SNOWSNAKE

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human vampire;
    active from 1700s to the modern era (presumably active in the time periods between, but she may or may not have been previously destroyed and restored);
    Japanese citizen (presumably presumed to be deceased)

Occupation: Predator, bodyguard

Group Membership: Vampires of Earth;
    Legion of the Unliving (Baroness Blood/Lily Cromwell, Carpathian, Dracula (Vlad Dracula), Rat Bomber, Sarge, Shadow Colonel/Xarus; formerly Boy-Thing)
    Vampire Nation

Affiliations: Blade (Eric Brooks), Dracula, 

Enemies: Avengers (Black Panther/T'Challa, Blade/Eric Brooks, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider/Robbie Reyes, Iron Man/Tony Stark, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, Thor/Thor Odinson), Dahlia, Fio'ri and the extradimensional vampires, Thori, the Winter Guard (Crimson Dynamo/Dmitri Bukharin, Darkstar/Laynia Krylenko, Red Widow, Ursa Major/Mikhail Ursus, Vanguard/Nikolai Krylenko); unidentified Madripoor vampire coven she helped slaughter

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Dracula's bodyguard

Base of Operations: Pripyat, the city nearby Chernobyl, Ukraine;
    previous base of operations unrevealed

First Appearance: (Unidentified; seen in vision) Avengers VII#12 (March, 2019);
    (identified; full) Avengers VII#15 (April, 2019)

Powers/Abilities: As a vampire, Snowsnake has superhuman strength (likely lifting around 1000 lbs.) and requires regular blood meals to survive.

    Further, feeding on a human victim would turn that victim into a vampire, depending on the extent of the feeding and other circumstances.

    Those she vampirized may or may not have been subservient to her.

    She presumably had a vulnerability to a wooden stake through the heart and the other standard vampire vulnerabilities, such as to sunlight, religious icons, garlic, and silver.

    When fully fed, she could likely heal rapidly from non-fatal wounds.

    She can transform into mist. She may or may not have been able to transform into a normal-sized or giant bat or into a wolf.

    She wields a pair of katana (swords) and is a master swordswoman.

    Although generally silent, she can speak

History:
(Avengers VII#17 (fb) - BTS) <300 years ago> - The woman who would become Snowsnake lived in Japan's Nara Prefecture, serving the Yagyu Clan before falling to vampirism.

(Avengers VII#15 (fb) - BTS) - Snowsnake killed things for many years.

(Avengers VII#12 (fb) - BTS) - The Shadow Colonel (Xarus, son of Dracula) challenged Dracula's rule of Transylvania, gathering various allies as his Legion of the Unliving, including Snowsnake, Baroness Blood, the Carpathian, and Rat-Bomber.

(Avengers VII#15 (fb) - BTS) - Keeping Snowsnake fed, the Shadow Colonel kept her from trying to kill him and convinced her to follow him.

(Avengers VII#12 (fb) - BTS) - Odin dispatched his ravens Hugin and Munin to Transylvania, where they learned of the Shadow Colonel's challenging of the vampire Dracula's rule and his gathering of powerful allies.

(Avengers VII#12 (fb) - BTS) - Dracula sent his forces after the scientifically-created vampire Morbius in an attempt to ally with Morbius.

(Avengers VII#12 - BTS) - When the Black Panther spoke with the Asgardian Odin about recent vampire attacks, Odin showed images of what he had learned from his ravens and noted his suspicion of an impending vampire civil war.

    As a result of this impending vampire civil war, the Black Panther recruited Blade into the Avengers.

(Avengers VII#14) - The Shadow Colonel led the Legion of the Unliving, including Snowsnake, in an all-out attack on Dracula's castle, murdering every vampire man, woman and child, and burning the castle, until they came to Dracula's empty coffin. Regardless, the Legion of the Unliving's attack caused most vampires to flee in fear for their own lives, causing a vampire civil war which the Shadow Colonel hoped to win.

(Avengers VII#15) - With the Rat Bomber as the first wave of attack, Snowsnake and the Carpathian served as the second wave, wiping out any survivors in an attack on a vampire base in Madripoor.
This allowed the Shadow Colonel to try to force Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) to slay a group of vampire children and, failing that, the Avengers.

(Avengers VII#16) - Snowsnake battled Black Panther -- ignoring his argument that while he understood her desire for freedom from Dracula's yoke, war was not the answer -- before the Legion soon transformed to mist and departed.

