Real Name: Diarmid

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Microverse; Iawai race)

Occupation: Professional dancer; court dancer for the royal house on Homeworld

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Acroyear ambassador; Lord Eved; Princess Mari (Marionette)

Enemies: Baron Karza, ice hydra

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Homeworld, Microverse;
   formerly Iawai, Microverse

First Appearance: Micronauts II#15 (December, 1985)

Powers/Abilities: Diarmid was blue-skinned in color and bald (probably typical for her species) with blue eyes and blue lips, Diarmid was a highly skilled dancer. She appeared to have athlete stamina and peak human agility. Her innocence also made her very approachable and her unusual beauty the object of desire of many men, including Lord Eved. She stood about 5'10" tall and she was very lithe and flexible. She also liked to dress in bright clothing and wore ornamentation on her head. She sometimes danced spontaneously, especially when she was happy.

History:
(Micronauts II#15) - Over a hundred years ago, when Princess Mari was an older teenager as part of the royal house on Homeworld, she attended a spectacular ball when she cheerfully rushed up to the familiar face of the Acroyear Ambassador. He introduced her to the professional dancer, Diarmid, from the planet Iawai, which was under the Acroyear Satrapy. Once she realized it was Princess Mari, Diarmid humbly bowed and fell to her knees before Mari. The Princess immediately asked her to stand up and Diarmid complimented Mari on her beauty. The two immediately became friends and the Princess asked Diarmid to become court dancer for the season. Joyful at the prospect, Diarmid gracefully leapt into the air and danced spontaneously. The court was transfixed with her grace and skill, in particular catching the eye of Lord Eved.

In the following months, Diarmid and Mari became very close friends, with Diarmid teaching Mari how to dance while listening to Mari's talking as if it were wisdom. Diarmid helped Mari avoid another approach from Lord Eved, but instead found herself drawn to Eved. Lord Eved then approached Baron Karza and sought his help to manipulate events so that he could successfully woo Diarmid (but not to marry as he deemed her a commoner). Karza agreed to help Eved, but secretly sought Eved's ruination, including that of his family.

A fortnight later, Eved slipped a tonic supplied by Karza into Diarmid's drink at a state dinner. However, his lack of decorum caused undue attention and the King expelled him from the court for two weeks. The tonic caused Diarmid to fall ill for four days, during which Mari stayed with her. Diarmid then made a full recovery and accompanied Mari to a gala ice-party, where Diarmid and Mari force-field skated on the frozen lake. While resting, Baron Karza sent a gift to the young women, which Diarmid recognized immediately to be an illusioner. This permitted the user to generate thought-directed holographs around the user, although the size and shape stayed the same. Mari then asked if she could use it to pretend to be Diarmid skating, and Diarmid readily complied.

In the meantime, Eved was going through the plan to rescue Diarmid from a dreaded ice-hydra that Karza had placed under the ice. The tonic was actually an antitoxin to the ice-hydra's attack. However, Karza's late gift changed the situation so that it was actually Mari skating instead of Diarmid, although it was Diarmid who was immune to the ice-hydra's poison.

Everybody at the ice-party watched a would-be Diarmid skate for the court. But then the ice-hydra struck, attacked the dancer and broke the illusioner device, thereby revealing the ice dancer to be actually Mari. While others rushed away, Eved was about to "rescue" the would-be Diarmid, but was stopped by the real Diarmid, who revealed her true feelings for Eved to him. She wanted others to save Mari, but Eved seemed even more resolved to rescue Mari. He stopped the ice-hydra with his extra weaponry but the injury to Mari was already very severe. Karza promised to rescue Mari, using the body banks to replace damaged organs. Diarmid then insisted that her legs be removed and act as replacement legs for Mari. The former dancer admitted that she had betrayed Mari by wanting Eved. Instead Eved had been executed and her skill as a dancer had been removed. Diarmid stated that Mari had given her so much, there seemed to be no other gift to give in return. She cried as she sat in a hovering chair with her legs completely removed.

Comments: Created by Peter B. Gillis (writer), Kelley Jones (penciler) & Danny Bulandi (inker).

Presumably Karza altered the blue skin pigmentation when he tacked on Diarmid's legs to Marionette's body.

Profile by Grendel Prime

Clarifications:

Diarmid has no known connections to:

• Any other "Diar-" characters or dancers

images:
Micronauts II#15, p6, panel 1 (dancing)