Harriet Homerstone (Voyager character)

HARRIET HOMERSTONE

Real Name: Harriet Homerstone

Identity/Class: Human magic-user;
presumably a British citizen (Marvel UK)

Occupation: Adventurer, witch

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Sam Wantling

Enemies: Formerly the Voyager

Known Relatives: Mona St. Croix (half-sister);
Alicia Harker & William Nicholls (ancestors), Voyager (spawned William)

Aliases: "Imp"

Base of Operations: A mansion at 13 Glastonbury Road, Richstead, London

First Appearance: Children of the Voyager#2 (October, 1993)

Powers/Abilities: Harriet had extensive occult knowledge, enhanced by a wealth of ancient books. She had numerous magical artifacts, and she could perform a number of feats, including summoning and communicating with the spirits of the dead, creating protective binding spells, mystical distraction, hypnotism, telepathy, and creation of powerful magical shields.

Harriet either was a ventriloquist, or she had a little talking doll named Drusilla.

History:
(Children of the Voyager#3 (fb) - BTS) <over two centuries ago> - Descended from a line of female witches, Alicia Harker married William, a self-aware child of the Voyager, and they had a daughter. Eventually the Voyager returned for the man; Alicia fought it as best she could, but she could not stop it from consuming her lover. Alicia spent much of her remaining time making a detailed study of the Voyager, and she passed on her knowledge to her daughter.
Alicia's daughter eventually had a daughter, and so on, through the generations, with the most recent daughter being Harriet Homerstone. Like all women in her line, Harriet became a witch.

(Marvel Frontier Comics Special#1/3 (fb) - BTS) - Alicia, however, never gave up on her search for William. As she approached the time of her death, she had her spirit bound to her house so that it would not pass on to the afterlife until it was reunited with William. She commissioned her daughter to continue her efforts to locate William, and that daughter passed the mission on to her daughter, and so on.

(Children of the Voyager#2 (fb) - BTS) - Harriet's father had a daughter with another woman; that daughter was Mona St. Croix.

(Children of the Voyager#2 (fb) - BTS) - Harriet accumulated an immense store of occult items in her mansion.

(Children of the Voyager#2 (fb) - BTS) - Harriet explored worlds beyond Earth, Heaven & Hell, the Cascade (where infinite dimensions converge), enlightenment, deities, and extraterrestrials.

(Children of the Voyager#2 (fb) - BTS) - Harriet became a fan of author Sam Wantling's horror and fantasy writing, which contained both occult style and substance.

(Children of the Voyager#2) - When Sam Wantling began to suffer nightmares, which he believed had an occult basis, his editor, Mona, referred him to Harriet for therapy. Upon Sam's arrival, she took his picture, warning him that he shouldn't let just anyone take his picture, as some people believed it stole a piece of your soul. Harriet suspected some form of low-caste possession; she placed a protective binding spell around him, and she used a magic version of regressive hypnosis to send him to sleep. She attempted to view him before his birth and was startled to discover that he was created by the Voyager. Checking a few books, Harriet explained something of the Voyager's nature. Harriet asked Sam to tell her of his dreams, but as he did so the Voyager reached out for him through a mirror, but Harriet temporarily dispelled it by shattering the mirror. Harriet then left a few false trails for the Voyager to follow while she took Sam away.

(Children of the Voyager#3 (fb) - BTS) - Harriet brought Sam to a hideaway college which would serve as a hollow, having a protective cloaking effect that would dampen the Voyager's ability to home in on him. Sam was able to relax sufficiently to sleep for a few hours.

(Children of the Voyager#3) - Sam briefly considered committing suicide to deprive the Voyager of his soul, but Harriet bade him sleep again. They shared his dreams and observed the life-cycles of the Voyagers' spawn throughout the ages, after which Harriet realized that Sam had grown into something far more than what the Voyager had made him. She encouraged him to believe that he could break free from the Voyager, as it was its psychic power over him, and his fear of it that rendered him vulnerable to it. While Harriet formed a protective circle for Sam, she shared her own relationship to the Voyager. Encouraged by their connection and feeling a real bond with Harriet, Sam fell asleep under her guidance, at which point the Voyager arrived to claim Sam.

