WIND WITCH

Real Name: Clothilde

Identity/Class: Human magic user (possibly devolved into demon), originally from 15th Century

Occupation: Sorceress

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Used Madam Olga as her pawn

Enemies: Ghost Rider (Blaze), Madam Olga

Known Relatives: Unnamed father (presumably deceased)

Aliases: High Priestess of Witchcraft

Base of Operations: Unnamed Netherworld;
    accessed the Earthly plane via a certain bowl candle;
    briefly active in the Quentin Carnival outside of an unidentified town in the American midwest

First Appearance: Ghost Rider II#66 (March, 1982)

Powers/Abilities: Clothilde can generate powerful winds. She can pick up a shawl and lightly drape it over an old woman's shoulders, or she can travel at great speeds and use tornado-like force to wreak destruction. She has other unspecified magical powers, such as formation of a powerful mystical shield known as a Nethershield, and she is immune to aging and conventional disease. At full power she proved able to actually snuff the Ghost Rider's flame. Her life force and existence on the Earthly plane were tied to the bowl candle, and she can only be present while its fires burn. When her ties to Earth are weakened, she becomes vulnerable to other forms of attack. The Ghost Rider's hellfire can harm her, but only from a relatively close distance.

 

 

History:
(Ghost Rider II#66 (fb)) - In the 15th Century (see comments), Clothilde was trained in the art of magick from her father, a "wise and worldly sorcerer." Apparently Clothilde practiced unspecified acts of black magic, which were discovered by other villagers. The governor dispatched his guards to seize Clothilde and chain her in a dungeon, where she was tortured and put to death via a mask containing spikes on its inner surface, which were hammered into her head. As she lay dying, Clothilde noticed a candle flickering in the dungeon, and she used her waning powers to send her soul into its orange flame. One second later, she breathed her last.
    The governor's men took her body and burned it on a pyre in the castle square, with soldiers and peasants gathered round about, shouting and jeering. The stench was terrible, as her mortal body tuned to smoke and ash, and drifted away on the evening wind...but her soul lived on in that candle.

 

 

 

 

(Ghost Rider II#66 (fb)) - In the modern era, the antique bowl candle was purchased by Madam Olga, a fraudulent psychic working for the Quentin Carnival. Hoping to give one of her séances a more authentic feel, Olga lit the candle, and Clothilde coalesced a body from the smoke it generated. She told Olga a story, at least partially false, in which she had been put to death for practicing white magic. Clothilde than used her powers to grant favors to Olga. One of these included fetching a meal from nearby restaurant, Valleous (or Valldus) Steak House. As she tore through the restaurant, she was confronted by the Ghost Rider, who had observed her cyclonic body flying from the Carnival. However, Clothilde's powers proved far superior to those of the Ghost Rider and she lifted him high into the air, snuffed his flames, and hurled him back to the ground. She returned to Olga, served the meal, and then returned to the candle for a day to renew her strength, making Olga promise to keep her existence a secret.

    The next evening, when Olga lit the candle, Clothilde returned again. Using her power to restore the crippled Olga's ability to walk, Clothilde convinced her to perform a ritual that would allow her to return to Earth permanently. After Olga had formed a pentagram with the candle wax and lit each corner, Clothilde revealed her true nature, removing Olga's newfound ability to walk and mocking her stupidity. However, the Ghost Rider again sensed her presence and confronted her anew. Using his hellfire cycle to ride up her cyclone, the demon biker released a burst of hellfire directly into her face, which caused her great pain. Realizing the danger the Ghost Rider posed to her, Clothilde formed a ring of Nethershields to give her a chance to flee. However, Olga then recovered and began make amends for her unwitting actions by erasing the pentagram she had made. As she did so, the Wind Witch weakened, until she could no longer hold the eldritch essence of her body together. She dissolved into a netherworldly mist, and the Ghost Rider rode the fading currents back to Earth.

 

 

 

 

Comments: Created by Michael Fleisher and Tom Sutton.

It is not directly stated that Clothilde was active during the 15th Century. The Candle to which her life force was tied was identified as being from the 15th Century, but she herself could have been from a slightly later time. The images from her flashback would appear to be consistent with that time period, but as part of the flashback was false, it remains uncertain. Exactly how much of her "origin" is true is similarly uncertain.

This was the first issue of Ghost Rider I ever bought. After reading it, I bought the subscription, which happened to run out with issue#81, the very issue the book was cancelled.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

images:

First Posted: 11/15/2003
Last updated: 11/15/2003

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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