    Traveling to the Sol-Iletsk, Russia prison housing Dracula, the Legion of the Unliving had the Rat Bomber sent rats carrying vampire blood into the prison, where the blood bombs exploding, transforming the prisoners into new vampires.

(Avengers VII#19 (fb) - BTS) - Reluctantly agreeing to serve the Legion of the Unliving in exchange for Dracula's promise to end his unwanted immortal existence, Avengers crew member Gorilla-Man arranged for Dracula to be sent to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in the Ukraine.

(Avengers VII#17 (fb) - BTS) - The Black Panther analyzed the fabric from Snowsnake's garments (presumably debris shed during the battle) and determined her origins. He felt that she could be rehabilitated and resolved to try to use some of the potential cures for vampirism he had been developing to treat her

(Avengers VII#17) - When the Russian Winter Guard was called in alongside the Avengers to quell the newly-vamped prisoners, the Legion of the Unliving took down the Winter Guard while the Avengers dealt with the rioting vampire prisoners.

    Snowsnake engaged in a sword fight with the Black Panther, who shared what he had learned about her and offered to help restore her honor and offered her potential cures for vampirism he had been developing, with needle-appendages projecting from his right glove's fingers. Snowsnake remained silent, battling fiercely.

(Avengers VII#17) - These would-be cures either failed or Snowsnake prevented the Panther from exposing her to them.

(Avengers VII#17) - During the battle, Ghost Rider worked with Blade to behead the Shadow Colonel, and Sarge was taken into Avengers custody with the help of the Asgardian dog Thori. 

    Escaping, Snowsnake and the rest of the Legion of the Unliving brought the Shadow Colonel's beheaded body to Dracula, who had been deposited in Chernobyl by the Russians; the Baroness shared that the group felt that their former leader still deserved a place in the new kingdom. Dracula then commended the Colonel, identifying him as Xarus, and the rest of the Legion of the Unliving for having performed exactly as he wanted. Noting that they were now free to rebuild, stronger than ever, Dracula welcomed to the new kingdom of the vampires.

(Avengers VII#32 - BTS) - After Dracula established a new vampire kingdom in Pripyat, the city near Chernobyl, Ukraine. numerous vampires flocked there.

(Avengers VII#45  / Death of Dr. Strange: Blade#1 (fb) - BTS) - After the United Nations had recognized the sovereignty of the Vampire Nation, Snowsnake and the rest of the Legion was present as Dracula consented to having Blade live in the Vampire Nation as its sheriff.

(Death of Dr. Strange: Blade#1 (fb) - BTS) - Snowsnake came to serve as Dracula's bodyguard.

(Death of Dr. Strange: Blade#1 - BTS) - In Pripyat, the vampires celebrated the apparent death of Dr. Stephen Strange. 

(Death of Dr. Strange: Blade#1) - As younger vampires including Dahlia, Amir, and Leslie mocked Blade and Dracula, Dracula appeared, with Snowsnake at his side. 

    The city was later assaulted by extradimensional vampires, and Blade and Snownsake slew the invaders. After Snowsnake commented that there were no others, Blade questioned this, after which Snowsnake spotted and assaulted Fio'ri (a youth whom the other invaders had allegedly captured). Blade stopped her, sensing that while he was from the same dimension as the others, the youth was not a warrior. Snowsnake stood by as Dracula had Leslie take Fio'ri to the dungeon.

    Snownsake was present, standing next to Dracula's chair, the next day at a gathering of older vampires also attended by Blade and in which Fio'ri was brought forth and related the events that had led to his arrival there. She remained silent when Dahlia attacked Blade for defending the youth and as Dracula stopped Dahlia and had her sent to the dungeon.

(Death of Dr. Strange: Blade#1 - BTS) - The emotion-manipulating Fio'ri subsequently amplified the fears of Leslie and another guard to the point of incapacitating them.

(Death of Dr. Strange: Blade#1 - BTS) - Snowsnake may or may not have joined Dracula and Blade against the Fio'ri-empowered Dahlia and Fio'ri as well as those influenced by Fio'ri emotion-controlling powers.

(Death of Dr. Strange: Blade#1) - Snowsnake stood by Dracula's side as he watched Blade destroy Amir for attacking him.

(X-Terminators II#1-5 (fb) - BTS) - After Xarus' son, Al'hex/Alex, put the mutants Boom-Boom, Dazzler, Jubilee, and Wolverine (Laurey Kinney) through a gauntlet, which led to their battling and destroying a number of vampires hunting them.

