UNCEGILA
Real Name: Uncegila
Identity/Class: terrestrial demon (Class 2);
possibly a human magic user turned demon (see comments)
assumed active through (or even before): Post-Hyborian era, 1st through 10th Centuries, 11th through 17th Centuries, Old West
until 1840s (see comments) or shortly before World War I
Occupation: Polluting and destroying the American soil and its inhabitants
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Her Monster Children
Enemies: Lakota (Sioux), Piegan Blackfoot (Blind Owl, Buffalo Snort, He Counts Horses, Old Wolf Heart, She watches the Sparrow Hawk), Wolverine (James Howlett), other North American tribes
Known Relatives: Monster Children
Aliases: Serpent-Thing, Witch-Serpent who dwells in the Heart of the World, Unhcegila, Unkcegila
Base of Operations: mobile through North America
First Appearance: (BTS) Marvel Comics Presents I#94/1 (1991); (seen) Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1 (1991)
Powers/Abilities: Uncegila was around 30-50 feet long and very intelligent. She could crawl very fast through the ground like a worm and moved even faster on the land. Her touch made flesh rot away, roots foul, and caused the ground she passed below and above the surface to become infertile. Responsible for this was slime she emitted from her skin which was possibly extremely poisonous and corroding. She could swallow a human in one piece or squash him with her weight. She seemingly drove people insane with her mere sight and could kill them with one glance.
She used different kinds of animals to bear her Monster Children (see comments).
History:
(Lakota Myth) - When the Earth was still young an evil witch was turned into the monster Uncegila. (unconfirmed origin; see comments)
For a long time the monster spread fear among natives all over North America. People disappeared or died under strange circumstances, grounds became infertile and the stories about her grew. Especially the Sioux were aware of her actions and told stories about Uncegila to warn others.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#94/1 (fb) - BTS) - The Sioux warned their enemies the Blackfoot that Uncegila was coming after them. For some time Uncegila turned animals near a Blackfoot camp into her Monster Children, but the Blackfoot council decided to keep quiet about it until they were sure that Uncegila was behind it.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#94/1 - BTS) - One day at the U.S./Canadian border a bear was turned into a Monster Child by Uncegila which later attacked a Blackfoot boy.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1 - BTS) - Some time later once again a warped horse was found in the Blackfoot camp and Old Wolf Heart finally told his people about the Sioux's warning of Uncegila.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#96/1) - Late in the night Uncegila crawled into the Blackfoot camp, overcame the guarding He Counts Horses and killed their horses. Uncegila then crawled around the hill next to the camp while Logan and the tribe's men came to the dead horses. Logan realized too late that they were tricked and Uncegila attacked the helpless women and children in the camp. Uncegila devoured Sparrow Hawk in front of Logan and the Blackfoot warriors and then disappeared into the ground again.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#97/1) - Together with her children Uncegila slept in a cave. It was woken up by the noise Logan and Blind Owl made when they argued about who would attack the monster. It arose and was ready to attack his two foes.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#98/1) - Uncegila was hit by a bullet into the head by Blind Owl, but she was only stunned for a few seconds by it. Uncegila attacked the blind boy again, but Logan jumped onto her back and stabbed her. This didn't hurt her too much either, but angered by the attack she threw Logan to the ground and tried to eat him. Logan was able to dodge her attack and cut out Uncegila's heart. The monster was killed and Logan returned with Blind Owl to the Blackfoot camp.
Many years later Wolverine dreamt about this incident while he was in the same area and after he woke up he found Uncegila's skeleton again in the cave the monster died.
Comments: Created by Timothy Truman, Todd Foxx & Gary Kwapisz.
On the picture above it looks like Uncegila had two eyes, but this is a trick also used by other animals (different types of butterflies for example). Uncegila is a cyclops and the two eyes seen below her real eye are merely colored skin.
The problem with the timeframe
This story became an impossibility after Wolverine: Origin was published, but let's read what Ronald Byrd had to say about it. These events, Logan's first known encounter with the supernatural,
eventually prove so troubling to him that he suppresses them from his conscious memory,
unless his inability to recall them can be traced to his time with Team X; decades later,
he will recall them in a dream, which his subconscious sets during the 1840s, although the
possibility that these events in fact happened not to Logan but to an earlier incarnation of
his soul cannot be dismissed.