(Children of the Voyager#4) - Harriet tried to contain the Voyager with a "genie in the bottle" spell, but it turned the spell back on them, trapping Sam and Harriet within a magical sphere. Nonetheless, the sphere was sufficiently strong to keep the Voyager out, and the Voyager demanded Sam's soul, as its own voyage was coming to an end. It cast illusions, making the magic sphere seem afloat in the cosmos. Sam argued with the Voyager -- who insisted he only existed because the Voyager had created him and that he was therefore its to retake -- telling it that he had grown far beyond what it had given, and asking it what one little spirit meant to its mighty form. The Voyager angrily told them how the secret of humanity had continued to evade it despite its lengthy efforts. It stated that Wantling was its accidental masterpiece, so fully alive and so human, far beyond any of its other creations. It felt that consuming Wantling would fuel its ascent into the cascade of dimensions above.
    Sam continued to fight with all his might, as did Harriet, though she was becoming physically ill from the effort, and the Voyager suddenly collapsed. It's life force faded, and so did Harriet's. Taking a leap of faith, Sam reached out of the circle to grasp Harriet's arm in his one hand, and the Voyager's arm in his other hand. He offered to give back what the Voyager had given him, believing that everything else would remain with him. The splinter of the Voyager within Sam then flared, and Sam gained the memories of the Voyager. The Voyager, in turn, turned into an angelic beam of light, rising like a shooting star (in reverse) as it passed the celestial pagodas, past increasing spheres and sedimentary layers of Heavens that encrust the tiny shell of the physical universe. It passed oceans of higher dimensions until it pulsed and burst, scattering a chorus of voices, the freed spirits of his sisters and brothers. The spirits formed a constellation of souls across the heavens, and then the link to Wantling was severed, leaving him alone on Earth...forever changed.
    Harriet lay dying from her struggle against the Voyager, and she told Sam that she would die happy knowing she had saved the virtual reincarnation of her ancestor's lover. Sam looked at Harriet and sensed her body functions and her life force, and he gave some of his own energy to her, restoring her injured form. Harriet looked upon Sam, and recognized him as a changed man.
    In the following days, Sam began to appreciate his newly enhanced awareness and senses. He used his experiences to write a book, a re-telling of his life's story, and he gave it to Mona to publish. He convinced Harriet to become his teacher, to help him explore and learn to use his new powers, though Harriet wasn't sure what she would or could teach him.

(Marvel Frontier Comics Special#1/3) - Harriet summoned the spirit of her ancestor, William, telling him how Alicia had never given up on him. She released Alicia's spirit from the house, and the two were reunited. Before they passed on to the afterworld, Alicia asked Harriet if she had any requests in return. Harriet simply asked if she should be Sam's teacher, and Alica replied, "Who better?"
Harriet then called Sam and told him that she'd spoken to the powers that be and that it was time for his first lesson.

Comments: Created by Nick Abadzis and Paul Johnson.

As Harriet Homerstone has no connection to any other Marvel characters, I would prefer to put his adventures at the time of their publication, circa 1993, making him a pre-modern era character.

William's last name was revealed in Marvel Zombies: The Book of Angels, Demons & Other Monstrosities.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No KNOWN connections to:

other witches

Alicia Harker & William Nicholls

Children of the Voyager#3 (fb) - BTS) <over two centuries ago> - Descended from a line of female witches, Alicia Harker married William, a self-aware child of the Voyager, and they had a daughter. Eventually the Voyager returned for the man; Alicia fought it as best she could, but she could not stop it from consuming her lover. Alicia spent much of her remaining time making a detailed study of the Voyager, and she passed on her knowledge to her daughter.
Alicia's daughter eventually had a daughter, and so on, through the generations, with the most recent daughter being Harriet Homerstone. Like all women in her line, Harriet became a witch.

(Children of the Voyager#2-4 - BTS) - Harriet assisted Sam Wantling, another self-aware child of the Voyager, and Sam granted the Voyager the knowledge it needed to pass on to a higher plane, and it released all of its spawn to pass on to heaven.

images: (without ads)
Children of the Voyager#2, p10, panel 1 (whole body)
3, p14, panel 5 (face)

Appearances:
Children of the Voyager#2-4 (September-December, 1993) - by Nick Abadzis (writer), Paul Johnson (artist), Michael W. Bennet (editor)
Marvel Frontier Comics Special#1/3 (January 1994) - by Nick Abadzis (writer), Paul Johnson (artist), Michael W. Bennet (editor)

Last updated: 08/13/06

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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