(X-Terminators II#4 (fb) - BTS) - Alongside Dracula and the rest of the Legion of the Unliving. Snowsnake traveled to Krakoa and met with the Quiet Council to discuss the slaying of vampires.

(X-Terminators II#4) - After Jubilee explained that those present in Al'hex's gauntlet were there as traitors to the Vampire Nation, who had treaties with Krakoa and other nations prohibiting vampire attacks, Dracula appreciated that the Vampire Nation owed them bounty pay.

(X-Terminators II#4-5) - Instead, Dazzler convinced Dracula to allow her to get her revenge on Al'hex before the Vampire Nation took him into custody. Baroness Blood then transported Snowsnake, Dracula, and the rest back to the Vampire Nation.

Comments: Created by Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness, and Cory Smith.

    With the name SNOWsnake and being Japanese vampire, I wonder if she has any connection to the Yiki Onna vampires. She did not demonstrate any of the qualities unique to those vampires, such as transforming into a cloud of ice shards.

    I am not certain whether the Shadow Colonel and the Legion of the Unliving were allied with Dracula from the start, or whether he manipulated them to his own ends from the start and they only allied with him at the end?

    I started this as a profile on "Dracula's bodyguard" from the Death of Dr. Strange: Blade issue, and I did not even recall the character Snowsnake, despite her having a sub-profile in the Legion of the Unliving profile. I also did not appreciate from those images that the character was a female from the Death of Dr. Strange issue, as it just looked more like baggy clothing.

    From my weak internet research:

1. In the 1700s, she would be a citizen of Japan
   Yes. Part of the northern island, Hokkaido, was apparently not part of Japan until 1751, but Nara is on the south of the southern island. Handy tool for checking what country various parts of the world belonged to in a given year here--Loki
2. The Nara Prefecture is a landlocked region in the center of the Kii Peninsula, which was on Japan's Pacific Ocean coast. It is one of the oldest regions in Japan is considered by many to be the Japanese cradle of civilization.
3. The Yagyu clan (I'm not doing the "overscore" symbol over the u) were a family of daimyos (feudal lords) with lands just outside Nara, who became the heads of one of Japan's greatest schools of swordsmanship.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Snowsnake should be distinguished from:

• SNOW SNAKES - extradimensional creatures; Spider-Man briefly tricked Buel into entering their realm--Sensational Spider-Man II#23
• DARLA AUGUST - aka "SNOW VAMPIRE"--Vampire Tales#4
• ICE WORM of the HYBORIAN era - Aesgaard, ensorcelled people into entering its cave, froze them solid and then devoured them, slew Ilga, slain by Conan - aka REMORA the SNOW DEVIL, YAKHMAR--Lair of the Ice Worm; Savage Sword of Conan#34 
• ICEWORM - immense ice serpent, possible offspring of Midgard Serpent and Frost Giant, resided in Arctic, rendered inert by consuming its own tail by Jack Frost, although this placed him in suspended animation, it was freed when Jack Frost was freed, but was rendered inert in the same manner--Captain America I#384
• other "snow" or "snake" characters, groups, items, events, races, or places...

Appearances:
Avengers VII#12 (March, 2019) - Jason Aaron (writer), Ed McGuinness, Cory Smith (pencils), Mark Morales, Karl Kesel, Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers VII#14 (April, 2019) - Jason Aaron (writer), David Marquez (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers VII#15 (April, 2019) - Jason Aaron (writer), David Marquez (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers VII#16 (May, 2019) - Jason Aaron (writer), David Marquez (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers VII#17 (May, 2019) - Jason Aaron (writer), David Marquez (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers VII#19 (July, 2019) - Jason Aaron (writer), Ed McGuinness (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers VII#32 (May, 2020) - Jason Aaron (writer), Ed McGuinness, Francesco Manna (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers VII#45 (June, 2021) - Jason Aaron (writer), Luca Maresca (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Death of Dr. Strange: Blade#1 (December, 2021) - Danny Lore (writer), Dylan Burnett (art), Darren Shan (editor)
X-Terminators II#4-5 (February-March, 2023) - Leah Williams (writer), Carlos Gomez (artist), Lauren Amaro (associate editor), Jordan D. White (senior editor)

First posted: 09/24/2023
Last updated: 09/24/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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