Ronald Byrd
The whole deal with the Monster Children reminded me a little bit of the Brood. I think Uncegila laid eggs into animals and the Monster Children born from these eggs lived in their host until they grew big enough. It stayed unclear if they ate their host and burst out from it when they were big enough (like parasites) or if their host became their body (so that each child got a part of the former host as its own body). They even took a few characteristics from their former host (especially similar extremities).
Mythological background
Uncegila was a well known monster in Lakota (Sioux) mythology. People held her responsible for disappearances and mysterious deaths. She resembled a large reptile and could be called an American dragon.
One story I found about Uncegila goes like this:
Originally Uncegila was an evil witch who was transformed (responsible force wasn't named) into the monster when the Earth was still young. For a long time warriors tried to kill her, but nobody succeeded and many didn't even try because they were afraid to die. One day two brave twins (one blind as Blind Owl in this story) decided to kill her.
From an old woman they got magical arrows that always hit their target, and they went off to Uncegila. The seeing twin led his blind brother to Uncegila's home and when Uncegila rose the blind brother killed her with the magical arrows. They took her heart and removed her horn so that she couldn't return to life again. With the powers of Uncegila's heart they became great leaders until they decided one day that they didn't want the power anymore.
Another story of her end is similar, but in the end Uncegila thrashed all over the land and caused more damage in her agony than she ever did before. The Badlands of Nebraska and Dakota were explained that way and the many dinosaur bones found in these areas were seen as Uncegila's bones by the Lakota.
I also found a source where Unktehi was given as an alias for Uncegila. Unktehi was a mighty saltwater snake similar to Uncegila in some ways. Somewhere else it was said that Unktehi was a race of water-spirits resembling ruminants (moo). They were made responsible for floodings and contaminated waters sources. But they also gave good things to mankind.
Mythological description:
She was as long as hundred horses. Her body was thicker than the biggest tree trunk in the world. She possessed a curved horn which could bring her back to life as long as it was attacked to her head. The horn could heal her
,wounds if she touched it with the horn even if the horn wasn't attached to her anymore. On her back she had a crest and on her side she was adorned with round spots in many colors. The seventh spot from her head was the only vulnerable spot on her body. Behind this spot laid her ice-cold heart made of a red crystal. It was so cold that it would burn the hands of the person who touched it. The heart's possessor would become more powerful than anyone else on the world through the vast powers of the heart. To get power over the heart its possessor had to deny the heart's first four wishes and from the fifth wish on he had to follow its orders or else it would become a blazing ball of fire and burn its possessor. Uncegila's best defense against getting killed was that her first sight would blind a man, the second day he would go mad, the third day he would foam from his mouth and the fourth day he would die. Her body was poisonous and to eat her flesh would be deadly, but her blood possessed healing powers.
Some of those powers were talked about in the MCP story as well others weren't. What she really did to her victims in a mystical way is hard to say because it wasn't directly seen. The MCP Uncegila was different in some other ways either, but in the end it was most likely the same monster as described in Lakota myth. But because it stayed unconfirmed the origin stated in the profile is in question.
Blind Owl's name was revealed in Uncegila's profile in Wolverine: Weapon X Files.
Profile by Markus Raymond
CLARIFICATIONS:
Uncegila has no known connection to:
Blind Owl has no known connection to:
Buffalo Snort has no known connection to:
He Counts Horses has no known connection to:
Old Wolf Heart has no known connection to:
She watches the Sparrow Hawk has no known connection to:
The Monster Children were all different due to different hosts. Seemingly three monster children were born from one animal host. Their number of eyes (two and three were seen) differed as well as the kind of feet (hooves or claws) they had. Except for these features they seemed all to look the same. Green lizard-like body with a tail and tentacles that came from their skin by will.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#95 (fb) ) - Again and again corrupted animals who bore Uncegila's children in them were found near the Blackfoot camp.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#94/1) - A bear corrupted by Uncegila attacked a Blackfoot boy and blinded him. Logan slew the monstrous bear which grew heads from his belly and tried to grab Logan with tentacles. With his last punch the bear threw Logan onto a tree branch which impaled Logan. Later trappers came the way and wanted to take the dead bear with them. This was prevented by Logan and the blind Blackfoot.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1 - BTS) - The corrupted bear was taken to the Blackfoot camp and there it was burnt.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1) - A corrupted horse was found in the Blackfoot camp.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#97/1) - Some Monster Children slept with Uncegila in her cave.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#97/1) - Two Monster Children attacked Logan. After Uncegila was hit by Blind Owl one Monster Child attacked him too and drove him to the ground. Logan slew one child and the other child died when it hit the ground after falling with Blind Owl from a stem.
