Fantastic Four I#254 (254 (fb) - BTS, 254, 255

(interior chamber of spaceship)

Mantracorans

They were the primitive humanoid race that inhabited Mantracora, a seemingly desert-like world located somewhere in the Negative Zone. They had a near-worship devotion to their ruler Taranith Gelstal, whom they had practically deified.

But unbeknownst to the Mantracorans, the real Tananith Gelstal had been killed by an alien, who then secretly took their ruler's place. Over time, this false Taranith Gelstal would periodically choose two of the Mantracorans with the most powerful minds to ascend to his Keep and "claim their rightful place in the brotherhood"; but in actuality, the alien would connect their bodies to a machine and drain their minds of psionic energy, all in an effort to restore power to its stranded spaceship.

Over twenty of the Mantracorans were seen being used by the alien to recharge its spaceship.

--Fantastic Four I#254 (254, 255

images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#254, p15, pan1 (main image - alien disguised as Taranith Gelstal)
Fantastic Four I#254, p19, pan4 (main image - alien on exoskeleton mechanism; removing disguise)
Fantastic Four I#254, cover (headshot - Taranith Gelstal mask)
Fantastic Four I#255, p10, pan1 (alien, scaling walls inside its spaceship)
Fantastic Four I#254, p11, pan5 (alien as Taranith Gelstal) comments
Fantastic Four I#255, p12-13 (spaceship takes flight from Mantracora)
Fantastic Four I#255, p15, pan1 (spaceship flying in Negative Zone)
Fantastic Four I#254, p18, pan4 (interior chamber of spaceship; Mr. Fantastic and Mantracorans connected to mind-siphoning machine, alien as Taranith Gelstal [foreground])
Fantastic Four I#254, p2, pan1 (two Mantracorans approach false Taranith Gelstal)
Fantastic Four I#254, p2, pan2 (Mantracorns chosen by false Taranith Geltstal)

Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#254-255 (May-June, 1983) - John Byrne (writer/artist), Al Milgrom (editor)

First posted: ?
Last updated: 10/15/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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