--Marvel Comics Presents I#94/1 (95/1-96/1, 98/1
He was a young warrior who was on his way to become a man.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#94/1) - Alone in the wilderness he was looking for a vision, so he could become a man. A bear that was corrupted by Uncegila's children attacked him and blinded the boy with his claws. Logan saved the boy from further harm and killed the bear. Later the boy killed a trapper who tried to kill them with his three colleagues and saved Logan from another wound. Buffalo Snort and other Blackfoot found the boy and brought him back to their camp together with Logan, the dead trappers and the bear.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1) - The boy was taken care of in the camp. He stayed blind and never left Wolerine's side. When another corrupted horse was found in the camp he smelled blood and sulphur and wanted to know what it was.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#96/1) - Blind Owl survived Uncegila's attack on the camp. He crawled away from the monster and when it was gone he screamed together with Logan a war cry.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#97/1) - Through Old Wolf Heart's vision it was decided that Blind Owl rides with Logan to kill Uncegila. Logan didn't want him with him, but it was decided and he had to take him to Uncegila. Blind Owl and Logan rode through the country to Uncegila's cave. They found Uncegila in it and argued who would kill her. The boy wanted to do it because Logan could die if he saw Uncegila's face. Their arguing woke up Uncegila and the boy just tried to protect Logan from seeing the monster's face when it attacked.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#98/1) - Logan pushed the blind boy away, but before he could attack Uncegila, her children jumped him. Meanwhile Blind Owl shot Uncegila into her head, but she was only stunned. A child of Uncegila attacked Blind Owl and he fell with it to the ground. Uncegila rose again and tried to kill Blind Owl, but Logan helped him again. Blind Owl told him to strike her heart and Logan did so after he was thrown to the ground by the monster. The monster was dead and Blind Owl and Logan returned to the Blackfoot tribe. When it was time to bid farewell Blind Owl told Logan that the tribe had chosen a powerful name for Logan: Skunk-Bear (which was the Blackfoot name for the wolverine).
--Marvel Comics Presents I#94/1 (95/1-98/1
He was the chief of a Blackfoot tribe in the Eastern Rockies.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1 (fb) - BTS) - The Sioux warned the council of the threat of Uncegila.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#94/1) - Buffalo Snort, chief of a Piegan Blackfoot tribe near the U.S./Canadian border and some of his warriors found Blind Owl in the wilderness and brought him back to their village together with Logan, the dead trappers, and the corrupted bear. The remains of the bear were burnt.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1) - Together with Old Wolf Heart and Sparrow Hawk he took care of Logan and the blind boy. When Logan woke up Buffalo Snort talked with him about the reasons why Logan was in their country. Logan introduced himself to Buffalo Snort as an employee of the Hudson Bay Company. Buffalo showed Logan scalps of other HBC employees that came to them. Logan told Buffalo Snort that his boss wanted to befriend with the Blackfoot. Snort offered Logan to stay as long as he wanted and Logan did so. Buffalo Snort stopped a fight between Logan and He Counts Horses and took Logan to show him a horse corrupted by Uncegila's children.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#96/1) - Woken up by screams Buffalo Snort ran with Logan and all his warriors to the outside where they found dead horses and a mad He Counts Horses. Buffalo Snort ran back to the camp when Logan realized that Uncegila tricked them to leave women and children alone. He tried to calm down Logan after Uncegila killed Sparrow Hawk, but Logan wanted revenge.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#97/1) - Buffalo Snort observed the ritual wherein Logan was given the mark to slay Uncegila and wished him luck with a war cry.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#98/1) - Together with the tribe Buffalo Snort chose a name for Logan and he was present when Blind Owl told Logan his new name.
--Marvel Comics Presents I#94/1 (95/1-98/1
He was a young and impulsive warrior who didn't like strangers like Logan (he possibly loved Sparrow Hawk and hence his hatred for Logan).
(Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1) - He Counts Horses attacked Logan and told him to leave. They fought and Logan had to be stopped by Buffalo Snort to spare He Counts Horses' life. The defeated warrior tumbled away from the scene.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#96/1) - He Counts Horses guarded the camp when Uncegila attacked. Uncegila's touch rotted his flesh and her sight drove him mad. He was found by Buffalo Snort and the other men. Logan tried to calm down He Counts Horses who thought that he was lost. He Counts Horses survived.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#97/1) - He became healthier again and was angry that Logan was sent out by the tribe to kill Uncegila. He wanted at least to go with him, but Old Wolf Heart didn't see He Counts Horses in his vision and instead sent Blind Owl with Logan.
--Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1 (96/1-97/1
Old Wolf Heart was the shaman of Buffalo Snort's tribe.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1 (fb) - BTS) - The Sioux warned the council from the threat of Uncegila and told Old Wolf Heart the monster's story.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#94/1 - BTS) - He helped to burn the remains of the corrupted bear that attacked Blind Owl and Logan.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1) - Old Wolf Heart took care of Logan and Blind Owl together with Buffalo Snort and Sparrow Hawk. He gave Logan the scalps of the trappers that attacked him and Blind Owl and told him that the bear was corrupted by Uncegila. He left Buffalo Snort's tepee after everything was said. Some time later a warped horse was found and Old Wolf Heart told everyone that this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. He told the tribe about the Sioux warning, the story of Uncegila and that with her the end of their world had come. Tears ran down his cheek while he told the story.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#96/1) - He was already at the place of Uncegila's attack when Buffalo Snort arrived with Logan and the Blackfoot warriors and told them not to enter the ground until he spoke the proper prayers. He was the first who spotted He Counts Horses lying on the ground. He explained to Logan what had happened to He Counts Horses and that no grass would ever grow again on the ground Uncegila passed. Together with Logan he realized that Uncegila tricked them and that she headed for the camp. Old Wolf Heart ran back to the camp with the warriors, but it was too late. After Uncegila was gone Old Wolf Heart once again spoke to his people that she was a sign that their world would soon be gone.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#97/1) - Old Wolf Heart painted Logan black and made him ready in a ritual to slay Uncegila for the Blackfoot. He gave Logan Blind Owl as his partner because two had to ride against the monster like in the old story and one had to be blind. Logan didn't want to take the boy with him, but Old Wolf Heart only wanted to let him go if he did and so Logan did take the boy with him.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#98/1) - Together with the tribe Old Wolf Heart chose a name for Logan and he was present when Blind Owl told Logan his new name.
--Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1 (96/1-98/1
She watches the Sparrow Hawk was Buffalo Snort's daughter.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1) - Together with her father Buffalo Snort and Old Wolf Heart she took care of Logan and Blind Owl. She became good friends with Logan and he really began to like her. One day she gave him an outfit she made for him. Sparrow Hawk tried to stop Logan when he lost control in a fight against He Counts Horses, but it needed Buffalo Snort to stop the fight. She went with Logan when Buffalo Snort and Old Wolf Heart showed him a horse corrupted by Uncegila and listened to Old Wolf Heart's dark prophecy.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#96/1) - She stayed in her tepee when the camp was attacked by Uncegila. She tried to run away from the monster, but she was too slow and got devoured by Uncegila.
--Marvel Comics Presents I#95/1 (96/1
images:
Uncegila body shot: Marvel Comics Presents I#97, p6, pan3
Uncegila head shot: Marvel Comics Presents I#95, p8, pan2
a child of Uncegila: Marvel Comics Presents I#98, p3, pan3
Blind Owl head shot: Marvel Comics Presents I#98, p4, pan3
Buffalo Snort head shot: Marvel Comics Presents I#95, p2, pan4
He Counts Horses head shot: Marvel Comics Presents I#95, p6, pan3
Old Wolf Heart head shot: Marvel Comics Presents I#95, p8, pan2
She watches the Sparrow Hawk head shot: Marvel Comics Presents I#95, p5, pan1
Appearances:
Marvel Comics Presents I#94-98 (1991) - Timothy Truman (writer), Todd Foxx (pencils), Gary Kwapisz (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
First Posted: 01/08/2005
Last updated: 12/26/2013
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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